tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27412547933281933272024-02-07T03:10:04.950-08:00Ethan's Mission AdventuresEmily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-66875335097323982672018-06-11T11:32:00.001-07:002018-06-11T11:32:57.873-07:00Feta Cheese in Kiev<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Another week in Kiev. </span><br />
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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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2080447695" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span> morning to catch our train to Kiev.</div>
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The other elders had an exchange with the Zone Leaders this time <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2080447696" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Wednesday</span></span> to <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2080447697" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday</span></span> 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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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Until next week,</div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Night time view off our balcony.</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-34407796054979588702018-06-04T16:17:00.001-07:002018-06-04T16:17:13.831-07:00Wehrwolf06/04/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span></span></span><br />
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We had a mission conference where President Martino and Elder Callister came and taught us. </div>
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We used our P-day time one <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_705693250" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> 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). </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-31512808036962548292018-05-29T18:01:00.000-07:002018-05-29T18:01:11.471-07:00There was a huge Soccer game in Kiev between Real Madrid and Liverpool. That is why our train was so late.05/28/2018<br />
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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.</div>
<span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266412" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Friday</span></span> 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.</div>
Early <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266413" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Saturday</span></span> 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.</div>
We did baptisms for the dead and it was a very wonderful experience. </div>
After that it was around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266414" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">3:00 - 3:30 pm</span></span> and had a lot of time left before our train. A lot of time. Our train was for theat night at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266415" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">11:45 pm</span></span> 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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266416" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">3:00 am</span></span> 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. </div>
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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266417" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> 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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266418" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">on Sunday</span></span> she agreed to the goal of being baptized on the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266419" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">24th of June</span></span>. 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.</div>
We took lots of pictures this week. More correctly, Elder Clifford took lots of pitcures this week.</div>
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. </div>
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. </div>
Please make the Book of Mormont the "corner stone" of your testimony as it has been made mine.<br /></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</span><br />
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-51137817756987760482018-05-29T18:00:00.001-07:002018-05-29T18:00:22.991-07:00Rain, More Rain, and Europe Day05/21/2018<br />
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It was also a lot cooler. As in tempurature.</div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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).</div>
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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. </div>
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Not much really happened other than that.</div>
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Untiil next week.</div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-21942048465938940542018-05-29T17:58:00.001-07:002018-05-29T17:58:32.286-07:00Missionary Work05/13/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span><br />
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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I appreciate all of your support!</div>
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<br />Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-80823689655594987912018-05-29T17:56:00.002-07:002018-05-29T17:56:54.680-07:00The Legend of the Chupacabra05/07/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Let me tell you the legend of the Chupacabra.</span><br />
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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</div>
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So as you just read, we had a fun English Practice on Saturday. Unfortunately Wednesday's wasn't as involved.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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). </div>
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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. </div>
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So yeah. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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p.s. By the way, last week when the power kept going out I barley sent the email before the power went out again.</div>
Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-58353416045741571072018-05-29T17:52:00.000-07:002018-05-29T17:52:14.263-07:00Power Outage04/30/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span><br />
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The weather has been stunning and the people are really happy here in Vinnitsya. </div>
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The past several days have been filled to the brim with countless miracles that have come in all shapes and sizes. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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Great, another black out. Even less time. I will count my self lucky to get this email sent off.</div>
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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.</div>
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We also went and helped plant potatoes out in a village this week. It was pretty fun and it went surprisingly fast. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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I apologize for not telling everything that happened. I have no time at all. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-44353609711647522018-05-29T17:49:00.000-07:002018-05-29T17:49:35.907-07:00Pictures and Fountain Day II04/23/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-4550443985762728142018-05-29T17:47:00.000-07:002018-05-29T17:47:16.235-07:00Say the Magic Words04/23/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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 </span><span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266399" style="background-color: white; border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">July 17th</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"> 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. </span><br />
