“I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee”

Happy Monday!

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! SERIOUSLY SO MUCH!

Okay so first off I want to tell you that I got a new hair do, and I love it! Everyone here always says "You look like you are one of ours!" Oh how I love it when they say that, when they try to claim me as one of their beautiful Ukrainians! Really people are so surprised when I start to speak and they hear my accent, because they thought for sure I was Ukrainian. (Coming back to my roots huh Grandma?) So last week I decided to see just how Ukrainian I could look. We called up a less active who owns her own salon and set up an appointment. With my limited vocabulary and good hand gestures I got through and I love my hair! It's so cute! But I'm a loser and I forgot my camera today, so I can't send pictures :( Sorry, you'll just have to wait 'til next week! Okay now for important missionary stuff!

We had zone conference this week. You all know how much I look up to President Klebingat, really so much. He is still like a celebrity to me. Every time I see him I get so excited and the spirit just hits me. Have any of you ever been in a room and then an apostle walks in and you just feel like "Woah, he is called of God!" That's how it is with President Klebingat (and honestly it would not surprise me in the slightest if he is a general authority in a few years, actually I'm gonna call that one). He is so awesome! And so smart, I can't believe all that I learn every time I am with him. He is the best missionary in this whole mission and it is so cool to have him lead us. We also were privileged to hear from his sweet wife as well during the conference and she is not one step behind her husband they are such a great pair so firm in the gospel. Oh, how I wish to be the wife of a mission president one day!

Speaking of wife... LEXI! Wow, okay, prettiest bride in the whole world! Sister of mine! Oh my goodness. I was just squealing when I opened the pictures today and the other missionaries were asking me what was going on, I showed them the pictures and they just "oooed and awwwed" Really I don't know if I have seen a prettier bride than you. I wish you wouldn't have stolen all of the gorgeous genes! But I will forgive you because I love you. I wish you the happiest married life! Cheers to you and Nico from Ukraine with much much MUCH love!

How great was conference everyone? Truly incredible. If you have not watched it yet, what are you waiting for?! We have a living prophet of God on the earth. Isn't that a miracle? Not only a prophet, but apostles and teachers and men and women who are called by God to help us and direct us and our paths. This conference was especially special for me for so many reasons. One of our less active members who hasn't attended church in years came and listened to a prophet's voice and he was smiling ear to ear the whole time, and we also had another very special guest at conference. :)

I'm sure all of you are thinking the same thing Настия, Настия what is going on with Настия? She is as incredible as ever! Wow I don't think anything has made my testimony grow as much as meeting with her has. At the beginning of the week she was having a pretty rough time. She just wants to get baptized. She is so hungry to learn more, and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, but her father will not allow it. We have seen how this has been hurting her and we've just been thinking and praying and just pleading with Heavenly Father to help us know how we can help her. On Saturday morning Sister Grandy suggested asking if Настия would like a blessing, I felt so dumb we hadn't thought about it before! That night we had an awesome lesson with her. I told her how I cannot understand what she is going through, as much as I want to understand her perfectly I cannot, but I testified that I knew there was someone that did and that was her Savior. I told her that Heavenly Father is aware of her and wants her to know how much He truly does love her. We then explained priesthood blessings, how they work and why we receive them. After we asked her if she would be interested. And she was so excited that she could receive one she could hardly believe it! One of our elders gave her a beautiful blessing and when he was done we looked up and Настия was crying and crying. She kept asking "Is this normal? Why am I crying?" I said "Remember the Holy Ghost? That's him!" She was so comforted by that sweet blessing and it was another testament to her that we do have a loving Heavenly Father. At the end of the lesson we invited her to attend conference with us and she said "Yeah! Can I bring my friends?"

Sunday morning Sister Grandy and I sat on a church bench with four teenagers, and we listened to General Conference. Wow. I have to admit I was a bit nervous. Conference for some people is hard to get through, I kept praying and praying that they would find interest in every talk that was said and every talk was beautiful. I knew that Настия could only stay for the first morning session and I knew that President Monson was going to be the last speaker, I prayed with all my heart that he would be inspired to say something that Настия would need to hear. Something that would confirm her testimony that he is the prophet on the earth today. As he began talking about a priesthood blessing that he had given I was so grateful that Heavenly Father had answered my prayer. Настия had felt the spirit so strong when she received her blessing only the night before. I know it was no coincidence that President Monson spoke about blessings to only remind her of her own blessing and her own relationship with our Father in Heaven. The church is so true.
 

Listen to President Monson's talk here:

“I Will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee”

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers! I so know that to be true!!!!

I love you all so much and I encourage you all to take heed to the words spoken in conference, study out the talks and apply the teachings into your daily lives, it will bless you I promise!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee


P.S. HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY TO THE SWEETEST GRANDMA IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!

P.S.S. HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY TO THE COOL TWINS! JESSE AND DESEREE'!!! AND ALSO TO MY OTHER AWESOME BROTHER EZRA!!!!!! LOVE YOU MORE THAN WORDS CAN SAY!!!!!!!
 

