Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Dear Family,

Well this week we had a lot of fun things going on and i was very glad i got a chance to talk to you i always enjoy the time to talk with all of you face to face well sort of face to face it was fun none the less.

This week we met alot with that family and the kid who are going to get baptized soon and they are really progressing well they are so elect its almost scary how elect they are i love it when you think of the lord and his work moving forward in weird and miraculous ways you should think of these people who just eat up the good word and try to live it. Im just grateful the lord has blessed me with the opportunity to serve them and participate in their progression my little bit. 

One little problem came up with the family and their progression getting baptized this week, THE WIFE HAD HER KID, ITS A BOY. So we had planned to get her baptized before the due date but unfortunately we and she didn't make it. I guess it was too much for her to hold it a week but its ok i think they are really progressing so when she comes out again we will teach her and help her towards baptism but until then we will be working with the husband and then hopefully he can baptize her and their son so we will see. 

We had a fun Christmas party this week i was Santa, I gave out lots of candy and presents it was fun and really hard the older kids were stinkers but it was fun to be Santa in another language i think everyone had fun. 

We also sang a lot and we had a nativity scene and that was also fun because the guy we asked to read the story read it like this. first the angel visit and then the wise men and then the birth and then the shepherds and then the angle, lets just say it was interesting kind of a funky way of Reading the story but fun. 

Well not much else happened this week but it was fun and great to see all of you well most of all of you. I love you all and wish you a happy new year. 

Love Elder Naumann

Time, time, time

Dear Family, 

Well this is so crazy you got to stop mentioning about how much time everyone else has and their flight plans, my companion is trunky enough ok he really isnt trunky. Im excited for the skype call this year implanning on having time to call at about 6 or 7 our time i dont know when that is your time but ya know. We are going to have as much time as last time so expect about 15 min of face time...... 

Well this week was fun we spent the most part of it on exchanges and i was with the greenie and man all i can say is that gree people have got to be the most trunky people in the whole world he is great but wow it was like 4 full days of trunk fest. 

We spent some time this week getting some christmas stuff from the outdoor-market we got a christmastree for our church on wednesday and then we had a family night that night and we made decorations and it was way fun and i have to say that for a gheto tree it looks great. 

Do you think you will be in this area for a while? mom to that question i will give a huge i hope so cause i really love it here in yzhorod it is so much fun we are having such success and i love my companion so ya know how that works i probably wont stay cause thats what the lord does he waits until you really love your area and then he helps you love a new area but i hope i stay. 

Mom i know you want my release date but yeah you will have to wait and that is so weird i could swear that i was on my mission when she left for her mission. Its funny to see that everyone is leaving aroundchristmas i hear that is the best time to leave cause an apostle for sure will be there for christmas.

 How is your new family?Did they come to church? the answer is yes they came to church and they are so awesome they have such potental they came to our family night and had a really fun time it was awesome.  How many men do you have in your group now? Any priesthood holders? yeah we have 1 mel. priesthood holder and 2 adult arr. priesthood holders its great and we will soon have 2 boys with the arr. priesthood. 

Well this week we did alot of prep work for the christmas party and the presents that we are getting for the district here. Im glad that im here for christmas, last christmas was great but this one will be just so much better. 

This week we have a zone conference this week and its funny we were told that we were opening our christmaspackages and well i already did so sorry family but it will still be fun im super excited for christmas and we can figure out the rest when the day comes. I think that i have a google + account and i have a skype thing i think so we will see you in a couple of days so love you all.

Elder Naumann 

Baptism (from 12/2/2013)

Dear Family,

Well we had a really good thanksgiving week there was a baptism of one of our investigators. It was great cause we didnt think that it would happen but all the pieces fell into place and he got baptised and i was lucky enough to baptise him and it was a great experience. We also had a weird thanksgiving probably one of the weirdest of my life. 

So first the reason we didnt think that this baptism wouldn't happen is that this 13 year old kid even though he wanted to be baptized and has good friends as influences he still is a 13 year old kid. The hardest part for him has got to be his sister because she really didnt want him to become a member but thank goodness the parents were totally ok with it. It was cool cause they are both deaf and talking with them was hard but fun it sort of reminded me of American sign language it was cool.

