June 17th-24th

Hello Family and Friends!!! 

What an awesome week. We were very busy this past week.So I heard a little about the big broadcast yesterday. I just got the highlights of it. We are going to watch it soon. They already translated it so we will watch it this week with the whole branch! I am really excited about everything that is happening with missionary work. It is so awesome that they are pushing so hard to get the members involved. I have seen first hand here in Bila Tserkva how important the members are. They members here are amazing. Our branch president has brought like 30 people into this branch. Almost every lesson we have had so far we have had a member present. They are so willing to help and they are just so awesome. Every Thursday we do splits with the members. We set up two lessons and then always like 8 members show up and we go on splits with them and go teach lessons. It is so amazing and I know that with the members help the church is going to continue to grow like crazy! 

Well this week was so crazy. Monday was P-day so we just did the normal stuff. We then had a lesson set up for monday night and of course we had a member there to help and then we got dogged. The man didnt show up and his phone was off. We were sad but then the member got a call and a family asked him to come over and give the mom a blessing. He asked us to go so we did. It was such a cool experience. Even though our lesson fell through we were still able to go and serve others. 

Tuesday was the best! My companion and I had to go to Kiev for so registration stuff for Ukraine. It is about an hour and half van ride throught the farms of Ukraine. It was so much fun. I finally got to see what Kiev really looks like. We took some time out of P-day so that we could go look at some cool sights in Kiev. We went to all the famous spots and then went to this massive mall. I seriously felt like I was back in America. We did the registration stuff which took like 4 hours. It was so crazy. We then ate in the mall at Texas Chicken. It was so good and so funny to eat fried chicken. My companion also bought a new suit while we were in the mall. Kiev is seriously so cool. I hope I get to serve there. We rode the Metro a bunch. I felt like I was in New York in the Subways. The escalators down to the Metro are ridiculously huge. There is this one that is like the biggest in Europe. It was so wild. We then went to the Mission home to get mail for our district. We took some photos by the temple which is always fun. The temple is so beautiful. Kiev is so cool!! 

Wednesday we had district meeting then had exchanges with the other Elders. I went with Elder Droubay for the day. He is so cool. He is from Utah and is only in his second transfer. The other Elders called us the green team. It was so funny cause both of us are so new so we cant really speak to people. The other Elders bet that we could make it a day with out calling them and we didnt! It was so funny. We were just happy that our phone never rang cause we would of been in trouble there. haha. We had english at night. It was fun. We taught the beginner class which was so funny. I know how they all feel trying to learn a new language. 

So I think I already told you about the American man in our Branch named Stan. Well he lives out on a farm and asked us to come do some service for him on Thursday.We went out with the other Elders. It was like an hour bus ride on this super sketchy bus. We got there and we went to work with him. We were putting bails of hay in his trailer. We worked for a couple of hours. It was so much fun. He has so much land and a bunch of animals. We then ate some amazing food. We had some meat straight from his animals! haha. It was so delicious! Stan is so amazing. I dont have enough time to tell about him. When I get home remind me to tell you about this man. You all will be blown away. Lets just say he is the real life Jason Bourne. Thursday night we had split night. I was paired with our 2nd couselor of our Branch. We taught a man named Rooslan. We taught him the first lesson about Joseph Smith. He understood it all and said he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. We are so excited about him. He is 19 years old and goes to school here in Bila. We are meeting with him again tomorrow. I hope things go well!!! 

Well remember how I said that the Branch here is amazing. Well Friday they put on a big branch soccer and volleyball tournament. They invited us so we invited some investigators and we went. It was on this beach by a river. It was so cool and so amazing. Some of the members brought other non members so we obviously jumped all over them and talked to them! We obviously got destroyed in soccer but we won the volleyball tournament. It was the four missionaries on the team. We then ate some lunch and it was some good reall Ukrainian food. Lots of Kubasa!!! Friday night we went to visit an active member. She was so nice and told us her conversion story. It was so so crazy. She is so amazing. We then asked her to try and share the Gospel with her friends. We did a role play with her and she did awesome! She told us she would do her best!! 

