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