Family,

This week was a pretty busy one.

When we found out that some missionaries were going home early we only had two days to put together a going home video for them (as a gift from the Lattin's to them at the end of their missions). So we spent most of our P-day last week and all of Tuesday helping Elder Bodell do that. It was a lot of fun, and we got the last of the DVDs burned Tuesday night at nine o'clock. The next day was the missionaries last day. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

We had zone conference this week, so we had a bunch of missionaries in L'viv. It was nice to see everyone. Our conference went really well and I learned a lot.

On the 8th of March was Woman's day. So we (the elders quorum of the branch) put on a suprise activity for the relief society sisters. They had an activity planned, we came and set up ours for after theirs got over. We brought some food, flowers, and we prepared a few songs. It was a lot of fun. You might have seen one of the videos on one of us singing on Facebook. The brother who put it up knows English and he wanted us to sing that song with him. It was kind of like karaoke haha. We also sang a really famous Ukrainian song called "Chervona Ruta (Червона Рута)." I really like it. Mom, he asked me to ask you to add him on my facebook as well. He called me last night and said that you had him tell me that you love me. Thank you so much. He also called me a second time to tell me that Jessica liked the video. He is a very nice man. We have became friends over the last few transfers.

We have a family home evening set up with him (and hopefully his wife who is not active) at the Bodell's (the senior couple) next Monday, so I am excited.

Here is a cool phrase that I heard this week that I used in my talk on Sunday:

"A sinner is not someone who sins- a sinner is someone who does not repent."

I had an opportunity to give a talk this week at church. Someone had backed out on giving a talk because they were sick so I was very happy to fill in for them. Plus when you are a missionary you can't really say no, even if you get asked to speak at church and you find out about it Friday night. That's no big deal though because the spirit does all the work anyway. As I thought about what topic to speak on, I thought about forgiveness and repentance. I gave a talk on how they go hand in hand. It was a pretty powerful experience for me. I shared a lot of scriptures, and also, going along with what I shared last week, I shared a story from conference that really touched me about forgiveness:

"Corrie ten Boom, a devout Dutch Christian woman, found such healing despite having been interned in concentration camps during World War II. She suffered greatly, but unlike her beloved sister Betsie, who perished in one of the camps, Corrie survived.

After the war she often spoke publicly of her experiences and of healing and forgiveness. On one occasion a former Nazi guard who had been part of Corrie’s own grievous confinement in Ravensbrück, Germany, approached her, rejoicing at her message of Christ’s forgiveness and love.

“How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said. ‘To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!’

“His hand was thrust out to shake mine,” Corrie recalled. “And I, who had preached so often … the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

“Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. … Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

“I tried to smile, [and] I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

“As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

“And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”

Corrie ten Boom was made whole."

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/wilt-thou-be-made-whole?lang=eng

Repentance and forgiveness are both easier said than done. But I guess the more valuable thing is our actions over our knowledge. You could have all the knowledge in the world, but unless you do something with it, it will not render you anything. I mean take for example Satan. I am sure he know the bible way better than I do,but does it do anything for him? No, not at all. I know that as we forgive other we are promised that we can receive forgiveness. And I know that as we pray for forgiveness and love for others, God will give us His love and forgiveness for them.

The Saviors plea is to each of us, "Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? (3 Nephi 9:13)."

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Hadfield

To my wonderful Family,

I am glad that President Lattin has done such a good job staying in contact with you during these trying times for Ukraine. Just so you know how I am doing, here is a little update about me. In L'viv (and pretty much our whole mission) everything is pretty quiet. We are still allowed to wear name tags, teach, and preach. We have been told to be careful with contacting and many people are very tense with the things that are going on. I am safe. I have plenty of money and food if anything were to happen. So don't worry about me too much. I am doing great! We had one day this week where we were confined to our apartments, but that was during the time when the brethren in Salt Lake were trying to asses the situation and gather all the information on what was going on. The told the mission presidents that each of them could now choose to do what is best for their respective missions as each mission is in different parts of the country and has different factors influencing them.

