Mariah, week 61, Zaporozhye

my new companion is Sister Blake. she's from a small town in Utah and she has 7 brothers. she's the only girl.

we're so cool :3
LOVE YOUUUUU

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

Mariah, week 41, Zaporozhye

Hello world.

 Because I basically have less than 10 minutes left, this week's letter will be short.

During the last few days, I've been taking to liking a new scripture theme for myself for this transfer. It's from D&C 64, verse 33: "be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

Out of the small efforts that I make everyday -- to try and talk to everyone that I see on the streets, to talk the people who I sit next to on marshootki, to visit and strengthen the less-actives in our area -- out of remembering to do the little things, starts a great foundation. As a missionary, I have had a bad habit of just going from day-to-day, trying to do my hardest, but I just haven't felt satisfied at the end of the day. Just incredibly exhausted. And sometimes I forget to do the little things. But after I found this scripture during personal study on Friday, I am doing all that I can to ingrain this scripture into my daily missionary work. Not just so I can look back on my mission and feel satisfied with my work. I'm also starting to realize that all that I do as a missionary, it will relate to real life when I get home and I don't have to wear a missionary tag 24/7. I need not to be weary in my well-doing, because I am laying the foundation for my life. The skills that I'm developing now as a missionary will help me in the future. And because I will not be weary in my work -- the Lord will bless me and my efforts. "I, the Lord, am abound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." I have faith. And more importantly, I have the faith to be able to act on this small amount of faith that I think I have.

And that's the moral of Sister McCrea's story of missionary service this week.

In other news, the weather is really bi-polar in Ukraine. I'm talking about one day it's near freezing and within a few days, it's warm and sunny out. Like today. :) Today is beeee-U-tee-ful!

And to close... with a classic missionary testimony. I know that the message that I am sharing with people here in Zaporozhye Ukraine is true. If it wasn't -- I wouldn't be here. I haven't had a chance to watch General Conference yet, but I know that the Lord is leading His work on the earth today through His prophet, Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. I know that the short, but sweet, 18 months that I am able to spend here in Ukraine, spreading the good news is the closest that I will ever get to knowing what it's like to be an apostle. And I can't believe that my time is already halfway over. I don't ever want to leave! But I am grateful that I am able to consecrate my time and efforts to the Lord. This is all for Him and the salvation of my heavenly brothers and sisters. 

Love you all!

xoxo 

Sister McCrea

Mariah, week 40, Zaporozhye

Hello all :)

Yesterday was a great Sabbath for me too. Over the last couple weeks, I've been working harder on trying to pay more attention to the sacrament and what it means every week and stuff. And this last Sunday was the first time where I actually felt like I renewed my baptismal covenants. But alas, I haven't watched the Women's conference yet... I don't think I'll have time to watch it in English, so I'll just have to wait for the Ensign GC edition come out in a few months to be able to read them. 

I had a good birthday. I didn't really tell anyone until the day off -- well, I told Sister Meyers the night before. But she did a good job of telling everyone that it was my birthday the next day. The elders in my district even went and bought me a cake and sung "Happy Birthday" in Russian to me. It was grrrreat :3 

But as for all the political hooflah that's going on in Ukraine... I have no idea. We're not kept very informed on what's going on. The only news we hear are from members in the branch and the people we talk to on the streets. But yes, don't worry. I'm sure that all the members and missionaries are safe. President van Bruggen has had us start to keep a week's worth of food storage in our apartments in case we have to stay in for a while or something. And they're having members start to keep a 3-month's worth. Nothing big. Just usual things that LDS members should be doing anyway to stay prepared. 

BUT YAY! Reading by chapters or pages -- do whatever you need to do. I want to be able to finish reading the Book of Mormon one more time before I go home too. I started reading it again at the first of March and right now I'm in 2nd Nephi 10? I think? I'm not sure. SCRIPTURE POWER! :D

And thank you for your testimony. and I'm glad that you support me. I'm not sure what I'd do if you didn't... 

Love youu :)

Mariah, week 39, Zaporozhye

Hello world!

This last week (on the 19th of March to be exact), I hit my 9-month mark on my mission. Which means that as of now, my mission is more than half-way over. I've been on my mission for more time than I have left -- if that makes sense. Which I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

But alas... Today also just so happens to be the first day of a new transfer! My sixth transfer! Start of a new transfer means the start of a mew missionary planner! Whoo-ho! And the official start of the reign of Sister Meyers and Sister McCrea over the Zaporozhye Right Bank area. All hail.

