Viktor's back!

Week 95

Well, Viktor is back, the world is a happier place, hugs were shared, smores were consumed, and weddings are being planned.   We met with them last night and mostly just talked.  Next appointment we plan on reteaching a few things, such as the importance of the Book of Mormon, and we will see how much Viktor read while in Krimea(he was to 2 Nephi before he left). We made smores with them and Elder Jarman shared his Reeses with them. They are super busy this week just as any couple would be before their wedding.

Vadim came to church for the second time and Liza came as well. This week was good for both of them. We taught Liza the plan of Salvation on Saturday after our smores activity and she seemed to like it.  She is still under 18 so she cant get baptized without parental permission, but Masha got baptized, so we think she can as well. It would be super cool if She AND her parents go baptized.

With Vadim we didnt think that we were going to have any spiritual talks this week, but after English he walked outside and stepped on a sparrow accidentally, he felt HORRIBLE.  He waited for us to came out walked straight to me and told me what happened and asked why stuff like that happened.  Then ensued a conversation touching topics such as The Atonement, accidents, etc. He shared a kind of cool experience with us. He said that as soon as he started meeting with us that the Dogs stopped barking at him on his way home. Now they are just quiet. "As if they sensed the presence of the elect"-Elder Jorgensen Cleverly thought to himself. he explained that he didnt want to join any churches. I responeded with testimony about the happiness and joy he could feel in the church.

Funny story:  We were asked to cast a devil out of some dude by his friends.  Boy they thought they were so clever. Elder Jarman and I just asked what his name was and said we would pray for him.  (The guy didnt have a devil in him, he was just playing games on his phone.) We got a pretty good kick out of it after we left. I am imagining what we would have done if we werent servants of Christ with actual athourity to do something like that.  (Maybe throw both of our hands in the air and shout "BE HEALED!")

Hey Bud,

First off, thanks, your letters last week were awesome!  I think it was your longest emails to date!  I loved it!  The stories make it seem like I'm there with you for even just a minute!  It was great to read about all that stuff!

Wow, time is flying by!  Grandma and Grandpa get home in 10 days!!!  We are all so excited for them to come home!  We are starting to make plans for the week they are home.  Cam's birthday is next Sunday so he is sad they miss it by a couple days.  Kaestli keeps bragging that they didn't miss any of her birthdays.  They left last year on July 11 her birthday is the 10th, and they get back the 5th.  

This week was good.  It took me several days to adjust to the medicine they put me on for the nerve pain.  I am finally feeling better though and I think it will be a good medicine for me to be on.  

We swim 3 times a day at this point.  Jordy's bleached out hair has turned completely green.  I take several measures to keep Kaestli's hair from turning green.  So far it is working.  The kids are staying up late almost every night.  The other night we started a swim party after 10:00 with the little kids.  So all rules are out the window at this point and we are just living it up this summer.  We have all the cousins over several times a week too.  It has been a lot of fun:)

The Tboys have been coming over a lot more than usual too, which has been fun.  They kind of just show up before or after work some days.  Ollie's birthday was friday and he spent that at Scout camp.  They are coming over tonight for a fire, Smore's party.  It was Curtis' family reunion this weekend.  We spent Saturday at Downata Hot Springs.  It's up in Idaho and has slides and a hot spring.  The kids loved it!  So some of the family from the reunion that is still in town is coming over to do Smore's with us.  It should be fun.

Josh was called to be the Bishop's first assistant today, so he is super excited about that.  I think he will be great at it.  Youth Conference is this week.  They are doing a ropes course in Provo and then going boating the other day.  Jordy and Josh are both excited for it.  

Good news...college.  I checked again today and you were added to the Russian class!!!  So yay!  You got all the classes we were hoping for!  So I dropped the choir class I had you in and the general fitness class.  So at this point I just need to figure out the AFROTC class.  So you should be set.  Go on and check out your schedule.  It looks good and you'll be finished by 3:30 everyday so you should be able to get an evening job.  

