Week of June 29-July 5, 2015
Serving in the mission field is a wonderful experience. With the activities last week and this week we had the chance to print up lots of photos and then post them on the bulletin board at the church.
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| Fun farm animals reminds me of Primary Kids |
It is so fun to see the kids, the parents, and the Babushka's gather around and search out their pictures. The people here in our branch are the best! They are learning and growing so much. The church is still very young here but it is growing stronger all the time. Last week when we had President Steingel and his family over for dinner he talked about the difference in the first and second generation members. The first generation members are a special breed that had to step out of line with the rest of the country and become the pioneers for their families. About half of the people at church are first generation members. He went on to mention how the second generation is totally amazing and how they are making a major difference in the gospel here in Ukraine. We see that in these good people. They step up to the difficult challenges of living this gospel. Yesterday I taught the Gospel Principles class on sacrifice. I asked the question towards the end of class, "Have any of you lost friends or family when you decided to join the church?" Most of their heads were nodding in the affirmative. This reminds me of the scripture Matthew 19:29, "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." What a wonderful example they are to me as they struggle and strive to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was a totally busy week as we had many activities to work on. On Tuesday we went and supported a local program that works with young people to help them over come drug addiction.
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| Community soccer program |
They have formed soccer leagues and had a major tournament that we were able to watch and enjoy. We also have English Practice two times a week. We use the different church pamphlets to teach the restoration of the gospel and do it all in English. This week we discussed Our Loving Heavenly Father and families. I work with the advanced students that speak some English. It was wonderful to feel of their spirits as they shared with us their thoughts on a loving God and the importance of families. Several of those participating were very touched when we read the Proclamation on the Family. Many of the baptisms that take place here in Ukraine come from those attending English class. We are teaching several in our groups and hope to start teaching more as they continue to feel the spirit of our message.
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I had to put this in. We love our water filter system. You change
the number 1 filter every two months. This is what it looked like
after two months.The one on the left is what it looks like when
it is new! Cant's wait to see what the #2 filter looks like at 6
months. |
Sister Mikkelsen serves as the first counselor in the Primary and on Wednesday we had primary activity day. We traveled to a park and had an activity about choosing the right.
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| Elder Hunt looking for help in building the Kingdom of God |
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| Elder Brough helping them choose the right |
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Ice cream coupons for those who chose the right. There were
a few tears when some didn't earn enough "choose the right points"
to get the ticket for Ice Cream. But there was a great lesson
on repentance and being able to overcome wrong choices
by repentance. All the kids ended up enjoying the treat. |
The kids are great! We even had a couple of people that just happened by and asked if they could have their kids participate. It was a fun activity. I was in charge of lunch and grilled some hotdogs over the fire. Hotdogs here are just a little different than at home. The skins that they are packed in are just a little tough to chew.
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This is the only way to grill hotdogs over an open fire. These
are about the size of Vienna sausages. |
So, they are like spam in a plastic skin warmed over a fire, you get the idea.
We traveled out to the farm and worked on the green house. We are in the process of painting the metal frame.
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It will be more interesting when we move the
Plank up to the nest level. |
It is bit of a challenge. The height of the frames is 20'. We are working off of scaffolding that I'm sure is not OSHA approved. But the Lord protects fools and missionaries, so we move forward cautiously with a prayer in our hearts that we will be safe. We are also in the final stages of getting a humanitarian grant request completed for a local hospital. We are praying that it will be approved. They really need the help.
Since Saturday was the 4th of July we decided to have a party for our English class students and investigators to give them a taste of a good old USA 4th of July picnic.
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No boxed cake mixes here. This from scratch cake was
wonderful. Thanks Sister Mikkelsen. Notice the Red white and
Blue. White frosting, red strawberries/raspberries, blue Currents |
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| Hotdogs for the big people |
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| Branch Mission Leader takes it to the hoop. |
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| Some of our English students |
We roasted hotdogs played basketball and card games and did Minute to Win it games. We had about 15 people come and they had a great time.
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| More English students |
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| Balloon Basketball |
It was difficult to get them to leave so that we could get home before mission curfew.
As always we love serving here and we loved watching the Bunkerville 4th of July posts on Facebook.
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| One of our investigators and her friend at our house. |
Yes, we miss home and family, but all we have to do is refer to the scripture above and we know that we are in the right place at the right time. We love all of you and wish you a blessed week
Love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen
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Oh ya, here is our grand baby and her parents only 4 weeks
till we get to hold her. |
