The Ukrainian Bear

Hello Family and Friends!

What a crazy week for me! First off sorry this email is coming late! Yesterday we had a last minute zone conference with President Bennet from the Area Presidency who is also a member of the quorum of the seventy! I will tell you more about the conference later in the letter!

So our week was soooo crazy! Last monday is when I dropped off my companion Elder Hinkson at the mission office because he was going home! So once I dropped him off I went on a three day exchange with Elder Roggow! He is from Germany! I was with him until thursday (transfer day)! It was so much fun!

On Tuesday we went out to Brovary which is about an hour east of Kiev. There we had district meeting with Elder Roggow's district! It was way good! We then did some good old traditional contacting out on the streets. It was way fun though! We made it way interesting and we were just being super normal with people and we were able to have some amazing Gospel conversations! At night we went to English. It was so awesome! There were lots of people that came!

Wednesday morning we studied and then headed back into Kiev! We had to go and buy a bunch of air mattresses for my zone! haha. Every apartment in our mission has so many missionaries because of the Donestk mission joining us so we had to buy some mattresses for some people. It was quite an adventure trying to find them. haha. We then had a lesson at night with one of our investigators. He is on date to be baptized in the coming weeks! It was a way good lesson. We talked about the Plan of Salvation. He really enjoyed it and he loved when we talked about eternal families and being able to be sealed in the temple for time and eternity!

On thursday we went to the mission office in the morning for transfers! I picked up my new companion Elder Hales! He came over from the Donetsk mission when they got evacuated! He is from Utah! He is so awesome! I am so happy for this upcoming transfer with him! So on thursday we had some stuff at the mission office then came home and dropped off all of his stuff. We then went to our English program is Center. It was way good. We had a pretty good turn out!

Friday was a good day. We weekly planned during the day. I am so excited for this transfer! It is going to be sooooo awesome! At night we had a lesson set up with a less active but it fell through so we just stopped by some other less actives in the area. It was way fun. My companion and I have been really working hard at talking to everyone everywhere we go! We have seen such amazing miracles. Seriously it has been so awesome. We have had some amazing street contacts in the last few days.

On Saturday we went to English in the afternoon then had a lesson at night with an investigator. It was with a different investigator than last time. Sorry I cant use names... Europe East law... But the lesson was way good. We just talked about the Restoration. He had lots of great questions about Joseph Smith. He was way awesome to help he understand who Joseph Smith was and what he did. We really hit the point that God loves us and has called another prophet today to lead and guide us. He loved it. We have some lessons with him this week so we will see how it goes!

Sunday was a great day at church. It was testimony meeting. There were lots of great testimonies given. Well at least the ones I could understand. The problem in Kiev is that half the members speak only Ukrainian in church. This makes things very very difficult! After church we had some meetings with the missionaries and the bishop. It was way good. We talked about some great things for the ward here in Center!

Yesterday, Monday, was not P-day like I mentioned earlier. We had an amazing conference! President Bennet came here and gave us some advancing guidance. Also President Klebingat taught us alot! It was so amazing to have to members of the quorum of the seventy in the same room teaching us. President Bennet talked alot about the situation going on here in Ukraine and how to handle it. He talked about how this is one of the hardest and biggest trials a mission can ever go through. He gave us some good advice on how to try to not worry about the situation and move on. It of course is so hard when we have an extra 100 missionaries here in our mission with 14 missionaries in our ward. It makes things difficult but also it is a huge blessings! Our missions has seen numbers go up like crazy in the last few weeks! We are having so much success as a mission. I know that the Lord is really watching over our mission and blessing us right now. This is a very very difficult time for the church and the missionaries here in Ukraine. But I know that the Lord is watching over us and will help and protect us no matter what happens here in Ukraine. So last night we had a lesson with a family in the ward. They are all deaf. It was sooooo amazing! One of the coolest experiences of my mission. We had no transator either. We just wrote everything on paper and communicated that way. It was so cool. We shared a lesson with them and it was one of the most spiritual lessons of my missions and no words were said. It is amazing how the Spirit can testify of truth. I learned last night that it isnt always what you say but it is how you feel inside that will help the Spirit be present and allow him to do the teaching. It was an amazing experience!

Well I love you all so much! Thanks for the letters! Also Congrats to Caroline and Travis on their big wedding day! I am so happy for them! I hope you all have a great week and Happy Mother's day to all you Mothers! Talk to you on Sunday family! I love you!

Love,

Elder Grochmal