1st week with a new companion/Food!!!

Hey everyone!!! To be honest it has felt like the last time I emailed was a month ago but yet.... this week has gone by so fast.

The baptismal date we had fell through. We have taught a sister everything and was prepared for baptism... but now we can't even meet due to her being busy and other things. This week has been focused a lot on finding people. I have been getting more "receives" for the key indicator higher than I ever have. Elder ... is fantastic with talking to people and setting up a lesson. He used to be the zone leader for zone 1 in .... I'm in zone 3 and have never left zone 3 so far. I have so much to learn from him.

At the current time we have no progressing investigators and a few other investigators. Meeting people has been hard but the work will go forth. It's interesting how the feeling of time has changed with companions. There are some where during meal times we have a lot of "extra" time and there are some companions where it seems like we don't have enough time. To be honest, I fill like when we have no time, it feels like we're working harder and better. Really focusing on the people around us even if it means sacrificing random things in the schedule. It's not easy, but It's a good feeling of fulfilling my missionary purpose. For an example, we had no time for diner yesterday, so after planning and doing the area book we cooked chicken and ate, but even then we didn't have enough time to make other things to fill us up. Don't worry we're not starving, just well... running out of time ha ha.

Another thing we learned together while street teaching is trying to listen to people more. We had a conversation with a man that basically at the beginning just complained about money and it being hard. We actually had him talk for a while and he said he didn't have faith. We said some simple, I guess, inspiring questions and he completly changed to being a more sincere and accepting person. We plan on meeting with him, so we'll see what happens. It's not the first time that has happened and it's amazing to see how the spirit works on people and can truly change a person's attitude in such a quick minute. I'm so thankful for the spirit, it's hard work and it may not seem like things aren't working the way there supposed to but when the spirit is there, everything before doesn't matter. It's a humbling experience.

Here in ... has been well.... very, very hot. I know I said I'm used to it but basically it's at the point where if there is shade, I'll try to walk in it and clouds are very nice when they block the sun. It feels like your sweating just standing in the sun. During the middle of the day, the city almost feels empty because everyone is inside. It's interesting.

Sounds like a lot of things are happening back home. With cleaning out the basement and also Kaylie's birthday. Sounds super exciting... well the birthday part. My new companion is a lot more cleaner than my last companion so I'm not complaining. I love having a clean apartment ha ha. Each week we get an email from President ... about random things and a thing that he mentioned is based off what the First Presidency said. About having homes dedicated. It mentions in the missionary handbook briefly about how the Holy Spirit can reside in the home and where family members can find safty, grow spiritually, and other things. When the home is clean it brings more harmony. It's hard but it's worth it. It also talked about the goal of having every home for members here in Bulgaria to be dedicated. It's exciting.

Anyway I got to go but I love all of you.

Love Elder Green

Food!!!

I forgot to mention about how my companion is helping me live the actual culture of Bulgaria with food. I have tried a lot more things with him and also ate out at a sit down place. I've never had any companion do that and we order of course Bulgarian tradition things. It's so much fun. So far I have tried a cucumber with a yogurt, milk thing soup that was delicious. Also we had sushi, which was based off where a current investigator works and they happened to have it. I thought it was funny because you mentioned a Sushi place in the email. That's the first time my companion had Sushi in Bulgaria so it's not a thing here. Also this morning I had a thing that is basically a giant crape which was fantastic. Also I had fries with a SeranAd (Bulgarian cheese). I thought the cheese was ok at first but now it's super super delicious. I'll be trying more things and I'm excited for that. I would send pictures if I could but the computers that I currently use have a restriction that prevents that. Ugh. Anyway love you all!

Love Elder Green

The end of Transfers again....

It's crazy that it has already passed another 6 weeks. It seems like I just got here in ..., let alone Bulgaria. President ... was in Turkey so only companionships with changes got a call since it's expensive from Turkey to Bulgaria. So what happened... we got a call. I'm getting a new companion and my companion is leaving .... I have loved serving with him. He is a really funny companion and love telling stories. I feel like out of all of my companions I have had the best relationship with Elder .... I'm going to be serving with a person in his group and also is the current zone leader in .... He'll be district leader for ..., so I'm excited to serve with him. His name is Elder .... He's really good at chess... yea he played in tournaments in Utah, and thats about all I know. I talked to him on the phone and he says he wants to run every morning. I'm excited for that, but also I'm pretty sure everyone in the mission that I know knows that I'm a runner. It's who I am ha ha. I'll be traveling tomorrow for ...so 10 hours of bus ride... fun. ha ha.

