tevye has a twin that lives in my town

family!

oh my gosh. the things to be said about this week! i don't even know where to begin, so i'll see what i can do. this week has been named the week of miracles, and we absolutely can't take credit for any of it. also, the past few days have been STUNNING! golden autumn sun, golden autumn leaves, i don't even know what to do with myself. it's almost pathetic the joy sunshine brings to my soul. and when it's not too hot or too cold, just sunny and beautiful? the best. so the aim of this email, is to show hannah (SO EXCITED FOR YOU!) how miraculous and incredible missions are. because i'm embarrassed that the first two ukrainian emails were a tad bit more realistic. ready set go. i think i'll do this by people. and then any remaining points will get thrown in at the end? pachemu vui nyet. (why not.) and i'm saving the greatest miracle of our week as the last person in this collection.

VALENTINA. she's a babushka we met on the streets, but when we went to the appointment we had set a few weeks ago, she wasn't there. we tried coming back a little while later, but then moved on to trying to find some less actives, assuming we must have gotten dogged or forgotten about. that was one of those dark evenings on the streets, and when we had a moment of trying to decide what to do next after visiting a less active, we narrowed it down to visiting a member or waiting for someone to be able to let us into the stairwell of a member we were trying to stop by and visit. i suggested trying to go see valentina one more time, but we ended up going to visit a member. well, this past week we saw her again on the streets and we discovered that she had just been outside for a moment with her grandkids, and when we returned and no one was there, her grandson must have been out trying to get her. and then she said she had cooked something for us and waited. we felt TERRIBLE! it was a valuable lesson in following those promptings that come from suddenly you're thinking of someone all the time. (there's another story later about this.) we set up a return appointment for last saturday, but the same day we went and tried to deliver some GORGEOUS chrysanthemums that were yellow and looked like those poofy sunflowers. of course she wasn't home, so we decided to try to go visit a less active that we had the address for that was slightly nearby (nearby is ochen (very) relative here. it takes forever to go anywhere.) well, the less active wasn't there. but we struck up conversation with a babushka sitting outside the stairwell of her dom, and then a few other nearby babushka joined the conversation as well. one of the women's names is hope, but in russian, obviously, which is so much prettier. it's pronounced na-dej-da. (Steve edit: the name hope in Russian is spelled Надежда). look it up on google translate or something. i love it. there's a special place in heaven for babushki that make us feel like we're the tops. there really is. that afternoon was also a beautiful one, so there were many a babushki sitting together on benches or dedushki (grandpas) sitting on benches. one of those moments that i want to reserve a right to rewatch when i get to heaven and have a photograph of. (the photographer in me dies every day at how many things i can't capture.) anyway we stopped by valentina's on the way back after talking to these women for over half an hour, and we arrived right as she was arriving home too! it was priceless. and her face completely lit up when she saw the flowers were for her. it was the best. and now for the funny part. on saturday morning we taught her a lesson about the restoration, and she was surprisingly super receptive and calm through it all. and her granddaughter came in and out every so often. well, right as she was about to pray for the first time, we heard her granddaughter right outside the kitchen door coughing. and then she THREW UP! i kid you not. it was so pricelessly hilarious. don't worry, i didn't laugh at the time. but the timing was just too good. so that was fun. we're meeting with her again this week. :)

SASHA. he's a man we met on the street who is legitimately friendly, which isn't a word i'd ever use to describe anyone else i've met here, even though many are nice or kind or whatever else. he's probably in his forties and he seriously would be the greatest church member. we can just see him as a branch president or elder's quorum president or something. we haven't officially met with him, but he's one that i was thinking of all week that we need to call and set something up with. and then yesterday we ran into him on the street! so that was cool. he lives somewhere super close to our dome, we think. and he ADORES history. he reminds me a lot of dad. he just gets talking to us on the street and goes on and on about history. usually world war two. last time he threw in some chernobyl. we think he'll eat up the book of mormon, so we're heading off to deliver one this evening. he's our next miracle goal. because he would be so good in the church. not to mention he used to be an alcoholic, but stopped pretty much cold turkey in his twenties and decided he didn't want to live like that. that's a big deal, because a lot of people here, men particularly, walk around beer bottle in hand. (least favorite scent in the world? beer.)

