Ukraine week 37: Snow day

Dear Family

So I don't know why this was sent on maceys email but I'm going to sent it to her back and you too mom because who knows what happened.

I'm glad the chickens are Finlay laying and just in time for Easter. Q. Do brown eggs make good Easter eggs I know green ones do but what about brown ones.

Well this week was going to be a regular week with some hick ups here and here cause of transfers but everything basically went out the window. 

So Monday was good we went over to this older Lady's house and her grand daughter lives with here they are both really strong members and really nice and Anton the return missionary was there too fixing their wifi so we all had a really good lesson together.

Then Tuesday came around and we had planned to go into Kiev to have district meeting and yeah got a text at 6:30 in the morning telling us that it would happen latter that week so we didn't know what to do so we winged it. Also something cool this week is I finished the old testament finally. I started about 4 transfers ago and haven't read very consistently until these last 2 transfers and man sometimes the old testament is boring and then great it just depends on the book. We also as a mission are starting to read the book of Mormon 8 pages a day so that will be good but its sort of stinky cause i wanted to read the new testament, and finish Jesus the Christ together but that will have to wait.

Then Wednesday we found out that our district leader is getting a short term missionary who is native and so that is cool andwe had a lesson with one of our investigators and he was drunk and told us he didn't want to change so that was really sad but life is ours to choose what to do with it. If only he knew who bought us and how easy it is to take advantage of his gift.

Then Thursday we finally had district meeting and the weather was awesome like +10 C so that was awesome but for some reason we keep having false springs and elder Vernon said that we would have a blizzard soon as a joke but he would have held his tong if he knew what was about to happen.

FRIDAY!!!!!!!  the blizzard hit and it hit hard so we started out with contacting to the church in the snow and everyone refused us cause it was really cold. We then got dogged and then weekly planned and then back out into the blizzard and by that time the snow was up 2 feet and we had to get back to the church so we took the long way to get there safe. We got to  our meeting at the church and shoveled the way and the wind was blowing hard and then elder Vernon thought it would be fun to walk through the blizzard in the park and yeah so we did and by that time the snow was 3 to 4 feet deep in some places and so in our nice pants we walked through the blizzard and that was way fun.

Saturday we had a cool day with missionaries planned with the stake in Kiev and with the young men and we got outside and there was like 4 to 5 feet of snow all over everywhere and no snow plows just tractors so they are slower so we tried to hitch hike there but no one was driving so we told the elders there that we couldn't go, and it was OK because only 2 young men showed up so we decided to shovel people out of the snow and that was fun.

We found this little old lady shoveling some snow at this apt. building with a wooden shovel and so we helped her and then out of nowhere like 10 other guys caught our service bug and so we cleared the whole parking lot place and that was fun the guys there were funny and one guy once he found out that we were from our Church he knuckle bumped me and did in the name of Christ and that was weird but funny.

Then Sunday came and we had branch conference and no one came cause the snow was still really bad but we were there and shoveled the whole parking lot again and then we cut church short cause the plan fell through having stake people come because of the weather so we came home had lunch and my back really started hurting so I put on my back brace and took it easy the rest of the day and now I'm much better.

So that was my week full of cataclysmic snow storm it was fun

Love Elder Naumann

Week 36:The Last Temple

Dear Family, 

Well this week has been a good one with Transfers and Temple and Interviews with President and No sickness well on my part, that's good right.

So first this week we have been getting stuff ready for transfers cause we didn't know weather we would be getting white washed or what cause new mission and all. As we started this week we had the prospects of going on exchanges and I was stoked cause the guy I was going to be with is going home in a week. That didn't happen.

English was good this week or I should say the first one on Tuesday but we weren't able to be here on Thursday so who knows what happened on Thursday.

On Wednesday we went on exchanges but not with the guy I wanted to be with, But with our zone leader in our area, cause lets just say a sick week full of 0's and a space heady district leader gets you a rescue trip from the zone leaders so yeah that was fun. Me and elder Christensen went together out to a lesson which went well but the man who we were meeting doesn't want to stop drinking and his wife begs him but he doesn't change so its really hard to help someone who doesn't want help. We also went to the only less active members we have met with ever and they have some mental issues so they don't really understand why they need to come to church but that was fun.

Thursday came and we were planning the whole day to be in Kiev but we started out being together at the church with the district leader and the zone leader and they left but brought back a former investigator ( we didn't know ) He was quiet and had read the book of Mormon so that was cool and then we found out on Saturday that he was this crazy guy who calls us all the time saying he is on the walk.... in really bad English so yeah. We taught him the first lesson and then we left to Kiev to have interviews with president and those were great he is awesome but took us 2 hours to get there and then we went to the temple for maybe our last time cause it wont be in the mission so that was a really good trip with 4 total hours of travel.

