Oddesa

Week of December 14-20, 2015

One full week in the new area!  We're old and slow so we don't quite have our feet under us yet but we've seen a lot, found our way to the necessities, and met some very wonderful people.  So, here we go!

Odessa!  Odessa is a major seaport.  In fact, there are two important ports here.  Here are some great shots.

These are the famous Potemkin Stairs (200 of them)leading down to the
port. Watch the movie "The Battleship Potemkin" to learn of the famous
battle that took place here.

While walking the steps we saw this-Ah, we could have had
a ride on the tram!

at the port

The Golden Child.  He represents the "Golden Age"
If you touch his toes, you will have a successful voyage!

So many cranes.  Sitting there they looked like scenes from
movies like Transformers or maybe Cars- it would be great fun
to go crane tipping!

This picture is dedicated to all our friends named Olga!
We love you all :)

It wouldn't be Ukraine if there were not a church within arms reach
and they are all beautiful!

This one looked like it came straight from
"Sahara"

Little Toot II.  Little Toot on the Black Sea. (not the Thames)

We have a statue sitting on a table in our apartment.  While walking
up from the port-  there it was, full size on the street

One evening a sweet sister from our branch care enough to take us on a walking tour of the historic sights right around our apartment.  Odessa, like all of Eastern Europe, has had a very tortured history.  We found out that we live in Katherine Square. (Wondered who the statue was.  Could read the name Katherine but didn't put two and two together till Julia added everything up for us).  During the reign of Katherine the Great, Russia took over this area and decided to build a port.  She renamed it Odessa, after the city in Greece- at least that is one of the stories.  A few years ago, while renovating the area behind the Opera house, they found, what is now a great archeological site showing the remains of ancient villages from the beginnings of the history of the area.  They think there was a huge Greek trade settlement here in the 6th century, so the name is really very appropriate.

Government building- used to be the Judicial center, with the
cool central tree.  It's made of draped fabric.

The statue of the first govenor.  He loved Odessa and
gave his all for the city.  Duc de Richelieu

Example of window decorations

This is the street just down from our apartment.

Saw them putting these lights up while at the port.  This is
looking down the steps

This is Primorsky Bulvar.  all the trees are lighted and it's
just beautiful

The walkway goes follows the shoreline and is surrounded
with monuments and famous buildings.  We'll introduce
you to them as we discover them.  She told us a great
love story about a man who built the palace and the walkway
for his dying wife, but I can't find record of it.  I'll
have her tell us again and we'll document it.

We found that our opera house is one of the 10 most famous Opera houses in all of Europe.  She showed us what was playing right now.  The Nutcracker, Carmen and Giselle. We checked- all three, sold out.  So disappointing, but, walking home from shopping on Thursday we could see people lining up to go into the theater.  Ned decided to run over to see if there were any empty seats.  He was so excited when he called to say that he had purchased tickets.  It was 2 minutes to showtime.  I ran over, couldn't find him, finally got seated- the show had been going about 15 minutes, and we realized that the theater was filled with children and their parents or school teachers.  We realized too, that the Nutcracker was also being performed by very talented children.  It was St. Nicholas Day, so we are assuming that this was a special performance for children by children, but it was still very enjoyable and well worth the price of admission just to see the inside of the theater.  We only saw a little bit so, I guess we'll have to go back another day!

mural on the ceiling

the finale.

carriage rides on St Nicholas Day

Odessa is a very multicultural city.  I guess most port cities are.  There is cool stuff from everywhere. The only picture we have this week is of a cute little french pastry shop shown us by our sister from France.

Ukrainians still love America.  Lots of signs are written in either
Russian or Ukrainian and English.  Nice!

One day we found the famous Olio's Restaurant.  Great food, but the
salmon in my salad would have made great sushi!  Ned, babushka-
like, hid it in a napkin and brought it home, fried and enjoyed it.

