500 DAYS ON THE MISSION

Dear Family and Friends, 

That subject line sounds a little bit better when translated into Russian, but it works in English too. Today, if I have counted right, marks 500 days on a mission! WOW! I can't believe that! It doesn't even seem like that long! Sister Larcabal and I tried to think of what we could do to celebrate, or what we could eat 500 of to celebrate... but we didn't think of anything that would be possible to eat 500 of. Oh well! 

So yesterday in Relief Society, I was asked to give the Spiritual Thought. I thought back to a verse in the Book of Mormon that I had read a few weeks before, which says, 

"For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." (Alma 13:24). 

I told the ladies in Relief Society that when I had first read that verse a couple weeks earlier, I had decided that I would pray to know and see that the Lord was preparing the hearts of the people here in Ukraine, in Kyiv, and in Brovary! Then I was able to share with them a few examples of how God has been preparing people here through his angels! It was so fun to share with them how the Lord has been preparing people all around us! I have everyday seen how God is preparing people to receive the Gospel at this time, especially here in Ukraine. 

For example: 

This last week, I was waiting for the bus, when a lady came and and sat down next to me. I started a conversation up with her, and before long she was looking through my family pictures. As I shared with her how the gospel had blessed my family, she saw that I was holding a Book of Mormon. She was like "I have that book!" It was so cool to see how she had met missionaries before and was now still being prepared to meet with us now. Unfortunately, her bus came before I got her number, but I'm sure we will see her again on the street, Brovary is pretty small! 

 

 

 

Yet again, we were on the street. We were running so late for district meeting. We briskly walked by this old lady. I saw out of the corner of my eye that she watched us walk by and had stopped. Although we were running late, I turned around and talked to her. Turns out that as we had walked by, she had seen Jesus Christ written on our name tags and had wanted to know more. As we told her a little bit about our message, she started crying, talking about how things in Ukraine and so hard and scary. God had prepared her to receive our message of joy! She agreed to meet again and learn more about God's plan and how he has a special plan for her and everyone in Ukraine! 

We've been taking a lot of buses lately, I guess. Yesterday on the way to the church, We were on a bus. I sat next to a lady and noticed that she was in a dress. So I asked her if she was going to church. She said no. And I responded, "well...you should!" and she laughed and we started to have a really good conversation. She shared how many years ago, she had helped repaint our church building here in Brovary. I asked her if she had ever been to our church services, and she said no. I asked her why and she said that she didn't really want to then. I asked her if she would be interested now, and she said yes! So that was special! She goes out of town this week, but will be back in the end of August! :) 

Also, this week, I was on an exchange in Kyiv (first time I have ever been in Kyiv for more than a few hours..which is funny, because it is the name of the mission). But we had an opportunity to meet with a little girl named Eva. She is from a city in Eastern Ukraine, and evacuated here with her family. Her aunt and older brother are members of the church, but her mom is not and until recently, her mom refused to let her met with the missionaries, saying that she is too young. But when the family evacuated here, her mom was able to closely interact with a lot of members of the church. They are living in the apartment of one of the members in Kyiv, the members bring them clothes and food and are helping them with everything. So the Mom's heart was prepared and she is allowing Eva to take the lessons. She was the cutest little girl and literally knows everything about the church already and has a testimony! Cute! We taught her about tithing, and did an object lesson where we poured blessings (In the form of candy) down from the windows of heaven! It was fun :) She loved it! :) She is a doll! 

 Sister Pugh and Lena our member friend

Eva and I making bracelets

 

See how the Lord is preparing people here in Ukraine! It is so fun to be a missionary now, here!  We get to have so many fun moments on missions. For example, this week, we had a Birthday Party, at which Sister Larcabal and I played together (her on the piano, I was on the violin) to the star wars theme and a couple other songs. 