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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. </div>
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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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266400" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">1:30</span></span>but our train was scheduled to arrive at around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266401" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">1:10</span></span> 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? </div>
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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.</div>
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On Thursday we from Vinnitsya were the only missionaries there and so Elder Clifford said that we would probably get done at around <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266402" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">2:30 - 3:00</span></span>. 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 <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266403" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">2:30</span></span> and by the time all four of us had our turn it was about <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1246266404" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">6:15</span></span>. I knew that would happen because I have spent enough time around him.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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Yeah that's it. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Us on Maidan after the crazy dinner.</div>
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The I love Vinnitsya sign by the "Tsentralny Park"</div>
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The Vishivankas that I finally got for my family.</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-29274680691737344242018-05-29T17:42:00.000-07:002018-05-29T17:42:20.665-07:00Diggin' Holes and some deadly cookie dough04/16/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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.</span><br />
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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. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">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 </span><span style="background-color: yellow;">going over</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and playing and talking with all of the kids. This last time they wanted to </span>sing<span style="background-color: white;"> some songs so Angela, the oldest daughter, started a beat and we all started singing "We will rock you!" by the band Queen. </span></div>
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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. . . </div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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We had a short photo shoot outside of our apartment.</div>
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We weren't able to meet with Dasha unfortunately but we have a plan to meet with her this week. </div>
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Старейшина Клсаон / Elder Clawson</div>
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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. </div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-84931111031775440382018-04-09T07:29:00.001-07:002018-04-09T07:29:11.062-07:00Happy Orthodox Easter and Happy Spring!04/09/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">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 </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span></span></span><br />
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Before we watched the <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1322536369" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Sunday</span></span> 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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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!</div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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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. </div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-50195179653224917302018-04-09T07:22:00.000-07:002018-04-09T07:22:14.179-07:00Zone Conference Photo04/02/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Here is the picture from our last Zone Conference about three weeks ago.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-45697168481452624142018-04-09T07:20:00.003-07:002018-04-09T07:20:50.795-07:00An Eventful Week04/02/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Yeah so here is the story of this week.</span><br />
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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. </div>
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I appologize for the short email but that was what happened this week. Pretty sad right?</div>
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On the bright side I got to finish the Book of Mormon again. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-22944435048189569402018-04-09T07:19:00.000-07:002018-04-09T07:19:44.161-07:00Tasty Taco Salad in Kiev3/26/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">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. </span><br />
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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. </div>
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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?</div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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Well. That's it folks.</div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-58789639537353193102018-04-09T07:18:00.001-07:002018-04-09T07:18:05.384-07:00Spring?3/19/2018<br />
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Spring was supposed to come. . . spring was supposed to be here. . .</div>
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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.</div>
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. . .<div>
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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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This is me showing Elder Clifford the cool lights on one of the streets near the office elder apartment.</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-5588186355722561372018-04-09T07:16:00.001-07:002018-04-09T07:16:48.134-07:00Half of our English Class on Saturday Were Girls Named Dasha3/12/2018<br />
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This week was so much more warm than the last. If I remember right it got up to +11 degrees C!</div>
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In our little branch here in Vinnitsya there is a member who's husband is from Nigeria i think and here was taken back to Nigeria for some reason and leaving here with four crazy kids. Every week one of us pairs of missionaries goes over and has a family home evening with here and her family. She has some of the craziest but cutest kids. Unfortunatly the oldest who is about 12 years old is not as mature as I would that she would be but the second oldest is pretty good but the other two are jsut crazy! I feel really bad for her because she has to take care of those little honey badgers. The youngest who's name is Samik is so crazy but so funny. He is always dancing and sticking food in his eyes and he slobbered all over Elder Clifford. But fortunatly Gena, our Branch President's second councilar who is a returned missionary, was on the lesson with us. </div>
