Week 54: Sawing Pianos and Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone and happy Thanksgiving!! Our mission president had us move our Pday to Thursday so we could do something fun for Thanksgiving with our zones on the actual day! The Kharkiv zone where I'm at is getting together at the center branch building and doing a kind of potluck Thanksgiving dinner. Sister Egbert and I are doing сырники (searniki, little cheese pancakes that are my favorite) and stuffing (pray for the stuffing, we both have never made it before and we are a little limited ingredients-wise and oven-wise ;) But that also means that I have a week and a half to write about and we've got lots of stuff today so let's get to it.

So last week we had two exchanges with the Sisters from Poltava and Saltovka. They both were so much fun and were full of contacting (because our planned meetings didn't quite work out) but we got lots of great contacts and conversations and it is always fun to show off the best city in Ukraine! ;) Speaking of which, the Christmas decorations are all going up in the huge square by our branch building and we walk by it every day and it makes us so happy!

Also, some sad news but the Shepherds are officially in Dnepr center as the office couple so that the old office couple can go home, because one of them got really sick :( so sad all around but now we have Sister and Elder Hong in our district instead so at least there's some good news! They are awesome :) And we can always call sister Shepherd in the office when were needing some of her :)

We also met with Jane, a returning member who we are working with and we talked about the importance of the Holy Ghost and she talked about the first time she felt it strongly that she could remember and it was a really great lesson. We also practiced a song we were going to sing for our branch lunch on Sunday. She has an amazing voice!

We had lunch with Niki and talked about mission stuff and talked about the new missionary handbook (SO good!) and I think it made her even more excited to get out there on a mission!

Sister Labonova invited us over this week and taught us how to make блинчики (like crepes) at her apartment and it was so fun! She is the best and she let us eat them afterwards. I also learned a new Russian phrase, первый блин всегда комом, "The first pancake is always a lump," aka practice makes perfect ;) And that is a true phrase because my first crepe was definitely a lump.

On Saturday we did some service for a newly married couple in our branch and we helped them clean out their backyard (everything from sawing a piano in half to creepy old dolls to someone's buried dog?). It was a good time! Service is always a good way to start the day, even when it's like -15 outside!  We also went over to the Shepherd's apartment for last "family dinner" before they left for Dnepr and it was bitter sweet. It's weird how close you all get and then people get transferred and everything changes! But we've had a lot of good times with them and they will always be our grandparents away from home!

Sunday we had our lunch all together and it was so fun! And man, the branch went all out on the lunch. Ukrainians do not mess around with food. It was all SO good!! We sat by Martin and talked about baby pandas and how healthy bamboo is for you. It was fun. We also did some music numbers and people bore their testimonies about experiences they had during the Harvest Day that our mission did a little while ago.

Sister Egbert also started to pack on Sunday :( That was sad.

We also were able to meet with a returning member, Sister Larissa and her husband and we talked about how they can feel the Holy Ghost like they felt it when they were new to the church. It was a good lesson and the spirit was really strong. It was our first meeting with her while I've been here so we also got to know her a little bit better. She also had like 12 cats and a dog that would bark at me every time I moved haha.

Wednesday we had lots and it was wonderful! We sent sister Egbert's bags to Dnepr (always an adventure, every time without fail crazy stuff happens. You just have to go into it expecting it!), so that was a relief for her to have that out of the way--sad for me :(  We met with two member families back to back and I'll say it again, we just have the greatest members. One of the couples we met with had served in the Kiev temple for 4 years so they talked about that and with the second couple we talked about the iron rod and we played with their crazy adorable cat and they fed us SO MUCH food, we were struggling towards the end but we soldiered through ;)

And then today! Today was the funnest day, we got together (it's the evening now so you get an update) with the Kharkiv missionaries, ate so much good food (color me impressed, even the elders brought home-made things and it was GOOD like cinnamon scones, potatoes, cookies, rolls, the works), played games and laughed so hard and had a testimony meeting. It was just fun! It's been a while since I've been a part of something like that and it was needed for all of us I think. Definitely a good day, plus we got to think about all the things we have to be grateful for. Being in Ukraine and away from everything I know and love, and seeing the people here and how many of them have so little but still treasure what they do have, has taught me a lot. It's hard to put into words but we are so blessed in so many ways, and that's great and wonderful but it's good for nothing unless we acknowledge it and use what we have to bless others. We have what's really important, and I am grateful every day (well, sometimes it can be a little harder to be grateful ;) that I can be here to share the light of the gospel with these people. Life is good and I love being a missionary!

