Week 13: One month in Ukraine!!

Hello Everyone!!

I am loving it here in Ukraine! This week was so packed I can barely remember everything that happened. We had training again this week which was nice because everyone came to us haha-temple sister perks! I seriously love it though! I see the temple and there is more and more green everyday. It is so hot here though! That kinda scares me since it was winter a month ago and it'll keep warming up until summer, so pray it's not too hot here. It's so hot, people are starting to walk around without tights here, which is saying something.

This week I had a huge run in one of my tights and our potential investigator chewed me out for not wearing tights (minutes after I threw them away) and told me I needed to go to the store immediately and buy more because it's still the beginning of the year. I think that is just an awful mindset because until July, it could still technically be the beginning of the year. But, I have some fellow supporters who are ditching the tights and you can bet I'm joining them because I can't handle an extra layer in this heat.

We met with another new potential investigator this week named Lubov (love) and she showed up so late that I thought she stood us up. After an hour of waiting, I suggested we go to ATB (the grocery store) and get some dinner because we wouldn't have time and she probably wasn't coming. So we started to pray to "let God in on our plan". Sister Sutton called it and as we were praying, Lubov showed up... with dinner. That was a spiritual slap in the face and I'm just glad Sister Sutton didn't give up as easily as I did, because if we hadn't prayed and just left, we would have missed her. I definitely learned my lesson and won't be giving up easy in the future.

We had a Nigerian baby naming ceremony here thanks to the International branch and that was really cool. It was quite an unusual social scene with all the white Mormon missionaries at President Kumferman's house and a whole lot of Nigerians, who actually were not members of our church for the most part. Maybe we did some missionary work there. I hope so, but wouldn't know since they avoided us like crazy. Not sure if it was the name tag or so many predominately white Americans. It was lots of fun and I had the spiciest food I will probably have my whole mission and I played some volleyball for the first time in a month. That felt really good!

This week all three of our Investigators with baptismal dates showed up to church! It was really confusing for Sasha, our golden investigator, because she has come to church for General and Stake Conference before, but not regular church. We also extended her a specific date for her baptism, but she freaked out when we gave her a month from now to be baptized. She thinks she'll be more comfortable in June, so we'll see.

A man this week argued with me about the origins of my name and tried to tell me that I am Russian. He said my family played a big part in the USSR, which isn't necessarily a compliment here... I think he’s confused since my family was obviously in America at that point, but maybe I have some mysterious long lost relatives I need to look for now. So, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone thinks I'm Russian and a delinquent by next week so just pray they still cooperate with a Soviet descendant.

It's been a good week and I hope everyone's has been just as good!
Sister Vehar

Week 12: Week three (in Ukraine)

Happy Monday everyone!

This week wasn't too eventful, but I did make the greenie mistake of not getting off at the right marshrutka stop and kept going on my route and leaving Sister Sutton behind at our stop! Не бойтес (do not fear), I got off at the next stop and Sister Sutton rode another marshrutka to my stop and we walked back to the Ashan together (the most walmart like store here).

When I got here, everyone in the mission was talking about buckets. Apparently, last zone conference, President Kumferman gave everyone different finding buckets to choose from. "Buckets" are different ways we acquire investigators. This week we tried out some new buckets, like throwing some of our plethora of pasha cakes to the birds, hoping people would want to join us... yeah that wasn't so successful. Turns out you can't make birds flock towards people unsuspiciously with only a single cake. We also focused on former investigators this week so while Sister Sutton made phone calls to our Russian investigators, members, and such, I read through the area book, searching for some potential. Some people are former investigators for a reason and Ukraine is apparently full of a whole lot of crazy I have not had the chance to see. That'll change no doubt.

We saw many carcasses this week, as we have started walking more in our days, including a cat with pink fingernails and a rat being eaten by a crow. Forgive me for not taking pictures. We visit a blind, nearly deaf babushka with a beard every week named Baba Anna and take her blood pressure and share spiritual messages with her. She is just the cutest and loves when we bring her stuff like some fresh bread and juice like she asked for. She definitely has a strong testimony even though I can't understand when she goes off for minutes like every babushka here.

We had my first zone conference and stake conference this week and I just came out of this weekend being so spiritually fed. Wow, I love this mission! President Kumferman and his wife are honestly the best and sweetest ever. Also our investigator, Sasha, came to stake conference, despite it being an hour away because she just really wanted to. I'm telling you, she's GOLDEN. Our lesson with her this week was really interesting though because we had her friend, Igor, come to the lesson and somehow he hijacked it and taught the whole Plan of Salvation. I couldn't tell you how it happened except all I know is that he asked if he could answer her question about why Nephi killed Laban (from the Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon) and next thing I know he's drawing the Plan of Salvation on the board and all the points I had prepared to talk about were gone. Apparently he taught it really well though, so as long as Sasha learned and felt the spirit, I'd call that a win.

