All is Well! All is Well!

Dear Family and Friends! 

Happy One Day After Mother's Day! I love my Mother and I'm so grateful for her example and love. She is the best! Also, a BIG SHOUT-OUT to all the other women that have had a great impact in my life, my grandmothers, teachers, friends, aunts, cousins. Y'all are so great and I love you! I hope that everyone enjoyed a happy Mother's Day yesterday! 

I got the best present on Mother's Day this year, I got to talk to my family! Yay! :) I have the best family! Just so you know, my companion was VERY impressed by my brothers. She thinks that you are the best brothers that any sister could have, and I agree. :) I love you all so much and miss you and am excited to see you in the fall! :) 

Site seeing in Kyiv

WHEW! What a week! I'm sure many of you have MANY questions about what has happened this last week. I'm sure most of you saw this update on some sort of news site: 

"Due to ongoing uncertainty in Ukraine, 67 missionaries formerly serving in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission who had previously been transferred to other areas within Ukraine will be reassigned to missions within their home countries to complete the remainder of their service. Forty-one missionaries who anticipated serving in Ukraine have been reassigned to other missions."

and I'm sure that many of you maybe even thought I was being reassigned or coming home. But I'm still here (and actually part of the Kyiv mission). But my companion, Sister Walker, was part of the Donetsk mission and that actually should've said ex-companion because she is already back in America, serving in California. I'm am confident that she is doing an excellent job there, but I miss her here! 

We found out in the middle of zone conference on Tuesday that all those missionaries would be leaving and it completely changed our week. We found out Tuesday and spent all day Tuesday in conference with President (of the Mission) Klebingat and President (of the Area Presidency) Bennett. The next day, Wednesday was when we found out that they needed to be packed by Thursday and so she packed. Thursday I dropped her off at the mission home, where all of the departing missionaries got one more chance to meet with President. Then they all flew out on Friday morning. If any of them are now serving in your ward, you are so lucky! They are amazing missionaries and you are lucky to have them there! We miss their presence here and really feel as though we lost half of our mission!. 

Since Sister Walker left, I have been serving temporarily with Sister Larcabal; whose companion also left. Sister Larcabal is awesome and we have been having some good times together! She got to meet my family and I got to meet hers so that was really fun! We probably won't be with each other past tomorrow but I have enjoyed serving with her! 

Sister Walker and I 

One fun memory from Sister Walker. We ended up meeting with a less active family on Wednesday night. We had a very spiritual lesson and at the end, her sons brought out their pet bird. We got to play with it and it was really cute, or at least that is what I thought! But Sister Walker is terrified of birds, so she was just so freaked out the whole time and scared to death. But hey, she let it land on her head and overcame her fears :) It was a good moment :) 

I've learned a lot of lessons in this last week, with the biggest one being that the Lord has a plan for us! He loves us and wants us to be happy! He has a specific plan for each one of us! He knows that this plan will give us all the knowledge and experience that we need in order to become the person that he wants us to be. When we were at our conference, President Bennett spoke a little bit about how when new trials or experiences come, many people say, "Here we go again" and how, to better face those trials and experiences, we can change it to "Here we GROW again" and take the time to find the lessons that God wants us to learn in every experience! I have a testimony that God works in mysterious ways but that they are only mysterious to us because we can't see the whole picture. When we see it all, we will realize that it makes perfect sense! 

At our conference, we ended with the song "Come, Come Ye Saints" which was the same song that Sister Larcabal and I sang yesterday as a musical number. The following words were very comforting to me during this strange and eventful week. Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell--
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell--
All is well! All is well! 

 

especially the second verse! I'm excited to take up more courage, to trust in God more and to really have the faith that the Lord is watching over and has a perfect plan! His work is moving here and hastening along! I love you all and am grateful for your prayers and love! Keep up the good work! 

Pray for Ukraine! They need it now more than ever :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford