It is a new month here in Kremenchuk. Things are starting to come to life again. Crops are sprouting, the grass is green you can even see buds starting to form on the trees, by my watch in about 15 days Ukraine is going to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Elder Jarman got roasted in an email from his sister last week and she gave him home work assignments, so we decided to do it as a companionship. Task one had to do with reviewing why in the world we are here in Ukraine. When people here ask me that they usually look at me like I am crazy and say "So youre telling me you willingly left America, paused your life, and flew here, and you are not recieving a dime in return? Not only that but your Church didnt pay for everything for you? You, your family and your friends are paying an estimated total of 10 thousand dollars for you to do this? And you left AMERICA and came HERE??? What do you want, why did you come?" Usually I pause, look them in the eye and say something along the lines of(It is much more eloquent in Russian) "I came here for you. Not just you, but your friends, and your family. I care about your people, I consider Ukraine as if it were my mother land. I came here to share happiness." Then they get all quiet and think about what I said. I hope they think it is worth it, cause I sure do.
Anyway we studied chapter 1 almost all week and got pumped to be missionaries. Your point of view really affects the work. I remember as soon as we had finished studies we went out. And I wanted to talk to some one, but something was holding me back(I almost never have those feelings, so I knew satan was trying to keep me from something big). So ignored it and talked to them, we had a good conversation and they took an invitation. This happened several times the last few days. We are making good progress here and I am excited.
One of the greatest things about our mission that sets it apart is behind the walls. It is where we, as Elder Bates puts it, are under cover missionaries. (Of coarse we have to call and get permission from president ahead of time, other wise some missionaries might take behind the walls a little too far) The idea is to meet people that you usually wouldn't meet, and sometimes a name tag and a tie get in the way of that. The behind the walls activity we did this week was a talent show. WE attended a University talent show that one of the members here (Masha) was participating in. We wore casual clothes and took off the tags, and in Mashas words we looked like her class mates. WE were able to meet mashas parents and sister, and a few of her friends. We made such a good impression on her parents that they want us over for dinner sometime this week. Sometimes people dont need to see the difference, they need to feel it, and feeling it takes some quality time.
This week we are starting task two of his sisters home work which is about obedience, I am doing pretty well there, but we will see what happens this week.
I love all of you!
Hey buddy,
Ok, so that last few emails have been sooo short from you. Even Grandpa called me and said, "What's with his short emails, is he struggling or something? Cause these emails aren't cutting it for me". I agree with him. We need more from you. We especially me look forward to your emails all week and when they are short it is emotionally unsatisfying. So please write a little more if you can, pretty please!
Our week was full of ups and downs, mostly for Josh. We started at 5:30 am on Monday morning setting up his booth for the SBO elections. We had so many cupcakes, had stayed up all night working on his posters and he took a tv and game system for people to play during lunch. He got everything cleaned up after school and then went and found out he didn't make the top 10 and he was no longer running for SBO. He was so sad and devastated. One of his friends came over and brought a card and cake that evening to cheer him up. Then it was his birthday on Thursday and his friends had made a candy bar poster for him and they decorated his car. He was so excited. When I called him he said, "I finally have friends that did something for my birthday!" He had 3 girls and 1 other guy friend over that day for food, cake, Lord of the Rings, and hot tubbing. So he had a great 17th birthday. I got him a nice new blue suit with brown shoes and a brown belt. He loved it. Then to top his happiness one of the girls that came for his birthday, Pixie, asked him to Morp the next day with a cute Harry Potter themed ask. He is super excited to go with her.
Jacob had a basketball game on Saturday and did so good. He made 2 3 pt shots, and a couple other baskets. He had several steals and probably around 6 assists to their big guy in the center. He is a great defensive player and his shooting is now matching his defensive game. They won 30 to 6. He really loves this team.
Cameron had his annual Cardiology follow ups. They measure his aortic root dilation and give it a score in ratio to his body. It's called a z-score. His has gone up .2 every year for several years now. But finally it actually came down .2 from 3.6 to 3.4. This is great news! So we are happy about that!
Kaestli is doing well and had now moved to small chapter books at Learning Dynamics. She loves to learn and is really smart.
Jordy had another good week. All his friends came over the other day when the pool guys had come to clean up the pool. So we had them all do the polar bear challenge and jump in the freezing cold pool and then swim to the end and jump in the hot tub. It was super funny to see them all scream and react!
On Saturday we had our annual Easter Egg hunt and also Josh's family birthday party. It was so strange to have so few kids and only 2 hunters of my own kids. We still did the $5 egg for each kid. Allie's sister in law Holly came and brought her 3 kids. It was a lot of fun for everyone.
