What a Week!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Brrr! It is starting to get cold here in Ukraine! I wore tights and a sweater and a jacket and mittens today! It's been kinda rainy too! It is fall now, and I really am loving it!

Us on our street! It's kinda cold :) 

This week was good! One of the highlights of this week was that our branch did an Open House. Although not many people came, I really enjoyed it! THe members put in so much work. They had candy and tea and water and big posters. Many members came to help set up, clean up, and talk to people that came. One of our investigator came and ended up talking with members the whole time! It was awesome. Also, the members went out on the street and invited people to come inside and learn more. They were giving out information and pamplets, it was so cool! :) I love when members do missionary work! Like President Hinkley said, "There is a better way to do missionary work, it is working together with the members!" That is so true!

our smile poster

Another example of the members helping us was during English. We had a member, Ira, come and do the spiritual thought for us. It was so cool! She talked about Family History! The spirit was so strong :)

This week was also took some blankets to a children's hospital. It was really cool. A member came with us and would point out the blankets on the beds that they had donated in the past, and there was a lot of them! It is fun to be able to help do service! Something just as small as a blanket, really makes a huge difference in the lives of those children and for that hospital!

We have an investigator right now, her name is Yevdekeya. She is so sweet. This week we taught her, but instead of teaching her and dumping information on her, we really tried to answer her questions. She was so grateful. I just love her so much! I love how she is willing to read the Book of Mormon everyday and really wants to know the truth of what we are saying. She tells us that she feels happy when she meets with us, which is a huge compliment! We ran into her on the street yesterday and she was SO happy to see us!

Funny Moments from this week:

creepy text messages... hehe 

 * When Sister Nielsen and I were eating dinner one day, we saw an older man that comes to English, on a date!! Haha we didn't want to interrupt! But it was pretty funny!

 

 * I saw a man that I met at English in a different area like 1 time in the park, He remembered me! Sister Nielsen thought that I was crazy when I just started talking to this random man in English!

 * WE FOUND BACON :) and also made crepes. and french toast. Not at the same time though...

we made crepes! Yum :)

Exciting news, I finally worked up the courage to ask the professional violinist in my branch if I could maybe use her violin, she said yes! :) But the down side of that is that this Saturday we get transfer information, and I could leave :( Hopefully not yet, I love Suvorosky!

I love you all! All of you women, watch The Relief Society Broadcast this Saturday! :) Hopefully I will be able to watch it at some point :)

our chicken friend!

ALSO A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT TO MY FAVORITE ALMOST 13 YEAR OLD BROTHER, TYSON! HAVE A GREAT DAY ON WEDNESDAY! I LOVE YOU!

Also, congrats to my parents, on 4 teenagers at one time! or should I say...good luck! :)

I love you! Have a great week!

Sister Ford

Mission Conference This Week!!

(So we are going private, If you still want to read her blog please send me your email and I will invite you.  But please do not copy or post anything from her blog.  Thanks and send me your info at jenford1115@yahoo.com so I can get you invited )

Dear Family and Friends,

Hopefully you can all still read my letters, even though from here on out, my blog and Facebook page will be private. It is just to protect the church and the members and the missionaries here in Ukraine -Sometimes it is strange to realize that the rights we have in America of press and speech are not the same around the world, and recently missionaries and the Church in general have faced problems in my part of the world, due to what has been posted online. Scary! But I want all of you to still be able to read my letters so ask my parents or Jacob or someone if you need help to see them! But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do not post any pictures or parts of my letters on ANY public website (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Pinterest). Unless they are private, PLEASE do not post it anywhere!

