Meet your trainee!!

Week 16!!

This was a big week, so ill start towards the beginning. So my mom has been asking about my weight and stuff so I will just give you all a physical run down: one of our investigators, Sasha(Male name), works at like a nutrition shop.  Me and Elder Bunker Met him on the street and he was like do you have 15 minutes to meet with me right now? Well, we always have 15 minutes to meet with anyone because its either that or walk. So we followed him, he took us to his work, Elder Bunker and I were expecting like a spiritual conversation but it turned into him trying to sell us his companys stuff.  He took our measurments and had us step on a magical scale, and here is what he told us about our bodies: I am 5'11 and 1/4 of an inch, 67.5 Kilograms, he told me according to his measurements that I was 55 Kilograms muscle, and like 9% body fat, that is just what happens when you walk as far as we do. Well we left and he wants to play ping pong with us so that will be fun. So there you have it, dont worry, I eat a lot of food, but I still lose weight becasue of the Poyezdka(journey).  

Next is the Funny story for the week:  I dont know if I have told you a whole lot about walter.  His is about 60 years old, served in the CCCP army as an officer, and is very good at speaking english, Which is why he asked us to call him Walter instead of Volodia.  Anyways, he only ever comes to english, and he has a never ending list of questions, he is a unique guy.  So it came time to organize an activity on Friday, and we really needed people to come, We wanted it to be big, so I called walter to see if he wanted to come play ping pong with us, he sounded thrilled and said "Yes, I will bring my racket and we will play together".  He is like 60 so I was suprised he actually wanted to play with us.  Ping pong comes, and its Elder Bates' First time at an activity, walter and Alex both come, and we are about to start to play.  We decided to play as teams at walters request.  I was thinking " I better take it easy on him so that i dont hurt his feelings"  And then the game starts, and he just destroys me utterly. I cant even describe how strange it was to see this man play ping pong so well. He put so much spin on the ball and he just like mind controled the ball to do exactly what he wanted. Okay we stop doing teams because Elder Bates and Alex want to go play Uno.  SO its just me and Walter, Walter is like"Okay, here is what we will do, you will start with 6 Points, and we will play to 11."  With hurt pride I responded "No I will start at zero we must play fair" he says "No need to be prideful, it will simply make the game more interesting for me because I am more experienced in this field than you" Still nursing the wound I respond"Okay, fine but if I win then next time we start 0-0" He agreed.  Then I won, by like 5 points, so we start again, it was just so epic, I felt like somebody else was playing ping pong for me becxasue it was just amazing how we were playing.  Aparently he was toying with me becasue then he just started slamming me and I couldnt handle it so he won, and that was it.  Just an Army Veteran, who can barely walk faster than a turtle that is amazing at ping pong.  

Also scary story this time: IT was elder Bates' first night contacting, and so I took him around a market where we taought one lesson and got a phone number, it was all going pretty swell.  Then a drunk guy lumbered over towards us and we basically have no choice but to walk past him, so he says hi, and gives us knuckles, I am just about to get me and Elder Bates out of there when some guy grabs the drunk guy and throws him against a cart and is like y elling at him about somethjing.  Elder Bates, Jet lagged and fresh out of the MTC freezes and has no clue what in the world he signed up for, so I grab him by the shoulders, turn him around and we got the heck out of there, he definitely had the scariest First night of any greenie becasue later we saw like a burned down candy shop, and a few other drunk guys.  But he is okay now, that is the scariest thing that has happened out here so far except for Karate guy.  

Something wierd happened this week with Valeree, so on Friday before ping pong, we had agreed to meet.  He comes in holding his childrens book of mormon and he says he has read it all.  He gives it to me and then he starts to leave.  I try to stop him, but he just keeps going.  He said hed come back later but he didnt, so I really hope he just got busy and doesnt want to stop meeting with us!  He read it all though so that was good.  

Well me and Elder Bates are loving it here, even though there is alot of scary stuff, there is even more funny stuff, and cool stuff, like yesterday we saw this monument that had a jet taking off, and the art here is awesome on the walls, Ill try and get some pics of cool stuff soon, we just arent supposed to while we are proselyting.

WEll that is it for this week so I love you all and I cant wait to hear more from you!

Hey buddy!

WOW oh WOW.  I am so proud that you are a trainer.  I can't even believe it...except I can believe it because it's you.  I am so happy about it.  I was actually feeling like you would be a trainer as well...but didn't want to say it, because it seemed crazy.  So I wasn't shocked...except I was kind of;).  The crazy thing is that last week on Sunday night Elder Bates mom sent me an email with some questions and concerns for Dallas...she said she had been praying for his trainer that he would be prepared to help Dallas.  So I was dying not being able to tell her until she got the email from Sis. Sullivan.  We have texted a ton this week and we talked on the phone Wednesday night for over an hour!  We are going to go to lunch this week.  I usually wake up when your email comes through and I didn't last week.  I was bummed a little...but then realized that if I had I wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep after so it was probably good.  I am just really excited for you!  Everyone is so proud and excited for you as well.  It is just awesome to see you doing so well.  Sister Sullivan keeps the blog up to date so that is fun to see pictures.  

This week with the family...  We got the Mika's basketball tickets for the BYU game against USU.  We won.  We had an extra ticket and took Tom with us.  We had a lot of fun.  Josh seems to be doing a little better.  Me and dad took Cam and Kaes to California and Disneyland Thurs-Sat.  We had fun.  The little kids loved having Curtis be so engaged with them.  It was a great time.  Grandma and Grandpa have had the boys at the cabin all weekend.  