I love the start of a new transfer. To me, they are like the start of a new season. Which is kind of a coincidence because Spring just so happens to be right around the corner. I am totally loving this warmer weather.

AND OH MAN. Not any time left. I just wanted to end with a scripture that I read this morning during personal study:

Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.

Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.

-- 1 Nephi 22:11-12

The Lord is making His gospel known to everyone on the earth. There are over 80,000 missionaries all over the world doing His work and spreading the good news. We as missionaries are helping bring these people "out of darkness" so that "they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer". I'm so glad that I get to spend this time, this short, precious 18-months serving my Lord, Savior and Redeemer. I know that and my testimony of this grows everyday. Missionary work is hard, but it's worth it.

xoxo

Cectpa Makpeй

Mariah, week 38, Zaporozhye

Snow in March?

 What even?? Just when I thought that the weather in south Texas was weird, just wait until you experience the weather in Ukraine. One day it's nice and warm, the sun is out and it feels like you don't even need a jacket; and the next... it's cold, gloomy and below freezing. Ukraine y u so dum?

Anyway. This week has been a roller coaster. Tuesday, I said a bye to Sister Nielsen. Naturally, it was a sad parting. But all is well. We're going to hang out for a month and watch all the movies together when I come home.

[Sister Gottscheck (who went home with Sister Nielsen), Sister Meyers, Sister Nielsen, and I.]

My new companion is... Sister Meyers! Who was actually in the MTC with me! She's such a cool kid, and I'm so glad that I get to spend the next six weeks with someone that I already (somewhat) know... Although, in all honestly, Sister Meyers is not the Sister Meyers that I knew in the MTC. She has grown spiritually so much, and I feel so lucky to be with someone who has such a strong testimony of the message that we are trying to share with everyone in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.

Sister Meyers is helping me re-look at the way we try and find investigators. Through our efforts, we've actually found a family this week, who turned into three new investigators. The mom is really nervous and anxious about all that is happening in Ukraine right now. I was so glad though, that the Holy Ghost was working through me and I was able to tell her about the story of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. I know that The Book of Mormon is true and it can totally apply to any everyday thing that happens. Ahh! And I'm running short on time. 

To end, please enjoy this picture of me and a cat!
 And what the inside of a (nearly empty) tramvie in Ukraine looks like!

xoxo
Сестра Макрей

Mariah, week 37, Zaporozhye

Happy Woman's Day!

To all the women, young women, girls everywhere: "с праздником!" This last Saturday (March 8th) was Woman's Day in Ukraine! (Which is sort of like Mother's Day in the United States.) 

People selling flowers, balloons and ribbons lined the sidewalks; people were carefully walking everywhere with flowers clutched their hand. The weather is starting to feel nice, and if I remember right, the sun was out. It was a wonderful day. The brothers/men from the Zaporozhye Branch had a little party planned for all the sisters/women. Brother Yuri, who is quite the little poet, even wrote a special poem for the occasion! President Valenten ("Willy Wonka") brought out chocolate bars and handed them out to all of the sisters who were in attendance. And afterwards, there was торт (cake) and чай (tea), which were both delicious. 

All throughout the day though, people wished Sister Nielsen and I "с праздником!" and poured all these blessings of health, happiness and love over us. Even little boys wished us a happy holiday, which most of the time was SO CUTE! One little boy even perfectly rolled his "r's". It's so crazy to think that four year old children have a larger Russian vocabulary than me. 

Anyway. In other news... MY COMPANION SISTER NIELSEN IS GOING HOME THIS WEEK!!! :'''| sad face

Because of the crazy political hoo-ha that's going on in Ukraine at the moment, six native-Ukrainian missionaries who are serving missions in Russia, are being transported to our mission. Which means, to make room for these missionaries, six missionaries who were supposed to be leaving in the next two transfers, are going home early. And Sister Nielsen, who only had one transfer left, just so happened to fall into that category. It's sad to have to see her off and leave one transfer early. And in such short notice. But it's been an eye opener. 

This week just so happened to be my in-country 6-month mark. I've been in Ukraine for six months, and I have no idea how that even happened. People say that once you've been in-country for six months, you finally start to have a grasp on the language. After six months, you actually start to understand what people are saying. I have no idea if I can say that I have a grasp on the language and I understand what people are saying when they are talking to me. When I first got into country, it felt like everyone was speaking Japanese... but now, I can proudly say that I translated (from Russian to English) for someone, and I'm honestly actually starting to feel comfortable here. 

I can speak Russian. I can do this.

