This week has been pretty great... and of course really fast as always.

While my Elder ...  and I were on the street we heard a metal ding and saw a shoe horn, I think that's what there called, (for putting on your shoes) fall from a balcony. We looked up and there was a baba (grandma) which looked down and told us to wait as we lifted up the metal thing wondering where it came from. We both kind of looked at each other and waited for a minute or two and the baba (grandma) has a plastic bag with string from I'm guessing a sowing kit attached to it. She put some heavy objects so the bag wouldn't fling everywhere. After she yelled Thanks and it's just a funny little service opportunity experience ha ha. 

We met with a former investigator named ... that seems really interested in the Gospel. The only problem is the teaching record suggests that he does more talk than acting so it makes it difficult. It's one of the personalities I don't personally prefer because they are so great at being friends but it's hard for them to come closer to Christ. We're only here to invite, and we can't do more than that. 

It reminds of one of the ladies that we talked to on the street. She basically asked if we were just finding people to join our "group." We're basically doing that but it's much more. We responded that we are here just to invite people to learn for themselves about the things we know to be true. It's up to the people to accept, act, or simply just rejecting it. 

There are times were not a lot is happening with the missionary work, but when those moments come I come to know my purpose more. "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel by...." I love the scriptures that talk about God extending His merciful hand to all of his children, even when they reject. I see this scripture being fulfilled everyday being a missionary because God extends His hand through His servants. I wouldn't change anything the way they are right now. 

We met 2 guys from a country called Yemen. Don't worry I didn't know anything about the country until now. Strangely that happens every now and then with being in the Bulgaria Sofia Mission ha ha. He met with missionaries about 2 years ago here. Only met with them once and said it was good. We understood more about his background, but were short on time. We met on a bench by the river here and it was great. I'm hoping he'll have more interest, but only time can tell. 

Tomorrow, Elder ...  and I are traveling to ... for zone training. After that one of us will stay for 3ish days on exchanges while the other companionship go back to ... That'll be fun. We recently got a new zone leader that'll I'll be serving with also. 

I love all of you,

Elder Green

I loved being able to skype yesterday. It was great talking to all of you. It's nice to know that the next time that happens it'll be face to face and not with a time limit ha ha. 

Well.... I don't know what to say exactly since the skype. 

Last week we helped President ,,, with Mutual and we're trying to (or president ,,, is trying) to teach the 16 year old member English. We all want him to serve a mission in the future and there is a great chance that he'll have an English speaking companion that doesn't know Bulgarian. That was fun to do. It's interesting because learning Bulgarian made me realize some weird concepts that common English has. An example of this is word order. Sometimes English changes it when Bulgarian keeps it the same. This is with questions.

We had basically a lesson with a man on the street about the Restoration but it wasn't officially a lesson. It's always fun having those. It's just annoying when they don't have the desire to meet another time but are willing to talk in the moment. The future missionaries will gather those more prepared people in the future. 

I guess since I don't know what else to say I'll spend some time sending photos. It's been a while since I've done that. 

I love all of you and hope everything is going great. 

PS I forgot to say but apparently scorpions live here in Bulgaria. My companion and I found 3 in our apartment this past week and caught 2 of them. I forgot to mention that in the Skype. Apparently scorpions like eating spiders also. Don't ask my how I know that... 

With love, 

Elder Green

Before I forget, I did receive my package. The zone leader's called us Tuesday or Wednesday saying that we were going on exchanges, so that worked out.

The strongest investigator we had hasn't been responding lately unfortunately. I think it's do to the end of the college or schools here in Blagoevgrad. It makes it a little tricky because after that the students go back to their villages and don't return until school is back, and or never come back. We've talked to some really cool people but the schooling is messing us up for meeting. We'll continue looking until we find someone that's ready. 

Since the beginning of the year, the zone leaders in ... have been doing exchanges by traveling (on bus) to other cities and taking someone in the companionship and take them back to .... So I got the chance to serve with Elder ... for about 3 days in .... I've done a tiny bit of missionary work in Sofia but with a companion and I not knowing Sofia to well it didn't really work out. ... is huge, it's really easy to plan for things because with city transportation it takes an hour to get to an appointment. It's a lot different than a 30 minute walk from anywhere in the city to a lesson. The thing that is funny is that there are cities in America that is the same population as Bulgaria. It makes ... feel a little bit smaller thinking that way. 

