Where in the world is Sister Ford??

Dear Family and friends and everyone! 

Happy Memorial Day! Yay! Although I didn't even think about that until just now. I hope everyone is BBQ-ing and doing all that fun summer stuff! :) 

 darth vador is running for president

 TGIF! Yum

It rained and stormed everyday this week 

 

I'm still in Ukraine, but in about an hour, I'm meeting up with the workers at the service center to catch a flight to Latvia! Yay! Last night, Sister Hunt, Robertson and I all met up and then stayed in Center Kyiv with SIster Larcabal and Roe. It was a party! It was probably one of the funnest nights of my mission thus far...We ate some left-over pizza and chocolate and shared a bed and it was great fun. Missionary sleepovers are the best :) hehe 

sleepover :)

This week was REALLY GOOD! Do you remember Natasha from last week? We ended up meeting with her several times this week! She is so cute and she came to church! 

We just had a man come in and sell us ties, I got some sweet ties :) :) :) 

  the new ties that I just bought

But unfortunately, I ate away my email time and now we are going to have to run to the service center :) But now that I love you all! I'm so grateful for all that you do! ;) Thanks for being so great! 

I love you all, the church is true! I'll tell you so much about Latvia next week! 

Pray for Ukraine! :) 

Love, 

Sister Ford 

We just met the BEST babuska!

Dear family and friends, 

Happy Monday! Happy Spring! Happy rainstorms every night! Happy soaking wet sister missionaries because we forget umbrellas everyday! Happy missionary life! 

I love you all! I love missionary work and today I am just especially grateful for my opportunity to serve in this mission and to be on a mission! The church is so true! 

Russian Headdresses that we found in the church :) 

This week was great! It was so good! It was a little crazy but good. Life is good! I am happy! And we are seeing a lot of miracles and happy things here in Brovary! I don't even know where to start! 

First off, we just went outside to buy a snack and oh my, it is so pretty! the sun is shining and there are so many white fluffies floating around (I don't actually know what they are) that it looks like it is snowing! I love Ukraine! 

ukraine beauty :)

This week we got transfer and learned that Sister Larcabal and I will be together this transfer! We are really excited and we know that it will be great! :) So a part of this week was packing and unpacking but that was a pretty small part!

This week, we headed up north for an exchange! we were in the cute Chernigov! It was an amazing exchange! Us four sisters together had 6 lessons, found a new investigator and met with a girl that then agreed to be baptized! It was a really fun day! I served with Sister Powell and we had a blast! We even went to this cute Vereniki (dumpling) restaurant and it was really fun! :) 

exchange pics :)

This week, we met with a lot of members to get better acquainted. We had a fun lesson with a family with a few little kids. We taught about how doing the little things strengthens our testimony. We had balloons and we blew them up while we talked about all the little things that we could do. Then we talked about how if you tied the balloon off and didn't add anymore air, it would shrink and not be as big so we need to always be adding more air. :) It was cute and the kids loved it! :) 

We also met with our new branch president and his family! They are the best. Our new branch president is about to get married so we talked about that a little bit. Eventually we got on the topic of their conversion story. It was so cool! Then they feed us Borsch. It was a great meeting! I love members here! They are always so nice and good :) 

 Sister Powell on Exchanges :)

rainbow in the park

Funny story, Sunday morning, we were studying and we got a call. It was President Anton, our branch president. He then asked me to speak in church (Which started in two hours), with the theme of MODESTY. ???? Before he told me that topic, I didn't even know how to say that in Russian!! So originally it was a five minute talk but two minutes before the meeting started, they asked me to speak for 10 minutes. Oh my oh! It actually went really well. Everyone said that it was really good. Haha :) 

Last Monday night, our lesson fell through so we went to look for someone. We had their address but nothing else. So we went and when we got there, they were not home. We had brought some Banana bread to give to our friend, but she wasn't home. As we walked out, we saw these two grandmas. We decided to give our treat to them. As we approached, one said, "Sister Ford, I love the book you gave me". Turns out that I had given the babushka (grandma) a book of Mormon before and she loves it! So we got to talking and before we knew it, we had 4 new babushki friends. They even invited us to live in their house with them. It was so fun! :) I love the babushki here :) 

don't think we are too weird, but some district pictures... 

Yesterday and Today, We have been able to witness an amazing miracle. Yesterday, Brother Roman (Family, you met him, he was the first one you saw), came up and told us that he met this lady and that we could meet with her and him tomorrow. so we agreed for that and today we came and he came and she came and we met Natasha. She is the super cute hip babushka that loves ping-pong, is a professional at the accordion and knows 4 different languages. We taught her about the restoration of our church and a little more about what we believe. It was really awesome. There was a strong Spirit there. At the end of the meeting, she asked to meet again and have more lessons. So we set one up for Thursday. But then, as we played some ping-pong (she plays so well), she asked if we could meet tomorrow too! So we are really excited to meet with her and help her learn more about the church. She told us about how she felt really strongly that she needed to come into our building and that she loves what we are teaching already! she is super fun :) 

Because all of the Donetsk missionaries left, I got to choose if I wanted to come home in September or October. And I chose October, so see you October 15th :) Also, I'm not sure when you will get an email from me next week, because next Monday at 11:45 is when I fly to Latvia to renew my visa! It will be interesting! :) I've had to do a lot of paperwork for that this week, but it has been good :) Hopefully everything will go as planned! :) 

Natasha, our new babushka friend

 

This coming Sunday, is a big day for Ukraine! election day! On Tuesday, as we were walking home, we walked right into a political rally. One of the candidates was speaking in our park. So that was interesting! There was so many people there! Everyone right now has so much Ukrainian Pride. Pray for them this Sunday, that everything will resolve in a peaceful way! 

I love you all! Have a great week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford

All is Well! All is Well!

Dear Family and Friends! 

Happy One Day After Mother's Day! I love my Mother and I'm so grateful for her example and love. She is the best! Also, a BIG SHOUT-OUT to all the other women that have had a great impact in my life, my grandmothers, teachers, friends, aunts, cousins. Y'all are so great and I love you! I hope that everyone enjoyed a happy Mother's Day yesterday! 

I got the best present on Mother's Day this year, I got to talk to my family! Yay! :) I have the best family! Just so you know, my companion was VERY impressed by my brothers. She thinks that you are the best brothers that any sister could have, and I agree. :) I love you all so much and miss you and am excited to see you in the fall! :) 

Site seeing in Kyiv

WHEW! What a week! I'm sure many of you have MANY questions about what has happened this last week. I'm sure most of you saw this update on some sort of news site: 

"Due to ongoing uncertainty in Ukraine, 67 missionaries formerly serving in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission who had previously been transferred to other areas within Ukraine will be reassigned to missions within their home countries to complete the remainder of their service. Forty-one missionaries who anticipated serving in Ukraine have been reassigned to other missions."

and I'm sure that many of you maybe even thought I was being reassigned or coming home. But I'm still here (and actually part of the Kyiv mission). But my companion, Sister Walker, was part of the Donetsk mission and that actually should've said ex-companion because she is already back in America, serving in California. I'm am confident that she is doing an excellent job there, but I miss her here! 

We found out in the middle of zone conference on Tuesday that all those missionaries would be leaving and it completely changed our week. We found out Tuesday and spent all day Tuesday in conference with President (of the Mission) Klebingat and President (of the Area Presidency) Bennett. The next day, Wednesday was when we found out that they needed to be packed by Thursday and so she packed. Thursday I dropped her off at the mission home, where all of the departing missionaries got one more chance to meet with President. Then they all flew out on Friday morning. If any of them are now serving in your ward, you are so lucky! They are amazing missionaries and you are lucky to have them there! We miss their presence here and really feel as though we lost half of our mission!. 

Since Sister Walker left, I have been serving temporarily with Sister Larcabal; whose companion also left. Sister Larcabal is awesome and we have been having some good times together! She got to meet my family and I got to meet hers so that was really fun! We probably won't be with each other past tomorrow but I have enjoyed serving with her! 

Sister Walker and I 

One fun memory from Sister Walker. We ended up meeting with a less active family on Wednesday night. We had a very spiritual lesson and at the end, her sons brought out their pet bird. We got to play with it and it was really cute, or at least that is what I thought! But Sister Walker is terrified of birds, so she was just so freaked out the whole time and scared to death. But hey, she let it land on her head and overcame her fears :) It was a good moment :) 

I've learned a lot of lessons in this last week, with the biggest one being that the Lord has a plan for us! He loves us and wants us to be happy! He has a specific plan for each one of us! He knows that this plan will give us all the knowledge and experience that we need in order to become the person that he wants us to be. When we were at our conference, President Bennett spoke a little bit about how when new trials or experiences come, many people say, "Here we go again" and how, to better face those trials and experiences, we can change it to "Here we GROW again" and take the time to find the lessons that God wants us to learn in every experience! I have a testimony that God works in mysterious ways but that they are only mysterious to us because we can't see the whole picture. When we see it all, we will realize that it makes perfect sense! 

At our conference, we ended with the song "Come, Come Ye Saints" which was the same song that Sister Larcabal and I sang yesterday as a musical number. The following words were very comforting to me during this strange and eventful week. Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell--
All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell--
All is well! All is well! 

 

especially the second verse! I'm excited to take up more courage, to trust in God more and to really have the faith that the Lord is watching over and has a perfect plan! His work is moving here and hastening along! I love you all and am grateful for your prayers and love! Keep up the good work! 

Pray for Ukraine! They need it now more than ever :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford 

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Hola Amigos! 

Haha just kidding... I'm in Ukraine, not Mexico!

HAPPY TRANSFO WEEK! That is the real celebration of this week! This week was pretty crazy, but really good! I love being a missionary! 

I'll start with last P-day.... It was probably one of the best P-days that I have ever had! After we finished our studies and email, we headed into downtown Kyiv! We went to what is called the Spoosk. It is a huge long street with souvineer shops all the way down it! It was so fun! They had EVERYTHING! :) I ended up buying some soccer scarfs, a real fur hat, a Vishevanka (Traditional Ukraine Shirt) and some magnets. We met one man, he would give us really good prices on everything. It was so nice! I got almost all the souvineers that I wanted... the only problem is that now I want more because I saw it there!  :P  I hope I can send pictures today, because we have some fun ones. We brought one of our recent converts with us, which was really great because he carried all our bags AND protected us from the sometimes intense salespeople....  We also had a really yummy dinner of traditional Ukrainian foods. It was so good! :) 

The rest of the week until Wednesday was spent with Sister Winsor saying goodbye to all of her favorite members. It was really weird that EVERYONE except Elder Roggow and I left, I was all the sudden the one that had to know how to get everywhere...Thank goodness Brovary is SMALL! :) 

On Wednesday, I got to go over to a lady names Nadedja and her family. They come to our english! They invited us to make Shashlik with them, which is Ukrainian Shiskabobs. They were SO good! It was such a fun day! We got to share a little bit more about what we believed with them which was really special. Nadedja is a Mary-Kay saleslady and as we were walking out the door, she comes up and says,

 "girls, when was the last time you had a face mask done?" 

"umm... long long long long time ago..."

To which she replies 

"I can tell" 

Then proceeded to give us face masks and makeovers. It was nice of her. She gave us a bunch of free makeup and a book about Mary Kay. In russian... That will be my language study when I get home... haha :) 

Thursday was transfer day and I headed into the mission office and picked up my new companion! Sister Walker is from Utah, and is a funny, cute 20 year old sister from the former Donetsk mission! She is my age on the mission and we are having a blast together so far. She loves hashtags #whodoesnt and to share clothes, so I think we will get along great. She also has connections with everyone... it's crazy! We are now the ONLY sisters in our area and it is really fun. I haven't been without another set of sisters since November and it's different! But it will be so great! We will have a lot of work to do with the branch and will all of the investigators and people from English! :) 

This rest of this week has been a blur of getting settled into a new companionship, planning and setting goals, and normal missionary life!  We had an awesome Saturday, complete with soccer (I'm getting so much better!!!!) and game night (also getting better there!) haha. With all of the old missionaries gone, everyone looked to me a lot more. It was different to take the lead in everything but really good. I'm really excited for this transfer, I think it will be so good! :) 

Sunday, we got a new branch president! About time, the old one had been in for 12 years. Wow. But out new branch president is 24 ( i think) and way cool. He is getting married in a month, nothing like becoming branch president and getting engaged in the same 2 weeks. What a champ. I'm excited to work with him more to help the branch! 

Funny Ukraine Story Time: So yesterday we went to stop by a less active. We had heard some weird things about her, but the Relief Society President asked us to take her something. So we took the elders with us. We got there and rang the doorbell and no one answered. So we were getting ready to leave when a man came up the stairs too. He rang the doorbells too, for the same apartment. We explained that no one answered, but he still kept ringing the door bell. When we were going to leave (because no one was answering the door), he just told us to wait. So we waited. After about 10 minutes, the door opened and someone answered. Moral of the Story??? Just keep ringing! :) Our tracting approach will be much different now.... haha not really :) 

I'm sure everyone has heard at least somewhat about everything that has been happening in Ukraine and especially this last week in Odessa. It breaks my heart to think of all that suffering and fighting in the city that I love so much. Please pray for them. Also, know that we are being cared for and watched out for. President Klebingat talks often (even everyday) with security and they are watching out for us. We are very cautious about where we go and what we do. The Lord will protect His Missionaries. 

 

Sometimes it is a little hard to be a missionary in the midst of so much sadness and hardship. In the midst of this war, it could be easy to convince ourselves that people aren't interested in our message right now. But that is not true! I can testify that despite all the fighting and chaos right now, people need this gospel! In fact, people need it more with all that is going on! And the work here is progressing -- all over our mission! We are having a lot of success. Just last night, Sister Walker and I talked to a couple who expressed to us their concerns about not knowing where to find peace and answers in these hard times. It was such a blessing being able to answer and express my testimony that we can receive comfort and answers through prayer and conversation with our Heavenly Father. He has a perfect plan for us. He has a perfect plan for Ukraine. 

And so we continue in our work here, knowing that we are blessed to see the Lord's hand everyday working to bless and protect us! 

I love you all! I hope you have a great day! and week :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford

Is this real life?

Dear Family and Friends.

Wow. What a week. Sometimes being a missionary, I look back at my week and wonder if I am in some sort of dream... We had some crazy experiences this week!... Crazy but good! I don't even know where to begin! 

I guess I can start with Transfo! Normally, we receive transfer information two Saturdays before the transfer ends. But with 85 new missionaries, it took a little bit longer. So we didn't get any information until Saturday night. And for me, not much changes! I will be in BROVARY again! I will be serving with Sister Walker. She is from the Donestk mission (we now refer to them as our "new missionaries") and she was in the MTC with me, but in the other zone. I'm pretty excited for our transfer together! It will be so good. As far as my district, only Elder Roggow and I are staying here in Brovary. The other SIX are leaving! Wow. So that is basically a full white-wash. So that will be fun! I'm also pretty lucky because there will only be 1 set of sisters here in Brovary. We are one of 4 areas in our mission with only one set of sisters, some of the other areas have 4 sets! So we will have a lot of work to do, with our work plus the other sisters that are leaving! In other news, remember Elder Martineau? The elder that I served around for 5 transfers in Odessa? He is going to be in my district again. Wow. Our district will be two sets of elders and 1 set of sisters! 

 

District pic

 

 more district picture

Last night we had a going away party for everyone that was leaving. It was sad. One elder, Elder Fisher, heads out tomorrow to America, finishing his mission a transfer early to help with space issues. So that was fun to say goodbye to him! 

This week, we went to the Circus with our English group. It was an interesting experience. Very Russian and cheap. But it was an experience. 

 circus

 

They did have this one man that was probably 60 years old that did a handstand on top of 4 balanced chairs and a table. That was impressive. 

Sometimes, I like to think about what my mission would be like if I was serving in other parts of the world. This last week, I had an experience of what it would be like to serve in Africa. In our branch, we have two recent converts- Austin and Kingsley, who are from Africa. This last week, Kingsley called us up and asked if we wanted to "convert some souls". Well of course that answer is YES! So he told us to come to his house Friday at 4. So we went. It was a birthday party for this little girl who was turning 1. I think that every black person from all of Kyiv was there... haha. It was a fun experience. We walk in and playing in the background is "Happy Birthday". But like 20 different variations of it. And everyone is dancing to the happy birthday songs. And the food! African food! and so much of it. They had this fish green herb soup thing and what you did was take a ball of cream of wheat and some soup and then break off pieces of the cream of wheat and dip it in the soup. It was interesting.... haha. My poor companion was enjoying some unidentifiable meat, and was rather distraught when she learned that it was cow intestine. haha.

 

african party! :) 

 

Me with african food! :)

 

I really enjoy African people, they are so nice! especially after being in Ukraine, where talking to strangers is weird for them. But not for people from Africa. One lady walked in, saw us and immediately went off, "Hi, my name is Comfort, but you can just call me Comfy!!! I can just tell that we are going to be such good friends." It was fun and we got to know so many new people! 

Also, I passed 3 months since I broke my back, and that meant I could try running again! IT WAS THE BEST! We went to the track and I ran a mile. It was the best! 

 

 soccer

And I played Soccer on Saturday with the ward! So fun :) :) :) Also, we helped a member paint his house! It was so awesome service :) 

 

service

 

 painting!

after we painted, Brother Sasha bought us pizza! Yum! :) 

Yesterday, we had stake conference, here in Kyiv!  I really loved it. It was inspiring to hear and see the local leaders of the church talk to us. 

Stake Conference

our bus on the way!

I love the opportunities I have to see how the church has grown in such a short amount of time. Ukraine is a special, holy place. The early members of the church here have a special spirit, that has really motivated them to share the gospel and live their faith. Together with so many missionaries and our desire to share the gospel, I feel a special spirit in the branches and wards. I don't really know how to categorize it into words, maybe a feeling of excitement or a feeling that something big is on the way? But it is a good feeling and I feel it all the time. It just motivates me to work my hardest, because I know miracles are coming and are happening all around us! It is a really special time to be a missionary in the Ukraine Kyiv mission! This past little while, I have just felt so blessed to be serving here and learning so much and seeing so many miracles!

  

 Tank pic

Ukraine is such a special place! Don't worry about me, I am safe, But PLEASE pray for the political situation to improve so that we can keep doing the Lord's work in this beautiful country! I love being a missionary, I know that this church is true! Have a fantastic week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford 

Воистину Воскрес! Voesteenoo Voskres!

Dear Family and Friends, 

Happy Easter! Easter is the best time to be a missionary, especially here in Ukraine! Everyone is so nice and happy. Despite all the political hardships going on right now, for everyone, yesterday was just a day of peace and family. Ukraine has a lot of really cute traditions for Easter. The main one involves the Paska, which is a sweet bread. It kinda looks like a giant cupcake. But more of a bread and not a cake. On Easter, everyone takes their Paska and goes to the church to get it blessed. So yesterday as we walked to church, everyone else was walking with their families to church, and everyone had Easter Baskets with their Paskas in them. It was so cute. Throughout the park, you could hear the Russian Orthodox choir singing. 

 Me and A Paska from a member. 

We didn't get it blessed though...

Another fun tradition and really lovely for us missionaries was that on Easter, everyone is celebrating the resurrection of the Savior. So when we were walking about, we could say "Христос Воскрес!" which means "Christ is Risen" and almost everyone would respond back with "Воистину Воскрес!" which means "In truth He is risen!". So while Sister Winsor and I were walking around and talking with people, we would say that and almost always get that response back! It was a special way for us to bear our testimonies! Plus as a nice perk, whenever anyone would say it back to us, we would basically get giddy and so happy and excited! We are starting that tradition in America. And if no one else wants too... I'll just spend all of Easter on the phone with old companions :) 

Easter could also be entitled, "The Sister Ford Church Show: Brovary". I played the piano, spoke in Church, played the piano for a musical number, Sister Winsor and I taught the youth in Sunday School, I played the Piano in Relief Society (we sang a Christmas song...) and then played the piano for a baptism of a little 8 year old. His name is Dennis. Poor little kid felt incredible uncomfortable in his white jumpsuit, to the point where after 20 minutes of singing prelude music, they consented to do the baptismal program with him sitting in the hallway where no one would see him. Combine that 20 minutes with the 20 minutes of outift-changing music and I had thoroughly exhausted all my piano playing skills. Awkward. But thankfully, the actual baptism went off without a hitch and Dennis was the happiest little newly baptized member in our branch! It's really cool to see the church growing in the way of children of converts being baptized! He will grow up into such a cute missionary and priesthood holder. :) 

Our musical number and my talk were both good. When I get home, I'm not sure that speaking in church will ever be scary again. Everything is much more scary in Russian. Unless I had to speak in General Conference...that might be more scary. But I think that my message was clear. I talked about Easter and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love the Atonement :) 

Teaching the Youth was also good, but it is always a little frustrating (maybe not the right word...disappointing?) for me. So many of them have a testimony of the church, but then refuse to do the things they need to do to chose the right. They come to church, but then they smoke and drink. I just, whenever I am with them, want to impress to them the importance of doing the right things, for the right reasons, even if no one else is doing them. I worked especially with one of the girls, Dasha. We had started a lesson with the "Because of Him" video (In Russian- SCORE!) and it had brought her to tears. We split up into partners and asked the youth to practice bearing their testimony of the Savior. So when we got together, I asked her to share and she said, "I don't know how". So we talked about how to share a testimony and I asked her if she had any friends that might be interested and she mentioned a girl named Zhenya. So I pretended to be Zhenya and we practice. I asked her, "Who is Jesus Christ to you?" and Dasha went off about all that Christ did for her and all that is possible thanks to him. It was a super strong testimony! So I tried to express to her the importance of letting that testimony shine and how she, If she chooses, could change the life of her friend Zhenya, the branch members, and everyone she comes in contact with! She just needs to have the courage and faith to live what she believes! 