Happy Birthday Dallas! :) 

 We impressed all the 10 year old boys there. Or for example, when we were on the street and in the space of an hour, we received tomatoes, pears, and bread all for free from people on the street. Or for example, when we helped a grandma in our ward learn to index and she asked if we could get permission from the mission president for a sleepover....hmm.. probably not but it was a sweet offer :) 

See! So fun to be a missionary! I love it!  It is so easy to see how the Lord is blessing the people here and helping them prepare to learn more about the Savior! :) I love being a missionary! It is so fun! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford

"Lodi Hills"

Dear Family and Friends, 

HAPPY AUGUST! It seems to me like it should still be May, but somehow time just keeps passing on and on. This week it started to feel like summer. It was HOT! People keep telling me the temperature in Celsius but I never know what the temperature actually is, so I just act like it is the hottest temperature that I have ever heard of... haha. But really though...it's HOT! I was told though that it will only be this hot for 10 more days, then fall will come! Which is my favorite season :) 

 We rock the babooshka scarfs :) 

 Mother motherland, we just happened to 

run into some other sisters there! COOL :)

The other day, I was thinking about running, and I remembered the Lodi Cross Country Course. That I ran in 8th grade, I think. The race where the first mile was all in the forest and then came out to A HUGE HILL! And I remember in my 8th grade mind, thinking that there was no bigger hill in the world. And right after that hill was a downhill into the finish. I remember when I ran that race, many of the participants, when they got to that hill, started to walk. When I got to that hill, I was determined to run up it. But it was hard! At some points, I felt like I was running in place. I just wanted to stop and be done. But I also remember that feeling as I made it to the top of that hill, and on the other side was the downhill headed right to the finish line. As I made it to the top and over the hill, I was able to sprint into the finish line. I don't remember the time that I ran at that race. I don't remember what place I finished. But I do remember that feeling of accomplishment as I made it over that hill! Even now, I get a little proud when I think of how I conquered the "Lodi hill". 

 We went sight-seeing in kyiv last 

week, this is a famine memorial

our lovely tour guide, Alina :) A recent convert from Kyiv

 

I think in life, we have lots of "Lodi Hills". The entire journey home to our Heavenly Father is probably full of hills, some small and some large. As we "run" through this earthly journey, sometimes we hit these hills, and things are hard, and we want to stop or at least walk. Maybe we even want to lay down and roll back down to where we were earlier. So often, we get stuck thinking that we will never make it up, that it is impossible to climb this hill. But these hills are possible to climb! We will make it up them! And I think so often, we fail to consider what happens at the top of the hill. Every time we run up and over a hill, there is a moment where we are basically flying and we skip down the downhill, sometimes going so fast that we can barely stay standing. At those times, we wonder how we were ever going so slow just moments before. We wonder and ask ourselves how that up hill could've been that hard. Those moments of going so fast are the moments that keep us going the next time that we go up a hard hill. 

I would say in my missionary life, I have been climbing one of those "Lodi hills". But this past week, I finally made it to the top, and I feel like I am now cruising down the other side, with things happening so fast I can barely keep up and miracles happening in every direction! These times when we head down are the times where we exclaim, "This is missionary fun!" (Just imagine me running down a hill as fast as I can screaming that! ;)) 

 This morning we went and ran by the river. 

Also we ran that bridge in the background :)

Sister Larcabal snapped this picture this 

morning of me running across the bridge. Cool

 

 

Let me share some of the stories from the run! 

This week we taught Oksana. We didn't get to teach her as often as we wanted to, Sister Larcabal was sick one day and then she (Oksana, not Sister Larcabal) went to the beach with her family another day, but we were finally able to meet with her on Saturday. We went in feeling very strongly that we should watch the Restoration movie with her. We had a member come with us on the lesson and basically she couldn't have helped us better if we had given her a script. It was AMAZING! :) Also, multiple times throughout the film, Oksana would say things like, "I'm just like Joseph". "I'm going to pray and ask".  At the end of the lesson, we had a super powerful moment where we knelt in prayer and Oksana prayed and asked for Heavenly Help for what to do. At the end of the prayer, as we kneeling together, we asked Oksana if she would be baptized when she came to know that these things were true. When she said yes, we were so excited to continue to help her learn for herself that this message is true! Pray for her, and especially that she will be able to come to church, and that her family will have their hearts softened so that she be baptized here if she chooses to! 

 Enjoying beautiful kyiv

What is any zone meeting without a 

picture of sister hunt and I together?

In another moment, we had a strong spiritual thought with the family in the ward. We talked about faith, and had the opportunity to see the family's faith grow right in front of us! 

