Hope, Hospital, Happy Days (birthday and fathers)

Week of June 15-21, 2015
Great week and wonderful adventures in this beautiful land.  The green here is almost over powering for an old desert rat like me.  Everything is green even when it didn't rain for almost three weeks.  It rained the last couple of days, we had been praying hard.  The farmers really needed the moisture.

Corner that we pass by everyday on our way home

 As we go out into the country we are amazed at the amount, variety, and density of the undergrowth.  This is place can grow anything and what a blessing for the people.

We are working with a local hospital to try and arrange some member visits to the people there and also to see if we can get the church to assist in a Humanitarian project.  On Wednesday we traveled to the hospital and met with the main administrator to give him the paperwork that needs to be completed to request the aide. While we were there I had to take some pictures of the the hospital and some of the challenges they are having.  65 photos later we were done. I forwarded the pictures to the senior couple over Humanitarian aide and he could not believe the conditions.  So we hopefully will be able to assist the hospital in getting some of the things they need.  As you can see from the pictures there is a great need. The hospital is very proactive in improving the conditions.  They have received some help and are in the process of remodeling the 4th floor.  Some rooms have already been upgraded.  They are working hard at making it a better place for their patients.

Typical room most beds are fixed not adjustable

This has to be pre WW2 cabinet 

The fourth floor is being renovate this is an old operating table

four beds and no privacy

Kitchen to warm food for patients

Their eye equipment is a little old but they still use it.

How is your eyesight could you tell me the letters
in the second row on the left, Please! If you said
H you failed it's an N the top line is sh and b

There is a wonderful young lady in our branch who speaks English and is a huge help in helping us to serve the people.  She translates for me in Sunday School and helps Sister Mikkelsen with cooking projects as she translates for the people that come over to learn a new American dish.  On Thursday we helped celebrate her birthday.  We went out to lunch together and then we took her to our favorite bakery shop for a special birthday treat.

This place is amazing you can't pick a bad treat.  They are all wonderfully delicious.  Not only is this young lady a wonderful translator she is a very talented artist you can see some of her creations in the attached pictures.

Friday was our trip out to the farm.  We got on the bus and the Elders said "did you get the text" and we said "no".  They went on to tell us our Mission President and his wife and family left that morning to go back home.  They went back to take care of family.  President Steineger who is the president in the Liviv mission is our presiding authority while President Packer is out of the country.  He is scheduled to go home on July 1 he has been filling in for another mission president who's wife got sick and couldn't return.  He served as the mission president here about 5 years ago. His son also served as a missionary in this mission about a year ago he is also in Liviv with his family.  President Packer should be back in a couple of weeks.

Elder Halstrom and temple and Area Authorities with
President and Sister Packer during mission conference

From left, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, Elder Randall K. Bennett,
Elder Bruce D. Porter, Elder Jörg Klebingat, and
Elder Russell M. Nelson. Photo courtesy of Elder Russell M. Nelson.

Friday was the farm day and guess what, I had to dig up three more stumps that were inside the greenhouse footprint.  Now you ask," How is he going to relate this to the Parable of the Stump". Not to fear here goes the parable.  Getting our garden clear of the stumps of sin is a difficult process.  We work and toil to remove them and make our garden a fertile place for our lives to grow and develop.  The process of cultivation in the garden is on going.  Sometimes in our garden of life we overlook a stump of sin or a new one crops up. If we are committed to keeping our garden clear of this type of problem we must continually be vigilant and root out the stumps of sin as soon as we detect them. In this case the stumps were very small and in a couple of hours I was able to remove all three.  That is the way of sin.  If we handle it on a daily basis and don't allow it to grow and set deep roots in our lives, it's easy to remove and takes much less effort that waiting and trying to root our large and deep set sins.  So let me climb off my soap box and tell you some real great news.

Three Little Stumps easy to do when there are small

Preparing greenhouse frame for paint

We had two baptisms in our branch on Saturday. It was two children of record but the wonderful thing was that everyone came out to support them and we had four different investigators that attended the baptism.  It was a wonderful celebration.

She was baptized by an Elder who used to serve here.

One family that attended brought a cake that she had made.  It was nine layers and was honey flavored and you can see from the picture she made a honey comb pattern on it and then made little chocolate bees on top.  It was the best cake I've had here.

That says Baptism Day.  The bees were way cool.

