"To God I am grateful for....."

Привет!

So how was Thanksgiving? Did you all gain 20 pounds!? Just kidding, just kidding!I don't know why I thought before my mission that Holidays would be so hard, but really I feel like every Holiday is always one of the best days.

I am thankful for...

For Thanksgiving we went out contacting with a "Thankful Box" we stopped people on the street and just asked them what they were grateful for and if they wanted to they could write something down on a small piece of paper and put it in the box. Not going to lie, this was my favorite finding activity I have done my whole mission. When people talk about things they are grateful for, it is near impossible for them to not be happy. As we asked them what they are grateful for everyone always asked "Кому?" like "to who?" we replied "Just in general what are you grateful for?" And every person said well "To God I am grateful for....." I loved that! They knew who gave them there many blessings. God truly gives us everything we have and we have so much to be thankful for! 

For a lesson we had this week we talked about the Prodigal Son and I have been thinking about it so much. I love that story! There is a Bible video about it and it is amazing. I think when I was younger I was always on the older brother's side for this story. Why would the father give the younger son all of his finest things if he had just wasted all of his living? How is that in any way fair? But then you think of the father, and the joy that he could not even hold back for his son, who was lost now was found. How that is so like our Father in Heaven. He so longs for His children who have lost their way to come back to Him. In the video it shows the son a far distance off and the father drops everything he is doing and just runs to him. For those who have forgotten their Father, forgotten the goodness of His love and mercy all you need to do is show a small desire to return to Him and He will run to you! He will give you all of His finest, He will rejoice in your choice to return and once again partake of the goodness of His love.

I am so grateful for this gospel. I know it to be true with all of my heart. I know that thanks to this gospel and the knowledge I have of it I have received more blessings than I can imagine. I am  overwhelmed at the love that Heavenly Father constantly gives me. I am so blessed to be here serving among His children in Ukraine, I love every second of it.

Exciting news for the week.... Катя and Настя went to the temple for the first time! And of course they loved it! DUH! Wow they are awesome. Настя bore her testimony yesterday in Young Women's and she made us all cry. Her testimony is on fire. The other day we had a lesson with her and she came in beaming, we asked her what was going on and she told us as she was coming over to the church she was reading the Book of Mormon in a marshutka and the lady sitting next to her asked her about it, she just said "I got to bear my testimony to a total stranger and it was the coolest thing ever!" Настя is already the best missionary, gosh I love that girl.

Well family, sorry this email is all over the place and probably not very understandable... but you know I LOVE YOU and you know I LOVE WHAT I AM DOING! I just like Настя love every chance I get to bear testimony to a total stranger, it is the best thing.

Thank you for your love and thank you for your support, I've got the best friends and family and that's a fact Jack!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIMON, BEST BRO!!!!!!!!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

I'm not dreaming, I'm living the dream!

Good Morning!

Okay so I just realized I'M IN UKRAINE! Not only am I in Ukraine but I'M ON MY MISSION IN UKRAINE! Isn't that the coolest?! I've been here in Kiev for six months but still every time I think about it I freak out. I always feel like I'm dreaming or something but in all reality I'm not dreaming, I'm living the dream! Seriously my mission is the best thing of my life. The other morning Sister Grandy asked me what I was dreaming about the night before because apparently I was crying in my sleep, my dream was that my mission was over and I was home. Like I remember I was hugging mom and I was happy and then I realized that my mission was over and I just started crying and crying, man never do I want that day to come. Don't get me wrong family, I miss you and I want to see you, but honestly, I never want my mission to end. Every day I seem to love it more and more. I can't seem to get enough. That's it, I have a problem. Hi, my name is Sister Lee and I'm addicted to my mission. But hey, you know what they say, "You can never have too much of something good." Is that what they say? I don't know, it's something like that.

Speaking of good things, we had the primary program in church yesterday. It was so inspiring to hear all of their precious testimonies, and to hear them sing all of the primary songs that I hold so near and dear to my heart in the beautiful Ukrainian language was so special. And guess who has been attending Young Women? This sister missionary! It's so nice and refreshing! And mom, the young women's president is you! You seriously are the same person, I love being with her because it's just like I'm being with you! And Young Women is so awesome for me, because in that class is two of our recent converts, Наташа is now the Young Women's secretary and, Настя is there and of course Катя. As we were rehearsing the Young Women's theme yesterday and I was looking at these 3 beautiful daughters of God, I just kept thinking of their futures and how blessed they will be as they raise their families in the gospel, living in accordance with the values that we recite in Young Women's every week, and I thought of the quote "When you save a girl you save generations."  I'm so excited to see all of their success. I think that is one of my favorite parts of my mission, is seeing how the gospel really improves lives. It is so incredible. I love it.

