Mikkelsen Muzings: Autumn in Ukraine

Week of October 19-25, 2015

This isn't our Picture but it depicts perfectly my view of
Autumn in Ukraine.

Sometimes things just don't go the way you've planned. Sometimes weeks don't either. This week we learned the importance of back-up plans.

In the beginning, our week was full of service, visits, full day stuff, but, people were sick, not home, it rained, but, we got a lot of good studying done!

This is what we should have been studying. We actually
started again to work on verbs of motion. After about 1/2
hour we were both so befuddled we decided we'd try again
another day. :)

Because of that, we had a week of great lessons and we saw the beauty of fall as it suddenly appeared. Maybe thats because we finally took time to open our eyes and notice. The weather has turned cool. High 40's to Low 50's during the days, 30's and 40's at night. When the sun shines, its perfect weather. Ned took some beautiful shots as we traveled through our week.

Starting to get dark a lot earlier. No there no snow yet-
took this one is from the internet

Off the beaten path in Vinnistya

That says "No Parking"

Stopped by the Ri'nok to buy some beans and our new favorite
cheese- Brindza. We'll have to learn to make it when we get
home.

Tried to explain to Alexandra about the green tomato relish
my mother used to make. A freeze had taken all her tomato
vines and she had buckets of green tomatoes. It's really hard to
explain relish when your vocabulary consists of words like
prayer, testimony, prophets, and "What is your name".

We think this farmer must have planted some winter wheat.

To market, to market! we saw several small tractor drawn
carts full of apples driving through this village. I wondered
if some of the farmers joined together to sell their goods.
Some day we'll find out

We've seen several brides driving around town in this sweet ride.

The church we pass every day.

This is a perfect picture showing what is represented in the flag
of Ukraine.

The fountain closed this week. We'll miss seeing this everyday
as we walk home

Monday we had a wonderful Family Home Evening with a sweet family in our ward. We were in charge of treats. Their kids have been sick and the doctors counseled the family to cut back on -? basically everything kids in Ukraine love to eat, so, we took apples and peanut butter for FHE treats. Mom and the kids were pretty skeptical, but dad was already a lover or bananas and peanut butter. Eventually they all tried it, and loved it. Tried peanut butter cups in a pan for English class and that was a hit too. People here usually say they don't like peanut butter, but they always like our treats.

We looked at the label and it is actually made in America.
Vancouver, WA!

At first, I was kind of scared to teach English, but now, Tuesdays and Fridays are our favorite days. They're busy days! This week, with the little kids, we taught about shapes. Rectangle is just as hard to say and remember here as it is at home. We played with play dough, did memory games, looked for shapes all around, and even played "Pin-the-Face on Mr Shapehead! (We're grateful for wonderful teachers who share their ideas online.)

Pin-the-tail on Mr. Shapehead! We had a lot of fun!

We were headed out for a visit to the village of the original Swan Lake. We stopped in another little village to make some deliveries on the way when we got a phone call saying the children were sick so we would need to reschedule.

Not our pic but It;s how I remember it.

I think they did a pretty good job of depicting this beautiful
little lake in the movie.

On the way there we got a phone call from the Elders asking if I had lost my purse. I said no. I was sure it was on the counter at home. I had taken things from it the night before while preparing a lesson. They said they had just received a phone call from the Tram-vi station saying they had it there waiting for me to come pick it up. They said they would go check it out for us. Meanwhile, we mentally traced our steps. The only time I could have left it on a tram was two days before. It was raining and cold as we left English. We stopped at the store then decided to take the tram-vi home instead of walking. Maybe I did leave it. As we stepped off the Marshrootka (smaller bus)by the Bocksal (bus/train station), the Elders were just leaving the Depo, and yes, they had retrieved my purse. I looked through it and nothing was missing- money, credit card (that I had forgotten to put away), everything was still there.
Alexandra said that happens all the time in Ukraine. If something is taken and it is reported people will lose their jobs. Such wonderful people!

We decided to accept the challenge to "Ponderize" given at conference. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/my-heart-pondereth-them-continually?lang=eng) To start, we decided to use scripture mastery scriptures. This weeks mastery scripture I almost skipped. It was small and not much to it, but...Ok. I went with it anyway. (Read the talk to find out what pondering is, but it is amazing.) This week we used 2 Nephi 2:25, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." What is joy, and why were Adam and Eve willing to make that choice to leave the Garden to find that joy? I guess, that's what we're here on earth to find out. True joy comes when we are on the path that will lead us back to our Father in Heaven. He has perfect, complete, joy and wants nothing more than to share it with each of us. Hope you have a wonderful week seeking for and finding joy in those things that matter most.
Love to you all
the Mik's