Family,

We got transfer information this week and I am going to be staying in Chernevtsi for another six weeks with Elder Dorius! I am very happy about this. I love it here! Elder Dorius is great, and best of all I get to keep sleeping on the best bed in the mission!

 

Just a quick run down on the pictures since I am always really bad at telling you what the pictures are all about. The first one is of a really cool kid from sports day and I. He loves basketball so I played a bit with him. The second picture is of my companion and I. We rapped at district meeting it was pretty fun.

 

A cool story from the week:

 

So Volodimer, the guy who we had set a baptismal date with does not have a cell phone, and we had two meetings set up with him last week. And both times he did not show up. So we got worried and we thought that he didn't want to get baptized and keep learning about the gospel. Yesterday after church, my companion and I had a lot of things to file on the computer and we had a few meeting with people so we ended up staying at the church from nine in the morning to eight at night. Usually we would have been out a lot earlier. Anyway, at 7:45 Volodimer walks in the doors of the church, came up to us (sounding really sick), and told us that he has been in the hospital the last few days. The doctors told him he needed to stay but he told us he left because he knew that he needed to come to the church. He told us he didn't think anyone would be at the church so late but that he had a feeling he needed to come anyway. We talked for about ten minutes, we gave him a priesthood blessing and then he let. We set up another meeting with him for tomorrow. It was a tender mercy in our life. Then we got to go home and eat dinner! It was nice after not eating anything all day!

 

I love you all very much. Until next week,

 

Elder Hadfield

 

Pretty Good Form!

Hello,

Today we went bowling, it was really fun. I was pretty hot and had a couple good rounds in a row. While we were there we heard some music that sounded like it was new that I have never heard before. It was pretty catchy. It made me realize that I have been on my mission for a long time. Well 7 and 1/2 months. I am loving it though. The language is coming along as I am able to understand more and more every day. I am even getting good at being able to talk on the phone. In fact, the lady who I baptized in Uzhhorod gave me a call yesterday. It was so good to hear from her. She told me about how next week she is going to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for some of her deceased family members. It was one of the happiest moments on my mission. Oh, the reason I say that is because she told me how impressed she was with how much I have improved speaking Ukrainian. Its is hard for me to tell that I am making progress from day to day, but when I talk to someone that I have not seen in a month it is easy for them to tell I am improving.

So a funny story from last Sunday: My companion and I went to the train station to help a guy from our ward get on a train. He left for his mission to one of the other missions in Ukraine. We were loading his bags onto a train when all of the sudden the train started going with us on it. It was my me and my companion, the soon to be missionary's two siblings and best friend all on the train. Then some conductor lady started yelling at me in Russian (It was a train to Moscow) and to be honest I am pretty sure she spit all over me. I didn't know what she said, but when the train was pulling out of the station I got the hint. We all sprinted down the hall of the train and were forced to jump off of it as it started to speed up. We all got off safe but it was a pretty close call.

I have some good news as far as missionary work goes! We set a baptismal date with a man named Volodimer. He walked into the church the other day and we happened to be there as well. He loves serving people and loved what we had to tell him about the plan of Salvation. He said he feels like it is true and wants to get baptized. He is about 50 years old and very well dressed!

Ok well, love all of you very much! I am so glad that I was able to send you an email today! Take care, be safe, do what is right! I will look forward to talking to you again next week!

Elder Hadfield

Working in the Yard

Hello,

This week has been very hot. We broke out the short sleeve shirts and we still are sweating like crazy. It is kind of like home where the humidity is bad. But I don't mind it at all. I have got a little bit of a farmers tan though but that's ok. It's not like I am going swimming any time soon. In Chernivtsi there are six missionaries four elders and two sisters. This week we all were invited to go to a members house because they needed some help on their yard. We filled in holes, and moved rocks for about three hours. It was really fun. I felt like I was back with Bill doing landscaping work. The family was really cool. They had a lot of animals. They had turkeys, chickens, doves, ducks, a dog, a cat, and two goats. One of the goats was just barely born. We got to hold him, or her, I don't really know its gender. Then the mother of the family had us come inside and she fixed us a huge meal. I don't think I ever recall feeling that full in my life. I think we might have eaten one of the chickens that we were playing with when we first got there though. Oh well, it tasted really good.

The church is really growing here, we got a call the other day that we needed to find a new apartment. I am not moving, but soon a new set of missionaries will come here. I think next transfer we are getting twenty new Ukrainian speakers to go along with the fifty that we have right now. I hate to say it but I could very easily be training next transfer. That is kind of scary. Well, that just means I better work as hard as I can to learn the language so I can be a good example when I am with new missionaries.

On Saturday we had a Easter party as a branch. It was really fun. A family was here from Idaho. The father served his mission in Russia and the Mother is Russian. Their kids speak English and Russian. They are here since the father is in the Air force and they sent him here to learn Ukrainian.

Well that is about it for this week! I am so excited for mothers day:)

Love,

Elder Hadfield

On the Street in Chernivtsi