Ukraine Week 3: BTR

So i dont know if i have told you about boba tetiana but i will now, so we go over to bobas house to give her the sacrement every sunday.    she is a russian (bob) who got baptized about 6 years ago and wants the sacrement but cant make it to church so we go there. She is a  funny old lady and always makes us food and we have to eat it and she always wants to take pictures. But she also gives all the missionaries nicknames which is funny because everyone wants one so i had to figure out my name so first some of the other missionaries told me my name from brat roman which they were all different first it was the russian word for tubby and then it was a postal wagon and granted these names were all in russian so i had no idea if they were bad like derogatory so it was whatever but then i went this last week and she told me my nickname is BTR it is a russian war machine and is very funny so you should totally send me a picture of that if you can and the othere pictures you told me you had for me, that would be cool too. 

So this last week we had to go up to kiev to go to this leadership conferance which my comp. had to go to cause he is our district leader so we went up there and i got there and i knew that i would be contacting but with who thats the question, there were only a few missionaries there without companions so i found elder nielson who yes is just as green as me and we both dont know ukrainian or kiev so we were about to leave and try to figure things out but then another elder came and said i dont have a comp. can i go with you two and of corse we said yes. So this elders name is elder anderson and he is a russian speaking elder who is in kiev which is good because he knew kiev so we were walking around contacting. And this is a story of how hard satan works against us. So we met this lady who we talked to for about 10 min and it was good to do that then we asked if we could pray and she said yes so we did and we were still talking with her for about 2 min and then this crazy woman came out of nowhere and starting attacking us verbaly and saying that mormons are a curse to ukraine and that we are brain washed kids who are working with the devil and all this crap and then the lady  who we prayed with was like what so then this woman started talking in ukrainian which was the weirdest things ever and she was just baging us but this lady who we prayed with was having none of it and she was defending us, then we walked away just so we could be away but she followed us and was swearing at us and just attacking us. Then elder anderson said ok we get it you told us all the stuff you hate about us is there anything else you have to say or can we leave then she shut up and we walked away. so yeah satan is working very hard on that lady we prayed with so hopefuly the missionaries can talk to her again. 

But yeah that was friday and then we got back saturday and we went to an activaty with the elders quarm which was awesome we played soccer and ate lots of meat that was shishkabobed and over an open fire it was so good we had a blased. 

It was planed to go up to the mountains and party for a cupple of hours but some people coped out and it was just in lviv but it was still way fun. we ate this meat that looked unfamiliar, the reason was that it was horse meat yeah horse meat it was so good they did a really good job and then on the way back to the church we walked by this kvas stand, it is basicaly the ukrainian equivalent of root beer but it tastes nothing like root beer it taists like carbinated bread water yeah its just as gross as it sounds but everyone says that it eventually tastes good but i dont believe them. 

Earlyer this week we also went chalk drawing in a park by the university, we drew the plan of salvation and it was fun and looked way cool and lots of people stoped to find out what we were doing so that was cool to see the results right away so yeah that was good.

ok mom i know your woried about me and my size and how i wont be able to do anything because i wont be able to function. This is not the case, this mission is known for the people my size by the end of their mission having lost 60 to 70 pounds. yeah i know thats crazy, its because we walk around so much and we eat about 1 meal a day and thats why we all lose so much weight and i want you to know that since i have gone on my mission i have lost about 20 pounds and 15 of it has been here in ukraine, and its going to drop fast cause we run 3 times a week and exsersise every day so its good the pounds are just falling off and its good.

This last week we have been working with our 2 investigators who are both strugaling, one lives 70 k away and the other one is bypoler and needs constant help. we are trying to help the less active members aswell, we went and visited this guy called ivan who lives about 40 min away on a marshutka and then another 2 miles of walking distance. so we are going to visit him and we get on the bus and there are no windows and no seats so i stood up for 40 min on a bus and it was about 100 degrees so that was way fun i sweat like a gallon of water and it was gross.

After we got back from kiev we had a new zone leader cause elder hail got called to be a branch pres. in chernefcey so it was kind of weird we werent even halfway into the transfer and he got called to leave. But elder hansen is way cool. We also got an extra sister here because the mission pres loves the sisters, she requested to serve in lviv cause she hadent been here her whole mission but she really wanted to so pres. obeyed her wish so she will be here for about 10 days which will be fun. Yesterday we had a sunday meal with everyone and it was for elder mores birthday he turned 65 years old and that was way cool he is a fun guy. 

