HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Dear Everyone,

Happy Belated Christmas! I hope everyone had a great day! I know I did! It was such a wonderful day! I got to talk with my family and that was awesome! I miss you all and love you! It was good to see that with the exception of growing taller and looking more manlier and lower voices, everything is basically the same. It was so fun to hear all about what is going on at home! Also, I loved being able to skype within a skype (Skype-ception???) with the Gordons! I didn't mention it then, but SPENCER! I didn't even recognize you! So old :) haha!

I also got some Christmas mail this week! I'm still waiting for some, but it's all good because Ukrainian Christmas is still coming, so everyone's packages can still make it by Christmas, round 2! It is so cool being here now, because the Christmas season has really come! There is Christmas music playing everywhere (in english) and lights and trees and Santa Claus and fireworks! It really is starting to feel like Christmas! And I LOVE IT! I always thought that the Christmas season was way to short! :) People here celebrate up to the 13th of January! Yay! We just got asked to do another Christmas Music Night, on the 11th of January! Should be fun! :)
Christmas day was so good! We had a Christmas Miracles, for which I was so grateful! We had a lesson with one of the less-actives that we have been working with recently. We decided to talk about gifts that we can give out Savior. We shared a clip from the President Monson movie, where he fixes up the apartment for the new family. Then we asked her to write things that she can do for other people to show her love for the Savior. We took a few minutes to write and then each shared something. When we got to her, her name is Yulia, she said how she wanted to do a Family Home Evening with a friend and the missionaries. We instantly asked her more about it, and she told us about a family that she wants to invite. We asked if there was anyone else and she told us about a couple other people. We ended up walking out that night with 5 referrals! It was such a Christmas miracle! We are excited to follow up this week to help her friends (and in turn Yulia herself) come closer to Christ!

We also were able to teach Sophia again this week! And, in a big miracle, we met her mother! She is so nice, and she thought that our cookies were yummy! We are praying so hard for an opportunity to meet with the whole family! They need the gospel! :)

Christmas night we opened presents with all the sisters! It was fun! I got a mirror to do my makeup and a pair of houseslippers! And a truck load of chocolate! I'm trying to eat healthier but the chocolate is so good... Maybe I should just eat it all really fast, then eat healthy! haha jk! :)

The day after Christmas was fun, because like I already said, Christmas keeps on going here! There is no after Christmas blues because it is still Christmas! I love the holiday season! The day after Christmas we went over to a lady in our branch, an older lady. She invited all the missionaries in our area over! It was so fun! We read the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and sang some songs. Then she feed us yummy cake! and this tradition oatmeal thing with nuts and raisians in it. It was good, but the texture was a little weird for me. This week was the week of weird food as I will explain in a minute. But it was so Christmas-y fun! :)

Then Friday was my 9 MONTH MARK! HALFWAY! I CAN"T BELIEVE IT! Can you? Life as a missionary is the best! I love being Sister Ford! This time in Ukraine has blessed my life so much! I can hardly believe how lucky I am to know what I know and have this chance to be here! So lucky and so blessed!

A big happy spot from my 9 month mark was that we met with Vika. maybe 2 weeks ago, she called me. She is a member in the branch! She told me how she had a friend that she met online and that he was interested in finding the address of another branch in a different city, not in our mission. I called the senior missionaries in Kyiv and we got the address and gave it to her! Later, I helped her pass his name to the missionaries there so they would know about him! We went to her house on friday and she told us that in two weeks, her friend is going to be baptized! I am so excited for both of them! :) He is coming here soon to visit, I hope I get to meet him!

Then on Saturday we had a day. We are looking for another apartment for us to live in, because 4 sisers in our apartment is a lot. On saturday morning we went to look at an apartment. It was really nice. I don't think it will work to live in, but it is pretty! It had heated floors also, which was cool! :) But we experienced what I would call "Ukrainian Hospitality". After we went through the apartment, the lady that showed it to us, invited us back to her apartment and sat us down, turned on the TV for us (Russian ICarly...strange!) and brought us bread and candy and chips and tea. When she found out that we didn't drink black tea, she went searching for a kind that we would drink. She looked at all our pictures and showed us lots of her! It was so fun! We hardly knew her but she was so nice and friendly! It was so fun! :)

Then after that we met with all the missionaries and Alexsay and Pania, the couple in our ward that just got off their missions and married. Alexsay is from here and Pania is from America. She tells us a lot about the weird food that she tries so they met with us to make us try them. It was quite an experience! We tried dry fish first, which I actually really liked. It was so saltly though! and the ripping the head off was kinda gross. But not bad! And then we had Kifer, which is kinda like buttermilk...maybe and Podzhanka which is also like buttermilk. I almost died. They are so gross. And people here just drink it plain! Oh man, no way! :)
But then we made them try super kontik slamming! It was so legit! They had never tried it before and both loved it! :) It was fun to introduce them to that! :)

We also decided to stop by a member in our branch that is less-active. We finally got into her house, only to find out that she is basically the coolest person ever! She was so fun! I can't wait to meet with her again!

This week is New Years! Happy 2014, almost! I can't believe it! On Tuesday, I can say, "I go home this year"... haha. I'm so excited for what 2014 will bring! Lots of missionary work, closed with a wonderful holiday season with my family! :) New Years here is HUGE! There have been fireworks going off for days now.! I can't even imagine what New Year's Eve will be like! Insane! I'm excited to watch on our balcony! :) The fireworks here are different. They sound like bombs. They are kinda freaky actually! Especially if you don't see the lights, but just hear it. They have been messing with my dreams recently!

Also, tomorrow I will go see the Nutcracker! I CAN'T WAIT! It will be so fun! :) I will make sure to write all about it next week! :)

Well family, I love you all! This will be the last letter of the year! Have a great new years! Be safe, have fun! I love you all!

I know this church is true and will bring you closer to Christ! Any sadness, hard times, guilt, or fear can be made better through the atonement of Christ! He loves each one of us! Have a great Holiday season! :)

Love,
Sister Ford ;)