Week 48: I got pooped on by a chinchilla

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
    Well, I think this has been the best week of my life. Maybe an exaggeration, but oh well. I am just so happy for Christmas and the New Year. HAPPY 2019 EVERYONE!
    Yeah, my investigator's chinchilla pooped on me, but it made the lesson better cause we could get right on with it and get home in time. Success. I got to see lots of people I love this week- recent converts, old companions, and of course I called my family and got to talked to my favorite people on this planet! I could go on forever about how much I loved my phone call and how I love my family and everyone I talked to but I already have to leave. This has just been my favorite time of my life. Everyone- go on missions! They are the best.
    I have been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to already know about the truthfulness of the Gospel because so many people aren't that lucky. EVERYONE, IT IS TRUE! I just want you all to remember that. I love you all and wish you the best 2019!
Sorry it was so short,
Sister Vehar

Week 46: MERRY CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
    I won't get to email next week because I'll be calling home instead, sorry, not sorry! So I figured I'd spread the Christmas cheer a little early:)
    Well, this week was CRAZY! There ended up being two huge parties back to back days and we only got a 24 hour notice to get everything ready for it! There were so many kids there and it was so chaotic. I don't ever want to see a sugar cookie again. There was a cool Ukrainian version of the play Beauty and the Beast that professional actors put on for the kids- I understood almost all of it! They got the elders to dress up as elves- highlight of my week- it was so funny to see them running around in them hahaha.
    We have an expectation in the mission now to have 10 meaningful conversations a day- which are really hard to get we learned, since no one wants to talk to you for more than a second in the middle of snow blowin everywhere. So we decided to go contact on the metro for a day- it wasn't much more successful since everyone is in and out, but if you have any ideas on how to get people to talk back, I'm all ears.
    There isn't really much else to update on. It just snowed a ton this week and I'm loving it, even though I completely ate it on the ice yesterday. It's always a good experience.
We did have to say goodbye to some of our elders, but it's okay life goes on. We gave them mugs with us on them so that they could never forget us. It's really weird but we thought it would be hilarious and I've never seen six people laugh harder than when they opened their Christmas gifts. Now the only problem is that we have to up our game for our gifts to our new district. I'm also all ears for suggestions for gifts.
    I love you all! I wish you all Happy Holidays! Don't have too much fun without me!

Love,
Sister Vehar

Week 45: Christmas with ma gurl

Hey everybody!
    Well, we got the best news we could've possibly gotten this week- that's right, Sister Soucie and I are staying together another transfer, which means we will be together for Christmas! I literally couldn't be happier- except two of our beloved elders are being shipped out. But life goes on. Hopefully, this next district will be just as lit.
    We decided to visit one of our less active members this week in the boonies as our last phone call was very abrupt and didn't get us anywhere. She told us that she was pregnant and it wasn't good to meet- we just found out that her husband might not be a member of our church. Anyway, we dropped by unannounced and she no longer lives out in the boonies. But, on our phone call, she told us where she actually lives and agreed that it would be good to meet. Either way, it was probably the most dangerous thing I've done on my mission, but a really fun adventure!
    I also got a package this week so we taxied it home and the driver drove so insanely #what'snew and blared some crazy jams that I may not send home for the sake that I am a representative of Christ. Sorry haha.
    We also got to paint "the winter" with a member haha- results coming soon- and they caught me catching snowflakes in my mouth before I came in- I'm a master snowflake catcher now. It's almost like I grew up in Arizona or something.
    This week I was reading in Helaman and I realized that God truly does have a plan- every time the prophets are captured, it seems like he has forsaken them. But in fact, the result of every one of these is many converts. Sometimes when we have it really rough, we just have to see that good will always come out of it if we are doing the right things.
    Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this Christmas season!
Love,
Sister Vehar

Week 44: 10 MONTHS EERYBODY

Hello everybody!

Well, let me just tell you, this week was one for the books!

