UKRAINE HERE I COME!!!!!!!! :)

My wonderful lovely, loved ones,

I love you all so very much! Typing this letter right now is so very surreal. Do you know what happens in less than one week? I will be boarding a plane to fly out of this country to go home to Ukraine. Is this real life?? I am so excited! Finally! I have been waiting for this, for who knows how long!! Like, I've known about this in the premortal existence and everything so I know I've been waiting a very long time and now it is finally happening! So this is the last email you will receive from me in this land of America, next time you hear from me I will be in Ukraine!! How exciting! I'm sorry if I'm making all of you jealous, I can't help it, I have the best life in the whole world.

the best district in the whole wide world!

This week will be very bitter sweet that is for sure. I LOVE my district. Never did I think I could become so attached to a group of people as I have become with them. We spend ALL of our time together... You think I'd be sick of them by now, but not in the slightest. Everyone of them brings something different to the table. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and I know that we were put in the same district through divine revelation, because I have had the best MTC experience, I do believe, anyone has ever had. I feel as though my testimony which was like a controlled fire, we would have during the cold months of December has become an out of control forest fire you would see in the driest months of July. And I know a huge thanks goes to those in my district who have helped my testimony grow with the bearing of their testimonies and with the examples they have shown me. They are all incredible, I cannot wait to hear of the immense success that they all will have. I know they will be successful in all that they do, because they truly are wonderful. And also because we were blessed with the most amazing teachers, we can't not do well.

Oh our teachers, I don't want to say goodbye. Because of the example of our teachers I want to be the VERY best missionary I can be, just to make them proud. I think the world of every single one of them. I wish you could know how great they are and how truly blessed I am to have them. Heavenly Father hooked me up with the best of the best. Truly truly. There was one week where I was struggling very bad because so many of our teachers were randomly leaving and getting different jobs or something, I was so frustrated! I remember being so bothered that this was happening, but now I realize that it was for the very best. Because really the teachers that did plan on leaving are now with us for more time and we were blessed with another teacher as well. So right now I have a total of 4 amazing teachers who all teach me in completely different ways, I have the opportunity to be taught EVERYTHING. One teacher's weakness is another one's strength. They all have served in different parts of eastern Europe so we can hear all of their different experiences and get excited to get out and serve. I can't wait to have experiences similar to theirs. I look up to all of them so very much. I am so grateful for them and all they have taught me. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to teach them as real investigators that they had. Oh my investigators. My sweet sweet investigators. My heart breaks at the thought of leaving them. Especially after being with them for so long and watching them progress so much.

We had a baptism this week and it was such an amazing experience! How good it felt to have someone we love so much receive this gospel and promise to remember our Heavenly Father in everything he does. Caшa has become such a huge part of my life over these past few weeks. I really love him. I have found that I can love someone I don't even know, because I can feel my Heavenly Father's love for them. It has been such a neat experience to see him progress and be with him every step of the way. He has brought so much joy into my life and I am so sad that I have to say goodbye to him so soon. We have taught him once after his baptism about priesthood and the importance of it. As we testified of the importance of the priesthood and what it would be able to do to help in his life with his family, his eyes lit up, and he was filled with overwhelming joy. He kept saying "I want it, I want the priesthood. Please help me receive it." How amazing. How amazing that Caшa knows that baptism is not the end. He can continue to progress in this gospel and continue to fill his life with the great rewarding things of the gospel. It has been such a blessing to teach him. I love Caшa and all of our other investigators.

Mapия, another one of our sweet investigators, continues to fill my thoughts everyday. We have not had the opportunity to teach her nearly as much as we would like, only having a few lessons, but I really do love her. As we teach her I love trying to see her as our loving Heavenly Father sees her. She has had such a hard life and as we teach the things of the gospel you can tell in her countenance that her heart begins to soften. It is such a treat to see this change in people. I wish we could continue teaching Mapия but it breaks my heart to say that we only have one more lesson with her. Saying goodbye to investigators is definitely going to be the very worst part of the mission.

Now Makc is someone special. We also have not had the opportunity to teach him very much but the lessons we have had with him have always been extraordinary. My very favorite thing is when he sees us he greets us with "Oh my very good American friends!" I love the relationships we can build with these people that are so precious to our Father in Heaven. I always feel the spirit so strong when we teach with Makc because he literally soaks everything in. He is one of those golden investigators that everyone always wishes they could have.

I am dreading the day we have to say goodbye to them. I do not want to do it at all.

Our teacher, Brother Hofman told us there were only 3 things he hated on his mission and that was: socks, shaving, and transfers. We all know if I had the choice I would run around barefoot everywhere, and I'm sure you are all very aware that shaving my legs is probably my least favorite activity, and now I know that I will hate transfers. So I'm pretty sure those will also be the only 3 things I hate about my mission as well. Please pray for me to have peace at this time as I have to leave some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I am very excited, so ready to get out and serve those people who have been waiting for me for so long, but it is hard leaving these people I love.

At the end of my email I thought it would be cool for me to list a few of the most important things I learned here at the MTC.
-I LOVE learning.
-You can really feel real love for someone you don't even know, through Heavenly Father's love for them.
-Heavenly Father is completely aware of us and every single one of our needs and concerns.
-No matter how hard I try I CANNOT do this without my Heavenly Father and my Savior.
-The impossible can be done with the help of the Lord.

I love this gospel so much. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share it with people who are longing to have joy in their life. Yesterday one of the sisters in my district, Sister Clark, said this and I so agree with it, "The Iron Curtain may be gone, but it's shadow is still there. It is our job as missionaries to go in this shadow and bring the light of the gospel, and make the Iron Curtain disappear completely." I know that people's lives are so hard there. I am so excited to go help them understand that they have a Savior, someone who knows EXACTLY how they feel. I am so excited to go tell them that they do have something to rejoice in, that they can find joy and happiness in even their darkest of times. 
 

ONE MORE WEEK!!!! Me, Sister Hunt, and Sister Ford. I don't think you understand how much I love these girls!

I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. You all are the best! Seriously! Well, take care of America for me while I'm gone would you? :) UKRAINE HERE I COME!!!!!!!! :)

Love,
 Sister Lee

Elder Tallen Tipton and I :)

Sister Janessa Watts and I :)