DINNER WITH THE SENIORS

Last night all the senior couple missionaries in the mission were invited to have dinner with President and Sister Kumferman and their daughter, Maggie in their home.  The president hosts this dinner twice a year before General Conference.  It's a great way to spend an evening with wonderful people who all have sacrificed their comforts of home and family to serve the Lord in many different ways.  It also to say recognize couples who are going home before the next General Conference and for couples who have newly arrived.  

We prayed together, ate together, played a parlor game together and then had those who were going to go home to share their experiences and testimonies with us all.  Then President Kumferman shared a spiritual thought with us from the Book of Mormon.  He focused on Abinadi's testimony of the Savior focusing on His atonement and how during the Atonement He could see those for whom he was atoning and how this gave him the strength to go through this for us all..  A very powerful and thought-provoking message.

There were eight couples (counting the President Kumferman and his wife) with eight different areas of service...mission office support,  member leader support, Church Education - Institute and Young Adult Activities, Church History - collecting the history of the Church in Ukraine since the early 1990's with a focus on the first temple built in Eastern Europe - in Kyiv, overseeing the medical care of missionairies in Eastern Europe, Humanitarian Aid and Church Auditing (Vivian and I).  We all had things in common - we all left families behind and are missing significant family events, we all came to the mission field with different life experiences, skills and abilities, we all love the Ukrainian people and feel it a prviledge to serve them and most important of all we all love the Savior and are humbled to be serving him in this special way.  

President and Sister Kumferman are wonderful people.  They are open, loving, gracious and fun and funny.  It is uplifting to be around them.  We all had a very enjoyable evening. and are looking forward to viewing the upcoming General Conference sessions that start in less than an hour.

And of course, a picture...

The senior missionary couples of the Kyiv Ukraine Mission

President Edwin Kumferman and Sister Karen Kumferman

Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC)

A Week to Remember...Aug 7-11

We entered the MTC on Monday, August 7, 2017 at approximately 10:30 AM with great excitement and some anxiousness.  We were met by local volunteers who helped us get checked in and pointed in the right direction.  Part of the package was having our pictures taken as we came in.  Those of you who have either gone on missions or sent out your sons and daughters on their missions will recognize the locations and posing of these pictures...glad to be a part of the world-wide missionary force.

I remember dropping all of our sons at the MTC at the beginning of their missions with the exception of Mark.  Mark was our experimental child.  Before we knew we could go inside the MTC with them we said goodbye to Mark at the Oakland Airport and sent him on his way.

My Reflections

We started our mission off in the same place we said goodbye to our sons...whew that brought back a lot of memories, strong feelings of emotion and great happiness.  Now it was Vivian's and my turn to have the MTC experience.  We were not disappointed.  There were over 60 senior missionary couples plus three single sisters.  We quickly developed a love for them as we all learned the deeper meaning of full time service for Jesus Christ.  We were fed...spiritually from the first moment to our last.  We prayed, we sang, we were instructed, we laughed and we cried.  The Spirit was so strong in this place you could feel it; you could see it.  You could see it in the faces of those there.  We passed groups of missionaries, young elders and sisters, who freely came to serve at various missions throughout the world.  The are strong, they are vibrant and they are ready.  We took strength and courage just being around them... 2,800 strong.  At the end of the week Vivian and I did not want to leave...we knew it would be difficult to replicate this feeling outside the MTC.  However, we did, at the end of the week, feel prepared to understand the character of Christ, His Gospel, His Atonement and the Plan of Salvation and how it relates to taking His message throughout the world.  In other words we came to understand on a deeper level what our missionary purpose is and how to express it to others.

We appreciated the young returned sister missionaries who trained us and our district for the 5 days we were there.  They were outstanding and so knowledgeable and Christ-like.  We appreciated those senior couples in our district with whom we discussed and interacted as we were trained in Preach My Gospel.  We shared our concerns, excitement and anxiousness  We were given opportunities to explore our testimonies and come to understand the Spirit guides everything we do and without it we can do nothing.  We appreciated the scores of MTC employees whose sole purpose was to care for us and all our needs.  I'm still amazed how they could feed 28,000 of us three full meals a day within in a narrow 90 minute time frame and do it over and over again.  In the end, as I write this post, I realize the strength that comes in pondering on this experience and the solace it gives to me...to remind me of what my purpose is...to represent Jesus Christ as a missionary and invite others to come unto Him.

More pictures...

