LAST WEEK IN AMERICA!!!!WHAT!?!?!?!?

My Branch Email-

This week was really good. I am just super surprised by how 
fast the days go by! I can't believe that in a week, I will be 
in Ukraine, sharing the gospel with people there! I can't 
wait until I'm there and can help them learn of Christ!

This week I had something hit me really hard. This is what
 I wrote in my journal, "During Personal Study today, I had 
the best study ever. I had been reflecting on how I could 
be a better teacher, when I decided to try and teach like 
Christ would. I found an article that taught about some of 
his teaching methods, such as Sharing Scriptures, Parables, 
loving them, Trusting them, asking them questions, and asking
them to testify. After I read that I was thinking about one of 
our investigators, Maria. When I was studying for her, I 
tried to use as many of the teaching methods that Christ 
would use. As I was pondering, an idea came to me to try 
and explain that Christ would help her with her burdens. 
So we came up with a object lesson explaining that because 
Christ suffered the Atonement for us, we are never alone. 
He will help us lift our burdens. We shared a scripture in 
Matthew that talked about our burdens being made light 
through him. When we shared this message with Maria, 
she felt the love of the Savior through us and through the 
Holy Ghost. I really felt like I taught like Christ would teach 
her in that lesson. My love for Maria grew so much during that 
lesson because I really wanted her to understand and feel 
of Christ's love. I realized that Christ is the perfect example 
to us, in every aspect. He was the perfect friend, perfect 
teacher, perfect missionary, perfect brother, and we can 
learn a lot by following his example. I want to try to be 
more like him in every aspect of my life."And it's true. I 
love my Savior and I know as I strive to be more like him, 
I can be a successful missionary! What a blessing to be able 
to be associated with him everyday. He suffered for all of 
us, and sharing the joy of that message is so much fun! We 
get to help others feel hope and joy, which is a HUGE blessing 
for us!The other thing that I noticed this week is how much 
I love my investigators. When I think about leaving them 
next week, I get super sad. I love them, and I just really 

want what is best for them. I imagine it will be so much 
harder once I get to Ukraine and they are real people!

So this week went by SUPER fast!! It seems like just 
yesterday I wrote home, and now I am again!!! Say What?!?!?!

I had a cold this week.  That is pretty typical, most people 
get a little sick right before they leave!  But I'm all 
good now!! :)

WE GOT OUR TRAVEL PLAN!!! YAY!! we are really leaving!

So we leave the MTC at 4:00 in the morning next Tuesday.  
We get to the airport at about 5.  We check in and then 
we can CALL HOME!!  There is no time limit and I can call 
home during our layover also!  :) Our flight leaves at 7:50 
and we fly to DC where we have a 2 and a half hour layover 
from 2:30 - 5:00 ish.  Then we fly from DC to Austria!!!  
Then we have an hour there and we fly to Kyiv!!! Our 
travel is about 24 hours!!  Fun!!! There are 18 missionaries 
flying to Kyiv, so it will be a PARTY!! or just a lot of 
sleeping, haha :)

 I will probably call about 5:30 SLC time (7:30 your time) and then at about 2:30 

DC/Michigan time.  So if you want to be prepared!! :)

This week, we weren't quite productive as week past.  
We finished our book so we have been doing a lot of 
review.  And review games.  We do a lot of basketball and 
such.  It is a lot of fun!  Also, a lot of contacting!!!  
It has been good practice! :)

Russian mistake of the week:  So in Russian, the 
words for "man" and "car" are very similar.  Like 
one letter different.  So a lot of the time when 
we are teaching the Law of Chasity, people will 
talk about relationships between a man and a women 
but accidentally say a car and a women.  Our Elders 
did that in a lesson this week and their investigator 
was like on the ground laughing.  So I need to be careful 
about that one!!!

This week we have done a  lot of culture learning.  
It has been fun!  Russia and Ukraine have a sad history, 
so it is sometimes super sad to learn about.  But we are 
going to bring them happiness, so that is good!

One highlight of this week was one of our lessons 
with Sasha.  Afterwords our teacher pulled us out 
of the classroom and told us how awesome our lesson 
was.  That was super exciting to hear!  We had our last 
temple walk on Sunday.  Which was sad.  I still can't 
believe that we are leaving!  Like, really leaving!  Oh boy!!!

