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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