But back to what I was saying before. The time I have to spend on a mission is so short and precious. I only have eighteen months to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind and strength. After a zone conference that happened this week, I have a new motto for my missionary work. "Become the lioness." I've always considered a lion to be my patronus, my spirit animal. It wasn't until something that one of the APs (assistant to the president of the mission) said during one of the practices that really got my brain thinking. As missionaries, we need to stalk our prey. (Prey as in, the people we contact.) We don't have a lot of time in the day to just talk with everyone that we see on the street. As missionaries, we need to be guided by the Spirit to who to talk to. The Lord knows who is ready and who still needs some preparation. And we need to be in tap with the Spirit to know where to go and who to talk to. 

And that's all folks. My internet time has run short. And to close, I just want to leave you all with an awesome quote from the Great and Wonderful Sister Nielsen.

"And the brother of Jared was like, 'move mountain!' and it moved. And I was like, 'whoa!'"

Thank you all for your support. PRAY FOR MY INVESTIGATORS!

-- Sister McCrea

IMG_0190.JPG

Mariah, week 36, Zaporozhye

BUT THE LORD'S MISSIONARY WORK CONTINUES ON!

First off, I'd just like to give a big, ole huge 'THANK YOU' shout out to everyone who has said that I'm in their prayers and whatnot. It means a lot.

But please, don't bother worrying about me! Everything is fine in my part of Ukraine. I mean, we may have had to stay inside all day on Friday. And the missionaries that are in those problem areas in the Crimea, which is the southern part of my mission, were moved to northern areas of the mission, like Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye. (One of the missionary elders that was transferred here to Zaporozhye was even in my MTC district! Elder Hepworth! :D He's such a cool kid.) But all is good in the hood. The church leaders are doing their best to keep in the loop as to what's happening and what not, and are making sure that they keep us all safe and that the Lord's work still continues. If anything, all that's been happening here has given me a stronger more solid testimony of the hastening of the Lord's work. It's happening before my eyes. A few years ago, I don't remember member missionary work being such a huge deal like it is now. My mission president has made it known that the time that we spend on our mission isn't a time to be a tourist or to waste time doing non-missionary things. There isn't anything, be it weather or political problems, that will keep us inside, unable to do missionary work. All of our time and effort, be it 18 months or two years (for elders), is to be devoted to spreading the good word. I love being here and the time that I get to be a missionary. My time to be able to wear a black nametag with Christ's name on it is so small... 18 months?! It's already been 7 months. My cousin who is also serving a mission has already hit her half-way mark! CRAZY! fjkajjerw I don't want to go hoommee!!!!!

In other news: 

• Like I said, the missionary work in Ukraine continues. And the weather is improving. It snowed last Monday. But today, I don't even know why I'm wearing a hat and scarf.
• I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the first time, cover-to-cover, on Thursday. I started in July or so... and I made a pact with myself this last week to finish by the end of February. And I did.
• I've been reading Jesus the Christ on and off since I was in the MTC. I'm on chapter 13 or 14 now and it's just awesome. Awesome.
• Sister Nielsen is starting to blossom into a good little cook. She's been blessed all of her mission to have companions that can cook, including me. But she made a brownie cake last week, which was really good. We ended up giving half of it to our neighbors because we're trying to get to know them.

I hope that this e-mail message calms and reassures all those who are feeling uneasy about all that is happening in Ukraine and my and the other missionary's here safety. To quote the lyrics of a great pioneer hymn, Come, Come Ye Saints: "All is well, all is well." 

Thank you all, and please keep praying for my investigators and the work that is progressing here. 

Пока!

Sister McCrea

Mariah, week 35, Zaporozhye

Dear family, friends and those that are reading my blog,

Ukrainians get so creative with their дом-decorating :)

Besides graffiti and random sketches that kids scratch on the walls of the apartment buildings in Ukraine... I've come across quite of a array of cute, colorful paintings that make these drab-looking, Soviet-era government-built housing buildings look alive and colorful!

(The porcupine is holding a sign that says привет, which means "hello".)

(A budding anime-drawer lives on that floor.)

ANYWAY!

Hello family and friends and whoever just so happens to read my weekly letters home. I would first just like to give a leprechaun heel-click to the fact that the SNOW AND ICE IS FINALLY STARTING TO MELT! The weather has been so nice this past week! After two or more weeks of frozen-over snow and ice, fierce, bone-chilling winds, and below zero, Arctic weather -- I finally feel like I'm not going to freeze to death in Ukraine. It's a real-life missionary survival success story! Goodbye winter! Hellooo spring! and new contacts and investigators that said that they didn't want to meet until it was warmer out and in the plus! 

