Week 70: I'm alive and kicking!

Hello everyone and happy Monday! As most of you can guess, this was a weird week to say the very least. A lot happened and I really don't want to type it all, so long story real short:
Friday morning: Sister Sowards and I were in Zaporozhe for their zone conference and were getting ready at the sisters' apartment and we get a text saying that church, english practice, activites, etc. are canceled and then a few minutes later we found out that zone conference was canceled and we all had to be at the branch as soon as we could and meet in separate rooms. Weird. We get there and meet with President and he tells us what's happening and then we pack up everyone's lunches to take on the road and then the APs get everyone tickets and we booked it back to Dnipro.
We've been kind of in lockdown since then and things are changing all the time so it'll be interesting to see what happens. This past week has been crazy and full of too many goodbyes, including my old comp Sister Chen! She left in the middle of the night from Kharkiv and we didn't even know until she was gone. And one of the office sisters left too! So now I'm in another trio haha. Our new comp is Sister Hadfield and she is the sweetest! It'll be a chill trio. But woah it's crazy, that's about all I've got to say.
I'm healthy and good and we're still doing everything we can to keep the work moving. Thank goodness for technology and that our mission President felt impressed to introduce smartphones a little bit ago. Wowwy. The church is true and the Lord is guiding His church, if I've learned anything over the past week it's that.

Sorry for the lame, short email. I'm good but itching for everything to go back to normal. Man I miss that. It's easy to take things for granted--be grateful for them before they're gone! Time is so precious!

Love you all,
Sister Kropelnicki

A note from Lydia's mom:  We got to talk to Lydia today, and as you can imagine things are pretty crazy for her figuring out how to deal with the changes they have just learned about, and also communicate what to do to all the sisters.  She told us about some additional things she didn't have time to write about, that their mission president was inspired to have them buy two to three weeks worth of groceries last week (see picture below), and her companion Sister Sowards got strep throat but was able to get the medical attention and antibiotics she needed quickly and easily and is already feeling better, and that the elders were able to bring the sacrament to her and her companions in their apartment on Sunday and what a blessing that was amidst all the turmoil.  Love to you all! Alyson

Had some extra time. So Sister Sowards did my hair--

And I made crepes!  We will have a lot of extra time at home for awhile ;)

Our shopping trip for 2-3 weeks worth of groceries!

Visited a cute member before all the craziness

Soccer from last week :(  It was so fun!!!  And seems like ages ago

Week 69: Womens Day! Spring! Doors!

Доброе утро всем! This week we were able to see lots of miracles and we were able to meet with almost all of our investigators! It was so great! Also, spring is HERE. I saw people carrying their jackets (!!) which I haven't seen for sooo long (except the babushki, they'll usually dress like its -20 into late July ;) and there were flower vendors everywhere for women's day which was yesterday (it's pretty big here) and it made it feel even more springy! Yay

This week we were finally able to meet with our чудо Lena! And she was so happy to see us but I think we were even happier!! We talked about the plan of salvation and then out of no where she's like "what would I have to do to become a member of your church?" Haha what?! Then we talked about baptism and she said that she wasn't ready yet but she wanted to prepare for it! It is so easy teaching her and she loves everything that we talk about. She is amazing!! My favorite part of the lesson was when she looked at the blackboard behind us and saw the picture of Jesus knocking at the door and she said that she's always loved that picture. I stood up at took it off the board and I told her that I love it too because there's purposefully no handle on Jesus's side, because He knocks but we have to be the one to open for him. Lena's face lit waaay up and she said that she had never noticed that! And then we talked about what that means and she kept thanking us for pointing that out! And then we let her have the picture (haha, we stinkin love Lena, I'd give her my kidneys if she needed it) so now we are trying to find another one to put back on the blackboard...haha.

We also had a first lesson with Natasha, the lady that just wandered into sacrament last week and asked us if she was in the right place! It was one of the COOLEST lessons I've been able to be a part of on my mission. She is so ready for the gospel, we were in shock a little bit. Everything she said just blew us away and we just felt so comfortable together, and I felt like l'd known her a lot longer than a half an hour! I could just type forever about that lesson, but to sum it up we get to the end of the lesson and we're talking about The Book of Mormon and how she can know if it's true through prayer, and she sits for a second and then says "Well, I'll pray about it, but I already feel like its true." Woooaaahh. Yeah, she is amazing.

