New Area-Kharkov

Hello Fam,

This week seemed like such a long week, last monday seems like for-Ever ago..but it was a good week, at the beginning of the week I packed my stuff and met with a few people for the last time, like Semion and Azeez and Abraham, we tried to meet with John but everytime we tries he was busy or not answering or something, but we called him and I was able to say congrats and goodbye over the phone. I din't think I would be too sad to leave Luganask ha but I am glad to se more of my mission. I got transfered to..drum roll please,,Kharkov! or Harkov, the place where everyone wants to be, becasue it is so nice and there are awesome Rinoks (farmer marker type things and they sell ties and other random stuff) Our Branch in in the новые дома area and our proselyting area is Odessa. We have a way nice single house, I will show pics. Back to Lugansk for a sec, we had youth night and made some Blinok (like crepes) for one of the young men in our branch, so that was fun but then we were helping the other Elder's carry stuff home and Alexander started followin us. we walked faster and he walked faster, then we stopped and said dont you live that way and he siad that he had moved then we got close to our house and he was still behind us so we walked past our appt down a different street, then we couldnt handle it anymore and with all the russian I know..(I dont know that much) I turned around and told him he needed to go home and he cant know where we live and he said he "HAS" to know where we live so we just said no and he got a little scared at me freakin out at him and we said alright bye now and he got mad and left ha so we waited until he wad gone and went and dropped off the stuff, he is crazy haha but we were safe.
But yeah we got some natives in our mission now, becasue Russia didn't want Ukrainians in their country, so Ukrainian missionaries were kicked out and came to our mission, so we have like 5 or 6 native missionaries 2 being sisters and they all seem so cool, I hope I get to swerve aroudnd them sometime! 

My comp is Elder Claypool, he is from Washington state and has been here for just as long as Elder Newey, so he also goes home in June. He is an intersting fellow, a great missionary just different. He likes theater and poetry, so yeah ha but yeah he is nice. 

We went tracting and this dude Саня (Sonya) let us in, He has had drug and alcohol problems and most of his family has left him, so he wants to change, we met with him another night and he had read the Book of Mormon and his appt was a little cleaner< I think his mom did it, his mom is way cool and sat in on the lesson with us so both of them have high potential. 

We also had district meeting and I got to meet my district they are all pretty old and seem to be cool, so there are 3 sets of Elder missionaries, including us, and a set of Sister missionaries. So it will be a cool district. On our way to district meeting we talked to this guy who said he had drunk dhis money away and has tried many churches and wants help, so we are gonna meet with him and he seems really cool too.
then on our way to church yesterday we were walking and this lady, Нина-Nina, stopped us and said aren't you guys mormons? and we said yes and she said I was baptized in your church, so we talked to her for a sec and find out she was baptized when Harkov had just opened (almost 16 years ago) became relief society president for the branch then moved to Italy for work, She didnt find a ward there so she became inactive, when she moved back her (in our area) then she didnt know/didnt look for a branch here, we were able to meet with her later in the day and she is so so nice, lost a little bit of faith but she is aweseme we actually saw her walking as we were on our way to internet this morning. She also gave us delcious homemade honey.

Church yesterday was awesoem, the branch is huge and the people here are incredible, there is a different feel here! I love it. My comp plays the piano so we went to do theopening part of primary and helped them practice a song for Easter, there were like 10 kids and they are all so cute and so funny. 

It is an awesome area and I am excited to be here, We are safe and yeah so love you all have a good week! 

love Elder David Witt

Triple Baptism

Merry Christmas! it is snowing here in Lugansk haha It cleared up for a sec, then started to hail and snow so it is gettin kinda chilly again. First things first, we had a triple brotha baptism on Saturday it was really cool!

my district 

This week was kinda slow but the weekend was really good. We had to clean the branch buidling hall thing that leads to the basement because with kievs government they are trying to get more money so they do inspections, so we cleaned that Tuesday, oh and for Lunch that day the sister took us all out to lunch because they had some extra money from last month and it was really good, so that was nice of them. I also made german pancakes, and Elder Newey didn't want any so I ate the whole pan haha it was pretty dang good. We also had to rent the sauna for the baptism, the branch president didn't know the address ..only that is was by the 3rd hospital, so we took a little while to find that but thankfully we found it and got it rented. When asking for directions people that lived there also didn't know where it was haha it is funny that directions just arent peoples strong points here.

