Sister Kati Ford...Happily Serving in Ukraine! : TIme is running out until I leave the MTC

Dear Family, Friends, Everyone!

Today marks my 50 day mark in the MTC and as a missionary! Crazy, I know!!! :)

This week was so great! I love being a missionary and I love being at the MTC! What a great blessing it is in my life to be able to serve!!!

It has been beautiful here! Flowers! and the temple!

AND CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!! IT 13 days, I will be leaving to Ukriane!!!! I only have 1 more P-day in the United States, only 1 more Tuesday Night devtional, 2 more Sundays! It is CRAZY!!!! :) I can't believe it! SO SOON!! I hope I know enough russian otherwise I am going to be so lost once I get there! -- Although I am pretty sure I am going to be so lost either way!

Little bit of housekeeping to get out of the way. Because I am leaving so soon be careful of what you send me and when. The last day I can receive DEARELDERS before I leave is next Friday the 23rd of May. That is also that last day that I can get same day delivery packages because they don't deliver on Saturday, or Sunday, and Monday is Memorial Day. The last day I can receive letters and packages through the Postal Service is on Saturday the 24th! So if you have any last minute desires to mail something, be careful! But after that you can still send letters through DearElder and they will reach me. Those can be done by selecting my mission (Kyiv Ukriane) instead of the Provo MTC. Also, I will put my address in Ukraine up for any handwritten letters or packages.

Sister Kati Ford

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyevo-Svyatoshinskiy Rayon

Kyiv oblast 08131,

Ukraine

I'm not sure how the mail works there now, but my understanding is that I will get mail once every 6 weeks once I get there. I don't know what I will do without mail everyday! But it will be good :) So send letters and know that once my 6 weeks comes, I will love reading all those letters! One of our teachers told us that one time he went 12 weeks with no mail!! Don't do that to me, ok?!?!?! Also, ANYONE can email me! So feel free to do that also! My email is kati.ford@myldsmail.net! I love mail :) hehehe!

Fun little fact about leaving so soon, I came to the realization that all my favorite foods will no longer exist in a few weeks. Goodbye peanut butter, ice cream, Mexican food. And I also realized Hello Russian Food in two weeks! It's crazy!!!!

This week was awesome! The MTC is so great!!!! Last P-day was super fun! Sister Lee plucked my eyebrows.

last wednesday, sister lee plucked my eyebrows. It was a party, especially since a ton of new missionaries were coming in and unpacking. They gave us the weirdest looks. But you know, my eyebrows look so much better now!

She had never done anyones before. That shows the trust I have for her! She did good though! It was funny, we had a whole ton of new missionaries come in! They would all walk through the bathroom and look at us like we were crazy. And we are...a little bit!!! We also got two new sisters in our room, so now we are back up to 6 in our room!! Little crowded, but super fun!!! They are both going to Kyiv also, which will make it way easier when we have to say goodbye in 2 weeks!

Sister Masten (redhead) and sister Ahlstrom! I love them so much!

All the olders left. this is me with Sister Schaff and Sister Burk! They will be awesome in Russia!

They are sweethearts! I love them! P day was especially great because that night we had TRC, where we teach volunteers. We taught an old man who learned Russian from watching TV. We had a great lesson with him. This week I am bummed because we don't have a TRC lesson. But I am super excited because instead of a TRC lesson we are doing a Skype lesson with real people from Ukraine! I can't wait!!!! I am super excited for that!!!

me with the younger russian missionaries! :) They are amazing!

This week was strange because Sister Sink got sick...I know we NEVER get a break from sickness. It was funny because she had been dealing with it for a few days but kept saying that she didn't want to go to the doctors. Finally she admitted that she didn't want to go to the doctors because she didn't want to pay for it. That wasn't a very good reason because the doctor at the MTC is free. So then she went to the doctor and had some sort of virius thing in her throat. So we got to leave the MTC. Yep, you read that right!! Twice actually. We went to the health clinic and picked up some medicine for her! It was fun to be in the "real world" for once! Definitely a different experience. But I spent the better part of three days, sitting outside our room, studying. That was fun....actually not really. Really boring actually. But I did get a lot of studying done! I've almost read through all of Jesus the Christ now!-- It's about 800 pages about the life of Christ. Really great, but SUPER long! Read it if you have the time! haha.

sister sink and I got to leave the MTC 2 times this week! This is one of the times!

Funny story, after I got back to class, I was worried about being behind in class so I was talking to one of my teachers, Sister Jackson outside. I must of looked worried, because this random worker came up and told me that everything would be ok and that I would be fine at learning the language! It was so comforting. I looked up at his face though, and was like "Oh my gosh!! I know you!" and he gave me a super confused look. I told him, "Your my Papa Plumber! You came and fixed my toilet like 3 times last semester!!! We offered you brownies, do you remember that?" and he goes, "On call, in Wyview?" and I was like "YEP!" How crazy is that?!?! Ashley and Laekynn-- can you believe that!!! So crazy! What a sweet man!! Who knew that he worked at the MTC too!!! :)

Sunday was fun!! It was Mother's Day, but it was weird because I didn't get to call home like almost every other missionary in the world!

look Mom! You were with me on Mothers day!

