Hey Hey Hey

Hey Friends and Family!

How is everything going in America? I hear it is COLD there! Funny story, It isn't cold here yet! I'm sure it will be soon, but for right now, I think it is way colder in America! Who would've thought that America would be colder than Ukraine?

This week was really good! We received TRANSFO! And....I'm staying with Sister Kelly, in Suvorovsky again! Woo-Hoo! I can't believe that I will be in the same area for over 6 months! But I love it here! I don't want to leave...EVER!!! And neither do the members apparently. Last night, we hosted a fireside (I'll talk more about that later). After the fireside ended, I was sitting with some ladies in our branch. They were talking about our musical number that the missionaries did and they said, "Sister Ford, we have been talking about you and decided that you need to finish your mission, get married, and then we all want you to come back and live here in our branch. We all will invite you over every week and teach you how to cook Ukrainian Foods. Sister Ford, we feel like you are a part of our group, and we don't want you to leave. We want you to be with us forever." I almost started crying, I felt so loved. Here I am, in the middle of Ukraine, talking with a bunch of ladies all at least 35 years older then me, in a language that I can't really speak well,  with them asking me to move back after my mission and forever be friends with them. I couldn't believe how much love I felt from them and for them! I really do love this branch and am so blessed to continue to serve here!

This week was AWESOME, maybe the best of my mission!!! We saw a lot of miracles!

 Sister Goncharova dog had puppies! Aww :)

 

Tuesday was for sure the day of miracles for me! Here is the story of that day:

A couple weeks ago, I was praying that I could know who is Suvorovsky was ready to hear and accept the Gospel and come unto to Christ through Baptism. As I finished my prayer, I saw in my mind, a little girl dressed in white, singing a song (obviously at her baptismal service). I had the strongest feeling that she was ready to be baptized. The girl was one of the ladies in our ward's granddaughter. So that same day, we called the lady in our ward, her name is Raisa, and set up an appointment. Through the next week, she cancelled our appointment two times, which has never happened before. Finally on this Tuesday, we set up an appointment that finally worked out. As we headed into our appointment, I was so nervous. But we got in, prayed and listened to Elder Ballard's talk from conference together. Afterwords, we discussed it a little bit. Then I felt prompted to share that my experience from the previous week. As I shared that experience, the Spirit grew and grew, confirming my words, both to myself and to Sister Raisa. She told us that she also felt like her granddaughter was ready, explaining how she was already reading the Book of Mormon everyday and Praying, which I didn't know. We set up an appointment to meet with her granddaughter this week. As we said a prayer to end our lesson (on our knees), I listened to Raisa give thanks for the Spirit that leads us to know what to do and how to share the gospel! How true that is! The Spirit will guide and direct us as we are worthy of it and obedient.
As we walked out of this lesson, Sister Kelly and I were both filled with the Spirit, almost to the point of not being able to speak. As we walked away, we passed this man in a wheelchair. We both felt strongly to talk to him. As we talked to him, we learned that he was a member of our ward (but very inactive, almost anti). We spoke for awhile and at the end of our conversation, he said that the next time we meet with his wife, he will come on our lesson! It was a second small miracle. I have a testimony that the Lord puts us where we need to be so that His work can hasten!
From that conversation, we headed to our next appointment with Sister Goncharova. As we walked, Sister Kelly and I joked about with how perfect our day had already been, maybe we would walk in and Sister Goncharova would have a lady there for us to teach. We were totally joking though, because Sister G is super old, and everytime we ask her, she says, "Everyone I've asked always says no". Finally we got to her house, walked in and THERE WAS A LADY THERE THAT WANTED TO HEAR THE GOSPEL MESSAGE!!! Oh my goodness! She couldn't stay very long but she is coming back again next week! I was so shocked, but felt so blessed! What a day of miracles!

Later that night, we had a game night. It was a really good turnout! I even learned how to play a Russian card game!

