Mikkelsen Muzings: New Beginnings

Week of December 7-13, 2015
We made it to our new area! Odesa Ukraine is a beautiful place. The saying is that beauty is only skin deep. It is not the physical place where in the beauty lies but it is with the people that the true beauty becomes apparent. With that thought in mind let me say a few things in reference to Vinnistya. We lived in one of the most beautiful spots in the world for nine glorious months.

Yes physically Vinnistya is very pretty but the real beauty was with the people we came to know and love. We miss each of them dearly and will always carry in our hearts the fond love and companionship we had with them. On Monday we were invited over to the Koshelves home for FHE with the elders.

Three families bidding us farewell

The Kolumetes and Bevzoks were also there. We had a wonderful spiritual thought and played a little Ukrainian Uno (They put a few wild twists into the game) before heading home to finish packing up. Tuesday morning we had our last meeting with Sister Alexander and it was difficult to say good-bye to her.

Last Russian practice with Sister Alexander

We gave her a Ukrainian doll that represented our love and thanks for her efforts. In her wonderful way she told us she was too old to play with dolls. I think it is a little weird for people here to get non useful gifts. They in many ways are a very practical people and little trinkets don't mean a lot. It is our relationship that makes all the difference. We hope that in the future she will look at that doll with fond memories of us I know we will never forget her.

This is the Elk horns hanging at the barber shop

Our Elders

Farewell luncheon with our good friend Interepter Zena.
She did so much to help us. We will miss her!

The Shashleeky restaurant we walked by for 9 months. Visited it
our the last day in Vinnistya

No mistletoe yet so this kiss was a little one sided

The Elders and I traveled out to Medvezha Vooshka and said good-bye to Sister Rosa and also stopped by and had a short lesson with Igor. We left a little remembrance with him of the good times we had working on his home.

Farewell to Igor we gave his a picture of the young Christ as
a Carpenter.

On Wednesday we spent the morning cleaning and packing and just before we were to leave I called our good friend Yuri and told him we were leaving.

No, this is not all of ours. Three bags belong to
an elder being transferred to Odesa. It almost filled
the mission van.

He said he would come right over so that we could say good-bye. We met him in town and he gave us some big bear hugs and told us we should not leave because family is always first. He told us we are his family because we took him into our home. He told us we are welcome to come and stay with him anytime in the future. He asked why we would leave here and we explained to him that a man called of God, our Mission President, received direction from God that we were needed in Odesa. After he understood that concept he was OK with us leaving.

Good-bye Yuri we will miss you

May we be blessed that our paths may once again cross, in the future ,with all of these beloved people.
Now with that same thought, of beauty being only skin deep, let me move on to Odesa. We arrived on Wednesday and as we entered the town we realized we were no longer in Kansas, (Dorthy- wizard of Oz).

This is not Kanas. Downtown Odesa

This is a big city and we live right in the middle of it. We can walk to church in five minutes which is wonderful. We have a beautiful apartment in the center of the city and it is like a palace.

Working in the kitchen

Everything about the apartment is regal from the antiques that are part of the furnishings to the beautiful lighting and luxurious furnishings. The Odesa Opera house is 1/2 a block from the church and is the most magnificent building I've seen so far in Ukraine.

This is just outside of our apartment the entrance to our
apartment is a small gate just to the left of the base of
this statue.

The Opera house. Thanks to the internet for providing Odesa photos

All of the buildings have an amazing sculptured architecture to them. There are statues and gothic sculptures on most of the buildings. We are having a tour this afternoon and will take some pictures and post them. The church building is wonderful it is three story building with a carpeted chapel on the first floor and classrooms and offices on the other two floors. There is a baptismal font in the basement. On the third floor is the young adult area. We have an office on this floor. Buildings are all well and good but again the beauty lies in the people that fill them. Our little Center Branch is filled with wonderful saints of God. We are again being blessed with being a part of peoples lives that are true pioneers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the few days that we have been here we have been welcomed and loved by some wonderful saints. I think in nine months time it will be just as hard to leave here as it was to leave Vinnistya.
The Branch President is President Chetnokov. He is an amazing leader. He speaks some English and can call on the phone and get us needed information without an interpreter. I think he would prefer to speak in Russian but we appreciate the fact that he is willing to help us out by speaking English. The day we moved in we had several local members that showed up to help us tote our luggage up the three flights of stairs, 57 stairs but who's counting. They always say that the climb is worth it and when we opened the door to our apartment we were not disappointed.

Prepared for Sunday dinner in our new home

This light fixture is all brass and is over a
100 years old. I put the tinsel on all by myself

Our landlord Eugene is a good man he has been very helpful and responsive to our requests, he even arranged for an interpreter to help us get settled into our apartment and ask any questions we might have.
That night as soon as we set everything down we headed over to the church for Institute. There was a good group of students and we had a fun talk with them after class. Igor just returned from his mission and is leaving for BYU on Wednesday. He has been very helpful as our interpreter the last couple of days. Sweta is the Young singles president and a very good friend to Igor. She is a sweet heart and is very loving and interested in getting the young people from the area together to have activities. On Saturday we had a welcome home party for Ira who just returned home from her mission. Each of these young people are hard working and fun loving people. It will be a great blessing in our lives to work with them. At the end of the party they asked us to introduce ourselves. they wanted to know all about us and our family. I then asked if they had any other question. One young man asked a question that caught me off guard. He said you have been a member all of your life and have had so many experiences why after all those years and some trials how do you stay active in the church? I had to think about that for minute and then I realized that being active in the Gospel of Jesus Christ in not a process but an act.

Missionaries serving in Center Branch and a mom and her
daughter came over for our first Sunday Dinner.

The daughter is 18 and is planning on serving a mission

We, in our daily lives, must act and not be acted upon. As we make decisions in this life, if we are acting upon our testimony, it is easy to move in the right direction, a Christ centered direction. If we react to situations, Satan will always be standing there placing doubts in our minds and trying to convince us that we are being punished for some wrong or that people are out to get us. It is my prayer that each of us will Act out of a love for the Savior and remember our testimony so that when trials come we know and understand that we can overcome them and become better by living the Gospel. In this special time of year may each of you do Acts of kindness that will strengthen you and those you reach out to. May you have a wonderful week, We love all of you.
All of our Love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen