Mariah, week 48, Poltava

I have 101 stories to tell this week and only 30 minutes to tell them.

Okay so ready... GO!

Monday, after internet and shopping for food necessities, Sister Patterson and I met with our favorite member of the Poltava branch and ate at McDonalds! (Yes -- they have McDonalds in Ukraine.) It was my... 3rd time? maybe? eating at a Ukrainian-ized Micky-D's. Just so you know, it's waaaay different than a McDonald's in America. Everything is Ukrainian-ized English -- which means that everything on the menu is spelt in Ukrainian, but if you sound it out, you say something that sounds close to "chicken nuggets" or "McShake". It's sooo funny! I didn't get a burger... but I just couldn't leave without having a good, classic American chocolate shake and fries. 

Fun fact: Ukrainians don't like sweet and salty things together. The member who went with us to McDonalds made a face as Sister Patterson and I were both enjoying dipping fries into our shakes and eating them. We actually got her to try it herself, but she wasn't a fan. Oh well... she'll be converted someday!

This week was also a legendary moment in the history of the Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine mission. For the first time ever, President van Bruggen and Sister van Bruggen (my mission president and his wife) hosted the first ever Sister Missionary Conference! It was so fun to meet all the sister missionaries again, sisters that I hadn't seen for a while (LIKE SISTER SUMMERS WHO WAS IN THE MTC WITH ME AND I HADN'T SEEN FOR PRETTY MUCH OUR ENTIRE MISSION!) and new sisters who I hadn't gotten a chance to meet yet. 

The meeting though was so good! It was a solid 6+ hours of spiritual learning conversation with President and Sister van Bruggen, Elder Lichtenburg and Elder Krook (the APs) and all 19 sister missionaries of the mission. 

-- Sister Patterson, Sister Summers, Sister Meyers, me, Sister Garff -- we were all in the MTC together! -- and Sister Merishinchenko (who just wanted to be in the picture with us haha)

And that's pretty much all the time I have for this week. Just know that this next week is going to be crazy because Sister Patterson is off in Estonia on her visa renewal trip... which means that I'm with a different sister -- Sister Frank. And since her companion, Sister Esplin, is also off on her visa trip, we're going to be taking care of both of our areas -- which just so happen to be 4 or so hours apart from one another. Yup, so half of our week will be spent in Dneper Left Bank and the other half will be in lovely Poltava. So stay tuned for the adventures that will happen to us this next week!

And okay I literally have <2 minutes left. So enjoy this verse that I liked this week from Alma 5:7.

Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an ever lasting destruction did await them.

BYE EVERYONE!
xoxoSister McCrea