HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Dear Everyone,

Happy Belated Christmas! I hope everyone had a great day! I know I did! It was such a wonderful day! I got to talk with my family and that was awesome! I miss you all and love you! It was good to see that with the exception of growing taller and looking more manlier and lower voices, everything is basically the same. It was so fun to hear all about what is going on at home! Also, I loved being able to skype within a skype (Skype-ception???) with the Gordons! I didn't mention it then, but SPENCER! I didn't even recognize you! So old :) haha!

I also got some Christmas mail this week! I'm still waiting for some, but it's all good because Ukrainian Christmas is still coming, so everyone's packages can still make it by Christmas, round 2! It is so cool being here now, because the Christmas season has really come! There is Christmas music playing everywhere (in english) and lights and trees and Santa Claus and fireworks! It really is starting to feel like Christmas! And I LOVE IT! I always thought that the Christmas season was way to short! :) People here celebrate up to the 13th of January! Yay! We just got asked to do another Christmas Music Night, on the 11th of January! Should be fun! :)
Christmas day was so good! We had a Christmas Miracles, for which I was so grateful! We had a lesson with one of the less-actives that we have been working with recently. We decided to talk about gifts that we can give out Savior. We shared a clip from the President Monson movie, where he fixes up the apartment for the new family. Then we asked her to write things that she can do for other people to show her love for the Savior. We took a few minutes to write and then each shared something. When we got to her, her name is Yulia, she said how she wanted to do a Family Home Evening with a friend and the missionaries. We instantly asked her more about it, and she told us about a family that she wants to invite. We asked if there was anyone else and she told us about a couple other people. We ended up walking out that night with 5 referrals! It was such a Christmas miracle! We are excited to follow up this week to help her friends (and in turn Yulia herself) come closer to Christ!

We also were able to teach Sophia again this week! And, in a big miracle, we met her mother! She is so nice, and she thought that our cookies were yummy! We are praying so hard for an opportunity to meet with the whole family! They need the gospel! :)

Christmas night we opened presents with all the sisters! It was fun! I got a mirror to do my makeup and a pair of houseslippers! And a truck load of chocolate! I'm trying to eat healthier but the chocolate is so good... Maybe I should just eat it all really fast, then eat healthy! haha jk! :)

The day after Christmas was fun, because like I already said, Christmas keeps on going here! There is no after Christmas blues because it is still Christmas! I love the holiday season! The day after Christmas we went over to a lady in our branch, an older lady. She invited all the missionaries in our area over! It was so fun! We read the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and sang some songs. Then she feed us yummy cake! and this tradition oatmeal thing with nuts and raisians in it. It was good, but the texture was a little weird for me. This week was the week of weird food as I will explain in a minute. But it was so Christmas-y fun! :)

Then Friday was my 9 MONTH MARK! HALFWAY! I CAN"T BELIEVE IT! Can you? Life as a missionary is the best! I love being Sister Ford! This time in Ukraine has blessed my life so much! I can hardly believe how lucky I am to know what I know and have this chance to be here! So lucky and so blessed!

A big happy spot from my 9 month mark was that we met with Vika. maybe 2 weeks ago, she called me. She is a member in the branch! She told me how she had a friend that she met online and that he was interested in finding the address of another branch in a different city, not in our mission. I called the senior missionaries in Kyiv and we got the address and gave it to her! Later, I helped her pass his name to the missionaries there so they would know about him! We went to her house on friday and she told us that in two weeks, her friend is going to be baptized! I am so excited for both of them! :) He is coming here soon to visit, I hope I get to meet him!

