Busy Week!

Last night, the four of us Dnepr sisters and the (former) office elders tried a new contacting activity. We set up a table with lots of copies of Liahonas, the Book of Mormon, pamphlets, etc. in a large park by the river then most of us sang hymns while one or two missionaries talked to the people who passed by. That was such a cool experience, due in part to the lovely view of the river, the Big Dipper framed by the trees right in front of us, and the multitude of floating lanterns that were being launched nearby, but mostly because of the Spirit that was present as we sang the hymns of Zion. A good number of people stopped and talked, and almost everybody who walked by accepted some sort of literature from us. I felt like it was a really good activity that helped the people in the park feel the Spirit and become a little more open to talking to us. There's such power in music.

This week we had a first lesson with a girl we met a few weeks ago. Her name is Vloda, and she is the most religious teenager I think I've ever met. She comes from a very believing family and she told us that when her whole family gets together, all they talk about is God. We gave her a tour of the branch and talked to her about the Book of Mormon. She was incredibly excited to receive a Book of Mormon and promised to read. It's always exciting to talk to someone who loves God so deeply and who is so excited to receive an additional witness of His Son. We hope that she'll continue to progress, and that maybe we can even begin teaching her whole family!

On Saturday Pobeda branch had a picnic. And our investigator Lyosha was able to come! We were super excited about that. He had a good time and developed relationships with people there, which is super important. The weather was feeling a little uncooperative, so after meeting outside in the rain, we decided to relocate to the branch building. Which meant that we watched a film instead of playing soccer while the food was being prepared. I don't know if any of you have seen the Old Testament film of Namaan the leper, but that's the one we watched. (In Ukrainian, which was pretty fun.) That's one of my all-time favorite Bible stories, so I was incredibly excited to get to see the film again. It was a really good activity - lots of food, spirituality, games, and laughing. I love the members and investigators and missionaries here!

This week we visited a member family - Vova, Mosha, and their two little boys. I know I say this about everybody, but they truly are some of my favorite people in the entire world. They are going to play such a prominent role in the building of the kingdom in Dnepropetrovsk. They already have. They had just moved into a new, really nice apartment, and it was fun to get to see that. With almost three children, they really needed a bigger place, so we were all excited for them. The highlight of my entire week was when we were gathered with their family and Vova said the prayer right as we were about to leave. That little apartment was just charged with the Spirit and I felt so much love and hope. There is truly such power in the gospel, and I've found that the thing that brings me the most joy here is to see a family united in the gospel in love. Families truly are central to God's plan.

We met some really neat people this week while contacting. Like the woman who played on the 1996 Ukraine Olympic basketball team in Atlanta, Georgia when Ukraine took 4th place. As hard as I tried to persuade her, she refused to give me her autograph, laughing and saying that she doesn't play anymore so it would be silly to still give autographs . . . Which I guess was okay, because it was still really cool to talk to her. She's over 6 feet tall, and she has two little children, and is just one of the nicest people in the world. I hope she'll come to church sometime! (Which sentence can be applied to everybody I ever meet contacting, so feel free to just mentally insert it everywhere.)  We also met some really nice young men from Congo who are in Ukraine studying. They were amazed at our Russian ability, since they've been here for a year or two and we've only been here for some months. That made me realize even more how real the gift of tongues is. Russian is hard, and if we were learning Russian just for the sake of learning Russian, it would take a lot longer than it has been, but we're here as missionaries for the Savior, and we have His power and help in learning this language. That was a neat reminder. 

There are a lot of street musicians here, and my favorite this week were the soprano sax player (who got off his phone when he saw me stop and look at his instrument, and he played a song especially for us, which made me feel cool) and the violin/accordion duo. Listening to them perform always brings back fond memories of band. Good times.

Fun fact: At English practice (just as a side note, English practice is incredible! So many of the young people who join the Church are found through English. It's really neat.) we were talking with some of the young men in the class who are from Palestine studying here. And half of them are from Bethlehem! How cool is that? I don't think I've ever met anybody who can actually claim Bethlehem as their home town, so I thought that was pretty cool. 

Yesterday I went on splits with Sister Palmer to Left Bank Branch. It was a lot of fun to be able to see my old friends there. (Although, it's interesting that all of the missionaries I served with there have been transferred, except for Sister Hooker.) The members there are so wonderful, and I love them dearly. Basically, I just love being a missionary. :)

- Sharisa