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

For Such a Time as This

Howard and I have been overwhelmed with gratitude many times over the past several days – gratitude so intense that we’ve wiped tears again and again.  As we’ve explained in previous blogs, it truly is a miracle that we are here in Ukraine.  We have sacrificed much and the Lord has blessed us even more – many times more.  It has been confirmed to us that we do, indeed, have a mission to perform and that we can and are making a difference in this part of the Lord’s vineyard.  In many ways, it seems as if this is a culmination of the events of our lives, all of which have prepared us for this moment in time.  Perhaps we have been prepared for such a time as this.

Yes, we know that we are special. We are children of the Heavenly King. And so are each of you. You, too, have been prepared for such a time as this.  You are special children of the Heavenly King reserved to come forth at this time in the world’s history.  This is a time of turmoil, strife and darkness –a time when it seems sometimes that the Prince of Darkness has gained the upper hand. This is the time when our Father has sent in the ones he knows can combat darkness, hopelessness, faithlessness and despair.  We will not be victorious alone, but with His help, we will!  Covenant sons and daughters of the King can and will light the way and show others the source of true hope, peace and joy.  That source is our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  And there is no greater joy on this earth than to know that because you have suffered well with faith and hope, your life can offer an example of hope in Christ to others who are also struggling.

Yesterday we had the amazing privilege to meet in our home with three special persons who were prepared to assist in the Lord’s work at just the time they were needed.  Howard loves these three, and many others like them, to the depths of his soul.  Each of them was of great assistance in establishing a foothold for the Church in Ukraine in the early 1990s when Howard served as mission president. One of these, a brother, was somehow always able to find and procure what was needed for the mission to continue to operate when Ukraine was just gaining its independence and when commodities, such as means of transportation and fuel, were scarce to non-existent.  Another, who became the driver for the mission home, was ready to protect his precious human cargo with his own life, if necessary, when going into territory infested with the terrorists of that time.  He, too, was able to procure fuel when it seemed impossible, sometimes waiting in line for it for 3-4 days at a time, even in the winter months.  What service! What faithfulness!  No wonder Howard loves them so much.

I’ve saved until last the sister who worked in the mission office. She miraculously was able to get missionary visas and renew them when the government was denying them to foreigners.  Miracle after miracle occurred in this process.  She also remembered with Howard the time when she was able to get permission – the first ever from this region which had been dominated by 

Soviet control – for church members to leave the country for religious purposes.  They went to the Freiberg Temple for their temple ordinances and had to receive not only permission to leave Ukraine, but also permission from Germany, along with names of individual German families willing to sponsor them.  Germans invaded Ukraine during WWII and Ukrainians considered them great enemies, and yet the miracle of permissions and sponsorship occurred with the help of this good sister who was prepared to serve in such a time of need.  We surely love her too!  

We loved hearing this sister's conversion story.  She had been an atheist, but when examining the world, including especially under a microscope, she discovered such order that she knew that God must exist.  She had searched for a church with the answers she sought and had even tried Eastern religions.  When I asked her what it was that had attracted her to the LDS Church, she said, “It was their eyes.  When they taught me, I could see in their eyes that what they were saying was true.”  She was referring to Sister Gamble and Sister Vihavainen.  They radiated the light of the Gospel and the Holy Ghost carried the message into the heart of this good sister.  These sisters, and many elders and sisters like them, do just that.  They are prepared for such a time as this.

These three wonderful Latter-day Saints have, for almost 20 years, been away from the Church.  Our meeting with them was filled with the Spirit as they shared their conversion stories with us.  We know their hearts were touched as they felt the Spirit who witnessed truth to them once again.   The mission president has asked us to help the missionaries collect the conversion stories of the saints in Ukraine as part of a history of the church.  We will be publishing the resulting stories and calling them “A Cloud of Witnesses.”  We pray that as others relive their conversion stories, they too, will again feel the Holy Spirit and their lives will be greatly blessed.

Another event that filled us with gratitude occurred on Sunday evening.  We were asked to be the speakers at a stake fireside.  I told our story of how we came to Ukraine in the context of how to receive answers to prayers.  I also talked about the blessings that come when the Lord answers in ways we do not expect or initially desire.   I testified that Howard had been inspired to deliver a message from the Lord.  Howard then expressed the great love that he, and our Father in Heaven and His Son have for them (in Russian, BTW).  He pled with them to endure to the end, keeping and renewing their covenants, coming back into the gospel covenant if necessary.  His theme was “To whom shall we go?”  I cannot adequately express the power of the Spirit that was in that meeting.  Many came up afterwards to express love for the Lord and thankfulness for the message they felt was made just for them.  It was gratifying to be used in that way and the presence of the Spirit filled our souls with joy, then and now as we contemplate that evening.   

Yes, we believe we are in the right place at the right time to serve our Heavenly King and His precious children.  We pray that each of you can know that you too have been prepared to truly make a difference and feel the joy that comes from the Spirit as you serve.  Esther 4:14: “…..and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  

The Pure in Heart

This past week certainly wasn’t as busy or as eventful as last week, but how could it have possibly been?!  Jubilee anniversaries only come every twenty-five years after all!

I have struggled a bit to find the right words to describe the feelings we’ve had as we’ve thought about and interacted with wonderful Ukrainian Saints this week.  Last night at a fireside, Temple President Frank Trythall put it into words for us.  He addressed the local Ukrainian temple workers, along with the temple missionaries serving from abroad.  He, while expressing great love for these Saints he’s served for so many years, identified them as the “pure in heart.”