Kaestli has her dance performance tomorrow...(now aren't you glad you took the time last year to get pics with her and go?)  I told you;)  She is a butterfly in the Alice in Wonderland Ballet.  Oliver has a choir performance downtown also so dad will have a full day trying to work and make it to both events.  

Cam is doing good...but has been sick.  Just a bad cold and cough.  

We started cupcake season with out you...I know you are sad you couldn't be the one to wash the pans, but I'm sure you'll survive.:)

Adam bought some sort of BMW...not sure what kind.

The weather here has been pretty mild.  We had snow once in the valley so far.  The mountains have had a few good storms though.

I saw a Facebook post from Brittany today that said her "letter opening" was cancelled because the brethren wanted her to get healthier before she goes.  It is pretty unusual for that to happen. I hope she is ok.  She asked for prayers.

Sister Sullivan said you got your package...don't open the presents until Christmas.  Did you open the package yet?  I put in some meds for Sister Sullivan for the missionaries that need some.  

Pictures-  I need more pictures!!!  What does your apartment look like?  What does Ukraine look like?  What does your church look like?  Stores, streets, companions, district???  I need more pictures.  I'd also like a picture of the binder:)  Elder Biesinger does a much better job sending pictures...so ask him for help if you have too;)

Some of the new moms from your group and from this new group started a private mission Facebook page so that is really fun.  So far we have about 13 moms on it.  Mostly from the 2 new groups.  I need Elder Ditty's mom's info so I can put her on it.  What is her name?  Email?

Questions-

1- How are you feeling about training? 

2-How is the companionship going?- What did Elder Bates think of it??

3- How is your language coming...and Elder Bates coming?

4-Are the hand warmers helpful?

5-  Have you weighed yourself again?  Loss??

6- Are you HAPPY???

7- Are you staying warm while walking?  Is it still about 30 Kilometers a day?  That's 22 miles!!!

8- How is Valeree doing?  Any baptism date?  We are praying for him.

9-Are my emails lacking anything?  Any info you are wondering about?

10- Do you have any questions for me?

11-Do you need more pages or sleeves for the binder?  

12- Do you feel safe where you are at?

13- Are you getting any of the letters at all?  How often can you go to the mission office even?  I'm sending a couple a week...should I keep doing that?  Do you like them?  Do you need more than 2 a week?

14-Can you share anything specific about experiences with Daddy Jake?

**** Most important question!  Details of skyping for Christmas.  What time?  How do we do it?  How long will we have???

Well,  I miss you like crazy!  I am so excited to talk to you in less than 2 weeks!  You continue to amaze me and teach me.  I am so glad you are my son.  Please stay safe.  Keep your faith.  Work hard.  Remember you can do hard things...you have already proven that!  I have complete faith in your ability to train!  You will be great, don't doubt that and don't doubt the Lord's faith in you.  He knows you will do a great job.  Keep being kind and obedient and remember you are one of the happiest people on this earth...keep it that way.  You are the best.  Have faith that even if no baptisms come right away you are doing what the Lord wants you to do.  

I love you and always will!

Mom

I am so excited to train!!!  I just dont feel comfortable taking pictures here, but I will try, that is why I try and make the emails so descriptive is because then you only see the good parts of Ukraine. I will be honest with you right now, there is alot of cool stuff here, and there is a lot of scary stuff here, the problem is I only see the cool stuff on proselyting days, because we are always so busy on P-day, and I dont want to look like a tourist by taking out a camera and snapping a pic. It is against the White handbook to take pictures while proselyting, so I can get stuff around the apartment, and if I see cool stuff today, then I will take a picture for you, I just dont want to be disobedient. Trust me there are so many cool statues, and buildings, maybe in a few weeks when its not a busy P-day, Elder Bates and I will just go take pictures of all the cool stuff.  The companionship is going well and we are getting along good.  Elder Bates said he thought wed be companions eventually just not so soon.  Language is coming well, I have really felt the gift of tounges, and at this point I can understand almost all of what people say to me.  Elder Bates is amazing with the language, unfortunately his ears are still tuned into MTC russian, but he still picks up about 30 percent or more of conversations,  I just have to tell him what to talk about and then he speaks nearly perfectly.  He even catches words sometimes that people we are taching say that I missed, and he tells me what they said, and then I am able to tell him the rest of the conversation, so yeah it should be good.  I havent opened the package yet so I dont know if handwarmers are helpful but probably they will be!  I am around the same as last time with my weight, I have just shed any fat that was on my body, ill tell that story on the group email.  I am very happy!  Yes we still walk about that far a day, and yes I am staying warm!  Ill talk about Valeree on the group email.  YOur emails are perfect! No questions and no sleeves, I can buy them here.  I do feel safe most of the time, you wouldnt feel safe here, but I am used to it now.  I only go to the mission office on P-day, and so i only get letters or packages once a week, which is why I have not picked up the package yet.  Theres not anything really specific about daddy Jake, but I know he is here.

Hey bud. Sounds good about the pictures. I don't want you breaking rules at all so I understand. What about Christmas?  Have you got any letters from me yet?

With christmas we will probably do it around 11 oclock your time, we have to find a place to do it, but it should be fine I have a few pictures this week!

I need a definite time so everyone can be here next week. 

Love you...you forgot I love you this email

I love you too, and yeah it should be 10 AM your time actually becasue we will do it at 7:00 PM here

 Elder Bates and Elder Jorgensen

Welcome Dinner

Snow Day!

View From Apartment

Picture from Bates...much better!