Possibly Insightful Ramblings

Happy Thanksgiving last week! Seeing as how it was quite possibly the only Thanksgiving I shall ever spend in Ukraine, I'm quite glad it was fully Ukrainian. (With the possible exception of a pumpkin pie that my companion and I made. It tried really hard to be an American pumpkin pie, but it turned out more like a bubbling volcano of spaghetti squash with a vague pumpkin pie flavor. If any of you are interested, we're going to do a reenactment of it in Utah next Thanksgiving. 'Twas quite exciting. And [nearly] everybody approved of its existence, so we're content.) The branch president of Simferopol and his wife (the Solodovnik family) invited all of the missionaries and our American friend Jill over for Thanksgiving dinner. So after some good weekly planning and missionary work that day, we all headed over to their place for Thanksgiving. The fare was entirely Ukrainian - complete with cute little salads and some lettuce wraps and curry chicken. And compot. Also, I w...

Greetings from the Crimea! :) (Which, in case you don't know where that is, is the little peninsula at the bottom of Ukraine that goes into the Black Sea.) Can I just say that I absolutely love Simferopol?! It's a beautiful little city. And I'm excited beyond all belief that the entire Crimea is my area - including Yalta, Yevapotoria, Sevastopol, and others. Basically, I don't think that life could really get any better than it currently is. My last couple days in Dnepr this past week were a little surreal. It was definitely hard to say goodbye to all these people that I have grown to love so much. And there's something slightly terrifying about leaving your investigators, because all you want is for them to grow in the gospel and you want to be there to help them and see them make those changes and experience the joy of the Atonement. But I know they'll be in good hands with the other sister missionaries, so I shall try to not worry too much. :) On Tuesday, S...

Vika was baptized this week!!!! Honestly, that was one of the most joyful moments of my entire life. I wish there was some way that I could convey some of what I felt (and still feel) to all of you, but just know that it was incredible. There is nothing like watching your little sister step into the waters of baptism and beam with joy. In the words of one of my favorite elders, as we looked at Vika, "You could just cry looking at her." In her little white suit, she just looked like a little glowing angel (and in fact, the entire branch has begun calling her 'angel.' I think some of them even think it's her last name.). The Spirit in that room was tangible, and joy was just radiating. It honestly felt like we were one big family, and my heart rejoiced to see the love that the members all showed to Vika. On Sunday she received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that was also a powerful experience. It reminded me so much of my own confirmation, which is one of my most t...

Greetings from Ukraine! This past weekend we had the incredible opportunity of having Dnepropetrovsk city conference. And what makes that even better was that our visiting General Authority, President Bennett (from the Seventy and from the presidency of the Europe East Area) was presiding. (He will also be speaking at our zone conference later this week, for which I am incredibly excited!) It was a treat to be gathered with all three Dnepr branches and listen to inspired words from our leaders. As President Bennett was talking about how each of the speakers had prayerfully sought the direction of heaven in what to say, I was filled with a sense of excitement - I was sitting next to one of my dear investigators, Nastia, and I knew that God knew exactly what she needed to hear that day, and I knew that she would hear it. (Nastia is the 19-year-old girl who is super quiet and sweet. She will be getting baptized super soon! Hopefully next Saturday.) I was struck with the re...