Anyway, on to this week! Or this upcoming week -- WHICH I AM SO EXCITED FOR! We have mission conference this week! :) YAY! I don't know if I mentioned this or not, but originally the sisters in Odessa were not invited (just a technical thing). And I was so sad. But then President decided to invite all the sisters! I am so excited! It will be my first time in Kyiv since I got here! Yay! We are taking a train up Friday during the day (a 14 hour train-- it will be a party...) then on Saturday we have a mission conference (with general authorities- I think Elder Evans from the 70...not sure though). Then after the conference, my companion and I and Sister Hunt and her companion are going to go do a session at the Kyiv temple! I AM SO EXCITED! :) I can't wait! It will be my first time at the temple in almost 4 months! and my first time ever in the Kyiv temple! Then Saturday night we get back on a train and get back to Odessa on Sunday morning, just in time for church! Crazy weekend!!! So I can't wait to tell you all about the conference! and the temple! And seeing Sister Lee and Montgomery and all the other sisters! I can't wait!

Also, in other news, In 18 days I hit my 6 month mark! That is INSANE! I can't believe that it is already September! (Speaking of September, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY ALYSSA :) HAVE A GREAT DAY :)) Time is just flying by SO FAST!

But this last week was kinda crazy! We spent a lot of time moving into our house! It took FOREVER! But now we are all moved in and it is awesome. We live in what is called a "selo". It translates to village in english. Basically when we called the taxi, He said, "You don't live in a city". Which is true. We live in the country. Like Hello dirt roads. 

our road...country

It is so great. At night we walk back and we can see SO MANY stars. It seriously feels like we have walked back in time...or that we are on the set of Hunger Games. Seriously though! So pretty. 

 we live by the train tracks too. It's fun! 

Our house is really nice though! HUGE! But really nice. And we do have a pool - but it is empty. I just remembered that I forgot to take a picture of the pool. 

 new house, office and bathroom 

 bedroom and kitchen 

Next week... But we also have a "pet" cat. Technically it lives next door, but every time we open the door, he runs into our house. Then we have to chase him out again. It is an adventure. Oh and did I mention that every morning, we awake to the sound of a rooster!! I tell you- It is an experience I never thought that I would have!

But this week we had a lot of good success with advertising for English. Monday was Odessa's Birthday and we decided a few days before to do some English advertising Monday night. Then, that night we got to Suvorosky and literally 2 blocks from the church was this huge party concert thing. It was SO CROWDED! 

 Concert last monday 

 our free English advertising  

So we wrote "Free English" on a white board and stood next to it, handing out English cards. We were SWARMED! So many people were interested. It was so awesome! Then that English, people that we had advertised to actually came! It was so exciting!

Here in Ukraine, a big problem that we have is that people here have a really skewed perspective of what Mormons are. They often confuse us with other religions. So something we have done recently as a mission is to try and have the public have a better view of us. So one thing we do as a misison is make a sign that says, "Smile" (in russian) and walk around with it! It is so fun! People here have NEVER seen anything like it and they think it is so cool. Then we get to tell them why we are here and what we do! It is really fun! So we did that this week, which was fun!

Also, this week, I tried Tracting for the first time! What an experience. It's like a game... You never know what is going to be on the other side of the door!

And one last awesome activity this week, We did an American game night. It was so cool! In Suvorosky, the church is in an awesome location, with a park/boulivard right outside. So we opened all the blinds (the cultural room/chapel has 2 walls of floor to ceiling windows). It was so cool! We had like 8 people that we had never seen before walk in and ask if they could play! It was so cool! People here love ping pong!!

our game night, visible from outside

This coming week we are trying an outdoor movie! I hope it goes well! Also soon, our branch is having an open house and doing a member fast everyday until then! They are so excited to do missionary work!

So right now, we don't have a ton of investigators, and the few we have are not really progressing! So please pray that we can find the elect and teach them :) I know that there are people being prepared by the Lord to be taught (Alma 13:24), and right now, our job is to find them! So if you know any fun and creative ways to find people, let me know :)

we found an american burger place today! IT WAS SO GOOD! DIVINE :)

I hope you all have a great week! Make good choices, work hard! :) I love you all! Sister Ford