In other news, Zaporozhye finally has a new branch mission leader! One who is more than devoted to getting baptisms and turning Zaporozhye into one of those missions in Brazil that gets 43782748 baptisms a week. 

There's a reason why the missionaries here call Zaporozhye "the city of miracles". And I've only really just started to realize this during the past transfer and the first week of this new transfer. Sister Nielsen and I have found so many miracle contacts. Contacts that received revelation that the Bible hasn't been translated correctly and who had a dream about seeing ЦЕРКОВЬ ИИСУСА ХРИСТА (Church of Jesus Christ) in big gold letters. Contacts that literally sprint across the street and say that we have such "clean, angel eyes". 

Yesterday was a great example. Sister Nielsen and I were going on a "spiritual adventure" and going dome-roaming in one of our areas. (Domes are what we call the tall, apartment buildings; and dome-roaming just means when we contact the people around the domes, instead of contacting on the street.) Anyway. We were on a spiritual adventure, and at one point, we were at a fork in the road, Beauty and the Beast style. If anyone remembers Beauty and the Beast, then you'll probably remember the part in the beginning of the movie where Maurice is traveling to the inventor's convention or whatever with the horse and they come to a fork in the road; one is a lit path, and the other is dark and foggy. Maurice picks the dark and foggy path and claims it's a shortcut... blah, blah, blah. Yeah. So, Sister Nielsen and I pick the dark, unlit path. There weren't any rabid wolves (although there was a big, black dog that scared Sister Nielsen). And right when we were going out of the darkness, into the light, we contacted these two young women and invited them to English. The miracle of the story is that they said that they were just talking about English practice, and here we came, out of nowhere in the darkness! We ended up giving both of these girls Books of Mormon! One of them even said that "this book looks interesting!" YAY! THE CHURCH IS TRUE AND THE BOOK IS BLUE! (a quote from Sister Nielsen's cousin)

I know that this church is true. I see it everyday. Everyday, I am planting gospel seeds in the lives of the people here. I might not see all of the blossoming fruits of my labor... that will take time. Everyday, I get the opportunity to talk with people with real problems and testify that the gospel and faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ can solve even the most impossible of problems. I'm so glad that I'm here in Ukraine, on a mission. I'm so glad that I get to wear the name of our Savior on my chest, over my heart. I love every moment... and I know that I will be so sad to leave -- whenever that time comes. This time on my mission is a moment that I wouldn't give up for anything... and for those people out there who are debating on whether they should go on a mission or not: STOP! There's nothing to debate about! The mission is the best thing that you could be doing with your time right now. School, relationships, and whatever -- that all can wait! Two years/eighteen months is nothing compared to a lifetime and eternity. 

If you take time out to serve the Lord, the Lord will spend the rest of your life serving you -- via blessings. 

с любовной (with love)

Сестра Макрей

(Sister McCrea)

Mariah, week 33, Zaporozhye

• I don't think that I'll be able to get a e-mail out this week. I have a few other letters to people that have taken priority. but if I have time, I'll scrounge something together that would be enough to write about.

    Obviously, Mariah didn't have time to get a letter out, but we know she's doing well and loves the people of Ukraine. 

Kim & Dennis McCrea

Mariah, week 30, Zaporozhye

"I-I'm s-s-s-so c-co-cold, I-I could use m-my nose drippings as c-c-hopsticks..." "I-I'm so c-c-cold... I-I'm-I'm s-sh-shivering!"

Five points to anyone who can name what TV show that quote is from!

But anyway... that quote and every other quote referencing being cold and/or ice has been replaying in my head all this week. It has been FUH-REEZINGCOLD in Zaporozhye this past week. Like, at least -14 C every day. It's been so awesome to walk around, contacting at night, with the ice-biting wind blowing right in our faces. The streets and sidewalks have all been iced over since at least Wednesday. (And a funny difference between the U.S. and Ukraine is that they're smart in the way that they don't use salt on the roads and sidewalks. They use sand instead, which doesn't end up rusting cars and stuff.) I feel like we should PREPARE FOR THE ICE AGE! 

