Biddulph Mission Impossible in Ukraine: 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.