Saturday was pretty basic. We did lots of walking around and talking to people. WE found some nice people and got their information. We had English club and after English I gave the spiritual thought in Russian. It was so scary but it was pretty cool. We had youth night and we played a bunch of water games with the branch. It was way fun and we had a good turnout of nonmembers!! 

Sunday was amazing as always. I just love going to church here. THe branch is so nice and they just love the missionaries. ForSunday dinner we went to the 1st counselor of the branch presidencies house for dinner. He is so cool. We taught them a short lesson then talked about them sharing the Gospel. THey are already very good at it. Oh and I forgot to mention that while at church in Elder Quorum. The Elders Quorum president challeged everyone by next Sunday to come to church with at least one name or family that they could give to us Elders to go and contact. I am so happy about this. It makes such a big difference when you can teach a lesson to a members friend and have that member present. 

Well overall it was a pretty busy and fun week. They work is amazing as always here in Ukraine. The church is growning. Remember Sergey the man I told you about that I taught with Elder Quinn about not smoking. Well he is getting baptized on Saturday! I cant wait. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Help the missionaries. It is the greatest way to help people to come into the church. I love you all. THanks for the support and emails. 

Love 

Elder Grochmal. 

Walking the streets of Bila. 

Volleyball champions! Elder Droubay, Elder Quinn, Elder Fisher and me.

KIEV!

Kiev Temple

Ryan's companion, Elder Fisher

The farm

Water games

June 10th-17th

Hello Family and Friends!! 

Well It has been a good week. It definitely has had its ups and downs. I am getting used to living over her for sure. The first two weeks were defiantly culture shock but I feel alot more adjusted to my new life over here! I am falling in love with this country and the people. Ukraine is so awesome and just so different than anything I have ever experienced. The way people live here is crazy but so interesting and I am starting to love it and understand it. The church here is amazing. I know I have mentioned this before but the branch here in Bila Tserkva is absolutely amazing! It is full of super active families which is not common here in Ukraine. It is so much fun. Yesterday at church we were singing and I was just looking around and I just felt so good and felt like I was at home. The members here just love the missionaries and are so nice to us. They feed us all the time and will do anything to help us. It is so amazing because basically every single one of them is a convert because the church is so new here. They all have the most amazing stories of how they joined the church. I seriously love it here so much. Also it is so beautiful here. We have this massive park right next to our apartment. It is super famous. It is called Park Alexandria. We got running in it all the time. It is like Yorba Regional park but way way better. It has a massive river running through it and all these super old statues and monuments!! So my week went a little like this: 

 Last monday was Elder Quinns birthday. He is one of the other elders here in Bila. We went out to lunch with him cause it was P-day. We then just went to the church and played some ping-pong. P-day ended and we went to a family's house for dinner. They are so amazing. They have 4 kids and the mom is pregnant. They fed us Perogies! Well here in Ukraine they are Verenikey! They had strawberries in them and but some amazing cream sauce on top! We then shared a lesson with them and were on our way. 

Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning which is always amazing! After that we start another exchange because my companion need to go with the other elders in a city hours away. I got paired with Elder Quinn again for a day! It was so awesome! He is so amazing and knows so much. It is pretty funny cause he is 21 and I am only 18!! haha. We had a lesson to teach one of his investigators. We taught him the Word of Wisdom. He has no issues except that he smokes about 20 cigaretts a day! He told us that he would stop because he knows he needs to. We had a member with us who is a recent convert that had to quit smoking. He told Sergey that it is possible to quit and you just have to do it. Sergey hasnt smoked since and was at church on Sunday and was just so happy. They committed to baptism June 29!! I am so happy for him and for the other Elders here. Tuesday night we went to a recent converts house. We shared a lesson and we were about to leave and they were like wait lets eat some food. They fed us sooooo much food. It was so amazing but the best part was the Verenikey (perogies). 

