Mariah, week 46, Poltava

#exchanges

Greetings from a shady internet cafe! :D I am currently sitting on a chair which seat isn't connected/bolted to the chair legs and typing on a keyboard with keys that stick, doesn't work well and feels... really gross and nasty feeling. :|

I don't even know. All I know is that I'm def gonna be in dire need of some hand-sanz after this. And after my mission, I don't think I'll ever step foot in a gaming internet cafe again! :) I probably won't make it out of here today without contracting some kind of contagious airborne viral disease or something. #ukraine4thewin

Anyway! All is well in Poltava, Ukraine. Hopefully the weather is done being weird and bi-polar. There has been days where it's raining and cold (like in the 10's Celsius) and then the next day is fully of sunshine and wonderful 20-degree (I think that's like 70-ish degrees in Fahrenheit?) weather. 

But lol like I'm really going to be talking about the weather this week. THIS WEEK WAS... GREAT. Kinda. Sister Patterson and I have been hitting the streets hard everyday this week, on the search for new investigators. And thanks to Sister Petersen (our lovely Sister Training Leader) who came to visit us from Kremenchuk this week, we were able to pass out seventeen Books of Mormon to seventeen lovely people. Which, if my memory serves me correctly, is a record for me in a week. But enough of my bragging.

This week... or yesterday, I was able to talk with my mummy and daddy! On Skype! (Thank you technology!) Which was -- if I can be honest -- the weirdest thing ever. Forget the fact that that will be the last time that I'll actually be able to talk with them before I'll be back home come Christmas. (I haven't got my 6-month call, so I'm not 100% completely sure yet.) Anyway, it was so weird. But I didn't cry. #phew  And Sister Patterson and I had a chocolate pancake feast with some peanut butter (SHOUT-OUT THANK YOU TO SISTER PATTERSON'S FAMILY!!!) which was a good way to top off the day.

So this week's picture is of the Ukrainian version of the classic American campfire dessert -- the S'more. How do you make this said Ukrainian Смьор? Easy. 

1. Find yourself some delicious Dominic chocolate-backed cookies and marshmallows (only found at your local neighborhood АТБ).
2. Light the fire. Or if you're in Ukraine, light your stove.
3. Pull out a fork and stick one of those lovely marshmallows on that said end of the fork.
4. Roast that baby to your liking and heart's content, and be sure to have a Dominic cookie at the ready.
5. Once your marsh is nice and toasty, slap it on the chocolate side of the Dominic and ENJOY!

                                 

This week's spiritual thought is from Alma 5: 26-27

"And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? 

Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?"

So what do these verses mean in the mind of Sister McCrea? Well, first, these verses are going out to all those people who are already members of the church. When Alma's asking "can you feel so now?" he's basically asking, "Do you still have strong testimony? Can you remember why you know the church is true?" Then he goes on to saying, "have you been taking advantage of the Atonement of Christ? Have you been repenting and trying to strengthen your faith?"

And that's what I want to challenge everyone who reads this message to do. Where does your testimony stand? Where is your faith? 

I know that the message that I share with people here in Poltava is true. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't. And I type these things in the name of Jesus Christ. AMEN!

xoxo 

Sister McCrea