Also, a cool experience from English. Every week when we end English, we invite everyone to stay for a spiritual thought. This last week, it was my turn, and the topic was the First Vision. We showed a clip of a video that had the first vision, and then I bore my testimony about it. It was so cool because the Spirit was so strong. I could tell that people felt the Spirit, which is awesome! And as I testified, I felt my testimony grow as well! I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ. He saw them because he had faith and because he prayed. When we pray, we receive answers to our prayers through thoughts and feelings from the Holy Ghost. And it is all because our Heavenly Father loves each one of us! What a great message to share! :)

Also, another really good day was Sunday, yesterday! Yesterday we had our Stake Conference (Except District Conference, because we aren't a Stake). It was broadcast to all of Europe East from Salt Lake. It was so AWESOME! Elder Nelson spoke, and a couple Elders from the Seventy and A sister from the Primary Presidency. It was cool because we got to watch it in English (because that was the language that everyone spoke, except for Elder Porter because he knows RUSSIAN! I didn't know that! It was cool! :) But they talked a lot about family and missionary work and I felt really strongly that the Lord is hastening his work and loves  the people here in Ukraine, Russia, and the Rest of Eastern Europe!

Then after that, we went and I said goodbye to Elder and Sister Colvin. They left Odessa today to go home. So sad! I am going to miss them so much! I'm so grateful for all they did to help me while I was here!

Saying goodbye to the Colvins :( 

 

As we left from the Colvins, I felt that we needed to take the backway to the Bus stop. As we were walking, this man stopped us. He told us that he had met with missionaries before in another part of Ukraine, and that he wanted to meet again and learn more about our church again! What a miracle that was that we crossed paths with him!

Last night we also had our fireside that us missionaries planned! I was SO nervous for it! But we had over 30 people there and they loved it! We served dinner (which the members brought food and cake for!!) 

 

 pictures from our fireside. after talking! 

and then talked for awhile. Then we had the spiritual part! We showed a video of our lives a little before we came on the mission, then talked about how everything we gave up was worth it to have the opportunity to be here and to help people come unto Christ. Then we showed a video of all the missionaries from Suvorovsky who have served missions and had one of them talk about how his mission has blessed his life! Then we sang a musical number. We sang the EFY Medley (As Sisters in Zion and We'll Bring His World His Truth). They had never heard it before (in fact, they thought I wrote it, haha funny!) and they loved it! I think everyone was crying! We translated it into Russian too! It was really powerful. Then we had our Ward Mission Leader share how everyone can share the gospel! It was awesome! :)

 The elders accidentally sent us 150 blank texts. Don't know how...

 

 We helped a lady carry her cart. 

After the Fireside, I was talking to one of the ladies in the ward about how she is teaching her son English. I squatted down next to her son and started singing "Eensy Weensy Spider" He was so amazed and started doing the hand motions with me. It was the cutest thing EVER! His dad (jokingly) said, "The Sisters need to babysit for us!" It was one of the most precious moments I have had with a child here! I loved it! :)

Oh yeah! I almost forgot, next transfer (this week) we will have another set of Sisters here in Suvorovsky! They will be living in the house right next door to us! It will be so fun! :) I can't wait! :)

I love being on my mission and I love sharing the gospel with people here! I love all of you! I hope that you are happy and healthy and grateful :) Have a great week!

Also, just so everyone knows, I have the Best mom ever and Her birthday is this week! I love her so much and Hopes that she has a GREAT DAY! :)

Love you all! :)

Love,

Sister Kati Ford

Week 2 in Ukraine! :) I love this country! :)

Dear Everyone, 

This week I have grown to love so much about Ukraine!  I want nothing more then to have all my family and friends come so I can show them everything that I love!  I love the beauty,

 I love the people,

 I love the stray animals,

 I even love the weirdness, 

the occasional ghetto-ness,

 and the scary moments! As I'm sitting here at the computer, I'm trying to think of something that I don't like... I think there is only one thing, the large amount that people smoke.  It is a little gross but hey, I can teach them all about the Word of Wisdom! 

This week I have so many miracles and little great things that happened that I don't even know where to start!  

