June 26 2011, Khmelintsky, Ukraine

Dear loved ones,

Saturday night at 6"00 we left Kyiv on a journey to Khmelintsky. We have been given this opportunity by Pres. Steinagel to love the members and build this branch. We are still responsible for Ros Branch and Bila Tserkva branch in Bila Tserkva.You have got to know how much I Love the train. We always get a full coupe and we can stretch out on the seats and even sleep on a pad and clean sheets.But... The bathrooms on the train are not to be used. I have tried and I just can't. So... I was glad the trip to Khmelintsky was only 6 hours. I kind of dehydrate my self the day before and I am a happy camper. Anyway ... I do love the view as we jostle down the tracks. i see amazing things. I actually saw the Ukrainian flag. Blue sky and a golden wheat field. Just for a moment before the trees again blocked my view of the country side.
We arrived in K at midnight and we were really tired.We slept well in the clean and modern hotel Podilla. It is right around the corner form the church,which happens to be above a sports bar in a soccer stadium.( Brent you should like that)
I have to say that our meetings were wonderful. 21 people in attendance (that's with 6 missionaries) It is so difficult to see that all of these people are single. Marriage is difficult as the government keeps everyone in their place and it is difficult to break that hold the old soviet rules have on the people as well as the government. It is difficult to get higher education. Basically you have to buy it. Salaries are minimal and it is difficult to even take care of your self. Having a family comes with money and who you know. Tough row to hoe. Many if not all want to marry and they keep looking beyond the mark. The single people in their branch are more like their siblings. We have mulled this over and beaten it until it is dead with several of the single people we know. We have no solution. They will have to work it out. I digress.
Pres. Megega is a small compact, Russian with tremendous courage and strength. He is the branch Pres. He is also single. We had a special musical number in between My talk and Elder Mayberry's talk. Elder mahoney sang and Elder Hoefling (from Mesa) accompanied him. Sister Yakmova played the violin. She plays in the Philharmonic orchestra.It was Lovely.After church Elder Hoefling and Elder Johnson had a contact and actually the contact came in and asked to be baptized. He had been taught a few months ago and went the wrong path for a while. He now sees the blessing of the gospel and the word of wisdom and wants to be baptized. They will meet with he and his family this week and they have a date for the 30th of June. COOL!
We walked to Elder Mahoney (Canada) and Davis(Ghana) apartment and we waited for Elder Hoefling and Johnson to arrive. Elder Davis cooked a Ghanan dish for our dinner. It was spicy hot. I have now graduated to the not so spicy food. It was delicious and I loved every bite until about 3 hours later. My gallbladder was on fire. I was up until about 4:30 this morning and I still hurt.A little Baking soda in a glass of water has helped.So no more Spice for me.
We caught the train back to Kyiv @7:00pm and away we went. We slept more comfortably on this leg of our journey. Caught a Taxi at 2:15am and home we came. We have had lovely soft rain for the past week. I have prayed for it to go to AZ. No luck yet. Just know that HE is the gardener and we are the currant bush.

So that is our weekend. We love you so much and we think of you so often. Thanks for the pictures and for the letters. Sending a ton of Hugs and Kisses.
Sister Mayberry/ Mom
The pictures are of the Silver linings I see every evening.It makes me think of Dad. Look for the Silver Lining. I remember he sang it to me when he was in the hospital the first time and he was planning his funeral. I sing it all the time now. I am always looking for the Silver Lining. The shield on the wall is of where Khmelnitsky is in relationship to the country of Ukraine.

one more time

pics

Georgia

I am not getting this!!! Georgia was wonderful and I really loved meeting the people and just learning of their history. Msia, our translator, is a dear. I truly love her. She is more than a pioneer of the church. She is a giant in making things happen there. I will try to post pictures. I am awrull at this and explaining what is there. Can't you guys just read between the lines??? :-)))

this weeks pics

Kiev from the botanical Gardens. The church in the botanical Gardens.
The sunset out our window in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Pics explanation

Hello! Per Dave's request here is the explanation of the pictures that I posted last week.
1.) Elder whatshisname from the Donestk mission, Sister Park, Sister Humpherys, Elder Park, Elder Humpherys, Elder Mayberry in the Sofia, Bulgaria Mission/Church parking lot. Four missionaries ,the Parks, the Humpherys were in Bulgaria to get their visas worked over. We have to go out of country for 4 days just before our 1 year date in Ukraine. We on the other hand were their to look at medical facilities.

2.)Elder Mayberry looking very cute in his Ukrainian hat. Me looking very tired. We are in the Vienna, Austria airport on our way to Sofia, Bulgaria.

3.)We are taking a tour of the Castle where the Crimea Accord was signed by Roosevelt, Churchill and that other guy. this woman kept looking at us with that smile and pointing to her chest where our name tags were and nodding yes. She is a member from Donetsk, Ukraine.

4.) Elder Mayberry, Agna, and Sister Mayberry. We are in Vilnius, Lithuania. Agna was our interpreter and drove us around all day. She picked us up in Kaunas, Lithuania and drove us the 90 miles to Vilnius.

5.) This is the center stone in ths old town square in Tallinn, Estonia. It reminded me of our trip to Boston. On Bunker Hill there is a compass marker that starts the red line to all the famous places in Boston. Steve and I took a picture there of us starting our journey through the city.

6.) These are the flowers of a plant I have tried so hard not to kill these past 5 months. I for get to water them I all most froze them this winter by having the window open as we fought the cigarette smoke from our neighbors.

7.) Elder Mayberry with Nicoli in Varna, Bulgaria. He is a wonderful man. He is active inthe church and he is and engineer. he works on the huge windmills as an alternative energy source for Bulgaria. he was a great interpreter as well.

8.) Kiev. Old town Ukrainian Orthodox church. Renovating as it is crumbling. The in the back. The foundation is washing away as it is on a little hill. The constructon of roads and sidewalks have caused erosion at the base of the church.

There you have it. It takes me so long to write and twice as long to post pictures at the same time. Maybe I will learn to do both at the same time. there is always hope.

Kharkiev

Hello!! We are off to Kharkiev tonight on the overnight train. It will be a 6 hr. trip. We leave at 11:55pm and arrive at 6:01 am. Fun. We will be leading a discussion on health and sanitary food preparation. Thought you might like to see some pictures. Hugs!