Man On A Mission!: Week 22: Captain America, Window Preaching, & The Mafia

So, honestly there has been a lot that happened this week that I will leave out. Like I said, it's been a..well, long week. However, here are some things that I feel like are worth sharing!

Captain america guy: Yesterday while walking down the street, I hear someone yelling the Imperial march from star wars. I look around, and don't see anything. Then, he keeps yelling it. I look up, and there is some guy leaning out of his window on the 9th floor of his building with a captain america shield looking at us while yelling the song. I think it was supposed to be a slap at us for being american, but I couldn't help but to die laughing. Then, he changed the song to a happy one and pulled out a russian flag and waved it out the window. It was pretty funny. I'm glad our harrassments have gone from bottles to captain america shields, it's a lot better that way ;)

Windows!: Speaking of windows, a couple days ago we were walking down the street when some crazy babushka started yelling at us from a window. She too was up there, probably on the 6th floor. It was a warm day, so lots of windows were open. I started talking to her from the ground, explaining why we are here. As I was explaining, she was like "No one is interested!" Then a guy opened his window and said "I am". Then, as I kept talking to her like 6 more people poked their heads out the window and listened. I felt like some old school soap box preacher guy. It was pretty cool, haha. Woohoo for window preaching.

General Conference: Gen. Conf was AWESOME. We watched it both in English and Russian, so yeah. A lot of time was spent watching it, haha. It was super cool though. I loved Porter's talk about Optimism, and Hollands about faith. Kopischke had a really good one about being accepted by the Lord. They were all super awesome. One of my favorite quotes was the one by Monson from last conference that someone quoted "Look at men not as they are, but as what they can become". It doesn't matter where you've been, it onlymatters where you end up. Just like Pres. Monson said a while ago, it's not your destination, but your direction that matters when your time has come. There's hope for everyone. Always has been and always will be.

One of the highlights was the awesome meat cooking want to be ukrainian bbq we had! It was delicious! Like I said in the pictures, Elder Gittins and I have been getting in the habit of doing it at home. Soooo good, haha.

Member Book work! So, just like you saw in the picture, we totally owned our member books. Member books are books that have records and pictures of everyone in our given branch that is a member. It's pretty sad how outdated they are. So, we sat down one day and just made complete new ones. I'm happy to say that they are probably some of the best in the mission! Gorlovka does work ;)

Vova Yadekon: This guy totally made my day. Sooo long story short we've had some run ins with the mafia this last week, but all have left on a good note. Good thing I'm a smooth talker, right? Well last night we had another one. This guy was SUPER chill. Turns out he's the head of the mob here. Was slow to admit it, but yeah. The best part is that we got talking about why we were here, and turned it into a gospel discussion, haha. Way tight. I gave him a book, and asked for his number but he was like "Yeah uh..I have a lot of phones..so uh..I'll call you". I started punching my hand and was like "Vova, if you dont call me there's gonna be some trouble". They died laughing. The people here are awesome, even the mafia. You just have to know how to be a people person and get along with them. I told him that we were going to meet with him again and teach him about the restoration, and that "if he knew what was good for him he'd read the book". He promised to read it, and as we were about to leave he jumped out of his car and said "Wait, I want a photo with my new american friends!" So, that is the picture that I sent home. The guy is way awesome. Also, every encounter we've had with the mafia was outside the store that they were sitting at. I'm 99% sure it's a money laundering place. Only time will tell, right? So don't worry! He told us if we ever had a problem to get ahold of him and tell the people we are buddies with Vova Yadekon. If we ever needed anything, just to get ahold of him. So, last night our heat went out in our apartment complex. I'm pretty sure if it doesn't come on again soon that's something that I'm going to talk to him about ;) Oh yeah. Last time we met with some guys of his kind they bought us a ton of orange juice. "We can get you all the orange juice you want. Just give us a call man" What a promise right? Woohoo orange juice! :P I forgot to mention that later we had a lesson with an investigator, and we apologized for being late because we ran into some mafia. The guy was like "Oh really? Oh man. Who?" "Vova Yadekon" "Oh..yeah..he runs this place". Hahah. Networking skills to the max, I guess.

I love you all! I hope your week was as good as mine! Take care and stay solid!

Love from Ukraine,

Kyle