Twig Tea

It's been yet another fine week in Chernigov, Ukraine. I learned that it wasn't such a fine week for people in Moscow though where 35 people died in that bombing at the airport. One of the girls was Ukrainian. My heart and prayers go out to those people and their families.

One of the members just told me that my Russian is the best out of the 4 missionaries here. I don't think it's entirely true, but it's a big complement considering that one goes home in August, and my companion is in his 7th transfer. I'm working away at it, one day at a time.

On Thursday we visited a member's dacha and helped him cut firewood. A dacha is sort of like a cottage. Many people have them, it's like a little place outside the city where they grow vegetables etc. They often go there every weekend in the warmer months. It's was pretty neat to be out in the woods and snow. We stopped for a break to drink some "tea." First, I should say that he made a fire in a little stove in the ~6x8 room and the exhaust was one of those foil pipes going to a hole in the window. Let's just say, not all the smoke was going outside. The "tea" was freshly-cut twigs boiled in water with a little lemon and sugar in it. The main course was pumpkin seeds. Haha. Good times. When we got home even my underwear smelled like smoke. He is a funny guy.

Yesterday was probably the next highlight day this week. President Steinagel came to our Branch with his wife and one of his sons. It's was really cool to have them here. The meetings were awesome. I had a member translate a song from the French hymn book called Souviens-Toi into Russian and I played the piano sang it for the intermediate hymn. We actually had an investigator named Natasha come to Church. Plus, on the way to Church we met a guy and invited him and he came too! Then last night we had a lesson with a guy we found from the area book. His name is Viktor and his wife, Alla, and daughter Anastasia were there too. They were super open and committed to read, pray and come to Church. Yay! Viktor is a massage therapist. He worked in India for 2 years helping prepare Olympic athletes. Good stuff. 3 new investigators, plus another Georgian guy from earlier in the week. Oh yeah, I said the sacrament prayer in Ukrainian yesterday which was a first for me. It's a neat language, but I think I prefer Russian, for sure. Hopefully I'll master 'em both though. ;-)

Thanks for everything my peoples. I love it here. Missions are amazing. If you have any chance to serve, do it! It'll change your life. P.S. Sisters rock. We need more sister missionaries too.

Much love from Ukraine,

Elder Mahoney

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Congo? Morocco?

There wasn't too much super exciting happening this week. I got a call from the assistants though. They met a guy who "only spoke French" so they wanted me to set up an appointment for them so they could give him a Book of Mormon. I called him up and helped them out. They said he was from Congo. I noticed he had a  few strange things in his French and next time I called him back I talked to him a little more and found out he's actually from Morocco, which makes more sense because I know a couple other Congolese people who have pretty clean French. They told me when I'm in Kiev I can meet and teach him because they can't. Sort of a pointless story, but neat stuff. I hope I can serve in Odessa because I know there are a lot more immigrants there and French speakers especially. In Kiev there are lots too of course.

Our Nigerian investigator is in the hospital now. He had surgery on Tuesday I think it was. We've been trying to visit him everyday. We were thinking it would be really good to have his wife bring him his Book of Mormon so we were going to ask him when we saw him next but when we walked in we saw him reading it already. That was such a happy sight. He's a great man. I just found out he's 48. I guessed he was like 35. He looks great and he's lived a very clean life. This is the first time he's ever stayed in a hospital. Even when he was born his Mom just went in, had him in like 15 minutes and walked home. Hospitals are a little different here. It's kinda funny 'cause you can smell smoke, they you go to the bathroom and see patients smoking in there. Everybody that works at or visits the hospital seem to wear masks except us. Ukrainians have different views on what sickness is too. They stay home if they have a little cough, sniffles, or headache. It is also very common for them to have a quarantine where a whole school closes down for a period of time, mostly because most of the kids aren't there anyway.

