Feta Cheese in Kiev

Another week in Kiev. 

This week we had our Kiev West Zone Conference. So that meant that we had interviews the day before and which means that we had to leave early Thursday morning to catch our train to Kiev.

The other elders had an exchange with the Zone Leaders this time on Wednesday to Thursday so they went up before us which meant that we rode up by ourselves. It was pretty awesome this time, we got upgraded to first class and it was pretty comfy. And there wasn't a whole lot of people which was good for me and there were comfortable seats which was good for Elder Clifford who is for some reason always so exhausted.

Interviews were supposed to be a little quicker this time as Elder Durstchi and I aren't getting interviewed until we leave and have our exit interviews. But as you probably guessed to opposite happened. Sister Kumferman had prepared dinner for us and it was very delicious as it always is. She is very kind. 

The next day we had Zone Conference which was my last one. It was really awesome. It was centered around Preach My Gospel chapter 11 which talks about helping people make and keep commitments. I think this is particualarly important right now as we are working with Nastya. 

For lunch we had one of my favorite things in Ukraine. Salateria. It is this salad with pasta and eggs that come in a box that you shake up after you put the pesto sauce on and tear the top off to reveal the delicious Salateria salad. This time it had a LOT of feta cheese in it. I am not against feta cheese what so ever but that day I found out what it means to have too much feta cheese. 

This week President Koshelev was out of town and it being my month to conduct sacrament meeting I was left basically alone to run everything. It was all right and we had good talks in fact. 

Nastya has been super busy with school and all of her exams and didn't come to church. I am confidant that she will eventually get baptized but the question of exactly when is still unanswered.

Not much else this week. Lots of time was spent in Kiev and traveling. It has been really hot lately and everyone is freaking out because it hasn't rained in a couple of weeks whcih means their croups aren'\t doing great. 

We have a sister in our branch here who is going to England on her mission and every week after church we have been teaching her the missionary lessons in English to help her out. She is kind of freaking out but she has a lot better English than she realizes.

Until next week,

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Night time view off our balcony.

Wehrwolf

06/04/2018

So we went up to Kiev again. And we we did go to the Temple again. Elder Durtschi found some family names and so last week when we were in Kiev with the recent converts, we did baptisms for those names and this time we did the other ordinances. That was my last time going to the Kiev, Ukraine Temple. I really love the temple. I will always remember the temple here in Ukraine. 

We had a mission conference where President Martino and Elder Callister came and taught us. 

We used our P-day time one Friday to go to the temple and after that we had some time to sight-see in Kiev. We went and saw lots of cool things and we all bought some vyshivankas (traditional Ukrainian clothes). 

Today we decided to take a trip a little outside of Vinnitsya and go see "Wehrwolf". During World War II it was Hitler's most eastern headquarters and at then end of the war they blew up the compound and all of the bunkers. Now there is a museum where you can go see the compound and all of the big pieces of concrete with rebar everywhere. We were told by some people we asked about it that it wasn't that great, but we went and it was super cool. For someone who doesn't like history it may be boring but for all of us it was awesome. Before the place opened, we walked around in the fields nearby and I made a flower crown and we gave it to the lady at the compound. She really liked it. 

We had an exchange with the other elders this week and while on the exchange Elder Clifford and Ulrich taught Nastya the Word of Wisdom. The lesson went well and it seems we don't have any problems in that area. The only thing that we are worried about is that Natsya hasn't had time at all, due to trying to finish school, to come to church. She is really great but needs to come to church. 

Thank you for your prayers and support. Also, while at Hitler's bunker at the site of his personal bunker I found a small piece of concrete and took it. Now I have a piece of Hitler's most eastern headquarters and a piece of the Kiev temple.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

There was a huge Soccer game in Kiev between Real Madrid and Liverpool. That is why our train was so late.

05/28/2018

I won't bore you with the lame stuff that happened at the beginning of the week. Let me just skip to the cool stuff.

Friday even we had planned to roast smores with our recent converts and other investigators. The other elders found a good spot in the forest by their apartment and so we went with Katya, Nastya, Ira, Sasha (all recent converts), Viola (another member), Nastya Volos (our investigator), Vova (Sasha's friend) and Metco (a guy who comes to English Practice and Youth Night religiously). We had a great time and had a good spirituyal thought besides all of the tasty ukrainian smores.

Early Saturday morning we got up and got on a train with Katya, Nastya and Ira to go to Kiev to the Temple. It was so great. We got there in time to stay for a little bit of English Practice in Borschagovsky where Sister Sutton is serving. Sister Sutton previously served in Vinnistya and was the missionary who started teaching Ira. They were all supoer excited to see each other.

We did baptisms for the dead and it was a very wonderful experience. 

After that it was around 3:00 - 3:30 pm and had a lot of time left before our train. A lot of time. Our train was for theat night at 11:45 pm and so we had some time. We walked so, so much that day around Kiev. That was some of the most walking I have ever done in my life. We were all so dead tired by the end. Some of us got a little bit of sleep on the train. We got back to Vinnitsya at around 3:00 am and had to take a taxi which is a pretty rare occasion. And we were lucky to find one that could fit seven poeple. I didn't sleep very well at all and then we had to get up for my before church meetings with the Branch Presidency. Yeah we were pretty tired. 

