THE SNOW IS MELTING..............................

I am patiently waiting..........




for this......................

SUNDAY'S

WHEN YOU FIRST BEGIN YOUR MISSION IT SEEMS LIKE SUCH A LONG TIME BEFORE YOU RETURN TO YOUR LOVED ONES

18 MONTHS FEELS LIKE FOREVER...............

WE WONDERED HOW WE WOULD FILL OUR DAYS

HOW WE WOULD STAY BUSY ENOUGH

HOW WE COULD MANAGE NOT TO BE TOO HOMESICK

HOWEVER........................

WE FIND OURSELVES IN THIS STRANGE PLACE OF ANXIOUSLY COUNTING DOWN THE WEEKS BEFORE WE GO HOME

BACK TO OUR LOVED ONES

BUT EACH SUNDAY I AM OVERWHELMED WITH EMOTIONS

EACH SUNDAY

I FIND MYSELF THINKING OF

ALL THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE I WILL MISS

IT'S A STRANGELY FAMILIAR FEELING

I THINK IT FEELS MUCH LIKE I FELT

THE LAST FEW WEEKS BEFORE I LEFT FOR MY MISSION

A TUGGING AT MY HEART

WONDERING HOW WILL I EVER SAY GOOD-BYE TO THESE WONDERFUL NEW FRIENDS

AS I LISTEN TO THE HYMNS

MY EYES FILL WITH TEARS

SWEET ANNYA OR GENYA WILL LOOK OVER AND SAY,

"DON'T CRY, SISTER KINGHORN, DON'T BE SAD"

IT IS MUCH LIKE I FELT AS I SAT IN CHURCH WITH MY SWEET LITTLE GRANDCHILDREN THOSE LAST FEW WEEKS BEFORE WE LEFT FOR OUR MISSION

THERE ARE NO WORDS TO TELL THEM WHAT THESE TEARS MEAN

there are really no words.......

I just hug them and tell them I love them

OLGA'S BAPTISM

yesterday was such a wonderful day

we got to see Olga baptized by her husband Vitaly

Olga has been our interpreter since January 2008. She is such a special young lady. I have written many times about how grateful we have been to have her as our assistant. What I haven't mentioned is how much she means to us. We love her so much. She is just a wonderful young woman. I was overwhelmed with emotions as I gave the talk on Baptism and looked into the faces of these two amazing people. When the talks were over and we had a testimony meeting one of the ladies who has been a member for several years said that it was a special baptism for her to attend because it was the first time she has seen a husband baptize his wife.There have been many brothers baptize siblings or parents. She has seen fathers baptize their children but she had never attended a baptism that was a husband baptizing his wife. The church here in Ukraine has so many families in which only one of the parents is a member. We feel very strongly that Olga and Vitaly will have the wonderful blessing of raising children with the Gospel as the center of their home. What a great blessing this will be for them. Elder Kinghorn confirmed Olga today and gave her a beautiful blessing. r the last year Olga has been involved in many church activities. She translated for the Strengthening Marriage Classes and attended some of the Branch Parties with us. She also translated talks we gave in church. She has been friends with many of the missionaries as well as the members of the Church. President and Sister Fry participated in some of the missionary discussions with her and they said that she really knew alot about the teachings of the church. The members of the Church love Olga too and I felt such a sweet reassurance that they will do all they can to support she and Vitaly as they strive to live the commandments. We wish that we could be here to see Olga and Vitaly embrace the Gospel but are so grateful for the members of this wonderful branch who we know will offer them the love and support they will need.

NEW MISSIONARIES HAVE ARRIVED STRAIGHT FROM THE MISSIONARY TRAINING CENTER

Elder Hyer and his trainer Elder Southerland will be serving in Gorlovka

Elder Tillotson and his trainer Elder Hunt will be in Kharkiv

Elder Shipp and his trainer Elder McArthur will be in Kharkiv

Good-bye to Elder Fedotov (he is going to Khakiv too)

Sister Fry did a very nice post about these three wonderful new missionairies

you can read it here

TRANSFER DAY GOOD-BYE'S

WE HAD SOME BIG CHANGES IN OUR DISTRICT THIS TRANSFER MEETING. ELDER GWYNN RETURNED TO AMERICA,SISTER ELLISON WENT TO MARIUPOL, AND SISTER HELELYAN WENT TO KHARKIV

ELDER FEDOTOV WENT TO KHARKIV

WE GOT TWO NEW AP'S

ELDERS NORMAN AND OLDROYD

(ELDER HUNT IS TRAINING IN KHARKIV)

Sister Howard is back. Yeah!!!!!

she will be companions with Sister Glen. (sorry I don't have a photo of her yet, she was in Bulgaria during the transfer meeting)

I am excited to get to know Sister Glen she has never served in the Donetsk area. We are happy to have her in our District

Elder Greener will be serving with Elder Kerr, he will be our new Puppeteer

Elder Fedotov went to Kharkiv where we hope he will still be doing the Puppet show but with his new companion there Elder Thompson (from Hawaii, we have two Elder Thompson's)

ELDER HULET WILL BE OUR NEW ZONE LEADER WITH ELDER JOHNSON