A Train Wreck (Week 4)

Well, Tuesday came and I had to go and drop Elder Ditty off at the bus station to send him up to Dnepropetrovsk for another leadership training. I picked up Elders Kalt and Mayberry and we went around trying to talk to people. I was trying to get people to come to English, so I was hunting down every sailor that we saw and forcing the other 2 Elders to stop them and invite them. It was pretty fun, we actually met some people who spoke pretty decent English.

We went to English practice and none of our sailor friends showed up. A little disappointing, not gonna lie. 

Afterwards, Elder Kalt demanded I make cheesecake. So, he bought all of the ingredients for cheesecake, and I made him a cheesecake. He wrote Tron on it, because he's obsessed with Tron.

Wednesday, we had district meeting, which went pretty well actually considering I had to lead it. Then, we went to Epicenter and got some stuff to, as I explained in Russian to the store attendant, "Destroy moss and clean off a wall". He turned around, immediately grabbed a bottle, and then handed it to me. Then, we ate lunch, and then we went and contacted forever.

Thursday we went to visit the Ireali Texan to get the business cards, but they weren't ready yet so we contacted in that area. We basically contacted the whole exchange.

On Friday, Elder Ditty returned to Kherson. We got back home, I cleaned a little bit more, and then I collapsed on my chair and died. I've been sick all weekend, but I'm back on my feet again! Elder Mayberry got sick too, but I'm not sure I feel bad about that, because he was being a little snot to me about how we don't have any investigators right now. The nerve of some people.

Well, that was my week. How was yours?

Peace out!

Elder Robison

 I spent the week with these two. Yep.

This is Sister Martirosyan's Healthy Plan for us. It's a chicken noodle soup recipe, with a suggestion to drink hot milk and honey, and tea with lemon. It has helpful pictures, just in case it wasn't understandable.

 Elder Ditty doesn't seem to want to follow the plan. I think the plan sounds delicious, so I'll probably do it just for that.

 Elder Ditty's still sick too, but I think it's messing with his brain.

Live and Let Die (Week 3)

So, I don't even know how to describe the things that have happened this week. It feels like a whole month since the last time I sat down to type out an E-mail.

We took a nap on Monday, something which is noteworthy because it NEVER happens! That night we went and tried to get a bunch of stuff for the branch, only to be told that we couldn't get any of the stuff for at least a year because the budget has already been decided for this year. That was annoying.

Tuesday, we went to a pizza resturaunt. I didn't want to go because the pizza there is sucks (that's how our Ukrainian friends say it) and I always feel sick after eating it. We went anyway, and afterwards decided never to go back because, surprise, it is still sucks. Then we went and taught english, which was decently fun.

Wednesday, we went to an Israeli man who lived in Texas for a long time but now runs a printing shop. We had him print new invitation cards for our English practice class.

Thursday, got on a train in the morning and went to Nikolaev for Zone Training. I got to see my MTC bro, Elder Jensen. It was awesome, it's been forever since I've seen him! I had to give a presentation about the connection between urgency and desire. I don't remember anything I said, but people seemed pretty impressed, so I guess I said something pretty OK.

We got back to Kherson, and we were on the way to a lesson when we learned that the first baptized member in Kherson had just passed away. He had lived in Chernobyl at the time of the accident, and his health has been failing for years.

On Friday we went to the morgue to help his family. We spent almost all day there.

Saturday, I was on exchanges with Elder Kalt. Nobody wanted to talk with us.

On Sunday, we discovered that one of the Sisters' investigators is actually a member of 13 years! She was baptized in Russia. It was possibly the most incredible plot twist in all history.

Speaking of the Sisters, I am now Elder Robby. Sister Martirosyan made sure that I know that she knows my name and that Sister DeJarnet has taught her how to say it properly. Still, I am now Elder Robby. Actually, normally just Robby. My name isn't Robby. It's Elder.

Just kidding, it's totally alright.

This morning we went to the funeral.

So, that's my week.

Peace!

Elder Robison

Sister Martirosyan got ahold of my planner during Branch Council. I made sure to label it as her work. (The black ink with the arrows).

I guess this is Robin Morm? He's like Robin Hood, but he's Mormon. Apperantly, I'm him.

A Bible? (Week 2)

Well, the new addition for the apartment didn't work out, because the only one we could find was ugly. It's OK, we'll keep searching untill we find one.

On Monday, we went everywhere in the city doing stuff, such as; Looking for the cool thing for our apartment; Getting antibiotics from the Netherlands for Elder Ditty; Going to a second-hand store to look for a new suit for Elder Ditty; Taking the ties that Elder Ditty bought instead of a suit to a tailor to get taken in; Going to a flag and souveniors store to by something cool. Unfortunately, the flag store was closed due to the fact that Tuesday was March 8th, International Women's Day.

Literally the whole country closes down for even the most minor of holidays. Some people closed all week for Women's Day. Including banks, which we just so happen to really need in order to do finances.

