Monday, August 24, 2015

Home again, Home again, jig-ity-jig

Week of August 17-23, 2015
We landed back in our little home of Vinnistya!!!  How we missed being here and working with these wonderful people.  It is hard being homeless especially in a world where you thought everything was so familiar and then you find out when you get there that you just don't fit in anymore.
Jonathan and Kelsey taking wedding vows
(Uncle Brent's Finger top right)
Logan Temple welcoming the newly married Daniel and Sonina
 Not to say that all the people there did not bend over backwards to help us at the weddings and receptions ( and we love you and thank you for all your help) but when you receive a call from your Heavenly Father to serve somewhere else your heart is moved to your new calling.
To recap the week, on Monday we had a day to go and purchase some items to take back with us.
One item that could not be left Ice cube trays how I have
missed my ice!
 It is interesting to see all the things that you think you need when you are away from the USA, but when the suit case reaches 50 LBS, they don't seem quite as important as you thought they were.
Opening wedding presents
 Our son Daniel and his new wife were the lucky recipients of all the items we couldn't fit into our luggage.  We had a wonderful time with them on Monday evening as we shared some time with them opening presents they received at their reception.  It was much more difficult to say good by this time when we parted than it was six months ago.  That was the case with everyone. It just seemed a little more difficult this time.
Janet's angel mom saying goodbye is tough
I can see the wisdom in not allowing Elders and Sisters the opportunity to come home for events.  It is a difficult distraction to overcome. On the same note, I'm glad that Senior Couples can come home to take part in important family events.  We are so blessed that we were able to have both weddings and three receptions all packed together in a short two week period.
We left the good old USA on Tuesday afternoon and arrived back in our apartment early Thursday morning. The miracle of air travel is wonderful.
Modern day covered wagons
до свидания (Goodbye America)
 We traveled half way across the world and did it all in less than 24 hours. The pioneers of yester-year were tough people.  What we did in 24 hours would take them 6 months to a year to accomplish.  I can't believe that the handcart people were allowed 14 LBS each for their personal items.  We struggled though airports and train stations lugging close to 200 LBS.  As we stepped off the train in Vinnistya I was really concerned about lugging all that luggage up and down the two flights of stairs at the train station.  It was a wonderful surprise when our two angel missionaries were standing on the platform as we got off the train.
The Elders are wonderful Thanks Elder Hunt and Golling
What a blessing they have been to us here in Ukraine.  Not only did they lug our suitcases up those steep stairs they also got us a taxi to get us home to our apartment.
Thursday we spent the day getting our life back in order with cleaning, shopping and laundry. Friday we made our way out to a small village where we assisted a family in harvesting their potatoes.
Potato Harvesting
 This is a very import time of year as their main winter sustenance is root type crops.  I found out that I'm not built to harvest potatoes.  They are arranged on the ground close to my feet which requires lots of bending over.  By the end of the day my "bend over" muscles were quite sore.
On Saturday we took our good friend Zena back to the same village and she helped us visit some wonderful members.  Our last visit was to the Branch Presidents house.  We arrived unannounced and they were right in the middle of harvesting potatoes, so, it was off with the tie and back to stretching out those bend over muscles again for several more hours.
these berries are the best
Sister Mikkelsen also assisted in the picking of black berries and raspberries and when we left the branch presidents wife sent all the berries home with us.  These people are so generous. After two days of working in the village our fridge is so full we can't put another thing in it.
Our Sunday was wonderful, as usual, and we had a wonderful dinner at our home.
Sister Carr far end of table Sasha and wife Nichole right front
 There was a young couple at church today Sasha and his new bride Nichole.  He was a return missionary from here and his bride is from Utah.  They had come back for a visit and are planning on moving to Texas to go to school.  We also had a return Sister Missionary that was visiting.  Sister Carr is a loved missionary that served here for about seven months. We always hear stories of the famous Sister Carr and Sunday we had a chance to share our home with her and several other investigators.  It has been a wonderful week and we are super busy this next week getting a Humanitarian project finished up.  The church awarded a very sizable donation to a local hospital and we need to coordinate with the hospital administrator in getting the materials purchased.  And this being the season of harvest we will be exercising more than our testimonies this week.  We hope you all have a great week and know that we are praying for you.
Love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen
World's cutest Grand Daughter