Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It is crazy it is 2014! Let me first start off with a few goals I have. 

1- Unlike most people I want to gain weight, maybe 15-20 pounds. Preferably muscle but if not that's fine (hopefully I don't get a worm and lose any weight) 

2- Not see too many people peeing on the side of the road. 

3- Get along with my companions. 

4- Find a friend that I can be friends with after my mission (no not any girls). 

5- Do something cool or give something cool to a member or investigator that they remember forever. 

6- See someone get baptized in a river (it'd be cool) 

7- Read all of the Bible. 

8- Learn how to play the top hand on the piano.

9- And of course learn the Russian language, the grammar, learn how to speak and understand them and have a conversation with them and know what is going on. 

Those are a few goals. 

Here are some pics from Christmas Eve and Christmas. 

 and some giant statue..

On Tuesday we left early in the morning for Donetsk by train, not as cool as I thought. nothing like Harry Potter and it doesn't help when you are squashed between two larger women, so we could spend the New Years there. We watched the Nutcracker that day and it was better than I remembered and the live music was way good! Then the next day we had mission conference and it was way good! We talked about how to be a real missionary and we watched a clip from the movie "The Miracle" i think. it is about the USA hockey team and it looks like a good movie so I will probably watch it when I get back, anyway, we have already joined this team so we need to work hard for the team we are on. Another cool line was the name on the back (last name) isnt as important as the name on the front (USA) and it is just like our tags, our names are on there as well as Jesus Christ's name and his name is most important since this is his work. But we need to embrace the challenges in life and on the mission and "Just Do It". We had to be in early the few nights we were in Donetsk because people get crazy haha 

Some lessons we have planned have fallen through and so we did a lot of contacting and that is a lot of work, especially since I am still not use to it getting dark like at 3:30 haha there wasn't much success in that either but we did find one lady we asked her for directions and she didnt know so she went  into some store and yelled asking if anyone knew and everyone was quiet and staring haha but then no one knew so she said well come to my place and I will look it up on the computer, so we did and we still couldn't find it..haha so she offered us some tea and she didnt have herbal tea so she said hold on a sec and went outside then came back with some berries that she picked, haha so she smashed them up and put them in hot water and we drank it, no it wasn't that good but she was nice ha then after she said let me come with you to find this place so we walked around some more haha and she was just talkin to us telling us about her life haha Then we encountered some more drunks on the bus and they were being stupid ha but no scences. 

Church was good yesterday and the man who we found tracting came again so that is good. They always ask me to do stuff and I dont know what they ask so I have to have it translated haha and so I just bear my testimony cause that's about all  I can say haha 

this is a member in our ward who is blind and he plays the accordian, very very cool and such a cool man

one quick last little story, we just ate some blinok, delicious crepe things and I bet they would be a big hit in America so maybe I will open one one I get back, but the wild dogs smell those and they just follow you around wanting some haha thankfully they aren't too ferocious so we didn't get attacked but it followed us until we came to this cafe to use the internet haha I'm glad we don't have too many strays in America haha 

Love you all and hope your Christmas break was nice 

Merry Christmas (the Russian one) haha
с Новым годом

love you! 
-Cтарейшина Витт