We have experienced the pure hearts of the Ukrainian Latter-day Saints as they continue to express their love for us wherever we go; we’ve watched them express their love for one another; we’ve heard of their great love for, and service to, refugees from their own country displaced by war.  They are amazing and we love them.

Many Latter-day Saints have fled war ravaged parts of the country and come into Kyiv without knowing beforehand what they would do.  They were frightened that they would be rejected by the Kyivian Saints because they came from parts predominantly Russian.  But these Saints who are so pure in heart, opened their hearts and homes. They helped find housing and jobs for their brothers and sisters.  We met some of these displaced Saints on Sunday when we visited the Voskresenskyi (Ressurection) Ward.  They are full of faith and testimony – truly impressive.  They hold leadership positions and are fully integrated into the wards and branches in Kyiv.  We also met members who, for a time, had chosen not to join regularly with the Saints in sacrament meetings, but who had come back into full activity.  They, too, were fully integrated into the ward, loved back into activity.  What an example of Christ-like love!

Our hearts ache for Dmitry and others like him.  He was one of the first of the Ukrainian young adults called to serve as local missionaries when, during Howard’s time as mission president, the government sought to restrict the activities of foreign missionaries.  He, a husband and father of young children, has lost his business in Donetsk because of the war that has decimated that city.  He is living in Kyiv seeking enough income and a situation where he can bring his immediate family, along with his extended family, from Donetsk into safety.   Despite of all of this, he continues to faithfully pay tithing.  He also continues to serve unselfishly, including many offers to help us.  Yes, a pure heart indeed.

Bishop Slava Prach of the Voskresenskyi Ward asked us to bear our testimonies in Sacrament Meeting when we visited.  It amazes me how the Spirit is still able to work when one must speak in short sentences and wait for a translator before going on, but the Spirit was strong.  Howard was able again to bear his testimony in Russian without a translator.  Bishop Prach and his wife were once among the group of young members called by President Biddulph to fill the places of foreign missionaries during the time that the government curtailed the activity of foreigners.  They, like many of the others so called, went on to serve as full-time missionaries for the Church in other parts of the world.  Howard is understandably overcome with joy to see them again and to realize how they have matured in the gospel.  Stake President Kirill Pohilko was among this group.   

We spent another two days in the temple.  Words can’t describe the peace and love we always feel there.  I absolutely love what President Trythall said about the temple.  He said, “We check recommends as you enter the temple; we do not check passports.”  He referred to the temple as the Lord’s home where His children gather; all are welcome there, no matter nationality.  That is especially wonderful to contemplate as saints from all parts of Ukraine mingle lovingly with saints from Russia and other nearby countries.  This is especially impressive, given the war that threatens Ukraine’s borders.  But it is truly an example of the pure in heart.

I’ve written before about the Kyiv Ukraine Temple’s uniqueness in being the first (and so far, only) temple in the former Soviet Union.  It is a testament to me of the inspiration and revelation that guide our Church leaders.  There were many suggestions for the site of this temple, suggestions outside of Ukraine.  At this moment in time, it is abundantly clear that Ukraine was the right place, as Ukraine enjoys a freedom of belief and religion not enjoyed by other countries which were once part of the Soviet bloc.  Saints from all nations can come to the House of the Lord right here in Kyiv and enjoy the blessings they long for at home.  I often say (and laugh at myself when I do), “the Lord is so smart!”  He knows the beginning from the end.  We can trust Him and His leaders.

The following is Elder Holland’s answer to a question put to him by an Ukrainian Saint, during a recent Face to Face interview, who asked about members who have or are seeking to leave this country.  One can hardly blame those who seek a life away from war and from the very depressed economy created by the war's destruction of some of the more industrial parts of the nation.  In spite of that, Elder Jeffrey Holland said, “Anciently, Zion was a place, a destination. In our day, Zion is a way of life, wherever we live. You've had many challenges in the Ukraine, while the whole world has been watching. I certainly believe that the members of the Church, few as they may relatively be, can be a guiding light to political and economic stability in that wonderful nation. Remember, you do have a temple - the ultimate sign of Zion.” 

I would add that these members have sacrificed much for the gospel’s sake and they have been transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.  They are the pure in heart, which is the definition of Zion. 

Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice – yea, every sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command – they are accepted of me.  For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit.  D&C 97:8-9.

And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God. D&C 97: 15-16.

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory.  1Nephi 14:14.

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I’ve added a few pictures of Kyiv I took while we did a mini-tour of the city on Saturday.   This first one is of one of the buildings of Shevchenko University.  Howard taught a course here a few years ago.  The second one is taken in the Taras Shevchenko Park near where the bench once was where Howard received inspiration that (15 years later), the people of Ukraine would have the opportunity to hear the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.

These next pictures are of Zolaty Vorota or the Golden Gates of the ancient walled city of Kyiv.

Next is the front side of St. Sophia Cathedral, the oldest cathedral in Europe, part of it having been built in 1050.  There are pictures from the backside in one of my previous postings.  

Ah yes, and now these are pictures of the Statue of Volodymyr the Great where the dedication of the land of Ukraine by Elder Boyd K. Packer took place in 1991.  It took place at the base of the statue on the southeast corner.

Next is the Statue to the Motherland.  I took it from a great distance from a car window.

And finally, we have a statue honoring the founders of Kyiv, Three Brothers and Their Sister who sailed up the Dnieper River to settle Kyiv.