Lena got baptized!!

Week 53

Hooray! SHe was able to be baptized at 5:00 on Saturday evening! We are so happy for her.  Besides that this week has been pretty uneventful, Elder Jeffery and VanBuskirk came up for Exchanges which was good.  It is always nice to see other missionaries when the closest ones are more than 3-4 hours away.  We are just gonna keep working hard here in Sumy, we need to find new people to teach, right Now Alex is progressing well, we are meeting with him tomorrow, he said hed be reading the Book of Mormon while on vacation.

Now the big thing with Lena is retention, we have to teach all the lessons again and make sure she doesnt relapse into her smoking addiction.  

Her Baptism: WE searched all week for a good spot to baptize her whre there wouldnt be too many people, and it could be spiritual.  After searching I call her, and she says "Lets just do it on Cheha, behind Lavina"  I thought Okay whatever we couldnt find a spot anyway, we will just do it there, some part of the lake has to be not crowded right?  WEll Saturday came, I got out my baptismal clothes and put them in a bag, we headed off to Silpo(a grocery store) to by cake and soda, bought cake and soda, dropped it off at branch and then went to Lavina to meet everyone.  We walk around the lake for nearly an hour and then we finally find a spot to do it. She goes and changes and everything was good, I go and change my pants to my white ones, and put on my white tie, we wait for a few branch members and Her mom to get there(she cant walk well so she had someone drive her as close as they could, she walked the rest of the way) and then we baptized her and went back to branch, where we enjoyed some cake with them.

That is it for this week I will send some pictures!

Hey Buddy...

Wow, seriously 1 year and 2 days down.  I can't believe we have all survived without you;).  Plus I feel like it flew by which is amazing and I hope the next year goes even faster.  I am so proud of you and feel so good about how great your mission has been for you, us and all the people in Ukraine you are helping!  What a great accomplishment.  I know we aren't supposed to be prideful, but you really should be proud of yourself.  

I am honestly DYING to find out what happened this week...I want every detail!!!  I prayed all day long everyday that Satan would be blocked from Lena and that she would make it to her baptism date.  Like honestly prayed constantly for her and you.  I want every detail you have.  I love the timing of it all too...if it did happen on Saturday.  Literally a year after being gone.  It is such a blessing.  Oh...I seriously can't wait for your email...I will be up all night!!!!!!!

Your email last week was soooooo good.  I loved it!  I just cried when I read it. 

Ok for our week.  It was back to school this week.  

Josh started Monday.  He is loving a- cappella and madrigals.  He is excited about his classes this year.  He has psychology, AP US History, Honors Physics, Math 3Honors, Honors Language arts, and seminary.  It will be a tough schedule, but he is loving all the teachers.  He is also trying to get a date for Homecoming.  At the end of Sept. he will be able to actually drive dates/friends.

Jordy started Tuesday.  He is off to a good start.  They are still considering the Autism unit but are giving him a chance in the resource classes.  He is riding his bike or long board to school with his friends.  He had a good week and his teachers seem really nice and seem to like him. We are hoping/praying for a good year.

Jacob started 6th grade on Tuesday.  He has Mrs. Derbidge and really likes her.  He seems to handle to work load well and is off to a great start.  He has a ton of friends in his class so he is super excited about that.  He had his last basketball game yesterday and will start again in October.  He is really loving this super league team and its not too demanding so I am loving it too.

Cam started Tuesday as well.  He has 2 teachers, but sadly will be in the resource room most of the day.  He will have lunch with his class and about 45 mins. at the beginning of the day and 30 mins at the end of the day.  The rest of the time is in the resource room.  It breaks my heart a little bit, but he loves it and they love him.  

Kaestli had her kindergarten testing and did fantastic.  She starts on Wednesday.  It will be strange to be alone everyday for a few hours.  I will be volunteering at the school quite a bit though as well.  She is loving dance, gymnastics and learning dynamics though.

Grandma and Grandpa have had off and on weeks.  They are struggling more than I thought, and more than they thought they would for sure.  Please say extra prayers for them to adjust to Fiji, and what the President is asking them to do.  

Dad had a much better week at work and this new promotion should be a really good thing. I have spent a ton of time revamping the house.  Every room really and moved a ton of furniture.  Me and Josh moved all the furniture by ourselves one day.  It looks great though, I love it.  

Question:

1-Every detail of Lena's baptism...every detail!  The week, where, when, how, who was there, and I want lots of pictures.

2-Your feelings on the baptism?

3-Your feelings on being 1 year out?

4-Package- besides socks any other needs or requests.  Do you really not want pop tarts???  I'm having trouble believing that one..