President Kumferman with Sister Kumferman and Maggie came to our branch and spoke. It was really great to see them all as well as Zhenya the mission driver and his awesome and hilarious wife, Sveta. Nastya Volos, our investigator was unable to come to Sacrament meeting due to her helping her nine year old brother back for his chess turnement and also due to the fact that her mom took her keys with her and she had to wait for her to get back before she could leave. But she did come in time for Sunday School which was lead by Viola and Natasha who are preparing for missions. We talked about why scripture study is important and more on how we can improve our studies. After we had our monthy branch lunch which President Kumferman was very please to find out about. After that we grabbed Nastya, Viola and Natasha and had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was so good. Natsya has such a good understanding of gospel principles and we can tell that she is really growing. She had already agreed to be baptized but wants to read the Book of Mormon and receive her witness but on Sunday she agreed to the goal of being baptized on the 24th of June. She is so great we are confident that everything will work out. Tonight we are taking her over to the Bevsyuk family for a family home evening and things should be great.

We took lots of pictures this week. More correctly, Elder Clifford took lots of pitcures this week.

But he forgot his camera and since mine is beasically a toy camera I don't have pictures this week but next week there should be. 

This week we have a mission wide conference where Elder Calister and president Martino are coming and so we are going to Kiev again. In preperation we have been asked to reread certain talks by Elder Calister and all of them are just awesome and testify so boldy of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the calling of the Prophet Josheph Smith. If I wasn't already convinced before all of those talks I am now thouroughly convinced of the thruthfulness of this all. 

Please make the Book of Mormont the "corner stone" of your testimony as it has been made mine.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Rain, More Rain, and Europe Day

05/21/2018

Rain. Rain all week long. . . It was really nice though.

It was also a lot cooler. As in tempurature.

We live right in center so if there is anything going on, parades, concerts, demonstrations, they all take place basically right outside of our apartment. This week there were quite a few things goinon. There was on Friday "Vinsalofest" (Vinnitsya Salo Festival (Salo = lard) ). On Satruday there was Europe day. That was crazy and radiculously loud. What is funny is Ukraine is the only country that celebrates Europe day that is outside of the Europian Union. And Vinnitsya is the only city in Ukraine that celebrates it with concerts and festivals. I think that is pretty humorous. There was security everywhere because the mayor came and so many concerts. The concerts went so late that we had a pretty rough time trying to sleep. The other elders with with us that night as well because their water wasn't working and we had church the next day. On Sunday there were lots of concerts going on. I am not sure if it was just an extention of Europe day or for something else but it was pretty loud. And there was some kind of military demonstration going on this morning so we couldn't leave for a little bit. Fun stuff.

Nastya and Inna have been pretty busy lately sop we haven't seen them very much except for Nastya who came on Saturday but have to leave pretty quick after that. 

I got a hair cut today and had the lday put my part on the other side so my hair line can grow back on the other side that one crazy lady started shaving into that one time. 

There is a lday named Natasha who runs a yarn/embroidery stand at a mall near us. We stopped by to see what she had a couple of weeks ago and decided to come back and buy some things from her. The next time we stopped by her stand she was talking to us and asking us all kinds of questions. She is very interested in our religion and has studied with just about evry religion except ours. We offerd to stop by again and bring some things for her to read and she galdly agreed. The next time we brought some pamphlets and brochures and a copy of the Book of Mormon. SHe was preety happy but when she saw the Book of Mormon she gasped and said "This is what I have been looking for!" Apparently her brother during the time of the Soviet Union was trying to get a copy of the Book of Mormon but died before he could and ever since then she has been trying to find the book that her brother was so interested in. She is so excited to read it. We like her and her advice on colors for different cross stitch projects and she likes us too (due to some of the qustions that she started asking we think that she might try to sell her daughter off to one of us).

There is a young mother of three adorable little girls that comes to our begginer English practice group, and on Saturday one of the girls gave each of us missionaries, ecxcept for Elder Ulrich for some reason, one of those rubber band braclets. 

Not much really happened other than that.

Untiil next week.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Missionary Work

05/13/2018

There were a couple of holidays this week. May 9th - Victory Day. And May 13th- Mother's Day. The first one is a pretty big holiday for counrties like Russian and some of those that were part of the U.S.S.R. like Ukraine. The latter is the one that I was more interested in though because as you know we get a chance to Skype home twice a year. Once at Christmas time and once on Mother's day. It was good to see my family and talk with them for a little bit. It was also fun to see the families of my companion and the other elders as well. 

The apartment that we live in is right in the center of the city and so if there is ever a parade, concert, or any type of event where more that one person is involved it is right outside of our apartment. Normally there is a pretty constant amount of noise that goes on everyday around our apartment but on Wednesday the 9th it got a lot more crazy. It wasn't as ridiculous it can get during New Years but it was pretty crazy. 

Last week the interenet people came and "fixed" the interenet. I am not quite sure what they actually did but I know that it invloved drilling and wire. All I know that after that the internet still didn't work. We later found out that they tried to install dial-up internet. I am nowt sure why but they did. There were some calls made by our Branch Presient after we found that out and then the agreement was made that next weelk (this week) another company would come and install fiber optics. This week we didn't see one worker at all around out branhc building and the interenet was still in the same state as ever, not. But then all of the sudden on Friday it started working. It isn't exactly what I would imagine fiber optics to do but I am just glad that it works now so we can do tithing and also talk to our families. 

