Synthesis

Hello!

There's not much to talk about this week, because it's been focused on one thing;

New missionaries!

President Rizley is very focused on making sure that these missionaries are trained to bring a new life into the mission, and to keep the work going strong.  That in mind, we now have implemented a week long training program for the trainees and their trainers.  

So we've been spending most of our time preparing for this massive training program.  It's an interesting feeling, because it's not the kind of missionary work that I'm used to, but it's what we've been asked to do.  I enjoy teaching, discussing, and planning with these six new Elders and Sisters.  This entire week until Friday will be the "Synthesis Week" for them, and so we will have nothing else to do but teach them almost all morning and afternoon, send them out with their trainers, review the teaching with President, and when they come back in,  review how their proselyting time went.   It's the first time they've ever done something like this before out here, and it's mostly to help the missionaries develop the skills they need in the Ukrainian language before throwing them out into the water to try not to drown.  

It should supposedly prevent missionaries from going home caused by severe stress also. (not that that's ever happened before in the history of our mission, as President Rizley informed me).

My companion has now infected the mission with his cold, and even President Rizley and Elder Plaster have caught his bug.  Now, nobody will touch him.  Poor Elder...  I gave him a hug yesterday, since no one will shake his sickie hand.

We did get to stop by an almost non-active older woman in the branch on Sunday with the Branch President.  She planned to make us lunch, but she felt not super great when we first got over... so what did we do?  My companion got himself an apron, cut the bread, made the sandwiches, and stirred the soup.  What did I do?  I took pictures for you to enjoy.  I also might have helped a tiny bit.  Hope he doesn't get her sick... now that I'm looking back at this...

The plan was to help her set a goal to go to the temple, but she's gotten to a point where she just wants Elders to come over and help her feel the spirit in her home and to give her the sacrament.   We're going to keep trying to help her to see the benefit and blessings that come from temple attendance by teaching her more about it at home.  There's a big push in the branch right now to get all of the less-actives to be signed up for the next big temple trip in October.  We're praying for great results!

​I know that this Church is true!  If we will have charity towards one another, God can accomplish miracles for all of his children as we diligently strive to BE that miracle for others!  I love this gospel, and I know that Heavenly Father loves each of us.

​

​Pictures: 

My beautiful companion

Sandwiches

Borsch

Our last district meeting this transfer

The Clinger family (americans in a Ukrainian habitat).​

The last week of the craziest transfer.

We're ALL ALIVE!

Sometimes, that is the greatest miracle of my weeks.

This week especially!

The story of this week begins like this:

Just as he had recovered from his rolled ankle, my companion got a crazy flu or some sort of infection.  At first, I thought that it wasn't that big of a deal, so we just had him take a little nap and got to work.  We don't usually have a whole lot of time to sit still, especially the week before our transfers, so we were running around all over the place.  Well, by the time night swung around, he had a temperature of 103*F... which is not good.  So, he went with another Elder to the hospital, and I took the other office Elder to go and finish up some of our chores.

Things that are adding to the craziness:

The Rivne Missionaries have been up here since the incident, and so we've been having to coordinate the sickies and the beaten up ones to hospital appointments, back to their apartments, and making sure that there is enough for them to eat (Elders eat so much food... it's crazy... what's wrong with us??)

Not to mention that we're trying to organize a week-long training program for the new missionaries coming in on Wednesday.   Without my companion in a sound state of mind, it has been near impossible to put together the curriculum that we're in charge of teaching.  With a bit of push and some fierce determination, we've managed to pull all of that together.

I ended up in the office elders apartment on unplanned exchanges around 3 times this week.  

We're organizing all of the travel for almost the entire mission to have the biggest transfer since last may.

We have two missionaries going home, and have stacks of protocol that needs to be gone through before they take off.

We went to find a new apartment in L'viv for the sisters, and Heavenly Father so loves us that He provided a really nice one in a matter of 3 days!  But, it's on the OTHER side of the city... and so that means a lot more running, calling, and in dire situations, taxis.  

I was sitting at the point of just sitting down and saying, "Okay, I'm way too tired for all of this.  I'm done.  I'm dropping all of this and just going out contacting!" 

