Monday, August 25, 2014

This week was Great!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

This week was GREAT! I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! I feel like I just wrote yesterday but yet it is another whole week gone by. I feel like it is all going by like a dream! And this up coming week is sure to fly by quickly too, I have an exchange this week with SISTER HUNT! woo-hoo! So that should be fun. We also will find out TRANSFO, and I will know where I will be for my LAST transfer. Scary. Although I think I will stay here in Brovary. And then next week is transfers and I will start my last transfer. I just can't believe how the days are passing like minutes. Not fair. This wednesday is my 17 month mark as a missionary, which is so crazy to me! Can you believe that I have been doing missionary work for the past 17 months!!! Wow!
 
 cards
also, we had a ping pong tourney this week. 
I was so bad at ping pong, 
but then I CREAMED in cards :) 
 
This week, we went to the Clarks to do some service, and while there, we shared a spiritual thought that has seemed to be a theme for my week. We started our spiritual thought by playing a game of telephone, you know, where you say a sentence in someones ear and pass it on and on around the whole circle. I must admit that I thought that it would be more scrambled at the end then it actually was, they did a really good job, especially for a part Ukrainian/part American family and a bunch of missionaries But it wasn't exactly what I had said at the beginning. And we talked about how it was hard to hear the whisper in your ear when others were talking. 
 
 playing telephone
 
Then we compared the whisper in our ears with the Holy Ghost and talked about how it is hard to hear the still small whisperings of the Holy Ghost. And we shared a scripture from 1st Kings, "And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" (1st Kings 19:11-12). We shared how in our lives, the whisperings of the Spirit won't be loud and big, but will be a still small voice. We also shared a quote from Preach My Gospel, which said, "The Spirit is always available to guide and direct you. However, the Spirit speaks quietly, through your feelings as well as your mind. One great challenge for you and those you work with is the recognize the quite, subtle prompting of the Holy Ghost". The Spiritual Thought went really well as Brother and Sister Clark both shared some experiences where the Lord has spoken to them through the Holy Ghost. 

So if I had to pick a theme for this week, it would be the importance and blessings that come from recognizing and understanding how the Spirit works in our life. As a missionary, I can only do work if I work with the Spirit. Joseph Smith taught that "No man can preach the gospel without the Holy Ghost". And that's true. Doing missionary work would never work without the Spirit. Preach My Gospel also promises that we will "succeed in [our] work as [we] learn to receive and follow personal revelation". That is something that I have really learned a lot this last week. For a couple months now, there has been a problem that I have been trying to figure out. Nothing bad, just something that I have been thinking about a lot. As I have prayed to know what to do and what choice I should make, I have been unable to receive a clear answer. This last week, as I was studying, I decided that instead of praying for an answer on the specific question, I would instead pray to better learn how God speaks to me through the Holy Ghost. As a result of that prayer, I feel like I have learned so much more about how the Spirit speaks to me. He has guided me so much in my work this week and I have seen miracles come from following those promptings that He sends. I feel like Heavenly Father in more ways than one, has dumped revelation down on me! I can share a few experiences from this week that illustrate how the together with the Spirit, miracles can happen! 

So this week, we were waiting for a bus to go stop by a member. As we waited for our bus (the 9), the 404 came, which would take us close to the member's house, but require more walking. As the 404 came, I felt a prompting to take it instead. So we got on the bus and were riding it, then got off to walk the rest of the ways to that member's house. As we were walking, we saw another member, a old grandma that is sometimes grumpy. I've never been able to meet with her, so when we saw her on the street in the distance, we ran to go say hello. She told us how happy she was to see us, and even though we only talked to her for like 5 minutes and didn't do much, we were able to brighten her day. I know that the Spirit prompted us to take that bus for that reason, to see her and strengthen our relationship with her! 

A pigeon pooped on my head this week... opa!


 bird poop
 
Another example was when we decided what members to visit. We felt to visit a lady and give her a Thank you card. So we left it on her door with some banana bread. That was all that we did. Yesterday at church, she came up and told her how much that card and the bread had strengthened her and helped her. When she was sick, she read the card, when she got home late, she was able to spend time with her husband (who is not a member) drinking tea and eating banana bread and it was relaxing and happy. So that was cool. Another day, we felt to stop by a member and sing a hymn for her. We went by and sang 'i am a child of god' for her. She cried and cried and talked about how she so strongly needed that at that very minute. It was so special to be an answer to a prayer. I know that the Spirit prompted us to know how to best help these ladies in our ward! 