Once upon a time, Sister Soucie and I went to do service in the village for a member, who fed us lots of potatoes and Borscht. Later that night we didn't feel too good, but as Sister Training Leaders we had to start an exchange. So we did. And I got really sick in the middle of the night. So I took my first sick day on exchange. Anyway, so did Sister Soucie and we were sick for the rest of the week. We kinda got cabin fever so it was rough, but no worries because we are better now!I hit 10 months on the mission. Sadly, that is all that happened.

Love you all! Till next week!
Sister Vehar

We got fish massages with the elders, finally decorated for Christmas, and tried to sing a song for an hour! So much to do when sick!

Sister Christie Arnell went to Ukraine and took some American goodies to Sisters Vehar and Soucie (beef jerkey, Swedish Fish and dry shampoo)

Week 43: The Slippity Slip

So little time and lots to say!
    We had zone conference this week about the Christlike attributes and I am so excited to apply what I learned into the missionary work and the rest of my life. I'm convinced that the stuff we work on and develop during the mission is not meant only for the mission. Basically, we as disciples of Christ, should be recognizable as disciples of Christ. This is something we all know, but I think we forget when we get caught up in the day to day life. We as missionaries even forget- which is ironic when we forget because we are so busy doing His work.
    We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with our whole zone and Kyiv west zone too! It was DELICIOUS.

    We also had exchanges with the Cherkassy sisters which was a blast! It is so cold and it snowed again today! I think the highlight of my week was last night after a sleet attack from on high as we were walking home and I almost slipped like 6 times from the church to our bus stop. The best part was that literally EVERYONE on the streets was slipping on the ice everywhere you looked, and many actually did fall and we were key witnesses to these hilarious and tragic accidents. It was weird to me that we were the only ones cracking up about it.

That’s it for me though. LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Vehar

Week 42: IT'S CHRISTMAS?!?!?!

HEY EVERYBODY THIS SISTER MISSIONARY IS PUMPED BECAUSE IT IS PRACTICALLY CHRISTMAS TIME AND I'VE HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER.
    The grocery stores already have Christmas trees in every corner, it already snowed, and you know I already slipped the first day. Sister Soucie however, slipped on some ice and face-planted into the asphalt- we're pretty sure she has a concussion so we've been taking it easy since.
    We taught Sasha again and I don't think I've ever had a worse lesson- the Spirit wasn't there and he literally just talked over me the whole time. We want to pass him off to the elders cause he might actually listen to them, but it's very possible his main reason for meeting with us is that we're "two young, beautiful, American girls"- UGH. I'm just trying to help these people come closer to Christ!
    We had exchange with the Pechersky sisters this week and seriously, I love all the sisters I get to serve with! I'm actually grateful in the end to be an STL (Sister training leader) so that I can get to know all of these sisters so much better! We actually had a way cool experience on exchange because Sister King and I felt that we needed to visit this less active, Elya, and the only address information we had was her apartment building, which was incredibly hard to find and ended up not being complete! But we found the building in the end, and then proceeded to ask all of the old ladies that approve you to go into their building if they knew our friend, and turns out her last name was wrong on our list! But, one of the nice old ladies helped us find her and as we roll up to her apartment, Elya showed up two minutes later! Miracles all around!
    Really, I love this work so much! The members here are so amazing and I've realized how helpful missions are for what I want to do with my life after the mission. The members are so dedicated to the gospel that it truly is a lifestyle for them here. I think in America, we get so carried away in life that we forget- but the people here, who have close to nothing, see the Gospel for what it really is and it is the center of their life. I hope that I always have the perspective the Ukrainians have and that I have while on the mission. The Gospel really is the central reason we are here so we should remember to keep it as the central reason we do everything. This life is amazing! I love you all! Hope you all have great weeks!🎄❄⛄

Week 41: I'M FREEZING

Happy Monday everyone!!

This little Arizona girl is freezing her tail off and just crying that this is FALL and winter has hardly even come yet. Don't worry, I have a coat, boots, and the Holy Spirit to warm me this winter hahaha I'm going to die.