I've had this over-looming feeling that everything is being held together by a little thread.  

But after pondering it a bit, I realized something;

That's only if I'm counting my own strength.

With prayer, and with faith in God, I've seen miracles begin to happen in our mission!  

Khmelnitsky just had 4 baptisms in the course of 2 weeks!  It was awesome!  We only have 3 missionaries in that whole city.  

The Lord is doing his work, and we are so blessed to be a part of it.

At the end of this week, I realized that the true miracle isn't that "While juggling all of this, I managed to keep all the balls in the air!" It's more like this -- 

"God loves us so much, that he not only helps everything to work out, but He lets us have the opportunity to help in his service to all".

​All I can figure is this:

God loves me, and He is trying to teach me humility in every shape and form it comes in.  I'm now excited for this, the more I think about it.  It will probably take my entire life, but it's going to be a long journey!   

My whole mission seems to have a reoccurring theme: Remembering that without God, we are nothing. With him, we can do anything!

I love the ennobling power of the atonement of Christ.  I'm proud in my God who has all power to make me into someone of great worth.  

I hope that this week, there will be even more trials, and just as many successes!

I love you all, and I'm thankful for the support you provide for me.  You are heaven sent my friends.

We've got to make the most of the time the Lord has provided for us!

Let's joyfully take our posts!

Elder Le Baron 

Bystander Education

This week was fun, sad, a growing experience, and altogether I would say that it was an important piece in my understanding of our Heavenly Father. It's been a miracle to have the experiences that we've had on our missions.  

I want to talk about each of these things, and explain what I learned!

First couple of things -- Always make a good shopping list.  One of the office elders stayed at our place, and we ran out of shampoo.  After the 2nd day of greasy hair, he decided to wash his head with dish soap.   His head smells like lemons.

New converts are awesome.  After some bad stuff went down (I'll explain later in the email), they gifted one of the elders a magic cross that's supposed to ward off evil spirits.  I'm not sure how he's supposed to wear it around his neck while contacting... oh well.

Active Members who love missionaries: If you're going to refer to a missionary (My companion) as "Count-Dracula" behind his back, don't tell his companion (me) about it.... because then all sorts of jokes at home come up about deportation to Romania  :) 

If you're going to stay in a hospital overnight, always bring a mini chess set, a pair of shorts, and an air mattress.  Necessities, my dear friends. And if you're going to order Tex-Mex, just have the office elder's go get it for you, because hospital staff lies when they say that they can get anything.

Okay, I had to get those ones out of the way

The Second thing was something that really amazed me, even though it was sad.  One of our best sister missionaries had to return home because of illness!  She still had a lot of time left on her mission, and it was sad to see her go.   Aside from that being said, I learned a lot from her!  She was an incredibly hard worker, dedicated, and faithful in all things.  She never stopped trying to talk with everyone.  She loves the gospel.  So, I took that as a reminder;  That's what I want to be like when my time runs out on me.  What an great example.  I hope the Lord finds us all doing good when He comes!

​We also had our Mission Conference!  This was an awesome chance to see all of my favorite people again.  In a mission as small as ours, you make a lot of friends really quickly!  Some of these Elders, I've been serving with for almost 2 years!  I love them so much.  Just seeing them and their bright attitudes, with their hearts as wide open as their scriptures and notepads, and all the energy that the brought to our little chapel here in L'viv, touched my heart, and made me want to really carry this important message even further.  So many inspiring words were said, commitments to change were given and accepted, and President promised us all a few special blessings if we would be faithful to the changes we agreed to make.  I loved conference! I got to teach a segment about enduring to the end, and I feel like I understand that doctrine so much better now than I ever did before.  What a blessing.

The Fourth thing that happened was really not fun at all.  In one of our cities, the elders were attacked by a group of teenage guys, and beaten up pretty badly.  They broke one elder's nose, and knocked the other one clean out.  They're here in L'viv right now, and in a half-decent shape.  We had to evacuate the missionaries from that city on the request of the area presidency, and we're waiting a week and a few days before we send them back in.  

