Things I LOVE about my mission

Привет!

Hello! Oh my cute lovely friends and family! I love you!

Things are going great here in beautiful Kyiv. I love it more and more every day! And though I am still making A LOT of mistakes with the language. I do see a little improvement. And I am very happy I haven't lost my sense of humor. I feel as though I would die if I didn't have that here, with all the mistakes I make. I have realized while advertising for English Club is when I make most of my mistakes. Instead of asking kids if they study English I have been asking them if they teach English. I was always so surprised at the looks I would get when I asked the question because usually they study English in school here, as I asked Sister Wease she said "Uh, yeah.. you've been asking them if they teach English." Haha! Or just a few minutes ago we were wanting to buy some treats as I was ordering them at the little window I asked the lady at the counter "Can I please get a boy snickers?" When I wanted to ask "Can I please get a little snickers?" Haha, her face was priceless! I realized what I said and started busting up laughing, and then asked correctly while apologizing. Haha, you would not believe how hard Russian is, but I'm loving it! And I do know I'm improving.

When church is in Russian I can almost understand all of it, so that's really good. I even commented in gospel principles yesterday so that was exciting! We as missionaries did a musical number for the ward. We had been practicing the EFY medley in Ukrainian and we finally got it sounding very nice, with Sister Wease and I and Elders Crookshank and Steinaghal. Elder Crookshank had recorded the music on the piano like 10 minutes before sacrament meeting, as we got up to sing during the meeting he hit play on the keyboard and nothing happened. Our music was deleted! So we just sang "Come Thou Fount" acapella  in Ukrainian. The members loved it. They are so sweet, they love everything! We had ward lunch yesterday. Oh my I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love my ward! They are so loving, it really is just like a big family. And of course the food was delicious!

Ward lunch... mmmmmmmmmm

Is this even a can opener? It was what I used haha

I'm really getting accustomed to things nicely here, I feel like I never really got a big culture shock, like I feel like I just belong here.

So how about I tell you some of the things I LOVE about my mission:

-The marshutkas (the cute little buses we ride around in here and there and everywhere)

-The metro (I don't know why but I always feel like I'm in a movie when we go in the metro)

-People here are ALWAYS buying flowers for their sweethearts! It is so cute.

-The fruit that the cute бабушка (grandmas) sell everywhere

-Everyone is always outside! Whether they are walking their dogs, rollerblading, or taking a stroll around the block with their family.

-My wicked tan lines that I'm getting. (Don't worry Mom and Des I am wearing sun screen on my face)

-Our tea parties that we have at every appointment.

-English club. It is so fun, I've made so many friends there. :)

-Our cute apartment. We actually have a super nice apartment that I am so grateful for.

-The food. It's quite a problem actually. I LOVE all of the food here. It is all so delicious.

-Our morning run. As much as I hate running, I love how good I feel after and it is always so beautiful in the morning, it is worth it. And with how much I'm loving the food it is definitely necessary!
-The clouds. They are unreal. I don't know how they look so different here but they do. Unbelievable.

-The sunsets. When I left St. George that was one of the things I swore I would miss the most but the sunsets here. WOW.

-I love that there is two forms of "you" in Russian. There is informal and formal, when people ask me to talk on the "Ты" with them I get so excited because I know that it means we are like friends.

-Sister Wease. My cute best friend. Greatest trainer. World's best companion. Everything.

-The people. They are so real. Real people with real feelings, oh my goodness they are incredible. I love just listening to them tell us their life stories, with so much emotion.

 -And last but definitely not least. The real purpose of why I am here. I love preaching the gospel! I LOVE IT! I have the best life in the world. It truly is the greatest opportunity!

Seriously is this real life?

Friends and family I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support. They are making some HUGE changes to missionary work pretty soon. It is something to get very excited about! Something BIG is happening I can feel it.

I am grateful to be a missionary at such an exciting time as this, truly the last days. Rounding up the last people who are ready. I am grateful for the change that my mission has brought about in me. You always hear that your first convert on your mission should be yourself and it is true. I have come converted to the gospel and I love it! Every minute living worthy of the Holy Ghost always having his company is such a blessing. I love the testimony that I have gained and that it is constantly growing.

I know that this church is true! I love it! I love my Heavenly Father and I love my Savior!

Have a great week everyone!