Then on Saturday we had a day. We are looking for another apartment for us to live in, because 4 sisers in our apartment is a lot. On saturday morning we went to look at an apartment. It was really nice. I don't think it will work to live in, but it is pretty! It had heated floors also, which was cool! :) But we experienced what I would call "Ukrainian Hospitality". After we went through the apartment, the lady that showed it to us, invited us back to her apartment and sat us down, turned on the TV for us (Russian ICarly...strange!) and brought us bread and candy and chips and tea. When she found out that we didn't drink black tea, she went searching for a kind that we would drink. She looked at all our pictures and showed us lots of her! It was so fun! We hardly knew her but she was so nice and friendly! It was so fun! :)

Then after that we met with all the missionaries and Alexsay and Pania, the couple in our ward that just got off their missions and married. Alexsay is from here and Pania is from America. She tells us a lot about the weird food that she tries so they met with us to make us try them. It was quite an experience! We tried dry fish first, which I actually really liked. It was so saltly though! and the ripping the head off was kinda gross. But not bad! And then we had Kifer, which is kinda like buttermilk...maybe and Podzhanka which is also like buttermilk. I almost died. They are so gross. And people here just drink it plain! Oh man, no way! :)
But then we made them try super kontik slamming! It was so legit! They had never tried it before and both loved it! :) It was fun to introduce them to that! :)

We also decided to stop by a member in our branch that is less-active. We finally got into her house, only to find out that she is basically the coolest person ever! She was so fun! I can't wait to meet with her again!

This week is New Years! Happy 2014, almost! I can't believe it! On Tuesday, I can say, "I go home this year"... haha. I'm so excited for what 2014 will bring! Lots of missionary work, closed with a wonderful holiday season with my family! :) New Years here is HUGE! There have been fireworks going off for days now.! I can't even imagine what New Year's Eve will be like! Insane! I'm excited to watch on our balcony! :) The fireworks here are different. They sound like bombs. They are kinda freaky actually! Especially if you don't see the lights, but just hear it. They have been messing with my dreams recently!

Also, tomorrow I will go see the Nutcracker! I CAN'T WAIT! It will be so fun! :) I will make sure to write all about it next week! :)

Well family, I love you all! This will be the last letter of the year! Have a great new years! Be safe, have fun! I love you all!

I know this church is true and will bring you closer to Christ! Any sadness, hard times, guilt, or fear can be made better through the atonement of Christ! He loves each one of us! Have a great Holiday season! :)

Love,
Sister Ford ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I'm so excited to celebrate the birth of the Savior today! :) 

The other sisters are all Skyping home right now so I'm just chilling here emailing, I'm so excited to skype home in just a few hours! It is a lot of fun watching them talk to their families. It just makes me really excited to see you!!!! :) 

I'm doing super great! It is so fun to be a missionary right now! It is really interesting to be a missionary in Ukraine at Christmas because everyone here celebrates on the 7th of January. So today is just a regular day for everyone here! I'm so excited to be able to continue celebrating Christmas for the next two weeks still! It will be really interesting! 

This week was really good. We spent a lot of time preparing for our Music Night. It was a big activity planned, it was a little crazy! :) It got super intense, because in the space of just a few days, almost all of our music numbers called and cancelled. Thankfully we have a lot of musical missionaries here in the Odessa, so it still worked out really well! :) The people that came LOVED it! In fact, I was asked to organize another one for the Ukrainan Christmas! I'm not sure if I'm emotionally ready for that...I never want to make another phone call again.... :) 

One of the miracles from this week has to do with music night. As of last week, we were still trying to find a viola for Sister McInnes to play. We finally heard about a guy and that we could rent from him. We went and met up with him and then he agreed to give us a viola. When we walked into his house, we just saw violins and violas, a bass. SO MANY!!! It was so cool. And they were NICE too! So we got a viola and then He saw me looking at the violins. He asked if I wanted one too. And i said yes and he gave it to me to rent for the week. What a blessing! It is probably the nicest violin that I have ever had in my life! And he just let me take it! It was insane! It has such a beautiful tone and was so fun to play for the week! Oh, and he didn't charge any money!!! So crazy :) This man, he plays the bass at the Opera House!!!!!!!! It made us so much more excited for when we go NEXT WEEK! I am so excited :) 

 Also a gingerbread tree we bought! Yummy! It says happy new year on it! :)

 BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT! Seeing Sister Lee and Sister Hunt 

last night! It made me so happy :)

We bought a little tree! It is just a bunch of 

branches attached to a stick but cute! :)

