Dear Friends and Family

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy P-Day! And happy Valentine's Day Week! I hear that Ukraine loves valentine's day- although since  I haven't left the house, I don't really know. Also from the view out my window the snow is melting. It is very possible that I could miss all of the winter -simply watching out the window.

I'll start with my back update. Last Monday, I went back & met with the Doctor again. He was concerned about the swelling that is still around & the pain so he prescribed some more medicine (including a super pain pill. I'll explain more about that.) He also taught me some exercises to do & told me to start doing electromagnet therapy. Hopefully I will start that today. He also prescribed 2 MORE WEEKS IN BED! I'm starting to wonder if I will ever leave. Everyone pray really hard that it will stop hurting!! Next week, I have a mission leadership counsel up in Kyiv and there is also a Mission Conference. They are all after I'm "off" bedrest so we are planning on me going. I'm not sure how all that will work out, especially because sitting is especially painful. Maybe the air mattress again?!? Haha just kidding. I'm not keen on having more members of the Seventy meet me on an air mattress. But I'm praying that my back can really start feeling better - and soon!

Let me explain about my super pain pill-it's for when the pain is bad. I took one Thursday. Oh my goodness, there was no pain. AT ALL. It was kind of confusing, especially the next day when the pain came back. But it worked. Now it just leaves me to wonder what is inside that magical little pill. Too bad it's written in Ukrainian. Hmm...

As far as other exciting news regarding my back, we got permission for sisters from our branch to come visit me! yay! Several of them said that they would come this week, I'm so excited :)

This week was transfers. I said goodbye to Sister Kelly, but since we are still in the same area, I've seen her everyday. I also said goodbye to Sister Hunt & Lee who both went up to Kyiv. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with Sister Kelly. She is an awesome missionary & I learned so much from serving with her! She is already doing so much good with her new companion. We welcomed in a new district leader. His name is ELder Lindsey. He seems nice. There has been a lot of changes for the branches in our mission. The biggest being that branches will have an Elder in the branch presidency! They called Elder Martineau to serve as the 2nd counselor in our branch. COOL! I wasn't expecting to ever serve in a branch where a missionary was on the stand. It's so neat to work in a part of the world where the church is so new. We get to see first hand everything grow and understand a little bit more about the struggles & blessings that the early pioneers of the church had.

Exchange party with sisters

Also Sister Lamoreaux and I are officially companions! She is an angel & deserves an award for taking care of me. We are now living with just the two of us, so she has done a lot caring for me. I'm so grateful for her & her sacrifices to help me. We have had great studies together as both of us are hungry for gospel knowledge. I know that noone will be able to stop us when we finally get out and working. We will baptize the whole world. Seriously :)

This week was good in so many ways. I had a lot of good studies and we had a really great exchange with some sisters. But it was also hard in some ways. I'm really missing "missionary work" (as in normal missionary work) and in some ways, I feel bad for keeping others inside as well. But I know that I need to be resting. I just want to be better already! This is really helping me learn patience- the Lord has a reason why all this is happening and I am so grateful for all that I have learned so far. The Lord has blessed me so much. Maybe I can share just a couple of the lessons I have learned. I think they can boil down to four things:

1. No effort us wasted "Even when people do not accept...your service and words are evidence of God's love for them and may plant seeds that future Missionaries will harvest (PMG pg170) "And herein is that saying true, one soweth and another reapeth" (John 4:37)

2. The Lord has a plan for us. It is a perfect plan for our eternal happiness.

3."The tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom He hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty..." (1 Nephi 1:20)

4. The power of small & simple. "Behold, I say unto you, that by small & simple things are great things brought to pass...and by very small means the Lord...bringeth about the Salvation of many souls." (Alma 37:6-7)

These few things became very manifest to me through some experiences this week. The first story comes from my taxi ride to the Hospital last week. We got in the taxi and headed to the hospital. Our taxi driver was so cool. After offerring us candy to break the ice we had a great conversation with him. It was very natural & friendly. At the end of the trip, He waited for us to take us back (more than an hour). Sasha (taxi driver) was so nice; he drove slow to be nice to my back. We were able to give him a Book of Mormon. That experience touched me because first of all the Lord blessed me with the chance to share the Gospel, even on the way to the hospital. Second of all, the Lord does work through small means. All we did was give him a Book of Mormon and bear testimony of it. But we started the process for him. If he reads the book, it will bless his life in so many ways. It might take years, but we gave him the chance to find eternal happiness.