It's interesting thinking about the layout also. Instead of having a town, and then another town connected to the town everything is just empty out of city borders until you hit a village. Sometimes I get asked how big my city is in America and I honestly couldn't say because it's just surrounded by other cities so I feel like it's not the same concept. 

There is a member that is from ... (My first city) that moved to ..., so Elder ... and I actually ran into him on the street. The chances of that is so slim but it was great being able to see him again. He's just really funny with everything. 

The lessons that we had in ... were actually in English. I've rarely had lessons in English, so it was a change. Also praying in English is not preferableffor me. I feel like it's me trying to say Bulgarian prayers in the MTC. The Bulgarian word pops up in my head before the English word so there's a delay I feel like. It's weird. It's been like that since towards the beginning of being in field. 

The lessons were with ... and .... Funny the same name for both people and there personalities are completely opposite. It was well... interesting.

While traveling back, we actually had traffic due to construction. I haven't had that well... since being in Utah ha ha. I thought it was just funny. The bus is about 2 hours from ... to ... just as an extra note. 

I'm excited for this next week. So much is happening. End of transfers, skyping, and also applying a study plan for a lot of things that will hopefully make studies more meaningful along with goals. Being a missionary is so busy, but there's also so much more than can be done, just with the little things. 

I'm glad to hear from all of you and excited for this next Sunday.

With love,

Elder Green

This week just flew by.... Just like all the other ones. 

As of lately, my companion has been teasing me about how when the next transfer starts, which is 2 weeks from today which is crazy, I'll be able to count the amount of transfers I have left in country on 1 hand. Ugh... I still have plenty of time, it just feels like it's already over. 

Anyway, this week we had Gospel Discussions in English with a man that usually comes and a less active member. It was the first time I taught English here in .... We watched "Only a Stone cutter," with Bulgarian subtitles. It's so good, and the people that came to the discussions can pick out some of the English, so it was good. We also talked about Christ and what he did here on Earth using the Restoration brochure. Those brochures are so amazing. 

One of the members also went to the Hospital due to heart problems I believed. We visited him there with President .... We gave him some juice and canned peaches which he likes. He was there only for a couple days and came to church. He's doing a lot better than previously so that's great. It's hard for some people here, and it's a blessing to see how some of these people rely on the Gospel for strength. 

We also ran into a less active on the street that he actually came to us. I've never seen him before and my companion has only seen him once and really never talked to him. We ended up having a lesson with him and wow. It didn't go as I expected. We talked about faith, and that led to action and eventually commandments. At first our lesson planned I didn't really like, but as we taught, it went perfect. I wouldn't have changed everything. That member, currently goes to ... every now and then for work and he is here for only another week then he'll be gone. He received an address on where to find the church in ..., but apparently he couldn't find it when he was there. I'm guessing there's church there but I'm not completely sure. 

I big change that is happening is they're changing the areas for the mission. Turkey is part of our mission but they are putting Turkey into a different mission which the area presidency just formed. The Bulgaria Sofia Mission is only Bulgaria now. Well... actually that will occur in July. I believe when the mission president, President ... changes and President ... comes.

We also got to help President ... do mutual this week. We have a few youth here. We played "Game of Words," or scrabble in Bulgarian. It's interesting because I can actually play it, not very well, but still can participate. President ... has a dictionary which we used and actually discovered some new words. Scrabble is interesting with conjugations, and the other team won and I think it was due to them adding "eTe" at the end of big words (which is the you all form). I'm not sure if any of that made sense but it's really easy getting some big points if you do it right. 

Elder ... and I made Tikvanik. It's the first time that I attempted making it, using a recipe I got from a former investigator in .... It turned out really good. It's basically a dessert version of a classic meal they make here which is Banitsa. Tikvanik uses pumpkin (shredded) with sugar and oil.Banitsa is yogurt, cheese, eggs, oil, and pastry stuff. 