This week we had a lesson with Katia and Sophia. It was SO GOOD! We taught about accountability, as a request from their grandma! It was so fun! We started with 3 different boxes and asked them to each pick one. Then they got what was on the inside. We talked to them about why they chose the one that they did. Then we talked about how we could know the correct choices in our lives, how we can't just make a choice based on what is cool, or pretty. We talked about how we need to follow the Holy Ghost and listen to the still small voice. They loved it! We played a little game where we hid a picture of Christ and then had one of us say the right way to go really quietly and the others talk really loud and the wrong way. It was so fun! They kept playing after we left :) Then I gave them the Russian CTR rings that I had. They had never seen the russian rings before! Maybe you can send me a bunch more??? I took off the green and painted in coral, and everyone loves them! I think I could make a business selling those... hehehe :) Just kidding... 

I can tell that the holidays are coming because people are drinking a lot more! We have to be really careful when we are outside! I can tell that the Lord is protecting us! We never really have any issues, and we just laugh it off! I don't know if the point will come where because of the holiday season we will have to go in a little early at night... Who knows!! 

So... this week, I thought a lot about Christmas (wonder why)... It's been a little strange preparing for Christmas because no else is celebrating. It is different being away from home!!! My package never came (if's sitting up in Kyiv right now) and it is just different. But I find that I'm so happy and I love this opportunity to be here! I don't even care about the presents or anything... I just love this opportunity to teach people and share about Christmas and about Christ!!! Yesterday, I was thinking about the feelings that I have had about Christmas and just felt to write a poem.... Yeah, I know that is weird! I don't know if I have ever written a poem before. Don't judge... It's really rough but I think it accurately describes my feelings at this Christmas season. 

My Missionary Christmas

I sit here and think

"What is Christmas this year?" 

I have no presents, no wish list, 

and my family isn't near. 

The bustle and hustle 

the shopping for friends, 

the lights and the Christmas trees,

I miss it to no end. 

There's no one here that celebrates, 

it seems like no one cares, 

But then I realize, They just don't know, 

The reason I am here. 

The Savior was born, He lives today,

He loves us, everyone! 

God loves us all so very much, 

that He gave his Son! 

That is why we celebrate, 

To remember that great gift! 

And that is why I'm serving here

to share that Christmas cheer. 

Cheer not brought by presents, 

not brought by a beautiful tree, 

But cheer in knowing that there is hope

and peace for all that see.

Cheer that can spread all year long, 

not just through Christmas seasons

It's worth being gone, being far away

Not distracted by other reasons.

To share that cheer I'll talk with all

I'll knock a million doors. 

I'll love and serve with all my heart,

I'll go 'till I have no more. 

I don't need those presents, 

for I've already received 

The grace and mercy of my Lord, 

what more could I need? 

And with this in mind, I say

a prayer of gratitude

for this chance to learn and grow

to see my testimony renewed. 

And so as I head out the door, 

I smile as I think

I'm blessed to spend this Christmas here, 

there's no better place to be! 

Family and friends, that is true! I love this chance to serve here! To bless the lives of people here! To share the great message of Christ with people that need to know! I think that it truly takes a Christmas away from home to truly understand how important family is and how easy it is to take the love and the company of those close to us for granted! I've been able to realize that the Lord loves us and is always there for us!!! :) 

Have a great Christmas! I love you so much! 

Love,
Sister Kati Ford :)

Single digits until Christmas!!!!

Dear Family!

Happy almost Christmas! Only 1 week! And next week we will talk! and I will see your beautiful faces! :) and it will be so wonderful :) We talked with a member today and planned to Skype home next Wednesday at 3:00 (me) and 4:00 (Sister Kelly)! That makes it 8:00 in the morning on Christmas morning for you all at home :) Hopefully that works out! We are skyping from our Branch President's and District Presidency Member's house so there will be lots of people for you to meet :)

 SNOW!

 The power went out. we showered and studied by candle light :)

This week was a lot of fun! It is starting to seem more and more like Christmas! There was snow that stuck to the ground and it was so pretty! People are starting to get into the Christmas spirit and will always smile when we say Merry Christmas! ;) People are also starting to decorate! We will hopefully buy a tree at some point soon!

