"Oh sister!"

Dear Family and Friends, 

Yay! I'm back and working! This week was crazy getting a new companion and shipping my other companion off, but it has been really good. I said goodbye to Sister Larcabal on Wednesday, it was such a good experience to serve with her for the last 3 transfers. I learned so much from her, and I'm so grateful that we were able to grow so close! I love her! 

So that means that I started with my new companion, Sister Batalova. She is from Russia, and I am absolutely in love with her. We are having a really great time together. She is super funny and we spend a lot of our time laughing. She loves the color pink, shopping, and cats. She has the cutest Russian accent when she talks in English, "Oh sister..." I wish I could send it over email. When she talks in Russian, people ask her if she is from America because she is getting an American accent after living with missionaries for so long... oops. I wish that went the other way, but no one has told me that I have a Russian Accent yet. Maybe this week.

One of the best parts about serving with someone that knows Russian very well and English not quite as well is teaching each other fun sayings. I never realized how much slang I used until this last week. I taught her "He didn't fall for it" "He was hitting on me" and "Yolo". She in turn taught me the Russian version of "He was hitting on me" and the common (?!?) phrase "Good Job. Take a cucumber from the shelf" that I guess all mothers always saw. (So that she doesn't sound super insane, it rhymes in Russian, so it kinda makes sense...haha)

This week we were able to teach Sergey so many times! He is progressing so well and it is so fun to teach him! He is really getting into the Book of Mormon! He was having a hard time really understanding it, so we taught a lesson about scripture study and how to start with prayer and focus on reading less and learning more from it, and he did just that and has been learning so much. We also had an extremely powerful lesson about prayer where we all shared powerful stories about having our prayers answered, but maybe in different ways than we thought they would be. 

Last night, we had a Recent Convert Family Home Evening and brought Sergey along. It was SO FUN! We brought a bunch of different props and acted out stories from the Book of Mormon. One group did Nephi getting the Plates and our group did Samuel the Lamanite. It was so fun. We ate cake and played a fun dice game and just had a really good time. Sergey really loved it and told us how he feels like he is part of a family when he is with people from church. I thought that was really cool because he couldn't even really speak to a lot of the recent converts because they speak English, not Russian, but he still felt like family with them. So that was really cool! 

Today, for P-day, we were in Kyiv for a bit. We ate lunch at the "Friends Cafe", which was decorated on the inside exactly like the cafe from the TV show Friends. (But Ukrainian Style) Sister Batalova loved it and for me, it brought back a lot of crazy memories from my first semester of college. haha. :)

 As I was studying this week, I realized how so much in the Doctrine and Covenants is about missionary work and new members of the church being called to serve on missions. It is especially fascinating to read because the majority of it comes straight from the Lord, with Him talking straight to the elders he calls. As I reflected on those calls, I realized that the same advice and counsel and blessings that the Lord gives to those missionaries back then would be the same advice and counsel and blessings that the Lord would give me today. So I took the things that really stood out to me in the various sections of the Doctrine and Covenants and created "My Mission Call from the Lord". 

"I, the Lord, have a great work for you to do. Ye are chosen to bear testimony of my name, called to cry repentance and declare glad tidings, at all times, and in all things, and it all places. Ye shall go forth, anxiously engaged, opening thy mouth, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, laying the foundation of a great work through small and simple things. Arise and gird up your loins, take up my cross, follow me and feed my sheep. Doubt not, for behold my grace is sufficient for you. Sanctify yourselves and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made and ye shall be endowed with power. Be not weary in well-doing, but waste and wear out your lives and be diligent unto the end. Be of good cheer and do not fear, for I , the Lord am with you and will stand by you. I am in thy midst, my Spirit in your hearts, and my angels round about you, to bear you up. I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing, for the testimonies which ye have borne are recorded in heaven. Ye are on my errand and I am with thee. How great is your calling!" 

As I have reread that over this week, it have helped me to keep going when things are tough. The Lord expects a lot out of His missionaries, but he also blesses us so much more than we ever deserve. It is really a privilege to be a missionary and be constantly serving the Lord! 

I love you all! Keep praying for our investigators! :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford 

Ps- Me at the Friend's cafe...Sorry I didn't take many pics this week, I don't even have one of Sister Batalova...next week :)