The Beginning of the End

Week of July 18-24, 2016
It is the beginning of the end, the winding down, the packing up- no stop it! We still have three weeks. But yes, this week we spent quite a bit of time cleaning and packing things to send to Kyiv to await us till we leave country on August 26.  In two days we will travel to Kyiv and pick up the new couple Elder and Sister Gibbons.  So Tuesday morning we will be leaving our wonderful apartment and moving to a Hotel for eleven nights.  It is a wonderful opportunity for us to spend time helping the Gibbons get oriented to the area and their responsibilities.  Both times on our mission we were dropped off in the area and they wished us luck as they drove away.

OK we are "Seniors"

Of Course there were always missionaries we could call if we got in trouble but that would be a lot like reading an owners manual. What fun would that be.  Sister Mikkelsen is looking forward to not having a kitchen of her own for the next month.  And me, how will I ever get my hands clean if I don't wash dishes a couple of times a day.

He that hath clean hands and a ..... 

One of the blessings of being a missionary is that the Lord qualifies those He Calls!
We have seen that so many times on our mission.  There have been many times when it was not us that was making the decisions. We were just following the direction of the spirit.  This is the Lords work and we are blessed that we have been called.  Yes, there are times when we wish we could be with our kids or grand babies, YES, our little Riley just tugs at our heart strings every time we talk to her.

Our little Riley is reading to her friend
ignore the fact that the book is upside down

But what a legacy is being set when your children and grandchildren see that serving a mission is important.  We have a wonderful opportunity to work with some of the best young people in the church.  Just this week we have taught with them, prayed with them, played with them, traveled with them, felt the spirit with them, and have been taught by them.  They look at us as a Grandma and Grandpa.  I keep reminding them that I have a son on a mission the same age as they are. There is nothing better in this mission than to have one of them ask our advice about different situations and questions they have.  They humbly bless our lives each day.

Missionaries are a blessing to us

This week we had a wonderful zone conference. We provided the lunch, which we love to do.  We love to spoil our missionary Kids.

Us with our kids at Zone Conference they come in all shapes
and sizes

They spent the morning on a contacting scavenger hunt.  They were given a list of challenges, were to go out and contact people to fulfill those challenges and then take pictures as they did them.  I put together a 5 minute video of the pictures they took.  345 pictures were taken by 9 sets of missionaries. I used 71 photos orchestrated to "Called to Serve" and "Hark all Ye Nations".  The balance of the day was spent in additional training and spiritual direction.

Pictures from the Zone activity

This is one of my personal favorites 

The Sisters are such a blessing they touch people that
Elders just can't reach

Sister Johnson is getting the blank stare on this guy
notice the shiny nose touch it for luck!

We need more families in the gospel

 President Packer had one of his companions from his mission with him.  President Hathaway is a stake president in Idaho Falls. He was wonderful as he testified that the mission does not leave a person.  The mantel of the calling leaves but that the desire continues.  He talked about Noah and how the people at that time.  All they had to do was get on the boat.  He then testified that President Packer is the Noah for the Kyiv Ukraine mission and all we need to do is follow his instructions and we will be safe and successful.  So brothers and sisters, lets listen to our local Noah and our world wide church Noah (President Monson) and GET ON THE BOAT!

President Hathaway

On Monday this last week we visited the Odesa Museum of Fine Art. It was very cool. Many wonderful pieces of art were on display.  It was focused on the Ukrainian way of life and culture.  What a fun opportunity to explore the culture a little more.

A scrutinizing art patron

Yes pulling sticks is a Ukrainian thing I wonder how
Joseph Smith would have faired

Even the floor at the Museum was a work of art

The ropes on the horse are very thin pieces of metal

Working in the fields this is where the Ukrainian
Flag comes form the yellow wheat fields
and the blue sky above

We had a special surprise at church today one a family from the Vinnistya area was at church today so we were able to invite them for Sunday dinner.  This is part of a four generation family in the church here in Ukraine.  There are very few of those types of situations here.  We had a wonderful time with them and their kids.  The two of them speak just enough English and our limited Russian it turned out to be a wonderful evening.

