WAKE UP ELDER WAKE UP

I feel like sending some of the church members here in Bila a word about this... almost the entire preisthood is ex mafia but they still use there connections. Darin says he speaks russian so they'll get along just great :D if this keeps up, those two are not going to like my return, especially if they are at the airport! I'm afraid I dont have as many pictures this week! way funny though me and my comp had some really funny experiences... anywhere from him think that he didn't have a contact in and once he put it in he found out quick he already had one in... haha he gave me this weird look and then asked me.."wow.... you know when you look through binoculars backwards!" haha I laughed so hard his face was priceless... and then this morning haha so my comp gets up and Iwas like NOOO it cant be time yet, so I started to say my prayers assuming I was just tired because of the day light savings...anywho so he comes back and starts praying to... I get up to go the work out room but I cant bring myself to I was just WAY to tired... kind of fell to sleep sitting there. and then I heard him coming my way so to be a good example I started doing something anyway he comes in and says hey... so uh "how did you sleep" told him "honestly? Horrilbe! I'm so tired right now! how bout you?" he says "yeah.. not so good either... hey do you know what time it is?" immidianlty I thought oh no we slept in! I looked at my watch ...and I read 1:39 A.M. I was like WHAT!??? " my comp goes "yeahhhh....I"m confused" we checked all the other clocks and then finally determined it was a huge misunderstanding on my part! he just needed to go to the bathrooom, I thought he was getting up so I began to pray, then he came back and saw me praying so he thought that oh guess its time to get up... "he said honeslty elder I wasn't praying I was sleeping." haha I told him yeah I wasn't working out either! was way funny but the first thing we did this morning when we got up was check the clocks to make sure they had the correct time. haha hey anway what are the rules with the card? are there any fee's for withdrawing money from another country and what not? I'll just be needing boots and a coat. and... maybe shoes... the covington's we bought are SHOT! there are ripping all over the place... there is a hole on the ball of the foot, rips on each side and the soul is majorly cracked. but those aren't as expensive as the other things I need to get. I just asked taleya whats up and so I want to see what she says..see if I cant use my missionary training to probe the questions. well love you all... oh hey mom what about my pistol? what happened to it? love you!  Tell Bryndon I"m stoked about all the games! does he know that batman comes out in 2012 the rise of the dark knight? told dad I think Christopher is headed my way on his mission.. maybe not Ukraine but perhaps one of the surrounding countries! think that would be way funny if it was russia! haha always competeing anyway love you all stay strong!