We had a lesson with a returning less active and recent convert. We taught about repentance. I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strongly in my life. We read together Alma 36 and talked about the joy that comes from repentance. It was so special to have the chance (the unplanned chance) to testify about the same things that I wrote about last week :) 

Our cute zone :)

Yesterday, the Spirit was so strong in Testimony Meeting. I LOVE hearing others bear their testimony! :) 

Also yesterday, we went with the Elders to teach Austin, one of the recent converts. When we walked in, there was a friend of his sleeping. She had just arrived from out of town. Eventually though, she woke up and participated in our spiritual thought, giving a great insight on faith. As we were leaving, we asked if she wanted to come to church and she said yes. We asked if she wanted to learn more and meet with us and she said yes. It was so easy. Her name is Julianna. and just like Austin and Kingsley, she is from Africa. I'm so excited! I've always wanted to teach someone from Africa! They are elect :) 

In a fun moment, One of the members told us that we are her favorite missionaries and that we have something that sets us apart from others. Missionaries love compliments like that :) 

And in a cute tender mercy, Last week when we were at the Clarks, Brother Clark told me that the day before, Dallas had asked for permission to go outside. When brother clark asked why, Dallas said, "Well...I want to be like Sister Ford, and she loves to run, so I want to run too and love it". And then Brother Clark said, "Well... I had to give permission for that". Isn't that darling? I love helping others learn to love to run :) It was so darn cute! :) 

Can you see how I am just seeing so many blessings? I love being a missionary! It really is so fun! 

One thing that I forgot to mention in my analogy about the hill. There was one thing, when I was running up that hill that kept me going, even after I wanted to stop. Just like at every other race that I had even run, my dad was on the side of the course, cheering me on. (Thanks Dad! -- don't get too teary eyed now). In the hills of life, never forget that we have hoards of people standing there cheering us on. They want us to succeed and they can and will help us in any way that they can! And unlike in Cross country, where it is illegal, in the race of life, we are a special coach that runs right next to us every step of the way. That coach is Jesus Christ, and he is always right beside us, helping us reach the top of the hill that we are climbing, and helping us reach the top of every hill until we eventually reach our ultimate goal and finish line, living with Heavenly Father again :) 

I know that Christ helps us every step of the way! I know that he LOVES us and will help us through those hard hills!  The church is true and was restored through Joseph Smith to be in its entirety on the earth today! 

I love you all! Enjoy the race :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford

How GREAT is the JOY!

Dear Family and Friends,
WHAT A CRAZY WEEK! We were so busy! I couldn't believe all that happened this week. Some highlights include going into Kyiv, getting a wonderful package from home, sharing a message with so many members about hope, taking one of the young women with us on a missionary day, peppermint patty miracles, teaching a new investigator, and a whole bunch more! 

Thanks so much for the package! I loved trying all the gluten-free treats! My package was inspected by Ukraine, I hope it all made it haha :). 

 Searched package

This week we did a 24 hour exchange with Veronika, (Sister Clark). It was so fun! :) We taught some language and lessons and at the end, she told us that she for sure wants to serve a mission. 

Veronika, our cute mini :) (yeah I gave her that skirt)

 more pictures with Veronika

we ate ice cream :)

 pretty Kyiv :)

I bought a traditional Ukrainian shirt and wore it to church on sunday. I am now EVERY member's favorite missionary...seriously! It's cool :) 

District gangster pictures :) 

So let me tell you about the progress with Oksana! She is wonderful! We got the opportunity to teach her two times this past week, and both times the Spirit was so strong! In one really special moment, Oksana again asked if miracles happened today, and we were able to testify that miracles do happen and that God is always a God of miracles! I got to share one of my favorite scriptures with her, where is says,
"And who shall say that Jesus Christ did not do many mighty miracles? And there were many mighty miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles. And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth. (Mormon 9:18-19, 21)"
As I shared that scripture and we testified, Oksana started crying. She then at that point asked if she could receive the miracle of forgiveness of something that she has done in the past. I guess for several years now, her family, church, and friends have told her that she has no hope and that she can't repent, which is heartbreaking. What a special experience it was for me to be able to testify that yes, repentance is hard, yes, it takes a lot of work and patience and faith, but it is possible and once we have repented, "I, the Lord, remember them no more" (D&C 58:42). As we shared that hope with her, we promised that the next time that we taught, we would teach about repentance. That was on Thursday and we don't teach until tomorrow, but I am so excited. To prepare for that lesson, I have been studying repentance like none other, and I have learned so much! Repentance is such a huge blessing in our lives!
As I was studying repentance, I noticed a theme in the scriptures that I was reading, I'll list a few and see if you see the same theme:

And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! (D&C 18:13)
And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy,having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding  faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them. (Mosiah 4:3).
And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea,my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! (Alma 36:20). 