Well in honor of Thanksgiving I think I'll do a little list:

I AM GRATEFUL FOR
-the support and love I have from my loving family and friends
-the rain that's been pouring down for days
-Our amazing ward and their strength
-Russian
-My Mission President and his family
-Sister Grandy-best friend, best companion, best missionary, the whole shabang
-The Priesthood and the wonderful blessing it is in my life
-My best friend, Ashley,  and her example to me as she preaches on the other side of the world!
-Hymns and the peace and comfort they bring
-laughing, I still love laughing, just in case anyone was wondering
-my every day tender mercies from the Lord
-every sweet бабушка that tells me to go home and get married ha!
-the hospitality of the Ukrainian people
-Настя and her testimony and her desire to now do missionary work
-Every single one of my nieces and nephews (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO VIOLETTE!)
-Pictures and the memories captured by them
-the temple <3
-Катя, it is always my favorite when we go contacting together
-our beautiful ward building
-Every person that helped me get here
-The Holy Ghost and all the many blessings that he brings
-The Book of Mormon and scriptures with amazing council given on each page
-The example of ward members, friends, teachers, family that I can always look up to
-the fact that I was born of GREATLY parents MOM AND DAD I LOVE YOU!
-The opportunity that I have all day everyday to invite people to come unto Christ and find the joy and peace the Gospel brings.
-My wonderful, spiritual adventure

Obviously my gratitude list could go on forever but I'm running out of time! I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! I love this holiday so much, though I think we should be constantly thinking about our blessings it is a good time to really sit down and take a look at how much Heavenly Father truly loves you! I love you! Eat a whole bunch of food for me!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

Chapter Five of My Wonderful, Spiritual Adventure... Sister Grandy and Lee take 3 :)

Welcome, welcome
 

(Catching Fire comes out this week, doesn't it? Well have fun watching it without me! ;) )

always sunshines and rainbows here in Kiev <3 

Can you believe I'm already in transfer 5? I feel like every transfer is only a week and this transfer is a four week one so it's going to go by wicked fast. I always wonder if time goes by as fast for you as it does for me... probably not, boo, time slow down! It is so amazing to me how satisfying each day is, like walking in the door at night is always the best feeling, really feeling Heavenly Father just give His nod of approval makes every day so worth it! Gosh, I love being a missionary.

So Sister Grandy and I are the dream team. I love her. I thank Heavenly Father all of the time for allowing me to be best friends with my companion. We work very well together and I look forward to our every day adventures. My mission life is truly wonderful. <3

Contacting with some of my favorite girls :)

Well with new transfers comes... NEW MISSIONARIES! Yay! I always love when new missionaries come in. It's so great to feed off of their energy and excitement to finally be out here living the dream after months of waiting and it's always a good time for me to put myself in check. Do I still have the same go get 'em attitude that I had when I stepped off the plane? Do I still get butterflies at the thought of bearing my testimony to a random stranger on the street? Am I doing everything I can to fulfill all of my goals? Am I doing everything in my power to ensure that when I return home I can honestly say "I gave it my all."  Boy am I trying!

This past week we set a goal with Настя and Катя to read the Book of Mormon before the new year and we are all so excited about it! As Sister Grandy and I were talking about trying to get Настя to set a date for it we thought of when President Hinckley asked us all to read the Book of Mormon before the new year and though it is close we know that we can do it! And I am challenging you all to join us in this! We have had a few days head start on you so I'll say you can do it in 50 days. All you need to do is read a little more than 10 pages a day and you will be finished! Alright will you do it? Oh I hope that you will! And I hope that you will not only read it to read, but truly read it with the sincere desire to know that it is the word of God. Read it with questions in your mind and a prayer in your heart  and there is no doubt in my mind that you will see a huge difference in your every day life! Bellow is an excerpt from President Hinckley's talk  "A Testimony Vibrant and True"

“And I exhort you to remember these things; for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust? …
“And God shall show unto you, that that which I have written is true” (Moro. 10:27, 29).
Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.
 