And I love all of you!!! Happy Thanksgiving and take a moment to really think about your blessings, and not just today but every day! You'll find there is so much to be grateful for even when times are hard.

You are wonderful!
С любовью,
Сестра Кропельники

Nikki :)

Sister Labonova!

Sisters!

Thanksgiving

Week 53: Martin's Baptism and Windows!

Hello everyone and happy Monday! This week was another crazy one but so good!!! Wowwy. Side note, I got my Russian Bible (after it traveling all over Ukraine trying to find me and so many phone calls from random post offices and help from my main woman Надежда from the book company) after 5 months! Haha. Tender mercy that it actually found me, and it's so pretty! Pictures hopefully attached below ;)

This week! We've been trying as a mission to be better at meeting with and using our members to help with the work so we met with a lot of members this week which was so good because they are just the bestest. We had lunch at our branch president's apartment and we got to know him and his cute wife and their even cuter 4 month old baby!! They are such solid people and they made so much food for us it was so sweet!

Ok, Wednesday. We spent the whole day out on the streets talking to as many people as we could find about the Book of Mormon! I honestly was a little worried because we were also fasting and I was having dumb doubts about what if we don't give out very many, blah blah, but wow!! It sounds cheesy but we saw so many miracles and were kind of reeling when we ended the day (partly from exhaustion but mostly because it was such an amazing day!). Literally the first person we talked to outside our apartment door took a Book of Mormon and we got his number! And it just kept going from there. We did contacting in the park with the Elders, and some members helped Elder and Sister Shepherd talk to people, and we did a tea table in the evening and honestly it did not feel at all like we were on the streets all day, we just felt so happy! We talked about it all afterwards and how we can make every day on our missions have a piece of that goodness and blessings that we experienced. We know that the blessings and miracles that God provides are always there and available to us, so it just depends on us how we expect and choose to access his blessings. He will give it to us if we ask for it! In short, harvest day was one of my favorite days on my mission, and it made me realize a lot of things that I don't really have time to write but wow, good day!!

This week we also met with Sister Ella, a babushka in our branch and we helped her clean her windows and get them ready for winter (Ukraine has enlightened me on this process... and let me tell you, it is a process). She also made us okroshka, which is a cold soup that they usually eat in the summer but she made it special for us :) It was interesting and a little different but not bad!

We also met with the Labonova's (man I love their family!!) with the Elders and it was so nice. Their home is just a good place and it's kind of like we're all Sister Labonova's kids haha. She is the best!!

On Saturday was Martin's baptism!! Oh my goodness, if he was a happy guy before, after his baptism he was practically glowing. It was such a good day. Sister Egbert and I got him a little panda (his favorite animal/thing in general;) and he was so touched. Ah we love that man. He also taught us some Chinese. Um nope can't it's harder than russian I think.

After the baptism we contacted for a little and a bunch of random events led us to running into a lady I knew from when I served in Odessa! It was such a crazy coincidence. We talked for a little and I gave her our card, I was so blown away by it. Missions have forever changed how I think of "coincidences."

We also visited our favorite member Sister Looda that evening. She is always a ray of sunshine. Some things that she talked about that I loved was that a lot of what we get out of life is what we expect and ask for. And if we are living worthily, we can expect blessings. If we go into a sacrament meeting and it's maybe not the most engaging or something, we ourselves can make the choice and still receive revelation and guidance all the same. It's how we focus our lives and how we view things more than what is happening. She is just the best!!!

We also met a super nice man from Nigeria who's a doctor here and he wanted an English Book of Mormon so we met up with him and gave him one and hopefully he can come to the English group sacrament service!

We also talked to Peter and Janna this week, he is doing really good in Germany but is really looking forward to when he comes home at the end of this month! We are too! Nastia is doing good too, she works crazy hours in Poland but she is happy and doing well. Right now we're trying to meet with the people whose contacts we got during harvest day and teach them about the gospel of Jesus Christ! The work is good here in Kharkiv. I love it here. Also! Just remembered, I hit my year mark on the mission this week! That is so weird to think about but I wouldn't have it any other way, so much has happened in a year it's crazy, but I am so grateful for everything I have learned and gained and seen. Time is flying!

