Possibly Insightful Ramblings

Early Tuesday morning, Sister Dimick, Sister Lewis, and I woke up for the last time in the comfortable bedroom of the mission home. It was quite fitting that we had begun our journey as missionaries together 18 months before, and now were ending it together. It seemed to us that we had just barely flown into country, and now President was driving us to the airport to get on the plane that would take us away. It was a very surreal feeling as we went through security, said our goodbyes, and boarded the plane to Kyiv. My heart was full of emotion as we flew away and I watched the Dnepr river and the streets and buildings I love pass from underneath me. After an exciting layover in Kyiv where we all managed to make it to our planes on time, I had a wonderful conversation on the plane to Amsterdam with a man from Kyiv. He quickly became like a grandpa to me and he shared with me his wisdom from many years of travel (not to mention he taught me the word 'vestibular' in Russian). We...

A week ago, I was talking to President vanBruggen on the phone and he told me that the new missionaries were going to be delayed entering the country for two weeks. Excited, I expected to him to tell me that I could stay for those extra two weeks until Sister Esplin's new companion arrived. But alas, he did not grant such a thing, telling me that my mother and the missionary department would be strictly against such a state of affairs. So last night I sent my dear little Sister Esplin away with a temporary companion and I am now sitting in the mission home looking at the Dnepr River and thinking about how much I love my mission. As sad as I am to be leaving my mission, I am filled with intense gratitude as I think about all the blessings of this past year and a half. I would not trade this time of my life for anything in the world. I will be infinitely grateful to a loving God who allowed me to serve His children in this beautiful land of Ukraine. We saw so many miracles t...