Week of May 13 2013:

The rundown of the week:

1) I decided I am Chewbacca and Sister Walch is Han Solo and can understand me when I make incomprehensible upset-sounding groaning noises. She interpreted yesterday that I wanted some strawberries. Incredible!

2) Today we're going to Shumen to see that big Transformers-esque statue I went to last year.

3) Some pals of mine, Lyobomir and Rumi, decided to get baptized!

And now pictures.

On Rosi's (awesome member) roof for a meal. Don't worry too much about the apostrophes there.

And then Lyobomir's spiritual birthday (on my literal birthday)!  Editor's note:  the snuggie Eliza is modeling was used to mop up water from the leaking baptismal font.  Practical and alluring!

1: The entire lamb that Lyobomir roasted for us. He is a specialist. The neck was inside and it was stuffed with rice and raisins.

2: Me and Lyobo! He is the classiest dresser that I know of.

1. They have subway here.  This cover was really a covert operation to take a picture of a couple near us who were making out next to a grandma shamefully

2. I am a beach.

1. The lady on the right is the one who was deaf who we taught last year. Still not baptized but maybe someday!

2. Ha ha ha, I was trying to type "blessings" because of some patriarchal blessings for members we had picked up in Sofia for some members in Varna but the phone wanted to say "blesshogs" on predictive texting for some reason. Also, interesting fact: the Church does not translate patriarchal blessings. E.g. if you are Bulgarian and there is no Bulgarian-speaking patriarch (which there isn't) you get your blessing only if you know a language a patriarch knows (usually Russian or English, or maybe French.) Interesting! I'm glad I know English!

3. Kitten!

4. Soviet monument.

Special May Day (m'aidez!!) post: Photos!!

Week of April 29 2013: Stories for everyone!

Stories for everyone! I really wanted to send some pictures this week, but whatever. We are having a weird morning and emailing earlier than normal, so that shan't happen.

One week ago on Mondee, we had several weird miracles occur exactly at a time when such things were very heartening to me (not because miracles build faith, but because THEY WERE TENDER MERCIES SO THERE). While we decided to stay in for a few hours and take a nap, our investigator Lyobomir called us to set up a lesson (something that happens very, very rarely, at least for me, and is quite nice). He also called Sister Bingham "Kimche," her first name being Kim and "che" being a diminuative/affectionate suffix one can attach to pretty much any word in Bulgarian that makes it mean "little" or "cute" or "something I'm fond of." I haven't really talked about him, have I? He's pretty great, and I feel that only a picture can really illustrate this in its fullest sense. He's probably about 65, pretty wealthy, a restauranteur (sp?), and lives in a tourist/vacation area called Golden Sands, and has a golden Mercedes, by the way. He also really likes our church and says that we are his angels who saved him, and is probably one of the slowest (not stupid slow, just attitude slow) people I know. Also chillest. He truly chills to the next episode. And after 2 months of teaching and breathing slowly and him bringing us candy and reading scriptures together, he finally agreed to be baptized! I'm really not into pushing people into baptism unless I feel they themselves are wanting it, so I feel satisfied with his level of commitment and desire. He has a dog named "Susi." He told me a story about a Bulgarian folk hero named Bai Ganyo (look it up if you want, kind of like a recurring character with hilarious repeating instances of simplicity) who is being given watermelon by a friend, and every time he cuts him a new slice Bai Ganyo says "Tank yo," 'thank you' in kind of broken English, and the guy actually thinks he's saying "Tunko," which means slim or narrow, so he keeps slicing thinner and thinner slices until Bai Ganyo gets mad because he was saying thank you the whole time! Ha ha ha ha. Anyway, Lyobomir is awesome. 

Another tender mercy: an investigator named Svilan, who is a construction worker and kind of quiet and not very expressive and reminds me of Seifitin from Ruse, has been in a smaller city called Razgrad for a few weeks, visiting his older parents, and he CALLED US with a READING QUESTION. From a book that Mormon edited. He asked me what it meant when it writes that they had to take the daughters of Ishmael and his family into the wilderness. Ha ha. So that was cool. He'll be back soon and hopefully also continue to progress toward water-dunking.

And finally: an investigator named Shefket (Turkish name) showed up kind of unexpectedly to Family Home Evening and then we had a lesson unexpectedly after, with an awesome member who really helped him understand some stuff. So that was cool. It all kind of came together. 

Also two new converts here, Hristo and Dima, one of whom I mentioned before, had their baby this week! So that all worked out. 

I'm heading into my last transfer now with my old pal Sister Walch, and staying here to finish up where I started in Varna. So I'm looking forward to it. I recommend the following chapter to everyone: 2 Nephi 25. 

I love you guys. Keep on keeping on?

