Dear Family and Friends: July
2013
We have been on our mission for 1 year
now. That means the time is flying by and and we don’t know
where it is going. We are kept really busy in the office and in our
spare time we help the young Elders and Sisters with lessons. We
also have an English conversation class once a week, family home
evening every Monday night and teach Sunday School Gospel Doctrine
class for English speakers on Sunday morning.
We love the people here. We have
learned a lot about their heritage and the history of Ukraine. As
you know it was formerly part of the USSR, so a lot of their history
is tied to Russia. The national language is Ukrainian but they
mostly speak Russian . Russian is a difficult language to learn.
We have learned some words and a few phrases, but we mostly need
translators.
Summer here is very humid and hot.
Winter is very damp and cold. We are having a mild summer and last
winter was comparatively mild as well.
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| They have a rich heritage of colors and costumes. |
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We participated in the Helping Hands program to help clean up the community. |
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| Students from English Conversation Group |
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| A Russian tank |
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| A Branch picnic in the woods. |
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| Chernobyl is in our Mission. This is a Memorial to the victims. |
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| Members of our Sunday School class who speak English. They are from Ghana and Nigeria. |
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| The Park next to our apartment. |
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| Our apartment for a District Meeting. |
We have the best missionaries in the world. We have doubled the number of sisters in our mission this summer. We got 14 new sisters. We need more senior missionaries. There is a great need for them. We have each couple assigned to a different city. We get to have a conference every six months. It is so fun to get together. We also have a group skype time every Thursday with all of the couples in the mission so we can keep in touch and get help from each other. Each couple is assigned to a District with the young sisters and elders. We have the meeting at our apartment. We feed them before the meeting. It is a small apartment so there is a lot of togetherness. We are like the parents and grandparents to these
young missionaries. We feed them, listen to them and help them in any way we can. They help us as well. They translate, help us find our way, give us advice on where to find things.
There are days when it is difficult. But there are also days when it is fantastic. Our best days are when we get to talk with people, members, people on the street, every one. These people have been through so much. The gospel and the temple is changing their lives. They love the temple. The Kyiv Temple district covers all of Russia and Eastern Europe. It is a huge area. But the people are so faithful. They sacrifice to go to the temple. They are very interested in Family History because so little has been done. As the members get their Patriarchal blessings, all of the tribes of Israel have been identified and are present here in Eastern Europe. We truly are gathering the lost ten tribes. They celebrate Victory Day in June, which is like our July 4th Independence Day. We learned so much of their history and struggles. We have been to the War Memorial Museum. They also love the theater, ballet and opera. We have attended several and they are excellent. The Donetsk Opera House is marvelous.
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| Senior Couples Conference June 2013
We love you all so much. We are experiencing things that are truly blessing our lives and we hope yours as well. We see the hand of the Lord in this great work. We are so privileged to be a part of it. Thank you for your many prayers on our behalf.
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до свидания
Старейшина и сестра Колман
Elder and Sister Coleman
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