Another round in Illichovsk, I am surprised, but excited

So now for the news you have all been waiting for. I am going another transfer in Illichovsk. I seriously cannot believe it. We got transfer info on Saturday and I though the Zone Leaders were joking.  At the end of this next transfer I will have been here for 10.5 months. That is so long to be in one area. Also I will be hitting my year mark in my first area which is almost never heard of. But I am really excited to be here. We have a lot of good things going for us here. The members are amazed that I have been here so long. But just some funny jokes Elder Hughes and I though about after we heard the news. I must have read my call letter wrong, I was actually called to the Illichovsk, Ukraine mission. or Being so far south must mean that President Klebingat can't see me on the transfer board. haha

Elder Hughes at the bus stop

Now as for my week. On Monday we all got together as a Zone and played football. I haven't sprinted for like over a year. (Dave should remember that was when I would burn him on the basketball court haha) But anyways the next two days I was so sore and my legs hurt so bad. I had no idea how bad of shape I was. I mean I walk everywhere and I have lost weight but clearly my legs have lost a lot of muscle haha.

our zone after playing football

great name for a candy bar 

As for more important things, things are going well with Vova. He continues to love our meetings and keeps coming to church. Last time we met with him we had a big breakthrough and helped him to see that he does have a testimony of these things. At the end of the lesson we found out that he is just scared. We asked him if it was his dad but he said no his dad couldn't care less if he was baptized because both his wife and step-daughter are members. To be honest I wish that his dad cared a little more that way it would be a bigger event and maybe even help him start to progress. But I am really excited to still be here to teach him. He came up to me on sunday and asked if I was staying and when I said yes he shook my hand and yelled congratulations in English. It was really funny. 

But right now a lot of our investigators aren't meeting with us. And we haven't been finding very well. But President has come out with some new things that he wants the branches and wards to do. He wants a member with us from 6 to 9 everynight. He is also really pushing for them to find for us while we teach. He said that we were not called to find but we were called to teach. The members have been asked to take a bigger part in missionary work. It is super intense, he said that if a branch doesn't follow these rules he will take the missionaries away from the branch for awhile. I have a lot of faith in the branch and I know they will rise up. Tonight, for example, we are going to teach "family home evening" to a family who promised to bring friends. It should be really cool.

Well that was my week. I love you all.

Love Elder Quinn

Elder Hughes with Grandma Lydia

Grandma Lidia's back yard 

I went on "splits" with Elder King.  They call us King and Queen  ha ha

The funeral, dedication of the grave and a chance to teach the "plan of salvation"

So this week was an interesting week. Elder Hughes and I had the opportunity to go to Dima's funeral on Tuesday. It was a really neat experience. President Sadchenko from our branch came and brought a big wreath of flowers and said it was from the branch. It is tradition to bring them. It started out with a viewing outside of his apartment. A lot of people were there. We tried to hang back and not get to much in the way. After that we went to a Prodoslavian church where they did some prayers and things. I could tell it brought some peace to the people there but I knew that they didn't do anything. After that we all went to the graveyard and they opened it up for people to say anything they wanted. President Sadchenko went up and bore his testimony which was really cool. After that Elder Hughes and I went up and sang God be with you til we meet again" with President. It was really cool. There must have been 70 people there. After that they did the burial and everyone started to walk away. I wasn't expecting Dima's mother to say anything to us because I had only met her a couple of times. But she broke away from everyone and came up and said "Thank you for all that you have done. You meant so much to him." President then asked if we could dedicate his grave for our church. She said of course and called over Larissa, Rano, and another lady. He then looked at me and said go for it. I was really nervous and I got a little choked up but it went well. Afterwards they all thanked me. It was really neat.

So later on in the week we ran into Rano and she informed us that Dima's son Zhena still doesn't know because they don't know what to say to him. It was really sad to hear that. Both Elder Hughes and I found a lot of comfort from knowing the Plan of Salvation since we were 3 years old. It makes things so much easier. So she told us to run ahead and talk to Larissa. We ran up and we asked if we could explain to him what had happened. She said ofcourse and we gave her our number. The next day we ran into Dima's mom. She again thanked us and asked for our number as well. I really hope that this experience helps them to be receptive to the gospel. It would help them so much. The whole branch found out about Dima and have all offered their assistance. It was really nice of them. I hope to meet with them soon. This next week is transfers so we find out on Saturday if I am staying. I kind of want to stay one more just to be here. They don't really know Elder Hughes very well.