Not much happened on Wednesday. We had English club. It was so cool. We had 26 people show up! I taught the beginners class with Elder Quinn. It was so fun. We got a few people numbers so we hope to meet with a couple this week. We already set up a lesson on Wednesday with a guy from english. English club is so awesome and so effective. We get so many people coming and usually they all stay for the spiritual thaught after. We always mingle with them after to ask how it was and they always say they loved it. It is such a good experience! 

On Thursday we went to a recent converts house to teach her a lesson and then she fed us. It was my first time have real Ukrainian Borsch! It was so amazing! She is such a good cook. It was so hot outside and then she fed us this burning hot Borsch! I was full sweat! It was so hot in the house also! So we were walking home on thursday night and some man yelled to us do you speak russian? My companion was like of course then he came over and started talking and we started talking about the church. His friend then came over who was part of the Army. They were totally drunk and just wanted to bash us. My companion told them about our church and they were going crazy. They were talking so much smack on us and on America. We then just tried to leave and they kept going off. We finally got away from them. It was a pretty scary and crazy moment. 

On Friday something really funny happened. So we had a mans number in our phone under potential investigator. We called him and set up with him at the church at 4. We got to the church at about 3:45 and we found the other Elders there. Elder Quinn said to us you didnt happen to see a Meesha out there did you. I looked at my companion and we were so confused cause the man we set up with was also named Meesha. We looked at them and were what we are meeting with a Meesha at 4. Then they were like we are meeting a Meesha and 3:30. We pulled out our phones to compare numbers to see if it was the same guy. It totally was the same guy. He was confused and just said yes to both of us not realizing there is 4 of us here. So we actually just left and let the other Elders teach him. 

We didnt do much saturday. We just did a whole lot of contacting and tracting. We werent that succesful. We also had English which was good. We then had youth night for the branch. So we showed up and went out back where the basketball hoop is and there were some guys playing. We asked them to play a little pick up game. They accepted and we played. It was so awesome. I never thought I would get to play some pick up basketball with a bunch of Ukrainians! It was so awesome and felt so cool. Definently a once in a life time opportunity to play with them. 

Sunday was very good as always. We showed up and the branch president pulled me and my companion aside. He asked us to give him a blessing! It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong and it was so cool to participate in my first Russian blessing!! We had an awesome sacrament meeting. We had about 85 people there. Our branch once again is just so amazing!!! 

Well overall it was a good week. We definitely had some struggles. We were only able to teach one lesson but we already have 3 scheduled for this week. Not many people talked to us on the streets but when they did it was so awesome. I love being a missionary here in Ukraine. I know that I am called to serve here for a reason. The people here are so amazing and so unique. I know that through these tough weeks that the Lord will help and stregthen me. I learned so much this week. I love being a missionary so bad. Well I love you all so much. Thank you for all the support and love. Hope you all have a great week! 

Love 

Elder Grochmal 

English Club!

Ryan obviously carries this pic around with him :)

Pictures of Bila!

Sunday lunch...homeade bun! So good 

SKATEPARK! 

A Ukrainian basketball hoop haha 

Second week in the Ukraine!

Hello Family and Friends! 

Well what an amazing week in the Ukraine. This place is so amazing and I am having so much fun! It was a pretty crazy and busy week. It definelty had its ups and downs of course. It rained almost every day haha. It is sunny in the morning then rains in the afternoon for just a little!  

So I dont know if I told you but here in Bila Tserkva, we have two sets of Elders and a set of Sisters serving in our branch. It is so much fun because we are good friends with them and help each other out all the time. So last P-day we went out to lunch with the other Elders. We went to the way good restraunt. I just got so pizza which was pretty normal. That night we went to our Branch Mission Leaders house for dinner. He is so amazing. He used to be the Branch President here. He is so serious about the missionary work and makes sure things get done. He makes us call him every night and give a full report on our day. So we showed up to eat dinner and walked in and asked what can we do to help make dinner. He laughed at us and said here is the stuff, you are making the dinner! We just made tacos so it was pretty easy and we made homemade tortillas which were so amazing! 