Our firesides this week were awesome!  On Sunday 
night, we had our first repeat.  Mary Edmonds came 
again and was just as funny as last time!  I love her stories!!  
This is one joke she told,

"One day there was a mouse with her baby mice.  
They decided to go on a picnic.  When they were on 
the way, a big cat appeared.  The mama mouse jumped 
between the cat and her baby mice and said, "Woof Woof!" 
The cat ran away.  Then the mama mouse turned to her babies 
and said, "That is why you need to learn a foreign language."

haha... I just realized that maybe that wasn't super 
funny...I thought is was... anyway... haha! :)

Oh maybe I should talk about this...So remember last 
week when my foot was all bruised.  Well...It wasn't 
getting better...So I went to the doctor and they sent me 
to get X-rays!!! I rode in a car for the first time in 8 
weeks!! That was weird!!! :) But anyways...we went 
and waited (Mom- Doc was on the TV and I thought of you 
(: ) and then I got 3 xrays and then went back to the MTC.  
The other sisters in the car had to go somewhere else so we 
drove all over Provo!  Like all through BYU and by the 
hospital and stuff.  It was super awesome to see the real 
world!!!  I loved just looking out of the window!  It felt like 
home!So anyways...got back to the MTC and talked to the 
doctor... It isn't broken...thank goodness.  But he is 
concerned about it so he gave me a walking cast.  I will 
go back and get it checked on Friday and then hopefully 
I will still be cleared to leave!  I'm pretty sure I will still 
leave but pray for my foot!! :)

Last night was our last Tuesday night devotional!  It 
was so good! :) He talked a lot in the scriptures and I 
loved hearing his insight on common scripture passages 
and how they applied to missionary work.  I think I will 
miss devotionals the most once we are gone!!! and our 
teachers, and our district.  Basically everything!! :)

So life is good and being a missionary is really good!  
Sorry my letter is shorter, there isn't a lot to say after 
8 weeks here! But I can say that I love the MTC!  I love 
the Spirit here and I love being surrounded by so many 
different missionaries that are from all over the world 
and serving all over the world!  I love the devotionals, 
I love my leaders, I love my teachers.  It is just so great!  
Someone said that, " The MTC is a haven for those that 
make it so" and that is so true! If you have a mind to 
love the MTC, you really will! And it is seriously great!  
I think I could spend 18 months just here...except I 
really want to start teaching people and making my 
own food haha! :) And if they had Cafe Rio haha :)

I have a few minutes, so just some advice to anyone 
that may be reading this that is going to the MTC soon:

1. Take short showers.  Keep the lines short!  We 
had a sister that would go around every morning saying, 
"Girl's camp showers, not prom showers"

2. Mail is so great.  Write your missionary friends often!  
They will love you for it!

3. ALWAYS go to choir. You will not have the full MTC 
experience if you don't go to choir!! Seriously!! And go 
early...There isn't always room for everyone!

4. Do what you are supposed to do, when you are 
supposed to do it!  Sleep when it is time to sleep, 
eat when it is time to eat, and EXERCISE when it is 
time to exercise.

5. Enjoy spending the time with the other missionaries.  
It won't be long before it is just you are your companion 
alone, all the time!

6. Have a good attitude.  No one wants to listen 
to a complainer! 

7. FREE BOX!!  I know so many sisters that have 
awesome stuff from the free box.  
Just a random little secret about the MTC haha

8. Enjoy the food.  It is American after all. My 
favorites and the gyros, biscuits and gravy, and 
anything Mexican.  They also have good soup!  
and if I can eat it for 9 
weeks, anyone can enjoy it for a little while!

9. Know that you are not perfect!  No one is perfect!  
As Elder Holland said, Imperfect people are all Christ 
has ever had to work with.  Just try your very best!

10.  Love your branch presidency and district and zone 
leaders.  They want to help you!

11. BE HAPPY!  This is missionary fun, not missionary 
work! ( haha I typed that out backwards first...I'm glad 
I noticed and fixed that!)

12. Sisters, be modest.   Everyone knows where 
their knees are! They should be covered when you 
are sitting and standing!  Just be smart! :)

13. Don't be afraid to share!  Everyone get sick of 
their own clothes.  There has never been a day when 
someone doesn't borrow something from me!  It's fun!

