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