D&C 138: 16-18. . . "Liberty to the captives!"

There are no more willow vendors, or great piles of baskets and embroidered or painted scarves.  This week flower sellers are out.  This is the third week of Velykden (or Easter).

The dead are remembered during the whole week after Easter.  This is the time when families visit cemeteries to clean and repair tombstones and fences and to tidy grounds.  

 Then on Sunday following Easter Sunday, people gather in the cemeteries, bringing with them food and drink to eat together, then leave some for their departed family members.

This month-long Easter celebration has been fascinating for us to watch and to learn from.  It seems to be an amazing mix of dedication to Christian principles combined with hold-over from Pagan rituals (like Easter in the USA but without the stuffed bunnies) . . . having the form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof.

 

We had a lesson today with a sweet and pretty young girl, Sophia, who had said previously that she didn't understand what we could offer beyond what she already has.  Today we shared with her restored truths about the eternal nature of not only the individual, but of families.  Mom bore beautiful testimony about the importance of families beyond the veil. The girl left with a pedigree chart and ideas to help her find out about her extended family.  She already has a love for Christ.  We hope that she will come to love and treasure His beautiful plan for families. This is what the atonement is all about.

Whoops! Not Grampa after all!

I just thought that was Grampa. 

Actually Grampa had stopped in front of a hardware shop just down the road. 

What a surprise to turn and find that I was not being escorted

by Grampa, but by Sancho Panza!!  

And here is his good friend,

Don Quixote de la Mancha.

 

 This is an iron-works shop.  Ironworking is a craft which is much in demand here.  Windows on the lower levels of buildings have iron grillwork.  Fences and gates and guardrails all show the workmanship of an ironsmith.  

Wow! wouldn't the boys like to have

a few of these back on the farm!!!!

 

And there are the statues - huge metal statues of bigger-than-life steelworkers, miners, factory workers in this mining and metal-producing country.

Grampa's steps are getting heavy.

Can you tell if Grampa has lost any weight?

Walking is kind of hard on him.

He is getting a little stiff. 

Do you like his new hat?

It was especially made in Donetsk, Ukraine.

With the bridle in his hand he is thinking about his horses. 

I think he misses them. 

Easter in Ukraine

On Palm Sunday the people of Ukraine bring pussy willow branches to the Orthodox Ukrainian churches to be blessed, since Palm branches do not grow in Ukraine.  This special day is called Willow Sunday.  After being blessed the willow branches are often displayed in the home in a place of honor until they are replaced next spring.  The willows will bring good luck and health.  The entire week before Willow Sunday is Willow week. 
The following week is called Holy Week.  During this week baskets have replaced willows in the venders' stalls.  These baskets will hold the special breads which will be taken to the churches on Easter Sunday to be blessed by the priests.  Easter scarves to cover the baskets are also sold by the street vendors. Scarf designs are in the traditional Ukrainian colors and patterns, and are very pretty.

 

We received a gift of traditional Easter bread and scarf from our special friend, Sister Lidia. (above)

Services are held in the churches where the Easter breads are blessed (for a fee).

 Sometimes the baskets of cakes and breads are blessed in the churchyard.  Lines of people form beginning at the doors of the church, then wind out to the sidewalks and stretch down the block and around the corner as they wait for the priest to come and sprinkle their offerings with holy water. 


We have never seen the streets of Donetsk so busy on a Sunday morning as they were today.  It gave us a warm feeling to see so many people on their way to church carrying the tokens of their faith.

 In Donetsk it is difficult to find real eggs decorated using the traditional Pysanki methods.  While the patriarch and his wife were in Kharkov Sister Browning was able to find a few which she brought back when they returned to Donetsk.

In Donetsk, just as in California, other non-traditional methods are used for coloring eggs. As an activity after our district meeting on Sunday, the sisters in our district showed us another method for creating hand-painted eggs.

 The main focus of our District meeting was the resurrection and atonement of our Savior and each missionary attending took advantage of the opportunity to share a personal testimony of His importance in their lives.  Our Easter Sunday ended with a fireside at the Klimenski building.  The visiting patriarch and his wife also shared their own wittness of the reality of the atonement.

Beginning with our early sacrament meeting and ending with our evening fireside,  I felt an increased awareness of the significance of this day as I was greeted by each member with a joyous "Христос воскрес", (Christ is risen) to which one should reply "воистину воскрес".  (Truly, he has risen!)   Perhaps my lack of facility in the Russian language was the catalyst.  Of necessity I had to think hard before giving or responding to this greeting.  Whatever the reason, throughout this day my mind and my heart were never far from my Savior and His great love for us. This has been a lovely and uplifting Easter Sunday. We wish the same to all of you!

The District . . . 3

In Ukraine, removing your shoes is the polite thing to do.  We hosted District meeting in our квартиры (apartment).  Our guests as pictured above are, (left to right)Старейшины (Elders) Barton, Jensen, Hatch, Ryser, Finneran, Moon, Duke, Сестра (Sister) Kartashova and Сёстры (Sisters) Ward and Hatch who are out of view.

   

We were instructed, challanged and fed both spiritually and physically. 

Finished at Last!

The park is close to the молитвенный дом (house of prayer) where two of our branches meet.  The project to clean, repair and paint was organized by the two Branch Presidents and supervised by Старейшина Хатч (Elder Hatch).  Workers were branch members and a lot of young missionaries.  As the work progressed passing observers made positive comments of praise and encouragement.

