So I will just start with the one, and see how long it gets and then we will go from there.
People.
We have been overwhelmed with the love and friendship that we have been shown in the 10 short days we have been here. From the other temple missionaries, from the patrons attending the temple, from the ward members, and from all of the texts, emails and Facebook sent by so many of you at home.
Our trainers have been Dorothy and Alan Tomlinson. They have made us feel welcome and shown and taught us not only what to do in our temple assignment but where to shop and how to get around in Kiev. They are good friends. We are blessed to have been trained by them. I was going to tell you all about the past 10 days, but Dorothy did a great job of summarizing it in her blog.... I will let you read hers!!! here is it...... http://tomlinsonsinukraine.blogspot.com/
As you can read.... it has been a week filled with learning and fun.
We have been so impressed with the patrons who have come to the temple the past 2 weeks. The first ones we met were a couple of sisters from Mongolia. Yes, you read that right. They traveled 5,000 miles to get here and that is like going from SLC to NYC and back!! Except for them it was just one way. We were told that it the eastern coast of Canada was closer to Kiev, than there home was. That is long way!!! They were so sweet and so earnest to spend every minute they could doing ordinances for their ancestors.They were there every day and ALL day long.
This week there has been a Youth Conference from Saratov, Russia. I looked it up and that is about the distance from SLC to Austin TX. There were a little over 70 of them counting leaders, families, and youth. They stayed in the Patron housing next door to the temple and they were serious about what they came here to do. We were told that the Kiev Temple averages about 500 ordinances a week. This last Tuesday there was over 1400 ordinances done. This group of young people set a goal of doing over 1000 baptisms and they started out with a BANG. They were so organized, respectful and obedient. They had Priests and Elders to assist in the work and once they were taught the proper procedure.... they were efficient and precise. I became instant friends with many of the women who came with the group. They would be in the temple all day long. I was wasted and tired after my shift of only 6 hours and they had been there for both the morning and the afternoon shift. What dedicated women.
We have been so busy in the temple with them, we didn't even get any pictures. I will try and remember to do that in the future.
The temple missionaries have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. They have spoiled us.
I could tell you stories already about each one of them that have made us love them after such a short period of time. They are loving, fun, dedicated to their Lord, and a great example.
The Temple President and Matron, the Roths (pronouced ROTE) are the kind of people that you fall instantly in love with. They are from Austria so they speak German, but, they also speak English, and Russian. They are always happy and almost bubbly with life.
The 2nd counselor and his wife the Rotis (ponounced with a long I) have been particularly helpful both before we got here with lots of emails, and now we are here they are always there to make sure we have what we need and we are understanding what is going on.
I am so impressed with the language skills of all of these missionaries. I hope that some day I will be able to be as good at it as they are. Brent is really catching on quite quickly. He is working hard at memorizing and is really doing a great job.
The missionaries come from a big variety of backgrounds. Some have never been outside the US before. and others, this is their 5th mission. I think there are 3 past mission presidents. The 1st councilor is from Ukraine. They came to Kiev when the conflicts began in their hometown of Donetsk (I think) When he went back a couple of weeks later to check on his house. It had been ransacked and everything including his son's baby grand piano was gone. They had nothing. They had previously put in their mission papers and then when they came to Kiev they were called as temple workers.He was then called as 1st councilor in the temple presidency. (They are the couple on the far right on the back row)
That is just 4 of the 13 couples. So you can see we are truly blessed with good people to be working with and learning from for the next 18 months.
Here is what the temple grounds look like. (Doesn't it look a lot like the Ogden Temple?!!?) The apartments to the rear on the right are the missionary housing and the patron housing. The building you can only see part of on the right is our ward building. We attend the international ward there. That building also houses the Kiev Mission office and one more ward. Our ward is a mix of many different nationalities, but English is the main language that is spoken. Sunday the opening prayer was given in Ukrainian, the meeting was conducted in English and the closing prayer was given in Nigerian. It is a great mix of people who all come together for the same reason. To partake of the Sacrament, to worship, and to learn.
I think I will do another blog in a few days to address the other subject. It will have a lot more pictures and will show the things here that are the same and are different. Until then......
God Bless
Бог благословил
(Bog blagaslaveel)
Brent and Jan
Wow. I'm blown away. Love you guys. Keep up the good work!
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