Ward Conference and an early morning mishap

02/12/2018

An eventful week indeed.

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. 

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.

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. 

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".

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)

Now here is a fun story. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

We also went to find this lest active perspective elder but wasn't there so we took a picture in front of some church. 

Have a great week everyone! I hope that I will have more time next week to write.

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

A Mexican Security Guard and New Names.

02/05/2018

"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. 

So we got haircuts today. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

So it has been a pretty good week. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Here are some pictures.

The Temple at night.

Our before pic of our Borsch.

And some fancy cheese that Elder Roylance let me buy.

The Book of Mormon, the Keystone of our Religion

01/29/2018

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. . .

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."

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. 

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. 

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.

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. . .

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."

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

Elder Roylance can get really excited about things

01/22/2018

This week was somewhat of an eventful one. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

I hope that everyone that reads these has a good week and even those sorry souls who don't will too. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

The "Coldest" Winter in 100 years!

01/15/2018

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! 

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. 

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!

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. . . 

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.

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

We did another escape room today. Perhaps you are wondering if we doing anything else except escape rooms and I would say maybe. 

Elder Roylance is a pretty cool guy. He teaches we so much with all of his wisdom. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

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So many holidays

1/08/2018

Merry Second Christmas Everyone!

So yeah. Sunday was Orthodox Christmas but of course wasn't as big as New Years.

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. 

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. 

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. 

We are in a bit of a hurry so that is pretty much it. 

See you next week after Old New Years!

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

С Новым Годом! Happy New Years!

01/01/2018

Well Happy New Years everyone! 

New Years is the biggest of all of the holidays here in Ukraine but I still am American and still think is kind of "Eh". But if for me this was the day that Santa Claus comes like for all of the little kids here then perhaps I would be a little more excited about it. So it is 2018 now I guess. Elder Roylance and I celebrated last night by playing some games of Rummy and drinking some Kool-aid that my family sent me for Christmas. After drinking 3 sips of it though I realized how little if American food I can take despite how much we miss it. 

We will see if we can get any P-Day stuff done at all today with nothing in the whole country working 

We had a good week where we went caroling and English Practices and helping with a Primary party/play and the other usual stuff. 

Sunday was fun. Last Sunday was Christmas Eve and the Stake Presidency decided that would be the day that they would have only one hour of church despite the next week being the bigger holiday. So yesterday in order to have the members not get home at around five as usually happens we had another combined International Branch and Borschagovsky ward. Not just during Sacrament meeting but all of church. 

Another thing. On Thursday we got into the office and Elder Andrus told us that there was a pretty big flood in the ward building. We checked it out and found a pretty serious problem. In the front foyer there was a few big holes in the ceiling and water trickling down onto the floor where lay a whole bunch of what looked like pieces of wet cardboard but were upon further investigation pieces of drop ceiling. We called the FM groups guy on the temple site and before we knew it they had everything cleaned up and looked like nothing ever happened. 

 There was a Chinese guy who brought a guy to church who lives in Kiev right now but is from New York and is Venezuelan. His name is Juan. He is a cool guy and wants to come more often to church and to other activities. We are glad that South America sent some of their success over to us. 

I am really glad to be here and to be in the middle of this great and marvelous work that the Lord God is performing. 

Старейшина Класон / Elder Clawson

This back when it was winter.