Kodak Moments +

Week of September 21-27, 2015
I decided the best way to share our week was through photos.  It has been a great week for photo ops so, here goes.
These are from our Monday "P-Day" shopping excursions.

We headed out to run errands and this caught Ned's eye.  how they
change tires at the corner tire store.  Ingenious!

One of Ned's favorite stores.  It's like walking into any Home
Depot but it has a Target/WalMart/Best Buy section as well.

Just a cool relic in an intersection.  It matches the turtle at the
central park we posted a couple weeks ago.

A truckload of apples headed to market.  he'd lose a few around
every corner.

Our neighbor has the most amazing pear tree!

Tuesday- Sorry, no pics :(
I wish we could take pictures of our English classes.  "Little" English started again this week.  we love to teach the children at City Hall.  Its amazing how fast children can learn and how much they can remember!  the people we work with at "Big" English have become like family and we get new members all the time.

Wednesday-

This was on our way home from Self-Reliance Class (Great program!
there are classes on personal finance, how to get and afford an education,
how to get a job, starting your own business.....check out the manuals at
lds.org)  Won't be able to enjoy this sight much longer.  They shut the
fountain down when the weather gets cold.

The only other pic from today is one from a manual Ned was reading.  I love this one!

 These are some of the thoughts he had from his journal.

"As I was studying this morning in Galatians I found this in the institute manual.  We are bombarded with the opinions of the world.  We lose focus of the gospel centered perspective. Here is a quote from the lesson I studied (chapter 43 on Galatians):

 Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained how the Church today, like the New Testament Church, extends the invitation to all to come unto Christ:

        “Jesus and His Apostles did not attempt to make Gentiles into Jews (see Romans 2:11; Galatians 2:11–16; 3:1–29; 5:1–6; 6:15). They taught Gentiles and Jews, attempting to make each of them into followers of Christ.

President James E. Faust explained how there can be both diversity and unity in the Church:

“As we move into more and more countries in the world, we find a rich cultural diversity in the Church. Yet everywhere there can be a ‘unity of the faith’ [Ephesians 4:13]. Each group brings special gifts and talents to the table of the Lord. We can all learn much of value from each other. But each of us should also voluntarily seek to enjoy all of the unifying and saving covenants, ordinances, and doctrines of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. …

“We do not lose our identity in becoming members of this church. We become heirs to the kingdom of God, having joined the body of Christ and spiritually set aside some of our personal differences to unite in a greater spiritual cause. We say to all who have joined the Church, keep all that is noble, good, and uplifting in your culture and personal identity. However, under the authority and power of the keys of the priesthood, all differences yield as we seek to become heirs to the kingdom of God, unite in following those who have the keys of the priesthood, and seek the divinity within us” (“Heirs to the Kingdom of God,” Ensign, May 1995, 62)."

I think the world is focusing so much on peoples differences that we are forgetting the beauty of our sameness.  A niece posted a picture of her family this morning that so beautifully depicted the differences in her children personalities.  Each one is so different and because of that their family is strong and complete (Well almost.  I still think they need another little one).  We are all brothers and sisters.  We need to focus more on using our talents and strengths to BE brothers and sisters and to  be like the Savior instead of  worrying about whose needs are more important or which diverse group has been picked on.

OOOOO enough of that.  Moving on....

Thursday

We were given the assignment to teach about American Fall traditions at a church Harvest Festival and to make pumpkin pie.  So, finally, we have pictures of our favorite рынок! (I didn't add the best pictures of people. Thought we'd get in trouble without their permission.  If I'm wrong, let me know and we'll put those in later)

That soda pop bottle s full of milk.  People take a taste of the milk
from the lid.  If they like it, sold, if no, on to the next stand.  At some
stands, they keep the milk in a jug with a spigot behind the table and
fill up the empty recycled bottles for sale. The cheese and sour cream
are homemade and so good!

These is all kitchen stuff- spices, tea,.....

All the fruits and vegetables are so flavorful!  Even the mushy
apples are good.

Nuts and dried fruit

Everything is an art.  They take great pride in their work

Haven't tried the fish yet.  not sure we're that brave. the picture is great
I just wish we could also send the smell that went along with the photo

The end result of our shopping trip- well almost the end. Next
came 2 pies and some yummy roasted seeds. it is a lot easier
to buy pumpkin in a CAN.

We didn't get a picture of all the trucks backed up with tailgates open and piles of fruit flowing out.  It is amazing to see.  I've never seen so many watermelons and now they've added 50 lb bags of potatoes and onions.

