Big mission changes coming June 2018

(From LDS news) Maldova will be part of the renewed Kiev mission

In June 2018, the territory of the Republic of Moldova with branches of the Church in Chisinau, Beltsy and Orghivia will be part of the renewed Kyiv mission.

As previously reported, as part of the redistribution of 19 missions and the creation of 5 new missions, the borders of Ukrainian missions also changed. The entire territory of the Lviv mission will be part of the Kievan city. Branches in Lviv, Rivne, Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi will remain united in the Lviv region, which will become a unit of the updated Kiev mission. Simultaneously from the Kiev mission to Dnipro will pass Odessa district with branches in Odessa, the Black Sea, Nikolaev and Kherson.

After these changes, the current Kyiv mission will be called the Ukrainian Kyiv-based Moldovan mission and will be handled by members of the Church of Chernihiv, almost the entire right-bank Ukraine (with the exception of the Dnipro region and branches of the Odessa district) and Moldova.

On the territory of the updated mission of Kyiv, the preaching of the gospel will be carried out in three languages: Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian. Also, starting from June, the missionaries, who were called to preach in Ukrainian, will serve in the parishes of the Kiev Circle.

The first missionaries were sent to Moldova in 1997, in the same year, the first branch of the Church was organized in this country. In December 1998, on December 23, Moldovan saints received a complete translation of the Book of Mormon into Romanian as a Christmas gift. Today in Moldova there are 397 members in four branches.

Week 4: One down, Seventeen to go!

Hello everyone!

Wow! How has it already been a month? Time is flying by! We got two new districts this week. All 15 of them are speaking Russian. Our zone is huge now. I’m still trying to get to know them, but there’s so many and not a whole lot of time. We got a lot of international missionaries in this group. They represent Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and England. The rest are from America. I have only talked to two (the Americans) of the seven elders, and one is borderline way too flirty. Granted he’s new to the missionary world, but he’s not very aware when he’s too close to a sister and the elders have to keep reminding him. It’s kind of humorous, but it keeps happening so I think one of the sisters is going to have to make him aware of how uncomfortable it is.

I’m getting to know the Georgian (the country, not the state) elders more since the last district left. They are definitely my favorite elders here. They are the funniest trio. They’re Elders Hunt, Healy,
and Christensen. I can’t believe we didn’t talk much until now, but they are only a week ahead of us so we’ll be with them for the rest of the time here basically.

Sometimes it’s weird to think I’ll ever leave the MTC and actually serve in the mission field. There are days where we joke that after we serve a year and a half in the MTC we’ll go home.

Sunday’s devotional was really cool cause the BYU men’s choir came to sing for us and they sang some songs from The Prince of Egypt film. Everyone was freaking out because it sounded like real music! It was so much fun to see everyone get so excited. You can still hear people singing it as you pass them and people were playing it on YouTube today while emailing their families.

Sister Bunderson’s cold was worse this week, so we went to the doctor at the BYU student health center. Sister Bunderson got some drugs for her sinus infection. Her cough syrup has codeine in it so she can only take it at night or she’ll be knocked out. At least that’s what we thought. The first night she took two tablespoons instead of two teaspoons as directed on accident. She took three times as much! But she didn’t fall asleep nearly at all. She’s still trying to recover from her lack of sleep. We told the whole zone about her over dosage, but that was not a good idea, cause one of the really weird elders, Elder Power, keeps asking her if he can have some of her codeine, and we aren’t sure if he’s serious or not. I hope not, but he’s weird enough that he would.

Another funny event this week was that Elder Cole, or Dwight, has been appointed our District Leader for the next three weeks. It is so hard o take him seriously since he takes himself so seriously. It’s completely unreal. Last night our branch president had an urgent errand to run so he couldn’t stay to discuss the devotional with us so Elder Cole was in charge. He then made it a lecture instead of a
discussion while writing and drawing odd things on the whiteboard. It was related to the discussion, but so weird. It took so much not to laugh. A few of the sisters lost it and soon the rest of the district was in hysteria while Elder Cole was just confused. We feel like we’re living in an episode of the office where Dwight is the manager for a day. I haven’t watched enough to know everything Dwight
does, but I’ve seen enough to know how uncanny it is.

This week, Sister Bunderson and I were asked to be the branch music coordinators. Naturally, we sing a lot in the MTC. We sing so much here! I’d say at least ten times a day. Especially when we sing High School Musical all day long as a district. Our favorite is What I’ve Been Looking For, Ryan and Sharpay version a cappella. We sound so good except Ryan, me, sounds very gravely and pitchy thanks to being sick and having a yucky throat. I just want to prove I can sing I have loved playing the piano here.

