Week 6: The Christmas of Davids

Hello everyone! I hope you had the merriest of Christmases wherever you are. We were hoping for a white Christmas here in Provo, which we kind of did have because we woke up this morning to snow! So, better late than never.

Last Thursday we met with the person in charge of giving foreign officials tours of the MTC to prep us for meeting the head of immigration in Mongolia. Coming out of it, I was even more nervous than before (there's just a lot we can't talk about, shouldn't talk about, and things to remember to talk about), but I know it will be fine because this is the Lord's work and as long as we do our best the Lord will take care of the rest. Still a lil nervous though. Next week I will give a full report, so stay tuned.

On Sunday, Sister Richter and I gave the Relief Society lesson on "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts" which, as we were planning it, seemed like a topic that everyone has talked about and we wanted to make it different and interactive. We ended up drawing a flow chart on the whiteboard, showing how everything in our missionary purpose is connected to one another, and also why we need to baptize converts and not just people. The sisters had really awesome comments and scriptures, and we asked them how they have seen the blessings of repentance and baptism in their lives, and Sister Maccabee (who was baptized when she was a teenager) talked about her conversion story and made us all cry, and then one of the wives of the MTC presidency that was visiting our RS also talked about an experience that she had had and the spirit was so strong and it just felt so right and good. The really cool part was that we didn't really follow a tight lesson plan, I felt like our lesson went where it needed to go and it was really great to be a part of it.

Monday was Christmas Eve and in the evening we watched little primary kids act out the nativity all dressed up as sheep and shepherds and it was adorable and made it feel like Christmastime. We watched A Christmas Carol and then had some free time before lights out. Sister Richter, Sister Dixon and Sister Thompson and I (and Sister Bowers and Gering because they don't have another companionship in their room so we invited them over) had our own little Christmas party. We drank hot cocoa, sang Christmas songs, read Luke 2, opened presents and talked about Christmas at home. It was really nice. Different from home but really great.

Christmas Day was jam packed with surprises and the spirit and it was definitely a Christmas I will never forget. Our general authority speaker was Elder Bednar (called it!) and it was such a good talk. He talked a lot more frankly and openly in his talk than he does in his conference talks, and I loved it. He talked about a few things, but my favorite was when he talked about personal revelation. We sometimes worry, especially as missionaries, when we will know when to do or say something. But as long as we are being good and trying our best, we will be directed to where we need to be. Sometimes we expect some huge revelatory experience to tell us what we should do, but that isn't usually how the Lord works. He talked about President Nelson, and how everyone thinks that the changes in the church have all come just in the past few years. But in reality, everything that has changed so far has been in the works for a long time, with different prophets receiving revelation line upon line like we all do, until the change is ready to be made. Elder Bednar also said to buckle up because they aren't done yet haha.

After the devotional we got to Skype our families and it was wonderful!! I cried when I saw their faces and it made my heart happy to finally be able to see them and talk to them. I bore my testimony to them about the atonement in Russian and it was great. I love them so much and goodness do I miss them like crazy.

In the evening we had a "special guest" which ended up being David Archuleta (hence the title of this, it was a Christmas of Davids haha)! He sang a bunch of his Christmas songs and Glorious and talked about his mission and it was SO GOOD. His voice is so beautiful. At the end, because he is the nicest person, he literally shook every missionary's hand. So yeah, I've met David Archuleta, nbd. It was a great way to end a great Christmas.

This week, as it is with all weeks, had its ups and downs. And as I went through them I've noticed that my prayers asking for comfort are almost always answered through other people giving me a hug or sharing a thought with me or just cracking a joke. I am so thankful for the sisters and elders in my branch that are there to help lift one another up. Sometimes this work is a little discouraging and hard, but I know that this is the Lord's work, and he knows each of us and loves us with an infinite love that is always there no matter what we do. It is through the hard and the discouraging that we see the true goodness of others and of our Savior.

I love you all and I urge you to look for ways that you can be an instrument in the Lord's hand to help lift and comfort others!

Happy almost New Year!
Love,

Cectpa Kropelnicki

My district ready to light the way

Christmas eve in our room

Week 5: The most wonderful time!

