Speak your Language (from Sept. 23)

Dear Family 

I will first answer moms questions and then tell about my week. 

How are you?  Im great. ok but really im doing good. 

How is your new area? It is just as good as the hipe from the other missionaries. The people here are few but they are really strong.

Did the baptism take place that you told us about a while ago? Well the 2 small boys got baptized but the mom hasnt got baptized yet.d

 How is it being in the leadership of the branch? its funny and harder and easier then i thought i dont know how that works but its great. 

 What is the weather like right now? It has been raining this last week alot and aparently the winter is going to be a fun one im not looking forward to it. 

Do you have a new favorite food other than borsch that we could try? well i really like vereniky with sour cream but you really shouldnt try anything new while im not there you will probably make it wrong. 

This week we had our first real zone conferance which was fun and funny the things that pres. lattin think are problems and what he wants us to change so i will tell you about that. 

So on monday we had exchanges and i was with elder tribett we met up at the end of the day and planned to spend tuesday and wednesday together so that the people in lviv would be happy with us and wouldnt have to fight over us. On tuesday after english practice we walked home thought and it was raining and the walk home takes about an hour but we hit a terentral rain storm which hit us so hard and we were soaked even with unbrellas so that was a fun experience especialy since we had to use the shoes we had for the next day and they were water loged but we found others to use so that was good. 

So some new things from zone conference is that we will now be SYL ing all day everyday so yeah it will be fun and we are now banned from spending any time other than missionary work time with sisters. its a social activaty if we do. so no more district unity building lunches on pday and no more haircuts from sisters which sucks cause one sister here really likes cutting our hair so yeah. And no more excersising together. I think he is worried that by the end of the year with 29 elders and 26 sisters we will just be dubble dating. 

So our 2 investigators are doing really well they are reading and this time they had their brother sit in and he was interested too hopefully they will take a baptismal date the next time we come. they love having us over and we love being over we are just woried that we will get stuck in the friend zone and we dont want that to happen we want them diving deep into the waters of baptism. 

Yesterday and the day before we had president lattin here to teach us and teach the members and we really had no idea what to do cause he is here for like 4 days and didnt tell us he wanted to be on lessons or any expectations so its really weird he really strugles to tell us concreet things he is nothing like president k but i like him, he just barly studied with us and it was good he is working really hard on ukrainian so he is great.

Love Elder Naumann

Here he comes again

Dear Family,

Well this week is the week we got transfer info, and well it was interesting. So first let me give you a backround in what a typical transfer of president K goes, you stay with a companion for 2 transfers and in totall 4 in an area about 6 months and i like thismethid but now having pres. lattin as our mission president everything has changed. He likes people to only be in an area 2 transfers and with companions for 1.

So my companion is getting transferred to become a zone leader and im staying to become the group leader and to again to serve with you guessed it elder vernon the man i spent 6 months with already in a small cold town called brovery and now we are back together, He is the district leader and all the surroundings that we had in brovary like a big branch, cold ugly apt. and no languageskils. now we have a really small group and the language is good and the apt. is great so yeah it will be fun. It leads me to believe that i will be leaving uzhorod in 6 weeks.

Also something cool is that elder callister is coming into our district and will end his mission here with me and that will be cool it was funny because we had a lunch with a member here who does our registration asked us if i was serving with callister or vernonand i was like well i guess elder callister because i already served with elder vernon but i guess that doesnt make a difference to the lord. but as a consolation prize for not winning elder callister i get him in our district.

So mom you ask me about what i want in my Christmas package, and well you already know about the brown sugar and the peanut butter and you ask about anything else and well to be honest with you, I have clothes for the next year i have 4 suits (2 were gifts from a rich friend) and now i have an extra coat like a big guy also from that rich guy so i really dont know what more i could need. My good friend elder johansen just made a funny comment, We dont live in a third world country. I wasnt going to say anything but any country without peanutbutter is a third world country.

Well this week was uzhorodes 1120 birthday so that was cool except for the extra dose of drunk guys on the street but whatever. So something cool this week we had 3 Americans come to church and they have been coming here for this like children's help program and they were here 15 years ago when the branch here had just opened and then closed. They told us why the missionaries were taken out 15 years ago, its because the mission pres. wanted the big cities to grow and so he let this city die. they said that they have been praying for 15 years for this place to open again and now it has.

