Elder Matua: УКРАЇНА!!!!

Last night in the MTC with the fella's

Arrived! Feels super weird that I am actually here. Definitely different from the MTC. After being here, the MTC still feels like home. But I'm lovin it and lovin the work already!!

Arrival in Ukraine with Pres & Sis Kumferman

We left the MTC around 6 am and had a long day of traveling. Weird to be the ones constantly being stared at, and it hasn't stopped for one minute since we've been here in Ukraine. When we arrived, President and Sister Kumferman were waiting for us with the AP's. They took us back to the mission home where we had a 10 minute briefing and then started interviews. The sisters went first while the elders went out contacting. I was sooooo nervous. But it ended up being really fun! I went with elder Galmeister, one of the AP's because he was one of the only Ukrainian speakers there at the time so I got lucky. We only contacted for about an hour and only got yelled at twice. One was a guy with no shirt who didn't seem all there and he didn't even say any words he just yelled at the top of his lungs. We both just started laughing so hard. We went back and had the rest of our interviews! My interview was super good and I got assigned to Рівне (Rivne) and with my trainer Elder McGrath from Arizona. Well he always says he's from Saudi Arabia because he's lived there for a while now but originally from Mesa Arizona! I love him so much!

Intake on my first day

We had the rest of our training the next day and then headed out to Рівне. We had to ride a pretty squished bus for 6 hours which was not fun but it got us here. We got in really late and just crashed. We live in an old army base apartment. It's not bad at all. Except we shower with a hose, but there's hot water so not complaining.

The first couple of days consisted of contacting and member lessons. The members are awesome!! At least from what I can understand when I talk to them. The member lessons were super good. All I can really do is bear my testimony because I have no idea what they are saying. It'll work for now but ya that's gotta get better. We also taught one of our investigators named Віка. She is amaaaazing!! We watched the restoration movie to start and she cried like three times during it and I was like oh my goodness this is the best thing ever...BAAHAHH! When we finished she had so many questions about the Book of Mormon because she reads every night from 9-10...How awesome is that?! She then told us an experience she had the other night of when she was reading and praying and then she just felt an "indescribable feeling" where she just started breaking down crying next to her bed and she didn't know what it was or what to do and ya she was scrambling for words. And then she started to cry right in front of us again!! It was super cool. We talked to her for a while and then...I...asked her to be baptized!! I was so nervous to do it but I just sent it. So crazy! She said yes!!! but then she said she's not ready...But then we got her to kind of say yes again bahaha. But it was all good because she came to church yesterday and she loved it!! There is no doubt in my mind she will get baptized. I also spoke in sacrament so I hope that helped her also...If she could even understand me. The lesson we taught her was all in English btw that's why I understood what was going on BAHAHA.

With Elder McGrath, my first night was spent in a hotel

I also taught my first English lesson!! Was super fun! Except for Elder McGrath and I drew the short straw and had to teach the beginners class. So I taught in English while he translated. It was still super fun though. After we finished teaching all the classes we joined together and I shared an experience about America. I shared the time that my man Owen Gubler got thrown in the game at Nationals with Crocks and basketball shorts on. So funny! And we always have to have kind of like a message to tie along with it that doesn't really do with the gospel so I just mentioned that we have to be ready for anything and everything that comes our way. I kind of told it in a dumb way but they all love hearing stories about America so they were all tuned in. Super funny.

We rode a маршука (a little yellow bus. we take them literally everywhere) on Friday out to a little village to do service for a member. We helped them gather all of their potatoes. So many potatoes. And it was a small garden. I was so glad it wasn't one of the massive ones that we were surrounded by out there. But it was really fun and they fed us before and after and gave us a bunch of fruit to take home.

First Sunday here was super good! Very different experience because there were only like 30 people but it was really cool. A few old ladies that are just the sweetest, a bunch of single guys and like two little kids, and one full family with a son that just got home from his mission in England. He is super cool and speaks super good English. Every Sunday night we go to the other elders' apartment in our area and sleep there for pday. We make a really big dinner too...last night was egg burritos which is like a tradition around here. They were AMAZING but kinda made us feel a little sick today. Totally worth it. The food here is just soooooo good. Way better than MTC food that's for sure.

My Trainer - Elder McGrath from AZ

First P-Day today obviously. We were gonna go to Острог, but the weather is wayyy to crazy. It's super windy and raining. So we went to the mall which was actually way fun. We went bowling and got all of our groceries for the week. I love it because we cook everything. It is insanely cheap here. We bought a ton of groceries for $600 in Ukrainian money which is like $30 in US. It is so weird how cheap everything is. We ride the маршука for 5 грн a piece which is like 10 cents. We just living the life out here.

It is so crazy being out here in the field. It is as hard as everyone says but everyone here says just to get through your first transfer. They also say everyday will speed up because it feels like everyday is a week right now. It'll get better and so will my Ukrainian....hopefully. Love all of you and thank you for the support!

з Любов'ю,

Старійшина Матуа