It is so wonderful to see the member come out and support these wonderful children.
In closing I would like to say Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there.  The one Father we sometimes forget is the one that deserves the most thanks.  Our Heavenly Father has given us all we have and hope to be.  I love this verse in the New Testament
Hebrews 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Our Earthly fathers, mine included, gave us so much as we were raised in this life, but without the Father of our spirits we would not have the opportunity to be here and learn and grow.  May we always reverence our Heavenly Father and do so by service to others.  We love you and hope you have a wonderful week I know we will
Love Elder and Sister Mikkelsen.

My first Fathers Day as a Grandpa!! Cute kid.

Humble! Ohoo Humble Yourself!

The Week of June 8 (Aunt Laurie's Birthday)- 14,
When we were in High School, most of the star football players were in the choir. The title of the blog is a line from one of their most memorable songs.  I will never forget them on the back row rumbling out.... "humble, ooooh humble yourself! A, well, the bell dun' ring...... That line has echoed through my head очен много- very many times since then, almost постоянно- constantly since we've been here.  You think you know a lot and are ready to pass on your all you've got, so you start to lay it out only to find that these wonderful people are way ahead of you.  I think we're finally finding how we can best serve- with the help of our wonderful teachers and mentors, the younger Elders.  We'll see if we can finally get this blog rolling.  We had a wonderful week.  Here are some highlights.

This is a temple we visited one day in between meetings.
It glistens in the sun kind of beckoning you to come.
It was locked so we couldn't go inside but its very beautiful outside.
 It's so typical of buildings here.  They are so colorful.

These are pictures taken from the train window of a train station we pass,
but never get to
stop at, on our way to Kyiv.  Also an example of the cool building.

On Wednesday we were able to go with some of the leaders of the Branch, to visit the geriatric wing in one of the hospitals the may need some humanitarian aide.  Elder Hunt brought his ukulele and we sang I am a Child of God (in Ukrainian), handed out some treats and copies of "The living Christ".  It was a good visit.  Most of the people were basically disinterested until we sang to them, then their faces lit up and they wanted to talk.  We felt bad cause we couldn't stay very long that day but we will go back with more members of the branch and friends when we can spend more time.  One sweet, sweet, lady reached in her pocket as we were leaving.  She pulled out a couple of гривен.  I think she wanted to donate to our church like she would on a Sunday at hers.  It wasn't much but, like the widow and her mite, it was probably all she had.  What a wonderful (humbling) example of generosity and love.

Thats the hospital in the background.  There were no signs on the building.
 If we hadn't asked a lady on the bus if we were on the right bus to get there
and if she hadn't hollered to us that it was time to get off we would still be
circling town wondering when to get off.

That night we decided it was time to visit the Roshen Fountain.  It is the largest floating fountain in the world.  It's like the fountains at the Belagio but bigger and they add in a laser light show in the evenings.  It's choreographed mostly to classical music but to other types as well.  its absolutely beautiful.  Ned took some pictures but you can see better ones on line. There is also a short video they tells a Ukrainian Fairy tale of how the good Fairies defeat the dragon.  Very enjoyable presentation.

 
 

We didn't go out to work on the greenhouse this week but we did get to travel out the other direction to visit the home of some other members. It was an amazing place.  I think once they get finished building they will be basically self- sufficient.  They have a way to gather and store water, a huge garden with root cellars to store the food, and alternative power sources (this is important because sometimes in the winter the gas is temporarily turned off and everyone cooks and heats with gas).  Such wonderful, gracious, people.  After a huge meal of yummy Ukrainian food, we went out and they picked a big bowl of cherries (they sent the leftovers home :)) and an armful of herbs to dry. We LOVE Ukraine!

The map at the bus station showing all the routes

So what else did we do this week?  We studied, got to know our next-door neighbors, had some great lessons at English class, were taught a couple great Russian lessons, fed people, helped teach a couple people, tried to speak a little more Russian,  helped with the starting of a class in Self Reliance using the churches new program (check it out online.  It's very good).  People are always sharing with us.  We need to start taking pictures.  We ate yummy cabbage rolls, were given fresh herbs from gardens, one sister gave us a HUGE jar of honey (that's like gold here), the Primary President gave us some bryndza that she and her mother had made- very very good,  cookies..., one sister and her mother walked for and hour to get to our place to help us meet our neighbors (she has done that several times). These are good people!

The fun family that came to Sunday Dinner

What's left of the бріндза (sp?)

Birds by the blue church are very peaceful

forgot to add this one with the other fountain pics.
Thats the Roshen Candy Factory in the background.
 Somedays it smells delicious!

They have theses little drink carts all over town.
 Its a special fermented, carbonated drink made only around these parts.
Everyone loves it.  Someday we'll be brave enough to try it.