14. Love your district!  Be friends but also remember 
that you are here to work and learn! 

15. This is where missionaries are trained!  Become 
a better missionary while you are here and by the 
time you leave, your gospel flame should be burning SO bright so 
that you can share the gospel, get rejected, and still love it! :)

Love you all!  I KNOW that this church is true!  I know 
the Book of Mormon is true!  I know that through Jesus 
Christ, we can find happiness and joy!  I love this gospel 
and the joy it brings me!  I love my family!  I love my 
friends!  Write me, before Saturday or Friday with 
DearElders!  After that, send it to UKRAINE!  Next time I email, 
I will be in UKRAINE!  I CAN'T WAIT!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Ford :)

Holy Cow--What a Great Week!!

Below is my letter to the Branch Presidency: 

"This week has been so good! I feel like I am finally getting to a point where the schedule is starting to feel normal, which is really nice. This week flew by! I feel like it was just yesterday that I was emailing and now here it is again!

This week I feel like I was able to feel the spirit so strong, almost all the time. It was really nice to feel peace and happiness and know that I am doing the Lord's work and that he is happy with me. The devotionals this week were all so amazing. I feel like it is impossible to feel "down" on Sunday or Tuesday, because we have such good speakers that care about us and teach us such marvelous lessons.

This week we continued teaching our 4 investigators. It's challenging and rewarding. I know that if I can testify and if the Spirit is present, then we are doing a good job, even if it is just in broken Russian. One lesson that was great was when we taught Max last Thursday. Originallly our lesson was about Joseph Smith and we were going to introduce the Book of Mormon. However, I got into the lesson, and the Spirit was so strong and we ended up talking about prayer instead. It was awesome because even though I hadn't prepared any notes in Russian about Prayer, I was able to say what I wanted to say! I know that was the gift of tongues at work. The language really does come when we need it the most. I'm excited for TRC (Teaching Resourse Center) tonight because it is on prayer! I prepared some material but I think I am really going to try to go from my heart and not from what I have written down!

We also had a really good lesson with Sasha. He seems really eager to try to gain a testimony! We are going to introduce him to the Book of Mormon this week! I can't wait! We decided that for part of our lesson, we are going to share our favorite scriptures. I'm going to share 2nd Nephi 32:3 and talk about how the Lord can answer prayers through the scriptures. I love that scripture because I love the imagery of the word "feast". I love that as a missionary, I really have the opportunity to "feast" on the words of Christ everyday!

1 thing that Sister Sink and I have done is to share our testimony in Russian with another set of missionaries every night before we go home! It is the best thing. It is so great because even though they can't understand us, they can still feel the Spirit testifying of the truth. It has really helped me gain a testimony that the language of the Spirit is universal! I love it!"

Seriously though, this week was one of the best ever!  I had a great week and I don't even know where to begin to tell you about it!

First of all, did you get the picture of the dictionary I sent you?  It is by Katzner and apparently is the best thing ever.  I would love one if you can find it!

Also, now missionaries in the MTC get 60 minutes to email! How awesome is that?!?!  I am stoked about that!   So this letter will be AWESOME!!

The only bum part about this week is that I went 3 days without mail :(  How sad is that!!! It was ok though...But Jacob, Mom, and Parker, I want to hear from you!  I really want to know how track and studying for AP tests are!  Also, are you going to Prom??  You should!!  Ask someone cute ;). 

I wanted to share part of a journal entry that really sums up how I have been feeling. 

"Today I have such a joy for the opportunity to serve a misison. I love it! The Lord is blessing my life in so many ways.  I love that I can so clearly see the way that my life has been made better.  The Lord is blessing me for my efforts, and I'm not even in Ukraine yet.  I am so grateful for his help.  I know that without him, I wouldn't be able to do any of this! I would be too scared, or nervous about saying the wrong thing.  But I am trying my very best and he is showering me in blessings.  I can't really describe how I am feeling, but Ammon in the Book of Mormon does a pretty good job.  He says (Alma 26:12 and 16) "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this lang, for which we will praise his name forever...Therefore let us glory, yea we will glory in the Lord; yea we will rejoice for our joy is full; yes we will praise our God forever.  Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? yes who can say too much of his great power and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men?  Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." The other day the choir directed said something that I loved.  He said, "I went on a mission to repay the Lord.  Now I am even more indebted".  That is how I feel.  I love being a missionary and I LOVE serving the Lord and helping his other children know of his love for them."

