Join the Army- See the World

  Week of November 16-22, 2015
  You know all those stories about army recruiters getting молодые люди (young people) to join up,  "Join the army! See the world!"  Well, we joined this army of missionaries and yup, we are truly  seeing a beautiful part of the world.
     Tuesday we were invited to a couples conference in Kyiv.  This time, we decided it was time for us to be Senior missionaries instead of Jr companions and try taking care of the trip ourselves.  Ned went online, figured out how to purchase tickets, printed them, and checked out the metro, trams, and маршрутки routes (with this part he needed help.  Elder Kudaibergen showed him exactly how to get where we needed to go.  Elders are awesome!).  It was so much fun.  We weren't very daring, only going to places we'd been to before, but we had fun.
     So, here is our adventure
     We hadn't had time to purchase family Christmas souvenirs, so our first stop was the spusk" and it totally sounds like Spruce, but "spusk" is the russian word for decent, and the full name of that "souvenir alley" is "Andriyivsky Spusk", because at the top is St. Andrew's Church, or Андреевская церковь.
Here's a Wiki link if you want to learn more! (Thanks to Catlin Carr for this information) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andriyivskyy_Descent#Saint_Andrew.27s_Church 
We wanted to get шапки (big Russian fur hats) for all the family and to check out some things for Aunt Karen.  So- Go from the train, onto the Metro, two stops, transfer from the blue to the red line, one stop, then hope that the tram to the top of the hill was working this time.

I think the metro is the same anywhere in the
world but in Eastern Europe its clean and
most of them have beautiful artwork.
(We'll get pics of that next time)    

Once you get off the metro, the Spruce is at the
top of a big, steep hill.  Last time this tram was broken
and we had to walk up a million stairs to get there.

the hill

the tram

Can't really see it, but it was a beautiful, foggy day.

The back of St Michael's Cathedral 

Artwork on one of the gates into St Michaels

I hope we have done nothing wrong in taking a
 picture of this hardworking priest, but this is such
a perfect depiction of what keeps this country
beautiful.  You can see how much work is left.
It's all done by hand, by people who love their
country and take pride in their work. 

I wish I could communicate.  I would love to
visit and become friends with this man.

Such a beautiful building!  It's the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
for Ukraine

This is why the Cheshire Cat didn't know which to go!

St Sophia's on the right, center is the bell tower of
St Sophia, on the left, more of St Sophia's.  This
one is not named after a saint.  It's original name
was Hagis Sophia which means Holy Wisdom.

The Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine behind. The Princess
Olga Monument (памятник) in front

Looking down a beautiful street.  Sorry- pictures just don't do
it justice.  Velyka Zhytomyrska Street

St Michaels Cathedral. One of the most famous throughout
the middle ages, it has been ransacked, broken down, re-built, finally
 demolished by the Soviets in 1930.  It was re-built and opened
in 1999 after Ukraine achieved independence. 

Murals on the outside walls of St Michaels.  If you zoom in
you can see the names of the figures depicted.

Just a close-up of a beautiful building.

St Andrew's Cathedral- I guess its not really a cathedral, it started
as a cross on this hill put there by Andrew in the first century,
now, after its own troubled past, it sits beautifully atop its hill
as one of Kyiv's landmarks

These will both, someday, be saints.  One is the man to go to
in Kyiv if you want quality souvenirs sold by someone who
speaks impeccable English.  A good friend to all
missionaries. The other - posing as St Mikk.  

Some of the beautiful handwork at the Spruce

 Next, back on to the red line to the end and hop onto a #56 автобус to the Temple site where the meeting would be held.  We were not sure it was the right bus so we had a pamphlet with a picture of the temple and with a few simple words confirmed that this was the right bus. A delightful evening with delightful people being reminded of why we are here, that we're not alone, that we are loved, and that the Lord is in charge.  We just need to get out there and get to work!

The Patchett's from Mesa AZ on the front row on the left they are
returning home.  They have served most of their mission in Odessa.

Wednesday we were lucky enough to be able to go to the Kyiv temple.  The spirit is so strong there.  It is so exciting to be able to do work for East European people.  Its hard to explain the peaceful, joy- filled experience we have each time we go.

Check out this link for the youth dedication
of the Kyiv Temple.
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/kyiv-ukraine-temple-cultural-celebration?lang=eng

These next pictures are from later in the week when we went for шашлики at саша's.  He invited his sweet sister and his best friend, who is a kind, caring, good man. They both are.

Elder albert and Саша

And here is how we ended the week-  Sunday is the last day of the week in Ukraine.

Looking at pictures of the family.

No one! wears shoes inside the house in Ukraine.  It shows
great disrespect

Such great friends.  We love them all!

Looking quite dapper in his new Beaver шапка. (shopka)

     We have a friend we meet quite frequently on our way home from the church. He hands out fliers for one of the stores we pass by. He complained one day, which Ukrainians don't usually do, that his was a difficult job because there was nothing to challenge his mind or his hands. We decided to give him a scripture to think about each time we pass by. Let me end with the last one we shared. We were discussing new developments in the war and the troubles in the east. He was very troubled. Then we handed him this scripture. John 14:27 (He had known all the others we have given him by heart, but not this one) A great one for us all to ponderize.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Have a wonderful week!

