On a Sunday
morning not too long ago, as a young LDS Ukrainian priest began to bless the
sacramental bread, loud music suddenly poured though the wall of windows that
had been opened to catch the spring breeze.
The music was definitely louder than the prayer and was not of a
worshipful nature. We endured it for the
length of the ordinance and then several people quickly closed windows. We sweltered in what seemed like a greenhouse
through the rest of our three hours of worship. I could still hear the music, only (a little) more
faintly. At first, I was somewhat
irritated and wanted to rush outside and quiet the disturbance, but of course I
could not. I instead concentrated
intently upon the words of the prayers, discovering that although the music was
far louder, I could still make them out.
I then focused on the meaning of the covenant that I was making and felt
the warmth of the Spirit fill my soul.
For the rest of the meeting I reflected upon the way in which the
rancorous world seems to intrude upon our lives and how we can tune it out and
listen to the still small voice of the Spirit.
One of the
things I most enjoy about our time here in Kiev (Kyiv) is that we focus
full-time on what we can do the further the Lord’s work. Yes, we worry about family, but not the
day-to-day comings and goings, and I no longer worry about finishing a client
project on time. I also love spending so
much time with my companion. J When we are spending
all of our time doing the Lord’s work, the voice of the Spirit is much more
easily heard, and much more often!
Each
Thursday when we enter the Kyiv Temple, the first painting we see is of the
rich young man asking the Lord, “What more do I lack?” I love that image and I ask the Lord that
question every time I see it. When I
answer the question myself, I’ve found that I lack a great deal! But when I allow the Lord to answer, I feel
His love and encouragement to keep trying. I believe that the Lord asked the
rich young man to give up what was most important to him and that He asks the
same of us - to be ready and willing to
give up anything and everything that keeps us separated from Him. It is the ultimate test of our lives. I have
pondered many times the blessings that flow from living the law of consecration,
which is the last individual covenant we make with the Lord in His holy house. The promised blessing is sanctification and
the Second Comforter. We promise to give
all that we are and have and He promises to make us holy like Him, fit for His
presence. These dear people have made
many sacrifices for the Lord and they continue to do so. In my next blog post, I will tell you of the
wonderful apostolic blessing given them by Elder Holland. We love these Ukrainian saints so very much!
One of the
activities we most enjoy, because of the Spirit it brings, is having cottage
meetings in our home. We do this at least once a week, sometimes
more often. Our goal each time is to
gather a small group consisting of active members, less active members, a
couple of missionaries and us. We pray
together, share food, and most importantly, share our conversion stories. The Holy Spirit always accompanies these
beautiful stories and hearts are softened as spiritual memories are
renewed. We always go to bed afterwards
rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord.
These stories are amazing too. We
love hearing how those who were raised in Soviet times as atheists, only
hearing about God from their grandmothers, were thirsty to know more about God
when Soviet control was thrown off. They
were open to talking to the missionaries and eager to learn more. We are in awe of those who committed to
baptism and remain faithfully serving in the church. We are so thankful for those who are
remembering and coming back into the gospel family. These evenings always make us want to stay
beyond the determined end of our mission here.
There are so many people we love and so many stories – and only so many
evenings in which to share. We are
recording these stories so that they can be transcribed and kept among the
saints here. Remembering our own spiritual
stories and the witness of the Spirit is important in each of our lives. Writing them down helps not only us, but our
families too.
You wouldn’t
think a birthday party was an occasion to feel the Holy Spirit, but it
was. Howard celebrated his 82nd
birthday on March 28th by inviting a few very close friends to share
dinner with us at a restaurant within walking distance of our apartment. What touched my heart, bringing tears to my
eyes, was the obvious love these wonderful friends have for Howard, and the
obvious love that he has for them. I am
sure that whenever such Christ-like love is present, so is the Spirit of the
Lord. It was a most touching evening,
worth getting older just to experience (at least having Howard get older).
I learned of
three interesting Ukrainian customs as the days led up to this birthday event. A couple of weeks prior to the birthday, we
learned that the mother of our good friend, Liudmyla Filypovich, had died. Wanting to express in some tangible way our
empathy for Liudmyla, we invited her and her husband, Anatoliy Kolodny, to a
restaurant for dinner. I purchased some
gorgeous long-stemmed roses to take to Liudmyla. I had chosen nine of the most beautiful ones I
think I’ve ever seen and had them wrapped.