Tuesday was Women's Day (Happy Women's Day!). As a result, pretty much every woman was carrying at least one flower, which was actually sort of nice. We said goodbye to Sister Bolingbroke at English practice, because she got transferred up to Dnepropetrovsk. On the brighter side, we got to meet the Sister who's replacing her. We got an Armenian sister who's serving a "mini-mission". Her name is Sister Martirisyan, or, because Elder Ditty can't remember how to pronounce her name, Sister Marty. Sister Marty is super cool, she speaks Armenian, Russian, Ukrainian, and English. She doesn't always remember my name correctly, and so sometimes I end up being Elder Robin. Or just Robin.

We got the Sisters flowers and chocolate for Women's Day, they were very appreciative.

Wednesday, we...

Thursday, we went with Viktor (The member with the writing on his walls) to give the Tank a priesthood blessing. While trying to bless him, his Eastern Orthodox mother came out and started yelling at us. Viktor then countered by explaining everything we were doing, and even though she still didn't get it (She's like 80-something, which, in Ukraine, is like being 130-someodd), she did leave us alone long enough to let us finish giving the blessing.

Friday we met with some guy who just wanted to use us to try and go to America. Then, once we left, we stumbled across an Eastern Orthodox Bookstore. We decided to drop in and see if they had a Bible there. I still hadn't purchased a Bible in Russian because they're pretty expensive here, and pretty rare apparently. We got me a nice little Bible that has a zipper on the outside to protect the pages. We bought it, and shortly after we stepped out of the store we met a really cool guy. We would never have found him if we hadn't stopped at that little store to buy a Bible, and that's something that we technically should have saved for today.

The Russian Bible is very interesting. It's pretty different from the King James Version of the Bible, the translation which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has determined to be the most correct English translation. Some parts of the Russian Bible are more correct, others are way, way wrong. It's very interesting. It's also fun to read Russian Biblical language!

It's very fun.

Saturday, we made Ukrainian pancakes for an activity! They're a lot like crepes, and as such, they are incredibly frustrating. I have never been so annoyed trying to make a food before, I'm never making them ever again.

We didn't actually attend the activity because a member chewed Elder Ditty out in front of everyone there. We sat in the primary room planning stuff instead.

Sunday was really good, noyhing weird happened. Except for the part where finances was awful. At one point Elder Ditty looked over at me and said:

"What if I told you that we only have 3 more slots left for expenses in the system?"

I then looked at the 5 expenses that we had left to enter and made a noise that Elder Ditty described as being "like the noise Voldemort made at the end of Deathly Hallows part 1". We then laughed for about 5 minutes.

Well, that's my week! Happy Pie day!

Peace out!

Elder Robison

A Bible? A Bible? I have already got a Bible!

"First Book of Moses: Being"

​"3 And said God: Yes there will be light. And became light.

 4 And saw God light, that he was OK, and divided God light from dark."

This Is Just the Beginning!

Another transfer in Kherson! Woo, 4th transfer! There will be grooves in my study chair that cannot be removed if I stay here much longer. I guess this means I get to spend my birthday here! That'll be the last day of the transfer, so I'll probably have to spend my birthday packing.

So. I don't know what we did this week. I really just don't. I know that we did a lot of stuff, but I couldn't do justice in telling even a little bit of it.

Monday, we "accidentally" got into the door of a set of apartments by "remembering" the door code. We then went and found a less active member who apparently now has brain damage because he got run over by a car a year ago. He was a tad bit drunk, but he was nice. We taught his "wife" about the Church and gave her a Book of Mormon.

Tuesday... We had English Practice. I don't want to talk about English Practice, it's probably better if it's forgotten.

Wednesday we went to Epicenter with the member* from last week's email. We got some cement and piping to help with the building of his home. Elder Ditty then gave him the Tank's** phone number. The Tank apparently talked with this member for like half-an-hour, and now they're pretty good friends. The Tank didn't come on Sunday, he's a bit sick still, but he will come as soon as he's recovered!

Thursday we helped a member set up at the branch to do a free yoga session, and we got to meet a breakdancing orphan. That was pretty cool.

Friday...

Saturday! We didn't get transfered, and we cleaned the Branch hardcore. We hung flowers and everything.

Sunday was normal. And by normal, I mean everything was broken when we tried to do finances again. We stole my records back from America (take that, America!), but the actual finances system itself was broken this time. So, we were mad.

I don't have any pictures from last week, so... yeah...

Anyway, gonna do a lot of work this week, including a finding a new addition for the house. I won't say what it is, but you'll get pictures of it when we find it! It's going to be awesome! So cool... You can't even imagine how cool this is going to be...

Peace out!

Elder Robison

*See "An Anamolly (Week 7)" for details on that adventure

**See "Sometimes, Things Are Just On Fire (Week 6)"