 The giant christmas tree in the parking lot :)

This week was also great because everything involving missionary work went so well! We met with great members! And, in maybe the highlight of my week, recieved 2 referrals from members that we have been working with! 

 SMORES!!!

We made smores on our stove!

 

 It is so fun to see members share the gospel because they have the precious opportunity to share their testimony with someone that they love! One was from Paisa. 

 Teaching Sophia and her brother with Raisa this week :) and cute poses :) 

 

We have been teaching her granddaughter, and this week starting teaching her granddaughter's friend! She is a cutie! They both came to church yesterday and guess who taught primary! That's right, Sister Kelly and I! It was so fun! Katia drew a picture for me, that was so cute! I'll take a picture and send it next week :) Speaking of teaching Primary, this last Sunday was "Sister Ford" day in church. I played the piano, spoke, and taught both hours of Primary. I guess that happens sometimes in a small branch! The best part is that I found out Saturday that I was speaking and Sunday that I was playing the piano and speaking! Opa! But it all turned out really well!

 Oh yeah, I totally forgot to mention this! SIster Kelly and I got stuck in an elevator for an hour last night! We didn't get out until a maintence man came! Freaky!!! :) We planned and took some pictures! It was so dark and cold but we couldn't stop laughing :)

Our other investigator was from a less active that we have been working with, Valentina! We started teaching her son this week and it was so fun! We had been talking with Valentina and she had told us that her son was too tired to meet that day but then he came in and said, "Hey, I want to listen" and we started teaching him and it was so great! At the end of our lesson, he said that he wanted to keep learning. We invited him to be baptized and he said that it is possible! Pray for him, his name is Denise! He is really cool! It was sweet because as soon as Denise walked in, Valentina just started sobbing. She cried through the whole lesson and the whole time we were talking and saying goodbye, and as she helped me zip up my coat, and as she waited with us by the elevator. Sharing the gospel with those that we love will bring greater joy then we can understand! :) I promise that there is no greater joy then sharing the gospel! :)

 Wishing a member in our branch happy birthday! 

 Opera house! Going there soon :) IN SUPER EXCITING NEWS...the 4 sisters here in Suvorovsky got permission and then bought tickets to go see the Nutcracker ballet in the Odessa Opera Theater on New Years Eve!!!!! :)

This graffiti says, "Mom, Dad, thanks for life! I love you" seriously... :)

This week, we started planning a Music Night for Christmas Eve! It will be HUGE!!!! :) With the whole district of Odessa! We ordered 1000 business cards for the members and missionaries to hand out so there should be a lot of people there! At least that is what I am praying for! I bought a violin this week (YAY!) so I will be playing a musical number there! Should be exciting :)   

This last week I spoke in Church! I didn't have very much notice but I think it went really well. This is basically what I said, 

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! I am excited to talk today! I thought a lot about what I wanted to say today and I came across a scripture in 3rd Nephi. It is from when Christ is visiting the American Continent and teaching the people there! He finishes part of His teaching by saying. "Therefore, I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father in Heaven is perfect".
I thought about that a lot. How can we be perfect like they are? is that even possible? Then I read in Preach My Gospel, "The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ enables you to become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Savior has shown the way. He has set the perfect example and He commands us to become as He is. Learn of Him and seek to incorporate His attributes into your life. Through the power of his atonement, you can achieve this goal."
So it is possible to become like Christ and to become perfect like He is. But this isn't a journey where the things that you do matter, but rather, who you are! You could read your scriptures everyday, go to church every week, pray, pay tithing, live the Word of Wisdom and so on, and although all those things are so important, alone they will not help you become like the Savior. You need to be humble, grateful, faithful, kind, happy, patient, and so on, just like he is. That is how we become like Him!

Preach My Gospel teaches us missionaries, "You need to be Christlike Missionaries, Not just do missionary things". And that is also true for members of the church. We need to be Christlike members of the church, Christlike Family members, and Christlike friends not just do things that members of the Church do, that families should do, that friends should do. In this quest to become perfect, who we are is infinitely more important then what we do. But the things that we do will change when we become the person that we should be.

