A Day of Reflection and Walking

Sunday in Ukraine was a wonderful day.
We decided to attend a Ukrainian Ward this morning instead of the International Branch by the Temple. TJ is friends (they served together in Moscow) with the New Bishop (he was called last Sunday) of the ward. So we went and experienced a Ukrainian/Russian speaking ward.

As we were looking for the meeting house a man told us to go around a corner and through the door. The door was a little suspect but we went inside anyway.

We thought it looked like a club and it was. Inside another church was meeting in the room behind the bar. We left quickly and found the right door, Kaila-ed and went in.

Isn't it so wonderful when you attend a meeting thinking that you probably wont get anything out of it, and the exact opposite happens!! That was today. When we decided to go, I figured it would just be a neat experience listening to the people of the ward speak a language I don't understand. But instead I was deeply touched by their testimonies and their faithfulness. It is amazing to witness the strength of these people. We usually attend a ward that has hundreds of people, and if you wanted to, you could easily blend into the back of the room, never speak and not be seen. You might never get a leadership calling. You may only be asked to speak in Sacrament once every 5 years. You could float through your church life and never be stretched. But that doesn't happen in places like this. This ward had approximately 50 people attending today. And I was impressed by each one of them.

TJ translated sacrament and Sunday school for us and then when he and Mike went to Priesthood, I went to Relief Society alone and a wonderful woman named Oksana sat with me and translated for me.

In Sacrament meeting the general theme was about trials. We all have them and we are made stronger by them. One young woman mentions something that has stuck with me. She said something along the lines of "The Lord knows each one of us. He will not forget you. We will be made strong though our trials." I know that the trials we are facing here are all for a reason. The Lord has a timeline for us that we don't understand yet. I know while I am frustrated and sometimes upset throughout this process, that the Lord knows me and is watching out for me. He understands what we are experiencing, and will not leave us alone to face it. I feel truly blessed to know that.
It was an amazing experience to be a part of a young ward, with saints that are so excited to be members of the Church, and especially to have a New Temple near by. I am inspired and renewed and just so grateful.

We took time to teach TJ to Kaila while we were at church.

Thank you TJ for allowing us this experience. And Thank you to the wonderful saints in the ward we attended for making us feel welcome, even though we don't speak you language.

TJ spotted a Moskvich the ubiquitous Russian spymobile.

After church we made our way on a mashrutka (a small bus) to find a memorial called Babi Yar.

TJ riding shotgun in a mashtruka

This is a memorial built "to honor more than 100,000 Ukrainian citizens and prisoners of war that were shot by the German fascists during the years 1941-1943". The place that this memorial was built is the site of the massacre.

We aren't 100% sure but we think that the people were shot and also buried here. It was a very humbling place to be. While we were there, we were reflecting on the horrors of war and the incomprehensible loss of life that took place here.

Afterward, we walked around the park a little and took part in another very common tradition, standing around in a park in the freezing cold drinking vodka.

Just kidding we didn't drink any vodka but we chatted with some nice people who were. They were suddenly very friendly which was interesting since all through the day most people you pass on the streets are not particularly talkative.  In this case they were very chatty in fact we had to pull away before we froze.
All in all very nice people and everyone we mention adoption to is very supportive and kind. Very nice people.(They even asked if we could adopt them instead)
On the way back Mike snapped a picture of the metro terminal where you can see that after the fall of the USSR, the Ukraininan govt changed back to their own Ukraininan alphabet rather than keep the Russian alphabet.

The differences aren't that great but here you can see a constant reminder of the change. they didn't bother to sand away the marks left behind when they changed the Es to Is in this ornate sign. It reads "Heroes of the Dnipre" The Dnipre is the river that runs through Kiev.