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.