Love the Mikks

Back to the Future

Week of November 9-15, 2015
The wonderful world of missionary life.  It is amazing as we look back at the pictures we took this past week and think, "That just happened this week?".  There is this "back to the future" type of phenomenon that exists while you are serving a mission.

This is just how fast things happen here

We are transported to a country where all the people talk and dress differently and things look kind of the same, but you know it's different. Then the next thing you know, you are just doing your missionary thing and you realize that the life you were thinking that you needed to return to was the alternate reality and you are really in the correct timeline of your life. We see on Facebook and USA Today all the terrible things that are happening around the world and you think, "wow! That is not part of this life".  Maybe that is where the scripture comes in that says (D&C 25:10) "And verily I say unto thee that thou shalt lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better".

walking path at local park

Babies and strollers are part of the landscape here

As a missionary you are transported to this wonderful world of serving and doing and you are not bogged down with the things of the world.  We still have to do laundry and wash the dishes and clean the apartment but that is all part of keeping your house in order.

 We are blessed because our entire day is set towards service.  We get to visit wonderful people and be part of their lives.  We work with awesome youth and feel of their spirits and their desire to serve the Lord.

 Out for some fresh air

 Helping clean the church

Young singles learning a Christmas song

Oh yea don't forget to play Skip Bo with treats of course

As we move from one place to another in this wonderful blessed area we see the beauties of a country that many people have no idea exists.  All they know is it was on the front page of the paper months ago and can't even remember why.  But we live here and work here and feel here and love here. We are not a headline or a lead-in story for the nightly news.  We are the "Good News" and these wonderful people are the people of God!
So since we were not on the front page of your local paper or on the Nightly News, here is the real news from the "Real World".  (Oh unless I forget to say it you to can be part of the "Real World".  Just go visit your bishop and he can open up your paperwork to start your mission.) Yes Monday is laundry day and yes we have a built in drier as you can see from the picture.

Notice the forced air heat source

We have the opportunity to visit some of the best people in the world and on the way, we do we find all kinds of interesting "photo opps" This cat had to find a place to get away from all the kids that live in the local apartments so he is content to perch in this tree out of harms way.

Ready to pounce on an unsuspecting child

This past week a huge event took place in the world of the church. (not what you are thinking.)  It was the release of Meet the Mormons in 20 different languages.

The people here were so excited about it they had to have a movie night the day after the release.  There were many tears shed and testimonies strengthened. The other news release that you thought about has no meaning to this country because the issue of same sex marriage is not even talked about.  There were many young locals that were annoyed by the reaction of people in America. The prophet is the prophet and revelation is revelation.  Just kneel down and you can get the answer if it is from God!

We had another movie night where we showed Mountain of the Lord, the movie on the building of the Salt Lake Temple.  The group we had at the church that night consisted of members and and non members and at the end of the movie Sister Mikkelsen and I stood in front of them and bore testimony that it is a house of God and that we had the privilege of being sealed there 37 years ago.

One of the best blessings of serving here is the fact that we don't have a car. We never have to stop and fill up or try and find a parking place or have the tires rotated or the 101 other things that car owners have to worry about.  We get to ride on the public transportation and meet wonderful people, sometimes in much closer quarters than you would like, but everyone understands the process and you move in and out of the trains, trams, and buses with little effort.

"This is not even crowded why are you taking a picture? "
"When it's really crowded I can't get my camera out of my bag!"

But after the rides you get to walk and enjoy the beauties of the city that you would miss if you were driving a car. You would never stop at the little chocolate shop like the one pictured here because there is no place to park nearby.  But while we were there many happy couples bundled up in their fur hatted parkas came in and enjoyed a warm cup of Hot Chocolate.

Our returned Sister Missionaries serving us Hot Cocoa

This is a wonderful Cafe. The  Liviv Chocolate Shop
They make world famous chocolates

This was so thick my spoon almost stood up in it

just in case you need need a little snack after your hot chocolate

We have said before that the best part of the week is the little kids at English.  They love learning and we love teaching and even though we can't mention the church or the Savior they know that He lives and loves them.

We learned about land and sky things today and these are the
winning pictures

This is the building we teach the kids in

 "Suffer the little children to come unto me."
We had a nice dinner yesterday and invited several people over.

Elder Quorum President and his daughter, Sister Volya,
Single adult girl from Odessa going to school here and the missionaries

 We also invited our neighbors over for treats at 6:30-7:30.  Two apartments are people from Africa and speak English and two apartments are local Ukrainians.  Sister Mikkelsen wrote a note in Russian inviting them over.  We used Yandex, which is a computer translation application, to write the perfect note. No one showed up so the Elders looked at the Russian note.  It was really good until it got to the place that said we would have tasty treats and would "eat the translator". The elders said it was really good accept in the wrong case and so it looked like we were going to eat them and the treats.

you would think people would come to see
how a translator tasted.

Well, that about sums up the week for us but the adventure continues. Stay tuned into the "Not of this world" channel  for more adventures from Ukraine.
We love you all and wish you were "Back to the Future" with us.  Elder and Sister Mikkelsen

PS

Our Stripling Warrior in Cancun now the mission Finical Secretary

soon to be 8 months old