Sweaty Bus Rides and Baptismal Dates

Well the week started off with a sweaty 4 hour bus ride to a city called Zhytomer on Monday night were we stayed until Thursday morning. I went over there for exchanges with one of the Zone Leaders, Elder Hofeling. It was pretty good. I ended up serving both days with Elder Reynolds from Florida. He's Ukrainian-speaking. We didn't really have anything set up for Tuesday or Wednesday so we were on the street a lot. On Tuesday I'm sure we talk to more that 50 people and we got 16 phone numbers. I hope that something good comes out of that. I met some really neat people. I met a surgeon, an undercover cop, a trolleybus driver, a guy from Beruit, and plenty more. Wednesday was a tougher day. It seemed like nobody wanted to talk to us. We actually did have a meeting set up, but he didn't show up. It's interesting to see the ups and downs of the mission. So much of it is endurance. You just have to keep going, everyday, the same thing. We had another sweaty bus ride home and, even though I'd only be there for 8 days prior to the trip, it felt like coming home when we got to Khmelnitskiy.

By then the week seemed like it was practically gone. We're trying to do a lot more activities here to get everybody involved and have things that members can invite people too. We had 21 people at Church on Sunday! It was 10 three weeks ago, then 15, then 16, now 21. I don't know what the next number should be, but it's uptrending. =P We're here to build the kingdom and the numbers seem to indicate we're doing something good. One of the Zone Leaders and I met 2 girls at a book table last Saturday and they committed to come to Church. They did come to Church and several activities since then. Yesterday the Zone Leaders set baptismal dates with both of them for June 18th. I think they're both 22 years old. It's going to be really good to have some more young people in the branch. Awesome.

Things are up and down in missionary life. But overall I'm very happy to be here. Missions are awesome. They change lives. I know that this is the Lord's work. It's a privilege to be a part of it. Next week I'll be writing this email from Kiev where I'll be for a mission conference. I love you all. Thanks for everything.

- Elder J. Mahoney

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Elder Mahoney vs. International Soccer Player

It seems like I just wrote this yesterday and nothing has happened since last time. I'll see what I can come up with though.

Oh yeah, we went to stop by a less active girl on Monday night named Galya. We met a girl named Natasha who said she's been living there about six months and she thinks that Galya moved to Kiev. We talked with her for a little bit invited her to hear more about the message of the Restoration and we set up to meet her on Tuesday. She didn't show up on Tuesday and the phone number she gave us didn't work so we went over to see what happened. She said she was busy and she'd call us when she could meet. Then the next day we were talking to the Branch President Megega and he asked what she looked like. We looked at some Branch pictures and it turns our "Natasha" is actually Galya. She's the member. Kinda lame when people lie to us like that. I wish they'd just be honest. Funny story though.

In this area we have to do a lot of exchange because it's one of the most spread out zones and the Zone Leaders are the only other companionship in the District. They need to go out and do exchanges with the other District Leaders every transfer (6 weeks) so they split with us so that one person from each companionship is always in the city. Tonight I'll be taking a several hour bus ride to Zhytomer with one of the Zone Leaders and I'll come back Thursday morning. Next transfer I'll probably go to 2 other cities that are even farther. It's cool because Russian-speaking missionaries hardly ever goto one of them. I'll probably get to go to Lviv for a Zone Conference while I'm in this city too which is sweet because no Russian-speaking missionaries serve there. It's way out west.

We only had one new investigator this week. A couple week ago Elder Hafen was talking to some kids and he gave them all Family Proclamations. About a week later one of them came up to him on the street and said he read it and he likes our emphasis on families. He said he'd like to know more. We had a great meeting with him. His name's Vitalik. He's 15. Great, clean-cut young man. At the end of the lesson he prayed in Ukrainian and thanked God that he was able to find out the truth. We asked him if he thought he'd be able to make it to play soccer with us, he said he didn't think so, he knew so. We ended up playing basketball instead because the soccer court was busy. That reminds me though, we played soccer last Tuesday. I'm not a big time soccer player that's for sure, but there was this soccer trainer there with his trainee and we asked them to play with us. After like 15 minutes I went into nets which I don't usually do and it was kinda fun. That trainer was freakin' big. He's like 6'3" and he could seriously kick that ball. Kinda stings sometimes. He played international soccer before. Makes sense. Good times.