Yesterday we met a very interesting member in our ward. He is Canadian, but refuses to go to the international branch where he can understand it in English, because he wants to find a wife. I couldn't figure out why he's living in Ukraine because he was vague about his job, but all he told me was that he could do his job from anywhere in the world??? I have no idea why he wants a wife he can't talk to but okay. Anyway, I bring him up because this lady in the stake wanted to show him "a good place to take a photo" and literally drug us out of the hall we were meeting in to be their translators. I ended up talking to him the whole time and Sister Sutton was stuck with the lady due to language barriers. I'm not sure if it was supposed to be a date or if she was lonely and wanted some people to tour Pechersky with, either way it was the most awkward and confusing experience of my life as this photo spot turned into a tourist adventure and going into Pravelslavny churches and what not for two hours. We tried to leave but I swear to you I have never met a more stubborn people than the Ukrainians. Good news though, we escaped.

Anyway that was my week and I seriously love this mission and I am so sad that it is already flying by. Definitely not letting a moment pass me by. I'm having the most amazing time of my life here in the wonderful Ukraine and I hope you all are having a great time back at home.

Lots of love,
Сестра Вихар

 Our bird feeding flop of a bucket

 "The good photo place" the crazy lady drug us to

Selfie before stake conference because why not

Zone conference lunch.

 (L-R:) Sisters Newman Sutton, King, Qosja, Vehar and Pixton

Elders of the Kyiv West Zone. (L to R:) Elders Hatch, Read, Robinson, Pate, Clifford, Ulrich, Decker, Nye and Neptune. (Standing:) Elder Clawson.

(R to L:) President and Sister Kumferman, Elders Santiago, Ahlstrom and Uchytill.

Week 11: The craziest week of my life

Okay, I don’t even know where to begin!

I have had sad experiences and super good ones so we'll start with the bad. I don't know if this was just a weird meal or not, but my love for the food is wavering. We'll start at the beginning. Olga flower bab(ushka) is a potential investigator. We add nicknames to all of our investigators and what not because there are only like 7 names here and they hate using last names so we don’t even know them. Point being, we know like 20 Olgas and Olga flower bab is a grandma (babushka or Bab for short) who loves gardening. She loves to feed us missionaries, but isn’t interested in the church for now. But she fed us a really sketch meal which included Kholodets. For those of you who do not know, Kholodets is an infamous Russian/Ukrainian dish which can be basically described as meat jello with questionable meat chunks in it. I have heard that people go months before they have the opportunity to try it on the mission. But not me. I had it on my seventh day in Ukraine and I will never be the same. The rest of the food was better, but that doesn’t mean much. Somehow I was able to push my picky side away and try everything on that table. A full tomato, once a fiend, became an ally in that moment.

Side note- the pasha cake (Easter fruit cake) is literally still everywhere, but I finally tried it this week and somehow we ended up with four. People just keep giving them to us because they think we’re hungry or something.

The saddest experience: Valerie (our first lesson and inherited baptismal date) has decided she does not want to be baptized and dropped our lessons. I was not ready for that being a week into the missionary work. She'll be ready one day. It’s a good reminder that all of us have free will.

Time for some good news!

First, I had my first successful contacting experience all by myself on the marshrutka! It all started with a really bad Russian accent on my part and the determination on my part to continue opening my mouth and saying "Good day" in Russian four times without crying before this man understood, BUT he asked me where I was from, most likely because of my awful accent. We passed the temple on our ride so I told him about it and then he said something about "clean" so I told him we keep it clean because it is the House of the Lord and such, but I misunderstood him because he asked me if America was clean. Then he asked me if they sell cannabis in California. Such a great experience, but I think he'll come to our English practice.

Second, we have a new investigator!! She is GOLDEN! Her name is Sasha and she came to watch General Conference with her friend and afterwards asked if she could be baptized. WOW! We had our first lesson with her on Saturday and we're really excited to work with her. She's trying to adopt a kid so we can already tell she's a great person. She's the cutest.

Some funny blunders this week:

I still don't know Russian, so I can’t understand what members say or what questions investigators ask. I just smile and nod and gesture nervously to Sister Sutton when I think there's a question because I have no idea how to answer. The other day we talked to a random babushka on the street and she had all her teeth so I could hear clearly what she was saying even though I didn't understand. Afterwards, I told Sister Sutton that was the clearest Russian I've heard in weeks, to which she laughed because turns out, she was speaking straight up Ukrainian. So if that tells you anything about how my language is coming.