At first I was really mad, and I wanted something to be done to have this taken care of.   I muddled over every possible way that we could get back at this people, or at least make them responsible for what they did.

I prayed to know what we were all supposed to learn from this, and I thought about it a lot.  I didn't feel like I got an answer for the first few days... 

And then on Sunday, the two elders who took the most damage worked their way up to the stand to testify on our meeting.  

Those were the most inspiring testimonies of love for the gospel that I've heard in a long time.  With bruises and cuts on their faces,  they stood and testified of the Saviors love for all of us, and how the gospel can change anyone.  ​

​I feel like I learned a big lesson on charity and love through the example of these Elders.

I know that God loves all of his children, and even though we may not be the smartest, nicest, or most helpful sometimes, he wants to give us all the chance to reach our potential.  Reaching that potential often means that we require the help of others, and that others require our help in order to reach their own divine role in Heavenly Father's plan.

I know that Jesus Christ suffered for us so that we could ​conquer these weaknesses that we have, and that we have the opportunity to become like Him, if we'll just humble ourselves and seek Heavenly Father's will for our lives.

Be sure to make a list of the lessons that you've learned this week!

I love you all!

I hope you have a great week!

Elder LeBaron

​(Pictures: My vampire companion conquering his few of crosses...

Elder "Lemon Head" Podvodov and Elder Lemons.. companionship bonding)​

Roll on down to Rivne

Hello!

This week was great!

The big highlight of the week was definitely our exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Rivne!  We rode an electrichka all the way up there... and that was rather unpleasant.  Talk about no leg room -- especially when all the legs across from you are young women's with rather short shorts.  I'm not sure I'll ever recover from the crick in my neck from staring at the ceiling for three hours.  I digress...

We got there, and we went to work!  I haven't gotten the chance to do so much personal finding in a long time!!  Elder Shnyriov and I went out and street contacted most of the day through, and had some really fun conversations, and a lot of positive chances to share the gospel.  We also had the opportunity to meet with some members, teach about how they can do their personal missionary work, and hear some REALLY AWESOME conversion stories!  I loved it. 

Then Elder Ferbey and I went out.  We managed to get one man to stop throughout our contacting all that day.  Luckily, he gave his number and is really interested in learning more about the church.  I will consider that day a major success in a few weeks when he gets baptized, I'm sure!

Then, we took the only bus back that we could find.  The problem is that it weaved in and out of every little village between Rivne and L'viv... and was going WAY slow.  Then, it stopped in a town called Brody, and they made us get off... and buy another ticket to get on another bus that was 3 more hours to L'viv.  6 hours of travel by bus on these roads?  Not my favorite plan, but hey, we figured it out.  Thanks to Heavenly Father, we each made it there and back in one big tired piece.  What a ride!

Otherwise, we've been planning a great new training program for all of the new missionaries who will be coming in not to long from now!  It's going to be awesome, but it's going to mean that we will spend almost a full week training them with president.  Hopefully, we can use this to get a lot of work done in our area, since they'll be doing the training here in L'viv.  Exciting things, people!

I'm learning a lot, and this next week will be a great chance for change.  Heavenly Father has done unimaginable things with my character over the course of my service in Ukraine, and I'm still learning many important lessons, and growing in ways that I would not be able to anywhere else.  I know that this is God's plan, because it's just too perfect for anyone else to have come up with it.  I'm glad to know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me personally.  He loves all of his children.

Have a great week!

INDEPENDANCE!!!

Today, is the day of Independence of Ukraine.

We will have a fun activity.  I will be singing as song called

О соловію!

You can look it up if you would like.

Anywho!

This week was really crazy.  Most of the things that happened were involved with the nature of my calling, and I'm not allowed to talk about the details.  Shortly said, it was really fun! 

We had the Zone Leaders in for exchanges.... and they went really fun.  We talked with a really nice monk!  I had a picture with him... but It's not with me now, so I'm going to have to send it next week.

He took a book of Mormon, and he gave us a protestant copy of the new testament.  Interesting trade off.

