Merry Christmas!

If you think I have gone crazy and forgot what day it is, let me reassure you, I am OK. Today is Ukrainian Christmas. I am not really sure why they have another Christmas, but I am not complaining. It was a semi-white Christmas today. Big white flakes are falling but nothing is sticking so I don't really think it counts for much! I am really sorry about not sending pictures yet, we are still trying to find an Internet cafe that will allow us to use the USB port to send things. I will do my best to be able to send some home next week.

In Ukraine, Christmas eve is a pretty big deal. Last night my companion and I decided to go caroling. We went door to door and sand songs. Sometimes we would switch of and sing in English (on a funny note some of the English songs we sang were "if you could hie to kolob" and "we thank thee o God for a prophet"). They people we sang to loved it and thought we were great! Then after we finished singing we would give them a family proclamation. They took it happily and thanked us. I felt some pretty strong Christmas Spirit last night. Which seems weird because it is already January, but I am not going to question it. We did run into a few problems though... In Ukraine it is customary to give carolers money, which obviously we aren't allowed to accept. This one family was so adamant about it that they forced us to take some money. So we decided we will find someone who is homeless and buy food for them with our caroling money.

Good News! We found a church building! What a relief... Like I said, my companion and I had been doing some major hunting for a building all week, and all of the sudden a building just fell into our laps, that is perfect for what are needs are at this time. The land lady is super nice, and willing to help us get the place ready. We are allowed to start using it on the 15th of January. It has a great location in the middle of town, right next to a castle and a big cathedral. The funny part about the whole thing is that we didn't find the building through our own efforts. It was a miracle from God that just came to us. I am reminded of a scripture in Moroni (excuse me, I only have my Ukrainian scriptures with me right now), where Moroni says something to the effect of "you only receive the miracles after the trial of your faith. We have been showing our faith by doing our best to find a building, and a miracle came. Speaking of miracles, we have seen countless this week. I really wish I had time to type them all out:(

This might seem odd, but would you mind sending me the nutrition facts of Honey? My companion and I love the Honey here. It is way different from the stuff that we get back home and we ate a whole tub of it last night with dinner ha ha. OK, it was a smaller container, but still! We are pessimistic that it is good for us because it tastes so good! We also go through milk like crazy. Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by that. We joke around a lot that we could really use the promise in the Book of Mormon of "Milk and Honey without price." Speaking of food, I am learning to cook some really great Ukrainian food. Mom, I know I didn't want them when I was at home, but I would would send me some fun recipes I will use them for sure:) Vegetables are dirt cheap here, so anything with that would be great! You can use your discretion with what recipes to send!

I loved all of your letters:) They make my day! I miss my sisters so much! Amanda, thank you for the scripture, Emily, feel better:(, Jessica, you are so sweet! Good luck with the work rush! I also loved the pictures, please keep including those. I was sad to hear about the Cowboys, but I love to see that dad is still repping them! I wear my Cowboys sweatshirt every day! It keeps me nice and warm. I wore it on our EPIC run to Slovakia! I will send a picture of it. We took a back road and honestly we were not sure how close we got. We are pretty sure we were there since on the map the border where we are is a huge forest, and we got to a huge line of trees! Well, I love you all, I will write more next week.

Love,

Elder Hadfield