Week 48

so my week was spent in the mission office and taxis trying to stay off my ankle. talk about thrown out of the missionary routine. but, its the hardest thing to make myself slow down and not focus on other people and make sure i take time to think about me.

this week was a lot of fun, lot of work, but lots of fun. we don't have office elders, so the assistants to the pres are in the office a lot, and in my second hour in the office last week, it was already a running joke that i was taking over their jobs. but they've grown onto me, and have finally acknowledged me as an 'assistant to the assistants'. my work this week dealt a lot with calling all the missionaries in the mission and making sure we had the right addresses for them since so many are having to move because a lot of landlords wont register us. if we're not registered we can't proselyte. a lot of govt laws are still changing about all that, making it harder to have missionaries here, but the church is staying right on top of everything to make sure we are here legally.

life with the senior couple has been lots of fun. we've had lots of adventures. i think they like having someone around who speaks the language/can call taxis/etc, and i like...their food :) no, they are more than that. they are really outgoing and we've shared a lot about our amazing experiences here with the amazing Ukrainian people. their calling has been public affairs, but they've also been filling in in the mission office as well. they awesome.

so my update...i'll probably have five more days of physical therapy. which postpones transfers a little bit for me, but its okay, we'll swing with it. we are supposed to have missionaries coming in this week, but they couldn't get their visas, so no new missionaries yet. visas are getting harder, well, taking longer, to get because they keep changing their laws, etc.

yes, i'm getting transferred, but i'll wait til next week to give you all the details, and hopefully by that time i'll be done with physical therapy. i don't think i'll be back to 100% any time soon, but i want to finish this course of treatment the doctor has in mind, then just get back out the last few months, deal with the pain, and take care of it back home in the comforts of a home, and not with a missionary regimen ringing in the back of my mind.

okay, well, i didn't share many stories i guess, just a quick update. more to come next week i promise, when i will hopefully be living a more missionary lifestyle (aka not emailing home at 10 at night from a senior couples apt)

i hope all is healthy, happy, and warm back home! yes, tons of snow here. im ready for spring....2 more months ish.

love you!

sister little

Week 47

Hello family and friends,

I have to preface Sister Little's email....

she injured her ankle way back in September while she was out running one morning. Just thought it was a sprain but has taken a long time to heal. She went to see a Ukrainian doctor in October to have it checked out and they told her that she needs to "go home" and have surgery. Well, as far as Kylie was concerned, that was not going to happen. So the mission sent her x-rays to the German Dr.s and they said that she was fine and did not need surgery.

As a missionary, she has not been off of her feet to rest her ankle and has kept it wrapped for several months now, still has pain and is swollen on one side. The Mission President's wife, Sister Klebingat, and Kylie went back to the Dr. again they x-rayed her ankle again and she has a bone fragment floating around but all of her bones look fine and the Dr.s told Kylie she has "wide set ankles"....What ever that means...and that she just needs to be off of her ankle for a few days...hence, her email this week....

We continue to pray for her ankle to have a full recovery.

Yes! i know that elder! i just found out last week he's serving in Gilbert, so i told grandma to keep an eye out for him. elder yarmak or irmak...i don't know how its spelled in English. yep i met him when i was serving with sister zenger...yeah. we're good friends. to make a long story short which i'll tell you the whole of it later...he was a dj at a wedding reception we were at and found the music for 'cotton eye Joe' so we could dance it for everyone...HUGE HIT everyone was blown away and loved it. Don't worry, president knows. so ya. i know him. awesome kid. i knew he was serving in the Tempe mission, but sounds like he's right there in our Gilbert.