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Ever since we both got here Elder Clifford and I have been wanting to make Borsch for us to subsist on. We don't haver an pots that are bigger than 3-5 liters. With that size of pot it ins't worth it to make borsch becuase you have to have a big one so you can make a lot and eat it all week. So we set of on a journy to find a big pot. And we found one. Oh did we fin done. We went to the rinok (market) called "Урожай" (harvest) and started on our hunt. We were surprized to find anything right off becuase of the commoness of items like that that are frequent in rinoks like this and becuase of the size of the rinok itself. But we past by one stall on our way out of the rinok after we had already given up. We saw a whole bunch of dishess and cookware and asked the man tending the stall whcih one was his biggest pot. He pointed up to this huge couldren and said that one. We notced that it was not only very expencive but insanly huge as to counteract our designs. We asked him for the second biggest and pointed again in the up direction to another failry large pot. We gave him 500 Hrivna which was the price for the large 20 liter pot that is now filled with delicous borsch. It is kind of rediculous how much we have. We ate it every day this last week and it seems like we haven't made a dent in it but then I remind my self that it was all worth it. Borsch, beet soup, is similar to musical instruments, baklava and juice, the older it gets the better it gets.</div>
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It has been pretty tough here trying to meet with investigators for two reasons. One, we don't really have any investigators at the moments and two, becuase the majority of the residents in the city of Vinnitsya are 17-27 year old girls. That causes a bit of a perdiciment for us young elder missionaries who jsut wnat to follow the rules but also not waste any of our time. However thus said we did have a pretty great meeting with Dasha our 21 year old female investigator who is kind of left over fromt he sisters who before served here. And yes we did have anothe rmale person on the lesson so everything worked out the way it should have. She has a lot of great questions and even came to Saturday's English Pracice. I can tell we are going to be seeing more over her. </div>
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Our Branch Presidency is comprized of President Koshelev who is a member from Danyesk, his first counciler who is a long time member and the second counciler, Gena who is an amazing returned member and is one of the most put together young men I have met here in Ukraine. He is also not to bad looking and has a pretty attreactive girlfriend who works at the Levi's store in teh mall right next to us and has been coming more often to activities at the church. She is super nice and Gena says that she will get baptized. We asked her if we could meet and talk about the gospel and the Book of Mormon, which she already has because of Gene. She hasn't given us a deffinite answer yet but we can tell that Gena is right. </div>
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About a week ago we met this other girl in Silpo (the grocery store we use) and she was really interested in the fact that we speak English and are Americans. Of course that is interesting to all of the women here in Ukraine but she was instesting because she is all about sience and biology and is learning Enlgish and all of the Siecnetific terms in ELgish and want ssomeone to talk with that can help her understand the American cultiure more in preporation of the fulfillment of her dream to study at a science univerity in New York. She has explained that she is not interested in religion but would like to meet with us and " talk about America and what has influenced out lives." So we went down by the Buh river whcih is right by our branch building and talked for a bit about our lives and many other things. It was directly related to religion but it had some good moments were I was able to she some the reasons why I have so much joy in my life. And the end of our conversations I had the chance to talk a little bnit about the Book of Mormon and topld her that it was my favorite book and that it is one of the most influencial things in my life. She seemed to have gotten interested becasue she asked what it was called and wrote it down. I offered to give her a copy but she said that it wasn't needed and that she would jsut look it up. Now at this point most of us would have had our heart drops becuase of all of the different things that she could read about us and the Book of Mormon. So I casually told her the site where she could find it and had her write down "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://lds.org&source=gmail&ust=1523369343738000&usg=AFQjCNG798e5G67baVCJYfCU63ojbWpLiQ" href="http://lds.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">lds.org</a>". Good save. Elder Clifford and I think that she says that she doesn't wnat religion but that she actully inside is starving for it. This is actually true for most people. Most people don't actuaolly really know what they want or are lacking. We learn through prayer and inspiration that every one is thirsting for the good word of the gospel that can spring up into fountains of everlasting life. We believe stongingly that this is the case with our biologist friend Sasha as it is with many others. Also, when we met Sasha that one day to talk we met by the big clock tower and she took us inside and payed for us to see the musium. Inside it is actually a war musium from the Afganistanian war the the USSR was apart of. I wasn't awar that in the seventies and eighties there was a war that the Soviets helped Afganistan. We got to go up to the very top of the tower which was six levels and each level had different pictures and uniforms and letters but I most most interested by the pressure suit that was on the fourth level. </div>
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We went out to this little village called "Медвеже Ушко" to meet with this old babuska who is one of the most faithful members we have here. It was a fun trip trying to get out there but in the end it all worked out and we met with her and her daughter who is also a babuska and is blind and their babuska neighbor friend who is also a member. they are the most kind and faithful people I have ever met. </div>
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Other than the regular English Practice and Youth night we have here we had a special holiday here in Ukraine. March 8th is Internation Women's day which as far as I know is celebrated everwhere except the U.S.</div>
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We had church as usual and Elder Durschi spoke and all the while a babuska names Aleksandra who has been coming for years but refuses to be baptized was taking notes of all of his mistakes because she is a Russian teacher. Elder Durtschi was a little bit offended I think but I think that it is pretty awesome to have some one that will do that for you. I also think that she just doesn't like his Russian.</div>
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This week wasn't too crazy despite the size of my letter this week. We manly jsut had things happen that doesn't usuallt go on. </div>
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I am very grateful to be here in the service of my God and I know that only good can come from the work I have undertaken. </div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
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Elder Clifford walked across the Buh River whe it was about +10 C</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-21577879069516307152018-04-09T07:11:00.002-07:002018-04-09T07:14:30.118-07:00Ukrainian Folk Dancing and Ice Everything3/05/2018<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">So we tried to stop by a whole bunch of less-active member this week but they all didn't answer except two. One of them said that her family told her that they would either go to the Provoslavny Church together or no church at all. So she pretty firmly desiided that she is not coming back. The other lady said that she would "try to come if it works out" buit we all know what that means. It took some effort to catch her when she was at home. We think that she has been trying to avoid us. We called her last week and she said that she "wasn't feeling well". I aske if we could meet her on Tuesday next week and she just gave a a halfhearted maybe. We showed up and she jsut so happened to visiting her friend in the hospital. We stopped by again the next day and she answered and what looked like her boyfiend was there who and something in his arm and looked not to kindly dispossed towards us. She said that she couldn't meet and that she had to go visit her friend again. We hope that she can find some time to come back to church. </span><br />