So how can we become perfect and like our Savior. Learn of Him! Read the scriptures looking for attributes of Him! Apply those attributes in your life! Also, pray for them, "Ask your Father in Heaven to bless you with these attributes. You cannot develop them without His help. With a desire to please God, recognize your weaknesses and be willing and anxious to improve".

Although those things are important, becoming perfect like Christ is only possible through the Atonement. We all know that through the Atonement, we can return to live with God and Jesus Christ again and that through the Atonement we can be cleansed from sin. Repentance is only possible through the Atonement, and repentance is how we can perfect ourselves to become more perfect. Preach my Gospel teaches, "Bringing our lives in line with God's will through repentance is a central purpose of our lives. We can return to live with God the Father only through Christ's mercy and we receive Christ's mercy only on conditions of repentance. Even after we have accepted Christ and repented of our sins, we may fall short and sin again. We should continually try to correct these transgressions. In addition, we should continually improve - to develop Christlike qualities, to grow in knowledge, and to serve more effectively. As we learn more about what the Savior expects of us, we will want to show our love by obeying Him. Thus as we repent daily, we will find that our lives will change and improve. Our hearts and our behavior will become more Christlike. We will come to feel great joy in repenting daily".

Not only is becoming perfect like Christ possible, but there is no better time to start then now, this Christmas season! There is no better gift to give the Savior, then the gift to become like Him and to live a life that reflects your desire to follow Him! President Monson said, "There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus Christ. Because He came to Earth, we have a perfect example to follow. As we strive to become more like Him, we will have joy and happiness in our lives and peace each day of the year. It is His example which, if followed, stirs within us more kindness and love, more respect and concern for others". I challenge each of you to rise to a new level of commitment in becoming more like the Savior!

One of my favorite Christmas songs says, in the 3rd verse, "And in dispair, I bowed my head, "There is no peace on Earth", I said, "For hate is strong and mocks the song, Of peace on Earth, good will to men".It continues, "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with Peace on Earth, Good will to men!" I know that as we try to become more like Christ, we can bring peace and goodwill to the world that we live in! I know God lives! I know his son Jesus Christ lives and that they love us! Let's dedicate ourselves now to live a life that reflects our love for them! 

 

Merry Christmas to all! I love you all!

 I can't wait for Christmas! I love being a missionary! Have a great week! Remember why we have this Holiday season!

Love,

Sister Ford

SNOW!!!!!!

Hey Everyone,

GUESS WHAT! Winter just hit in Odessa! It just started snowing! How fun is that? And freezing cold! haha :)! The WIND has been crazy this last week! I bought some leggings to keep my legs warm under my tights. They have yellow purple and black polka dots and reindeer. Maybe I will send a picture next week! I just bought them today so I hope they work out! ;) 

 

 With my fluffy hat! I didn't buy this one... but it was fluffy!

On the bus back from the market! :) 

 

This week was interesting! It was one of those weeks where basically every appointment cancels (13 if you are keeping track!!!) but I am still extremely happy and loving life! I think a big part of it is because people didn't just not show, they had good excuses (sick, work, guests) and we know that life happens and sometimes things get crazy!

Things were also a little crazy for us too! At the last minute, we found out that Sister Lameraux would be in Kyiv! So we had a two day exchange, where I was with Sister McInnes, here in Suvorovsky! It was a party! Sister McInnes is from Arizona and she is awesome!

Also this week, we received TRANSFO for next transfer!!! AND>>>>> I will be in SUVOROVSKY again!!!! I will be here for 8 and a half months (not counting the MTC) That is crazy!!! Over half of my mission will be here in Suvorovsky! Right now I will tie the record of any sister in one area, who knows, maybe I will break the record ;)

I know exactly why I will be here again next transfer. I probably had 3 ladies in the ward tell me that they were praying that I would be here until after Christmas! So they must have a lot of faith :) I'm glad I will be here for Christmas because I LOVE SUVOROVSKY! Something weird about it though is that I will serve here for longer then I went to my BYU ward and almost longer (or longer) then we lived in the Shamrock Farms ward. Much longer also then the Kalamazoo ward! Isn't that crazy??!?! It has been such a blessing to get to serve in this little branch and form these amazing relationships! I love this little part of the world! I will also be with Sister Kelly again! The other sisters are also staying the same, as well as most of the other Sisters in Odessa. There is one change! Sister Lee is coming down to Odessa! I am so excited :) I can't wait to see her! And Sister Hunt will still be here! Yay! Hopefully we can have an awesome MTC reunion! :) 