All of my love,
Your Sister, Sister Lee

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Carry Oooooooooooooooooon!!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen,

 What wonderful people I was so blessed to have in my life! Thank you all for your emails of support! Please do not be offended if I don't get back to you right away, my email time is limited and I don't want you to think that I have intentionally forgotten about you. So many of your emails were answers to my prayers and they were very VERY much needed and appreciated thank you so much!

Guess what?! I'm a missionary in Kyiv!!!!! I love it!!!

In our contacting this week we focused a lot on sharing how the gospel blesses families. As I would bear my testimony to people, telling them that I know I can be with my family forever, so much joy would fill my heart! I LOVE my family and I get to be with them FOREVER! Is that not the greatest blessing in the whole entire world?! As I would bear this testimony my love for all of you grew more and more. Thank you for being the best family I could ever ask for! 

In English club I showed some of the people our family picture from Octavia's wedding. One of the cute ladies that comes was blown away at how BEAUTIFUL my momma is! She could not believe that she had 12 kids and looked as young and gorgeous as she does! She told me "You know what it is? She has a good husband who loves and supports her. And your family all loves each other. That's why she is so pretty!" I believe it! Thank you Dad for always loving my mom! Thank you family for being who you are! How grateful I am that we are eternal!

In English that same day we watched a Mormon message, the one where Elder Jeffrey R. Holland tells of his story trying to drive out of St. George in a car with a broken radiator. It was filmed in St. George so obviously I started crying as I saw the red rock that I do miss, and thought of my sweet family who lives right there! I had to give the spiritual thought right after that and through tears I exclaimed how grateful I am to be a missionary! Even though I am so far away from everything I know and love, even though I don't understand anything that anyone is saying, even though people curse me for trying to bring joy into their lives, even though there are days where not a single person will stop to hear what we have to say, I have NEVER been happier! How is that? It's because I am in the service of my Lord! In the Mormon message Elder Holland says the quote "Don't you quit, you keep on going, blessings will come. They may not come today, they may not come until we get to heaven, but to those who live the gospel blessings WILL come." ( I don't remember the exact words.. sorry is that illegal for me to use quotes? It's something like that.) But I know that to be true! Sometimes I just have to sing Carry oooooooooooooooooon over and over again, but I keep going and the blessings are coming! I am so excited for the next few weeks because miracles are happening! 

We have 3 investigators and they are all lovely! Таня (Tonya about 40) showed up to church a few weeks ago and has been coming ever since. We finally had the opportunity to meet and talk with her yesterday and she is incredible! She, just one day, was walking by the church, saw our meeting times and decided to come. During our lesson she would just sit there and soak everything in, she was so fun to meet with, but unfortunately we can only meet with her once a week so I'll keep you updated on her!

Our next two investigators are a mother and daughter. Людмела (Ludmeela about 75) and Анджела (Angela about 55) They were walking to their church the other week and it started pouring rain, fortunately our church was right across the street so of course they ran in and fell in love with it! They are so sweet! We love them! We have only met with them once, but are meeting with them again tomorrow so of course I am excited for that.

I love meeting with people here because every time we do it's like a tea party. We have tea and cookies and it is the best! Mmmmm I never thought I would like the tea but I love it! And of course the baked goods are always incredible!

Please keep our sweet investigators in your prayers! It would mean the world to Sister Wease and I and to them as well. :)

Okay so can I just tell you Kyiv is gorgeous! We are in Kharkivsy which is about 45 minutes away from center Kyiv, and we went to center for P-day last week. Absolutely breath taking! As we rode the escalator up out of the ground from the metro I looked around and literally could not believe it. It is unreal how beautiful it is. All of the buildings are gorgeous and the sky here is so pretty! I remember one of our teachers said that even the clouds look different here, and they do! They are marvelous! I am serving in the best mission in the whole world!

P-Day in Kyiv

Cathedral

Center Kyiv

Incredible

 

I love my life! I have never felt so close to the Savior. And I have never appreciated everything as much as I do now. Take a look around and see how much God loves you! I promise it's a lot! I know it is! He seriously loves us so much and we are so blessed to have the knowledge that He is our Father in Heaven. As much as I'd love to I can't talk to my earthly father every day but I know at any second I can talk to my Father in Heaven and how grateful I am for that knowledge, because I need Him! I could not do this work without Him or my Savior I know that. I know that they live and love us!

