I am here because I know God lives and I know He loves us so much.

Добрый день! (Good afternoon!)

Missions are incredible. Seriously amazing. I cannot think of anything else that could set the foundation for the rest of my life than these amazing experiences that I am having here and now on my mission. And nothing, could have made my testimony more sure. Thanks to my mission, there is NO doubt absolutely no doubt in my mind that this church is truly The Church of Jesus Christ. This is his church. Wow. The church is so true.

Yesterday in Gospel Principles we were talking about sacrifice. Брат Паша asked us all to think of things that we would have a very hard time giving up if asked to. He looked at me and said, "Oh Sister Lee and her earrings, she would have a hard time giving up those!" (Брат Паша and I go way back so he knows how much I love my earrings.) But really as he asked us to think, I truly took it to heart and I thought of things that would be hard for me to sacrifice. As the lesson continued of course I began to think of the things I have already sacrificed for one year and a half so that I could come here. Here is just a small list of the things I sacrificed:
St. George Sun, red rock, weather, air, everything wonderful about STG

Sleep
My cute car
The best job in the world (shout out to my kids, Noah, Sarah, Sami, Dani! Miss you!)
Along with sacrificing my job, sacrificing my income
Jeans and other cute clothes
My favorite pair of earrings (little did Брат Паша know I have sacrificed earrings, you know the ones I bought from Cara's foundation, the beautiful hoops that the orphans from Africa made?)
Durangoes, grilled chicken salad sounds so good right now!
Movies
wally ball
sand volleyball
watching sports
Hiking
The Office
Music, oh Jack Johnson
pinterest
My phone
Facebook
My education
being at friends' and family's weddings
My Best Friend (not only for 1 and a half years but 2! love you Ash)
The opportunity to go to the temple whenever I wanted
All of my nieces and nephews (every time I see a child I just want to pick them up and anaconda squeeze them just so I can think my cute nieces and nephews!
My grandparents
My siblings (in laws included!) , wow I miss you guys.
My dad, I really don't think anyone has as cool as dad as I do.
And last, but definitely not least, my mom. Probably the hardest thing for me to be with out. Everything about her, her hugs, her cooking, her smile, her encouraging words.

Alright, so I didn't write this list to make you pity me. I wrote this list to put into perspective how much I am more than willing to give up for the opportunity for someone to receive the same joy that I have found in my life through this gospel and the knowledge it has given me. I really do love those things that I wrote, as pathetic as some of them may seem they are just who I was. I just want to tell you that I would not give up all of those things if I did not know that this gospel changes lives! It has changed my life as I have become whole and found solace in the principles I have learned time and time again. And now I have had the opportunity to see it change the lives of so many wonderful people here.

As much as I love my mission and the experiences I am having there is no way it would be worth everything I gave up, if this church wasn't true. If I didn't know for a fact that Joseph Smith saw God the Eternal Father and His son Jesus Christ and that through him, they restored the true church. Friends and family, if your testimony is wavering, if you are not quite sure you know the church is true please think of me in Ukraine! WHY AM I HERE?! BECAUSE IT IS TRUE! That's all there is to it. It is as simple as that. I'm a smart girl, remember. I don't do things just for the heck of it, just to have a fun experience (although I'm all for fun along the way!), there has to be a reason for me doing something. There is a reason to me being here thousands of miles away from all of the things I listed earlier. And now you all know the reason. Never let it be unknown why Mariel came to Ukraine. I am here because I know God lives and I know He loves us so much. And I am here to tell people that we can return to live with Him and I'm here to let them know how!

Friends and family I love you so much! SOOOO MUCH! I'm sorry if this email was a little strange today but, it's kind of just how I've been feeling. I hope you all know why I really am here. I hope you all know I love you so much that I would never want to leave you for this long of a time if I didn't know it was true. If I didn't know that I can be with you forever, so really a year and a half isn't that long at all! I always want the Lord to know that I am so grateful for everything I have thanks to him! So many times these lyrics (do you remember when Malory sang this at my farewell and everyone was crying like a baby because it was so beautiful!)  by Kenneth Cope go through my head

"Because of thy life's mission Lord, I too must serve,
I'll leave the comfort of my home to preach thy word
I'll seek thy sheep who've gone astray,
and those who've never know the way,
I will make thy work my work today."

In other news we had an awesome activity at the church on Saturday, it was super fun and it got many of the ward members and investigators to become closer friends! I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and that's always fun! Настя is doing great, better than ever, but I do continue to plead for you to pray for her parents' hearts to be softened. Speaking of Настя we're going to hang out with her right now, so I gotta go!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

My best friends :) Настя and Sister Grandy :)

Look dad we're just like you! :)

 

I don't know how much more love my little heart can handle!

