Emergency Transfer

Emergency transfer! haha but yes we are in Kiev! we got a call Wednesday morning during personal study from President and Sister Lochhead saying we would all be leaving so that say and the next we cleaned our house, packed our bags, gave our food away, got on a night train (kinda like Harry Potter but definitely not as cool) and ended up in Kiev. Yeah ha 

but let me back up a bit even though you probably want more deets. 

We had Family night with brother and sister Житников with Саня (Sanya) who is doing so much better, we watched the Restoration film with him and he loved it. It was so good for him to develop a better relationship for all of them (I think this was crucial, even though we didnt know, Heavenly Father knew) But yeah then wednesday rolled around and such, and it was sad to get that call because I didnt want to leave our investigators with baptismal dates just hangin. But thankfully my comp and I have been pushing hard to work with member present lessons the last few weeks and they are all left in good hands We left Sanya in brother Zhitnikovs hands to keep teaching him the lessons  and still preparing him for May 3rd. His mom went to general conference with them, they both loved it and I am pretty sure she will be ready on the same date as well. Sasha the 17 year old, we told his dad to keep working with him and preparing him for the 26th of April and we let Brother Sergei take care of Yori (who knows if that is how you spell it in English) Юри. He has been sick so it was hard to meet with him, but hopefully he is doing better and coming to church and such still.

oh yes we also did helping hands here where we did service by raking up sticks and leaves and cleaning up garbage at a park #goodtimes

We met with our ward mission leader and gave him a copy of our Potential Investigators and all that jazz and made sure he was going to follow up on the ones with dates. We gave them and Sanya all of our food since we needed to get rid of all of the perishable items and such. 

But yeah we got the call I was sad and we canceled the lessons and plans that we had that day and organized our area book and cleaned our apartment and started packing. We thought we were leaving the next morning but thankfully we had a full next day and left Thursday night. We were able to meet with Sanya and his mom (brother  Житников was able to be there so that was nice) and say goodbye to them. by the way Sanya has been alcohol free since last Tuesday and said today he was quitting smoking, you can tell the change that he has had. The Book of Mormon is powerful. so so true and so awesome. I know I will one day return and get to see him baptized and such.

 But after we got everything done in Kharkov we got a taxi went to the train station, we got there early to help others so it was a long night but it was still good. People were trippin when they saw tons of people with tons of baggage all getting onto one train hahaha 

But we got onto our train, which was kinda like a HP train but yeah smaller and yeah but it was fine. then we arrived in Kiev about 7:30 in the morning and kak raz (russian phrase) we went to the branch building that was right ,oh wait they are wards and stakes not branches..but anyway we got the the church building and it was right next to the Kiev temple, we didnt/probably wont be able to to inside but hey I got to see it and walk on the grounds so that was awesome. 

hey it's the Kiev temple! 

We had a little meeting and all got sent to different areas, it was sad to say bye to the other missionaries in my mtc group cause who knows when I will see them again. but it was good to see them. I am in Perchersky (which is center Kiev, and yes Midon is in my area but we cant go there and yes it is safe there now and surprisingly clean) I am with Elder Bro from Kentucky (he was in the group older than us at the mtc so i knew him a little bit) and elder Jensen from Utah,they are both pretty cool and it is kinda weird to have all four of us living in the same apartment, Elder Claypool is still my comp so we kinda do our own thing,for the most part, when we go out and work and such. 

Last night we went to a members house and they are all deaf so we wrote most of it down but it was such a cool experience and the spirit was there so it was awesome and hey I learned some Russian sign language who would have ever known, oh yes they speak Ukrainian here, so yeah it is trippy but it is alright I will just learn Ukrainian and Russian I guess haha 

District lunch in Kharkov for Elder Claypool's birthday. this was like the only time we [Our District] did something

General Conference Saturday and Sunday were so good all 16 (yes there are 16 now haha) of the missionaries in our district all watched conference at the church and it was so so good, we will not sleep through the revolution (too soon? haha) (it is funny because that is what President Uchtdorf talked about in one of his talks) 

It is all a change with Wards, new area, new mission president (ours is still in Donetsk along with the senior couples) language and all that but it will be good once we start getting back into things, the work is true whether we are here or there or over there, it is true and no unhallowed had can stop this work. So basically we will be going back to our mission sometime (who knows when but I really hope we do haha) 

ah well we are safe and I love you all thank you for your prayers and such, love you. have a good week hopefully I added everything if not next time haha 

love Elder David Witt 

Update from the News today

The LDS Church continues to monitor the unrest in Ukraine. The church's first priority is the safety of its missionaries in the area.

The Church of Jesus of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released an update April 11 at 8 a.m. regarding missionaries serving in Ukraine.

