Hey Mom,
So I am in київ(Kyiv) today because we are dropping off Elder Tkachenko. He is heading to Utah tomorrow and it will just be Elder Monson and I for the next month before transfers when apparently more may come into Rivne. We are hanging out at the Ward building/Mission office which is right next door to the temple. It is really cool to be able to see the Temple (which, apart from all the construction equipment and dirt, is nearly done) and to know that in a couple of months, the Ukrainians will be able to take part in the blessings of the temple.
So to answer your questions, in order, all the keyboards are in English and they have Russian type on the corresponding key, so each key has two letters. It is way to hot for me to be wearing the long underwear, especially when we are in the branch building or peoples homes teaching lessons, but I am sure they will work great. In the MTC, they did have little books like that called TALL which is a computer program created by the MTC that helps missionaries learn language. And they had one in Ukrainian in the MTC. The weather here is starting to warm up quickly and the greens are starting to poke out. It is going to be so beautiful in a few weeks. We did not get to see conference this weekend, but the Church distributes DVDs to all of the branches so we will see the translated version next week and it will be just like a conference. Then we get an English Liahona next month too. We do teach LARCs (Less-active/Recent convert) each week and we are trying to work to keep some people strong. For the most part, those that we are teaching are doing really well. Finally, we live on Soborna across the street from the statue of Mary, the queen who founded the town or something like that. One thing that is totally awesome about Ukraine is the statues which they put up without regrets. They are fun.
So to answer your questions, in order, all the keyboards are in English and they have Russian type on the corresponding key, so each key has two letters. It is way to hot for me to be wearing the long underwear, especially when we are in the branch building or peoples homes teaching lessons, but I am sure they will work great. In the MTC, they did have little books like that called TALL which is a computer program created by the MTC that helps missionaries learn language. And they had one in Ukrainian in the MTC. The weather here is starting to warm up quickly and the greens are starting to poke out. It is going to be so beautiful in a few weeks. We did not get to see conference this weekend, but the Church distributes DVDs to all of the branches so we will see the translated version next week and it will be just like a conference. Then we get an English Liahona next month too. We do teach LARCs (Less-active/Recent convert) each week and we are trying to work to keep some people strong. For the most part, those that we are teaching are doing really well. Finally, we live on Soborna across the street from the statue of Mary, the queen who founded the town or something like that. One thing that is totally awesome about Ukraine is the statues which they put up without regrets. They are fun.
Well, this past week, all of my pictures got erased somehow. I must have accidentally pressed a button when I was going through all of the settings. Luckily, I did not have a lot, just some from Kyiv, so I will try to be more diligent in taking pictures and then hopefully next week I will send home some pictures. Also, I will probably send some DVDs home of all my pictures once the memory cards get a little more full.
Also, this past week, we continued to be incredibly busy in Rivne and as a result, we saw a couple of miracles. First off, to give some background: because of what some missionaries did a while back, Americans were only allowed back in for the first time on Christmas and Elder Monson and Hamilton were those missionaries. At the time, there were no real investigators or much that was new in the area book, but because of their diligent work, and then the work of Elder Monson, Tkachenko, and Rhodes (who I replaced as he went home) the city got prepared. Finally, these past couple of weeks, we have been working really hard and this past week we got two more baptismal dates in the city. Rivne hasn't had a baptism for over a year, but we have one in two Saturdays and then hopefully there will be a couple more coming up afterward. We still have tons of work to do, but somehow, without the ability to tract or contact on the streets or teach women at all, we have become one of the most productive and busy cities in the mission. Hopefully as we continue to do our best, the Lord will continue to bless us and we will stay on the right track.
Well, Mom, that is all I have time for this week, but I want to let you know that I love you and that I know this is the Lord's work. Everyday I see the miracles that he brings forth and I know that it is because this Gospel is true. This is the restored gospel of Chirst. We sat in on a mini-zone conference today for the Kyiv-West zone and the Assistants to the President had us do a little activity where we thought about the truths and ordinances that we know through the Restoration. I know that it is all true and I am grateful to take that truth to others. Tell the rest of the family that I love them too. Happy Easter and tomorrow, happy 180th anniversary of the organization of the Church. Today is a pretty special day in between those two. Anyway, I love you and I will write again next week.
Love,
Elder Ryan Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment