Sister Emily Daines

Haha jk same old me in same old Pechersky! I love it here and I love the people!  This week was awesome! We met with Kcenya again this week and I extended my first baptismal invitation! She wants to wait to commit to such a big decision but she is still doing awesome! The Elders have a baptism on Friday so Ksenya is going to come to watch, she is really interested in how it works.  The Pechersky ward is also killing it with missionary work. Our ward mission leader is great and is planning activities for members to meet the people we are teaching and fellowship them. For everyone at home, members make the best missionaries! Always look for opportunities to share the gospel.  This week we have just been running around trying to find people before winter hits and no one comes outside.  We also got a new elder in our district. Another Ukrainian speaker from the old Lviv mission. So now Sister King is the only fully functioning Russian speaker in our distr...

I have made it 1 whole transfer of my mission. Crazy. This transfer has flown by so fast and I have learned so much. I love my area and my comp sister King! We found out transfers on Friday and (drumroll please)...  I'm staying in Pechersky with Sister King! There has been a shortage of sisters who can train so it is a miracle that I get to keep my trainer! Our mission is pretty young in that the oldest missionaries have only been out a year. It has happened a few times that sisters have had to train in their third transfer so basically, I have to step it up just in case something crazy happens next transfer. Pray for me and my Russian.  We had mid transfer training this week where all of the new trainees and their trainers meet with President and Sister Kumferman. We had amazing devotionals from both President and Sister Kumferman and I got to see my MTC district which was fun to be back together and hear about all of their adventures, some even in Moldova! This w...

This week was a great week in Kiev!  Fall has hit - and hit hard! Seasons here change overnight. Friday was hot and humid and when we woke up on Saturday it was cold and rainy and the leaves were falling! The rain hasn't stopped yet but I actually love it.  I had my first exchange on Thursday! I went to Kharkivsky with Sister Soucie our STL. We went to a member lunch which was very exciting because the missionaries don't get fed very often in our area. I was actually worried because it was the first experience on my mission where I couldn't finish all of the food on my plate and she just kept giving us more. Just when we thought we were done she brought out a giant bundt cake. And then candy. Wow. I was full.  That night we got to visit Valentyna, a friend of my parents from way back in their Cambridge days! It was so cool to meet her and her awesome family! They gave us ice cream and cookies and juice and Sasha (their son) put spider gummies on the ice cream ...

Not much to update on this week! Things are going great in Pechersky! We have a new investigator named Kcenya. She is a referral from a member. She is going through a lot of hard things at the moment and has been confused why the Lord gives us these trials. We had an amazing lesson with her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She was amazed and was so open to baptism! We all knelt to pray at the end of the lesson and she wanted to pray. It was an amazing prayer and we were all in tears by the end!  It is amazing the people the Lord puts in our path. This week I challenge all of you to think of someone (anyone!) who you could share the gospel with, and DO IT! Member missionary work is the BEST missionary work so get on it!  Love you all and hope you have a great week!  Love,  Cectpa Daines