A Walk In The Park

Elder Martschenko & Elder Loveridge

On Tuesday the assistants to the president came down to Uzhhorod for exchanges. They don't usually do that, but since there's so many new missionaries in the mission now, they've been going around to all the cities to sort of give advice and make sure everything is going well everywhere and no church buildings are being burned down. So that was cool, we got lots of good advice from them and it was nice having someone who actually knows the language really really well, instead of just kind of knows the language OK enough to survive. It was also nice cause Elder Loveridge, my first companion, came down here, too. He was with the other elders all day but I still saw him. I attached a picture of me and him outside the church building. 

This past week we also tried to get our sports day going. Basically we go out once a week and play a bunch of games and try to invite as many people as we can. The hardest parts are always 1) finding a place to play, and 2) getting people to actually come. This week we grabbed a couple members of the church and hopped a fence to get to a basketball court at a school here. We ended up finding some people there to play with and it was actually pretty successful and fun, mostly cause Ukrainians in general are not so good at basketball, and so it made me feel like I was actually talented.

Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Last Monday we had a few hours with nothing to do, so we went to the basketball court and tried to play. There were a few guys there who asked to play with us, so we said, "Sure, why not?" Unfortunately, they were very, very tall. Honestly, they weren't even that good, they just each had a solid foot of height over us, so we couldnt' do very much. So, it was much more fun when we could play against people who aren't quite so good.

Hitchhiking

For p-day today, we woke up early this morning and got on a bus to find this cool resort/park somewhere north of Uzhhorod. It turned out to be almost an hour and a half on the bus, and then from there we still had a 5km walk to get to the actual park. Luckily, on our way up we were able to hitchhike a ride with a nice old man on his way to work. I attached a picture I snuck from the back seat of his car. Unfortunately, we did have to walk all the way down afterward. 

So, it was kind of a journey getting there, but once we made it, it was actually pretty worth it. At first you walk through, and it's like a resort with hotels, swimming pools, tennis courts, zip lines and all that kind of stuff. And then you walk a little farther and there's a really nice park later on. 

P-day at the park

Apparently some rich guy decided to build this park and just let the public use it. It might not look like too much in the pictures, but it was probably the nicest place I've been to since I got to Ukraine. There was a pond with benches and streams and little hiking trails and helicopters and mini statues and mountain springs and all kinds of stuff like that. So, it was pretty cool, just kind of difficult to get to. And then, my companion left our phone there . . . so we'll probably have to wake up early again tomorrow to go get it, including walking 5km each way. 

Alec & his companions, plus one

As for the history event we're doing here, things seem to be going well. We were waiting on a press release from L'viv to go to the news stations and professors and all the people we wanted to invite. We finally got it today and, honestly,  . . . we'll see what we're going to do about that. I'm gonna be in a different city this week for exchanges, and then next week we'll be gone half of the week for zone conference in L'viv, soooo, I don't know how we're going to have time to do everything. Somehow we'll figure it out, I'm sure. It's just lots of unfortunate timing really. That's OK. I'm sure it will be fine. 

As for that investigator, we've met with him several times. He came to church once or twice. and then he said he loves us and everything, but he does not want to be baptized at all. And then he said that God wanted him to meet us so he could correct all the sinful things we do at our church, and so that he can be the church leader here, and basically help us all. So, yeah, we might have another meeting or two with him, but if nothing changes, that's probably about it. 

We also have another family we've been teaching in that village and they really want to be baptized, but, they've been having problems coming to church. There's not too much we can do for them until they come to church.

 

On the 5km walk to the park

Hope everything is going well for y'all!

Alec