As for Vova it was pretty disappointing. We only met with him once and when we did we went over the baptisimal interview questions. He passed off everything except for a testimony of Joesph Smith and Thomas S. Monson. He said he just doesn't know if they are Prophets. I wanted to meet with him again to go over this but he was working everyday. So I decided to call him on Saturday and see if we could announce his baptism date in church but he said that he doesn't feel ready. I tried to talk with him about how that is what the Devil wants you to think but he said it was all too soon. He found out the next day that this might be my last week and he was really mad about it. He asked why we change cities and I said Good question I don't know. But I am confident he will be baptized. And yes mom I will get a picture with him before I leave haha.

But going on to more about transfer. I might be staying but I don't think I am. But something weird was I was called to be Elder Quorum president. So I was wondering why they would do that if I was leaving next week but we will see. Because Elder Hughes was called as 1st councilor in the Branch Presidency which was really surprising. After church we talked with President Sadchenko and he told us our responsibilities and I had to translate everything Elder Hughes had to do. I don't blame him there was no way he would know those words after his 2nd transfer but it was just really funny. But ya we will see what happens on Saturday.

Dima will be missed

Dima was an investigator of the church, whom Chase met on his first day of tracting in Ukraine.  Dima gained a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints.  Because of his struggle with bone cancer he was unable to make the necassary arrangements to be baptized, although that was his desire.  He wrote in a note that Chase has, of his desire to be baptized.  Chase hopes to be able to do the work for him vicariously in the Kiev Temple a year from now.

Dima will be missed. Although I only knew Dima through the letters Chase wrote, I gained a love for him and am truly saddened by his passing.  He was a wonderful man. - Elaine Quinn

Dima participating in  service project with the Branch 

Dima while visiting with Elder Quinn and Elder Welch

Dima passed away...He had been fighting bone cancer.

Hey everyone it was so much fun to talk to you all last night and hear how everything is going. I am really glad that skype worked it was so cool to do it. So I already told you about my week last week but I'll go over some of the things again. Vova is doing great and has accepted to live all of the commandments which is awesome. He is doing really good. His date is still on for May 29th which is a week from Saturday. We are really excited because we believe he will make his date.

As you all know now that Dima has passed away. It was really shocking yesterday to find out. I knew he had had a really bad week but it still was unexpected. We weren't able to get over to his house this past week but today we are planning on stopping by his mothers house and giving her some flowers. I was just informed by his friends who we taught earlier that tomorrow will be his funeral. We are hoping to go and pay our respects. Thank you all for keeping him and his family in your prayers. It is a very hard thing that they are going through right now. 

As far as other investigators we don't have any that are really doing anything right now. Hopefully this week we will be able to find some more people to teach. We really need them. If anyone has any finding ideas that would be great. We try to think of creative things but it gets hard. 

Well sorry to keep this letter so short. Since last night nothing new has happened. Thanks for the great letters I receive from all of you. It is so great to hear from you all every week. I love you all very much.

Love Elder Quinn

P.S. Dave I was serious about you writing down all of the good movies that I am missing. That is your new assignment.

Vova gave a great prayer, Dima has a testimony, Oleg is doing good. Plus some cool stories

Ok so real quick thanks for all of the letters. Dad the skpe time should be fine for Sunday. That is 7:30 for me and 11:30 for you. Here is the number that you can call if it doesn't work. 01138-050-353-5241. It is going to be really fun to see you all on Sunday. 

So mom we usually do service when ever we can because we are suppossed to look for service to do for an hour a week but it is hard to find. But the branch does some service projects and we help out.

So as for my week it was a really cool week. Vova is doing really great. I told him that it would make me really happy if he was baptized on May 26th and he said "ya me to." He is accepting everything we teach him and already knows most of the commandments because of his step-sister and step-mom. They have been such big helps. If all goes to plan we will be at their house for skype on Sunday and you can say hi. But anyways this week we are going to do the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. There really shouldn't be any problems in either of these categories because he lives alone and is kinda quiet and we haven't seen any alcohol or ciggarettes in his house so hopefully it goes well. Right now he agrees that the Book of Mormon and the Church are really good things. He just doesn't know if they are the only truth. But whenever he prays at the end of our lessons he does so well in asking for an answer. It is going really well. I have a really good feeling about everything.

As for Dima. We decided to take a new approach with him. We went in and just asked a bunch of questions regarding his testimony. He agrees with everything but then we asked him why? He came out with some really cool answers. I know he has a testimony and that he knows what we have taught is true but he just seems to be struggling on acting on that testimony. He keeps saying that he can't get married because of his leg. We have offered to carry him there but he says he will figure it out. The branch has been a really big help. Sister Kozakova went to the court house and found out what times they are open and we gave them to him. It was really nice of her. Also Dima asked how much longer I would be here and I told him maybe 5 weeks. He seemed really shocked and asked a lot of questions of where I will go and if I'll be back. I told him I didn't know if I am even leaving but I have been here a long time. He seemed pretty disappointed. Maybe that will help him to move things a long.

