April 5, 2010 - Pictures!

Hey Mom,

So I have a couple of pictures that I am gonna try to send home. A couple of my companions, of the zoo in Rivne (we went last p-day) and the temple in Kyiv which is absolutely beautiful. Enjoy!

Love Elder Jones

So on the right is Ryan's companion, Elder Monson, at the zoo.

Here is Elder Tkachenko who is heading to Utah to the MTC tomorrow. Looks like he's having some fun with the pelicans, better watch out!

Ryan at the zoo. Looking pretty good, don't you think?

The temple in Kyiv, still under construction.

A close up.

Elder Tkachenko, Elder Monson and Elder Jones in front of the temple.

The tri-panionship - Ryan, Elder Tkachenko, Elder Monson.

April 5, 2010

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.

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

March 29, 2010

So I finished my first full week and it was crazy busy, but fun and enjoyable as well. I am lucky to be in a tri-panionship thingy for another week so that I can learn as much as possible from my two great companions. We are continuing to stay super busy and somehow we are also doing a great job of being an example for the other missionaries by bringing about awesome results. Even though we can't tract or contact which is a Rivne oblast(state) law because of what some missionaries have done in the past (one of two or three such cities in the mission I think), we are still finding tons of investigators and lessons each week and we are helping our mission to improve. The city is absolutely beautiful and it isn't even green yet. Hopefully by the end of April, we get the grass and flowers back. The weather has been wonderful since I got here and we only have had rain once. Temperatures are ranging between 7 and 15 degrees celcius and so I haven't really had to use my jacket much.

As for some of the questions that you sent me Mom, here are answers. Our Apartment is near the city center (I can't remember the address) so we are close to the Renok, which is the open air market, the transportation, and the restaurants and parks etc. We usually do lunch at the apartment early in the afternoon and then don't do dinner until we get back at 9pm. It has turned out well. We do a whole lot of walking - our branch building is a 10 to 15 minute walk from the apartment and many of our lessons are there and the center is about 5 minutes from us where we catch a lot of marshrutkas. We take those to get to peoples apartments scattered throughout the city and to get to the big mall where we shop. It is literally brand new here and it is just like a Target or Smiths Marketplace in the US. We spent about 15 dollars each on groceries and the rest goes to transportation and to snacks/restaurants. I pull out money every Monday, but I still haven't used all my money from my first week so we are getting by just fine. We do laundry in our apartment - we have our own machine - and then we hang things to dry. The food here is definitely amazing and the juices are by far the best drinks I have ever had.

The language is starting to come along and I understand more and more each day. It is still really tough but I am doing well. The hardest things is that I hear a lot of Russian with Ukrainian but that is helping me to understand each a little better and I don't need to worry about speaking Russian because everyone speaks Ukrainian. My companions are helping a lot with that.

The branch is really neat and there are a couple of awesome priesthood holders who are always willing to help. I want to get more of them though. There are probably four young families in the ward and around 8ish kids. The Dideshoks are the biggest family and the strength of the branch. Pres. Dideshok is our Branch President and he is probably about 40 years old and his wife is the Relief Society pres. They have three or four little kids. The Polyshuk twins are from Lutsk which is about an hour and a half away by marshrutka so they come down on Saturday and stay the night in our extra apartment (we have two because we are hopefully getting a new companionship here next transfer) and then they fulfill their callings. Sasha, the MCL (Missionary Coordination Leader and MCM is the Missionary Coordination Meeting), is a really cool guy. He served his mission in Moscow and just recently got back. Vova, is the 2nd counselor and is also great. He served in St. Petersburg. They really help the branch, plus they have callings in their branch in Lutsk, so they are really sacrificing to help us. Neither of them has a job right now, but I really hope that as they look, they find something good. Our branch meetings are just like anything at home - We have sacrament first, and then sunday school and priesthood. The branch doesn't have any active young men which is tough, but hopefully as we find more families, the branch will grow. Families are our number one priority, followed closely by priesthood holders. We are not even allowed to work with women right now unless they are older or have a family.

So that is basically it from this end. On P-day, we have a little time to get around. I haven't had much of an opportunity to take pictures and I tried to send some last week, but the formatting is weird so I will try again probably next week. Hopefully I can get them to you. I am out of time, but I want you to know that I am doing well. I am exhausted from the work but that is how I want it to be. The people here are incredible and our investigators are all so great. I will write again next week. Remember that I love you all very much.