I want to tell you about a choice experience that I was blessed to have.

With the situation in Ukraine the way it is, it is causing a divide between people. Both members of the church and non-members. There are many different political views and opinions that people have and differences in views and opinions have become thorns in the relationships of many people. We have one brother in the branch who does not share the common political view here in L'viv. It is hard to see people say bad things about him because of his views. It became particularly hard for him, he didn't become bitter, but he distanced him self a little bit from these people who were hard on him for his thoughts. We met with this brother this week and just through talking with him we could see his countenance lighten up and a part of the weight he was carrying seemed to be lifted from his shoulders. Over my time in L'viv I have became very close with this fine brother.

I wasn't sure if he was going to come to church as from my view it might have been a little awkward for him. But he came and we were very happy to see him. It was fast Sunday so we were privileged to hear many strong testimonies. One of which was by President Lattin, in very fine Ukrainian if I might say. Toward the end of the meeting I felt a prompting that I needed to stand and bear my testimony. I felt that I should share a few words of the Savior from the Bible. So that is what I did. This was my testimony:

"I think sometimes it is hard for God to see conflicts among his children as he is the father of us all. He loves each one of us the same and wants us each to be happy. It pains Him when His children do not have love one to another. In the book of Matthew in the fifth chapter the Savior gives each of us counsel:

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Brothers and Sisters, I ask each of you to follow these words. If someone says something bad about you, please say something good about them. If someone Doesn't love you, please love them, for that is what our God does. I know God loves each of us, in the name of Jesus Christ Amen." I went back to my seat and sat down.

At the very end of the meeting this brother stood up and expressed his love for everyone in the church (in L'viv) and said that his prayers are with them. It was a very special moment.

The meeting ended and I walked over to his side of the chapel where he was, and he walked up to me with tears in his eyes. He gave me a big hug, then looked up to me and said "Thank you." I could see the joy and happiness in his face that only the love of the Savior Jesus Christ could bring. He understood the words of the Savior and he followed them. I am so grateful for his example and for the example of our Savior.

This fine brother learned that "When He (Christ) tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself" ( https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/wilt-thou-be-made-whole?lang=eng).

Moments as strong as that are rare. But when you have them, the only thing you can do is thank God that you were allowed be there and witness first hand that God's power is real. I know it is. He has the power to soften hearts, to stop the rivers of pain, and to mend any rip or tear. He is our Father. He loves us. He is always there for us.

Have a good week!

Love,

Elder Mitchell Gregory Hadfield

Family, here is a poem to start off my email

Good Timber

by Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

President Monson shared a part of this poem in the last general conference. I really like it and I thought I would share it with you. Our struggles, trials, and our greatest efforts are blessings that will strengthen us, fortify our faith, and our character.

Ok.... wow. I have so much to share this week but I am not really sure where to start. Let's see, a rundown of what happened this week.

On Tuesday morning we worked with Elder Bodell in the office on the going home video.

On Tuesday night we got to go to a basketball game. The L'viv Lions played a team from Mikolayev. this is part of the Super league, which is 14 professional teams in Ukraine. We went with a less active member and the branch president. Our branch president had never been to a baskatball game before so I spent much of the game explaining the rules to him. It was very fun and I enjoyed talking about basketball. On an even better note we had the chance to talk with some of the players. Two of them happened to be from the states. They had played in college and then decided to continue playing ball over seas. One of them was named Miles and we talked with him, his wife, and his little son. They had only been in Ukraine a short time and we invited them to church, told them we could translate into English, and told them we could help them find anything in L'viv helping them with the language. So that was cool. I hope something good comes from it.

On Friday we went out with the other elders to a Harry potter cafe. It was really fun. The only sketchy thing was that on the menu you could order mushrooms from the forbidden Forrest. We had a fun time.

