Week 52

dear family and friends...

 

this week was pretty good in a 'sister little' way...not necessarily in a perfect missionary way...but....im pretty happy (how many prayers are answered by that one?)

 

so when i found out that i was going down to Odessa this transfer, i was working in the office with the Humphries and Presidentkinda casually pulled me into his office to give me few words of advice.. about my companion, the area, etc. he kinda said in so many words that i needed to 'keep everyone in line' down here, that i am a strong sister that he trusts, and now its time to call people out if they aren't doing things the way they should be done....for a few minutes i sat and thought to myself, "wow, i have to be a leader. dang it. no one likes leaders." well, you know, the annoying ones that ruin the party. anyway...i answered back to president that this weight of having to be the "mean" missionary set on me for a awhile, then after some prayer and consultation with my heavenly father, i kinda got the answer that i need to go down there and just be myself-call people out if things are really bad, but mostly lead by my awesome example. so i felt better about that.

 

when i got down here and as ive been serving here the past month, nothing huge has really stuck out as 'apostate' or anything, but there were a couple things me and my companion saw we could improve on as we and the 4 other elders who work in our areas work here. we decided this last week we needed to bring these things up to the elders....but how? who wants the sisters to tell them how to do their job? especially when we're not the most successful sister in the mission. but. we thought this kind of intervention was necessary. so...we decided to "sugar coat" it. last Monday i made cinnamon rolls for the first time- and they turned out (big miracle)- and asked the elders to come early to district meeting on Tuesday so we could have a 'pow wow' about our area. we promised them cinnamon rolls and they were there without any questions :) we talked about three things that we as sister observed and wanted to set as district goals with the elders...so side note, im not a very good missionary...but i will admit my strengths lie in working with the members-loving them, serving them, etc, so thats kinda what we talked about...so our three things were 1. talking to each other in Russian when we were around ANYONE in the ward/on the street. of course, you would think we would do that naturally, but it is really hard when we have awesome stories to tell or we think no one is listening. 2. show a little more enthusiasm!!!! as we sit in our English class or our culinary nights, you can imagine how thrilling all that can be for 20 year old boys, but i told them it would be nice to see a little more excitement! even if its not 'cool' or 'natural'...we've got to kinda put on a 'show' so that people around us-members and investigators get excited too. im reminded of when i had to teach parent/ tot classes when i was life guarding-yeah, you feel like an idiot and a total dork, but the louder you sing those ridiculous songs, the more the kids like you. same principle. Ukrainians don't really like quiet, boring missionaries. its always good to have a magic trick up your sleeve or a fun hand game to show and play. 3. we've had only our 'investigators' coming to these activities, and i don't know why the elders don't step up and start conversations with them, but we asked them to start doing that. our work is not about being possessive about our investigators-its about making everyone feel welcome. my companion, who was baptized four years ago here in Ukraine was able to testify about this a lot-yes, she had her missionaries who taught her, but it was also how friendly and open the 'other' missionaries were to her that made her feel welcome. the elders jumped back with the response that its awkward having 'small talk' with strangers, especially in Russian, then i kinda shared that a mission is the best time to develop those social skills! i think back to some moments before the mission and how i really couldn't handle a lot of social situations, but the kind a person ive become because ive been willing to put myself out there and talk to people on the mission has really helped a lot....so yeah. all that discussion over some delicious cinnamon rolls. and the assistants to the president happened to be there...oops. threw down on our district and zone leader in front of the aps. oops. ohwelll.....can you see how sisters run the mission? hahaha.

but it was really good, and they humbly took our advice .....and.....they changed!!!! English on Thursday and our activity on Friday were so fun and awesome!! they were all actually talking to everyone, even if they were making fools of themselves. and our zone leader even came up to us after our activity and said, 'you know, sisters, thank you so much for your talk with us on Tuesday. we're really lucky to have awesome sisters like you who *keep us in line*...wow. cool. and i happened to be fasting that day for just some comfort that i was actually doing any good for the work here. so i'll take that as an answer. it was really good. and....our elders our awesome and ive seen them in the past week come out of their shells even more and they're actually smiling, laughing, and enjoying the work. thinking about it, the elders probably thought we, as sisters, were calling them together to talk about how we need to be 'more serious' about the work, when actually, we invited them to 'be more serious about having more fun'...i guess that's just the kind of sister i am. i just see a lot of 'dead beat' members and the least we can do as missionaries for them is bring a little life back and help them smile.

