Leaving for Ukraine!!!

September 30, 2013

Do you like black eyed peas?
black eyed peas were GOOD

MY VISA CAME, I LEAVE FOR UKRAINE TOMORROW!

Okay, I'll try to make this quick. 

Well! I leave tomorrow for Ukraine! Yikes! This past Sunday I finished Sacrament meeting, sat down in Gospel Doctrine, and then Elder Stocks said the APs wanted us to call them right away. Not believing it could actually be what I thought it might be, we called. Yep, my visa was here and I was to fly out on Tuesday, at 12:00. That was all the info they gave me, and a baby was screaming in the background (on my end) so it was hard to hear. My heart was beating so fast. I'll be speaking Russian in a couple days! We were all shocked, and it hurt to think I'll just be leaving everyone. Just like that, I'm cut loose. Leaving behind my companion, Sister B_ and Sister R_, all the people in the Atlanta ward, my investigators, everyone. I had appointments set up for Tuesday. Will came to church, but could only stay for Sacrament Meeting, and I said "Bye! See you Tuesday!" FALSE. We thought I would at least stay until transfers next week, but nope. Sister M_ gets to be in a trio with Sister B_ and Sister R_ for a week. Funny story: there are three things Sister M_ said she never wanted to do; train, share a bathroom, and be in a trio. She got all three this transfer.  AAAAAHHHH!

 

But earlier in the week. On Tuesday we had a power day where we just found all kinds of people and blessed and blessed. Several of them are actually investigators now, which is great. This one lady, we set up a return appointment for Thursday morning. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. So then Sister M_ does her super loud cop knock, and suddenly the door flings open, I'm blasted by the smell of cigarettes, and this lady, who was clearly naked but mostly covered by the door goes "Nuh Uh! You don't be knocking on my door like that!" All I could do was stand there dumbfounded, mumble "sorry," and then she slammed the door. Sister M_ was standing to the side, because that's what you do as a cop so you don't get shot, so I got the brunt of it. But did Sister M_ let me know about not getting shot? Nope. We saw the lady today as we were driving to the library, and she apologized and said we could come back. So all is well.

On Wednesday I got to go to Bible Study reeking of cigarette smoke, having just come out of a lesson with one of the people we found on Tuesday. I also had pit bull puppy slobber on my hand. Life of a missionary.

Random fact: there is a Nestlé’s factory right next to the church, and every time we go to church, or Bible Study, it smells absolutely delicious outside. It always makes me very hungry.

So remember the story of the lady who stopped us in the Wal-Mart parking lot? We've been teaching her and her boyfriend, who is not a member. Actually, he's Will, the one I mentioned earlier. They are so excited, he has a baptismal date set for October 19th and is looking forward to it. We had set up to see him every Tuesday and Thursday. It is so encouraging to see her so determined to become active, and go to the temple one day, and to see him truly wanting to know and understand more. I'm going to miss seeing them.

On Friday we spent much of the day eating. We had appointments with less actives, and Sister M_ is really good at convincing them to also feed us. I am going to miss the food here, but I'm pretty sure my weight will appreciate Ukraine.

I'm sorry this letter is so sporadic. I don't have my planner, so everything is kind of jumbled up.

Saturday was the General Relief Society meeting! It was great. Toni, a recent convert and wonderful person, picked my apartment up and took us to a late lunch at the Varsity down town, and then we went to a play, the Ten Virgins, put on for the Atlanta Stake, (they also had dinner), and then we watched the broadcast. It was really fun to see the choir, especially since I saw two Russian sisters from my MTC zone, and two sisters from my BYU freshman ward. It was so great to hear President Monson. It was also cool, because so many talks were about our baptismal covenants, which is so relevant as a missionary preparing people to make those covenants.

Wow. My time here in Atlanta has been so wonderful. It's really weird to think it is ending. I'm going to miss the Atlanta Ward! Coolest ward ever. Did you know that many members of Gladys Knights' choir are in the Atlanta ward? Yeah! But hey, I'm so excited to go to Ukraine. There are so many wonderful people I'm going to meet there.

More adventures await! The church is true, and I challenge you to find that out for yourself! I love you all!

Sister Tanner