Thursday our supposed thanksgiving so we were told this year by our president and wife that we weren't aloud to have thanksgiving as a district or with other missionaries and they told us to celebrate it another way but thats hard to celebrate a holiday where all you do is gather with those you love and eat food if the first option is taken out of the equation. 

But we found a way around that hiccup by having some elders from lviv come down to do registration, it didn't work out to where they could come on Thursday so instead we did it on Friday but it didn't go that smoothly. 

So the elders from lviv got there Thursday night and well they brought more and more bad news so first thing is that the visa trips are now back on well not for us old missionaries just of the young ones and the Christmas zone conference will be without them so that was sad. 

But then Friday came and we planned to eat thanksgiving then but out of nowhere the president from lviv came down and wanted to take us all out to lunch so we all went into center and spent some time with him. It was weird cause he didn't call he didn't tell us anything about him coming but there he was to ruin out plans. 

Unfazed we pressed ahead and had out thanksgiving just a little latter than we would have wanted. We started thanksgiving at 9 pm on Friday night and finished when the lviv elders had to go back home which was about 11pm so that night was long but really fun and it made me laugh cause we would have been up waiting for their train anyway but this way we still got our thanksgiving meal thing. 

The baptism was also really great so Saturday we had the baptism at 10 and everything went smoothly and it was great i really love being a part of the baptisms especially here in uzhorod the members here are on fire for the Gospel and the sharing of it. 

We also went out to eat on Saturday after the baptism with all the branch who wanted to come and it was really fun i have never done that without the president in lviv there so that was fun and lets just say i didnt eat much the left over thanksgiving meal was enough.  

Im so glad you got to see ricky it was really great to have him in my district this last transfer and im glad you fought over the ties i wanted you to save them for when i get home but thats not a big deal but.... no im joking im glad you liked them. 

Looking forward to see your faces. 

Love Elder Naumann

money (from 11/25/2013)

Dear Family, 

Well this week has been an interesting one with a few money problems at the beginning of this week with well none we had to pay our land lady for something and then the money that we had for the rest of the month wasn't there we ended up figuring everything out but Wednesday but lets just say that we didnt eat very much and we are getting a divorce......

Well other then that we had a great week we have a baptismal date for the 30th with a 13 year old kid so this whole week we have been teaching him and helping him prep for that its exciting cause we will have 3, 13 year olds it will be crazy. 

So basically in the group here we do everything right we are growing but we still have to do stuff so our week consists of these activities with the group. Tuesday we have English club then Wednesday we have family night then Thursday English then Friday Mcm and mutual and then Saturday we have cleaning and then Institute then Sunday we have church which i along with the other missionaries run with the help of the members. 

So mom your question How do you balance in your mission? Well its hard especially when you introduce school applications into the soup pot. But something that i have been trying to do since the beginning of my mission is getting in 15 min of scripture reading a day and for some reason life balances out by itself well of coarse not by itself but for some reason i feel more balanced in my day to day life. 

Something that i do like about running the group is that we can make the activates really fun and for some reason they fall into place like we want them. I konw thats not what will always be but for now im glad, For instanctance we planned the Christmas party and lets just say that it will be really fun we plan a nativity scene and a Christmas tree and Santa and well lots of great stuff but i do want something, How do you make eggnog from scratch that would be great to have i think. 

Well thats my week i have to go but i love you family and others and have a great week. 

Love Elder Naumann

New Family

Dear Family, 

Well you know whats funny none of you have said anything about whats going on in kiev, apparently there is this revolution going on where there are now 2 million students resisting/ fighting the cops in kiev so that they can join the eu. Well i guess its not that big of a thing but here it is thats all the people here are talking about and its funny cause most of the investigators in our district are students and they are at the revolution in kiev and crazy things are going on. No mom yzhorod is not effected cause we are on the other side of the mountains so all is safe and all is good we just have some small rallys going on once and a while. 

Well enough about politics and the crazy revolution, now on to the good news, we have a new family that we are teaching, one of our members brought them to be taught and they want to be baptized this month so we are super stoked and they are so elect they have 2 kids one is 8 and the wife is prego and will be giving birth next month so we got to get her in the water quick before we have a problem with infant baptism. 