I love you all more than words could ever begin to tell! You all are the best! Your prayers are more than appreciated and I love the support I receive from all of you! Keep up the good work!

All of my love,
Your Sister, Sister Lee 

 google map of Sister Lee's area. 
Editor's notes: I sent Sister Lee the map from the last post and she very kindly let me know that I was way off (how embarassing). I'm pretty confident in this week's map. The link will even take you to her Ward's meetinghouse.

THIS CHURCH IS TRUE!

Oh my lovely American friends,

Can you believe I'm on a different continent?! I still can't get over it. Everyday when we're walking around and everything is in Ukrainian it reminds me, of yeah, I'm in Ukraine! I love it! The weather here has been unbelievably gorgeous, perfect truly. There were a few crazy days where in the morning we would leave our apartment with blue skies absolutely no clouds in sight and then we would walk home that night in the pouring rain, so everyday is always an adventure, you know I love that!

I think I am just about 100% accustomed to the time change, there are still times when I feel as though I'm just going to fall over into a sleep coma but I have held strong and I really think I've only fallen asleep during the day once, and it was like for 2 seconds until I woke up to Sister Wease laughing at me, so you should all be proud of me!

Speaking of Sister Wease she is awesome I cannot believe how lucky I got with her! I'm sensing a Deseree-Carrie relationship coming on! We have a great time together. And she is such a good example to me I know that if I learn everything from her I will be the kind of missionary that I've always wanted to be. Which is good because pretty soon I'm going to be doing the teaching....

Sister Wease and I made borsch.. so YUMMY!!!

I received some shocking news this week... mom sit down.. I'm training next transfer. I'M TRAINING NEXT TRANSFER! Sorry for the yelling. It's just a little crazy to think about isn't it? Seeing as how new missionaries usually are trained for two transfers the thought of me training after my first transfer was never even there, so when President asked me to do so it came as quite a surprise. And I do believe that if I had a different mission President I would tell him that he was crazy and I would go home. I am struggling pretty bad with the language. It isn't coming, no matter what I do, how I study, I feel as though I maybe have even gotten worse since leaving the MTC. And you know me small town Mariel, I get lost every other street here. How does he expect me to teach a brand new missionary? It seems completely unrealistic and frankly not very smart. But I know it is what needs to be done. Because I know with all my heart that President Klebingat has been called of God. I know that he receives revelation from Him for things within this, the Kyiv, Ukraine mission. If President Klebingat wants me to be a trainer next transfer then that means Heavenly Father wants it.

Now thinking about it, it makes sense. When I got to the MTC I knew my teachers were all way to good to be true. Like what are the chances that I get to learn from all of the best teachers in the whole MTC? Oh my truly perfect district and everything I learned from them, how much my testimony grew from just being around them. And now Sister Wease the greatest trainer in missionary history. I knew there had to be some sort of a catch. This is the catch. Heavenly Father has given me opportunity after opportunity to learn and grow as much as I can to ensure that I will be ready for this responsibility.

This city is my city, and I love it, yeah I love it :)

 As for the language I know it will come eventually, it is just a little scary to think about right now. I have so much help and support from the ward members though, and the people who come to English club. I know I will learn it. And the getting lost, I'm a Lee, hello, Dad taught me well! I will figure out the maps and pretty soon I'll know my way around here better than the natives do. I'm not too stressed, but just saying, if there was ever a time I needed your prayers it would be now. Pray for me to be able to learn this wonderful language super fast! And especially pray for the cute sister that I will be training, I'm more worried about her than anything. I just want to be the best trainer for her! I have been praying constantly about this and I have received spiritual confirmation that she needs me. There is something that I need to help her with, I know that. I am excited to see who it is I will be training because I knew them all from the MTC, so it is pretty exciting. And I think Sister Wease and I are getting the Kharkivsky area really set up for our next transfer.

As of right now we have no progressive investigators, but we have so many potentials that are SO close! There is a sweet lady, Tоня,  who has come to church 3 times and we finally have been able to schedule an appointment with her for next Sunday, I'm pretty sure she is golden. We have a lesson tonight with Ира, a beautiful woman probably in her 20s tonight. We met her while contacting last week, I'm so excited for that!