This week has been really fun and exciting because well... whenever someone transfers, getting lessons are a lot easier ha ha. We have been able to reach our district goal or at least for the companionship with 6 lessons with a member present. I had one of the most akward lesson with a group. Originally we got a information about a family so we set up and went to the lesson. We then were told by a girl around 22 that they were at a small playground. We then talked and the mother of the family said not interested and pointed to 3 22 year old girls. We talked to them but it was just akward. It was an interesting lesson and I'll keep it at that. I've had lessons were we are standing the whole time and it just doesn't work. The enviroment just wasn't right. Other lessons have been fantastic.

There is one, actually the only progressing investigator, that we have been meeting basically everyday. She has progressed faster than any person I have ever seen. It is super exciting and she has a baptism date. Then she didn't come to church, then when we called she said she didn't want to meet. It broke my companion and I hearts. We don't know what happened. The last lesson was good and now she has a complete different attitude towards us. There are some people around her that arn't to found about her. Hopefully things can be repaired by trying to meet with her in the future. I've heard stories about people progressing and the week of the baptism everything just falls apart. It has now happened to me. It's unfortunate but the only thing you can do is trying everything you can do and keep going forward.

It has been an interesting week. I finally caught up in my journal ha ha. Now it's the end of the transfer. It only took 6 weeks to catch up or at least that's how it feels. Keeping busy with the work. I also wanted to mention that missionaries have a lot of junk to. My companion has had a hard time fitting everything in luggage. It's hard to get rid of junk and I've noticed that I have a lot more things than what I started with because of left behind things from missionaries. I actually got a nice backpack like Dad's from a left behind that I use all the time for travel. I just have to carry it by my side because it's against rules to wear it because it's not professional. Rules are necessary and good but sometimes I don't like them but I know they're there for a reason.

Answers to some quistions: The tempeture in ...is well.. hot. It's the hottest town and the coldest in the winter. We do have a clEmatEk. I don't know how to spell it so just sound it out and you'll get it. We have it on all of the time. It doesn't cool down the apartment at all but the one room. I'm used to the heat but it's still annoying ha ha. Humidity it feels the same but I don't know if that is because I'm used to it or not. It also rains in ... once a week and personally I like it when it does because it's cooler on those days. The language well... it's coming. Slowly but surely, it's easy to be a little down because of it being tricky but it's better than before and eventually I'll get it. Just need to keep being diligent in learning it.

Anyway, I love all of you.

Love Elder Green

Another Busy week with traveling

This week has been a busy week for sure. It seems like I have been doing a lot of traveling with things that are going on. This week we had Zone Conference in ... so it was fun to go there. It's a total of 6 hours to there and back for that. Also, I'm heading to ..., most likely around 2:00 my time, for my companion to work on his passport work. It'll be the first time I've gone in for that for not myself. It's a 5 hour drive there so I'll be coming back to ... tomorrow after the work is done. Today is going to be busy because trying to do the normal things for Prepareation day and leaving in the middle of it for ... is well.. just not a lot of time. We might have to shop for food during diner hour another day. 

Right now we have a baptismal date for a lady for the 26 of this month. She is well prepared and she is also older. We have had lessons in her home and outside in parks when we don't have a male member with us because of rules. We have taught her the first 2 lessons with Plan of Salvation first then Restoration based off her needs. She has had a husband passed away 2 years ago that she struggles with still. She is so sweet and she also cooks things for us to eat when we meet. She is so wonderful. She has also came to church this past Sunday and also a branch party that we had.