And not just her, but all people need to learn about the blessings, peace and happiness that come when we combine what we believe with how we live! We don't just have our church side and our normal side. They should be all together. We shouldn't just be members of the church on Sunday, but all throughout the week! We need to follow the counsel of the Savior, "Let your light so shine before men, so they can see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven" (Matt 5:16). As we do that, we will find more happiness and sharing the gospel will become easy and more natural. We will feel a great desire to share with our friends what we know, and they will have a desire to know what makes us different and why we behave and act the way we do. As we live the gospel, we will love and serve our friends more, and Preach My Gospel teaches that "offering the restored gospel will flow more naturally out of relationships where [we] are seeking to love and serve" (Chapter 9). So live what you believe! Let it shine and shape ALL of your daily actions :) 

This week, we had a tri-zone conference with all of Kyiv, including the new missionaries! SO MANY MISSIONARIES! wow. But it was so good! President told us all about his new calling in the 70 and what he did the last week. He talked about meeting the Apostles and getting set apart and sitting up in the stand at conference. It was SO COOL! He's awesome. We also had some great instruction on sanctification and the Holy One of Israel, or why we are on missions today (To gather Israel...) :) It was so motivating! I left and was so inspired! In fact, one of our potentials and I talked that night after English for about 20 minutes and at the end, he mentioned how I just seemed motivated and inspired and that my energy made him want to know more about what I believed. As I shared my beliefs, he was intrigued by how I knew. We ended up meeting with him the next day to read the Book of Mormon together. I loved bringing up the promise that his family could grow closer and live together forever as a part of the gospel! I hope he keeps progressing! :) He needs the peace that this gospel brings! :) 

We ran into the tank this morning. 

Tank photo shoot = success :)

On Saturday, we went into some of the far out Villages with our branch president. it was so fun! We visited some less actives. I'm always amazed by how many people don't know anything about missionaries! People in these villages always want to know who we are and why we are here and they are so willing to talk to us! We are going to do more work in the Villages now that it is spring :) 

I love being a missionary! The Church is SO TRUE! I know it :) I hope everyone has a great spring week :) Enjoy the flowers and the warm weather :) I love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford 

There's a tank in the Park!!!

Dear family and friends,

First off... don't be overly concerned about the subject line. Yes, there is a tank, but it's not attacking anything....yet! haha just kidding, it's only a statue. But when I first saw it, I was like, "Hey Sister, there's a tank in our park." And Sister Winsor responded, "Not funny, Sister Ford". But then it was the truth :) 

 the TANK!

As far as the status report on Ukraine and missionary work goes, the Mormon Newsroom was only slightly misleading when it said that the 85 missionaries were going to other parts of Ukraine. In actuality, they ALL came to Kyiv. That's a lot of missionaries! We doubled our mission OVERNIGHT! The wards in Kyiv now have more then 20 missionaries in them! In Brovary, we only got two new elders, so we aren't sharing an apartment or anything, but our branch of 40 (on a good day) active members will now have 8 Missionaries! Wow! The work is going to progress so much faster here in Kyiv! :) We don't know how long everyone will be here, at least 3 weeks, maybe longer. Everything is kind of depending on Russia and the election for Ukraine in May. So we will see... 

