Shepherds in Ukraine: Our Arrival in Ukraine

Greetings Friends!

We arrived in Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine Sunday, September 9th, but that was after an action packed week in the MTC and Provo/Orem, Utah area. I should probably return to September 2nd, the day we flew from Burbank to Salt Lake City.

Sunday our son, David, drove us with our 4 LARGE suitcases, 2 smaller suitcases, and 2 carryons to our appointment with President Stanley to be set apart as Старейшина и Сестра Шепард to serve in the Миссия Днепропетровск в Украине OR Elder and Sister Shepherd to serve in the Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine Mission. We won't share the packing process that took place that morning as we rearranged our valuables at David's house to get no more than 50 pounds in each of the large suitcases. Haha! It was NOT funny!

Burbank Airport Sunday, September 2, 2018

We arrived at the Salt Lake Airport late September 2, 2018, Sunday evening, where we took a shuttle from the airport to the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah.

Our home in the MTC for 5 days and 6 nights.

We were officially checked in Monday morning at10am. It was the greatest experience in those first few hours. There were 99 senior missionaries checking in, a larger group than they had seen in months. We did exactly what I wanted! We went around the room and everyone told where they were from, where they were going, and what kind of a mission they were serving. I loved it!! Among the responsibilities were many like us, Member Leader Service missionaries who work mostly supporting the members. However, there were other responsibilities: office missionaries, heavy equipment operators and wives, working on a horse ranch, medical, and humanitarian.

Jeremy and Erin Pyne

Lisa McFadden

In the evening during the week we fit in visiting with friends and family in the area: Scott and Susan Seamons, Jeremy and Erin Pyne and family, our daughter Marianne's family, and Lisa McFadden.

Ben and Marianne Combs: Matt, Natalie, Megan, Rachel

Scott and Susan Seamons

During the week we had wonderful classes taught by our 2 returned missionaries, Sister Monroe and Brother Clements. We spent the week in a district of 4 couples and had one "other couple" who we really got to know. We taught them lessons and they taught us lessons based on their needs that we had prayed about. It was a great way to learn to be a more effective missionary.

"Our Others" Richard and Toni Wayas/ Hamilton NEW ZEALAND

ELDER CLEMENTS

SISTER MONROE

Our DISTRICT -

Michael & Elizabeth Graff / FRANCE for a 2nd time;

Dean & Barbara Schamp / FLORIDA- Mission #4:

Chris & Carol Shepherd / UKRAINE;

Joseph & Elizabeth Allred /NEW ZEALAND- Mission #2

The experience in the MTC was really helpful for building missionary skills and working together as a couple. We waited anxiously all week for our VISAS!! Without a VISA we weren't going anywhere! Yes, we called Tuesday to check on the status of our VISAS and they were so calm, "It's only Tuesday, Sister Shepherd. We'll let you know when we have news."

Thank goodness, at 4:00 Friday we got notification that our VISAS had arrived!! There were almost 100 missionaries who did NOT get their VISAS and were being directed to another mission to wait.

We were at the Salt Lake City airport bright and early for our 6am flight to Chicago. Not a big deal, a 3 hour flight and an 8 hour layover while we waited for our 9 hour flight to Vienna. We were ready! Everything went great. Austrian airlines is beautiful, by the way, and we arrived in Vienna very well taken care of. However, we were exhausted.

We got on our flight for Dnipro and on the speaker came the news that we had to get off the airplane because it appeared that something was on fire and they needed to take care of it. I forgot to mention we didn't go to bed Friday night, so we had been up since 6am Friday morning and now it was about 2am Sunday morning our time. Well, our flight was delayed until another airplane could come at 6pm.

Meanwhile, the Wirthlins were having a busy Sunday in Dnepropetrovsk. It was such a happy moment to see them at the airport along with the Elder and Sister Morgenegg, the mission office couple who has helped us along the way.

We were supposed to hop on a train Monday morning at 6am, but the Wirthlins asked us if we would like to stay Dnepropetrovsk for a day and leave Tuesday morning instead. Of course, we were thrilled! Monday we got to see parts of Dnipro and catch up on the time change. Here is the view outside the Wirthlin's apartment window. It's a beautiful city.