HAPPY JULY!!! Week 5!!

Dear Family, Friends, and Everyone Else!

Can you believe that it is July already??  Crazy?!?!  Less then 6 months until Christmas...

I hope that everyone is having a good summer!  I would love to hear about what is happening and vacations! :)

This week was really good!  I am loving being a missionary!

I think I will begin by sharing an experience from last night.  Sister Busch tells it in a very humorous way, so I think I will quote her here:
"It was a wonderful week here! Among the myriad and marvelous miracles we encountered, a particularly funny happenstance went down just last night. A dear sister in the northern branch in which we work was admitted into a hospital in Center last Thursday, so we decided to use the remaining time afforded to us last night to pay her a visit, as said hospital wasn't terribly far from where we live. When we left the apartment, rain threatened, but nothing ominous; we're talking light umbrella and/or poncho weather maximum. However, as we walked up the street, the Lord decided that a monsoon was in order, so the windows of Heaven opened and what must have constituted at least 500 years worth of angels' tears cascaded down on our relatively uncovered heads from that vast celestial reservoir. Of course, given that the evening was already hastening on, we opted to brave the deluge and continue on with love of God and love of all mankind burning brightly in our hearts. However, when the time came to disembark from the bus (the rapidly rising water level turned the 127 bus into something akin to the Good Ship Lollipop as it sailed down the street running parallel to the hospital), the rain had only intensified in its desire to moisten us and flung itself all the more vehemently down upon the streets of Odessa. Returning to the nature of our lack of preparation for such a ferocious downpour, I became wetter than I've ever been in living memory in a matter of roughly 30 seconds (and that's saying something, as I bathe very regularly). And, wouldn't you know it, but the bus overshot our stop entirely, meaning we spent another 20 minutes meandering through the flood-washed streets in search of this hospital. As luck would have it, my companions were both equipped with a poncho and an umbrella--that kept them considerably drier than myself; my intense wetness enabled the mood to remain light and we walked on with light hearted and very, very heavy feet (both Sister Hunt and I had be-YOND water-logged shoes, Sister Ford had rainboots :)). When we finally found the hospital, it was coming up on 8 o'clock, and we feared that some sort of visiting hours policy would be working against our desire to visit the sick and afflicted. However, as good fortune favors the soggiest missionaries, this hospital was true to Ukrainian form and admitted us without the slightest hint of resistance. While the whole trek to the hospital had been highly amusing and thoroughly enjoyable, nothing could compare to the feeling of being greeted by the huge smile of our sister who had been confined to her hospital bed for the past four days. She was so excited for visitors, especially visitors of the sister missionary variety. We shared a message with her about the Atonement, which invited a really sweet spirit into the rather depressing hospital room, and we promised to come see her again on Thursday with banana bread, as per her request. It was so sweet to know that every walk through the cold, dark, wet night, when done in faith, will lead to the light of a miracle on the other side."
 

 

Pretty good telling of the story...although she left out the sketch taxi ride home so we could make it on time, which required us running in the middle of the street to hail down a cab.  and the fact that true to the nature of Ukrainian hospitals, I saw a cochroach like 4 inches long.  And the nurse just smashed it.  And left it squished on the ground. Gross. I know :) But an exciting night! I also stepped in a puddle up to my calf! Thank goodness I had my rainboots :)

So one other thing that we did this week was meet with an active member and discuss how she can help do missionary work.  We asked her to share how she learned about the church, and her testimony of the gospel.  The spirit was so strong and although I didn't understand all of it, I could feel the power of it.  And in addition, the Spirit was teaching me and I received promptings and answers to prayers because it was such a spiritual enviroment. 

The first big prompting that I received was just to be grateful for blessings I had in my life, mainly the blessing that it is to be a missionary in Ukraine.  It became real in that moment, having a lesson with a modern day pioneer, in a Ukrainian kitchen. I'm so blessed to be here!  Especially right now :)

The other major prompting I had was to record my testimony and send it home this week.  I don't know why but I'm going to do it! Hopefully it blesses somebody to hear my testimony of the gospel!

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's restored church on the Earth today. I know that it was restored, meaning that all the power and authority of God was restored through the prophet, Joseph Smith.  I know that as a young boy, he had a question.  I know he prayed in faith and asked God.  I know that he recieved an answer to that prayer. In answer to his prayer, he saw our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. They appeared to Joseph Smith and through him restored all the fulness of the Gospel, including the Book of Mormon. 