Well thats about all this week im glad everything is good at home and tell grandma i love her.

Love Elder Naumann

Baptisms and unplanned conformations

Dear Family,

Well everyone this week has been an interesting one we had first off me getting sick, registration things a baptism fun englishclasses and me getting my first calling. Lets just say that this week was rather eventful and i had a planner so i remember it all well most of it. 

So first thanks for the pictures kyle and mom i sent you a few pictures with me in it but yeah nothing really exciting as those pictures go except a baptism in a rented hot tub that was cold. 

This whole week i have been a little sick and one day i got hit hard but im all better now and its sad when you get sick because you loose precious time that you dont get back its really hard sometimes to be sick and have no area book to call people so it was hard but im over it now. 

Also this week we had a fun experience with a miracle we started off with getting a phone call from the registration man namedlubamer and he told me that a bus with my documents would be in uzhorod at 8:45 so we showed up to the place it should be and waited and called him and waited and called him and every time he said just wait elders just wait so that was frustrating cause we have a curfew its 9 or 9:30 if you have a lesson and we were there waiting until 10 and it never came we waited there and while we were waiting there another kid named vania was there and we talked with him and he was cool and he was like hey could i maybe come to your church and we were like yeah you can so maybe he will come some day. we made it home and had a whole bunch of things the next 2 days and in the end i got it and im registered and all is well it was just an interesting experience.

We also had fun english classed this week i had some really fun conversations with this kid named albert he is 12 and knows 5 languages and is super smart and way funny. the english program here is really good we have about 30 people come and they love it. 

We also had 2 not 3 baptisms which is sad but it was still great the baptisms that happened the woman who didnt get baptised who should have was their mother so if you mom could put the heminets family in the temple that would be great. 

So the kids that got baptised are 11 and 14 they are way funny kids and the lord has really prepared their family to help uzhorodgrow. we did the baptisms at a cold hot tub and the kids are so small and they were so cold but it went well they were great.

Saturday and sunday we had the president from the lviv branch come down and we hung out with him he came down to get callings to uzhorod and it was good for the members they are ready for callings they just need to be taught. Im called as the missionary coordinating leader and i have a member as the assistant and the calling is really for him he is great and loves to help. for now no one but the missionaries have the Melchizedek priesthood so we have all those callings but soon roman the president in lviv thinks that they will be separate.

Well mom i answered most of your question except the last about the new pres. he is great very different from president klebingatso yeah i like him but i cant say which one is my favorite.

Well love you all family have fun in the fast lane.

Elder Naumann 

 

fun week for all

Dear Family,

Wow sounds like alot is going on for everyone school and work and new computers and well it sounds like everything in real life has just hit and lets just say that im glad to be on a mission it is the one place and time in my life where i dont have to worry about "real" life and its great i love it. 

Well this week was simply a bomb like literally we had like no free time to contact or even visit very many members cause we were home base for everyone to come in and find their new companions and sending them off so it was crazy. 

I was still with elder Nielson for most of the week and man when im with him even my journal goes under so i really cant recall where i was what i was doing but its ok now i have a new planner and all will be well. so i will do a brief overview of what i did.

Mon. We did regular stuff but mid way through we met up with a member and we went bowling and it was great its fun to do regular things with members and weird too. we also had dinner at tex mex for one last time well i keep saying that but i keep going back so yeah we them met up with him again after tex mex and we talked and walked and he is doing great he is really struggling with coming to church cause he doesn't like the members but he is doing alot better. 

Tuesday we had a really crazy day we ran around and tried to please everyone and that ivan pavlieshen guy who keeps calling you really wanted to spend time with us but we had to so registration stuff and English and well lots but it all worked out and it was crazy.

Wednesday well we spent the whole day with roman and we did alot of stuff we shopped and visited my favorite old granny and it was fun he is great he is our branch pres. over uzhorod so we talked about uzhorodwith my new companion elder terry he is great and amazing at the language but on the more boring side butim use to that. Its sad to leave lviv for the second time i never thought i would come back but i did and i hope i did what the lord wanted. 