Sister Frundball

Week of April 21, 2013: Led by the Spirit

Well, we only have a week left of this transfer. Thanks a lot,mission time-bend-squeeze phenomenon. To answer the question, the generally accepted idea is that I'll probably stay here in Varna and Sister Bingham will go on to new-city adventures, but it is not yet fully known. Anything could happen I suppose. I could be transferred to IRAQ! Just kidding. We'll see. I'm excited about being here and some of the new people we've been teaching, so either way it will be good.

Easter is NOT HERE YET. But we have all the old German and Swiss Easter candy lying around in stores for medium cheaps on account of Catholic Easter has already passed there, and people are just gearing up for the Easter season, which, to missionaries, means two things: 1) everyone will be busy, because Easter is kind of bigger than Christmas here in a lot of ways, and buying giant loafs of puffy sweetbread, and 2) people will be more sensitive to strangers coming up to them and asking about a random new Christian church. So we'll see how things go. But things are warming up here weather wise also. Here's how I measure the change: recently the giant block-side billboard advertisement for a Hooters-esque restaurant here called "Happy" (not Happy's, but just Happy, pronounced "Hkeppy" by most) recently replaced their previous advertisement of a guy in a Happy delivery outfit with very short shorts scaling his way up a glass building with a pizza delivery box, to  a stock photo of some beach-goers leaning against each other on the sand (a stock photo that I've ironically seen in like 10 other advertisement settings, due to lax copyright laws?). So to me, this means warmer weather is potentially coming. 

I'd like to say a few words about jealousy. Have you ever met someone who is 30 or 40 or even 50 years old, with a good job, maybe some kids, a good strong member of the Church (or not) but has never outgrown self-comparison or competition? Or rather, you can just sense from them that they are not satisfied with the worldly results of their activities in life and are scheming to better them? I hope you understand what I'm saying. And then you meet someone who is the same age or older or younger, but clearly has never maybe cared about such things, continues to happily plug along, maybe post things on Facebook, do and be what they love, and just admires the accomplishments and talents of people around them, rather than seeing them as something not theirs, and therefore, a detriment to themselves. I guess I'm saying that for all potential missionaries, you may realize a very, very hard lesson on your mission, which is: even in the ultimate phase of Christ-like aspiration, or perhaps especially, we are prone to comparison with others, jealousy, and coveting. And for me personally, this has been one of the biggest trials of my mission. Mom and Dad, your emails have probably helped more than anything on this front, as well as the awesome people I've known here who clearly are far away from such weaknesses. And for this reason, I love King Benjamin's Address (3511 Alma Street, Land of Bountiful 98441) where he talks about how indebted we are to God and how we should just chill out and focus on the blessings we have already. So in this last month of my mission, I'm committing myself (yes, I extend commitments even to myself!) to rid myself of the desire to desire. And instead just work, and not expect any kind of reward (even though some people would say this is an unproductive or failing mindset). And more than that, I'm committing myself to give up this way of thinking before I get older and more engrained in my ways, so I can teach people around me who aren't as experienced how to have perspective.

And a few more words about "being led by the Spirit," that thing that missionaries hear about all their lives, read about in miracle stories in Ensigns, and then get to their field of work and feel like is a giant prank played on them that doesn't exist, because they don't have shiny multicolored leaves on the wind like from Pocahantus (how I honestly used to picture the Holy Ghost) blowing them in a certain direction or to certain people. Again I cite some excellent emails from Mom and Dad, and my good friend Dana Fleming. And the general law, that I had to learn again this week is this: you are being led by the Spirit if you are trying to be, honestly and earnestly striving to be. So stop grasping for some feeling that you picture as the exact right thing in the exact right moment, because it will never be what you picture, EVER. I've given a few talks at baptisms here on the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and something I realized was that the call to learn Bulgarian has, more than anything, been a blessing in what it's taught me about the Holy Ghost. And that is this:  my first few months here, I struggled a LOT with understanding. Talking was easier, but I would listen to people and get nervous and tangled up in my head and nothing would make sense or go in the right order in my head to make sense. And it was a very very subtle, almost unnoticable shift to the day when I would say I knew what people were saying. I realized it vividly one day at the house of a new convert named Tanya, who was talking (very loud and fast and furious, as she does) and I was absorbing about 60% and making sense of about 55% of what was being said, but then one moment it clicked and I realized I could actually get the gist of what she was saying, and it wasn't a direct word-to-word English translating in my head, but I knew the general feeling of it and I could respond in the right way, and more importantly, I FELT what she was saying and felt like I was her friend as I listened. And that, to me, is how the Holy Ghost is. It takes a LONG time to learn how to use it, and most people just forget after they receive it to start that learning and start late (I did). But the shift to understanding is very, very slow and even a little discouraging, and requires a lot of work and mistakes. But it will come, and it will be more like a general feeling than a particular set of instructions.