ankle

ha. im writing right now from a senior couples apartment.... we went last wed to see a diff doctor. got another X-ray. i still have a bone fragment just floating around and its still swollen. but the bones are where they are supposed to be-so no need for surgery. the doctor said that i just have wide set ankles. i guess it comes with having wide set hips. but my ankle is still swollen on one side and painful on the other, so she prescribed me ten days of of physical therapy, ten days of these crazy gels and ointments i have to put on my ankle throughout the day, and ten days of rest. ha! we were there with sister klebingat and we all just laughed when we heard that one. but she was serious, said the reason it hasn't healed is because i haven't given it time to. fair enough. we seriously walk miles a day here in center. so fair enough. luckily sister klebingat was there to hear it first hand and tell president what was going on...because i can guarantee you if it had just been me calling him to tell him what's up, he'd just say, okay work 8 and a half hours a day instead of 9. but no. So initially i was going to spend these days at the Klebingats. scary idea at first. but then i realized it could be a real party. sister klebingat even said i could teach her how to dance (it was funny because i had just told the doctor that i need my ankle to heal so i can dance the rest of my life).

but....president klebingat found out its against the rules to have missionaries stay at the mission home, so i got booted over to the senior couples. So my new companion is sister humphries. Love her!! today i spent the day in the mission office helping out, and I'll be helping out the humphries with their business this week. so i'd like to think im an 'office sister' this week while i give my ankle time to heal. the physical therapy is more like light and magnetic therapy, but hopefully it will work. its fun talking with the nurses each day-im getting to peak into the medical life here and the life of the mission office doings, so its kinda fun. my companion has a mini missionary to work our area, so the work is still going there. Yeah, all my doctors appts and meeting start in Ukrainian but when they realize i respond in Russian, they switch over to Russian for me. not bad.

hm. so what else to say....just hanging out with the humphries. learning a whole lot about senior couples and all the different missions they can serve and all the business they deal with. i'll have my last physical therapy treatment will be next Monday, then my companion leaves for home on Tuesday i think, then next week i'll get a new companion.

the snow has finally come to stay. it looks like Utah when i went into the mtc a year ago. i guess i should be grateful, it could have come two months ago.

well, i love you all! extract what you will from this email to pass on to whoever....

kylie

Week 46

Yep, this week is the big one year mark. like wow. i can't believe it. yeah. its felt like a year. no doubt about that. and now i can't use the excuse of 'i haven't even been studying Russian for a year!" as an excuse when i don't speak very well. oh well. yep I've come a long way, even i can see that. i know i am stronger in the Gospel. i have testified many times to members that i really do know now that the great work we can do here on earth is the Lords work. wow. now i get to take that opinion onto to college life with me...that will be interesting. but we'll worry about that when i get there. its easy to do the Lord's work while you're on the mission. but one of our Bishops here keeps reminding us as missionaries that you spend about 2 years on a mission learning to love and study the scriptures and that we need to make sure we keep doing that when we get home. So im not too caught up in the thought of its my one year mark soon...all those feelings kinda came last week with the new year. but goals have been set and im excited for this year.

This week i got my fill of caroling...which is good, its something i kept waiting for in December, but never came. but we went a couple times this past week. I've learned a few Ukrainian folk songs which is fun....im really warming up to Ukrainian. its a fun game when someone gives a talk or lesson in Ukrainian to see how much i can pick up. On Saturday night, Jan 7, their Christmas here, we, some missionaries and some youth from the stake, went caroling on kreshatik-a big downtown street-comparable to going out and caroling on the strip. almost. it was neat. lots of people stopped to sing with us, but kept singing Ukrainian drinking songs and folk songs over our English hymns translated into Ukrainian-so they are not as well known tunes here. but it was fun. couldn't contact too many people because there were a lot of tipsy people. but it was still fun.

sorry not very long or entertaining today.....but here are pictures!!! some of kreshatik, caroling, some of making "gingerbread houses"-graham cracker style, with one of my favorite families here-tanya and anya

love you all!

sister little

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

Week 44

Hey family! Merry Christmas!!!

Well, our wards are finally getting around to recognizing it is the holiday season-we walked into our building yesterday and it was more than satisfactorily decorated :) and we have our ward Christmas parties on Friday and sat night. Other than that no big plans for Christmas. Saturday we have plans to go to an active member's place and make gingerbread houses :) i couldn't have Christmas without that tradition :) we'll probably do them graham cracker style, but its the best we can do here.