On Saturday there was a branch "Helping Hands" service project where the city gave us a teritory by the Bug River to clean up. We all put on the fancy Helping Hands vest things and grabbed some gloves and garbage bags and went to work. There was a surprizing amount of trash around and it was kind of deceiving at first. I didn't see it as I was at the other ond of the teritoy but one of the elders and some other members got interviewed by a reporter who showed up asking what we were doing and why.

After that we had the closest thing you can gfet to in Ukraine to a Ward BBQ. We had President Koshelev making "shashlik" (grilled meat) and had other food out and played games and ate. It was pretty fun, but not only that but we had a few non-members come and help with the service and that came to the "Picnic" (that is what they called it) and had fun with us.

Last week we were looking around and found this awesome place to buy suplize for embroidering. We looked around there a bit and decided that we were going to come back this week. During the week I unknowingly inspired Elder Ulrich to take up cross stitching. Today we two went and picked out for him so cloth and needles and embroidery floss (string for you heathens). The lady running the place was very interested in us and long stroy short she is anxious for us to come back to not only perhaps perchase more but to bring materials for her to read and learn more about our church. Missionary work in action.

Last week was practically summer and it was getting kind of afraid fopr Elder Clifford who is going to be here in Ukraine all summer. I was afraid that summer was going to get way to hot than is bareable. Summer here is already really hot but this "Spring" weather is already getting up there. I think it almost got up to 30 degrees C the week before last. This week though was a lot nicer. It has even for the past few days been showering which has been very enjoyable except for when you forget top close the window in your apartment and a you come home to water all over your rug. 

Things are going great. Nastya Volos our investigator has agreed to be baptised but not on a specific date yet. She is really great and I can see her being a good addition to our Branch here in Vinnitysa. There are lots of other great people we are trying to work with as well. The other elders are working with a young man named Vova who is really awesome too. 

Oh, we also got transfers this week. All four of us, Elder Me, Elder Clifford, Elder Ulrich an Elder Durtschi are all staying and this is mine and Elder Durtschi's last transfer and Elder Ulrich's second to last. Things are great and there is no where else I would rather be than here right now. 

I appreciate all of your support!

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

The Legend of the Chupacabra

05/07/2018

Let me tell you the legend of the Chupacabra.

Long ago in land called Vinnitsya there were two elders who wanted to make their English practice more interesting. They realized that it was the fifth of May which translates into Spanish as "Cinco de Mayo" These two elders had at one point made up a legend that centuries ago in old Mexico there was a man who noticed that his sheep and goats were going mission and he didn't know why but the village elder came and asked the man, (of course in a Mexican accent) "Do you know why your sheep and goats are going missing?" the man replied "No". "It is because of the Chupacabra!". This made up legend also tells how one can catch the Chupacabra. However the most important piece of information is that the Chupacabra will only be able to caught on Cinco de Mayo. So these two elders decided to take their beginner English group on an adventure. A hunt for the Chupacabra. They first had to go to the Relief Society room and learn how to be quiet by playing the telephone game. Then into the kitchen to learn what the Chupacabra eats as well as other animals.Then after searching around in the kitchen they find a small toy goat that they tie a string around to make a lure for the Chupacabra. Then into the young women's room for target practice with the two small Nerf guns that Elder Clifford found at Silpo for half off and couldn't pass up. They first had to do a word search to find the words they needed to practice shooting. Then after a little practice they embarked to find the lair of the Chupacabra. They found that the Primary room was where the Chupacabra had made its lair. They gave some poor unfortunate soul the duty of throwing out the lure three times. They then entered the lair to see if the Chupecabra was out. What they saw was a crudely drawn picture that Elder Durtschi did of the Chupecabra. They had found him! The only way to kill him was to duck behind the previously tipped over table at a safe distance from the beast and shoot the toilet paper rolls that these elders for some reason had been saving. Probably to make a didgeridoo at some point. When they started to knock over the toilet paper rolls they realized that it was not only making the chupecabra weaker but that every toilet paper roll had a delicous Roshen truffle inside which they all enjoyed happily ever after. The end

So as you just read, we had a fun English Practice on Saturday. Unfortunately Wednesday's wasn't as involved.

We had a pretty great week. We had some time to contact before our lesson with Inna before Wednesday's English practice so we started wandering around and talking with people. I felt to go in a little bit of a random direction but we went and then we happened to run into Inna with whom we were going to meet with in a few hours. She was on her way to meet with a friend and so we walked and talked with her until she met with her friend. On the lesson Inna brought that friend and we had a nice little lesson. 

On Friday we went into the "Tsentralny Park" and set up a white board on which Natsya our recent convert wrote a question. THe question was "Что вам нравится в нашем мире?" (What do you like in our world?). Then we had a people who wlaked by frab a sticky note and write their answer and stick it to the board. It was pretty awesome. There was us four missionaries, Katya and Natsya our recent convert girls and Natysa Interpretper (who we found out her last names is "Волос" which means hair). So we had one companionship stay at the board and the other go out and hand out English cards. When I went out and handed out cards we grabbed Nastya Hair (I am going to call her that now) and talked with people. From that we got quite a few good potential investigators. 

Unfortunatly we were not able to have a lesson with Nastya Hair this week and didn't see her or Inna at church for various reasons. We had a good Sunday and Fast Day. 

I have been trying to use up my yarn before I leave so I don't have to take it with me so I have been working on various projects. One of my latest was a tam (a burett looking hat for women). 