 We went to the Rinok (like a farmers market or a,( I cant think of the word..but it is like a bunch of people just sell stuff haha) anyway we bought some ties for the brothas and I got some sandals for the house, since all the rooms have wood floors it is nice to have sandals to keep your feet warm and so it is more comfy. My flip flops were nice, but they just werent doin it ha. On Thursday Elder Haddad and Newey interviewed our brothas and they all did well so it was exciting news. That night we also got transfer calls, Elder Newey is staying and I will be leaving Lugansk. I didn't think I would be sad but it was kinda sad saying bye to people at church yesterday thinking that I probably wont ever see some of these people ever again.

me and Семëн (Semion)

Friday we had district meeting and  I shared my pics and stuff for our weekly spotlight and I bought some peanut m and ms and shared them and such, I am glad they have them hear they are so good haha. then that night we met with Abraham and Azeez, which reminds me to set my Facebook setting to let people add me as a friend even if we dont have common friends..so if someone could do that that would be chilly! thanks. But we helped Abraham write his talk for the baptism and they are both cool brotha members. Then Saturday! It was a crazy day but it ended up being good. We told the brothas we would pick them up at noon, an hour before and take them in a taxi so we wouldnt be late, (brothas have a tendency for being a little late) but we got there and they said they were coming out and 30 minutes passed it was making us nervous ha but our taxi driver was cool we got his number and stuff and he told us to call him whenever we need a taxi and hopefully he will accept the gospel sometime cause he is way prepared and cool.

Lance, Elder Newey, Melvin, David, John, Me, Azeez 

Sister Tanner and Sister Reece

 But anyway the brothas finally came and we took them and Elder Newey baptized Melvin (sisters investigator) Lance (branch mission leader) baptized David(Melvin's friend) (whenever people call his name it always trips me out haha) and Azeez baptized our investigator John! I wish more people from the branch would have been there to support but that is alright, it still turned out nice. It is weird how things are more organized at baptisms back at home and meetings and everything it is just organized and everything haha but hey it worked out!

Us with John

Me, Elder Haddad, Elder Newey, Elder Lafontaine

 then Yesterday I was able to confirm David and give him the Holy Ghost. it was a pretty cool experience. Lance confirmed John and Newey confirmed Melvin. So it has been a good last couple days. oh yeah after the baptism there was a branch party for the Relief Society, there were more people there than a t the baptism, so it was sad but like I said hey it worked out, people have just seen that some brothas dont stay active but I think these brothas will, they are solid. Yesterday at church was good, Nadia and Olea were able to come so it was good to have them back! and plus Евгений showed up so that was nice. He was really happy because he said his wife works on Sunday in the mornings so he will be coming to church more. So that is good news. Things have quieted down only a bit then roared back up, with the Cream wanting to be part of Russia, the eastern part of Ukraine also wants their protection as well. We will see how things go though, we are still safe and able to meet with people but need to still be off the streets at nights and be careful. Everyone we talk to just wants to talk about the crisisthough so it is tough to do work but hey maybe this will soften peoples hearts and help them want to heard the gospel. We still are safe however and doing well. It will be sad to leave Lugansk but it will be good to see other parts of my mission as well. 

Love you all. I hope you have a good week. Thanks everyone for your prayers and such we know the Lord is watching over us. 

