Ready To Leave Again

Dear Family and Friends,

Just for those who took a guess. It is a ping pong table that one can use year round. Just need to supply the net, paddles and ball and you are ready to play. We think this is their version of tennis as we have not seen a tennis court here. Also, Brett would not survive here as we have not seen a golf course either. Maybe that could be a venture but probably only those in black clothing could afford it.

We went to L'viv last week and Sister Williams was there. If I had to walk with her my whole mission I would probably loose more weight. Her husband has had to take in his belt two times. Dad is to easy on me but I think he worries about my knees. It has rained solid here for the last week. It just does not rain for a couple of hours, there is a constant drizzle even if it is not raining hard. The soil is so saturated that there are inches sitting around every where in puddles. Dad says he will take a picture of the sun when it finally comes out - now, some have said that may be next year. Those drab, dreary days may have come sooner than we had planned. There had already been flooding in the West two weeks ago and over 200,000 people had been displaced from their homes. The water was higher than their heads. The last major flooding in that area was in the 1960's. Many of the homes are made out of mud and straw so they just disolved where ever the water touched. The church gave each of the cities over $50,000 but it was only to help the elderly through the Red Cross. The government also gave money to the people but they don't know how it will help as they have no help to rebuild thir homes. No construction people in their areas and they are to old to do it themselves. Elder Hinkle said it was the saddest sight he had ever seen. He went once and came back two weeks later and the elderly were just sitting in their yards crying. Not knowing what to do. It is cold here and fortunately we have an air conditioner/heater system as the heat does not usually get turned back on until 15 October. Natasha heard last night on the news that this year it will come on 1 Oct because of the temperature and the flu they are expecting from Russia. To many older people sitting around in these apartments with no heat - just to dangerous. We went out to buy a little space heater for our apartment but we wanted it to help dry our clothes. They dry out on the balcony but in the summer they dried in hours and they were still wet last night. So we just closed all the windows and hope that will help get the job done faster. When we came home from L'viv we saw two accidents, one a head on and the other a single car, both of them were upside down. People traveling to fast for the road conditions and probably drunk. We leave again in the morning for Frankfurt, hopefully that will be a fun trip and we have planned one day for sight seeing and another to go to the temple.

The political situation here is becoming interesting and somewhat unstable. The PM went to Russia and came back on the side of Putin. She had joined a Coalition with the Pres. and they won the election as not pro-Russian. Now there are plans to break up the coalition but the PM does not think a new election would benefit the country. Natasha thinks she is afraid that she would be thrown out. Will have to wait to see what happens. It is amazing that they just seem to have elections here whenever there is a change of position but maybe they are recall elections and I just don't understand everything.

We will leave in the morning aroud 6:00 will be back late Saturday night. Hope all the children are doing well, give them hugs and kisses from us. We miss you all. Luv M&D, GMGP, J&J.

Just for the Men In My Life!!!!!!!!

One of these days I may write something really important on this blog that deserves another answer. That way I can tell who is actually reading it and paying attention to their mother and her concerns about life. Even though the men never respond she still loves you. MOM

Going out West

The question of the day is what is this item that is found scattered around the Ukrainian land? Please give me your reply and then I will tell who is correct.

We will be leaving again, Tuesday to travel to the western side of the Kiev mission. We will have a driver taking us to several cities and then on Friday we will meet up with the President and his wife and travel the next three days with them. Will go to church there next Sunday and then be back home for three nights. Then the 24th of September we will fly to Frankfurt Germany for a 2 day Medical Meeting and then 2 days of touring. Will be at the Temple on Friday. So may not be close to an internet connection a lot of time that we are gone, will try to check occassionally in case someone needs to get in touch with us. So be patient with us.

This week was again a rather quiet week. Taught English 2x, had district meeting at our home on Thursday, with the Pres. and his driver so had a couple of extras for our lunch. Made one of those box cakes, which Dad thought was delightful and even had American Ranch dressing with our salad which everyone thought was great. So thanks Christian for the package. Will enjoy those things that we received but told Dad no more as they cost so much to send. We had an Ukrainian Mom and daughter over for supper and FHE on Monday and just spent 3 hours with a young couple from the first floor of our building. They played Sequence with us and had dessert. They are like Daniel's age and have no children. They are really nice and we met them while they were out painting the side of the building to cover up the grafiti and removed all the glued papers on the side of the building. They said we can come to their place when we get back from traveling.







Oh, a highlight of the week is that on Wednesday we went with a fellow branch member and went to the celo to interview Bro. Gregory, the 96yo member that was baptised last February. He is still kicking and was so excited that we would come to visit him. Is planning to come in to Kiev next month as it starts to get colder.


I quess that Joshua will come on Kevin's birthday as I have not heard that he is here yet. So Happy Birthday Kevin and Joshua. Hope your entry into the world was as exciting as everyone are to have you here. And Kevin your present will be a welcomed addition to your and our family. I also like the selection of the name and the tradition that it represents.


This picture is for Johnnie

He can ask his friend but I do believe this is a picture of Sister Ravsten. We met her at a baptism and have talked to her a few times on the phone. She is down in the Odeassa area so don't see her that much. That is about 4-5 hours from us by bus.

We are both doing fine. The weather is cooler and we are having to wear our rain coats. We are trying to have more Russian lessons and beginning to say more words, now understanding them is a different matter. Sounds like John and family traveled to China. Dad wanted me to make sure that you know to stay away from the Chineese weight loss products as they have caused renal failure requiring dialysis because of the Aristolochic acid found in them!

We hope and pray that you are all doing well, teaching your children to love the Lord and showing them love yourselves. Hope Tayte is recovering from his broken wrist, Paige is not eating to much glue, and school is great fun for all. We love you, Luv M&D, GM&GP, J&J

This is a picture of a stork' nest. They are found in western Ukraine so hope to see more this week as we travel and hopefully will see a stork. They are migratory and will soon head to Egypt and Africa for the winter. They are not eaten here and are "honored" as they bring the babies. Would like to get a picture of some.


This is a picture of Bro. Gregory. He has lost some weight over the summer. Most of the time he has been caring for himself. His daughter-in-law came last week to help him some.

Independence Day Flowers

This is a picture of Independece Square. It is were the Orange Revolution took place in 1991. Today they are still worried that they could loose this freedom that they have waited so long for.


This is the crowds that we encountered as we tried to go back to visit the flower arrangements last Monday, a holiday for Independence Day as it fell on Sunday.





This is a picture overlooking the left bank.


Wanted to show the difference between the pictures we took at night versus the ones that were taken in daylight. We thought they were both beautiful.

Ukraine School 2008

 

We had heard that the first day of school was quite an event here in Ukraine so we ventured out this morning and followed the children to a nearby school. It was a very colorful event for many families, young to old. The uniform that Tanner had to wear (and we thought he was very handsome)was nothing like the suits these young men all had on. The girls were all dressed in black outfits, white stockings and big (the bigger the better) bows in their hair. We understand that when they graduate years later they again wear a similar outfit. Did see one last May so will see if can get that picture off of Dad's cell phone. There were flowers for all the teachers. By the time one teacher receives all of her flowers she must feel like should could open a flower shop. Hope you enjoy the pictures. Trying to figure out how to make a collage like I have seen others do - any instructions would be appreciated. Luv MOM