We love this family

Of course what would our week be if we didn't have a fun activity with our Young Adults.  On Wednesday we had about 18 kids here at the house and enjoyed a good lesson and fun time together.  We fed them pasta salad and we even had left overs.  That is a rare occasion.  These kids love to eat.

Food helps bring them in
"if you cook it they will come"

Sister Mikkelsen and I took our turn to share a spiritual thought and we used Elder Bednar's talk Bearing up their Burdens with Ease, April 2014 conference. The following is a quote from his talk:
"Each of us also carries a load.  Our individual load is comprised of demands and opportunities, obligations and privileges, afflictions and blessings, and options and constraints.  Two guiding questions can be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load.  'Is the load I am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting stuck? Is the load I am carry creating sufficient spiritual traction so I ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?'

It's the LOAD

Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the plan of happiness.  Because our individual load needs to generate spiritual traction, we should be careful to not haul around in our lives so many nice but unnecessary things that we are distracted and diverted from the things that truly matter most."
There are many different loads that are placed upon us that include trials and  responsibilities.  But also part of the load as I see it is the covenant "Load" we took upon ourself at baptism we promised we would take upon us his name, always remember Him, and keep his commandments. That is part of the load. After we go to the temple we make three additional covenants that each of you who have gone to the temple can review in your own mind. The one that I would focus on now is the promise to give all to God.  Our time, talents, and everything.  That is the load we carry. Sometimes we set that load aside and ignore it.  If we do, will we have the Spiritual Traction to get back to our Father? Let us not be diverted from the Lords load and haul around things that will not give us the spiritual traction.
We love our load here in Ukraine and also look forward to changing loads as we return home. As Elder Holland said in one of his talks there is not retirement from serving in the Lords Kingdom. The Savior said: My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Matthew 28:11-13.

Remember a yolk allows two oxen to share a load and pull it easier.  If we yolk ourself to the Savior, part of the weight of the load is being drawn by the Savior and I can't think of anyone better to share a load with than Him.
We love you all have a wonderful week. Elder and Sister Mikkelsen

President Packer

Elders solved the Radio Active Containment challenge

Odessa Zone

President Packer and his two AP's
Elder Christofferson and elder Houston

The Radio Active Jar Fun team building activity

Week #74 (I think)

Week of July 11-17, 2016

Welcome to the Odessa Catacombs!  We were headed out to de-register from the city of Odessa and found out a bunch of missionaries were going to see the catacombs.  We're in!

We'd had heard a lot about them but hadn't researched where to find them.

We payed extra to have an English tour.  The only English we
heard the guild say was you need to practice your Russian.

Turns out, there are over 1500 miles (2500 kilometers) of tunnels winding around under the city.  The largest system in the world!  The first tunnels date back to the 1600's but most of them were created in the 1800's.  As Odessa grew most of the homes were built of limestone blocks mined from underneath the city.  Towards the end of the century mining became such a nuisance that they shut it down in center Odessa.  (Now, when something goes wrong with your house, you blame it on the catacombs)

Amazing architecture was created with the stone mined
from underneath the city. The stone is very porous and disintegrates
if exposed to the weather so everything here has a plaster finish on it.

It seems the tunnels are kind of a jumble. Some say since there is already a system of tunnels, there should be a subway system.  Others say because of the tunnels, there can not be a subway system.  Here is an example,

"In September 1995, in honor of the 200th anniversary of Odessa, the record for the longest underground journey in the catacombs was broken by a 27-hour continuos journey of over 40 kilometers. (Had they walked in a straight line the journey would only have been 9.5 kilometers.) Shortly after this the mapping of a huge unexplored area of the catacombs known as "K-29" was begun."