"Due to continued unrest in the region, the church has chosen to transfer the 85 missionaries from the Ukraine Donetsk Mission to serve in other areas within Ukraine. The well-being of missionaries is always our first priority, and every effort is being made to keep them safe," Mormon Newsroom reported.

Donetsk is one of three eastern cities where Pro-Russian protesters are occupying administrative buildings, according to CNN.com.

Previous updates about missionaries in the area and additional information about the church in Ukraine can be found on the Mormon Newsroom website.

This video makes me sad and also so grateful for our freedom here in the United States-

http://www.standard.net/stories/2014/02/19/ukraine-violence-distresses-utahns-relatives-and-friends-there

We received a letter from David's mission president and he has been relocated, as of Wednesday, to serve in the Kyiv mission. Where one door closes another door opens! Please continue in your faithful prayers for Elder David Witt, all the missionaries and the people in Ukraine. 

Proverbs 3:5-6  "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."  

Follow the promptings you have every day, we never know when we will make a difference.

Investigators

Hello,

It is hard to send pictures because we have to have the lady at the front desk do it, we have to sign into her computer and all that jazz so it is kinda a hassle, today is Elder Claypools birthday so I made some german pancakes that turned out pretty dang good if i do say so myself. He is a good missionary and is really helping my Russian grow. But anyway this week flew by, but it was a good week.

First we have still been meeting with Canya and he is doing so much better it is awesome to just walk into his room and it just feels so much better and he looks so much better it is great and his mom has been sitting in on the lessons with us and has started to read the book of Mormon so she is becoming more interested so that is great. He also came to church yesterday! Elder Claypool gave him a suit since he is leaving soon and he looked good in it, people thought he was a new missionary lookin so sharp haha 

We also met with Nina the less active and she got sick so she didnt come to church, she is awesome though and as she continues to read the Book of Mormon daily and pray and such it will be great. 

We did some service on a members dacha (summer home) (the funny thing is it started to snow when we were there haha) but we helped them cut wood for their summer fires and stuff 

 and Canya came with us so it was a good experience for him too! 

We also met with Sasha the 17 year old and he is just smart like I said he read the Book Of mormon and is continuing to read it and we think he will be ready to be baptized by the end of this month so it is great, he is really cool kid. 

We got some members to come on lessons with us and the members are so great here they just really tell it how it is but it is good and the investigator just understands. (except one member he got a little heated on a lesson haha but that is alright) 

We did some less active/ former investigator finding and set up some lessons with contact we have. We found out that most arent too interested so that kinda sucked but that is alright, they will come back when they are ready. Ah yeah except we met this one less active who is really old and on bed rest and when she was a teenager she had to run away from Stalin's troops then later Hitlers troops so it was rough but she seems like she was a great member when she could get out of the house. 

Conference is this weekened since it started at 7pm Ukraine time haha and plus it needs to be translated, even though I will probably watch most of it in English ha but yeah I am excited for that! 

love you and hope you all have a great week! yay for warmer weather

love you 
love Elder David Witt

so simple, yet so complex

Man daylight savings blows haha we forgot to set our clocks so thankfully the other Elders called us at what I thought was 5:30 but turns out it was time to get up haha But this week was good it went by super fast though, today is the first day this week that it has been warm and it is really nice, I cant wait until we dont have to wear our suit coats. But this week we got our area book in order and such figured out which members are in our area, since our area is still pretty new, 

We are still meeting with Canya and he is doing a lot better, still drinking but not as much, we were able to have one of the counslers of the branch presidency come on our a few of our lessons and he is really awesome. They both connected so it was cool and he was able to give Canya a blessing yesterday to help him out so that was really cool, his mom is also learning a little bit a little more shy about it but she is feelin the Spirit too so it is cool. We have been able to meet with members to get to know them so they can help us out with our missionary work, most of been members for 10 plus years so they are just awesome and it is so cool to see how great they are. We have tried to also find former investigators but that hasn't been too much of a success so we usually just talk to people on the streets, and the people tend to be so much nicer here ha it is cool. We were able to meet with a member family who their son is 17 and who isnt a member, he is really awesome and it was fun to get to know him a little bit and see his testimony, hopefully we can get him to want to serve a mission in the near future. 

We also had zone conference on Saturday so it was good to see President and Sister Lochhead. One thing that we talked about was just raising the bar and it made me think of how the church raised the bar for missionaries to start younger and I accepted that so I need to remember that the bar is set pretty high. another thing that I liked, or maybe I was tlaking about it with my comp but just that the gospel of Jesus Christ is so simple a child can understand yet so complex it takes more than a life time to know everything. 

The people here are so wonderful so humble and so kind, I love the branch, like I said last wek it is nice. 

It is nice that for the most part things have quieted down and we are still safe. 

sorry this letter isnt as good but I was kinda in a rush, but anyway hope you all have a good week
love you!

love Elder David Witt

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