This week will pass by really fast and then we'll be able to skype so I'm excited for that. I love all of you. 

With love,

Elder Green

We just got a email from the mission talking about the mother days skype. This month is going by too fast. It still feels like the beginning of April. It's crazy. 

It was pretty fun for last week being my birthday. I had people (investigator and a member) from different. previous cities that I served call me. It just makes me miss the other cities that I served in. I wish I could be in each city at the same time. 

We ended up doing bowling last week. That's the first time I've done that in Bulgaria. Thanks to the ... University there's fun things like that here. 

This morning for exercise we did a hike with the Branch President. President ... (He's American going to the university here. I believe that I have mentioned him before). We hiked up a mountain or hill that's in the city that has a huge cross. That was a lot of fun also. 

We have been recently doing a lot of finding on the street/homes. We have some great potential investigators that I believe are going to have a high chance to meet next week. 

One of these potentials is with a man named Ivan. We actually sat down with him for a little bit and he's young and a student here. We talk to a lot of students here due to the universities here. It feels like ... (my 1st city). He was really interested in talking about languages and liked how we knew Bulgarian. He actually gave me his Skye on the street which I've never received on the street. We just need to make sure we set good expectations with him and he has great potential. 

Another tender mercy that I saw was while we were on the street it looked a little stormy. It rained a little bit but not to much. We decided to go tractingbecause we want to go where the people are and people hate being in bad weather. While he hiked up the vhold (I think building is the closest word but ugh... I forgot the word in English.) Basically a 7 story building. The rain started pouring a ton while in it and when we got out the rain stopped. The "buildings" which we tracted are more newer and actually isn't really filled with people. We think people can't afford to live in them but I don't know why. 

One of the members were sick, so we visited him. When I first got here in ..., we scrubbed his concrete walls for mold. He was planning on going to the hospital today, so hopefully things are ok with him. We gave him a blessing. He loves the missionaries and always said that God has blessed him with the missionaries here. The members here are really cool I love all of them. 

For Sunday, it was really busy but more of the line of branch work here. There were 2 students that came from the university (this is the 2nd time it has happened and Elder ... said that it really never happened the 1 transfer that he has been here) to see what we do for BogosloosheneA (Church service). The talks fell through and President ... was in ... for school, so one of the sister missionaries bore testimony along with myself since we're both relatively new. There is a family named The .... They are a family that is the core of the branch here. Brother ... conducted and talked and his 16 year old daughter ..., testified also. ...'s testimony is so strong, you can for sure feel the spirit when she speaks. It's a lot stronger than when I was 16 years old. I think she was baptized around 5 years ago, with her family. This city is so blessed to have these wonderful people as part of the church.

We do homebound (I don't know if that's the word, delivering the sacrament to a member's home), and it's the first city that I have done that. It's an older women that can't walk. We deliver it every sunday with President ... (He got home from ... come later in the day, so that was how we were able to deliver it. We need to have another man with us when visiting the opposite sex). It was really funny because they were offering all these Bulgarian meals (Just to try) and President ... didn't want to try some things due to the nature of the food. It was a lot of fun for all of us, including the member ha ha. 

We spent a lot of time doing finances for the church due to my companion being the clerk so that's fun as always. It's up and down (The Bulgarian way of saying so so, or ok)

Thanks for everything that you all do for me. I really want to send photos but I forgot my camera. 

Love, 

Elder Green 

Life in general is just fast. It's weird that today, I'm no longer a teenage ha ha. I guess I can't be to dumb anymore. This whole week has been crazy....

This past week I think I figured that I've done a travel of 8 hours on the bus. I went to ... twice due to zone conference and going back because of passport work (It was my last time, I just had to pick up my lichna carta or personal card for my 2nd year here) and pick up my companion due to exchanges. He stayed in ... for a day with the zone leaders and I traveled back with Elder ... which happens to be my trainer. It was so great serving with him. 