 

here are two funny instances of the week...

 

i was walking in church yesterday and walked passed one of the long mirror and realized my skirt's slit in the back had ripped...pretty far up. like...yeah. really far up. i realized it was from having to climb into all the trams here...its like a three foot step up onto the trolleys here....so it was kinda funny. luckily my companion had a safety pin and  i sewed it up last night. but it was kinda funny. i was wearing thermals so it wasn't too big a deal.....so here a lot of skirts women wear have really high slits in the back or front, like all the way up the thigh. so i realized that they aren't trying to be skanky, they just need that kind of slit in their skirts to be able to get into all the public transportation here. duh. its nice to understand the culture a little better. :P

 

so, one of our branches doesn't have a piano player. so instead of volunteering myself, i am teaching one of the young girls in the ward to play the piano. so we meet once a week, she watches how i play the hymns and memorizes my fingers, then SHE plays in sac meeting...yeah im scared to death to play in church, but this way too, its like im teaching her how to fish instead of fishing for her, right? so yesterday i was leading the music while she as playing and we were singing 'we thank the o god for a prophet" and i was holding the hymn book with one hand and leading with the other. then realized....this is the only song in the Russian hymn book where you have to turn the page to sing the last line of the song. (i have no idea whose idea that was, but its a bad idea)....so i realize this was we're in the fourth line of the song....one hand is holding the book, the other is leading andi just have this thought, "how am i going to turn the page??!!" it was an awkward 5 seconds turning the page, leading, not leading, almost dropping the hymn book because i had to turn the page back for the next verse...it was just funny.

 

well, as you can see, my cheeks are defrosting, i can smile a little easier, and my heavenly father is showing me that i am doing some kind of good here.

 

thank you for all your support and prayers :)

sister little

Week 51

Dear family and friends,

well it was another rough and tough week on the mission...but that's okay, i have to remember that we can grow spiritually when we are in the dark, its just a little harder to see it. this week i found some answers, well, maybe not answers, but insight in the scriptures this week that i want to share. so at a couple points on the mission and in life and i will honestly admit that even lately that...ive had enough. like wow. over a year. ive been wearing a skirt everyday for over a year. ive been doing this all for over a year. im done. i just want to admit defeat and get the heck out of here. i know we've all felt that way in life too....i know at times ive caught myself thinking, "wow, i am wayyy to active in the church and nothing good is happening to me...i need a break, i need a vacation. im just going to fall victim to all the winds and storms of the world, hide under a rock, and then one day ill come back out, ready to face it again, i just need a break." well, on the mission, we don't really get vacations....so how on earth am i supposed to cope with these feelings that i just want to admit defeat and give up...it'd be so much easier that way than trying to move forward. well....lets all open up our book of Mormons to Mosiah 21 vs 13...like yeah, thats exactly where i am, ive been humbled by all my trials and struggles to the yoke of bondage to a point where i am surrendering myself and those exposing myself to further pain, winds, and the 'desires of my enemies' (the devil and his oh so pressing depressing thoughts)...kind of like a prisoner of war who has just given up their last thought of hope. i just hang my head down and admit defeat to Satan. BUT THEN, lets read one verse further. vs 14...what kind of humility comes after you've been driven to the dust of the earth? oh, a humility that drives you down even further, even to the dust of humility, but this time, you realize you've hit rock bottom, and we turn to our God for help. ALL the DAY LONG they did cry to their God that he would deliver them. 

so what did i realize from these verses....that admitting defeat, saying 'im just so tired, i need a vacation! i need a break from all this spiritual stuff!"....saying that and admitting defeat is the easy way out. definitely easy, drop everything and just leave, back out of a calling, a commitment, another service project. i know a lot of people will disagree with me, but, saying 'no' is easy. well, maybe not easy, but its the easy way out. what should happen, i what i need to do and have started to do is relying on god more. relying on my savior more. asking for help ALL the DAY LONG as I CONTINUE in the calling for which i am set apart. ive realized that i don't want to take the easy way out, and i have found how i am going to make it through (the mission, school, life) taking the hard way...actually staying active and relying more on my heavenly father who i am communicating with each day, He knows my struggles because i am honest and i tell him about them, and i am looking now more intently for the ways he blesses me each day. i know he can....he may be a little slow to do it if we're not to worthy right away, as we learn if we in this chapter a little further, but, he will help. 