I so know that to be true! :)

Yesterday was a very special day for me. Two of my very best friends received temple recommends. Wow. Настя and Катя both got their first temple recommend. Sister Grandy and I have really set our focus on the temple while meeting with them and they are so excited to get to the House of the Lord. As they walked out of their interview with the bishop they were literally beaming. They just came up to us and gave us the biggest hugs waving their recommends in the air. Wow they are going to the temple! My favorite place in the world! I don't think any of you can begin to understand my excitement right now. I so love this opportunity I have to help people make covenants with our Heavenly Father and seriously receive blessings beyond imagination!

I am so blessed to be out here serving. In Preach My Gospel it says "The attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of your love toward your Heavenly Father and His son and your respect for their priesthood." I love my mission SO much! And I know it is because I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior so much! I encourage all of you to express your love for our Heavenly Father and for Jesus Christ by loving your "mission" right now. Be happy about life and the opportunity we have to live now in such exciting times!

All of my love,
Your sister, Sister Lee

just another day in pardise

"A Week in the Life of Sister Lee"

Dearest Family,

I can confidently say that I just had the best week of my life. And my life- it's pretty good, so that's saying something. Wow. If I could have picked any week for you to be with me and see everything it would be this one. There was a miracle literally in everyday. (Okay so there's always miracles in everyday on missions but seriously!) So for this email I kind of want to just walk you through my week. We'll call this "A Week in the Life of Sister Lee" it's gotta ring to it, doesn't it?

So last Monday as we were finishing up email my ankle really started to hurt/itch like crazy, I didn't have time to look at it because we were rushing to an appointment so I just said a little prayer and pushed it from my mind. The appointment that we were running to was with Катя, I believe I talked a little about her last week, I love this girl. Well anyways we help her with English and then we do a spiritual thought with her, last Monday we asked if her mom would be interested in joining us for the spiritual thought (her mom hasn't been to church in over 6 years) Катя left to go ask and came back with both her mom and dad and we helped them hold their first family home evening! It was awesome and they all loved it, so every week we will be doing family home evening with them and I don't know who else I would rather do it with, Катя is so like a sister to me, I love her. I'm so excited to help them grow closer together as a family, tonight we are going to talk about temple blessings and help them make a goal to get to the temple to seal their family for time and all eternity! Wow, this gospel is so awesome!

Okay so Tuesday I found a small orange on my ankle... remember my pain from Monday? Yeah Mr. Spider got the best of me. My ankle wouldn't fit comfortably in any of my shoes so I went Tuesday with one shoe, luckily all of our meetings and appointments were held in the church that day. One thing I really love about Ukraine is that EVERYONE is a doctor... haha! Okay not really but everyone always has their home remedy for everything it's the best. Don't you worry Momma I've got a lot of people looking out for me over here. I tried this remedy, the work went on and I kept preaching with one shoe on and one shoe off. It made English really fun we talked a lot about spider man and how I will be Spider Woman, ha! But anyways miracle for Tuesday, this is a little selfish miracle.. but Santa Clause came to town! Our friend Denise came into English with a huge bag full of packages and letters for me just in time for my birthday. It was seriously the best and just another testimony to me of our Heavenly Father's love for ME! He loves me so much and He always let's me know that. He's the best. That night when we got home we celebrated my birthday Christmas style with stockings and a Christmas tree and tinsel, man it was great.

Wednesday I woke up to sticky notes ALL over the house! Sister Grandy had woken up early to surprise me with them, it was such a sweet surprise. Wednesday we had exchanges and I got to be with one of my sisters, Sister Montgomery, for my birthday it was such a treat! Okay and I just want to say, that never have I felt more love than I did on my birthday here in Ukraine. Grandma wrote me saying she is sure I would have the best birthday ever, and boy was she right! We started off the day having an awesome lesson with Катя and right after she helped us on a lesson with sweet Камила, they both gifted me beautiful earrings and yummy treats. :) I was seriously spoiled, right after our lesson with them a man came to the church with a special delivery to me from my sisters! SISTERS ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!! K the prettiest earrings I have ever seen in my life! I got 5 pairs of earrings within the matter of 20 minutes haha, I have me some good loved ones, who know me way too well. :) But, I haven't even got to the miracle of this day yet! We got into a house of a less active we have been trying to work with since my first transfer on Wednesday evening. Whenever I would call her she would yell at us, but a member called me and asked her to come over to her house with her. She was very stone faced as we entered her house but by the time we left she was hugging and kissing me telling me to come back as soon as we could. The spirit so softens hearts I see that all day every day. And as people feel Heavenly Father's love for them, they cannot help but be happy. I was so grateful to finally get to meet with her and help her feel peace in her life. As we did some contacting after the lesson Heavenly Father sent me a down pour of blessings, in the form of rain drops, seriously it started pouring, I love the rain, so it was such a sweet gift from Heavenly Father. We headed back to the church to grab some stuff for dinner, only to find a surprise birthday party for me! I have the best district ever and they helped make my birthday so special, it was the best. Seriously it was the best birthday I have ever had.