Today I saw a Facebook post from the dark haired girl in your branch.  It was a picture of the activity you guys did over the weekend.  I always love when she posts them.  There were several comments in Russian on it between her and another girl.  Facebook will show translations...it's not perfect but you can get the idea.  So anyway, the other girl was really attacking her for being mormon, for being with mormon missionaries again, and attacking mormons and missionaries in general.  It made me sad, but what I wanted to tell you is that she really handled it so well.  I was really impressed with her responses.  She defended mormons, missionaries, and the church.  But she was never contentious.  She said several times, "please stop making these negative comments" or "this conversation is over" but she never attacked back.  Just defended herself, the church and you guys and then asked her to stop.  It was several interactions.  I was really impressed by her.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to live in Ukraine as a member and have people constantly attack you for it.

I miss you and can't wait for you to come back!!!

Discussions

1-College/how are you feeling about it?  Did you check your schedule?  How does it look to you?

2-What do you think about the Facebook story I just told you?

3-Is it common for them to be attacked for joining the church?

4-Is the wedding happening this week?

5-How is Masha's sister coming along?

6-Any other drama/interactions with Masha?

7-Funny story this week?

8-Any letters yet???  I wonder what is going on with them!  I didn't send one this week...but I sent 2 the week before that.  I hope they eventually get there!  

9-Don't forget to send a shout out for Cam and Ollie's birthday.

10-pics

11-recordings

12-message for me:)

I miss you and love you so much!  I am very proud of you.  I trust you 100%!  Completely!  I think so highly of you!  You are honestly one of the best people I know and one of my very best friends. Thank you for always being so great.  I feel really lucky to have you for my first son.  You are the best!

Have a great week!  This week will be just 2 months away from that airport hug!  I think it will be awesome that we will be there with your friends and their families too!  Your homecoming will be on Sept. 10 at 1:00...and so is Elder Biesingers:(, and Elder Olsen's is the 10th as well.  So we have already planned a mini reunion with the moms and missionaries at Elder Montgomery's homecoming on the 18th!  

Stay strong and faithful!  Keep working hard!  

Love you,

Mom

1

2I think that it totally makes sense. She knows that she gets on our nerves sometimes, and she knows she is super manipulative, but she loves us and she loves the church.  Also she doesnt take anybody's crap, so that Facebook conversation makes tons of sense.

3 Not as much in Ukraine as in Russia, but they face tons of challenges especially their children growing being not just the only Mormon Youth in the school, but likely the only one in the city.  Teasing, Rumors, pranks, pressure etc.  It is not easy to be a Mormon.  She personally had  a guy tell her "You choose now, me or your cult!" And she told him to shove it.

4 Yes it should be, we likely wont be there just because it will be a super small family thing, I really hope they invite us though.

5Good, we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she really liked it. I pointed out the whole idea that millions of people have died without knowledge of Christ and accoridng to the majority of Christianity are therefore lost, but according to Gods plan they still have a chance.

6 No, she skypes Vladlena after English and of coarse wants to talk to me. But at this point we have determined(not from her) that she doesnt actually think anything will happen, and that it is just a crush.

7 Yesterday on our way home a couple of guys were in a car and they motioned us over and asked us to cast a demon out of their friend.  Their friend looked at them like "What?"  One of the guys couldnt handle it and just started laughing, and walked away but the other guy stayed in character and was like "He needs your help, there is a devil in him".  If we werent representatives of Jesus Christ we would have turned the joke around on them and done all sorts of silly things but instead we were like "Okay cool, well pray for him, whats his name?" And then walked away. Boy we got a good laugh at that they probably thought they were so clever.

8Nope. I hope they get here too, but it sounds like once they do I will have an entire book to read.  Speaking of books, what is up with the one you were writing?