с любовью,

Elder David Witt

March 10th Email

hello from Lugansk

this week went by fast, on Monday we found out that the oldest missionaries here would be going home, so it was shocking, but they said they arent sending anyone else home because it seems like things have lightened up( We will see though(oh yeah I said I didnt know too much we do but yeah it is the same stuff you know) but yeah) Then that night we went to a members house. Брат Олег he is way cool he gave us some tea and candy, his wife is not a member, but he has brougth a few people to church with him so he is just way cool, solid member he asomeitmes also teaches the gospel doctrine class. then on Tuesday we were told to go to internet and print off a letter from President Lochhead that was basically just saying to keep going forward and work hard even though it might be hard. We had english that night and Alexander came, he is kinda creepy (this is the dude who I went to his house with Riley and we had questionable tea..) he asked some new people that came for money and we didnt know he was asking them so this new dude who came gave him money...He likes to put his arms around the sisters and comes drunk to activities and stuff and just asks for money..so it is kinda a problem ha Then we had a lesson with John and Aziz, another brotha who is a member, came on the lesson and shared his baptism story and he is ready for baptism this Saturday he is excited and so are we!

Then President and Sister Lochhead came and told us all they know about the sistuation and how we just need to keep working and we will be safe and stuff, so we will see what decisions Russia makes.That night we took a taxi home, because klast week President wanted us to take taxis, and Elder Newey made me sit in the front ha and before Elder Newey got in the dude was yelling at me haha I had no idea what he was saying abd wouldnt say what the deal was when Newey got in, butoh well haha then he thought i slammed his door when we got out so he ragged about that too haha customer service here is so different and so funny haha 

We had a lesson with Simeon, he is a new member and about our age, he is really cool even though he cant speak he communicates through his phone. At english we talked about illnesses and a guy from africa came and was talking about home remedies, which was cool and we should use some but i am grateful for modern medicine that we have though haha 

Then Saturday was Womens day and every where was selling flowers ha they dont really do anything though except give ladies flowers ha I made some cookies for our lesson that night and I forgot the keys when we went to go buy some extra ingredients and i left the keys inside..so we got locked out haha thankfully our land lady had an extra set of keys and let us back in haha Then we went to Aziz's house and Abrahams house and they havent been members for too long so it is good to review things with them. Then yesterday We gave the sacrament to Nadia and Olea and the plate the the bread was on was slippery so when I handed it to them it slipped off onto the ground haha I didnt know what else to do but put it on the plate hand it to them haha hopefully it was still alright..haha Then Olea wanted a blessing and little did Elder Newey know I had never given a blessing, in English or Russian, and made me do it ha it was still a good experience though and I know Heavenly Father will always help us if we take a step of faith first. oh yes Alexander came to church and asked our investigator John for some money which is frustrating and when we interrupted their convo he wasnt too happy ha but hey he needs to learn that he cant do that. We also went to an investigators house yesterday who was introduced  to us by a member from America who has moved here, he is older and is kinda weird(we are pretty sure he has sold everything he had and came to Lugansk..haha)..they have a little connection so it was awkward seeing the two of them flirt hahaha and we didnt really get to teach too much becasue he would go off about some random things. Elder Newey asked this lady in Russian if she was teaching him any Russian she said she tried but he has no hope haha so who knows 

Anyway we are excited for the baptism this Saturday and there may be 3 brothas getting baptized! so it is way exciting. I think members think I know more Russian than I actually do because they will just start going off haha I pick up some of it say "хорошо" and such and yeah haha it is funny. I cant wait to have a legit conversation with people. 

We are still pretty safe here and I will let you know of the stuff we hear, even though I think you are still getting letters from President Lochhead about our wellbeing..,
anyway love you all and hope you have a great weeK! 

love 

Elder David Witt

Pretty crazy...but I'm safe

семья! So as you know Ukraine is going pretty crazy lately. It is sad to see how humble a lot of these people are and how they just want to have freedom. On the other hand there are people here in my area who are pro Russia and say they speak Russian so they are russian, or they were born in Russia then came here, so it should be part of russia..? that last one doesnt make sense but hey that's what they are saying haha We have been couped up in our apartment for most of all the days last week. So we didn't get a ton done, we did still however have a few lessons. 