It's interesting serving with your trainer again after being in the mission for what 13 or 14 months is it now in country. It was really different due to to me being able to understand everything that he was saying and understanding conversations. 3ish months in country with your trainer, honestly I didn't understand missionary work at all. Honestly, that was the hardest time as a missionary because of still having to adapt as a missionary. I also talked to him a lot about how the mission as a whole is going. It's really interesting, hearing the challenges and the good that's going on. 

When I first got here, Elder ... and I found a young adult named ... from tracting. When I was with Elder ..., we had a lesson with him and another friend that happened to be there and now they both have baptismal dates. It's really exciting. It was a pretty powerful lesson, and we simply taught about the Authority of God with them. There was a lot more said along the lines of the theme of the lesson. There are always times where my companion and I never have investigators but God always bless my companionship with at least 1 investigator group which is always progressing. All glory goes to God for that one because each person we found has been miraclesly found. 

The city of ... is so beutiful. On exchanges, Elder ... said that I have been really lucky to serve in the cities I have because their some of the most beutiful cities in Bulgaria. I agreed with my trainer ha ha. It's a small city so I'm pretty familiar where things are now. Going on exchanges with Elder ... really boosted my knowing the city skills since he has only served in the city on exchanges for 1 day before our exchange. 

This weekend we watched all of conference. I'll be watching the Priesthood Session next Sunday. We talked with President ..., the branch president, and he said more people would likely come next week if we showed it then. Basically , how conference works here is everyone in the branch just goes to church and we show it then. We had an Easter activity after the 1st session with lunch then watched the other half 2 hours later. Saturday we did basically the same thing. 

It's really interesting to see the themes of conference. There was a lot of stress on 1. The Family and 2. Eternal marriage. As I was going over my notes this morning from the past conferences, it made me realize how much the impact of the temple has. I already knew how important but just having the spirit testifying of it to me through my notes just makes it so much more different. I took in account other events that I've seen before conference. 

I guess for my I've never really knew how to really prepare for conference. It's interesting because while listening, I've noticed more of how the General Authorities talk. How they talk is just how the scriptures speak. When their quoting scriptures, without saying their quoting it, it's really easy to point out. I've actually realized that for part of one of the talks, they talked about scriptures that I in the past week have read due to studies. Honestly, I take that as God helping prepare for conference. Getting more familiar with the doctorine before they speak about it. It's a great experience. 

Conference has tooken up the majority of saturday and sunday. On Sunday we had to do a lot of finance stuff for the branch here since my companion is the clerk. It's a lot of work and time consuming. Some records have been a little messed up from the past, so my companion and president olmstead did a lot of organizing and getting things the way their supposed to be. It's cool to see the "behind the scenes" in more detail. I would just prefer to talk to more people.

This week should be normal. We're planning on meeting with ... tomorrow so I'm excited for that. ... and his family in ... is doing well (an investigator that's being taught while I was there), he went to conference and is progressing really well liking everything. I'm so excited for him still. I still wish I could be part of teaching his family. There so elect. 

Thanks everyone for all of the birthday wishes. Life is so fast, especially the mission. I wouldn't have it any other way. I hope being a year older will bring me more wisdom on how to help the people here in Bulgaria. Love you all. 

Love 

Elder Green

Well... 1st week in the new city of .... It's not a very big city but it feels big to me since I still don't know where everything is. Some weeks will pass by, then hopefully I'll know the city inside and out. 

The biggest thing in ... is the ... University that they have here. The branch President, President ... is actually an American, past missionary that is going to school here. His wife and baby kid are here also. He'll be going to school here for 3 years and after that I don't know what he'll do. He's really cool and pretty young to. Originally, Elder ... (My companion) was going to be the branch president but he came instead. My companion is the clerk so we have to do additional church things.

The 2nd day I was here we had an activity that President ... organized. Missionaries didn't plan it, which is a first for me. It was really nice. We played European football or soccer and basically a picnic thing on the side. I got to see the majority of the members there. The park that we played at is so beatiful. They have a rope park that include people having harnesses (this is in the air with ropes) for safty. It looks like a ton of fun but I doubt we would be able to particapate in that. I'm guessing theirs a fee for it also. Our group for the activity just walked through it to get the park we wanted to get to. 