On Thursday we were in the metro and I started talking with this guy, during our conversation he noticed my accent and asked me where I was from, I only said America and he said, "Oh my brother lived in America for a little bit, yeah the state of Utah, do you know that?" And I was like "Yeah I'm from Utah!" He asked "Do you know the town Cedar City?" Are you kidding me Cedar!? Haha! He then told me that his brother brought him home a Book of Mormon to read and he had told him about the Mormon church "Как раз! I'm a missionary from the mormon church!" We then went on to have a great conversation about the Book of Mormon and more about the church, we hope to meet with him sometime this week. Seriously, Cedar City, Utah, he already had read the Book of Mormon, but had never talked to missionaries before. Heavenly Father is preparing so many people for me! It's incredible!

We did Friday service out in the village, we take an hour bus ride out there and I sat by the sweetest lady in the world. I was talking to her about my amazing family and how much I love them, for probably way too long when I finally asked her to tell me about her family. She started talking about her cute daughters and began to cry as she talked about the love of her life, her husband. She loves him so much, I could feel how much she loves him and it was powerful! But he had passed away 4 years ago. What a great blessing it was for me to bear testimony of the Plan of Salvation, and to give her some peace. Though I could not bring her husband back to her I could testify and help her feel Heavenly Father's love, and as a representative of Christ I testified of the atonement and how real and powerful it is. 

the village at dusk :)

Okay Saturday, are you ready for this day.
First of all I received transfer information on Saturday and... I'M STAYING HERE IN ХАРКЬОВСКИЙ!!!!!!!!!!! and... I'M STAYING WITH SISTER GRANDY!!!!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOOO HAPPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO HAPPY TO BE SERVING WITH MY BEST FRIEND AGAIN!!

Second and the best moment of my mission, and it truly will be near impossible to top it.

Настя was baptized on Saturday. <3 SHE WAS BAPTIZED!!!!! WOW!!!! Throughout the week we had been meeting with her almost everyday, she has been so ready to get baptized since one of our first meetings and she finally realized it. We fasted for her mom to allow her to be baptized and when it came to the day that she asked, her mom said yes! Thank you for praying for her parents! I know that it was through our prayers that her heart was softened and she allowed her to be baptized.

Nastya's baptism :)

Nastya was so excited for her baptism, she had invited all of her friends and her parents to come, it was such an important day in her life. Just a few hours before the baptism her mom said that she would not come. It broke her heart and mine as well, really I've never felt so heart broken, but I felt prompted to tell her about our Heavenly Parents, not often do we talk about our Heavenly Mother, and I don't think we had mentioned it with her before but as we began to testify that not only do we have a Heavenly Father, but a Heavenly Mother as well, you could feel the love of both of them fill the room, I can't even begin to describe it. Never have I felt the spirit like that. You could just feel how proud they were of her. They were so excited that she had made the choice to return to live with them! One of our elders gave her a blessing and the peace felt was surreal. I love the priesthood power and everything it can help us with.

When Nastya was baptized you could feel her excitement, she was literally beaming. As she came out of the water she just exclaimed "Классно!" She ran out of the font and we were waiting for her she just hugged me and started crying and laughing and crying! She was SO HAPPY! I honestly don't think anyone has appreciated baptism like she has. It has been such an honor to teach her, to really just learn from her. To strengthen my testimony thanks to her. Wow. Wow.

after Nastya's baptism :)

This week was incredible. It is such an exciting time to be serving the Lord. There is no where else I would rather be, and nothing else I would rather be doing. Thank you for helping me get here and thank you for continuing to support me.

Heavenly Father has given us so many privileges. He has given us this life to learn to enjoy and to return back to Him. Please I encourage all of you to live up to your privileges use every blessing that God has given you to be truly happy!

