Enduring

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Odessa.  I say wonderful, not because the city is beautiful, which it is, but because of what we felt as we met with the saints there.  It was cold and rainy and windy – not the best time to visit a beautiful tree lined city on the Black Sea.  In spite of the weather, our hearts truly burned within us as we heard and pondered the testimonies given by the earliest of the members in that city.  We came to speak at a fireside, hoping to uplift, and left edified and uplifted by the examples of steadfastness and faith we observed.

Branch President, Oleg Chernikov, along with the Elders’ Quorum President, met us at the airport.  On the way into the city, Howard asked Pres. Oleg how long he had served as branch president.  This was because he had been branch president when Howard had finished his missionary service in Ukraine 22 years ago.  Pres. Oleg replied that he had served only 1 ½ years so far, except that this was his fourth time in that calling!  Pres. Oleg was the very first person baptized in Odessa and obviously has remained a faithful servant of the Lord ever since that time.  Other long-time members greeted Howard with joy. 

The fireside was not what we expected at all, but it was amazingly wonderful.  All of the branches met together for the fireside in which they commemorated the birth of the LDS Church in Ukraine. The saints acted out the beginnings of the Church in Odessa and read Elder Boyd K. Packer’s prophecy which he gave at the country’s dedication for the preaching of the Gospel.  Then each of the early first members told of their own conversion story and bore their testimony.  As they each finished their part, they placed pictures symbolic of the prophecy on a map of Ukraine, showing that at a future day, there will be stakes and temples all over the country. The Spirit was as strong as I’ve ever felt it.  Howard and I were to follow this wonderful outpouring.  We both cut our planned talks short and responded to the theme of the evening.  Howard was able to do so in Russian.   I had a wonderful translator to help me.

Our talks emphasized how important it is to endure to the end.  Enduring to the end doesn’t mean just waiting around until we die. It means staying true to the covenants that we have made with the Lord - covenants of faithfulness and service. It means doing our best for our entire lives.  For me, Howard is a living sermon of enduring to the end.  The saints in Odessa are also such sermons and we commended them for it.  Many other saints have moved from the area because of the war or for better work opportunities.  An entire branch moved some years ago to rural area hard to access.  Young people leave for schooling opportunities or to be married.  And yet in Odessa, there are stalwart members who are enduring to the end, faithfully holding church meetings in small branches and serving over and over in leadership positions.  Mission President Kenneth Packer spoke briefly at the last, relating stories about his grandfather, President Boyd K. Packer, who loved work and taught his posterity to work.  An original work of art by President Boyd K. Packer depicting draft horses pulling a plough was used as a visual aid to encourage the saints to press forward.  Said Mission President Packer, “The foundation has been laid. Let us press forward in bringing to pass the fulfillment of the prophecy given at Ukraine’s dedication twenty-five years ago.”

I have to relate my feelings the next morning as I partook of the Sacrament.  We sat in the back and I could see the members receiving of the emblems of the Lord’s Atonement.  I was overwhelmed with love for them and wiped tears from my chin as the Spirit taught me.  I understood what was happening as week after week these good people accepted the Atonement into their lives and invited the Spirit to sanctify them.  The Spirit whispered to me “These are my people; these are of the blood of Israel; I am sanctifying them.” 

On a lighter note, I’ve had some experiences that have required me to “endure” patiently.  A week ago last Saturday, I asked our driver to take me and a young sister I met at church in Kiev to her grandmother’s house located in a village outside of Kiev.  I had no idea how far away it was until we had driven nearly 200 kilometers!  When she had first entered the car she said, “Now we go pick up my brother.”  After we found her brother, she said, “Now we go to father’s house.” My driver and I kept exchanging glances which seemed to say, “Hmmmm… this is very strange.”  We finally left Kiev and drove the 200 kilometers.  Upon entering the village, she said, “Now we go to cemetery.”  At that point I learned that their mother had died of lung cancer 2 months before and she and her brother wanted to visit her gravesite.  I was grateful that I had been patient, even when not knowing what was planned.  After visiting the cemetery, we finally went to grandmother’s house.  It hadn’t been lived in for 8 years – at least not by humans.  It was a very old house in the center of which was a gigantic oven which almost completely filled the room.  I saw the place where grandmother would sleep on the oven in the wintertime because it was the only source of heat.  Several hours later, after brother and sister had harvested fruits and vegetables, we were on our way home.  I helped as much as I could, but I was completely frozen and had to eventually retreat to the car.  My driver pointed out to me while we were waiting and wondering what in the world we had gotten into, that the vegetables weren’t worth nearly as much as I would be paying him for being with us the entire day.  As we later left brother and sister at their apartment, I suddenly felt the warmth of the Spirit testifying to me that I had done well.

Another such experience happened today.  Howard and I set off on foot to find a post office.  We left before 3:00 pm and arrived home at dusk - because the line inside was sooooo slooooow!  I was third in line and we were there for well over 2 hours.  At one point a man cut in line.  He had probably 30 - 40 pieces of mail, each of which the clerk carefully weighed and on which the patron carefully placed many small stamps.  We waited for him – the line cutter - for well over an hour.  I like to think of myself as a patient person, but I definitely was not a happy camper.  By the end, I confess that I was not enduring very well at all!  However, on the way home, an old woman approached us.  She showed us her empty medicine package and told us that she needed medicine and had no money.  She showed us her shabby coat and said it cost so much to live and her pension was too small.  (It’s a good thing Howard understands Russian)!  I gave her several small bills and one larger one.  She returned the larger one, as she wanted only what she needed for medicine.  She cried and kissed our hands over and over.  I put my arms around her, so thankful that we had been delayed at the post office long enough to encounter her.  Howard told her in Russian, “God loves you and will bless you.”  And so He does.  And so He will.  

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.  2 Nephi 31:20.

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Some pictures from Odessa follow.  

These are two mission presidents: the first one and the current one, along with their wives.  They are standing next to a map of Ukraine decorated with symbolic pictures of Ukraine's spiritual future.

 Brother Howard and 4th Time Branch President Oleg Chernikov

Odessa fireside

Wondering how we can possibly follow such wonderful testimonies

Some of the faithful first members in Odessa

Sunday morning