There is in our little branch a very interesting lady. She is in charge of the building and cleaning. She is a type "3" for those of you who know what that means. For those of you who don't just ask my mother what it means. This lady can come off as very bossy and high paced. SHe has lately getting all worked up because we don't knwo all of the streets and land marks in Vinnitsya and has been scolding us a lot. So I decided to give her that tam that I made and she loved it.  

So yeah. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

p.s. By the way, last week when the power kept going out I barley sent the email before the power went out again.

Power Outage

04/30/2018

The power went out for an hour here in the Internet Cafe so I don't really have a ton of time. Well great. And this week we had so many things happen. So I guess if you are really itching to know you can just ask me in person in a couple of months. 

The weather has been stunning and the people are really happy here in Vinnitsya. 

The past several days have been filled to the brim with countless miracles that have come in all shapes and sizes. 

We got to meet with Dasha a little bit and found out that she is trying to get her driver's licence and go to Germany. 

On Thursday we had youth night and lots of people came. There so many people named Nastya that come to activities now. So we have to add another name after Nastya to distinguish them. For example Nastya Recent Convert, or Nastya Interpreter. But anyways Natsya Interpreter (she wants to become an interpreter) who we haven't seen for a while came for her first time to youth night and really enjoyed it. 

It has been getting worse and worse with people leaving after English Practice before the spiritual thought so we have had to think of different ways to get the to read, take or do something. We decided this last time on Saturday to right after the story instead of a spiritual thought hand out to everyone a balloon that says "I love my family" and a Plan of salvation pamphlet. This was pretty effective. Inna who is good friends with Nastya Recent Convert and has come to almost every single activity for a month seemed fairly interested and so did Nastya Interpreter. I think that everyone took a pamphlet that came to English. 

At the beginning of this transfer Elder Clifford and I set a goal to have a serious baptismal date with someone and next transfer have a baptism. We have really felt inspired to set this goal and have felt that Inna will expect the invitation to meet. So after English Practice we talk a little and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and set up a time to meet. That night we called and invited people to church. That next day at church Nastya Interpreter came and the only reason Inna didn't come was because she was helping her grandma. Nastya really really liked church and Katya and Nastya Recent Converts and Elder Clifford told her all about the Book of Mormon and got her even more interested. During the second hour we had a short lesson with her where we mostly bore testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon and how we came to know that it was true and answered a couple of questions that she had. We set up a time with her to meet and talk more and she is now our new investigator. She is so normal which is a huge blessing and is so sensitive to spiritual things which I can tell. It may be that the Lord directed us to set that goal but had another person to help at the same time. And what is awesome is that she is going over for a family home evening with one of the families in the branch tonight. 

Great, another black out. Even less time. I will count my self lucky to get this email sent off.

We saw so many miracles and I feel like one of the Book of Mormon engravers who "can't contain a hundredth part" of the miracles that we saw this week. I have told some of the biggest but there were so many others.

We also went and helped plant potatoes out in a village this week. It was pretty fun and it went surprisingly fast. 

I am just grateful to be here and to have this chance to serve and be companions with Elder Clifford. He is really really great. 

Today we went to the "Between the Buns" restaurant again and I got a pretty evil looking dish. The peppers were not that spicy. Nothing in Ukraine can satisfy my crave for spice. But the burger was actually really really good. 

I apologize for not telling everything that happened. I have no time at all. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Pictures and Fountain Day II

04/23/2018

When we were with our recent-convert and potenital-investigator friends before we went to the fountain we walk around in "Tsentralny Park" by our apartment and all of the sudden found our selves int eh middles of the Vinnitsya Food Fest and they had a band playing and the they were rocking and the lady who was singing was going nuts. 

Say the Magic Words

04/23/2018

As a district we have a goal of at least once a week each companionship visit with one of the members in the branch and help them share the Book of Mormon with someone they know, This week we went over to the Bevzyuk family who in fact has a daughter that on July 17th leaves for her mission to the Dnepropetrovsk mission in Ukraine. It was good to go over and meet with them. The last time we have been over to them was mine and Elder Clifford's very first week her in Vinnitsya. since then they knocked down one of their walls in their house. We talked about the Book of Mormon and committed them to give it away to someone. We played a gave that they taught us how to play called "and it came to Pass". It is basically Mormon Uno with some other twists. At first I did not understand at all, then I read the rules and then I understood. But that didn't help because I had already racked up too many sins from when I didn't understand which made me loose horribly. Good thing that isn't how it works in real life. 

We did the normal stuff this week life District Meeting which always fun with the lively elders in our district. Also English practice and youth night and church. At church we had a ton of people come. One of which was a young man named Sasha who has been less active for around six months because his friends showed him some things on the internet that scarred him away. But his mom who is a non-member has been coming for over a month and then finally on Sunday he came. That evening there was a small branch gathering thing that he came to as well. I think and really hope that he will keep coming. He seems to like Elder Ulrich a lot. I think everyone likes Elder Ulrich a lot. 