 

Saturday our zone had a conference call with president....straight and to the point- "loosen up all you depressed missionaries!! and start working toward the beautiful goal that one day there will be a stake in Odessa!! the people you are meeting with now are potentially the future stake auxiliary or priesthood leaders of Odessa! remember your calling and keep finding people to teach!" okay president. no, it is actually really cool to be serving in an area where there is such a goal. can you imagine our stake in Vegas saying that? come on missionaries! we want to divide the warm springs stake into two stakes by simple missionary work! i mean, there's no reason to not have a goal like that in Vegas, but...im just saying that it is cool to be working toward it. and something president promised is that that day will come. one day we will be home probably, studying somewhere, or with little kids running around, and we'll hear from a friend or from a face book update that they have organized a stake in Odessa. and he promised that we can feel proud that we helped build that. im so grateful to be serving in this mission specifically. its hard work, but wow, what a blessing.

 

by way of information/update.

do remember Lera who we contacted and prayed with on kreshatik in center Kiev? she got baptized and received the holy ghost last week. pretty cool. so, i am 'doing work' ...just not in my own area.

 

also, this week i'll be in Bulgaria to get my new visa. i only have a one year visa, so i have to go the nearest/most convenient American embassy in a different country to renew it. so i'll take a train tonight to Kiev, fly out to Bulgaria tomorrow and fly back to Kiev on Thurs or Fri, then train back to Odessa Fri night. what a week....wasn't i just talking about how i need a vacation?...just kidding. i know Bulgaria trips if anything through off missionaries' groove more than help it. but we'll see.

 

love you all lots, thank you for all you do for each other and to build up the kingdom of God and dont forget to build up yourselves!

sister little

Week 50

Dear family and friends...

i can feel ive almost made it through the worst of winter...almost. the sun is starting to come up earlier and earlier (about 3/4 the way through morning exercise) and while im wearing the most warm, ridiculous boots i have, its is only because they are the most water proof because as we walk the streets, we walk on more slush than ice now, so my socks get wet if i wear my other boots. its still gets really cold when the sun goes down. but. its amazing what a little warmth can do to an attitude. i think ive found my 'trigger'...something that puts me in a bad mood immediately and thats being cold....so my poor companion has had to deal with the worst of Sister Little the past couple weeks...but hopefully we are not far from some warmer days.

 

ive realized my past few letters have been pretty sub par..and i blame it on the cold weather. but now its a little easier to smile because my cheeks aren't as frozen, and my brain cells can work a little faster because they aren't' as frozen...so i figured i could write a little better letter from a sister who has the privilege of being in Odessa, Ukraine at this moment and be living the missionary life...

 

this week was pretty good. its interesting to think about the progression of the people here in Ukraine. when it first opened up...lots of churches came in, lots of options, people were exploring, interested, inviting their friends here and there so there are now lots of churches in Ukraine who have some pretty loyal followers...Baptists, Jehovah witnesses, ive even run into ...what are those people called in Pennsylvanians?...ya, them. so now, twenty years later, people know who were are when we walk on the street. they know they just have to throw up there hand and walk away and we won't bother them. they'd rather believe what they hear in the media then what we have to say. so...we changed our strategy a bit. we are trying to just get people into our church buildings and meeting our members. lucky, our area actually has one, a pretty one at that, so we are trying to have regular activities at the church throughout the week to get people into our churches to see how we look on the inside-that we don't have icons everywhere, that it is a warm, welcoming place, that its okay to have crazy kids running around. Thursday nights we have an 'English discussion group' on spiritual topics since English it a big seller here. last week we had a really good discussion on faith/miracles/actions. we had 5 people there. not a lot at all, but, we've had worse shows. then Friday night is supposed to be 'fun night' where we play games or something...and when i got here no one was coming, not investigators, not members, no one. every one knows about it but everyone thinks someone else will come, some one else will do it...but then, we end up getting no support. so...we decided to develop it a little better so that its more interesting. we decided that for '4 weeks' and 4 weeks only..Friday would be a 'culinary night' where we showed everyone how to make different American sweets (everyone here through the course of 20 years of American missionaries know exactly what brownies are...but they don't know how to make them)...this way there is 1. free food which is the best way to get people anywhere, no matter what country they are in. 2. there is a time limit on it..only 4 weeks to learn how to do it...better come this week! and 3. its interesting...hopefully members and investigators will be intrigued by it and come and interact and we can build better relationships between our investigators and members.