Today, we have one more missionary going home from his mission.  It's the saddest thing in the world.  I don't like it... except for going out to eat dinner with them, and leech off as much good advice and inspiration as you can, it's a pretty melancholy affair.

I'm feeling pretty good, but It's taking a lot of mental effort not to fall into the trap of feeling like "It's almost done, so I'll just ride it out".  That's just the honest truth.  Working hard is an important piece in that formula.  I will not become a trunky monster.  No sir.  No matter how much my brain wants me to.

Meanwhile, we're having a lot of fun doing training excercises, exchanges, and planning out how to help the mission take a big leap forward in accomplishing the will of Heavenly Father in this special little piece of the world!

This mission is the most incredible thing that ever happened to me.   Though I know that we are here to bless people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I feel like it's had an especially potent effect on my heart.  I love my misison!

I've got just enough time left to make the most of myself, and to really crank out some worthwhile service.

I pray for many of you by name.

I think the world of you, and desire you all of the best.

God loves you all, and I know that's true.

Have a wonderful week!

Elder LeBaron

Chess and Check-ups

Honestly, I'm really hungry right now, because we haven't gotten lunch yet.

That may influence some of the things I write.  Apologies before hand.

This week was kind of a bust as far as our numbers go.  We've had an interesting situation with the fact that Elder Podvodov is going in for an inevitable surgery sometime this week, and is going to need to be babysat for at least one more week.  That makes things a bit difficult for our distrit's numbers.  The hardest part is having 4 elders in 1 apartment.  We've just been trying to take shifts with him.  In the evening times, we take turns playing him in chess. But hey, it's only going to get better when we get the Zone Leaders up here on wednesday and thursday!  We're going to hit the streets hard (finally) and get a'preachin'!  

Missionary work is awesome.  Somedays, it's sad because I feel like we don't get enough done.

But it's okay!  We just do what we're asked and we dig in wherever we can in whatever way we can to help the work go foreward!  Ultimately, it's Heavenly Father who makes everything work out.  My testimony of that was built today by this little article in our mission news letter!  I'll just share it with you:

Elder Hubbert

The longer I am on my mission the more I discover that this is the Lords work and not my own. The story of Roman goes all the way back to May. His journey from that point until now took many steps and involved different companionships, united districts, and a loving and welcoming Branch. It was Elders LeBaron and Трохименко who found Roman one day by the church. They did exactly what we need to do as missionaries, they invited him to see the church, gave him a tour and took his number. At that time they didn't realize what impact they had just made on this man's life. Several months passed and transfers came and went. This whole time they continued to try to call Roman but he could not meet. Soon it was Elder Hubbert and Трохименко working in the area. Elder Трохименко one day was cleaning the area book and came to Roman's number. At this point Roman had given enough excuses and missed calls to be moved to the "excuses" page in the area book, but he decided to call one last time before moving his number. The call was worth it, Roman was able to meet. Elder Hubbert and Трохименко met him at the church and it was one of the best first lessons that they had ever had. Roman was a man who was ready to receive truth, he accepted all of the commitments to the first lesson, gave comments and even accepted a baptismal date in the end. Over the next three weeks the missionaries continued to prepare him for that date. Every time a commitment was extended he willingly accepted it. When it came to the word of wisdom he had been smoking, but we showed him the 15 steps program and offered any other help that we could extend. The next time we talked with him he said that he had stopped smoking. The success of his baptism was his own. He quickly developed the desire and was willing to act. He also had great support from the members in the branch. On most of the lessons there was at least one member present, and a few times we would be getting ready to begin a lesson and more members would show up to the church and join in. Roman quickly made friends and was welcomed into the church. With each lesson that lead to the baptism the district of missionaries also worked together either welcoming him in, being present on lessons through exchanges, or just making sure he felt a part of the branch. A final miracle came the day of the baptism. In the days before the event a pool was reserved, and people were invited to come, but there was a problem: Roman's phone was turned off and no one could get in contact with him. So everyone knew the time of the baptism except the person being baptized. After doing everything that we could as a district the baptism was actually canceled the day before simply because we couldn't get in contact with Roman. Then after much prayer, the morning of the baptism his phone turned back on and even though he didn't know the original time, he could still be baptized then. So once more we contacted all we could, uncanceled the baptism, and still had it on Friday. On that day, August 14th, Roman was baptized by a great member here in the branch Віталій Серафім.

