Got another little taste of Heaven...

We had a great day today! The bishop of Voskresenski and his wife took us (which includes about 60 other people, many of which were former missionaries, the rest were their families) on a Church History tour in Kyiv. We stopped by places like the first building where the members met once the church was introduced to Ukraine. The first, second, and third mission home/offices. Government buildings that had influence with the Church. The spot where President Packer dedicated the land of Ukraine (it had a very Sacred Grove-ish feel to it). And of course, our last stop, the Temple. It was really cool, yet intimidating, to be around so many former missionaries. The majority of them were some of the very first in Ukraine. But what a thrill it was! We had a great time. What was better - my mission president just happened to be walking the grounds when we got to the temple site, and gadzooks, was it great to see him! I've missed that man. I LOVE that man.

Down this hill, by the statue of Vladimir the Great, was where President Packer dedicated Ukraine for the preaching of the Gospel.

President Steinagel

Tonight was the Cultural Event, something we were very much looking forward to. I was pumped because I knew all the missionaries were going to be there and I was not going to pass up a chance to see them all again! We went with a Lena, a member from Vinnitsya, one of my areas. She was just the first of many other members I got a chance to see and talk to once we got to Palace Ukraine. Holy smokers...if you ever read any of my letters home, you might have seen me mention how transfers felt like a taste of Heaven, well, I got another taste of it tonight. Seeing so many old friends was absolutely indescribable! Seeing all the missionaries made me incredibly jealous of all of them, and I told many of them after the show that I was planning on missing my flight home tomorrow and just stay with them here. Man...to be a missionary again...Dad's right, I'm definitely going to have withdrawals. Again.

Going down to the Metro with Lena

The Thatchers - two of my favorite people that I got to serve with in one of my areas

The Cultural Event was absolutely amazing. Elder Nielson, President Uchtdorf, and President Monson all came. I don't know what was better - watching President Monson kick the piano player out of his seat to play a few simple songs or when he pulled his translator up at the stands into a held lock and gave him a noogy. We were all in tears laughing! That right there is a Prophet of God! And what a stud he is! The show included dances and songs from each of the countries that will be attending the Kyiv Temple, including Ukraine (obviously), Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Romania, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and I'm not sure on the other 2? It was a great event - tears welled up in my eyes when the choir sang The Morning Breaks - what an awesome song! And what a symbol for this occasion!

One last day in the South

It was a pretty relaxing day yesterday, one last day in Odessa. We left the hotel atl 12, chilled on the beach for a few hours - I took my first dip in the Black Sea, and I must say, it was quite the liberating feeling! We went to another movie to kill a few hours - More than a Friend, highly NOT recommended. And then, it was off to Kyiv!

7K and the Black Sea

Right now I'm sitting in an Internet Cafe, the same internet cafe that I came to almost every week on my mission while I served in Odessa. It's an interesting feeling being here again. And what's more, being here on my own.
I took dad to 7K, a huge outside market (really it should be it's own city) to do a little bit of shopping. Originally, it was just to get some ties and some gifts, but we found a container that sold suits, so...we had a looksy. Half an hour later, we left with a suit for each of us.

If I had Photoshop here, I'd have done some editing...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was spent at the beach, there I realized how incredibly white I am compared to the sun baked Ukrainian bathers that surrounded us - but what can ya do? It was very relaxing and we'll be going back again tomorrow.

So until then!

Back to the old stomping grounds

It's great to be back in the city that I spent over a year of my life.
Yesterday was a fun, but exhausting day. We came home absolutely beat. I took dad to a few of the sites in Center, which was a lot of fun. But near early afternoon, his back and my foot persuaded the two of us to get some lunch and then relax for a little bit at the hotel.

The fact that we are in Odessa, and the fact that Odessa has one of the most beautiful Opera Houses in the world, and the fact that that Opera House was showing an opera that night, dad and I were not about to miss that. We saw Turnadot, an interesting story and performance, I thought. Although I was having a hard time staying awake near the end. Both dad and I enjoyed our experience, but couldn't help but think (like we have this whole trip) "Mom should be here!"

My seat.

Dad's seat.

Independence Day

We got kicked out of our hotel at 12 on Tuesday, so we spent all day out on the Khreshatik - celebrating Ukraine's Independence with the rest of Kyiv. It was weird to think that I had also been there exactly two years before at the same celebration. The festivities were fun to watch. Bands played on the streets. A concert at Midan Nezalezhnosti went on all day. There were bike competitions. Break dancing. A bunch of fun stuff.
Mid-day we met up with Elder Obering and Elder Dorius and took them out to lunch at TGI Friday's. We spent quite a while with them (I felt bad at the end that we had kept them so long, but it was still great to spend more time with them!). They told us more about what's going on in the mission, and a little about what will be going down on Saturday at the Cultural Event.

In the evening, we still had about 5 hours until our train left for Odessa, so dad and I went to The Ghost Writer. That was a pretty good movie! The movie was all in Russian, of course, and I occassionally had to lean over and fill dad in on what was going on (he was a good sport - whenever he'd hear the rest of the crowd laughing, he'd join right in). When we left, we spent a lot of the trip to the train station talking about the movie, even though we had only gotten so much out of it. I definitely recommend watching it - I'll feel really bad if it's rated R - Ukrainians don't have ratings here, hehe...
The train ride was nice and bumpy as I had always remembered it, but it was fun to be back on one!
Now...welcome to Odessa!

FHE

And yet another post from Monday! This time it's Jamie talkin' at ya.
I had a very interesting and new experience tonight. I walked the streets of Kyiv, and my old area - alone. Once I got to Lena's place, I mentioned to the Elders how strange it was to be traveling through a city that I spent so long in with someone right next to me at all times, except this time, I was all on my own, with nothing but my iPod and Relient K to keep me company. It was a cool adventure though! Like dad mentioned earlier, I almost felt like a native in the city. I knew the city. I didn't need a map. I didn't need directions. I knew where I was going. Very new to me! (I always had a map by my side on my mission and was constantly asking people on the streets for directions!)
FHE was a lot of fun. It was at a member's house from the Voskresenski ward - Lena. She's like my sister - it was a lot of fun being able to joke around with her again! There were also two missionaries there. Elder Obering, who I actually trained, and Elder Dorius, a hilarious missionary that reminds me A LOT of Ian. The Elders gave a wonderful spiritual thought about diligence. Sharing the story of Christ in the Garden, and how He held on and did what He knew His Father wanted Him to do. It was a great lesson, but strange for me, because I wasn't one of the ones that was leading it anymore.

(L-R) Elder Dorius, Little Christina, Elder Obering, Lena, and me

It was fun riding home with Elders Obering and Dorius after FHE, talking to them about what's been happening with me back at home, and me drilling them with questions about how the work's been going with the temple. It didn't surprise me much when they said the work is exploding here. I'm so jealous of them! What an incredible time to be a missionary!
So that concludes yet another day on our Sweden/Ukraine adventure. I'm hoping to be able to run into my mission president tomorrow, if so, I'll have updates for y'all. Till then - poka!

Memorial

This is quite a somber place, memorializing the millions killed from starvation by Stalin in 1932 - 1934.  It's referred to as the forgotten holocost.  Jamie is looking at the names of those who died in Odessa.