Thursday well we woke up early and went off to our train to uzhorod and well the rest of the week went like this English and English planning cleaning and church with only 6 member so it was good i like it the only thing is that we have to carry the whole thing on our backs for now cause the members are so new but i like it we are working hard here we have a few investigators and i haven't met them yet but we are going to hit the city hard, we have 3 hopefully baptisms this week so thats great and im excited to work here. 

well love you all and hope real life is great i pray for you all so much and i hope for the best that can happen to all of you so have a great week. 

Love Elder Naumann

Uzhorod Say What!!!!

Dear Family,

Well i think first things first i will just answer moms questions. 

So you are going to a new area huh? Yeah its way cool the area has just been opened like 3 or 4 months ago and i have wanted to serve there since we knew that it would open. 

 Who will be your companion? His name is elder Terry he served around me in vinestya so I already know him pretty well.

 It seems like the farthest point West in Ukraine. Yeah it is its on some boarders so lets just say that its small and everyone there speaks a mix of Russian Ukrainian and Hungarian. that will be fun huh.

 how is your apartment? so my apt. there is one of the best ones in the mission because its a small town its not too expensive so they have air conditioners and king size beds, great stuff huh, especially cause right now im sleeping on basically a couch. 

 Where do you shop for food, do your laundry? well there are typically laundry machines in all the apt. so there should be one there but yeah then shopping, there are usually big shopping malls and big stores and there is even one here called vell mert the Ukrainian version of wall mart so yeah thats where we shop usually if not just at basically a gas station size store, those are everywhere and cheep too.

 Is there a branch there? no not yet there are 6 members and 6 missionaries and they are just a group off of lviv branch so its good they are small there but the members have this crazy fire its awesome. 

Well yeah sounds like you are all having a great continuation of your fun week with kyle and katie thats so great hey kyle i got your message. i like your ear lobes too. Im way excited for the new temple video it sounds way cool all the missionaries are talking about it apparently its a topic of discussion.

Thank you for the package it was so perfect it was literally everything that i wanted, but my companion said it looked like you had all eaten half the sweetish fish and i said no they wouldn't do that but i wouldn't blame you if you did, i for sure would have too. that alan Radmall is way cool  he hooked me up he is the best. He said the next time he comes he will tell you and you can give him stuff and he can leave it in the mission home or something so watch out for a facebook message or a call or something.

Well this week has been absolutely crazy there are so many changes, every single companionship except one is changing, i dont know what pres. is thinking but we think he is sweeping the floor. Its great though cause i dont want to be in leadership and i dont want to train and it looks like the older farts are out and the new guys are in and im loving it. so something cool that i heard is that by the end of the year we will only have 29 elders and 26 sisters, crazy right almost 50 50 double date time. 

So i have been with elder nielson this week and we basically worked alot and spent alot of time with members who will miss us and already knew we were leaving so yeah we went out to a celo and i milked a cow that was fun. We also went on exchanges with some members and it was a blast the members here are awesome i love them. Im really sad to leave cause this is my home and i have only been here 2 transfers well ok 6 all together but that's whatever. 

Hey kyle this i a secret message to you elder Hansen Ringer says hi, he apparently worked with you at country side pool or whatever so thats cool right he is leaving this week and he says hi. and he also tells you to shave your beard we all know you miss having a lot of hair but get over it. 

Well im excited for this new chapter in the mission and im excited for all of you and starting school and stuff so have fun and do work. 

Love Elder Naumann

Happy Birthday Erik and Shawn (from 8/12)

Dear Family, 

Well Happy birthday brothers you are so old and man didnt you both just have birthdays and shawn i feel like it was just yesterday that you got the aaronic priesthood and now you are turning 13 that means it was a year ago or so, now that is crazy. I read in the scriptures the other day about the lords time and how it is one day but really 1000 years and that 1000 years is one day and i figured out why missions feel so weird sometimes when it comes to time, because as missionaries, his servants we are on his time so sometimes we feel like a day is 1000 years and nothing is happening and then at the same time i was just in keiv with a different person and who knows how that happens  its just the lords time that all i can say. 

Wow thats way fun that so many people visited you all this week it sounds like a party, and it also sounds like the party will end in about a week by someone named school. ahhhh school i remember at the beginning of this transfer i told my companion that only 1 transfer until school starts for everyone and now its happening and yeah the lords time goes and goes and goes.