 During WWII the catacombs became the home of rebel soldiers and their families.  They built churches, schools, radio rooms, hospitals, whatever they needed for the 1 1/2- 2 years they lived there.

"Hiding in the catacombs for as much as 13 months, literally below the noses and feet of the Nazis above, they waited for a chance to strike or relay information. The men (and women; the rebel groups usually contained a least a few women) would play chess, checkers, cook, and listen to Soviet Radio, generally trying to make a normal life below the surface of the city. They tried to ignore the malnutrition and malaria which afflicted many of them. Many of the partisan groups lived in the catacombs for the entirety of the rest of the war and on occasion the partisan groups even managed to blow up German facilities. The Fascist Germans and Romanians meanwhile chose random catacomb exits and sealed them, hoping to trap the men below the city forever, and occasionally tossed poison gas canisters into the catacombs hoping to smoke the soviet rebels out.

Once the war was over the catacombs became home to numerous smuggling and criminal groups, who widened and created new tunnel systems of their own."


"Today there is an entire Ukrainian subculture of catacomb explorers with dozens of semiprofessional groups, often quite competitive, exploring the catacombs. They go on multi-day underground treks, known as expeditions, to document and map the system. Should someone get lost in the catacombs, (as happens every couple of years) these groups put aside their differences and mount large search expeditions. They have rescued a number of children who have wandered into the catacombs."

"Partisan weapon caches such as rifles and grenades are occasionally still found within the tunnels, and about once every five years a body is found. On rare occasions these bodies are almost perfectly mummified, freeze dried by the cold, dry air of the tunnels. While most of the time the bodies found are from long ago, bones of soldiers and smugglers, more recent accidents have been known to happen."

Most of these are self explanatory.  A kitchen

A queen size bed!

Radio room

Target practice

Laundry

This is looking down into a freshwater well.  They actually had
everything they needed

The church

School

As you came out of the tunnels there was a museum
with artifacts from the catacombs as well as
Partisan war memorabilia.

Outside the museum

Ready-fire-Aim? of something like that

One of our military men checking out the machinery

This is how the buses look most days.  This one
was not too bad.

Such fun young men!

So interesting!

The rest of our week is kind of a blur.  Lots of shopping, preparations, just busy stuff.  Here's a little of what went on

On transfer day they decided to have a quick good-by/
birthday lunch.  They brought and fixed it all!

This is how a 19 year old makes a hamburger!

and this is how it is consumed!

One Elder got a boxed cake mix from home and shared it with
these two.  That, actually, is quite a sacrifice.
Especially when you were looking forward to eating that
whole container of frosting yourself!

Authors, poets, artists... are all highly revered.  The one on the
left is Исаак Бабель  (Isaac Babel) 

Early morning cranes at work at the port

Half the town is shut down for a few days for the International
Film Festival.  This Screen is set up at the bottom of the stairs.
Plenty of seating!  150 available steps seating maybe 20 each.

Another good week!  Emotions still pull strong at the old heartstrings though. It was hard to say good-bye to my sweet mother.  Our boys made it possible for us to attend the funeral. They held up their phones throughout it all and we are so grateful.  As we watch her generation leave this earth all over the world we realize the importance of the legacy they leave behind.  Not only is it important for us to study history, we need to study our own history, to learn from our loved ones, through their stories and examples, the lessons we must not forget if we are to successfully maneuver through these last days (kind of like getting around in those catacombs).  I still have so much to learn from my mother.  She was always faithful, always working, always learning something new, always focused on the needs of everyone else, always teaching what was right and good, always willing and able, always respectful and polite, and always positive.  I don't think I ever heard her say anything bad about another person.
Actually, the best description of my mother is Moroni 7:40-48.  (You need to read it all.  I will only put part)

" 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.


46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

(https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/7?lang=eng  also 

 https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/2-pet/1.5?lang=eng#4)

Love you, Mom!

Hope you have a great week,

Love the Mik's

118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith. D&C 88:118 

23 Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me. D&C 19:23

88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. D&C 84:88