Angels Round About Us

I don't know what to write today. It seemed like a fairly ordinary week. I know that it's not an ordinary week though because I am here as an authorized representative of Jesus Christ. It is a serious responsibility to wear this name tag with my family name just above the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I love being here. I love the experiences and situations we are blessed to be in.

I thought of an instance a couple weeks ago that was powerful to me. I was teaching a young man with a member present and as the member was saying something I said a prayer in my heart that the Spirit would be with us and that we might know what the Lord would have us say. My companion and I were sitting across from the member and the investigator and instead of feeling like it was just me and my companion, who doesn't understand the language, I could feel God behind us. I could feel that there were angels round about us supporting us. I felt a reassurance that this truly is the Lord's work that we are where He wants us to be and that He loves each and every one of us. I have so much to learn and I need to grow in so many ways. But I know who my confidence needs to be in and I'm trying to trust in Him.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is incredible. I love my Savior. It is a privilege to share this message with the people of Ukraine. I love them and I feel God's love for them. I encourage everybody to lift where they stand. Do what you can. Reach out to somebody and lift them up.

I'm grateful to all for the love and support. This is a great work we're a part of.

Love,
Elder J. Mahoney

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Donkey Food

The first thing that comes to mind is that this has been a sweaty week. I believe 2 days were up to 36 and 37 degrees in the shade. Sometimes it seems like it's even hotter in the apartment. On Saturday I had 3 showers in a day for the first time since I was in Brazil. I almost feel like we didn't do anything this week, but we had one of the best weeks in a long time as far as the numbers go. We also had two potential lessons with two different men who both accepted Books of Mormon and said they'd read. One of them we met when he drove us in a taxi. As soon as we set up with them again they'll become new investigators. Last Sunday a man was visiting from Russia. He got baptized when he was 18 and then served a mission here. He actually served with the Branch President in Chernigov, Pres. Solomein. His name is Dennis Baranov. He went home and married a young woman and now he's a Branch President over in Krasnayarsk in Siberia and has a little daughter. He has his own business where he does genealogical research for people. That's why he was here. He was a great help on a couple lessons. It is so awesome to see return missionaries here who are living the gospel so fully. That's what this is all about. That's why we're here. The gospel blesses lives and it's the only formula for true and eternal joy. I love it.

I forgot to mention last week that 2 Saturdays ago now we went on a Branch trip. It was pretty cool. We went to this "zoo" where there were some bears, a couple wolves, deer, a couple ostrich, some pelicans, and some livestock. I got bit by a donkey and it was stronger than I imagined, but I'm okay. Haha. We also went to a fortress kinda place. It was kinda interesting and historic. After they cooked us up a fish beverage. I think it was mostly just boiled fish and dill. They love dill here. It wasn't bad. I'm not too picky at this point in my life. I have ingested quite a few strange things over the years.

People here are stuck in tradition. You talk to them logically about things, but even when they seem to understand it all they'll still say, "oh, I could never change, it would be an insult to my ancestors." That's an issue that we deal with everyday and I see the older missionaries get more and more sick all the way up to the end of their missions. Sometimes people even receive a witness of the truthfulness of our message, but still won't change. It is pretty annoying.

Things are going fairly well. It's sort of an internal battle here, you love the people, but hate the things they do. Just today as I inhaled some unidentifiable, yet recognizably from the former Soviet Union, smells I was thinking, "I think I'll miss this place someday." Well, whatever is going on, it keeps going on and I'm glad to be a part of it. I love the Lord and I know he wants me to be here. I want to be better and I'm working on it everyday. Please pray for us. The people waiting and searching for the truth here need it. We need the Lord's help to find each other.

I'm still loving everything that our new mission president is doing and I feel like the mission is really moving in a good direction.

Thanks for all the love and support. God bless.
- Elder J. Mahoney

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3 AM Train to Lviv

Sometimes is seems like preparation day was yesterday, sometimes a month ago. This time it feels like it was quite a while ago. We've had quite a bit of rain recently, but today it's sunny. The most significant thing that happened this week was meeting the Klebingat family. About half the mission met in Lviv on Wednesday to meet the Klebingat family. It was a great experience. I could feel the Spirit witness to me that the Lord has truly call them to serve here and Jorg Klebingat is meant to be the President of the Ukraine Kiev Mission. They have 3 children, Katja (17), Daniel (15), and Alexander (10). It is awesome to see the love and fun they have in their family. I want to have a family of my own like that. (Just with more kids.) It was really interesting to hear the story of how President met his wife, Julia, and how they've seen the hand of the Lord in their lives. I love everything he talked about. He didn't talk about numbers once that day and he really talked about faith and individual commitment to the work. That's really what it comes down to, all of us doing our part individually. I can tell that they love me and I already love them too. I've been praying for them for a while now.