That is all for this week, I feel like I'm forgetting something, but its already a long letter! haha. I love you all so much and hope you are doing dandy wherever you are.

Love,
Sister Kropelnicki

One year mark!

Sister Ella

Martin's baptism!

Martin and the panda we gave him :)

Week 52: Back to Back to Back!

Hello everyone, another week gone by and woah it was a blur but so good!! Let's get right to it because we're having district council in a sec.

Monday night we had Family Night at the Lobanova's! They LOVE their board games and I think their game collection would make my mom cry haha, except most of them are in Russian so there's that (but they even had Settlers of Catan in Russian!). We played games, ate candy and gave a spiritual thought (we're doing the post baptismal lessons with them and we had them teach us the restoration). It was also really cool to get to know their dad, Sasha, better. He is so funny and is also really good at board games... He is just a good guy and there was definitely a different spirit in their home compared to before their baptism. It was really cool to see the difference in their family.

This week was also jam-packed with back to back zone conference preparations, driving to Dnipro for Mission Leadership Conference (MLC), doing exchanges with the Sumy sisters, and then Zone Conference. It was great.

MLC! So we went to the train station... because the elders had our tickets and thought that they were for a train... figured out we misread the tickets and we were supposed to be at the bus station...good thing we were early! All is well.

MLC was soooo good. Elder Boom of the seventy is doing a mission tour right now and he joined in and wow he is so cool and Sister Boom is the sweetest person. And I literally saw almost all my old companions because they're all Sister Training Leaders right now! Good day. We then went back to Kharkiv with the Sumy sisters and started an exchange. Also our driver kind of forgot that he needed to pick us up from Dnipro so we got back to Kharkiv a little late but we were up and ready the next day, all is good and we even tried a new yogurt flavor on the way that was literally black... not my favorite but we couldn't not try it.

Exchanges! I was with Sister Pope who is from Provo Utah and she is hilarious! And she also introduced me to taco seasoning in smetana with vareniki so I already have mad respect for her ;) We contacted and talked to some really awesome people, met a guy from China and exchanged numbers (always weird to do it in English), met with Jane, a returning member that we're working with right now (had a really good lesson about the liahona) and ate шоколадные трубочки. Her favorite. And even though she was sick she still came! She's the best!

Zone Conference! So good and everything went without a problem (what a relief). There were soooo many good thoughts shared and I am so excited for CHRISTMAS. We watched a video called "The Christ Child" and it comes out officially in a few weeks but OH my goodness it is sooo good and wow just a wonderful video. You all have to watch it the minute it comes out it will make you feel all the Christmas feels. Elder Boom also talked about a time he was able to assign individuals their mission calls with Elder Anderson and every time I hear about how that process works I am reminded of how true it is that we are called to the precise place that we are needed. He shared an experience when there was an individual who was assigned to serve in a group of islands, and elder Anderson went over it and said that he was close, but he needed to serve one mission over because that's where his last name comes from and their ancestors need to be taught by him. Wow. He knew the geographical location of where the missionary's last name came from and he was assigned to go there!! So cool.

Saturday morning we did another round of the Book of Mormon project #easternukrainestyle! It was so good and we got some great contacts.

Saturday was game night and Misha usually leads it but he was out of town so we did it instead and Natasha (from Novy Doma) came and it was really fun and a good chance to check up with her. She also did a little Russian grammar lesson for me so that was fun :) Russian is so cool but MAN it gets me sometimes.

Sunday! Zoia wasn't able to come and Zhanna is sick :( So that was a bummer. But for the upcoming Harvest Day that our mission is doing we had all our members write their testimonies in copies of The Book of Mormon (priceless! Our members are so solid!) and the elders had a lesson with Martin, who is the greatest human and he is getting baptized this Saturday!! Woohooooo. We were so excited when they told us after their lesson! We also helped the Hong's (one of the senior couples. They're in charge of the English group) teach a man and he had tons of great questions, but he isn't really progressing. He asks questions but is still working on acting on the answers and seeking his own answers. It made me think of Joseph Smith and if he had only had good questions, but didn't act on the answers he got to them. Acting is so important, and questions mean nothing if we don't plan to act on our answers (or even lack of answers sometimes).

