Amy is in Ukraine!

This was taken in Kyiv, Ukraine at the site for the LDS Temple.  You can see the temple in the background.  It is scheduled to be completed towards the end of 2010 but any actual dates have not been announced by the church. If you'd like to learn more about LDS temples I'd recommend this great video by our church: 

Click HERE

The couple in the picture with her is the Ukraine Kiev Mission President Lane Orin Steinagel, 47 and his wife Jennefer Slade Steinagel.  They both grew up in Sacramento but reside in Provo, Utah and have voluntarily agreed to serve in Ukraine for 3 years guiding and teaching the missionaries w/o monetary compensation.

This is a digital rendering of what the temple will look like when completed.  It is beautiful!

According to LDSChurchTemples.com, "Though only recently introduced in 1991, the Church has grown steadily in this eastern European nation. At 8,500 members strong, the Church in Ukraine reached a milestone on May 30, 2004, when Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of organized the first stake (Our church is organized into regional units across the world called stakes and in each stake is broken down into wards) of seven wards in Kyiv. Elder Nelson blessed members to love their neighbors as Christ that many more stakes might be organized. He also encouraged them in their family history work in preparation for the temple.³

During a trip to Europe in 2002 that included the rededication of the Freiberg Germany Temple and dedication of The Hague Netherlands Temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley visited with the Ukrainian saints. 

The announcement of the temple came just a week prior to the dedication of Ukraine's first meetinghouse in Donetsk on June 28, 1998.⁵

---

3. Shaun D. Stahle, "Kiev members revere historic moment," Church News 5 Jun. 2004: 6.
5. "A temple in Ukraine," Church News 8 Aug. 1998: 3.

This is another picture of the whole group who came from America w/ Amy.  Her companion, Sister Howell is on the right.  They both have been placed with other sisters who have been serving for a longer period of time and can provide more intensive language training and advice on sharing the message of the Savior with the Ukrainian people.  

Sister Murphy will be serving with Sister Movchanyuk in Borshahivsky near the site of the new temple which is being constructed.