If you asked me who the most patient person I knew was I would first (without hesitation) say my mother. Then I would say Katya Modu.
Katya is the mother of four very very "active" children. Her husband is not able to be with her so she has to take care of them by herself. She is so patient with them. They are always running around like crazy but she stays calm and never raises her voice but tries to lovingly help them. Every week us missionaries go over and have a family home evening with her and her four kids. It is always an experience going over and seeing what the kids will do that time. This last week Elder Clifford and I went over and it was awesome as it always is. They have a little dog that is pretty calm except when the kids get going and then it starts going crazy. This last time I took it upon my self to keep the dog calm so we could have our lesson. During the SHORT spiritual thought most of the kids were pretty well behaved. That is all for except Samic the youngest who is about 3 years old. He cannot be tamed. His favorite thing is to dance and just scream. Sometimes he can be a little bit distracting.
But we survived and I again don't know how Katya does it. She is a saint. But don't get me wrong it really is fun going over and playing and talking with all of the kids. This last time they wanted to sing some songs so Angela, the oldest daughter, started a beat and we all started singing "We will rock you!" by the band Queen.
The next day was Tuesday and this was the worst Tuesday that I have ever had. I don't know why it was so bad, but it not only seemed that everything was going wrong but there seemed to but just an overwhelming amount of negativity everywhere. The whole day was not good at all for me and at the end of the day we ended up having some extra time in which we planned to go out and just contact. If you know me then you know that talking with poeple that I don't know is not my first nature so this activity is not my favorite. And this particular Tuesday I really really did not want to. I was so done with the day and just wanted to sit down and do nothing. But I felt and knew that that would not fix anything. That would not make me feel any better. And I had a thought that if I ended the day that way then the next day would probably be the same. So I decided to pray and ask for not only strength but also will and a determination to do what I know I am supposed to do. And after a little while I decided to pull out the balloons. . .
The sister missionaries that previously lived in our apartment here were so kind as to leave us a small stash of balloons and sticks (balloons in Ukraine aren't attached by a string but a plastic stick), and on the balloons is printed in Ukrainian "I love my family. Mormon.org" Giving out balloons here in Ukraine is something that can lighten even the Grinches mood and that is what I needed on that particular Tuesday. We gave out balloons and brochures and that really helped me. I didn't feel back at 100% but it definitely helped. Like that story of Gordon B.Hinckley on his mission during a hard time he decided to just forget himself and get to work. I can say that this is true and if you can do it with multicolored balloons then all the better.
after that the rest of the week was great. We had a great English Practice on Wednesday and an awesome Youth Night on Thursday. We have so many people that are coming that in my opinion will become investigators very soon.
Here in Vinnitsya I have really noticed that one major and important thing to do is to just be someone's friend. You have got to be their friends here and that means having conversations about nothing and visiting them just because and then they will start to trust you more after which our very special message of the restored gospel can be presented.
On Saturday there was int he morning a service project in our branch in which us missionaries and several branch members went out into the middle of nowhere where lives a family by the name of Syezov. They are wonderful members and have four awesome kids which are all musically talented. They have a home out in the countryside and have goats and chickens and some land for planting and growing crops. We helped them by digging a whole bunch of holes and planting trees. Elder Durtschi and I left early however so we could go and make it in time to run English Practice which went pretty well. Afterwards we helped a member clean the branch building and then the other elders got back. Elder Clifford's neck got quite some sun. He had so much fun apparently giving service that day.
Sunday showed up to the Branch Presidency meeting and our Branch President, President Koshelev told me that his first councilor wasn't coming and that all of those assigned to speak were not going to be here either. He told me that many members here still hold many of the traditions in the Orthodox church and this Sunday was when you are supposed to go to the cemetery and so many people didn't end up showing up to church. But we had some really good on the spot talks by those who did come. For about two and a half weeks the internet has not been working in the branch building so we were not able to do tithing last week. And yesterday morning before Sacrament Meeting we checked and it still was not working. But it somehow started working after and we were able to do tithing which was a miracle.
Today we got a call from the other elders saying that Elder Ulrich was really sick and dry heaving. We asked some questions and found out that the previous night they had made cookies. Or at least planned to make cookies. They made the batter but not the cookies. They said that they just ate the batter and Elder Ulrich swore that no one has ever gotten sick from eating cookie batter. But then he woke up this morning already on his death bed. He is fine now and in fact was well enough to go with us an get felafel and got to a guitar shop and mess around there for a bit. Today I picked up a bass for the first time in a very long time and I just feel pain. Pain that I have forgotten almost everything. Elder Durtschi also feels this pain as he tried to remember some songs on the guitar.
This morning Elder Clifford finished his first knitting project and I this week also finished another project. He is sending his home to his mom but I think that I am going to give the shawl/ scarf thing that I made to one of the recent converts here in Vinnitsya.
We had a short photo shoot outside of our apartment.
We weren't able to meet with Dasha unfortunately but we have a plan to meet with her this week.
Старейшина Клсаон / Elder Clawson
I was going for the shawl pose that you see all of the time on knitting patterns for shawls or whenever people in general take a picture of someone with a shawl.
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