Also in that day, Elder ... and I ran in the morning. We ran to the church (which is about a 30 minute walk from our apartment) to drop off cloths for the activity then ran back. The interview was the same time as the activity, so we did that at the church, then after changed and then ran to the park place to catch up with everyone. After playing football, which is way fun, we ran back to the church grabbed a palachinki (it's kind of like a crepe) and we didn't have any more time for the diner hour. We were rushing throughout this whole thing. 

The next day we both woke up being really sore. Luckily, I've ran in the past so I wasn't still sore but still sore, while Elder ... was really feeling the pain of being sore. We're still recovering but we're guessing we've ran for probably a total of 1 hour throughout the whole day and probably guessing around 7ish miles.

Elder ... and I also got basically an interview from students from the university here. Since it's an ... University, everything taught there is in English. They recorded our discussions and basically asked questions about being a missionary, and also about what we believe in. It was the first time my companion had that so it probably won't happen to often. Who knows. They were doing it for a school project and they want to attend church to see which "rituals" (using the students words) we do or the sacrament. 

There is a man here that has been to church several times but isn't a member. The reason he stoped coming is due to the church location being moved. I think the church moved within the past year. He fed us and had a great conversation with him. Basically he boiled milk and that was the beverage (it was really good) and basically small potatoes from the oven. My companion and I looked at each other when he put it on one plate in the middle of the table and asked each other "How are we supposed to eat this?" The man then picked one up and peeled the skin off, pinched some salt from a napkin on the table, poured it on and ate it. So everyone in the room ate 3-4 small potatoes doing that. It's just funny thinking it happened that way.

We recently found 2 new investigators, some students which seem pretty cool. I remember ... (my first city) and it has a lot of universities there and we found a lot of people but once school got out a lot of investigators kind of "disapeared." I hope it's not the same here. 

There are a couple of families that make up the branch here. There was 20 people last sunday for church and I think it's probably around that weekly. We talked a lot about conference this next week (Since we're waiting for the translations) and also doing another activity with painting eggs inbetween sessions. I don't know if I mentioned last year for Easter, but here after all the eggs are dyed and dried, you try to use your egg and crack the other persons egg and if yours is the last one not cracked then your the winner. It's fun. I wish we did that part in America. 

This last week was really busy with everything. Tomorrow I'll be heading to ... for Zone Conference. Hopefully I can do the last part of my passport work while there. If not, I'll have to return a few days after. 

I'm really excited to be working in this town. We are currently doing a lot of finding right now, we have some investigators but it's hard to meet with them. 

Thanks for all the support from all of you. 

Love 

Elder Green 

The work, Religion, Preperation day things

Hey everyone, another week has passed by and of course its short, but in the moment is another story. 

This last Sunday we had 3 less active people come to church and it has been such a blessing. My companion and I have been really focusing on those members and trying to help them with their needs. We basically told ourselves that, yes we're trying to find people to teach, but also we have a lot of people already, they're just lost, needing to be found to see what happened. 

Since the area has doubled in size, so has the members in our area including ones that no one knows about but that they are on the directory. We also have been working with some investigators that are actually progressing and that is always exciting to. 

It's interesting to see how the major religion here, Provaslav, what people believe in God. For a lot of people here, they honestly don't know their own believe or the religion that they say they are a part of. I guess I have just realized what they really think recently. It's for sure a different idea about who God really and what he expects of us.

Today around 4:00, my time, everyone here in ...is traveling to ... for passport work. My companion and one of the sisters needs to do it. It's weird having only 4 missionaries in a city instead of 6. Personally, the more the better ha ha. Speaking of that, from this last transfer and the transfer before that it sounds like Visas to live here in Bulgaria have been getting "harder" to get. Elder ..., (him and Elder ... served here with the 4 current missionaries here) had a really weird transfer call because of expectations of missionaries not getting Visas. I'm just glad that no one in my group had a hard time with Visas. That's a blessing.

