This
week was crazy! You know how every once in a while I share a "This
would only happen in Ukraine" moment. This week there was SO many
moments like that, I haven't even gotten a chance to write about them
all in my journal!
Kati and Pres and Sister Packer
First
of all, We moved! Our apartment is SO CUTE! I'm in love with it! I'm
pretty sure it is the best apartment I have lived in on my mission! I
took some pictures of it and then when I was in the mission office, I
was showing everyone. They loved it too :)
Our darling apartment
Told you - pink lemonade :)
we found the roof... cool!
It's good that I love it so
much, because TRANSFO came out this week and I am staying here and with
Sister Larcabal! Basically everything else is changing. I think we are
one of very few companionship's that are staying the same. We are getting
a new elder here though, Elder Lindsey, who served in Suvorovsky with
me! Yay! :)
But moving was an adventure as
we had to somehow transport all of our stuff across town in a series of
taxis. Wow. But we did it! :) And we got all unpacked and settled in
:)
BBQ in the park :)
Tuesday
was a little crazy because we had to tell our landlady that we moved
and give her the keys. We gave her a heads up a few weeks ago that we
would be leaving, but I think she thought that we wouldn't be able to
find a new apartment. So she went a little crazy when we tried to turn
over the keys. It was after English on Tuesday and we were in a hurry
because we had to get home on time. But she went crazy and yelling and
wouldn't let us leave. She told us a bunch of stuff that people "told
her" but then when we talked to them, it wasn't true. So we were stuck.
We had no idea what to do, so we called the Assistants, who told us to
get ourselves out. So we ended up running for it. We put down some
money and the keys and RAN out the door, with her chasing after us. We
BOOKED it down the stairs and into the Taxi, slamming the doors of the
car behind us and saying, "GO!". I think we scared the taxi driver, he
was so confused on why we were so freaked out. But basically, we are
REALLY grateful for the new apartment and for the fact that we won't
have to deal with a crazy landlady anymore. Moral of the story, when I
get home, I will be able to handle ANY crazy situation, because I just
had to deal with it in Russian/Ukrainian!
In
just another crazy story, On Thursday, morning, we went running. We
were in our new apartment, so we didn't really know the area. I thought
that we could make a loop out of our path but pretty soon we ran out of
time. I saw a dirt path that seemingly led straight to our apartment
building so we headed down that path. Maybe not so smart... At one point
some scary looking dogs starting coming and they were barking all scary
so we walked past them and they didn't attack. thankfully. So we kept
going. All the sudden the path that we were walking on ended. But we
didn't want to walk back past the dogs, so we just decided to forge our
way through the grass. The grass kept cutting my legs, which I don't
really understand because Sister Larcabal didn't get cut up at all.
Can you see my scratched up legs?
As
we were going through the grass, all the sudden we looked up and
realized that there wasn't a way out. We were surrounded on 3 sides by
high concrete walls with the dogs behind us. So we debated what to do
and decided that it would be faster and not as scary (because dogs are
scary) to jump over one of the walls. So we jumped over the wall and we
were pretty proud of ourselves...until we realized that we were still
fenced in because we had jumped the wall into a factory. Great. So we
just kinda wandered around the factory until we found an exit, just
walking past all the guards and workers like the owned the place. We got
home pretty late, but made it home eventually. :) So that was an
adventure. Moral of that story, Don't take the shortcut :)
This week, one
of our investigators took us to a Healthy Body class and we got
"massages". Except we were just laying on mattresses that heated up.
Massage troubles...
I'm
not sure what they were supposed to do but basically I'm pretty excited
for when I get home and can get a real massage! :) It was
interesting...
one of the senior missionaries gave
me some gluten free flour! So nice :)
I made some crepes! :)
Okay, so enough crazy stories, I promise that I have some good stories too! A lot of them too :)
With
our recent convert, we played a matching commandment lesson. It was so
good and so fun! The Spirit was really strong as we talked about why the
commandments are important.
With
one less active family, we used there computer to show a Mormon
Message. They liked it so much that for the next 20 minutes, they just
kept picking another and another and another message to watch. After
that, we told them that we had to leave, and as we were leaving, they
kept watching more and more. For the first time since I have been there,
after our lesson, they actually kept the commitment that we left them!
It was awesome! The husband's name is Kosta and I have never seen him so
happy! I know it was because he was feeling the Spirit! I love how the
Holy Ghost can help people! :)
So,
recently to our English class, this lady named Oksana has been coming.
She is super cute and has a darling 10 year old son. On Tuesday, as we
left to deal with our landlady (horrible timing, I know), she was
talking about Jesus Christ. So on Thursday, we asked her if we could
show her the "Because of Him" Mormon message (Google it if you haven't
seen it! :)). So we watched it together and I look over at here and she
is bawling. So we asked her what she was thinking and she said, "I just
wish that someone today on Earth had that same power to heal that Jesus
Christ had." What an incredible opportunity for us, because we were able
to testify of the power of the priesthood of God that has been restored
to the earth today! In our church, we have that power! That power to
heal, to comfort, to lift, and to bless! So we testified that and she
expressed interest in learning more. Early that day, I had actually
received a really powerful blessing and so it was special for me to have
the experience to bear testimony of the priesthood power just hours
after it had blessed my life so profoundly!
This week, I have been studying the Atonement a lot and today I came across a really great quote. It says,
"If
you feel unclean, unloved, unhappy, unworthy, or unwhole, remember “all
that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of
Jesus Christ.” Have faith and patience in the Savior’s timing and
purposes for you. “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Be assured
the Savior still seeks to mend our souls and heal our hearts. He waits
at the door and knocks. Let us answer by beginning again to pray,
repent, forgive, and forget. Let us love God and serve our neighbor and
stand in holy places with a life made clean. The impotent man at the
pool of Bethesda, the leper along the journey to Jerusalem, and Corrie
ten Boom were made whole. “Wilt thou be made whole?” Rise and walk. His
“grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 12:9), and you will not walk
alone." (Wilt thou be made whole)
I have such a great testimony of the Atonement of Jesus
Christ! I know that He lives and that He really did suffer for our
sins! Because of him, we can be healed, we can be given strength beyond
our own and that through him, ALL is possible! I know that Christ lives!
He loves us! He is waiting for us to come to us so that he can heal us!
The priesthood power is on the Earth today and we are so blessed to
have a knowledge of both the Atonement and the power of the Priesthood!
I love being a missionary and being able to testify
and help others! Let your light shine and be happy as you share the
gospel, for it truly is GOOD NEWS of healing and help!
LOVE YOU ALL!
Love,
Sister Kati Ford
No comments:
Post a Comment