Anyway. I'm not going to say too much about what happened this week because I'm out of time now, but hopefully what I said will help someone who reads this email. Suffice it to say I love what I'm doing here, it's still the hardest thing I've ever done, I still make mistakes and feel like an idiot and like I'll never be a "good missionary," but I think I'm doing fine, overall.

Be good to your mothers and fathers, and make banana bread regularly.

Love, Sister Crundhall

Week of April 8 2013: Rare Happiness

Zdrasti, y'all. Bulgarian sounds hilarious with a cowboy accent.

Well, first in news is that I got rill sick this week. I don't know why that's first in news because it's boring and gross. . . but whatever! It seems that the whole city had the flu this week, according to the changes in the seasons, apparently. Also a quick language and culture joke, and may the returned BSM missionaries perhaps reading please forgive this: diarrhea in Bulgarian is called "ryado shtastie," which literally means "rare happiness." Which is funny on several levels. But mostly it was funny because as our entire district slowly bowed to its crushing influence, we could indicate our level of health by referring to the amount of happiness we were feeling. E.g. "I'm feeling a little happy," as we head to the bathroom. Anyway, JOKES.

On Mondee we went to the house of one of my favorite members of all time and eternity. She has some kind of physical disability that restricts her to crutches and very slow walking, but she's the most regular/punctual member ever, and nicest, and happiest, and most helpful. So take THAT, people who complain about going to church on time. Also I've resolved (and this is embarrassing that I have to make this resolve) to never skip one of the second or third hours of church again, because I've seen how hard it is to hold church together when people just skip out whenever they feel like it and don't contribute something. 

On Tuesdee we had a quick lesson with a guy named Toshko and a recent convert named Petko, who is a little eccentric but awesome, and wears a giant leather newsboy hat. And as we were walking from the pre-appointed meeting place to the church to have our lesson, Petko essentially explained baptism, Joseph Smith, and eternal life to him in about 2 minutes, and then we all sat on some couches and gave him the Book of Mormon and that was it. It made me reflect on 1) how funny old guys are (who are inevitably 90% of who want to talk to us because they have this curious grandpa attitude) and 2) how casually/funnily we sometimes talk to people about the Gospel, and how you sometimes do things on your mission you don't quite understand why you're doing, but that probably (certainly) have eternal consequences. Strange but true. 

After that we had a lesson with this really cool lady, who's actually moving to Chicago in a few months to marry an American, but who has read the Bible her whole life (and said it was a human responsibility to do so, even if one isn't religious) but never had religion in her life or family, and accepts everything we say as very logical, beautiful and correct. We had a great member present with a young member who was the best choice for her (I love member presents! I totally want to like, be in them when I get home!) and it was nice. Good lessons are pretty awesome, and they happen pretty rarely, but that makes you appreciate them more.

On Saturdee we had our English sign-up night and recorded normal conference (I mean general) in Bulgarian, which means we sat around waiting for possibly interested students to come fill out forms and struggled with the broadcast to come in and to get it in the right language. Two points to note: there are SO MANY RUSSIANS in Varna and it really makes me want to learn Russian, because once in a while I'll be contacting and go up to someone and start talking to them, and then they talk back and I get confused about how I understand them but not quite, and then I realize they're speaking Russian. We had a cute Russian family come and try to sign up and the little daughter had to translate for her big, tough dad in to Bulgarian, and awww. Another point: it's kind of cool how conference works here. We have to wait until Saturday night to get the Saturday morning session, and then it gets broadcast through satellite on a bunch of different channels that are a million languages, and then we have to flip through them and listen to them all until we understand what they're saying. And we got to watch it on Sunday with our Ukranian friend in ENGLISH. It was so nice. I haven't seen English conference in . . . well, a long time. Appreciate it, friends.

I love you guys! Easter here isn't until May 5th, so send me all the old Easter candy that's on sale!

Sister Hundlebar

Week of April 1 2013: The Bruce Springsteen of Prophets

I have an interesting quote for you all from Brigham Young, the Bruce Springsteen of prophets. He said, of prayer, "..when the time for prayer comes, and you have not the spirit of prayer upon you, and your knees are unwilling to bow, say to them, 'knees, get down there,' make them bend, and remain there..."

What a weird/genius! I like that guy. And I think it also applies well to a lesson I've learned here: usually when you are most angry and most wound-up and think you're right and hate that stupid feeling to get over yourself and calm down and bring the Spirit back is the time when you MOST need to do that. Also, knees should be commanded.

