This week many of my thoughts have been, "A year ago today...." and it weirds me out every time. One year! Can you believe it? So much has happened, and in so many ways my life has changed for the better. Actually, in basically every way possible my life has changed for the better. I've learned so many lessons, improved my self in many ways, realized gifts and talents, been through some real refiner's fires, and learned to love so strongly, so deeply, and so purely. What a miraculous experience my mission has been so far, and it's not even close to being over yet.
I received a call from my mission president on Tuesday morning. He had some news for me, which said that my trainee was delayed. Yes, I am officially 2 for 2 right now. Last transfer my trainee was delayed, and I was assigned with another new missionary. Then she never ended up coming. And this transfer, a different trainee was delayed, and I was assigned with another new missionary. And I have no idea if she's coming yet. I think I'm the black plague of the L'viv mission or something. I hope president doesn't assign me another trainee next transfer, because it'll probably be a cursing for her to never end up coming on her mission. So it's been an interesting week, and I'm in a three-o with Sister Lewis (the one who reminds me of Madi!) and her trainee Sister Henrichson (By the way Dal, her name is India, Indy for short. I have to stop myself from saying, "super indy, super cool" at all times).
Some funny things that have happened (I never write the little funny exchanges we have with people, sorry about that. But I'm seriously enjoying myself at all times of the day because of these hilarious, wonderful people):
Yesterday we were out on the streets, when we ran into this enthusiastic man from English practice. He was all dressed up in a matching sweat suit, with a huge backpack. He said, "Excuse me for how I look! I just came back from the forest! I was picking mushrooms." And his backpack was full of wild mushrooms from the local forest. For me, this was pretty funny, but for someone who just got here this week, this was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. I got more of a kick from her reaction, than the actual situation. It was hilarious.
Another thing: During church yesterday there was an alarm going off. No one was doing anything about it. But it continued to go off for what seemed like a long time. After about a minute, there was an Elder who was sitting next to a slightly homeless man (he comes to church, but he's definitely not accountable), and he picked up Mikola's arm, pulled back his sleeve, and pressed a button on his watch. The alarm stopped. No one even flinched, but I think I imploded. I used all the muscles in my stomach not to bust up laughing.
Last: My new companion was spending an abnormal amount of time looking at my pictures that were hanging up on the wall. I just thought she was a little tired from the jet lag. Then she said, "Whose pictures are these?!" I just stared at her for a while, way confused, and said, "Umm...mine?" And she just shook her head and walked off. The next day, I referenced something that was going on in one of my photos, pointing to it, and she was like, "WAIT. Is that YOU?!!" I replied, "What do you mean?" Apparently she thought my jet-black hair was my natural color, and she didn't recognize me at all in any of my pictures. I want my hair back, dang it.
Anyway.
The work is moving forward. The other day we went to an English Practice club with an investigator, who is the instructor. She is a very intelligent, poised, classy woman. She's the Ukrainian version of Audrey Hepburn, and I'm a huge fan of hers. At the English class (in class we went by our first names, which was weird to hear), we went around and talked to each other in the room with assigned topics. It was a great experience! At the end we all went around and had to choose people in the room and say 2 adjectives about them. All the girls were saying, "Nastia. Beautiful, and smart." "Oksana. Beautiful, and fun." And then one of the men said, "Kate, she speaks ukrainian really well," And everyone started busting up laughing. He was a little confused about the rules of the game, but inside I was thinking, "He thinks I'm good at UKRAINIAN!" haha. And then the teacher started another activity but had to leave the room, and she said, "If anyone has questions, ask Kate about it because she speaks Ukrainian fluently." And inside I was thinking, "Wow....fluently....nice...."
During the practice, one girl was describing Sister Lewis, and called her "Bright". The instructor said, "Bright means intelligent also, very good." And then she said, "No, I mean bright. As in light. I can see light in her face. It's very beautiful." Wow. So powerful.
After the class, we went back out to the car with the investigator. Another car drove up behind us, and she said, "Oh that's my husband! Come meet him." So we went over there, and he had a question for her, and they talked for a minute. We didn't get to say a whole lot, but I felt specifically that he was a very good man. It was something that was almost tangible. We got back in the car and drove off. A few minutes later she got a phone call, and it was from her husband. He told her to get out of the car, so she pulled over, and realized that he had been behind us. She got out of the car, went over to him, and a moment later she got back in the car. She said, "My husband said you are very good girls. He said he could feel warmth coming from you, and he could see something different in your eyes. He never uses language like that, so it's very interesting." And she sat and pondered on that for a minute. I was blown away, because we didn't even say anything to him. I kept reflecting on that all day, and later Sister Lewis said, "That pretty much just changed my mission. That actually just changed my life. It doesn't matter what the heck we say, it just matters what kind of people we are, and if people can feel that we are honest, loving, servants of God, then that's all that matters." It was so cool.
Yesterday we had a lesson fall through, and we had about 2 hours of extra time. We decided to go to the park, since all the families are there on Sunday afternoon. We had some Liahonas out on a bench with a Book of Mormon, and we were just talking with people as they came up to us. No one was really interested in taking anything (they don't believe in free things...it's interesting). It was starting to get a little dark, and we were thinking about leaving, when this man walks by, and we said hi to him. He kept walking a ways, stopped in his tracks, turned around and came back. He started talking to us, and we told him about a living prophet. He was so overwhelmed about it. We had a conference issue with us, with Thomas S. Monson on the front. He was almost upset when he asked us why he didn't know there was a prophet again on earth! I told him that was why we were here, and he said, "A Prophet?! Why don't I know about this guy." He told us that he was burdened with many sins, and he needed help on his path to Salvation. Elect Alert. We talked to him for a few minutes, and he said, "Where do you meet. I'm coming to you." We told him that this coming week we'll be listening to none other than our beloved prophet during General Conference, and I thought he was going to wet his pants. He was so excited.
Ahhh. I'm sitting here in an internet cafe, and we just finished watching the Saturday Morning session. I have a perfect view of the street market through a window outside, and I'm seeing all these people going about their lives, living without this knowledge that we have. There is a prophet on earth. God speaks to him. I'm sitting here listening to the words of His servants, and there are people outside who have no idea that this is available to them! It makes me want to run outside and shout it from the rooftops.
What a blessing and a miracle. I am SO BLESSED to have this knowledge. I have a huge responsibility to share it with others. I can't even express the gratitude I feel, and how gratifying it is to be able to be a missionary. If you're thinking about it, just go. It's awesome.
I love you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. You all have meant so much to me. :)
All my love,
Sister Webber
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