A bigger one was that I biffed it in the crosswalk this week and destroyed my knee and best tights (it’s really scandalous if you don't wear tights here until it's so hot you’re sweating, so Im dying!!) and walked around with ripped tights and a bloody knee for half the day. Nobody noticed thank goodness because my long skirt covered it.

Not a blunder on my part, but at Olga flower bab's, her sister was there (actually a former investigator in Russia) and was asking us a lot of questions. They were really confused why two 19 and 20 year-old girls were not trying to get married (they're older). Since we were not married, they asked us if we had boys at home. When we said no, they asked "Well, what about here?". We told them of course not because we are missionaries and our lives are focused on the Lord, to which they responded, "Then what are the boy missionaries for?!". I guess they don't quite understand yet what we do as missionaries.

Also, the ONLY word in Russian that has any resemblance to my name (вихар) is вихрь, which means whirlwind/tornado, so whenever I tell people my name they twirl their finger in the air. They always tell me that I must be a very active missionary.

That was my crazy week and I apologize for not writing anyone last week! I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love,
Сестра Вихар

​My knee- I had to clean it up to take off the tights

Ukrainian McDonalds- so good​

Our cake collection

Easter Orthodox caroling and contacting

(From Pres. Kumferman on Facebook:)

Easter Orthodox caroling and contacting outside the Andrus apartment followed up by some of Sister Andrus’ delicious cinnamon rolls and rice pudding!

Week 10: I'm alive and soo American

Wow wow wow

This has been one of the craziest weeks of my life.

First off, conference was GREAT! We are pumped for Russia’s big news (they are getting a temple)!!! Lots of changes, but all so good. I’m watching it twice because no one’s watched it here and it’s just as good the second time.

Saying goodbye to everyone was honestly the WORST. I absolutely hated it. I miss all my people from the MTC. Im sure my trainer is so fed up with “in the MTC this, and in the MTC that”, because I talk about all of our good times so much.

I flew alone for what seemed forever! I barely slept at all, despite trying the whole time. Bless the soul who watched The Greatest Showman next to me. On my last flight, this lanky African-American guy sat next to me which was weird. Turns out he’s going to Kiev to intern for a religious position so he can create his own church. We talked about the Book of Mormon a lot and he was really interested in it, but "only for research". If he does his research well, he’ll be baptized in no time.

Kiev is crazy. I love it here, but the FOOD!!!!! I have a testimony that God knows each of his children. I have gained about five pounds since I’ve been here. I drank 3.2% milk here and that was a religious experience. I will never be able to drink skim milk again. So yeah, we basically drink half and half here.

Our transportation here is wicked crazy. I am surprised I haven’t witnessed an accident. Ukrainians are insane drivers! There aren’t really lanes here or right of way. It’s all about who’s more aggressive. We ride the marshrutkas. Picture the knight bus from Harry Potter and you’re not far off. They barely stop for you to hop on or off and cross the street. I have no fear of cars now. They come within inches of you. No one here is phased by it.

Easter here was amazing. Иисус воскрес! в истину воскрес (You greet each other by saying, “Jesus is risen" and the other person responds back, "In truth He is!”)!! I loved hearing that all day-that’s what everyone says to each other on Easter. We also ate some of the пасха cake and i think it’s the Ukrainian version of our fruit cake. Everyone eats it, but you need a lot of milk to help it go down.

Oh yeah, I am in the Borshagovsky area and Sister Sutton is my trainer. I have the temple in my area and that is honestly the coolest. I love my trainer so much, but unfortunately I’m killing her off, meaning when she finishes training me, she goes home. It’ll be sad to see her go, but I’m so glad to have someone so experienced training me.

I had my first lesson my first full day here and that was crazy. BUT it was in English. It is so hard to learn Russian here because the members just want to practice their English with you. A lot of the members I’ve met speak English. Hopefully I’ll get the language down enough that they trust it enough to converse in Russian.

We are whitewashing the area (we’re both new) so we inherited two investigators with baptismal dates. We’re aiming for the 28th if they can go to church each week and keep all the commitments. Valerie is 18 and Kira is 9. It will be fun to see baptisms so early into the mission. The field is definitely white and ready to harvest. We have found so many potential investigators here this week. I can’t wait to see what comes of it.

This week has been so amazing despite some late jet lag and walking all the time. I love the beautiful Ukraine and this people so much.

