Week of August 31, - September 6, 2015
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Primary back to school activity last Monday. The kids are
all back in school now. |
Remodeling homes and building lives is all a part of the days activities here in Ukraine. We were blessed with the opportunity to spend time out in the village this week working on a ремонт (Remodel).
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| The back porch before we began. |
It is fun to spend time doing things you love to do. When you serve a mission the Lord puts you where you need to be and then you need to be what the Lords wants you to be. Our mission president just keeps telling us to find our niche. He testified to us that we would know what it was once we found it. Well I have found one part of what the Lord wants us to do.
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| Elder Golling hauling off the window |
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| Igor taking out a window that his Grandfather installed |
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First wall is out it was made of cinder block, kind of. The ones
here are not hollow like in the USA. |
When I was out the other day hauling off rubble from tearing a block wall, down Sister Ulia asked in her broken English, "How do you say, 'thank you very much', in a better way?". I told her that was about the best thing you could say if you were really grateful for something. She then said, "OK. Thank you very much". She went on to tell me how this project had been started 11 years ago and that she had always wanted a bigger kitchen to work in and enough room so that the entire family could sit down and eat together.
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| Here is the block all hauled outside |
But there was never anyone that could help them to do the remodel that knew how to do it. She told me that we were an answer to her prayer and she was grateful for us helping them.
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This is the door we installed on Saturday
These doors are all steel frame nothing like
we use in home construction in America |
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| the door is installed now the brick work will begin next week |
It has been a fun experience to work with the elders. The other day while we were tearing the wall down, the elders had the time of their lives. I guess there is something about demolition that brings out the beast in the young elders.
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| Our hard working Missionaries |
They worked like crazy trying to be the one who took down the most wall. By the end of the day they were exhausted but very happy with their work. I too was impressed by how hard they worked. The sad thing is that this is their last week in the field. We will be losing our too fine elders along with 12 others throughout our mission. They will really be missed as they all head home. They have done an amazing job the last two years. The next day those 14 missionaries will be replaced by 17 new missionaries. So we will lose those young men who have given their all for the past two years and are about worn out, but we will gain 17 new fresh missionaries that will begin fresh with all the zeal of youth to go out and conquer the world. That means that every missionary left in the mission will be training a brand new missionary. That includes Elder Palmer who just entered the country 5 weeks ago. He is from Idaho.
We had an amazing sister missionary return from her mission this week on Wednesday.
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| Welcome home Sister Alissa Bevzuik |
On Friday she went contacting with the elders. On Sunday she brought two investigators with her to church. We are so grateful that she is here to help with the work since our area is getting white washed (This is the missionary term for taking out both missionaries on the same transfer). Between her and us hopefully no one will fall through the cracks. We also have started having FHE with young families in our branch and sharing ways that they can be missionaries.
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| Our future missionaries |
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Tacos and watermelon this little guy loved
watermelon |
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| A party hat for Katya's birthday |
The little family that came this past week were very excited about dressing up and being missionaries. When we finished with our lesson we made homemade tortillas and had tacos. The kids had a great time rolling out the tortillas. We also had a late celebration for the moms birthday. They will make great missionaries.
This weekend was the celebration of the founding of our city of Vinnistya (Виннитса). It is over 600 years old. There were stages all over town with performers from all over the country participating in the celebration. It was fun but this made it difficult to get around on the public transportation.
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Love these signs for you that don't read Cyrillic alphabet
This says Burritos and on top it says tasty and fast |
Several roads were closed down and the electric buses had to take different routes to get around the city. We entered one bus. I was the last one on and when the doors closed it was like putting a lid on a sardine can. Janet got ahold of the hand rail above her head and for 20 minutes could not let go because there was no where to put her hand. I got a phone call during the same time. I'm not sure the lady in front of me appreciated my efforts in trying to answer the phone. But as I post every week on Facebook the adventure continues.....
We hope each of you are having the time of your life. Alma 34: 32 For behold, this life is the time for men (women)to prepare to meet God, yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men (women) to perform their labors. As you labor in the field of your current calling may you find joy in the journey and do all that you can to prepare to meet God and, by the way, bring as many as you can with you to that meeting. May you each be blessed as you serve this next week and make sure to look for your niche in Gods kingdom so you can make a difference.
Love you all Elder and Sister Mikkelsen
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| Welcome home dinner for Sister Bevzuik |
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| Getting a little crazy |