It was a pretty slow week, so it was nice when we finally got a new investigator on Saturday. Wait, did I say "a", I meant 4 new investigators! We met with a really nice family with 2 older kids who were very welcoming, kind and open to hear our message. The  father even sent us home in a taxi afterward even though we insisted he didn't. That was pretty cool until I had my thumb closed in the door when we arrived. It's a little tender, but I think I'll live.

I don't know too much more of what to say. Last week we did exchanges in our district and this week my companion is in Kiev doing exchanges with the Zone Leaders until Wednesday, so I'm here with Elder Phillips. Side note, mail takes forever to get here! Haha.

Regardless of slow weeks, I know this Church is true. I know this is God's work. I'm so happy to have the opportunity to live and serve amongst the Ukrainian people. I love them. The members here are amazing. Through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ's Church has been restored in our day. I'm so grateful for this. Life is beautiful.

Thanks again for everything guys. Just so everybody knows, my family is awesome. Be nice to them while I'm gone.

Love,

Elder Mahoney

Старейшина Махони

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Time Flies When You're Having Fun

It's been a pretty decent week. We only got one new investigator, but we had to member present lessons with her already. We have a few investigators who are actually reading the Book of Mormon which sometimes seems to be the exception rather than the rule. One guy actually read the entire Gospel Principles book. We currently have 20 investigators and too many contacts to keep track of, so we really want to work on moving from working with something of them this week and focusing on people who are ready to progress. When I arrived in Chernigov we had 4 investigators from one family who we were working with, 8 weeks ago. Things have been going pretty well in the area. It's really hard to get people to come to Church for some reason though. The other Elders had one woman at Church with her son yesterday though.

You may remember the guy I met in Kiev on Miracle Day. I think it was like December 20th. Well, I was in Kiev last week for Zone Meeting and while I was at the chapel a guy called me and asked how to get to our temple. I had no idea who he was or how he knew that's where I was, but I found out and told him. He said, "Okay, I'm coming." I replied, "Okay... who is this?" He answered like I should have known him, but I had no clue. Later I saw a man talking to one of the assistants who looked strangely familiar. I realized it was the same guy I met weeks ago on the Metro. They've been teaching him and a few days ago he stayed up until 3 AM reading the Book of Mormon. He's on vacation in Chernigov region now so I may get to meet with him up here. He's looking forward to going to Church when he gets back to Kiev! Awesome miracle!

I also saw another miracle when I was in Kiev last week. A family w/ 2 daughters (I think) went to the temple. They said they had come by many times to see what it was, but it was always closed. Finally, that day the mother decided she had to find out what that building is. They went to the temple and when they went in they told them, "If you want to come in here, you have to go over there first (pointing to the chapel). Talk to the missionaries." I thought that was a hilarious way to say it, but awesome. They came over and the assistants taught them right away. She said, "I can't get baptized tomorrow, but if I do that I can go over there?" I'm so excited to hear what happens with them. I love to witness miracles. How great is our God.

The funniest thing that happened this week was a man who walked up to me and started questioning me about what the Jews believe and where they worshiped. As I tried to explain to him that I don't know because I'm not Jewish he just keep asking and then became very confused when he learned that I'm not Ukrainian. When I told him we were in a hurry, but we'd love to talking to him more about what we believe he just left.

The language is starting to come along. I'm a lot more comfortable on the phone and talking to people all the time. I am starting to see in me the missionary I want to become. I have so far to go, but it's a marvelous process.

I don't think I mentioned. Last week I spoke French for the first time in Ukraine! I met a man from Congo. I believe there are 3 black men in Chernigov and I know them all. It was funny because as we spoke like 6 people just stopped and stared. One told Elder Drasso he'd never heard anybody speak French before in his life. He's a really cool guy. He said he's going to do everything he can this week to come to Church with his 10 year old daughter. It's funny because his name is Pierre and he sells precious stones. Stone is "pierre" in French. =P I picked up a couple French Books of Mormon in Kiev last week. Now I've gotta meet a Brazilian. I doubt it's going to happen in this city though. I've heard of one Brazilian businessman in Odessa and some professional Brazilian soccer players in Kiev. I think I'll baptize one of the soccer players.