I know very little Russian, but I do know the words for “friend,””
mother” and “death.” I told the clerk
helping me that they were for my friend whose mother had died. She was appalled, and quickly unwrapped the
flowers and grabbed another one to add to the bunch before re-wrapping
them. No, this was not to sell more
flowers, but to keep me from committing a terrible faux pas. I guess you give an odd number of flowers to
a living person, but when you are honoring the dead, it must be an even
number. Good to know. I don’t want to bring bad luck to anyone! Also interesting was our dinner with Liudmyla
and Anatoliy. Although it was our
invitation, there was no way we could convince them that we should pay for the dinner. So much for my good idea of how to express
our sympathy! I later learned that it is
the family of the deceased who must pay for dinners to honor the dead. However, Liudmyla told me that although she
must pay for that dinner, they would be most happy to come to Howard’s birthday
and we could pay for dinner then. I got
a chuckle out of her inviting herself to the party, as we had no intention of
having a party. I also later learned
that it is customary for the birthday person to host a party for all of his/her
friends to come and celebrate. A very
different custom than in the United States, but it turns out to be a very nice
one. Thank you, Liudmyla, for forcing us
to have a birthday party for Howard. We
enjoyed it more than we can express in words!
One of my
many things I love about the gift of the Holy Ghost is that when one truly possesses
it, he/she is magnified in ability.
Parley P. Pratt expressed it like this.
“The gift of the Holy Ghost...quickens
all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands, and purifies all
the natural passions and affections, and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to
their lawful use. . . “ Howard has received this expansion of his intellectual
faculties as he has written papers to be given at various conferences of the several
churches here in Ukraine. We leave in
the morning for Ternopil, where he will give a paper about religious toleration
of minority faiths and how that comes about, using the LDS Church as a case
study. He has also been working very
hard in researching and writing another paper about restorationist movements in
America which will be given in a national conference of churches commemorating
500 years of Protestantism in the world.
My husband is a brilliant man, but age and health has taken their toll,
and in the case of this last paper, it is a subject outside of his work as a
college professor. He has had to
research and analyze and write. I am so
impressed with his work – I mean it truly – it is so good! He gives the Lord credit for sending the Holy
Spirit to help and inspire him with ideas and insights. I thank the Lord for continually renewing his
health and spirit.
We have had, and continue to have, many
opportunities to speak to the saints. We
have given firesides in a number of places.
Next month when we go to L’viv for another national conference, we will
give a fireside to the LDS saints there.
I have been asked to speak separately from Howard as well. One such talk was on adversity, given to the
Relief Society sisters of one ward.
Another talk was given at the stake Relief Society celebration of its
founding. At that stake event, I talked
about physical health. Our bodies are (or should be) temples of the
Holy Spirit. As such, we should make
every effort to be healthy. That will
allow us to live more joyfully and productively and to serve the Lord better
and longer. After that talk, I was asked
to write a lesson on health to be used in all of the wards and branches of the
stake, which I intend to do soon.
Yes, the Holy Spirit can be felt and enjoyed in all of our good and righteous activities. I have learned this over and over during my life, and especially now as I have literally put aside the things of the world to serve full-time in the Lord’s vineyard. Howard promised that it would be so. I feel such joy when I am enveloped in this holy influence. My greatest desire is to be with our Father and His Son again. I love “the earnest of his Spirit” which encourages me and lets me know when I am on the right path. When I don’t have that Spirit with me, I immediately know that I need to make a correction. The great sanctifier is the Holy Spirit – that still small voice which we must strive to hear and follow, especially as we sojourn in this rancorous world. We can hear it and follow it in spite of the loud distractions all around us, but we must desire it enough to tune out the world. We must desire it enough to tune our lives to its quiet promptings and to the covenants we make with our Lord.
The birthday boy.
For those of you who read Ukrainian (haha!), here is an article in the Liahona which we were totally surprised to find when we opened it up.
