May 16, 2011

Hi Mom,

So this last week was a crazy one, but I am finally getting settled in to my new home, the mission office, right next door to the temple.  So yeah, I am now in Kyiv, in the Borshahivskiy ward which is the biggest ward in Eastern Europe, at least until it gets split which may happen soon.  As far as p-day, I think that it should stay the same.  I have to come to the office every Monday to do work, so I will probably write Monday morning.  Anyway, so I have a lot of things to explain I guess, now that I have a new assignment in the office.

First off, my companion is Elder Kashiwagi who is in his 5th transfer and just came from Rivne.  It is going to be a fun transfer as both of us are new and have never served in Kyiv.  Luckily we have Elder Schmutz and Fredrickson, the former office Elders who will basically be training us for the next few weeks so I will get to know the area and work just fine.  I have been on exchages with Elder Schmutz all weekend to get to know the area and then on the weekdays, he is training me on how to do the office work.  It is really neat, because there are 2 office Elders, and then the Parks who are the office couple, and then the Assistants to the Presidents, as well as the mission secretary, all in the office.  And President Steinagel as well, when he is around.  It is going to be a lot of fun I am sure.  By the way, I am in charge of travel and documents so I have to take care of visa and passport things and make sure that those are all copied and sent to the visa man, and I also get to buy all the train tickets for missionaries and make sure they get around.  Plus I have a couple of other things which I am privileged to handle.  It will be a lot of fun I hope. We are in the office every Monday morning where I put the mission newsletter together, and then Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 5.  So our opportunities to do missionary work are really cut down here, but we still talk to lots of people everyday and we have already had a couple of people show up to the temple site, wanting to go in and they were referred to us.  We got one new investigator, Igor, who came to church and two more people that may potentially become investigators.  Plus here we get to work with a lot of awesome members who are all so ready to do missionary work.  This is really a great area to serve in, even if the missionary opportunities are cut down.  Hmm, I am sure there is a lot more to say, but I don't know right now so if you have questions, please ask them.

Tell Luke congrats on his mission call.  I am so excited for him and I am sure that he will have an incredible experience.  And tell Dewey that I say congrats as well.

Wow, that ended up being a lot shorter than I thought it would be.  I just don't really know what else to say.  Please ask questions and I will answer them next week.  Thanks for all that you do Mom!

I love you and I can't wait to hear from you again.

Love,

Elder Jones

May 9, 2011 - Photos

Hey Mom,

So I did get the pictures.  I am also glad to hear that sacrament meeting went well.  I hope that everyone enjoyed it.  So I figured that instead of writing a lot, because we just talked yesterday, I will just send some pictures so here goes...thanks for calling yesterday by the way.  I hope that you had a wonderful Mother's Day.

Love,

Elder Jones

By the way, I tried to find some that I am in.  I don't know if I have sent some of these but I will send them anyway.  Enjoy!

 

 

May 8, 2011 - Mother's Day phone call!

Sunday morning we were able to talk with Ryan for Mother's Day.  It was so wonderful to hear his voice.  He is doing well and is loving his mission and the people of Ukraine.  We asked him some questions so I thought I would include a little of that information.

I asked him about Ivano-Frankivsk where he is currently serving.  He said the city is very green.  It is hilly countryside and there is agriculture everywhere.  He said most families have plots outside the city where they grow their food.  It is super humid and the temperature was 40 degrees that day, cold and very wet with a snow/hail mix.  He said there are usually around 35 people at church and the missionaries.  He spends pretty much every Sunday translating Sacrament meeting for those who don't speak Ukrainian and teaches an English lesson for the African members there.  He said the city is around 200,000 people and you could walk across it in an hour.  It is by the Carpathian mountains.

His current companion, Elder Belashov is a convert and the only member in his family.  He's been a member around four years.  His family is supportive, but not interested in the church and they are from a village with not much money.

When I asked him if he was sleeping well, he said the bed in Ivano is his favorite so far even though it is too short.  The walkway to the building has a sign low enough that he would hit his head if he didn't duck.  Okay, I guess my son is taller than most Ukrainians.  :)

I asked him how the food was there.  He says he loves the food in Ukraine.  They eat a lot of pasta, rice and meats and their monthly budget just went up so they should be able to get more fruit and vegetables.  They never have dinner appointments, but the older sisters will usually feed them when they go over to do service for them (such as mowing their lawns, carrying things for them.)  He usually eats two meals a day, breakfast and lunch, and then stop at a store at night for a snack.  They usually eat at home.  His favorite food so far are the Ukrainian cabbage rolls and the weirdest food are the holodets (jellied minced meat- don't google it, I'm warning you, it will make you nauseous.)

P-days they usually hang out as a district (his city where there are 4 missionaries) and they've been playing Risk.  Someone made a Risk board up and they play the game.

Overall he is doing great and really enjoying his time.  We invited his friend, Jacob, so they could say hi since Jacob leaves soon for his mission and they won't see each other for 3 1/2 years.  I just enjoyed being to hear his voice!

May 2, 2011 - Photos

Photos!

Elder Jackson and me (sorry, but I was making a weird face)

Sister Daniya and me - She is the best member missionary I have ever met

The fountain next to the hotel

The hotel near our house and the church

Train tracks

A Catholic church 

 District Lunch

 Elder Belashov, doing service

Sunset

"Happy Trails" in Ukrainian as we left a town

Tlumach, the name of the town

Ukrainian countryside

3 Horsepower ;)

 More country

The district, walking down a dusty road

I had to throw this in.  This is someone's seat in the stands.  It is probably a king that sits there.  It is just really funny that someone put that in the stands. 

Enjoy!