 Well im glad to hear that you all had such a fun time in yellowstone and I miss you all and pray for you all the time so be safe and keep having fun live life and do all there is to offer.

Love elder naumann

oh and my misionary mall belt broke and i bought a new one so yeah if you could see if you could get me a new one that would be awesome and i will try to send you the picture and the address of the mission home but if they just give you the new belt dont worry about sending it to me its not a big deal. 

Ukraine Week 1:Львів‏

Well im here in ukraine yeah i know its freaking me out too. well so the flights were all good the seats were cheap but what can you expect. we got into ukraine at about 12 in the afternoon and got all our luggage which was good then we met our mission pres. who is way cool by the way.

 Then he drove us to the temple which is so awesome and right next to the temple so we had some food and then he called you which im sure was weird but yeah he is way cool but then we sat in a room for like 2 hours while we went over stuff then went to the hotel which was way nice except no ac yeah most homes in ukraine dont have ac including our appartments yeah............. but it was good then he told us where we were going which im now in leviv and man this place is beautiful. it has great architecture but its only problem is that no one cares what it looks like so its a bit trashy but its good. so after that day we met our new trainers and mine is named elder olsen he is way cool and we have a lot in common. we took a traine from kiev to leviv which was a night train and it was fun... but then we got in and i saw my new apartment which is 10 stories up and it only has stairs yeah..... and then we ran and its been good to do more excersise i have already lost 12 pounds in like 5 day from not eating and walking and running more. so i get to the area and its kind of dead we have 1 investigator and we are about to drop him so we do a bunch of fun stuff that day but we didnt have any food and we still dont. but it was a fun kind of freaky day with lots of unknowns. the next day saturday we went to go have a lesson with an investigator and have sports day at the church but we got there and they were not there but brat roman was there so we talked to him for a while ( so brat file if you read this.
 i have to tell you something you got to stop telling crazy stories of brat roman he is a member of the branch pres. and a really strong member and he doesnt really like when new missionaries know who he is from his stories that make him sound crazy so if you could stop telling the green book story that would be awesome and i think he would really appreciate it but he is so cool to hang around with)

Ok so after we had sports day which we didnt really have me and my comp. got a call to come teach this guy who is a cousin of a member like at 1 and it was already 12 and we had to take a bus that would take and hour to get out to this guys house. so we got there and called brat molonose who then said that he said to come at 3 so we went to work and waited for him and he never showed up and then we called him and his phone was off and the phones here are weird i will have to tell you about them later. but then we went back to work until about 4:45 and then he called us and said he was here then we drove another 15 min to this guys house and got there and started teaching and this member brat molonose is famous for thinking the missionaries are incompitant so he basicaly just taught the whole lessons but we have a baptism date on the 25 of next month but the lesson was about an hour and 15 min long. to long of a lesson if you ask me or any other missionaries. 


so after that we were out for like until 8:30 at night and we had another meeting with another member which was cool. so alot of the time i understand nothing but thats ok because i try. then came sunday and then we went to church and it was way fun i got to say my testimony in ukrainian which is a language i dont know but it was ok and all of the members are way cool and fun to be around and i already love them.

 we then ate at the zone leaders house and all i want you to know mom is that i eat so much food that i typically dont eat so you should be proud. then we called brat roman and we went over to this bobuskas house and she was cool we got there and said are you hungry and we said no but she brought us out lots of borsh and i have never had borsh and i had just ate and so i tried my hardest to eat it and  i got all the way through and she then brought out tea and it was gross and i drank that too it was hard to do all of that with a full stomach but it was fun.

 we then took lots of pictures and she if funny and then brat roman brought out pictures of old missionaries and i knew some of them from the mtc that was fun. then today we had a good day we went to this park called the sacred grove that had alot of cool huts there and we then ate out and now im here but i love all of you and love hearing from you. oh and mom if you get a call from a random man, dont worry he is just in ukraine for buisness and he is from linden and is a way cool guy but if you dont thats ok too.

