Week 32: 3 Tanya's, 2 Baptisms, 1 great week

Hello all! Summer is here and I hope everyone is enjoying no school (except if you are an adult and have a job... sorry) and sleeping in! This week was chalk full of great stuff and ended with Настя's (Nastia's) baptism which was so so great, and seven of our investigators came to it! We were also sooooo blessed and had two meetings almost every day this week which (by our mission standards) is a miracle! So great.

We are currently teaching three Tanya's and we had lessons with all three of them this week and they all went really well. One of the Tanya's that we are teaching has twin 11-year-old daughters and she brought them to the lesson and they loved it (one of them prayed at the end of the lesson and thanked Heavenly Father for The Book of Mormon :) !  We taught them the Restoration lesson and Tanya had a bunch of really good questions. When we talked about baptism towards the end she asked if her son, who is disabled, needs to be baptised because all the other churches that she's been to told her that he needs it especially. Sister Bevziuk told her that he doesn't because he is like a child and doesn't know right from wrong, and he is pure and clean already through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Wow the spirit was so strong and Tanya was SO happy--her face lit up. It was a really awesome moment and was a tender mercy for me to be able to be there and feel how good and right it felt when we were talking about it.

We also met with Tatiana who has trouble seeing and taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also helped her download the Russian audio of The Book of Mormon and also read with her a few times. She really loves The Book of Mormon and she says that she likes everything about our church. Our big thing now with her is helping her get to church!

We also met with Dasha a few times this week and both times were really awesome lessons. It is SO cool to see how much she has changed in the two weeks we've known her. In one of our lessons we were talking about the plan of salvation and at the beginning she talked about how she thinks that God was bored one day and decided to put us on earth to see what would happen (haha, typical Dasha thought) but once we went through it all and when we bore our testimonies that God has a plan for each of us and loves us enough to give us His son, she started to cry happy tears! And if you know Dasha then you know she is not a crier. But it was such a sweet moment. And when we asked her if she wanted to be baptized she said yes! She's so awesome (the only problem is that her mom is a little anti but we're trying to find a way to meet her and help her see we are just normal people)!

Saturday was probably one of my favorite days ever! We helped the members in the morning with the food for the picnic and then helped Nastia get ready. She was literally counting down the minutes haha. It was a wonderful baptism and the spirit was so strong. Afterwards she told me that when she came out of the water she felt completely clean and all warm inside. During the picnic we played games with the kids and ate this really yummy rice dish they make here called plove and also had pigs in a blanket things too. Our branch really knows how to do picnics. It was perfect! And it was such a great opportunity for our investigators to meet our members and see that they are just good people.
On Sunday Nastia was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that was another super spiritual moment. And Nastia had the biggest smile on her face afterwards!

Some extra stuff:
-Theres a guy in our english club whose parents are from Poland and my last name is Polish and so he says we are related haha (maybe?) and feels like it is his duty to culture me in all things Polish and Ukrainian and he brought me this huge thing of sala (pig fat) in a gorcery bag haha and told me how to prepare it. Thanks Yuri.
-We always joke that we don't need security cameras in our apartment because we have babushku who are always watching our apartment for us haha. They just kind of hang out in their balconies and watch us in our kitchen. I always wonder what they think when we super kontik with our faces in bowls of milk...?
-Our washer is fixed! Woohoo! Two weeks without it was rough. I know that sounds really spoiled...
-For a present for Nastia's baptism, Sister Bevziuk painted the "Jesus at the Door" painting (Nastia's favorite) and it turned out amazing! She is so talented (on top of being a literal angel) and Nastia absolutely loved it. It was so sweet.
-My old Banch president in Odessa's wife Nadia also got baptized on Satuday and I heard it was really special. Everyone cried afterwards and Nadia was so so happy! Ah Saturday was just the best.

That is all for this week, I hope you all have a wonderful Monday and a wonderful week. I love you all!
Love,
Sister Kropelnicki

Sister Bevziuk and me with Nastia at her baptism

With our investigator Dasha and the elders

A great turnout from the branch!

Week 31: Nastia is getting baptized! And tacos.

Hello everyone! This week was hot, but great. I also found out on Saturday that I'm staying in Novi Doma for another transfer! I'm happy but also sad for Sister Bevziuk because she is still waiting for her visa-waiting baby but I love Sister Bevziuk and I'll take as long as I can get with her :) This week we had a looot of appointments fall through but we also saw some tender mercies result from them and looking back, if they hadn't fallen through we wouldn't have gotten a new investigator (who also ended up coming to church!). Cool how things work out like that.