Another example was on a lesson with Sergey, our new investigator. He is one of the first people that I have taught on my mission that doesn't know whether or not God lives. It has been really interesting teaching him and helping him. It has been so cool to see him experience the Spirit for the first times. He doesn't really know how to describe how he is feeling and he doesn't always recognize it, but I can see that the Spirit is touching his heart. In our Gospel Principles class yesterday, we ended our lesson with a Mormon Message about a blind kid that is a piano prodigy, after our lessons about talents and how God gives us talents because He loves us and so that we can help other people. The Spirit was so strong after that lesson, and I went up to Sergey and asked how he was doing and what he thought of church and he went off about how everything was, "so cool". He was almost literally filled with light and he was so happy. I realized that he was feeling the Spirit and being filled with the light of Christ. It is miraculous to see someone change as a result of hearing about the gospel! 
But at one point this week, we had a lesson with him. At first, the lesson wasn't going very well, not bad just not the super spiritual lesson that we wanted. Partway through, he received an important phone call and had to leave to answer it. Sister Larcabal and I took that moment to say a prayer, pleading for the Spirit to guide us. When he came back and we taught again, it was as though we were teaching a completely different lesson. The Spirit was SO strong and it was SO cool! It was so fun to follow the Spirit, especially when it leads a different way than what you expect! 

One last example was when Sister Larcabal and I had a few minutes to be on the street talking to people. We said a prayer before we left to be guided by the Holy Ghost, then went out and on our way. As we walked down the street, I saw a lady selling watermelons on the other side of the road, and I felt like we needed to go talk to her. At first I justified that thought and decided that we would talk to her on the way back, when we were on the other side of the street. But then the spirit said, "go now", so we did. It was seriously the MOST AWKWARD conversation ever! The lady asked if we wanted a watermelon and I told her that we didn't have money and she was like, "my watermelons aren't free, girl." and so I asked her about her watermelons and she just didn't want to talk. So we left and walked back down the street. It wasn't quite the conversation that I had in mind after that big prompting. So then we were heading back to the church, when we say this lady up in the distance. We head over to her and start talking and end up inviting her to english. She is so interested that she shows up THAT VERY NIGHT, loves english and is into the spiritual thought! Isn't the way of the Lord so interesting? He knew that if we kept going on the path that we had started on, we would've never ran into that lady, so he gave me a prompting to turn us around, thus putting her right in our (new) path. So cool! :) 

So I learned so much about personal revelation this week! there really is no limit on the personal revelation that you can receive to guide your life!  And although I didn't immediately receive an answer to my problem, I learned more about how God speaks to me individually, which prepared me for the quiet moment when he answered the question that I had for a long time. Because I had learned how to recognize revelation better, when that answer came, I couldn't deny it, and I knew that it was His answer to me. Personal Revelation is SO COOL! :) 

I love being a missionary and I love being guided by the Spirit! The church is SO TRUE! :) 
Keep on being fantastic :) 
I LOVE YOU ALL! 
love, 
Sister Kati Ford

Monday, August 18, 2014

Roller Coasters!


Tuesday, August 12, 2014

500 DAYS ON THE MISSION

Dear Family and Friends, 

That subject line sounds a little bit better when translated into Russian, but it works in English too. Today, if I have counted right, marks 500 days on a mission! WOW! I can't believe that! It doesn't even seem like that long! Sister Larcabal and I tried to think of what we could do to celebrate, or what we could eat 500 of to celebrate... but we didn't think of anything that would be possible to eat 500 of. Oh well! 

So yesterday in Relief Society, I was asked to give the Spiritual Thought. I thought back to a verse in the Book of Mormon that I had read a few weeks before, which says, 

"For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." (Alma 13:24). 

I told the ladies in Relief Society that when I had first read that verse a couple weeks earlier, I had decided that I would pray to know and see that the Lord was preparing the hearts of the people here in Ukraine, in Kyiv, and in Brovary! Then I was able to share with them a few examples of how God has been preparing people here through his angels! It was so fun to share with them how the Lord has been preparing people all around us! I have everyday seen how God is preparing people to receive the Gospel at this time, especially here in Ukraine. 

For example: 

This last week, I was waiting for the bus, when a lady came and and sat down next to me. I started a conversation up with her, and before long she was looking through my family pictures. As I shared with her how the gospel had blessed my family, she saw that I was holding a Book of Mormon. She was like "I have that book!" It was so cool to see how she had met missionaries before and was now still being prepared to meet with us now. Unfortunately, her bus came before I got her number, but I'm sure we will see her again on the street, Brovary is pretty small! 
 