Jacob and his Cancun Critters

Our New Baby and our First Baby

Miracles, Munchies, and Monkeys

Week of June 1-7, 2015
Wow what a week!  Who ever said being a missionary was boring or easy or monotonous or what ever negative adjective they want to use.  They are wrong!!! This week has been so busy I can't even think where to start.  OK.  I'll start on Monday.  What a spiritual high this day was. We had a brother and his daughter over for dinner. His conversion story started back in 1991. He was married with one daughter (who is on a mission now) and they were living in France.

The First Member in Vinnistya and his Daughter

There was no work in Ukraine so he was selling newspapers in France to make a living.  He saw two young men nicely dressed and was drawn to their table where they had books they were giving away.  He spoke little French but got the point across that when he saw them, he could tell they were different.  He asked how they were different and they told him it was because of the Book of Mormon.  He wanted one.  They said if he came to church on Sunday they would give him one.  So on Sunday he came and got the book and a Joseph Smith track in Russian.  They committed him to read and he left.  He didn't go back to church for a month but he read the book and track completely and knew they were true.  He went back to the church to tell them thanks and to return the book. Then he said,  "How can I be like you?".  Well as you can imagine the language made no difference to those missionaries. They got all the Russian stuff they could find and taught him the 6 lessons. He was convinced and wanted to be baptized.  He attended church in France, not understanding much, but he was happy. He made the decision he would never go back to Ukraine.  Well that was not the decision the Lord had in mind.  The spirit forced him back to his home in Vinnistya.  He had no work and was struggling, but once a month he made the trip to Kyiv where he attended church.  After 3 years he asked what he needed to do to get a church in Vinnistya.  He was told to gather 10 people who would support it and he did.  On November 20, 1998 they had their first branch meeting.  Over the next few years almost 100 people were brought into the church.  He served as the branch president for 7 years.  He is now serving his beloved country in the military.  What a blessing it was to hear his testimony.
We had a day at the farm on Wednesday the zone leaders were in town so we enlisted them to help. It was a long and productive day.

Lifting greenhouse frames into place

No heavy equipment here just lots of Priesthood power

The frames are up. Next to Sister Mikkelsen is one of those
"Stumps"

We got all ten greenhouse frames stood up and welded in place.  It was a good day. Putting out physical effort is a great way to spend the day blessing our lives and the lives of others.  The green house, as you can, see is huge and there is much more to complete before the winter cold sets in.  Having this in place will bless the lives of the branch members here was well.
Thursday we traveled to Kyiv to participate in our zone conference.  Sister Packer was not there. We found out she has been in Germany in the hospital for 10 days. President Packer is a great gospel leader.  Under that added stress he presented a most inspired conference.  We all have stress and issues in our lives. It is part of life.  It is not the lack of problems that make us who we are. It is how we handle the issues in our lives that make us who we are.

Stress reliever that we pass everyday

At lunch time the area historian, Elder Mehr, presented a PowerPoint covering the history of the church in the Eastern European Area.  There were so many miracles that took place starting over 100 years ago when a family in Saint Petersburg was baptized. (Their ancestors continue to live there today).  That was very important. When Russia opened to doors to churches they had to prove they had been in the country for at least 100 years.  Our Heavenly Father knows the beginning from the end and made sure that the gospel could be preached to these wonderful people.  Another miracle was the building of the Kyiv Temple.  Not since the days of Kirkland Ohio had a temple been built in a location that had had members for 20 years or less.

Kirkland Temple

Kyiv Ukraine Temple only 5 years old

This area is a very special part of the world.  The dedicatory prayer says that temples will dot this land and that there will be tens of thousands of members.  Just 30-40 years ago Brazil had a very small LDS population.  Now look at the growth!  Temples dot that land.  The same thing is going to happen here in this beautiful land and we are here to help that process along.   We returned from Zone Conference to our little world of Vinnistya recharged and committed to put off the issues that bind us down and better serve here.
Friday was Meet the Mormons movie night at English class.

We had a good sized group and the brownies and Popcorn added to the success of the night.  I could see that hearts were softened and touched as they attentively watched the movie.
The view out our front window changed this week.

Two small domes in place

 The Greek Orthodox church at the end of the road that has been under construction for some time. The domes have been sitting on the ground since we arrived and we have seen little activity.  On Saturday they placed the 4 small domes on the building and Sunday morning we woke up to bells and singing as a celebration was going on.  We saw on our way to church that their courtyard was packed with people.  A large crane was there to lift the large dome into place.  It was much like the celebrations we have when the Angle Moroni is placed on our temples.  When we returned home from church the new dome was in place. It is beautiful to look at and the people were so happy and full of faith.