Not much happened this week- I apologize in advance for the short email. We got a new investigator, Sasha! This guy is our neighbor and I'm sure he is so concerned that two young American girls are living in Ukraine on their own. He told us he is officially our security and if anything goes wrong we need to call him ASAP. He's hilarious. We contacted him on the street two months ago, so this will be an awesome teaching experience.

We also had interviews with President this week which is always good.

We went to the mall today too and that was lots of fun.

Love you all! I wasn't kidding when I said short!

Have great weeks!
Sister Vehar

Week 40: Happy Halloween!

    Hope you all had fun celebrating Halloween! We weren't allowed to do much so Sister Soucie drew cat whiskers on herself and wore all black to sports night. That's all we can pretty much do when this country thinks Halloween is a Satanist holiday and you leave zero time to plan a good party- but it's all good- we got Thanksgiving and Christmas still and those will be bomb!
    This week was pretty wild as we left our area 6 out of 7 days. We had to say goodbye to our dear Sister Thompson, but she's off to do good things as a trainer. We got to go to Missionary Leadership Council and it was really fun to see everyone there and be spiritually uplifted too!
    We got to do service at an orphanage this week which was really awesome! We raked up tons of leaves and it wasn't completely freezing cold! We also got to go to the temple with one of our recent converts and it was so cool to watch her get baptized again since I wasn't there the first time lol. We also had the chance to go to stake conference and see my sweet Sister Moore! I actually got to be on a lesson with my old recent convert Sasha with them and it was awesome to catch up with everyone!
    We also had a huge Ukrainian party this week that was tons of fun! Cool story- a guy named Valeri walked in and asked what we have to offer him- so we gave him everything we could think of. He asked what time church was the next day and we told him about stake conference and he offered to drive us! So on Sunday he drove us and the elders to stake conference and loved it! We met with him afterward with the elders and I think they will start teaching him. After this meeting, we got on the marshrutka to go home and an eighty something year old woman got on and before she could grab onto anything, the driver gunned it and she went flying from the front to the back of the bus and was sprawled on the wheel indent (that’s what we call it) of the bus. Everyone was in an outrage and was screaming at the driver in her defense. The driver stopped the bus and told a more violent guy to get off and then the bus driver got off himself and wouldn't leave until he got off. The guy wouldn't get off until he got a refund- this country is insane- nobody got off although there were some punches thrown, but don't worry they never made contact. Basically, this was the craziest experience on the crazy 542 and that's saying something. We got home safely though.
    Many memorable experiences here in Ukraine. Hope everyone had a great week!
    Love Sister Vehar

Week 39: I'M HAVING THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE

Happy Monday e'erbody!

    How are you doing, cause I'm doing great!
    Man, our trio is WILD! Sister Thompson goes contacting crazy and I admit I have learned so much from her. Contacting can be fun and is actually really enjoyable!! My companions are the two loudest sisters in the mission. I swear we are always screaming and I'm just honestly surprised that our neighbors haven't come upstairs ready to kill us. Maybe that apartment is vacant or something....

    Anyway, the work is BUMPING thanks to my girl, Thompson! We met with a blind woman, Tatyana, who has come to our English practice for years now and has met with the missionaries a couple times. She has the most heart-wrenching story I have ever heard. She is 59 but looks 70 because her neighbors were drug manufacturers and they basically poisoned her with the side effects of these drugs, and therefore she is blind as well. She had to leave her home to escape these effects and has been homeless since. She thinks God did all this to her to spite her and thinks He is just cruel- which kills me. She is so angry at God right now and she cannot believe that He loves her. It makes me so sad how little hope she has. We told her she could live forever with her Heavenly Father and she said she doesn't want to ever live with Him or even live at all- I kid you not we cried with this woman both times we met with her. She is progressing little by little though. She is already recognizing the miracles God has sent her and she told us three good things about her day and one of them was that she got to meet with us! She is so cute! I just want her to be happy! At the end of every meeting, she already smiles more and is just a little happier. It truly reminds me why we are here.
    Anyway, now the BIG STUFF- ELDER COOK CAME AND WE HAD MISSION CONFERENCE AND IT WAS AMAZING! I learned so much about how to better serve the people in this area! We are all doing our best when we are working our hardest and we shouldn't get frustrated with ourselves when we aren't perfect, because it is a lifelong process. I needed to hear every word Elder Cook shared with us! He also shared the firmest testimony with us that I have ever heard- He said, "I know His face, I know His voice". I can't say anything more powerful than that.
    I was very thankful for the opportunity to see all my old friends again! I finally have people from the MTC I can have reunions with! I'm no longer lonely!!
    I love my mission so much and I can't imagine doing anything else right now and I am just so thankful and sure that I made the best decision I have ever made my whole life!