We had a really cool lesson with someone on Sunday, who originally said he wouldn't be able to make it, but who randomly showed up at the church a few minutes before we were about to finish with our council meeting, at about the preappointed time, and we were able to grab a newly baptized 20-year-old member named Hristo (also newlywed to his 9-month pregnant wife) and have him in on the lesson. It was amazing at a testimony builder to me. Hristo was so excited to talk to this man about his testimony, and shared it so freely and so happily, explaining honestly about the change in his life and his desire to be a good person and follow Christ. Afterward he said, "Thank you so much for letting me help you - it makes me feel really good to help people like him. I feel really good right now." The Spirit was very strong, and I was so grateful, again, for member present lessons, and made a greater resolution to make them happen no matter what. 

It isn't Easter here yet! So I'll tell you about the eggs and sweet breads and priesty things in a few weeks. I love you all. Read Alma 32 one last time, and Alma 31 also gets overlooked. 

Sister Handbag

Week of March 25, 2013: Miracles

[Insert witty salutation here.]

Another week happened! This Sunday is our daylight savings (I don't know how or why we decide to do it later than the western hemisphere, but that's what happens) and I'm a little nervous about it. Why? Because last year we found out about daylight savings in the manner of our zone leader CALLING US at 5:30 in the morning and saying, "Hey it's actually 6:30 now! You have to wake up!" and my poor companion hyperventilating and panicking because she thought a call in the dark in the perceived middle of the night meant some kind of natural disaster or emergency. But also Bulgaria is thinking about getting rid of daylight savings? According to "word on the street." Anyway.

Some interesting happenings! Um, let's see. We are officially with eight new investigators this week? You know, in the numbers. Which is kind of cool, but of course counting someone who agrees in a first lesson to be like "Okay, I'll be your investigator and meet regularly!" and someone who actually ends up investigating in the long-term have a big gulf between them (what was that sentence structure?). But it was nice this week to meet a lot of open, new people who are willing to discuss ideas with us, and gave me hope that there are people who will be open to what we have to say. We met an interesting family tracting in the area of a former investigator, Shukri (Panti, you know who I'm talking about!), who told us to come back in a few days with the book, and when we came back at the appointed time they let us in, the mom and husband and a son (have no idea how old he was) and listened and there was a really hot heater on making me fuzzy and sleepy but they were really nice and agreed to learn with us. AND this is the most important part: I have actually, in my whole mission, never been let in tracting, readers. Yep. I mean, the other important fact is that I haven't really tracted all that much on my mission either (mostly street contacting, tracting when it's cold or night). But I have sort of had this secret thought in the back of my head that tracting doesn't actually ever lead to finding anyone who is taught. And this is my first experience with that! So that's cool.

Also we went back to go follow up with a cool lady and her two English-speaking sons who Sister Bingham and Sister Turnbow met last transfer, and she was very nice and let us in and gave us "homemade juice" (this thing people jar here that is basically jarred fruit with lots of sugarwater in it that you drink) and her sons agreed to talk to us and were all very nice. So that was REFRESHING.

And finally! We met this really cool lady (I hate using the word cool, but what to say - "excellent?") named Ivanka, who I only talked to for about two minutes on the street streetboarding one day, but we randomly set up an appointment for Saturday and went half-heartedly to go meet her (appointments that involve going to meet someone somewhere who you met on the street once, unfortunately, actually turn into lessons about 1% of the time) 

But she showed up! And actually we passed her on the street and didn't notice she was there, and tried stopping and talking to a few other people, and as we got to her, she said, "I saw you talking to those other people! I was sad that they didn't stop and hear what you had to say." Which was AMAZING because no one has that attitude about us, almost ever. And then we took her back to the church, where the Relief Society birthday party was going on (mom, how did that end up going in the Seattle ward?) and had a first lesson with the second counselor in our branch presidency here, who is awesome. And she showed us how she always carries around some tiny spiritual pamphlets/books with her, because she says they help her with her life, and one of them was an Articles of Faith passalong card from about ten years ago! So someone had given that to her long ago, and now we are teaching her! She agreed to be baptized April 20th, and came to church this Sunday and stayed all three hours, and even made comments during Sunday School and Relief Society. Pretty cool, and a pretty big blessing. Even if things don't end up going the exact way we planned with her, I'm still grateful for those tiny miracles and the way Heavenly Father directed us to her and her to us. Also I had a cool experience on a bus going to tract out in a neighborhood called Vladislavovo one night. I saw a lady at the bus stop in her 50s or so reading a tiny pocket Bible (which made me STARE because it's so unusual here) and immediately set my sights on sitting next to her on the bus so we could talk to her. It turns out (as I expected) she's a seventh-day adventist, and we had an interesting little conversation in which she asked why I don't obey the fourth commandment (of course) but mostly we just bonded over loving Jesus and the Bible and having a spiritual life, and I gave her a Book of Mormon handout even though she probably won't believe in it. But it was a sweet experience (to use a corny overused expression) and made me realize how our tiny acts of seemingly pointless service are actually part of one big whole (like a doughnut hole). There are no tiny acts of service. Only tiny doughnut holes. The only "big" act of service was the Atonement. So.

