Sometimes I feel like Alma when he declared “Oh, that I were
an angel….!” I so want to be more
effective. I wish that I had the energy
and stamina of an angel and didn’t need to sleep – or take the time to prepare
and eat meals! So much to do! I feel an urgency to make our time here really
count, especially after so great a sacrifice to be here. But alas! I do have to sleep – and eat- and
struggle to get things done when I don’t speak or read the language here. Then I review the week and realize that we’ve
made a difference in a few lives – one by one.
We enjoyed a meeting in the home of the very first person
baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here in Ukraine –
Valery Stavichenko. He chose to be
baptized in the Dnieper (Dnipro) River in November 1990. He talked about the ice floating there at the
time. This was the place where over a thousand
years ago Prince Volodymer orchestrated the baptism of the populace of Kyiv
because he had converted to Christianity (and of course, his people did too). It was at the Statute of Volodymer that
Ukraine was dedicated by Elder Packer for the preaching of the Gospel in 1991.
Howard conducted that historic meeting where Elder Oaks and Elder Neuenschwander
also spoke. Valery’s sweet wife,
Tetyana, shared pictures of some of the events and people in the early days of
the church here. What memories for
Howard!
Last Sunday we met with Bishop Ruslan Lapshin and learned
the names of many of those who no longer meet regularly with the Saints. We set out to contact them – one by one. After many no answers, wrong numbers and dead
ends, we found a few who were delighted to hear from the former President
Biddulph. This coming Saturday evening we
will be attending the Gala Concert celebrating the 25th Anniversary
of the opening of the Ukrainian Mission and will be either taking with us, or
meeting there, some of these people. It
was interesting to me to hear each of them reminisce with Howard their
conversion experiences. We experience
this at church too. Many come to greet
us and reminisce about the experiences they had with Howard and the “his”
missionaries. I believe it is a good
reminder for them and makes me contemplate my own conversion.
As I picture the two of us pouring over these names, Howard
squinting through a magnifying glass, and me trying to sound out the Cyrillic letters,
I can’t help but think of how the Lord goes to great lengths to reach each one
of us individually. One of my favorite
scriptures teaches us how He ministers to us one by one. 3 Nephi 17: 21: “And when he had said these words, he wept,
and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by
one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.” I know that each of His children is precious
to Him and that our Savior died for each of us individually. How important is each child of God – and how
vital it is that we reach out to reunite in love with those who, for whatever
reason, have lost their way.
The Kyiv temple has received its first outside cleaning since
it was dedicated six years ago. It has
also been thoroughly cleaned inside. We
had some wonderful one-on-one interviews with Kyiv Stake President Kirill
Pohilko and Kyiv Temple President Frank Trythall inside the temple, who each took
the time to meet with us. It was a
spiritually moving experience for Howard to see again the rooms he and Colleen
viewed together at the time of the temple’s dedication.
Church meetings today were wonderful. We could feel the Spirit from the moment we
entered. The Saints here are mature in the gospel. It is truly a miracle that has occurred over
the past 25 years. We met a visitor from
Logan, Utah, by the name of Mark Bennett, who was visibly moved by this
miracle. He had studied here in the late
1970s and it seemed then that the oppression and spiritual darkness of that
time would never lift. Yet now, there
are scores of Latter-day Saints who love the Lord who meet each week to renew
their covenants and strengthen one another.
They talk about the strength they receive during times of adversity
through their faith, they speak of His love for them, and they speak of their
love for one another. That love is palpable. How I wish you could hear them
sing! They do it with great enthusiasm and with the Spirit. It is truly wonderful to hear and feel it,
even though the words are foreign to my ears, the melodies and the Spirit are
not.
The Aaronic Priesthood holders had not prepared enough water
cups and ran short by just four. We all
quietly waited while more were prepared, blessed, and administered to the last
four persons. I loved this
experience. I pondered the importance of
each one of us to our Heavenly Father and His Son and how much they desire for us
to covenant with them and stay within their protective care. Howard and I had a similar experience in the
hospital when one Sunday two Saints came into Howard’s room to administer the
Sacrament to just us. I was moved to
tears by that experience and renewing my baptismal covenants each week since
has taken on great meaning as I contemplate the way in which we are blessed
individually – one by one.
Laurel, I love reading your descriptive and beautiful accounts of your first weeks in Ukraine. We're so grateful you've arrived there both able to bless the lives of these good people.
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