5-Details on all these mission changes and adding all these Russian missionaries!  Are you informed on all this?  It's sad a little, but super exciting too.

6-Was the AP changed last transfer or is it still McCleary?

7-Any traveling plans coming up?

8-Do you think they will add a couple more missionaries to Sumy?

9-Are you still happy and positive?

10-How fluent is your russian?

11-message for me.

12-How can I help you?

13-Feelings on being a missionary.

14-pics/recordings..I love them

I love you tons...I miss you like crazy!  I am so happy you are serving a mission and think you are the best.  Send me more letters in the mail...they are always the best surprise.  Thanks for being my best friend and for always being my support.  I will forever be grateful for our relationship.  I love you so much.

Pray hard, keep up the good work, stay strong and faithful, pray like it all depends on the Lord and work like it all depends on you.

Love you,

Mom

Lena got baptized! It was all really good, and we were very happy for her.  We got pictures of it.  I was happy for her, but it was almost too easy, I wasnt 100% sure, but we felt like we should go through with it.  It has been a very long time, but it feels a lot shorter than one year.  More pepto bismol, no dont send poptarts, then I will eat them.  Yeah, we are really happy to get them, we really needed some new missionaries, weve been spread so thin, I feel like we are being choked out.  NO its still elder McCleary, he is miserable, APs have so much work to do.  Kharkov next week for zone training, they ship us our mail now, so you dont have to worry about that.  Maybe in a transfer or two, but not now.  I am happy and positive.  My russian is pretty good, if it is a conversation, I am nearly fluent, because I react to speech well, but if it is just me talking, sometimes I get rushed, and then I make minor mistakes.   So I am going to tell you this, but not anyone else,  you can tell Dad too, but dont tell everyone.  So we had just baptized Lena, and we were planning at meeting back at branch to have Some Cake and Soda with her.  WE had to take a marshrutka, and they were in a car, so they got there first.  We get there, and just as soon as we get there, she walks around a corner, she didnt see us come.  I followed her around the corner, and I couldnt see her, so I kept walking and in a corner behind the building she was smoking a cigarette.  I was devastated, she thought I didnt see so she threw it down real quick and we went and had cake and stuff.  I told Elder Biesinger and he just put his head against the wall and was also devastated. I called President after, and told him and he was devastated, and he gave us instructions to call her, and if we feel like she isnt serious about this that we shouldnt confirm her, but if we feel she is, then we should confirm her.  SO she was confirmed yesterday and she said on the phone that she wont smoke anymore, now we need to teach all of teh lessons to her again.  I guess this is why I was feeling unsure about the baptism.  We hope the Holy Ghost will help her to quit for real.  My Voice Recorder is out of batteries, and I love being a missionary.  I will send more letters, and I am almost finished putting that birthday package together to send home.  

I love you mom and thankyou so much for supporting me! I am really happy we can trust each other.

So how did you all do on the Book of Mormon challenge I sent out nearly a year a go?

Miracles

Week 52

Okay so this week has been one of the best weeks of my mission.  ANd here is why.

Lena.

The story: We recieved revelation at zone conference to teach her the Restoration again. We did this last Sunday, and we helped clear up a lot of confusion.  Now, I have also started including her in almost each and everyone of my prayers, I said "Father, I know that you wont tamper with someones agency, but if there is anything you can do to help her want to quit smoking, please, do it." So we were getting ready for a lesson with her on Thursday, and I remembered the story of Jesus after the Mount of Transfiguration when he said something upon the lines of "How be it that this kind (the demon posessing the poor boy) goeth out only by fasting and prayer".  So I decided right there I was gonna fast all day, I had been putting the prayer in, I needed to fast.  I knew that it would do something.  We get to the lesson, and planned on teaching about priesthood power, so she understood how it could help her.  We get into the lesson and the first thing she says is, "I havent smoked in 3 days, I have quit" I responded with how  happy I was, and she began to explain that God had began to send "curses" upon her for smoking. She said it all started with her head, it hurt her head a lot to smoke, she said then it moved to my chest, my heart hurt, and finally, it moved to my teeth, I couldnt eat anything for a whole day! I decided that was it, I am quitting, my body doesnt want it, and my spirit doesnt want it. I was soooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I couldnt believe it. I had almost thought that teaching her was hopeless, and many members had told us it was. But prayer mixed with fasting, and patience and Faith proved to be greater than an addiction to smoking. I am almost disappointed in myself for doubting at all for Christ taught that if we have Faith as a Mustard seed, that we can move mountains.  WE are so proud of her and she is ready to be baptized, now that she isnt smoking she is a whole new person, she has a testimony, she understands what we say clearly, she is more mature, she is ready to be a member, she is ready to be our Sister.  SHe is planning to be baptized Saturday Evening (August 27th) in the River, we taught about Baptism Yesterday and how it will work.  She has officially not smoked in an entire week, so she is elligible.  I love her and am so proud of her progress. Despite what the Lord did through us, she also had to take her own steps and now she is preparing herself for baptism.