 
 
Yet again, we were on the street. We were running so late for district meeting. We briskly walked by this old lady. I saw out of the corner of my eye that she watched us walk by and had stopped. Although we were running late, I turned around and talked to her. Turns out that as we had walked by, she had seen Jesus Christ written on our name tags and had wanted to know more. As we told her a little bit about our message, she started crying, talking about how things in Ukraine and so hard and scary. God had prepared her to receive our message of joy! She agreed to meet again and learn more about God's plan and how he has a special plan for her and everyone in Ukraine! 


We've been taking a lot of buses lately, I guess. Yesterday on the way to the church, We were on a bus. I sat next to a lady and noticed that she was in a dress. So I asked her if she was going to church. She said no. And I responded, "well...you should!" and she laughed and we started to have a really good conversation. She shared how many years ago, she had helped repaint our church building here in Brovary. I asked her if she had ever been to our church services, and she said no. I asked her why and she said that she didn't really want to then. I asked her if she would be interested now, and she said yes! So that was special! She goes out of town this week, but will be back in the end of August! :) 

Also, this week, I was on an exchange in Kyiv (first time I have ever been in Kyiv for more than a few hours..which is funny, because it is the name of the mission). But we had an opportunity to meet with a little girl named Eva. She is from a city in Eastern Ukraine, and evacuated here with her family. Her aunt and older brother are members of the church, but her mom is not and until recently, her mom refused to let her met with the missionaries, saying that she is too young. But when the family evacuated here, her mom was able to closely interact with a lot of members of the church. They are living in the apartment of one of the members in Kyiv, the members bring them clothes and food and are helping them with everything. So the Mom's heart was prepared and she is allowing Eva to take the lessons. She was the cutest little girl and literally knows everything about the church already and has a testimony! Cute! We taught her about tithing, and did an object lesson where we poured blessings (In the form of candy) down from the windows of heaven! It was fun :) She loved it! :) She is a doll! 
 Sister Pugh and Lena our member friend

Eva and I making bracelets
 
See how the Lord is preparing people here in Ukraine! It is so fun to be a missionary now, here!  We get to have so many fun moments on missions. For example, this week, we had a Birthday Party, at which Sister Larcabal and I played together (her on the piano, I was on the violin) to the star wars theme and a couple other songs. 
Happy Birthday Dallas! :) 

 We impressed all the 10 year old boys there. Or for example, when we were on the street and in the space of an hour, we received tomatoes, pears, and bread all for free from people on the street. Or for example, when we helped a grandma in our ward learn to index and she asked if we could get permission from the mission president for a sleepover....hmm.. probably not but it was a sweet offer :) 

See! So fun to be a missionary! I love it!  It is so easy to see how the Lord is blessing the people here and helping them prepare to learn more about the Savior! :) I love being a missionary! It is so fun! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL! 
Love, 
Sister Kati Ford

Monday, August 4, 2014

"Lodi Hills"

Dear Family and Friends, 

HAPPY AUGUST! It seems to me like it should still be May, but somehow time just keeps passing on and on. This week it started to feel like summer. It was HOT! People keep telling me the temperature in Celsius but I never know what the temperature actually is, so I just act like it is the hottest temperature that I have ever heard of... haha. But really though...it's HOT! I was told though that it will only be this hot for 10 more days, then fall will come! Which is my favorite season :) 
 We rock the babooshka scarfs :) 
 Mother motherland, we just happened to 
run into some other sisters there! COOL :)

The other day, I was thinking about running, and I remembered the Lodi Cross Country Course. That I ran in 8th grade, I think. The race where the first mile was all in the forest and then came out to A HUGE HILL! And I remember in my 8th grade mind, thinking that there was no bigger hill in the world. And right after that hill was a downhill into the finish. I remember when I ran that race, many of the participants, when they got to that hill, started to walk. When I got to that hill, I was determined to run up it. But it was hard! At some points, I felt like I was running in place. I just wanted to stop and be done. But I also remember that feeling as I made it to the top of that hill, and on the other side was the downhill headed right to the finish line. As I made it to the top and over the hill, I was able to sprint into the finish line. I don't remember the time that I ran at that race. I don't remember what place I finished. But I do remember that feeling of accomplishment as I made it over that hill! Even now, I get a little proud when I think of how I conquered the "Lodi hill". 
 We went sight-seeing in kyiv last 
week, this is a famine memorial
our lovely tour guide, Alina :) A recent convert from Kyiv
 
I think in life, we have lots of "Lodi Hills". The entire journey home to our Heavenly Father is probably full of hills, some small and some large. As we "run" through this earthly journey, sometimes we hit these hills, and things are hard, and we want to stop or at least walk. Maybe we even want to lay down and roll back down to where we were earlier. So often, we get stuck thinking that we will never make it up, that it is impossible to climb this hill. But these hills are possible to climb! We will make it up them! And I think so often, we fail to consider what happens at the top of the hill. Every time we run up and over a hill, there is a moment where we are basically flying and we skip down the downhill, sometimes going so fast that we can barely stay standing. At those times, we wonder how we were ever going so slow just moments before. We wonder and ask ourselves how that up hill could've been that hard. Those moments of going so fast are the moments that keep us going the next time that we go up a hard hill. 