On Friday night we gave the spiritual thought at family night. We played three songs. 1. A rap song,2. "Don't worry be happy", and 3. "Come thou fount." As we played them in sequence we told people to pay attention to their feelings. Then we told them that music is a great tool from God to bless our lives. As we know how music affects us, we can use it to protect us rather than harm us.

On Saturday we went trackting and contacting for most of the day. My companion is still not allowed to preach, so I had to do all the talking but I was ok with it. It was nice to let people know that the gospel has been restored. On Saturday there was also a conference of young members of the church in our mission in L'viv. I got to see a lot of my friends from other cities which was a huge blessing.

On Sunday we were in Ternopil for church. On the train there we met a really cool young couple from east Ukraine who were on their way home. We gave them a family proc and they gave us their information to send to the missionaries where they are from. What a cool blessing. The husband did not really speak Ukrainian, but we were blessed to understand him and even be able to talk with him. His wife spoke some Ukrainian, but most of our conversation was in Russian.

Great News, a husband and wife (members) from central Ukraine are moving to Ternopil this week. They were there on Sunday looking for an apartment so they came to church. This should help speed up the work in Ternopil.

In Ternopil the lake was frozen over, so we were able to go walking on it. An ice fisherman even let us take pictures with him!

Our trip back from Ternopil was great too. A man who we sat next to just asked question after question about us and the church and what we believe. There were about five other people on the bus who listened attentively to the whole conversation. We made a lot of friends and shared our message with a lot of people.

I think that is about it for cool things that happened to me this week. The weather here is pretty nice. The snow that you got looked really fun though!

I hope you have a good week. I love you all and miss you a lot.

love,

Elder Mitchell Hadfield

Family,

So here is a funny story that happened to us on the way to the Internet club today: So today I am on exchanges, this is transfer week, so there are a lot of missionaries in L'viv. We were walking down the street to the internet club and there was a man on the side of the road with his car stuck in a ditch. He yelled out to us for help, so we walked over to help him. He got out of the car and together we tried to lift the car out of the ditch. Right when we squatted down to get a good grip on the bottom of the car, I hear a rip. It wasn't my pants, but it was the pants of the missionary next to me. Poor guy. We ended up helping the man to get his car out of the ditch. Walking away we had a good laugh at the situation. Serving others does not always mean you are immune from bad things happening to you. The other missionary didn't know L'viv really well so I showed his to a clothes repair store that was close by and they stitched up the whole backside of his pants. To make a long story short, now I am here emailing you.

My week was ok! Thank you for singing for my birthday and for making/eating cake for me. I feel very special. On Sunday for church Yeva came up from Uzhhorod which was a pleasant surprise. Her four favorite elders were all in L'viv and she wanted to come up and see us., and wish me a happy birthday in person.

This week I ended up with the chance to skype President Kliebengat for an hour and a half from the office. President Kliebengat used to make videos for going home missionaries (like one for the whole group), and then give it to them as their keep sake. So our mission decided to do the same thing for the missionaries who go home. Anyway, we bought the same program that President Kliebengat uses. We skyped so that he could teach me how to use the program.

Good news everyone, we are now allowed to preach in L'viv. I can wear my name tag, carry a Book of Mormon, and talk to whomever I want about whatever I want!

This week I met my new companion Elder Vandermark. He has been on his mission just about a year and is from California. Something cool, we found out that we were in the same BYUI student ward for a semester. I really like him and we get along very well. He is really easy going and he has a really strong testimony. I am excited to be with him this transfer. This week has been pretty busy in the office getting ready for transfers. They are done, so our work load will go down here this next week which will be nice.

The last two nights we have had meeting with inactive members. Both of them have gone very well. Our meeting last night was with a couple who were sealed in a temple in Germany together, and have been in active for about three or four years. The husband has since been confined to his chair as it is hard for him to walk, and I think they stopped coming to church more because it got hard physically and less because of a testimony problem or being offended. We have a family night at the church on Friday,and we are going to go over to their house before it to pick them up. The wife was also very glad to hear about the teple in Kiev and she wants to start coming back to church so that she can go to the temple in Kiev.