We actually should have had 2 more investigators this week, but the other companionship kinda stole them. It's kinda a challenge with 4 missionaries in one area because it's debatable who should teach who sometimes especially with so many exchanges. We were doing a book table in the park and 2 girls came up and said they were interested. They committed to come to Church and they did. Pretty awesome. We had 16 people at Church yesterday. I'm excited to keep upping that number. It's a privilege to be here while the Church is still so young.

I'm still excited about the first Stake in Russia being organized in a couple weeks. That is so awesome! I hope they come out with the new translation of the Russian Book of Mormon soon after that. I heard it might be December. I think it will help the work here. It will be more powerful.

I like this city. It's beautiful, very green right now. The people seem happier, cleaner, and a little healthier here than they did in my last area. I'm excited to be here. I love our District, probably the coolest in the mission. I also love my companion Elder Hafen. We're getting along great and we're just happy together. It's awesome. It's super nice to have a fridge. I've been eating a lot of eggs recently. It's nice for a change.

I know this is God's work. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. Everybody who can serve a mission should. God lives. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet.

Thanks for the love and support.

Love,
Elder Jonathan D.C. Mahoney

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The Smallest Branch in the Mission

I don't even know where to start this time. So, last week... On Tuesday, for my 2nd last day in Chernigov Elder Brinck and I went to the zoo in a town about an hour away with the Branch President and his wife and daughter. That was super fun. They had lions and leopards and pumas and kangaroos and crocodiles and bears... Lots of animals. It was cool. The leopards and the monkeys were really fun. A monkey grabbed my finger. One of the zoo workers also showed us that it doesn't hurt when the pelicans bite you, so that was neat. The same worker also went into the porcupine pen and snuck up behind them to grab a quill for us. He got 2 and asked if one each was enough and Elder Brinck said, "no, we need one more." Haha. I thought it would have been pretty funny if Elder Brinck was the cause of him getting attacked. He was okay though. There's also a bear there who bit off both of a kids arms a few years ago. I think they changed the caging since then. I like zoos. The seemed to treat the animals a bit better here than at a zoo I was in in Russia.

Most of Wednesday ended up being me packing to head out that night. We made our way down to Kiev and checked my bags at the train station then slept at a missionary apartment. Transfer meeting was in the morning on Thursday and I was actually in the first area he listed. I should say that all missionaries being transfered meet in a chapel with President Steinagel here and then he reads off where every missionary is serving. I have been assigned to serving a city called Khmelnitsky. It is the furthest west Russian-speaking area. The language is more and more Ukrainian the further west you go and we also have Ukrainian-speaking missionaries here. I'm serving with Elder Alex Hafen from St. George, Utah. He's on his last transfer, so I will be his last companion. He's district leader and we also have our zone leaders in this city. One of them is going on at the end of this transfer too, so I'm pretty young here and I'm the only one not a leader. Kmelnitsky has almost 300,000 people and has only been open to missionary work since 2006. It is currently the smallest branch in Western Ukraine. President Steinagel told me that we really got the work going up in Chernigov since they were worried about it before so that's why he sent me here. He said that it's a project and it's going to be a challenge.

Elder Hafen had leadership training on Friday, so we had to stay another night, then take the train on Friday night. Not too much happened for me on Thursday or Friday 'cause we were kinda on weird exchanges and nobody knew any of the Kiev areas, but we made it to the train station on time and rolled out of Kiev at about 20:30 on Friday night for the ~7 hour train ride. We went home and slept for a couple more hours and then got right to work.

On Saturday morning we had institute at the chapel so I got to meet most of the active members. It was a great class. I'd say it was one of the most spiritual classes I've had in a long time. It was so nice to see everybody so united and learning the doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After institute there was a branch activity where we went out to the woods and made a fire to cook shasklik. It's kinda like shishkabobs. It was some beautiful meat in some kind of marinade. I thoroughly enjoyed it and got to get to know some of the members a little bit. I definitely love them already. The members are so awesome everywhere. I don't remember what else we did yesterday. Oh yeah, we got some groceries and guess what... We have a working fridge! To celebrate I bought yogurt and ate it the next day! I quite like our apartment really. It's pretty nice.