May 2, 2011

Mom,

You are so silly.  I am excited for next week too.  (I told him I was excited to talk with him on Mother's Day.)  And as far as details, I give them when I can, but I usually just don't know what to say.  (This is referring to details of what he does each day.)  For me, each and every day is about the same so there isn't usually a lot to tell.  Oh and I will try to send pictures when I find some that I want to send.  I don't have much new, and hardly have anything with me.

So I got the talk that you sent and I have been studying it.  Thanks a ton.  I think that is really cool that you are going to be able to speak next week in church.  Good luck.  I hope that I have sent you enough details to know what to say about my mission experience.  I can tell you now that it is without a doubt the best and most important thing I have ever done.  By the way, you have to let me know how Jacob's farewell goes.  I will probably write him a quick note next week.  And I haven't heard from Curtis, but I print off and read his blog updates and that is enough.

So this week was a pretty slow one here.  We had some great weather, but the work is still really slow.  We got to go out to a town that is about 30 minutes away as a district and spent the day there talking to people.  We met a really cool guy who is the neighbor of a member that lives there so hopefully we can start working with him.  The weather took a nasty turn yesterday and it has been raining very steadily for 18 hours now.  I am sure it will be a wet week.  Church was good yesterday and one of the families blessed their new baby daughter which was really cool.  The blessings of families and the priesthood really are so great.  What an awesome blessing to have the knowledge that we have as well.  I know that this church is true.  I have truly developed a deep love for our Savior on my mission and I know that He does love us as well.  Through Him we can become better people each day as we strive to do what God has commanded.  I know that the gospel is true and by living the principles that we are taught, we can become perfected.  This is our purpose here and the Church exists to help make that possible.  I love you and can't wait for Sunday.  Thanks as always for being an awesome example.

Love,

Elder Jones

April 25, 2011

Hey Mom,

Happy Anniversary!

So that would work well for the phone call.  Anytime after 4 we should be in home already.  If not, we will be on our way home.  President Belashov always has some things after church, but our meetings end at 2 so by four we should be fine.  5:00 would be perfect.  5:30 would possible be late for you, but if you prefer that than I am fine with that.  Whatever works for you is good.

 

Now, to my business :)  First I wanted to ask how Grayden and Sam are doing.  When does Sam get back?  Also, can you send me my login id and password for my University of Utah account because I am starting to think a little about what I need to do.  I got some information recently about the FBI and I am trying to consider my options a little.  That would be great if you could send those to me.

Happy Easter by the way! I am glad that you had an opportunity to be with the family and celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior.  What an awesome event, right.  I had a really awesome opportunity to spend time with some members and their family here.  The Parks, a Senior Couple that serves in the office in Kyiv, came to visit yesterday and they wanted to visit one of the families so I went with them as their translator.  It was really fun to go with them and the members to the members grandmothers house where they had their family together.  There were 12 of us total and they had a nice Easter meal while they got to know the Parks a little better and we got to know them a little better.  Ukrainians all go to Church on Easter and then afterward get together as a family to celebrate and I was so honored to be a part of that.  

Speaking of testimony, there is a quote in Preach my Gospel that says if we don't share our testimony, it will die.  All of us as members of the church have a responsibility to do missionary work which is an opportunity for us to nurture our testimony and help develop it.  If we don't work on it by keeping the commandments, studying our scriptures, and then sharing that testimony, it will not grow and may even start to die.  That is something that I have certainly gained a testimony of here on in the mission field.

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is so simple and when we live by it, we are so blessed.  Seriously, we are probably the most blessed people who have ever lived in the world.  We have so many opportunities to serve and there are so many things that help us in this life.  The gospel needs to be the central part of our lives and as we focus on it, we are promised joy and happiness, because we don't need to worry about the world.  I know that this Church is true.  It was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith.  The Church is organized to help us become like Jesus Christ, which is our goal in this life.  I know that through the ordinances of Christ's everlasting gospel, we can live together forever.  What a great promise that we must live worthy of always.  I love you mom.  Thanks for all you do.

Love,

Elder Jones

April 18, 2011

Hi Mom,

So I am glad for the package too.  Elder Belashov and I enjoyed the first box of mike and ikes and the peanut butter too. :)  And Lviv was a lot of fun.  I got to see a couple of the youth there which was nice as I got to talk to them a little.  

Once the sun comes out here, the whole country is going to be so gorgeous.  May will definitely be the best time to come back and see Ukraine if possible. 

Thanks for the Easter scriptures.  The new Liahona has something similar in it for children.  I will definitely take a look at these.  I am really excited for Easter and the opportunity to see the Spirit work among the Ukrainians here as they remember their Savior.

Tell Margot hello from me and that she can expect a letter.  I sent it a week ago and I hope she enjoys it.  I am glad to hear that she is doing alright, in spite of the situation.  I hope that she heals well. 

So the work here is going pretty slowly and we have been trying to work hard with less active members.  With President Belashov over so many people, it certainly makes it interesting to focus on missionary work for him.  He has lots of branch business, but we get out and do work and this week I hope to be a little more diligent so we can find some new people.  Things will turn around I am sure; I just need to get to work.  Oh and I got to speak in sacrament and one of the members here told me to tell you that I did a good job, so you can be proud of me.  I actually still don't like speaking, but I am getting better at it and I love teaching now which is interesting, but fun.  We'll see if I have callings in the future where I get to teach - that would be cool.  But then again, we always are able to teach so I am just glad for the gained experience.

Well, thanks for everything again mom.  I know that this Church is true.  It is led by Jesus Christ through his mouthpiece, Thomas S. Monson who is a true prophet.  I know that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration and thanks to him, we have all necessary for salvation on the Earth again.  God is our loving Heavenly Father and His plan is perfect.  I am so thankful to Him for the opportunity to teach and help His children to come to Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind.

I love you Mom,

Elder Jones