BABUSHKA ILIZAVETA. this is a woman that the elders we replaced used to take the sacrament to every week since she's too sick to make it to church. she's 93! even though we can't take the sacrament, we go visit her anyway and sing hymns. her favorite is i need thee every hour. once again, special place in heaven for babushkas that make us feel priceless. she kept kissing our hands and then holding them to her eyes. and she cried both times we've been there. love her. and babushka blessings are the best. they bless with health, safety, whatever else. the best.

TAXI MAN. this isn't that exciting. but i was in the front seat of our taxi for the first time on saturday on our way to the branch. we were running late after our lesson with valentina, so we took a taxi. and i struck up conversation with him. he was rather crabby when we first got in the car. but just from talking to him about his family, kharkiv, america, etc. he was actually kind of cheerful when we got out of the car. just an egg to crack, like every other person. i get a weird sort of joy out of egg-cracking, i must admit. though i think he partially was just laughing at me in some ways as a silly young girl, but i'll take what i can get. smile passed along, egg cracked? check. not to mention he told me i speak well pa-russki, especially for only two weeks. :)

TAMARA. she is the main event and crowning glory of this week. i don't even have the words to describe her or our experiences with her, so i'll apologize for that now. but let's just start with the fact that she's on date for baptism november 10th! ahh. where to even begin. well, last week we met with her multiple times, but we went to her home for the first time last thursday. oh, glory. to get there, we started by getting on the right marshutka, but going the wrong direction. then we got off and had to get on another marshutka and a very kind man directed us from there to get to where we were going. so we got off of that one after a few stops and towards the correct one. but then that one went back to where we should have started in the first place. and then we finally were on the right one, right direction. soooo four marshutki later, we finally arrived at tamara's. haahaha. afterwards i made the connection between that turning of events and jane's story that she told me right before my mission about being in italy with dan and trying to get to that house. and thing after thing happened, but nothing was going to stop us from getting there. and having a beautiful lesson. and getting her on date. priceless. her home was humbling, though. the moment that really got me was when she turned up the blanket on her bed and there we saw literally just the metal spring frame of a mattress covered with blankets and part of a child's mattress pad. i think my heart broke many times this week for tamara and how unfair her world is. she is so kind, and sacrifices so much for her grandchildren and other people. she reminds me of mom a lot. we're working on getting a mattress through the branch somehow. and then there's the fact that she feels sick and awful pretty much all the time because she's diabetic, but has no insulin. and has had two strokes. and she described her money situation and the price of medicines that don't necessarily even work, she doesn't have a doctor to go to that she can trust, not to mention the bills, utilities, and food. plus the fact that being diabetic limits the food she can eat. i wish so badly that i could give her the whole world and send her home with me and share my family with her. she deserves the world and more. well, saturday we met with her and the commitment had been to read alma 32. from the very moment that i asked her if she had read it, something within her just lit up, and as we continued to talk about it and she told us about it, she literally was glowing though we were sitting in a dark room at dusk with a very small light on. it was so beautiful. i wish you could all feel the joy that filled my soul to watch her make those connections, receive those answers at long last, and really begin to understand. she pointed out verse 16 from her reading, which says, "blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe." she had been really concerned about wanting to read the whole book of mormon first before being baptized, and had so many questions she wanted answers too. but she pointed that out and quietly said, "i read that. and i realized that was me. my heart was stubborn." and on her own, she had made that connection. ahh. my descriptions are week, but there was so much power and joy that filled my soul as i watched this light within her burn. there's power in the book of mormon. i couldn't have found a more perfect and personalized message for her if i had wanted too. the lord works in mysterious ways, and is all-knowing. he knows his children, so personally. a few minutes later, i don't even remember how it came up, but we were able to witness the moment of realization that hit her when she truly recognized what it means that we are all brothers and sisters. we lived with god before, and that's why we call each other sister or brother, or whatever else. and then she said that there was something about having sister missionaries instead of the elders she had before that she just could suddenly see that connection. my words are weak, just as mormon says in ether 12, but it was so powerful to witness. so beautiful. even before these moments this week, i realized that i'm in kharkov, in this sketchy area of town that they haven't had sisters in in years, for tamara specifically. we are in x.t.z. so that we could be with tamara and help her come to this. and maybe they won't have sisters here in this place and in this gross apartment (that is actually growing on me. standards of cleanliness become a very different thing as a missionary compared to real life. ha.) ever again after these two transfers. and we maybe would even recommend that. but for us. right here. right now. we're here for tamara. she is a miracle. please pray for her. pray for her health, for her faith, for her happiness. she does so much for other people, and yet she is so alone. often she talks a lot when we go to her, because she has no one else to really talk to. and when one of our branch members (cectpa vita - sent from heaven to bless missionaries) called her one day to just check up on her and talk, she said it was such a surprise and pleasure. to know someone was thinking of her. ahh. i love this woman. i know you all would too.