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We have some pretty good Enlgish practices this week. We teach the bignners group and the other elders the advanced group. </div>
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We had a good fast and testimony meeting yesterday on Sunday. We don't have a pianist in our branch so Elder Clifford and Durtschi throughout the week when ever we are at the church they practice for that upcoming Sunday. They do a pretty good job playing for us. But that doesn't help our members sing any better.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Last week who what thought was a member came up to us after sacrament meeting and who we latter found out is not a member and refieuses to get baptized but comes every single week told us that she was willing to help us imrpove our Russian since she used toi be a Russian teacher. It was pretty good but it was mostly her roasting us on our acecnts, mostly the acents of one of us. I thought that it was good practice but someone else doesn't wnat to go anymore. So Elder Clifford and I will go and get good Russian while the others be content with what they have so far. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
We went iceskateing with an investigator which was awesome. He is a really nice guy from Lebonon but lives and works here in Ukraine. I think that going ice skating with him had an influence on him. After wards we got some fancy icecream. They had this little stand in the mall where the ice rink was where they had this little round metal plate that they squirted cream on and other falvoring things and then started to mmix it up. We noticed that the cream stareted to ge slower and slower and realized that the plate was being chilled so that it was freezing the cream right there. Then the guy starteded spreading it all out in a square sheet and let it sit then skrapted it off into little rolled up tubes of magicalk icecream. Then he plopped them into a cup and but some more stuff on top and gave it to us. It was pretty good but the fanciness of it was more worth it. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
This last week it has snowed every single day of the week and has been pretty cold. That hasn't stopped us though from runnisn every other morning. This last time we ran we stopped to take a short break before we ran back home and we noticed that we each had ice on our eye brows and lashes. So yeah that was cool. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
There is one guy that has started coming to English Practice who is super Ukrainain in the fact that he only knows Ukrainian and no Russian or English and has some craxy ideas. Most of the time we have no idea what he is talking about but we know enough to know that he is a traditional Ukrainian folk dancer. And he showed us a dance off he had with another guy on his phone and then showed us in real life what it looks like. He is pretty crazy. </div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Through everything that has been going on the only thing that is consistant is that our appartment is impossible to warm up to a comfotable temperature and reading the Book of Mormon everyday. One of these things wakes us constantly cold and the other gives us a sustaining warmth that caries us through out the day. If you can't figure it out the appertment makes you cold while the Book of Mormon fills you with light, life and joy. I would invite each of you to more attentivly read the Book of Mormon each day individually and as a family. </div>
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Here are some pictures finally.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-size: 12.8px;">
There this a Beatles monument thing across the street from the mall right by our appartment and there is always Beatles music playing there.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There is a street whick is trasnlated to "Street of Cosmonauts" and there are lots of less-active members that live on this street.</div>
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<br /></div>
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We went Ice sckating with a guy from Lebonon who speak English better than us.</div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-29120662101518124902018-03-02T10:09:00.002-08:002018-03-02T10:09:42.046-08:00Christmas Music from our Red Brick Clock in Febuary02/26/2018<br />
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Vinnitsya, Vinnitsya, Vinnitsya!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What a wonderful little city Vinnitsya is.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vinnisya is nearer the center of Ulkraine but sits over the
counrty of Moldova. So far it has been freeeeezing here. I don't know the exact
temperatures but it has at least been cold enough to freeze my hair! We are
living in the appartment that the Vinnitsya Sisters used to live in before
sisters were taken out of Vinnitsya. It is pretty nice but after living in the
Office Elder Appartment nothing can compare. However it is regardless a great
place to live. Except for that fact that it is pretty cold all of the time. We
have one of those instant water heaters but it really old and our landlord has
told us that we aren;t allowed to turn up passed three and also becasue it
costs too much and we aren't paying him enough appartently even though our rent
was already rasied another thousand hrivna.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is big though and our beds are pretty good. And they
actually work as a oppsed to all of the broken beds that we had in my last
appartment. We actually have two living rooms but we don't really go into the
second one at all. We live right in the middle of the city and literally 30
seconds away from the Church building!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The branch here is small but not as small as it is in other
places in Ukraine for example Odessa. The members here are great but we don't
have anyone that knows how to play the piano. So Elder Durtschi and Clifford
trade off playing a coupld of songs from the simplified hymn book. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vinnitsya is the home town of the Ukrainian President who is
also the owner of "Roshen" (the biggest and most popular candy brand)
and you can see his influence here as you ride the tramvay and pass the
enormous Roshen Factory. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Right next to our appartment there is this big old red brick
clock tower that plays christmsa songs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elder Clifford is a really cool guy. He hasn't been on his
misison for too long but is a great missionary. He has really good Russian
considering how long he has been here and is a really humble guy. I am grateful
to be here and serving with him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He is a big athlete and is pretty muscualr but that doesn;t
mean that he is too cool for making a blanket fort and putting the portible
heater in it so we can do weekly planning with out freezing to death. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So far the work has been slow here mostly due to the fact
that we came in with basiaclly nothing but we have pretty good English
Practices which is where most of our converts come from here in Ukraine. We
have been visiting some Less-active members and contacing on the streets as
well. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main mode of trasportation here is the Tramvay whcih is
similar to Kiev's tramvay except that they are smaller here and also when the
doors open a little step comes out but the probelm is that they only stay open
and the little step stays down for only about eight seconds so if you aren't
carful yuou can get into a little bit of trouble. But there is a handy little
button on the outside of the tramvay that opens the doors but if you are
already in the middle of getting on you gotta be quick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It sounds like there are lots of factors here that make it
seem that this place is miserable buit this is one of my favorite places
though. There are so many young people here and it is so great because we
honestly have enough babushki here in the Church in Ukraine and we need lost
more young people so here is the place. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am so grateful to be here and to experience what I do