9 Okay

12  I miss you so much and I cant wait to see you all again. THanks so much for helping with the College registration and I am so happy that I got into the Russian class!  I love you and am so thankful for all of you support.

First week of the new transfer.

Week 94

Well, as I am sure you all know I am still here in Kremenchuk and we just finished the first week of my 3rd transfer with Elder Jarman. We said goodbye to Masha this week as she went to Germany for work. I will likely never see her again and it is sad to realize that soon I will have to say many such goodbyes.  Hopefully Ill be able to come back to Ukraine some time in the future.

Big events this week is probably our Sport night on saturday.  WE played basketball with a bunch of teenagers, hopefully we will be able to help them all out.  It is depressing to see how addicted they are to smoking here. Between every game they have to stop and take a smoke break.  We want to be a good influence on these kids.  Fortunately they are starting to respect me after all of the 3's I have rained down on them.  Hopefully we can use our friendship to help them come to the gospel.  

Funny story:  Elder Jarman was supposed to lead our Sunday School lesson yesterday with me as the support. And then our entire plan changed right before the lesson.  I looked at him and said come on you can do.  But he was like. "what am I supposed to do? our entire plan just went out the window" So I saved him and asked some questions to get a conversation going and then we were able to do what he had planned. Its funny because Russian is actually really hard, and when what you wanted to say gets thrown out the window it can be difficult to react.  He took it well though.

I talked yesterday in Sacrament meeting on Charity, Patience and Love and how we need more of it in our branch.

I know this is the Lords work and this week I feel more sure than ever about that.  The Lord has taken me higher than I myself could have reached. Anything good I ever did do I owe to Him.

Hey buddy,

So don't forget to write dad a Happy Father's Day note:)  

I am actually not feeling well tonight so my email may be shorter.  

Today Jacob had to speak in Sacrament about Fathers.  It was pretty rough preparing for it.  He spent 2 hours crying last night and couldn't even get through the first couple lines.  We kept rewriting it and finally was able to get one written that he could give.  He was able to do it today and he really did a great job.  I'll send you the talk.

Jacob and Jordy had their first track meet this week.  It was super long and boring.  Me and Cam were dying the whole time.  Jacob ran a 6.12 mile...and took 6th place.  The first place runner had a time of 5.30!!!  That is so fast for a 14 year old!  Jordy was terrible slow unfortunately!

Josh spent the week at Boys State and had a great time.  He was able to run for a few different offices and he also got to be a judge for the mock trial.  He was awarded a scholarship to Weber for 50% tuition.  

The Tboys spent the weekend here and everyone had a good time.  We had a work party for some of Dad's team and their families.  Ethan was the lifeguard.  

I have been having some health issues and they suspected MS.  It was scary the last month going through all the tests, but we learned on Friday that it is NOT MS.  So yay for that!  I do have some herniated discs in my neck and bone spurs causing spinal stenosis.  So the nerves to my arms are being cut off.  We have a plan in place to get some physical therapy to help.  I also suffer from chronic headaches that they are going to try and fix.  Which means a medicine change which is what is making me feel sick today.  Hopefully my body will adjust quickly and I can start feeling better soon.

I miss you very much.  

Questions-

1-Tell me a funny story.

2-How is your branch doing?

3- is the wedding still on?  Will you get to go to it?

4-How are they progressing in the lessons?

5-How are you and Elder Jarman doing?

6-Are you still happy and positive?

7-ANy changes with that girl situation?

8-What was the best part of your week?

9-Do you ever get to see any other missionaries?

10-Do you want to go on a vacation over Christmas break or spend it at home?

11-pics 

12-recordings

13-message for me:)

14-College...please go on to the BYU site and look at the classes.  You are 4th on the waiting list for the Russian class.  I am trying to get you the permission code to add the AFROTC class.  You may need to add or drop classes that first week...I am doing my best on it.  What else can I do?

