Week of July 13-19, 2015
It is a wonder that we get anything done, being on a mission is like living in a time compression machine. At the end of the week you look back at your journal and say" really that just happened this week?" If I haven't mentioned it before serving a mission is the best. Now I would not have you think that there are not challenges, there are plenty of those, but we know "that we must needs have opposition in all things". What a blessing it is to see the growth and change in the people that you work with. In our little branch the people are so caring and love each other. In Sunday School yesterday I gave a lesson on service and there was testimony after testimony of how people in our branch have come to the rescue time and again over the past few years. I showed the video of the man serving his wife in their old age and how he served her even when he had challenges. There were some people in the class that were very touched by this video.
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| Wonderful video on service no words but it speaks for its self |
These wonderful people understand the concept of "doing it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me".
This country is so wonderful. Every time we go to the renok (open air market) we are amazed at the amount and variety of the fresh fruits and vegetables. I saw a video about Ukraine and discovered that here, in this small country, exists 35% of all the black fertile dirt in the world. You just put seed in the ground and it starts to grow. The one thing that is in short supply this summer is rain. It has been a very dry summer so far, and the people are recognizing the fact that the harvest may not be as plentiful as it has been in years past. The family we work with in one of the small villages are quite worried about the harvest. Their farm is quite dry this year and the things are not growing as well as normal. So if you can find time in you schedules to send a prayer heavenward for a little more rain in this area it would be greatly appreciated.
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| Raspberries that made it home from the renok |
We have had two interesting experiences with the renok in the past two weeks. On two different occasions we purchased some produce. One time it was some wonderful strawberries and then this week it was corn on the cob and peppers. We come home and put everything away and then in the next day or two we go to the refrigerator to use our purchase and cannot find the produce. So after carefully searching our memories we come to realize we must have set a bag down while we purchased something else and then walked away without our bag. Either it is our senility or the Lord knows there is someone who needs those food stuffs more than us. So we pray that whoever found them can make good use of them.
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| I love the Babushka cart |
This week we made three trips out the farm to work on the greenhouse. The first day we got rained out, not a lot of rain just enough to keep us from painting. The next two days we had opportunity to swing from the scaffold and paint the frames so that they will not rust. It is slow work and the scaffold is not OSHA approved, but we make due.
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| It doesn't look very high but it is just a little scary |
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| The elders are alway eager to serve |
We have a wonderful time with the kids. They are always eager to help.
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| These kids love watermelon |
This is the Jam season and everyone is in the process of making jam for the winter. Even Sister Mikkelsen has got into the act and has made some wonderful jam and jelly. Everyone has a little different recipe and we have tasted some wonderful preserves. We are so grateful for those who share their treasures with us. The bottles here are not your Kerr or Ball type of system. As you can see it is a crimping type of system.
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| This is the canning process here in Ukraine |
They have hand crimpers that they use. As you can see from the pictures it is a little different process. Once you remove the lid you can't put it back on so you have a plastic lid that snaps on the bottle to keep it fresh until it is all used up.
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| There is no screwing these lids off and back on |
Last night we had four men over for Sunday dinner. One of the men brought a bottle of canned meat. He told us it was an Ukrainian delicacy. So I pried off the lid and poured the contents in a bowl. It turned out that it was chicken hearts. And he was right. It was a delicacy. The bowl went around one time and it was empty. We make it part of our weekly plan to have a dinner each Sunday and invite different people from the branch to get to know them better.
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The men farthest away and closest are members of our branch
The other two are members from Kyiv and Liviv working here
for the summer. |
It is so wonderful to hear them tell about their amazing conversion stories. It is a rare occasion to have someone tell you that they were born in the church. Most everyone of the people we work with are first generation converts to the church. They are such a blessing to the work of the gospel here in Ukraine. We try and have a short spiritual thought each week. Yesterday we shared the video of Elder Christofferson's talk "Let Us Be Men" October 2006 Priesthood session. It was a talk he gave and told the story about his mom, how she had cancer surgery, and it was hard for her to iron.
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| Let us be men Look up this video it is worth your time. |
He went on to tell the story of how his dad went without lunch and saved his lunch money for entire year to buy his wife an Ironrite to help her with her house work. Each of the men at dinner last light are working to be men of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we are blessed to be here with them and assist in some small way.
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| Working on an object lesson |
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This is the finished results of the object lesson on asking
when we don't know how to solve a problem.
Great lesson on getting answers to prayers. |
We hope that each of you are also blessing and being blessed as you serve in the kingdom of God. We hope you have a wonderful week, I know we will. We will be home in two weeks to celebrate Jonathan and Daniel's weddings.
This may be a little unorthodox, but, we have found that there was a problem with some of the zip codes on invitations we sent out. Because we are so far away, we can't hand deliver and there is not time to re-send. So- if you didn't get an invitation, we are so sorry, but we hope this will find you and you will know that you are loved and invited to our Open House for these two wonderful sons and their amazing Brides.
We hope to be able to see some of you while we are there for a short two week visit. May you all be blessed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Love you all Elder and Sister Mikkelsen.
PS we can't forget this weekly update. She is working on sitting up by herself. Go Riley GO
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| What a cutie can't wait to hold her |