everyday. I absolutly love this work and the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior and
Redeemer. I love the Book of Mormona and the words of living prophets. I loe my
family and all of my friends and everyone else too. Ulraine is a wonderful
place and there are so many here that love God and would give anything to come
to know him better. And that is why I am here.,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<br />Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-59753726338691002052018-03-02T10:08:00.002-08:002018-03-02T10:08:52.839-08:00A slower week, followed by a little bit of craziness02/19/2018<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Transfers!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The end of another six week transfer cycle. Which brings the
possibility of moving into a different area. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have been here in the Mission Office for four transfers
which is six months am have now found relief. I am going to a city called
Vinnitsya (Bинниця) which is between Kiev and Odessa. Before this we have had
only one companionship of elders there since sister were taken out due to the
extreme lack of sisters that has been plaguing our mission. So now me and my
new companion Elder Clifford who came in December are taking over what the
sisters had in Vinnitsya. Their/our apartment is said to be pretty big and
literally a thirty second walking distance away from the branch building. But
they also say that the landlady is a little bit crazy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elder Roylance is getting his wish granted and is kicking me
out so he can have the "fun job" and is going to be training Elder
Read, who came in with Elder Clifford, as an Office Elder. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have a few missionaries leaving but for once we are
gaining more missionaries than we are loosing. Wooo!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But next transfer is going to really hurt us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week we had a Zone Meeting which is different from a
Zone Conference. Zone Meetings, at least here, are put in charge by the Zone
Leaders and are half as long as Zone Conferences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had the elders from Cherkassy stay twice with us this
last week and they are coming up again tonight for transfers .<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had an exchange with the Zone Leaders and we went to the
Rundenko family which went pretty well.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Church was good. We had really good talks and then once it
hit the hour mark there was one more talk to go. And it was Brother Marchevsky
who is notorious for speaking for a loooong time who had the last talk. But it
miraculously lasted only for about ten minutes or so after we were supposed to
end. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope my email will get more interesting as soon as I get
out of here. Vinnitsya seems like a great place and I am excited to see what's
there. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Book of Mormon is such a wonderful book. I have seen
nothing but miracles occur because of that powerful book. Please remember the
words of all of our prophets, past and present, which admonish us to
meaningfully study and pray about that book. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I love you all and I see the fruits of all of yours prayers
here in Ukraine in favor of this great work. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Talk to you next week!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don't have any pictures from this last week so if you read
this email without any reward I commend you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Put for those who only open these types of email to see the
pictures here is a picture of an adorable hedgehog. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-5082098530277009792018-03-02T10:07:00.003-08:002018-03-02T10:07:48.170-08:00Ward Conference and an early morning mishap02/12/2018<br />
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An eventful week indeed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were supposed to have our interviews with President
Kumferman but then he got a bad case of the Flue and was down for just about
the whole week. We were pretty bummed on not getting to interview with him and
especially because he needs to know when we are leaving (because we have a
choice). Not only did we not get to do our interviews but a lot of things were
held up here in the office due to the Kumfermans flying under the radar for a
bit. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But things worked out and things got done. Today in order to
make up for a week's worth of interviews he spend just abut all day
interviewing. And he will do the same tomorrow and then the next zone's
interviews are already right after that. So we after all did get to have
interviews. My interview was really good. I really felt good about things
afterwards. I also feel some relief as well because now I know exactly when I
am finishing. So it is official that I am coming home June 26th.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week is the last week of the transfer and it is
probably my last here. I have been here for a while. At least compared to the
amount of time I have been in other areas. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Friday was Elder Roylance's 20th birthday and it was a
pretty good day. The night before the elders from Cherkassy came up to stay
over night with us for interviews the next day and they brought some cake mix
and frosting that we put together for Elder Roylance. Then Elder Nye who is
this huge guy taught us all how to play the card game "Hearts".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day in the office we came in and said
"Hi" to the Andruses as we took off our coats and hung them up then
walked into our room and saw a huge pile of cookies on Elder Roylance's desk.
Sister Andrus told us of an Albanian tradition they learned about when they
were serving a senior mission in Albania where if it is your birthday you
provide the treats for everyone. So she was helping us adopt Albanian tradition
by making him cookies to give to everyone that came in. (We still have some
though)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now here is a fun story. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At about 2:00 am on Saturday I woke up to go to the
bathroom. I stood up pretty fast and got a little light headed from that. I
must have stood up too fast or have been to asleep still because the dizziness
and light headedness just got worse. But I just told my self that I was going
to be quick. I have past out a few times in my life so I know when one is
coming or not. At this point when I was going I realized that this might be one
of those times. But I just told my self to go quicker and used a little more
force and then I remember waking up to it being bright and hearing the fan of
the bathroom and being on the floor and feeling a pretty bad pain on my head. I
don't know exactly what happened because I happened to be unconscious for it
but I past out and hit my head on something. I am surprised at how invisible it
is on my head because it feels a lot worse than it looks. So that was fun.
Elder Roylance says that I seem a little more crazy now after that. But who
cares. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday was fun because the Kumfermans were there and then
President stayed for the Borschagovsky ward. We had ward conference in the
Borschagovsky ward and heard from some of our stake leaders. We heard from
President Padubni and he was making all of these jokes but we didn't understand
any of it because one, it was in Ukrainian, and two, he kind of mumbles. But
then Bishop Aleksey threw us a bone and spoke in Russian. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a few lessons with members this week but other than
that it was a pretty boring week. The most eventful day was actually
today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President was taking quite a bit of time during his
interviews and we were the last ones so I got lots of time to talk with Sister
Kumferman on just about everything. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also went to find this lest active perspective elder but
