Family Home Evening

Every Monday night we have a group of youth in our home for family home evening. It's a fun time for us to have them in our home and to share a spiritual lesson with them, some kind of food or treats and a game or two that usually brings much laughter. We have a large group of young men from Nigeria that have accepted the gospel here. They are students here in Ukraine. They bring a very fun spirit with them to our home. To entice them into coming Elder Bailey promised food. One single man gave our family night the nick name of "Eating Monday". One Monday we went to another town for the day and night and so we told the young men we would not be holding f.h.e. on that Monday. So they gave that night the nick name of "Fasting Monday".

What is a Metroshky Doll?

Every missionary from Ukraine comes home with a Metroshky doll or two. They open up and inside is another doll which opens to another doll which opens until it gets so small that it's impossible to open. These two 25 feet dolls were at the entrance of the Fan Zone for the Euro Cup right here in Center Kharkov. It's always fun to see what the city is going to put up in there big square for a celebration.

Summer 2012 Memories Bus Ride to Donetsk

In July all the missionaries in Kharkov filled a very large bus and we had the special treat of going to Donetsk for a missionwide conference with Elder Razband of the Presidency of the Seventy. The bus ride took 7 hours. Now I ask you what do you think that bus ride was like. Actually it was okay as far as a 7 hour bus ride goes. These are great young men and we have grown to love them and appreciate their different personalities. It was wonderful to be in a room full of missionaries and President Razband. He is a great teacher and we felt great love from him as he spoke to us. I would ride another 7 hours there and back to hear a servant of the Lord.  

Favorite Summer Sites 2012 in Ukraine

As Ukraine was preparing for the Euro Cup Soccer Tournanament this year hundreds of flower gardens were planted all over the city. Their garden designers are quite excellent. Sometimes in walking the streets it's easy to notice and  point out things that are rather unattractive and run down so as we walked the streets this summer we especially enjoyed the beautiful flower gardens large and small planted in public parks and private little garden plots outside their apartments. Almost everywhere there were beautiful gardens large and small that brought  joy and I'm sure a sense of pride to them. They love flowers and I will take home some good ideas for planting a flower garden in my own yard.

A Dream Come True

A highlight of the summer was the marriage of this wonderful Latter-Day Saint couple.  One of the great challenges of the youth here is finding their eternal companion. The numbers of strong active LDS youth is small in each city. Most have grown up with these youth from kindergarten. They are the best of friends but they don't choose each other as marriage partners. One of the goals of the mission and the CES is to provide opportunities for youth to gather and have opportunities to find that special someone. Actually this couple found each other on their own. The young man is from Kharkov and the young lady is from Rustov, Russia. They now reside in Kharkov and are a delight to know. The rug that they are stepping on is part of a Ukrainian tradition. It is said that whoever steps on the rug first will rule the household. So they look at each other and count to three and each take a step together to show they are one and united together as a couple. The government here doesn't recognize a temple marriage as a legal marriage, so the youth are required to get married in a marriage establishment and then they make the trip to the temple to be sealed. The temple is a most charished opportunity for each endowed member and the youth. They make regular trips to do baptisms for the dead. It is a night train ride for them and then a whole day at the temple and then a night ride for them to return. They love their temple.

Take a walk in another pair of shoes for a day or two

This is what our entry way looks like every Tuesday afternoon as we join with our district and have lunch together and then be spiritually fed, uplifted, challenged by each other.  Of course some of those shoes belong to Elder Bailey and myself, but there are eight pair there that belong to some wonderful young people that love the Lord and are here fulfilling their calling as a missionary for our Lord.  It is September, the summer flew by full of activities, lessons, acheivments, challenges, and special events. We have reached our one year date. There is always much to accomplish, it is a never ending work, a work that can never be relaxed or put on hold. This work is too critical here and everywhere.  To be apart of such an important work is a humbling experience. We hope that in these last months of our mission we can see miracles, accomplish goals, and be an instrument in our Lord's hands to strengthen the youth and the church here in a special part of the world. It has been our privilege and blessing to be here and to come to know these good people and to love them.