Little Miracles!!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Привет! That means Hey! :) I'm so glad that today is Monday and that I got to hear from you! I can't believe that it is already November! Our computer club played a Christmas song a little while ago, but I think that is because they thought it was just Taylor Swift song...I don't think they knew it was Christmas! There is no snow or anything yet...in fact today it is actually HOT! But I'm starting to feel like Christmas is soon! The stores started decorating, which is REALLY weird because here, Christmas is on January 7th. Yeah, they don't celebrate Christmas on the 25th! How weird is that?!??! Kinda strange, right? But cool! I will basically get a double holiday :) 

Happy Halloween! 

We hope you have a great day!

We love you! 

Love, 

Sister Ford and Sister Kelly

 

If I had to title this week, it would revolve around little miracles. There is a scripture in Mormon that says, "And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles... Behold, I say unto to you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ is shall be granted unto him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the Earth" (Mormon 9: 18, 19, 21) 

How true is that? Miracles, big and small have always been a part of Christ's Church and still continue to be a part of his Church, the biggest miracle being that against all odds, Christ was resurrected and completed the Atonement, making it possible for us to be cleansed from sin and return to live with our Heavenly Father and families again, after this life! If that miracles really happened (which it did) and if God is the same (which He is), then I can see miracles everyday in my life (which I do!)! I love the last part of that verse also, that what we ask for we can receive. Isn't that a great promise?!? I LOVE IT! :) 

This week was SO good, because I was blessed with so many little miracles and tender mercies! 

This week, we had an appointment with the Relief Society President in our branch. Her name is Ludmila. We got there and we shared Elder Ballard's talk from Conference with her. When the talk first started, we could tell from her body language that she didn't really want to talk about missionary work. When the talk ended, she told us that she didn't know anyone that could benefit from the gospel and that everyone that she had already asked had said no. We asked her if we could say a prayer together, and we knelt and asked her to pray. The miracle was that during the prayer, while she prayed, her heart was softened. As we sat for a moment after the prayer, the spirit grew. Then we asked her, if anyone had come to her mind while she had prayed. And she told us that she had thought of a lady, named Ira. So we challenged her to invite her to church next time she saw her, and she said that she would! That was a miracle because Ludmila was willing to share the gospel and because the Spirit prompted her that Ira was ready! How exciting is that?!?

 We did some sightseeing today!

 the Opera House!

 odessa stairs

 Some famous cannon

 some famous government building

 Primorsky blvd!

The odessa stairs

This week we did some English Advertising with the elders! Then they headed back to the church and we stayed out for a little bit longer. After a few minutes, they called us and said that they had left their keys in the church and needed us to open it for them. We were a little bummed that we had to head back but we started on our way. As we walked, we stopped and talked to this girl named, Luda! She said that she had lived in England and knows English! We invited her to our English practice and she was so interested!! It was so cool! :) Also, not really a miracle, but something cool, is that night, everyone gave us free food! We got free apples from some man on the street that was selling them, and also this lady gave us shrimp

 Our free shrimp! from the black sea! :) We got a whole bag!

 (which we didn't eat...they smelled funky...But it was a nice thought :)) 

This week in English, we gave out a survey about our English program! On the survey, we asked "Are you interested in learning more about our church?" and we had several people say yes! It was really cool! People that we thought probably wouldn't be interested said that they were! What a tender mercy! 

This week, we had a lesson with Olga! Do you remember her?? We went with a member and it was so good! The member was able to answer a lot of questions and the spirit was really strong! Olga told us how after our last lesson, she had gone to work. While she was at work, she had several coworkers comment on how happy she seemed that day. She told us that she thought it was because of our lesson. We were able to testify that what she had felt, and why she had been happy was because of the Holy Ghost! What a great opportunity! Then she told us how she had been thinking about the moment when her and I first meet! She talked about how it was just on the street and how she had never been on the street before and was just standing there, when I came up. And then we only talked for a few minutes, and then I had to leave. She said that if I hadn't talked to her that day, she never would've heard about our church or our message! How crazy is that?!? She said that she meet a lady on the internet who said that she was a "Mormon" but until she met with us, never knew what that was!!! How crazy is it that We are teaching a lady who has never heard of our church before now! It is a miracle that we have this opportunity to teach her now! :) Also, it was a lesson to me on the importance of talking with everyone, because you never know who you are passing by! Maybe someone who is praying and searching for the peace that this gospel brings! :) 