So last Monday we were hoping to meet with a contact we met on Sunday, Dasha (she's 15), but she ended up not being able to meet with us and told us that she would let us know if she had time sometime to meet (which in mission words, means you will probably never hear from them again). We were bummed but moved on. Then on Friday both of our appointments fell through and we went through our investigators and none of them were able to meet. Then we decided to try Dasha and she said she could meet us in 30 minutes! It was awesome. That never happens. We taught her the Restoration lesson and gave her a tour of our church building and got to know her. She loves english music and is borderline obsessed with Hamilton. She said that she thinks there might be a God, but she doesn't think He knows her or loves her. We talked with her about how we know there is a God who knows and loves us perfectly. We also read some verses in the Book of Mormon and it was a great lesson. She said she would come to our game night the next evening, and church! We were blown away. It was doubly awesome because she is the same age as Nastia!

This week we met with Nastia almost every day (and also introduced her to Super Kontiks which are these cookie things that you suck milk through and then eat and they are kind of my favorite). Especially when it's burning hot outside (and sometimes inside). She loved it haha. We also had a fun taco party (with taco seasonings I brought from home) and homemade tortillas that Sister Bevziuk made (that reminded me of Cafe Rio tortillas!) and all the goods on top and wow it was tasty and a really fun time! We also invited Natasha (who recently got baptized here) and another branch member that's friends with Nastia, and we played some games afterward. We also finished everything we needed for Nastia to be baptized and the date is set for this Saturday at 2:00! Woot!

After that we had game night and we played outside and Dasha came which was awesome and she met Nastia (Miracle because there aren't any girls Nastia's age in our branch right now) and they are now friends! They even said they walked around and talked together after game night for like two hours haha.

This week we also met with Tatiana and taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was a great lesson. She agreed with everything we taught her and says that she loves how she feels when we teach her. She wants to meet with us again this week and she really wants to come to church. She has a hard time seeing and so we're getting her a recording of the Book of Mormon in Russian so she can listen to it outside of our lessons.

On Sunday both Nastia and Dasha came to church and it was great! We then had "Young Women's" with them and taught them about the Personal Progress program. It made me want to do it again when I get home. Sunday evening we also watched the Restoration video in Russian for our Sunday Snack activity and we had almost 10 people come! Woot. It was great and the people really liked it. One lady from english practice is really interested in our church and took notes through the whole thing. And another lady who heard about our movie night through another person from english practice wants to meet with us this week! It was awesome.

Also on Sunday I received the bestest news from my old companions in Odessa that our branch president's wife decided to get baptized (finally!) this Saturday! It made my heart so so happy. Their family can go to the temple now and be sealed for eternity. What a blessing. I can't wait to see the pictures of her in white :)

Other than that stuff this week was full of lots and lots of bowls of fresh fruit (from our main man David who owns a fruit shop by our apartment and always rounds our total down or straight up gives us free fruit) with ice cream or with sour cream (I know it sounds weird but it's delicious) and talking to people about our church outside. It's a good time here in Novi Doma.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Kropelnicki

Me in Gorky Park

Gorky Park

Game night with Nastia and Dasha

Whiteboard contacting

Gorky Park today with Nastia!

Our view from our apartment

Week 30: Novi Doma!

Hello all from Novi Doma! After a day of sitting in the Kiev airport on Monday I made it to Kharkiv :) My comp, Sister Бевзюк (Bevziuk), is the greatest, most patient, kindest missionary. I feel so lucky to be able to serve with her (while she waits for her *baby who is visa-waiting).

This week was a crazy blur of meeting new people, english practices, a sport night, meeting my new branch (they have a beautiful building that looks like a mini one of what we have back home, and the people are so nice and welcoming. Everyone thinks I'm from Poland because of my name haha) It's also soo beautiful here (so many awesome parks to contact in) and it's not so crazy hot and humid as Odessa so woot.

We had a meeting on Wednesday with a girl named настя (Nastiya) who only has a few lessons left until she can be baptized and she is SO cool. She's 14 and literally asked us like 5 times if she could be baptized on Saturday haha. We're hoping in a few weeks she'll be able to. Her parents aren't super supportive but she loves the church and she talked about how she wants to become closer to God and how her life has gotten better since she first came to church.