To add to the great meeting, Lviv is a beautiful city. The rain cut out for long enough for us to go around and see a couple things. It was a good time. Our train times are ridiculous out of this city. We left at 03:00 to goto Lviv and got back about about 04:00 the next day. Oh well, we deal with it.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. We had a total of 2 lessons this week. That's not good. It's tough to keep up teaching skills when you don't have that many opportunities to practice. The work goes on though. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be. I'm trying to qualify for miracles and to get better at working with the Spirit. My Russian is getting a little bit better, one day at a time, but is still far from perfect.

Recently I heard of a dialogue. "Hey, how are you?" - "Great, thanks." - "Good choice." I really love that. It is our choice whether or not we will be happy or whether or not we'll have a great day. If you're not happy, why are you choosing that? I want to remember that and I'm working on applying it in my life. Sometimes this is a good place to practice. We manage to have quite a bit of fun as we joke around nonetheless.

I just found a quote: "Throughout history, nations have been able to survive a multiplicity of disasters, invasions, famines, earthquakes, epidemics, depressions, but they have never been able to survive the disintegration of the family." The latter is happening here and really the country's not doing that well. Sometimes I feel so sick of the evil I'm surrounded with here. I'm sick of the immodesty, immorality, alcoholism, and smoking. I'm sick of the corruption and dishonesty. The members here are an extreme contrast to most of what is seen around here. Meeting with the members is always the best part of any day for me. I love them so much. They are so strong to fight what they're up again.

Sorry for the somewhat disconnected email. I know that God lives. He loves me. Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. I love this Gospel. Thanks all for the support. Be strong.

Love,
Elder Jonathan Mahoney

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Modern-Day DaVinci

First off, I just saw the newest Mormon Message and it's awesome. Everybody should watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l70e1TfN34w
I love those videos. Beautiful.

Another week in Khmelnitskiy. What to write... We actually stayed in the city for a whole week. It was kinda weird. That won't happen again for the rest of the transfer. Well actually the Zone Leaders did goto Kiev on Saturday so we weren't really all here all week. It was pretty nice to have the whole week to work together with my new companion, Elder Davis. It really has me kinda on my own because I have to make all the calls, do all the contacting and basically teach all the lessons except when members help. It's a powerful opportunity for growth. I feel very under qualified. I feel like I know very little. I try to treasure up the word each day, but I know that I still fall very short. I know that the Holy Ghost can make up the difference. I pray for greater faith in that and help in this work. I want to be a useful servant and tool in the hands of the Lord. I just heard a testimony by Elder Scott. He said "You've been called by the Lord. He'll sustain you." I pray I can always remember that too.

We've continued to work with Inna and she is a very great person going through some hard times. She's always willing and wanting to help people and she is constantly thinking about how she can help lead her son through his teenage years to avoid all the evils surrounding him. I love them and I pray for them. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what will make the most difference in their lives. I feels very good to help people and to form these relationships that will carry on after the mission and after death.

One interesting experience was a referral we received this week. We went and visited this man in his studio. His name is Vitaliy Vasilivich. He does classes that are like a mixture of ballroom dancing, breathing exercises and yoga. He's 65 and works all the time for donations only and doesn't take vacations. He sleeps 4 hours a day and keeps very busy. He draws and has written thousands of poems, a couple thousand essays, and keeps a journal. He plays a little bit with some instruments too and has a garden. He talks a lot about energies and the science of energy. I found it very interesting, though there were many words I didn't understand I got the gist of it. Other missionaries had visited him before but just though he was crazy. I don't subscribe to everything he believes, but I'm inspired by the way he works. He reminds me of a modern day DaVinci. On Saturday night Elder Davis and I went and participated in one of the classes. It was not easy to follow, but it was neat. Basically he and his assistant take turns leading the group and everybody on their own just tries to follow. We were with the parents group. He works with all ages. Interesting stuff anyway. He made me want to work on my strength and flexibility more and learn about everything I want to learn about in my life. I also want to learn more about gardening. He talked about the energy that comes from it. Cool stuff.

Everybody should also watch these testimonies too. I don't think I've every seen anything like it: http://lds.org/study/prophets-speak-today/unto-all-the-world/missionary-work-is-founded-on-the-doctrine-of-christ/testimonies-video?lang=eng

I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that I was called to serve here in Ukraine by a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I love this work and it's a privilege to share this message with others as official representatives of Christ and His Christ and ministers of the Restored Gospel.

We have our new mission president Klebingat. On Wednesday we'll be in Lviv to meet him. I'm really excited for that. I know they are going to be very great leaders here. I can feel it already. Thanks everybody for the support. I love you.

Enjoy to the end,
Elder Jonathan D.C. Mahoney

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