Remember your byu net id and pass    jaxonhj 1byucougars1

I miss you like crazy and I love you.  Thanks for serving a mission.  I hope you have a great week.  You are always in my prayers.  Keep working hard and giving the Lord your all!!

Love you Mom

1 Okay so we were at the branch after choir, and we have a member here that is just straight up crazy. She is super duper nice, but she is like 5 years old inside of her head.  So we were siting down for choir and Sister Alexandra(A recent convert) brought flowers for Ira(the crazy old lady).  She gave Ira the flowers and Ira said "Whos is this from" Giggling. ANd Alexandra answered from the Lord.  SIster Ira was SOOOOOOO happy.  She absolutley loved it.  She treated those flowers like the best gift ever. During choir shed just be singing her own words to the song trying to sound like an angel.  It is so funny and adorable. After choir, Elder Bates brought out a bag of cookies a lady a gave him that he and Elder Snow didnt want so they "shared" with everyone.  And  Sister Ira was very selective about getting the best cookies she ended up with almost all of them.  Then she brought her own bag and shared with everyone.  She made Elder Jarman take like 3 Elder Bates took one and Elder Snow took one. Then she came to me and I said I could only take one because I wanted to be healthy, and she said Okay, thats good.  So she saw Elder Bates had eaten his and offered another he said he couldnt any more(she is super insistent and its like impossible to say no to Ukrainians)  But he got out of it with out a cookie. I got an evil smile on my face and said "Ira, I heard him say he wanted 3 more"  She smiled super big and followed him with the cookies and Elder Bates was like asked her why she thought he wanted more, and said that he didnt.  She said of course you do, He said so.  We left right then so that Elder Bates couldnt return fire. It is sad to see how gone she is, but at the same time not, because she is probably more happy than a lot of other people.

2Good there are some problems with a lonely woman who says incorrect things and then people tear her apart, so that is kinda tough, we are trying to help her.

3Yes, they havent invited us yet, but I hope so. I dont think it will be a big event since she is pregnant.

4Not super good. its hard to meet with them without Viktor. Luckily he will be back soon.

5Super good we dont ever have problems with eachother.

6Yes

7 UUUUUGHHH.  I hate this situation. Luckily Masha is finally in Germany and I wont ever see her again, so we dont have to worry about me marrying her or getting ETd or anything of that sort. So here is the full story.  Because she was leaving and she was going to miss us we did something with her on P-day last week and thought that would be enough, but no, it wasnt.  So the next night at english we were walking home and we thought that would be the last time we saw her, but no, it wasnt.  She wanted to meet on Wednesday night for dinner with us all and her sister, so we did it, thinking eh its dinner, shell be offended if we dont go might as well(WE are going to teach her sister the plan of salvation this week.), and then we can leave after and nothing else will happen. But no we couldnt. So we had to walk with them after and we were trying so hard to make it a good experience for her. We get to a point where The other Elders have to turn off to go home, so they walk with us and her sister to the bus stop.  When she said goodbye to Elder Bates he hugged her(In our mission the rule is if it is as friends then its okay, but if you have feelings or its flirty, of course not.) So I have spent the last 6 weeks carefully choosing words, and maneuvering situations to avoid the "Conversation".  We get to our bus stop she looks at me and Elder Jarman and asks if we are going to hug her good bye.  I think for a moment trying to get out of it somehow, dont see many options and go with. " Well, why do you want me to hug you?" she said "because we are friends." so I said cool .2 second hug and done. (Vladlena was disappointed there wasnt more, she wanted me to like kiss her or confess my (nonexistent) love or something gooshy like that.) Then she asked EJ for a hug and he said no, and there was a small argument but it didnt matter(he doesnt want to have to give Vladlena a hug in the future so thats probs why he said no).  Then we got on our bus and left. Right after we sat down she sent me a text saying that she lied about the friends thing.  Me and Elder Jarman talked it over after and decided the hug wasnt a big deal. Now I just have to be careful on emails which is much easier.  Masha is a super nice girl, but I dont have those kind of feelings for her, and I am not going to be the 2nd missionary to say "Ill come back for you" and then gets married to someone else.

