Ukraine Donetsk Mission

To get things started here, I decided to include a little excerpt from my mission journal.  I thumbed through it trying to decide what to include, and I couldn't find anything that topped this.  It was my second day in Donetsk, and since transfers weren't done, we were all hanging out with other missionaries, awaiting our assignments.  But this was the strangest day of my whole mission.  Either that, or all my days ended up being like this, and I just didn't notice that events stopped being normal, I'm still not certain...

July 23, 1994:

Well, it doesn't seem quite as startling.  Well actually, I'm not as startled any more.  Still startled, but just not to maximum capacity. I'm with Elder Busselburg and Elder Peery.  They're good guys, and they're treating me well until I find out who my companion will be.  I've been asked several times what my impressions of Ukraine are.  I don't really form impressions, but today was just chock full of interesting experiences.  Understand, I don't comprehend a lot of what people are saying (that's both good and bad I've found).  I understand the Elders, and I can get the main idea.  If not, they help me out.  I just can't respond to a whole lot.  So, with that in mind, I'll write all the interesting things that happened today...

First of all, I participated in my first discussion.  D #1, luckily, which is why I participated.  After all the BRT and find out, I have the first principle.  It was really cool.  I asked a question at the end, but I didn't understand the answer.  This guy was cool, but he said he had some kind of out-of-body experience and he was kind of strange, but it was good overall.  Then we ran all over and caught a tramvai (my first ride on transport) to a dacha where Elder Busselburg kind of taught a second D, and me and Elder Peery played with the kids and read a Russian kids' book.  Then they fed us -- my first meal fully prepared by Ukrainians.  Let me paint the scene.  First of all, the other Elders had been there last week, and had heard a pig in the yard, and wanted to see it this time.   Well, we saw him.  In the house.  On the floor.  All cut in pieces. And guess what we ate?  The little piggy!  It was good.  I was especially enthralled by the pig's head on the ground, looking up at us with the blankest stare I've ever seen in a pig. 

But that's just the first of the gore.  This lady's daughter ripped her leg open, and we gave a blessing to her.  Then we left, and strolled into a field, then went back to the apartment, kicked back, went to the bathroom, talked a while, then prayed and were going out and there was this guy right about to ring our outer door bell, and he was with a guy who really looked stoned.  The first guy asked us for a teacup, and he wouldn't tell us why.  Elder B. didn't want to give him one, and this guy said he didn't believe it when we said we didn't have one.  But we gave him one and he proceeded to go up half a flight of stairs, pull out some syringes and then start crushing pills in our cup!  We were so tripped out, and didn't know what to do at first, then Elder B. told him to give the cup back to us now, but he wouldn't of course.  He was intent on getting stoned, so we went back in & locked all our doors.  After a while we heard them come back to give the cup back, but we didn't really feel like opening the door, for fear of being robbed or killed or both, so these guys just left it by the elevator and left.  We called the khozyaika, and stayed home, then she came over, talked to us and we bailed.  We went out checking on some other people, and the weird thing is, we saw these guys in another apartment building, but this time doing pot.

Then we went to this really weird "discussion."  They talked a lot, and before we told them anything, gave us a couple of icons.  Thanks, they're really pretty, but I think they won't get a whole lot of use.  These people were pretty cool, and we ended up just teaching the guy.  Then, to top this whole day off, I went to put my shoe on, and there was an ice cube in it!  I don't know if it was a joke, an accident, or some twisted tradition, but nonetheless, there was an ice cube in my shoe.  Alas, now I'm at home -- actually the apartment I'm in. Actually, the Ukraine is my home now.  I better get used to that.

Well, as far as impressions go, this was a pretty good day for that. I can't wait to see what else is in store for me.  Actually, I'll find out soon.  Tomorrow is Sunday, which means I'll get to see church, and I found out I'll be in Dnepropetrovsk in a few days.  So I'll find out very soon...

And that's it.  I still haven't figured out that bit with the ice cube, since the only other ones I saw for the next two years came from my own freezer. 

--Jim Melcher