Week of August 26, 2012: Reframe!

The subject line is because, as I mentioned last week, I am training again! A young, sprightly whippersnapper (is that how you spell that?) named Sister Frame! And we're still in Stara Zagora. We got here on Thursday, had just enough time to go to a produce stand (Stara Zagora is still the undisputed capital of tomatoes) and fall asleep.

On Friday we had some really good meetings with new members Mitko and Maria, who both got baptized while I was here, and basically re-taught some basic doctrine that they both had gotten dusty in since it was taught to them seven months and eleven months ago, respectively.  It made me really appreciate first of all, having such awesome new converts to work with, who are so awesome and non-crazy and non-mean. Thanks, Lord! And second of all, it made me really appreciate the need of missionaries to constantly review basic doctrines with people, even long-time members. Stuff like God being there for us. Or God being our Heavenly Father, and having a body like ours.  So remember: everything that's most important in the Gospel we either learn in Primary, kindergarten, or in the first missionary lesson taught by someone who doesn't really speak our language. Oh and Maria fed us the most delightful hot summer evening meal: sliced fresh pupish (basically cantelope with a weird outside shell), chunks of sirene (editor: feta!), and bread. She explained to us that this is a classic Buglarian meal (purposeful typo) that works for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! And I said, okay! Cheese and melon! Okay! Anyway. She also found out that I knew some old Bulgarian folk songs (YOU know why) and ended up bringing out her favorite little knishka of old songs and we sang "Sto Mi E Milo" together. So. Blah blah blah, corny.

And OH MAN. Sister Frame's first Sunday was probably the most interesting first mission Sunday I could think of. I had about fifty things to do in the branch (helped teach relief society, control/teach the one and only primary kid, teach Gospel Doctrine until the teacher showed up halfway between the hour, and somehow greet and organize the struggles of each of the twenty-ish people who ended up coming, get water for people with heatstroke because it was like 110 degrees with 100 percent humidity on Sundee) so I just kind of had to leave her and say, "Wait here! I love you, I'll be back!" And rush around like a crazy person. And then we tried to find people. I've really been struggling with finding lately. I've never considered myself good at it, and have never really been forced to do it a lot or "branch out." So any mission or non-mission people: how did you find people to teach?

Shout-outz to Mom and Mimi and Bam and GG and Dana for letterz.

I'm just a very, very lucky kid who gets to hang out here for a year and a half and talk to people about very important things that not everyone knows about. And I'm very, very lucky to have all of you. Don't forget that politics are stupid at the end of the day, everybody gets along when we're eating food, and the Simpsons are funny.

Love you all.