Ukraine week 28: wet dogs

Well this week was an interesting and wet one so something that might surprise you all is that yes it has been wet but not the wet that comes from snow. This week it decided to rain and as you all can imagine when you have roads covered in ice and then it rains and then the night gets to -2C we have some pretty slippery walks. I have gained some experiences with walking on ice so I dont fall and now that imgetting my camera fixed I dont have to worry about it being crushed even worse. 

This week sounded fun for everyone with Snow camp out and no mono and Drama for macey and macey I agree with mom get a job and get some money for new york because that trip will be way worth it, I was always jealous of the drama kids for that one. I assume for kyle and Erik they are still alive and doing well. So mom yes there is a stake choir and apparently it is really awful so yeah, In lviv we thought about starting a choir but the choir director was inactive so we never did it. We did good with the missionary choir but the whole program was like 30 min and we spent like 4 hours practicing so I dont know if the time was worth it but it was still fun.

Something that me and my companion figured out this week was that for 1 month we haven't been dogged once so that was cool but yeah this week we got dogged, sad I know. 

So basically this week we didnt meet with all the investigators that are on our list because they, for the most part aren't progressing so we will visit them maybe once or twice a month to encourage them. So this week we spent alot of time in a village called Velika Dimerka. 

We started our time there with a meeting with this active family out there named the Clark's and yes this is the same brother Clark from America and the one who does bum bum bum and by the way we did that same song for priesthood and he did the same bum bum bumming that he did the first time. 

So the adventure of that day started with us taking a bus 709 and we have taken it before so we thought we knew what we were doing             (wrongo) so it turns out that if you take the 709 with dimerka on it, then it will take you to a different end of the village and the other one is called the 709 zoria and that is the one that we needed to take so yeah. Long story short we ended up calling them and they came and picked us up in their 90 year old car. 

We had lunch with them and then headed out to go to this less active/investigator family that lives in the same village so we got on the right bus thankfully and got off. We showed up and they were eating with a random guy that we had never met before and he was way interested in our message but didnt really get why the book of mormon was important. His name and the name of like all the investigators that we have found while here are all the same but they have different nick names so that helps us. 

So yeah we got dogged  this week 4 times and then yesterday our one investigator that said he would come to church gave me a call 5 min into sacrament and so I thought that he was going to dog us too but then he showed up and it was awesome his name is alex c ( Temple role) and so we had a really good lesson after sacrament about tea and the only reason he drinks tea is because he wants to be a samurai and they drink tea at his training school but he committed to try to drink herbal tea and fruit tea so hopefully he does that because I really like him. 

Then yesterday we went back out to that village and met with our less active investigator family and the whole family was there for a change and they were really argumentative and they couldn't get over black people and why they are black and I was like are you kidding me really? So that was a hard lesson with a lack of the spirit but we will work with that. 

Im glad to hear that grandma is doing well and thats crazy that our ward might be splitting. Why dont we just become a stake because the whole stake here consists of as many active members are in our ward and here so yeah mini stake. 

Well I love you all, have a good week I know i will.

Elder Naumann

Ukraine week 26: ChristmasX2

Well today is Christmas again here in Ukraine and this last week was full of lots of firework nights and drunk people and just fun adventures that i didn't die for fortunately.

So this week we started out with Monday and Monday as you all know was the 31 and you know what that means yeah drunk people and fireworks so we had a rule that we couldn't be out past 5 so that made life safer so we got our emailing done and shopping and then we went right home and we made a really nice meal with ham and potato's and soda and cookies and lots of junk food and it was really good i glassed the ham with brown sugar and it was soooooo good. Then we studied the rest of the night so that was a fun night but then at 4 in the morning and not at 12 there were huge explosions and here in Ukraine there aren't illegal fireworks so yeah there are always some explosions happening especially in the park on the frozen lake so yeah fun stuff. 

Then Tuesday we steeped out side our house and it was literally a zombie Apocalypse and it was freaky so we were walking for 8 min before we saw a car or a person so we really thought everyone had died and we realized that getting to kiev would take like an extra 30 min. We found out that Ukrainians celebrate New Years like we celebrate Christmas and this is the day that their Santa comes and that really explains lots of things because i always wondered how Santa got out to all the children in one night but he doesn't he just waits a week for Russia and Ukraine and who knows about other countries.  After district meeting in Kiev we were heading home and decided that we wanted to grab some domino's and so we did and there was a 2 for 1 sale so it only cost 89hrn to get 2 pizzas and they were really good. 

Then the next day without planning to go into kiev we were called and told to come into Kiev and grab my equivalent of my passport so we did that and just to celebrate the week we grabbed some KFC and it was really good and really busy and there were some obese Americans there so i felt like i was home again but yeah then back home and had English and a meeting with our investigator alex and taught the plan of salvation and he is really cool and wants to be a samurai and i think that's cool and we play ping pong with him and so he is well on his way.

Then the next day we had the opportunity to go visit our branch pres. and he is really cool he translates for the church and so he has perfect English and has a fun family and has been branch pres. here since his mission here for like 11 years so yeah he is cool and then the next day we got invited to go over to our mcm's house and have vereniky and that taisted really good and he is way cool too has a fun family and just works from home online and makes good money and just is way too cool for his own good so we like him. 

Saturday we had a little exchange so that elder vernon could go to our branch activity and also so that i could carry the missionary choir at out stake play and so that was way fun and really helpful for elder vernon because we had someone who served here help him here and tell him lots of good stuff about brovary.