I guess just with last Monday.  We had choir.  I think I might have mentioned how choir was scary because we didn't know what she was saying (The choir director is a recent convert named Cveta, we call her Cveta Music) and I guess Sister Hunt and I weren't singing super well... so she made us sing like a one-on-one lesson with her.  Super scary!  She has a love for long extended metaphors and when Sister Busch would try to translate them, we would die because they were so crazy sounding.  But anyways, after choir, we were supposed to have a lesson but the girl never showed up.  We had a member there, Masha.  Masha is AWESOME!  She served a mini mission in Kyiv and wants to serve a full time mission!  She speaks quite a bit of English.  Since our lesson was a no show, we went out and did some contacting for our English class! Masha and I did member splits together.  It was crazy!  She told me what to say and then I did it.  We got to the point (because my accent is pretty awful) where people would just come up to me and ask for a card because they could tell that I spoke English, not Russian.  It was so cool and we handed out every single English card we had.  I even had some teenage boys tell me that I was cool, which is a big deal.  They don't like to compliment other people here so a "Tea klasna" was AWESOME! :) So our awesome day of contacting made Monday awesome! 

The next morning was my first meeting with my new district. I feel like cards have been flipped because instead of there only being 3 elders, there are now only 3 sisters!  But we have an awesome district!  It is a great testimony builder to me to see and hear the testimonies of the Elders around me.  I think that our mission has the best Elders!  Seriously! 

The other thing that Odessa has that are awesome is a great YSA program!  Seriously! The youth here are so strong and I am so blessed that I get to see there examples!  They are super active and so sweet and nice!  They all want to serve missions and they all want to come out and contact and teach with us!  It makes missionary work so fun for us!  They invite their friends to all the activities so we always get to go and get to know them!  They are so eager to share this gospel! 

This week, we had a Patriarch visit Odessa.  The Church has traveling Patriachs that give blessings in areas that usually don't have a Patriarch.  So Brother Rogers, from Utah,

 came out and is traveling throughout our mission, giving blessings to the Saints here.  The rules for the church ask that a single woman isn't alone with the Patriarch so they asked us to sit in on blessings.  what a cool experience.  The spirit was SO strong, even though I don't understand the words.  It was so great to see Recent Converts and such receive blessings and come out with a visibly brighter light in their eyes!  There has been a big focus on patriarchal blessings recently and how they can bless your life when you receive them!  So it was awesome to be a part of that! It was also a great opportunity to meet strong members from the whole district! Also, on an incredible cool side note, Brother Rogers said that all of the 12 tribes of Israel have been found in Ukraine.  It is such a cool and clear gathering of Israel here! I am so blessed to be here! Also, I was able to help Brother Rogers (because he is quite old) do some of the electronic part of the blessings.  While I worked on that he observed that Odessa, more then anywhere in Ukraine, has super strong, motivated, missionary work focused members.  It helped me realized how it is a blessing to be here!  for sure!

This week we met with the ward mission leader!  I'm not sure it is possibly to be more focused on missionary work then we are, but if anyone can do it, it is him!  He is AWESOME!  We set up a program to encourage families to give away copies of the Book of Mormon, so we are excited to see how that works out!  But he is so excited to share the gospel!

Thursday the weather was crazy! 

 It rained so much!  thank goodness for my rain jacket,

 although I didn't wear my rain boots that day.  Bummer!  But we headed out to our other area for the first time.  I hadn't realized how nice Center is, but it is super nice.  Suborskey is nice too, but not quite as nice.  We went to meet a less active member and because of the rain and the crazy musutka-bus ride, we were a little late. The lady FREAKED OUT.  Scariest moment of my life.  So freaky, but then she fed us and let us share a spiritual thought.  But that was freaky!

We also did service for a member of that branch.  She can't walk but her testimony is so strong.  We helped her clean her kitchen and talked to her.  On a side note, in the bedroom, where we put our coats, there was a TV.  When we were leaving, it played the Old Spice commercial- the I'm on a horse one- in Russian!  That was pretty awesome!

We also taught English for the first time!  It was SO fun!  I really enjoyed it! :) We just talk! We have about 15-20 people everytime which is an awesome turnout.  They are really hardworking dedicated people.  We always invite them to church and activities which is fun!  The younger ones always have questions about our missions, which are fun to awesome.  One day I had a group of like 8 people listening attently to about when I opened my mission call!  They listened to my story and then they asked me a lot of questions.  It was SO fun! There was two ladies there, Luba and Yula.  We invited them to a church activity, and they came-- I'll explain that story later!