Lobby area in the MTC outside our room.  A great place to meet and mingle with other missionaries.

Our District for the week.  We spent most of our training with this wonderful group of missionaries.  From L to R: Sister Nelson - MTC Trainer; the Cummings - Washing Seattle Mission - Church Education/Young Single Adults; Arnoldsons - Australia Perth Mission - Self Reliance; Bairds - Arkansas Little Rock Mission - Mission Office Specialists.

There were many surprises as we met other senior couples.  In this photo the couple on the left are Kelly's.  They were called to the Sweden Stockholm Mission.  They are are from Fair Oaks, CA and in Scott and Linday's Ward.  Sister Kelly even taught our grandchildren in Primary - Ada and Ivy.  A very small world indeed.

A view of part of the MTC Campus from one of the new buildings just opened up.  They were doing tours all day long.  Provo Temple in the background.  

Look who we ran into...newly minted missionary Elder Dylan Heath (center).  Vivian taught Dylan in the Primary Sunbeam class in the Benicia Ward so many years ago.  It was fun searching him out in a sea of white shirts in the cafeteria

Vivian and I with our Russian Language Tutor, Elder Rickey Callister.  We took online tutoring with him each week since March..  We are continuing to study with him for another six months here in Ukraine.  He served his mission in the Ukraine Kyiv Mission.  A really delightful young man.

The Journey Begins

Leaving Benicia

On August 5th we said goodbye to Benicia and to Michael.  Mark and Barbara Thomas took us and our six pieces of luggage to the Oakland Airport.  What a great service by them.  They took their son's truck and we loaded the luggage into its bed.  Our Ford Escape couldn't handle the load.  They helped us schlep the bags to check-in and then we said goodbye to them before security.  Thank you Mark and Barbara for willing to do some heavy lifting to get us on our way!

Six pieces of luggage - Friday night before we left

Packing started...

Reuniting With Long-Time Friends

We then flew to Salt Lake City where our good friends Van and Elizabeth Gessel picked us and our six pieces of luggage up at the airport. They were generous in their hospitality.  Elizabeth is a wonderful cook and Van is a great sous chef and dishwasher.  We reminisced, talked about family, laughed and cried.  They did a really good job in preparing us for going on our mission and what to expect.  We introduced them to a new TV show from England - "Midsomer Murders" which is a favorite of ours and they really enjoyed it.  You can find it on Netflix by the way.  On Monday morning they took us (and our six pieces of luggage) to the Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC) and dropped us off at 10:30 am.  Thank you Van and Elizabeth for a memorable week end and for your enduring friendship and love.

Van Gessel waiting with us and our six pieces of luggage at curb side...SLC International Airport  for Elizabeth and the van (no pun intended).

Key Lime Pie courtesy of Elizabeth Gessel

Greetings from Ukraine

Hello from Ukraine.  This is our first blog post of hopefully many more to come.  I finally have the blog up and running.  This blog is a private blog.  My understanding is since it is a private blog there is no notification sent by Blogger to let you know I've posted something.  So, the plan is to send a group email to let everyone know that either Vivian or I have posted something.  I am not going to hold myself to any particular schedule.  We will post as we have something interesting (we think) to share and hopefully you will enjoy it too.  Sometimes we may post something just to see if we can connect with our family and friends.  So....

A brief summary

We arrived in Kyiv on August 15 after spending the previous week at the Provo Missionary Training Center.  More to come on this in a subsequent post including pictures.  We've spent the past month getting settled in our apartment, learning how we can get around using public transportation and a lot of shoe leather.  Also, figuring out where to get our groceries, dry cleaning, hair cuts and a myriad of other details regarding daily living that we've taken for granted.  We've gotten to know the other senior missionary couples a little, the office elders and the missionaries, Elders and Sisters, in our district.  They have all been life savers for us as we get settled in a very foreign country...more on the country in future blogs.  

Thank you

The last time we saw most of you was at the sacrament meeting we spoke at and/or the farewell open house later that day.  That day remains for us an incredible experience.  Any time I'm feeling a little blue I think back to a month ago and my spirits are picked up.  The Temple Hill Choir's flash mob will be a hard one to top.  Thank you so much.  Vivian and I hope to share this adventure with you.  We value your love and friendship.  So...look for many more blogs as we chronicle our experiences.

After sacrament meeting on July 30th with a few of the notibles...Rojohn & Merilee Rieta, Tom Farris, Vivian & Gary Foley, Aimee Roylance and Ron Pickett