I have had a hard time lately with so many people rejecting us and our message. And it's not that I'm sad about them not wanting to listen to me, but I'm just sad that they won't let this make them happier. Like, we have the solution to all problems! Let us help you!!! If only they knew! I remember Брат Хофман in one of his journals wrote about when he saw people walking by he would picture them passing the sacrament or giving lessons and it would just break his heart to see them just walk by. When I talk to people I picture them getting sealed to their family for time and all eternity!   I picture them serving missions, I picture them giving a father's blessing, I picture all of these things I so desire for them, but they just aren't interested. If only they knew. Please keep my wonderful Ukrainians in your prayers. They really are wonderful I do love them all. I just think of how much more wonderful they could be if they let the light of the gospel into their lives.

I think of the members of our ward here and how amazing they are like if all members were like the members here in Kharkivsky the church would be unreal! I just want to build up this kingdom more and more! Contribute to the greatness that is happening here in Eastern Europe at this time.
I know miracles are going to start happening soon, I can feel it!

I love you all. I know this church is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves us, I know He loves ME, Mariel Lee, and He has a plan for me, just as He does for all of you too! I know that He truly cares for me, I know that because He sent His beloved son Jesus Christ to perform the atonement for ME. And how grateful I am for that! At times when I feel as though I can't go on, I know I can turn to my brother, Jesus Christ, and He will help me through because He knows EXACTLY how I feel! I know that when I mess up here on my mission, I don't have to dwell on my mistakes because my Savior will take them for me. He is incredible and I am forever grateful. How grateful am I for the comfort that I receive from the Holy Ghost! When I am thousands of miles away from my home and my lovely mother I can feel her love through him, and I love that! I could not do this if I didn't have that blessing! I am grateful for this time that I have to share this knowledge and the joy it has brought me. I am grateful for when time and time again we get rejected it does not falter my testimony in the slightest, it strengthens it ten fold. With the knowledge I have no one NO ONE could ever make me second guess that this church is true. It is true. This is Christ's church on the earth today. We have a living prophet and how I love that sweet man, President Monson. I know that Joseph Smith received power through Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to translate the Book of Mormon and establish the church on the earth. If you think about everything it just makes sense! THIS CHURCH IS TRUE! I know it! And if there is anyone reading this email that has doubts, please, I encourage you to sincerely and earnestly study and pray about it. You will receive your answer just as I have. If you do not know how to do so, ask the missionaries, they can help you! If you are a member of the wonderful church and are at a time when your testimony is weak and needs help, I, like Elder Holland, encourage you to use my testimony! I give you my permission, ride off my testimony until you get your own. This church and the knowledge I have from it has brought to pass ALL of the good things and blessings in my life. Please do not miss out on these blessings.

I seriously do love you all. I wish I could hug you and anaconda squeeze the guts out of all of you, but that will have to wait a little while. :) Thank you for your prayers, keep them coming. :)

All of my love,
Your Sister, Sister Lee

P.S. This is a shout out to Kristy Johnson, Kenzie Cox, and Ally Cope. If I do not get wedding invitations from all of you I will fly home and CRASH YOUR WEDDING! Not even kidding. :)

View from our apartment :)

"I AM SO HAPPY I'M BURSTING WITH JOY!"

Greetings from Ukraine!

Please Mom do not take offense, but I am home! I AM HOME! Ukraine is my home! I love love love LOVE it here! Everything about it! It is everything I could have dreamed of and more! Oh my goodness I can't get over it. It truly is amazing. And I am doing the best thing in the world as well! I am sharing this gospel, this gospel that has brought me such joy to my brothers and sisters here, oh I could not be happier.

my temple :)

my new cute companion and I :)

I know that everything thus far on my mission has come to pass due to complete inspiration from our Heavenly Father. I was so worried about the trainer I would have, I just wanted someone who would be willing to work very hard with me, willing to push me, but also very patient with me. Sister Wease is perfect! I could not have hand picked a better trainer really truly! I will kill her at the end of this transfer (which means this is her very last transfer of her mission) and though I am so sad that I only have one transfer with her I am also really excited. When missionaries realize they only have one transfer left they either just moze on through their last transfer or they really kick it into gear. She is kicking it into gear and we are going to get work done together! I know that she wants to work so hard to bring people unto Christ and so do I. I know that this is her last leg of the race and I want her to end strong, sprinting to the finish line, totally giving it her all, and I'll be right there beside her! We have set many high goals and we are really trying hard to reach them.