The branch party we had was the first time I had a "party" with a branch or group here. It was so much fun. We had a lot of food, people, games and other things. We actually had a thing called Super Saturday, when we work with the members with daily missionary work for 2 hours. There wasn't enough members for everyone to go on splits with them (1 missionary with 1 member as a companionship) so I was with my companion the whole time. It was interesting because the members have a different Idea on missionary work, good intentions, just don't know the basics of it I guess. We might start up a Preach My Gospel class to help teach the members how to share the gospel better.

We also met up with the other missionaries here about changing the zone areas a little bit because there are some problems with how it is set up right now. It was fun planning that because Elder ... made Carrot Cake, he was figuring out how to make it for the branch party, and we had a lot of snacks and food while we discussed about it. All of the Elders got DoonerE so we ate that to. It was great.

Sounds like a lot of things are happening at home, with fishing and with Trek coming up. It was a fun experience doing those things and well... it feels like forever ago since I've done either. It's also interesting to hear about the people who spoke Romanian at Dad's trip to Wyoming. There is actually one sign here that is in Romanian and that is because Romania is just next door. It's cool being able to see it from the apartment window 12 stories up. It just makes me think... Wow, I'm actually in Bulgaria. It still amazes me that I'm here, and I love it with the members and the people here. I think I've gotten to the point where things that are usually not normally seen in America that I've seen well... gotten used to it. Still an amazing feeling to see but not nearly as strong as when I first got here. But.. there's still a lot of amazing things to see here.

I've adjusted to the city. I'm familar basically with all of the area that we usually work in. Some areas not so much if I haven't been there but well that's self explanitory. I love working with my companion Elder .... He has been one of the funnest out of all of the companions I have worked with. He is also the district leader so it's interesting to see the things he has to do that I haven't seen in past companionships.

I have 3 memory cards for my camera so I'm not in need of any. I filled one up but it was the smallest size memory card. The other ones are 4x the size so I still have to take tons of pictures to be able to fill those up.

Anyway Love you all

Love Elder Green

Moo!

As usually the week passed by just like that.

Anyway, currently, well actually an investigator that was basically dropped for a while we picked up again. The thing that is amazing is that she came to church yesterday, even though our lesson fell through. We were planning on trying to set up a way for her to come to church. She has 2 kids, and one of those includes a baby. We call them the "Family" in Bulgarian of course because its 3 families living under one roof. It's suprised my companion and I at church and it was great.

I think I forgot to mention this last week but when we got back from Varna to help with the flooding there I accidentily left the keys to my companion and I apartment. We ended up having to live at the other Elders apartment in ... because no one had a spare key. I  didn't have the best attitude because of me making that mistake but we got the keys delivered from someone that was originally planning on coming to ... from Varna. Anyway, for church it's required to wear a suit coat. Well... it was in my apartment for my companion and I, so we had to wear extra ones the other Elders had. My companion it fit fine but  for me of course it was super big. I basically held my sleeves skrunched up by my side. Just a funny story, well... it's funny now but not in the moment ha ha.

Anyway, because ... is such a bigger city, the use of buses are so nice. In ... I only took the bus when I went on exchanges in that area, so only like 2 times. Here it's almost everyday. The ticket is a little more expensive here being 1 lev. It's interesting, groceries have been a lot cheaper because of my companion, but the transportation expense is so much higher.

Yea.. happy 4th of July. I still can't believe it's already July. Also transfers calls are on the 19th. I can't believe it's almost already here. This transfer is going by fast. I haven't really heard of any holidays happening here, but I never know. They happen quite often it seems.

Oh another thing that has happened was I lost my daily planner. Ugh... it is so annoying. I use it to write in my journal. I'm usually on top of it but because  of trips and also zone leaders staying at  my companion and I apartment I got behind. Then... I lost my planner so now it's not nearly as easy to try to include everthing. I'm hoping to get caught up today though. It may not happen but who knows.

Another thing we are doing is playing ping pong with the other Elders in this district with  a really really cool member named Bro. .... He speaks English and has the strongest testimony that I have ever heard from a Bulgarian. The first time I met him was on exchanges with Elder .... He loves futball or soccer and I really want to play with him but he wants to play with the whole district but because of rules here that can't happen. I wish it could though.           