Friday was full of English classes and mission meetings.  So glad to have the Elders back.  I love to watch them teach.  Even though we can't understand all they say, you just know when the Spirit has taken over the discussion.  You can see it in their faces and you can feel the warmth as these strong, willing servants of the Lord become His mouthpiece.

Saturday

Here are a few from the 80 pictures we took at the Branch Activity.

Sisters brought three talents to share. This dear sister....
brought things she bottled from what they grew.

...apples from her Dacha.

...her flowers and amazing cuisine.

... her beautiful bread, fruit, and knowledge of
Ukrainian tradition

They all put their best effort into everything.  It reminds me of stories
of the early pioneers.  And thats what they are here.  Ukrainian Pioneers.

She added Kalena berries, a symbol of Ukraine, to make her
bread even more festive.

A perfect example of the calling, "Husband of the Relief Society
President"  

Compote is a must at every activity!

The busy RS Pres

I had to take this picture of our sweet бабушки on their rows
at church.  Amazing women! And not just the бабушки, but all
the women- all the members.

Its been a good week, with good, people doing great things.  Wherever we go in the world we can find the same thing, good people doing great things who will welcome you in and make you family.  Someday, when I grow up, I want to be like them.  We have so much to learn.  So grateful for this chance.
Hope you have a great week.  Love to you all,
The Miks

Thank you Sonina!  So glad Daniel and Sonina could go
to Amy (Ned's niece) and Anthony's baby blessing.  Congratulations!

Jonathan and Kelsey moved into a new house this week!

Jacob has moved to a new area-  Isla Mujeres. The island is
750 yards wide and 4.2 miles long. The top elevation is about
15' above sea level.

and these two went to Harry Potter World!

The Spice of Life

Week of September 14-20, 2015
Change is part of life.  Some might say it is the spice of life.  If that is the case we had a very spicy week.

Things are changing for this building 1/2 block from the church.

Things are changing. They are making it a hospital

It started on Monday morning at 4:06 AM when I rolled over in bed and noticed that the alarm had not gone off yet.  We needed to take Elders Hunt and Golling to the train station because they were being transferred for the last time (in the mission field at least).  Their new assignment was Home!

Heading Home!

 It is so hard to lose missionaries that you have been working with for months and have shared some very special times with.  We are so glad we had the opportunity to work with these young men!  There was a side benefit for the branch.  The missionaries have lived in that apartment for many years and so they did some cleaning out and brought 5 huge bags of left over missionary clothes to the church.  So, now we have quite a nice supply of clothing items in our new emergency store room there.  As long as the person needing clothes is a man between a Med and XL we are set to go.
There was also another transfer that took place this week, our son Jacob was moved to Isla Mujeres which is located just off the coast of the city of Cancun.

It is an island that is 650 Meters (710 yards) wide and 7 Kilometers (4.3 miles) long.  You can walk all the streets in town in about 2 hours.

It is tough duty but someone has to serve here!

It is a tourist town and most people just do day trips from Cancun.

Welcome to church building on Isla Mujeres

So after transfers, Sister Mikkelsen and I were then left on our own in our wonderful city of Vinnistya all by ourselves, with no missionary support.  Several months ago that would have been terrifying, but now, it seems like no big deal.  We had the opportunity to travel out to Medvezha Vooshko and visit with several members.

More changes as the fall season progresses we have wonderful fruit

The potatoes are in and just the pumpkins and corn stalks are left

Sister Rosa was in the middle of making pear juice but she and her husband took some time to visit with us.  They have lived in this little village forever and in  1975 built a very nice home. Her husband was a contractor and by looking at his work I would term him an artist.  He has taken such great care to the smallest details in his home. You should see the grout lines between the bricks on the outside of the home. (you could, if we had taken a picture!)  Even though the home is getting old, it looks new still.  She sent some pear juice and beautiful pears home with us, Sister Mikkelsen made some wonderful pear jam with it.

I took a trip back to the same village the next morning and worked with my good friend Igor on his house remodel.  This is the first time I've been there without an interrupter in tow and it was fun.  It is not too difficult for a couple of old retired school teachers to figure out how to communicate.  We made some good progress on his project.
We had some visitors from Kyiv on Friday.  Elder and Sister Wood, who are the Humanitarian couple, and their interpreter came.

