This week was yet another holiday, on August 24 Ukraine celebrated its independence day-20 years. and it was a big 'personal holiday' for me to...i may have tried sushi for the first time in my life...more on the effects of that later....
August 24 we had another picnic for one of our wards and it was held at our new building (the one we were supposed to move in in may, then July, now October...still waiting on documents to be approved) but the building was beautiful and twice as many people came to this picnic than the one we had at the beginning of the summer which is such a big improvement for that ward because they struggle with...unity? you could say. but sister zenger and i were determined to show this members our love and excitement for them, so we went all out for the picnic-we bought blue and yellow shirts to represent Ukraine, blue bows for our hair, prepared a few games to play and even decided to share with the wonderful people of Ukraine the wonder of the American treat of s'mores. Its was so much fun EXCEPT that we were the only ones in all of Ukraine i am convinced that day, their independence day, that were wearing anything of Ukrainian proud....what the heck?!!! imagine fourth of July and no one wearing red/white/blue. just interesting. We talked with some people about it who said that Ukraine is still to young to have national pride. i don't believe that because they are so proud of their culture and deep rooted traditions, but i guess when it comes to modern ways of showing it...there is nothing. but whatever, we won some major brownie points for rocking the blue and yellow.
then later that day we were invited to a family's dacha for homemade sushi. i love this family sooooo much, i couldn't admit to them my disgust or complete rejection of it my whole life.....so you could say that is what it took for me to try sushi....not family, not friends or boyfriends, but the love that develops for those i am serving on a mission (come to think of it, that's exactly why so many of us eat what we do for these amazing Ukrainian people). She said that i could just try the ones without fish, but then i told her, no., if i am going to try sushi, i am not going to only go half way, that i'd try it all. BIG MISTAKE. when i said that i may have forgotten the, oh yeah, mission wide rule (and even my own personal integrity) of NEVER EAT RAW FISH. it was disgusting. i think it was sushi with salted salmon (i can't figure out what that means-they says its not raw but not cooked, just salted. okay, even translated into English, i don't know what that means). and i tried one with caviar (I KNOW, DISGUSTING!) the little red egg things with little nemos inside. Oh my gosh. ive been sick since Wednesday. i think there is a porcupine living in my stomach now. The family definitely knew that that night was a big deal for me and supported me through it. but i'll never ever do that again. The food is still just sitting in my stomach because my little enzymes have no idea how to digest it. blah. i don't blame my sickness all on the sushi though-my fever actually started the night before i tried it. it was just a bad week for food-we were fed a lot of sketch things by members last week. But we do it because we love them.
yesterday was Sunday, and Sundays this transfer have turned from the worst day of the week to the best. 6 hours of church with hard-shelled Ukrainian members with judgmental eyes can be really hard. but i think sister zenger and i have won their hearts (i think it was the colors and pigtails at the picnic...) and they just love it. Ukrainians are very hard on the outside, but once you gain their trust they are so soft and loving on the inside. And finally the members can see that the we are here to serve and love them. We love talking with all the members on Sunday and hearing about their lives and just being the little social directors of the wards (i know-----so not me. but these wards need some example of how to care and ask how everyone is doing, to give hugs and support, so again, i do this because i have learned to love these people). yesterday half an hour before church i was asked to give a 10 minute testimony about missionary work in sacrament meeting. scary, but fair enough. it was my turn all the other missionaries have given talks recently. as part of my testimony, i talked about Doc and Cov 4 and how this section is the instructions for missionary work, how to begin. and then i recited it. yes be proud. I always struggled in our little mission prep class each week with reciting it in English, but now i know it in Russian. we recite it each morning as a companionship (i actually refused to memorize it my first transfer out of spite or something, not important, but when i decided to actually try, i got it down in a week-kinda like the first vision, when i stopped fighting it, it came so quickly.) anyway. I recited Doc and Cov 4 in Russian from the pulpit to these members, and wish you all could have been there to feel the power and testimony that was burning through my heart as i said it and the choir of angels i could feel reciting it with me behind me. There is such power in that section and the members could feel it too. So cool.
Good luck with school everyone!!! school here starts on Thursday and we're looking forward to all of our members getting into a new routine and setting some new goals. keep up the great work!!
sister little
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