Well, it's been another eventful week here in Ukraine. Don't really know where to start or what to talk about though. There are so many things that happen every day here that would NEVER happen in America, or that if this was last week, would shock me. Some things still do shock me, but I'm adjusting well and learning to love everything about this place.
So I believe I told you about my wonderful trainer, Sister Helsten. She is the sister training leader for our area, so she has meetings/splits/all kinds of responsibilities to do at least every week. Do you know what that means? Greenie splits!! Sister Reece and I hit the town all by our lonesome and talk to people and contact and just do our thing while trying not to get lost or kidnapped. I kind of want to film it so that one day when I have everything figured out, I can watch us and just laugh at how dumb we probably look. The language barrier is a blessing sometimes though - it doesn't really hurt your feelings when you can't understand that the person is saying "I HAVE MY OWN PROBLEMS LEAVE ME ALONE!" or "I DON'T WANT YOUR MESSAGE!" haha. Needless to say, we learn to laugh off just about everything. Sister Reece is such a great example of just getting out of your comfort zone and talking to people, and she's so sweet and funny that pretty much everything rolls off our backs. Anyway, 6 days in, the youngest, freshest greenist to ever take on the town alone and we got 3 contacts! God is definitely with us.
Oh, and we have bed bugs. There's really nothing we can do about it, and I'm handling it well. That's all I have to say about that.
Really there are crazy (and sketchy) things that happen here all the time. We had a lesson with a lady who is really sick with her problems and she just called up her friend right in the middle of it to get her some pain medication. So we we just chattin it up about the Book of Mormon while he taped a bottle of morphine to a mop, wiped the sweat off his face, and stuck a dirty needle in her arm. well, he tried. It didn't really work, so they started yelling at each other and he left while she let the IV full of blood drip all over the floor. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in Rent. It's actually pretty awesome haha.
Oh and remember how I said the people here love pictures? We were running late to a lesson but our taxi driver wanted to see my pictures SO badly that he offered to give us a free ride to our lesson. (He drives us often, so we actually know him - haha it's not a creepy thing.) We didn't accept of course, but hopefully I'll get the chance to show him again soon. We don't understand each other very well, so when we try to talk we just compare the words he knows in English to the ones we know in Russian and laugh a lot at each other's accents. Also he gave us chocolate. These people, I'm telling you - SO amazingly selfless.
Amazing experience of the week:
I met myself, 10-20 years down the road, without the gospel. His name is Alex, and he's my kindred spirit. I honestly think that he might be the entire reason I'm here, and I can't even communicate with him yet!! Though I understand him better than the other sisters by some miracle. He is so ready to hear the word in so many ways, but then not in others. He's a huge seeker of truth, but his quest for God is a quest for knowledge. He is unsatisfied because he thinks he can know God by knowing more about who God is - he doesn't realize that it is through what he did and what he says that we find peace. And I know exactly how he feels, and what he's thinking, but I just don't know how to help him. I hope he will listen to us. He's my prayer request for this week.
I'm also grateful to be working with really amazing members here. They are the best. So kind and a huge help with missionary work. I love them all.
Only other thing I can think of is that someone told me this week that I look Russian. HA! Take that! To all the people who doubted, let it be known: The chamelion face comes through yet again!
Other than that it's just the normal stuff. Hitting my head on the way out of Marchutkas, tripping and wiping out on the street, trying to fight off the bug infestation in our apartment, being yelled at by people I don't understand, trying to learn Russian, having amazing spiritual experiences every day, seeing miracles, learning more than I ever thought there was to know, and loving every minute of it. :)
I love you all! Hope God's blessing everyone (well, I know he is, so I hope you're all seeing it!) Thank you for the mail and the love and for everything!
Be bold! Be brave! Be great!
Love,
Sister Willerth
For anyone wondering, my adress is just the mission home address, and I think we get to check mail there about once a month. Hope that answers some questions
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