What to say...what to say! This week was crazy! I just went back and read through it in my journal, wow, a LOT happened. I'm not even sure where to begin and it doesn't really have a theme of any sort, otherwise I would categorize it in some cute way. Maybe I'll just write about it by day... here we go!
MONDAY: So Monday Night, we had a family home evening with the Svirsky Family. They are a moving force behind the Brovary branch, and ( I'm not even sure if this EVER has happened anywhere else) they are part of every presidency in our branch. In this cute family of 4, we have the Branch President, the Elder Quorum President, the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency and the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. So I think we guessed correctly when we assumed that they could be a great force in propelling missionary work forward in this branch. So we planned a really focused lesson on missionary work. I was more than a little afraid, because this family is a little intimidating and sometimes they go off in Ukrainian and then we don't understand... But We went in and started the lesson. IT WAS A FANTASTIC LESSON! As soon as we brought up the topic of missionary work, the mom went off about how she didn't know anybody and couldn't do missionary work. Although it was off of our plan, I felt prompted to talk about how we could do missionary work in smaller ways and then asked them the very simplest thing they could do to start doing missionary work. I was referring to prayer and shared Alma 6:6 with them "Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God". They loved that and we talked about pray and other small and simple acts of missionary service. We shared with them a copy of the talk by Elder Nielsen from General Conference last year (EXCLAMATION POINT!) and asked them as a family to come up with their own personal missionary work plan. At the end, I shared my testimony and it was such a strong moment for me. I felt the Spirit so strongly, the Russian came easily and they understood everything that I said and I was able to promise them that if they made and followed a family missionary plan, they would have the opportunity to bring the gospel to someone and in the process, it would strengthen their family as well. Usually after a lesson like that, it takes some time to see the results. But in a special tender mercy, I was able to witness Sveta, (the mom) ask the Elders in our branch yesterday the names of their investigators so that she could pray for them, which just happens to perfectly align with step 2 of Elder Nielsen's proposed plan! I'm so excited to follow up further and see the blessings that missionary work can bring to their lives!
TUESDAY: On Tuesday, we went and served at the Clark's house! It was so fun but hard work. For more than 2 hours, I was on a ladder up in a tree picking cherries!
I picked so many cherries!
After we finished serving, we ate some rice and headed to the bus stop. But for some reason, the bus like never came. Uh-oh. Finally the bus came at 6:20, which was problematic because English started at 7. Needless to say, all of us were late to English, and had to go in our Service clothes, which were covered in berry juice. It was quite the English. The Clark boys have been asking me to come and run with them for some time now, so on Tuesday, I wore clothes and shoes that I was able to run in. So we ran all the way to the bus stop. It was so fun to run as fast as I could! By the time that the bus came, the running combined with the cherry-picking had tired me out so much. That is where the picture of me asleep on the bus comes from (thanks Sister Larcabal!).
sleeping on the bus, don't judge :)
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday we got to go to the TEMPLE! YAY! I noticed some time ago that Odessa had a scheduled temple trip this week, so Sister Larcabal and I asked for permission to go to the temple and do a session there! Yay! :) It was so great! I was able to see some people from Odessa and get caught up in what is happening in their lives and also got to do a temple session! It was also really cool because Wednesday morning also just happens to be the day that the Brovary Branch is in charge of being temple workers. So right as we walk in, Brother Svirsky takes our recommends. We got to see so many people from our branch and they were all so happy to see and greet us! I love the temple! When I get home and am at BYU again, I want to go to the temple everyday....! :) I'm not sure if that is possible, but it is what I want :)
THURSDAY: Thursday was a crazy day because we FOUND A NEW APARTMENT! We move in tomorrow, so I will send pictures home next week! But it is brand new and cute and has a green kitchen and the outside of the building is what I call Pink Lemonade, which will make sense when I send home a picture. It is not at all Ukrainian and (maybe the best part) IT HAS HOT WATER! I can't wait for that part :) So that day was crazy as we signed a contract and set up a payment schedule and all that stuff (can you believe I can do all that in Russian?!?!) So then we during the rest of the week have been doing some packing This next story is what I would in-title "Members: They Mean Well". Thursday night we had another meeting with Zhenya recent convert and his family. We taught that Plan of Salvation and had them help teach and it was really good. At the end of the lesson, so excited, Zhenya and Yulia (his wife) told us about a surprise that they had for us, pulling out a cake. Why were they so excited? Because it was gluten-free. Or so they said. After eating two large pieces, I could definitely tell that it was not a gluten-free cake and spent most of Friday sick :( I felt so bad that their big surprise actually made me sick. It was crazy though, because on Thursday there was SO MUCH RAIN!
That's a lot of rain! The dog was
jumping everywhere, it was cute
We were walking home in puddles up to our calves! It was pretty fun to splash around a little bit, especially since we weren't really prepared for that much rain!
SUNDAY: Friday and Saturday I was kinda sick, so if anything cool happened, I don't really remember it. But Sunday! So in just a few weeks, the annual Ukraine Youth Conference (very similar to EFY) is happening and to prepare, we with Brother Roman did a Fireside last night. Actually brother Roman did almost everything, we just testified. But It was such a good fireside! There was videos and music videos and it was cute! They even showed a super fun video from the conference last year, which was so cool because I knew a lot of people! I spent some time reflecting on how special the youth are here in Ukraine. And then I spent some time reflecting on how, someday, I want to be an EFY counselor. That would be so cool :) So that was awesome :)
This week was pretty crazy, but really fun! I love serving in Brovary and having the opportunity to work with so many great members of the church! They are strong and happy and I am so blessed to see their examples! I love being a missionary in Ukraine and being able to work and help grow the kingdom of God here! I know the Church is true and I know that President Monson is a prophet of God!
I love you all! I especially love my family! <3 Love, Sister Kati Ford
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