On Sunday President Steinagel actually came up to Khmelnitsky for Branch Conference with his driver/executive secretary Aleksei. That was cool. I got to chat with both of them a little bit. We have a great Branch President named President Megega here. Elder Dobry, one of the Zone Leaders, is 1st councilor in the Branch Presidency and my companion, Elder Hafen, is 2nd. Elder Hofeling, the 2nd Zone Leader, is the Elder's Quorum President. Yesterday I was called and sustained to be the Branch Mission Leader. There were 15 people at Church yesterday with 4 missionaries plus president and his driver and 2 non-members, so 7 members. It's really a privilege to be given this assignment. The active members we do have are very strong and it's going to be great to work with them. President Steinagel talk about keeping me here for at least 2 or 3 transfers too, so it looks like I'll be here for the long haul too. It's a beautiful city and I saw a lot of families on Saturday. Our Branch rents from a building on the city soccer stadium. It's above a sports bar and a night club. It's actually in the same door as the sports bar. Haha. I know we can do great things in this city and if there ever was a group of missionaries to do it, I know the other 3 missionaries here are part of it. I feel blessed to be counted among them.

My companion Elder Hafen is great. We're are getting along really well and he's definitely one of my favorite companions too. He's also clearly a good missionary too. Oh yeah, President Steinagel and Aleksei came over to the Zone Leaders apartment and we all had dinner together last night. It was really nice. Then we went on exchanges and I was on a lesson with 4 potential investigators and President helping. It was really cool. I heard the cleanest Ukrainian I've heard on my mission so far. It's a pretty language. I understand quite a bit, but I have learned more Ukrainian in 2 days here than the previous 6 months of my mission, I'd say. It'll be interesting to learn it more and more. I'll probably end up speaking decently. Today Wasn't entirely p-day because we actually had a combined district meeting today. President Steinagle was still here and missionaries from another city came too. It was a really nice meeting. We have some awesome missionaries here. I don't think I have too much more to say today.

I hadn't been in Kiev for like a month so I got a few nice letters. I'm very grateful for all the love and support. I'm so blessed in my life. I know that the Gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ. He lived and died for us and he lives again. I am happy to be alive and look forward to what lies ahead. The Church is true. I look forward to reporting further on the happenings of this city. I'm also still super excited for the first stake in Russia and I pray for the saints there. Hopefully a new translation of the Russian Book of Mormon comes out soon. I heard maybe December. That would be awesome.

Life is beautiful,
Elder Jonathan Mahoney

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Huge News!

Yesterday I was talking to my companion about the Church in Russia and I told him that there will be a stake in Moscow before the end of this year. I'm sure of it. Last night I prayed about it and guess what I found out today! Yesterday, May 8th it was announced that a stake has been approved for Moscow! It will be organized by Elder Nelson on June 5th! This is so awesome! The first stake in Russia! I'm so happy to be a missionary and be Russian-speaking. I'm looking forward to going back to Moscow and attending a ward. Yay! =D

- Elder Mahoney

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Mother's Day, Frogs, and Sinuses

It is somehow already week 6 of my 4th transfer in Ukraine. Another abnormal week in Ukraine has passed me by. It wasn't quite as exciting as some have been, but it was good for sure.

I need to start off by saying Happy Mother's Day! It's not a holiday here, so it was kinda hard to remember it, but it was good to pause and think about all the mothers that I know. Of course, for one, my Mom is rockin' life right now. She's a Seminary Teacher, schoolteacher, yoga instructor, and a mother of 5. She does more than you could imagine. Blows my mind. I love her. Then there are all the amazing mothers in great marriages leading righteous families in these tumultuous times. Men would be nothing without them. This Church is grown through generations and generations are grown by makin' babies. It's mothers who make the babies righteous adults. In the forefront of my mind, when I think of mothers, I think of single mothers. The single mothers I know are some of the most amazing people I know. I respect them and look up to them so much. I wish I could help them more than I do because they deserve the best of everything. I pray for them and their children and I'm amazed by what they can accomplish. Unfortunately this is a big problem here in Ukraine. The divorce rate is 63% here I think, one of the highest in the world. This makes for incredibly strong women. It's not uncommon to see a 5'5" woman with 3.5 inch heels on, a 40 lbs toddler in one arm, a bag in the other hand, and no ring on her finger. God bless these women for what they go through. I know God is with you mothers. Motherhood is one of the greatest works one can be involved in on the earth. My thanks and love go out to all the mothers.

