2 Weeks In 1

December 2 & 9, 2019

December 2, 2019

Hello Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I got to celebrate with my zone. It was a blast! We wore our Vishivankas and ate a great meal. Thanks senior couples! As for our Thanksgiving night... we decorated the Christmas tree and picked lice out of a sister's hair. #missionlife! 

This week has been filled with fun adventures! We spent the week going on exchanges, and visiting people that we love because my companion, Sister Garner, is leaving for home today. It is a bittersweet day but I am so excited for her:)

We visited a super cute town outside of Kiev, called Billa Tserkva, for exchanges. I was able to help a man understand the difference between the movies "Frozen" and "Everest".He was convinced that the movie, "Frozen" was about people freezing on top of a mountain. 

There, we also met with our darling babushka friend, Larissa! She has major leg deformities and sits in bed all day, everyday. She was so happy to see us and we could feel her love for Christ and His gospel through her testimony and sincerity. We listen to a talk from our living prophet, Russel M Nelson. Afterwards, she told us that she had been praying for a way to hear our prophets' words. She cannot see very well and could not read the talks that she had at her house and she also had no access to listen to them on her phone. Larissa was so grateful that we came and she told us that we were an answer to her prayers. <3 I am so grateful for the faithful, dedicated members of the church here in Ukraine.

Also our friend, Olena, painted me a picture! It is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you for all of your emails and support! I love you all so much. 

Love,

Sister Merrill

December 9, 2019

Hello!

The holidays are in full swing here in Ukraine! Actually, not entirely... Here in Ukraine, everyone celebrates Christmas on January 7th. And New Years is a BIG deal. I am so excited for all the festivities to begin:) Fun Fact: the song, "Carol of the Bells" was composed by a Ukrainian! Everyone absolutely adores this song. The ward has asked us to sing it after church for everyone (In Ukrainian)... Wish us luck;)

This past week was really interesting! Here are some highlights and lowlights!

•  We ended our P day with a passport search all over Kiev for a sister. We think that it was stolen:( 
• I got a new companion! Her name is Sister Olsen and she is incredible! She used to do debate and she can read out loud insanely fast.
• I was able to go on an exchange with my MTC companion, Sister Melendez! We taught a lesson together and it reminded me of when we were in the MTC. In our lessons in the MTC, we needed everything that were going to say written down in both English and in Russian. It was so cool to see how much we have grown since then! No English/Russian notes now:)
• I got really sick this week:( We had to cancel lessons and I was absolutely blown away at our investigators' care and concern for my health! Everyone insisted that I would be healed by drinking raspberry tea:)

I am so grateful for our Savior who loves and knows us individually. He knows when we are sad, stressed and even when we are feeling sick. He also knows how to comfort us! We just need to turn to Him. I am grateful for this Christmas season. I love you all!

Sister Merrill

1. President Kumferman, Sister Garner, and I celebrating Thanksgiving The district and pizza:) We have Dominos here in Ukraine!

2. Olena and I <3

3. The district and pizza:) We have Dominos here in Ukraine!

4.Dropping by our investigator's home to spread Thanksgiving cheer 

5. Lice shampoo and Christmas festivities

это снова я :)

November 18, 2019

Hello Friends!

Another incredible week has passed by! Sister Garner and I have been busy with exchanges, visiting with members and investigators, and mastering the art of Ukrainian doll making!(The members are so kind to us) I absolutely love the area that I am serving in and the people that are serving alongside me.

Just a little bit about the area that we cover, which includes one ward and a branch: The Borschagovski ward is the biggest in Ukraine (Native Ukrainian and Russian speaking members)! We cover a large area and often times we travel all the way across Kiev to visit members of the International branch (This congregation includes missionaries and people from Nigeria or America who live in Ukraine). Last week, when attempting to visit a family in the branch, we found ourselves at the doorsteps of the US Embassy! We take little buses and the metro on the daily. I am starting to feel like a true local now that I am understanding bus routes and am in charge of the metro card. Power moves only!

The youth in our ward are AMAZING! This week, we had an activity where we talked about the importance of missionary work. We all got into groups and went to apartments of members of the church who have not attended in quite awhile. We went to five or six members and only one of them answered the door, but the youth were still so positive and happy to be doing missionary work. Some of them even asked us if they could contact with us on Friday night... What?! These darling girls want to spend their Friday night outside in the cold, sharing the gospel! How cool is that! I am so grateful for their examples.

Another incredible young person is Kate! Kate is 17 and she loves learning about the gospel . She is excited to be baptized and absolutely adores the temple. Kate lives very near to the temple and she has always wanted to go inside. On Wednesday, we were able to take her inside to sit in the waiting room so that she could feel the special spirit that the temple holds. It was such an incredible experience.

We had an awesome lesson with our friend Nazar! My favorite part of our lesson was when we asked him to read a scripture from the Book of Mormon and before reading he said to us, "I need to read this with respect and emotion because this is a very sacred book". Wow! It was a great reminder for me that the Book of Mormon is a holy book and it really should be read and treated with the utmost respect. Nazar and his mom, Valentina have come to church everyday for about a month now and they love the spirit that they feel at church and when they learn about the gospel.

This week, Sister Garner and I had the opportunity to visit a little city outside of Kiev called Zhytomyr. There, we went on exchanges with other sisters, including my MTC companion, Sister Melendez! It was so fun teaching and learning from the other sisters. We spent the day contacting and teaching. It was a blast! Sister Melendez and I reminisced over MTC memories and it was so fun seeing how much we have grown since then. 

Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support. I feel it! 

Christ knows each of us individually. He loves us and wants us to return to Him.

Love,

Sister Merrill

1. Got a Vishivanka!

2. A whole lot of vareniki

3. Sister Melendenz and I!

4. Yum!

5. Our district family photo at our mini thanksgiving:)

благодарность

November 10, 2019


Hello!

Happy November! 

I do not have a lot of time to write, so I am just going to express my gratitude for some things here in Ukraine:) Each point correlates with photos below from this past week. 

1. I am grateful for kind Ukrainians who teach me how to cook! We go over to Tanya's home every week and she teaches us how to cook traditional Ukrainian dishes while we share a spiritual thought. This week, we learned how to cook Plov! It is a rice pilaf type dish. Tears were shed because I just had such a great time... and because the onions were SO strong;)

2. I am grateful for investigators who take us to their children's dance rehearsals! It was such a cool experience! We watched an incredible performance of the traditional Ukrainian dances. The father asked us if the "cowboy dance" was our traditional American dance. I am also grateful that I learned the "Hoedown Throwdown" from "Hannah Montana the Musical" in 2nd grade so that I could show my friends the REAL traditional American dance. 

3 and 4. I am grateful for the beauty of Kiev! On Mondays we get to explore the city and we got to go visit the Lavra last week. We went under the Lavra into the caves and saw where important members of the Orthodox monastery who have died are kept there. It was really interesting. 

5. This is just a video of me jumping into leaves because I AM SO GRATEFUL TO BE A MISSIONARY! I love sharing the gospel with the people of Ukraine. The gospel is true and through following the example of Jesus Christ we can have everlasting joy and peace. 

I love you all!

Sister Merrill