Elder and Sister Wood 23 month Humanitarian Couple

We visited the hospital to which the church has donated lots of equipment.  We were able to talk with the administrator and take a tour of the 4th floor that is being remodeled.  It is quite the change from 3 months ago when I first took a tour of the hospital.  The equipment will make a wonderful addition to the facility.
Sister Mikkelsen went with the Wood's the second half of the day to visit 5 families that the church is sponsoring.  The program is called,  'The Poorest of the Poor'.  These are people that the local government is working with to assist them with their struggles. The families are all very needy and also deserving.  One family was challenged with hearing impairment, another family has 8 kids with # 9 on the way, another family had two families living in the same apartment with very little furniture and another family were refugees from the war zone. I could go on and on but you get the picture.  These 5 are only 5 out of a 100 targeted families that are in just as tough of situations.  The government is doing all it can to assist these people in improving their lives and many of them have made great strides.  These people are very proud and want the very best for their families.  The one stark contrast here is that there is no sense of entitlement (you owe this to me) like we sometimes see and hear about in America.
These people are vey happy with everything they have and are very grateful for any help they receive and know how to get by with nothing.  They are always out trying to better themselves.  Here is a case in point.  Our branch, about 4 or 5 months ago, started the Church's Self Reliance course.  First of all, the church produced this material only in English.  The people in Ukraine could see the benefit of having this material available for church members here so, on their own did a complete translation of all the materials into Ukrainian.  That was no small task.  It is 100's of pages.  On Friday we had a branch celebration where four of our members completed the first classes in Self-Reliance.

First Graduating Self Reliance class

They studied how to improve their education, how to budget their money so that they could afford additional education, and the basics in how to find a job.  They will now begin learning how to grow their own business.  What a great example of making a difference in your own life.
Friday, very late at night, Sister Mikkelsen and I traveled over to the Train station to pick up our new Elders; Elder Kudaibergen from Kazakhstan and Elder Albert (Greeny) from Orlando Florida.

This past week we had 16 missionaries report to the Kyiv Mission.  Three sisters and 13 Elders.  Every elder in the mission received a brand new missionary to train.  This included one elder that has been out for 6 weeks, not to mention that both of the AP's and all zone leaders are also training.  This is a big shift in the work force here in the Kyiv Mission.

The town center with our new Elders. Elder Albert on the Right

We will get an additional 10 missionaries on the next transfer. This is an exciting time for our mission.

New Elder's first Sunday dinner

Branch members over for our Branch Family Dinner

Just so you understand how exciting it is let me share an example. We have been talking to one of our members about going on a mission.  Elder Kudaibergen bore such a strong testimony of the blessings that he and his mother have enjoyed since he has been on his mission.  There were a lot of questions answered.  We would love to see our wonderful member go and serve a mission.  They would be great!
Like I said at the first, change is the spice of life and as you can tell by the length of this blog, it was a spicy week.  We are so blessed to be here and be able to serve.  In closing I would like to share the 8 things President Benson talked about in yesterdays Priesthood lesson on the Elderly.
1. Work in the temple and attend often. 2. Collect and write family histories, 3. Become involved in missionary service. 4. Provide leadership by building family togetherness. 5. Accept and fulfill church callings. 6. Plan for your financial future. 7. Render Christlike service. 8. Stay physically fit, healthy and active.  I have never considered myself "Elderly" but as we discussed these points yesterday they all hit home so I guess I must be getting close.  So to all of our "Elderly" friends out there take note of where you should be and move forward.  I recommend #3 very highly!  Have a great week and keep the faith!  Love you all Elder and Sister Mikkelsen.

Our little grand baby ready to go in Dad's truck

Lasts and Firsts

Week of September 7-13, 2015

love rainy days!

This week was a series of lasts and getting ready for firsts.  Our Elders go home on Monday so all week long we were spending their "last....." with them.  We had our last District Meeting.  You can see in the pictures how we have District Meetings.  Skype allows us to meet with elders in a neighboring town 3 hours away.

District Meeting via our apartment and Skype.  Tuesdays at 11:00
then, yes, lunch, while we plan the rest of the week together.

Meet Elder Palmer on Right he has been in the mission
Six weeks on Tuesday and will be training this next transfer!
We lose 14 missionaries this next week and get 16 new ones
Every elder is training including the AP's!

They had their last visits to the villages and were excited to get some good hard work in before they left.

They dug out then poured the cement for the new front step as well
as a drainage ditch while Ned helped to lay brick around a new
doorway into the house where they are expanding a kitchen.

More work on the greenhouse.  We should be able to go
back to work there soon.  Summer work is over now.

Then the Branch President asked us to create a room for winter donations, which gave them a first before they left.  They hadn't been asked to do this one before.

the shelves are already filling up with leftover
missionary cloths from many missionaries serving
here the past few years.

Then we had their last English class.  What they didn't know, though, was that some sisters had planned a good-bye party for after class.