OH HOW TIME FLIES

So another incredibly fast week out of Рівне (Revna) lots of working and wow I'm beat. Im surprised the tree's here have survived for so long, the leaves are still falling and its making some of the parks look way pretty. Well this was my first normal week in my new area, the work is harder to do here... and sometimes frustrating... that and when people wont treat us like human beings. The trick to this city is finding ways to work around the rules... for instance this last week we did that tie contacting with Elder Powell on exchanges (by the way the statue picture is what we refer to as "the man" statue, apparently a bunch of dentists in Рівна got together to restore the statue lol kind of funny it was dentists that restored it) anyway its been working well, the Church is WAY fun to work with here, we have lots of member presents and I have found that that is the best way to teach is WITH the members.. there is nothing more powerful than the testimony of a convert (yeah I know we are all converts but you know what I mean) this last week was my introduction to the branch so I got up and bore my testimony/talk lol about you all and why I came out on a mission and then I have made a goal to sing in every city that I serve in so after sister yulia who just so happened to talk about music and how we need to share our talents, so after my talk I sang a short him for them... but I sang it my way :D lol it was fun! and I didn't mess up so that was WAY good! its really nerve racking getting up and speaking anyway but when you have to do it in another language is where it really takes nerve! finally listening to conference in english! it was SOOO great! I loved Elder Hollands And President Uchtdorf's talk! especially President Uchtdorfs! haha I am now going to use that "but Elder! what does that have to do with flying the plane?" the other picture of us kind of mad is in Kmilnitsky for Zone meeting! the missile in the back apparently was to be shot off towards america back in the day... and they made a memorial about it!! as you can see I was not thrilled! this last week also my companion who is AWESOME! preformed a Concert for the city in the church.. and with our unability to procilyte was kind of tricky to get the word out. we had a decent amount of people show up and did he ever play that piano! I have it all recorded on my piano.. was anything from CHarlie brown and starwars to Claire De Lune and a an awesome accompanament with a sister in the ward. yeah remember how I said I thought Ukrianians couldn't sing? I was so wrong! she is an amazing singer! it was way spiritual! everyone loved it! I have had a good time here, its hard alot of the time but I think this city is good for missionaries.. makes them learn to be creative and find ways to share the gospel or how we put it "trick them into asking about it" I'm in another learning stage with the language and when I say that I mean its been SOOOO tough this last week with the language, I dont know if everyone decided to use big words or what but I had the toughest time understanding people this week. but such is life! ... I'm way excited Chris is now a High Preisthood holder, now when is he getting out here! I dont want him to be at my homecoming! I want to be at his! ok I'll let the office know its on its way and to keep a look out for it. we are headed to Луцкь next week for another district meeting so maybe I can have the zone leaders pick it up or something! thanks a bunch! yeah I'm not sure what else I can say... I should start bringing my journal to remember the week! I just barely finished that one I left with, I have exactly 7 months in that one if I counted right... oh yeah this last week I ran into another JDub....grrrrrr I have about had it! ah man I get all sorts of fired up when they start preaching to me! lol on that note I have been really contemplating something Pres. asked us, are we always keeping Jesus Christ in our thoughts, constantly thinking about him, what he would say if he were here, I have been trying it... and wow, I feel bad saying this but it has been really hard. I mean preaching the gospel yeah but CONTSTANTLY having him on my mind... its a goal of mine and I'm trying. I feel like I always need to have my nose in the scriptures to actually accomplish it! Thanks mom for the scriptures! I love scripture study, its one of my favorite parts of the day! Elder Holland said that we could either make of break our missions and that all depending on those few hours in the morning, word for word he said " you can make or break your missions between the hours of 8 and 10! that is SOOO true! I have found out so much more than what I knew, I'm on my third time around in the book of mormom and still trying to get the first time done in the language. Ukrainian is truly a beautiful language, after a while of not speaking in it you start to miss it, lol its kind of weird how all the missionairies relate on that. This last week the president of Ukraine was here in town, this place isn't very big, some 100,000 people or so I hear, but its REally up to date. Житомир wasn't really so its kind of a nice change. wow guys I love ya! I'm grateful to be here! Bryndon stop telling me how long I have!!! hahaha wait until I atleast get past my year mark, or even my last six months! our District leader here is kind of trunky, he goes home in less then a month! I cant wait to get there and game it up with ya bud! wha what! he so yeah I could still use some pictures! oh hey mom I showed your picture to one of our investigators and he said that he thought you were my sister! good job momma! haha he was really confused when I said no I only have one sister in my family! but yeah if you could send more that would be great! I love you all and I hope all stays well at home! anything I can do to help you? I promise I'm working as best I know how! in short sleaves some days just to tick off the grandma's haha its a great contacting Idea! :D thats all folks from my side of the world! dos vidania

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Старіишина Джонсон

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

hey mom!,
thanks for the happiness of the birthday sending! but unfortunately I read dads first so technically he said it first! I'm emailing you all from Kmilnistky today we are having a big meetinghere so five hours later off a bus here we are! but guess what... yeah I've been transfered! 5 months in Житомир... my first area matter a fact! I'm serving now in Revna with Elder Hoffling! we just pumped out two more baptisms out of here between Elder Hoffling and I, Revna is a really pretty city! and when I say that I mean that I hear Ukrainian 85 percent of the time! its so nice! the ward here is huge! ... well kind of haha 40 members strong.. well now 42 HA! Revna is known for her "branch girls" as the missionaries refer to them as.. apparently missionaries have just been baptizing woman here, yeah we contributed to that last week with yuliana and Inna. however we have alot of preisthood here to which is nice. the only crappy part about Revna is there are rules here that the missionaries have to follow! no no no not white handbook rules! but city rules! apparenlty somes missionaries a while back got kicked out for being retarded and when they let us back in they tagged us with some rules .. one being.. we cannot prosylite.... at aLL!!! we cannot talk to anyone about the gospel.. unless however they ask about it. cannot tract... all this junk however I think its a blessing in disguise because it makes us that much more creative. For instance one of our contacting tools.. other than every "bob" (our abreviation for Бабуся which is grandma) giving me and earful when they see me just wearing a shirt.. I found out lots of people like to talk to me in those circumstances so it works great! however at times it gets annoying and in those cases I just make a 360 degree turn, find the nearest short skirt (many here, yes even in winter) and then I point! and they stop chewing me out! but one of our other contacting tools that works great is TIE CONTACTING! basically we walk up to people and tell them we are having a tie contest. well its EUROPE! and they are all fashion like so they love giving there imput! Elder Hoffling and I have been taring it up here in Revna. He is a madman on the piano! he knows music, and he knows music theory and knows how use them both! he can turn I'm a little tea pot into a motzart composition. infact this next week we are having a little concert with him on the piano and we are inviting everyone! wow what else! .... oh yeah I haven't told you about BURNER BOB'S.. basically here, the old world war two, under Stalin rule, ancient grandma's are afraid of technology. Actually it would be better to say that some of them REALLY dont like it! so what do they do??? well they walk on into the apartment complex and they will light the circuit breaker on FIRE!!! and then waddle away! you see these giant scortch marks on the walls walking in to the complex sometimes haha I get a kick out of it! there SO superstitios sometimes! well sorry I will continue later because we arrived here kind of late and we aren't exactly getting a pday.. might be on thrusday! anyway love you! hope all is well! oh hey Chris and Bryndon... any uh... any potentials in florida??? haha love ya