Each day a different zone would come to paint. Most of the paint ended up where it was supposed to but in the process, we learned that the missionaries who do the most work are not the ones who get the most paint on themselves, and that all missionaries are not created equal.  The city government is very pleased with this "missionary work" and we desperately need more acceptance by the government.  Our work was not in vain. In a few days we will dump a few trucks of sand around the "slide man" and scatter it around. The whole park was huge.  It is not easy to grasp the size of this gigantic slide until you are beneath it looking up.

It's all about People

With warmer days the people are coming out.  We awake to the sound of children in the playground below our windows.  Coming home we walk past the swings and merry-go-round crowded with children big and little enjoying the afternoon sun.

 It is very interesting to observe that when we see strollers on the sidewalks, children walking with adults or at the playground it is nearly always a grand-parent aged adult supervising.


Overnight it seems that the litter is gone, the mud and grime have been swept away and the ground has been turned or raked.  Here in Ukraine, our friend Olya tells us, employees of businesses are required to come back on Saturdays to clean, sweep and rake the public areas around each business as part of a national committment to the people.  The service is unpaid, but Olya says that it is not voluntary.  This traditional public service is a holdover from Soviet times. 

At our meetinghouse members of both branches who use the building worked hard cleaning both inside and out, then joined together in an outdoor cookout.

They grilled chicken breasts over the fire above left.  Always  there are hunks of crusty bread.  Fingerfoods usually include cut veggies or fruits.

The Snow is Gone . . . but the Field is White!

The Kingdom of God is growing. This young man’s baptism in our branch marks the second in a family with seven children. His older brother was baptized a year ago and is clerk in the branch. When the older brother, Deema began investigating the church over a year ago his mother was not pleased, but after seeing what a great positive impact the church has on her older son, she was happy for Misha’s baptism. Now with two brothers in the church, both will be strengthened and there is greater hope in the family.

In the Sumy branch, far to the North, several English speakers from Ethiopia joined the church and they have been bringing in their friends and family this month so now they have to hold a Gospel Essentials classes taught in English specifically for this group. Every time there is a baptism we have to send 300 Hryvnia to the Elders so that they can rent a swimming pool. Today’s baptism in the Lughansk branch will be held in the river outside of town so we will rent a matruska (van or small bus) to transport the baptism party to the river.  It takes a lot of comittment to be baptized in a river when the temperature is 40 degrees outside!

It is very exciting to get calls like; “I’m calling from San Diego. I have a young friend. I am hoping you can help him.” The lady then explained that a clean, sensitive, searching young man with high living standards had been renting from her while attending school. He has now moved to Ukraine to find the roots he feels he has here. “Could you help him find good young adults?” Another call came to Mom’s cell phone from a Russian-speaker. Mom can understand a few words but not enough to really know the reason for the call and so she explains that she only speaks a little Russian. He then asks if she speaks English, if she is a member of the Latter-day Saints church and would she know if any one could give his family lessons?

As we walk down Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street and across the bridge each day the other walkers we approach drop their gaze to the ground. They do not respond to a smile, a nod or a greeting. But on the busy highway it is different. At the stop lights or just driving down the road many buses, trolleys and marshutka’s pass, all filled with people. I can tell they feel safe inside their bus-capsules so they stare out through the glass at the strange Americans with black nametags. I look back. I smile or nod or mouth a greeting but they never respond. There are so many of them . . . So many cars, so many busses, all filled with people. I see in their faces the needs that they do not know how to fill.

“So,” I say quietly to my Heavenly Father, “These are ALL yours. You know and love each one.”

And then in that very moment I know, too, that he wants them back . . . each one of them. He can heal their sorrows and soothe their pains. It is Him they are seeking. They just do not know where to look.

But I do.

3 Fat Guys

Not Ukrainian investigators . . . nor the three gentlemen pictured below . . . but the name of President Fry's favorite Donetsk restaurant.  The food is tasty and beautifully presented.  The atmosphere is enjoyable, we were treated like honored guests, and the menus are available in English.
  

Elder Hatch and President Fry (above)
Burrs, the Humanitarian couple, Elder Hatch
and Pres. and Sister Fry (below)

 


 

Our visiting Patriarch and his wife are amazing people and provided interesting company as we ate and visited at the "3 Fat Guys"

Sister Browning does Indexing
while her husband gives blessings



 

Луганск

This is Lugansk. It is an industrial and mining center which is located two and one half hours west of Donetsk, Ukraine by highway.  The population is about one half million.  The streets are wide with well-kept sidewalks.  Buildings seem to be a mix of near past and far past.

To get there, we drove past parks and monuments, mosques and monasteries.

The Lugansk Branch of our church meets in a rented building which opens onto a busy street.  While we were holding training in one of the rooms there, a man walked in off of the street and interupted the mission president, asking several questions in Russian.  Then, in English, he asked if someone was available to teach his family, and of course, there was.

Four elders work in the district that is in Lugansk. Each, separately confided to us that he would be happy to serve in Lugansk to the end of his days as a missionary.

On the outskirts of the city we passed several old cemeteries.  The geography of the area is rolling hills with only an occational "mine-made mountain" to interrupt the gentle flow of the land.



A mountain of mine-tailings.  The overgrowth testifies that mining has been here a long, long time.

Cleaning checks are interesting when nineteen to twenty-three year old missionaries are involved. 

It is not uncommon to encounter the unexpected.