Something else, while we were waiting in line for Choir last week, we were talking to an Elder.  Turns out that he was in a Mormon Message.  So we watched that Mormom Message -- we watch a lot of Mormon Messages here -- and it really was him!  The Mormon Message is "Stay within the Lines".  He is the main character.  But seriously, go to LDS.org or the Mormon Channel on Youtube and watch it.  It is so good, especially for boys.  I want all of my younger brothers to watch it.Seriously.  Tonight!

The video above is kinda about mission prep so on that same note!  Jacob, you need to memorize the purpose from Preach my Gospel.  EVERYTHING we do at the MTC revolves around that.  Seriously... We hear about it at least 100 times a day.  No joke.  I have it memorized in russian now, no big deal! But Jacob, you will love the MTC!  Everyone here reminds me of you.  You would love gym, you would love all the different ties, all the elders go around singing songs, hymns, disney songs, or songs from Musicals.  I am so excited for when you get to come to the MTC!!  You will be awesome and you will fit in so well!

Something that is kinda funny.  Last week on our floor, a bunch of girls left.  Then a bunch of new missionaries came in!  They are ASIAN, like from Japan.  None of them really speak English and they are so cute!  It is so fun to say hi!  They are excellent missionaries though.  It makes me so happy!

Speaking of foreign missionaires, awhile back an elder came up to us.  He is from some little island in the Pacific and is at the MTC for two weeks then goes back to his country to serve his misison. He has a bunch of fake gold teeth and he walks with a cane.  When he first got here, he came up and asked to shake all of our hands.  We let him and he was so happy.  Then he said, "On my island, we watch American TV shows, now I know that America really does have the prettiest girls.  I love being here because I can see all the girls".  Kinda weird, right?!?  But somewhat flattering, I guess!

Did you watch the Mighty Band of Youth video on inbetween conference sessions.  It was great!  They let us watch it and there were real life commercials!  haha but it was fun to watch them and the whole program about the MTC! The video was accurate!  They said in the video that the capacity at  the MTC is 2800, just so you know, we have over 3000 now!  Opa!!  -- by the way, opa is my favorite Russian word!  I say it all the time!

This week, two of my roommates left and 3 Russian Districts left.  It was kinda sad but I am excited for them to serve.  I can't believe that in just 6 more weeks, that will be me!  This week though, because they left, we only have 4 girls in our room.  That will be nice!

SO....Russian.  It is coming along so well!  I can't  believe how much I know!  I can testify, pray, teach, and we went all Tuesday without any English!  That is called SYL or in Russian gasayya.  That's kinda how you say it, anyways, I don't have a russian keyboard on this computer!  But it was so fun! We played a game where one person was "Sasha" or legitly a russian and everyone wanted everyone else to think it was them.  I wasn't Sasha but I did get tie for first for people thinking that it was me!  I am a boss!  The picture I sent home with our "angry" faces were from when we were trying to figure out how to talk about our emotions.  We didn't know the word for anger so we all made faces.  It cracked us up for a good 15 minutes.  In that picture, Sister Hunt was in the middle.  She was actually Sasha!

One funny language story is that we had been teaching an investigator named Matfei.  One day I was praying for him with my companion.  I said in my prayer, "Bless us that we can help Mafia come to know the truth".  Then I realized what I said and almost died.  I really didn't mean to pray for the Mafia!  Opa!

Ok so more about this week!

Someone gave me some apple pie this week.  Umm...YUM!  It was so good! I was so happy that night!

I've been a little sick this week.  If someone wanted to know how my district was, I would tell them that we went through 14 boxes of tissue this week!  That is what we get for spending 16 hours a day together. 

We did a pretty intense workout in gym on Friday.  It was one of my ab workouts from my book.  I was sore the next day, which was nice!  :)

Sunday was so good!  What happens is that everyone writes a talk, in Russin, and then the branch president picks two people to give theirs.  I wrote my talk, but they didn't pick me!  Phew! We got to watch Music and the Spoken Word which was super nice! They even sang a song from the Sound of Music!  Music from the outside world!! haha.