But it's ok because I will call in 2 weeks!! I will get my travel plans this FRIDAY!!! crazy I know! So next week I will know when I will call and everything! So be prepared for that! also we get our Russian nametags this week! I will send my English ones home pretty soon! Awesome, I know!!!

On Sunday we had sacrament meeting. To my surprise, I got called to be the Music coordinator for our branch. That's pretty exciting, I get to choose the songs and musical numbers for church. It will be fun! Except that everyone here is musically talented and they all want to do something. So I don't know who to pick! Whoever the Lord tells me too, I guess :) Also, our Russian branch is so big that they called a new counselor! There is a first, second, and now a third counselor!!! and the branch president. I didn't even know that they could do that! But cool! We are taking over, I guess! :)

For Relief Society, Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke to all the sisters. She was a sweetheart. We even got to say Hi to her afterwords! She wrote a song to the tune of the "Sisters of Zion" called "The Sisters of Zion". I wasn't able to write the whole song down but I did get the last verse and it goes like this,

"We'll go forth enlisted in Helamen's Army,

In numbers much greater then ever before

With power and spirit, we'll faithfully witness

The Heavens have spoken and truth is restored"

How awesome is that?!?! We are powerful and awesome! I love how important and powerful song is. When we were singing that song, I don't think there was a single dry eye in the room!! Song is such a powerful tool that we can use! I love music. I feel like when I can't express how I'm feeling, oftentimes music can. I think that is why I love Motab and Mormon Messages so much. Right now I am thinking of the Piano Guys Christmas Song that they did with the Mormon Channel. It is so powerful and it is just music. The spirit can testify through song, I know that is true!! But it was awesome to hear from someone that has played such a huge part in the music

we sing and listen to at church!

sister hunt and i in class. We were working super hard (like always) :)

That night we had someone from the missionary department come and speak to us. It was so good. His wife was our mother for the day, which was sweet for her to say. His talk, changed my life! For real!!! It was that good! I wrote a little bit about it in my branch email so you can see it there!!

So funny story... my camera has a setting where it will automatically take a picture when someone smiles. And it has different settings, slight smile, normal smile or large smile. So we had some fun with that on Sunday!

Yesterday, in choir, we sang a version of "Come thou Fount". It was a crazy arrangement, but super pretty. Our choir director kept giving little hints about who was going to speak. And it was Russell M. Nelson, from the 12!!! yay! He gave such a good talk about missionary work! He is a super funny man, sometimes I think that we miss out on that part because we only see him at conference but he is sweet and loving! I love him so much!!!! :) It was funny because yesterday morning I felt like I should dress really nice, so I wore my blazer. And everyone thought it was so weird! But then our speaker was a member of the 12! So it was perfect! :)

Oh yeah! Before I forget! Yesterday I was playing volleyball in the sand. And elder and I both went for the same ball and he landed on me. So that is why my foot is super bruised. It hurts really bad like when I walk and stuff, but I think it is just a bruise! I hope so anyway! :) haha!

shoes pictures! Those are sister lee's! Aren't they cute! Can you see the bruise!

This is my letter to the branch this week! :)

"This week was so great! Something that I realized that changed the way I view my mission came from the devotional on Sunday night. The speaker, Brother Littlefield talked about the culture of missions around the world. What I got from that is that I can create the own culture of my mission. It is my choice and I will be the person that impacts what I gain from my mission. This is my mission and my chance to serve the Lord and I am excited to be happy, feel the spirit, and be the BEST missionary that I can be! If I am doing His work, His way, I will be happy, safe, and excited to share the gospel! And it starts now, not in the field. Something else that became obviously real this week was that people are aware of what I do and how I act all the time, even though they are in the MTC being missionaries also. I had a couple experiences this week where other sisters came up to me and said that they noticed me doing something and were really impressed that I was so diligent or reverent, or nice or something like that. It really made me realize that just like once I leave the MTC, even here, people are always watching. And they notice everything! So it is important to remember that you are always representing Jesus Christ, even to other missionaries!

This week we had some really awesome experiences teaching!! We taught Sasha this week and had a stellar lessons with him. The spirit was so strong and he told how he had come to gain a testimony of this gospel. I loved how he said that he could feel light when he read the Book of Mormon and prayed. And it's true, this Gospel brings a light into the lives of those that let it touch them! It is so great to help him on the path to happiness and light! We also set a baptismal date with him!!

Also this week, we had an amazing lesson at TRC. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless our lives. It was really interesting because we had planned to challenge him to read the Book of Mormon and use it to answer questions, but in the meeting, I felt really prompted to share an experience that I had where I gave away a Book of Mormon and to invite him to testify of the power of the Book of Mormon to his friends. He accepted and after in the feedback, said that he was really excited to accept our invitation. The Spirit was so strong. I love that the Spirit not only testifies of truth but invites and encourages people to do missionary work!"