    Now with Vladlena, who is still here. She is the real problem.  So she calls, I call her back to see whats up.  I got Masha to read the whole BoM so now I am trying to get Vladlena to do it too.  So last night I asked over the phone how it was going. She doesnt want to read. And i cant make here read, but she makes it sound like she doesnt need to read. And then complains about how terrible her life is and about how none of her friends care about her and how we dont care about her(shes trying to manipulate me... no)  So after she said I dont care about her I told her she was wrong and that thats the whole reason I want her to read the book and then she tried to make me feel bad by saying that the other day she was sick and Masha said she could call us and we would bring her medicine.  But she didnt because "we dont care"(weve brought her medicine several times, or whatever small thing she needs when she is sick, so thats bull crap) So I said good night vladlena. And hung up.  She is super terribly manipulative, she brought Elder Larsen to tears one time.  If she wants to keep playing the "my life is hard" game I might just send her your story let her realize there are a lot tougher places to be at her age.  She is lucky I am super patient.  Basically I am not going to have any conversation with her that doesnt have some sort of missionary purpose(She calls for no reason sometimes, like last night).  So thats that situation. That is basically always the situation with her.  Not sure what to do, other than hope shell snap out of it.  Dont worry about me with her, its not something that is emotionally tough for me, just a bit frustrating and time wasting.

8 Elder Jarman have a Basketball finding idea approved and that is going super well.  That is probably the best thing.  We have made some good friends there.

9Not unless we have zone conference.

10 I just want to be home with everyone again.

13I love you so much and you are the best, I am so glad you dont have MS that would be so terrifying and hard.  I hope the new medicine works for your headaches.  I am so glad that we have such a good relationship and that I can trust you 100 percent, I hope you trust me that much too.  I love you and I miss you so much. I only have to write 9-10 more emails to you at this point before I get home. Love you!

I looked and everything looks normal except for the Missing classes( Russian and ROTC thing). I hope it works. I love you!

Zone Conference in Dnepr

Week 93

This week was good, The first half of it was spent in Dnepr for zone conference and Exchanges with the assistants to the president. And then just on saturday we got transfer calls and Elder Jarman and I are happy to hear we are staying together again.

We had a really good branch picnic on Saturday we had 3 investigators there, two young woman and one not young man.  They enjoyed it and we had really good conversations with all of them.  Grampa I tell you what, youd have died of laughter if youd seen these Ukrainians try to use a baseball bat. We brought tennis balls and a baseball bat thinking itd be fun. But part of a baseball game entails being able to hit the ball, so most of the time we spent on that activity was just teaching how to hit. We will move on to rules next time and then we might just have a baseball team here in kremenchuk.

Other than that we had a pretty normal week.  None of our investigators that we are working with came to church.  But Mashas sister came.

We are about out of time here, but I want you all to know that I know the Church is true and I have never been so sure of anything in my life. I love the Lords work and I cherish the opportunity to be a part of it.

Hey Jax,

I sure miss you!  I went to Elder Walker's homecoming today!  I drove with Elder Besieger's mom and Elder Montgomery's mom.  It was fun, he lives far away in Ogden, over the mountain.  The area was beautiful though.  It was also Cami Browns homecoming today.  This is my take away from both.  Elder Walker told only a couple experiences, and focused on his topic...but didn't really mention much of his mission, didn't speak any russian either.  Cami on the other hand shared lots of stories and lessons she learned on her mission but made it all work well with her topic.  It was a lot more interesting, emotional, touching, and inspiring.  That is the route you need to take.  

Our week consisted of me realizing I have grossly over scheduled our summer!  I haven't done this in years...I must have forgotten or something.  But with Josh working and going to Boys State all week...I am going to be very busy.  Here is our weekly schedule...notice the overlap of times and the fact that it's all located across town.