On Thursday we hopped on a train which was a pretty nice one if I might add and met up to Kiev. There we had our interviews which we were a little bit late for. We were scheduled at 1:30but our train was scheduled to arrive at around 1:10 and it takes 45 minutes to an hour to get there from the train station. I am not quite sure what they were expecting. But it was all okay because we weren't actually late for our interviews but for the special lunch that Sister Kumferman had prepared for us Vinnitsya elders. The Kumfermans are always so nice. She made yummy enchiladas and even a super delicious chocolate cake for me because my birthday happened to be that day. They are so nice. I am a pretty simple person. At least I consider my self to be. I generally to seek out cake but will eat it when offered. That is probably due to that fact that I don't it general like all of the dry bready cake that is usually around and when they load it with frosting it is also not very appetizing to me. But Sister Kumferman's wonder cake was something else. She knows how to balance. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed my birthday cake. I just thought of this. Where does the tradition of have a birthday CAKE come from? 

Let us ask Elder Durtschi who is sitting three computers away from me. He said, looking off into the distance, "There once was a man, and he said, 'Happy Birthday Elder Clawson.' That day was today and that person was me." Well I guess there it is. You can never get a strait answer out of him. It always has to be something witty or referencing a movie our something.

On Thursday we from Vinnitsya were the only missionaries there and so Elder Clifford said that we would probably get done at around 2:30 - 3:00. But I told him that it was not going to be that way because President Kumferman knows that he has more time so he will take it. And that was what happened. We started our interviews at around 2:30 and by the time all four of us had our turn it was about 6:15. I knew that would happen because I have spent enough time around him.

After that the three other elders decided that they wanted to treat me with dinner. So Elder Durtschi took us to this place on Maidan in center Kiev. It was probably the craziest restaurant I have ever been to. It was called O.B. I don't know what it stand for but it was crazy. They way to get there is you go to an underground mall called "Globus" and hop on the elevator and go to a special floor between the first and second floors of the mall and get out and enter into this strange looking Ukrainian-hipster gift shop. You then walk up to the person standing behind the counter and utter some secret password in Ukrainian and then she pushes a button and the wall opens up and you step through. Then you meet a waiter who greets you and gives a short little tour where you come to a big iron wall with hands sticking out that are holding lights. That was apparently the iron curtain and the seventy two hands represented the seventy two years that the iron curtain hanging. You then walk through and enter the actually restaurant where a live band is playing and lots of different no nooks to sit and everything is really hipster Ukrainian. If you are wondering what that looks like you will just have to come and see for yourself. All of the waiters looked like they were getting ready to weld with their leather aprons. We were sitting at our table and we noticed that the people sitting at the bar started moving. We kept watching and saw that it wasn't the people but the seat they were on were moving. I still don't understand the purpose of having the seats move slowly into the next room while people are on them when their drinks are still sitting on the bar but I guess it is cool and not Soviet. There we got something called "compote" which is basically the same as juice but is not in America. It is basically the more natural version of juice. This time though and this restaurant we got a special kind of compote which had smoke pumped through it and so when you drank it tasted like you were drinking a delicious apple camp fire. For my dinner I got mashed potatoes and cat fish which was really good. 

The next day we had Zone Conference and it was awesome as always. We talked a lot this time about Preach My Gospel and Teaching Skills. I don't really have much to say about it. It was just a good Zone Conference. Either that or I didn't pay attention very well. Also we had to leave early as is the life of a missionary serving in Vinnitsya in order to catch the train back. 

If you were to ask someone in Odessa what they knew about Vinnitsya they would say that there is a really cool fountain there. The same answer would come from those in Kiev and every other city in Ukraine. There isn't a ton here that attracts tourist but everyone knows about the awesome fountain here. On Saturday the fountain opened. We decided to take some recent converts and potential investigators and see "opening night". It was pretty cool but we didn't get to see it from the best angle. I am sure that it would have been cooler if we had been closer. But it was still cool what I got to see. We have a potential investigator named Nastya who looks like she is twenty something and dresses like it (like the twenty something year old Ukrainian girls that are everywhere here in Vinnitsya) but we found out that she is not even sixteen. She is pretty cool though. She taught us how to do bird calls using your hands. 

Yeah that's it. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson​​

 

Us on Maidan after the crazy dinner.

The I love Vinnitsya sign by the "Tsentralny Park"

The Vishivankas that I finally got for my family.

Diggin' Holes and some deadly cookie dough

04/16/2018

If you asked me who the most patient person I knew was I would first (without hesitation) say my mother. Then I would say Katya Modu.

Katya is the mother of four very very "active" children. Her husband is not able to be with her so she has to take care of them by herself. She is so patient with them. They are always running around like crazy but she stays calm and never raises her voice but tries to lovingly help them. Every week us missionaries go over and have a family home evening with her and her four kids. It is always an experience going over and seeing what the kids will do that time. This last week Elder Clifford and I went over and it was awesome as it always is. They have a little dog that is pretty calm except when the kids get going and then it starts going crazy. This last time I took it upon my self to keep the dog calm so we could have our lesson. During the SHORT spiritual thought most of the kids were pretty well behaved. That is all for except Samic the youngest who is about 3 years old. He cannot be tamed. His favorite thing is to dance and just scream. Sometimes he can be a little bit distracting. 

But we survived and I again don't know how Katya does it. She is a saint. But don't get me wrong it really is fun going over and playing and talking with all of the kids. This last time they wanted to sing some songs so Angela, the oldest daughter, started a beat and we all started singing "We will rock you!" by the band Queen. 

