Sister Kropelnicki in Ukraine: 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