This week we had fun? maybe. Transfer week. Lots of switching and sharing companions as everything was trying to get figured out. 14 missionaries left the mission on wed and we got 4 on Thurs. i can't imagine how much fun the office had figuring that one out. biggest consequence is that one of our wards is without elders. eh. that's okay. it just means they'll have to love us more. Thursday we had a big mission conference with elder/president Bennett of the area presidency? maybe. i can't keep all the general authorities straight here. It was inspiring. but im still trying to figure out all the revelation and events from the passed few weeks-zone conference on being discouraged, my 'emergency' interview with president and the counsel he gave me, and the help we are getting from our members. its almost like all the personal attention and counsel is shining brighter than the general missionary advice we were given at the conference. but that's okay. i'll take personal revelation over that any day. I'm just grateful heavenly father loves me. isn't that the best knowledge ever? i know god loves me because i can feel it. it is the reason i can have confidence each day. it is the reason i am not only waiting for the second coming of Christ but working toward it. its kinda the reason im still out here living the gospel.

Saturday night was another "celestial reunion" we went to a stake activity to pass an investigator to some other sisters and i got to see everyone from our old ward. i'll attach a pic of me with sis Biesinger with some of our favorite RS sisters. they were shocked her and i are serving together again.

the stake activity was a play about the birth of Christ...yeah Christmas.

if there is anything i could beg of all of you back home it is to not get caught up in the stress of Christmas. being on a mission we don't have a lot of resources to do much else besides spiritually celebrate the birth of Christ...and i am ever so grateful i don't have the worldly expectations of Christmas getting in the way. Share the spirit of Christmas through the spirit of Christ-the holy ghost-your testimonies. that kind of love -the love of God that i just talked about above is the most eternally giving gift you can give.

i love you!!!

sister little

Week 43

Dear family and friends,

yes you probably noticed my last few emails have been quite depressing. it happens. but finally some relief of the burdens came this week. we had zone conference, life changing conversations with senior couples, were able to go to the temple, had exchanges, had testimony meeting, and interviews with ...all good, spiritually uplifting experiences. i can give a little more details about each of these things in the short time i have left...

zone conf

he spent the first hour of the conference talking about discouragement (exactly what i needed some counsel on). more helpful has been a few Holland talks he has sent us to read..i'll attach one so you can read it too....this one is def something i needed to hear. i think i wrote last week that the spirits of the devil are more visible than the light of the gospel...and that really had been so true right now and this talk addresses just that. way good timing

senior couples

we ran into a senior sister here helping with institute-so we see her pretty often since our building also is the institute building. we told her a little bit about how we've been struggling with discouragement and desire and how we feel this heaviness around us. she said she has felt the same way too the past couple weeks. she said it had gotten so bad she asked her husband for a blessing because the dark mist in front of her was so real, she felt she could cut a knife through it. as i heard this, i thought, "no! not you too!" and realized Satan is working HARD here to get anyone he can. i just wanted to give her a hug and tell her that she is making a difference her and that god is really supporting her in her work! and in that moment when i wanted to consol her, my worries flew out the window and i realized i need to be happy to help lift other people. we also talked about how we were sent here at this time on earth probably because of how violently we fought in the war in heaven. and how heavenly father expects us to fight just as hard and valiantly now like we did then...its going to be hard. that's why he sent us here at this time. (we did deliver flowers to this sister later in the week to help lift her and thank her)

temple.

