Adventures in Kherson and Nikolaiv

Sister Nay and Sister Burgoyne

This week we had the incredible opportunity of traveling five or six hours by train to do exchanges with the sisters in Kherson and Nikolaiv. Due to a current shortage of sisters in the mission (which will end next week when three more sisters join us!), there is a threesome of sisters who cover both of those cities - living half the week in the Kherson apartment, then moving back to Nikolaiv for the rest of the week. So it was exciting that for a day they were able to be in both cities at once thanks to exchanges. :)

After a lovely ride through the Ukrainian countryside (as a side note, I have had so many beautiful experiences lately as I've studied the scriptures in a little coupee on a train - those little rooms have taken on a very special place in my heart), we were met in Kherson by Sisters Bascom, Dickison, and Gottscheck. After having not seen Sister Bascom for six months, it was quite wonderful to get to be her companion again and spend that exchange working with her in Kherson while the other three got on a bus to go work in Nikolaiv. We taught a family home evening, had a lesson with a recent convert, and then went out on the street to witness miracles. President vanBruggen has had a lot of discussions with me recently about how on exchanges we see more miracles than even in normal missionary work. And I would say there is a lot of truth in that. On that short walk home that evening, we met a great deal of wonderful people, two of whom accepted copies of the Book of Mormon, and one of whom sat down with us on a bench to listen to us explain the Restoration of the gospel. It was exciting to see how many people were eager to talk to us. 

The next day we spent a few incredible hours outside, talking to wonderful people and giving away many copies of the Book of Mormon. We had a lesson with a wonderful less-active member of the church. I quite loved working in Kherson with Sister Bascom! And I very much approve of sister exchanges - they truly are inspired and I'm grateful that our church leaders have instructed sisters to take part in these incredible learning and training opportunities. 

Early the next morning, Sister Burgoyne and I took a train from Nikolaiv back to Simferopol. I'm going to take a moment here to talk about how wonderful my companion is. She has been in Ukraine for two months now, and she is an absolutely incredible missionary! Her desire to serve the Lord and talk to everybody on the streets is inspiring. She's from Arizona (which state, it seems, is much more widely known in Ukraine than is Utah) and is a vocal teaching major. She's one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and we have had countless spiritual, wonderful, experiences, as well as hilarious ones. When she was younger she lived in France and Holland for about a year each, so she speaks both of those languages and has a natural gift for linguistics. She's basically just wonderful. :)

We had a couple neat finding experiences at the train station. As we were about to get on the train to Kherson, I was suddenly aware that a ten-year-old bundle of energy was coming my way and I found myself wrapped in the arms of Dasha, a little girl who comes to English. She was walking home with her grandmother, who apparently has heard about how wonderful the missionaries are. :) Her grandmother invited us to come over when we have time and she gave us her address and phone number. I absolutely adore Dasha, and I'm excited for the opportunity to get to know her better and share the restored gospel with her and her family.

The second train station miracle was right after we returned from exchanges. We needed to buy some more train tickets for an upcoming trip, but were told that such advance purchases could not be made in the normal place. So this very obliging young couple, in true Ukrainian style, accompanied us to the other ticket office which was several block away. As we first rode and then walked to the office, we talked with them about the gospel. They left their phone number and asked that we call them. We were able to meet with the girl again yesterday, and she even introduced us to her friend who accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said that she would like to talk more with us about baptism next time. It is always wonderful to see how perfectly God knows where we will be and sends people into our path. I know that this is His work and that He directs His missionaries. 

Also, I'm about out of time, but I just wanted to mention that Vika is amazing! She shared with us this week at one of our lessons her dream that she took as a sign that the Book of Mormon is true. I absolutely love that woman, and I am so excited that her faith is growing.

-Sharisa