Hello all! I hope you are all getting pumped for Christmas!! There is definitely a feeling of excitement in the air here at the MTC because for one: Christmas and we get to hear an apostle speak (my bet is Elder Bednar or Elder Holland) AND Skype our families!! Christmas can not come soon enough, I can't wait.

Last week we got 4 new sisters and 5 new elders and it's been great, especially as an STL, to get to know them. Our sisters are from Alaska (but originally from Serbia/Germany), one is from Texas, one is from New Zealand and the other is from the Netherlands! They are all hilarious and really great missionaries and Sister Richer and I love them to death. Two Elders are from the UK, ones from Australia (he's from Melbourne, which is where my Dad served his mission and weird fact, the Elders name is Elder Phillips haha), ones from Sweden and the other is from Germany, so he and sister Richter have conversations in German during dinner and its great.

I gave my talk on Sunday and it wasn't too bad! They only have to be like 4 minutes so it was nice and short and mostly I'm just glad it's over! But I love speaking in Russian, and this week I really noticed for the first time that Russian is starting to come a little easier to me, which is such a relief! I can form my own sentences a lot faster and now that we know more grammar, I understand why words are declined the way that they are, which is really helpful for me. We teach like 2 lessons every day this week so I know my Russian will keep improving!

On Sunday, the MTC choir director spoke for the devotional and brought the Orem Institute Singers which he also directs and they were so good! They sang like angels and Brother Eggett spoke in between the songs and he talked about how important it is to not be a "socially motivated" member of the church. We should do things because we know this is His church and because we are truly converted to it. If Joseph or Mary were socially motivated when the angel visited them, they would've had a much different response. I love how Mary says, "Be it unto me according to Thy word." She was willing to be an outcast among her friends and family if it meant she was following the Lord's word. We should be(come) willing to give up everything to know Him.

Our Christmas tree has become so full of ornaments, every time I walk into our room and see it, I get a warm, happy feeling:) Thank you all so much for the words of encouragement and love, you have no idea what it means to me! You are the best. Also, our branch presidents wife came in and said it was beautiful but it needed a picture of Jesus and we felt guilty after that so now we have like 5 pictures taped to the wall of Jesus. It is now complete.

In other news, we found out yesterday that a Mongolian government official is coming to observe our class the day after Christmas and see how we learn languages so quickly at the MTC (haha if only he knew. #giftoftongues) and the church really wants it to go well because Mongolia hasn't been very open to missionary work in the past and they hope this will improve relations. So no pressure to our district but the future of missionary work in Mongolia rests on our shoulders. Brother Griffiths was SO excited when he got the email, he could not contain himself. He's hoping that this will be the start of his diplomatic career haha. Everyone is really excited, and we're planning on having Sister Thompson talk a lot (she is fluent) and act like she learned everything she knows at the MTC ha the Mongolian will be blown away. We're also planning to convert him because we will be role playing as missionaries that class and bearing our testimonies so pray for our Mongolian friend who has no idea what he is getting into:)

That is all for this week! I love you all and I urge you to look for ways to spread the joy of Jesus Christ's birth this Christmas. Think of someone in your life that could use a little extra love this season, and do something nice for them. We are all literal sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and we can thank Him for giving us His perfect son by loving those around us.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love,
Cectpa Kropelnicki

Sister Dixon, Me, Sister Thompson, Sister Richter

Our beautiful tree with all the decorations!!

Week 4: Another Crazy Week

Hello everyone!
This week was kind of insane and A LOT has happened. I need to work on making these emails more manageable to read so I will briefly mention some of them.

On Sunday, Sister Richter and I were called as Sister Training Leaders, which means we are in charge of the sisters in our branch. We get to go around to their rooms every night and see how their days were and just love them and make them feel at home here. I was so surprised when we were called because we're so new and we have big shoes to fill but I know it will be such a blessing to get to know all the sisters in our branch better. Speaking of sisters, we get 4 new ones tonight!! I am so excited. Our branch started off really big (with like 7 languages being spoken in it), to what it is now with only 2 districts and only Russian speakers. But, today we get a new district of 5 Elders (who are all foreign) and 4 sisters (1 is foreign, the other three are from the states) so everyone is really excited for that.

Sister Richter, Sister Thompson and I got a new sister in our room and are no longer a trio. Her name is Sister Dixon and her companion left for Ukraine, Dnipro yesterday and Sister Dixon still has 3 weeks left at the MTC before she leaves for Russia, St. Petersburg.  So she is now Sister Thompson's companion and Sister Richter and I are companions. It's not really that different because we still do everything together and do companion study together, and Sister Dixon (she's from Bountiful, Utah is so awesome and is just happy all the time and her favorite show is Psych so we get along great:)

Thursday we had our TRC with returned missionaries and it was a lot better than our first one. They are so nice and give really great answers, and even though I can't understand everything they say, the spirit that I felt told me everything I needed to know.

On Friday night we sang some Christmas songs for the Branch Presidencies at the MTC and it was so wonderful. The spirit was so strong and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Christmas is such a wonderful time to spread the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and there isn't a better way to do this than singing!

On Sunday the BYU Men's Chorus sang for the devotional and it was fantastic. It is a big choir and they are so good. It made me miss BYU!
We also had a devotional last night and sister Craven of the Young Womens Presidency spoke about how important it is to never be "casual" representatives of the Lord, and to instead be careful because we are literally called to represent Christ in everything we do, say and think. In our district discussion after, we talked about being the kind if missionary that, even if you weren't wearing your nametag (because for the people in our district going to Russia, they won't be wearing them), would people still be able to recognize you as different and apart from the world? It was really good and everyone had really great thoughts on it.

I was also asked by President yesterday if I would speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and I really have no idea why he asked me on my fourth week when sister Thompson and sister Dixon are so much better at Russian! Usually, they ask the most experienced to speak and I seriously think they mixed up our names haha. It's ok though, sister Thompson will help me so I don't look like a complete idiot;)

Tuesday was the best day because I got a package with the most adorable paper tree from my family and tons of the most wonderful paper ornaments to put on it from friends and family! Thank you so much to all that sent them! They made me cry and feel so so loved. I wish I could hug all of you and tell you how much they meant to me. I have the best family and friends! I will send a picture of it because our room (with Sister Dixon's decorations and some Santa hats and candy canes from my wonderful Aunt and Uncle in Provo) is now the talk of the floor with all our decorations:)

Russian update: It is getting better. This week I have really realized the importance of goal setting and pushing yourself even when there aren't any "tests" or ways to keep yourself accountable. It's easier than you would think to just sail through the day without really learning any new Russian. We are always either planning a lesson, practicing a lesson, or giving a lesson and sometimes it is really difficult to find time to actually study Russian! But as I plan what I want to learn and accomplish each day, I really notice a difference in the new things I'm able to learn. I also wish I could just bear my testimony in Russian all day because it is my favorite thing! Russian is really difficult and the cases and all the exceptions to all the rules are crazy, but I love Russian nonetheless.

Some funny stuff of the week:
When I was little I was borderline obsessed with a movie called Horse Crazy  (I realize now it is SO bad and cheesy but I probably watched it over 25 times as a kid and thought it was a cinematic legend), and we were talking in our district about movies we watched as kids, and when I mentioned that one, Elder Holt said his cousin was one of the kids in it (for those of you who have had the great privilege to watch it, his cousin was the fake cowboy, who also happens to be my first child crush ahahah)! And he now lives in Seattle with his family and is a chef so Elder Holt is going to introduce us and it's going to fulfill my childhood dream.
When we are really tired in our evening classes (which is all the time), we sometimes have the weirdest conversations. This week's was on turtles and some of the Elders are convinced that they shed their shells like hermit crabs (because how else do they fit in them?) and it was just a ridiculous conversation but also a much needed one.

I'm starting to notice a pattern here at the MTC because this week also flew by like the last 3 and I'm not sure how I feel about it. I love it here at the MTC, and everyday I learn so many new things about my purpose as a missionary and what it truly means to be Christlike. I know that this is His work and that if we do it His way, we will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost to help us find people that He has prepared. I also know that testimonies are precious, and it is often not the elaborate lesson, but the simple testimony that can soften a heart and bring others unto Christ. I am grateful to be a part of this great work.

I realize looking over it that this is definitely not shorter than previous emails and I apologize again.
I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week wherever you may be!
Merry Christmas!
Cectpa Kropelnicki

Sister Richter, Sister Dixon, Sister Kropelnicki, Sister Thompson

Provo temple Wednesday December 12

Week 3: Mack Wilberg Stole Our Thunder

Happy December everyone!