For those of you who may have been slightly worried for my safety after finding out about all the political protests that are going on in Kiev and Ukraine -- don't worry. Everything is fine where I am in this part of Ukraine. Zaporozhye hasn't gotten very crazy with the protests or anything. Our mission president has just advised us all to stay away from areas where there are large groups congregating... and when someone starts to talk about politics, we ask them to be baptized instead! :D

Back to my life in the Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine mission. It's week 7 of my fourth transfer. (Normally transfers are 6 weeks long, but the transfer before this was cut two weeks short since it ended right before the holidays.) Anyway, this week, like every week has been for a while, has been full of miracles, sprinkled here and there. Tuesday, we found a miracle contact. We had to go to church to have our interviews that we have with President van Bruggen every two months. After we got off the marshootka at the stop we needed, we were still a little early, so we decided to contact for a little bit. As it often is, the first person we talk with isn't interested. And so we moved on to another lady that was waiting nearby. We struck up a conversation and asked if she read the Bible. She said yes, but that she received revelation from God that it was changed and she keeps that in mind when she reads. (No joke.) So Sister Nielsen, my companion, and I showed her a Book of Mormon and talked a little about it, what it is, etc. She seemed a little interested. Then she asked where we met for our church service and Sister Nielsen pulled out a church invite card and stuck it in the book. The lady opened the book back to where Sister Nielsen had stuck the invite card and stared at it for a while. "... I had a vision," she said. "There are so many churches -- Baptist, Provaslovni, Jehovah's Witnesses, your church -- and I asked God which one is true. And in my dream, I saw in big gold letters: ЦЕРКОВЬ ИИСУСА ХРИСТА (Church of Jesus Christ) ... just like how it is on your card." Sister Nielsen then did a good job of testifying to this lady that our church is the true church that she's been searching for. Her work schedule is really crazy from what she's told us (4 days on, one day off) so fingers crossed that we'll get to meet with her!

Saturday was also another crazy day. Little Dima, a 8 year-old boy in the branch here, GOT BAPTIZED! At first though, he almost didn't. Since it's late January, and the water that they pumped into the baptismal font was ice cold -- Dima was so scared to be dunked and get baptized. (And I can totally relate. All I can remember from my baptism is that the water was freezing cold.) Anyway, poor little Dima was crying and after 10 minutes of trying to persuade convince him, he didn't want to do it and they gave up and pulled him out of the blow-up pool and let him go change. Everyone that had attended the baptismal service was all basically standing around, staring at the baptismal pool. Sister Nielsen had the great idea to say a prayer, to give little Dima a little bit of peace and and maybe an ounce of courage. The whole time though, I was just thinking in my head, 'if only the water was warmer...'  Long story short: after an hour or so, of trying to dump water out and replace it with hot water, we warmed the water up enough for Dima to feel comfortable and receive the saving ordinance of baptism. I know that I didn't really have anything to do with teaching him or anything, but that is why I now consider him to be one of my precious baptisms! :D 

Saturday, Zaporozhye also had the chance to get a little Latvian~ !!

There are two Latvian elders who serve in Zaporozhye. And believe it or not, they are actually companions. Elder Vanags and Elder Tsoonski -- both awesome elders. And on Saturday, Elder Vanags and Tsoonski gave a little presentation about Latvia, which included a slideshow, video clips, music and food. Sister Nielsen and I actually got a chance to help prepare the food. I can't wait to come home and introduce all these different eastern European food and dishes to my family and friends!

Other noteworthy things that happened this week:

• Apparently I read in Russian "very well". Those are words from a semi-less active who lives in our area. Her kind words boosted my confidence in my reading abilities.
• I have "творческая личность" (personal creativity). Zina, a very close friend and wise member of the branch here told me that. I've always thought of myself as being creative and cleaver. But just the way that she explained it... it really clicked in my head. I know which color to use next. 

THAT'S ALL FOLKS. Tune in next week for more Ukrainian adventures. And now for some inspiring words from the scriptures:

"O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will you not now return unto me and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?" -- 3 Nephi 9:13

xoxo

Сестра Макрей

Zhoozha, the mohawked naked mole dog and my hand :D

(P.S. the subject line quote was from Spongebob Squarepants!)

Mariah, week 29, Zaphorozhye

Short e-mail 2* to short time:

This week's e-mail is going to be short because... 1.) I don't have very much time left, and 2.) nothing super-duper spectacular happened this week.

But anyway. Onto the show... 

The most revelatory thing that happened to me this week was during District Meeting (or the weekly meeting that I attend to with other missionaries in my area to sort of coordinate our work efforts and work together). Elder Fuller, one of our zone leaders, basically flat out told us that it is useless trying to hold on to the investigators that we have that are progressing very, very, very slowly; that there's no use planning for them; that it would just be better for us to let them go, completely erase our ICU board at home and start anew... which is what we did. As soon as District Meeting was over, we got doners to-go and headed home to erase our ICU board.

