Thanksgiving in Ukraine

All of the missionaries in the mission are going to Kyiv to the mission home on Thursday they are having a huge chicken feast. Turkeys are in short supply in Ukraine so we each missionary gets a full rotisserie chicken instead. Each missionary was given a pie pan and asked to bring a pie, so there will be over 100 pies. This is a picture of the banana cream pie that Elder Larimore is going to take.

Fall in Odessa

Here in Odessa it was pretty warm last week, I made a guess about a month ago in English class that it would snow by November 13......well it looks like I was wrong. I am not even wearing a jacket right now but I am going to put one on for tonight when we go out.

Can You Guess What This Is?????

Elder Cluff

Elder Cluff is from Mesa and he is next door neighbors with the Fletchers that use to be in our ward, small world. I had so much fun on exchanges with him; it was fun being with an Arizonian. Elder Cluff is a really outgoing person and one of the ways that he contacts people is by making balloon animals. He has no fear of just walking up to people and talking to them. Even all the bobs aka grandmas will talk to him. He can get anyone to smile.

Elder Newsome's Area

It takes about 40 minutes from my area to get to Elder Newsome’s area. His area is named Ilyichevsk and it is the furthest south you can get in the mission. It is a really small town and has a lot of young people. My area is a lot of retired older people. I really like the small towns. Well the apartment there is awesome. It is on the fifth floor and has an ocean front view, it is cool. In the morning the sun rises out of the water. For exercise we went for a run on the beach, rather a walk.

Laundry Day......???

Or is it fishing day?????



This picture was taken outside Elder Larimore's apartment building. He said at first glance he thought it was someones laundry but a after taking a closer look he realized that someone had hung fish out on the clothes line!!!

Sergei

Sergei (investigator who has committed to baptism) always walks us out of his apartment to the gate and shakes our hands and stuff. Well this time he came out and told us that lesson was just what he needed. We read 1 Nephi 3:7 with him and it hit him really hard. He said that he knows that God will give him strength and that everything will work out. He said that we bring a light into his home every time we come over and he can see it. WOW that made me feel so good and was one of the best moments since being in the country for me. It really picked me up. Yesterday we went over to his house after church and watched the restoration DVD with him, he loved it. After he testified to us that he was thinking about it and he knows that the Book of Mormon is from God, that man couldn’t have wrote. WOOOW. That is music to a missionary's ear and can I just say golden.

Elder Larimore's Mission Cars (NOT)

Elder Larimore & Elder Newsome Reunited!!!

So I saw Elder Newsome (his MTC companion) this week and guess what, come to find out that this week both of our companions have to go to Kyiv for some training. They are both District leaders, so me and Elder Newsome are going to be on splits together from Tuesday night to Friday morning. It is going to be so much fun but a lot of work at the same time. We are going to be in my area on Wednesday and his on Thursday and we have meetings setup in both areas already. Our Russian skills are really going to be test. I am so excited to be back with him and beteaching here in Ukraine. It’s what we prepared to do that whole time we were inthe MTC.

Family: A Proclamation To You

The family unit is important in Ukraine and extended family ties are valued. The average family has two children and is led by the father. Both parents usually work outside the home. Child care is expensive and in short supply. Many elderly parents live with their adult children, and they often assume responsibility for daily child care. Women perform most household chores. The elderly are treated with love and respect. It is a common practice for parents to support children until they reach adulthood and even after they are married. In turn, children expect to care for aging parents when it becomes necessary. When parents live in the country and adult children in the city, the latter may send their children to live with the grandparents for several weeks during the summer. Most urban families live in a small one- or two-bedroom apartment. Many in large cities now own their apartments due to privatization programs. Some affordable apartments are still leased from the government; as renting from a private owner is expensive. Suburban families have most modern conveniences (electricity, gas, and water); rural people have much simpler houses.