On Tuesday we had our first District Meeting. It was way fun. My companion is the district leader so he was in charge. We have a set of Elders that are 3 hours away that are in our district. We had them on skype for district meeting which was pretty funny. After district meeting we started a companionship exchange for a day with the other Elders! It was so much fun. I got to be with Elder Quinn for the day until wednesday afternoon. He is so cool. He is in his last transfer and goes home in 4 weeks! It was so cool to hear his stories and all of his advice. We went and taught two lessons together. We first taught a recent convert and then we taught a little 7 year old getting ready for baptism! We also went and did some service for some old babushtka (grandmas). We went and took all of their rugs out of their house and went out side and beat them for like 30 minutes. It was pretty funny. 

Not much happened on Wednesday. We ended our exchange and I got back with Elder Fisher. We just went around contacting and then we had English class at night. We had alot of people show up which was so awesome! We set up a few lessons with a couple of them! 

Thursday was a good day. We went and taught an (eternal) investigator. I mean this man has been taught over 40 times. He is famous in this area with the missionaries. Everytime a new set of missionaries get here they go and teach him. So we said why not go try and convert him. We got talking to him and my companion and him hit it off right away. They both love biking. They talked about that forever. I could tell things were going good. We then went into the lesson and started to talk about the Book of Mormon. He said that he reads it all the time and knows that it is true!! Also he said that he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet of God! I was like why arent you babtized! We then asked him if he has ever gone to church? He said once! We told him about the importance of church and how he can gain a testimony by going. He told us he will start coming. We are hoping that it will help him commit to babtism. He just kept saying it knows its true but he is not sure about baptism. We got a lesson tomorrow with him and we hope to set a baptismal date! 

Friday was such an awesome day. We did some service in the morning for an investigator. She was very nice and we then taught a lesson. She was very hard to talk to because she wouldnt stop talking and telling stories! It was pretty hard. When we were walking home this man approached us and asked who are we? We told him obviously everything and asked him if he would be interested in knowing more. He said he is religious already but maybe. We invited him to come to the baptism we were having that night. He said ok he will try to come. So when we got to the baptism we noticed he showed up! We sat with him and he like it. We then asked to teach him a lesson right after at the church. We brought our branch mission leader with us for the lesson. It went really well and he said he is interested to know more. Also he wants to start coming to English club! I am so excited to start teaching him more! 

So Saturday morning we went to this big park here in Bila. We just contacted around and we saw these two ladies sitting on a bench. We went and started talking to them. At first they were very rejective and wanted us to leave. We just kept talking and things got better. We ended up talking for like 20 minutes about the church. We invited them to come to church on Sunday and they came!! They told us they are interested and want to know more. We will probably hand them to the sisters here to teach them but they are so nice and I am hoping things go good. After talking to them we found another man in the park that was interested. He agreed to meet with us again and teach him the first lesson. We are teaching him tomorrow. Saturday night the youth in our Branch had a sports night. We went to it and played with them. We had 2 investigators come so that was good. We played basketball and volleyball. It was so much fun to play with them. After youth night we went with the other elders to grab a bite to eat. We went and got Sharmas! They are like famous in missionary culture here. It was a big deal for me to get my first one! It is like a tortila thingy with some chicken and cabbage. It was so good!!! 