On Saturday, we had the great activity to go to a district activity.  It was celebrating 20 years of the church being in Odessa!  It was so fun to hear from the first members, to see pictures and to hear musical numbers.  We sang in it,

 and despite our singing talents, it went really well!  It was really interesting for me because I had thought that it would have been fun to serve in Nauvoo because I love the Pioneers.  But now I realized that I am surrounded by Latter-day Pioneers.  I often look around me and am shocked by the grossness of society here.  It is worse then anywhere I have been before.  But these latter-day Pioneers have figured out how to wade through all the grossness and still have super strong testimonies!  I love them! 

 This was the activity that Luba and Yula came to.  I admire them, the activity was 3 HOURS long, but they stayed the whole time.  And afterwords, we were talking to them and one of us was holding a Book of Mormon.  Luba looked at the book and said, "Is that your book?" and we were like, "yes"  and she said, "I've read that book.  I believe that it is true, I want to be baptized."  and we were speechless. I've heard of things like that happening but I still can't believe that it happened to us!  She didn't even remember where she had gotten the Book of Mormon from!  We taught her yesterday and we teach her again tomorrow and are hoping to help her get a baptism date tomorrow!  They are both wonderful women! Yesterday we taught some of the first lesson.  Sister Hunt shared a super powerful testimony of Joseph Smith and then we talked about how we can know that the Book of Mormon is true through the Holy Ghost and Luba was like, "That makes sense".  She loved the promise in Moroni 10:3-5.  We asked them to read and pray together and they both said that they would!  it was awesome, we passed them later that night in the park and they were reading the Book of Mormon together! We are excited to teach them tomorrow! 

Also, all three of us spoke in church yesterday and we did a musical number.  Afterwords, a member of the District (Stake) Presidency stood up and said, "I hope you realize that this is historic.  We just heard from the first 19 year old sister missionaries in Ukraine, in Odessa, and in this branch.  This is a great time to share the gospel because we have these missionaries here.  Help them, help them with the language, give them your referrals, invite them over to teach others." So I'm basically famous...tell all your friends that you know the first 19 year old sisters in Odessa, I'm sure they will be impressed :) 

So anyways...I am loving Ukraine!  I can testify of the power of the gift of tongues and the power of the Spirit!  I love being a missionary and serving the Lord!  I know he is aware of me and is blessing me!  Everything that I am doing is only possible through the Lord!   Pray for me and pray for those that I am teaching!  Share the gospel with your friends!  It will bless their lives! I'm grateful for this opportunity!  I know this church is true and I love it! 

Love

Sister Ford

(random pictures she sent without any captions)

PS- my mission president letter:

Dear President,

This week was really good.  I finally felt like a "real" missionary which was nice, mostly because we had some lessons and spent some time contacting and looking for new investigators.  This week had some unusual things happen like the Patriarch coming but I feel like the Lord blessed us for the service that we did helping Brother Rogers. 

This week we were still adjusting to the missionary lifestyle. I think Sister Hunt and I finally got to the point where we remember to take food with us when we leave the house so that we can eat even if we aren't home.  

This week I had a huge testimony builder in doing missionary work despite the other activities that we are doing.  Several times this week when we would be walking home at night, or today on P-day, gospel conversations start and we have the opportunity to share a message.  I'm grateful for Sister Busch because she is always ready to share the gospel.  One night especially it was a little bit past nine and we were trying to get home after a lesson.  When Sister Busch started talking to this lady, I was slightly disappointed because I didn't want to be late.  But then the lady committed to come to English, and even gave us her phone number to meet with her and talk about our beliefs.  So it testified to me that the Lord will place people in our paths no matter what we are doing and we need to be ready to share our message at all times! 

I think the thing that is stressing me out the most is the language.  I really struggle because I don't understand or know how to say very much and it is hard because a conversation will be going on and I don't want to interrupt it with questions about something that I didn't understand.  But the Lord showered me with tender mercies of people that needed help with the gospel, in English this week.  I had the opportunity to help a man named Isaac search the scriptures for scriptures about love (in English).  I felt helpful which was nice because usually I feel like I can't help much.  Something I did learn was that when I testify in Russian, the Spirit can testify to the people.  It always touches me when I bear my simple testimony and someone is really touched.  I realize that the Spirit is teaching them, I feel blessed that the Spirit can work through me. 