Monday-Cam and Kaes in Tennis 5-6 Jacob Basketball 5-7

Tues.-Cam scouts 4:30-5:30, Jacob Jordy track meets from 5-10/ also YM7- Kaestli tumbling 7-8 (the track meets will have to be the priority for 4 weeks...but still:)

Wed.-Cam Kaes tennis 5-6/ Kaes Cheer 4-6:30 (she will have to miss tennis)

Thurs. Jordy JacobTrack 5:30-6:30/Kaestli tumbling 6:30-7:30

Friday Jacob jordy track 5:30-6:30/ Kaestli Cheer 4-6:30/ Jacob basketball 3:30-5

...seriously what was I thinking.  It certainly wasn't planned, and I didn't know cheer would start in May I though it was for Sept.  But I'll be fine and figure it out.  It's only for the month of June too.

Kaestli had her dance recital this week.  She was in 3 dances and did great.  She rocked her back walkover as the feature in her Jazz dance.  It was awesome, I was really proud of her.  

Jacob was in the Championship game and it was a heartbreaking loss by 2 points at the end, with a controversy of them calling a foul that resulted in them taking away the points of the winning score.  It was crazy.  They will start right back up again though.

Cam begged to do tennis...but I didn't factor in that it's outside in the summer.  So he got very over heated and dehydrated and super fatigued.  So after this season I think we will accept swimming as his sport and stay with that.

Jacob and Jord are enjoying the track.  Jacob won the 2000 m the entire team ran last week and has a 6.42 mile...so I think he could really have potential.  Jordy said the girl coaches are super nice to him...so he loves it too.

Curtis hurt his foot really bad in lake powell and has struggled to walk and get around this week.  They aren't sure what happened to it.  It seems a little better today though, so hopefully it's on the mend.

Friday night I came home to a white convertible beetle in the driveway that Curtis surprised me with!  I was totally surprised. He asked me a couple months ago what my dream car would be and I said a pink and white convertible beetle.  I didn't think he would really get me one though!  He has an appt. to get a pink wrap done on it too.  The reason of thinking is that the van now sits never being used.  Even when we have all the kids we have almost 5 teenage drivers so they want to drive separately anyway.  My car is hard on gas and a lot of the time I am alone or just with 1 or 2 kids running around.  So if I have a small fun car then it will save on gas and on the miles we put on the navigator so it will last us longer with the boat.  So we traded the 15 passenger van for a convertible beetle...great trade for me!!!  I know you will have to grieve the loss of the van though;)

So discussions for this week...

1-Seriously still no mail?!?  I am going to keep sending them.  I know that one of your letters took 4 months and one took 2 weeks...so I don't get the system over there.  Let me know when and if they start showing up again...but I promise I am sending them!!

2-TRANSFERS!!!!  I am dying to know what happened!  I want full details if there is a change-new area, comp, leadership, responsibilities etc.

3-How are you feeling about transfers or the lack of a transfer?

4-Are you happy and positive still?

5-What goals do you have for your last 2 transfers?

6-What will you miss most about Ukraine?

7-How do you feel about serving in Ukraine?

8-How has your mission changed you spiritually, view on family, and individually, view on the world.

9-Who was your favorite comp?  I know who your least favorite was;)

10-What is the biggest lesson you have learned from the Sullivans?

11-Should I send you 1 more package for your birthday?  I don't want you having extra stuff you don't need to bring home.  Do you need more proactive though?

12-Do you hear from Vika ever?  It looks like she is dating a return missionary.

13-Any update on the girl situation?  It looks like the dark haired girl is in a relationship with Elder Ustin...she has posted a lot of things with him saying he is her man...and sunshine...what is up with that??

14-pics -

ps...I did get some great pics of the activity you guys did on Facebook!  I love when they do that!

15-recordings...I loved the video by the way!