Oleg is doing good but nothing really new to say about him. He did agree to read the Family for the first time. So we will see how that goes. Tonight we have a lesson planned to watch Finding Faith in Christ and talk about it with him and his family. I hope it goes well. To be honest I don't really know what more to teach him. He has been taught everything and knows exactly how to get an answer. He just won't do it. I also don't want to drop him because he is a part-member family and I think dropping him would move him really far back. Hopefully we will see some change soon. 

So kinda of a cool story this week. I was chosen by the Zone Leaders to go on exchanges with an other elder in our Zone who is struggling with the work. It was a pretty sad and humbling experience. I had always heard such great things about this Elder and about how hard he works. But when we got together I could see he was ready to go home. He is in his second to last transfer and just feels like he is done. He addmitted to me that he is not the missionary everyone thinks he is. It was pretty sad to hear. I really hope that he will be able to finish strong. I tried to help but he just said that his area is dead and there is nothing really that is going to happen in it. It really helped me to see how I don't want to finish my mission. He is a great guy and it was really fun to get to know him but he just seemed really tired of it all. Which is why I won't get trunky even if Dad has bought new jet skies. haha

Now for a funny story. Elder Hughes and I were walking home at night and we walked past this outdoor coffee shop. There were 4 sailors trying to buy coffee. The funny part was is that they spoke no Russian and the ladies selling coffee spoke no English. We kind of laughed at it but then decided to go back and help. I walked up and said first in English I know Russian then in Russian I know English. They were all like oh thank you so much. I translated for them and they were super thankful. One of the sailors looked at us and asked. "Mormon?" I said ya and he said cool thanks. So maybe when they return home they will see missionaries and remember that we helped them once in Ukraine haha.

So that was it for my week. So my companion just told me of a way that you can skype with more that one person at a time. If that is possible it might be worth looking into. But if not no big deal. Well I love you all a lot.

Love Elder Quinn

teaching more lessons, given a fake phone number and an important letter to deliver

Well that was really fun getting letters from everyone today. Thanks so much it is so great to hear from all of you. Natalie I am so happy that you are having a girl. She is going to be so beautiful. That also means I have a chance of having boys haha. Dave you made a good point I have been in my area for a long time but the thing is here every time we move we have to registered to the apartment and it takes up to two transfers to do that so they try to keep us in the same place as long as possible. Katie I will have to admit I thought you were going to tell me you were having a baby haha. But new jetskies are fun as well ;). Mom thanks for getting that book for me. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I need but some kool aid packets would go nice. It has gotten pretty hot here. I am not looking forward to the summer. Also people don't really do snail mail here so here is Sister Finanko's email finenkom@ya.ru  Melissa tell Justin congrats on finishing school keep up the good work. And be careful with those boys haha concussions stop people from playing football.  Well that's it.... just kidding Hannah HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I will add a picture to this email that I need to explain. So we live on the street call 1st of May and I found a house number with the number 15 on it so I thought I would send it to you.So I was planning skype this morning with Elder Hughes can we do it at the same time as Christmas. That would be 5 here and I believe 9 there. What time is your church? At 1 or 9?

Now as for my week. We met with Dima and unfortunately had to drop his date. Things didn't go so well this week with him. He didn't start his marriage like he said he would and he doesn't sound as excited to get baptized. He keeps saying he wants to get healthy first but I think he may just be in denial. We have a pretty good lesson planned for this week so hopefully it goes well. We just don't know what more to teach him. His health isn't great so he hasn't come to church but he continues to read and to pray. We just need to help him find the desire to get baptized like he used to.

Vova is doing really well. His date is still set for the 26th of May and things look like they are going well. He still feels like he hasn't received an answer to his prayers so this week we are going to talk about fasting and then challenge him to fast with us this Sunday for an answer. I would also like anyone who would like to, to add him to your fast. Also we will be talking about the Word of Wisdom this week so pray that he will accept it. We think he smokes but seems to not do it too much so hopefully he can quit easily. His dad Oleg is nice. It is good that he listens to us but he needs to start doing some things if he wants to change. I wish his wife would put a little bit of pressure on him. She seems cotent with where he is.

Remember that guy who came to church last week Pavel? Well he set up with us and gave us two numbers both of which are fake and then he didn't show up to our meeting. I was so confused. He is the one who wanted to know more so why did he dog us. It was pretty lame because we had brought a member to church with us to be on the lesson but he didn't come. I wasn't super happy about that. Hopefully he comes to church again.