my new home 5th floor :)

So far everything in Kharkivsky is going great! Who knew I would love riding the Metro and Marshubka so much?! They really are the best, always such an adventure! So, my favorite thing in the world is making these people smile! And not to brag or anything but, I'm really good at it! Oh my goodness I love it haha! When I talk to people, it is always my goal to get them to smile, brighten their day at least a little bit, whether they want to hear my message or not. Sometimes it can be challenging but I always try to find a way to make it work, and for the most part I do. Whether it be because they enjoy what I'm saying, the fact that I really do care for them and love them, or when they just make fun of me for my awful, awful Russian. Don't worry it doesn't offend me, I know I'm bad so when people laugh at me, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I enjoy it because I know that I brought a smile to their face. My bad Russian does come in handy, people are so interested as to why I would be here learning this language, perfect way to start off a discussion about the church!

Speaking of church, our ward (yes ward!) here is unbelievable! So strong! And really the nicest people you will ever meet. I didn't always understand everything they were saying but I always felt so welcomed and loved. All of the sisters hugged me and kissed me and were so grateful to have me there. This Sunday was fast and testimony meeting so I had the opportunity to feast on all of their words as they got up bearing testimony that this is the true church. What a feast it was! Their spirits and testimonies are so strong, such a strength to me and all of the members of the ward. I couldn't not get up and bear my testimony and let them know how excited I was to be here and learn from them. We meet in a beautiful church building, and we actually have church in Ukrainian so hopefully I can learn some of that pretty soon.. but the spirit is the same no matter what language and many of the members speak Russian, it just depends. Shout out to Bpat Mansfield! Guess who is in my ward!!  The Voshinko family! Yay! I'm having your experience I love it!

For the most part it is pretty challenging to find people who have time to talk, when we meet people on the street or in the metro they are always in a hurry trying to get to wherever they are going, but the few gold nuggets we do find who have time to talk to us are always such a treat. We get to hear their stories and understand why they feel the way they do, and why they believe what they do, and then we get to testify that Christ is their Savior, that we have a living prophet on the earth today to lead and guide us, that God truly is our loving Heavenly Father, that through prayer we can communicate with Him, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that through the Book of Mormon we can find answers to even our most simple of questions. I have the best life ever! This is what I'm doing! I am telling people the way that they can find happiness. Real life people, with real life problems. I am helping them come unto Christ, their Savior. I am helping them realize that even in their darkest of days they are not alone. How lucky am I?!

I would like to thank all of you for your love, support, prayers, everything! They are SO appreciated . I could not do this without you or my Savior, and I want you all to know that. I want you to know that I have a testimony of this gospel. I know that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today. I know that Christ is our Savior, that he is our brother and that he is our friend. He wants nothing more than the very best for us and he wants to help us be that best. Let him help you! I am so grateful for the humbling experiences that I have had thus far where I have had to completely rely on him, my relationship with my Savior is so strong and I love it. I know that my life will be forever blessed because of this relationship and I challenge you all to create a relationship with your Savior or strengthen the one that you already have. You will notice blessings all around you as you do this. I know that the Book of Mormon is scripture that we are so lucky to have! Read your Book of Mormon! It is such a blessing! Through it you will feel the love of our Heavenly Father and our Savior as well. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be happy, so be happy would you!? :)

I love you all so much! And as much as I do miss you, I am so happy to be here! I never want to come home!.. sorry.. Yesterday at church one of the members of the ward asked me "Sister Lee, have you looked in the mirror lately?" I thought "Oh no! I have a booger in my nose, or my hair is completely ridiculous (we walked to church in the rain :)) or I have something in my teeth" Expecting the worst I replied timidly "No, why?" Then he said "You are glowing." I immediatly thought of you mom and our phrase "I AM SO HAPPY I'M BURSTING WITH JOY!" I am so happy, you can even see my joy.

Keep praying for me, keep doing all you are doing. You are all great. :)

Love,
Your sister, Sister Lee

the trio :) p.s. Sister Ford and Sister Hunt are seriously in a tri-panionship with out me!!!! HOW LAME!?!?!?!

we made it!!!!