I'm pretty sure I've also forgotten to mention one of our newest missionaries. His name is Elder Saenz. He is from Peru. He studied and graduated in Russia, so now he's a doctor. He only speaks Spanish and Russian. He couldn't get a visa to go to the Provo MTC, so he went to the MTC in Peru and then served a transfer there before coming here. On his first day in the country he had a lesson and set a baptismal date. I talked to him for a while and I so hope I get to serve with him at some point. He's awesome and clearly here to work. =D Did I ever mention I love this mission?

Oh yeah, I found something that made me about 6 times happier! Snickers Ice Cream bars! I don't know if they have 'em anywhere else, but it's the best thing I've had in a long time. Too bad there just over a dollar. That's a lot of money here.

I thought of a cool quote this week. "If you are not happy now, you will never be happy." Basically because we are always alive now. I don't know if it makes sense. Think about it.

Thanks for all the support everybody. I don't know who all reads these things, but a lot of you have a piece of my heart. I look forward to reuniting with many of you and I love you guys. Thanks for everything.

Keep your heads up,

Elder Mahoney

P.S. Miracles have been happening in my home branch too! My brother is baptizing a new young convert this week and my Dad is confirming him! Yeehaw! I think there have been more convert baptisms in Truro since I left on my mission like from when I graduated high school 'til then. Crazy stuff. =D

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Companion number 2, step right up!

So, I'm low on time today and it seems like its been a crazy week. I'll try to cover as much of it as I can. First off, last Monday night Elder Larson and I went to a non-denominational Bible study group and those people were really cool. They are very close to the truth. We'll be going again tonight with our Branch President to see if there's any potential there. There were about 15 people there, many of them youth. Elder Larson was sick early in the week and on Monday we found out that he was to be transfered and he would become zone leader. On Tuesday we had a pretty good 4 lesson day. The standard of excellence is 15/week in this mission so 4 in a day is pretty good. I think they're going to start counting different numbers, but that's another story. Then on Wednesday we saw this interesting kids play with a member and had something to eat at our Branch President's home. Then our last meeting fell throught and we were off to Kiev with 3 suitcases. We ride what they call a marshrukta to Kiev and around the city. It's something between a van and a bus. We stayed the night in Kiev on Wednesday and on Thursday I found out that my new companion here in Chernigov is named Elder John Drasso. He's a great guy. I'm loving serving with him so far. He's from Southern California and he actually know's Brian Spencer, the owner of Vurtego Pogo Sticks whom my brother works with and I've worked with before. He has a twin brother on a mission in Novosibirsk, Russia and a sister on a mission in Japan. It's so awesome to have siblings on a mission at the same time! He has 7 kids in his family. He's deaf in his left here so it's kinda funny because I always have to remember to walk and sit on his right side. You're not gonna believe how he lost his hearing in that ear: on a pogo stick! He was 15 (before he knew Brian, on some lame stick) and he fell and "bumped" his head. Anyway, he was assigned to be the district leader here too so we were in Kiev for Thursday too for his training and I did a session at the Kiev Temple for the first time. I also saw a couple people I know from Russia, which was rockin'. I went to center Kiev with another guy who's knew here and picked up Domino's Pizza for everybody and came back in a taxi. That was a pretty fun adventure. I have hardly anytime left, but suffice it to say, I'm lovin' it up here. I'm talking to a lot of people and getting better bit by bit at this missionary thing and the Russian language. I love you all. Thanks for the support.

 

- Elder Mahoney.

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Welcome 2011

So, it's 2011 already! It's seems pretty ridiculous. It's crazy to think that I've already been in Ukraine for over a month, plus 3 months in the MTC. I can now say that I'll be finished my mission next year. That's pretty weird. The weirdest thing is that I'm sure, before I know it, it'll be New Years again!