Family,

My heart is so full. Really it feels like it is going to explode. How is it possible to feel this much love, for people I have only known for such a short amount of time, and sometimes no time at all! God's love is so real and so pure and I am so lucky that I get to feel it for every single person here.

Mom, you wrote me the other week saying I have no idea how much you love me, but "someday" I would. I know you were probably meaning "someday" as in when I have a child of my own I will understand your love for me. But if it is anything like the love I feel for these people I truly am scared that my heart will explode. I don't know how much more love my little heart can handle! Okay I know, I know my heart wont explode, but seriously that is just how I feel. Never in a million years would I have thought that I could love with such a pure love, some random old man sitting next to me on the noisy metro, or our grumpy consiergka that yells at us every morning, or the lady that hands me the perfume samples as I walk by everyday, seriously the list goes on. I LOVE THESE UKRAINIANS! As much as I love the people I see on the street every day as I testify to them in any way that I can that their Heavenly Father loves them, and I know it because I feel it, even more do I love the people who accept His love!

Namely Настия, I have been so beyond blessed to be on this journey with her. I just wish you all could come and meet her and feel her spirit and testimony. She's incredible! I so look forward to every single lesson we have with her. And every lesson is always better than the last. She is growing so much, I am amazed at the spiritual progression that this beautiful fifteen year old girl is having. Meeting with her has strengthened my testimony more than anything else in the world ever could have done. She KNOWS that God is her Heavenly Father! And how much comfort and peace she has found while relying on Him and her brother Jesus Christ. It has been such a cool experience being with her and seeing her transform from a girl who really didn't know if God exists, into truly a daughter or God, who loves her, and she loves Him! I love listening to her pray, every time finishing as tears stream down her face. She has such a strong relationship with her Father in Heaven and it is so beautiful to see. This week we found out she has been teaching her best friend the lessons! Like, she is already a missionary! She is so awesome! So now we are meeting with Hастия and her best friend Настия, don't worry we call her Nessie, so it's not too confusing! Настия came to church yesterday and loved it! She came to conference last week but this was her first normal three hour block of church and I was a little nervous about it. Three hours of church is a long time, especially for a 15 year old girl who has never gone to church in her life. At the end of the block we were talking to her and she just said, "I don't want to leave." She is so sweet. Goodness I love her.
She has decided she wants to get baptized. :) She wants to wait for around Christmas time. Please keep her in your prayers, please, please, her parents are still против and it's very hard on her. When she knows people are praying for her, it gives her a lot of strength.

Okay story time. So once upon a time, I studied at the MTC before my mission, and at the MTC I had a teacher. Brat Hofman emailed me last week with... yep you guessed it a referral! He lived here in my area while he did ILP and lived with this family. He just realized they were in my area and gave me their names and address. On Wednesday night Sister Grandy and I headed over. I was so nervous, ha! I'd never had a referral that was like yeah just go knock on their door and pray that they let you in, but we did it! As we were walking over there I was thinking what I could say to ensure I got in. As we rang the door bell and Natasha opened the door I just said "Hey I know Cees Hofman!" And of course it worked! Haha it was so awesome! We just hung out with them and got to know them and seriously they are the coolest family ever! The parents, Natasha and Dima remind me so much of Kim and Gordie Lapke (how long have I wanted to share the gospel with them!) and their son Misha is just like Simon! Haha It's the best! As they welcomed us into their home I just sat and relaxed and talked to them and I was sitting there I realized I felt at home. I have loved every person's home that I have been in since I've arrived, but never have I felt that at home or comfortable with any family, I guess we now know why I'm still in Kharkivsky :) We met with them once more last night and chatted a little more about the gospel, so awesome. Right now we are trying to work it out so that Brother Hofman can be on the lessons with us via skype, they would love that and it would be so cool to teach with one of my teachers! Wow! Can you imagine? Anyways please keep them in your prayers as well! Like don't pray for me, I'm doing great, I would much rather you pray for all of my investigators!

Friends and family at the close of this email I would like to bear a super quick testimony about the Atonement (I know typical Sister Lee) but, IT IS SO REAL! And it is so NEEDED! And it is such a beautiful gift. I read an amazing talk this week titled The Atonement by Cleon Skousen and it changed my life. Nothing has inspired me more to do missionary work than after reading that talk. Please everyone read it and study it, and know that it is true. How grateful I am for the Atonement and my knowledge of it.

Now I'm going to go tell people about it. You should too.

Love you all more than words could ever begin to say!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

The Atonement: A Personal Search for the Meaning of the Atonement, W. Cleon Skousen

“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 :)