MOVING!!!

your moving again??? to where? yeah this week was sort of cold. down to 6 degree's celcius... I think thats like the 20's for you. yeah I thought that coat was going to work but turns out it wasn't made for someone my size. I did find a gold mine of  hand warmers though in the house. yeah transfers are on thursday.... you just send it to the mission home, the address I gave you, they get it to me. not sure if I'll be staying in Житомир anymore but we will see. haha many are willing but few are chosen that was our modo for the MTC because there was only 4 Ukrainian speakers and 36 Russian Speakers lol which by the way all of conference was in Russian....yeah so it was a trip. I understood most of it but it would have been easier in Ukrainian and even more easier in English.. obviously. just send whatever you think I will need and I will find some way to use. I"m getting really good at making European food. crapes are way fun to make, cheap and easy. also Borsh I have not made yet but its a Ukrainian Delicacy seriously! it is WAY good! I will have to figure out how to make it. This week we went on Exchanges and I was with Elder Larson. it was way nice we were both trained by Elder Johnson so we knew how to get the job done right. all of study went well, we actually went out and contacted and then ...oh yes it gets better we threw down on a eternal investigator and now have another baptismal date for the 30 of october! it was an awesome day. the reason for exchnages was because Elder Schnell and Elder Lapinski wanted to go to the archives and do family history which is good but I thiought it could have waited till pday and because I have no Ukrainian ancestory I would not have felt very effective there... it was a pretty good week, however .... your moving again??? to where? yeah this week was sort of cold. down to 6 degree's celcius... I think thats like the 20's for you. yeah I thought that coat was going to work but turns out it wasn't made for someone my size. I did find a gold mine of  hand warmers though in the house. yeah transfers are on thursday.... you just send it to the mission home, the address I gave you, they get it to me. not sure if I'll be staying in Житомир anymore but we will see. haha many are willing but few are chosen that was our modo for the MTC because there was only 4 Ukrainian speakers and 36 Russian Speakers lol which by the way all of conference was in Russian....yeah so it was a trip. I understood most of it but it would have been easier in Ukrainian and even more easier in English.. obviously. just send whatever you think I will need and I will find some way to use. I"m getting really good at making European food. crapes are way fun to make, cheap and easy. also Borsh I have not made yet but its a Ukrainian Delicacy seriously! it is WAY good! I will have to figure out how to make it. This week we went on Exchanges and I was with Elder Larson. it was way nice we were both trained by Elder Johnson so we knew how to get the job done right. all of study went well, we actually went out and contacted and then ...oh yes it gets better we threw down on a eternal investigator and now have another baptismal date for the 30 of october! it was an awesome day. the reason for exchnages was because Elder Schnell and Elder Lapinski wanted to go to the archives and do family history which is good but I thiought it could have waited till pday and because I have no Ukrainian ancestory I would not have felt very effective there... it was a pretty good week, however .... oi I cannot get my comp to follow some of the most simplist rules like getting up in the morning. and HUGE blessings are flying over our heads because we cant get it. I've said I could help him, so he said use the squirt gun... that just ticked him off, I set the phone on opposite sides of the room so he has to get up, so he does and then just goes back to bed. this is his last transfer .... I  mean really! come on! anyway I'm just venting. Englsih was fun this week. if you could send some ideas that would be appreciative. love you mom, thanks for the help, its been great here! like how president monson mentioned that the Cultural celebration in Kiev was in a palace! haha that tickled me a bit, it was just called palace it was really an opera house. thats all for me, anyway I love you mom keep me posted on whats going on
Your son