Saturday we got dogged twice but that wasn't the best part. We met with a man named stepan and we met him a month ago and he was way way cool like a 60 year old man always in a nice suit and with a cool hair dew and we met for another 2 hours and it was awesome he is so elect but really busy so cant meet for another 2 weeks but that was a really good thing cause I think he has potential.

Well the rest of the week was boring except the transfer info which was really uneventful cause we are staying and that's really rare to be 3 transfers with one comp. but not really cause this next transfer is only 4 weeks and that group is huge and then the next group after that has a huge group leaving and a huge one coming in and the missions will be fake splitting so that's crazy. 

I didn't get your package yet but maybe this next week cause we went in on Thursday and it wasn't there but mail gets in on Saturday so maybe on Tuesday i will get it. Oh something I also forgot to thank for is the pen kyle its the best thing I have I love it thanks.

Well I'm glad everything is warm there cause its still cold and I'm glad Josie got in advanced woman's choir and happy birthday Josie you are sooooo old crazy. get better dad and I'm glad to hear everything is well. 

Love Elder Naumann

Ukraine Week 34: sickness

Well I'm really sad to hear about the news of Lori and her grandson and I feel that those kind of experiences are really hard and I'm praying for Lori cause all things are for a reason and it may be hard, but we need to remember that the lord doesn't forget about any of his sheep and he is taking care of all, especially the lost ones. 

This Sunday I had to describe the prodigal son and it was interesting to do it in Ukrainian but I remember the savior describing to the Pharisees on who the man who forgives debts loves more and the one who has the most forgiven. This life isn't the end there is a chance for all of us to make it home I know it.

So like I told you last week we went and visited this family in a village and the husband was sick and we spent like 2 hours at their house and you guessed it that was enough to kill us both.

Last Sunday Elder Vernon was sick and then Monday and then Tuesday and so well we didn't do much but I let him rest and did some home business like phone calls and organizing and that was good because then Wednesday he wasn't too sick but like usual with two people living/ doing everything together, I got sick so on Wednesday we worked on this English project at the church so we didn't have to do much and then off to a fun member who's granddaughter looks like an actress from the walking dead so that was funny and we gave them an ax also fun an funny story well really only to missionaries so I wont tell it but lets just say missionaries had it in a different area.

So then Thursday came and I was really sick and Elder Vernon was sick again too so that was poopyand so we stayed in until English and English only had our member there so we watched the ces devotional in English and he didn't understand much.

Then Friday and Saturday was basically all inside cause I got really sick and being sick and having chocolate and candy from America doesn't make you a skinny person so lets just say kyle all the candy is gone but that's OK that's what its for right so yeah thanks for that again kyle. 

Really the only highlight from this week was District meeting where the whole district surprised me and made me a cookie and brownies and that was funny cause I brought brownies too cause this other elder had his birthday on Saturday and so we had lots of food. But it was really nice everyone remembered and I got some phone calls from other missionaries wishing me a happy birthday but yeah good stuff.

Oh something else cool was we had this genealogy activity at the church and I was surprised on how many people showed up, like 25 and I was expecting like 5 or maybe 10 but it was cool and we had food and we talked about how barley they have gotten the websites in Russian and if any of you remember PAF, yeah they all still had that so they are just sort of in the stone age but they are getting better and so that was fun. 

Mom don't make fun of us boys we like sticks OK and when we spend like 10 hours cutting them we need to do something productive with them.... And that's way cool you get to come to Europe, do you want to visit me. I recommend not to do that Ukraine isn't that exciting do something like go to Germany and cool European countries like that.

OK I know I look Like I'm swimming but that's OK because I'm a really good swimmer and its not hard to walk around all the time and swim. Yes getting my stuff tailored is an option but I don't know where here in Bovary I knew of like 20 places in lviv to have it done and I hear that its like 2$ to get a suit done so maybe sometime soon. 

Well i love you all and I know the lord is watching over you while I'm gone so know that zombies cant get to you because the lord will wait until i can save you all. 

Elder Naumann

Ukraine week 32: Lviv Ukraine Mission

( Dear Elder Naumann you are hereby called to serve in the Lviv Ukraine Mission and your missionary service will start on July 1, 2013 and your mission president will be President Danial E. Lattin)

So this week has been absolutely crazy, we started out on Monday and for the first time ever me and elder Vernon did something, Crazy I know but we got together with the rest of the district and made some burritos and watched 17 miracles but unfortunately because we live an hour and a half away we couldn't stay to the end so that was sad because l was really into it. Then we came back and had a good family night with a fun family and they fed us even though it was 8 when we had to leave they still fed us but they always feed us good food.

