The Ukrainian Bear: July 22nd-29th

Hello Everyone!

Just another amazing week here in Ukraine! We have been very busy as always. Well I will jump right into this week:

So monday was P-day so we did our normal emails and went to our favorite restaurant, the only one in Bila. Then our Branch Mission Leader met us at the church to play some ping pong! He loves playing with us. He is coming today to play some more! He is so awesome! We then went and had a lesson with our investigator, Игер, at our branch presidents house. It was way awesome! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. He is doing so good and we are continuing to work with him, but at a slow pace cause we dont want to rush him.

Tuesday was awesome. We had district meeting in the morning. The Zone Leader and his companion came down for it. Elder Kardadjov is our Zone Leader and he is traing Elder Porter who just got here! So after district meeting we started exchanges for the day. I got to go with Elder Porter! It was so much fun cause he is in his first transfer so I was the older one and had to take lead in everything. We went and had a lesson with a recent convert. It actually went very good considering our language isnt the best! haha. We taught her about Faith. She was very impressed that we even came and tried as two super young missionaries. It was such an amazing experience actually. We then went contacting on the streets. We talked to so many people! It was so awesome! We actually gave one man a Book of Mormon and he sounded interested. Almost everyone we talked to we didnt really understand them at all but we just would testify of the church and The Book of Mormon and the people would smile. We think they were liking it! It really made me think about how just from testifying of the truth can really influence someone as long as the Spirit is present and helping you talk to them. Overall it was a great day in which I feel like I gained a whole lot more confidence in the Russian Language!

So for Wednesday we didnt do much. We were all over the place tracting and contacting and preaching the Gospel! It was way fun! We then had our normal English. We had so many people again and lots of new faces! Teaching English is so much fun! I love it so much. It helps me learn Russian also!

Thursday we were pretty busy with two lessons. We first taught an investigator, Иван, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He is such a cool kid but still cant get baptized till he is 18. So we just meet with him every once and a while to teach him and see how he is doing! We also taught a recent convert Дима! He is doing so good! I love him!

So Friday was so fun! Our Branch had a big picnic out in this amazing park with a huge lake! It was so pretty. We went for a little. We actually had one investigator there and the sisters had a couple! It was such a good experience for the investagors to hang out with the branch. We had luch out there and it was so good. Just some straight Ukrainian food on the BBQ! All the youth were swimming in the lake and jumping off cliffs and there was a sweet ropeswing. It was so hard to just sit there and watch them all swim! It looked soooo fun! After that we then went to a members house and taught a little spiritual thought to them! It was so good!

So for Saturday we had our normal English class in the afternoon. It went good and then I got to give the spiritual thought after in Russian. It was so much fun. I didnt really prepare anything and just winged it. It actually went very good. I only had to ask my companion to say like one word. haha. to find. haha I still dont know how to say it! woops. We then had youth night which was awesome. We had a good turnout with a couple of investigators! We played Capture the Flag! It was a blast.

Sunday was awesome as always! Church was way good! This branch is so amazing! We had like 80 people at Sacrament! It is so awesome to see so many people here! We then had Branch Council and talked all about how the branch can help the missionaries more! It was such a good meeting! At night we went over and taught a family in the Branch, the Рябокон 's! They are so awesome and have two little boys. The kids are wild and hilarious!

Well that basically sums up my week! This week we are having Zone Conference up in Kiev so I will be there for a day! I cant wait to hear from our President and get to know more about him! Well I hope you all have a great and wonderful week! I love you all!

Love

Elder Grochmal