Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Dear Family and Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving this week!!! There is so much to be grateful for this year! I just feel so blessed! We have an American in our branch (She married a man in our branch) and she spoke yesterday in Sacrament Meeting (In English). But she spoke about gratitude and I really enjoyed it. She talked about how when we look for the hand of God in all things, we are able to see things with an Eternal Perspective. It was really what I needed to hear. Sometimes, on a mission, it is so easy to get stuck in the day-to-day actions, and we end up wondering if we will ever finish. It is so important to be grateful because then and only then can we the bigger picture, and have the faith and hope to endure and to continue on. I know last week I talked about what I was grateful for, but I think this week I will just continue that list on :)

- I am grateful for my companion. Sister Kelly is the best! I'm grateful for the chance I have to serve with her! She has taught me so much! I'm grateful for the other missionaries I serve around! This last week we have had another set of sisters live with us (Sister Lameraux and McInnes)! 

I am grateful for them and their positive attitudes! 

It has been a party living together :)

- I am grateful for the branch I am serving in! I love Suvorovsky! I love the members! I love their willingness to help and serve me! I love going to church and singing and worshipping together! I love being able to go to their houses and to teach each other. I love that the members trust me to teach their relatives and friends! I love that they are always really to help me out! I love knowing that I am creating eternal friendships!

- I am grateful for Ukrainian food. This week we had a Thanksgiving Dinner after church. 

 Thanksgiving Dinner! 

 Me with Larissa at Thanksgiving! 

 

The elders make a turkey, and then we had Ukrainian food. Pickled Vegtables, Pancakes, Vereniki (Kindof like dumplings...I think) and Tea and Juice. Very different from America, but really good! :) I am grateful that I like the food here! I love Borsch and I really have yet to find a food that I don't like! Last week for FHE we went to a members house and made Vereniki. 

 Making Vereniki!

 

 The raw vereniki

  More vereniki! :) YUM! :)

 

It is like pasta dough that is rolled out, then filled and folded over and cooked in water. We make it cherry filled and it was SO GOOD! The ones that we had for our Thanksgiving dinner were filled with cabbage, also really good!

- I am grateful for our investigators and the opportunties that we have to teach people. This last week we FINALLY met with Sophia. We had a really good lesson about Jesus Christ. She is a cutie! She fell and broke her arm so she wasn't at church yesterday, sadly. Olga returned from Kyiv and we are meeting this Tuesday! I am so excited! :) We also found a new investigator from English! She wants to know more about why we are here and about our church! We are so excited to meet with her :)

-I am grateful for the old grandmas that we meet! They are so cute! We had one, Elena, who tried to set me up with her son this week. He is 26 and "His heart is free". She also said that she would learn english! Just this random lady off the street. 

Me and Sister Evanyk

 

I love the 2 old grandmas that we meet with every week. I love singing with them and sharing my testimony with them! They have special spirits!

- I am grateful for miracles! This week, we stopped by a Less Active member. We got up to her floor, knocked on the door, and she opened the door and said, "I am so glad that you are here, come in" We got to go in and talk. It was so good! It was especially cool because we went back later that week for a lesson and there was a guard there that wouldn't let us up. Fortunately the less active's mom showed up and knew that we were supposed to go and let us up! It was really nice :)

- I am grateful for my family and friends! I feel so loved by you all! Thanks for your prayers and for your love! It's hard to be away from so many great people during the Holidays, but I know that my work here, now, is so important! I love being here!

Hunger Games! In russian! WEIRD! (actually 

Ukrainian...just kidding about the russian :) )

This week, this Thanksgiving, remember all that you have to be grateful for! Most of all, I am grateful for Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer! I am grateful for this gospel, I am grateful for this church! I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I am grateful that I know that I am a daughter of a Loving Heavenly Father and that he has a plan for me! I am grateful for my forever family! I love this gospel and I love and am grateful for my opportunity to be a missionary! Despite the hard times and the mean people, there is no where else I would rather be! I love it!