We also met with some recently baptized members and did a Book of Mormon reading on Sunday night with some of them and it was really great (we read 1 Nephi 8). We did chalkboard contacting afterwards and got some new contacts from it! We're meeting with one of them tonight. We asked people to write a question that they would want to ask God, and people wrote really good questions. It was cool to see how easily The Book of Mormon can really answer a lot of the common questions that people have.

We also met with some other investigators that have kind of plateaued but are still interested in the lessons and being baptized. One of them was supposed to be baptized a few weeks ago but said she wasn't ready when the day came, but she told us this week that she wants to work towards baptism, she just has some things she wants to sort out before she does. We're hoping to meet with her again this week.

Also Sister Бевзюк is really good at cooking and she makes all kinds of super delicious Ukrainian food and goodness I am so spoiled. She is a literal angel and After 5 days I already love her to death. Also, serving with a native is the best! We pretty much only speak Russian and wow it has helped me so much with my language skills. I am seriously blessed.

Well that is all for this week! Next Saturday is transfer calls (this transfer was a weird, short one) and I'll know if I'm going to stay in Novi Doma for 6 more weeks or go somewhere else! I'm torn because I really want Sister Бевзюк to train her greenie but I also want to stay here! So we'll see what happens :)

I love you all so much!!
Sister Kropelnicki

*New companion who is a brand-new missionary

Sister Berziuk and me in Kharkiv

With Sister Butler and Sister Hatch before I left Odessa

Last Sunday in Odessa

Our branch building in Novi Doma!

Eating super good vereniki in Kharkiv

The good luck toe of a statue in Kharkiv

Week 29: Mid-transfer (plane) transfer

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful week and are hopefully enjoying the sunny summer weather wherever you are!

I only have a few minutes to write today because I got a call from our mission president a few days ago and he told me that I was getting transfered mid transfer! It was super unexpected and I am so so sad to be leaving Odessa because it's all I've known for these first 4.5 months of my mission and its the BEST area but I'm excited to see what this crazy transfer brings. I'll be serving in Kharkov, which is up in northern Ukraine and since it's last minute I'll be taking a plane this morning to Kiev, then a 7 hour layover and then I'm off to Kharkov. It'll be fun.

Real real sweet and condensed version of this week:
-We got lost on the way to do service for a sister in center Odessa and we ended up getting invited into a random couples home for juice and candy and we gave them a Book of Mormon and it was awesome!
-We also met with our branch president's family and had an amazing dinner and talked about the liahona and what liahona's there are in our lives. They are the best family ever. I will miss them so much!
-On saturday morning we played soccer together in the morning for the last time (I'm going to miss that sooo much) and we ended up having like 10 people playing because our friends that we've met on the field these past weeks wanted to play with us, and some of the youth came from our branch as well and it was a blast. One of the people that played with us, Obi, even came to church yesterday!
-This week we also met with Zeena and I had to say goodbye to her and whew that was hard. I will miss her a lot and it's hard to be leaving her when she's kind of stuck in a rutt like she is. But I'll see her again.
-We also were finally able to meet with Alina and it was a great meeting. We just walked and talked altogether and she really hit it off with Sister Butler and Sister Hatch and that was really good to see. She wants to meet with them this week so fingers crossed! She is doing well, she's super busy with her classes in college but she's doing great. We also ran into her the next day as we were walking to the branch building so that was awesome! My mission has convinced me that there really isn't such things as coincidences.
-On Saturday night we went to one of the youth in the center branch's mission call opening and I guessed Washington State bc um it's the best and she opened it and she got called to Everett Washington!!!!! Hahaha it was the best! She is so excited and after I told her about it more she started to cry she was so excited! So definitely possibly going to "accidentally" see her when I get home:)

Well everyone, that is the highlights for this week. I can't believe I'm leaving--it kind of feels like I'm leaving home! I am so sad to leave Sister Hatch and Sister Butler. We were talked about a lot in our mission as being the most functional trio to ever be a trio (bc trios with sisters can be a little hard sometimes) and it had been such a great 7 weeks with them. But I'm excited for Kharkiv and my companion is from Ukraine and everyone says she is a literal angel so it'll be great. Thank you all for your emails and love (I'm sorry I won't be able to respond until probably next week)!

С любовью,
Сестра Кропельники