16-special message for me;)

Well, I love and miss you like crazy!  Keep working hard and play till the whistle blows.  You are the best, and I am so happy to have you!  Thanks for serving a mission!!!  2 transfers left!

Have a great week!

Love you,

Mom

1Yeah still none, I got wedding invite this week from a Sister I served around in Left Bank. But that is the only mail I have gotten in a long time.

2 We are still together, in Kremenchuk!

3Happy and content

4Yes

5To baptize: Vadim, Nastya, Annya, Nastya2, Irina and hopefully a few others.

6 I probably wont know until I get home, its hard to tell while I am here, I will definitely miss all of the silliness that Ukrainians think is fact. "If you drink Hot tea and Borsht in the summer you will feel better outside because your stomach is hotter than the air." Yeah sure okay.

7 Super good, it is a very different mission than any other in the world, It is like a strange hybrid between serving in Russia and serving in South America(At least how I imagine it is to serve in those places)

8 A ton,  I cant really put a finger on it, it just took all of my attributes and amplified them, and gave me a few new ones, like President said, you wont recognize me when I get home.

9 Its a close call between Jarman, Biesinger and Schweighardt and Larsen, and Bunker and even Elder Bates now.

10 To always look for Personal Revelation and to always work on Personal Development.

11No I dont think you need to send more, I am good on proactiv. It is working pretty well, somedays are better than others.

12Yes, I email her every now and then, I got presidents permission.

13No updates really, the girl that likes me is leaving on Thursday.  Yeah, the darkhaired girl, Vladlena, well, lets just says she is playing solitaire with Elder Ustin.  As in, he does nothing because Solitaire is a one player game.  I dont know if he actually likes her, he doesnt really act like it, but she says he does, and she is like in love with him so... Yeah, I am happy I will probably not be on the mish when that falls apart. She will be in a bad mood until the end of the millenium.

16 I love you so much and I cant wait to see you all again. I am so happy when I get pictures and emails from you and I cant wait to be home with you there, I only have 11 more weeks so I am going to work super hard, but i am scared that the times gonna go super fast. Love you!

Good Week

Week 92

This week was good, we had a plethora of things to do and good things happening. 

WE: 

1Got new English invitations that look super sleek and professional.

2Our New investigator Vadeem is doing super well.

    -He is reading the New Testament as of last week and is already almost finished with the Gospels.

    -Came to church and enjoyed it and has questions.

    -Played a pickup game of basket ball with some "potential Investigators" (Teenagers we hope will turn out like Vadeem) and unknowingly made my day by saying I play like I breathe.(I hope he didnt mean hard and loud)

    -Sees us as spiritual Guides and is starting to think about whether or not God exists because of our influence.

3WE played Ultimate Frisbee behind the Walls, which was really fun and good. We made a couple new friends who will one day in the future take missionary lessons, get baptized and go to the temple.

4 A talent night that was really fun. We had quite a few members and some investigators perform, it was good.  I am basically talentless(when it comes to something you can do on a stage in front of someone) so I just read one of my "poems".

5 I had a dream that My family and me were packing to go to lake powell(for like the 10th time on my mission) while they were in Lake powell, the mystical legendary place I tell everyone in Ukraine about.

6 Elder Bates made cookies, I ate cookies.

7We gave Annya a blessing last monday because she will be going to the hospital soon.  Basically she and her mom love and trust us and it is only a matter of time until they get baptized, she is thinking about it.

Love you all!

Hey buddy,

This may be short, we just got home and unpacked from Powell and it's super late.  

We had a great week in Lake Powell.  The beginning week we had my friend Melinda come with her 4 kids.  They were a blast.  Her kids were super fun and all the ages of our kids.  They got along so well...kind of shockingly well.  It was so fun.

The second half of the week we had Adela, Trent, and their girls.  They were fun...but not as fun as the first group;)  We had a great time with everyone.  