This is a huge testimony builder for me, that no matter where you are, as long as you dedicate yourself to serving and doing what you know is best,  the Lord will use your efforts for the building of his Kingdom!

Everyone can take part in amazing things! Even if it's just a little one :)

Have a great week everyone!

I hope that you will see the miracles that you are, or have been, a part of making this week!

Love you all a lot!

Take care!

Elder LeBaron

(Mission) Home alone.

This week was way weird.

I felt like a homeless person.

So, we had the saddest, coolest, most spiritual thing happen.  4 of our best missionaries went home.  I got to go to the departure dinner  The dinner was awesome, and then we watched this slideshow that me made in the office of pictures from their missions.  I didn't cry.  Miracle.

Then, we listened to all of their testimonies -- Let me tell you -- Those are 4 young people whose mission changed their lives!  I was really touched (still didn't cry).  

Then, we went to bed... and I got up at 3 in the morning to go with my companion, Elder Salamatin, to the airport.  Sister Shylina also was there, and it hit me like a wall that they were going home.  They walked through the terminal... and I realized that I may never see those to beloved Ukrainians ever again.  That's my brother and sister.  I still didn't cry, but I really wanted to.

Got home... didn't sleep... I was with the office couple, because my companion was now gone.

We ate breakfast together (they're super generous, and fed me food!)

Then, we went to the office to wait for the other 2 elders to send them off as well.  

Elder Asay and Elder Mollinet are like my big brothers -- they've been watching out for me my entire mission....

and the same thing happened.. one more time.  It was like being at a funeral.  But, this time it was a little less painful, because I knew I was going to see them when I got back... but still sad. 

Well... then we were on to our next project:  Get the 2 new missionaries coming in from the Spain MTC.  2 new Ukrainians!

Well... my job was then to get with president and got pick them up at 10:20pm or so...

So Elder Plaster (Senior Elder in the office) took me over to the Mission Home.  Poor guy was huffing and puffing, because he was trying to keep up with me (should've slowed down... it's just natural), and tell me stories from his mission (which were AWESOME!)

When we got upstairs, Sister Rizley met us at the door, and ushered me in... and informed me that I would be staying on the 2nd floor, in a back room with a bed, and that I was to stay there until I was summoned.  Obviously, she didn't say it like that at all, but that was what I gathered from the way I was sat down and the door was closed.  Maybe President wasn't home yet... I'm still unsure.

But... then I was the most alone that I've ever been for the past 20 months...

The flight for the new missionaries was delayed around 4 times.

We ended up finally going to the airport at 3 am.

I slept a total of 4 hours over the course of those 3 days between the getting up in the middle of the night, and the crazy noises and people talking really loud.  Somehow, through it all, we managed to find 3 new investigators who are really cool, and teach our english class, have lessons, and I finally got my new companion, Elder Tykhomyrov.  

So... I was a missionary hobo for a few days.

Now things are going really well.

It's weird right now, because Elder Podvodov got his wisdom teeth removed last week, and so we've been taking shifts to watch him...

I somehow haven't gotten stuck in the apartment to nanny him though... so I've been kinda lucky -- even though I love the kid.

I'm happy to be out here in the field!

This is the best place on earth!!

I just want to bear my testimony that I know that this Church is true!

I wouldn't have stayed out here for this long if I didn't know that by now.  This has been a very trying experience, but I'm more happy now than I ever was before.  I'm sad to know that I only have 4 months left... but I'm also happy because, hey, I've STILL GOT 4 MONTHS!  YEAH!

The Lord blesses us for the desires of our hearts and for our good efforts.  I know that if we will dedicate ourselves to God, He will never lead us away from that which will ultimately make us the happiest!  And that happiness lasts forever!

I love you all a lot!

Take good care of yourselves,

Elder LeBaron

​-- Pictures:  Elder Podvodov's ice packs for his face... in socks.  

                    The departed.

​                      My mugshot for government documents in ukraine!