The next day was Tuesday and this was the worst Tuesday that I have ever had. I don't know why it was so bad, but it not only seemed that everything was going wrong but there seemed to but just an overwhelming amount of negativity everywhere. The whole day was not good at all for me and at the end of the day we ended up having some extra time in which we planned to go out and just contact. If you know me then you know that talking with poeple that I don't know is not my first nature so this activity is not my favorite. And this particular Tuesday I really really did not want to. I was so done with the day and just wanted to sit down and do nothing. But I felt and knew that that would not fix anything. That would not make me feel any better. And I had a thought that if I ended the day that way then the next day would probably be the same. So I decided to pray and ask for not only strength but also will and a determination to do what I know I am supposed to do. And after a little while I decided to pull out the balloons. . . 

The sister missionaries that previously lived in our apartment here were so kind as to leave us a small stash of balloons and sticks (balloons in Ukraine aren't attached by a string but a plastic stick), and on the balloons is printed in Ukrainian "I love my family. Mormon.org" Giving out balloons here in Ukraine is something that can lighten even the Grinches mood and that is what I needed on that particular Tuesday. We gave out balloons and brochures and that really helped me. I didn't feel back at 100% but it definitely helped. Like that story of Gordon B.Hinckley on his mission during a hard time he decided to just forget himself and get to work. I can say that this is true and if you can do it with multicolored balloons then all the better.

after that the rest of the week was great. We had a great English Practice on Wednesday and an awesome Youth Night on Thursday. We have so many people that are coming that in my opinion will become investigators very soon.

Here in Vinnitsya I have really noticed that one major and important thing to do is to just be someone's friend. You have got to be their friends here and that means having conversations about nothing and visiting them just because and then they will start to trust you more after which our very special message of the restored gospel can be presented. 

On Saturday there was int he morning a service project in our branch in which us missionaries and several branch members went out into the middle of nowhere where lives a family by the name of Syezov. They are wonderful members and have four awesome kids which are all musically talented. They have a home out in the countryside and have goats and chickens and some land for planting and growing crops. We helped them by digging a whole bunch of holes and planting trees. Elder Durtschi and I left early however so we could go and make it in time to run English Practice which went pretty well. Afterwards we helped a member clean the branch building and then the other elders got back. Elder Clifford's neck got quite some sun. He had so much fun apparently giving service that day. 

Sunday showed up to the Branch Presidency meeting and our Branch President, President Koshelev told me that his first councilor wasn't coming and that all of those assigned to speak were not going to be here either. He told me that many members here still hold many of the traditions in the Orthodox church and this Sunday was when you are supposed to go to the cemetery and so many people didn't end up showing up to church. But we had some really good on the spot talks by those who did come. For about two and a half weeks the internet has not been working in the branch building so we were not able to do tithing last week. And yesterday morning before Sacrament Meeting we checked and it still was not working. But it somehow started working after and we were able to do tithing which was a miracle. 

Today we got a call from the other elders saying that Elder Ulrich was really sick and dry heaving. We asked some questions  and found out that the previous night they had made cookies. Or at least planned to make cookies. They made the batter but not the cookies. They said that they just ate the batter and Elder Ulrich swore that no one has ever gotten sick from eating cookie batter. But then he woke up this morning already on his death bed. He is fine now and in fact was well enough to go with us an get felafel and got to a guitar shop and mess around there for a bit. Today I picked up a bass for the first time in a very long time and I just feel pain. Pain that I have forgotten almost everything. Elder Durtschi also feels this pain as he tried to remember some songs on the guitar. 

This morning Elder Clifford finished his first knitting project and I this week also finished another project. He is sending his home to his mom but I think that I am going to give the shawl/ scarf thing that I made to one of the recent converts here in Vinnitsya. 

We had a short photo shoot outside of our apartment.

We weren't able to meet with Dasha unfortunately but we have a plan to meet with her this week. 

Старейшина Клсаон / Elder Clawson

I was going for the shawl pose that you see all of the time on knitting patterns for shawls or whenever people in general take a picture of someone with a shawl. 

Happy Orthodox Easter and Happy Spring!

04/09/2018

This year Easter and General Conference lined up pretty well. Not only for all of you Americans but also for all of us here in Eastern Europe. For you Easter was on the 1st of April and so was General Conference. For us we watch General Conference the week after because it takes some time for all of the translations to be done and it just so happened that this year Orthodox Easter was on the same day that we would watch General Conference. Us missionaries here in Vinnitsya got to listen to it in English throughout the week and might I say that I don't remember a General Conference being so powerful. I felt so inspired to be better and to study the scriptures more intently and not to mention all of the surprising new changes in church programs. Here in the Europe East Area the Area Presidency has instructed that all ward and branch units hold sacrament meeting during general conference weekend. So the way it works here is that the week after all of you watch General Conference we have sacrament meeting but watch at least one session of General Conference after that ordinance of the sacrament. We got to as a branch watch the Sunday morning session and I think it was cool that when they would say something like "On this beautiful Easter morning. . ." it was actually Easter for us. 

Before we watched the Sunday morning session we watched and took part in the "Solemn Assembly". That was a really awesome experience to see these faithful Ukrainian members stand and sustain their church leaders. We have one Deacon and it was cool for him to stand and sustain the Prophet and Apostles. 