Well that is all for this week! I love you all so much and hope all is well wherever you are. I pray for you and never forget you are the wonderfullest!

С любовью,
Сестра Кропельники

Natasha and Sister Egbert waiting for the metro :)

Zone Conference!

Cool metro station :) Ukraine colors are the best!!

Week 51: Brother Baptism and Keys

Hello everyone and happy November! Last week it stayed around a balmy zero degrees and the wind added a nice touch so we were more than a little ready for our heat to be turned on (which it did!! On Wednesday!) and the big coats are officially busted out and people on the streets (especially babushky) always ask us if we are frozen (Вы замёрзли?) so it must be winter in Ukraine!

This week!
We met with Niki and had lunch and caught up with her for a little. She's still working crazy hours but she is so excited for her mission! She gets her wisdom teeth out in a little and that's one thing she is not looking forward to ;)

We also had exchanges with the Novy Doma sisters and I was with Sister Wilhite in Center. She's still in training but wow she is so fearless and bold, it was a great day! She also really wanted to carve a pumpkin so we found some kind of squash which is the next best thing! Haha. We talked to some people in the park while we were contacting in the evening and they talked about how many "rules" we have in our church (one of them, keep in mind, was that we couldn't get married, hm.) but it did make me start to think about why we do have so many "rules" and it reminded me of a talk I read a little bit ago. The speaker talked about how commandments/rules are evidence of the love that God has for each of us. He knows what will make us eternally happy, and he cares enough about our eternal happiness that he tells us what we need to do. It's a blessing!

Friday was a crazy day because there was a huge youth activity for all of Ukraine basically and also Russia! So we had to get creative with English practice because they were using all the big rooms! But it worked out good in the end, and I got to see Katia who I met on my first day in Ukraine when I was in Dnipro with Sister Larson. It was such a surprise and so awesome!! She says that I'm 100% going to serve in Dnipro someday so we'll see each other again ;)

This week we also did Book of Mormon contacting in the park and it was so good again! People have the best answers, it kind of blows me away! It's cool how just any page of The Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ. After we contacted we did some marathon planning for zone conference and Gleb and Egors baptism (!!!) and it was good to get that stuff done! We asked Egor what his favorite hymn was and he said "Families Can be Together Forever" so we practiced that as a district.

This week we also visited a cute couple in our branch, Sister Lena and Brother Victor. They are so amazing! Their testimonies are so solid, they kind if gave a huge spiritual thought the whole time we met with them, it was great! Our members are the best!!

On Saturday we had Gleb and Egor's baptism!!! It was one of the happiest days of my mission I think, seeing their family all together, laughing and smiling (I don't think I've ever seen Sister Lobanova that happy before!), just made me soooo happy. And sister Egbert and I were the witnesses for their baptisms :) We had so many branch members come to support them (when our branch president took our picture altogether he literally had to open the window, jump outside and take it while standing in the bushes to get everyone in the picture!). It was just a wonderful evening!

On Sunday Gleb and Egor were confirmed and we also had a baby blessing! That was a good sacrament meeting :) Peter also came to church (Janna and Danya couldn't) which was awesome because we found out last week that he's going to Germany for a month for work! He'll be back before Sister Egbert leaves so that's nice :) But it's a bummer. We'll stay in close contact though. He was picked out of like 5,000 applicants for it so he was so happy and we are happy for their cute family!

Side note, we may have also forgotten our keys at the branch after the baptism . . . and had to call a taxi back to the branch possibly later than we should've and ran through the branch to grab our keys from some angelic members that were watching over them for us ;) We ran back to our taxi waiting for us outside the branch and he looked at us like we had just robbed a bank haha he was so confused. But we now have our keys, all is well, and I will never lose keys again!!

That's all for this week! This coming week is going to be craziness but so good! Stay tuned :)

С любовью
Сестра Кропельники

Katia and me

Gleb and Egor's Baptism!! With their mom and dad, ready to be baptized.

Gleb and Egor with me and Sister Egbert