For those of you who are reading my emails that are not members of the church or have spouses, or children or friends that are not members, please consider meeting with missionaries, and have the courage to invite your spouses, friends, or relatives to meet them.  They are people who care more about you and your well being than anything else, excepting God and Jesus Christ of coarse.  God loves all of his children equally, and has given us missionaries the responsibility of helping others know how to fully feel His Love.

I love all of you.​

I'm not chatting with you...but this email has me in tears!  My prayers have been answered. I love you

Hey buddy,

It was great to see all the photos from your birthday.  Looking at the cupcakes and hearing your story of the butter this was my thought.  I thought I taught him everything he needed to know...but I clearly didn't teach him about cupcakes.  And the next thought...wait, in this house of all things cupcakes would have been taught!  So you only have yourself to blame for not learning my mad cupcake skills;)  Haha...

I love listening to the recordings and also love all the pictures.  Thanks for making that a priority.  It helps me so much! Also Julie Biesinger found that "humans of Sumy" Facebook group and we saw your posts!!!  It was so fun to see and read!  I love reading a Russian Accent message from you.  It is totally like Yoda:)

I got a great email from Julia this week with pictures of you that were awesome!  I also got the great photo from Vika this week that helped sooth my mom heart for missing your birthday.  I love that I have some connections to people you know there.  I have hope for Julia.  Everything she posts on social media is about Christmas!  Has she let you teach any lessons yet?  How is Vika also?  Does she have any plans for a real mission, or another mini?  She is so cute, I just adore her.  

We had a week of weeding, cleaning, organizing and trying to squeeze the last bit of fun out of summer.  Josh has his first day of school tomorrow.  Jordy, Jacob and Cam start on Tuesday.  They are a little excited...but mostly sad summer is over.  Kaestli has her Kindergarten testing on Friday and then starts a week from Wednesday.  She already started the Kindergarten enhancement program at her preschool. It will be 2 days a week in the morning and Kindergarten is afternoons.  She is also starting a tumbling class 2 days a week in the morning so her only free morning is Friday.  She loves the new schedule and can't wait to start kinder.  It will be strange for me to have all the kids gone for part of the day everyday of the week.  It's a new chapter of life for sure.  

Dad fired our yard guy so him, josh, jacob and me are the new crew.  Jacob and Josh are thrilled to use the riding lawn mower though.  Jacob figured out how to fix the weed wacker by himself this week when Dad was still at work.  He was proud...so was I.  He can definitely be the new Jax;).  

We had Great Grandma's 80th birthday party at Joe's this week.  The beef was the best we've had there in years.  Almost everyone was there.  Main news there is Carly is pregnant with a boy, due about the same time as Keely.  Jace had a GIRLFRIEND!  He even introduced her as his girlfriend.  She is in the picture I sent next to him.  Josh walked up to him and looked at both of them back and forth a couple times and then said, "and I thought you'd be lonely the rest of your life" and then he walked off.  So social skills may still need to be worked on..haha.  

Dad had some of his team over yesterday for a swim party.  They are making some big changes on Monday (today) so that will be interesting.  He is less stressed though, so that is good.

Jordy was presented as a teacher today.  We will do the ordination next week.  Mikey is going to do it.  He is very excited to prepare the sacrament instead of passing...but he will most likely end up passing every week anyway!

Jacob had a great game yesterday and they won by 36 points or something crazy like that.  He has a playoff game on Tuesday night and will play again on Saturday if they win.  

Questions-

1-Transfers next week right?  Any word on Changes for you yet? 

2-Julia info?

3-Vika info?

4-More recordings

5-more pics

6-If you get transferred when will you travel?  If you can have someone email me again if it's going to be a day before you can.

7-Are you excited for a change, or hoping to stay untouched again. (I'll honestly be sad when you and biesinger aren't comps anymore)

8-Why did you guys do the Facebook page thing?  Details on that would be awesome!

9-Are you still happy and positive?

10-Favorite thing about E. B.?

11-Message for me..

12-Favorite thing this week?

13-Will you miss Vika and the other members if you leave?  Will you keep in contact with Vika?