 

We try really hard to be creative so that we catch people's attention! One thing that we did was tracting with our portable DVD player. When people answer, we ask them if they are interested in a 3 minute video message about Christ.  When showing our video last night, this lady walked up, said, "Are you from that church" and pointed to our church. We said yes and she started yelling about how we are sect and then turned around and RAN away! I think it was supposed to make us mad, but it was just really funny...  One video is the church's collaboration with the piano guys oh come Emanuel video.  I have it on my flashdrive, we show it on the TV at the church, and sometimes take the TV outside and show it on the street. IT's fun!

This week, when we did Service for Vika, we washed her dogs. That was an adventure! I like animals a lot more after serving here. I think I actually want a pet cat or dog now! :)

This week, we did another Pancake night! It was a little crazy! Now that Sister Leavitt went up to Kyiv, I was put in charge by default! It was crazy! But thankfully, it all worked out great! We had a bunch of people there and everyone enjoyed it! The four of us sisters here in Suvorovsky made 250 crepes! It was crazy!

Crepes! 50 of them! :) 

 

And now, it is officially the Christmas season! I LOVE IT! We are going to buy a tree and decorate a little bit! It will be so fun to be with 4 sisters for Christmas! ;) It is such a great time to be a missionary! I love being able to share this message about Christ with the world! He is the reason that we have Christmas and the best thing you could do to thank Christ for all that he does is to help someone else come unto him! This Christmas season, invite someone else to learn about this great gospel! Give the gift of your testimony to someone that you love! :)

Sorry I don't have much to write about this week! But know that I love you all and I am so grateful for all of you! Merry Christmas season! Be happy :)

Love,

Sister Kati Ford

Happy Turkey Week!!!

Dear Family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! (well...Last week! But still, Yum!) We celebrated today with many missionaries from our zone and it was really fun! 

 Our thanksgiving dinner today! All the sisters that came! We have one more set of 

sisters in our zone, but they didn't come! So many sisters :)

We had some great food! I made an apple pie and it was the hit of the meal. 

 My pie :)

 Thanksgiving! :)

The elders especially loved it! It was fun to be able to celebrate today and be around other people! One of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving is talking to everyone, so that was really fun to do that! :) 

ALSO, in other random news, HAPPY DECEMBER! Can you believe that it is December?!??!?! Wow! I can't believe it! And this month is my HALFWAY MARK! The time is flying!! This last week was my 8 month mark on my mission and my 6 month mark in Ukraine! I can hardly believe I have been here for 6 months! 

This letter might be a little different from my normal letters. I want to share something that is a little more personal that I experienced this week. It's a little more "feelings" and less "lessons and such"! Part of being on a mission is personal growth and when I think about this part week I am full of gratitude of the learning experience that I have had. It was a little "painful" but I have grown a lot. 

So starting a little bit more than a month ago, I started feeling a little lonely, mostly because of  my birthday and other holidays that I was "missing". It was a weird feeling because I am actually NEVER alone on my mission. But that is what I was feeling and it was weird! But it started getting worse and worse. This last Monday was really hard for me. I wrote my parents and talked to them a little bit and they helped. I also wrote President Klebingat (my mission president- He is my leader while I am here). 

Then on Wednesday, we were waiting for a ride to a hospital to do service, 

 Taking Blankets to the hospital!

when we got a phone call. From a number that I didn't know. I answered it, "алло, это Сестра Форд" (Hello This is Sister Ford) and then the person on the other end said, "Hello Sister Ford, This is President Klebingat" !!! I was pretty surprised that he called and also that I didn't have his number! But we ended up talking a little bit and talking about how it is normal to be homesick and lonely at times. But we also talked about how our missions are a time to learn and grow and if I want to be the missionary that I am striving to be, I need to get over these feelings of loneliness and just "forget myself and get to work". I spent a lot of time this week thinking about that and about how I really do need to forget about myself if I want to truly be happy here! It's kinda a hard thing to do though. How do you "forget yourself"? I asked President and he said, "One thought at a time. It is mental work" Every time you want to think about yourself, you make yourself think about someone else" and this week I really tried that! And it worked!!! :)