Have amazing weeks everyone!

Sister Vehar

 My MTC group!! RIP I'm the only Sister

 My companions! (Soucie, Vehar, Thompson)

  The entire Ukraine Kyiv/Moldova Mission *first time together since becoming a new mission on June 27, 2018

All the Sisters with Sister Caron.

My Baby Moore!!

Week 38: I Woke Up in Ukraine!

Happy Monday everyone!

We had a really packed week including two back to back exchanges, so Sister Soucie and I weren't companions for almost three days. It was pretty wild.
    The first exchange, I left to Pechersky (Center Kyiv) and Sister Soucie stayed in Kharkovsky. It was so much fun! I was with Sister Daines and we contacted a ton (witnessed a lady do a photo shoot for an hour with a leaf- I was unaware of how many angles there are) and ate lunch with their investigator. They also have a fry cart there- I was in HEAVEN!
    Our second exchange was BOMB in the sweet land of Cherkassy! There were so many TREES! I love FALL! The trees are so colorful here- I know this sounds so pathetic, Arizona girl- My favorite color is now gold! hahaha Basically, it's just gorgeous here! I love it. Cherkassy was just such a small town that reminded me of Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls)- the people there were like family. I would definitely be so down to serve there.
    We are actually in a trio all of a sudden with Sister Thompson! She came in with Sister Moore and it is tons of fun! She will only be here for a week before she gets a companion and goes back to her area.
    The subject is from Sister Soucie when she woke up on the bus and saw all the beautiful nature. Haha love that girl!
    Oh also, I HIT HALFWAY TODAY! It's okay, we're just not going to talk about it! Anyway, I love all of you and hope you all are doing well! Have amazing weeks everyone!

Sister Vehar

 Sisters Vehar and Soucie

 Sisters Vehar and Slocombe

Week 37: "Jesus is a good driver"

Happy Monday everyone!
    It's already been another week- trust me I'm shocked too. We shared lots of laughs this week! It was just one of those weeks where everything is hilarious and you constantly are laughing, which I am always happy to have!
    I love the people in my area! Unfortunately, not a lot of those people are those who we are teaching- our teaching pool is so small I might go insane, but it's okay because we are learning to find people better since we are doing it so much recently!
    One of the finding activities we do in the Kharkovsky area, now that it is getting colder and darker. is Bible videos! We project them on the wall of the church and it is so cool. This week we made hot cocoa to give out to people and it was a HIT! We will be doing it as often as we can.
We meet with an adorable less active family about every week named the Daniels (they're half Welsh) and they have a 4 year-old, Ethan, who is honestly the love of my life- he is the cutest and the source of this week's email's subject line. As part of our spiritual thought, we asked what characteristics Christ has and precious Ethan's first response was, "Jesus is a good driver- the best people always are and Jesus is the BEST"! This kid had me dead! This was honestly the highlight of my week other than the womens' session- those talks were BOMB! I don't care if you aren't a woman- go watch them. They are very secretly talking about missionary work and we can all improve on that.
    If we're going to be honest, there were a lot of downs this week, but I know that my Heavenly Father loves me because He also gave me a lot of ups- just a lot of small tender moments that made each of my days; such as Jesus being a good driver. Heavenly Father knows just exactly what we need each day and we can choose to focus on the good or we can just take a second to enjoy the tender mercies and just revel in how much our Heavenly Father cares for us. This world is amazing and I am reminded of that as I look around and see the trees changing colors or see a bunch of cute little puppies. So who cares if it was a rough week. This world is gorgeous and wonderful! We are so lucky to be here! I love you guys and so does Jesus!! Have amazing weeks and remember the tender mercies!

