Moo!

Hey everyone, so the theme for this week I would say, rain, rain, and well maybe some more rain. It made me realize something about my shoes though. When it would rain even a little bit I noticed my left sock would get drenched from not even stepping in huge puddles while my right was dry. Later in the day, actually during night time after planning, I saw that I have a crack on the bottom that goes from one side from the other. I guess that answers the question about how my shoes are doing. There also the ones from the missionary mall. I haven't really worn the other pair except for Sunday when I want to have the best pair on. I've decided that I'm going to keep on wearing my current pair until it looks to bad and then I'll toss them. I can by shoes here but prefer to use the ones I already have. My last companion (Elder ...) actually bought a new pair when I was still companions with him.

Interesting fact, the city ... (It's touching the black sea) missionaries can't wear there name tags. I didn't find that out until recently when Elder ... went there. It's a little more strict there and I think that city is a little bit influenced from the Ukraine/Russia situation. Anyway, I don't know if I mentioned this but Elder ...is companions with Elder ...(from Finland) that was in my MTC group.

Elder ... actually has been here for over a 1 year now. He has more experience with time than my trainer and it's interesting to see the different things he does vs Elder .... I do feel a little more included in everything now that I'm not in training. It's interesting and it's good.

The 2 letters today instead of the other being last week, I just figured since we just Skype it was good enough. I didn't know what to say in my last letter so I just said whatever and wasted time looking at photos on the computer from my camera. Yea... it was hard to say what happened when I already said some of it in Skype but I really loved doing that and thought it was super cool that we could do that.

For ... (typed in English) we actually ended up moving his date back a week. He said that something came up for the original baptism date. Also that he still hasn't received an answer about knowing if the Book of Mormon is true and if Thomas S. Monson is the living prophet today. He does say that he believes in the Restoration and in Joseph Smith so I'm not super concerned about him receiving an answer because of that and also I have the faith that he'll receive an answer from the Holy Ghost. I love meeting with him. I always try to say things to him and he usually ends up finishing my sentence, it's kind of fun, and I can understand him saying my point better than I can speak it ha ha. It's fun and practice makes perfect right? Yea... lots and lots of practice.

Also for church, I said the closing prayer and apparently with my American accent, when I said "We can" it sounded like "We couldn't" and I finished off the sentence of taking the sacrament. Basically everyone in the group was laughing at me and said that I'm getting better. Prayers are easy, but I guess with trying to say things more I guess proper is still in progress of learning. Also with ..., he has came to church the last 2 weeks also, that was one thing that he was still kinda of working on. He said he would come but then wouldn't based off being busy but he's putting in that effort and I'm confident to say that he'll always come to church unless something comes up. I'm still really excited for him.

My companion and I have been retracting areas that haven't been done in a while (a couple of months I'm guessing not to sure). Anyway we have been receiving a ton of people. We have also done a lot of "drops" of those receives because they say there not interested later. It's a lot better than having those days where you work the whole day and nothing really happens. I've been enjoying it anyway.

Some answers to questions:

1- The side bag I have is awesome. It's also an Europe thing for everyone to have one, so that fact alone makes it very useful. I always carry stuff in it including The Book of Mormon, camera, coins , and other random stuff. Every missionary has one that is somewhat similar but I like mine the best. Also where the strap connects to the bag, it rubs so it's making a wear spot. I don't know if putting tape over it would make it stop wearing or if there are anything I can really do for it. I just want it to look nice and not wear out, so any ideas would help. For Richard, I don't know if it would be as good for California, Books of Mormon are smaller and don't have a hard cover for English like the ones in Bulgarian so I don't know if it would be best for it. But at the same time since it's super cheap for English ones maybe he would be carrying more than one Book of Mormon to pass out, so maybe he could fit multiple. I don't know, I just know for me I love my bag. Whenever you send stuff is fine I'm not in a rush to get it.

2-With the regular black scripture bag that I asked for in Skype, it's just for my English Scriptures, I usually just put it in my side bag, but since my side bag isn't designed for it, so it bends the binding in ways that I don't like and I have to be careful not to put it in a position that will bend pages/cover (like it did one time but not to bad that it's not really noticeable. I would just like to carry it in that case when we go to zone conferences/trainings when we travel for hours on the bus to different cities. 

3-Also with cheese, yea.. cheddar is more rare than not, according to Elder ... because I only know what is available in this town and he has been to others but also there is a crumbly cheese that we use for pasta that I guess isn't in a America. I haven't really bought my own groceries before so I didn't notice it until one of my companions mentioned it. 

4-With yogurt I usually get a big cup of random flavors that you can get in America and it's good. I don't know if there is really any difference. The closest thing to sour cream is thicker yogurt without flavoring so it's a little different to. We do have cold cereal in the morning but it's more grain based (the more normal cereal is a lot more expensive for the little quantity in it since it's imported) and it has dried fruit in it and random stuff and I love it. There is a corn flake that is ok that we get to combine it since it's cheaper, but I honestly don't like it that much. It's probably because it's not coated with a lot of sugar like at home ha ha.

5- I haven't had yogurt soup but I have had Shopska (English spelling) salad a few times. Mom actually made it at home once and it's good but I can't eat a ton of it because it's not my favorite and I get sick of it easily. Also they have Ice-Cream stands here that is Nestle and Wow! It is fantastic. It's the best Ice-Cream I have tasted but it is a little expensive so maybe on a Preparation Day we get some but not to often.

6- Contacts are fine I've figured out that I'm going to run out of solution on the mission but my companion Elder ...wears contacts to and said that I can get some solution at a pharmacy here, so it should be fine.

7- Yes I have been wearing the right pants for my suit ha ha. The only time I wear my suit is for district meeting, zone conferences/trainings, and church. Other than that I'm in short sleeves and it's nice unless it rains and is a little bit colder. That reminded me my coat is a little to warm when it's cold enough for a jacket but isn't super cold. I can bear it though but that's how it is. It's hard to know what to bring with you because everything is based off sight of outside and it has poured some times when it hasn't looked like it would. Elder Francis said that other cities it hasn't rained so much but ...is surrounded by forest so that's the reason.

Anyway it was good emailing home again. I love you all so much. I can't believe school is almost out. It would actually be really nice if it was out here so we could use ...(English spelling) for more lessons (he's 17 going to school). Sometimes kids have to go to school on Saturday here, which is weird but I have no idea how the schooling works here or when it "gets out." I don't know what the factor is of how school is scheduled. Anyway love you all again.

Love Elder Green