This week we meet a lady at English named Luba.  We invited her to a ward activity and after she told us that she has read the entire Book of Mormon and believes it and wants to be baptized.  So we are excited to help her!  We taught her yesterday with her daughter and we teach them again tomorrow! 

Anyway...It was a good week! I love serving the Lord in this beautiful city of Odessa! I feel so blessed! 

Sister Ford

Missionary Picture A Day :)

So...for as long as I can remember, whenever I go anywhere, my Mom asks me to take lots of pictures. I'm not the best at it, but I really want to take pictures on my mission.  So I thought of trying to take a picture a day.  But instead of just taking any old picture, I have a "Scavenger Hunt" of pictures I want to take!  I made a list of pictures I want to take every transfer and then make cute handouts for each one.  Then I printed them out in put them in my mission binder!  I'm so excited to try and take each picture!! :) Hopefully I can get all of them! 

I added the handouts below for my fellow sisters!  :) Enjoy! 

Sorry for the typo! This is really for people in the MTC for 9 weeks! Oops! 

Working Out as a Sister Missionary + Exercise Book!

So...during my mission I will get 30 minutes per day to work out.  Only 30 minutes.  Now I'm not saying that I'm some workout fanatic, but I have done cross country and track for the past 7 years and just recently did my first half-marathon.  Now I could wake up early and work out more, but that all depends on my companion.  So instead, I searched and picked the best ways to motivate myself and make the most out of the 30 minutes! Also, included are instructions to make the workout book I made! 

MY WORKOUT ADVICE FOR FUTURE SISTER MISSIONARIES!

1. Bring cute workout clothes. Or at least like the clothes you bring to workout in.   Now I know this sounds dumb, but if you like the clothes you have to workout in, then you will be more likely to workout!  Bring clothes that you will be comfortable working out in.  I personally love the loose capris, but I know plenty of people that prefer basketball shorts.  Make sure they are modest, but beyond that, make sure you like them! Also, buy clothes for the weather you will be in.  If it will be cold, bring long sleeved, thermal leggings, headband, cheap gloves, etc.  If it will be hot, bring sweat wicking material. Be smart with what you bring!  It has to last for 18 months!!  (Below are some of the things that I bought!) 

2.  This may be the most important one, but bring good quality shoes!  If you are wearing the same pair of shoes everyday for 18 months, make sure they are good quality.  I would recommend going to a running store (I like Roadrunners Sports)  that has a program to determine the best type of shoe for your foot and tread.  Also, shoes have specific durations that they are made for.  Look for an endurance shoe or one for longer distances.  They will last longer.  Some shoes are made for 200 miles, others for 500+ miles.  Look for the ones that will last 500+ miles.  They will be more expensive, but won't fall apart in the middle of your mission! My favorite running shoe brands are Nike, Brooks, and Mizunos. For my mission, I got a pair of Mizunos (see below!)

3.  Use what you have to bring the most success.  Sister missionaries don't have enough space to pack a personal gym.  However, with just your body weight, you can have a very successful workout.  Other small equipment that would be helpful to have would include bands and a speed jump rope.  Jump rope is a great way to get an indoor cardio workout.  Also, instead of bringing weight, use cans of food, water bottles, or shoes.  

4. STRETCH!  Make sure to stretch after the workouts.  It will be your lifesaver.  No one wants to tract all day with a sore body from the earlier workout.  Stretching for even 2 minutes (but preferably at least 5 minutes) twice a day will make worlds of difference in how your body responds to working out and the other stresses of a mission. 

5. Bring workouts to do!  If you target certain areas of your body per day, you will be more successful. Also, circuit workouts are very effective in short amounts of time! I've seen many different ways to bring workouts, but I'm kinda crafty, so I made a workout book!  And...I love it!  I'm so excited to do these workouts!  I got most of my workouts from Pinterest (my board here).  Then I cut them out and pasted them in a small notebook.  I also typed up what each type of exercise was in a index.  

Because I am a nice person, I made a PDF (link here) of all the exercises and the index, already to size so others can use it to make their own book!  Enjoy!