I am beaming right now. I have never been happier and I know it is because everyday I try harder and harder to live up to my privileges, live up to my privileges of living and sharing the gospel! Wow I am so lucky, I have been given so much, WE are so lucky, WE have been given so much! Let us all live up to our privileges and get every ounce of joy out of this life, shall we? :)

I love you all! Thank you all for the birthday wishes and letters and packages and loves! You all are the best!

I know this church is true and I'm so happy to be out here on the front lines of the battle fighting for truth and righteousness!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee

my favorite place :)

Now Let Us Rejoice!

Yay!

Isn't there so much to rejoice about? Life is so amazing! We are so blessed to live at such an exciting time as this! I have never felt closer to my Savior as I have these past few days. I remember in the MTC making it a goal of mine to really know my Savior better and how grateful I am for the opportunity that I have to wear his name over my heart everyday and be with him everyday as I testify of him and his atoning sacrifice for us. Truly there is nothing better.

So Sister Grandy and I had a day this last week where we just sat down and seriously evaluated the work we were doing and we set personal and companionship goals that would ensure that we really are doing everything the Lord needs us to be doing right here and right now. After the goal setting and talking things out I was so pumped to just get outside and talk with EVERYONE! I thought missionary work was fun before? WOW! I could never even begin to imagine how much fun my mission truly would be. One of my goals was to be Mariel, well Sister Mariel Lee, like, use my personality in everything I did. Usually I'm pretty good at that, but sometimes when you're out on the street for a few hours, it's hard not to become a little robotic, but never again will I be robotic! Every person on the street is going to get a real taste of Sister Mariel Lee, and it has been so much more successful! Like Heavenly Father called me to be here to use my personality because the people here need it, and you bet I'm going to give it to them! I love this privilege that I have to serve God, seriously it is such a privilege like it is so beautifully written in Alma 30:9

"Now if a man desired to serve God, it was his privilege; or rather, if he believed in God it was his privilege to serve him"

It is so my privilege to serve God and I thank Him for that every day.

This week was Halloween! Yay, I love holidays! We had a movie night at the church for it,(I dressed up as a true Ukrainian, Mom, you would have loved it, I was pretty cute, but no camera :( (I'll dress up again and take pictures and send them later!) We decided to show 17 Miracles for the movie night, and we had probably more non members there than members, it was awesome! As the movie started a very authoritative Russian voice was the voice of Levi Savage and I just thought wow this is going to be so good! As it went on I realized that the same voice that was used for Levi Savage was the voice for EVERYONE. Are you kidding me? I was freaking out. Like how are people going to enjoy this movie when it is only one voice the whole time. We thought about it and we decided this was what Heavenly Father wanted us to do, so we kept it, as the movie went on and as you just paid attention to the spirit, it really was not a bother at all. After the movie I talked with our investigators and some members about it. I talked with our friend Катя and asked her if it was okay with the only one voice. She just said "There was only one voice? I hate it when movies do that, but I didn't even notice!" It was a Halloween miracle! Really everyone loved it and the spirit was so strong, goodness I love my pioneers. There was a part in that movie where one of the pioneers was saying it would all be worth it as long as their posterity was faithful. I am doing all I can to make their sacrifice worth it!

The next day we had another exciting event. We went to a concert put on by the church and it was lovely classical music, Mother you would have died. It was so fancy and beautiful, I felt like I was on a cute date with Sister Grandy, Nastia, Kamilla and her mom. It was so fun!

We did so much service this week! It felt so good!!

Sorry I'm running out of time the rest of the email might be crazy..

I just have to tell you one of my very favorite things of my mission is working with members here who for some reason or another have stopped coming to church. I love meeting with them and helping them remember their testimony and helping them get the real light and joy of Christ back in their life. We have been meeting with Катя a 16 year old girl who just came back to church by herself, she hasn't been since she was first baptized when she was 8, I asked her what made her come back and she just said she felt like she was just compelled to. She asked us to teach her all of the lessons because she really is just learning everything again and being with her is so awesome. She now comes out with us any chance she can and helps us on lessons. She is incredible. Yesterday was testimony meeting and one of the other less actives we are working with bore his testimony and it was amazing. I love building Heavenly Father's Kingdom here!

Sorry that's all for today folks! I love you all so much! I'm so grateful for your love and support! You all are the best. I encourage all of you to find something in your life to rejoice about, because LIFE IS GOOD!

All of my love,

Your sister, Sister Lee