I hope summer is well under way for all of you and you are enjoying the break! Its been raining pretty consistantly everyday this week again, and i guess this is pretty typical for kiev. in the morning the sky is clear and we say to each other, 'yes! finally! no rain today!" then when we are headed out we check again and there are a few clouds in the sky but we say to ourselves, "oh, there is no way is going to rain today, the sun is still shining" so we don't take our umbrellas, then about an hour later we find ourselves in the middle of a hurricane completely drenched, sprinting to our next appointment, with window shattering thunder and lighting in the middle of the day, then by the evening its sunny again and whoever we are meeting with asks us why on earth we look like monsters....its sunny out! oh, the life of missionary, not having the luxury to go home and change or clean up after spending hours in the rain....and by the way, that whole scenario i just described has happened almost everyday this week :) crazy. I have had that phrase cross my mind a lot recently "oh the life of a missionary" where i wish i could just give you guys a snapshop of what we are doing at a certain moment. Did i tell you about the time when one of our members gave us this HUGE jar, HUGE, of boiling hot borsch and we tried to refuse but she, being Ukrianian, wouldn't take no for an answer, so the rest of the day we were carrying this steaming jar of borsch wrapped in a towel to all our appointments and you could hear the potatoes popping in the jar during the lesson, and then when we were walking the streets, the jar just popped right off becuase of the pressure of steam and i got some red spots on my clothes....i wish you could have been there to see it. So rediculous. the life of a missionary. in ukraine.
this week was busy, lots of missionary work and appointments, but both me and my companion had this unsatisfied feeling of while we had tons of appointments and lessons, it wasn't fun. We are teaching two 'families' so to speak right now, and the lesson we had taught them were, honestly speaking, not very fun or interactive for them, especially since one of these families has 3 sons, 11 and under, and the other a ten year old boy. So this concept that I can teach the gospel to them in a fun interactive way is a new idea that is developing in me. I feel like sister missionaries in america, or in general, have all kinds of tricks and games up their sleeves to teach kids, but I must have missed that class at the mtc....both me and my companion were sitting next to one of these boys in sacrament meeting and it was getting pretty boring for us, let alone a ten year old boy...both of us, even though we weren't even sitting together, had this urge to do something entertaining for these boys who were so good already for coming to church, but now they have to sit. I luckily had my plan of salvation cut out/puzzle pieces that i let one of the boys play with and put together, but i wish i was more prepared for them. So this week as a companionship we are going to try to develop lessons and games to help teach the gospel in a fun, interactive way. Why not? I think it was last week that i shared the idea that while as a missionary i am bound to a lot of rules, but then again, i am free to teach the gospel in any way that the spirit directs and will help our investigators.
so in connection with this idea, I think i have found a little 'outlet' for me as a missionary. I was confessing to my companion the other day that i don't know how to have fun as a missionary. i feel like i left a lot of that side of me in america-i knew i why i was coming on a mission, i knew it would be hard work, and that hard work is what was expected of me, so i left any fun behind. but, now, the work is really heavy...but with this new idea of making games or puzzles to teach the gospel or gospel principles, i can use my art skills as an outlet. i have no artistic abilities by any means, but i am creative. and i think as i let myself be creative in teaching i can have a little more fun and find a little more happiness, and maybe even smile as i work. This idea came a few hours before one of our lessons this week and so i got really excited and we through together this game/scenario/scripture chase for these kids about the plan of salvation, each kid had an envelop and at the right time they could pull out a certain piece of paper and read their 'character' and a scripture that described them first in the premortal existance, then in this life, then in the spirit world, then at judgement, and so on. wasn't perfect, but it kept them entertained, and i was so happy to create something and draw it up for them. So i think this is the start of something good....thinking outside the box.
I love you all and wish you the best this summer! We were in a lesson with an awesome family from one of our wards this week and i asked them if they did any traveling together and where they had been. I expected a typical anwser that i had received from other families here bragging about all the seas they have been to in europe, like italy, or even egypt. but their answer was quick and to the point, "We don't travel together, We rest together. We don't need to go to another country to enjoy eachothers company, we stay home and enjoy eachothers company here." Fair enough. I have great respect for their family and their relationship. so just remember that the simple things are what matter most.
Sister Little
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