After we watched conference the branch put on a little Easter party that was pretty tasty. Here in Ukrainian there are a lot more traditions than we have in the U.S. Here it is very popular to back these special little Easter cakes called "Pas'hachki" and decorate eggs in very elaborate ways and take them to the Provoslovny "Orthodox" churches to get them blessed by the priests. It is always fun to see these families walking or getting on the tramvay to go to the church with their basket of eggs. So our members of course made the special Easter cakes (which actually aren't the best, mostly pretty bland but you can get lucky sometimes and get a good one) and lots of colored eggs as well as a variety of other tasty Ukrainian dishes. Another Easter tradition is to have "egg battles" where you and another person take and egg and hit them together to see which one will win and stay whole and which one will loose and crack. I grabbed an egg and with all of the little kids that were there had these little "egg wars" and without meaning to (because I think that there is some element of strategy involved) won every single time. I even tried to use the seemingly weaker part of my egg but still I remained undefeated. I feel a little bad that I broke all of those kid's eggs but mostly feel accomplished. 

We here have been trying to make a bigger effort in getting more new people to come to our pretty big English Practice. The problem isn't in getting people but in getting people who aren't young girls and 55-65 year old men. We are pretty good at getting those types of people to come, especially Elder Clifford in getting those younger women to come. We recently went out one night and talked with a whole bunch of people about English and we met quite a few people who are very interested in our English Practice and have seen a few of them in our most recent English Practice. 

Other than that we didn't get to do very much this week. I spent some good time in the beginning of the week getting all the way better from last week. But now I am 100% better. I think that I might have to do with the amazing Spring weather that we have been having. Today it has gotten up to 19 degrees C! I think that equates to about 67 degrees F. I thas been so warm and you can see all the green starting. Spring is something else here in this part of the world. It comes so fast, almost over night, and it is intense green. I have experienced two Springs in Eastern Europe before this and I can feel it here. There is also a special Spring smell that is only here that I have started to notice again. 

On a diferent note, I have been accepted to Utah State University and am very excited to see what my future will hold. I have had lots of help in getting these things all sorted out since I haven't done anything with applying for college after I graduated High School. 

Things are going well here in Ukraine. We recently got new missionaries which we are very grateful to have here in our little mission. Due to all of those missionaries that have been going home who have ended their missions we have been getting smaller and smaller but we have had some relief with getting groups of new missionaries.

I would invite all of you to pay closer attention to what our church leaders have counseled us in doing and make a greater effort in carrying out what they have said, especially our Prophet. 

I am very grateful for all of your support and prayers and am looking forward to another great week here in the misison field in the service of my God!

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Elder Clifford really wanted to play basketball so we went to a court that we knew of but it was locked tight. So we resorted to setting up to broken hoop that is at our church and had a little fun and ate some pizza form the "Silpo" grocery store near us. 

Zone Conference Photo

04/02/2018

Here is the picture from our last Zone Conference about three weeks ago.

An Eventful Week

04/02/2018

Yeah so here is the story of this week.

Once upon a time we had a family home evening with one of the families here on the Vinnitsya Branch. There we had some food. After that I got terribly sick and now we are here. That is the story of this week. I have been confined to my apartment since last Tuesday and have only gone outside once before today. That other time was on Sunday to try and download the Saturday Sessions of General Conference so we could take it back and watch it at home. But that didn't work unfortunately. 

I appologize for the short email but that was what happened this week. Pretty sad right?

On the bright side I got to finish the Book of Mormon again. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Tasty Taco Salad in Kiev

3/26/2018

So we went to Kiev againt this last week. Our train up on Monday night wasn't the best. But I guess all I have to compare it to is the "InterCity Plus" which is a really nice train. We are spoiled sometimes here. But Luckily our train back down was the InterCity Plus. 

In Kiev we had what President Kumferman called "Mid Transfer Training". This is what President Packer called "Mini MTC" and President Blair in the U.S. mission called "Extened MTC". You might be thinking 'Well wait a second Elder Clawson. You aren't a new missionary anymore and infact are going home in not too long." But let me tell you that even at this point you don't really feel old. But it wasn't my lack of feeling senior but the fact that my current companion is pretty new that we got this opportunity to go back up to Kiev after we had been there not even three days ago. 

There we had lots of fun talking about a variety of things most of which consisted of mental, physical, socal, spiritual and emotional health. We also talked about language study nand other topics as well. I personally was very very tried from having to get up really early to get there on time from the appartment we were staying at in order to get there early and I was pretty zoned out for a lot of the time. But it really wasn't for me anyways. Right?

We had a great English Practice on Wednesday and we notcied that one of the older ladies that comes to our beginner group might be interested in family history and after wards we asked her and she truned out to be very interested and have plans to meet after one of these days and get her introduced with Familysearch. We had an exchange with our Zone Leaders whcih came down from Kiev. I was with Elder Lundquist my old buddy from Borschagovsky. We vistited a less-active lady who taught us how to make these magazine paper tubes and basiclly basket weave with them. We both made jars and now have more supplize thanks to her to make more things. We;ll see what we come up with. We also talked with some cool people on the streets. On the way to that less-active lady's house I felt that I should stop and talk to this business looking man and he stopped with is a mircale in of itself and after explaining who we were he stopped me and asked me why I had decided to stop HIM. I told him that I had a feeling that I should and he ofund that very interesting and eventually execpted a copy of the Book of Mormon and comitted to read it. 

Saturday we had another awesome English Pracice where a lot of people came. We had around 55-60 poeple there this time and a lot of new people too. That was cool. After our spiritua;l thought a lot of poeple took a copy of "The Living Christ" document which was also cool.