Love you all and hope your weeks are amazing!
Сестра Вихар


"Slamming" cookies-missionary tradition to suck milk *through* a cookie

Milk in a bag

Kiev, Ukraine LDS temple












​
From Facebook mission page: Sister Foley welcoming Sisters Sutton and Vehar to English Practice today. Nice to have these two wonderful sisters in the Borshahivsky District. It will be really a lot of fun to get to know them and work with them.

The District watching General Conference together

Easter in Ukraine (some re-posting from returned missionary Marlie Arnell & Pres. Kumferman)

Orthodox Easter in Ukraine is today, April 8th. Spring has just begun-just in time for Kaeleigh's arrival! With warmer temperatures, everything is starting to blossom and come alive. This is the biggest holiday of the year for Ukrainians, where families spend time together and celebrate. 

Ukrainians call these Easter eggs pysanka, or plural: pysanky. They are decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs. They write or inscribe on the smaller eggs with beeswax. The larger eggs on display are more likely painted.

These pictures were taken yesterday, April 7, 2018 in the center of Kyiv. 




















(Pres. K, from Facebook:) Downtown Kyiv, Orthodox Easter decorations 2018. In the past they have asked local groups and organizations to paint the eggs, but this year they turned it into an art fair, all done by local artists. Included for the first time were painted bunnies to go along with the decorated eggs.

Here is a traditional Ukrainian Easter basket that people gather for their feast, after they take it to Ukrainian Orthodox Church for service. A priest has to pass by with a brush in his hand and sanctify it with holy water and the people that stand by it. The service always starts on a Saturday night and is being served all day on Sunday. **These pictures were taken this past weekend in Kyiv for the Easter holiday**

Mailing packages to Ukraine

MAIL & PACKAGES FROM HOME

Instructions on how to send mail to Ukraine Kyiv Missionaries

Very Important— Do Not Put The Words “Ukraine Kyiv Mission” on PACKAGES. If you put “Ukraine Kyiv Mission” as part of the address, they think it is coming to a business and customs charges are so high that the package will be returned to you.

When you mail Packages, PLEASE KEEP THEM SMALL. Larger boxes could be sent through Roxolana or Meest. Along with all their own bags and books, missionaries must often carry the packages and letters on public transportation and then on foot to other missionaries, many who live in outlying areas.

It is better to send two small packages rather than one large one. Put your Missionary’s first and last
name on the package. Do not require your missionary’s signature in order to pick up the package.

We find the U.S. Postal Service small priority mail flat rate boxes or envelopes work well for packages or USPS Ready Post boxes, or just use your own box – write (print) clearly. Please be aware that packages sent through U.S. Mail to the address below should reflect a customs value of less than $99- a higher value will be charged at least $100 customs fee. Your missionary will have to pay this fee to obtain the package. Please remember any package sent across U.S. borders is subject to possible opening and inspection by Customs. When declaring items, be general and simple. Examples: “supplies,” “household items” and “personal items.” You may be asked to list the items included, if so, list. Do NOT bother to insure, as you could never collect over here. Packages usually take several weeks to arrive. We do not recommend express services.

Other reliable carriers are Roxolana and Meest. Parents can contact them for information.
Roxolana:                                                 
2200 Route 10 West, Suite 104                
Parsippany, New Jersey 07054                 
Telephone: 1 (973) 538-3888                    
1 (888) 725-8665                                    
Fax: 1 (973) 538-3899                              

roxolanaltd@roxolana.com                      
www.Roxolana.com

Meest-America:
609 Commerce Road
Linden New Jersey 07036
Telephone: 800-288-9949
800-361-7345
www.meest.us
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -
Use this address for ALL LETTERS AND PACKAGES :
(Your Missionary’s first and last name)
vul. Yabluneva 1
s. Sofiivska Borshahivka
Kyevo-Svyatoshinskiy rayon
Kyivska oblast 08131
UKRAINE

First day in Ukraine-Training day

Dear Brother and Sister Vehar,

We are so grateful to have Sister Vehar arrive here in our mission.

Attached is a picture of her with President and Sister Kumferman and a picture with her new companion. She will be taught and taken care of well. Also attached is a picture with the whole training group today. It has been a full day for her. She is now on her way to her first mission area. She will be excited to email you on Monday and tell you of her first experiences here.

We look forward to getting to know Sister Vehar and serving with her.

Sincerely
Sister Andrus
Ukraine Kyiv Mission
vul. Yabluneva 1
s. Sofiivska Borshahivka
Kyivska oblast 08131

Sister Kumferman, Sister Vehar, and President Kumferman

Sister Sutton and Sister Vehar

Four new sisters and one new elder. Sisters Reid, Soucie, Vehar, and Pixton are the newbies.