Having our annual Home & Visiting Teaching BBQ tonight so I need to get ready for that, but a quick one about Friday, August 27th.
One sister, to whom I have remained close over the last 12 years, is Valentina Golyenko. When Sister Robinson and I set out on our first day in Zaparozhe to street contact she and her grandaughter were the very first people we talked to. We taught her and worked with her my entire time there, and she was baptized the week after I returned home. Through letters I have watched her grow in her testimony as she prepared for the temple, received her endowment and served in the church. Although we hadn't done much visiting in the homes of the members because of time, we set out for her apartment to visit.
Of course she fed us a real native meal. In Ukraine there is a common dish called varyeniki. It's a piece of dough the size of the mouth of a cup, filled with something, then folded in half, sealed and boiled. I really like the potato variety. This was part of our meal except it was filled with something else. I have learned, if I'm going to eat something anyway, not to ask. James either hasn't learned that or curiosity got the best of him. In response to his inquiry, we learned we were eating the kidney and liver variety.
Valentina's family 1998.
Valentina, her husband, daughter-in-law and us 2010.My entire mission I had prayed that I might be instrumental in the conversion of an entire family. Whole families joining the church are extremely rare. It was October 1998, on a cold, rainy Sunday evening when my companion and I were tracting. It was getting late and the dismal weather tempted us to go home a little early, but we determined to tract one more building. That night we met Valeri and Tanya and their two children. As we got to know them they showed us a picture of their wedding. Imagine our surprise when we saw that the best man was our current branch president! We worked consistently with them and they slowly progressed. Within a few months after I returned home, they were baptized. They remained active for 5 years, but slowly came to church less and less often.
They were the one family I really wanted to find with the time I had that day before we headed to Kiev. From what I'd heard it wasn't much of a chance that I'd find one if either of them home. When we finally found their apartment we were up against the new security with the entrance to the stairwell locked and no one answering the telecom. We didn't have to wait too long before someone exited the building and we caught the door and snuck in.
When I knocked, Valeri responded and I told him through the door it was Sister Wells and asked if he remembered me. He said of course, to wait a second and he'd put some clothes on and let me in. (When we used to tract, that was how it was at every door unless they just didn't care and opened the door in their underwear which, wasn't rare either.) Both he and Tanya were there, and once again we felt like a miracle had taken place. We talked about our families and the gospel and told them that not only did they need the church, but the church needed them. We left them with a one dollar bill and encouraged them to use it as a book mark in their Book of Mormon. Tanya gave me a ring which I cherish. I think everyone felt the spirit and they felt our love.
Valeri and Tanya 1998
Valeri and Tanya 2010We had a few hours before our last train ride to Kiev. We decided to walk Prospect Lenina and enjoy a beautiful afternoon. We saw a wedding at this park:
And James thought the entrepreneurs in the park were ingenious. They were selling rides for kids in the kid cars driven by a remote control operated by their parents. James thought that would be fun for everyone.
One of the woman who I taught as a missionary hadn't had the money before the train tickets sold out to buy a ticket so we gave her one of ours since we had bought a cabin of four beds (two bunks) for safety. What a neat thing it was to be able to visit with her for awhile.
When my companion and I began teaching Elena Nazarenko the fundamental principles of the gospel, she was struggling with cancer in a sub par medical system. She was depressed, discouraged, hopeless, and struggling to put food on the table for her 11-year-old son. She took hold of the gospel and step by step dug her way out of a dark time in her life. She sacrificed to go to Frieberg, Germany to receive the blessings of the temple. Her son served a mission and sang in the temple dedication choir. On the overnight train to Kiev for the temple dedication she testified that although her challenges in life haven’t changed all that much, her outlook and approach to them has. Her whole countenance reflected that testimony.
Elena, her son Slava, and I. (This picture isn't the best of Elena, she now looks much happier.)We ate Elena's wafers and our oranges for dinner. James said the restroom on this overnight train was the worst. I held out until morning when we could find a restroom in Kiev.
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