Week 1 IN UKRAINE
7/16/2012
Dear family and friends,
Dear family and friends,
I have been in the Ukraine for
5 days and it has been a lot to take it. It has been quite the experience
let me tell you. It was crazy first of all leaving Utah Tuesday morning at 5 am
and then getting to the Ukraine Wednesday evening at 3:30. It’s a
10 hour time difference from Olympia to the Ukraine. We were able to see
the area a little bit on Thursday morning because Wednesday we ate with
President Campero and got oriented and all that good stuff. We had
another little training thing on Thursday and then we had transfer meetings and
I found out where I would be going and who my companion was going to be. It was
just a whole big fun time with a lot of missionaries that are here in Donetsk.
So for the next 12 weeks I will be in a city called Lugansk and my companion is Elder Strandling who only has 3 transfers left so I may end up killing him (when you send a missionary home) but he is great. My companion knows the language super well and he is super nice too. He’s a good cook………. that’s a major bonus. There has been a lot going on but most of it was meetings and traveling to my area. It took about 4 hours to get from center of Donetsk to Lugansk…….. it was a fun bus ride.
Our schedule here in Ukraine is a little different than other places. We get up at 6:30 am and we’re out the door at 7 am. We are door contacting for an hour and a half, and then we come back to our place. We exercise, eat and then do personal study until 3 pm with lunch in there somewhere. Then we go back out and contact some more if we don’t have any lessons planned. Yeah it is always a fun start to the day. I honestly can say I don’t mind getting rejected by almost everyone……… because I start to say something, they may or may not stop and listen, then I say a few more words, then I cannot understand them beyond that. So it works out pretty well for me……… all I hear is “never” so it’s not too bad. They want all the new missionaries starting all the conversations so I start it and try to get people to stop and listen then have my companion take over since he understands the people better. It’s sweet, but I need to start comprehending better and learning more words, so I can communicate better.
I gave my first lesson in the Ukraine on Friday and you will not believe it, but it was in English! ha ha There are quite a few English people here from like Africa, so they go to school in the Ukraine and we have a few that we teach. Next week I think we have 3 lessons that we will teach and they will be in Russian except maybe one, so it will be a fun experience I have definitely hit the ground running, because I just went out and tried to talk to everyone and we have gotten 4 or 5 contacts so far. That is pretty good. We will try to get them to be new investigators, but we will have to wait and see what happens.
Oh boy, Sunday was a tough day but it was a great day too! ha ha We didn’t do a whole lot in the morning since church is at 10 am. We went to church and my head was hurting by the end of sacrament since again it’s hard to comprehend all the language. I talked to an older sister in the ward and tried to comprehend what she was saying and I tried to have a conversation with her. It was fun smiling and nodding my head like I knew what was going on. But of course it was very limited, I said a few sentences. I understood a little of what she said and then she just talked the rest of the time….. ha. ha Then there were lots of classes at church and they all talk so fast. It was hard to keep up, so my head was “fried” after church. After church we went and did tracking for about 5 hours in the super nice hot sun. Since it was so hot, not a lot of people were outside, but it was still a nice walk with my companion. Maybe we sparked someone’s interest…….. You never know!
So for the next 12 weeks I will be in a city called Lugansk and my companion is Elder Strandling who only has 3 transfers left so I may end up killing him (when you send a missionary home) but he is great. My companion knows the language super well and he is super nice too. He’s a good cook………. that’s a major bonus. There has been a lot going on but most of it was meetings and traveling to my area. It took about 4 hours to get from center of Donetsk to Lugansk…….. it was a fun bus ride.
Our schedule here in Ukraine is a little different than other places. We get up at 6:30 am and we’re out the door at 7 am. We are door contacting for an hour and a half, and then we come back to our place. We exercise, eat and then do personal study until 3 pm with lunch in there somewhere. Then we go back out and contact some more if we don’t have any lessons planned. Yeah it is always a fun start to the day. I honestly can say I don’t mind getting rejected by almost everyone……… because I start to say something, they may or may not stop and listen, then I say a few more words, then I cannot understand them beyond that. So it works out pretty well for me……… all I hear is “never” so it’s not too bad. They want all the new missionaries starting all the conversations so I start it and try to get people to stop and listen then have my companion take over since he understands the people better. It’s sweet, but I need to start comprehending better and learning more words, so I can communicate better.
I gave my first lesson in the Ukraine on Friday and you will not believe it, but it was in English! ha ha There are quite a few English people here from like Africa, so they go to school in the Ukraine and we have a few that we teach. Next week I think we have 3 lessons that we will teach and they will be in Russian except maybe one, so it will be a fun experience I have definitely hit the ground running, because I just went out and tried to talk to everyone and we have gotten 4 or 5 contacts so far. That is pretty good. We will try to get them to be new investigators, but we will have to wait and see what happens.
Oh boy, Sunday was a tough day but it was a great day too! ha ha We didn’t do a whole lot in the morning since church is at 10 am. We went to church and my head was hurting by the end of sacrament since again it’s hard to comprehend all the language. I talked to an older sister in the ward and tried to comprehend what she was saying and I tried to have a conversation with her. It was fun smiling and nodding my head like I knew what was going on. But of course it was very limited, I said a few sentences. I understood a little of what she said and then she just talked the rest of the time….. ha. ha Then there were lots of classes at church and they all talk so fast. It was hard to keep up, so my head was “fried” after church. After church we went and did tracking for about 5 hours in the super nice hot sun. Since it was so hot, not a lot of people were outside, but it was still a nice walk with my companion. Maybe we sparked someone’s interest…….. You never know!
There is a lot of Russian going through my head right now. I love it here and I can’t wait to be able to communicate with the people and actually have conversations where I understand them. It will only take time. The Ukraine is a wonderful place and I am so excited to be here and bring people to the gospel. I hope that they can feel my love that I have for them and know that I have a testimony of this gospel. It’s hard when you only have about 20 seconds to talk to a person and spark their interest, but if they are prepared the spirit will touch them and tell them this is good.
I love you all so much and am so grateful for all of your support and love you all give to me. This is going to be a great two years and I can’t wait to continue to fill you in on all my progress and all that is going on in my life here in the Ukraine. I wish you all the best and hope you all have a wonderful day and continue to thank our Heavenly Father for all you have in this life. I love you and pray for. May God bless you all and may you always have his spirit to be with you.
LOVE ELDER LITCHFIELD
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