This week has been a little unusual. A mini missionary didn't show up to transfer meeting, so one of our sisters was left without a companion so she has been staying with us. (a note on mini missionaries-our mission wouldn't survive without them, they are young single natives who volunteer their time, usually a full 6 weeks to live and be a missionary so that we can have more areas open. each transfer we have about 4 mini missionaries serving, and usually they are sisters) anyway, so we have has sister pleaha with us, she is one transfer younger than me and is from *Latvia* i call her "sister frolova" all the time on accident. Sister Frolova was my Latvian companion in the mtc (and we still write to each other:) So the surprise of her coming to stay with us for an indefinite amount of time on Thursday was interesting. But i think it has been a blessing in disguise for everyone. She is in the position i was last transfer of being left by her trainer to take over the area, so we've been able to give her some advice and let her just observe how we work in our area to give her some peace of mind that there are a lot of ways to do missionary work and you don't fail if you don't do it the exact way your trainer did. And you can imagine, i can totally relate to her feelings and really see the growth in myself over the past transfer in that we did get missionary work done and it wasn't a complete failure because i was in charge of the area. it took about four weeks of stress and frustration and just making appointments to stay busy before i lifted my head up two weeks ago to see that i was doing it. i was doing missionary work. So the assistants found her a new mini missionary to be her companion so we are going to meet her tonight, but then my companion is going on her visa trip to Bulgaria tonight, so i will be staying with sister pleaha and her companion in center Kiev for a few days anyway until sister zanger gets back. (we have to take a trip to Bulgaria at our year mark in country to renew our visa. My companion said you really look forward to this trip from the day you get here, but now that it is here for her, she doesn't want to go- i can see that. I remember when i first got here i looked forward to anything that would through off our missionary routine like a zone conference or exchanges or if we had to take an emergency trip to the embassy or something. now, for example when i found out sister pleaha would have to stay with us i was a little frustrated that something was throwing off our schedule, messing up our groove, but i still say it has been a blessing she has been with us). so ya, I'll be in center Kiev till Thursday.
One of the blessings of having sister pleaha with us is that someone in her ward was getting sealed on Saturday and we got permission to go to the sealing session. It was so beautiful :) Saturday was just a day of coincidences. On the bus to the temple we got off and realized the stake president was on the same bus, so we walked to the temple with president konchenko (it was just so cool-first stake pres of this miraculous stake), then the temple session was amazing, then when they were taking pictures outside the temple afterward we saw a group of "unidentified" missionaries (weren't wearing their tags) and it was a group of missionaries from the Moscow mission i knew from the mtc-one transfer younger than me. they were here on their visa trip (Russian missionaries have to leave Russia once every three months) so it was so neat to see them and talk with them on how their life is is Moscow. Then we ran to the grocery store to get a bite to eat and head back to the temple for the reception (we were kinda planning on not liking the food) and while we were walking back to the temple, a cute family is walking towards us and waving...who is that?....oh that would be president klebingat and his family...uuuuhhhh. hi president! we're not distracted or anything, we're just on our way to the chapel for a wedding reception. he. he. It was kinda funny. but a fun day.
So here starts transfer 4...what are my goals? what am i focused on? Sister zanger and i have decided to make this transfer as "Ukrainian" as possible. we're going to actually make all those Ukrainian dishes we said we want to try, we are going to talk with as many people as we can about Ukrainian culture. we are NOT going to bake American sweets. We are going to put up some Ukrainian decorations in our apartments and we are going to try to learn some Ukrainian. Good month to focus on Ukrainian culture-their independence day is aug 24 (i feel like they have already celebrated like 7 independence days since i have been here, but that's Ukraine for you. every week there is some kind of holiday)
Personally, i am glad to start a new transfer, especially with the feelings i have, or better said, the feelings of frustration, guilt, and weight that i DON'T have. We are just going to do work. the work that we have started, we are going to continue it. I have been trying to understand how i can be Christ's hands in this area, definitely by showing love, happiness and a smiling face as much as i can. I am grateful that time moves forward and never back. i may have already shared this thought, but 20+ years from now when my mission is just a dream, the only real evidence of a mission will be how my character and life changed because of it-what permanent changes took place in my personality to make me more Christ-like the rest of my life. and i think that is what it will be like when we stand judgement at the last day- there may not be any physical evidence of the life we had on earth, but how our characteristics and habits changed as a result of it will be what Jesus Christ will be looking for.
Family, Friends, I love you all, pray for you, think and hope all is well and happy. I miss you, of course, but i can't believe the experience i am having right now. simply precious and so necessary.
sister kylie little
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