This week is really hard to remember i keep hoping that i will get a planner soon cause i cant live without it well i can but its a different life that i dont like. On Monday we finaly got out to this family who is having a really hard time with their marriage and it was hard to see them the only thing thats really keeping them together is their kid but it really was a miracle that they let us over cause we havent been able to get out to them for like 4 months and i think it was good for them they are really good people and great members of the church apart but together they dont do really well. Im really glad we got out there and hopefully they will let us back, pray for them they need it. 

We also had District meeting with pres. lattin and it was way funny he had planned to only take about 30 min but like all old people and leaders they took the whole time but it was way good we talked alot about our potential to become like god and the way we can. What a great gift that god has given us his little insignificant children who cant even fly or bend elements or anything without him but he loves us so much that he gave us the opportunity to be with him and be join heirs with Christ, wow its hard to comprehend but we can do it and we have some people rather high up rutting for us so we really can. 

We also had interviews with president and it was the longest interview i have ever had cause he asked me about everything about language, the work, you all, and really everything and it was really good i think it took about 20 min where most of my interviews go for about 5 and that is even too much some times. We also had studies with him he wanted to be with us so of coarse we talked about our studies and other cool things and he really is a smart man who understands the Gospel and wants to help others so it was fun. 

We Also had something cool happen this week we found out that if one person in a companionship can contact and proselyte then its legal for them to be with someone who cant so we are now on permanent exchanges/ exchanges for 10 days until transfers soim with elder nielson my mtc companion and its awesome we are loving it we will do work and love it. 

We lost us some good people this week the sr couple that have been here and we said our goodbyes to them they are really great. They live in idaho next to byu i and so when i go there for school i will have to go visit them for some meal or something like that they invited us so its cool. We also went to a graveyard with ihor our recent convert, his mother was buried there she passed away about 43 years ago so he was sad and it was good for him and it was a really cool graveyard so that was good. 

Miracle for the week was that a less active young man well 19 year old, is becoming active again because his mom is getting baptized and thats a really good thing for him he spoke in church and it was way awesome, its interesting i have been working with this kid for like 1 year now and out of nowhere he has this thing happen and he is back and as strong as ever he is way cool and will be next for the mission it will be awesome. Its hard to see how insignificant we are and what we do and how it wont happen when we think it will but it will happen in the lords time and the people who are his are his sheep and he loves them way more that we ever could. 

We had a good week fun and full of miracles and it sounds like everyone is good getting ready for the end of the beginning. Love you all and have a great week. 

Not Much

Dear Family

Well this week sounded like it was a blast for you all in Yellowstone and island park and efy im glad you all had fun. I miss spending time with you all i always remember the fun times we had at the cabin. It sounds like Erik and Becca are doing good what did i tell you all you have to stop it before i get home or i wont be happy ok i will still be happy but still do all you can. 

Well this week was good we didnt really do much i cant remember really what we did the time moves by so quickly and i try to look back but i forget that's why i have a journal and usually i have a planner too so i can remember stuff but i dont have one and haven't for the past 3 weeks so yeah sorry my letters are awful. 

Well Something i do remember this week is being on institute for everyone that we have once a week in the summer and its way fun there are like 10-15 people that come and this week we talked about wilford woodruf and it was interesting he is actually one of the prophets that i know alot about thanks to the movie the mountain of the lord so it was fun to talk about him. 

We also had a day where we went and visited less actives with the branch president and that was fun he is struggling right now cause he has a lot of stress with his calling and he is also trying to find a wife and hopefully he will in a return missionary but who knows we will see. 

Oh funny experience we went over to a members house who is less active and also it was his birthday this week and so we went over and he invited the ap's and they were busy with a meeting with the branch president so they couldn't come but the member told us that if they dont come he would leave the church so yeah he is a bit crazy but they managed to come and we ate alot of food he is really funny and when i was over there i saw a liahona and opened it and saw a picture of rob ( cousin) with his family so it was funny. 

Well yesterday we went to boba tatyana yesterday and had a good time it is her birthday this week and we plan on bringing her a gift she was way happy to see us so thats always good. 

Well thats basically it have a good week macey keep thinking about byui and dont think about the fact that you cant have shorts there its ok to wear pants all year round. 

Love Elder Naumann