 

well, the first week, we had like 5 members come...pretty good turn out! but no nonmembers came. we did rice krispy treats and brownies (except they don't have rice krispies here so we used a diff cereal), last week, our second week, we had 6! nonmembers there! (we did fudge and banana bread) but..no members.. but that's okay, it still got some people into our building, interacting with each other, feeling comfortable with missionaries, and showing that we're fun too. i understand its not the best best way to teach people about the restoration or eternal life...but its a start. we got more nonmembers into our building than we have before.

 

so..im doing better, the language is coming back. i gave a talk yesterday in church about Jesus Christ, the everlasting gift of the atonement. it was a good reminder for me to be grateful for the many blessings i do have.

 

i love you all,

miss you like crazy!

thank you for you thoughts and prayers!

sister little

Week 49

Dear family,alright..well a week down in Odessa, and man has it been cold! isn't' there a pioneer story about a little girl chasing a wagon and she's thinking the driver is soo mean because he won't slow down to let her get in because its so cold...but actually by making her run he is keeping her alive? that's what its been like we pick up the pace to get ourselves to sweat so we don't freeze to death.

but...im adapting. ive learned that three pairs of thermals are better than two, two scarves are better than one, two pairs of socks are better than one (probably three would be best, but then i can't zip up my boots, ive tried), and that i can fit seven layers under my jacket. yes. i look fat. but...i think its will get warmer bit by bit. its def colder here in Odessa than it has been in awhile. we were out contacting on the shore of the black sea a couple days ago and its frozen as far out as we could see..its usually a deep blue color (that's the color is was when i got here a week ago-we can see it from our apt), but now its just white...sorry i didn't have my camera with me...so no pictures. but something i noticed a couple days ago that i am really grateful for. its was still a little light out when i looked at my watch at 4:45...so the days are starting to get longer-yeah!okay, enough about weather.

sorry's. our mission president has asked us to stop emailing him about the weather, so ive got to get it out somewhere. so the branches are doing good. im getting to know a few more people here and there and get them to be excited about missionary work. we've got a member who owns a cafe in center that wants to put up handouts/flyers about the church. awesome. we're starting up a few family home evening groups in certain neighborhoods to get sisters to invite less active and nonmembers to, so that good. we were out contacting last night with not a whole lot of success-not too many people like the idea of you stopping them when its so cold out. but as we were walking a guy probably in his thirties approached us and wanted to know where he could buy 'that book' that we have...that he had heard a lot about us and wanted to read our literature...wow, thank you heavenly father for giving us that small miracle and mood booster. so...there is still work to do. still people searching. on Saturday we had a zone conference with president, his wife, and president Schweitzer-area president in of eastern Europe (you can find his picture in the second quorum of the seventy). it was a great, spiritually uplifting meeting. he is a very happy man and it makes you remember that even with all the 'bad' or 'discouraging' or things that aren't going perfectly in our lives or in the work or in the wards we can still be happy...look at the prophet. and i can't imagine what he knows about how urgent it is that people repent, that they fulfill their callings, and the direction the world is going and how fast we're getting there. buts he is still able to be happy. of all the other spiritual guidance we received, it was good to have this inspiration and observation too. its hard. life is hard. mission is hard. but....i can still be happy. there's just a whole lot of balance work between feeling inadequate and then feeling Gods love, between the measure of failure and of success. but i can testify to you and you can probably all see from the progression of my emails over the year...that my Heavenly Father loves me. He loves us. He's given the tools to get back to him and the time here on earth to use them, and enjoy this beautiful creation of his and be grateful for our blessings of families, of friendships, of wards, of caring bishops, of the priesthood.... Heavenly Father knows and he is right here with us.

i love you all...have an awesome week. remember heavenly father is only prayer away.

sister kylie little

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