Anyway, learning lots and missing everyone and I LOVE YOU. Keep your long sleeved shirts on or bad weather will come! (according to custom here.)

Love, 

Sister Crandhole

Extra Bonus Post! Pix Stolen From Facebook . . .

Week of March 18 2013: Week in Pictures!

Week of March 11 2013: Women's Day!

Editor's Note:  I'm sorry about the weird background color and formatting over the last few weeks.  I finally figured out the issue and hope that today's post is a little more aesthetically pleasing.  I've also changed up the font!  And made it larger for everyone's reading pleasure!  Thank you all for supporting Eliza.  xo

A very successful hello to everyone! (I think I read somewhere that if you talk about being successful, you will BECOME successful and a fancy businessman with your own sweatshop! Or something like that.) Um, this was a week of a lot of work and sore feet and walking around the main street of Varna all day, every day trying to find people to teach. We don't really have that many investigators now, so I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of weeks like this for a while. But that's okay! For the first time on my mission, I'm actually more excited than anything else by the prospect of finding new people. Before, the weight of nervousness or stress or frustration kept getting in the way of me wanting to search and openly talk to people, and even though I did, it was harder. But now I'm in a position where I can be bold and unafraid and just work without fear. It's a nice way to feel, especially being here and thinking about the place I was in a year ago, and how much better I've gotten at this (even though I'm still not very good). But it's cool!

I'm trying not to have the mentality of "needing" or "deserving" some particular measure of visible success in the last stage of my mission, because that's lame. Even though it's tempting to think that way. So I'm trying to be grateful for every experience, and I've realized that praying and thanking God on a more frequent basis throughout the day really does help that. I'm also trying not to work myself to death or bitterness or numbness, although that's also tempting. Just working as hard as I possibly can and being thankful for being allowed to.

I love you guys. Happy Women's Day! Men's day will commence for the next 364 days. 

Sister Cryndball

Week of March 4, 2013: Written in the salty air

I'm back in Varna! How did this all happen, you ask? Well, I don't know. Last week found me in the mission office in Sofia frantically trying to do emails on an office computer while the awesome office couple, the Sedgebergs, quietly tapped along on their computers (we used to have office elders, who could talk to Bulgarian landlords/run errands/pay bills, but now this couple, who used to work in the Latvia mission, has stepped up and does it ALL. And they're converts. Pretty cool). And now I'm here in Varna, after we got here on Tuesday. Let me tell you some interesting things about being back in this area. It reminds me a lot, obviously, of being here exactly a year ago as a new missionary and feeling all these extremely intense, powerful feelings - homesickness, excitement, inadequacy, confusion, indigestion - that somehow are all written on the buildings and landmarks and the salty air and that I keep remembering. And what else. We're not allowed to go by the sea anymore, so that's kind of a bummer. But WHATEVER! The sea is in my heart! Etc.

Also this week: a district meeting that reminded me of my very first district meeting and how I got into an argument about breastfeeding at the district lunch immediately following it. Yeah. Even though the people I work with in the mission now probably wouldn't believe me, because I still am very argumentative, I used to be a LOT more argumentative than I am now. I used to be a lot different than I am now in a lot of ways, I guess. Like now my hair is longer, for instance. Just kidding, that's not what I mean. I mean that this lifestyle kind of (obviously) internally changes your thinking and your approach to problems. For example: the other day I was looking at some pictures of family/home, and I had this weird flash across my mind, looking at a picture of this one person: "Ooh, I wonder if they'd like to be taught the Gospel!" and then I shook myself out of this world and thought, WHAT? Since when do I wonder such things? Not that I don't believe in teaching the Gospel to everyone, but before I came here, my approach to thinking about missionaries and missionary work was kind of the same as my approach to like, firefighters: I don't know any, I don't see any, I'm sure they do great things, I hope they're okay, whatever. Kind of distant and vague, unfortunately. But now it's weird because my whole world is measured around looking for people who might be taught and baptized. I'm describing this badly, but I guess my point is I had no real connection to missionary work before my mission, which is unfortunate, but it's fascinating how it's completely changed my daily thoughts, but more importantly, my way of thinking.

This week, we were able to see some investigators I taught a year ago, and it was amazing to see them and think about their progress and how much I cared about them and thought about them, now deeply they impressed me, even though I understood about 2% of what they said. It's just funny how you don't necessarily plan to start caring about these people this much, and then it just happens and you can't control it. And the best experience was probably church, which really, really felt going home in a lot of ways: I saw all these people who had loved me and been kind to me and cared for me when I was new and scared, and it was very tender to see them all again. (I told one member, a very hip, though middle-aged lady, that my brother was in South Korea on a mission, and she immediately started singing and dancing that one Korean song that everyone is sick of from every pop station of every place in the world. Twas funny.)