Another thing that we have been actually today is the process of closing down the "other Elders" apartment. The landlord is actually a member. Let's just say it took and will take a lot more time than what we expected. Yea.. I'll just leave it at that ha ha. When we met with him, earlier in the week, we looked at old family photos. He has photos of his parents being kids with his grandparents. The photos look so old and it's truly a treasure that he has. that's one of the things I want to do is learning about family history and looking for photos/information about them. It's interesting because my desire for the gospel, family work, and well... all of that good stuff has increased beyond what I even imagined. It's a blessing of just being a part of the missionary work with the missionary life here in Bulgaria. 

I'm wanting to print photos, or a lot of photos to be able to show people of family and other things. I know this email usually gets forwarded or posted to family all around, so If anyone has good pictures of family things I would love to print them off. Also any family history stories, I would love to hear more. I'll probably print photos next preparation day or whenever I have time on a Monday.   Usually, it's really busy on those days, just like every other day. I've been saying to myself I'll do that ever since I got here in ... ha ha. Life is just to busy, but the busier for missionary work, the better. 

My companion and I have 3 progressing investigators right now and also working with a lot of members / less actives. I think we taught up to 14 lessons this last week. It's been a lot compared to other weeks. I don't know the exact number due to me switching to a new planer today. It's been a blessing to work with so many people. 

I love you all, I can't wait until next week to hear more.

Love Elder Green

I forgot to tell everyone this with the desire of family history. My companion and I are trying to apply family history into missionary work more. I've translated info or the names and dates into Bulgarian. We're going to laminate the paper with all of the info and it's going to be really nice. I'll need to send a picture once it's completely done. I'm really excited for it. 

Guess what everyone! It looks like I'm staying in ... for another transfer which is for I think 7 weeks instead of 6 weeks this transfer. Basically, at least for the areas, we consumed the other areas, and the sisters took some of ours. Today we went into the other area and it already feels like a new city.

To be honest I was suprised since that I stayed because I expected at least 1 from each companionship would stay. I'm so happy to stay though. It's what I wanted ha ha.

Anyway this week has been a really busy/fun week.We have been using a new approach of just going up to people and asking them what they think about Questions of the Soul (on a peice of paper copied from Preach My Gospel). A lot of people read it and it's super easy to relate it to the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, since the Book of Mormon answers those questions.

We have also been given a letter (newsletter from President Wilstead) saying that President and Sister Callister and President and Sister Bennet on October 28th. It's a long time until them but I'm super excited for that. All of the missionaries will be going to ... for that. Big conferences like that only happen 1th a year if your lucky but this will be the 2nd. Yea, I'm super excited for that. Wow... that would be getting close to my year mark as a missionary. It kind of scares me how fast time is going. Honestly, the only transfer that has felt "long" was the 1st transfer here in country but I think that was because of trying to adapt. Transfers are so fast!

On the bright side the tempeture has been getting a little bit cooler. It's still hot of course but the peak is over so I'm really thankful for that. Nothing is better than being in the heat dressed up right?

I do know Elder ..., he is such a great missionary and it's so weird that he's home back in .... He was the Assistant to the President so I got to get to know him but never got the chance to go on exchanges with him but he did go on exchanges in ... with the other Elders. Yea, I love him.

It's crazy to hear everyone leaving on missions again. It's also amazing that another missionary has been called to this wonder mission. I'm so blessed to be a part of this mission. When do they come in country and it's another person from ... I'm guessing.

Right now we have some investigators that we are working with. It's better than having none which has happened for a while until now. I also got to go on "splits" for 30 minutes with a man named .... He served a mini mission and it was fun working with him temporarly. A missionary who served here returned to visit and we went on splits because she had a brother that was a priest age and he served with my companion for a little bit. It was such a good oppurtunity to experience that missionary work for that short time. The family was really fun to talk to.

It's also going to be really interesting working with a lot more members or having them in our area. The missionary work is going to be different with that also. Yea... I'm super excited for this new transfer.

I love hearing from all of you and love having the oppurtunity to write to you all. It's amazing that we have this technology. 2 members here have phones that have the gospel library and honestly, it almost feels like living in an older time with studying everything with text books for language and of course the Gospel in the Scriptures and Preach My Gospel. We also are writing at a different place in our area on older computers so it just adds to those feelings with technology ha ha. Anyway Love you again.