"We will come to feel great joy in repenting daily" (Preach My Gospel, Chapter 3).
The theme that I noticed was that after someone in the scriptures repented, they were filled with JOY! And so I started thinking and studying more and more about joy. I thought a lot about what joy is, and really liked what the guide to the scriptures says, "Joy is a condition of great happiness that comes from living the gospel. The purpose of mortal life is for all people to have joy. A full joy will come only through Jesus Christ." As I thought about that, I realized that the gospel is a message of joy! The reason why I am here is to help others find joy! We so often refer to the great plan of salvation as the plan of happiness, but how often do we really think about that? How often do we take the time to consider that this brilliant plan that our Heavenly Father created for us, that is possible only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, was designed to help us have joy? As soon as I started to think about that, and as soon as I realized that this gospel message is a message of joy, I started seeing evidence EVERYWHERE! For example, in the very first pages of Preach My Gospel, we read, "Although they (people we meet on the street) may not know why, they need relief from feelings of guilt that come from mistakes and sins. They need to experience the joy of redemption by receiving forgiveness of their sins and enjoying the gift of the Holy Ghost". Lehi teaches in 2nd Nephi, "Men are that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). Both the sections in Preach My Gospel that talk about enduring to the end teach that joy comes through living the gospel. Even the Lord himself teaches that joy can be found through and only through him, "For in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full." (D&C 101:36). 

I think that we, so often, we take advantage of the fact that we have a knowledge about the restored gospel and the peace and hope and joy that comes from the gospel. In the 128th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, Joesph Smith writes an epistle to the Saints. This is in the year 1842, about 2 years before Joseph Smith was killed. It had been 22 years since Joseph had had the first vision, and only 12 years since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints had been organized. In this epistle, Joesph is giving further instructions of baptism for the dead, and at the end of his letter, Joesph takes a moment to rejoice in the restored gospel and the joy that is brings. In verse 19, he says, "Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth!" Do we feel that joy in our life? Do we recognize the blessing of the restored gospel? Do we, as Alma asks, "if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26). As I have been on my mission, I have had the opportunity to watch people change and desire to be baptized. As they repent, they change. They feel that joy. Their hearts change and the process of repentance "makes you a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezekial 18:31). They are full of that desire to be good and to ALWAYS choose the right. We sometimes say that they are "on fire". Ammon, a missionary from the Book of Mormon, felt that joy and said, "behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. (Alma 26:11). I know that I have felt that joy (although maybe not to the same extent as Ammon, because he spends a lot of his time passed out because his joy was so great). I've felt that joy as I have repented, I feel that joy when I testify and when I see those around me change and make covenants with God. 

Going back to one of the quotes, I listed earlier, "We will come to feel great joy in repenting daily" (PMG, chapter 3). I thought about that a lot. None of us are perfect. All of us have made mistakes. All of us need to repent everyday. But the Lord is so merciful, because he forgives us! When we repent, we feel his love! We receive JOY! In the vision of the Tree of Life, what does the tree represent? Elder Maxwell said it best, "The tree of life … is the love of God. The love of God for His children is most profoundly expressed in His gift of Jesus as our Redeemer: ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son’ To partake of the love of God is to partake of Jesus’ Atonement and the emancipations and joys which it can bring." When Lehi partook of the fruit, he said, "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit." (1 Nephi 8:12). When we have used the Atonement in our life to become better and to receive a remission of our sins, we want to help others feel the same way. I know the joy that comes into my life from the gospel, from repentance, from the Atonement, and I want Oksana to feel that joy! I want my other investigators to feel that joy! I want my friends and family members to feel that joy! 

