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