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