This is why I'm here.

Family!

Isn't life so good!? I'm waiting for my happy high to crash, but I really don't think it is going to happen. Nothing can bring me down! I seriously feel like I am on Cloud 9 all the time. Sometimes I think it drives people crazy, but most of the time it just makes them smile, so I'm just going to continue on loving my life, because honestly what is not to love? I'm living the dream, everyday! Ah I love it! Missionary work is the best thing in this world, and it truly is a wonderful world so missionary work is pretty great. Sister Grandy, Sister Allred, and I are still rocking the trio and we are loving it! We have great missionary adventures everyday and I continue to learn from them, which is such a special treat. To hear and feel their testimonies everyday is such a strength for me and my testimony grows every day just from being with them. I love all of the special things you can learn from companions! Needless to say we had a really great week.

Last P-day we spent the day canning with a sweet lady in our ward, she had invited one of her non member friends and we just had a fun time together canning and talking about the gospel in such a comfortable environment. Everyone can do missionary work! Find a friend, do some activity that you're interested in, then invite the cute sister missionaries over and your blessings will be so abundant you won't know what to do with them all! Seriously, it's safe to say that I wasn't the only one that loved that activity.

Tuesday for English club we had a surprise birthday party for Elder Steinagel, it was such a blast! Everyone that comes to English was so involved and the party turned out great. I'm not going to lie I made some pretty delicious блинчики(Russian crepes) and we all played American birthday games and just enjoyed each others company. I love English club!  I'm a big fan of doing activities that make people aware that we are normal people who love to have a fun time just as the much as the next person- future missionaries- plan fun parties! That night after the party we had the opportunity to talk with a lady who has come to English before but never really been open to talking with us. After the party she started asking us many questions that we were more than happy to ask and I do believe she was more than happy with the answers. The gospel seriously has the answers to so many questions, I love that I never have to worry about some things because of my knowledge of the gospel.

We have started to meet with Ина (Ina 23 years :)), she is amazing. We have only met with her once and then she went on vacation but we plan to meet with her again when she gets home. She is so awesome! Oh I love Ина! I love feeling Heavenly Father's love for the people I teach! It is the best thing of being a missionary. Seeing people with Heavenly Father's eyes, there really is nothing better. Whenever I look at her it's just like Heavenly Father is whispering in my ear "Mariel, this is my daughter and I love her so much. Please help her know how much I love her."  That is my job. Don't I have the best job in the world? I am in Ukraine to remind Heavenly Father's children here how much He truly loves them and how much He wants them to be happy. I am so lucky. I am so lucky to partake of the joy that they feel when they come to this knowledge.

We ended off the week perfectly yesterday as we started our lesson with Natasha last night. (We started teaching her last transfer with Sister Parish :)) As we sat down to begin the lesson she just said "October 5th" Not really understanding, I asked her what she meant. She then said "Sister Lee, I want to get baptized on October 5th." AHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Oh what joy filled my heart!! I cannot think of a time I have ever been happier in my life! We went into the lesson hoping to get her to agree to a date to be baptized and she set the date before we could even ask! I would have been happy no matter what but to see how excited she was, was truly icing on the cake. She is so excited to follow the example of her Savior and be baptized and have the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost. She knows how important this is and what a big step in her life she is taking and she is ready. I love it. She married her sweet husband last month and as I told her that her next goal after baptism is the temple, to get there so she can be sealed to her lover for time and all eternity, tears filled her eyes as she told me how excited she is to begin her forever family.

This is why I'm here. I get to help people prepare to do the things necessary to ensure that they can live with their families forever. To ensure that they will be ready to meet their Heavenly Father again. To really remind them how much their Father in Heaven loves them. How lucky am I? I love this work! I am sooo lucky to be here doing this! Thank you for your prayers and support, I love you more than words can ever begin to tell!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

The Book of Mormon is my sugar to life's lemons.

Good day!

 It truly is a beautiful day today! It has been quite cold this past week, almost to the point I was worried I would wake up to snow. Some of the days I was saying "Wouldn't it be so exciting if it just started snowing?!" But then I remembered that it was only the very end of August and it would be quite a nightmare if winter already started. We have had lots of rain and not much sun, waking up in the morning to very thick, dramatic fog I was sure that I would never see the sun again! But today is another beautiful day in Kyiv! Don't you worry, winter is still at least a few weeks away. Don't get me wrong, I loved the weather. I always feel so cool when we are walking out in the fog and rain, like "Yeah, I'm a tough missionary nothing's gonna stop me from doing what I love most!" People see us trudging through puddles with smiles on our faces and they know we must have something good in our lives, of course we do! The gospel!
 
Oh I just loved this week! Missionary work is so fun! We had so many good conversations with people and my testimony is just overflowing! Sister Grandy and I received a new companion on Thursday, Sister Allred has joined our team and she is a great edition, honestly we really do make an awesome team! We are covering both the area of  Харьковский and Нова Дарница so it has been a lot of fun running back and forth from area to area to different appointments. We'll be together until we can find a short term missionary to serve with her, so it might be this whole transfer which is super exciting! We have a lot of fun together and like I said we do make a great team in teaching the gospel.  We had a really cool experience this week where we met the Sister who translated the Book of Mormon from  English to Ukrainian and to be with her and talk to her about the Book of Mormon was so awesome! It was definitely something that strengthened my testimony a lot. 
 
I read in the Book of Mormon this week of when Christ was resurrected and visited the people on the American continent. WOW. I can't think of how many times I've read that or talked about it or learned about it, but wow, it really hit me this time. Christ lives. He lives. Isn't that incredible? Oh how I love The Book of Mormon! My testimony is so strengthened by it every time I read and I know that without a doubt it is the word of God. How grateful I am to have this book! Like, I am so lucky I get to read this book every day. The other day my cute friend Kamila asked me what my favorite book is and I said "Honestly, The Book of Mormon." It is the best book I have ever read and I can't believe it has taken me this long to figure it out! Before whenever people would ask me that question I would always answer with "Hunger Games, or Divergent, or To Kill a Mockingbird" But now, when I am asked that question, I can quickly respond without hesitation "The Book of Mormon" and it is completely 100% honest.
 
If any of you have not read this book I HIGHLY recommend it. It has got everything! War scenes, studdly men, miraculous doings, strong leaders, drama, and the age old story of the battle between good and evil. I could go on and on about how great this book is. How truly it is a good read, something you can learn a lot from, and if you let it, it could completely change your life for the better. I encourage all of you, even if you have read the Book of Mormon, pick it up and read it again, cover to cover. I promise you that it will bless your life. If you want to be happy read this book and use the things you learn from it and apply it to your life! If any of you know me, you know I'm generally a pretty, actually a really, happy person. And it's true, things really don't get me down, I seriously love my life. Sometimes life gives me lemons but the Book of Mormon is my sugar and man it just takes those lemons and it makes some dang good lemon aid. Everything I have learned from the Book of Mormon has helped me with hard times in my life and I know it can do the same for you! Please take advantage of your opportunity to read this book and learn more of Christ and learn more of how you can take your lemons in life and make some yummy lemon aid. Now you know my secret to life, now you know why I'm always so happy. Do with this knowledge what you will, but if you want never ending joy and happiness you should take my challenge seriously. :) You know I think I can go as far as to say, "If you read this book ALL of your wildest dreams will come true."
 
I love you all so much! Thank you for all that you do!
 
All of my love,
 
Your sister, Sister Lee