The kids are all getting really good at all the different things.  Jacob finally overcame his fear of jumping off cliffs.  Cam is getting really good at boarding and surfing.  Kaestli is getting up on the wake board but doesn't last very long.  Ethan, and Kalten love surfing and are getting better at boarding.  Ollie surfs well, but can't board.  This year we found a compromise of him using the surf board with the wake boarding rope and he and jordy doubled.  It was fun, and he was so happy to do something like that.  I was able to spoil the spoiler so yay me;).  

We found an awesome cove that no one could even see us in.  We had a bunch of areas to explore to ourselves and even some private cliffs to jump.  It was a blast.  Probably my favorite spot we have ever had.  It was in Last Chance canyon.

Kalten had a little romance with Adela's daughter...which annoyed most people on the boat.  I think this is where the term "kissing cousins" came from...

There were tons of tube wars and everyone talking about how next May Jax and Dakkon will be with us again...but Ethan will be gone.  Ethan stepped into the oldest brother shoes quite well.  He was super helpful this week.  Really all the kids were, and everyone was really good.  We have it down to a science at this point, which makes is so much more fun.

I was super excited to get an email with your flight itinerary!!!  YAY!!!  I will be seeing you August 29, at 8:59 pm...and not a minute later!  I can't wait to get my hug!  I miss you so much.  I am so happy that it is summer and you will be home this summer!  On the way to Powell last week your branch friend posted a video of you on Facebook.  I had been missing you so bad.  When I saw your face I thought, "I wish he would just say something to me" and then you looked right at me and said, "Hi Mom".  It totally melted me and made my week!!!  It was an answer to prayer for sure.  So thanks...and you can do that again as often as you want!!

1-Transfers are next week, right?  What are you thinking?

2-Did you get your travel info?  What are you thinking about everything?

3-How are things with the girl crushing you?  I like that you said you are 300% sure she isn't your wife, haha;)

4-What was the best thing this week?

5-How are Viktor and Nastya?  I am so excited they set a wedding date!

6-Give me the details of your branch, numbers, members, primary, who does callings, what do you do etc.

7-Are you excited or sad you have less than 3 months?  Only 2 more transfers!!!

8-pics

9-recordings

10-Still no letters?  I have been sending them at least every other week...if not every week.  

11-Are you happy and positive?

12-Special message for me

I miss you and love you!  I can't wait to get you back!  Be safe, work hard, keep up the faith and the good work.  I am so proud of you and so pleased with you.  You're my best friend and I am so grateful to have you!  Thanks for being you:) Love you so much.

Love you

Mom

1 I still dont know, part of me thinks that I will stay in Kremenchuk and the other part says its time to leave the area for me.  I would love to stay with Elder Jarman.

2No I did not, you get it a bit before me, but I got called about it this week, they needed info about my Passport.

3 she flirts at me a lot apparently, but hey I would crush on me too ;)

4 Vadeem being really interested.

5 She is sick right now, but they are doing well.

6 We had a high of 46 people at church when President Sullivan came, but usually we have around 25.  There are like 3 crazy people, but thats about it for them.  Almost everyone else has a calling.  Sister Velichko just got called as Relief society president, she is doing well, her husband is not a member, she has two daughters. One daughter is baptized, she is 16, the other is 8 and is not baptized yet, but she wants to be, she just needs her dads permission.  Primary has like 4-6 kids in it usually, Sister Maidan is the mother of two of them and is in charge there.

7I am kind of sad, but really excited, and I am ready to work until the end.

8Not today, we are in Dnepr at an internet club, and if I plug my stuff in I will get viruses.

9 Same

10 none at all, I was at the office today and there was none there in our box, I wonder where they all went.

11Yes.

12 I dont really know what to say, you are the best!  I miss you so bad and I cant wait to see you again.  Thanks so much for everything.  I am in Dnepr today, if I see any cool souveniers I will get some.