Winter is in full swing here in Provo and we had our first big snow on Sunday and it was magical. My companion from Germany has only seen snow a few times in her life and she was so happy when we stepped outside Sunday morning to a winter wonderland. 

This week seemed to go by so quickly--I can't believe it's Wednesday again. On Thursday we had our first member TRC where we teach two 20-minute lessons to Russian-speaking return missionaries and we were all a little nervous but it went pretty well. Our second lesson was much better than our first, and even though I couldn't understand much of what they said, I could understand a lot more than I could last week(!). 

We also taught a few lessons to Igor and Olga (our teachers Brother Griffiths and Sister Williams/fake investigators) this week. Igor is obsessed with hockey so in our lesson about prophets we compared a prophet to the team captain and all of us to the rest of the team and Jesus Christ as the coach. We asked him what would happen if there was no team captain on the team and he was very concerned and told us that that could never happen because the team would never win. No one would know what to do! We told him that that is why prophets are so important to us and he totally got it! Haha afterwards when Brother Griffiths was talking to us he told us that the analogy was way better for Igor than reading any scriptures or saying anything else so we were relieved! We also have memorized Joseph Smith's first vision and we recited it together in our lesson and it was so amazing to see how quickly it brought the spirit into the room. 

On Sunday we went to choir practice and started to learn the most beautiful arrangement of The First Noel by Mack Wilberg. My only regret was not being able to listen to it since I'll be singing it, BUT tender mercy because that night when we watched the Christmas Devotional, the choir sang the exact arrangement and it was so beautiful. We joked that Mack Wilberg stole our thunder because we were singing the song on Tuesday for our Tuesday devotional, but I will forgive him because theirs was angelic. 

During our choir practice Brother Egget talked about the story behind The First Noel and compared it to the message of the gospel. The angels were the missionaries to the shepherds, and the shepherds then took it to the world (and that is our job as missionaries--to take this message of hope and love to everyone!) and when they said "fear not" to them, they probably meant that the shepherds don't have to fear anymore because the Savior is born and with Him we never need to fear. 

If you haven't watched the Christmas Devotional please watch it! It was so good. I'll just share one thing I really liked from it. In Elder Stevenson's talk he talked about how years from now, we won't really remember what we got for Christmas, but what we gave. Christmas is such a wonderful time to spread the love of Christ to everyone around us. Service is the way to become like our Savior and I urge all of you to find ways to show your love for Him and those around you this Christmas season. Learning Russian, it's easy for me to focus on only myself and my own problems, but I've really been trying to use this experience to focus outward as much as I can. It hasn't been easy and I'm still working on it, but I know that I find true happiness and fulfillment when I do.

Something I am grateful for this week:

Most everyone in my zone has watched the Office so there is a good deal of references and quotes made throughout the day, and when we are all so exhausted and our brains can't hold any more Russian, The Office always lightens the mood. Also, Elder Wickham thinks I look like Pam?? So there's that.

Also, Brother Griffiths rewards us for working hard with awesome stories from his mission (he served in Yekaterinburg, Russia and has some great stories) and he told us about when he was a year into his mission all the missionaries' visas got renewed wrong one time and he was in charge of picking them up in Finland every 3 months and every time he came back into Russia he was flagged because of his bad visa and was interrogated for like 2 hours by Russian officers. The first time it happened he told the officer he didn't speak Russian (ha) but then the next time he told them he did (because it was super painful to try to explain in English why his visas was bad to a Russian who didn't speak English) but then the SAME officer that interrogated him the first time walked in the room, now knowing that brother Griffiths had lied to him the last time haha. So every 3 months for a year, when Brother Griffiths was flagged, the same officer would talk to him and he actually become friends with him and learned about his family and that he had been in charge of interviewing apostles and members of the 70 that came to Russia! It was a good story, but Brother Griffiths tells it way better. 

That is all for this week (well--all that I have time to write. I apologize again for the length)! Russian is getting better every day but is a long long ways from being easy. I am grateful for my Savior who I know is taking more than His fair share of my struggles here and I know I could not do it without Him. I love you all and am grateful for your prayers and all the amazing talks you have sent me!! Keep em' coming, they have helped me so much this week.