Anyway. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of finding and building up new investigators and a lot of tracting and street contacting. You know, normal life. But I'm excited. I'm trying not to think about going home, but see myself as a new missionary still, one who doesn't have to be jaded and tired and number-oriented (which I have to admit, I sometimes have a tendency to become, as an older missionary). But someone who, like last year, is just excited and feels lucky and overwhelmed to be given this job.

I read this week some good things. What were they? The Book of Mormon, especially things about faith and repentance. But also that talk by President Eyeball (I mean Eyring) about the pavilion. Go read it.

I love you guys. Pictures to come shortly. Understanding of cameras to come longly. (Hahaha, kind of forced but at least I tried to make that joke.)

Love,

Crister Scrable

Week of February 25 2013: Varna!

Sorry for the incoherence/upset of last week. I think it was probably from just having come from a funeral (probably). But this week continued in its strange, slightly painful fashion, which was made stranger and more painful, but also more sweet by the fact that it was Sister Tate's last week, and 1) made me realize how awesome she is and how much I'll miss her and 2) how close I am to being in my last week, and how sad that is. Just reminded me of what Mom wrote to me and what is written on every upscale yuppie tea bag, Dove chocolate wrapper, and smooth pebble with writing on it: something something about living in the moment, enjoying the moment, not thinking about the future too much.

I found out on Friday that I will be moving to Varna next transfer. Those of you who are regular fans of this story will remember that I was there a year ago as a new missionary, and then another mini-transfer after that, making this my third time in Varna. And I love it there! I am really, really happy. It's kind of funny, but it feels like going home in a lot of ways. Most ways. Varna is where I have memories of understanding no one and nothing but loving everything, and maybe that's what I want to get back to being like again? Just in confused excitement and clueless? It was a good time. There are investigators and members there who I love a lot who I've always thought about and missed, my whole mission, and so it's really a sweet blessing to go back, even though I've come to love Ruse.

Interlude: I was writing some notes in our area book about people, members, etc. and wrote one about a friend of ours who I described as "very sweet, but flaky," and then realized the pie crust-implication of my description. Also, I recently saw a Coke truck that said "Trink Coke!" instead of drink, I suppose. Funny!

Another interlude: yes, I did remember that thought by writing "sweet blessing" and then realizing how silly "sweet blessing" sounds, like a brand of cake shaped like a Bible or something.

ANYWAY. The format of these letters needs to be switched up. So I'll do so by writing, instead of about events, etc., about PEOPLE! Whom I will miss.

There's a girl in Ruse who's best friends/kind of siblings with our new convert Svetlo, who's thirteen so I won't say her name in a scary public place. She's kind of wacky and out of control, if anyone's noticed the evidence on Facebook (and I haven't LOOKED, other people have just TOLD ME). She and Sister Tate and I have become a weirdly familial like kind of friends, in which she calls us "babo" (which is a vocative form of the word for "baba," grandma) and we also call her "babo". (This is a grammatical practice also in action with "mamo," or mom. It's kind of funny to hear kids call their moms, and then their moms call them "mom," back, but that's what it is.) I am addicted to parentheses, its seems. Anyway, the other day we had her and Svetlo teach us a lesson about the Restoration for practice/teaching is the best form of learning reasons, and it turned into Babo imitating me in all of my movements and expressions and wearing my tag, and then putting on my coat and pretending to make a fake missionary planner in her little notebook, and bossing us around and telling us she and her companion (he chose to be called Elder Randall Scott, in honor of a cowboy of some kind that I don't know) had another lesson. It was really cute and funny and awful (she also sprayed my coat with men's cologne). And it just made me realize how much I love her and want her to be a member and to grow up happily with the Gospel. She can't get baptized now because her parents are against it, but she wants to and talks about it constantly. Anyway.

Well, the gist of everything is that I'm happy, I'm going to Varna, and I will miss Ruse. And more and more, I realize how little time I have and how much of a blessing it is to be here. Corny corny balls. Oh well.

I love you all. Bam, i did get your package! Thank you so much! And Erin, thank you for the missive from the homeless shelter! And Dana, I'll talk to you soon! (In June?) And I want to recommend the following verse: Ether 12:27. So there.