We also had a fun activity this week with the young men's, We are preping for a Christmas party which will have music a play and gifts and Santa and also well just lots of great stuff so we are working towards that and we are having the boys sing silent night for everyone so that's great and we practiced and the boys were fun they are really hard to teach music but its fun stuff. 

Im glad the singing stuff went well this week im always sad when i hear about stuff like that and how im not there but yeah its not that big a deal i be there soon enough well i would say too soon but i dont intend on missing another one. 

Macey I want you to know that I'm actually enjoying listing to Christmas music this year. I think its cause i forbade my companion and all others with the help of a sister, from singing Christmas songs until this week. and this next week we are planning to have a Christmas tree up soon enough at the church so all will be ready for Santa. 

It sorta got snowy here too we are having a problem it comes down at night and sticks and then in the day it turns to slush and then again at night it freezes and well lets just say you fall hard sometimes, i mean not me but others. 

Well i will pray for you grandma and well everyone else and you all got to pray for the family sorry we cant give names but pray for the family in uzhorod that they will come to our meetings and church to get baptized. 

2 baptisms.

Dear Family, 

Well first things first macey congradulations on getting into suu that is so great for you im glad that despite the examples of your brothers you managed to overcome the school wall and get a great scholorship that is way great. 

So this week has been one of the best/ busiest of my life as a missionary well also as a person and it was great. So this week we had 2 baptisms on Saturday which went so well i never thought that a baptism could go so well. 

We had the whole branch of 8 come and the missionaries and a few visitors. The water was also warm which has never happened ever in my time serving as a missionary it is always ice cold. They both went under easily and well i could name everything that happened but it would take too long. Lets just say that i really am grateful to the lord for alouing us to participate in helping others come to Christ. 

Its funny to look at missionaries and to see that no matter how hard we work we really dont have the power to change peoples minds no matter how smart or talented we cant truly convert people. Thank goodness that god had provided a way for everyone of his children to feel and to know truth. The holy ghost has the most work to do out of all the missionaries in the world. He is always awake he is the most effective and he knows every language. Im grateful that god gave us him as a companion because without him we really would not succeed. 

This week we got to also have a stake conference of sorts where we had to download it and then watched it on Sunday and it was good we thought something would happen bur nothing happened except the preaching of the Gospel. 

Oh sorry that i forgot we got transfers this week and im staying in uzhorod and im going to be with my future roommate his name is elder Austin and im really excited to be serving with him. Its funny that the people you want to serve with changed throughout you mission. At the beginning of my mission i really would have never wanted to serve with this elder but now there isnt a person i would want to serve with more. Unfortunately i have to move apt. but all the apt. here are really great so all is well. 

Oh we also went bowling this week as a branch, we had a bunch of investigators there. We rented a bus last min we walked up to the bus driver and asked him if he could drive us and he said yes. We had a really fun activity. 

Sad thing with transfers elder callister is going home and mom he has some stuff to give you so make sure to get in contact with him maybe go to his homecoming or something. Its sad to see him go home its funny thought cause i remember when he left from pg and now i was at his Ukraine farewell it was good and sad. 

Well have a great week this week and macey good job again im really proud of you. 

Love Elder Naumann 

What A Week

So in short the miracle of the week is that on this Saturday there will be 2 people getting baptized here in little uzhorod which brings our numbers up to 10. It really has been a miracle with them both being ready at the same time. I wont tell you much detail but one woman has 4 member children and the other woman is a friend of a member who we started teaching and she started our first meeting with what can i do to get baptized next week so we told here and its just been a miracle. 

We also had president lattin over this weekend and he is so great he helped us with the whole branch thing and how he is our leader so that was great we also just had studies with him which are always fun and really interesting. 

We also had a really fun Halloween party where we trick or treated. In Ukrainian they translate it to candy or death thats what they said when they came to the door we had. We also played bobbing for apples and the apples that we had were so small so what i did was i just sucked up the apple into my mouth and everyone was wondering where the apple was and then i opened my mouth and the apple fell it was funny. We played a few other games and they really loved it. 

Sorry this is so short i have to go to a lesson. That was basically my week and yeah so have a great one everyone. 

Love Elder Naumann