Mission Conference This Week!!

(So we are going private, If you still want to read her blog please send me your email and I will invite you.  But please do not copy or post anything from her blog.  Thanks and send me your info at jenford1115@yahoo.com so I can get you invited )

Dear Family and Friends,

Hopefully you can all still read my letters, even though from here on out, my blog and Facebook page will be private. It is just to protect the church and the members and the missionaries here in Ukraine -Sometimes it is strange to realize that the rights we have in America of press and speech are not the same around the world, and recently missionaries and the Church in general have faced problems in my part of the world, due to what has been posted online. Scary! But I want all of you to still be able to read my letters so ask my parents or Jacob or someone if you need help to see them! But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do not post any pictures or parts of my letters on ANY public website (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Pinterest). Unless they are private, PLEASE do not post it anywhere!

Anyway, on to this week! Or this upcoming week -- WHICH I AM SO EXCITED FOR! We have mission conference this week! :) YAY! I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but originally the sisters in Odessa were not invited (just a technical thing). And I was so sad. But then President decided to invite all the sisters! I am so excited! It will be my first time in Kyiv since I got here! Yay! We are taking a train up Friday during the day (a 14 hour train-- it will be a party...) then on Saturday we have a mission conference (with general authorities- I think Elder Evans from the 70...not sure though). Then after the conference, my companion and I and Sister Hunt and her companion are going to go do a session at the Kyiv temple! I AM SO EXCITED! :) I can't wait! It will be my first time at the temple in almost 4 months! and my first time ever in the Kyiv temple! Then Saturday night we get back on a train and get back to Odessa on Sunday morning, just in time for church! Crazy weekend!!! So I can't wait to tell you all about the conference! and the temple! And seeing Sister Lee and Montgomery and all the other sisters! I can't wait!

Also, in other news, In 18 days I hit my 6 month mark! That is INSANE! I can't believe that it is already September! (Speaking of September, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY ALYSSA :) HAVE A GREAT DAY :)) Time is just flying by SO FAST!

But this last week was kinda crazy! We spent a lot of time moving into our house! It took FOREVER! But now we are all moved in and it is awesome. We live in what is called a "selo". It translates to village in english. Basically when we called the taxi, He said, "You don't live in a city". Which is true. We live in the country. Like Hello dirt roads. 

our road...country

It is so great. At night we walk back and we can see SO MANY stars. It seriously feels like we have walked back in time...or that we are on the set of Hunger Games. Seriously though! So pretty. 

 we live by the train tracks too. It's fun! 

Our house is really nice though! HUGE! But really nice. And we do have a pool - but it is empty. I just remembered that I forgot to take a picture of the pool. 

 new house, office and bathroom 

 bedroom and kitchen 

Next week... But we also have a "pet" cat. Technically it lives next door, but every time we open the door, he runs into our house. Then we have to chase him out again. It is an adventure. Oh and did I mention that every morning, we awake to the sound of a rooster!! I tell you- It is an experience I never thought that I would have!

But this week we had a lot of good success with advertising for English. Monday was Odessa's Birthday and we decided a few days before to do some English advertising Monday night. Then, that night we got to Suvorosky and literally 2 blocks from the church was this huge party concert thing. It was SO CROWDED! 

 Concert last monday 

 our free English advertising  

So we wrote "Free English" on a white board and stood next to it, handing out English cards. We were SWARMED! So many people were interested. It was so awesome! Then that English, people that we had advertised to actually came! It was so exciting!

Here in Ukraine, a big problem that we have is that people here have a really skewed perspective of what Mormons are. They often confuse us with other religions. So something we have done recently as a mission is to try and have the public have a better view of us. So one thing we do as a misison is make a sign that says, "Smile" (in russian) and walk around with it! It is so fun! People here have NEVER seen anything like it and they think it is so cool. Then we get to tell them why we are here and what we do! It is really fun! So we did that this week, which was fun!

Also, this week, I tried Tracting for the first time! What an experience. It's like a game... You never know what is going to be on the other side of the door!

And one last awesome activity this week, We did an American game night. It was so cool! In Suvorosky, the church is in an awesome location, with a park/boulivard right outside. So we opened all the blinds (the cultural room/chapel has 2 walls of floor to ceiling windows). It was so cool! We had like 8 people that we had never seen before walk in and ask if they could play! It was so cool! People here love ping pong!!

our game night, visible from outside

This coming week we are trying an outdoor movie! I hope it goes well! Also soon, our branch is having an open house and doing a member fast everyday until then! They are so excited to do missionary work!

So right now, we don't have a ton of investigators, and the few we have are not really progressing! So please pray that we can find the elect and teach them :) I know that there are people being prepared by the Lord to be taught (Alma 13:24), and right now, our job is to find them! So if you know any fun and creative ways to find people, let me know :)

we found an american burger place today! IT WAS SO GOOD! DIVINE :)

I hope you all have a great week! Make good choices, work hard! :) I love you all! Sister Ford