I know that this gospel is a message of JOY! I know that obeying the principles of the gospel brings happiness, peace and JOY! I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can receive forgiveness of our sins! I love my Savior! I am so grateful for His love! I challenge you all to look for the JOY that the gospel brings. Maybe you can feel it strongly in your life right now, but maybe you aren't feeling it so strong at the moment. If that is you, follow King Benjamin's advice when he said, " And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you... and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come... And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true." (Mosiah 4:11-13).  Remember what God has done for you! Pray and be grateful and keep going in the faith! Stay strong! I love his promise there, that if you do that, YE SHALL ALWAYS REJOICE! The JOY in the gospel really is so great! :) 

I love you all! 

Sister Kati Ford 

Story time :)

Dear Family and Friends, 

This week was crazy! You know how every once in a while I share a "This would only happen in Ukraine" moment. This week there was SO many moments like that, I haven't even gotten a chance to write about them all in my journal! 

Kati and Pres and Sister Packer

First of all, We moved! Our apartment is SO CUTE! I'm in love with it! I'm pretty sure it is the best apartment I have lived in on my mission! I took some pictures of it and then when I was in the mission office, I was showing everyone. They loved it too :) 

 Our darling apartment

 Told you - pink lemonade :)

 

 we found the roof... cool!

It's good that I love it so much, because TRANSFO came out this week and I am staying here and with Sister Larcabal! Basically everything else is changing. I think we are one of very few companionship's that are staying the same. We are getting a new elder here though, Elder Lindsey, who served in Suvorovsky with me! Yay! :) 

But moving was an adventure as we had to somehow transport all of our stuff across town in a series of taxis. Wow. But we did it! :) And we got all unpacked and settled in :) 

BBQ in the park :)

 

Tuesday was a little crazy because we had to tell our landlady that we moved and give her the keys. We gave her a heads up a few weeks ago that we would be leaving, but I think she thought that we wouldn't be able to find a new apartment. So she went a little crazy when we tried to turn over the keys. It was after English on Tuesday and we were in a hurry because we had to get home on time. But she went crazy and yelling and wouldn't let us leave. She told us a bunch of stuff that people "told her" but then when we talked to them, it wasn't true. So we were stuck. We had no idea what to do, so we called the Assistants, who told us to get ourselves out. So we ended up  running for it. We put down some money and the keys and RAN out the door, with her chasing after us. We BOOKED it down the stairs and into the Taxi, slamming the doors of the car behind us and saying, "GO!". I think we scared the taxi driver, he was so confused on why we were so freaked out. But basically, we are REALLY grateful for the new apartment and for the fact that we won't have to deal with a crazy landlady anymore. Moral of the story, when I get home, I will be able to handle ANY crazy situation, because I just had to deal with it in Russian/Ukrainian! 

Hi, my name is Sister Ford 

In just another crazy story, On Thursday, morning, we went running. We were in our new apartment, so we didn't really know the area. I thought that we could make a loop out of our path but pretty soon we ran out of time. I saw a dirt path that seemingly led straight to our apartment building so we headed down that path. Maybe not so smart... At one point some scary looking dogs starting coming and they were barking all scary so we walked past them and they didn't attack. thankfully. So we kept going. All the sudden the path that we were walking on ended. But we didn't want to walk back past the dogs, so we just decided to forge our way through the grass. The grass kept cutting my legs, which I don't really understand because Sister Larcabal didn't get cut up at all. 

 Can you see my scratched up legs?

As we were going through the grass, all the sudden we looked up and realized that there wasn't a way out. We were surrounded on 3 sides by high concrete walls with the dogs behind us. So we debated what to do and decided that it would be faster and not as scary (because dogs are scary) to jump over one of the walls. So we jumped over the wall and we were pretty proud of ourselves...until we realized that we were still fenced in because we had jumped the wall into a factory. Great. So we just kinda wandered around the factory until we found an exit, just walking past all the guards and workers like the owned the place. We got home pretty late, but made it home eventually. :) So that was an adventure. Moral of that story, Don't take the shortcut :) 

This week, one of our investigators took us to a Healthy Body class and we got "massages". Except we were just laying on mattresses that heated up. 

 Massage troubles...

I'm not sure what they were supposed to do but basically I'm pretty excited for when I get home and can get a real massage! :) It was interesting... 

one of the senior missionaries gave

 me some gluten free flour! So nice :)

I made some crepes! :) 

Okay, so enough crazy stories, I promise that I have some good stories too! A lot of them too :) 

With our recent convert, we played a matching commandment lesson. It was so good and so fun! The Spirit was really strong as we talked about why the commandments are important. 