Love Elder Ryan Jones

March 22, 2010

Hey everbody!

So it is my first p-day in Rivne and I am grateful. We have been so busy and I am still not fully over the sleep deficiency - about 3 in 36ish hours and then a night train after my first night in Kyiv - but I am still excited to get out and to work hard. Right now, I have two companions in Rivne (it is just the three of us in this city and in our own little district. Rivne is a city of about 275,000, one of the smallest in the mission), Elder Monson - who may be related to the prophet distantly and Elder Tkachenko from Odessa who is heading out to the MTC in two weeks -he has been waiting for his visa. The two of them are so helpful and I am very grateful to be working with them. They are both really young trainers - Elder Monson has only been out in the field for 6 months and Elder Tkachenko has only been out for 2 while waiting, but they are both great teachers and I am learning so much from them. The language has been a little overwhelming (there is a lot of Sergic here which is the Russian and Ukrainian mix) and lessons are tough but I am starting to get more comfortable and the language is coming. I have little bits to say in each lesson and I asked Elder Monson to push me so hopefully it comes quickly.

My regular schedule each day is wake up at 6:30 and exercise for half an hour. Then we eat breakfast and get ready before studying from 8 to 10 or 11 depending on the day. After that we go out and try to teach lessons and meet with people or put up ads for english class. Because of problems with the government, we are not allowed to tract in Rivne and we can't really contact either but we have gotten a ton of referrals from the branch members and currently we are well above the mission average for lessons a week. Much of our traveling here is done on Marshrutka, which is like a city bus. They are really cheap and they are fairly quick and they go everywhere. It is pretty fun to get around and to go to the apartments where everyone lives and I am slowing picking up the city layout.

We live here on only $37 a week which is pretty interesting, but it is also neat to see the difference in the way people live. Our $37 gets us by comfortably and luckily as missionaries we aren't really spending it on anything unnecessary, but there are definitely some people here who have less. Our apartment is a pretty small one near the city center and about a ten minute walk from the branch.

The branch here is absolutely awesome. There were about 40 people yesterday at sacrament meeting including a couple of our investigators. It is a pretty solid branch and we are lucky to have the Polyshuk twins who live in Lutsk come over to help on the weekends. Sasha is the MCL and Vova his brother is a counseler to President Didashuk who is a solid member. The Polyshuks both served in Russia recently on mission and there is a member named Ira who just returned this past week and she is excited to help. Yesterday we had MCM in the morning at 10 and then sacrament at 11 where I introduced myself and bore testimony. Some of the members were apparentely surprised at how well I spoke so that is a good sign. We have been very busy with lessons and I am excited to keep working hard with the members and with my companions.

I love you all very much and want you to know that I am doing just fine in Ukraine. It is so beautiful and I have already had some experiences that I have never before had in America and it is great to be here to serve the people and the Lord.

Love,
Elder Jones

Arrival in Kyiv

This is a picture of Ryan with his new companion, Elder Monson, and the Mission President and his wife. His first area where he will be serving is Rivne. Notice the Kyiv Temple in the background?

March 17, 2010

Hi-

So I am safely in Ukraine and will soon be getting to bed. Tomorrow the office will send you an email of where I am going and on Monday I will write (p-day)

Love you all very much,

Elder Ryan Jones

Pictures from the MTC

So here is Ryan's travel itinerary. As you can see, he leaves this Tuesday for Ukraine. That means we won't have an email update for 2 weeks. He thinks his p-day will be Monday in Ukraine. We did get his package of items from the MTC that he's not taking with him. Included was his memory card with some pictures. Here are a few.

A map of the Ukraine Kyiv mission.

His name tag in the MTC.

This is Travis who is now in the MTC in Guatemala. A friend from high school.

Ryan with Sean, a friend from high school, who is also going to the Ukraine Kyiv mission. Sean is speaking Russian though.

The Ukrainian speaking district consisting of eight elders and one sister. Obviously a cold day helping to prepare them for their mission.

Hard study in the MTC? Use the force to overcome the language.

Ryan's companion in the MTC - Elder Hinkson.

The district at the temple again - looks like it is a little warmer this time.

Ryan's Ukrainian name tag.