Dear Family and Friends,

This last week was crazy! I am now officially training and boy, it is strange! I didn't realize how much the trainees look up to older missionaries! I'm bad because sometimes I just assume that she already knows things that she doesn't know. Hence why she almost didn't get off the bus today... Scariest moment of my life. I'm having so much fun teaching her all the fun, weird, cute, happy, sad, and cultural things about Ukraine! The last few days have been WAY insane! Sister Kelly has had quite an interesting welcome to the country! But she is a rockstar and loving every minute. 

Sister Kelly and I at the temple! 
She is cute and nice and sweet! Also, older then me... weird. We are having a lot of fun with Suvorosky so far! We set some awesome goals and I am excited to achieve them!

So from before Sister Kelly came:
Sister Nielsen and I had our last few days together. We spent a lot of time doing registration stuff, including a 7 hour roundtrip to her old area. It was a little crazy! Finally we made it on the train headed up to Kyiv and said our goodbyes! I'm going to miss her but I know that she will rock it in Vinnitsya! 
 Last picture together with Sister Nielsen!

One awesome tender mercy that we had during our last few days together was an email that I got from a lady last week. During our first week of the transfer, we met at the church with a couple that was thinking about adoption. We talked about their situation and the Elders gave them a blessing and then they left. We were so lucky to get a email that described their decision and thanked us. We sent back some pictures telling them good luck! 
 Wishing good luck and love to our American Adopting Friends! 
It is such a blessing that here in Ukraine, we can help people that only are here for a short time and then return to America!
District Picture! Next transfer there will only be 4 missionaries in my district...weird!

Also, we had another game night Tuesday Night. It started and after 20 minutes, the only people that were there were the branch president and one member and the missionaries. So we said a prayer. and started eating our refreshments. Within minutes, two teenagers came in. They asked if they could bring some friends. They agreed. Within 5 minutes, they had brought back 15 other teenagers! It was so fun and a small miracle with us! We taught them Spoons, Speed, Uno! It is fun to open the church up and have a good place where these kids can play. Most teenagers (especially boys) already drink and smoke by the time they are 13-14, so they need somewhere where they can have clean fun and we provide that! Next time, we have a Mormon Message about how in Life, "All of God's Children wear the Same Jersey". It goes along well with the games!

The Suvorosky Group!

Kyiv:
Being up in Kyiv was so fun but also so tiring! We got on our train in Odessa at almost 11 at night on Wednesday night, then rode all night and got there in the morning. 
 Sleeping on the train
Once we were there, we went straight to our training meeting. There we meet with the trainers and President for a while. Then when it was time to meet our trainees, they took us into the chapel, where they were all sitting. Then I got to meet Sister Kelly and get aquainted a little bit! It is crazy that the Lord trusts us so much! Think about it, We get paired with someone that we have never met before, travel to a random city in a country that we have hardly been in before, and then fend for ourselves and do missionary work. Weird... But it works! Everytime!

So anyway, we had meeting until 5, then dinner. Then we got to go out contacting for the first time. Sister Kelly and I headed out, The first man that would actually talk to us was SUPER creepy, Poor Sister Kelly was so excited because she thought he was actually interested in the gospel and then was so disgusted once I translated what he was saying. Eventually we started a conversation with a lady. We asked her what brought her happiness in her life. Then when she responded family, we talked a little bit about the importance of families in our life. She was really nice. Then Sister Kelly went back to the hotel and I went with Sister Hunt to stay with Sister Lee! What a special tender mercy! 
 Sister Lee, Hunt and I :) 
We got to talk and catch up! It was so fun to see her! We may have stayed up a little later then we meant to...but it was fun! I love her and Sister Hunt! I have been blessed to meet so many awesome people on my mission! Not just those two, but others as well!
The next morning, Sister Hunt and I headed back to the hotel. We tried to get a taxi for like an hour, and then the moment we got the taxi, we found out that President decided not to invite the trainers. So we got out of the taxi, found Sister Lee again and got to do all of our studies with them! Then later, we took the Metro to the temple! 
 
Sister Kelly and I at the temple! 

 Odessa trainers and trainees! 
We got our trainees and headed to the train station. Sister Hunt and I were the oldest sisters so we were in charge of it all! So weird! We didn't know anything about Kyiv or anything! We had never even taken suitcases on a train before! But everything worked out really well! I was able to find a phone left in a taxi, help check 15 suitcases, help everyone find money and buy winter clothes. Basically everything...I think maybe I know more then I think I do... I get so surprized when I realize how much I can acutally do and communicate with people.
Then we headed home to Odessa! It was good to be home!
Sister Kelly and I:
So Sister Kelly and I did weekly planning, set goals, made some plans on Saturday. On Sunday, we went to church. 

 
Marina and I, a girl that came to visit! She stole my camera and took a TON of pictures !

 one of her pictures...I can't tell if it looks good. But it is the missionaries in Suvorosky now. 
Now, in order to help the church be open more so people can come see, we study at the church. So we were studying at the church when this man came in. He was drunk. I called the elders and they told me that he was harmless so I gave him a Liahona and told him to read it. He did and then eventually showed us part that he "thought was interesting". Only later did we realize that he STOLE OUR PHONE! I was so upset!  We found out that he had stolen our phone when he called the elders. The elders tried to chase him down, but they didn't find him. And our phone is gone. We have one right now that belongs to the zone leaders. It is nice, but we lost our landlord's number, which was sad because we couldn't call him and ask him to turn on the heat... Sad because it is freezing! We finally got it though so it should be warm tonight :) 
 Teaching Sister Kelly to super kontik! :)

I forgot to mention this but IT SNOWED WHILE WE WERE IN KYIV! What is this?? I'm wearing many layers of tights and sweaters and such so I am staying warm...for now! 


Getting cold! And sometimes rainy! 

Also, I'm sending home a branch photograph that they took this week! This is my branch, isn't it cute?? :)
our branch! :) 
 
So that was basically my week! Snow, phone stolen, training! I am having so much fun! This work is awesome! I can't wait to watch general conference this week! Did you hear how many missionaries there are??? SO MANY! I love it :)
I LOVE YOU ALL! have a great week :)
Sister Kati Ford