Transfers and (almost!) Conference

First off, elders can serve at 18 and sisters at 19?! Wow, that's one of the most exciting things I've ever heard! Saturday night, while General Conference was taking place in my home state halfway across the world, I was contacting in a quaint little Ukrainian park. We needed to make some calls that evening, so I was on the phone with Marina, (a member who I was making sure would be picking up our investigator for church the next day). She told me that she couldn't talk - she was currently watching a live broadcast of General Conference and that President Monson had just announced the change in missionary ages. My companion and I (oh, by the way, I have a new companion - I completely forgot to mention that last week. More on that later.) were completely shocked, and despite the fact that Marina is not a joker, we decided to check our facts with the senior couple (who we were fortunately just about to call to see if Sister Merrill could go on companion exchanges with us). Elder Merrill answered the phone and when I asked him if it was true that the age had changed, he replied, "Now how did you know that! That news is seriously 3 minutes old." 'Twas quite fun to be as in-the-loop as everybody in Utah. For the rest of the evening (and even now) we were just amazed by that change. It's going to increase the number of missionaries so drastically, and I'm so excited to watch that take place! The Lord truly is hastening His work, and it's so exciting to be a part of it. It will be a change to serve with younger missionaries, but I'm so excited that this is happening right now. Also, I am incredibly excited to watch Conference for myself this coming weekend! I've heard so many great things about it, and I can't wait to hear the words of the prophet.

So let me return back to transfers. Last Sunday night, President called us. I'm staying in Dnepr and my new companion is Sister Bascom, whom I know both from the MTC and from when we lived together in Dnepr before she spent two transfers in Poltava. My old companion, Sister Kochel, got transferred to a city down south called Nikolaiv (or Mikolaiv, depending on if you speak Russian or Ukrainian . . . but I honestly can't remember which name pertains to which language . . .). Sister Palmer got moved up to Poltava where she will be serving with Sister Dimick (two of my favorite people in the world serving together - Poltava's pretty lucky). Sister Hooker will still be in Dnepr, which is awesome. I quite miss Sister Kochel and Palmer - but I guess that's mission life. And I get to stay with all my members and investigators! Oorah!

Because of transfers this week, most of the sisters in the mission were in Dnepr (excluding Sister Lewis, who I have not seen since the MTC, and my friend from BYU, Sister Bates, who I have not once seen on my mission) which was really fun! I enjoyed getting to work and talk with them. At one point, there were eight sisters in our apartment studying. Just at that moment in time, our landlord decided to drop by, and, due to a rather complicated series of events, switch out some of our furniture. So there were eight sisters trying to study while four or five Ukrainians rearranged our apartment - it was the most excitement our apartment has seen for a while. After some plan changes (due to all the bridges being closed to Center because of the Ukrainian president being in Dnepr), all of the sisters were finally able to get on their way to their new areas, so our apartment is now nice and quiet with only the four of us Dnepr sisters. Good times.

Also, thank you so much to everybody for all the birthday cards, messages, and packages. Without a doubt, I've got the greatest family and friends in the world. You're the best! Thanks for remembering me and making my birthday wonderful. Mom asked me to tell all about that day, so I shall. It was quite a good day - probably will be the most memorable birthday of my life. That evening we met with our friend Natalia. We've known her for a long time through English, but she has never been interested in the church. Last week, however, she accepted a Book of Mormon, and on my birthday we were able to teach her a first lesson! That was really exciting, and the Spirit was so strong as we shared the doctrines of the restored gospel. She insisted that we teach her in English, which was an interesting experience (although I did prevail upon her to let me pray in Russian - I'm slightly nervous for the day I return home and have to pray in English again, but I will hopefully remember how . . . ;) ), and it turned out very well. She agreed to read the Book of Mormon, and I hope that with time, she will be ready to accept baptism. She made me the cutest birthday cake - it was a traditional Ukrainian fruit-based cake, and then she had done this elaborate frosting job with a little "Sister Nay" sitting on top of it. I was quite impressed. And touched. 

After meeting with Natalia, we taught English, which is always fun. My friends Lena (who was baptized a couple months ago) and Vika (her 9-year-old sister) had bought me a Kyivski cake. If you've never tried it, it's basically pure sugar. Yep. Quite yummy. That evening after planning we ate an American no-bake cheesecake, seeing as how that is one of my all-time favorite things in the world. And I opened presents and read messages from you wonderful family and friends and felt very loved indeed. Thank you all so much! :)

Church yesterday was something of a holiday - there were two baby blessings. I don't quite know how to describe the powerful Spirit that was present as priesthood holders blessed these two tiny infants. I've mentioned Vova and Mosha before, and one of the little girls was theirs. It was deeply touching to see Vova hold his little girl and bless her. He also blessed the other baby girl (who's mother is a member and who's father is investigating the church). I'm so grateful for the power of the priesthood. God's love was tangible in that room, and I knew without a doubt that He cared for each of those babies, and for each of us who is a bit older than that. He knows and loves each of His children more than we can comprehend.

Today, our district visited the Bezludny family. They're this wonderful, long-time member family who absolutely loves missionaries. We wanted to thank them for all their support and love over the years, so we went and gave them cake and sang to them. I love that family a lot! We had a little miracle on the way there. We were running a bit late for the appointed meeting with the elders (due to our landlord dropping by again). And on that marshrukta that we took was a man named Andrey. And he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon from us. I always get so excited when little things like that happen - God truly is directing this work and bringing the paths of His missionaries into the lives of those who are ready for the truth. This truly is His work.

- Sharisa