So then on Tuesday we had district meeting but before district meeting we had a conference call with president and l think you can all guess what that was about, yeah the new mission and while everyone was on the phone there was no noise because we were all speechless. So he told us that the new mission would be the west (lviv) and then the old mission would be Kiev and Odessa and so he said something funny, that l know that this doesn't effect you all but the missionaries in the west were way excited but me and elder Vernon were freaking out because we probably will be effected the most because he told us it would basically split 50/50 with the Russian speaking elders in the east by Kiev and the Ukrainians in the west so our guess is that all 5 companionship's will be going west soon but there also is no guarantee on the fact that we might stay in the Kiev mission but our presidents guess is that it will split rather cleanly. Unfortunately we as missionaries only have 3 times we are aloud to go to the temple a year in this mission but now being only in Lviv we wont have any chance to go to the temple so these next few weeks may be our last chances to go and do everything we want to in Kiev so we will be busy on p days :)

After district meeting we started our exchanges and yeah l got to be with elder Michael's in nova d and we stayed in his area and we were busy with calls and then with a baptismal interview, we then had English and they have like 30 people come and so we were over the advanced group and we had fun they were really nice people and I got to sing I am a child of god with another sister and a member who speaks English but I didn't know so I was sitting quietly and then the sister missionary asked me if I could sing too so I did. It sounded good and then after we invited people to talk with us and people waited in line to talk with us so we all talked and then we rushed home and made it and elder Michael's is a really good singer and piano player and so we sang and he played and it was a fun exchange.

OK I forgot but on Monday before the party we were writing emails and a man came in asking if we could meet with him and bring the Bishop and yeah we were rather astonished and so we asked him how he knew us and turns out that he has been in Portugal for like 6 years and the missionaries were teaching him there and then I asked his name and it was Omar Naumanka......... Yeah i know right that's our last name. Mom and dad are we from Ukraine???????

Other than that not much happened this week it was rather shadowed by the whole naumanka and new mission and party and now today we are going to a really old church and a big statue and that will be fun.

Shawn good job on the losing weight man I'm way proud of you but don't think that's all you need to do keep working hard on school and scouts and don't forget to read your scriptures I know it sounds boring but its soooooo worth it.

Macey.... Get a job................

Josie good luck with everything and I know you will make it into choir don't worry we can always get into choirs as naumanns weather its advanced or not You will do a great job but work hard and you will be as satisfied as your heavenly father is.

Well everyone else keep up the good work whatever your doing...

Love Elder Naumann

Ukraine Week 31:Less Active What?

Dear Family 

So this week has been a good one and well I look back on my whole mission so far and I think all my weeks have been good but for some reason they all feel the same to me and not very adventurous and sometimes boring but I forget that I'm in Ukraine and that makes it a good week no matter what happens and I get to preach the Gospel and that is good no matter where you are.

So we had district meeting this week with the new district leader and it was.... well not that great he does district meeting like everyone else use to do it before pres. chastised them all and told them to do it better but I think he missed the wagon and now we have goodish district meetings and yeah. 

We had some good meetings this week with V'yacheslav and then with this new man named Stephan and he was way cool he was a 61 year old man who looked 45 yeah in Ukraine and he was wearing a suit and well was well dressed and he works as a teacher and it was way cool he was awesome and we ended up teaching him two lessons and took 2 hours and he was still eating it up but at the end he told us that he couldn't meet for a month because he has to take care of some family issues and so yeah that's about when transfers are so we will see with him because i liked him alot and ourMcl was surprised that he was dressed so well and didn't act or look like a drunk guy because sometimes the only people who want to listen are drunk people and that's always sad because they don't really progress much. 

We also had a sort of funny meeting with this non active family in our branch who I have never seen and yeah so we showed up and they were there and the husband has some sort of disability and was really slow and we invited them to church and they just mumbled and we moved on because we didn't understand them and then funny story the husband asked if I play video games, or at least that's what I thought he said out of his mumbling and I said yes and then he got out his Sega i think and started mortal combat and yeah I was already in the Dumpster and yeah I played with him and I felt it was better for him for me to play than him hating missionaries forever so yeah, for some reason I had no fun, I don't know if that's because I am a missionary or because I just don't like video games anymore but yeah it was funny. 