Thanks for the sheet music Mom. We actually heard Peace in Christ here at a devotional and we love it! (If you haven’t heard that song yet, look it up on youtube!)

On a much more spiritual note, our lessons with our investigators have gotten so much better. We are officially off script and we can converse in extremely broken Russian. This week, we taught a man who spoke in Ukrainian, not Russian during TRC. That was hard but too realistic. We had my favorite lesson this week. Ксеня was an atheist when we started teaching her because she couldn’t believe God could exist in a world where so much bad and evil things could happen. We found out that her mom had died early, leaving her behind to take care of her younger brother. She didn’t have a
great relationship with her mom, but she still loved her. This week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong. She was so happy that she could live with her family forever. We asked her to pray at the end, and in her prayer she said “God we love thee” and I had to help myself from screaming and crying. I felt so much joy for the progress her soul had made from openly hating God to expressing love for Him in a conversation with Him. I have to keep reminding myself that our investigators are actors, our teachers actually. However, they act as someone they personally taught. I can’t wait to have the same genuine experiences I’ve have here in Ukraine.

The mission has definitely been a rollercoaster of emotions of discouragement and infinite joy. I don’t think I have ever laughed as much as I have here, which shouldn’t make sense since we’re all missionaries, but at the same time it does. I have not been as happy as I am here. I cannot wait for the next seventeen months and I am definitely saddened when I realize this will be over in a year and a
half. Best decision I ever made!

Love you all,
Сестра Вихар

Blessings of being in Provo-FRIENDS!!

Sister Bunderson, Sister Vehar and Sister Holt

Soeur Holt (Brinley) arrived at the Provo MTC this week and ran into Kaeleigh the very first day there. She and Kaeleigh have been friends for many years (at least 7 that I can think of). Brinley is called to serve in Tahiti Papeete Mission, French speaking. Fun for them to be there at the same time as each other. Hoping they will see other friends that are coming soon too.

Week 3: Eternity to a second

Hello everyone on the outside world!

It feels like it’s been so long, I feel skeptical that I even lived a different life before this. Our district realized this week that the missionaries coming in for six weeks today will leave the same days as us. Crazy isn’t it!

This week went by in the blink of an eye though. Week three was pretty good, I’d dare say. We have had some amazing lessons with our investigators and a few not so good. Our second lesson with our new investigator, Ксеня, we had our first dropped commitment. I was devastated. We didn’t have the vocabulary to tell her that we were disappointed and to encourage her to keep her commitments, so we just made sad faces I guess. It was a little rough since we were challenged to go off book and I committed to it a little too much. We did prepare and I thought I knew everything that I would want to say, when in reality I did not.

I think that’s the hardest thing in a new language is that the spirit will nudge me to say something when I have no idea how to say it with my limited vocabulary. The gift of tongues is so real though. If we put in preparation, the spirit doesn’t give us perfect Russian with words we don’t know yet, but it does fill our mouths with words we have learned and would have forgotten about and just enough of them to get the point across.

The rest of our lessons were bomb! We committed Женя to baptism! He is preparing so well! He does have a smoking problem, but he says he’s been trying to quit forever and that he’ll gladly give it up. He’s preparing to be baptized March 3rd. Ксеня also kept both her commitments and she was so much less closed off our last few lessons. She was really intrigued by families being together forever. We have made so much progress with her being an atheist and we’ve only had three lessons! This is so exciting even though it’s fake! I continually think about how much more joyful it will be when we bring actual souls to Christ.

And now the climax of my email. Our devotional speaker last night was none other than ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND. Oh my goodness, that man is amazing. I promise you, tears were shed. He had such a powerful message despite claiming not to have prepared one. His message was definitely meant for every single missionary on this planet. I will summarize it in the three points I thought were most powerful:

1. Do NOT waste a single solitary second of this amazing opportunity because we will NEVER get this chance again. Not even on a senior mission. Cherish every moment.

2. Missions are meant to be hard and I hope that it is the hardest thing you ever do. It is our way to feel a glimpse of what the Savior felt for us, to share His heartbreak.

3. We are guaranteed one, eternal convert- our self. It will not matter how many converts we have when we get back as long as we come home converted ourselves. Also we can’t convert others if we ourselves are not converted.

Elder Holland is absolutely the best. There were rumors that one of “the big three” was coming down, but I feel like this was so much better. It felt like each of us was in a one on one with him. It was silent for the hour plus he talked. I barely even noticed the coughs from Sister Bunderson and myself (oh yeah, by the way we both have colds since she got me sick). The spirit was so strong. He went way over time and we did not mind it a bit! He ended with an apostolic blessing on all of us and our missions. I have it noted for the most part but I don’t have enough time to share it with everyone. It was definitely a good blessing though.