And with that new start, the very next day, we found two brand new investigators who we've met with twice already, and who Sister Nielsen and I both think are golden! The Lord really does work in miracles.

This week also featured exchanges with the Sister Training Leader of our area. I was the lucky duck who got to spend a day with the lovely Sister Burgoyne. I learned a lot from the time that I spent with her, and Sister Nielsen learned a lot from the time that she spent with Sister Peterson, Sister Burgoyne's companion. I love going out on exchanges with other sisters. It gives me a chance to learn how other sister missionaries work and I learn all sorts of new contacting tactics and techniques.

And without further ado, may I introduce:

Sister Peterson's Six Steps to Success (According to Sister Burgoyne)

1. Always be out the door on time
2. Make 30 calls daily
3. Make notes of all those calls
4. Call every member that you possibly can until you find one to come with you on lessons
5. Update the Area Book completely every night
6. Speak in unity with your companion

Current missionaries, future missionaries, member missionaries -- feel free to use these steps. No, I strongly advise you to use these. From what I know about Sister Burgoyne and Sister Peterson's area, I can guarantee that if you follow these steps to the T, you will see success in all aspects of your missionary work -- be it contacting, finding, teaching... I can foresee in the future that once other people start to know about these steps, it will become standard for every missionary companionship. Maybe it'll even make it into a future edition of Preach My Gospel.

Sister Nielsen and I have been doing our best to follow these steps for 2 days now, and we know that time will only tell until we see the fruits of our labors.

And that's pretty much it, folks. It snowed again last night. Not too bad, but everything was white when we woke up this morning. (Sister Nielsen was especially excited -- she loves snow.) 

Tune in next week for another installment of "The Missionary Adventures of Sister McCrea". Hope that this e-mail makes sense because my thoughts don't always make sense...

xoxo

Сестра Макрей

Mariah, week 27, Zaporozhye

This week in photos:

Because I don't have a lot of internet time left... this week's e-mail will be presented to you in picture form! In living color! Hooray!

Monday.

P-day... and I MADE BORSH!

And it was so delicious! I can't wait to make it for my family when I get home. I will convert them to borsh-ism, and they will never want to eat any kind of other soup ever again!

"Delicious goodness! I would eat it over and over again!" -- quoted from Sister Nielsen, my super awesome companion.

Tuesday and Wednesday. HAPPY NEW YEARS! In the past, missionaries in my mission would stay inside during this time. But my mission president thought that it would be okay if we worked these two days -- just as long as we were safe and avoided any drunks and troublesome situations. I was a little doubtful, but I'm glad that we worked these two days. We were blessed with a few miracles!

And for our "New Years dinner" ... we treated ourselves to DONERS!

Doners -- the street food of Zaporozhye, with soul... It is chickeny-cabbagey-pickled oniony-tomatoey-and all kinds of different saucey- GOODNESS! Piled high in a sesame-seed pita bread bun that has been toasted to perfection. DELICIOUS!

Running low on time, so I'll be brief. 

Friday. Another day of miracles. I basically called one of our investigators to repentance and committed her to coming to church on Sunday (which she ended up dogging out of... grr!!) And I also ate холадец. "Xaladyetz" is, for those of you who know a little bit about Ukrainian cuisine, is... meat jello! 

And it was... interesting... Not my favorite dish. I wouldn't eat it by choice, but I'd eat it again if it was put in front of me. But I probably won't touch anything jello-like for a while.

Saturday and Sunday. Same ol', same o'. Street contacting, a lesson with our recent convert and her family (who we're working on getting baptized), and a lot of calls to contacts to try and set up lessons.

I also saw Chimichanga! MY STREET DOG THAT LIVES IN MY AREA! I love her. She and I had a wonderful reuniting moment last night. I am 100% sure that she actually recognized me because you know, street dogs are smart like that.

Well, that's it for now folks. Time's run short. Sister Nielsen and I will be celebrating Christmas for the second time this week. (Mark your calendars! Ukrainian Christmas is on January 8th!)

And to close -- here is a picture of our Christmas tree. That we will probably leave up all year-round!

xoxo,

Sister Mariah McCrea

Mariah, Week 26, Zaporozhye

White Christmas.

It was a white Christmas in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. Nope, not white as in snow.

White as in white baptismal clothes. 