We had another Missionary Mom lunch with the Ukraine MM's yesterday at a lady's house in Sandy. It was super fun and I got to meet Elder Larsen's parents. Apparently he gives very short emails and no pictures so I will be sending them all the stuff you sent me of him. They were super surprised to hear that he was waking you up at 5 am and working out. They said the package they sent was full of peanut butter and oreos...no healthy food;). They loved the story of the beans...he literally doesn't tell them anything. They were super nice! I also met Elder Knorpps mom finally. She seemed pretty nice. It is weird that she didn't send any mail in the MTC...it seems like she would be the type that would. Sister Walker and I had a few funny EV stories to swap. Sister Biesinger and I are still besties and she is my favorite. Elder Olsen's mom and Elder Montgomery's mom and I talked about getting you guys registered and set for school. I contacted Elder Jarman's mom this week. She seems super nice, but they couldn't come to the lunch.
Saturday night Curtis took Josh, Jacob and Jordy to Priesthood session and then out for dinner afterward. I love that they have been so regular with that tradition the last couple years. The Tboys are out of town at a ultimate frisbee thing so they weren't here.
We loved conference, especially the talk in the last Sunday session. If you have any investigators coming make sure they go to that session! It was great.
This week me and the kids head to Fiji on Thursday. So next Monday might be a shorter email depending on service etc. We are all super excited to go. Traci is coming with us now too. It should be super fun!! We will miss you there though!
I miss you so much and love you. Thanks for serving a mission! I am so proud of you!
Discussions.
1-Ok so this package is ready, are you sure you don't want to add anything else to the list? Are you ready for it now or should I wait a few weeks to send it? It's basically just a replenishing of protein bars and shake mix, Carnation instant and some more proactive. When should I send it?
2-Are you still happy and positive?
3-AFROTC-I'm fine with moving forward as if you are going to do it. I will figure out how to set you up with that. But if you do it and then don't get the scholarships and money to do it I don't think you should continue in it. Is that fair? What do you think?
4-How are things with Elder Jarman? Are you still getting along? You said he didn't get much chance to do much with his last comp...what do you mean? How is his Russian?
5-Do you still think you will stay in Kremenchuk the rest of your mission? Is there any other area you want to serve? I kind of want you to go to Mariupol because of the girl I met that served there.
6-In what way do you think you have grown the most while on your mission?
7-What have you grown to appreciate more now than you did before?
8-How has your testimony grown or changed since you started serving?
9-What do you hope to accomplish in your last 4 months and 3 weeks on your mission?
10-Recordings
11-Pics
12-Special message for me
I miss you like crazy but I am so happy you are serving so well. You are a great missionary and a great man! I pray for you constantly and you are always on my mind. I am really proud of you. Thanks for how selfless you always were while you were growing up. Josh has really stepped up the last year and is doing so well now. You will be really proud of the young man he is and how he has changed toward the family. Mostly because of the regrets he has with you and also because of your example to him. It's really great. He misses you so much. We all do.
Love you tons!!! Keep praying and working hard!
Love
Mom
1 It would be find to send it now, I still have some bars and mix to last me a few weeks.
2 Yes I am
3 Yeah I would agree that that is fair.
4 Like apparently his last comp was a "Star" and wanted to be the spotlight, so elder jarman didnt get to do much. His russian is rough, but he has time, we do language study together, I passed all of the tests.
5 I thnk i will probably stay. I cant really think, it would be cool to serve in Dnepr again. By the end of this transfer I will have been serving in a city with out sisters for a year.
6 A lot, probably my testimony. But I am really just better over all
7 Spiritually? The atonement, missionary work, fulfilling callings, reliability, the spirit. Physically? Clean streets, clean houses, car, smart phone, time, restraunts, the dollar and its ability to buy, google, reliable payment systems, English, and several other things.
8 Basically I have the witness of the spirit, I have evidence from several experiences, I know the scriptures to a point of being able to prove it from the bible(I rarely use that skill, bible bashing is the most pointless thing EVER, I win and they still dont get baptized)
9 I do not plan on getting trunky, it will not happen no matter what. I want to find and baptize a family, or help a member complete their eternal family.
I love you so much, I am sorry for the short emails, with Elder Larsen i got kind of lethargic, it was even hard for me to focus during studies some times,he is a great kid, and hell be a great missionary, but goodness did he know how to tell stories that made me daydream, I love him to death, but he kind of broke my focus a bit. Elder Jarman is a bit different, it is like serving with Ethan. He is a bit immature, but we will get along well for sure, we wont have any comp problems. I am curious what kind of stories did you and sister walker trade?, I hope they are getting along, Elder VanBuskirk really needs a break from not getting along with people, granted it is self inflicted.
Thanks for the packages it is so great, there are alot of things that I will probably never be able to say thankyou enough for.
No comments:
Post a Comment