 Now when I find myself thinking about myself, I force myself to think of someone else. It has helped so much. I can't say that I'm good at losing myself yet, but I feel like I have made huge strides. I know that as I think about myself less and less, I will be lonely less and less. I think I could even say that I have learned and grown more in the last 4 days than my whole mission so far. I'm much happier than I was this time last week! And even more, it is a deeper, content happiness. 

This week, I had the opportunity to be with Sister McInnes (a younger sister) for an evening. While we were walking to an appointment, I asked her how she was doing and she told me that she was ok, just going through the normal struggles that a new missionary did. I told her a little bit about the advice that President shared with me! It was really fun to have the opportunity to be able to help another missionary through sharing what I had learned! Hopefully this can help those that are preparing for a mission, on a mission, or just anyone that feels somewhat lonely! I promise that you will feel better as you just lose yourself! Don't think about yourself! Force yourself to think of someone else and how you can help them! 

Anyway...That is probably enough intense stuff. I'll go into the FUN! Because this week was CRAZY and FUN! 

So...where to start from this week! WE MOVED!!!!! We are now living in a VERY Ukrainian apartment only 10 minutes from the church! It was so sudden and fast. So Tuesday, we received notice that we needed to move out of where we were living as soon as possible, because it is cold and dark earlier and with the holiday season coming they wanted us to be extra safe! So we confirmed this new apartment and all four of us Sisters are now living there together. Thursday we moved all of our stuff (most stressful taxi ride EVER) and moved into the new place!

 Moving!!!!

 It is pretty nice, I have been sleeping on a pull out couch with Sister Kelly, but today we will buy a air mattress! yay! We divided the bed up evenly and my half is about 2 and a half feet wide! So I am so excited for the air mattress! Yay! The apartment has a nice open living room but a TINY kitchen! It will be an adventure with 4 sisters! 

Our house friends!

Our tiny Ukrainian kitchen :)

This week we also had Thanksgiving! On Thursday, Sister Kelly and I didn't do much for Thanksgiving (it was the day that we moved so we were crazy busy) but we did buy a chicken and make some mashed potatoes and stuffing! YUM :) 

 Our mini Thanksgiving Dinner!

This week we were SO BUSY with appointments! I loved it! We also received so many referrals from the members! Let me tell you, when members ask missionaries to teach their friends and family, it is basically the best thing EVER!!! It is a big sign of trust! :) 

This week we taught Sophia again! We talked about prophets this time! It was so fun! We did the cup analogy, (Where you stack up cups in a tower and talk about without prophets and the revelation that they receive from God, there is no way to build the whole church up) She was so into it! She is just the cutest little girl ever :)! 

This week we also worked more with Julia, one of our less active members! She came to church on Sunday! It was basically the best thing EVER! It is so fun to watch people that we work with come back and realize how loved they are :) 

This week, one of our biggest miracles was the chance we had to meet with the husband of our relief society president! He hadn't met with missionaries in years! It was so fun! He is so nice! I hope we can meet with him again! :)
 

Us with the elders and sister Goncharova! Fun lesson! 

Her friend Lena was there :) Thanksgiving :)

Also, remember Sister Ivanyk? The old lady in the wheelchair? She asked Sister Kelly and I to move in with her. She said that we could live with her for free! Cute, right??? Too bad her house is too small. And it is against so many rules! But I'm touched that she loves us :) 

Our latest nativity! :) haha jk! The lights flash and spin :P 

Do ice cream sundaes in America come in cones now? Weird

This week was fun! I'm doing so good! I'm loving my life right now and really grateful for the chance to be serving! I'm glad to be happy and healthy! I'm grateful for my awesome family and friends and missionaries here and President Klebingat! I love being a missionary, especially this close to Christmas! I love you all! Think about someone else today! Love you! 