Yup... I actually got a baptism for Christmas! Sister Nielsen and I finally got the baptism that we've been working and fighting for since I came to Zap over a month ago. Our gold star investigator, (who Sister Nielsen and Sister Blake get the credit for finding) finally got baptized! 

Christmas Day was a day full of miracles for Sister Nielsen and I. It started out with Sister Nielsen and I sneakily hiding presents for each other on our study desks. Presents that included marshmallows and a Russian knockoff coloring book for Sister Nielsen and various little knick-knacks that Sister Nielsen got for me in Bulgaria which included liquid eye-liner (which is really snazzy) and BROWN SUGAR!!! jfajkejkrjkewjrkweakjrkwejrwekjrkwej Never in my life had I ever been so happy to see brown sugar!!!

-- PRESENTS!

-- Sister Nielsen's joy and excitement is so infectious!

But anyway, back to the real Christmas miracle. We originally didn't even plan to meet with (for security purposes I will call her "Ири") Ири that day. Something magically just happened during companionship study; by the time we had to be out the door at 12, we had hooked a member to be able to come with us and had a killer lesson plan. It was per-FECT. 

And then -- three days later, Ири was baptized and she is now the newest member of the church in the Zaporozhye branch! That baptismal service was one of the most perfect services that I've ever been too... and I'm so glad that Sister Nielsen and I were able to contribute to our mission's goal of having 100 baptisms in 2013. We unfortunately weren't able to reach the goal of 100 -- we were only 7 baptisms off! In 2013, the Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine mission got 93 baptisms. 

And that's okay! Because 93 people came unto Christ via the waters of baptism and became members of the church! And those 93 people all have names. And I helped with two of those! :D

Anyway. Other noteworthy things that happened this week.

• I got to spent 40 wonderful minutes talking with my parents.
• The Zaporozhye branch put on a wonderful Nativity pageant on Christmas Eve. And we, the missionaries, got to take part and be the lovely "angelic" choir.
• ZONE CONFERENCE!
• I found out that Elder Banags (an elder from Latvia) has pretty much fallen in love with the peach cobbler that I made for our investigator's baptism. He told me so, at least four different times.

And just a random insight on Ukrainian culture: Pizza is an international food. They have pizza here in Ukraine. The only difference is that Ukrainians LOVE mayonnaise on their pizza. Yup, good ol' mayo. It takes a bit to get used to... but after yesterday, I can finally say that I've tried an Ukrainian pizza with mayo that I like.

And I am by no means finished with writing about what happened this week... but alas, my internet time is coming to a close. 

In closing, I'd just like to say... for those of you who have debated on writing me because you're under the impression that I don't have enough time to write back -- you're probably right. I don't have a lot of time to reply back to mail that I get (and it doesn't help that a post office is a scary place to go to when you don't know Russian or Ukrainian)... BUT I STILL LIKE TO RECEIVE MAIL!

xoxo,

Sister McCrea

Mariah, Week 25, Zaporozhye

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS IS ALMOST HERE! I NEVER THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE HERE... BUT YET, HERE IT IS, THE 22ND OF DECEMBER AND CHRISTMAS IS TWO DAYS AWAY! Which honestly means almost nothing to me as a 
missionary. Ukrainians don't really celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December. Most of them 
celebrate their Christmas on the 7th of January. (They follow the old, traditional Russian Orthodox church calendar with some holidays, which ends up being two weeks behind the modern-day calendar.) It's only the members of the church and some Ukrainians who know about American holidays who celebrate it on December 25th.

Anyway. Now that I've got the Christmas wishes out of the way. This week was crazy. And FULL of 
miracles, out of the boong-yang. Okay, so. It ended up that last week, my companion, Sister Nielsen 
had to be sent out of the country. Yup, she got deported to Bulgaria.  Okay, she really didn't get deported, but she had to leave to Bulgaria for the week because of problems with her visa. So while she was living it up in Bulgaria for the week with her MTC companion, Sister Gottscheck, who had the same issue with her visa... and Sister Young, who is one of the other sisters here in Zaporozhye, was sent to Xherson to be companions with Sister Summers, Sister Gottscheck's companion... who was left alone to care and watch over all the lost sheep in Zaporozhye? 

Sister Hansen and I. (Stay tuned for a picture of the both together next week.)

