Stories: Ten Years Ago
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| Ten Years Ago | 07 Jul 2009 |
| I put his on my blog and some have suggested I put it on this site also so here goes: We arrived in Ukriane on 30 June 1999. I’m having a hard time putting into words what I want to say about arriving in Ukraine ten years ago. I remember talking to one mission president and his wife who voiced the opinion that their mission was simply “the best of times and the worst of times.” Looking back I would have to say the same thing. The emotional swings were wild. The highs were extreme and the lows were excruciating. For instance, walking out of our front door we would see all kinds of high priced cars and their drivers. Walking out of our back door we would separate our garbage and give sacks of edible garbage to the men and women sitting around our garbage cans and put our throw away garbage in the can. The disparity between what was happening in the front of our apartment and the back of our apartment was like night versus day. Men cleaning and polishing their big black cars out front while people were rummaging through household waste in the back was a sight I will always remember. I’ll never forget the sight of a lady eating our out dated yogurt the minute I handed her our bag of edible garbage. We loved watching obedient missionaries fulfill their callings as branch presidents, zone leaders, trainers, assistants to the president, and office elders. We shared the joy of their successes with them. We anguished with the few who chose a different and more difficult path. We were heart broken when Elder Pixton passed away and uplifted by the strength and compassion shown by numerous elders who were wise beyond their years. We loved watching new converts embrace the church and questioned why so many seemingly good members decided to search for some other religion. It was humorous, often difficult, but mostly fun dealing with - toilets or lack thereof, smelly white shirts, worn out shoes, nylons, ugly ties, belated confessions, companionship issues, fights, off limit establishments (Three Fat Guys), the area presidency, missionaries who worried too much and those who didn’t worry at all and should have, back waxing, eating on the street or in members homes, branch problems, Banyas, elder and sister exchanges or district meetings each day with the sisters and elders (just having lunch together - early on), upper respiratory illness, diarrhea (Dr. Nelson talked at length one evening with us and the office elders concerning the consistency of fecal matter. It was one of the most interesting conversations we had and very enlightening), money, transfers, registration, the ministers of religion in each city, the minister of state security in Donetsk, police - especially in Kharkov and those who stopped me for various and sundry traffic offenses, Kiev Service Center, acquiring the Crimea, acquiring land for chapels, Russian language, hotel clerks (some really nice others not so pleasant), restaurants (the best in Kharkov, Dneper and Donetsk), homesickness, Christmas and Mother’s Day calls, vodka as our window washing fluid in our car, Slavanagorsk, Golovach, English Classes, McDonalds, zone conferences, district conferences, branch meetings, branch socials, YM/YW issues and outings, General Authorities, Apostles, Auxiliary Presidents, Ford Taraus, VW car, trains, airplanes, drive to Lygansk from Donetsk (3 hours one way), drive to Kharkov from Donetsk (5 hours one way), drive to Cymi from Donetsk (8 hours one way), drive to Poltava from Donetsk (six hours), drive to Dneper from Donetsk (four hours one way), drive to Zap from Donetsk (three hours one way), drive to Mariupol from Donetsk (two hours one way), drive to Kherson from Donetsk (7 hours one way), drive to Crimea from Donetsk (eight hours one way), drive from Crimea to Cymi (eight hours one way), driving with the assistants, driving with the office elders, driving in the snow, driving while extremely cold, bathroom stops at Izum, outdoor comfort stops on the way to Dneper, Crimea, Lygansk, Cymi (Sue was a trooper), Renok stops to hand out Books of Mormon, stops to see horses, trips to Yalta. We were sustained and rejuvenated by testimony meetings at the end of each zone conference, loving missionaries, and wonderful members. “Holy days” as mentioned by President Yudin were when old missionaries left and new missionaries arrived. We loved that period of time in the month when we said goodbye to those who had served faithfully and said Hell-o to the new missionaries we would be serving with for a season - awesome testimony meetings with both groups. We preferred missionaries to arrive by train not by airplane. The train ride from Kiev to Donetsk was an experience that everyone needed to have to get themselves in the proper frame of mind for the mission field and Ukraine. The train is so Ukrainian and the plane so American. We loved feeding missionaries and members. We loved watching newly arrived missionaries eat the Ukrainian arrival meal, we loved watching zone leaders pile their plates high with goodies during our lunch break, we loved talking about the mission experience during our final meal together before getting you on the train out of country. We loved hosting members and feeding them at our home and at Kievsky Chapel. We tried to make Holidays a little special but in all honesty they weren’t very important to me. Celebrate and get back to work was what was important. We did like some of our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and zone conferences. I really want to see – a dog with only three legs, a lop sided bus, a village well, a sunflower field, Slavanagorsk, Izum, a Renok, McDonalds in Cymi, a huge snow storm, heavy rain storm, fog/smog in Mariupol and Donetsk, Center Renok Donetsk, my office, Golovach, faithful members, Dneper river, the lake behind our apartment. I miss – the spirit, zone conferences, making missionaries senior companions, the Ukrainian office staff, the member ladies who prepared our missionary dinners and cleaned our apartment and made Sue’s dresses (I still think she looks the best in these dresses), nice people in our hotels, our waiters in Kharkov (Norma’s) and Dneper (the Chinese place) and the Moscow hotel in Simferopol, cold air blowing through our open bedroom window during the cold winter nights, an air conditioner in every room during the summer time in our apartment, tomatoes, McFresh, juices, calling Sue Sister McQueen, being called “Prez”, badminton courts, BBC, mud, rain, snow, all kinds of weather, meeting trains, smell of coal, hearing the sacrament prayer in Russian, “Called to Serve “ on my cell phone, driving, heated car seats in the VW, dark- rich-rock free soil, the church rentals in Mariupol and Lygansk, the Chess building in Poltava, the Airport Building in Cymi, interviews in our hotels, interviews at the office, walking interviews, missionaries being honest with me about their problems, solving problems, ballets and opera (just kidding), the senior couples, the missionaries who impressed me the most, the missionaries who worked the hardest, the missionaries who did the best they could with what they had been given, the missionaries who didn’t want to be there but completed their missions anyway, the missionaries who told us they would never had survived their missions if we hadn’t have been the mission parents, depending on my wife (together we made a fairly good person)(Elder Callister mentioned that “you two are like a cello played with the same bow” because we supported each other so much), being obedient, being 100% duty bound to do what was right regardless of the consequences, sleeping in the same room and also the same bed with my companion while on our mission (the only mission rule we broke every night), Ukrainian District Presidents , Branch Presidents and other leaders, giving talks, telling stories, being a cheerleader, making people think and act, having Sue lead me around so I didn’t have to observe some of the more revealing fashions in Donetsk (She did tell me to look at one women whose chest looked like two cats were having a fight within her blouse as she moved down the street), wonderful members who tried their best to live their new religion, Significant Visits: Elder Eyring Elder Oaks Elder Holland Sister Menlove Sister Smoot – Sisters in Donetsk went all out to help her and made her feel so welcome. We had her an entire day so we went from chapel to chapel showing her Relief Society projects and she got to meet almost every sister in Donetsk and surrounding areas. Area Presidency: Elder Didier Elder Paul Elder Hancock Elder Callister Elder Hilbig Elder Orton Area Authority Seventy: Elder Schutze Elder Manzhos | |
| David McQueen | Send Email |