This was a pretty good week overall. One of the zone leaders came up for exchanges with another greenie. They always do it that way here so that one of the zone leaders stays in their area. In the evening on Tuesday I was with the zone leader, Elder Dorius, and we had a great lesson with our Nigerian investigator Emeka. He says that if he God tells him this is the way he needs to go he'll do whatever he needs too. They're a great family. He also committed to come to Church, but he wasn't able to make it in the end due to illness. Then on Wednesday I was supposed to be with the greenie all day. I was in the MTC with him and he is Ukrainian speaking. I didn't think it would be a good combo, so we confused things a little bit more by going on exchanges with the other companionship here. Before we did that we had a good talk with several people at the market, on the way to their apartment, half in Russian and half in Ukrainian. It was a pretty good day. I talked to a lot of people because the guy I was with is only 2 transfers older than me and his Russian has a ways to go too. On Wednesday I got my first 2 phones numbers on my own in Russian. When we switched back I got the other one by our apartment. I share a lot of our message with a Jehovah's Witness woman who lives in our building while we were waiting for the other Elders to come back with the key. She was very curious and I shared a lot of things with her that she didn't know before. She also works at a gym so we related on that topic a little bit. We should be meeting with her soon. Since I had the phone for our area I spoke on the phone several times and since then I've made quite a few phone calls in Russian. It's coming along. On Thursday I had my first actual conversation that I remember in Russian that I initiated since I got here. It was great. I've had a couple since then on buses. Talking on buses is an art separate to other contacting methods. I've just started having a lot more fun and talking to everybody. I will yell up to people on higher floors of buildings who are sometimes smoking out their windows. It's great that it's the holidays here because it's like the key to people's hearts. If you wish them Happy Holidays they are almost invariably greatly appreciative and wish you the same in return. There are also very common sayings around the New Year that are like wishing one happiness, health, love, and everything good. We can pretty much say Happy Holidays from December 20-something until January 15th or something. I think Jan. 15th is Old New Year, whatever that means and January 7th is Orthodox Christmas.

On New Years Day we weren't allowed out, so we spent the day at the Church and watched Fiddler on the Roof (which messed up half way, but funny movie nonetheless) and the old Miracle on 34th Street. There was also some football game we could watch, but I didn't watch much of it. Those where the movies our mission president gave us. We also played some card games with some members there. It was fun, but started to drag on near the end of the day. 10 hours is a little long.

The members are really great here. Well, really they are great all around the world, but I love to spend time with them here. I visited our oldest member for the first time last week. Here name is Baba (grandma) Zina. She is 94 years old. She's been a member for about 12 years I think. She can't walk anymore so the Sacrament is brought to her every Sunday. She's so awesome. She has such a strong testimony and she studies the Gospel all the time at home. I'm going to try to record her testimony on my voice recorder next time we're there. All the members know her and love her. She goes back near the beginning of this Branch. I think the branch was formed in '97 or '98.

We 2 investigators at Church finally! Lina and Sasha came. We had a good lesson with them afterward too. It was a great testimony meeting. Lina said that she knows the Church is true and she's eager to meet with us again. Sasha has a lot of deep questions that aren't completely relevant, but I think he's starting to get it more and more. Lina is straight-up golden though. I'm pretty excited about them. They have a 2 year old son and they match up in ages well with our Branch President and his family (he has a 3 year old daughter).

I thought it would be cool to share 3 Nephi 5:13. It's an awesome very about who I am: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." I love this statement of identity. Do we know who we are? What is our purpose? I am so grateful to be serving here. It's a privilege to serve the Lord full-time. I know that this is God's kingdom on the earth and it's our responsibility to do everything we can to build it up and share the good news with others.

One business item: I know that I have written my return address incorrectly a couple times (i.e. w/o the street number) so, to clarify, this is my address here:

Jonathan Mahoney

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyevo-Suyatoshinskiy rayon

Kyiv oblast 08131

Ukraine

Thanks for all the love and support. Happy Holidays!

Elder Mahoney

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