We met with John again and we moved his date to the 15th of March and he still seems excited about it. He is doing well and hope he continues to progress. The sisters also have a brotha set up for the 15th of march so hopefully we have a double brotha baptism! that\ll be cool.We taught another lesson with the sisters with a man and I am pretty sure he was interested in the sisters not the gospel because when we were there and he was told we were gonna teach him, he said well it is chilly outside and you guys probably have to go so see ya! haha We met with the sisters and this dude at the park and yeah, I don't think he is too interested right now, but maybe,we will see.. Евгений (yevgenny) hasn't been able to meet but hopefully we can meet with him again sometime soon! Since we haven't been able to contact too many people and set up lessons we have some lessons set up with members this week so we can still teach and practice our Russian and stuff so I am glad we have those set up they should be good.

I got a picture at the MTC and it is called "Peace is Coming" by Jon McNaughton, so look it up because it is a cool pic and it is a good picture for a time like this especially here in Ukraine. I did see Tui Jameson in the Liahona for this month so that was pretty cool! If he is still in our ward tell him it is cool haha or his family, ha but yeah I thought that was cool. 

Thankfully our  President Lochhead is talking with General Authorities and he is making sure that we are safe, other than people going off on political rants and seeing people with Russian flags we haven't been in any direct danger. Thank you for all your prayers and such I love you guys and will keep you updated with all I know, even though you probably have a better idea what is going on in the "outside world" than i do haha but yes we are safe and doing well. Есть хорошая неделя!

 с любовью,

Elder David Witt

cool graffiti and fake puma shoes with the puma sewn on haha and I will have to tell you a story about getting that pic.

oh yes and tell Leslie happy Birthday dont have her email, love you fam!

Update March 3

March 3, 2014

To parents of missionaries serving in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission:

As conditions here in Ukraine play out we are all concerned about the immediate and long-term safety of our missionaries. I have received concerned emails from several of you, which I am happy to receive. In a few instances where parents have raised unique concerns I have sent brief individual responses. I will also plan to send all of you as a group regular updates – roughly every other day – so you will be aware of conditions as they unfold.

Like you, I have been closely monitoring news reports on the Internet. Being here on the ground, I also have the benefit of daily telephone communication with each of our zone leaders, assistants, and other missionaries. I am also in regular telephone communication with the Area Presidency and with local priesthood leaders, who are perhaps our best source of information on

The missionaries were “locked up” in their apartments for about 36 hours a few days ago. After consulting with the Area Presidency, who are in regular communication with high level personnel at Church Headquarters, we sent word that missionaries could leave their apartments and engage in missionary work, subject to important conditions and precautions. Some of those precautions are mission-wide, such as limited activity after dark, speaking only Russian on the street, and keeping well away from gatherings of people. Additional safeguards have been imposed in specific areas, such as staying away from one of our meetinghouses, other than for Sunday worship services. In other cities we have instructed missionaries to avoid taking public

The disturbing images you are seeing on the Internet are restricted to localized areas near government buildings or public plazas. A few blocks away from the demonstrations you would have no idea that anything unusual is happening. For example, the Mission Home where my wife and I live is in an apartment building a ten minute walk away from the location of large demonstrations in Donetsk over the week-end. We saw disturbing images of the demonstration, but our neighborhood was as peaceful as could be. In short, we caution the missionaries to stay away from trouble and avoid situations that could potentially create a hazard.

We have started receiving reports of some increase of anti-American sentiment. At this point it is not severe, but we are monitoring it closely and reporting regularly to the Area Presidency.

There has also been some sporadic trouble accessing cash from local banks.

Our Area Presidency, who hold the keys for supervising missionary work in all of the Europe East Area, are in constant communication both here at the mission level and at the highest levels at Headquarters. The Missionary Department issued a statement yesterday with the most recent news. If and when conditions warrant a change, we will act immediately and keep you advised.

It is comforting to be able to rely on the accumulated experience and wisdom of the Missionary Department, Church Security, and the Senior Brethren. The Church has been caring for missionaries in world “hot spots” for a very long time, and I have great confidence in their guidance. You should be comforted in knowing that the missionaries as a group, while understandably concerned, are doing amazingly well. This is an opportunity for them to show their true character as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in a tumultuous world. It is a time they will remember for the rest of their lives. We are teaching them to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16. The Brethren have emergency back-up plans to cover any likely contingency, and I am confident that our missionaries are being carefully watched over, both by Our Father in Heaven and by his anointed servants who preside over the Church.

