Fun and adventure

Week of May 9-15, 2016
Where to start this week, maybe I should just post the 300+ pictures we took and call it good.  You know a picture is worth a 1000 words so that would be 300,000 words or about the length of the Book of Mormon.  Speaking of the Book of Mormon we received a text from the Zone Leaders telling us of a mission goal to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover before June 10th when Elder Ballard will be here.  So we are now in the process of reading about 20 pages a day so that we can be finished before his arrival.  Missions and goals are interesting things.  It is just a blessing to watch these young missionaries set and achieve goals.  I must admit I'm not as focused on the goal setting as I should be but this one we are going to accomplish.
Now the 300 + picture tour is about to begin.  We will try and cut it down to just a few less than that.  Monday we arrived on the night train in Kyiv so that we could pick up our son and his wife at the airport at 9 AM.

Welcoming the incoming guest

Daniel thought the sign was funny

The night train is getting to not be as fun as it was when we first arrived. I'm beginning to think I may be a airplane type person.
After picking up the kids at the airport we made our way to the Pirogovo Village which is an open air museum demonstrating what it was like to live in Ukraine over a 100 years ago.  The very large park is laid out like small villages and you get a feel for the different cultures that existed in Ukraine in that period of time.

Time for the tour

Thatched Roof

A little different style to look at.

Typical Stove 

Dining area and family area

Rest time

Lunch time with traditional Ukrainian Food

Every community had their own church this one was very nice

The windmills were very important part of society

We had a wonderful time wandering around the villages for half a day.  After we finished there we took a taxi ride into the downtown area to Friendship arch which was given to the Ukrainian people by Russia after their independence. (There is not quite as much Friendship at present).

Friendship arch

 Right behind the arch was the thing that interested us the most . It is the worlds longest Zip line, over 500 meters in length, that crosses the Dnieper River.  Janet and I volunteered to meet them on the other side and crossed the river on a foot bridge.  It was quite the ride for them and everyone survived.  We made our way back to the hotel and found a soft bed for the travel weary, jet lagged people, to rest for the night.
We had the privilege to attend the temple the next morning. What a blessing the temple is in our lives.  As President Kimball said, he never attended the temple where he didn't learn something new each time.  As I listened in Russian in one ear and English in the other I had several wonderful insights.

Fountain at the Kyiv temple

 After the temple we went to downtown Kyiv and visited several Cathedrals. They are very pretty but just don't have the same feel as the temple.  We did climb to the top of the Saint Sophia Bell tower.  It is an extremely tall bell tower.

Easter Egg display in St. Sophie Court yard

St Michaels Cathedral 

Close up

first level of bell tower

Sister Mikkelsen excused her self about 3/4 of the way to the top and the rest of us made it all the way.  I must say I was quite anxious on the top floor.

Sister Mikkelsen not appreciating the view

Looking down from above

Easter Egg display from the top of bell tower

Welcome to Kyiv

The view however, was breathtaking.
We wanted the kids to have the total experience so we arranged for a four bunk berth on the night train back to Odesa.  They call it second class but the AC was not working really well so it was more like a first class sauna.

The bunkbeds on the sauna train

We arrived back home about 6 AM. We were able to take them down to the docks and up to the Renok and fed them a Shwarma Sandwich.  Daniel is now a fan of the Shwarma.  We got back home in time to clean up and prepare for our Young Adults to come over for FHE.  Daniel taught the lesson and did a masterful job.  We had a wonderful evening together with everyone.

YA activity

Thursday morning we went out early and enjoyed some more of our favorite places around town. We went to the local Cathedral and was very surprised by its beauty.

Got to love Odesa

touch the luck nose 

Most cathedrals are dark inside but this one was very light with white walls with lots of gold leaf paint and many windows. We had a wonderful breakfast at the Kompote which is a little sidewalk cafe.

Breakfast time

This is what happens when you run a tree
through a grinder you get rolling pins of course.

We came home and showered and then headed out to the Akkerman Fortress.  This was one of the best places we visited. It is a very old fort that has survived many attempts as different groups tried to defeat it but it still stands as a commanding spot in the history of the waring countries of this part of the world.

Akkraman Fortess Mote

Middle Gate

Loved the mote

Main gate

After the long ride out and back on the bumpy roads the kids got ready for the Ballet at the Odesa Opera House.  It is one of the most beautiful buildings in all of Europe.  They enjoyed it while Sister Mikkelsen and I hosted our Pathway kids.  After they finished we went out to a wonderful French restaurant for a late dinner.

Fancy French food you guessed it first time for Escargot 

The Jardin French restaurant they served a great steak
sound French? I also had "French Onion Soup"

Friday morning we put the kids on a plane to London so that they could continue their adventure and Sister Mikkelsen and I spent the rest of the day working on service projects.  I helped pour a cement floor for one brother and then I had to go out and inspect a leaky roof for another sister.  We will be repairing it in the coming weeks.

Time for the pour

Cement work is not for the faint of heart

Saturday we had an East European Area Face to Face  with Elder Klebingat.  We had several of our YSA kids over for the meeting and then had lunch and played games after.

Face to face group

It was a great day we finished off with a Baptism of a sister and her son.

Today we finished the week with the most important part, that of partaking of the Sacrament.  What a blessing to be able to do that each week and recommit to the Savior those covenants we took upon us at baptism.  In priesthood today, lesson 8 of Howard W. Hunters manual, we learned of how missionary work was able to expand into these Easter European counties when the Berlin Wall was finally taken down in 1989.  In the end of his lesson he encourage each of us to take down the walls that are stopping us from allowing missionary work to move forward in our lives.  He said that the need for more missionaries has never been greater.  He said the following:

To satisfy the new demands being made upon us in this great missionary work of the last days, perhaps some of us (particularly the older generation whose families are raised) need to take stock to determine whether “walls” that we have built in our own minds need to come down.   For example, how about the “comfort wall” that seems to prevent many couples and singles from going on a mission? How about the “financial wall” of debt that interferes with some members’ ability to go, or the “grandchildren wall,” or the “health wall,” or the “lack of self-confidence wall,” or the “self-satisfied wall,” or the “transgression wall,” or the walls of fear, doubt, or complacency? Does anyone really doubt for a minute that with the help of the Lord he or she could bring those walls crashing down?

You see you can't let us have all the fun.  You knock down those walls and come on out and enjoy the blessings of missionary work.  There are things you can do in your own stake that will bless the work.  We testify to you that this is one of the greatest blessings in our life.  We miss our kids, our little grand baby, and extended family but this is where we need to be right now.

All of our love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen

It was a wonderful week!