Also random things. I don't know if you know how to get on my facebook but if you can figure it out, there is a member in ... that wants to be friends. If you could accept that I would like that so I can keep in touch with him after the mission.

Anyway, Cross Country camp sounds fun. I would love to be able to run in the mountains. I keep on thinking about running and training when doing random things throughout the day just because it reminds of randoms things I did while running.

Anyway...   I always love emailing and  hearing about everything that is happening. I love you all.

Love Elder Green

Heres a photo of the Black Sea from the Bus in Varna

Wow... What a week...

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

     

                           

Crazy end of the Week

This week has been a crazy week or at least the last part of it. It was really special we had a mission conference in Sofia with President/Sister Lawrence. President Lawrence is part of the 70. All I can say about what I learned is wow wow and wow. The words of Gathering Israel has completly changed for me. The thought of general things about the Plan of Salvation has also deepened. It was a mind exploding learning experience. We also learned more about the lost 10 tribes and also the tribes of Israel more. When I fill like I have learned so much, I feel like I'm at the tip of the iceberg. The gospel is simple as a whole, but can go so deep where when you learn of the deepness I guess, your perspective of the gospel changes also. Like I said, it was mind blowing. I was in Sofia for 2 nights and a day for that conference also.

Since I have been here, when the summer time came or the transition from cold to hot, it has been raining a ton. I asked my companion, Elder ..., how often it rained here in Ruse, and he said it averaged 1th a week. ... it has rained sometimes 3 times a week for a couple of weeks in a row and even Bulgarians who we talked to during that time said it was a lot more than normal. I did hear about ... having that disaster. We actually got a phone call from President Wilstead, about a day or 2 after getting back from the conference about that. We almost went to ... to go help with the disaster. But... when we called all of the transport places (Bus and Train) we had to leave within 10 minutes when we got the call or in the middle of the night or the morning after. That wasn't conveniant for us to go with those options, so we ended up staying. I think it would have been a day activity if it would have went through, I hope everything is ok in ... now, I'm sure the missionaries are extra busy with that on there hands.

I also learned from talking with my Old Companion, Elder ... at the conference, about how the investigators in ... are doing. The person named ... that was so close to baptism when I was there, actually got his date moved up to being done on this Saturday. It was originally planned for next week. He should be completly ready this time because he learned already about the interview questions from the last time I was there. I'm so excited for him. Also, I may have the oppurtunity to watch the baptism by going back to ... for a day. I would love that to see the baptism and also to see the members again.

Today, we got a text from President Wilstead talking about baptisms for this month. So far the mission goal is 10 for this month and so far this is only 4. It basically explained that anyone that is potential ready to try to aim for them to have a baptism this week. There is a family that was dropped but recently Elder ... and I started teaching again. They have been taught everything and we had a lesson with them that went really well. One of the members of that family may be ready for baptism, and we didn't really consider it before now because of that text. It's something that my companion and I are aiming for, so this weekend is going to be busy. It's an exciting time.

Elder ... and I went on splits again when we came back to town because my companion and Elder ... companion, Elder ... (from Idaho) had interviews with President Wilstead. Interviews happen every few months by the way. It was fun to serve with him again. Also with the conference, I saw my whole MTC group. That is probably the only time that is going to happen in the mission besides when we finally go home. Also, I think I forgot to mention this but Elder ... (very first companion) is training right now. It wasn't originally planned but it changed with the Visas going through that were expected not to go through.

Sounds like it's a busy time at home, or at least doing fun things. I'm happy that Lexie was able to go to Coranna house in Oregon. It was a beutiful place to run in with all of the nature when I went there for Nationals. Also a lot of rain, which is funny because of what I said earlier. Also with Kaylie and Allie fishing with grandpa, always a fun thing. I wouldn't mind doing a little bit of that when I get home. And also hiking in the canyons. Since I got into Bulgaria, I decided I love being in nature and it's not to hard to do that here or at least in ... it wasn't. It's harder with the big city but there are still parks around. Yea... I love ....

I can't believe Luke's farewell is coming up. I have been keeping pretty good contact with Benson. Not to often do we email each other, but when we do it is great. I probably email Blake the most out of all the friends that I do email which I love also.

