3 days in Kiev

This is an old Russian car that you see mostly in Kiev. Eat your heart out Greg.
This is actually a toilet in Ukraine. They are usually in public places. This is a clean one. There are toilets like we have in America also but it's always a surprise when you open the door and see these.
We stayed with Elder and Sister Baird in Kiev. They are such great hosts. They take care of the Mission Office and do such a good job. They took us to a very nice restaurant that was beautiful. We had our last meal here in Kiev.

Oleksiy Hakalenko is President Steinagel's Executive Sec. He has been such a good friend to us and has helped us when ever we had a problem. He took Candice and us to the airport and took care of us again. We were getting ready to get on the plane and they informed us that we would be flying first class. We were so surprised because we've never flown first class before. What a treat that was for our long flight to America. We flew home Aug. 25, 2009.

" WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU UKRAINE"

Farewell Party, in Lviv and Cixiv

Well, I goofed again. This picture was suppose to be last because it is a picture of those that came to the airport to see us off as we flew to Kiev. Two of our Elders also came for a minuet. It was very hard to leave them.
Andrea who is pictured here wrote a poem and recited it at our farewell party. What a great spirit he has. The poem was about missionaries and he is always one.
Sister Morton and Elder Prawitt did a musical number and then all of the men did a wonderful song.

Roman, the Mission Leader in the Branch was in charge. One thing that we wanted was to start on time and so he told everyone to come 1/2 hour earlier than usual. They had a beautiful program and then without us knowing they passed out flowers behind our back and they all presented me with a flower. Some of them said a few words. What wonderful people they are.
It was hard to hold it together when they started singing the closing song that is in the video.
"God Be With You Till We Meet Again".

Farewell our dear Friends

After Church, Cxiv Branch

These performers are at Yachenko Heights. It's a little ancient wooden village up on a hill in the forest in Lviv. We took Candice to it and these were some of those performers. They have beautiful costumes which they wear on holidays and special occasions.
Elder Ward and Elder Fulton, what will we do without all of our missionaries. Elder Fulton is the one that came and stood by me while Elder Kauffman took a man aside that had started walking with Wenja and I after a soccer game over a year ago and he's still by our side. What mighty warriors!!!
Tamara who is a member but inactive is a good friend. I went Visiting Teaching to her and Elder Williams gave her a blessing about two weeks before because she had been hit by a car and had hurt her leg. She took Candice and I to the Opera center where she works. They were doing major cleaning but she got us into all the important places. We even heard the cast practicing for the next opening of the Opera Center. They weren't in costume but they sounded wonderful. We met the main soloist as we left, what an opportunity.
This is some more of our wonderful missionaries. The lady on my left was 72 when she joined the church. She was the neighbor of Andrea who is a wonderful member of about 7 months. On E. Williams left is Svitslana who was Andrea's ex-wife, and she just joined the church, we hear. Her countenance has changed so much. Sister Morton on my right just got back from the States. Her mother passed away but was able to come back to Lviv.
These are twins that were in our English class. They have been coming for several years to English but have just started the missionary lessons and we've heard they are waiting to be baptized.

Candice in Ukraine

The day finally arrived that Candice got here. I was just fine until I had her in my arms and then I fell to pieces. It had been so long and it felt so good. She came on the 15th of Aug. 2009.
We went to church in Lviv and they asked us to speak in Sacrament Mt. and while Candice and I were in Sunday School, Elder Williams came in and got us because the Cxiv Branch asked us to speak in their Meeting so we left and went up to the chapel. While we were in there waiting for the Sacrament, Ira came in and wanted us to come out in the foyer to meet her Mother, who is not a member and it was the first time she had been in our church. What a wonderful lady she is. We couldn't go until after we spoke, however, and then we went out but we had to go back in because I had to give the closing prayer. This was after church and many of our Cxiv Branch are here. We took a lot of pictures.
We left on Mon. to let Candice have the experience of riding the train for 7 hours to Chernivtsi. We were planning on getting together with these Elders and the members but they were called to transfer and had to leave, about 20 min. after we arrived, to go to Kiev. We really wanted some time with these Elders. Elder Gregiore, the one standing next to Elder Williams was his right hand man and we became very close. He was the Ex. Sec. and Assistant branch clerk and then after Elder Chamberlaine left (which was his counselor) he became his counselor.
The members in Chernivtsi had a party for us. It was a home evening. These are wonderful people who we grew to love as Elder Williams was there Branch President for 3 1/2 months. On our ride home on the train to Lviv it was very hot. We just happened to have a window in our Koupa which we could open so we could get some air. There was a small child on the train and we actually had a window across the hall so we could get some ventilation but the mother kept shutting it so the baby wouldn't get sick.
In Lviv our dear friends, Lena and Orest, and Candice and us went out to eat and visit. She was our Tutor and taught us a little Ukrainian and he is the counselor in the Lvivski Branch. What fun times.