the babushki are either the nicest or the meanest of all the people we meet. // i've gotten more dirty looks in the past two weeks than probably in my entire life. it's kind of priceless, really. // we count our success by seeing how many people we can get to give us a hello, good morning, smile, half smile, or whatever else in response to telling people hello on the streets. saturday morning? we were five out of our first five for awhile in getting cheerful (relatively) responses. // if nothing else, i'm effectively scattering kharkiv with good mornings, good days, and good evenings and a smile as well as flowers for some of the people we go visit sometimes. cectpa armknecht and i are loving baking things for people or bringing them flowers. it's a nonexistent art that brings light to anyone's life. everyone, go buy fresh flowers for a babushka somewhere and deliver them. her face will light up. promise. // yesterday we helped in primary because cectpa armknecht can play the piano like a wizard. it was priceless. in case you were wondering, singing time in primary is a universal chaos. :) i loved every second. obviously.// i love when you can hear the ukrainian influence in people's russian. specifically when they make an 'h' sound where it would be 'g' in russian. i get a weird joy out of hearing it. // the branch president told me i look like i'm from louisiana, new mexico, or something. that my face looks french. ha. // family heritage comes up a lot here. and people LOVE photographs. so, family. ukraine keeps seeing your beautiful faces. //  i've discovered a new love of oatmeal here. there's this ukraininan way of making it with milk where there's milk, a pinch of sugar and salt, and more milk than oats. it sounds weird. but it's so good. i'm obsessed. and grechna? it's like a buckwheat thing that we eat with smantana (kind of like sour cream) and ikra (like a vegetable sauce mix, that mostlly just tastes like pumpkin.) ahhh it's so good. i'm going to die when i get back to america. so many good things here. // our apartment is like a sauna. it's almost irritating. but we'll appreciate it more later. // our neighbor invited us to come over sometime. that NEVER happens here. we're excited.

i love you all. missions are miracles. i'm grateful every day to be serving here in the beautiful city of harkov. i'm grateful every day to be in the novi doma branch. and i'm grateful every day to be serving in x.t.z. mostly, i'm just grateful to be in ukraine. this week cectpa armknecht (have i mentioned yet how great she is? she's great. and she turns 22 on friday! partay! well, missionary style, anyway.) were talking about how we feel like we've changed so much from who we were when we started our missions. even our appearance has changed/we can feel it changing. older. her more than me, obviously, because she's been here longer. but anyway. it's weird to think about when i'll be returning home and how different i'll be by then if i'm so different now. it's strange, but thrilling. ahhhh. this life is seriously the best. even if tamara is the only person that i ever had the privilege of knowing on my mission, the experiences with her make every rainy day, every fall on the uneven roads (i fell last night. oops.), every scary walk through dark streets, every cold morning, every crowded and pushy environment, and every dirty look more than worth it. the members here are amazing. the people are amazing. there are so many little moments that make it worth it, but especially the big miraculous ones. you're probably wiser than me and already know all these things, hannah. but be excited. i'm so so excited for you. and even more excited to see where you'll serve. cectpa armknecht and i also talked this week about how they don't exactly send just anyone to russian speaking missions, especially ours. for many reasons. but hannah, you would absolutely be able to handle it. and would love it. so you never know. i can have my hopes for another russian-speaking family member. :)

you're all incredible! your examples inspire me. as do your thoughts, prayers, and everything you've taught me through life. every little thing makes a difference.

lots of love,
cectpa em nevrakis.
[president campero calls me sister nevrakis. he loves it. and it always comes up in conversation's here, people asking about ancestry and names. so maybe i'm thinking about changing my nametag name when tablichka (nametag) orders come around. :) ]