Church!

Me and Sister Elena. She is one of the best cooks in all of Ukraine! And one of the sweetest people ever.

Happy Constitution Day! (Meaning for my homeland.) I basically just love the American constitution and the Founding Fathers who, under the inspiration of heaven, raised up a nation that would be free so that God's true church could once again be restored on the earth. 

Yesterday was one of the most eventful church services of my mission. The Dengub family (do you remember them? We met them tracting about seven weeks ago and we've met with them a few times since. They have three little kids, including a baby boy who is three or four months old) told us they were going to be at church, so we were incredibly excited. Sister Kochel and I were on our usual Sunday splits, with me in Center Branch, the branch the Dengubs would be attending. :) Lucky me! They ended up being late (with three little kids and living about an hour away from the branch, who could blame them?) so during the first talk in Sacrament meeting, Andrey (the father) called me to come down to the street to meet them and show them how to get to the branch. So I grabbed my temporary companion and we headed downstairs. In the stairwell, we ran into Victor (remember him? The awesome Chinese man we met a couple weeks ago) on his way up to church with a friend. It was his first time at church as well, so I told him I'd be right back so we could go in together. We found the Dengubs on the plaza (Andrey sporting his traditional Ukrainian dress shirt, which made me incredibly happy! People don't usually wear them except for traditional holidays or something, so I was delighted he'd worn it to church. Not that it's important, but I thought it was cool.) and led them back up to the branch where we met with Victor and Sergey (Victor's friend). That was one of the most exciting moments of my Ukrainian life, when I walked into Sacrament meeting, leading a family of investigators, and two other investigators, with the 4-year-old Dengub girl clinging to my fingers. Yes! Except, it was very much one of those moments (or hours . . .) where you wish with all your heart that your companion was with you so you could give all of your investigators the individual attention and love that they need so they have a good experience and want to come back. But I did my best. After the meeting, everybody was so excited to talk to the Dengubs, because it's not often that a whole family of investigators comes to that little branch. It warmed my heart to see how welcoming everyone was and how glad the members and missionaries were to see a family. And the elders took good care of Victor and Sergey. Good meeting.

We met with a few members this week, which was a wonderful experience. One of them, Sister Lena, (see picture) is one of the best cooks I've met. This was the second time I've visited her, and she always feeds us a lot. Like, a lot. Meaning, we're in some kind of food-daze for the subsequent several hours. (One of the challenging things about visiting people is that they almost always want to feed you. Which is great. Except they are offended if you don't eat and drink everything they give you, even if there is no physical way that all that food will fit in your stomach. And they tell you you're a poor eater if you [like me] eat your food slowly. [It's especially funny when the member fills your plate twice as high as your companion's with vrenicky and your companion can barely even finish her own, let alone help you, so you just have to keep on eating . . . Haha!] But a lot of the time, they'll just send you away with a huge bag of apples/grapes/walnuts/whatever happens to be in season that they're growing, and you don't have to finish it in front of them. I'm constantly amazed at just how generous the Ukrainian people are - even if they hardly know you, they want to send you away with something to eat. They're an incredible example to me.) Anyway, Lena always tells us that it's like a holiday whenever the missionaries come over, which invariably gives me warm fuzzies. I absolutely love the members here!

At another member's house (Vera), she was showing us her pictures. And believe it or not, in one of the pictures of her with missionaries was a young man from my calculus 2 class at BYU. I had no idea he'd served in Ukraine! Small world. It's kind of cool to be sitting in the same room where somebody you knew back home had sat a few years ago.

As a side note completely unrelated to anything, you know you've been in Ukraine for a while when you see the word 'YAMAHA' on a sign and try to read it 'ooamana.'

A little while ago, Sister Kochel and I were contacting in a park. We ended up talking to this lady for a while who wasn't interested really, but enjoyed talking to us. At one point, we invited her to do something (I don't even remember what, now) and began extending a promise. But before we could get beyond the words, "We promise you . . ." she interrupted and said, "You're not Jesus Christ - you can't promise me anything." At that moment, this incredible feeling came over me, and I knew without a doubt that we could make promises, because we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and as such, we have the authority to speak in His name the words and promises that the people of Ukraine need to hear. Sometimes it's intimidating to be bold and extend promises and invitations, especially when people don't want to hear them, but missionaries truly are representatives of the Savior, and we have the right and responsibility to speak in His name. That experience was a really neat reminder of that. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to make promises to this people in the name of our Savior. I know that the message we are proclaiming here is true and that the gospel is truly the only way to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.

Вместе мы шагаем!! (Literally, "together we step.") It's probably my favorite line from the Russian "Called to Serve." Together with the Lord, together with our fellow missionaries, together with our families and everyone who supports us back home, and together with hosts of unseen help on the other side of the veil, we step forward in taking this miraculous message to God's children around the world. What an incredible calling!

-Sharisa

This is an older picture. Sister Clark's final p-day in the mission! We all went out for cheesecake (well, it tried really hard to be cheesecake . . . it wasn't too bad). Good times.