GOOOOOOOOD MORNING EVERYONE. We have officially arrived in Ukraine! Boy oh boy. Exciting stuff. So, where do i start, because ive got a few things to say and not a whole lot of time... ill just pick the highlights and if you want to know anything more specific all you need to do is ask and i will do my darndest to respond next week😁.
So, i got the call that my Visa came in last thursday, and was scheduled to leave on tuesday. My fun begins almost immediately upon walking into the airport because I accidentally walked past my train to get to the terminal, but it ended up being minor blessing. I found two other people who were trying to look for the gate like me and we banded together to figure things out. Together we successfully made it to our terminal. One from the three of us was a man trying to return to China and he spoke not a lick of english. Its ok though, i think i pointed him in the right direction👍.
Next on the plane flight, i sat next to a lady who ended up being able to speak russian. Unfortunately for me russian was also her second language, so we kinda small talked about food and where we were from, but in the end she complimented my russian after i told her it had only been three months of learning. Felt kinda good... more language stories later...
So then i landed in Amsterdam, and met up with 12 other Missionaries who were going to Kiev (I knew them from the MTC so it was cool to see them again) and we zipped off to Ukraine!
Successfully made it through customs and then waited around trying to figure out where some of the other Missionaries bags were. It took so long that i was like, "Hm, im bored and still technically a solo Missionary sooo... lets go find Pres. Kumferman". So thats just what i did. Here our story gets fun.
I walk through the gate, much to their surprise. "Why surprise" you may ask. "Weren't they waiting for Missionaries?". Well yes, yes they were. Just not ME. You see, Elder Coleman was not on their roster of incoming missionaries, so when i walked through the door it was like a surprise child or something. Fun stuff.
Aint that just something? So I didn't have an assigned companion until the end of the day, and because they had no clue where to put me for the night i got put up with the Assistants to the President (The two Missionaries who work directly with the mission president). Kinda fun honestly.
Long story short, im now in черкаси (Cherkasy) with 4 other missionaries and we are just having a grand old time. My first Sunday this week was tiring (apparently theres a club) and I accidentally told someone that i like to cry as a hobby... yeah. In russian the words Swim and cry are pretty similar... плакать/plakat (to cry) and плавать/plavat (to swim)... so yeah. Learning languages is fun👍👍.
That was a SUPER quick summary of my past two weeks and I can go more in depth, but it was already kinda long, so i hope it was at least entertaining. For my spiritual thought i'll just share a quick quote from Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
"While weak hope leaves us at the mercy of our moods and events, “brightness of hope” produces illuminated individuals. Their luminosity is seen, and things are also seen by it! Such hope permits us to “press forward” even when dark clouds oppress (see 2 Ne. 31:16, 20; Heb. 6:19; Ether 12:4; Col. 1:23). Sometimes in the deepest darkness there is no external light—only an inner light to guide and to reassure."
Stay happy and healthy everyone, love yall!
"Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (in Ukranian) w/ the Fonz
Kiev Temple!!! and in the fog!! I was like ~50 yards from it...
Endless clouds... Probably. it was just blanketing the Country(ies) in every direction
Who is... is that... it is, Bob Ross!!
View from my Window of my apartment
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