PUTTING MY PROBLEMS INTO PERSPECTIVE

Mondays are Eileen’s least favorite day of the week.  It is the day we and the other three humanitarian missionary couples are required to be in town for Welfare Department and Humanitarian Division meetings.  Meeting with the other couples is great, perhaps the best part of our mission.  Since we have three regional (country) managers, while the other couples have just one, it means we can have up to five meetings that day.  In addition to the three regional managers, we have three humanitarian managers that direct our work.  As each of the six managers have their own unique views on our activities, navigating simultaneously their various directions can get complicated.

On Monday night, at FHE for the senior missionaries, President Peter Huber of the Europe Central Turkic and Persian-Speaking Mission (headquartered in Frankfurt), spoke about the growth of the Church in Turkey and among immigrants to German-speaking areas in Europe.   Listening to him caused us to compare the experiences missionaries are having there with what we are currently doing.

On Tuesday, we went to eat lunch at a table in our office.  Sitting there was a man who was finishing up a phone call.  We introduced ourselves and spent a few minutes getting to know Aleksey Tkachenko.  He is the Welfare and Self-Reliance Manager for Ukraine and Moldova.  He was in town to attend the meetings the last two weeks with our Area’s Welfare Department employees.  When I asked if he knew Kai Hintze, a member of our ward in Centerville and former DTA in the old Europe East Area, he lit up and said, “Yes, he hired me for my first position with the Church.”  He then went on to tell us how Kai had challenged him to go back to school and get a college degree.  Aleksey said both he and his wife now have master’s degrees because of Kai’s influence in his life.

Aleksey and his family currently live in the Ukraine.  Eileen started asking him about his life there and problems with the war.  As Aleksey was talking about effects of the war on his family and neighborhood near Kiev, he showed us pictures of war damage.  Suddenly, my problems didn’t seem quite so serious.   I am grateful for my problems and that I don’t need to worry about my family’s safety while living in an active war zone. 

                                      

                             Aleksey Tkachenko is the Welfare Self Reliance Manager in Ukraine. 

These are photos Aleksey shared with me of Kiev and the effects bombing had on his country. This is a photo of a children's clinic which was bombed.  He showed us some photos of pediatric oncology patients out side of a bombed out hospital. Most of the children were bald from their cancer treatments, and were wrapped in space blankets trying to stay warm.  

                             

President and Sister Huber served as humanitarian missionaries in Turkey from 2022-2024  organizing relief efforts after the earthquake. President Huber told of the remarkable efforts taking place in Turkey.  His presentation was informative and uplifting. However it would not be appropriate to share his insights on social media. 

                                                                                      

I didn't know Russell was taking this photo of me.  I have the "corner office" which I like. 

   

I (Eileen) play pickleball on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings. It means I have to get up at 5:45.  It has been a fun social outlet. Sister Parks (far right) organizes the group as we have to drive 15 min to get to where we play.  She just found out last week she and her husband are being transferred to Manila where they will work with Mental Health for the missionaries.  I will really miss her as she has been a good friend.  

We took the Parks out for lunch on Saturday.  This huge bowl is a Parmigiana cheese wheel which has been hollowed out.  The waiter stirred hot pasta in the cheese wheel and the parmigiana cheese melted into the pasta. It was delicious.

                                       

This past week we had a seminar for all the WSR missionaries throughout the Europe Central Area. We were only invited to one morning session as the rest of the seminar didn't apply to our position.  It was fun seeing all the missionaries together. 

I am not sure why the person who planned catering thought American senior missionaries would eat raw hamburger on a sandwich.  The veggie sandwiches disappeared quickly. 

The infield couples from the different countries  received this booklet which will be shared with priesthood leaders.