I think out of all of the weeks in the mission, this has been one of the most busy, and with some of the biggest things I have seen here in the mission field. This Thursday everyone in Zone 3, there is 3 zones in Bulgaria plus 1 in Turkey for the mission as a whole, went to Varna to help with some of the clean up there. What an experience with actually helping with a natural disaster.
I think when the actual storm took place was around Friday of last week. Let's just say there is still a lot of work that is needed to be done there. The group split in half and I got to be with my MTC group again except for Elder .... I think I've never done so much physical work in one day. I think the only other time I used so much energy in the day is Ragnar, but with Ragnar you don't get that much sleep. Anyway, the group I was with all we did was clean a basement. There was actually a car that got sucked into it, and yes, it's not a grage. It got in by knocking down the wall of the building. The mud when we started was basically an inch below my knees.
We were there for 2 days total, so worked all day saturday with proselyting at 5-9 at night then the same for saturday except the proselyting changed for riding the bus back to .... We dug all day and hit the bottom of the ground at the end of the day the first day, then the 2nd day the height of the mud and water was back to the same level. All of the water came from the seperation of the mud. We had lines of people passing buckets to a huge bucket that trucks would deliver, and people skooping and digging when the water would be to low to scoop. We also helped with a store that well... the basement is completly ruined. Things on the top floor was fine but yea... it was a mess. We did the same thing and my group was really determined and we got a big bucket filled in about a 30 minutes. It was tough work, and my body for sure feels that work the day after each work. It's also been harder to wake up both morning of those working days (physically) because I'm not used to working so hard.
I wonder if we'll have the oppurtunity to travel there again to help. I loved it. It's also sad. Where we were working there were rows of huge trucks taking out dabre (don't know if spelled right) and branches, mud, and I'm pretty sure they were knocking buildings down that were unsalvagable. The main place where we actually took all of our breaks, and yes the only time we took breaks was when we didn't have a bucket filled, used to be a restraunt. It explained why there was a tiled floor on the side of the road. There wasn't any walls at all so you wouldn't be able to notice.
With that cleaning up that happened I had the choice of either going to a baptism, or staying there. Yes... ... got baptized! It's the first baptism that I got to help with, but still didn't go even though I could have. It was hard choice for me and even now it bugs me a little that I missed it but not nearly as much as when the choice was being made. It also didn't help that he got baptized in a river in the town. It would have been really fun to say that the first baptism of a Bulgarian I saw would have been ... in the river. I figured, I'm here serving a mission, when people are baptized that is fantastic. If I could be helping with service in Varna with the disaster or watch the baptism, I felt like I could be more effective in Varna. They could use the help from anyone they could get there hands on. Like I said, it bugs me a little but I'm still happy with the choice.
I don't know if I'll be able to send photos this time because my companion and I switched computers because he wanted to send photos and the one he was using which is the one I'm using now doesn't allow the normal way to send photos. Hopefully that made sense ha ha.
It's also crazy to think that today is the last day of June. Before I know it, the summer time is going to be over. Time flys by as a missionary. The mission is truly short.
The tempeture well is hot. ... is actually known to be the hottest city in Bulgaria and also being the coldest during the winter time. I'm used to the heat but still sometimes have that yuck feeling from working the whole day in it. Also masquitos here are terrible. The city actually have trucks going around every now and then spraying a chemical to help with the misquitos. It totally makes a different. Usually I'll be getting bites then that happens and it'll be a while until I start getting bites again then usually the day after I see one of those trucks. It's kind of interesting.
I want to share my testimony on the Book of Mormon. Wow... I don't even know if I can express it. Before the mission, yea I tried to read a little maybe every few days and then some weeks everyday then back into the bad habits of saying to myself, "I don't like reading anyway." But... know I just don't have enough time to read it. I want to do certain notes and mark in certain ways that will take to much time to do. There was a challenge to finish it today, but unfortunatly that's not happening for me. I switched half way to just reading instead of marking a ton in a Book of Mormon I got at the MTC and also with notes. I got really behind because of that but I'm still close. I'm currently in Mormon 8 right now. I'm hoping to have it done within the next 2 weeks. Also, my desire for wanting to read the other scriptures, Doctorine and Covenants, The Bible, Old and New Testaments, and Pearl of Great Price is actually really strong. I wish I would have been reading on my own during Seminary. Seminary was fantastic but I feel like I didn't contain anything based off my own arrogance. Anyway, it is truly does contain the fullness of this great Gospel.
Anyway I'm running out of time, and sorry I haven't answered all of the questions. I'll try to answer them next week and try to remember. If I never answer certain questions in emails, keep asking and eventually I'll get to them. There was just a lot to write about in this email. I love all of you so very much.
Love Elder Green
No comments:
Post a Comment