Week of April 27- May 3, 2015
Life is good when you get out of the house and get to work! This is a panorama shot from a field where we were helping to plant raspberries. Beautiful! Life is good! Tuesday at English class our friend Sasha told us there was no better place on earth than Ukraine in the spring. It is beautiful and getting more so every day.
Friday we were able to go on a picnic with a wonderful family in our branch, the Elders and our friend Zina. There are parks everywhere many of which are set beside the river or a lake. Families go there to just walk, play, feed the birds, swim and to cook up some shashlik. We thought shashlik was just shish-ka-bob's but I guess it can refer to any meat cooked on a grill, over a fire, outdoors, and eaten with bread and ketchup. It was so much fun! We hope we can get branch members together like this more often.
We were taught by this sweetheart how to weave flowers into a crown! (If you look closely you may not think these to be flowers, but dandelions and pigeons here are thought by most to be delightful, by only a few to be a nuisance.)
On Tuesday we were asked to help at a Special Olympics event. Teams from all over come here to play soccer. Other events take place later in the year in different towns throughout the country. The young guys were assigned to play on different teams and we helped with activities for the participants to enjoy while waiting for their games to start. We meet a wonderful American couple that have been here for the past 8 years running a half-way house for homeless people. They have a small farm out in the country that can house up to 8 people at a time. It was wonderful to meet them and we look forward to visiting with them again.
These are just a few of the highlights of the week. Wish you could all be here to enjoy it with us. I'll add just one more picture. My favorite. It was so peaceful there. In real life the frogs were so loud down in the pond you could hardly hear each other talk and we were all working hard planting raspberry bushes but you hardly noticed cause-- life is good when you're out helping others and getting the work done.
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. Mosiah 2:17
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| Our World Champion Elders and Ward Mission Leader |
Ned wanted me to make sure to finish his "Parable of the Stump".
Wednesday we finally got the first one out!!!!!
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| That has to represent at least two Horse Power. |
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| Holding up one finger dose not mean #1 It means the first one. One to GO!! |
With hard work, a lot of help, and the Lord, we can get rid of any of those old stumps in our lives. And look at what joy it will bring. There is still one more, even bigger one to go, but we can handle it. Life is good when you get up and get to work!
We have been challenged to get out and spend time working on the street each day. Here are some of the things we see.
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| The Буг River |
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| A random garden |
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| One of Ned's favorite signs. He laughs every time he sees it. I think you get the gist of it, but just in case-- Hot Dog! There are little shops everywhere selling almost anything. This one is at the edge of a big park right by a bunch of rides for children. |
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| The birds love this fountain. sometimes they have a hard time staying on top. |
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| The children's parking lot at the edge of a playground. These little Battery operated cars are remote control and the parents walk behind with the remote. |
Life is good when you get out and get to work but it's also fun working inside when you have great people to work with. We had some investigators and members over to make вареники (vereniky). We made so many we couldn't eat them all- or make them all. We made potato, cabbage, and meat vereniky with some dough left over to try some with sweet cheese filling. One little boy from English class says cherry ones are the best. Can't wait for cherry season!
2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Psalms 128:2 John 13 34 Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.D&C 64:13 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matt 16:25
Have a wonderful week! Love to you all =)
Our Little Riley Anne after her hearing test this past week. It wore her right out!