wasn't there so we took a picture in front of some church. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have a great week everyone! I hope that I will have more
time next week to write.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-1698127684519605512018-03-02T10:06:00.000-08:002018-03-02T10:06:22.574-08:00A Mexican Security Guard and New Names.02/05/2018<br />
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"Man! I am taking a picture of my haircut because I
don't have any other pictures!" - Elder Roylance about 30 seconds ago
while writing his weekly email. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So we got haircuts today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I also went back to my roots to Pechersky and was
reminiscing in the past in my memories of Elder Carr and trying to find the
best burger in Kiev. When I was with him he said that the restaurant "The
Burger" was the best in Kiev. In my opinion though the best is
"Starburger". While Elder Carr was on his quest for the best burger I
got to try lots of different places and today we decided to try one of those
places again. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This week was a pretty productive one here in the office. We
got lots of projects done and are just chugging along. We made a huge pot of
borsch for us to live off of for the next week or so. It is pretty darn good if
I might say. We realized that what we have here is the perfect thing for any
collage student. Borsch. The main ingredients are water and beats and all of
the other ingredients are dirt cheep as well. It makes a ton and is super
healthy. Cheep. High quantity. Healthy. What else would you want? Ramen? Yeah
right. Don't tell me that after a long day of classes and home work that you
will say "Man, you know what would be super awesome right now? A boring
bowl of Ramen freaking noodles." On that note we found another nickname
for Elder Roylance. Here in Ukraine our American last names are most of the
time a little bit difficult to remember. So if someone can't remember your name
they just use a word that sounds somewhat similar to it. For example. My last
name is Класон (Klason) but if someone can't remember it they will call me
either Классный (Cool) or Клаксон (a car horn). But that is pretty rare as my
name is an easier one. But Roylance on the other hand. No one can ever get his
name right unless they have been around him for a long time or are studying
English. A new version we recently heard was Ролтон (Rolton) which is the most
common brand of Ukraine's version of Roman noodles. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oh yeah. So here is some more news that you might find
interesting. So remember how our mission is going to be gaining the L'viv
mission? Yeah so now we will have them as well as all of Moldova. If you don't
know what that is it is a small country that was part of the Soviet union in
between Ukraine and Romania. So as of July 1st of this year the Ukraine Kyiv
mission will be the Ukraine Kyiv Moldova Mission. Pretty crazy right? President
Kumferman is slowly taking over all of eastern Europe. Maybe next week we'll
get Belarus. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week I have been trying harder to let the Book of
Mormon speak for itself. And because of that we have seen nothing but miracles
because of that wonderful blue book. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday right before sacrament meeting started in the
Borschagovsky ward a man walked in with the Zone Leaders who looked exactly
what you might think a member of the Mexican Mafia might look like. Big. Black
hair. Handle bar mustache. Leather jacket. I was total expecting him to speak
Spanish and not Russian. Apparently her is one of the security guards for the
АТБ (a small grocery store) across the street from the Temple here. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So it has been a pretty good week. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here are some pictures.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Temple at night.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our before pic of our Borsch.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And some fancy cheese that Elder Roylance let me buy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-45262158204220726052018-03-02T10:04:00.000-08:002018-03-02T10:04:09.685-08:00The Book of Mormon, the Keystone of our Religion01/29/2018<br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once upon a time we went caroling with the Kumfermans,
Andruses, Bingams, and other missionaries in our district on Christmas Eve over
by the fountain on "Christmas Street". We sang in English to spare
the fragile minds of those older than us that sang with us so it became an
English contacting activity. Some of us sang and others took this opportunity
to talk with people about English practice. There was one lady who was very
interested in coming to English Practice. Her name is Olya and has been coming
to English Practice for a while now and last Saturday we did a spiritual
thought on the Book of Mormon and the 23 questions answered by the Book of
Mormon and after that 7 people took a copy of the Book of Mormon! And one of
those people was Olya!! And she and her mom who had just started reading it
came to church yesterday!!! We are pretty excited for them. Especially Elder
Roylance, you know how he is. . .<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had another Zone Conference this week. Not ours. Ours was
last week. But we help with the other Zone Conferences as well. That just means
that we are that much more edified right? It was pretty much the same though
except the end of this last one. At the end when President Kumferman was
finishing up he all of the sudden asked "Why does Moroni have a
trumpet?" (referring to the angel Moroni). We talked about it a little bit
and then he said; "I think that there is a specific reason why. . . and
that is what we will start next Zone Conference with."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After right after Zone Conference the Andruses lest and left
us to hold down the fort in the office. We were filming missionaries for a
special video we are working on for Sister Mitchell who used to be here in the
office but is now home and is fighting breast cancer. Then we got a call form
Sister Danielyuk whos husband is a non-member and with whom we have been trying
to work. She asked if we could immediately go and help them move some heavy
tiles. It was a little bit of a bad time but we decided that they were more
important than filming or having anyone in the office so we as quick as could
kicked everyone out and locked up and ran over and helped them. We set up a
lesson with them after moving tiles and yesterday evening had a lesson with
them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Saturday we had a lesson with the Parhomenko family. I
guess the fifth time is the charm because we tried so hard to meet with them
and ever since Elder Roylance got here it hasn't worked out. But we finally got
in with them and it went pretty well. Most of the family was there and even
Dasha's (14 years old) friend came and played the game "Spot-it" with
us. We didn't have a lesson or anything with her but it was good to show her
that mormons are alright and sometimes fun if you play a card game with
them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have lots of projects going on here in the office. Lots
of planning and designing has been going on. But that means that soon our
misisonaries will have the 2017 year book soon and also the new standards of
excellence cards and some other things. And then President Kumferman will get
his business cards. Still pretty boring here though.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
EverOnce upon a time we went caroling with the Kumfermans,
Andruses, Bingams, and other missionaries in our district on Christmas Eve over
by the fountain on "Christmas Street". We sang in English to spare
the fragile minds of those older than us that sang with us so it became an
English contacting activity. Some of us sang and others took this opportunity
to talk with people about English practice. There was one lady who was very
interested in coming to English Practice. Her name is Olya and has been coming
to English Practice for a while now and last Saturday we did a spiritual
thought on the Book of Mormon and the 23 questions answered by the Book of