The second story comes from Sister Eivanook. Do you remember her? She is an old less active lady that we would meet with. She passed away this last week, giving me a lot of time to reflect on God's plan for us. I know this life isn't all and that she is in a much beter place, free from her physical & mental struggles. I felt so grateful for the chances I had to relieve some of her struggles for a moment through Hymns and the Spirit. I know that the "small and simple things we did for her blessed the last months of her life".

I had my first exchange as a sister training leader. The exchange went really well and I was just blessed to feel so strongly that I was using my talents to help the Sisters. It's hard to feel super helpful from my bed but during this exchange, I was able to share ideas and help uplift the sisters & talk with them. It was a tender mercy from the Lord that I was able to feel useful. I also felt strongly that uplifting the sister is a way that I can lift where I stand (or lie) while I am hurt. So that was a big blessing for me.

Just bummin

soup

The last story was the miracle of my week. The sisters that came to do the exchange were from Center where I served in addition to Suvorovsky during my first two transfers. We got talking about the branch and the people I worked with while I was there. I learned about how two of the less active women that we found are active and helping their families and friends learn about the Gospel. Then they told me about Nina and Vlad (Do you remember them? The mother and son that came to stay with a member?  Сгеу 11 year old that wants to serve a mission?) The sisters told me that from what they heard, the Missionaries found them in their little village & THEY WERE BAPTIZED and 2 more of their friends were baptized! What a blessing to see some of the fruits of my labors! My little effort to help the Lord in his work has helped people to come unto Him! I feel so blessed to have played a little part in their coming unto Christ. It fills me with so much joy & happiness that my heart is about to explode. The scriptures that talk about "how great shall be your joy" for helping people find the Gospel has had an increased meaning the last few days. I just feel so blessed!

I know this church is true! It blesses people and makes people happy! The Lord lives & He loves His children! I'm looking forward to my back healing so that I can tell everyone about this Gospel! I'll just close with 1 more scripture, "Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in His strength I can do all things" (Alma 26:12)

It's true! All of it!

I love you!

Love,
Sister Kati Ford

p.s write me :) 

 

Part of the letter that Sister Lamoreaux sent to me about her and Kati!!

 

Sister Ford and I have had a lot of time to talk and to learn and grow together. I know that this transfer will be an amazing and uplifting one for me. Sister Ford and I both truly have sincere desires to grow in our scriptural knowledge and begin the quest of becoming a "gospel scholars". I have been so impressed with her and her dedication to study as she is set back right now with this trial. She is consistantly studying and reading, more than any person I have ever seen or heard of who is on bed rest, "resting"! Her mind is continually producing questions and she searches the scriptures and we talk about many gospel principles and doctrines. I feel so lucky to be her companion right now as I have so much of a desire and thirst for the gospel of Jesus Christ as well. We have much to do and I just know how we will be able to lift each other as we both have the same goals!

Just yesterday as I spent the day inside with Sister Ford, we watched talks from General Conference, discussed the scriptures, wrote in our journals, talked about how we can better help the Sisters in our zone, etc. and as all this was happening I wrote down things I wanted to study and ideas that popped into my head. I kept thinking to my self, why cant time slow down! There are so many things I want to study today and I feel like there is not enough time!! My spiritual cravings for more of the gospel motivate me to study, study, study. AND I am inside all day today, how can the time seem to go faster than ever before??

I am learning and my eyes are being opened to a different level of knowledge about this gospel. Many of the conversations between Sister Ford and I end with one of us saying, "the church is just so true" "it is forever" "the gospel is so real"! I dont know how else to describe how amazing this gospel is besides that it is changing my life forever, more than I even thought possible. I started reading your book about scripture study, and with this weeks letter, Sister Ford and I will have a great week talking about learning and growing:) I am so excited!