ALL IN A DAY’S WORK

What fills our days?  We are right in the middle of a swirl of activities pertaining to building up the kingdom of God here in Ukraine.  I will note a few of the things we are working on just to give an overview.

 Mom is the mission secretary and has a desk out in front.  The mission president has a nice office with pictures of all the missionaries and their districts and zones.  Locked behind that magnetic  board is the “transfer board”  that all the missionaries would like to get a preview of.  Mom keeps the board organized.  It is important that we make sure the office elders do not see things there and spread rumors.   

I have an office with an air conditioner.  I am the financial secretary.   Two office Elders have desks in the middle.  The four of us have specific areas of focus but we all overlap and work together.  The last couple went home six months early so some things here have not been done or done right and there is ” catching-up” to do. The mission President is gone traveling much of the time so we are to be the “heart” of the mission according to President  Switzer    (A member of the  seventy and Area President living in Moscow) , who interviewed us yesterday.

Elder Rice, standing, is one of the office elders.

•      The comings and goings of missionaries are a big thing.  Letters to stake presidents, bishops and parents telling of release dates and airline schedules are handled as well as arranging tickets and logistics; for example, is it  possible for the returning missionary to fly or take a train to Kiev (outside of our mission) so that he can go to the temple there on his way home?  There are a lot of questions from newly called missionaries or their mothers asking "what does my little boy need?"    When our number of missionaries grows, new apartments have to be opened, leases transacted and furnishings acquired and placed.  Conversely, if we have fewer missionaries, housing must be closed and deposits collected.  With that, come landlord problems like wanting to give us an “ American discount” (raising prices because, of course, we can afford it) and missionary problems like broken or missing things items.  ( I am deep into both already!)

•  I just completed my first “Moscow Report”.   Most missions work with checks for landlords and different vendors but here it is all in cash – with payments either put on the missionary’s card to be pulled out by the missionary to pay the landlord in cash, or paid to the landlord or landlady directly from our office here.

 

•  Renewing visas.  All of our visas are only good for one year so there is always a list of missionaries whose year mark is approaching.  Mom has to call and remind them and send them  addresses of locations where they can get aids shots etc. in preparation for the trip to Bulgaria.  She procures airline tickets to Kiev and then to Bulgaria and back.  The trip takes three days- two in travel and one at the embassy in Bulgaria going thru the steps for renewal.  I think Mom has three going next week or so.  We will also have to go there eventually.

        

• Then there are the meetings: zone conference, zone leader’s council, staff meeting and district meeting.  We go to all the meetings.  They are uplifting and we have some input.  We get in and roll play with the elders and sisters making approaches or committing people in Russian.  We have had five meetings in our two and half weeks here. 



Elder Finneran and Elder Barton leaving the office for some street work.   



•  An ongoing responsibility is putting $ on  each missionary’s card each month and then making additional deposits on each card for extra expenses as the month progresses, such as  extra travel expense, utilities, new pots and pans or an extension cord, medical payments and two separate broken teeth so far. ???    

• A big project we are currently working on is pre-planning for a new stake someday.  We work with a lot of numbers relating to tithe payers and  active Melchezedik priesthood holders along with maps and miles for considering which branches can be combined in preparation for a stake.   The first stake in eastern Europe was organized in Kiev where the temple was built. The area presidency wants the next East European Stake to be in Moscow and right after that, Donetsk.  I hope we will still be here when that happens. 
  

  

  Elder Solin is a wonderful young man from Russian who is learning English.  His companion was flown home for surgery right after he arrived, so Elder Solin is working as part of a 3-some.

  
  •  An Elder who arrived one week before us got sick.  He had been ill in the MTC but it was thought he was over it.  Days of pain and tests came to a head during a training meeting here.  A Dr. and nurse arrived during leadership training to start IVs, and then preparations were made to send him to Kiev for better tests.  Two missionaries were sent with him.  There it was decided after much communication with Salt Lake, that he would go home.  Once home, he was immediately operated on for gall bladder failure.  We hope he will still be able to serve, but it probably won’t be here.
  
  
  

  These are the things that fill our days.  Next we want to share all of the exciting things
  we have done that fill our nights and weekends.  (Coming soon….)