I would say in my missionary life, I have been climbing one of those "Lodi hills". But this past week, I finally made it to the top, and I feel like I am now cruising down the other side, with things happening so fast I can barely keep up and miracles happening in every direction! These times when we head down are the times where we exclaim, "This is missionary fun!" (Just imagine me running down a hill as fast as I can screaming that! ;)) 
 This morning we went and ran by the river. 
Also we ran that bridge in the background :)
Sister Larcabal snapped this picture this 
morning of me running across the bridge. Cool
 
 
Let me share some of the stories from the run! 

This week we taught Oksana. We didn't get to teach her as often as we wanted to, Sister Larcabal was sick one day and then she (Oksana, not Sister Larcabal) went to the beach with her family another day, but we were finally able to meet with her on Saturday. We went in feeling very strongly that we should watch the Restoration movie with her. We had a member come with us on the lesson and basically she couldn't have helped us better if we had given her a script. It was AMAZING! :) Also, multiple times throughout the film, Oksana would say things like, "I'm just like Joseph". "I'm going to pray and ask".  At the end of the lesson, we had a super powerful moment where we knelt in prayer and Oksana prayed and asked for Heavenly Help for what to do. At the end of the prayer, as we kneeling together, we asked Oksana if she would be baptized when she came to know that these things were true. When she said yes, we were so excited to continue to help her learn for herself that this message is true! Pray for her, and especially that she will be able to come to church, and that her family will have their hearts softened so that she be baptized here if she chooses to! 
 Enjoying beautiful kyiv
What is any zone meeting without a 
picture of sister hunt and I together?


In another moment, we had a strong spiritual thought with the family in the ward. We talked about faith, and had the opportunity to see the family's faith grow right in front of us! 

We had a lesson with a returning less active and recent convert. We taught about repentance. I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strongly in my life. We read together Alma 36 and talked about the joy that comes from repentance. It was so special to have the chance (the unplanned chance) to testify about the same things that I wrote about last week :) 
Our cute zone :)

Yesterday, the Spirit was so strong in Testimony Meeting. I LOVE hearing others bear their testimony! :) 

Also yesterday, we went with the Elders to teach Austin, one of the recent converts. When we walked in, there was a friend of his sleeping. She had just arrived from out of town. Eventually though, she woke up and participated in our spiritual thought, giving a great insight on faith. As we were leaving, we asked if she wanted to come to church and she said yes. We asked if she wanted to learn more and meet with us and she said yes. It was so easy. Her name is Julianna. and just like Austin and Kingsley, she is from Africa. I'm so excited! I've always wanted to teach someone from Africa! They are elect :) 

In a fun moment, One of the members told us that we are her favorite missionaries and that we have something that sets us apart from others. Missionaries love compliments like that :) 

And in a cute tender mercy, Last week when we were at the Clarks, Brother Clark told me that the day before, Dallas had asked for permission to go outside. When brother clark asked why, Dallas said, "Well...I want to be like Sister Ford, and she loves to run, so I want to run too and love it". And then Brother Clark said, "Well... I had to give permission for that". Isn't that darling? I love helping others learn to love to run :) It was so darn cute! :) 

Can you see how I am just seeing so many blessings? I love being a missionary! It really is so fun! 

One thing that I forgot to mention in my analogy about the hill. There was one thing, when I was running up that hill that kept me going, even after I wanted to stop. Just like at every other race that I had even run, my dad was on the side of the course, cheering me on. (Thanks Dad! -- don't get too teary eyed now). In the hills of life, never forget that we have hoards of people standing there cheering us on. They want us to succeed and they can and will help us in any way that they can! And unlike in Cross country, where it is illegal, in the race of life, we are a special coach that runs right next to us every step of the way. That coach is Jesus Christ, and he is always right beside us, helping us reach the top of the hill that we are climbing, and helping us reach the top of every hill until we eventually reach our ultimate goal and finish line, living with Heavenly Father again :) 

I know that Christ helps us every step of the way! I know that he LOVES us and will help us through those hard hills!  The church is true and was restored through Joseph Smith to be in its entirety on the earth today! 
I love you all! Enjoy the race :) 
Love, 
Sister Kati Ford
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