So we met with Vladimier again and it went really well. We read Moroni 10:1-7 with him and talked about that, We also answered a lot of questions he had about the church. The lesson went well. He has technically be taught everything because he was a former investigator but it seems like he doesn't remember anything so I think we will go over it all again. He didn't come to church like he said he would so that was disappointing. But hopefully he comes to English again. So I forgot to tell you. We have an English Conversation Club every Friday at 6:30. We teach the missionary lessons in English and discuss them with everyone there. It is pretty fun because they have way fun accents. But of course mine isn't any better. We have about 3-7 people show up every week. We are hoping to get some investigators from it soon. Some people seem really interested.

Really fast story. This week we got a letter from someone who lives in Kiev to his cousins who are non-members that we were supposed to deliver. In the letter he asked them to listen to us and accept our message. I was so excited to go and drop it off and it was even better that it was down the street from some of our members. We went by and their son took the letter didn't read it and told us to leave. I was so mad, I was expecting to get into the house and teach an awesome first lesson but this punk kid didn't even look at it. We are going back out this week to stop by and hopefully the parents are there. What makes it even better is Elder Wells and I tracted that house when we were together. Now they have to listen to us haha.

Well that's it for this week. I'll put some pictures up today. I love you all.

Love Elder Quinn

House Cleaning

I don't think this couch has ever been moved!

P-Day: visiting an old castle

This was way cool.

the front gate 

charge 

the Russian squat 

The dungeon 

we climbed up here - I wonder how old this wood work is?

me contemplating life :)

I heard about the Book of Mormon and would like to learn more

So Hannah asked me a couple of fun questions. The thing I love most about Ukraine right now is the weather. It is really nice right now. Warm with a cool breeze. Not looking forward to the humidity. I liked winter because I didn't get sweaty unfortuantely I still have to wear pants in the summer. My favorite scripture is Jacob 6:12 "oh be wise what more can I say." Read from the White Handbook everyday and laugh at some of the things that have to be clarified such as "wash your car on P-days if you have been assigned one to use." I think it would be hard to wash a car if I HADN'T been assigned one haha. Also my favorite food is borsch. It is sooooo good. All of our members have a different recipe and they all taste so good. So Katie a little while ago you mentioned some pictures that Mark is making for me. You should definately send those soon. :) I want to see them so bad. Also Mom were you able to see or find the Russian 555 book for me. I put a picture up of it, let me know.

As for our week. We had an amazing week this week. We had 5 lessons with investigators. I don't want to brag but we are leading our Zone. Seriously though I feel so blessed to be having this success. So for Dima things are going well. We went over twice this week. And he has really regained a desire to be baptized. He is living at his mothers right now and we told him if he just starts the paper work we can baptize him.  His faith is really growing and he is almost done with the Book of Mormon. He is in 3 Nephi and really enjoying it. We are hoping to go over this week with a member and draw out a plan for what he needs to do.

For Vova he is also doing well. He fulfills our assignments but sometimes he just forgets to pray everyday. He said he doesn't have a lot of time to read but he tries to read what we give him. He wants to receive an answer he just doesn't know how it will come. We have taught two lessons on recognizing the spirit so hopefully he will be able to do this. But something really cool is so he had work yesterday and couldn't come to Sacrament Meeting so we were pretty bummed but then he walked in and came to second hour and third hour. It was so cool to see that he would come even after he had work. He totally could have used that as his excuse saying he couldn't come because of work. I was way excited to see him. His father Oleg is in the same boat as last time.  He knows how to receive an answer but he just doesn't want to do.  Tonight is going to be a lesson on being together forever with his wife.

We also finally met with Vladimiere. He came to English and we finally were able to talk to him. He works two jobs and lives out in the selo so it is really hard to meet with him. I don't know if I told you all this story but two weeks ago I committed him to baptism over the phone. He said he would so we will start to progress quickly if he meets with us. He is a former investigator and has already been taught everything. I just want to make sure he will come to church. 

So we only found one new investigator this week but it was really cool. He just walked into our church and said hey I have heard about the Book of Mormon and I want to know more. I don't belong to a church and am looking for the right thing. It was really cool he came for second and third hour and we set up with him for Tuesday. Our branch president herd and said he would be there as well to help on the lesson. I love this branch so much. By the way his name is Pavel.

So quick funny story. We were doing a book table and an old lady walked up to us and wanted a book but she said she didn't have a money. We said don't work it is free. She then reached into her pocket and went to give us what I thought was money. I quickly said no don't worry then she dropped a handful of candy on the table. It was super funny. Then she said heres some more. I hope she reads the book because I want her in our branch.

So sorry my letters are a little bit shorter. We now only have one hour to write. So thanks for all the letters again. I love you all so much.

Love Elder Quinn

Our District
Elders: Hare, Quinn, Shepard, Hughes, Michaels, Welch Thatcher, Newman
Sisters: Little and Karpenko