Haha just kidding... I'm in Ukraine, not Mexico!
HAPPY
TRANSFO WEEK! That is the real celebration of this week! This week was
pretty crazy, but really good! I love being a missionary!
I'll start with
last P-day.... It was probably one of the best P-days that I have ever
had! After we finished our studies and email, we headed into downtown
Kyiv! We went to what is called the Spoosk. It is a huge long street
with souvineer shops all the way down it! It was so fun! They had
EVERYTHING! :) I ended up buying some soccer scarfs, a real fur hat, a
Vishevanka (Traditional Ukraine Shirt) and some magnets. We met one man,
he would give us really good prices on everything. It was so nice! I
got almost all the souvineers that I wanted... the only problem is that
now I want more because I saw it there! :P I hope I can send pictures
today, because we have some fun ones. We brought one of our recent
converts with us, which was really great because he carried all our bags
AND protected us from the sometimes intense salespeople.... We also
had a really yummy dinner of traditional Ukrainian foods. It was so
good! :)
The
rest of the week until Wednesday was spent with Sister Winsor saying
goodbye to all of her favorite members. It was really weird that
EVERYONE except Elder Roggow and I left, I was all the sudden the one
that had to know how to get everywhere...Thank goodness Brovary is
SMALL! :)
On Wednesday, I
got to go over to a lady names Nadedja and her family. They come to our
english! They invited us to make Shashlik with them, which is Ukrainian
Shiskabobs. They were SO good! It was such a fun day! We got to share a
little bit more about what we believed with them which was really
special. Nadedja is a Mary-Kay saleslady and as we were walking out the
door, she comes up and says,
"girls, when was the last time you had a face mask done?"
"umm... long long long long time ago..."
To which she replies
"I can tell"
Then
proceeded to give us face masks and makeovers. It was nice of her. She
gave us a bunch of free makeup and a book about Mary Kay. In russian...
That will be my language study when I get home... haha :)
Thursday was
transfer day and I headed into the mission office and picked up my new
companion! Sister Walker is from Utah, and is a funny, cute 20 year old
sister from the former Donetsk mission! She is my age on the mission and
we are having a blast together so far. She loves hashtags #whodoesnt
and to share clothes, so I think we will get along great. She also has
connections with everyone... it's crazy! We are now the ONLY sisters in
our area and it is really fun. I haven't been without another set of
sisters since November and it's different! But it will be so great! We
will have a lot of work to do with the branch and will all of the
investigators and people from English! :)
This
rest of this week has been a blur of getting settled into a new
companionship, planning and setting goals, and normal missionary life!
We had an awesome Saturday, complete with soccer (I'm getting so much
better!!!!) and game night (also getting better there!) haha. With all
of the old missionaries gone, everyone looked to me a lot more. It was
different to take the lead in everything but really good. I'm really
excited for this transfer, I think it will be so good! :)
Sunday,
we got a new branch president! About time, the old one had been in for
12 years. Wow. But out new branch president is 24 ( i think) and way
cool. He is getting married in a month, nothing like becoming branch
president and getting engaged in the same 2 weeks. What a champ. I'm
excited to work with him more to help the branch!
Funny
Ukraine Story Time: So yesterday we went to stop by a less active. We
had heard some weird things about her, but the Relief Society President
asked us to take her something. So we took the elders with us. We got
there and rang the doorbell and no one answered. So we were getting
ready to leave when a man came up the stairs too. He rang the doorbells
too, for the same apartment. We explained that no one answered, but he
still kept ringing the door bell. When we were going to leave (because
no one was answering the door), he just told us to wait. So we waited.
After about 10 minutes, the door opened and someone answered. Moral of
the Story??? Just keep ringing! :) Our tracting approach will be much
different now.... haha not really :)
I'm
sure everyone has heard at least somewhat about everything that has
been happening in Ukraine and especially this last week in Odessa. It
breaks my heart to think of all that suffering and fighting in the city
that I love so much. Please pray for them. Also, know that we are being
cared for and watched out for. President Klebingat talks often (even
everyday) with security and they are watching out for us. We are very
cautious about where we go and what we do. The Lord will protect His
Missionaries.
Sometimes
it is a little hard to be a missionary in the midst of so much sadness
and hardship. In the midst of this war, it could be easy to convince
ourselves that people aren't interested in our message right now. But
that is not true! I can testify that despite all the fighting and chaos
right now, people need this gospel! In fact, people need it more with
all that is going on! And the work here is progressing -- all over our
mission! We are having a lot of success. Just last night, Sister Walker
and I talked to a couple who expressed to us their concerns about not
knowing where to find peace and answers in these hard times. It was such
a blessing being able to answer and express my testimony that we can
receive comfort and answers through prayer and conversation with our
Heavenly Father. He has a perfect plan for us. He has a perfect plan for
Ukraine.
And
so we continue in our work here, knowing that we are blessed to see the
Lord's hand everyday working to bless and protect us!
I love you all! I hope you have a great day! and week :)
Love,
Sister Kati Ford
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