After church on Sunday we went over to the Bodell's house because they needed help changing their filters. They are alder so it is hard on their arms to unscrew the filters. So we went to help them. After helping Sister Bodell gave us some really good cupcakes. We had planned on bringing two of them with us to give to the inactive members that we were going to visit that night, but after eating a few of them, we just ate the rest.

L'viv has been a pretty peaceful, quiet place this week! I am not really sure what is still going on in Ukraine, of if there is anything big going on, or what was decided. L'viv is a great place to be. The branch is really great too. There are a lot of pretty families which is always nice.

Man, I miss the Olympics. I have not heard much about the sadly. Maybe that can be one of my conversation starters this week on the buses? We'll give it a shot.

Well, I love you all very much! I miss you.

Love,

Elder Hadfield

Family:)

Today I want to start off a cool story that I hear at district meeting! Enjoy!

The Parable of the Turtle:There once lived a turtle called Shelly in a lake, which had two swans as her good friends. All three of them would meet on the banks of the lake everyday, and exchanged stories, before returning at sunset. They enjoyed each other's company. One year, there was no rain and lake started to dry. The swans got worried about the declining water level of the lake, and said to the turtle, "You will not be able to survive in this lake. All the water in the lake will soon dry up". The turtle was aware of the problem, "It is indeed difficult to live here anymore. Dear friends, please look for an alternate lake which is full of water. So first look for a lake full of water. Then find a strong stick from somewhere." The turtle continued, "Once you find another lake, you can carry me to the lake with a stick. I can hold the stick tightly with my mouth, while both of you can hold the stick at either ends and fly". As planned, the swans flew to distant places and after some time found a lake which had plenty of water in it. They returned to carry the turtle. They prepared to hold the stick from both the ends, and suggested the turtle, "Dear friend, everything seems fine. But make sure to keep your mouth tightly shut all the time. You must not speak, or you will fall off." Finally, they started flying. After some time, they had flown some distance when the turtle saw a town below. The people of the town were staring at the sight of two swans carrying a turtle in the sky. "Look at that! This is a rare sight that two birds are carrying a turtle with the help of a stick, I wonder who's idea that was?", they shouted! On hearing all the commotion, the turtle opened her mouth, "It was my idea!", she yelled. Needless to say, she went down the moment she opened her mouth, and the swans could do nothing to stop Shelly from falling down to the earth. As she fell down, the people of the town captured her to make a feast out of her.

So you might have caught on that the story is about pride. I feel like a lot of times in our lives, we are like the turtle, wanting to take credit for things that the Lord blesses us with. While the turtle was not flying by her own power, she felt very proud,and instead of remembering to keep her mouth closed, Shelly's pride was her downfall...literally! Just a cool thought for you to start off the week! I know that everything that I have, everything that I am, and everything that I will be is from God. Most of the times I don't even deserve His high blessings, but he sends them to me anyway.

One of the blessings that I feel is one of peace and safety. I am sure that you heard about the situation getting a little worse this week in Ukraine. Some people from L'viv died in Kiev this week, and their bodies were brought back and they had a huge funeral ceremony for them at a very large Catholic church right down the street from our apartment. It is a little scary to be in a country where there is a bit of turmoil going on, but I feel safe and protected. Nothing really major is going on in L'viv, which is good, I am safe and still very able to focus on my work as a Missionary. Our Mission president has us all very prepared for any situation that could occur. Though it is unlikely that an emergency would happen, we all have 72 hour kits and an emergency plan just in case. Being prepared defiantly brings peace of mind in any situation. For safety reasons all missionaries in Ukraine are now asked not to wear name tags, but most of us can still preach (everyone except L'viv). We continue to be optimistic and use all of our talents to share the gospel. My companion, Elder Randell, is very good at teaching English. That is one of his talents, so we have made that a really fun part of our week. We had our class do a treasure hunt all over the church in English (duh). We were sneaky because we got them to go on a self-guided church tour, in a low stress setting.This brought up many questions from them about what we do in the different rooms, especially in the chapel. Now when we invite them to church I think they will feel more comfortable and willing to come, having already been around us, and around the church itself! Win for English class!

