Mariupol

Mariupol was a steel town just a two hour drive South of Donetsk. When we first got to Ukraine the members were meeting in an old Naval Building. The Sunday school classes were held in various classrooms that had Navy type training materials on the wall. The spirit in the meetings was great and the members really pulled together. We also had some of the most spirited discussions because of a couple of the women who were really out spoken - never a dull moment. President Manzhos was in charge of physical facilities for the church in Ukraine. He made sure that Mariupol had a chapel built. It turned out to be a beautiful little chapel with all the good stuff – rooms, kitchen, heating and air conditioning. It was without a doubt the best building in Mariupol. Mariupol is right above the Sea of Azov and therefore was usually humid making it seem much colder in the winter time and much hotter in the summer. The missionaries loved Mariupol. They had the best of all worlds. They were far enough away from the mission office so no one could bother them but close enough to get everything they wanted. One cold foggy night the sisters had a very interesting experience involving the police. They called us and asked us what to do and we told them to get home and stay low for a while and let the incident pass. Another time we had a funny incident happen with the Elders. I think the incident was blown out of proportion but it was a good reality check for all of us. When the chapel was dedicated, we had a lot of members come from Donetsk to support the branch. Elder Orton dedicated the building.