One really sad thing that happened this week is that we lost the coolest district in our zone to the field. Only two of them were able to see Elder Holland last night so I bet they’ll be upset when they find out. We get a new district today though so we’re hoping they’ll be a good replacement. They are definitely going to love it here!

This has definitely been the best experience of my life and I’m so glad I get an extra six weeks of it.

I hope everyone has an amazing week!
Сестра Вихар

Mom-How are you handling the language? Are you doing well enough that you aren't frustrated? Are you shocked at your own progress, meaning are you doing better than you imagined you would?

Kaeleigh-Trivium/Latin has helped a lot. We just started cases and I'm the only one who is not confused. I feel like I'm doing great for three weeks.

Mom-Are you eating well balanced meals?

Kaeleigh-I have only drank water this past week in efforts to regain health. Before, I would limit myself to one glass of chocolate milk a day. The only healthy stuff is fake frozen vegetables, salads, or sketchy fruit. So I wouldn't say I'm eating terribly or good.


Remember when I told you it snowed last week? It actually snowed this week.


Bad lighting selfie


The sisters in our district sporting red and pink on Valentine’s Day


Bad quality pic of the sisters in our district, most of the district that left, the Georgians and three Russians after watching the testaments. Best movie ever. Just watch it.

Week 2: The eternity of two weeks

Yes everybody, it has been two weeks!! I feel like I’ve been here for three months. Everyone says it feels like yesterday they walked through the door of the MTC but not for me. Sometimes I remember that I did live a different life before this, but I definitely like this one better. Two down, seven to go! The older districts joke about growing old and dying in the MTC before they get into the field because it feels like they’ve been there for years.

Our investigator женя revealed himself to be Brother Buth, our new teacher. He’s an awesome guy. I feel like he and Sister Williams teach totally different, but their styles really complement each other and their teamwork has really helped us learn Russian a lot easier and faster. I memorized the first vision and the baptismal invitation in three days! That was about 40 words and I’ve learned so much other Russian in the last week.

Brother Buth is famous for lunging while he teaches so Sister Goodell snapped a pic to prove it. Enclosed below. I have played volleyball everyday since I got here and I absolutely love it. It feels good after not touching a ball in almost two years. Some days it’s really good and other days it’s absolute garbage. Our zone leader Elder Pate actually got a concussion this week during volleyball and still played every day even though the doctor told him not to. The doctor was right though because the next day the ball was slammed in his face four times. He’s going to Ukraine this week with a concussion for sure😂.

Our lessons with женя this week went really good. We committed him to going to church but he asked us when and where. We learned numbers the night before so I blurted out “nine morning” but we had no idea how to make up a place in Russia. Sister Bunderson said St. Petersburg but we forgot he lived in Moscow so he was confused and explained that that was really far. We told him we’d tell him later. We’re planning to commit him to baptism next lesson, but we forgot to challenge him this
last lesson and we were hoping it would prep him for baptism so we’ll see. We have our first lesson with Ксения (Kesenya, no English translation) tonight so we’ll see how that turns out.

Last night we saw a preview for some new Mormon movies. They’re making Book of Mormon movies now! The first one is about Nephi and it comes out September 21, 2018. It was a huge deal
for us, but not because we’re missionaries who haven’t seen a preview in forever. It’s gonna be amazing and I hope I can see them while I’m out!

We learned about the Book of Mormon this week and I’m really glad I got to have it in my life. Don’t ever take it for granted! If you need any answers, always turn to the Book of Mormon because even if it doesn’t explicitly give you the answer in the scriptures, you will invite the spirit into your life and it will help you find what you need.

Hope everyone had an amazing week!

Love,
Sister Vehar


Brother Buth and his weird legs


It snowed!


Elder Lindsey dancing to our chants of “pillar of light brighter than the sun”


The first vision- the monotone edition

Week 1: MTC week ONE

This week has been the longest week of my life! It has seriously felt like I've been here for four weeks. P-day still kinda snuck up on us anyway since it felt like it would never come and it finally did! Leaving my family was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but miraculously, I haven't been homesick at all since I got here. I LOVE it here. I am so glad that I got the opportunity to come here even if it meant I didn't get to go to Spain. My companion and I are seriously like best friends. Her name is Sister Bunderson. The funniest thing is that we actually knew each other before the MTC. We were in the same group at Philmont and she and her sister were the ones who let me sleep with them in their tent there. She is awesome and definitely knows how to balance getting work done while still having a good time. She was also supposed to go to Spain but she is going to the other Ukraine mission (the sketchy one I have no idea how to spell or pronounce (*Dnepropetrovsk...Kaeleigh and I call this the "Ukraine, D-whatever" mission. Give her a few months and it will roll off her tongue. Also, the reason she calls this "sketchy" is because this mission was closed about three years ago because of all the political unrest and missionaries were evacuated.)