This week Elder Malm came to L'viv for a few days. I guess he had planned on going to Russia but there were bombings there to protest the Olympics. I am not really sure. All I really know is what I hear, and that is not much. Well, on P-days we go to this restaurant and get gyros (which are way good) and the Ukrainian news is always on, so we get to hear a little bit about what is going on in the world. Though it is nice because our Mission President usually keeps us informed about what is going on. I feel like that is better. Elder Malm is in the area presidency. If I am not mistaken he is the second counselor and he is from Norway. I didn't get to talk to him, I only got to shake his hand in passing but he looked like a very warm, friendly man. I think he is a 70, if I am not mistaken. So that was a buzz in L'viv amongst the missionaries.

So it is snowing in DC huh? That is nice (for the Girls), I am sure it makes the commute to work much harder. Living on the outside of the city myself we normally have to take a 30-45 minute bus ride. Today we were squished in the back of the bus. I would say about 130 people were on that bus, and about 15 of them were inside my personal bubble. Personal bubble.... well, I don't really have one, because here, they do not really exist haha. In L'viv it has been snowing pretty much all week. It is not packable snow though,so no snowmen... It started right after we got done with email last Monday, and guess what? It is still snowing right now! The temperature has dropped, but that is ok,I have plenty of warm clothes. So I guess you could say that I am enjoying the snow. In a couple places the snow was up to my knees. I got in the snow just for a picture even though my companion warned me that I might regret it.Did I regret it? Not at first because I had a really cool picture...but then my legs started to freeze because a bunch of snow got in my boots (my boots are so nice and warm, I haven't fell once). On Sunday I got to shovel snow at the church after the third hour. It was a lot of fun and it brought back memories of shoveling sydenstryker during that huge snowfall we had that one time. There is a really cute family in the branch and their two sons came out and got their toy shovels and were like "Dad, we want to help shovel!" When it was time for them to go their dad called them told they they needed to go and they answered him "But dad we didn't finish yet." It was Kodak moment!

That is about all that I had planned to say for this week. Be safe, and remember that I love you! Don't forget your prayers. I had been wondering for a while if prayers on behalf of other people even get answered, or how that works,because that has been a tough concept for me. But yesterday the thought struck me, was the Atonement not a prayer by Jesus Christ on everyone else's behalf? That was a confirmation to me of how powerful our prayers for others can be. Thanks for your prayers, I feel them very strongly! You are in my prayers!

Love,

Elder Hadfield

Dear Family,

We finally got snow this week! I woke up and the snow was coming down. We got on a bus to head over to the office, and I really wanted to talk to someone on the bus. By the way I am able to wear my name tag now! So I planned in my head to say "Wow, at last we have snow" to the guy standing next to me to start a conversation. Something happened and I just blurted out "Hey, by the way there is snow." The guy looked at me like "well, duh..." Sometimes talking with people is awkward, but I love being a missionary because talking with other people makes me very happy. The restrictions that we have in L'viv may look like the limit us on the surface. But nothing can stop the work of the Lord from going forward. Success is an attitude. And it is one that we have here. We are still able to talk with as many people as we can. We might not be able to flat out talk about the gospel, but that is not stopping us from reaching the people of L'viv. They see the light that we have in our eyes and they want to know what we have that makes us happy. And that is all it takes. Even though serving in L'viv may seem like a challenge, I think it is a huge blessing. Both to me, and to the people who live here!