Love,
Sister Ford

PS- To all that are concerned, the riots in Kyiv haven't reached Odessa...Yet! Right now I am 100 percent safe! :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Dear Family and Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving this week!!! There is so much to be grateful for this year! I just feel so blessed! We have an American in our branch (She married a man in our branch) and she spoke yesterday in Sacrament Meeting (In English). But she spoke about gratitude and I really enjoyed it. She talked about how when we look for the hand of God in all things, we are able to see things with an Eternal Perspective. It was really what I needed to hear. Sometimes, on a mission, it is so easy to get stuck in the day-to-day actions, and we end up wondering if we will ever finish. It is so important to be grateful because then and only then can we the bigger picture, and have the faith and hope to endure and to continue on. I know last week I talked about what I was grateful for, but I think this week I will just continue that list on :)

- I am grateful for my companion. Sister Kelly is the best! I'm grateful for the chance I have to serve with her! She has taught me so much! I'm grateful for the other missionaries I serve around! This last week we have had another set of sisters live with us (Sister Lameraux and McInnes)! 

I am grateful for them and their positive attitudes! 

It has been a party living together :)

- I am grateful for the branch I am serving in! I love Suvorovsky! I love the members! I love their willingness to help and serve me! I love going to church and singing and worshipping together! I love being able to go to their houses and to teach each other. I love that the members trust me to teach their relatives and friends! I love that they are always really to help me out! I love knowing that I am creating eternal friendships!

- I am grateful for Ukrainian food. This week we had a Thanksgiving Dinner after church. 

 Thanksgiving Dinner! 

 Me with Larissa at Thanksgiving! 

 

The elders make a turkey, and then we had Ukrainian food. Pickled Vegtables, Pancakes, Vereniki (Kindof like dumplings...I think) and Tea and Juice. Very different from America, but really good! :) I am grateful that I like the food here! I love Borsch and I really have yet to find a food that I don't like! Last week for FHE we went to a members house and made Vereniki. 

 Making Vereniki!

 

 The raw vereniki

  More vereniki! :) YUM! :)

 

It is like pasta dough that is rolled out, then filled and folded over and cooked in water. We make it cherry filled and it was SO GOOD! The ones that we had for our Thanksgiving dinner were filled with cabbage, also really good!

- I am grateful for our investigators and the opportunties that we have to teach people. This last week we FINALLY met with Sophia. We had a really good lesson about Jesus Christ. She is a cutie! She fell and broke her arm so she wasn't at church yesterday, sadly. Olga returned from Kyiv and we are meeting this Tuesday! I am so excited! :) We also found a new investigator from English! She wants to know more about why we are here and about our church! We are so excited to meet with her :)

-I am grateful for the old grandmas that we meet! They are so cute! We had one, Elena, who tried to set me up with her son this week. He is 26 and "His heart is free". She also said that she would learn english! Just this random lady off the street. 

Me and Sister Evanyk

 

I love the 2 old grandmas that we meet with every week. I love singing with them and sharing my testimony with them! They have special spirits!

- I am grateful for miracles! This week, we stopped by a Less Active member. We got up to her floor, knocked on the door, and she opened the door and said, "I am so glad that you are here, come in" We got to go in and talk. It was so good! It was especially cool because we went back later that week for a lesson and there was a guard there that wouldn't let us up. Fortunately the less active's mom showed up and knew that we were supposed to go and let us up! It was really nice :)

- I am grateful for my family and friends! I feel so loved by you all! Thanks for your prayers and for your love! It's hard to be away from so many great people during the Holidays, but I know that my work here, now, is so important! I love being here!

Hunger Games! In russian! WEIRD! (actually 

Ukrainian...just kidding about the russian :) )

This week, this Thanksgiving, remember all that you have to be grateful for! Most of all, I am grateful for Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer! I am grateful for this gospel, I am grateful for this church! I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I am grateful that I know that I am a daughter of a Loving Heavenly Father and that he has a plan for me! I am grateful for my forever family! I love this gospel and I love and am grateful for my opportunity to be a missionary! Despite the hard times and the mean people, there is no where else I would rather be! I love it!

Love you all! Enjoy your turkey!

Sister Ford