Love, 

Sister Crundbeyell

Week of February 11, 2013: Black Dog

Here I am again! You can't get rid of me! Well, another week has slipped grossly by, like the drip of an electric heater falling down freezingly down my shirt from an apartment high above me, like they all do here. Not that I go around wearing shirts with giant holes and openings inviting the entrance of freezing water drips, but . . . okay. You get what I mean. This week involved going to Sofia for Sister Tate's passport updation, even thought she leaves like 2 days after it expires, but whatever! We visited a Sofia classic, of whom most former missionaries here will immediately have some kind of memory: Dyado Velichko, the king of all sister missionaries. Oh, Sister Heiney (spelling incorrect probably)!!! You have greetings from him. You and I should just conference call him when I get back to make it one exciting explosion of Dyado! Anyway. We visited him with Sister Tate, and he's this older guy who lives in a very old block and who was tracted into by sisters like 10 years ago, reads the BOM, probably believes in the Church, gets visited by members, but is too old for baptism/membership, but just loves having sisters (especially) and missionaries in general visit him. So we visited and he told us an excellent story about a tiny elephant who became a big elephant. I pinky swore with him to call him regularly, because he is all alone and SO CUTE. So that's that. My sistery freakout is over.

 

For some reason it is very hard to find/make time to go contacting/tracting in Ruse. Probably I'm just a bad missionary and it's always been hard for me, but for some reason here, the tasks and chores and random tasks (Austin Powers reference) just kind of make time get interrupted or something. But maybe I'm complaining, and I should go take it up with PAUL who found time to be KILLED by people during his mission. So whatever. But any thoughts on that? Still struggling to find people who are going to be real investigators and eventually find true desire to follow Christ. So please continue to pray that we can find them, because Ruse really, really needs some new strong members in the branch right now.

 

We had a few lessons with a guy from Algeria named Mustafa (like one guy in my Arabic class picked as his Arabic name! or like the Genie in Aladdin says to mock the latter!) who got a BOM in Arabic (I also slipped one home to do some useless "attempts" at "reading") and basically wanted to spend a half hour telling us about his knowledge of Old Testament characters and saying "This book is cool. I will read it," and then asking us if we knew Zacharaius in a kind of judgy way. But that's okay! He was cool. Stereotype alert: I find that a lot of the people I teach/meet here who have Muslim roots or background(s?) are very open and friendly in a discussion kind of way, especially, but just have these huge roadblocks to helping them accept Christ. Like, for instance, not believing in Christ. Boring missionary phrase alert: It's an interesting experience to meet them and talk to them.

 

We also continue to meet with our Romanian friend, Iulian, for whom we crafted an enormous chocolate chip cookie with a smiley face on it because he's sad he has to move back to Bucharest in March (aren't we all). Furthermore, we had a lesson with this cool guy named Deyan who lives in a smaller village outside of Ruse for most of the month and can only have lessons once in a while, but who has read almost all of the BOM and brought us an American tomato seed packet he wanted us to translate to make sure there was nothing wrong with them. He said in May he'd bring us some of the tomatoes they grew. I. Want them.

 

Okay one more thing (actually 2) and I'm done! On Saturdee, Sister Tate and I went to visit some members who live in a kind of rougher area of town, and they gave us some cakey things when we left that we were both not in the mood to eat, so we walked out with the intention of tossing them into one of the dumpsters, where undoubtedly, some human or beast would shortly eat it and then use it more than we did. Only as Sister Tate walked up to the bin, I felt a sense of foreboding drifting across the smoky, garbage-scented night. A single star cast its light upon the broken bottle chips and cigarette butts near the can. I sensed a strange presence - almost animal-like. A subdued, anxious snuffling issued faintly from the dumpster. As I opened my mouth to say, "I think there's an animal in there," in a matter of 20 confusing blacked-out seconds, a giant black dog leaped balletically from the dumpster's depths, pounced its paws on Sister Tate's chest, and then darted away growling and whining. After, we stood there for a few seconds in shock, not really understanding what had just happened. Then we shrugged and walked away.

 

One more thing: Lyodmil, the convert who got baptized last year with Sister Tate, moved to Ruse! And he plays guitar! So yesterday I had a guitar session with him for our cowboy party this Saturday (oh boy) in which I taught him "Angel Band"! So. All dreams fulfilled.

 

I love you all. Try and listen to the Spirit! 

 

Sister Crandmill

 

Week of February 4, 2013: Salutations and Signings-Off

Good day, family members! Man, salutations and signings-off are the hardest part of this email gig. Well, we had a week! First of all, on Monday, we had a lesson with a less-active member here, who lives in like, a penthouse above the church (kind of cool) and his really cool, cute parents, who are all very nice and healthy and well-off and have a book full of missionary signatures from like ten years back, but who have never really gotten on board with the whole "acting on faith" thing, or really ever been taught, as far as I can tell. It was interesting: all six of us Ruse guys (elders, me and Sister Tate, Elder and Sister Eames, the senior couple, and don't forget the laptop!) using a powerpoint to try to help these guys understand the Plan of Salvation, and me just wondering, wondering, why don't these really nice, spiritual, awesome people understand or have any desire to accept the Gospel? I guess that's an interesting feeling that I've had here a lot that is hard to explain: feeling so frustrated when someone who's clearly so ready for a good change in their life just doesn't GET it. Any thoughts on that one? Let me know if you have any similar experiences/ideas.