With one less active family, we used there computer to show a Mormon Message. They liked it so much that for the next 20 minutes, they just kept picking another and another and another message to watch. After that, we told them that we had to leave, and as we were leaving, they kept watching more and more. For the first time since I have been there, after our lesson, they actually kept the commitment that we left them! It was awesome! The husband's name is Kosta and I have never seen him so happy! I know it was because he was feeling the Spirit! I love how the Holy Ghost can help people! :) 

So, recently to our English class, this lady named Oksana has been coming. She is super cute and has a darling 10 year old son. On Tuesday, as we left to deal with our landlady (horrible timing, I know), she was talking about Jesus Christ. So on Thursday, we asked her if we could show her the "Because of Him" Mormon message (Google it if you haven't seen it! :)). So we watched it together and I look over at here and she is bawling. So we asked her what she was thinking and she said, "I just wish that someone today on Earth had that same power to heal that Jesus Christ had." What an incredible opportunity for us, because we were able to testify of the power of the priesthood of God that has been restored to the earth today! In our church, we have that power! That power to heal, to comfort, to lift, and to bless! So we testified that and she expressed interest in learning more. Early that day, I had actually received a really powerful blessing and so it was special for me to have the experience to bear testimony of the priesthood power just hours after it had blessed my life so profoundly! 

This week, I have been studying the Atonement a lot and today I came across a really great quote. It says,

 "If you feel unclean, unloved, unhappy, unworthy, or unwhole, remember “all that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Have faith and patience in the Savior’s timing and purposes for you. “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36). Be assured the Savior still seeks to mend our souls and heal our hearts. He waits at the door and knocks. Let us answer by beginning again to pray, repent, forgive, and forget. Let us love God and serve our neighbor and stand in holy places with a life made clean. The impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, the leper along the journey to Jerusalem, and Corrie ten Boom were made whole. “Wilt thou be made whole?” Rise and walk. His “grace is sufficient” (2 Corinthians 12:9), and you will not walk alone." (Wilt thou be made whole) 

 

I have such a great testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ! I know that He lives and that He really did suffer for our sins! Because of him, we can be healed, we can be given strength beyond our own and that through him, ALL is possible! I know that Christ lives! He loves us! He is waiting for us to come to us so that he can heal us! The priesthood power is on the Earth today and we are so blessed to have a knowledge of both the Atonement and the power of the Priesthood! 

I love being a missionary and being able to testify and help others! Let your light shine and be happy as you share the gospel, for it truly is GOOD NEWS of healing and help!

LOVE YOU ALL! 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford 

missionary work, temple, cherries, rain, cake

Dear Family and Friends,

What to say...what to say! This week was crazy! I just went back and read through it in my journal, wow, a LOT happened. I'm not even sure where to begin and it doesn't really have a theme of any sort, otherwise I would categorize it in some cute way. Maybe I'll just write about it by day... here we go!

MONDAY: So Monday Night, we had a family home evening with the Svirsky Family. They are a moving force behind the Brovary branch, and ( I'm not even sure if this EVER has happened anywhere else) they are part of every presidency in our branch. In this cute family of 4, we have the Branch President, the Elder Quorum President, the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency and the 1st counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. So I think we guessed correctly when we assumed that they could be a great force in propelling missionary work forward in this branch. So we planned a really focused lesson on missionary work. I was more than a little afraid, because this family is a little intimidating and sometimes they go off in Ukrainian and then we don't understand... But We went in and started the lesson. IT WAS A FANTASTIC LESSON! As soon as we brought up the topic of missionary work, the mom went off about how she didn't know anybody and couldn't do missionary work. Although it was off of our plan, I felt prompted to talk about how we could do missionary work in smaller ways and then asked them the very simplest thing they could do to start doing missionary work. I was referring to prayer and shared Alma 6:6 with them "Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God". They loved that and we talked about pray and other small and simple acts of missionary service. We shared with them a copy of the talk by Elder Nielsen from General Conference last year (EXCLAMATION POINT!) and asked them as a family to come up with their own personal missionary work plan. At the end, I shared my testimony and it was such a strong moment for me. I felt the Spirit so strongly, the Russian came easily and they understood everything that I said and I was able to promise them that if they made and followed a family missionary plan, they would have the opportunity to bring the gospel to someone and in the process, it would strengthen their family as well. Usually after a lesson like that, it takes some time to see the results. But in a special tender mercy, I was able to witness Sveta, (the mom) ask the Elders in our branch yesterday the names of their investigators so that she could pray for them, which just happens to perfectly align with step 2 of Elder Nielsen's proposed plan! I'm so excited to follow up further and see the blessings that missionary work can bring to their lives!