They showed a Miktech video then had a race between the classes
to see which could wrap their teacher like a mummy first.

The sign says Thank you Elders!  We echo that saying also
They have been so good to us we would be hard pressed to
Do half the stuff we do without them!

Saturday brought another first. We had a baptism scheduled for one of our sweet little 8 yr olds.  Everyone was so excited for her, and then, we had an investigator, who has known for quite some time that she wanted to be baptized, decide that she was ready and this would be the day. AWESOME! We are so excited to watch her testimony blossom.  They are both fine young ladies.
Baptisms are different here.  Everyone in the branch attends (when possible) and they bring treats.  We had over 30 people there with enough to feed many more.  It was a beautiful service with many strong testimonies born.  What a great day for those families and for the branch!  And you would have been so proud of Elder Mikkelsen.  He was asked to baptize both sisters, so all week he practiced (our sweet Sister Alexandra grilled him on Tuesday) so his Russian would be understandable.  Then, just before the meeting started they gave him the sisters full names, which he would also be expected to say flawlessly.  His prayers were heard and when he opened his mouth, his words were heard in perfect Russian (at least it sounded perfect to me).

Angela was baptized!  She was so happy.  She was laughing as she
came out of the water.  She is a beautiful, talented young lady!

We are so happy for Diana!  She too, is an amazing young
woman.  She doesn't realize it yet, but her life has just begun.

These were the two speakers at the baptism. They did a great job!

Several people left before we could get a picture but here are most
of the attendee's

Melon, cookies, cake, pie, candy, fruit!  It was all quite вкусно-
tastey.  It wasn't till we got home that i realized what was wrong
with my cookies this time.  The soda and the potato starch come
in bags that look exactly alike but the starch bag is just a little
bigger.  I had forgotten that i'd taken the soda into the other room.
Starch just isn't the same when added to chocolate chip cookies.
Someday I will make a good batch!  Hopefully, at least once before
I leave. 

Today we had our last Sunday dinner with them.  We had two of our wonderful бабушки come.  They are all such amazing women.  They told us how they found the church.  The first said she had been praying to find a church.  First one, then another had come into town and then left.  None of them felt right. Just days after she had quit going to the last church or they had left somehow, the missionaries knocked on her door.  Whoever answered saw they were missionaries and called for her.  "Here's another for you", they called.  The minute she saw them, she said she had a warm feeling wash over her and she knew they were good people. This was in the early spring and 3 months later she was baptized.  She and her friends are the foundation of the branch.  They used to go to the temple in Germany together as often as they could until the temple in Kyiv was built.  Now they are regular attenders.  Our other sister had a similar story.  She wanted to read the Bible but she couldn't afford one at that time so she was looking everywhere and praying that she would find one.  She came upon a man pulling book from a garbage heap so he could resell them at the market.  She asked for the Bible and offered to pay him for it but he just gave it to her.  She gratefully took it home and began her study but struggled to understand it.  She searched and prayed for a church to help her.  There were many who said they were the true church and she would try them but she didn't like what they taught. the Jehovah's Witness missionaries told her they could teach her the Bible.  She started going to their meetings and liked them until they taught that after death, there was nothing.  She said she got up, told them they were wrong, and never went back.  She prayed again for someone who could come and teach her.  Two days later the missionaries knocked on her door, gave her a Book of Mormon, she read it, discussed it with them.  She said she wouldn't cook, she couldn't do anything but read the book.  She found in Alma where it explains life after death and she was so excited she felt like running through the streets shouting that she had found the truth, the answers to her questions.  She was baptized a month later, two months before the other lady Natasha.  They told us how hard it is to do family history work here because of destruction during the war, poorly kept records during the Soviet era, and said that headstones in cemeteries are only guaranteed for 50 years.  After that they can be just wiped away. Here in Vinnitsya there is an archive with records back to 1875.  Sister Natasha found her grandpa there but only because he lived to be 103 and they mentioned him in the records.   It is so much fun to hear the stories of our guests when they come to dinner.

It kind of seems odd that we are paying so much attention to the last days of this set of missionaries, but as they leave, so do all the missionaries we have worked with so far, except for one.  It seems like the whole mission is leaving so this is kind of like a good-bye for all of them-  Elder Porter, Elder Kerr, Elder Brough, Elder Hunt, Elder Golling, Elder Gorbekenyenko, Elder Zuniga, Elder Jensen.....
We wish them all the best- всево вам добрава!  And, we are looking forward to working with all the new Elders and Sisters as they come to join us as well.
It's been raining all day.  We love the rain! and we love all of you!  Have a wonderful week!  Be good!
The Miks

Our Baby is growing fast she is with her new cousin.
Remember the days when you were that flexible!

