Our missionary has returned!

Well after two long years our missionary son, Brad, has finally returned to us and boy are we ever enjoying having him home. He looks the same...(he didn't even gain that 50 lbs. that some missionaries gain), but we have noticed a slight accent. We can't decide if it is because he spoke Russian for two years or if it is just a little missionary accent that all missionaries come home with. We notice that he does have the accent mostly when he speaks in church or when he talks about church related subjects. I say he has a lilt in his voice and it is so cute! I think Brad really likes being home and best of all he appreciates everything and he helps us to appreciate things as well. There have been a couple of times when he has given Ben serious grief about his complaints. One night we were all driving somewhere and Ben said something derogatory about where he was sitting. Brad immediately said..." Ben, you are in a nice car with air conditioning in America....quit your complaining! Thank you Brad! Brad rode on buses every day of his mission with more people than he would have liked to, and most often they had their smelly armpits in his face because they were all trying to hold on for dear life. So yes Ben...we do need to be grateful because we are all spoiled Americans!


Steve and I were able to go to Ukraine to pick Brad up and that we definitely the best decision ever. We had an amazing trip meeting the members that Brad loved so much as well as some of the people he was able to work with in his English classes. It was evident that Brad has lots and lots of friends in Ukraine. We had so many people say thank you to us for sending our son to Ukriaine. It was very touching. The people have so little there and yet they have such big hearts. We were generously fed by several of the members there which was so sweet. Even though we couldn't speak the language we had Brad as our translator so we got to know them. It is amazing what you can communicate with a hug as well. We felt so much love when we were there and it made us feel so good that our son had the opportunity to be a friend to so many people. Because of the oppression the people in Ukraine felt for so many years they are not a very happy people. It is not common at all for people to smile at each other or even pay attention to each other which is very sad. So when the missionaries smile and talk to random on the street they find that very strange. So many of the members we met mentioned how happy Brad was and how much he smiled. I am sure that lifted a lot of spirits!

We met Luda and Sasha in Kharkov and loved having time with them in their home...they are wonderful people!

We had a picnic with the Soproon family by the side of a lake in Gorlovka which was Brad's first area on his mission

While we were in Kharkov we spent the day with two of Brad's English students, Daniel and Kristina. They both speak English so it was fun to actually be able to talk to them and not have a translator. Kristina flew to America that day to work for the summer and Daniel was waiting for his visa so that he could go to Canada to study.

This is a picture of one of our other favorite families, the Lavric family, who live in Donetsk. We were able to spend two afternoons in their home and had a lot of laughs with them and another friend Dima (who was just baptized a few months ago!)

I couldn't pass this picture up...Brad with his last missionary companion...his Dad! This was taken on our long walk out to see another family...they lived in a home in the country.

This is the Nadanyenko family in Kharkov. The two boys in the picture loved playing with Brad and basically did that the whole time we were there. Steve enjoyed holding the little baby most of the evening and it was a nice break for her mom as well.

This was taken in the Gyshin's home who live in Mariupol (Brad's second area.) He is with Sergey Gyshin, and his MTC companion, Elder Vanatta. Sergey has been a member for about 1 1/2 years and his parents were baptized while Brad was in Mariupol. We were able to stay in their home one night and had a wonderful time getting to know them.