I miss you like crazy and love you so much.  Thanks for being amazing and serving the lord.  I am really proud of you.  I can't believe it's almost been a year!!!  That is just nuts.  I hope this next year goes even faster than the last year:).  We are all doing well and think about you everyday.  Your example will last your lifetime and beyond.  I am so grateful to have you as my son.  I can't wait to get that hug!!!  

Love you tons!!!!  Be safe, have faith, pray always, stay strong, lead with confidence and humility.  You are the best!  Dad said the other day, "Jax is seriously one of the most amazing people I have ever met."  He meant it too!  I completely agree.

Love you TONS!!!!!

Mom

Thanks for the pictures, I love getting so many of them.  We are staying in Sumy.  Julia is very nice, but we think she just wants us to marry her sisters.  She LOVES America, and we dont know how long it will be until she will investigate.  Her Husband is nice enough and I think he might be the one who will get her interested, because she is just closed to anything but Orthodox.  Vika is cool, she is helpful for lessons.  We did it because our ward missionary told us about it and we hope it will help people know who we are, and that we are normal.  I am still happy and positive.  He is just a dork, and we get along because we dont care if the other is different about something, we poke fun at eachother like brothers.  My favorite thing this week is Lena and I will give that full story in the group email.  Yes I will miss the members and vika, it is agains the rules to email members of teh opposite sex if they live in the mission, so after the mission I might email her.  I dont expect any kind of relationship with her. It is actually when missionaries make relationship promises to members or missionaries here, because 95% of the time they cannot or will not follow through. They go back to America and see their friends from before the mission, or meet people at college and then probably immediately forget about whoever it is in Ukraine.  It is emotionally devastating for them, and it is something I will never do to any of them.

I love you so much! You are the best and I am so grateful for everything we do. Elder Biesinger and I talked about how different everyones relationship with their parents is and he said "Yeah you and your mom are best friends while other people arent quite enemies, but definitely not friends." I love you so much!

Is it Autumn or August?

Week 51

Yeah the title is because it has been chilly the last few days. And raining.  My shoes havent dried out since Saturday.  Maybe it will warm up again I dont know, but I sure do love winter here, so bring it on.  I miss all of you a lot and I love all of you, you are all so important to me.

Miracle:  Last Monday we had an activity planned at 6:30, we were going to play Frisbee in the park, when we had gotten ready and were about to leave, I felt like we shouldnt go out the door.  We go anyway and I get a call from Natasha saying that she cant come, and neither can any of the people she invited.  We were upset and went home.  As we were changing into missionary clothes again, I got the feeling we should go play any way.  I voiced it to Elder Biesinger and he was like yeah other missionaries have done stuff like that.  So We prayed, both recieved a yes, and I called President.  President gave permission, we changed into casual clothes, and went to a park and played Frisbee for 2 hours.... NO ONE TALKED TO US! only one guy even payed attention to us and that is because I deflected the frisbee toward him(it looked like an accident) and almost hit him with it hoping he would catch it and play  with us.  No Cigar.  Just as I was thinking "Wow, this is probably the biggest waste of time for a missionary ever" a guy walked up and started talking with me.  We taught him a street lesson and became friends, he didnt even want to play frisbee with us, but the fact we were just playing made him feel comfortable enough to approach us.  We taught him the Restoration on Friday and he wants to come to church! God guides his missionaries!

We met with Lena yesterday, and taught the Restoration again, she hadnt understood much from the first time, so it was good to review it with her.  We made a goal with to quit smoking completely by the end of this week.  Elder Biesinger said he smelt alchohol on her, so we are going to have cover that again.

I really  love the people of Ukraine.  We were on a bus to a zone conference 5 hours away and as I looked over the fields of corn and sunflowers, and wheat, I thought "I really love this country"

Funny thing: WE met with a family this week from armenia... They served us Tomato salad, with tomatoes on the side.  I dont like tomatoes....  But thanks to Grandpa Edmunds blessing I was able to eat these ones. They didnt even know I wasnt happy because I took more everytime they offered them and smiled.  They did have the best bread ever though, fresh and warm from the bakery.  Members here are so great it amazes me how generous they can be when they have so little.  We often feel that we dont deserve their love, and this drives us to do everything we can to please them.

Jax....

Wow, you are 19 years old today.  I can hardly believe it!  I was reading all my Facebook posts from your past birthdays and it was very telling of how much I love you and how important you are to me.  You have blessed me in more ways that you will ever know.  You gave me the gift of motherhood and it is a role I honor and am so grateful for.  I am so grateful that God gave me you.  I know every one thinks their kids are the best, but my friends that know you always agree that I have the best son in the world!  I am lucky you are mine, and I am yours.  I love you so much!