Have a wonderful week!!

Cectpa Kropelnicki

Week 2: Elder Uchtdorf waved to me!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend--I know I did. Thanksgiving dinner was really not bad, even though we did not get our own mini turkey. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, rice, turkey and yams. I would've given quite a lot to have some wild rice, but they had some chocolate cake that was pretty delicious so I was happy.

The speaker for our Thanksgiving devotional in the morning ended up being none other than THE Elder Uchtdorf!! When they told everyone a few minutes before he came in, it was like Christmas morning--people were so excited! We had to be reminded that we are missionaries and shouldn't cheer for an apostle, but it was kind of hard not to. For our choir song we sang "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" and it was beautiful and I loved singing it for an apostle!
His talk: it was SO SO GOOD (no surprise there) and he talked about something I really needed to here. He talked about gratitude, and how the "higher law" of gratitude is being thankful for the trials in our lives, because that is when we grow and learn and become more like Him. He also said that during a trial, we should take a quiet moment to pray and ask Heavenly Father what we can learn from our trial. His talk hit me good because when I am feeling frustrated about Russian (which is a lot of the time), the last thing I want to feel is gratitude for the opportunity. In the moment I'm just thinking "why on earth am I doing this? I'm never going to be able to communicate with Ukrainians!!" But I know that I need to be grateful because I have been given this once in a lifetime opportunity to teach my brothers and sisters in Ukraine. I know that with faith and doing all that I can do, I will be able to learn Russian, and I will have learned so much along way (I have already learned so much). At the end of Elder Uchtdorf's talk he spent 25 minutes walking through the aisles shaking missionaries hands and waving to everyone else. The spirit was so strong and we were just all crying haha, even though we didn't get to shake his hand, we didn't need to to know that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. It was such a sweet 25 minutes. I love him so much!

After the devotional we did a super fun service project making breakfast kits for families in Utah. In just 2 hours we made over 360,000 breakfasts and we jammed out to Christmas music the whole time and it was a party. After, we watched The Other Side of Heaven, which I've seen a bunch of times, but seeing it when I was actually a missionary was really special. I still cried like 5 times so that's still the same haha. We had a few other talks by people at the MTC and in the evening when we were going back to our dorms they turned the Christmas lights on and it was beautiful! It made me SO excited for Christmas.

Also, I don't think I mentioned it in my first email, but since we came the week before Thanksgiving and in order to match up with transfers and stuff, we Russian speakers are going to be here at the MTC for 10 weeks instead of 9 so woot trying not to feel sad about that but I know that that last week will probably help me a lot.

Russian is coming along, we have three lessons in the next day and a half so pray for us! My comps and I have really grown closer as we've struggled with the language and being away from home and I love them so much! They teach me how to be a better missionary every day by their actions and I am so grateful for their examples.

Also, I have a request of you good people, I would love love it if you sent me any talks/scriptures/anything gospel-ish you want to share that you have loved reading. At the MTC we have access to iPad's and so we can look up talks, videos, etc whenever we want and I would love to read any that you have found to be particularly inspiring/insightful. Just email them to lydia.kropelnicki@myldsmail.net and it would make my day! I can read emails whenever, but I can only reply on Wednesdays so I won't be able to thank you until next week but I would so appreciate anything!

Like last week, there is so much more I could talk about but I do not want you to have to read a short novel every Wednesday. I love you all and I challenge you to try to feel gratitude for the hard times in your life! Have faith that they will make you closer to the version of you that He knows you can become! Trials are the times that you can be closest to God and I know you will feel His love if you turn to Him. I thought I knew what faith was before I started my mission, but I only had the smallest inkling. Faith takes work, and it has been one of my biggest challenges to have faith as I'm learning Russian, but I can feel my Savior and Heavenly Father and people even beyond the veil (definitely feeling my Ukrainian ancestors pulling for me haha) helping me and I feel their love every day.

I love this work and I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Cectpa Kropelnicki

My district on our P-day temple trip

They turned the Christians lights on after our Thanksgiving devotional and they were SO PRETTY.

Week 1: Mini Turkeys?

Hello all!
I have made it through my first week at the MTC! Looking back I feel like it flew by but individually the days seemed so long! Tons happened this past week but I will just talk about the highlights so you can get back to enjoying the Thanksgiving season!