We also met with Olya, a cute girl we're teaching and she was able to come with us to a baptism at the branch and it was awesome!! She said that she felt something different at our church than other churches. Cooool. She also loved meeting everyone! We have the bestest members.

We also met with Anna, a girl from English practice and we talked about family and the gospel and ate cookies! We also met with Liza and talked about The Book of Mormon and challenged her to pray about it. She's still not sure if God really cares about her or will answer her, but we read some verses together and it was good!

In other news, we visited Sister Vera and brought her flowers for women's day and she made us borscht and she is just the sweetest. We also helped Loudmila get to church and they had extra space in the taxi so we got to ride in the bab taxi!! Woo. We also had district conference so we watched it televised from Kharkiv!! It was so cool, I saw lots of my favoritist people! And one of the speakers was a recently returned missionary who served in Seattle Washington and he actually came to my open house before I left on my mission and I met him and he was so cool! I remember when I talked to him (almost a year and a half ago now!) he told me that he would get home to Ukraine when I was at the end of my mission there. Woah that's strange. But enough of that!

Sunday was also women's day!!! It's my favorite because you can tell any lady on the street to have a wonderful day and congratulate them and wish them wishes and they'll be so happy and do the same to you!! I love it!! People are so cute.

This week I had to write my testimony for our mission's Facebook page (shameless plug, go like us! Dnipro Ukraine Mission!) and I talked about how Heavenly Father usually doesn't just straight up tell us the answer to our question. He waits for us to think about it, study it out in our minds, and then ask Him. That's the pattern that He used to open the restoration of his church, and it's often how he works with us as well! People sometimes wonder why sometimes it seems like God isn't speaking to us or answering our prayers. But a lot of the time, we aren't doing our part. Because I know he is waiting for us to act and choose and use our agency, and He will let us know if it's not right. He loves us and does everything for our ultimate benefit and happiness. He knows you and loves you and you can bet your bottom he is right by your side, even if things are hard. He's waiting at the door!

I love you all so much and am so grateful for you. Have a wonderful week!
С любовью,
Сестра Кропельники

Helping Sister Lydmila to church. We may have gotten her shoe stuck on her foot...but the good
news is she needed the shoes to get to church!

The elders gave us cookies for women's day!

Olya! She came to a baptism and really liked it. She is so cute!

All the missionaries in center. We had a district conference yesterday. The member in the middle loves missionaries!!

Week 68: Song of the Babushka

Hello everyone and happy Monday! And happy spring! Our winter here has been super weird and warm and wet (it's been a lot like Seattle winter actually!) but the first of March was beautiful and sunny and the days are getting longer (the sun would go down at like 3:30!) and there's little green stuff popping up everywhere!! Yay!

This week at Mission Leadership Conference I got to see my daughter Sister Butler (the sister I trained), who is killing it in Kharkiv!! MLC is always one of my favorite things every transfer, it's really fun to plan stuff happening in the mission and eat Sister Wirthlin's yummy food!

Since writing the above we spent our P-day getting Georgian food with our district, wandered around Dnipro and looked in some cool shops, bought some new piano music, and then played it for too long and now I'm out of time to write my email to you! I'm so sorry!! But REAL quick I'll share the miracle of the week!!

At church this lady, Natasha, comes into the sacrament hall and looks a little lost but she has a church card in her hand and she asked us if she was in the right place! Haha we told her yes!!! She loved sacrament meeting and we exchanged numbers and we're meeting with her this week! Чудо!

Also random, but we had some babushki sing to us as we waited at a bus stop and it was the cutest thing! They also got mad at us for wearing light jackets. Oh how I love babushki. I love Ukraine!!!!

Sorry for the pathetically lame email! I am so grateful to be serving here and learning and growing and helping the people here (although they always help me more than I help them!). You are amazing and Бог вас любит!!!

С любовью,
Сестра Кропельники

Visited some members last night!

Mission Leadership Conference!! I got to see my daughter :)

Brought a guitar on a Marshrutka!

Our favorite person Sister Shepherd!!! We love her and she always brings us goodies and food and she's the best!

My favorite bagged milk

Ukraine apartment buildings