Love,
Sister Vehar
1. Selfie
2. Sister Soucie is a model
3. Modeling continued
4. Our Bible and hot cocoa night
5. Our book table

Week 36: What even is time??

Hello everyone and happy Monday!

    короче, this week has been insane and I have felt like I haven't had time to do anything whatsoever- which is really ironic because in zone conference this week President Kumferman focused on time management and told us the 5 myths about time and the most emphasized one was "We cannot have or not have time". Regardless of what I learned, I still had no time this week.

Zone Conference was bomb, except for the fact that we had to prepare for 15 minutes of it as well as a role play #sistertrainingleaders. We'll have our first exchange for the transfer this week so we'll see how that goes.

    With zone conference comes interviews which was just so great especially since we didn't have any last transfer. As STLs we also went to MLC which I thought I was going to hate because it's just another long meeting, literally I loved it so much because I swear any meeting I have with President is just so spiritually uplifting.

    Yesterday, one of our potential investigators just randomly showed up to church after not answering our calls, and agreed to have lessons and we're just really excited for this work to pick up.

We had a musical concert on Saturday- your girl sang in it and it was tons of fun! I can't guarantee the quality because I haven't listened to worldly music in 8 months and we practiced literally once because sitting down six busy missionaries at one time is nearly impossible. But, it is over now and I have time to just relax and just start over and have a normal week. Hahaha if only, we can only hope.

    The highlight of my week was just sitting down and watching General Conference, where we get to hear from a living prophet every six months. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn how we can improve ourselves and apply the Lord's teachings in our lives. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that we still receive direction from the Lord in order to run His church exactly how He needs us to in order to prepare us for His coming. It is because God loves us that He continues to provide revelation to us through His prophets, and I cannot express how grateful I am to have a Heavenly Father who loves me. He loves each of you, and consequently sent His only begotten Son to suffer and die for us, so that we would never be alone and that we could have the opportunity to live with Him again. I've just been thinking about this a lot this week, especially with conference and I just can't get over how much our Savior loves us.

    I hope you all had the chance to watch conference and that you loved it- I certainly did! I love all of you and I hope you all had amazing weeks! Talk to you next week!

Sister Vehar

Our band!

https://youtu.be/nqEgkWZolXg

The elders were pretty sick too.

https://youtu.be/xKDjEtgdvgM

Week 35: I hit my 8 month mark this week!

Hello everyone!

I've got quite the surprise for you this week...I am low on time! Haha jk nothing new at all. Anyway, not a whole lot of typical missionary work happened this week because our only investigator was sick and somehow between the service and who knows what else, we weren't able to do a whole lot of contacting either.

Service was really cool because I picked beans for hours in the freezing cold! It was lots of fun and we were fed well for our efforts. I also got to witness a cat eat a mouse. It was way anticlimactic and faster than I ever imagined it would be.

We didn't have time to go shopping on Pday because of our band practice- which, by the way our huge music festival got rescheduled to a Sunday because of the rain here and therefore servants of the Lord couldn't participate, bummer- so we had no food all week basically. The elders literally came in clutch and brought lunch to the church for us yesterday. We also had wafers for two meals this week which is really funny because Sister Soucie is on a no sugar diet. They were absolutely delicious though.

I'm hoping the work picks up or I at least figure out how to pick it up. #IknownothingandI'mliterallyoneoftheoldestsistersinthemission. Life is fun. It's getting really cold all of a sudden- so cold I voluntarily put tights on. The bishop told us it's going to be the coldest winter yet! I hope he's joking because these two Arizona girls are going to freeze our booties off! It's gonna be a ton of fun- especially since Ukrainians literally disappear when it becomes slightly colder!

I hope you all have amazing weeks and I can't wait to talk to you all next week!

Love,
Sister Vehar
1. Two former investigators who will be baptized!

2. Check those clouds!