Family,

That's okay about the letters. I wouldn't know anyway, because we only get mail when the zone leaders or someone goes to Kyiv, which hasn't happened yet since I've been here. I also wasn't able to bring my camera for pictures today, because we just came here from shopping and eating lunch so I didn't get to go back for it. I have actually eaten at restaurants more than I thought I would. President Romon has taken us out to lunch like three times already.

The language is actually moving very slowly. I feel like there isn't enough time in the day to do both missionary work and memorizing new vocab, which is my problem with understanding. Even if I don't quite know why they had a particular ending on a particular word, if I recognize the word, I can usually tell what they are talking about. The problem is that my vocabulary is extremely limited. I haven't had too much practice either, because almost all the appointmets we make fall through. We just have to keep smiling and working I guess. We only have one progressing investigator right now, which is tough, because that means we have to do a whole lot of contacting and tracting.

Oh, remember that rumor we were talking about, about China opening. It's totally false. I was looking at the talk that Elder Nelson gave at the MTC at Christmas and he was telling everyone to refute these rumors, because they are not true. He said that when the church enters a country, they do it through the front door, and when China is opened, we will all know about it.

So it sounds like you guys had an exciting week. I actually got an email from Jared this week which was cool. I didn't realize he'd be going to school this last week. I hope Kelleene is doing better. What exactly are the plans right now? How many chemo's does she need and is she getting radiation before or after the surgery?The work has been moving pretty slow and we're trying to work and pray harder to improve that. It's hard with all the five million holidays that Ukrainians have in a row. No one wants to make appointments and all the people we meet on the street on holidays are drunk, so that doesn't help. We've have a few really great first contact lessons with people, but then we have the hardest time meeting with them again later. Elder Dorius really likes tracting so we've done that quite a bit. I kind of wish we could get more referrals from members, but we're working on that too. I'm glad your New Years was good and I hope everyone is enjoying school again. Ha, ha. That's one thing from home that I will never miss. I hope you have a great week and I love you all!

Elder Jolstead the Younger