The new city is a little bit hard because started out with no investigators at all. It felt like when I first got in country in ... , but things are looking really good with what has happened this last week. There are also some members that I'm already good friends with. One of there names is Bro. .... I still have a hard time pronouncing it right in Bulgarian ha ha. I can fake a rolling "R" sound but can't hold it. Maybe eventually I'll get it down ha ha.

For Preperation days, we haven't done to much. I just want to explore but it doesn't sound like there is to much to explore or at least that I don't know of. There are some beutiful places that we always pass by that are beutiful based off structures and architecture of buildings. It's a place called "Center". There are a ton and I mean of ton of people there during the day. I got some pictures during the morning run. Yes, my companion and I run a tiny loop around center each morning. It only takes 10-15 minutes to do so at least it's a little bit of running. I love excercise time in the morning now because of it. Before, I well... didn't like excerising on a mat for a hour.

Anyway, I could go on more but running out of time. I love all of you and hope everything goes well with "normal" life.

Love Elder Green (Yes... I remembered to sign it this time)

   

Life in the new city

Hey everyone, it's weird to think that I'm in my 2nd city now and Wow, I didn't realize how small ... is. Instead of being in a small town surronded by forests, I'm in a huge city. There area 4 Elders and 2 Sisters here, so a total of 6 missionaries. Another thing that is kind of exciting is Elder ... (from Finland in my group) is serving here in the same city.

Before, it was originally planned for him to go to another city than ... and his companion. Originally planned they weren't going to be here. The reason why is because it was believed that the new group that just came into country was thought that they would be delayed due to Visa problems. But, it went through ok so that's why the extra 2 missionaries are here. They got a call on Monday night saying they were changing plans on where they were going, and that didn't sound fun to me.

Like I have said ... is a really big city. Also the apartment that I'm staying at is on the 12 floor. I can see Romania from my window and the river that seperates the 2 countries. It's cool to see. My companions name is Elder ... if I didn't mention it. He is super smart in the Bible and just in general. It seems like everyone I'm put with is one of the smarter people in country. I like him, but when I arrived the apartment was a disaster, in my opinion. Ugh... ha ha. I guess I got used to haveing a clean or mostly clean apartment with my past companions. I'm hoping that today we can "get things in order." I guess I got a good habit of being cleaner with general living.

The people that I'm working with right now in ... isn't much. It seems like all of our investigators are ones that live in the other Elders area, so we have to "hand them over" which also includes a family of 4. I've never met them either. Basically my companion said "We're starting over" with Investigators. That made me sad. I loved working with the people back in .... I still pray and hope they'll all progress.

Another thing about my companion is he likes to cook everything in the kitchen and basically controll it. I'm not picky and I'm fine with it but he does cook, well... different things that are ok. I've liked other food that past companionships have made. I've only been here for half a week, so I'll see what happens with regular food I guess.

The church in ... is a branch. The building is a lot bigger than .... There are also 25-30 members. It's also self reliant or can run without missionaries, which ... well... heavily relied on missionaries for everything to run smooth. Church is also 3 hours instead of 2 hours like the other city also. I really liked church, even if I'm still lost in it. I also got to help set some people apart for callings. It was a really neat experience. Another funny thing, 2 of the people that were members I've seen in ... during Sunday. It was good to see them again, and I look forward to getting to know them better.

It's defianitly an adjustment to the city. I don't know where anyone or anything is. Also having it be a "big city" doesn't help, but learning will come in time, but I still don't like being in that feeling of being lost.

Another thing that happened is the other Elders are both new to the city, so they have no idea where anything is. At least I have an experienced companion. Because of that, we went on companion exchanges. I got to serve with Elder ... for a day. That was interesting because both of our Bulgarian language is well... not the best. We actually had a family laugh at us, just because we were struggling. But, if it makes them happy, well, I guess that's good. I have a wonder time serving with him. I loved it, we both kind of just walked around, talking to people to the best of our ability, even had a lesson, and we tried our best. He has only been in town for a day or 2 and for me it was 3 days in town. It was interesting ha ha.

Here some photos of the city from the window of our apartment.