The dome is beautiful

 These people are being prepared for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Faith is the first step in that process.

Saturday was Shashlikie Day (Shisk-e-bob)

This is the process messy but oh, so good!

One last thing to report we need to report this week didn't happen here, but in Columbus Ohio. On Sunday, three of our sons joined together and our new little grand baby received a name and blessing.  We got to hear all about it via Skype.  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

A few of the strange animals at the Columbus Ohio Zoo

Riley Anne Mikkelsen gets a name and a blessing
Sad we could not attend but so glad they could all be together

May all of you and your families be blessed as you move through this wonderful life and enjoy the Plan of Happiness!  Have a wonderful week. I know we will.  Love the Mikkelsen's

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
This was one of the little monkeys at the zoo.

Whshew!

   

   Week of May 25-31, 2015

It is amazing to me what a little sunshine and warm weather will do for the population of a country.  Bus rides in the winter are silent with everyone staring out the window (at least by the end of winter when we arrived). But, now...!  Yesterday morning we were squished into a bus we didn't think we would ever fit into (the doors didn't close all the way behind me till everyone got jiggled around a little bit as we hit a few bumps) and as I listened (couldn't look around-too many people) the bus seemed to be alive.  People chatting, smiling, seemingly happy.  It was awesome.  The only trouble is, now they want to talk to us.  Sometimes we can understand them and say a little back but mostly we have to ask if they speak English.  This usually brings a big smile, a knowing nod, and a few laughs (sometimes, a look of disgust).

     As most of you know, I am not a photographer so when it s my week to write, the photos may seem to be lacking--something.  I wish I had a picture of people on the streets on Saturday.  Every other person was carrying around what looked like a handful of reeds, which were being sold on every street corner.  I felt like we should buy some too, but Ned "Why'd"that.  It looked just like the day they were selling pussy willows last month.  The willows were important in a religious holiday regarding spring.  We finally found out this was true again.  That is one thing that makes living in a small country fun.  The people are so passionate about their customs, traditions, culture, language...anything that has to do with their country.  We always see people dressed in traditional Ukrainian clothing or costumes.  My traditional American dress is jeans and a t-shirt. One day someone asked me what foods were traditional American foods only found in America.  I didn't know what to answer-  fried chicken, cornbread, and a mess of greens in the south, a clam bake or shrimp in the Northeast...hamburgers?  I guess we just have a little bit of everybody =)  Maybe that's why its so important for us to find our roots.
 

This church has become our friend.  This is how we see it from our
window.  We pass it everyday.  The domes are on the ground waiting
for the renovations to be completed. 

Can't wait for it to be put back together again.  It is a beautiful building.

                              

The highlight of our week---whshew!  The last stump is finally out!

That right "Helping Hands"

We had a little extra help as you will see in the pictures.  Just after we got there we saw Bro Сисов working on his old tractor. It took awhile but he got it going, drove it over, hooked it in, started pulling, and- the cable broke.  Then, they dug more from the inside of the stump, found a hole they could thread the cable through, hooked it back up and it just slid right out of that hole. It was beautiful! Now we can move on to the next step.  Wednesday we prepare to put up the frame for the greenhouse.

Looks like it would be perfect for tractor tipping but its beautiful to us!

oops! try again

threading the cable

     But- first we must finish the parable.  (Can't leave you hanging.)  So-  we work, and work through trials, difficulties, sin, to root those problems out of our lives but sometimes we just can't do it by ourselves.  We need help.  We need a tractor to come to our rescue.  Someone with more strength, power, knowledge, authority, than we, who can guide, lift, and help us through our struggle.  We need to be able to take a step back, realize/accept our limitations/needs, humble ourselves and allow the Lord to do His work, having faith that He has a plan and that plan is a plan of happiness that when used, WILL bring happiness.   And happy we are.  Excited for what the next few weeks will bring.

     We are so grateful for the many people here and at home who are helping make this wonderful experience possible for us.  Everything is not all as rosy as it seems in the blog.  No one wants to hear that stuff, but it all has been invaluable to us.  We love you all!!!!!  Have a wonderful week.
Love the Mik's

Fun playing games with some members

Jacob getting ready to clean the chapel for Sunday after an amazing conference
with Elder Bednar, another 70 and 2 Area authorities

Oh ya did we mention our Grand Daughter?!!!