TUESDAY: On Tuesday, we went and served at the Clark's house! It was so fun but hard work. For more than 2 hours, I was on a ladder up in a tree picking cherries! 

I picked so many cherries! 

After we finished serving, we ate some rice and headed to the bus stop. But for some reason, the bus like never came. Uh-oh. Finally the bus came at 6:20, which was problematic because English started at 7. Needless to say, all of us were late to English, and had to go in our Service clothes, which were covered in berry juice. It was quite the English. The Clark boys have been asking me to come and run with them for some time now, so on Tuesday, I wore clothes and shoes that I was able to run in. So we ran all the way to the bus stop. It was so fun to run as fast as I could! By the time that the bus came, the running combined with the cherry-picking had tired me out so much. That is where the picture of me asleep on the bus comes from (thanks Sister Larcabal!).

 sleeping on the bus, don't judge :)

WEDNESDAY: Wednesday we got to go to the TEMPLE! YAY! I noticed some time ago that Odessa had a scheduled temple trip this week, so Sister Larcabal and I asked for permission to go to the temple and do a session there! Yay! :) It was so great! I was able to see some people from Odessa and get caught up in what is happening in their lives and also got to do a temple session! It was also really cool because Wednesday morning also just happens to be the day that the Brovary Branch is in charge of being temple workers. So right as we walk in, Brother Svirsky takes our recommends. We got to see so many people from our branch and they were all so happy to see and greet us! I love the temple! When I get home and am at BYU again, I want to go to the temple everyday....! :) I'm not sure if that is possible, but it is what I want :)

THURSDAY: Thursday was a crazy day because we FOUND A NEW APARTMENT! We move in tomorrow, so I will send pictures home next week! But it is brand new and cute and has a green kitchen and the outside of the building is what I call Pink Lemonade, which will make sense when I send home a picture. It is not at all Ukrainian and (maybe the best part) IT HAS HOT WATER! I can't wait for that part :) So that day was crazy as we signed a contract and set up a payment schedule and all that stuff (can you believe I can do all that in Russian?!?!) So then we during the rest of the week have been doing some packing This next story is what I would in-title "Members: They Mean Well". Thursday night we had another meeting with Zhenya recent convert and his family. We taught that Plan of Salvation and had them help teach and it was really good. At the end of the lesson, so excited, Zhenya and Yulia (his wife) told us about a surprise that they had for us, pulling out a cake. Why were they so excited? Because it was gluten-free. Or so they said. After eating two large pieces, I could definitely tell that it was not a gluten-free cake and spent most of Friday sick :( I felt so bad that their big surprise actually made me sick. It was crazy though, because on Thursday there was SO MUCH RAIN!

 That's a lot of rain! The dog was 

jumping everywhere, it was cute 

 We were walking home in puddles up to our calves! It was pretty fun to splash around a little bit, especially since we weren't really prepared for that much rain!

SUNDAY: Friday and Saturday I was kinda sick, so if anything cool happened, I don't really remember it. But Sunday! So in just a few weeks, the annual Ukraine Youth Conference (very similar to EFY) is happening and to prepare, we with Brother Roman did a Fireside last night. Actually brother Roman did almost everything, we just testified. But It was such a good fireside! There was videos and music videos and it was cute! They even showed a super fun video from the conference last year, which was so cool because I knew a lot of people! I spent some time reflecting on how special the youth are here in Ukraine. And then I spent some time reflecting on how, someday, I want to be an EFY counselor. That would be so cool :) So that was awesome :)

This week was pretty crazy, but really fun! I love serving in Brovary and having the opportunity to work with so many great members of the church! They are strong and happy and I am so blessed to see their examples! I love being a missionary in Ukraine and being able to work and help grow the kingdom of God here! I know the Church is true and I know that President Monson is a prophet of God!