Mormon and after that 7 people took a copy of the Book of Mormon! And one of
those people was Olya!! And she and her mom who had just started reading it
came to church yesterday!!! We are pretty excited for them. Especially Elder
Roylance, you know how he is. . .</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had another Zone Conference this week. Not ours. Ours was
last week. But we help with the other Zone Conferences as well. That just means
that we are that much more edified right? It was pretty much the same though
except the end of this last one. At the end when President Kumferman was
finishing up he all of the sudden asked "Why does Moroni have a
trumpet?" (referring to the angel Moroni). We talked about it a little bit
and then he said; "I think that there is a specific reason why. . . and
that is what we will start next Zone Conference with."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After right after Zone Conference the Andruses lest and left
us to hold down the fort in the office. We were filming missionaries for a
special video we are working on for Sister Mitchell who used to be here in the
office but is now home and is fighting breast cancer. Then we got a call form
Sister Danielyuk whos husband is a non-member and with whom we have been trying
to work. She asked if we could immediately go and help them move some heavy
tiles. It was a little bit of a bad time but we decided that they were more
important than filming or having anyone in the office so we as quick as could
kicked everyone out and locked up and ran over and helped them. We set up a
lesson with them after moving tiles and yesterday evening had a lesson with
them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Saturday we had a lesson with the Parhomenko family. I
guess the fifth time is the charm because we tried so hard to meet with them
and ever since Elder Roylance got here it hasn't worked out. But we finally got
in with them and it went pretty well. Most of the family was there and even
Dasha's (14 years old) friend came and played the game "Spot-it" with
us. We didn't have a lesson or anything with her but it was good to show her
that mormons are alright and sometimes fun if you play a card game with
them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We have lots of projects going on here in the office. Lots
of planning and designing has been going on. But that means that soon our
misisonaries will have the 2017 year book soon and also the new standards of
excellence cards and some other things. And then President Kumferman will get
his business cards. Still pretty boring here though.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every week here in the Borschagovsky ward we try and have a
missionary speak. I started a while back a list of those who will speak and
when and now by default my companion does that so it was a little bit of a
surprise for me yesterday when he told me a half an hour before sacrament
meeting that I would be speaking. But everything was alright. I am at a point
where if something like that would happen I don't panic because of my
unpreparedness. And if you know me then you know that I am doing pretty good
right now. I gave a talk on fulfilling the will of good by acting on what the
prophets tell us and also reading everyday the Book of Mormon. But now everyone
thinks I am leaving because I spoke. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Book of Mormon is such a wonderful thing. I really like
in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon what the Prophet Joseph Smith said
"I told the brethren that eh Book of Mormon was the most correct of any
book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and man would get nearer to
God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." It is in fact the
most correct of any book on the earth. And that includes the Bible. However it
is important to understand that like the Book of Mormon the Bible contains the
dealings of God with his children here on the earth and I am sure that many
people will be saved at the last day because of the teachings that are
contained in the Bible. But as prophets past and present and most undoubtedly
future admonish us, the Book of Mormon must take a central part in our daily
activities. I add my witness that this is true doctrine. If someone in today's
day wishes to find truth and wishes to not fall pray to the temptations of the
adversary than he must set apart time everyday for study of the Book of Mormon.
I invite all who are in the sight of these words to read the Book of Mormon
each day and pray to God in Christ name and then you will have the Holy Ghost
with you. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson</div>
<br />Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-84196379019988486362018-01-22T08:09:00.001-08:002018-01-22T08:09:07.774-08:00Elder Roylance can get really excited about things01/22/2018<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
This week was somewhat of an eventful one. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First off we got a new prophet. Or more correctly a new
president of the church. If any of you watched the special message that
President Nelson gave then you might have noticed President Erying looking a
little like he didn't know where he was or what was going on the whole time.
And if you watched the press conference afterwards than you would have noticed
even more President Erying. Besides all of that it was all pretty good
though. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had lots of new people come to English practice which was
fun. Especially the mom with her three girls that tool everything super
seriously like they were being graded on their answers. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also had Zone Conference this week and it was kind of
strange not being combined with the other Kiev zone. Because it seems like we
were combined for the last three Zone Conferences. It was wonderful though
despite the absence of Kiev East. We took almost the whole time about the Book
of Mormon. And if you remember President Kumferman was a professor at BYUI
teaching Russian and the Book of Mormon so he knows a little bit about this
subject. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sister Mitchell who previously served here in the office
before the Andruses came has breast cancer and is undergoing radiation therapy
and so President Kumferman has asked that the Office Elders (Elder Roylance and
I) make a special video for her from all of us missionaries here in the Ukraine
Kiev mission. So during our Zone Conferences this transfer we are filming each
companionship as they express their gratitude to Sister Mitchell and any other
message from them and then compile it into a special video for her. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Zone Leaders here our District have been working with a
man named Nikolay who is a self-referral and has been meeting with them for a
bit. On Saturday he got baptized and got confirmed a member and received the
gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday yesterday. He is a pretty good guy and looks
like an LDS member more and more every time I see him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every morning starting sometime in November we get a text
from President Kumferman with a short quote or scripture and an encouragement
to do better in the one field that day. On Sunday morning we got it at the
usual time when Elder Roylance is in the shower but that day's was a very
different text than we had before seen. It was a somewhat long text in short
explaining that there was some big important news that is going to affect
missionary work here and that we should sometime that day get to a computer and
read that letter from him. As soon as my companion read it he was almost
shaking with excitement to find out what it was all about. "Maybe we're
getting smartphones!" "Or maybe we are changing to Ukrainian!" I
had to very carefully negotiate in order to at least get a half and hour of
personal study in before we left. And then after that I have never seen him so
anxious and excited to get to the church. Not even if we were late on a lesson
would he walk that fast. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We got to the church and according to my suspicions the
sister were already there at our computer and had just finished reading the letter.