On my first day all the new missionaries got together for a devotional and there were more than 620 new missionaries! It was so cool!! We sang "Army of Helaman" and they changed the words to "And we are now the Lords missionaries we'll bring the world His truth" and it gave me all the chills and made me so happy!

I am in a trio companionship and I already love my companions so much! Sister Thompson is from Tennessee and Sister Richter is from Germany, near Frankfurt. Sister Thompson studied Russian in High School and college and she is really good at it so she is basically our Russian teacher outside of class. She is so nice and is always willing to help Sister Richter and I and I don't know what I would do without her! Sister Richter is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She inspires me every day because she is learning Russian through her second language (English) so it's extra difficult for her, but she is doing so good! They are both going to Russia, Rostov-Na-Donu and I'm the only sister going to Dnepro Ukraine in my zone (the other district in our zone is all elders so we three are the only sisters).

My teachers are sister Williams and brother Griffiths and they are SO GOOD. They're like the best EFY counselors that also teach you Russian. They have taught me so much, Russian-wise and spiritually. They are amazing and I am so grateful to have them as teachers.

So, Russian. It is kicking my butt and it is SO hard for me but we've already taught 2 lessons, learned how to pray, testify and get to know people all in Russian so I just need to keep reminding myself how far I've come in less than a week!

This week at the MTC I have already learned so much, but I'll just mention some highlights.
Every new missionary mentions the Character of Christ devotional by Elder Bednar, and I will join them in saying that it is one of the best devotional/talks I've ever heard. IT WAS SO GOOD. In it he talks about how one of the characters of Christ is the fact that he is always looking outward, even when he was going through his hardest trials. When we go through something hard in our lives, the natural man in us will always turn inward and focus on ourselves and our own troubles, but we need to make a conscious effort to look around ourselves at others and help them instead. I've been trying to do that this week, and even though it's really hard to do when you are constantly worrying about learning a language, I've already seen the blessings of it. I challenge you all to look outward and do as Christ did. He also mentioned how important it is to not just have a testimony of the church, but to be converted (aka turning away from the natural man) to Christ, because then we will never fall away (whereas people with testimonies still and do fall away from the church).

Also on Sunday the devotional was by Brother Crittenden, who is in charge of the church's Light the World program. He showed us the videos and it looks so awesome! I'm kind of sad that I won't be able to share it with the people of Ukraine, but next Christmas I can. You should all check it out, it is such a good way to do good during this holiday season!

On Tuesday I sang in the MTC choir (which had like 900 singers) and we sang "More Holiness Give Me" for the devotionals musical number. It was beautiful! The speaker was Elder Ringwood of the seventy and he talked about seeing the hand of Heavenly Father in our lives, because He is always there. I can't even keep track of all the tender mercies I have seen this week where things happened exactly as I needed them to, and they bore testimony to me of how well my Heavenly Father knows me. Look for Him in your life and you will be amazed!

For Thanksgiving we are going to have a devotional by a member of the 12 and I CAN"T wait. People are placing bets on who it's going to be, I don't really care who it is because either way its gonna rock. Also, the rumor is going around that for Thanksgiving dinner we are each getting our own little turkey. Not sure how that's going to work but I will let you know.

Funny stuff, on Saturday the eastern Europe missions and the Scandinavian missions all get together and play a soccer game that is taken SO seriously it's hilarious. Sisters can't play with the Elders but it was almost more entertaining to watch. There were like 15 languages being spoken and both sides have there own chants and they do these weird "There may come a day when the hearts of men fail them..." Aragorn-type speech to pump up their team and they get so into it haha (our team won btw woot). Saturday was also the first exercise time we had since we got there and it felt amazing to get outside and run!

I'm sorry this got so long! I feel like one of the prophets in the Book of Mormon when they say they couldn't write one hundredth of what happened to their people haha. I feel like that is how it's going to be for the next 18 months!

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family! Eat so much good food for me and don't forget to stop and think about all you have to be grateful for!! Look for Heavenly Fathers hand in your life!

Love,
cectpa Kropelnicki

First day!  Sister Richter is in the middle, Sister Thompson is on the right.

So much studying!  It's weird to be right across the street from where I lived just a few months ago!

First snow in the mountains!