I really hope that EB gave you a birthday party, or you were able to make the cake or do something for your birthday!!!!  Please let me know.  I hope you reread all the letters too.

Lake Powell was a lot of fun.  We only had Me, Dad and the kids.  So it was a little strange not to have our missionaries there too...especially since we usually celebrate your birthday's at Powell.  Ollie didn't make it.  He has been doing football and was doing conditioning.  I guess he has developed exercise asthma and really needs to get into shape before it starts.  So it was quite a small group for Powell.  Everything went smoothly and we all had a good time.  

The Tboys are really improving in their skills.  The first run on the lake I said "who is up first?" and Ethan and Kalten both wanted to go first.  Josh looked at me and said, "what universe is this?".  Then they both piped up about how that has never happened before.  

Josh is getting a lot better too.  He is close to clearing the wake.  Jordy actually came close to clearing it as well.  Jacob is probably the most improved and really is getting a ton of air now.  He also braved jumping cliffs and jumping off the houseboat.  Cam was able to get up and board pretty far.  

I helped Kaestli and told her to stay tight as a ball.  I put the rope up close to her body with her knees in the middle of it.  She got up but one problem...her legs were stuck in the rope.  She went so far.  She couldn't let go of the rope to stop because her knees were literally stuck.  So finally she just started yelling, "STOP!"  It was super funny.  Luckily she wasn't scared off and continued to try throughout the week.  She still surfs with me or Josh.  Josh surfed with her on his back this time.  

We also experimented with double surfing with wake boarding ropes.  Cam did it on the knee board. It was a lot of fun.  I was able to spoil the spoiler several times which was a blast.  It feels so good to ski again.  

This is our last week of summer and I'm trying to decide if we should party or get the house/rooms in order.  I really am not excited for them all to start up again.  There will be some good things about it, but it also comes with the issues with Jordy and Cam that are very draining for me.  So maybe some extra prayers for us as we start a new year.  Kaestli is so excited to start kindergarten though.  It will be so strange to have everyone gone everyday.  

I love the recordings...but you need to do some and be more active in the conversation if possible.  It is great to hear all the stories.  I got an awesome email this week from Sister Sullivan with your picture telling me about meeting with you.  She thinks so much of you.  It is so nice to know that you guys are taken care of.  

Questions-

1-Birthday details...

2-How was zone conference?

3-Did Sister Sullivan use your reference of going till the whistle blows?

4-How did you travel for it, who did you stay with?

5-Any predictions for transfers?

6-How are your investigators doing?

7-did you have to drop Lena?

8-How are you feeling about nearing your hump day?

9-Have you gotten any mail from me recently?

10-Do you miss getting mail weekly?

11-How can I be helpful?

12-Anything added to a package? besides socks?  I ordered some good Nike long black socks...is that right?

13-What do you think about Josh in the madrigals?

14-Are you still happy and positive?

15-more pics...more recordings..

16-Message for me:)

Well I love you.  I look forward to mondays all week.  It is so fun to get your email and Dakkon's too.  We are so proud of both of you.  It is crazy to see the change in him!  It is such a great change!  I think about you all the time and pray for you constantly.  I really hope you had a great birthday.  I miss you like crazy!  Thanks for being amazing!  You are the best!!!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Mom

Wow that looks like a fun lake Powell trip! I wish I was there!  Birthday was good I made the Red velvet cake.  Elder Biesinger is going to buy me a present today, he is a great companion. I think she used a small part of it. WE took a bus and stayed with Elder Olson and Miller. We actually rode the bus down with Vika because she left for her mini mission that day.  I have no clue, my suspicion is either I will stay here, or I will become an AP, those look like the only 2 options right now.  I am feeling really good about it, it has been a long time, but it feels like its only been a month or two.  I got mail just last week. I do miss it, but there is nothing to do about it.  I cant think of it right now, but there was something, I will tell you about it next week, I am going to quit poptarts, so dont send any more :_( it will be tough but I can do it!  I love that he is doing it, I cant wait to see him again, I wish I had been kinder to him.  I am happy and positive! I love you so much mom and you are really the best.  I am literally one of the only missionaries who gets constant mail from his/her mom.  I love the support and I know my mission would be a lot harder with out it.  Did you know Whitney Oldroyd got her Mission call? Do you remember her? She went to the BYU game with us. She is going to Oklahoma.  I cant believe shes serving a mission! I am so happy for her!