the group from whatever country canceled their trip so the temple wasn't too busy, so we were allowed to go. i went wed morning. ehem. and wed night. ;) wed morning so my companion could have a chance to go (otherwise she wouldn't be able to b/c of exchanges the rest of the week), then we all switched companions on wed afternoon for sisters exchanges and wed night a couple was going through the temple for the first time who i helped teach. they were baptized a year ago and i became pretty close to them in my last area, so i got to be there for them to receive their endowment. they were sealed on sat but i couldn't go. that's okay. it was an amazing experience. as we arrived to the temple on wed morning a thick fog had settled in the city so much so that you couldn't see anything 10 feet in front of you. as we walked toward the temple, we had to walk through the temple grounds gate before we could see the temple. when we came out of that session, the fog had cleared up and the temple was as visible as ever....Symbolic? i say so. the temple helped clear my mind so much. i took pictures of the contrasting view but i forgot my cord, so i'll send them next week.

exchanges

always good to break things up. what did i learn most? i can survive on my Russian but i need to pick back up the study. i was with a sister in her 2nd transfer and realized that i could get us around, if i am ever with a companion who knows less Russian than me...i really need to know Russian. so it was a good boost to motivate me to hit the books.

testimony meeting

i didn't really want to testify but realized that means i probably need to do it to make sure i still have the spirit. i testified on the power of prayer. recently our mission pres has asked us to pray with people we contact on the street to help them feel the spirit and accept the invitation to learn more. definitely uncomfortable...awkward, but we tried it. the first lady we did this with was names janna. she was super nice, receptive, and interested. we told her we are here as missionaries to serve people and to teach truth and help people feel gods love through prayer. and then we prayed. simple. while she expressed a desire to learn more, we haven't been able to meet with her. we keep weekly phone contact though. well this week we ran into on the street again. and you know what she said to us?...oh girls life is just so hard? can we say another prayer right now? so we said another prayer with her on the street...wow so cool she believed in the power of prayer enough to REQUEST it of us on the street as everyone is walking passed us, cars driving by, etc, so i called all the members to say prayers with their friends and families...show your faith in prayer!

and interview with pres.

my comp and i requested interviews to get some direction. i wont go into too much detail....due to time...but he gave me a blessing. i cried even after he suggested that he wouldn't let me leave without receiving a blessing from him. Just the power of the priesthood, the protection and comfort we can receive from it....im ever so grateful and couldn't do this mission with it. or the blessings of the temple.

thank you for all your prayers and concern for me. i hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!!!

love,

sister kylie little

Week 42

This passed week we did celebrate thanksgiving too-we gathered almost as a full district-6 of us. we each contributed some kind of food-in all we had rice, chicken, ham (more like bologna), rolls, salad, and mashed potatoes. then each companionship had to make a dessert they had never made before-we had apple pie, a banana cream pie, and brownies. and some one made root beer but forgot to tell me to add the extract back to the sparking water...so it didn't really gain my favor. turkeys are really unheard of here, so we knew we wouldn't be so lucky to have one. then each person or companionship had to share a talent. my companion and i did a cute skit making fun of the elders in our district then i taught everyone how to make duct tape flowers-they don't really have duct tape here, i just found a huge roll of it in our apt a couple weeks ago so decided to use it.

yesterday we had two women come to church -one is a friend of a member and another just found the church online and came by herself. they were good blessings and maybe some potential is there to teach them.

tomorrow is zone conference-a long awaited one, and then this week we have sisters exchanges.

i can definitely see how we really learn and grow on missions. many instances lately my patience has been tried beyond a level i can cope with. and i can feel my heart stretching in my chest as i endure these moments-like the grinch when his heart grows in charity. its kinda painful. but i guess a physical sign that i am stretching my limits and growing. i try to pray to have my heavenly father close, but most of the times the angels of the devil are more visible than the light of the gospel. but i know there is a light somewhere. just need to keep serving.

i love you all, i hope you have a great week!! on into December!!!

sister little

heres pics from my bday district meeting-when i got, yes, a bag of mashed potatoes and watermelon gum. there are a few extra elders in there who aren't in our district but still way awesome. the short one is our favorite georgian. and the other dark elder is from peru-called russian speaking but now speaking ukrainian and serving as a branch president here in western ukraine. they all are awesome. the other pic is from thanksgiving-us and our duct tape roses.