Can I just say, I LOVE CONFERENCE! seriously. I"m obsessed. and it was SO GOOD THIS TIME! I learned so much and felt like the speakers were speaking straight to me! :) The major theme that I noticed was "dedicating your life to be a disciple of Christ, through obedience and covenant keeping, making your eternal progression by the means of the Atonement the highest priority of our life, even if it means living your faith by yourself." So yeah. I really loved that! I love our Prophet and the Apostles and the Seventies and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! I love it all! If you haven't watched it, watch it! If you did watch it, remember that President Monson recommended that you read it as soon as you could. It's all right on LDS.org :) 

Let me share a promise that I love from Preach My Gospel, "As you treasure up the words of the scriptures and the latter-day prophets by study and faith, your desire to share the gospel will increase. You are promised that the Spirit will help you know what to say (page 19). I know that is true! And may I add that you need to act on what you hear! I love this story from the bible, which most of us know, about the wise man and the foolish man. Have you realized what made the difference between the wise man and the foolish man? Look at these verses,   

"Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his  house upon the sand; And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it" (Matthew 7:24-27) 

The difference isn't that one heard and one didn't. In fact, applied to modern day life, they probably BOTH went to conference, they probably BOTH listened to the talks, took some nice notes, even made some goals to improve. The DIFFERENCE between the wise man and the foolish man of this story and the wise man and foolish man of today, is that the wise man DID the things he heard. So now that conference is over, PLEASE be wise and act upon what you heard, the commitments and challenges offered by the servants of God, and most importantly, what you felt prompted and instructed by the Spirit to do. "O be wise, what can I say more? (Jacob 6:12). I know that blessings will come into your lives as you listen and then APPLY what you learn from General Conference! 

This week, I had a huge blessing in my life! I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! Yay :) we got to go do baptisms for the dead with our branch and with our recent converts! It was so good! Our entire district got to go and it was great! One recent convert got to do the proxy baptism for his father, so that was really special. :) I love the temple! I know it is the house of the Lord :) 

 temple with Kingsley! :)

 more temple pics.

awk district picture...I don't know why it turned out so weird haha 

This week we also had a Movie Night, where we watched 17 Miracles. I don't know that I've even seen the whole movie before, I love it! In russian, it was a little hard to follow sometimes, especially since one man translates all the parts, but it was so good and everyone loved it. I LOVE THE PIONEERS, so after the movie, I got up and bore my testimony and of course, started crying... Something about crying makes the Ukrainian people love you... so now the entire branch just loves me... haha :) That's the secret to the hearts of all ukrainian people :) We also made Russian Pancakes, so everyone loves us even more :) 

Cooking with some members, loving the mexican :)

I don't really know what else to say! I love being a missionary! It is very clear to me that the Lord is hastening His work here in Kyiv! Why else would we add 85 new missionaries here?? I know that the Lord has a perfect plan, and even if it doesn't make sense to us now, someday it will! I know that the Lord protects his missionaries and that miracles happen everyday! I wish I had time to write home all of the miracles I see everyday! When I get home, I will tell them all! :) 

Also, HAPPY EASTER THIS WEEK! Everyone, please take some time to remember Easter and what it means and why we celebrate! I was asked to speak next week in Church, (EASTER...wow) and I am so excited to immerse myself in study of the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ! I saw this message today on mormon.org (http://easter.mormon.org/) and I strongly invite all of you to watch it. It is a powerful message about Christ how his Resurrection and Atonement blesses each one of us! Think of all that is made possible BECAUSE OF HIM! He knows how we feel and he will help us and carry us through all of our hard times! "As we rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, he can help us endure our trials, sicknesses, and pain. We can be filled with joy, peace, and consolation. All that is unfair about life can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ (Preach My Gospel, 52)". I love my Savior and my Redeemer! I know that He lives and that he loves each of us! I know that His Atonement has the power to heal us, and help us, and enable us to progress and grow so that we can return and live with our Heavenly Father again! I love sharing this message! The message of the Atonement is what people need, and that is why I am here on my mission! I promise you that the Atonement can help you, whether you feel lonely, unloved, sad, guilty, angry, or unnoticed! He knows YOU and He loves YOU! I can testify of that, that I know that is true. I was touched by the words of a hymn we sang this morning during companion study, 

 How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,

1. Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
   What more can he say than to you he hath said,
   Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
2.  In ev'ry condition--in sickness, in health,
   In poverty's vale or abounding in wealth,
   At home or abroad, on the land or the sea--
   As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.
3.  Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
   For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
   I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
   Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
4.  When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
   The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o'erflow,
   For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
   And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
5. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
   My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
   The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
   Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
6.  The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
   I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
   That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
   I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

I know that God and Jesus Christ love us! They are with us every step of the way! Please use the Atonement in your life to bring peace, relief, and happiness! The Lord will help us, and even though we will go through deep water and hard trials, the Lord will never let us drown. His grace is sufficient and His love is everlasting! I know this is true! I love being a missionary! 

Have a great week! Happy Easter :) 

Love, 

Sister Kati Ford