There and back again, or how I feel like I relived my entire mission in a week

Well, to be honest, I didn't really relive my entire mission. But I got to spend a few nights at the apartment I lived in for my first seven months in Ukraine. Plus, being with a brand new missionary on her first day brings back so many memories of the start of my mission. All told, I enjoyed reliving a lot of my mission this week.

After a few final, glorious working hours with my beloved Sister Burgoyne, the two of us boarded our train for Dnepropetrovsk on Tuesday. That night, I felt like I was going back in time as I entered the apartment of the sisters on Left Bank. It felt almost like I hadn't left six months ago, and yet at the same time I recognized how much I had grown since I'd last been within those walls. 

Wednesday morning we had some training meetings with President vanBruggen. The eight of us were really excited to meet our new missionaries, and when they finally arrived from the airport, the assistants called us out one at a time to meet our new companions and go somewhere to talk with them. My companion is Sister Esplin. She is one of the first two 20-year-old sisters in our mission, and she is wonderful! She is from Boise (which gives her the fabulous opportunity to tell people, "I'm from Boise, but don't be afraid of me," which, despite how it sounds in English, is really quite clever in Russian.). We have a lot of similarities, and I'm quite fond of her. The rest of that day we worked in Dnepropetrovsk. We saw a lot of miracles and were able to give away some copies of the Book of Mormon. That evening we met up with the rest of the new missionaries and the vanBruggens and had a Ukrainian dinner. Later that night, we managed to find room for all eight of us sisters in the apartment of the very obliging and wonderful Sister Swenson and Sister Haliday (who are fabulous, by the way).

On Thursday, we had some more training meetings and again worked in Dnepropetrovsk. Sister Esplin and I had the opportunity of teaching a lesson to Masha, a less-active member with whom I worked when I lived in Dnepropetrovsk. It was a delight to be able to be with her again and support and strengthen her. I'm really grateful I had that opportunity! I really enjoyed walking the streets of my dear Dnepropetrovsk and working in the places I haven't seen for so long. 

On Friday we had the glorious opportunity to participate in a mission-conference (sans the rest of my zone, who live too far away from Dnepr to make it . . . ) with President Bennett of the Europe East Area Presidency. That was the most incredible conference of my mission! Not only was it amazing to have so many missionaries gathered in one room (all 16 of the sisters in the mission were together, which thing I think has never before happened), but we were all edified and inspired. We focused a lot on referrals and finding through members, less-active, recent converts, young adults, and others. The things we learned and felt that day have already changed our missionary work, and I know they're going to lift this mission to an even higher plane of success and productivity. It's been incredible over the past year to watch this mission change and progress. We're definitely not all about numbers, but numbers are often a good indication of how a mission is doing - and basically all of our numbers have doubled over the past few months. I'm excited to be a part of the continuing progress of this mission as we strive to help as many people as possible come to Christ through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The work here is so miraculous!

Right after the conference, my companion and I had to run back to the apartment to grab her luggage so we could get to the bus station so we could go to Zaporozhye so we could take our train from there the next morning to Simferopol. Yes. Slightly stressful, but we were determined to make it work. Unfortunately, as we were hurrying down the crowded Dnepr streets, I received a text from our taxi informing us that he was there - fifteen minutes early. Luckily we were only about 10 minutes away from the apartment, so I figured he would wait and we would be okay. Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a rush so I neglected to carefully read the placard on the marshtrutka we got on. Right. I quickly realized we were not going in the right direction and that we would now have to take an additional marshrutka to make it home. But having faith that even my mistakes happen for a reason, I knew that probably the woman I was talking to was going to be interested in the gospel. So I continued that conversation. And she wasn't interested. So I applied the skills we had just barely discussed in conference about seeking referrals. And she knew nobody we could help. Slightly disappointed, we got off that marshrutka and onto one that would take us to the apartment. Determined that the woman next to me was going to accept the gospel, I began a pleasant conversation with her. But before I could even explain who I was, she told me that she was in a lot of pain and couldn't talk. So I sadly handed her an invitation to church and told her to feel better. Before too long, however, she initiated another conversation with me, asking where I was from. My heart leaped at that, overjoyed that she'd decided her pain wouldn't keep her from talking to me. We talked about the Book of Mormon and she eagerly accepted a copy and promised to read, leaving her phone number with me. I happily exited the marshrutka, confident that the purpose of me getting on the wrong bus had been fulfilled. But God always has more miracles for us than we expect. We ended up missing that first taxi we had called, and when the second one finally came, it turned out that our driver had once owned and read a Book of Mormon. We talked about that, and although he said that neither he nor his family or friends are interested right now, we invited him to church again. And who knows - maybe that little reminder of the existence of the church was just what he needed.

We made it to Zaporozhye with little additional stress, and several additional miracles. (Including the nice man who was sitting across the aisle from me who wants us to get in contact with his wife.) It was wonderful to be able to spend more time with Sister Peterson and Sister Hodgson and work with them again in Zaporozhye.

Saturday morning we took our train back to Simferopol. (I have to say, it brought me intense delight when I called the taxi in Zaporozhye to take us to the train station, and before I finished saying the name of the street we lived on, the operator finished the address for me. Yes, I am that American, LDS missionary who frequently calls Zaporozhian taxis early in the morning. ;) ) It was so wonderful to be back in Simferopol! I love this city so much. I also loved being in Sevastopol on Sunday - that city is absolutely gorgeous, and the members are incredible! I am so grateful to be able to live in the beautiful Crimea. And I'm even more grateful to be able to be a missionary for the Lord I love with all my heart.

-Sister Nay