Thankful for small and simple things :)

We turned down the wrong street and found a statue we'd
never seen before.  We really like this one.

This has been a week of gratitude.  This scripture came to mind as I was thinking of what to write.  Alma 37:6-7

6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.

Small, and not so small things, happened all week to keep us going and a few great things came to pass.
Tuesday evening we noticed a loss of water pressure and within the hour there was no water.
#1 Thankful we didn't have to do the dishes but by the next afternoon after a hot, humid day of working on the farm, we were hoping for a shower before English class.
#2 Thankfully we were taught by wonderful parents and desert living and were able to use water stored under the sink to clean-up for class. (For that our class was grateful). Then a great thing came to pass.
#3 Thankfully we showered as the water came back right before bed!  On our way to class we saw men working on a broken water main.  The outage covered our whole section of town.  That's a lot of people who were grateful that night.

Thankful for hard-working Elders who will take over the high jobs!
(Ned was keeping the paint buckets filled and I was out picking
cucumbers for pickles.  Never liked cucumbers before. Now we
love them!  Eat them every day)

Yes, they work hard but we're grateful they know how to have fun too!

Ned mentioned last week that we are in the midst of a drought.  We saw evidence of that everywhere we went this week. You can't really tell by these pictures but the potato and tomato plants are small and withered with curling brown leaves, squash plants are wilted... It's pretty bad.  But these wonderful people just keep on going, watering by hand, working hard if nothing was out of the ordinary, and being thankful for everything they do have.

the grass in the foreground should be lush and green

This is a beautiful example of a Ukrainian garden

If you look closely you can see the wilty plants

Before we came, we read that on average the month of July should have15 days of measurable rain.  I think we've had three and instead of the average 78 degrees we've been in the 90's.  However, another grateful moment.  There was a 0% chance of rain yesterday, but the sisters in Relief Society prayed for rain and by the time we got out of church it was pouring!  By small and simple means a great thing was brought to pass.  It cooled everything right down.  It's wonderful.

We traveled to a different village this week to meet members we hadn't met yet and to visit with some of the Бабушек (grandmothers) who are the rock- the strength, of the Branch.  They are amazing women! They are твердыми и непоколебимыми (steadfast and immovable), hard working, gracious women, always willing to share of their harvest, their testimonies, and their examples.  Only got to visit a few of them so we get to go back again soon.

Four generation church members.  A rare thing for Ukraine.

Beautiful lake but it looked like it was down about 3 or 4 feet.

Not sure what this is but I thought it looked cool.  So thankful we
get to walk everywhere or we'd miss sights like this.  I thought it
looked like an old stable or maybe the the original storage units with
a different colored door for each family. Anybody know?

While in this village, we met a man who has been investigating the church for about 20 years.  He was having trouble deciding how to build a scaffold to fix the chimney on his house.  He was very afraid of heights so Ned offered to come back the next day to help.  He had to go back by himself with no interpreter, but, said he, not to worry because construction work has a universal language of its own.  And he was right.  He put in a full days work and went back again this morning to stucco the chimney.  I talked to the mans wife at church on Sunday (through an interpreter).  She said they were very grateful for the help.  Maybe Ned was able to help in more ways than one.  I was going to end here by wishing we had brought about some really great things through our small means this week, but, we've been taught, and I'm sure it's true, that no effort is wasted.  We may never know if something great was sparked by a discussion at English class, Sunday School or Primary or even with Igor on the bus, or as we help in the village or by helping to carry groceries, fixing tires, or sharing with our neighbors.  Our job is just to go out and do.  We're the small means and the Lord is in charge of the great things that come to pass and in confounding the wise. (except, I am really great at confounding these days.  I say something in Russian to people and they look at me with a confused stare, completely speechless ;(  )

Ned's new construction project

We had another wonderful Sunday dinner this week. We had to eat 2 hours earlier than usual.  We had prepared much on Saturday but everyone had to pitch in to get it all ready.  So glad they did, because it turned out much better than it would have had we done it all ourselves. (deviled eggs with mayo, fresh chopped garlic and some finely grated cheese are wonderful, and it felt just like home as I directed the boys to do this and take that) People come, we get to know them a little better and by the time they leave we feel like they are family.  We wish we could feed them all every week.  We wish we could have you all over for dinner here in Ukraine.

It doesn't sound like we did much but it was a busy week, which makes it a good week.  We, again, are so thankful for those who help us so much and are making this mission possible for us here and at home.
Have a wonderful week!
Love from
the Miks

PS.  We have found the next step- the perfect way to up skill levels in the NBA.  No need to raise the standard from 10 feet. Here it is folks!  Straight from the village in Ukraine:

You really have to work hard to use the backboard with this one 

And here is the way Bunkerville street cleaners could get-er-done!

This is the early morning street cleaning crew at work.
The city is very clean thanks to these hard working people

Our Baby and parents at Ball State Graduation

Our Future Daughter-in-law just got her
Masters Degree at Ball State University
Daniel told us she is "One Degree" hotter!

Just in case you didn't get your wedding invite consider yourself invited see below.  We leave on Monday August 3, to travel back to the States for two weeks to help our two boys get married.  See you then.