President's Seminar in Estonia 2009

I really looked forward to our annual seminar. I wanted to be spiritually fed and I was! I had been preparing myself for some time. Elder Perry, Elder Rasband and the Area Presidency spoke! They focused on "The Rescue" of our less active members. They discussed that those that are brought back bring with them family that want to hear the the gospel and be baptized. We are seeing that in our mission. As our missionaries reach out to the less active -they are coming back and are being welcomed by their old friends. Their children or relatives are being taught the gospel and are entering the waters of baptism. We have passed the number of baptisms we had last year and there is a different feel in the mission. It is so AWESOME!

We were able to attend the Helsinki Temple and what a great experience. We looked forward to this and could hardly wait to attend. We felt so spiritually fed in the temple. I soaked up every word as if it were for the first time attending and yet I felt like I was home. My Eternal Home. I never have had all my senses come so alive before. It was wonderful, wonderful to me. I love my Savior and I am eternally indebted to him.

Angel Moroni gets his place!

It was a great day in Kiev last week when the Angel Moroni gets his new home! It was cloudy and threatened to rain but the members kept saying "It will clear up as soon as he's in place!"

Yes it started to clear up. The Saints have great faith and they are so excited to have the Temple here.

And there you have it!!! A beautiful day!!! All over Ukraine the members are preparing for the opening of the Temple. They are having open houses at their meeting houses to let members and non members be prepared to visit the Temple Open House. We are already seeing the blessings from the Temple here in the Donetsk Mission.

Our New CES Couple - Elder and Sister Reed

Elder and Sister Reed are from Southern California - Santa Margarita area. They are converts to the Church. They have 3 daughters that are married and have children. Elder Reed worked in oil and gas drilling, then an Engineering firm and as a construction inspectioner as well as a seminary teacher. They have served a CES mission in the Mission Viejo Stake. Sister Reed has been an Elementary teacher for about 26 years. They are very excited - ready to get to work in Kharkov. We are so glad to have them!

Elder Reed was looking on line about other CES programs when he discovered the Europe East Area. They fell in love with Ukraine and wanted to serve here to help the youth prepare to go to the Temple! They wanted to be here and they got their wish!!! We are so grateful!

Goodbye to 2 of our Great Couples!

Elder and Sister Crittenden have been serving as our CES Couple. They served in Kharkov and their next assignment was Idaho with family!!! Boy do we miss them! The CES program is working with the young single adults 18 and up and the seminary. They had more energy then all the young adults put together! Not only did they work with CES but they helped with the missionaries as well - feeding them, having them over for district meetings and keeping up with them when it comes to contacting on the street. They never let the language barrier bother them. They found a way to communicate! They taught English and Spiritual English and held numerous family home evenings during the week. Their biggest group was a group of Africans in Kharkov for school. Some have joined the Church. They love the Crittenden's as do we!

Elder and Sister Mark has sadly left the mission due to some health issues, however they have been reassigned to the Salt Lake South Mission and are doing great! They did so much for the mission in the 5 months that they were here. English lessons, visiting branches, working with the members, Elders and even their own pool of investigators. They too fed the never ending empty stomachs of the missionaries! Elder Mark served as the 2nd councilor in the mission. They hated to leave and we hated to see them go. We all sure love and miss them! Salt Lake is one lucky mission to have them!!!

New Missionaries August 2009

Elder Gardner is from Peoria Az. He loves sports and played varsity for 3 sports. He served as a Quorum President, Home Teacher and FHE Father. We are grateful for his willingness to serve!
Sister Krivulya is from the Russia Yekaterinburg Mission. She speaks English very well and joined the Church, here in Ukraine, while going to school. She lived 5 hours from her branch in Russia and it was a great sacrifice for her to attend but she is a faithful member despite of that. She has a strong desire to serve and we are grateful for her faithfulness.
Elder Woolstenhulme is from Pleasant Grove Utah. He enjoyed drama, track and field and choir in high school. He also enjoys hiking and taking photographs. He has earned his Eagle Scout award and has been a leader in his Quorum's as well as an Elder's Quorum Instructor. We are also grateful he is here serving with us.
Three great New Missionaries!!!

Sending two more Missionaries to the MTC

Lubov and Yanna both left for the MTC

Lubov and friends say goodbye

Yanna, accompanied by her mom and sister, came from Mariupol ( 2 hours south of Donetsk). Yanna will serve in the Russia, Novasabertsk Mission. Her mom and sister are not members. President Fry set Yanna apart and you could tell that the spirit had touched them both. Yanna's sister said she'd never heard such beautiful words before. She is now meeting with the missionaries.

Lubov and her family. Lubov means "love" in Russian. Her family are members of the Church. They are from Makevka. Lubov will serve in the Ykatrineburg Mission in Russia. Makevka is about a half an hour from Donetsk. Lubov's mom is the Young Women's District President. We have become good friends. She is an excellent seamstress and has done some sewing for me.

Lubov's family and friends that came to the setting apart.

ESTONIA

I really looked forward to our annual seminar. I wanted to be spiritually fed and I was! I had been preparing myself for some time. Elder Perry, Elder Rasband and the Area Presidency spoke! They focused on "The Rescue" of our less active members. They discussed how as those that are brought back bring with them family that want to hear the gospel and be baptized. We are seeing that in the mission. As our missionaries reach out to the less active - they are coming back and are being welcomed by their old friends. Their children or relatives are being taught the gospel and are entering the waters of baptism. We have passed the number of baptisms we had last year and there is a different feel in the mission. It is so AWESOME!

We were able to attend the Helsinki Temple and what a great experience. We looked forward to this and could hardly wait to attend. We felt so spiritually fed in the temple. I soaked up every word as if it were for the first time attending and yet I felt like I was at home. My Eternal Home. I never have had all my senses come so alive before. It was wonderful, wonderful to me. I love my Savior and I am eternally indebted to him.

OUR TIME WITH JEFF

Our son Jeff, came to visit us in July and stayed until August 4th. It was great to have a bit of home with us. He was here for 4 weeks and we took him to all the meetings. He gave us so many helpful hints for the mission. He served in Peru, Lima North Mission. His mission has been established a lot longer than our mission here. It takes time to establish and organize a mission in such a way that some of the older missions are. There aren't that many things to see but he got to see all of the major cities that we have missionaries in. The sunflower fields were in full bloom and that in itself is awesome to see. There are a few historical sites in Kharkov that we saw and we ventured into a salt mine that actually was quite facinating. We also went to Slavanogorist which is very beautiful and quite the hike up the hill(no mountains in this part of Ukraine). I would have to say that the countryside in our mission is breath taking at times throughout the year. Jeff helped fill the gap for we truly have been empty nesters in a far away place. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute he was here. He and Vladimir ( our driver) hit it off and it was fun to watch them tease each other. President Fry and Jeff did their normal thing of hiding from each other and then jumping out and scaring one another. It has been a great release for us to have him here. All and all it was great to have him be here. We hated to say goodbye. As soon as he got on the plane - I missed him already!