Well, this week has been quite the crazy one. On Friday President Lattin pulled Elder Robinett and I into his office to talk with us. He said that he wanted to mix up the companionships in L'viv and he felt it would be a good move. So I am now serving with Elder Randell, he moved from Center out to my apartment, and my old companion went to center. I have been with Elder Randell for a few day (we moved on Saturday) and he is way great. He is from Alaska/Tennessee. The funny part is that I am the tallest Elder in the mission and he is the shortest, so it looks kind of funny when we stand by one another. I am really happy to be able to serve with him. He is really nice, and we get along really well. He has a very strong testimony about the gospel. It was sad to slit with Elder Robinett, but we decided it was ok, because we will always be good friends. We planed some fun outings after our missions to look forward too!

This Sunday Elder Randell and I were in Ternopil! As always I feel so blessed to be able to go there and have interaction with the saints there. They are remarkable people. I have never felt the spirit stronger in a church meeting than I have sitting around a small conference table in a hotel room in Ternopil, hearing them tell about their love of the gospel and their love of our Father in Heaven.

This week for Ukrainian Christmas we took a fun trip out to a village to visit a member and his non-member family.  After some struggles getting out there we had a really good day. He has a really cool family, but was a bit scared to share the gospel with them. So we got to know them and they told us about themselves and we ate dinner. Dinner was good. Welcome to the Missionary life!

I love you all so much! I hope you have a good week. I hope my picture proved to emily that pigs are not cute animals. And I hope you remember to say your prayers!

with love,

Elder Hadfield

Happy New Year to Everyone,

Here is a bit of a compilation of the last few months. I have been serving in L’viv Ukraine at the Mission Office.

I am getting settled in L'viv pretty well. We found an apartment, and we will move in on Thursday of this week. It has been a blast living with the other elders here. They are so fun. When I left Chernivtsi I thought I was done with being a branch clerk, but I guessed wrong. I was called yesterday to be the assistant branch clerk here, because I know how the system works and what to do, and how to do it, and they called a new member to be the branch clerk, so I am helping to train him to be a clerk. By the way, he has the coolest chops (facial hair) I have ever seen. I am very excited to help him and help the branch.

Just a quick question, did the things happening in Ukraine make world news? Just wondering. I think it is mainly in Kiev, but also things in L'viv have been pretty crazy this week. There have been a lot of protests and rallies in the center of the city. Ok, now on to what I did this week.

At the start of this week we were able to go with the branch president out to a small village to visit a family of members. The dad is active but the mom is not active, but it might have something to do with the fact that they just had a little boy who is way cute. It was a lot of fun to visit them. The bus ride back was really bumpy because of the horrible road that we were driving, but since it was an hour drive I was able to strike up a good conversation with the person next to me. I love speaking Ukrainian with Ukrainians! It's such a good feeling when you in the middle of a deep conversation and then you realize "Hey, I am not speaking English."

My Thanksgiving was great! It was so fun. We thawed it out and them I rubbed the turkey spices all over it and then we got him cooking. We made stuffing too. We got a stuffing receipt that had wheat bread, apples, and walnuts, among other things so we decided to try it. It turned out to be way good. Not as good as Mom's, but I was proud of it. We also made potatoes and pistachio pudding to go along with the rest of the meal. After our dinner we were so tired. Oh, we went around the table right before we ate and said what we were thankful for. I am thankful for God, my family, for my friends, and for my country.

You will be happy to know that we got all moved into our new apartment on Saturday night. It was a blast living with the other elders, but it is nice not sleeping on an air mattress. Plus it is a lot easier to get to studies on time in the morning because it was hard with four people and only one shower. Our apartment is very nice, and so is our landlord. We are about 30 minutes out of center and away from the church, and the mission was a little hesitant to let us move out here because it is apparently the "ghetto" of L'viv. But I think it is a very nice area. We live right next to a playground where little kids play and a school.

Tonight we are going over to the office couple's house for dinner at five, and then we are having family home evening with them and a less active family from the branch at their apartment. We are so excited.