I love you all! I especially love my family! <3 Love, Sister Kati Ford

Happy 4th of July!!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Happy late- 4th of July! I hope you had a great BBQ weekend! We did! :)

 On Friday (The 4th of July) we had a 3-Zone Conference with our new mission president, President Packer and his family. THEY ARE THE CUTEST! 

 Zone Conference July 4th 2014 Picture

 Kati with Elder Sant a good friend of Danelle Larsen in Colorado!

 Double photo bomb!!

 Me and my beautiful companion :)

 4th of July. 'merica pride

 

 They have 4 kids, 2 teenage boys and 2 young girls and their kids are all so cute and good. I guess I never really thought about what the kids of mission presidents would have to "sacrifice", but these kids gave up sports, friends, toys. All of the kids are very involved in sports,  - Basketball, baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, fishing, gymnastics, horseback riding, cheer leading - and they left their teams and their sports to come and serve the Lord. They are a great example to me of "going and doing what the Lord commands". 

The whole family has had a crazy past 8 weeks as they have learned about the call and packed and moved and started serving as mission president and family. Normally I think mission presidents get 6 months to prepare, so you can imagine that crazy journey. But they are here and excited to be here and we had a great conference on Friday! From that conference, I again just felt that the Lord is preparing the hearts of people here. President told us several times that during conversations that he had with different apostles, they all would say that Ukraine is the place to be serving right now. People are ready here in Ukraine! That is why we are here, and especially why I (Sister Ford) am here! :) To help people come unto Christ and learn about His restored church! :)  

Because it was the 4th of July, instead of typical pizza, we had Hamburgers and Hot-Dogs! YUM! :) So American! There was watermelon and strawberry shortcake. I spent some time cutting up peppers to help the senior couples. All the peppers were orange and I remarked how they looked like Jack-o-lanterns. Before long, with the help of one of the senior elders, we carved a jack-o-lantern into one of the peppers. So we celebrated many American holidays all at once :) 

That was such a fun part of this week, but some parts of this week were a little stressful. After a couple really weird, not good, and strange experiences with our landlady, we decided that we needed to move out. So this week, we (in the few spare moments we had) looked for apartments. Looking for apartments isn't that fun, although we looked at one today that had a bathtub literally as big as a swimming pool... And two bathrooms. And a microwave and a couch. and carpet. It was really nice. I'll keep you updated on the search, but just pray that we will find one before too long, I hate that we have to use our time to find an apartment. We keep praying that the apartment that we move into will have a landlady that wants to be baptized :) I know that the Lord can lead us to people that are ready for the gospel even if it is while we are looking for an apartment. 

 doing dropbys in beautiful Ukraine

We got lost in a cemetery. They are pretty here in Ukraine 

Also this week, I finally got my Ukrainian Passport back! YAY! That required a trip to Kyiv, where we stopped at a little cafe to get lunch after 2 hours of paperwork. This magical little cafe had FLOUR-FREE chocolate cake. Oh my goodness it was so good :) That was a little blessing :) 

Flour-free chocolate cake :) 

One really special tender mercy: Do you remember IRA? From odessa? My friend!  Today I had a special tender mercy when I read my emails. I read an email from Ira (now Sister Esaulenko). She told me the experience of how she was set apart to be a missionary today. She told me how special that was for her and how she has never before felt the Spirit and the power of the Priesthood so strongly. Ira had a hard time deciding to serve, because she was worried about leaving her mother. When she finally decided to go, delay after delay after delay kept her from receiving a call and leaving when she had planned. Yet again, big trials came as her mother passed away. But Ira never gave up and now is going to be a great missionary in L'viv! I'm so grateful for the chance I had to meet her and to be her friend. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach her the temple preparation class. Those lessons were some of the most spiritual experiences of my mission, because she was so prepared and ready to learn. I am so excited for her and the step that she is taking in her life! 

And then in a especially special tender mercy, I just barely got to talk to Ira on the phone and tell her I love her and how great she will be! That was so special for me and one of those special moments where I just felt so grateful for the chance I have to be on a mission and met these incredible people :) :) 

I love you all! Missions are the best! Keep on, Keeping on! 

With Love, 

Sister Ford