MTC Week 10:Not P-day‏

Ok so i know its not p-day family dont freak out my branch pres. said it would be ok to send a short e mail before i left so im going to.

So as you know im leaving the last time i told you my travil plans they were a remembering and not me taking it from the paper so i will tell you the details now.I leave tomorrow (tuesday) Ok so they want us to be up at 3 and leave by 5 so we will bus to the airport at 5 and be there around 6 ish then we will check our bags and i will hopefuly make a phone call our flight leaves at 8:30 so we will probably have about 1 hour to talk if we are fast in the airport. then we arive in new york at 3:11 and will be there for 2 hours until 5:40 so if i cant make the call in salt lake i will in new york but if that is the case i dont know the time diferance but i will just plan on calling mom and then dad so we can all talk if you are all at work. then we fly from 5:40pm to 8:25 am to vienna, Austria yeah cool huh but we leave there at 9:45 and fly right into kiev and will be there at about noon the next day. we will all be super jet laged but it will be fun and way cool to just be out there. then we dont have a p day until the next monday and it will be the next time you hear from me ok.

Ok so im sending home a package today with some stuff and a few letters along with hopefuly the paper you wanted me to get signed.

Yeah im just freaking excited to be out there its sad to see so many of my friends leave but its ok because thats what a mission is So I love you all and wish the best and i will see you in not to long..........

MTC Week 8: Apostle day for real‏

Ok so this week has gone by really fast and i dont know what to think of it. i literaly have 13 days left until im leaving to ukraine..... how freaky is that and not only that but we celibrated our 2 month mark on the 25th its going by so fast and the language is coming good. We teach investigators like 8 to 10 times in a week and its getting really easy to teach the gospel. before this point we would be studding like 2 hours just to be able to read the words we wanted to say off of a pa[er but now we plan for like 20 min and its usualy spiritual stuff it is really nice, but i know when i get to ukraine that i will probably feel so lost and not be able to speak to anyone and it will be so crazy but im really excited.

Ok so the title this week like i said before was prophet week and it wasnt really but yesterday was apostle day the whole day everyone was antecipating one of the apostles would be there for the evning devotional, we all were waiting in line just so we could see one of them in the same room, dont worry i made it in barely and i had to wait in a line for like 1 hour with 3000 other missionaries in suits it was really hot. so they never anounce the speaker ever but we all knew. It was L Tom Perry again and he talked the whole time about the statictics of the church it was an ok talk and it was cool to see all the #s of the church but it wasnt very inspiring but thats ok because there were 9 other apostles only Packard and oaks i think werent there it was cool and i got a picture i will have to sent it home.

So this week has been a hastle with all the new mission pres. one of the buildings was taken up all week and its the one where we eat so the food lines were so long, some of the comments that came out of it were really funny like, its like disneyland but for a bowl of cereal that was my favorite another was, i feel like im in the great depression also a good one but it hasnt been that bad. so erik dont worry i didnt see your mission pres. do you really think that if i didnt see the prophet i would really look for your mission pres. nope but thats ok i still love you and it seems like its a good thing.

Ok so this week one of the other districts is getting interviewed by someone from new york times yeah cool right out of the whole mtc they chose 1 district and they are right next to us so i want you to look for that when it comes out they speak russion and some of there names are Elder barret, wilding, christionson, and whitimore. the sisters are sister young, kafolace i think and angelo and i forget the other sister but its way cool that they get that oportunity to do that.

Well im the new district leader for the next week and a half and this next week is our last real week and its not going to be a normal week we have the 4th of july coming up and  we have a devotional for that so yeah 3 devotionals next week and i have in field orientaton which should be fun, im going to send home my sd card and i need it back as soon as possible and then i will send my other card home but then i need that as soon as possible.

I got a new pair of scriptures and it has been the funest thing, i never thought that it would be fun to get new scriptures and just study and mark them up but it is the funest thing ever and i look forward to another 2 years where i can do that.

Oh thanks for the packages it was the greatest day all the people in my room and in the rooms around me got a package and so it was package day and the joy was overflowing from our room. i love all of you and i think that i have 2 more times i can write to you in the mtc so look forward to lots of letters and then none for like the next like 2 years but thats ok i love you everyone.

Elder naumann