Work like crazy the time is short

Week of August 31, - September 6, 2015
  

Primary back to school activity last Monday. The kids are
all back in school now.

Remodeling homes and building lives is all a part of the days activities here in Ukraine. We were blessed with the opportunity to spend time out in the village this week working on a ремонт (Remodel).

The back porch before we began.

It is fun to spend time doing things you love to do. When you serve a mission the Lord puts you where you need to be and then you need to be what the Lords wants you to be. Our mission president just keeps telling us to find our niche. He testified to us that we would know what it was once we found it. Well I have found one part of what the Lord wants us to do.

Elder Golling hauling off the window

Igor taking out a window that his Grandfather installed

First wall is out it was made of cinder block, kind of.  The ones
here are not hollow like in the USA.

When I was out the other day hauling off rubble from tearing a block wall, down Sister Ulia asked in her broken English, "How do you say, 'thank you very much', in a better way?". I told her that was about the best thing you could say if you were really grateful for something. She then said, "OK. Thank you very much". She went on to tell me how this project had been started 11 years ago and that she had always wanted a bigger kitchen to work in and enough room so that the entire family could sit down and eat together.

Here is the block all hauled outside

But there was never anyone that could help them to do the remodel that knew how to do it. She told me that we were an answer to her prayer and she was grateful for us helping them.  

This is the door we installed on Saturday
These doors are all steel frame nothing like
we use in home construction in America

the door is installed now the brick work will begin next week

It has been a fun experience to work with the elders.  The other day while we were tearing the wall down, the elders had the time of their lives.  I guess there is something about demolition that brings out the beast in the young elders.

Our hard working Missionaries

 They worked like crazy trying to be the one who took down the most wall.  By the end of the day they were exhausted but very happy with their work.  I too was impressed by how hard they worked.  The sad thing is that this is their last week in the field. We will be losing our too fine elders along with 12 others throughout our mission.  They will really be missed as they all head home. They have done an amazing job the last two years.  The next day those 14 missionaries will be replaced by 17 new missionaries.  So we will lose those young men who have given their all for the past two years and are about worn out, but we will gain 17 new fresh missionaries that will begin fresh with all the zeal of youth to go out and conquer the world.  That means that every missionary left in the mission will be training a brand new missionary.  That includes Elder Palmer who just entered the country 5 weeks ago.  He is from Idaho.  

We had an amazing sister missionary return from her mission this week on Wednesday.  

Welcome home Sister Alissa Bevzuik

On Friday she went contacting with the elders.  On Sunday she brought two investigators with her to church.  We are so grateful that she is here to help with the work since our area is getting white washed (This is the missionary term for taking out both missionaries on the same transfer).  Between her and us hopefully no one will fall through the cracks.  We also have started having FHE with young families in our branch and sharing ways that they can be missionaries.  

Our future missionaries

Tacos and watermelon this little guy loved
watermelon

A party hat for Katya's birthday

The little family that came this past week were very excited about dressing up and being missionaries.  When we finished with our lesson we made homemade tortillas and had tacos.  The kids had a great time rolling out the tortillas.  We also had a late celebration for the moms birthday. They will make great missionaries.

This weekend was the celebration of the founding of our city of Vinnistya (Виннитса). It is over 600 years old.  There were stages all over town with performers from all over the country participating in the celebration.  It was fun but this made it difficult to get around on the public transportation.  

Love these signs for you that don't read Cyrillic alphabet
This says Burritos and on top it says tasty and fast 

Several roads were closed down and the electric buses had to take different routes to get around the city.  We entered one bus. I was the last one on and when the doors closed it was like putting a lid on a sardine can.  Janet got ahold of the hand rail above her head and for 20 minutes could not let go because there was no where to put her hand.  I got a phone call during the same time. I'm not sure the lady in front of me appreciated my efforts in trying to answer the phone.  But as I post every week on Facebook the adventure continues.....

We hope each of you are having the time of your life.  Alma 34: 32 For behold, this life is the time for men (women)to prepare to meet God, yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men (women) to perform their labors. As you labor in the field of your current calling may you find joy in the journey and do all that you can to prepare to meet God and, by the way, bring as many as you can with you to that meeting.  May you each be blessed as you serve this next week and make sure to look for your niche in Gods kingdom so you can make a difference.

Love you all Elder and Sister Mikkelsen

Welcome home dinner for Sister Bevzuik

Getting a little crazy