This was the first week - because of conference and Easter, that we have had Relief Society.  For Relief Society they bring all the Sisters together and have a big devotional.  The speaker was Mary Edmonds, and she was so funny.  I was laughing so hard that I was crying!! She was a really powerful speaker! I learned so much from her!  She referenced the "Catch the Wave" talk and said that we, as sisters, were the Sister Tsunami!  It was awesome.  We also, even though we have been here a few weeks, had a new sister meeting!  Future Sisters, here's what you need to know! Be modest, and be sure that you follow the rules!  Don't bend the rules or justify them! Just obey!

Sacrament meeting was all in Russian but I could understand most of it!  Woohoo! We had a temple walk and saw Sister Elaina Bills, from Basha!  I love seeing people I know!  I have like 4 friends coming in this week, I can't wait!! We had choir, dinner and then a devotional.  The devotional speaker Sunday night was the dad of one of the Elders in my zone.  His talk was so good.  He is the media director for the church and does the I'm a mormon campaign. It was so interesting. The church is doing great stuff in England, look it up! He said that 44 percent of the missionaries in the MTC are sisters!  What! Crazy! We also got to watch the Joseph Smith movie.  So great! 

Tuesday was awesome!  We only spoke Russian and it was great! We had choir and during choir, the tech people were setting up teleprompters and searching underneath all the chairs with a mirror.  I remember hearing that they only did that when a member of the 12 was coming so I was so stoked!  So we got ready for the devotional, and then during our last prelude song, everyone stood up and Elder Richard G Scott walked in!  He spoke to us!  It was so cool! I had a great seat and I felt like he was looking me in the eye, like the whole time!  It was great! He spoke a lot about  prayer.  He said that we will never regret our missions.  I don't know if you knew that, but his wife served a misison.  He said that he is so proud of all the sisters.  He also talked a lot about those of us learning a language.  It was so awesome!

He ended by giving us an apostalic blessing.  He said that those struggling to learn the language will master it through the Holy Ghost.  Companion struggles will be made right through the Holy Ghost.  This will be a rich and powerful experience.  We made the choice and it will enrich our lives.  We will be better wives and mothers.  We were blessed with peace and that the burden of learning a language will be eased.  It was truly a magnificent blessing.  I felt so loved. 

Then we sang the closing song.  As a sister got up to say the prayer, Elder Scott jumped back up and started talking again!  I have never seen that before and it was so cool.  He was like running to get to the mike.  He said that the Lord has called us to succeed, not fail.  And a bunch of other stuff.  What a wonderful man, I am so glad he is open to revelation from the Lord!  It was so good!

I did sealings at the temple today!  It was so good!  I love my family!

Anyways, I've got to go!  Write me!  Please! 

Love,

Sister Kati Ford

The first picture is the russian english dictionary I want.  It would be fabulous if you could send one to me :) The one we have is 'the worst one that we could've gotten" - that is what my teacher said

the second picture is the sunday temple walk!  look at all those missionaries!

me and sister Hunt!

  

we found an ukraine flag!  

me and Elaina bills, we went to basha together!  She was in my orchestra and we went to disneyland together (junior year!)

me and sister lee in my district, I LOVE HER!!!

sister hall was in my ward last semester, she came in on Wednesday!! 

choir sunday night

monday was district polka dot day!  Almost everyone did it!  elder daw was the only elder though!  

saying goodbye to the other russsian district.  this includes our zone leaders! luckily almost all of them are going to Kyiv!  Its going to be a party!

goodbye to my roommates, they left too!  sister ahlstrom is going to ukraine (Donestk???) and sister Ramage is going to Everett Washington!  Russian speaking! She is the only russian speaker in that mission right now!  holy cow! they are so great though!  I will miss them!

everytime one of us says "guys" we have to do ten pushups!  I only said it once yesterday but sister clark had to do100 pushups! OPA! my name is the one that looks kinda like a butterfly!

yesterday was our first day of SYL (speak your language!) It was so fun!  Notice our little flags under our nametags, we had a lot of fun.  THe other picture is our angry faces.  I'll explain that story in my email! 

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!