Elder Alec Martschenko: Last Days in Khmelnitskiy

Alec enjoying the sights on his personal day.

I got the package!

Oversized missionary package!

Thank you very much. The juggling balls were a good touch. Y'all managed to find the jankiest Bananagrams I've ever seen, but it works great and it's a lot lighter, so thank you! And, don't worry about the weight of the package, it doesn't really matter. It can just be a bit of a pain to carry it back if we get unlucky with travel plans. I attached a pic of one of my old companions and the package he got last week. so at least it wasn't that!

The transfer thing wasn't anything crazy, really. Just the new guy coming here was traveling all day on Monday, so he didn't have a chance to write. So we all just waited until Tuesday to write so he could do it this morning. The other news though is that I'm leaving Khmelnitskisyksiksyisy. I'll be doing my last English practice in Ternopil today, and then from there spending the night in L'viv. And then Wednesday morning I'll be heading off to move to Ivano-Frankivsk. I'll be a zone leader there with Elder Sanders. I've spent time in that city before on exchanges and stuff and it's a pretty nice city. There's also a really strong branch there, so that'll be a nice change from my last two cities, where there were no more than five active members.

The weather here has definitely been pretty cold already. The last few days have been warmer, but I've already had to start wearing a winter coat. Super unfortunate.

This past week was pretty busy. On Monday, we met up with a recent convert and she taught us how to make homemade varenikiy (Ukrainian pirogies). Usually we just buy them frozen, but they are wayyy better fresh and homemade. You can tell in the picture the pretty ones that she made and the awful ones we made.

Making homemade pirodies with a member in Ukraine.

Can you guess which pirogies the missionaries made?

A lot of the rest of our week was spent on Mission Conference in L'viv on Wednesday. But first, we had to go to Ternopil on Tuesday for English practice. and then we took a bus straight from there to L'viv and got in late at night. Then a cool Mission Conference the next day on Wednesday, and some time spent souvenir shopping in L'viv. Elder Protzman was getting ready to go home to America, so he wanted to get some stuff to take home.

Alec says goodbye to his English students in Ternopil, Ukraine.

Then on Thursday we went back to Ternopil for English again. I had told everyone it was gonna be my last day, which is pretty awkward, cause I'm actually going one more time today, so I got a picture with everyone in my advanced group. They were all pretty cool people, so it was sad to say bye to them. But I had them all add me on Facebook so it's ok.

Then Friday and Saturday were pretty normal days. The only weird thing being apartment checks on Friday. We've had no time at all to clean recently, so we spent lots of Friday morning doing that. It actually worked out super well that they came to do apartment checks that day though. There was a women's conference for members in L'viv, and we were having trouble finding a way for them to get there. There was some big holiday this past week, so all the train tickets on the way there were gone. Apparently as first counselor this was all my responsibility, so i was stressing about it a little bit. Luckily, though, they were able to catch a ride back with the senior couple that was doing the apartment checks, and then, even though all the hotels in L'viv were booked, they were able to stay with another senior missionary couple in L'viv. so I was pretty relieved all that worked out.

Then Saturday was Elder Protzman's last real day, so I got the chocolate fondue at the famous L'viv chocolate place with him. Pretty tasty, but definitely not enough chocolate.

Chocolate fondue in L'viv, Ukraine.

On Sunday I said bye to lots of people, and got pictures with a few of them.

Leaving friends made in Khmelnitskiy, Ukraine.

And lots of pictures of a kid named Kiril, who really loves having pictures taken of him.

Alec and Kiril.

There's also a picture of a guy in L'viv with a Panthers jacket.

Alec had to snap this photo of a Carolina Panthers fan in L'viv, Ukraine.

Also last Tuesday, the water in the entire city was out for almost an entire day. Apparently there was some accident at some water pumping place or something. So that's Ukraine for you.

And one more pic of a little bit of graffiti. It says "Every cosmos has it's own Gagarin." It' sounds cooler in Ukrainian, but it's pretty neat.