Mariah, week 43, Zaporozhye

CHRIST HAS RISEN! A week late! Yay!

Whoops so I was totally supposed to send this e-mail last Monday but I didn't get to finish it but... so here I am sending it a week late. Whoo-ho!

So. "Христос воскрес!" That's basically what Ukrainians say instead of "Happy Easter". So when people yell "ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС!" to you on the street, they're yelling "CHRIST HAS RISEN!" at you, which you can just reply with a "ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС!" right back.

Fun culture fact about Ukraine: The Ukrainian Easter holiday is called "Pasca". Instead of Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny, Ukrainians eat "pascas", which are like tall, sweet bread cakes with sprinkles on top. The Pasca holiday is usually spent with family and lots and lots of food.

-- Delicious right? Pffh yeah it totally is (It's super good with tea!)

Hey world! So another fun fact! I'm not in Zaporozhye anymore! Haha...  yeah! I'm in Poltava. I got transferred... today actually. President van Bruggen told me that I was getting transferred Saturday evening, and told me that I needed to be in Dnepropetrovsk by Sunday evening, and then Monday morning, I'd be taken up to the great ol' little town of Poltava. With my new companion... Sister Patterson! :D Who, believe it or not, was one of my MTC companions. Yeah, so I was totally companions with Sister Meyers, who I was in the MTC with. And now I'm with my MTC companion. All these MTC memories have just been coming back to me. Talk about a BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Anyway, so Poltava's apparently a quaint little town, two hours north of Dnepropetrovsk. (Feel free to look up and see where Poltava is at on Google Maps or something haha.) But yeah, I've only been here two hours and it seems like a cool city. It's just been a lot to take in, all so quickly. I just can't wait to sleep for an hour or two after we go shopping after Internet. So much has happened during the past few weeks... it just feels like a whirlwind and I don't even know where to start.

Whoops. Just got the 5 minute warning... so I guess that I don't have much time to try and search for a scripture. So I'll just end with a simple testimony. I know that this church is true. I love that I have the opportunity to have my testimony of the church grow every time I talk and share my testimony with someone on the street. I'm glad that I have the chance to give Book of Mormons out like candy to the Ukrainian people... AND THAT'S IT FOLKS. WRITE ME AND I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER. 

xoxo

Sister McCrea