Day 14 (Sunday the 20th) - Dnepro - Church

Sorry!  We were pretty beat after yesterday and between skyping at night and such, it doesn't leave me much time to blog.  I have written not only about today, but also yesterday so check the next post down as well.

Today was a good day.  It's nice having church at 11. :)  We got up and had plenty of time to get ready without too much time.  We live right down the street from the mission president and his wife and they came to pick us up at 25 'till.  It was so nice to finally meet them!  What sweet people they are!  I said hello from Elder Faber and his family. :^)

The church is on the 3rd floor of a fairly nice building not far away from where we're staying.  If it weren't so cold it would be a pleasant walk.  We will have to next week so I hope it's a bit warmer! LOL

For sacrament we had Elder Belnap interpret the talks.  He's just about ready to go home.  He was very nice and very helpful.  We also met a sister from close by where we live that just got here 2 days ago and still has a bit of jet lag.  There was another missionary about an hour from where we live.  Elder and Sister Hardy are from Colorado.  They are the office missionaries.  Then there is Elder Hammon from the same city we're from!  He actually went to high school with some of the kids in our neighborhood. :^)  He asked for us to call his mom when we get home and tell her hi from her son.  Husband will do that as soon as he gets home.

Husband went to Sunday School and Priesthood but I went with Little One to primary.  It was pretty boring at first because she couldn't understand.  She kept saying this wasn't like what she thought. LOL  A big part of it was that there were only 2 other kids.  A boy about her age and a girl around 9 or 10.  The little boy looked like he was having as much fun as Little One.  It was really only the girl that was being taught, though I don't know the situation.  For the second hour they were making a card for their mothers.  Little One decided I didn't need one and made it for Ira instead.  Such a nice daughter I have.  She at least enjoyed that part of it.

After church Pres. and Sis. Nielson invited us over to their apartment for dinner.  Masha came for that as well, which was super nice.  We had a very nice couple of hours with them.  They have a very large, VERY gorgeous apartment.

Sis. Nielsen made a very yummy dinner.  We had twice baked potatoes and some kind of meatballs that I actually liked.  We had some canned corn and some canned green beans with sauteed  onions.  I was surprised that I really liked that too.  We got advice on what milk to get and found some that Little One liked. We very much enjoyed our visit.  Sis. Nielsen gave us some powered milk to try.  She also snuck in the leftovers and some bags.  She is so sweet!

We just relaxed the rest of the day.  It was very nice.  I hope I get to take Ira with me once before we head back to Kiev.

Here are some pictures of the view out Pres. and Sis. Nielsen's apartment.

Crazy, crazy ice fishers on the Dnepro River.  Not exactly thick ice on that.

Day 13 (Saturday the 19th) - Dnepro - Visit to the Orphanage

Yesterday we got up at 8 in order to be on the 10:30 bus to the village.  It was nice not to feel rushed getting ready to the bus, but next time we need to rush just a bit more.  We missed the bus by 5 minutes and had to wait for the 11:20 one.  This bus was still a real bus though (not a mini bus) and it was actually warm-ish. LOL  Little One watched a movie the whole way over and killed the battery on the nano.  I enjoyed some music and it was actually a nice ride.

We thought the weather was going to be similar to the day before when we walked to the museum but not so.  It was very cold as we walked from the bus station to the orphanage.  It's about a 20 minute walk.  Little One didn't do quite as well, but all in all it wasn't too bad.

They were very strict with the rules this time.  Ira was supposed to close the door when she went in or out.  She did this quite a bit, as a matter of fact. LOL  She seemed pretty uncomfortable around us and was fairly happy at any chance to run out for a minute.  It made for an interesting visit.

We tried to buy return bus tickets when we got there so we didn't run into the same problems as we did last time.  There wasn't anyone in the booth though.  We waited for awhile and then decided to just go ahead and go and then call while we were at the orphanage.  At 4pm Masha called a taxi to come get us to take us to the bus station at 4:30 and then called to make sure we could get tickets on that 4:50 bus back.  It's a good thing because we found out that actually the last bus was at 4:20.  We called the taxi guy back (who charged an arm and a leg to go maybe a mile) and ran over there right away.  We made the bus, but not with much time to spare.  Hopefully we'll get this thing figured out before long.  It was quite the cold ride home though!  They don't heat the buses and with the sun having gone down it was VERY cold.  I might have to figure out how to carry a blanket with me the whole day.  Little One was, as usual, just fine and not at all cold.

After we got home and went to the store, Little One and I showered and then Skyped with both families.  By the time we finished, it was bed time! :^)  Not a very exciting day.  I did, however, take a few pictures of our apartment the night before.  Here's where we're at now.

There is our front door with the bathroom door to the left.  That bed that Little One is on turns into a chair during the day.

Bathroom

Bathroom

Bathroom door again with the kitchen/dining room.  Yes, that is a washing machine and the fridge is really that small.  No oven either. :^)

This also turns into a bed for Masha

Our bedroom

Our bedroom.  Behind the curtain is a balcony

Here you can see the door to the balcony, but it's freezing so we don't go out there.