Sunday was good. Church went very good. The two ladies from the park were there and loved it. So there is this man in our Branch named Stan Barton. He doesnt speak a lick of Russian or Ukranian. He is straight from Utah. He married an Ukranian and they live out on a farm and he farms all day. He is seriously the nicest and coolest guy ever. He is basically the only person I can talk to in the Branch because he speaks Engligh! I have got to know him very well and he is just so nice! I love him. So for Sunday night we went to our Branch Presidents house for dinner. He whole family was gone on vacation and he was leaving today to meet them. So we got to just spend some time to get to know him. He is such an amazing man! He is responsible for baptizing about 40 of the members in the Branch. He is the greatest ward/branch missionary I have ever seen. He always gives us referalls and helps us with whatever we need. He is like a big deal here in Bila. He runs all the soccer leagues. 

Well overalll it was a good fun week. It defienetly had its ups and downs. At times it is very hard here. I just want to be able to communicate with everyone! I want to get to know the members better but the language barrier is so hard. I know the language will come. I know the Lord will help me. I love you all so much! Thank you so much for all your emails and all your love you have for me. It really helps me get through the hard times! 

Love, 

Elder Grochmal 

SHARMA!

Raining in Bila. 

Milk comes in a bag! 

Sunset over the river. 

                                                  kilbaca sliced for pizzza. It is so amazing!!! 

Eating my first Sharma!!!

Riding in the back of a marshutka

                                 

World War II memorial

The train station. Its called the Voksal.

                           the inside of a marshutka. we ride them everwhere!!!!!! they get so crowded! 

UKRAINE!

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!! 

I AM HERE!! Well all is well over here in Ukraine! I made it here safely. I dont even know where to start! What a crazy week it has been! 

So we left tuesday morning from the MTC! We then flew FOREVER and finally made it to the Ukriane! Our mission president and his assistants picked us up at the airport. We lost half of our travel group of 18 back in Vienna in the flights over. We had barely any time to get to the next plane so only six missionaries made it and 12 were stuck in Vienna. They came on a later flight late wednesday night. So we went with the President to the mission office which is right next to the temple! The temple is so beautiful and amazing! While at the office we just talked with people and got interviewed by the president. By the way my mission president is so amazing!! I love him so much already! We had dinner then went to a hotel to sleep for the night. We went to bed then all the sudden I thought Ukraine was getting bombed. I heard crazy lound noices and I ran to the window to see some people were launching fireworks right outside our hotel! Ukraine is crazy. 

So the next day we came to the mission office and got some training and had some meetings. Oh and I lost a bag in all the flights but I got it back on Thursday! We then met our trainers and found out where we are going! My trainer is Elder Fisher! He is from Logan, Utah. He is soooo amazing. He has been out for a year and is so good at Russian. He helps me out so much! We are got assigned to serve in Bila Tsekva. It stands for White Church. There is a massive church in the center of town. It is a city about an hour south of Kiev! It is amazing! The church is blowing up in the this area. So after some meeting we took a bus with 2 other elders down to Bila. Ukraine is so beautiful by the way. The bus right was amazing going through farms and forest and by the river! It was so sweet. We got into town and found our apartment then made some food then went to bed. 

Friday was a crazy day! So we woke up and did all of our studies like normal. We then went out and hit the streets of Ukraine. When we left the apartment it was SUNNY... We hopped on a Marshutka and rode into town. Ok so a Marshutka is a taxi/van thing that everyone rides. They are honestly everywhere and it is the main form of transportation in this city. They are all numbered and go different places. You just flag it down hop on give them some money and away you go! We honestly take them everywhere we go! Its the only way to get around cause the city is very spread apart. So we went and did some street contacting in Center Bila. It was so crazy. I was just saying randoms words and people laughed at me but it was fine. My companion was dominating and talking to everyone. It was so legit to watch him speak to people. Later that day we sent an appointment with a member to go and do service at his house. So we went helped him dig a hole for a new house. Kinda random. He is soo cool. He is married with 4 kids and his wife is pregnant. They then fed us dinner! They fed us straght potatoes and salad. It was really good! We then shared a spiritual thought with the family and left. We were still in our service clothes so we were going to walk to the church which was very close to change. As we were walking it started to rain. It wasnt to bad but we just ran to the church and got in. We then noticed it start to rain so hard!! We decided to not change and try to start going home. We were like two miles from home. We started to walk and look for a marshutka to catch a ride home. At this point it started to rain very hard. It then stated to rain the hardest I have ever seen in my life. Also it was so windy. We were freaking out and running and there were no marshutkas anywhere!! So we just ran and we finally made it to the Train Station where we found a taxi to ride home! It was so funny and exciting! 