I have a strong testimony that companionships are inspired. It was only the second day when Sister Bunderson, who is allergic to all nuts, ate a brownie with nuts in it. I am so glad I grew up with an allergy in the family cause I can't imagine her being with a companion who wouldn't know what to do or take it seriously. The strangest thing is that I saw the brownies had nuts and was prompted to tell her but we were separated so I looked for her and as soon as I found her she had already eaten it. I was a little upset that I acted on it immediately and it still happened, but I took her to the nurse immediately and thankfully we were able to help her there.

Our zone is the absolute best!!!! I love them. The funniest thing is that the Russian zones have been notorious for being THE ROWDIEST zone in the entire MTC. We certainly know how to have a good time here, even if it is not at the most appropriate times. I try to let them know when they need to tone it down, but it is such a struggle trying not to let on that I think they're funny, especially when the timing isn't appropriate. Thankfully, our zone is huge into volleyball. We play it every day during exercise time, and honestly, sometimes it's the only thing that can push you through a 3 hour long lesson.

Our district is really cool. There's me, Sister Bunderson, and Elder Blake who are all going to Ukraine but all different missions. Elder Blake and I will join forces in July though. Sister Mullberry and Sister Goodell are our roommates and they are so cute and so much fun. Our Russian class is honestly a party. There are two elders in our class and they are seriously knock-offs of Dwight and Jim from The Office. Elder Cole (Dwight) and Elder Lindsey (Jim) are seriously the funniest. You think I'm kidding but Elder Cole acts like Dwight 80% of the time. He is from Fairbanks, Alaska and apparently his hobbies include riding polar bears and he always talks about Alaska. Elder Lindsey is like the most rounded guy I have ever met. He is a huge nerd who loves Lord of the Rings and such, a jock who played varsity football in high school, a music junkie who can play some wicked classical music on the piano and also plays the bagpipes while wearing kilts (he's Scottish), and also LOVES chick-flicks. Elder Cole is serving in Kazakstahn (a service mission near Russia) with Sister Mullberry, Elder Lindsey is serving in Maldova (I've heard rumors they're combining with us too?), Sister Goodell is serving in the Baltic States (Latvia), and we have 4 other sisters in our district not speaking Russian. Sisters Austin and Smith-Driggs (fun fact: I met her briefly at BYU volleyball camp) are going to Estonia, Sister Bruner in Latvia, and Sister Christenson in Lithuania. That's our
district!

I would say that there were three highlights of my week:
3-we had Chickfila for dinner and leftovers for lunch.
2- I complemented a Samoan sister on her polynesian skirt wrap and she gave me one for the complement.
1- the biggest highlights have been our lessons with our investigator, женя (Zhenya, It’s a unisex name that only translates to Jane in English but he’s a guy). The 1st lesson was a riot since we asked him if he had any questions from church (in Russian) and we think he said yes, but we should've realized we can't ask questions like that and expect to understand after literally one lesson. so we
went on with our scripted lesson. after the lesson, Sister Bunderson said goodbye, and just sat there. We were so confused but we sat there in silence waiting for it to get less awkward. Obviously, that didn't work. also Sister Bunderson kept laughing cause she was nervous.

Thankfully the lessons have gotten better as we learn from our mistakes and we learn more Russian. We've taught Him how to pray and committed him to reading the Book of Mormon. I really look forward to having him as a teacher though, hopefully. We're not supposed to know that he's a teacher, but we're pretty good at figuring stuff out. It has been a full and good week! 10/10 would recommend a mission!

Sister Vehar


Elder Cole, Elder Lindsay, Sister Bunderson, me, Sister Mulberry, and Sister Goodell

Most of The zone before devotional


The Russian class minus Sisters Mulberry and Goodell

Russian class in front of our favorite missionary scripture

THE DISTRICT
Back L-R: Sister Bruner, Sister Mulberry, Sister Goodell, Elder Lindsey, Elder Cole, Sister Smith-Driggs
Front: Sister Christenson, me, Elder Blake, Sister Bunderson, Sister Austin (she has a boyfriend here in the MTC)