Bros

hey bud things sound fun!
how is the family doing? you preppin for a mission soon to? whats this I heard about moving? yeah its nice and cold here, all of the grandma's are yelling at me as I walk around in my shirt lol they dont understand that I'm a hot blooded person. well the game sounds fun. do you know how taleya is doing? haha cars! I love that movie, we are going ice skating today, and last week we played risk but the original one! and I won!! haha we have to get it so we can play when I get home which is now less than a year and a half. I'll be going to bulgaria next summer to renew my visa so that will be fun! how was dads birthday? you know mine is next monday! hey you should take alot of pictures and send them ok? love you bro

Conference

Hey mom!
how are ya? how was conference? we haven't seen it yet here, we dont get it till next week and it will be in Ukrainian. Kind of jelous, because the Bulgarians got to watch it in English last weekend, come on I mean we have a temple here!!! you cant tell me they cant broadcast it! lol anyway yeah heard about taleya, told dad I thought it was alittle funny because she really wants to put her hand on the stove and see if its actually hot! no biggy! just be prepared to be able to get her a ticket back home if the times require it! hey so mom I read something that Joseph smith said in that teaching manuel teaching from joseph smith. I think we have one, and when you find it or go online and read it but its on page 176 about half way down the page the paragraph right underneath the bold title. made me think of the little one that was lost after you had me. really neet to think about and that jo smith has a way of putting words together! lol had an investigator this last week, thats what he called him. well we had another baptism last week! kinda sucks because I cant get the camera to dowload the pictures but Elder Larson was the one who baptized and what was funny is we dont have a baptismal font so we have to use a pool, or basan. well the people told him it was less then 2 meters deap but when he got in he couldn't touch the bottom. he's probably likr 5'10 5'11 so they gave him a bright orange life preserver to baptized her in lol it was way funny. I got to sing again. singing in Ukrainian is really pretty, did I tell you its apparently the second mosst melodic language? right after italian. anyway got to do that. we are headed out on bus tonight to another city Kmilnitsky for district meeting tomorrow. lol yeah remember after my colorado for christmas experience with bus's and I vowed I would never use a bus again? lol well this one will be only 5 hours and not two days. but still.... the work is hard. my companion is freezing! he is from california, granted he is going home soon so he should be used to it but it feels alot like colorado right now in the winter but people say its going to get worse. yeah when you get a chance please send the pics. so your sending stuff next friday? or this last friday? yeah it was the oatmeal stuff, peanut butter, brown sugar, flaming hot cheedos with a hint of lime, the debit card lol that would be nice. because as much as I dont want to admit some days its pretty cold outside. but once we get walking for a while I start sweating so its all good. I cant really think of anything else. I have alot of things that I get to introduce the family into and when I mean things I mean food!!! and I've almost mastered them haha funny how your made to cook, its not just something you pick up you have to figure out FAST how to on the mission. atleast a variety of things you have to learn fast. anywho's yeah thats all I can think of. apparently you will be fine sending it to the mission, no one has really ever had a problem but you can right some kind of trickery on the front if you would like. what was your favorite talk in conference? man I can wait for it! love you mom! keep smiling! we have aLOT to be happy about!

Gettin the update from the bros

Hey Bryndon,
what is this reach game you spoke of? what is it about? haha man that was a good movie x men origins!  when does the new one come out? nicely done my friend keep up with the work outs! yeah so I feel like I'm getting smaller here.. so you have a chance ;D wait what the family is thinking of moving back now? to where? and when? lol man we sure do move alot. you I live here next to this Chocalate factory and every morning we smell fresh chocolate being made... however this being a communist community the owner of the chocolate factory thinks that the Ukrainian President whom is Russian wants to shut them down. so he has booby-trapped his factory with an order of these (ninja's) is what we call them but these security gaurds who have all of these pads and armor haha its kind of funny. one of these times I'll sneak a picture for ya so you can see them. yeah I've almost been in my city 5 months! so I might be getting transfered to a new one at the end of transfers which will be on my birthday! how was conference? which one was your favorite talk? hit me back soon! love ya bro