The 9 month mark

March 24, 2014

Hmmm...what happened. Well, the weather got real nice, aka, more PDA couples. On Tuesday and Wednesday we were told we couldn't contact/tract at all, but then afterwards all restrictions were lifted, with the counsel to be smart. So missionary life continues as usual.

Tuesday was kind of funny, because it was the first day in a long time we had scheduled in time to just go tracting. Something you don't need a back-up plan for, because it usually is the back-up plan. Well, joke was on us when we got the call about no contacting for the next 48 hours. We ended up spending a lot of time figuring out game night, because it was supposed to be special and we were going to make bleenie as a birthday party for a young man in the branch, and we sisters offered to help and then somehow ended up in charge. It teetered on the brink of disaster, especially when the birthday boy refused to come in and participate, but no one can complain about delicious bleenie.

On Wednesday I hit my 9 month mark, which means I am officially done with half my mission. I definitely thought I would know a lot more by this point. Know more about what? Everything. But we celebrated by getting us a shawarma at the best shawarma stand ever for lunch, followed by bleenie for dessert.

Thursday was crazy, but in a kind of good way. Do you remember way back when we tracted into a lady, and she didn't want to listen but gave us food? I think that moment has been immortalized in a picture or two. Well, Sister Reece had the great idea to write her a thank-you note and deliver it. Actually, we delivered it on Wednesday, and amazingly the lady remembered us, was very grateful for the note, and invited us to come back the next day because she was making more, and wanted to hear what we were all about. So we headed back over on Thursday, she invited us in, sat us down, and asked if it was okay if a friend came over who also wanted to hear our message. Of course! When the friend showed up, I had to laugh, because it was wig lady! I don't know if I wrote about her earlier, but she was a referral we received from random people on the street, who we contacted but who said she was not interested. She wears a wig by the way. Anyway, we ended up having a great meeting with them, and the first lady, D, seems really interested. Afterwards she fed us. Big time. Like, hearty soup, followed by pickled peppers, followed by two of those things she gave us earlier, with a big glass of grape juice she made sure I drank. Also, I was granted a tender mercy, because as we were eating the pastry things, she began describing to us how she makes them and what goes in them. The last ones had potatoes, but these ones had meat. What kind of meat? Heart, liver, kidney. Oh my goodness. The tender mercy I mentioned, is that while she was talking, I was hearing the word for heart, and I even thought "hmm..that word sounds a lot like heart, I wonder what it is..." but things never clicked. Oh my goodness we felt pretty sick afterwards. And then we had some more lessons with less actives, including one where she fed us another big meal: potato with tons of salt dumped on, and then straight up oil poured on it, along with super oily cabbage, and raw fish. As in, little fishies you can buy at the reenok that I watched her behead and gut. Oh my goodness, Sister Reece and I returned that night feeling so sick. But we had a lot of work that day, and that felt good.

On Saturday I met our two new elders in the district. One is from Moldova, who had been serving in the Russia, Samara mission, but had to leave due to new laws and such. His English is very good, and I think he speaks Russian with an American accent. That night we also had a lesson with some investigators we have been teaching for a long time. We are trying to figure out how to help them progress, and would drop them, but both Sister Reece and I just keep feeling like we shouldn't. The husband is bed-ridden, and only really has the use of one hand. He uses this as his excuse for not reading the Book of Mormon. So Sister Reece and I came up with the grand idea to take a copy of the Book of Mormon that had been dropped one too many times and was falling apart, and to just completely rip it apart. Then we presented him with the front cover, with the first section attached by a rubber band, with the plan to give him the sections we would like him to read. He was touched, slightly embarrassed, and still stubbornly said he won't read. Sigh.

Sunday was absolutely beautiful, church was great, and even though all of our lessons that day fell through, it meant we got to contact PDAing couples in the park. It's funny, because a lot of Ukrainian young women will refuse to look you in the eye. This one girl actually hid her face for ten minutes as we talked to her boyfriend. Date-wreckers, or date-makers?

So that was this week. Hope all is well back home. I must say, I’m glad I don't have to deal with snow. Love you!

Sister Tanner

Addendum!

P.S. another funny story from Thursday: That day we made banana bread/cake, and when Sister Reece went to close the door of our toaster oven after checking it, she lost grip and the door slammed shut as it has many times before. Unlike many times before, this time the door exploded into a thousand little tiny glass pieces. I was on the phone when this happened, which made it a little hard to keep the conversation going. We finished the cake without a door, and today we're buying a new toaster oven.