Elder Jessee - Elder Craw

We were driving with the assistants from Kharkov to Sumy one day early on in our mission. This was a difficult drive because you had to go through so many small villages. This meant you had to drive slowly. The speed limit in towns was 60 kilometers per hour or about 36 miles per hour. We had traveled through the majority of the towns and were finally on the open road when we came upon an accident that had just happened. The Ukrainians did not have any emergency kits or bandages so we stopped and provided assistance. We gave them our emergency kits and we started bandaging people who were bleeding. Elder Jessee was taking care of an older lady who was going into shock. We had her on the ground and covered her with a blanket and raised her feet. She kept looking at Elder Jessee who was dressed in his white shirt and tie and she kept asking, “Where are you from?” Elder Jessee kept replying “We are from God.” She would ask again, “Where are you from?” and, Elder Jessee just as insistently replied “We are from God.” As we talked about the exchange, we laughed. The lady was probably trying to find out which country Elder Jessee was from and he was just trying to calm her by saying don’t worry we are missionaries. I’m convinced that when this lady receives a knock on her door and the missionaries are standing there in their white shirts and ties she will either accept their message or she will have a heart attack. It will be another visit from the messengers from God. I must make a comment about Elder Jessee and Elder Craw. These are the two missionaires who helped us adjust to missionary life. No finer friends do I have in this world than these two men. They helped us from day one to understand what missionaries wanted out of their mission. I remember asking them if we should have a few days of orientation for the missionaries once they arrived in country and Elder Craw was adamant that this would be a bad idea. He said all he wanted to do was get with his companion and get to work. He had had enough of the talking and training and just wanted to be about missionary work. They helped me focus on making the mission experience a meaningful experience. Elder Craw taught me that each missionary thought that they were the best missionary in the mission and that I needed to encourage this thinking. I was amazed at how they sang the praises of all the missionaries. Just two good guys who loved the mission, loved the missionaries and took pity on two old people and made them better.