Heavenly Father's love for a person is such a real beautiful thing.

Добрый день!

First and definitely most importantly, shout out to my SISTER! SISTER FREHNER!!! How wonderful is it? Welcome to the front lines, my beautiful sister, Ashley. You have made a great addition to our team and how right it feels to know that you are finally out here fighting with me. I never have to feel bad about having all of my mission adventures with out my best friend anymore because now you're right here with me. Ah, I'm so happy! Almost exactly 6 months after me. So sad at the thought that I won't see my best friend for two years, but so happy for the reasoning behind it. Thank you for being my rock for all of these years. Thank you for helping my testimony grow, and thank you for preparing me for my mission. You were my very first companion the night I got set apart, and you'll forever be my favorite companion! I'm so proud of you friendly and I can't wait to hear of all of your mission adventures! Go get 'em tiger :)

So in our last letter from President he eagerly invited us to use our faith to see more people come unto Christ before the end of this year. Sister Grandy, Sister Allred, and I have been praying very hard to find people to teach. We have been praying for Heavenly Father to open our eyes and help us find the people who NEED the gospel NOW. And I am very excited and happy to say that I have been seeing many miracles. We have just started meeting with a girl that came to English and she is incredible. And also she has helped me fulfill one of my dreams.. The time has come that I have been looking forward to, ever since I knew I was serving Russian speaking. I am teaching... ANASTASIA!! That's right I'm teaching the lost duchess. Well really she goes by Настия, but still! And never have I had such joy.
I have loved spending time with her and answering her questions. I think what I have loved most about the experience of meeting with her is feeling our Heavenly Father's love for her. She came to our first lesson with so many questions and one of her biggest concerns was if God really even existed. As we bore testimony to her that God not only existed but He lives and He loves her, the Spirit completely filled the room. Tears were streaming down her face as she shared her concerns and as we helped her find answers through the scriptures.
What an amazing experience it was to be with her. To have this sweet girl come in, not even aware that she is a daughter of God and ending the lesson with her saying the closing prayer, speaking with her Father in Heaven, as well as she could through her tears. There is no sweeter feeling than that of our Heavenly Father's love and I do not believe that there was ever a time I felt it stronger than when I was in the room with her that night. I really think that is my favorite part of my mission, I'm sure I've said this before , but to feel Heavenly Father's love for a person is such a real beautiful thing. I would just look at this 15 year old girl and feel the desire that our Heavenly Father had for her to know that He loved her. Wow. Nothing more pure, nothing more beautiful.
I find it so incredible that every time we teach a lesson, whether it be to a less active, member, or investigator, no matter how much we have planned the lesson to meet their needs it always seems to meet mine as well. After every lesson I think of the things that Sister Grandy, Sister Allred, and even I talked about and think "Wow, that was just what I needed today." When I came on my mission I just wanted so much to bless and help other people, but I feel like I, more than anyone have been blessed, as I help people come unto Christ I find myself drawing nearer to Him and I am so grateful for that.

I love this work. I cannot get enough of it. I am so excited to be here serving.

Conference is this weekend for you! I will watch it next weekend in Russian :) Please PLEASE take advantage and "Come listen to a Prophet's voice" Give heed to the council given in conference and I promise your life will be blessed. I took heed, and look where that got me, here in Ukraine on my mission, doing the best thing I have ever done, having the best time of my life, receiving the most blessings. Wow, how grateful I am for our wonderful prophet.
Well I gotta go, we have a meeting with Настия right now :) YES!!!
Love you all so much!! Have a good week!!
All of my love,
Your sister, Sister Lee

My cute trainee, Sister Grandy :)

p.s.s I got transfer information on Saturday and to the answer of many of my prayers I'm staying here in Харкьовский :) (I'm really not ready to leave here yet) and I'm staying with Sister Grandy :) The new transfer starts on Thursday :)

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!!! (don't worry I'm not reading it)

Matthew 11:28-30

Привет!

So it has been pouring rain all week! I always think, "Oh maybe it will stop today" Nope, not really going to happen! I don't know if it will ever stop! Sometimes when I walk out the door I feel like I'm going to drown, it is so funny! I love it! Как раз as I'm typing this email I look outside and it's super clear and sunny, haha! Well another week has come and flown by! This week I will hit my 6 month mark on my mission... UNBELIEVABLE. Wasn't it just yesterday I was starting kindergarten? I know, I know I'm a cheese-ball, sorry. This week we had a fun time here in Харкьовский we got to do a great service project! Yay, and it was awesome service!