After English Practice there was a Relief Society party where the sisters in the Relief Society did a little reenactment of the formation of the Relief Society. It was funny to see these Ukrainians in pioneer clothing and bonetts like you only really see on treck or "This is the Place" Heritage park in Utah. After that we had a Vereniky (meet or potato dumplings) where my team won. After that we had the projecor set up and played some sing alongs that were very hard to follow. After that they transitioned into the just dance videos where us misssionaries had the honor of starting the branch off with. They are really enjoyed that. I have never seen so many cellphones get whipped out so fast before. After we were al tired they brought out tables and we all ate.

On Sunday President Onyshuk from the Mission Presidency came and he spoke and after durring the second hour he instructed us. Seeing him there with his family as well was a reall treat but what was even better was seeing all of the sudden Irina (The formor investigator mom of a less-active recent convert) walk in. She said that she just felt that she should come. I wasn't really sure what to think but she stayed both hours of church. After wards she left and didn't really give me a chance to talk with her but she did talk with another member. 

Today we went and found Elder Clifford some knitting needles and yarn so he can learn. He has been wnating to learn, for what ever reason, and now is ready for his own project. 

On the tramvay home (I don't remember when) I sat down next to this younger looking guy and started talking with him. Here in Ukraine it is some what rare to find someone that will talk with you if you are strangers. granted everyone will help you if you are lost without a question but other than that they won't talk. So it was already a good sign seeing this guy talk with me. We found out that he is on the Vinnitsya basketball team which sport is Elder Clifford's favorite and a soon as the words "basketball" left this man's lips Elder Clifford swoopted in and joined in. He seem ed pretty interested in English Pracice and we'll see what happens with him. 

Well. That's it folks.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson​

Spring?

3/19/2018

Spring was supposed to come. . . spring was supposed to be here. . .

The weather has truned very cold again. Elder Clawson hair freezing cold. Again. But there is hope. They say that this is that last time that it will get like this before Spring. Let's see how good of a metoirologist the babuski in the branch are.

Basically our only Investigator right now is a twenty two year old girl named Dasha. She is pretty awesome and is pretty interested in the Goepel and in my opinion something, or someone else as well. . .

We had a good meeting with her this week and talked about the Plan of Salvation after our English Practice. She has been coming to the biginner group that Elder Clifford and I run. She has pretty good English for a beginner and I think that the middle/advanced group would suit her more but she likes coming to our group instead. On the Wednesday practice after class during the usual story to get everyone together before the Spiritual thought she came and sat behind me and told me that the meeting we had planned with her after wasn't going to work because she was super hungry. I told her that it was alright but also that I had brought something to give her during our lesson. She thought for a second and then said "Okay I'll stay". I felt kind of bad so I gave her an "Артек" (a waffel cookie thing) and she gobbled that thing right up. We had the lesson with a member named Gena how honestly is the back bone of our little branch her in Vinnitsya. She still had lots of seemingly random questions but if you pay attention they are all good genuine questions. Gena is a returned missionary and is a huge help. I am very grateful that he was there with us to explain better what we believe (even though she already knows a lot about what we believe) and to bear sincire testimony. After that I gave her a cool little Plan of Salvation refrigorator magnet that I had made during my time in the office. I think she thought it was cool.

We had an eschanged with the other elders this week. I was with Elder Hart while Elder Clifford was with Elder Durtschi. We had fun and especially the three of them after we got home and started shooting hoops in our appartment with the miniture basket ball and hoop that Elder Clifford got in his Christmas Package. Our neighbor below us however didn't think that it was that fun. 

We took a train up to Kiev and had our interviews with President Kumferman. I always love getting to have an interview with him and talk for a while with Sister Kumferman while I wait. With the Packer's I never had an interview in the mission home let alone even saw it but ever since I left Odessa I have had one there every single time. Not that the Packers aren't hospitible or anything but I have jsut really drawn closer with the Kumfermans. It also helps that out of the three mission presidents that I have had, President Kumferman is the one that I have had for the longest. 

After that we went and did sports night in the Borschagovsky ward. It was nice to see members there and the missionaries as well. That night we stayed over at the office elder's apartment like many used to do when I was serving there and then the next day had an awsome Zone Conference where we talked about the Scattering and Gathering of Israel. It was all very interesting and it is really cool to see the progressing we have form one Zone Conference to the next in topic. After that we took our three and a half hour train ride back to Vinnitsya. Both times going and coming back from Kiev we had the nice InterCity train and ours both times was a double decker one and we got to be on top both times. Today (Monday after getting back from Kiev on Frieday) we are going up again to Kiev because there is a special training on Tuesday for all the new missionaries who got here in October and January. So we get top go up because Elder Clifford was one of those that got here in October.

Here in the Vinnitsya Branch we only hold two hours of church each week. We always have Sacrament meeting and then it switches off every week having either Sunday School or Relief Society/Priesthood meeting. This week we had Priesthood Meeting but since Elder Clifford is one of two people in the branch who can play the piano and the other being Elder Durtschi we were asked to go to Primary and play for them. I just tagged along and tried to help calm down the little kids that were going crazy. It was kind of funny. They had probably the most quiet and calm person in the branch teach the lesson in Primary. At first I wasn't sure how it was going ot work out but it turned out alright. 

One fun fact about Elder Clifford is that his two teeth next to his two front teeth are missing. He has these prosthetic ones that he wares though and it is funny sometimes when he forgets them and goes out in public. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

This is me showing Elder Clifford the cool lights on one of the streets near the office elder apartment.