Hello again everyone! Now, before I write the rest of my email and forget about this completely, let me get the mother's day information down in its entirety:
The calls will be on Sunday, May 11.
DAD: You will call at 6:50 AM PST (4:50pm here)
MOM: You will call at 10:30 AM MST (7:30 pm here)
THE PHONE NUMBER IS:
011-38-034-272-17-04
All right! That'll be a LOT of fun. I can't believe that after Sunday, the next time I hear your voices, I'll be looking at your faces too. That's a strange thought.
So, the branch reorganization went well. We were very worried that the old branch president would be offended and go inactive, but President Davis handled things very well, and everything's looking good for the future. Our plans to work with members have already started to work, as our elders' quorum president wants us to go and meet his friend and his wife. We also have been getting a lot of good work in a selo called Nadvirna, which also just happens to have some of the most beautiful nature nearby that I've seen. Our investigator Oleg lives out there, and he gave us a guided nature hike tour through a forest and the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. To anyone who's ever thinking of coming to Ukraine, I highly recommend it.
So, here's the highlight of the week. There's a young man named Misha who comes to our English classes. About a month ago, he told us that he was a musician and he'd be having a concert on May 6, and he wanted us to go. Being missionaries, we were pretty certain that we couldn't, but we didn't want to seem too mean so we told him to ask the senior couple here, the Hinkles. Now, the Hinkles are really cool, but if there's one thing they're strict on, it's music. So imagine our surprise when Sister Hinkle comes to us after English one night and says that she heard some of Misha's music, liked it, and gave us permission to go. So, last night Elder and SIster HInkle, Sisters Vershinina and Mills, and Elder Budge and I went to a crowded club called Chimera and got to see Misha's concert. Misha, halfway through, told the crowd he had some American friends there that night, and that he wanted to sing some English songs, including "Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who (except he did the Limp Bizkit version). After the song, the house announcer asked if anyone had questions for Misha; after a few minutes of silence, Misha suggested that his American friends might want to ask him something, and that he could talk to us in English. The house announcer guy (a really annoying MTV-wannabe in a white polo shirt) laughed, said "This is a concert for us Ukrainians, not Americans," then consented and pulled Elder Budge and I on stage in front of the room of people. So there we were, white shirts, ties, and nametags, standing in front of a room of young concert goers and one very obnoxious announcer guy. I turned to Misha and said, "Nu, po pershy, dyakuyu za zaproshenya," which means "Well, first of all, thanks for the invitation." The crowd, and especially the announcer man, weren't expecting us to know anything but English, so everyone starting cheering. I asked Misha how long he'd played guitar, and he answered in English that he'd been playing since he was ten. I turned to the crowd and said, "Vin skazav, sho vin pochinav koly yomu bulo desyat rokiv," which means, "He said he started when he was ten years old." The crowd cheered and clapped, and Elder Budge and I beat a hasty retreat off the stage. That seems to have been my fifteen minutes of fame right there, so I'm pretty sure the rest of my life is a downhill slope. The good news is, Sister Vershinina got it all on camera.
Well, that's been life in Ivano this week. I hope you all have a great week, and I can't wait to talk with you again!
--Elder Hurst
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