Transfer 4

Wow. <3

I feel like that is enough for me to write this week, because it is exactly how I feel right now. But I should probably fill you in on what's going on in my wonderful, beautiful, life. Oh man, where to even begin? This week was probably one of my favorites I've ever had my whole mission (Okay so maybe every week is my favorite, but really SERIOUSLY this week was awesome).

Sister Allred, Sister Grandy and I had a few last YOSO moments together as our tripanionship and although we will miss having her around all the time she doesn't live too far away and we will see her plenty of times a week because we share the same church building and we will do English club together so it was a relief to not really say goodbye, only like "See you in a few hours!" haha, but it will be weird. I always feel like singing "Just the two of us" with Sister Grandy. But it is nice to only worry about our area and our investigators now, we get to put all of our focus on them and it's awesome.

"Мы 3" means "We 3" perfect for our trio! :)

So like I said in my email last week I'm still in Харьковский and I am so happy! I had the feeling that I was getting transferred for the last few weeks and I was so uneasy about it. I was not ready to leave, so many things are starting here and I was just praying and praying that Heavenly Father would give me at least one more transfer here, and Yay! My prayers were answered! And I am so excited to be with Sister Grandy again, honestly I feel like she is training me. She blows me away everyday with all that she knows and her testimony is on fire! Oh I love learning from her. I can't think of a better way to start out a transfer than the way that we did.

On Thursday morning when everyone else was changing companions, changing areas, changing houses and what not, Sister Grandy and I headed up to the temple. We've been saving precious P-day hours to have this opportunity and after doing so I said I would give up all of my P-days just so I could go to the temple every week, oh if only it were that easy! As we were heading to the temple I kept thinking of people all around the world who have to give up so much more than just "hours of their p-day time" to go to the house of the Lord.  I had not been to the temple in 4 months, and I thought of how I would be willing to give up everything I own just to go there, to be inside, and feel the spirit with no other distraction or worry or any care in the world. When people ask me what I miss back home, I say my temple, and the opportunity I had to go everyday. I wish I would have gone more when I could have, use the wonderful privilege you have to go the temple! Go as often as you can! Please for me! As soon as we got on the temple grounds I started crying. I walked through the door and it took my breath away. Never had that phrase been so real to me. Really the Kyiv, Ukraine temple is the prettiest building I have ever been in. Unreal. Doing the special ordinances in the temple in Russian was so cool. Wow. I love that place. I wish I could go back whenever I wanted. But, you know, doing missionary work is really great too, so it's okay. :) The temple was such a blessing, and it really helped us set the mood for our next transfer together.

temple <3

Then Thursday night I had a real treat... sleepover with my besties!!! Yeah that's right! Sister Hunt and Sister Ford came and had a sleepover with me! They've been serving in Odessa and they're training this transfer so they had to stay the night in Kyiv, I was so excited when I got the phone call asking if they could stay. We even had a few hours together the next day to do some missionary work together, it was so awesome. It was just like the MTC all over again. It was so good to be with them and catch up and see how much all of us have grown and what not. It was hard to say goodbye to them again, but one day our dream will come true and we'll serve in a trio!

Наташа got baptized on Saturday and that was such a special experience. The spirit felt there was so strong, and she was glowing the whole day! She had been waiting for that day for so long. And to be there and experience it with her was a complete blessing. I thought by being one of her missionaries I would teach her, I would help her come closer to Christ, I would help her testimony grow, but in all reality she did all of that for me. Her baptism was so incredible. So many of her friends and family were there to support her. Before the baptism ceremony ends we usually have a testimony meeting for those who came to have the opportunity to bear their testimonies. I loved it because so many people congratulated her and let her know what a good decision she has made, but they all encouraged her to continue on. Like, she chose to get baptized and that was awesome but, it's not the end. Now she has the temple to look forward to, and in one year she and her sweet Mиша are planning to go to the temple so that they can be sealed together for time and all eternity. The very last person to bear their testimony was Наташа herself. As she was standing at the pulpit you could just see her glowing, and you could just feel Heavenly Father letting her know how proud He was of His daughter and her decision to do everything she can to return to Him. I just kept thinking of how I want everyone I talk with here to make the same decision that she did and feel the same joy that she now feels. Don't I have the best job?

We have been meeting with Настия about every other day, and I think about her all the time! She is the smartest 15 year old I have ever met. Meeting with her is always so fun for me because she asks the best questions and she just really wants to do what is best for her. She is so sweet and often talks to us about how she desires to help all of these people many of whom she doesn't even know that well. She's just a good girl! The change that has already come about in her is unbelievable. A girl who just a little more than a week ago didn't even believe in God, now has such a great relationship with Him, wow incredible. Настия, wants to get baptized. She wants to! Her father is really против though, he's against the church and doesn't believe in God and right now that is hanging her up. Please family and friends keep her in your prayers. Pray that her father's heart will be softened, and he will let her do what she knows is best. So that she can enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost always in her life.

Last awesome thing that happened this week, great news from home... Lexi I'm so happy for you!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOWOWWWWWWOWOW!!! Please send me tons of pictures you beautiful bride!

Sorry I'm running out of time! I think we are going to watch some of conference pretty soon! I'm so excited!

I love you all so much! You all are great!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

wow :)

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