A member in our ward and her husband moved out to the village this week and they needed a lot of help cleaning up their new cute humble house. I loved this service! It felt so good to get into a pair of jeans. (It was funny though because I felt so awkward wearing jeans in public, I felt like the whole world was staring at me, when in reality I was in normal clothes, I have been a missionary for too long ;) ) I loved getting my hands dirty, I cleaned out their cellar it reminded me of my days working with Papa Lee, it was so nice! And we did service for Lida, who knows... Brother Manis!!!! :) I was talking to her and she served her mission here in Kyiv but is originally from Armania I said "Hey my favorite seminary teacher served in Armania maybe you know him!" And she does! Shout out to Brother Manis! It's Lida Minasyan, she is so awesome we love her. And we were so grateful for the time we had to do service.

So this week I kind of hit a slug (is that understandable? I think that is just some Mariel vocabulary) But I was just having a hard time. I wasn't homesick or anything- you all know I love it here. But my heart was literally breaking when people weren't willing to listen. It wasn't in a selfish way like "Why won't you listen to me?!" But in a way that's like "I have what you need, why won't you let me help you?"  So many people here really do have hard lives, and my heart just aches for them, but at the same time it rejoices in the fact that, I know what can help them! I know what can give them peace! Oh, but how heart breaking it is when they don't let me share this joy. I myself started to feel a load heavy on my back. Finally one day I just hit a wall I became exhausted, completely drained physically and mentally. I was slow to practice what I preach that night when 10:30 came and I said a prayer just so I could go to bed, not a prayer of any worth really and hit the pillow and fell asleep. The next morning I woke up even more tired than I was when I went to bed the night before, trudging through the regular morning schedule, I was not excited for the day ahead of me. (I'm sorry this sounds so awful, I promise it has a happy ending!) I started my studies really not paying much attention to what I was reading when our phone vibrated. It was a text from Sister Montgomery from my MTC district! She randomly texted me and said "Hey Sister Lee I don't know why, but I think you should read Matthew 11:28-30." Which reads;

 "28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Tears have never came so freely as they did at that moment. It was such a humbling experience for me to have. Every day I tell people of how Christ is our Savior and He will help us, but I was so slow to use this knowledge in my own life, I don't know why. How grateful I am for my sweet sister, Sister Montgomery following her prompting of the spirit and sending me that text even though she did not really understand why.

I know that Heavenly Father is so aware of us and He will put people in our lives to help us through our times when we "labour and are heavy laden" and forever Christ will be there. Heavenly Father sent Christ to the earth so we could always have someone to turn to when we feel completely alone.

We were visiting an inactive family this week and the mother asked me "Sister Lee, did Heavenly Father ever regret sending His son to earth?" She went on to talk about how he was treated so poorly and eventually was crucified, and then she went on to say I could never do that to my son. I thought about our Heavenly Father at that time and I felt so much love and gratitude for Him. How hard that must have been for Him, but He did it for us! So that when we are in desperate need of help, when we truly believe no one else is there, Christ can be there and step in and say "No! You are not alone. I am here. I know how you feel." How grateful I am for not only Christ and his sacrifice but also for our sweet Heavenly Father who loves us so much, we can't even begin to fathom. I finally answered with "No, I don't think Heavenly Father ever has regretted sending His son, because as long as someone is using the atonement it is worth it. THEIR sacrifice was worth it."

So this is me bearing testimony once again of the atonement. It is so real. I love it. I still need to use it more and more, and I challenge all of you to use it more and more. I'm sorry for my gloomy words in the beginning of this letter, I promise I'm happy now! I love my life. I love my opportunity to serve here in beautiful Kyiv. And I love my knowledge that I know I have a loving Heavenly Father and I have a Savior Jesus Christ, and how grateful I am for the Holy Ghost who has testified that unto me.

I love you all more than words can say. Thank you for your support and prayers! Keep up the good work and be happy!!!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee
 

A REAL LIFE HEDGE HOG!!!!!!!

This week! WOW!

