Yalta Conference

I have to say that I am absolutely convinced that I live in the most gorgeous region of the entire world. Hands down. Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity of going to Yalta for the second-ever Sacrament meeting to be held in that city. The drive there quite possibly consisted of the most gorgeous 2 hours of my life - I'm not quite sure how to describe the stunning beauty of driving along a autumn-colored mountain ridge overlooking the Black Sea, but it was incredible. (I highly recommend that you all go look up some pictures of the Crimea, because it is stunning.) As I looked down the mountain into the sun-sparkled sea, my breath was taken away and I thought to myself, "God really loves Ukraine."

After being lost for a little while in the beautiful Yaltian streets (which actually turned out to be a tender mercy for a couple reasons), we made it to the member's apartment where we would be having Sacrament meeting. There were about 15 of us there, consisting of missionaries, members, and investigators. And a cat. The Spirit was so powerful as the Sacrament was broken and blessed on the little coffee table in the living room, with all of us sitting in a circle around the room. The subsequent testimony meeting was incredible - these members in Yalta and the surrounding regions are so solid, and I love them so much! There is someday going to be a stake in Yalta (which we decided should always call their stake conference "the Yalta Conference"), and I hope to be there that day when the stake is organized. And when the Yalta temple is dedicated. I feel incredibly grateful to be here at this time and place as the church is beginning to grow in this region of the world. We truly are seeing miracles, and that 15 person meeting will one day be transformed into a conference with thousands of people. I can hardly wait!

In addition to Yalta, we also traveled to Evpatoria, Sevastopol, and Nyzhnaya Kutuzovka, all of which are absolutely gorgeous cities. And amazing people. On our Evpatoria trip, we met with a teenager (Dasha) that has been coming to English practice for a few weeks. The elders had given her a Book of Mormon the week before, and she'd already been reading it. She is incredible - she already has so many of the same standards that we value in the church, which astounded me considering how difficult it is for young people to stand up to temptation in today's world. We talked about the Restoration with her and invited her to be baptized. And she not only wants to be baptized, but also wants to serve a mission! Which is kind of beyond exciting for us. One of the neat things about her is that she already knew Sister Carpenko, who is a member from Evpatoria currently serving a mission in Kyiv. Small world! And she became good friends with another sister missionary from Evpatoria who returned from Ohio a week or two ago. Missionary work is always so much better when there are members involved - people who speak the same language and have the same religious background and already hold a place of trust in the lives of investigators are inevitably more convincing than foreign missionaries (as hard as we try to speak Russian and understand their point of view).

Speaking of the power of member missionary work, we had another miracle when we were out in Nyzhnaya Kutuzovka. We have a recent convert out there named Yasna, and we've been wanting to teach her family for a while now. This past week, her mother-in-law came on the lesson with us, and we taught her the Restoration. That in an of itself was a miracle, but as we talked with her, we realized that her husband had gone to college with a recent convert from Yalta, and the two families are very close friends. Considering how few members there are in this region of the world, that is not a coincidence. When Yasna talked with these Yalta members on Sunday, they were all very excited about the connection, as well as completely surprised that members of both families had joined the church. We are pretty sure there are miracles about to happen with Yasna's family, and we're super excited about it.

Last night while contacting we had a pretty neat experience. (As well as a cool experience, we also found a pet dog whom we named Misha and who came contacting with us for an hour - he was incredibly loyal and always stopped and waited for us as we talked to people. We were both quite sad when, after a particularly long conversation he ran away and we couldn't find him. But that's okay. I didn't know I could get quite so attached to a stray dog, but Misha is quite wonderful. But maybe someday he'll come back.) Anyway, we were talking to this man named Pavel. He was holding an absolutely adorable baby boy, and we were quite excited at the prospect of teaching a family. As we talked with him he said, "I saw Americans once in my life before. It was a year ago, and I saw two boys walking down the street in white shirts and ties. They didn't talk to me, but I remembered that." Wow. I was amazed by the fact that he would remember for an entire year that he had one time seen LDS missionaries even though they hadn't exchanged one word. That was a witness to me that everything we do as missionaries is for a purpose, even if it is just for someone on the other side of the street to see us and remember a year later that he had had some sort of encounter with missionaries. God is continually preparing His children for the gospel. Pavel accepted a Book of Mormon, and we have high hopes for him and his family.

Happy December, everybody!

- Sharisa