I have a strong testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It works together with the Bible to truly testify that Jesus is the living son of God. The Book of Mormon is holy scripture that compliments the Bible. It expounds on what the Bible teaches and together the Book of Mormon and the Bible explain how we can find happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God because I read it.  I read about the prophets teaching the gospel, I read about Alma the Younger receiving a remission of his sins, I read about the promised signs of the Savior's birth, and about the fulfillment of those signs.  I read about the Savior's personal ministry among the Nephite people (the people on the American continent) after His resurrection.  After I read, I took Moroni's (a prophet from the Book of Mormon) challenge, which is, after reading from the Book of Mormon, to ask God if the Book of Mormon is true with a sincere heart and with real intent and desire. He promises that if you ask, you will come to know that it is true.  I did ask, and I did receive an answer. I know that the Holy Ghost testified to me that the Book of Mormon is true.  The Book of Mormon can bless the lives of all who will read it. Every aspect of my life is improved through study and reading of the Book of Mormon.

In addition, I'm grateful for prayer and how it blesses my life.  I know God hears and answers my prayers.  When I pray in faith and then sincerely listen for an answer, he always answers me. The answers I receive guide every aspect of my life.

I'm grateful for my Priesthood leaders.  I know that they are called of God.  I  know our prophet, Thomas S Monson is a living prophet on this Earth today. He and the apostles living today are special witnesses of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can become closer to our Savior by following the words of our living prophets. I know that they receive revelation from the Lord.

I know that this Gospel brings happiness and peace to those that embrace it. Through this gospel, I know that my family can live together forever. Thanks to the sealing power available in temples, my family does not have to be seperated at death, but rather can be an eternal family. I love my family and I am grateful for their love and support. It may be hard to be seperated now, but the time passes quickly when I keep things in an eternal perspective.

I know that we are Spiritual sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.  I know He loves us. I know that He wants us to be happy.  He hears our prayers and He cares enough to answer them.  He loved us enough to send his son, Jesus Christ, making it possible for us to gain eternal life. He has a plan for us and I testify that it truly is a plan of happiness.

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I testify that He was chosen before this life to be our Savior, that He came to Earth, lived a perfect life, suffered in the Garden, and was crucified and killed. I know that He rose again after three days, overcoming all that stood in the way of us returning to live with God again.  Thanks to Christ, and His atonement, there is no need to return to feel dispair. Not only does the Atonement make it possible to return to live with God and repent of our sins, but the Atonement can also comfort us and bring us peace. Christ knows exactly how we are feeling and can comfort us.  I know he comforts me when times are hard.  Christ is my Savior, my Redeemer, my brother and my friend.  I am grateful for His love, His support, and His comfort in my life.

I know that God lives and that His son, Jesus Christ lives.  They know us and they love us! I  know that this church is true and that through living the gospel, we can return to live with God and our families again after this life.

I'm grateful for this opportunity I have to serve a mission.  I love helping others come unto Christ. I love how my testimony has grown simply by sharing it with others.  I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing right now!

I promise that the Gospel will bless the lives of every person in this world. Please share your testimony with your friends. The missionaries need the help of the members! In the ideal world, members would do all the finding and the missionaries would do all the teaching! Help your local missionaries! :) Please :)!  It isn't hard to share the gospel and I know that you will feel joy as you bring the gospel into their lives! And if you aren't a member yet, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon and ask God about the truthfulness of this gospel.  I know that you will receive an answer of its truthfulness.

I know this church is true! The gospel is true! The Book of Mormon is the word of God. God lives! He is our Heavenly Father and He loves us! Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. I love this gospel and the light and happiness it brings me.  This is my testimony and witness that I give in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen!

Love you all! have a great week! (Sorry I don't have time to write more!) If you want to know how to help me, write me, send me recipes, and watch the Hastening the Work of Salvation Broadcast on LDS.org, tell me what you thought and the  apply it in your lives! Also, if anyone has a burning desire to send Peanut butter, Mac and Cheese Cheese Packets, Taco Seasoning, or American measuring cups and spoons, I would love you forever and maybe repay you with some Ukrainian chocolate! :)

Love,

Sister Ford

PS-  Write me :) I would love mail and email! kati.ford@myldsmail.net

Also, no pics this week...Our internet club won't let us send them :(  I will have a ton next week!!

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

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 :)