Week 45

So was it a whole week ago that we talked? time is, can i say, flying? To fill in some details about how Christmas was on the mission...it was really hard. ive been writing the past few emails about gifts we can give Christ on his birthday, right? ive been working on reading the book of Mormon in a certain amount of time and on patience. i thought those were going to be good gifts to him...required a little sacrifice but overall, safe, pleasant. Well, i feel like i ended up giving him a greater gift. one that was super hard to give. required a whole lot of sacrifice. maybe even some complaining in my head at some points. But, a sacrifice for the sake of my savior. picture it. Christmas eve, Saturday night and its 7:30. well, we put in a good day, lets take the long way home, get home by 8 and call it quits early, drink some hot chocolate and look through our family pics or something to help us feel like its Christmas eve. is that what we did. No. we stayed on the street contacting people til 9 oclock. it was cold. no one wanted to talk to us. when we approached them to wish them a merry Christmas they said, "its not Christmas! we celebrate Christmas in January!!! you Catholics have it all wrong! oh what are you Mormons? im not going to talk to you..." and it was cold and windy. We came home, planned, and went to bed a little empty. Sunday night. Christmas. Same exact scenario, same exact decision to be made. but we stayed out on the streets contacting till 9 oclock, came home, planned and went to bed. I did missionary work on Christmas eve and Christmas. the hard kind of missionary work when people reject you and your message. but my gift to Christ on his birthday, which was the hardest thing to do and give (but i am now realizing that is probably the way its supposed to be), was to wear his name on my coat as i walked the streets of center Kiev trying to spread his message-his gospel.

any way....Christmas, yes, has had a slow start here, but at this point the party is just getting started. id imagine back home now, people are winding down off the holidays and getting back into life. here, we have the Ukrainian Christmas next week, then the week after that is 'old new year' which is just another excuse for a party. So its neat to still have Christmas in the air. Friday night we are planning on going caroling with the ward then Saturday we are performing in a stake Christmas concert. so yeah, here, they celebrate new years before Christmas, then new years again. except for the Mormons and Catholics-we celebrate Christmas on the 25th. so its a month of parties. Here they all have Christmas trees they buy and decorate, but its more for new years than Christmas. just interesting.

This last week i finally had a personally interview with president. about time-last one was when he first got here in July, and it was so timely-right as we are starting a new year to get counsel from my priesthood leader and with still a fair enough time on the mission to make some good goals. We got to my appt a little early which meant sitting in the mission office and getting filled in on all the issues there. and i realized as i sat there that me and my companion and the issues we face are minute compared to what the mission deals with just to have us all here and forward the work here. We really are just the worker bees who shouldn't be complaining. There are issues with visas, landlords not wanted to register the missionaries so they can't legally be here, finding apartments, making sure everything is done legally in this country, which is hard to do right now given the legal strife and orthodox power being spread. but. we're not going away anytime soon. this is gods work. it will move forward. i also had the opportunity to hear more of the miracle story of the opening of the temple last year. i know there was an article in a recent Liahona about it-but let me tell you that article didn't even scratch the surface of the trouble all went through to legally open the temple here, the prayers, fasting, and literal MIRACLE that we have a temple here. and the people of this part of the world really needed it to receive their own blessings and begin the work of the rich ancestry here, so god provided the way. it was way neat to here. i always appreciate getting to go into the mission office and just be a part of that world for a few minutes-it helps me feel like i am part of a greater work than myself-that there are many sacrificing their time and families too to make sure that the gospel is spread. The most important work really is gods work and he's making sure its progressing.

i can't even begin to describe the feelings that have come with the start of this new year! its 2012!! its funny, when i started at northeastern, i knew i was signing on for not just a 4 year degree-but that it would take me 5 years to graduate, ok, i thought...that means i'll graduate from college in 2012. wow, far away. hah!!! where am i now? one year on a mission, have 2 and a half years of school left when i get back, no where near being a competent nurse, and i can speak a little Russian. But would i trade it? Absolutely not. the experiences, trials, emotions of preparing to serve a mission, of being here and seeing the gospel change the lives of the beautiful people here has been priceless. and while ive been through a lot-could almost say a little roughed up, had times of bitterness or felt jaded, with the start of this new year i feel like the shell that has been beat up around my heart has cracked, shed itself, and i am left with a new heart. one that is softer, purer, and filled with more hope. as i shed the trials of the last year, i am still left with the character that i had to build from them. and prepared to move forward with courage and faith in my heavenly father and my savior.

ill be honest, im a little nervous, hesitant to start this year. like that extra half second of hesitation before you turn the corner from the dark alley onto a well lit street. i know it will be brighter. i know it will be filled with events i have long anticipated, but give me a half second more. This year will be filled with beautiful events, but steps i will have to take with just pure faith, believing that i am in my Heavenly Fathers care.

i love you all, thank you for your thought and prayers and i look forward to seeing you all sometime this year!!!

sister kylie little