On Tuesday we went out and helped on a members dacha again. We planted a lot of potatoes. We also caught 14 or 15 frogs which was kinda fun. I don't know why there are so many frogs there. Just walking like a kilometre to their dacha from the electric train we could see like 30 dead ones on the street. I don't know why they would sit on the street either. They seem pretty slow. That night we came back and there was a little celebration for a member, Vova Yarmak's, birthday. It was cool. We played charades which I don't usually get to excited about, but it was really fun. Our team owned. Hehe.

We also had a few good lessons this week, but I was a bit sick this week. On Thursday I slept most of the day because my sinuses got hit pretty hard. It was weird, but there was a lot of pressure. For that reason we didn't do much on Friday either, but I got better pretty quick. It's all in my nose now.

We had a great Sunday. One of our investigators who'd told us she couldn't come showed up with a member! That was way cool. It was my last Sunday in Chernigov, so I got a couple little gifts and some sweet words. I love the members here. I'm definitely going to come back when I get a chance. I'll miss it. It's weird. I've spent a quarter of my mission in my first city now. I actually hit 8 months on my mission including the MTC yesterday. Time goes way fast out here. Oh yeah, I didn't mention that I got to talk to my family yesterday for Mother's Day too. That was sweet. My family's rockin'. It was weird to think about it, the next time I can talk to them will be Christmas and at that point I will have already been to Bulgaria to renew my visa and I'll have been on my mission for like a year and 4 months. That's weird, but cool I guess. I like life.

I love being a missionary too, even though sometimes it's messed up over here. I just try to always remember that I came here because Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appeared to Joseph Smith in New York in 1820 and through him restored Christ's Church. The Priesthood was also restored and I now hold the Melchezidek Priesthood, the same priesthood that was held by Christ Himself and His Apostles. There is a living prophet on the earth today. God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. Thanks for the love and support peoples. I love you too.

Enjoy to the end,
Elder J. Mahoney

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Ukrainian Village Adventures

Yet another week has disappeared. I don't even remember what's happened. I suppose I could start with an apartment update because I know some people were wondering about it. Well, the first thing that happened was we were informed the fridge wouldn't be fixed until after Easter. We called her on Monday and she said it would be on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday she said he Grandmother died so it'd be in a day or 2. Then we had Pres. Solomein call her for us so she wouldn't use as many excuses and he spoke to her once. Since Wednesday she hasn't been answering her phone. It's really too bad because it's just going to cause more problems for her. If she doesn't do it by tomorrow we'll be talking with the police again and the tax authorities and the Church with fix the fridge for us. We've been without a fridge for about 4.5 weeks now. Somewhat annoying.

My companion, Elder Brinck, had to go in for a blood test on Tuesday which was interesting. They do all the blood tests from the fingers here. Seems more painful too me. Elder Brinck confirmed that assumption. He's alright though, just has so chest pains so they wanna make sure everything's okay.

For the record, McDonald's breakfast here isn't quite as good. The sausage doesn't have the same spices. Some of lunch menu is better though. They have a mushroom pie there that I've gotta try one of these days. We just don't go there often. Ukrainians have a strange love of mushrooms. There are mushroom salads and mushroom flavored chips. I love cereal with bananas. It'll be nice to have a fridge again.

On Thursday the whole mission was told to travel out to a village and work for about 3 hours. The villages are definitely interesting. It's a very different life. Everybody is growing something out there and there are plenty of animals. The other companionship here taught a nice lesson to 3 people, but we were just swarmed by children and didn't have much success at all. We had probably as many as 15 kids following us around. It was certainly interesting though. The village we went to has 5 streets and a distinct lack of anybody between 15 and probably about 35. We got a couple neat pictures I'll try to send soon.

We were able to visit a couple members one their birthdays this week which seemed to be well appreciated. In both instances we were invited in for some food which I well appreciated. =D We had an Elder's Quorum activity with 4 missionaries, the EQ President and the Branch President. The Branch Pres. left before he has a sore wrist and the EQ Pres is about 65. We were supposed to play sports. I thought it was kinda funny to just step back and think about the situation.

Church was great yesterday. I love Sundays. I love the members here. The woman I baptized, Valentina, bore a powerful testimony in testimony meeting. It's been awesome to see the change in her and her husband as they've embraced the Gospel so fully. I love this work. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Kingdom of God on the earth. There is a living prophet on earth today. I love the scriptures and I love God's laws. Thanks to everybody for the love and support. Endure to the end.

Love,
Elder J. Mahoney

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