January 20, 2014
Well, the greater you rise, the greater you fall I guess.
Last week was truly a miracle in that all our appointments happened. This week
I would say about 80-90% fell through. The worst was being stood up by M and D
at church, and then with a lesson we had set up with them Sunday night. But hey
- blessing - in that time we stopped by some former investigators in the area,
and got let in by one woman N, and set up a return appointment. Hoping
something comes of it? Always. Sunday was also exciting because the snows that
came Saturday turned to ice for Sunday, and now Lugansk is one big sheet of
ice. At least the sidewalks are. And Uncle Scott, we do still have to navigate
by the light of my beloved Princess Flashlight. I had my first fall of the
season Sunday night as I was trying to help my companion up from her second
fall (her first was on the way to church, with Book of Mormon flying one
direction, Bible in the other). I just kind of lay on my back for a little
while and looked at the beautiful stars. I was exhausted by this point, so it
was actually rather nice. I had many other close encounters with the ground
that night, but managed to keep my feet on the ground.
But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. Other things
happened this week. For example, the Sister Training Leaders came down from Donetsk
to do a split with us. They brought us some new water filters, so we get to
stop drinking poison water! I was re-united with Sister Ahlstrom for a day.
Guess what? Sister Reece is apparently a magician when it comes to contacting, because
Sister Ahlstrom and I went contacting together, and it was like Petrovsky all
over again (but not quite as bad). We had an appointment with R, but we got
there and his mom answered, and she was all alone. Turns out he was still in
Kiev, and had fallen back into some bad habits. But it was good that we were
there for his mother, because she is having a rough time with it all too (being
his mother, of course), and she just got to talk with us.
On Saturday we also went out to the boonie of the
boonies of our area to look for a less active woman. Turns out she doesn't live
there anymore. So we went tracting, and had our first experience with being
kicked out of a building. We only had one door left, so it was okay. I think it
helps soften the blow when you really don't understand everything they are
saying, and really only catch the gist of it (leave and don't come back). That
night on the way home we also got snowballs thrown at our backs by some very
loud, drunk young men. But don't worry, their aim was terrible.
But, so this letter doesn't seem horribly depressing, I
shall now conclude with a story of a miracle, Heavenly Father's tender mercies,
and the incredible kindness of Ukrainians. So Sister Reece holds lots of
things in her hands as she walks. She also drops a lot of things, especially
her planner. Well, Thursday night she apparently dropped her planner somewhere
and did not notice, and neither did any passing young men. So her planner was
lost. FYI, a missionary's planner is their life. Her planner also had many
contacts in it that had not been transferred to the Area Book yet because we
ran out of "contacts" sheets (more were delivered by the Sister
Training Leaders that night). This was actually terribly sad. HOWEVER, the next
morning we got a text from a less active girl, A, saying that some bus driver
had called her and said he had Sister Reece's notebook, and she gave us his
number. It was found! And we eventually arranged to meet up with this bus
driver, and he went out of his way to give Sister Reece her tiny little
notebook that probably looked like nothing but meant so much to us. And you
know what makes this story even greater? We don't know how he got A's number,
because it is not written anywhere (or at least not anywhere terribly visible)
in the planner. Sister Reece, at my request, now keeps her planner in her
pocket.
I hope everyone is staying warm, wherever you are. I don't
hear much, but I hear it's pretty cold. Drink some fruit чай (tea)!
Love you!
Sister Tanner
PS. A random tidbit I remembered about Ukraine: People here
have somehow picked up that "50/50" is a phrase in English or
something. "How are you doing?" "50/50" Funny
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