WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATION (part 1)

Yesterday we were invited by a Women's Organization we have visited to attend a celebration. When Olga called to tell us she said it was a "performance" and a "Woman of the Year"ceremony. Valentina, the President of the organization invited us to bring anyone we wanted, she said she had 5 tickets. So we brought Sister Clark, the office missionary. We approached this much like most things here with an open mind. Sometimes we just know that we should go. When we approached the Cultural Palace, Valentina was waiting and quickly ushered us in. This was great except we hadn't met up with Olga yet (our interpreter) and didn't think we would be able to communicate. But not only was Valentina waving at us when we approached but there was my friend Masha from church who is one of the few people we know who speaks English. What a relief, she and her two friends joined us and she instantly became our "stand in" for Olga. We were amazed as we walked through the doors to see two lines of men dressed in white uniforms at the entrance. We were to walk between the lines as we entered. It seemed most of the women were dressed in their best attire. We were now getting the impression this was a huge thing. We felt like we were attending the Academy Awards. The hall was packed. I was worried that were were over our limit of the 5 Valentina had invited as we now had Masha and her two friends with us and Olga who had joined us. Valentina led us to a section that apparently had been reserved for her organization and there appeared to be room for all of us. I recognized some of the women we had met at the organization when we had previously visited. We were greeted with warm smiles and handshakes. It turned out this event which lasted about 2 1/2 hours was honoring women from all backgrounds. Women were nominated, called up on stage in groups of 6-8 and a winner was announced. I mean, beautiful girls in long flowing gowns came out with the awards, a platter with the "envelope" and scissors to cut it open was handed to a gentlemen who made the presentation to the winner and she gave a little "thank-you" acceptance.

MORE LESSONS LEARNED

I decided I had to take the Michael Buble song, "Home", off of my playlist. It was the first song you heard when you got to our blogsite and I didn't want you to have the wrong impression. It's true we do miss home but I am so grateful to be here. The Lord teaches us something new each day. We told you early on we were learning patience. Well we are still working on that one. Today, I believe it is gratitude. I am realizing that so much of our lives we wish away. We are like a little child when given a nice cool ice-cream cone on a hot summer day who says, "but I wanted a snow cone". When it is summer, we want it to be fall, and when the fall comes we dream of springtime. I am learning to appreciate what I do have and not focus so much on what is missing.
So for today, yes I still miss my friends and family but we have met so many wonderful people here. We have practically been carried by all of the missionaries here both young and "not so young". They have supported us in so many ways both physically and emotionally. We have met some wonderful members of our Branch as well as other Branches we have visited. They let us know how much they appreciate the work we are doing here. We have been blessed to see the people of Ukraine come to know Heavenly Father and receive his blessings by living the Gospel.

MISSIONARIES

WHY SERVE A MISSION SO FAR FROM YOUR FAMILY?

When we first started telling our friends and family that we were going to serve a mission people kept asking "aren't you going to miss your kids?" and of course, the answer was yes. But Bruce and I both were sure that we were being "called" to serve the Lord at this time in our lives. So we made the very difficult decision to leave everyone we love behind for 2 years and go where the Lord wanted us to go. As the days got closer to our departure date we both felt the tugs at our heartstrings each time we spent time with our children, our grandchildren, our siblings, and my mother. When we were asked "how can you leave your family?" my answer was "how can we not". Bruce and I both know that our lives have been blessed. We have had a wonderful rich life together. It hasn't always been easy but the Lord has blessed us with everything we have needed to deal with the challenges we have faced. We see the Lords hand in our lives and know it is from him that all our blessings come. We both know without a doubt that the Lord needs us in Ukraine right now and he will bless the lives of our family as we serve him here in Ukraine. We love our children and grandchildren very much just as we love our friends dearly. We are grateful for all of you who support us with your prayers and letters as we are away.

MOVING TO A NEW APARTMENT

February 27, 2008

So much has happened this month. We started the month with President Hinckley’s funeral. It was sad news for us all. We attended the broadcast of the funeral services here in our Branch with about 30 younger missionaries. It was very touching to be sitting in the room with all of them knowing what a powerful influence he had been in all of their lives.
We spent the first week or so looking for a new apartment. Which turned out to be very helpful in many ways, one, it got us out walking in the streets of Donetsk, and two we realized that the center of town isn’t nearly as big as we thought it was and three we ended up finding a really nice apartment. The downside was we had to go without Internet for a few weeks again when we moved. We were fortunate to find an apartment with two bedrooms so that we could have an office separate from the rest of our apartment. We wanted more space so that we can have the missionaries over for dinner as well as members of our Branch. I am trying to invite missionaries at least once a week, and usually 4 at a time, and members or people investigating the church once a week. (I know my family is surprised I am actually cooking, I have even made rolls once, and desserts every time we entertain.) When I get home I am going to have a whole new perspective on feeding the missionaries. The missionaries here don’t get invited to member’s homes much so most of them are losing weight. They are thrilled when the senior couples invite them over. We are losing weight too, but not because we don’t eat, (at least not me), but we are walking a lot now. Our apartment is located right on the river so we have a view of the frozen river from our office (second bedroom).
There is a nice trail along the river we will be able to use when it is springtime. Our walks right now are rather brisk because it is still so cold outside; we are looking forward to a good stroll along the river. We have also discovered some really pretty walking trails that go through parks in Central Donetsk. Bruce lost his footing in the snow the other day and took both of us down, then proceeded to walk about 10 more feet and fell again. We both are fine, except Bruce bruised his hand. We gave someone who was standing nearby a good laugh.
We can tell we are getting use to it here. We actually ride the Marshuka’s now without anyone with us. Even if we get stuck or squished in the back Bruce has memorized a few lines that have consistently gotten us off at the right stop. The first time he tried asking the Marshuka to stop when he was way in the back a few locals assisted by yelling a little louder with a little different pronunciation than he used and that did the trick. We even jump on buses that we have no idea if they will take us to where we want to go. I can say, “I don’t speak Russian” really well in Russian but that just makes them think I can speak a little Russian so they proceed to talk to me in Russian.
We can ride the cab without Olga but she has to call it for us. Bruce does really well with knowing how to pay for things. He can count well and ask “how much”, but when they tell us how much something cost we need them to write it down for us because it doesn’t sound like any of the numbers we know.
We even went to a Restaurant that nobody else had ever tried before all by ourselves. We even managed to order and pay without any help (although they did give us an English Menu).

Some of the other memorable events this month were:

The Swan Lake Performance, when 4 of the Elders wore their brand new matching brown suits, new shoes and pastel ties
The missionaries who helped us move all crammed into the back of the rental van that we paid $8.00 for.
Having lunch at McDonald’s in the Birthday party room with the missionaries after we moved into the new apartment.
Saying good-bye to Elder (Michael) Hammond who was transferred to Gorlovka
Saying good-bye to Sister(Maryann) Jackson who went home to America
I gave a Book of Mormon to Lubov from the International Relief Organization