Love you all! Enjoy your turkey!

Sister Ford

Hello :)

Dear Family and Friends!

How is everyone doing? Hopefully all is well! I hear the the weather is being difficult, basically all over the world! Luckily, Odessa Ukraine is doing really well! And I am doing really well! I am feeling especially grateful today, perfect timing because Thanksgiving is coming up so soon! Our Zone has been debating for the past day or so what day Thanksgiving is, the 28th or 21st. I said the 28th, which was correct :) But either way, I am filled with a lot of gratitude for how blessed I am!

As far as Thanksgiving goes, our branch is so excited to do a Thanksgiving Dinner after church next Sunday. It will feature a turkey and then Ukrainian food. I was hoping for the opportunity to make an Apple Pie, but apparently they don't want one. I guess I will just make one for myself. :) I tried to tell them that the pies made it more like Thanksgiving than the Turkey, but they didn't listen!

I'm grateful to be serving a mission, and especially for the opportunity to be here in Suvorovsky Ukraine! The Lord blesses me everyday! I'm grateful for the good times, and also for the Hard times. I'm grateful for the chance to learn Russian, even if sometimes I think it is basically impossible. I'm grateful for the People here in Ukraine!

Sorry I don't have very many pictures this week. I just didn't think about it! I'll take more next week! These are some of our district pictures from this transfer! Fun fun! :) I can't see which ones I picked so hopefully I got the good ones :)

I'm grateful for the opportunity to talk with everyone! I'm grateful for the chance to be so outside my comfort zone everyday. I can't believe that I hated talking to people and like talking to workers at stores. I'm grateful for being pushed now, so that I will forever be a friendly, talkative person. (Like my father) :).

I'm grateful for the members here! They are strong and have powerful testimonies! I'm grateful for the branch I work in and the eternal friendships that I am making! I love being able to walk in the branch and be able to hug and greet everyone. I love and am grateful for the simple expressions of love, like a grasp of a hand, or a smile. Yesterday, one of the grandma's in the branch leaned over to me and rested her head on my shoulder, and told me that she was glad I was there. I'm grateful for that!

I'm grateful for our investigators! This last week we met with Olga! It was AMAZING! We met with her and she had questions about the Book of Mormon, because she had read the first half of First Nephi! and She loved it! :) It was so awesome! We also talked about Faith, and asked for her permission to use her computer to show a Mormon Message. She said yes and we showed her one, Called Mountains to Climb (one of my favorites! Please watch it :) http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2176618422001 After we watch that, she was so in love with the LDS site. We showed her several times how to find all the Mormon Messages and how to watch them. We watched several more with her and she loved them! She said, "Why didn't you show this to me earlier???" It was cute. When we invited her to church she said, "Of course, I will be in Kyiv this weekend but I will for sure next weekend! I am your man." I'm so excited for her progression in the gospel! I'm also grateful for Sophia! She came to church yesterday and we had a small little miracle in which the Primary President asked for help because she has a small baby! We walked into Primay, where Sophia and her brother were coloring! It was perfect because it gave us a chance to draw with them and to get to know them in a really nonthreatening way. We are so excited to meet this week! Sophia is special! :)

I'm grateful for my companion and her happiness! She is a great example to me! I'm grateful for the new sisters that moved in Saturday! Sister Lameraux and McInnes are so much fun and happy! I seriously love them! It is so fun to have other sisters that we spend time with and love! I am so excited to work with them this transfer! I'm also grateful for the other missionaries here and for President Klebingat and His family!

I'm thankful for all of you at home! I love you all and am thankful for your prayers! :) I love being here, even though I do miss all of you at times! I am praying for you and hope all is well :) I'm grateful for my safety and for my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ! I know He lives and loves everyone of us! He has a plan for us, to help us feel more happiness in our lives! I love him and know that He loves me!

Anyways...that's all for this week, folks! I love you! Hope all is well! Know that Sister Ford is happy and healthy and grateful! Have a FANTASTIC week :)
Love, Sister Kati Ford