WHAT IS WOMEN'S DAY?

This past week we Celebrated Women's Day in Ukraine. It is similar to Mother's Day in America. Our Branch had a really fun evening that the Men were in charge of. There was music, skits, and food. All the women were given chocolate candy bars just like home. It was well attended and a fun evening. A new couple arrived who will be going to another area in our mission. They have served a previous mission in Croatia. So they felt they were prepared for Ukraine. The second day in Country we had the branch party and when I asked how they were feeling they said "overwhelmed". I guess you just can't get around the "Culture Shock". We took them to see a new 2 story branch building that is being built. It is so beautiful and much bigger than any of the other buildings here. It sits next to a very popular park right on a walking path that goes through the park so it will get a lot of visibility. I mentioned before that Baptisms have dropped by 50% this past year. The building gives us hope that the church will keep growing and have need for that large building in the near future. It is great to be here now while the foundation is being laid. Yesterday was our Wedding Anniversary. It was a beautiful sun shining day here. We got up and went for a walk and bus ride to the store and came home and prepared for a District Meeting at our home. We were all fasting so we had a nice "break the fast meal" afterwards that everyone helped prepare. Elder Permenter showed us his Tennessee Shake after dinner and we all got the cameras out and had a good laugh. We are going on a bus today to visit a school for the blind. It is an hour and a half bus ride. I'm getting a little worried about the bathroom situation (that is always a concern when we leave town). Sunday after our tour of the church building we had a nice dinner at President Andersen's home. We had a great weekend and really enjoyed spending time with the other couples. Oh I almost forgot, a package from home came again. That was great. I have new clothes to wear for spring and Bruce is excited he can charge the electric toothbrush and we have an adapter for our computer that actually fits. Life is great.