Yup. The two junior companions. We ruled over the city of Zaporozhye... maybe not with an iron fist. But we cared over both of our areas and investigators while both of our senior companions were away. It was awesome. I learned so much from Sister Nielsen. Even though she's younger than me (she's only 19!), she is really diligent in following the rules from the Missionary Handbook to a T. And she is freaking fearless when it comes to talking to larger crowds of people when we go contacting. So together, we were a pretty awesome, butt-kicking duo. We got a lot of stuff done. Like visiting less-active members and inviting them to the Christmas play that the branch is putting on Christmas Eve night; meeting with and keeping in contact (like dropping off treats and short spiritual messages with them at their home) with most of our investigators.

I also came to realize that I get fed a lot. Sister Hansen and I had been fed, in some way or another, every day this week. Whether it be in the form of a small bag of oranges, tea, or vereniki (traditional Ukrainian dumplings -- usually filled with mashed potatoes).

I had such an awesome week with Sister Hansen and I'm kinda sad that our reign together is coming to an end. We were told yesterday that Sister Nielsen is back in country and we'll be back with our actual companions later today. But it was great while it lasted. Maybe we'll get to serve together in the future. Or at least, I know that we'll at least get to hang out after our missions.

And that's about it for this week. I don't have much internet time left. I just want wish you all a happy, merry Christmas holiday.

Spiritual thought for the week: Alma 7: 10-11

-Sister McCrea

Mariah, Week 24, Zaporozhye

All I want for Christmas is...

a baptism (or two) and some awesome new investigators!

I've come to learn that having new, super-prepared investigators are like new toys. You just want to spend all your time with them, teaching them and watching them grow. Like a Chia-pet!

Sister Nielsen and I haven't found any new investigators like that; we're still trying to work with the investigators that we have. We have two investigators who are on the brink of baptism... they both just need a little bit more encouragement and TLC. Hopefully they will be able to get baptized by the end of the year.

In other news: it snowed -- for real -- for the first time. It's 6 pm, Monday night -- the time when Sister Nielsen and I are supposed to go out and start proselyting... and it's snowing. No joke. And now -- a week later, there is still snow on the ground! But I can see why. It's been below freezing all week. (Burrr!!!) BUT I HAVEN'T SLIPPED ON THE ICE YET! IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

Half of me is thankful for the cold though. It just means that it's easier for us to be able to get into people's homes. :) When we knock on their door and they see us shivering pitifully on their doorstep... a wave of compassion falls upon them and they just can't help but let us in for чай (tea) and let us give a spiritual message. It's a great way to win people's hearts.

Well, that's gonna be it for this week. Short e-mail. More next week.

xoxo

Sister McCrea

PICTURES!

- SNOW!!! :D (My eyes look creepy...)

- Sister Nielsen making a snow angel!

- An Ukrainian sunset.

Mariah, Week 23, Zaporozhye

Snow snow snow snow snow and more snow

This week's e-mail is gonna be short. Which reasons I will explain later on.

ANYWAY. I jinxed myself by saying that it was cold and that I'd never survive through the winter when I wrote last week... because it's pretty much snowed every day this week since then. Yup. Monday night was the first snowfall of Winter 2014 in Zaporozhye Ukraine. Granted, it didn't snow very much because it didn't stay on the ground very long. But still. It was cold. And miserable. And not fun. Because the cold wind was in my face. And I was frozen. And I almost died this week. 

No, not because of the snow... but because of something that I nicknamed "sickness X". For the last half of this week, I was sick at home, passed out sleeping and trying to recover. I have no idea how I got sick or what... I started feeling really tired Thursday night. I didn't have much of an appetite for dinner that night, but I didn't really think anything of it. I was just really excited because Sister Burgoyne, the Sister Training Leader who is over Zaporozhye, and her companion, Sister Frank, were coming to do exchanges with us on Friday. I was supposed to go out on exchanges with the wonderful Sister Burgoyne -- but... when I woke upFriday, I didn't want to do anything. Which -- long story short -- I was sick from Friday until... today. I'm finally starting to feel better, and I'm able to walk around without a headache or being dizzy or anything. It was great. And I'm sure Sister Nielsen enjoyed the time that she got to be able to stay in and not go anywhere. She even made this huge to do list and almost got it all finished. What a champ.

Well! This really is going to be a short letter. We just got a message from our landlady and we have to scurry off to meet with her or something or other. I have no idea.

P.S. Here is a picture of me. In the snow. And Chimichanga! :D One of the dogs that I've decided that I'm going to adopt when I come back to Ukraine after my mission. (She's a little camera shy... and she didn't like the camera flash very much.)

Short spiritual thought: Luke 1:37

Read it. Love it. Own it.

Toodles.

-- Sister McCrea

Mariah and her companion, Sister Nielsen