On Saturday we went on splits with members to go out to talk to people. Since right now in L'viv, missionaries are not allowed to preach. So we went with members, and they talked with people, and we were with them to help them out and teach them how to be a missionary. My day was very special because I got to go out with a member named Sasha from Uzhhorod. Elder Sweeten and I found him while we were in Uzhhorod but then a week or two later I got transfered. Anyway he ended up getting baptized and he happened to be in L'viv for the day. And what better way to spend your vacation than contacting people and telling them more about the gospel! We even contacted into a less active member, went to her home helping her carry her heavy bags in the snow and were able to pray with her and her husband. They invited us back and expressed desire to begin attending church again!

On Sunday we had the opportunity to travel to Ternopil for the day to hold a church service. Once again I was blown away with the spirit that the saints in Ternopil carry. They may be few in numbers, but as far as I am concerned they are some of the most spiritually strong people I have ever met. Their faith blows me away. One of the Members from Africa came up to me to ask about getting his membership records transfered so that he would be able to pay his fast offering! We took a train to get to Ternopil in the morning, and half way through the meeting President Lattin showed up because he was in a close by city for church. So he spoke and then we all drove back to L'viv in the mission vehicle with the mission driver and a senior missionary. We heard two talks from members there. The first one was on the atonement as Christ's gift to us, and the other one was about having hope in Jesus Christ.

As far as office work goes, I get to sort out the phone bill every month to make sure every one is doing what they are supposed to with their phones. That took a lot of time on Microsoft excel as we use a lot of formulas to sort out the entries because there are ten's of thousands of them each month. Also we got these little scripture books printed that we designed and made for Sister Lattin as a gift for all the missionaries for Christmas to help them memorize scriptures in Ukrainian. Every Friday we have a "staff" meeting in the office which is really fun to be at. The nice thing is that we don't have to be in the office too much, so we still get to have the fun of being missionaries. 

There is funeral that all the elders are going to today. A lady in the branch had her father die. And she asked the missionaries and the branch president for help. We will be carrying the casket and the cross for them. Her father is not a member so the funeral will be done by another church I think. I am interested to see how it will be. I am glad that this woman is a member of the church and she will be able to take comfort in the gospel knowledge that she has about the life after death. This will help her through this tough time in her life.

This week we had an area 70 come to sacrament meeting. He spoke Russian, but I was able to understand his talk pretty well. He talked a lot about couples, and the need to still show your love for each other, as you grow older. He gave a scenario where one wife asked her Husband "Dear, do you love me?" to which her husband replies "Yes, I told you like ten years ago.... if anything changes I will let you know!" The area 70 then emphasized the need to share our love often, both in words and in actions.

This week I got to see President Boychook at the office from Chernivtsi. He is such a great man. He shared a little miracle with me that I would like to pass on. Tolik, one of my recent converts there had been struggling with attending church for a while, so President Boychook grabbed Vitally (another one of my recent converts who is on fire) and they went to home teach Tolik. Anyway, Tolik is back and going strong!

On New Tears Eve we had to be in at five pm for safety reasons. So Elder Robinett and I made ourselves a nice dinner (Chicken wings, veggies, potatoes, and bread), listened to some church music, read the Liahona, worked out a little, and went to sleep. We are on the top floor of our building and we have a lot of windows on either side of the apartment. Our apartment is very open from one side to the other, so when huge fireworks started going off all over the city at 23:55 the apartment became very light. We could hear loud noises from the fireworks, and our beds are right next to a huge widow too, so we could see them. It was hard to sleep. The fireworks lasted for about an hour. After which, we were able to sleep well until the morning. This morning we got up, and decided that we wanted to start 2014 off the right way. So what did we do? We went on a 40 minute run, came back, stretched, and did some abs. We both agreed that it felt really good. I wore my Cowboys sweatshirt running (as always). It keeps me nice and warm.

Right now I am sitting at a computer in the apartment of the senior couple who works in the office with us. They are the Boddells. Elder and Sister Boddell are so great. They invited us to come over, do email, and then have lunch with them today. They are from Salt Lake, and being in the office we get to have a lot of interaction with them. We love them, and they love us. They are such good people. So know I am being taken care of, and I will have a good meal today!

I love you all.

Elder Hadfield