A few weeks ago I hit 5 months on my mission!!! NOw it's almost 6...time flies!

I did exchanges this week and I'm so grateful for the experience that I had. I was with sweet Sister Belikova, and I learned so much! She is from Kazakhastan and probably is one of the strongest members of the church I have ever met. She taught me so much about things that I thought I already knew so well, escpecially the Atonement.

I don't know if you have sensed it by my letters or not but the Atonement is my very favorite thing. It is such a beautiful gift that we are so priveldged to have, I don't know what I would do with out it! But after being with Sister Belikova I have gained an even sweeter love for it. She talked to me about the Atonement and how precious it is to her. I could not stop my tears as she bore her sweet testimony. She told me that before she always used the Atonement, it has always been something so dear to her, but just recently she has taken a new perspective on it, and now thanks to her I have too.

She talked about how many of us use the Atonement merely just because we have the desire to return back to our Heavenly Father and receive the gift of Eternal Life. I thought well "Yeah that is what the Atonement is for." She then went on to say that as we study the Savior's life as we come to understand him and all that he did for us, as we come to know him, we will use the Atonement in such a more meaningful way. The Atonement is a gift given to us. As we use the Atonement we show our grattitude for it, we show our love for our Savior. We let him know that his sacrifice did not go unnoticed or unwanted, but instead his sacrifice truly means something to us. Wow, I wish I could have just recorded her testimony and shared it with you.

I can't even begin to put into words the feelings of my heart. The Atonement is so real and so precious. I encourage you all to gain a deeper understanding, a deeper love for our Savior and show that by using this beautiful gift. 

Sister Belikova and I

On Saturday we had Mission Conference! It was so fun to see all of my sisters again and the elders as well! Our mission is getting so big! We were pleasured to hear from Elder Evans from the First Quorom of the Seventy, who is the head of the missionary department, and Elder Bennett from the Second Quorom of the Seventy. It was a spiritual feast listening to their words and I was escecially lucky because the next day they came to our ward to speak in sacrament-- double whammy!!!!

I'm sorry my time is short I wish I could tell you the awesome things that I learned from them but that will have to wait until another day.. Let's just say, the work truly is HASTENING! :)

I love you friends and family I'm so grateful for you! I love my mission!

Oh wait before I go I have to tell two very amazing things that happened last night (Sorry they aren't super mission related..)

1. I SAW A REAL LIFE HEDGE HOG!!!!!!!

2. A total tender mercy happen last night, I've been missing my little bro, shout out to Simon! But as we were contacting last night, this kid came up to us and just started talking to us, he was so cool and really just reminded me of Simon when I asked him his name and he said Симион, which is like the name Simon in Russian, I totally thought he was joking!! But he wasn't and it was awesome and I loved it! Love you little bro!

But that's all for this week, sorry it's super short!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee
 

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

Chapter 3 of my Wonderful Spiritual Adventure

Happy Monday!

Woah, woah, woah, hold up. Do you realize what today is?!? It is the day of birth of two of the very most important people in my life!! This calls for a celebration! Happpiest Birthday to my bestest friend forever and ever Ashley! And a happy birthday to the best Dad in the whole wide world!!! Aren't I so spoiled?! On the same exact day Heavenly Father blessed me with my sweet dad and my wonderful best friend! Wow! Oh I love you both so dearly! It is quite funny because I think you two are the people I talk most about on my mission, everyone always hears about Ashley and Papa Lee and all they have done for me. Thank you for blessing my life for all of these years and giving me the motivation and support that I need while being on my mission. You both are the best and you both deserve to have the greatest birthday celebration anyone has ever heard of!!! С ДНЁМ РОЖДЕНИЯ!!!!!!!

goodbye Sister Parish! I Love YOU!!!

Well this week I had to say goodbye to sweet Sister Parish, it was hard. Training her for six weeks teaching her everything I know and then just releasing her into the wild land of Odessa, yeah it was hard for me. But I know that she is ready, it was so fun serving with her, not it will be fun to watch her grow and see what wonderful things she will do! So we said goodbye and Sister Grandy and I said hello.

hello Sister Grandy :)

Sister Grandy is AMAZING. I am so excited to work with her! She really is on fire. She is a Russian beast and just talks to everyone, I love it. Her testimony is so sweet and inspiring! I love just being around her, and you can tell other people do too! We're always talking to people on the streets and just bearing our testimonies like no other. These past few days we have been together more and more people are wanting to talk to us.