That same night, we had a lesson with a less active, Sister Evanook. I think I might have mentioned her in the past, really old, can't leave her apartment? Anyways, we went to meet with her. Earlier that morning, we decided to maybe sing an opening song. When we got there, we pulled our my hymnbook and Sister Evanook almost started crying. She told us how she used to sing every morning and how singing was her favorite part from church. She sang us songs and we sang songs for her. The spirit was so strong and for the first time, I really felt like she could also feel the spirit. She was so touched and her hard exterior was gone. For the first time, she insisted that we return. In fact, yesterday she called the church looking for us so that we could meet again and sing again. It was a miracle for me to see her feel at peace, and to feel love and the spirit! What a blessing for her too! 

Saturday, we had planned a Halloween Party for kids. On Friday night, we had heard that there were going to be at least 5 kids there. 

  Our failed Halloween party! But it looks cute :) 

But Saturday morning, we got there and got everything set up, and no one came :( It was a bummer. But we had like 60 sugar cookies so we took them outside and offered free American Cookie! 

 Our free Cookie table

 our poster from our halloween party!

Within 30 minutes, all of our cookies were gone. Not only did we give out cookies, but we talked with so many people that were interested in the gospel! One lady, her name is Luda. I asked her if she was interested in learning about Family Home Evening, and invited her to do one with us Monday. She was interested and called us yesterday to confirm! So we are doing that tonight! I really really really hope it goes well! :) I think it is a miracle that our Halloween party didn't work out so that we could have the opportunity to meet Luda and other people on the street! :) 

Also, when we were giving out the cookies, we saw our friends that walked in on the game night! They took some cookies but were also interested in the gospel and several of them took pamphlets and started reading them and were really into them! It was AWESOME! :) I'm excited to see them at our game night and invite them to learn more! :) 

Saturday night, we met with Valentina again! We walked in, prayed with her, and asked if she had found her Book of Mormon. She stood up and got a pile of books, including her Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Gospel Principles Book. She said she had looked so hard for them and finally found them! It was awesome! :) She committed to study everyday! She couldn't come to church yesterday because of her health, but hopefully makes it this week! :) 

Yesterday, a less active named Elma came to church. We asked her if we could meet with her after church really quickly to get accquainted and she agreed. We found out that she used to be a super strong member of the church, but had stopped coming because of work. A few weeks ago, she looked at her life and realized that it wasn't what she wanted, prayed, and realized that she needed to return to church. But she had work. She prayed for what to do and the next day, her boss called and told her that he moved her off from working Sundays! What a miracle! She also told us about her boyfriend, Yuri! She is going to invite him to our game night this Tuesday, and she said he is interested in learning about the gospel! :) 

Also, church was really good! Everyone bore their testimonies about missionary work! People here are so excited to share the gospel! What a blessing for our work! 

To everyone that reads this blog, know that I KNOW that there are miracles in your life! Everyday, if you look for them! I would love to hear about the little miracles that you see in your life!! I know that this gospel is one of miracles and I'm so glad to have this opportunity to share it with the people here in Ukraine! 

I love you all! 

Have a great week, Look for the miracles!

Love,
Sister Kati Ford <3 

 Me and prince! "Our" cat. He likes to run in the house when we open the door! Isn't he cute?

 

 My back has hurt pretty bad lately so I tried to stretch it out. It didn't really work...

PS- Something to brighten your day! We were on a bus the other day, when all the sudden the bus stopped. I couldn't figure out what was wrong at first but then I looked out and realized that a parked car had blocked the bus's path. The bus driver called for all the young men. They all got out of the bus, and surrounded the car! The bus driver said "One, Two, Three" and then they all lifted together, moved the car over 6 inches and climbed back onto the bus. And then we drove away! So funny and only in Ukraine :)