Well Saturday was another amazing day! We had a baptism! It was such a cool experience. The man is so cool. It was our first time meeting him because the missionaries before us taught him. It was so cool to go to a baptism though and we had about 30 members show up. It was so awesome. OK so bad thing is they speak basically all Ukrainian at church. I was so confused. We sing in Ukrainian. So I guess here in Bila Tsekva its about 50/50 people speaking Ukrainian and Russian. Also lots of people speak sergic which is a mix of both. I was so confused when they started to speak at the baptism. I had that moment when I said to my companion, "Thats not the language they taught me at the MTC." He told me it literally isnt because he is speaking Ukrainian. I was so confused. For the rest of the day we did lots of tracting. We also had English Club. It was so much fun. We had a good turnout and got to teach lots. 

My first Sunday was so amazing. We had over 100 members show up at church. The building isnt that big so people had to stand. It was so awesome. It was fast sunday so we had testimony meeting. I counted and about 7 people spoke Ukrainian and only 1 spoke Russian. It was pretty funny. They all understand Russian if you speak it to them though which is very nice. After church we met with our branch mission leader. He is so amazing. Him and his brother are the reason this branch is so massive. His brother is the branch president. They are so amazing and are crazy about missionary work. They have crazy story. They were both mafia members at one point of their lives. So the mission leader got baptised and then once his brother got out of jail he baptised him. They are so amazing and have such amazing testimonies. They have such a crazy past life and now they just love and live the Gospel! Sunday night we went to members house for the dinner. I was so shocked when I walked in and saw they were feeding us tacos! My companion said it was a first for him also! I was so happy. The family is so cool. The dad has been a member for 10 years now which around here is very long! We shared a spiritual and then went out onto the street to contact. We were in the park and we approached this man on a bench. I asked if we could talk to him. I told him who we were and why we were here. He then started talking for a while. I didnt understand anything. haha. My companion then talked to him for about 20 minutes. It turns out he was a Jehovas Whitness and very crazy. He was very nice though and respected us for being here. We left him our number but I doubt he will call back.

Today is P day obviously. We are at some interent club place. Everyone is playing games on the other computers and yelling Russian words. I am so confused. Well over all I love Ukraine so far. The language is seriously so hard. I never understand anyone because of their accents and how fast they speak. It is pretty hard when people keep saying stuff and you dont know anything. It is an adventure though. I am so excited to see what this week has in store. We have a baptism on Friday so that should be awesome. I cant wait. She is the wife of the guy who got baptised last week. All is well here in Ukraine. I am trying so hard to learn the language cause I just want to be able to speak to the people so bad. Everyone here seems so interesting and I just want to know their stories. 

I love you all. I hope you all have a wonderful week. The church is true! I wouldnt be over here getting lost and not understanding anyone if I didnt know it was true! I miss you all and I hope everything back home is good. LOVE YOU!! 

Love, Elder Grochmal 

ps. If you want to send me letters I will give you my adress. Also DearElders still work. I just get them every transfer. I recomend sending mail to the pouch system in Salt Lake. Also feel free to email me. I will get all of them and I can try to respond if I have time. 

For Normal letters: 

Ryan Grochmal (dont put elder!!!)

vul. Yabluneva 1

s. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyevo-Svyatoshinskiy rayon

Kyivska oblast 08131

UKRAINE

for Pouch mail (pouch mail = take a white piece of paper fold it three times and mail it away to:

Ryan Grochmal

Ukrain Kyiv Mission

P.O. Box 30150

Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150