Love Elder Green

This week has been a busy one. I got to travel to ... again for another Zone Training and those are always great. It was the first time my companion has got to go to ... and he was super excited to see the city because well.... a lot of missionaries like ... ha ha. There are 4 zones, 3 in Bulgaria and 1 in Turkey. I've always been in Zone 3 so every month I have traveled to ....

With the transfer, well.... actually last transfer, 2 people in my MTC group are serving in a place called ... (which means loud in Bulgarian) and is in zone 3 so I got the oppurtunity to see all of them in .... It's always great plus the things that we learn. We talked a lot about using the first vision and to be honest I never spent the time to memorize it in Bulgarian. I have been studying it for the past week now and almost have it down where I can mumble through it but will continue until I can pop it out. I have been changing the way I study for things that are more important or at least thats how I have felt so things are going good with studying.

My companion and I have been changing the way we do missionary work or trying new things. It's interesting to try different things with approaching people and other things. We currently don't have any progressing investigators but have been busy with meeting with a lot of random people and teaching lessons on the street.

It sounds like a ton has been happening back home. I can't believe school is starting back up. It still feels like summer, well at least for the heat here in .... Yesterday it actually rained a little and got really cold compared to what the temputure usually is. It felt so nice and I hope it continues to be that way but most likely not.

Instead of going out to find people on the street we had a lot of phone numbers from the past couple of days. We tried calling a lot of them the other day because we had a branch activity which was themed Fiesta. It was a ton of fun. Anyway, a lot of people that we invited didn't show up so it was a little sad, but we "cleaned" out the phone a lot because of those conversations. We called about 20 numbers and for some reason everyone was willing to meet. We set up times, dates, and places. It's a blessing that we were able to set all of those lessons up. I've never had that experience before here in the mission.

Thanks for the family history stories, I just want to get everything I can get my hands on. It's one of the new approaches we're taking in trying to help the branch becomeing more strong. We planned an activity, sort of, or mentioned in Church that we wanted to have an activity of just sharing stories to help everyone bond more together. The church here is so different because of the size. It's interesting to see challenges and how big the missionaries have an impact on the branch/groups here in Bulgaria. It's a blessing to be a part of it and especially to meet the members. I love the members so much.

This next Monday is transfer day or we'll know to prepare for things the following day. It's going to be very interesting what happens here for .... We're going to be meeting as missionaries to discuss boundaries of the new area of splitting the city in half. There is already a map for 2 areas but President ...recommended in making a new one make things more effective with members.

Anyway I got to run. I love all of you a ton. It seems like everyone is growing up with the new things with getting older and also big activities. Love you again!

Love Elder Green


   

Doonuv river (Romania behind the river) and a really cool building in "Center"

Family history

Hey everyone it's good to hear from everyone. This next transfer is going to be interesting. The reason why is because well multiple factors. This transfer is a week short because of people going home for school. Also there has been 2 Elders here in Bulgaria that ended up having to go home early due to medical reasons I think. I'm not to sure but it's effecting the town here in ....

Right now there are 4 Elders and 2 Sisters in .... When I originally started living here they planned on only haveing 4 missionaries total with 2 Elders and 2 Sisters. We're now losing 2 Missionaries because of the 2 that left and the area I live in and the area the other Elders are living in are going to be combined or in otherwords the Elders area will double. I wonder who will be living and who will be staying. Either way it's going to feel like a new city wether I go or stay because whenever I work in an area that I haven't served in it feels new. An example would be going on exchanges with the other Elders. There area feels like a different city than the ... that I know.

Anyway, for the missionary work my companion and I tried being more relaxed with talking to people to see what happens. It turned out that we didn't like that. Sometimes you have to try different approaches to talk to people to figure out what works and what doesn't.

This next week will be busy. I might be traveling to ... for a baptism that my companion help taught or he might be the one baptizing and also to ... for zone training. It's exciting for both of them and it'll be the first baptism I'll see in Bulgaria. We still don't know if we're going to it or not so we'll see what happens.