Just a cool building we saw on the way to inspect the sister's
apartment.  That's one of our jobs.  I though it would be a
terrible job, but its been fun to see where everyone lives.
we have the best missionaries here and they are clean to boot!

You can't tell in this picture, but, this is a huge, very
beautiful apartment building.  At the base of most
buildings, there are store.  This is supposed to be the
best place to buy meat- so, we bought meat.

After inspections they showed us how to find their branch building.
we also get to visit all the branches regularly.  There are 4.

This is one of those little things we are thankful for.  Found a
waffle iron while unpacking.  Ned made breakfast while I
typed the blog.  Yum!  Thanks ;)

Christmas is just getting started here.  They are still putting up lights around town.  Christmas music is playing- mostly American and all the windows of shops are decorated.  Some of the Catholic churches celebrate Christmas on the 25th the biggest celebrations happen on New Years.  Thats when they open presents and is everyones favorite.  Christmas is celebrated on the 6th and 7th of January.  We get to celebrate all three!  Not sure how yet, but- we'll do something.  An amazing past sister from our mission posted a message on Facebook today.  We've quoted her before.  She is very profound.  I hope she doesn't mind but I'd like to share her thoughts about Christmas.  Far away from home, they echo our own thoughts.  She said, "What is Christmas? The world says its snow, red & white, decorations, Christmas music, gift giving and receiving, lights. I've experienced next to none of that this month, and honestly I haven't missed it. Religion says Christmas is about celebrating the birth of the Savior. Honestly, just as we all get sick of Christmas once it's over, I've even gotten sick of talking about the same "true meaning of Christmas" message over and over. Not sure why, maybe it's just the repetition of it all. Or perhaps it's because I know in my heart it's not enough to talk about and celebrate his birth; it's what He DID in His life that had the most meaning and significance for us. Last night at English we didn't talk about Christmas. We talked about Christ's teachings and why He is our perfect example, all with non members, and I felt so much joy. That's where this natural joy comes from. The joy I've felt over the past 18 months. The joy didn't come from 'me wishing and trying to feel the Christmas spirit'. Because what IS the Christmas spirit? It's the Spirit of Christ. It's His example, His life, His teachings, all of which lead back to his love for each of us. I think everyone expects to feel a special joy around the holidays. But the true joy I felt last night made me realize we are silly to think our 'special joy' should be limited to one month of the year. True joy comes from serving others, and the best way we can serve them is by sharing with them the Gospel message. The restoration, the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the GOOD NEWS! "And how great shall be your joy if you bring but one soul unto me."  Well said.  
I was reading a talk by D. Todd Christofferson the other day (you all should read it!  Heres the link just copy and paste in your URL link.  https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/12/be-at-peace?cid=HP_WE_12-16-2015_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng
which I think has given us how we will celebrate this Christmas.  He suggests, "
I hope you will take time this Christmas season to sit for a few quiet moments and let the Savior’s Spirit warm you and reassure you of the worthiness of your service, of your offering, of your life. Sit quietly with that little baby and come away spiritually strengthened and better prepared for all that is going to come later. Let that moment be one of rest and refreshing and reassurance and renewal.
From far away, we are missing you all.  We love you and wish you a happy, restful, relaxing Christmas filled with the spirit of our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ. They who truly love us, no matter what, and who want nothing more than for us to have the perfect happiness they have.  Their plan to get us back to them IS the good news, if we will only remember.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas Elder And Sister Mikkelsen

This little Elf would like to say Merry Christmas!!!!

Wishing Gram a Merry Christmas

Reading the Christmas Books

Our little student nurse just finished another
semester of nursing school way to go girl!

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

I took a few more pictures this afternoon
Perhaps we are in Kanas I found Dorothy and Toto

That top balcony is ours the middle window is the front room
the one on the right is the bedroom

The gate to the apartment is just above the lady in the white coat.

Front of our building looking towards the Black Sea.