Do you remember how I was telling you about the wave? I think it's happening. All of the missionaries I have been talking to have been so amazed at the change in the attitude of the people here towards us, a lot more people are showing interest and a lot more people are willing to listen to what we have to say. Please continue to pray for these wonderful people here, your prayers are being answered and I am so grateful for them!

Sorry this email isn't very long today! Just please know that I love you all! I know that this church is true and I love having the opportunity to serve here in beautiful Ukraine!

Thank you for your love and support!!!

All of my love,
Your sister, Sister Lee

first time trying sushi and of course it's home made with my friend Tonya, so yummy!

I will rejoice in my God

End of Transfer 2.... booo

"from Kiev with love." Aint that the truth? Sure do love you!!!

Привет!

So this week was pretty funny, Sister Parish hurt her ankle so she received crutches, and I think that we were just a funny sight. She had never used crutches before so she was struggling pretty bad, haha okay, I'm not gonna lie it was hilarious! I'm sorry Sister Parish! I'm not laughing at you, I am laughing with you! :) I wish you could have seen us, we were real missionaries going about our work no matter how hard it was. We had a lot of good conversations with other people on crutches and a lot of people felt sorry for us. One day, as we were walking down the street an old lady stopped us and literally started massaging Sister Parish's leg right there on the sidewalk. As strange as it was, when it was over Sister Parish just said "Wow, my ankle really does feel a lot better." Haha I love Ukraine! Our бабушки,(the old ladies who sit outside of our apartment buildings and watch our house, they LOVE us) said they were praying for Sister Parish all of the time, it was really quite sweet. And yesterday when we came out with no crutches they all cheered and said "Oh it's a miracle!" And it was a miracle. As much as we loved her crutches we are happy to get rid of them and continue on with our work.

So as you can tell by the subject of my email I am ending my second transfer this week and I'm not too fond about it. It really freaks me out how fast everything goes, like, how am I coming up on my third transfer already?! I don't know, it's crazy. And I am still the same old Mariel, you know the one who gets super attached and has a hard time saying goodbye, so transfers I think, will always be a scary time for me. Luckily I'm staying here in Харкьовский, I would be so sad if I was leaving! But unfortunately my cute companion is. Sister Parish is going down to Одеса and I will be receiving a brand new missionary. Yep, I'm training again! Yay!! Really I am so excited! I am so sad to see Sister Parish go, we were really just starting to have fun and now it's over, oh man. But I know that next transfer will be a total adventure too!

Training, training, training. I can't believe it is happening again. But boy, am I excited. I have grown more in the last 6 weeks than I ever have in my whole entire life combined (now don't be fooled, I am not 10 foot 4, we all know I stopped physically growing when I was a freshman in high school) but I mean mentally and spiritually.

Who would have thought that a girl, studying Russian (not a very easy language) for only the matter of a few weeks could go out and speak with Ukrainians all day every day. I am completely blown away after every conversation I have thinking, "Man, how did I understand that? How did I know what to say?" Time and time again we have walked away after talking to someone and Sister Parish will ask me what a word means and I'll say "I don't know", she will then reply with "You just used it like 5 times in that conversation." I know that it only sounds like I'm bragging and I'm sorry, but I have to tell about it just like Ammon in Alma Chapter 26

"11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

 36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land."

If you think I'm bragging, I'm going to keep on bragging, because this is my testimony. I know that through the Lord's help I really am doing miraculous things. I am doing things I would have never thought to be possible before. I have been so beyond grateful for my experience to train because I know it has helped me and my testimony so much. There has never been a time in my life when I have felt closer to the Lord, never been a time when I have relied on him more. I love that I continually, every day strengthen my relationship with him. He has been pushing me in the work and in really has been an honor to know that he trusts me enough to let me do this. I love it. And he is letting me do it again!? Yes!!

The transfer ends on Thursday so I'll say goodbye to Sister Parish and then pick up Sister Grandy, fresh from the MTC. :)

Thank you for your prayers, I know that they helped me so much in this last transfer and I so appreciated them! You all are the best and I am so blessed to have you in my life! I love you all!!

All of my love,
Your sister, Sister Lee