Monday, October 21, 2013

Zone Conference

Hey, Hey, Hey!
How is everyone doing?  I'm in a good mood today... Why? Because last week we had zone conference and President brought down our BRAND NEW DEHUMIDIFIER! 
our dehumidifier! My new best friend :)

Woo-hoo! That may not seem like a big deal, but now my sheets on my bed are actually dry and my towel dries! It is a little miracle!
Ok...I'm actually happy for real reasons, not just the dehumidifier, although it is pretty awesome! :)
This week was really good! (I say that every week, but it is true!) This week was also a little crazy! We had an exchange planned but then at the last minute, one of the sisters got sick, so we had to move the exchange to later in the week! That made it crazy!
Some highlights of this week!
- We did Service this week for Vika! It was so fun! We got to help her sort grapes. SO SO SO SO many grapes. They filled up her whole kitchen. It was funny because we were sorting them into firm, soft, and bad. But after awhile I couldn't tell the difference between what was firm and what was soft. But I sure tried. I told her about how grandpa makes grape juice. She thought that was fun! It is fun to talk to her and practice my Russian while we serve her! I am so impressed by her strength to be active in the church even though she has a disability! What an inspiration!
 Grapes! They grow everywhere here!
-We planned some awesome activities for this transfer! We will be doing a Halloween Party for kids, a game night, another pancake night. We also will be holding a fireside, my first one that I will plan! It will be called "Missionary Heritage in Suvorosky" and we will talk about RMs in our branch, the current missionaries, and the future missionaries, and how we can all be member missionaries! Also, I think we will feed dinner! It will be crazy! Also, our ward mission leader wants us to do a Thanksgiving Dinner, but he thinks we should serve Mexican Food. And call it a Mexican Thanksgiving. I'm not sure what I think about that... What do y'all think?
- Wednesday we had a great day planned...but then every lesson but one fell though. The only lesson that we had was with a less active named Valentina. It was my first time inside her apartment. To my utmost surprise, I discovered that she is a hoarder! Oh my! So much stuff! But we still taught a really good lesson. She was touched that we still remembered her after all those years that she hadn't been. She loves that we care enough to come and meet with her. Even more crazy, she still remembers her first Elders names, "Allan and Schmidt". Crazy how much of an influence missionaries have on people! :) 

 Our pipe that we walk along to get home. In the morning, when everyone is walking to school and work, it is like the "fast lane" haha :)
- ZONE CONFERENCE! It was so good! We learned about repentance and how we can more effectively use repentance in our lives and when we do, we can teach it more effectively to our investigators. It was really insightful! I love being able to learn from President and Sister Klebingat! They are awesome! And we get to have another zone meeting again this week when they are here! I can't wait! :) 
 Our empty bus! I forgot to talk about this! We got on a bus with a ton of people then everyone got off. I was worried that it was the wrong bus! Thankfully it wasn't! The driver took us speedily to our stop. It was like personalized. Kinda awkward. But funny :)

- We had a game night! It was so fun! We had people from English come. We did a Ping-Pong tournament and Sister Kelly won! All the men couldn't believe it! After that, they asked me to tell more about my life in America. So I started answering questions and they asked questions for the next hour. They wanted to know about everything. America, my car, my job, my parent's jobs, my family, my school...everything. They were so intrigued about why I was in Ukraine. It was really interesting to talk about. One said to me afterwords, "Normally you missionaries just try to shove your church down my throat, but you just answered my questions and as a result, I am more intrigued about your church" Interesting, right? They like knowing that we are real people and not fake or brainwashed. 
 I think my planner is cute this transfer, don't you :)
-Also, I spoke in church! SO SCARY! But it went really well! I think...I spoke about how physical pain can be healed by doctors, just like spiritual pain or guilt from sin, can be healed through Christ and His Atonement! I was so thankful for the members that helped me translate my talk! They were so helpful! :)
-Fun story from Church! After Sacrament Meeting, I went up to a member, Raisa, and was talking to her. She said, "Sister Ford, when you were speaking, I had a thought. It is that if you were here when I was 20 years old, (She is 60 now), we would've been best friends". ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST! It just makes me want to cry :) I was so touched! :)
- Also, we had American visitors in Church on Sunday. Our old branch president is marrying an American girl and her and her mom were here! They are getting married next Tuesday in Kyiv :) Cute! But, for the first time, I tried translating! OPA! So hard! It is really hard to listen and translate and speak at the same time! But it was really good language practice! I learned a lot and I am excited to try again! :) It was funny! I translated Relief Society and it was crazy! People were arguing and talking in Ukrainian and it was crazy. I tried my best....haha :)
Weirdness:
My birthday is this week! Weird, right! 
My birthday presents :)

Also, this last week, I officially passed my date that I will return home in a year! So I have less then 365 days left! Weird! :)
And this week will mark 2 months till I get to skype home! Weird!
I love you all! Have a great week :) Make good choices! :)
Love,
Sister Kati Ford

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