We could tell their excitement as well due to their shouts and excited
sounds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So as of July 1st this year (2018) as part of the Simplify
and Reduce movement act thing 46 missions are being dissolved which included
the Ukraine L'viv mission. Our mission will be loosing the Odessa District
gaining as apart of our mission the L'viv District and all of the missionaries
apart of that mission. We don't know a ton of details so far but we do know
that it is probably going to be pretty stressful for the Kumfermans and for the
Andruses. I love it here in Ukraine but I am honestly super glad that I am
leaving before then because I really would not like trying to speak in
Ukrainian. But if for some reason that was what needed to happen then I would
do it with a joyful heart. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This week we also had a birthday in our District. Sister
Archibald turned 21 and the Andruses were so kind and threw a waffle breakfast
thing for us for her on Monday last. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it was pretty eventful and to add on to the excitement of
Elder Roylance we did another Escape Room today with the elders in Pechersky.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am so very grateful for the Book of Mormon and the power
that is contained in that book. There is a reason why we have it and we there
has been so much emphasis on reading her.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope that everyone that reads these has a good week and
even those sorry souls who don't will too. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-44177458171154206982018-01-22T08:06:00.001-08:002018-01-22T08:06:49.115-08:00The "Coldest" Winter in 100 years!01/15/2018<br />
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So we had transfers. And I am still here some how. I don't
know why I am being kept here. It is definitely anything I have done. But the
awesome thing is I get another transfer with Elder Roylance! <o:p></o:p></div>
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We had some new missionaries come in and I even know one of
them! Elder Ellis went to my tiny school in South Jordan and now is here in the
same mission with me! But he was immediately exiled down to Odessa probably to
never return. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We have been trying to work with a certain family in this
ward here where the mom is pretty active and is a translator for the church and
has a husband and little kid. The husband however is not a member but is still
pretty awesome. We had helped them carry some big heavy blocks from the
basement to the top of the apartment building but had not so far had a lesson
of any kind with them. But last night we were able to after he got home from
work! It was pretty great despite how short it had to be because it was already
around 8:15 pm when we got there. Their little kid is really funny because he
was always trying to show off for us. His mom speaks to him in Ukrainian and in
English while his dad speaks to him in Russian so he is already basically
multilingual. She told us about how today (yesterday) her little kid was trying
to explain something to her by saying "Isus! Isus!" (Jesus! Jesus!)
but she didn't understand what he was trying to say and then he just yelled out
Jesus! So he already understands that these two words mean the same thing.
Pretty good for only 2 years old!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So all of the babushky were saying in the Fall that this
winter was going to be the coldest winter in 100 years. Hah! What a joke! other
than that one snowy week it has been so clear that I can see Odessa from here!
And it has been so warm that even the old babushky are only going in two
coats. But it actually has been pretty cold the bast couple of days. .
. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Elder Lundquist had an idea which was prompted by a previous
discourse between members in our district to make us more unified. So now we
all have on our planners our own Power Rangers. I was going to be the blue one
but then we realized that it was a girl. So yeah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Scripture on each of our planners reads: "And they
had power given unto them, insomuch that they could not be confined in
dungeons; neither was it possible that any man could slay them. . . Now, this
was done that the Lord might show forth his power in them." - Alma 8:31<o:p></o:p></div>
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We did another escape room today. Perhaps you are wondering
if we doing anything else except escape rooms and I would say maybe. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Elder Roylance is a pretty cool guy. He teaches we so much
with all of his wisdom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2741254793328193327.post-77031587400787994512018-01-08T09:17:00.001-08:002018-01-08T09:17:12.314-08:00So many holidays1/08/2018<br />
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Merry Second Christmas Everyone!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So yeah. Sunday was Orthodox Christmas but of course wasn't
as big as New Years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our friend Juan came to church! And stayed for all three
hours! We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and enthusiastically said
"I'm gonna read this!". And after that he asked us to sign it for
him. Elder Roylance and I have been joking that our only baptism while on our
mission here in Ukraine is going to be a guy from South America. There is that
joke that every time some knocks on a door here or street contacts then someone
in Mexico gets baptized. But they also every once in a while through us a bone
and send someone from over there here to us. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Sunday was pretty interesting because we got to go to all
three hours of International Branch which I have never done before. We went
into Sunday school and sat down with Juan and he pulled out his Passport and
leaned forward and said to the person in front of him "Hey, I am one of
you!". The person he said it to was President Roth who is the Temple
President from Salisbury Austria. He leaned back and said in his very German accent
"Actually I am from Austria". We thought that was pretty funny. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Also on Sunday we with the Kumfermans and a whole bunch of
other missionaries went to the Center of Kiev to Sofiivska Square and sand a
whole bunch of songs. It was pretty darn cool. There was also a ton of people
there. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are in a bit of a hurry so that is pretty much it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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See you next week after Old New Years!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson<o:p></o:p></div>
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Emily Gray Clawsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05705620713656248575noreply@blogger.com0