So sounds like you had a cool stake conference and dad its interesting about what that man asked about the 70s because I am reading and have read some Institute manuals and they are really interesting and they explain those things alot and helped me understand what the heck the 70s are and I just finished reading this History of the church institute manual and it made me want to read the history of the church but yeah I have to wait for that but I really like the religious books so I read them in my spare time which there isn't much so I'm going slow.

Macey I'm glad your play went well and with the extra fork thing at the end which was probably really funny and cool. Just don't get sad because its done because you still have next year but for now get a job so New York can happen i think that would be way awesome for you and quite an adventure.

Well mom I think that you guys made the right decision to stay and cut some trees because that's way more important that seeing a baby bump and just think when she has the kid you will be there for like 6 months because you wont want to leave so its better that you plan now and make some dinners without wheat and stick them in the freezer so no one dies while you are gone. =)

Cool stuff about Utah missions is that its the number 1 baptizing mission, and my thought is its because the church is the way it should be and you can always have members on lessons and neighbors encouraging them to get baptised instead of others pulling them down so that is something I found out here because one member here served there like 10 years ago and he said it was awesome but sad to come back here and see us struggling.

Well I encourage all of you just like that 70 at stake conference said to come closer to the temple and do work as much as you can and do good family history because we aren't done. Have the faith that god will provide a way for you to go to the temple weekly at least and you will be able to have the lords influence with you much stronger. 

Love Elder Naumann

Ukraine Week 30: Daddy's going home!

 Well this week is transfers yes and its funny to me when you all ask for transfer info because I was thinking about not telling you one time and just seeing if you would find out by the other hints but that sounded mean so i wont do that but just know that I'm staying here in Bovary with elder Vernon and well I don't know what will happen next transfer because we will be getting maybe a big set of Ukrainians and that will stir the mission a bit and this one is cool because I just found out too that my comps from the mtc are district leaders so that is cool right but also my daddy is going home this week and so is elder Vernon's so that's sad for us and happy for them because they were both really good missionaries. 

So this week was fun because on Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with kyle ( Well our district leader who looks like kyle) Not only does he look like kyle act like kyle, likes clothes like kyle and have played lacrosse in high school like kyle he also started balding on his mission and yeah has the same amount of zeal as kyle had to get it fixed but I told him the best remedy is just to get married fast ( Right Katie?) Well yeah we had a few lessons here in Bovary with him and they were fun and funny so the first lady we visited spoke Russian and so I didn't say much, I understood most of it but still I didn't want to say anything to upset the flow so for that lesson I was the Jr. companion and then we went over to our next lesson and we had a member come with us and found out that he could only stay for 15 min so then it was us and funny because this man only speaks Ukrainian and so for that lesson I was Sr. companion because even though Elder Thacher is in his last transfer he still has no reason to need to understand Ukrainian so yeah that was a fun night of switched roles. 

So this week has been really warm like 0 Deg or maybe -6 so yeah not bad i really enjoyed the good weather. I feel kind of bad for you all for having snow but we have been having rain and that's no fun when like me you have lost your umbrella  in lviv so yeah I got a little wet. but no slipping so that's good because the rain eats away the ice so that's good. 

So this whole wheat diet sounds like fun for you all. I have been slowly dieting here in Ukraine and its worked out well I just eat less and less until I'm not hungry anymore so yeah i weighed myself this morning and I have lost 50lb since the beginning of my mission and I can really tell when i look at old mtcphotos and its crazy. I don't plan on stopping but I don't even know if its possible to do the wheat thing here mom and something else I dont think its necessary because everything her is

 без гмо ( bez g.m.o.) that means that it has no genetically modified anything and that on everything and its really funny to us Americans because in America we dont eat anything bez g.m.o I even bought a cool shirt here that says bez gmo. 

Im glad to hear that we will be getting a horse soon and that I wont have to be involved with any of the feeding or cleaning the poop or building a big barn. Ok I know that wont happen well to soon but maybe someday but unfortunately that someday will have an extra Elder Naumann home to help. 

So whats up with this gun thing? Is it just a fad so something that will make me rich when i sell my gun or what it sounds weird and I don't think I like it because I like shooting and tell me more about the whole scouting thing because my comp heard a little bit about it but not much. I just don't want to say yeah I have my eagle scout and then someone getting angry at me for supporting gay marriage so yeah just interested. 

I wish I could see your performance macey, maybe you can record it against the rules. Hey i bet its not against the rules to record the dungeon so yeahmacey hook me up =) 

I love stories like that about the temple being so full that you have to invest 3 hours to serve the lord because i know the lord will bless you when you serve him. I wish that we could get that drive in the people here because when I went and did baptisms i was one of like 10 people there and those were the only baptisms that were going to happen all day and they only don that like 3 days out of the week so be grateful for the temple and the opportunity to be so close to him and his house. 