I have been meeting with a lot of great, fantastic people but none of them have been progressing. I love seeing/meeting with people consistantly to see them grow in the gospel, but it hasn't happened recently.

Somethings that have happened here this week is going on Exchanges with Elder ...(from Idaho), President and Sister Wilstead came into town for district meeting and helped with some lessons, and increasing the amount of service done as missionaries. We helped paint someones house and it was a lot of fun. They bought a huge pizza, the biggest I have ever seen. It was a lot of fun and we helped carry stuff from a car to a little store. I've never done service really before because I've never seen oppurtunities here. Whenever you ask Bulgarians if they want help with something, while they are doing it, they'll decline. We actually started helping with the carrying things after the person denied us but ended up being very greatfull. It's really nice to do service and it's something different to do.

We had an activity with ping-pong and also playing Jenga. Jenga isn't here or the game isn't but my companion got it from a missionary from England. Everyone loves it and it's great to play. We do family home evening playing that game. It's always been hard to have family home evenings and for this transfer it has been happening each week for the most part. Before, it there was a lot of weeks of just trying to find a family to do it with. It's a blessing to have the oppurtunity to do it. It's truly a time for the family to have a fun time with each other in the business of life. It's worth doing for sure.

I love all of you again and will look forward to more emails. I pray for all of you.

Love Elder Green

Another thing we have been doing is family home evening telling stories about our families.

I would like to ask that if you know any stories or if other family knows stories from anyone in our family I would love to hear it. I know I haven't done really anything about it but I'm trying to learn and would like to be more participant with family history. Love you

Love your son Elder Green

Such a great week...

Wow.... it seems like a ton of things are happening back at home. It sounds great and busy. I fill like the same way. I've gotten to the point in my I guess self conversion that I really want to study all of the scriptures, books that we have. I just don't have the time for that so that is a thing that is testing my patience ha ha. I've started reading the New Testament. My goal is just 1 chapter throughout the day if I ever have free time. My personal study is more based off other things, 1 chapter Book of Mormon, Scripture Master ( I really wished I would have memorized that before but I know where all the Book of Mormon ones are :)), and topics according to people that we plan on meeting up with.

It has been crazy how many different people from different countries that I have seen here in .... ...had a ton of people from different countries but here it just seems like there are a lot more. When looking at license plates it's like playing the game, where you see another state you mention it to everyone around you and sometimes slug each other. For here you can litterally do it with different countries just walking to different places. It's crazy. One of the people that we are teaching is actually from ... (don't know spelling). He's ... which is super not common here. He only speaks English and he loves the Bible so we have been talking a lot about it. I actually learn a lot from my companion because he is really familiar with the Bible and same with my last companion. I just want to read it really bad, along with Doctorine and Covenants. The Book of Mormon I read everyday and it's of course mind blowing. I wish I had this passion for the scriptures before the mission. Well... better late than never.

The mission as a whole feels like it's changing. My companion and I have had a really good week with what we have done in general. I think we got to the point where we focused to much on the key indicators and forgeting to really listen and try to help a person become more developed in the gospel. It's hard to explain in words, but it's something that changes my perspective. The mission is for sure a roller coaster ride. When your down that's when change happens. We come to the realization that there are things we can do better. I'm sure there is a reason for those ups and downs.

It's such an exciting time for Bulgaria. I've never saw how much goals matter and being well... consecrated. My companion mentioned how bless we are to be able to be in such a great mission. Sure the baptisms are hard to get but this mission as a whole is still a pioneering country with the gospel being involved. It's interesting to learn about the history of this country with it being under communism. People really don't understand religion and have a hard time accepting anything else besides the dominant religion here. It's amazing to find those that are willing to learn and how for a lot of people we have been recently had lessons with have been in deep thoughts during the lesson. You can tell that they're truly searching their own soul and their relationship with God. Wow... it's just amazing.

It has been a really great week. It just makes me feel like I'm on top of the world. I know it's not going to always be like that but I'll enjoy it while it lasts... and like before... try to learn why things aren't working by changing.

I love all of you so very much. Sorry I actually got a lot of emails this week which I love I just don't have the time. Time is so precious for everything that we do.

Love Elder Green

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