I again want to thank you for the truly outstanding missionaries with whom Sister Lochhead and President, Ukraine Donetsk Mission

Update Feb 27

February 27, 2014

To parents of missionaries serving in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission:

I would like to give you an update on the status of our missionaries and advise you concerning additional precautions we are taking. In light of recent events, and after consultation with the Church Security Department and general authorities at Headquarters, the Area Presidency has directed that missionaries in Ukraine remain indoors for a time until the present situation becomes more settled. We have no reason to believe that any missionaries are in any immediate risk of harm, and this step is being
taken out of an abundance of caution.

I have contacted our mission leaders within the last hour, and they in turn have contacted each of the missionaries. All of our missionaries are well. Again, there is no cause for alarm, but conditions merit an extra measure of caution. I will continue to keep you advised. We are grateful for the expertise of the Church Security Department, which has a wealth of experience in preserving the health and safety of missionaries world-wide in a variety of circumstances over many years.

President, Ukraine Donetsk Mission

Feb 24 Letter

Hello Family, 

this week has felt quite long so I am kinda glad it is another Monday haha but it was still pretty good.Last P day after internet we ate at this "American" restaurant and I had a hamburger so that was pretty good haha Then we had an experience with the other Elders which will be a story for another day haha but I am very grateful for the power of the priesthood and for the knowledge that God loves us very much. This week warmed up a little bit at the beginning of this week so it was nice to feel the sun, but it has gotten a little chilly and cloudy, and we saw some snowflakes, but hopefully that stops and it gets warmer haha We met with John this week and he is seriously looking happier and happier each time we meet him and he is more interested every time we meet with him as well, so it has been cool to see this change. He is still set for the 8th which is womens day like I said which is a really big holiday here and members wont be able to come and the sauna we rent out wont be open. But since he was unable to come to church for circumstances which I will talk about in a sec, we might have to move it back anyway. So we thought things had calmed down in Kiev but when we saw a TV then later got calls from members we saw that kiev had gone crazy and the president has left somewhere to east Ukraine. Then we were meeting this other brotha at a park, cause that is the only land mark he knew, and while we were there we saw a group of people set up these tents then police officers stand in front of the government building, so we left and had our lesson with Jessy at the branch building. But we didnt really see anything and thankfully nothing happened. but then that night we saw tons of people lined up at banks and atms pulling out all of their money so we asked someone and they said they were closing the banks down, but thankfully it seems that the banks are still working so we should be fine.Then we had district meeting Correlation meeting and english and we left that early because we had another lesson with John, which went well, then we were going to contact but we were told that we should be inside at night and we shouldn't  wear our tags. Then Saturday the branch had a little party for "mens day" cause i guess that was this weekend but it isnt as big as womens day, so we had pizza and cake and played some ping pong and such. then when we left we passed the park on our way home and we saw a ton of people with sticks and stuff and police officers with shields and  their sticks so it was pretty wild, but thankfully we got out of there, we didnt see anything and nothing happened to us. And that is why John couldnt come to church was because one of his teachers said dont go to center it is dangerous, so he didnt, therefore missing church, so that kinda sucked. But then yesterday I gave my first talk in church hahaha. It was on faith and it was like 7 minutes long, hopefully they understood what i was trying to say to them haha but for the most part it went well, then Elder Lafontaine, because Newey and I know the area better than the other Elders and we had two pweople to take the sacrament to, and I went to take the sacrament to the garbankos daughter again and I remembered where to go an we didnt get lost so that was nice haha then we made some way good lasagna for dinner and it was way good. We will be making that again for sure. So even though it has been chaotic here in Ukraine we are still safe and we hope that we can still teach the people here. Ah yes we had a lesson with Yevgenny, but it didnt work out so hopefully that works this week! but yes we are safe and doing well!

love you have a good week! I think it is presidents day or something, but maybe that was last week? haha anyway love you bye! 

люблю тебя! 
 Elder David Witt