Im glad to hear that grandma has her super powers back I was sad to hear that she got hit with a kriptonite fragment so that's good to hear that she is doing well. 

So at the end of this week we had a random meeting with this guy Valdemar and he is really cool, kind of weird but aren't we all and he accepted the soft baptismal invitation and that was awesome and I was really happy. 

So this week has gone by fast but has been good and the extended transfer is over and now we are back to normal well for 1 transfer because we have a 4 week transfer after that but then for real everything will be back to normal so yeah I'm loving it here in Bovary in the furthest place away from the west that a Ukrainian wants to be so yeah we will see what happens next. 

Well I love you all and I want you all to know that I have a testimony, a simple one but a true one and that is that we can change, we can change everything about ourselves to become perfect in Christ or in other words complete in Christ and we can be like him and I know that even though we are far now we can change.

Elder Naumann

Ukraine Week 31: Service in the mud

Dear Family

Well this week has been a fun one and kind of sad because we had a few opportunities to do service but we also got dogged like 5 times this week so we only ended up with like 2 lessons the whole week which was sad but I have been reading in preach my gospel about the fact that no effort is waisted and that sometimes we need to do hard things and face hard challenges because the lord wants us to grow because we will ultimately be judged on our desires and if our desires are to bring others unto Christ, even thou the world wants us to stop, we can keep going.

So we started off with p day and yeah this is what happens on our pdays here in Bovary. We wake up and go to the church and do studies on the computers and then email on the computers and then we go eat at the same pizza place that we do every p day and then shopping and then home for relaxation and cleaning the home. I'm told that there are fun things to do in Kiev but we are so far away that we just stay home and talk and read and clean because it takes like an hour and a half to get there and an hour and a half back so we could really only do something for like an hour so yeah, Its OK because elder Vernon likes staying at home and reading and I like cleaning so we both get some of what we want. 

So I have finished D&C this week and that is way awesome and that means that i can resume on my goal to read the whole old testament, in which I'm to Isaiah and that one is a beast so i will hopefully be finishing that by the end of the month and with D&C i have also been reading the history of the church for the BYU religious classes and that has really helped explain alot of stuff and its really interesting to see where this church came from. 

Like i said this week we did some service and got muddy. So we went one morning to help this man in our branch move some metal onto a truck because this man doesn't have fingers and so that was fun but it was raining and everything got dirty and muddy. Then another day basically the whole of the men in our ward showed up at this sister in our branch to help her move and it was raining too that day and then it decided to snow alot and that was fun, I like giving service. We don't get many opportunities to serve so it was good for us.

I got my haircut this week AND NOT BY A MISSIONARY I know right it looks good. The lady who did it is in our branch and she speaks Russian so that was fun to explain what i wanted done. But for some reason my head keeps getting cold and i just cant figure it out.....

So this week we got contacted on Monday by a man named V and he is an interesting man who we met with and he came to church and everyone at church was really friendly and helped him feel comfortable and that was good, I love my branch they are so good. I just wish that all the branches and wards were like this one because the places were baptisms happen could really benefit from this branch.

We had a really funny night thought last night. We started our day off with church and then we had made a plan to go to this one lady who is in the hospital and bring here the sacrament with the same man we did service for, so we went out to his house and got some bread just to be told by the branch pres. that it needs to be a quiet place which Ukrainian hospitals are not that. In one room there are 5 to 8 people and they are all doing hospital things like shots and changing and well other things too. They say that Ukrainian hospitals are 100 years behind us, I don't know about 100 but they are defiantly behind us. But so then we ate lunch at this families house and then we were about to leave when they found out that we had nothing to do so we all watched the other side of heaven in Russian and then we took the dad and had a lesson with one of our investigators and that was good. 

Well all in all it was an OK week and I'm glad to hear that everything is going well at home and I'm glad mom you have such a fun new calling, I'm praying for you daily and i know the lord is watching out for you. And no mom I don't want to try any new recipes but i was thinking what from American food do i miss and i thought captain crunch and Cinnamon toast crunch but you guys probably don't eat that any more just Grape nuts and yeah that's a cereal and its gross so i hope your not eating those. 

Well i love you and want you all to, hug mom go go go yes Macey, Josie, and Shawn that means you. Yes get up out of your chair and hug her she is awesome. I'm waiting, OK i Know its early but just do it, it will make you all feel better. 

Love Elder Naumann