This week was a good one.
I was able to spend my last week of my first transfer with my wonderful companion and trainer Sister Fedas. She goes home tomorrow and my heart is aching. I am continually learning how to trust in God more. Like how in the world am I supposed to do this all without my trainer?! I am so grateful for everything she taught me. It is weird because it feels like it has been years since I have seen you all but also that my first transfer has flown by. How can I already be done with my first transfer?
Some of the things I learned from my companion:
-I learned how to love the people here. At first I was unsure how to get along with a native and we found that we were SO different. But service and love and lots of prayers later we have come to absolutely LOVE each other. The people here sometimes have a tough outer shell but they are all hurting a little bit inside and they need love more than anything. And I love these people. I learned how through the example of my companion. She is selfless and she loves to work. Every person is important.
-I learned that we are always missionaries. We can always be doing something more, always be striving to find more people and if we truly love God we want to find his children and to help them in anyway we can even if it is just helping someone with their garden.
-I learned that Ukraine has amazing candy and icecream and that I am without a doubt going to be 1000 pounds when I come home.
-I have learned how to be brave and to overcome fear
-I learned how I want to be when I finish my mission: STRONG in the gospel with a knowledge and relationship with my Savior and Heavenly Father than ever before
-I learned how to laugh so hard IN RUSSIAN
-I learned consistancy and how that is SO key in this work. God needs consistent missionaries.
-I learned to enjoy this mission and all the moments because it really wiill end someday and I will miss it so much
-Take advantage of every minute and to use every minute wisely
I learned many more things but I can not even list it
-Oh I learned a lot of Russian as well and also learned of one of my "gifts". Sister Fedas like Sister Rubio could not really speak English. She had a test for English this last week. While she was with me we worked really hard, spending every other day in English then the next day in Russian and always correcting each other no matter what- and she took her test and got a score of ADVANCED low!!!!!!! Sister Rubio and Sister Fedas both told me that with me they struggled with English then one day woke up and their minds were open and they just knew it. To me it sounds like their gift, and it is but they both said that it has only been with me and that I have a real gift for helping people to learn English. Why, I do not know. But that is cool!
So this week I was pretty sick and so we spent a lot of time at home calling people and preparing our area and many people in our city got sick too. But at the end of the week we were invited to the branch picnic. It is not quite like American picinics with watermelon and blankets in a park with maybe sandwiches or BBQ or something. We (grandma's and all) hiked in this forest and then got to this flat part in between the trees right on the huge river and we cleaned up the forest and then people started to play frisbee and football and Ukrainian games too and they cooked this millet porridge called Kasha and it to
ok like almost 3 hours and we had so many potential investigators there and it was the best day ever. I finally feel like this is my place. We needed to go and to interact with the members and I am starting to think we need to work more closely with them to find people because of all the bad and scary things that have been happening the past couple weeks. I felt safe and at home. Even if they can only speak Russian they were comfortable enough with me to joke and to laugh and it was amazing. I am so happy to stay here.
OH YA! Transfers.... I will be staying in Cherkassy with another Native girl and another native "mini missionary" I am so excited. Especially for the mini missionary. She will only be here for 4 weeks and does not really know English but that is ok, I can get better at Russian. CAN YOU BELEIVE my first transfer is over? I have almost been here for 2 months in Ukraine now. How does that even happen. I love it more and more everyday!!! And I am so thankful to be here. There have been some really tough and trying moments but it is ok. Problems that we face should not stop us from working. We can always work through them.
Also I love being able to pray. Prayer is the most amazing gift. We get to converse whenever we want to with a father in heaven who created it all and he actually wants to hear from us about our small seemingly meaningless things, and he cares so much. When we pray he blesses us. I love what PMG says about the pattern for prayer and I want everyone to read it. Pages 93-95 we should read and use as a pattern to make our prayers more meaningful.
I love you guys and I am so ready to just work so hard and to learn so much and to more fully be my Father's servant in this work! Jesus in John 15 talks about how in reality we are not his servants in this work though, he calls us his friends. How blessed are we.
I love you all so much! Be good and be happy and be safe. I will talk to you soon!
Love Cectpa Karren
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| Goodbye to my trainer Sister Fedas <3 :) |
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