So dad i want to say something about the so called rumors they are both true well at least the latter i think you guys told me the first rummer so yeah the one about going to china that is happening. So what it is is you open your call and it says you got called to(call this #) 

and then you get to talk to the prophet or councilors and they tell you that you are serving a 3 year mission and the first year you will be learning the language of china in a different mission and then the next 2 years you will be in china so yeah elder Vernon's friend had that happen to him so thats way crazy right. 

Mom if it were me i would have the part time job and have time at home because i think that is where you are needed but thats my opinion and OK why didn't anyone send me the mailing address of alexis i need it soon OK and some advise on my broken camera screen too. 

Well That's all forks 

Elder Naumann 

Ukraine Week 25: A new year and a final goodbye

Dear Family and anyone else who is reading this 

    So this week has been a fun one we started out on Monday and we didn't have p day on Monday because our pres. switched it to the 25th like you all already know but so on Monday we went out to this ladies house who is an investigator and she has been taught everything and she even had a baptismal date until the missionaries told her that she needed to come to church every week then she drooped it but she lives all the principals including tithing and she pays a lot of it, but she is just a little crazy and doesn't think that church is important so we will try to help her. 

Also on Monday all the Sr.. couples made us breakfast and it was really good the Sr. couples don't spare any expense to make us happy and full and i got to see my companion from the MTC elder Pockrus and that was cool cause he just got made district leader and that's crazy cause he is the jr. companion so that was cool to see him and we all brought small gifts and played the left/right game and that was interesting cause everyone just brought random leftover trash from their apts. and so i got some silly putty that was hard but it was fun to have that reminder of home. But to get into Kiev we hitch hiked and that was fun for us. 

Then Christmas came and i saw all of you and that was really fun for me but i see why they don't have us do that even though it takes less time to  Skype family than it does to email and read emails but that's ok because you get his with this huge trunk wave that makes you miss home but then you remember why you are here and everything is ok.

So being here in Bovary is fun and hard and interesting and just all around crazy. So first my companion he is a cool kid is 6 ft 4 and skinny as a twig and he is studying to become a physicist if i spelled that right and he is going to BYU and he is a real book worm, he cant understand a thing anyone says so i have to take the lead. He doesn't learn very fast from the street he reads and learns vocab but he is also a bit stubborn and he doesn't take advice on language very well. but i will still offer it. He is very gung hoe cause he just came from a place which has the most baptisms for the whole mission so yeah he was a bit shocked when we went contacting and no one wanted to talk to us and i felt normal so i hope i don't crush his dreams and faith. He loves scifi and is really into space time and he is really picky like as picky as me but ever since i got to Ukraine i just eat everything but it was interesting to see peakiness on the other side, its a bit weird and kind of embarrassing so i want to say sorry for whoever i embarrassed by being picky around you and i will be better. 

So the new area is great really small and basically a ghetto of Kiev and so yeah our branch is really awesome and i love the members they rock our mcl is so on the ball with missionary work and this return missionary who just got back like 2 weeks ago just got called as the second councilor and so yeah everyone is on the ball. Actually the last missionary here who got white washed had it happen at the same age on his mission too and was also sr. comp so apparently this branch and area do well with white washing. We have about 10 investigators and 3 progressing and we are just trying to get to know them and figure out their needs so we can teach them but its hard around the holidays no one wants to meet so that has been a fun experience. 

So mom some names are Ivan, Alex and kazamear. and i do have something for you as far as the job i would say take it but i know how much i loved having you around the house even though i may not have always shown it i really do appresiate the times when i needed help you were there. And you don't want to be called what grandmas are called her they are bobs, bobushki, and boba but do what you want and all those names mean old woman so yeah. And as far as packages go, i still have some peanut butter but always sent peanut butter and jelly, like the grape kind because they don't sell that stuff here and then brown sugar always but all i would be grateful but not really needed but I am always willing to take anything.

I need some advice from you too, so because of the ice and lack of cleats i have fallen many many times and on one of the falls unfortunately my camera broke i mean it still takes pictures and stuff but the led screen is broken so i was thinking to try to find a place to fix it here and hope they don't mess my camera up of i could buy a new one here for like 150$ and sent my camera home to get fixed in my next package but i don't know how much it will cost there and here and i can buy a new one and just keep this one for a the rest of my mission if its all too expensive but i need some advice so help please. 

Well yeah this next week we have this performance as a missionary choir for the stake and none of the elders except me and this elder Waters can sing so that is always fun because everyone always follows me so when i mess up a little and come back everyone else is way way off and its really hard cause no one has respect enough to sing and listen and to not sit there and talk, not even the zone leaders, they were the worst ones they just couldn't stop talking during our rehearsal. so once again anyone who i was disrespectful to as a choir teacher or director of sorts I am sorry i was dumb forgive me.  But it will be fun and I am looking forward to it. 

Well tonight we have to be in doors at 5 and so we are going to make us some really nice ham and glaze it with brown sugar and stuff like that and we will have a party but unfortunately we have to go out tomorrow and have a regular day when everyone is going to be drunk so i bought some knifes and yeah if this is my last letter because i died in a drunk driving accident tomorrow on our way to Kiev i love you all and Alexis good luck you will do great but family keep up the fight and serve and love and don't forget me never forget................................ No one forgets and no one is forgotten 

Elder Naumann The final entry