 

I also bought the following hat: giant floppy with a red flower.

 

We also had a lesson with this older guy we met in a block, who showed up to the church for his lesson in a giant fur hat half an hour early, and then engaged us in a classic conversation about communism/why we should be happy we didn't grow up in communism. There are just these certain topics people get on here when they meet foreigners that come up EVERY time: communism, work, communism, the Turkish rule, etc. They are interesting, yes, and now I .. . . know a lot about them. That is all.

 

Also! Book of Mormon Miracle. I think I wrote about this already. The investigator (I hate saying "our" investigator, it sounds so possessive/greedy) Rumi continues to listen to the BOM on CD, and seems more changed than I've ever seen her. Her very elderly husband fell this week and is in the hospital, but she wasn't as distraught and hopeless as I thought she might be. She seems more hopeful and uplifted and excited. The Book of Mormon can do that. So read it! Now the question is hoping and praying that all the parts of the Gospel start clicking together in her mind (she studied philosophy and theology and is very, very smart - even gave me her old Arabic textbook from when she lived in Libya! not that that demonstrates smartness) but struggles, struggles with basic Gospel concepts like repentance. I guess we all do. 

 

Also, new convert Seifitin was having a really hard time the past few weeks, and didn't come to church, but we finally went to his house way out in the middle of nowhere and demanded him to come to the door (it has one of these really tall fences with no doorbells/anything, and a scary dog) by rapping on his window with a stick balanced near for that very purpose. And then he came back to institute and church yesterday, so that's good. It's nice to see people overcome their struggles. Nothing to do with anything I did!

 

Anyway. We continue to struggle to find new people to teach, and to find the opportunities to find. So if you could all pray for us, and for the people here in Ruse who need to talk to us, that would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

Okay, I love you guys. Keep it up!

 

Sister Crundalle

Week of January 21: Stately, classy Sofia gentleman

Everybody! Everybody! (Remember that Homestar thing? Yeah, Homestar.)

 

Well. Sezgin/Svetlo got baptized, like I said. He's a really cute new member. I told you about he's obsessed with getting cowboy music/movies, right? Especially by this guy who's supposedly called "Tex Ritter"? (Cowboy names are the best, and I've recently read a lot of them.) Well, Europe has a wider selection of interesting chocolate, including that Ritter Sport stuff. Which is PRETTY classic because we can buy him Ritter chocolate once in a while and just write "Tex" above the brand name, BAM, hilarious and delicious gift.

 

This week had a variety of strange and unexpected experiences, much like a casserole layered with different layers of weird. We had a cool experience when a guy who got baptized in Sofia with Sister Tate came to visit us in Ruse after having some job interviews, and had mentioned to us that he might be coming to the Church to say hi, but we didn't really know when. Then, in the middle of a plan to create a district bonding lunch of Chinese food, he showed up. This very stately, classy Sofia gentleman who was wearing all this leather and high-class old timey stuff, like LEATHER GLOVES and a LEATHER BRIEFCASE. And then he played songs for us on my guitar, using an English class referral card as a pick because I shamefully didn't have one. He played all these like, Greek and Russian and Italian songs and I was ENTRANCED. Entranced, I tell you. Music is the best. Also, I want to learn Russian songs.

 

Another interesting experience: a few months ago one of us met a lady in the street named Ivanka, who lives in a village called Byala about an hour from here. We had called her a few times about getting a Book of Mormon, but she was never in the city and we couldn't really go that far to give her one. But this week she was in the city, and arranged to meet us at the bus station before she went and did her errands, so we had a little impromtu lesson and gave her a Book in the bus station, attracting much attention. She was also really cute and grandma-y and kept calling us a word that means like "fresh" or "tender" in the food or soda sense. Refreshing, maybe. A new compliment!

 

Without saying too much, or much at all, we also had some kind of sad experiences this week with some strong members struggling. It made me realize how much we rely on the members we do have here, in a way that is much more urgent than it was at home, because we really are the size of a normal-ish Utah family as a branch, and we need each other, a lot. And it's kind of a painful lesson to learn to know that no matter what you do, you can't fix the problems other people have, but also humbling to realize that we don't have to. We can just do our best and trust. Or something else Dove chocolate wrapper sounding.

 

Ummm, I also gained a new appreciation for awesome companions. Sister Tate is just so kind and nurturing and stable and solid. If her family is reading this, or her, THANK YOU GUYS for being awesome and having awesome pioneer genes. And sharing your gifts with other people.

 

Alrighty. I love you all. Read Jesus the Christ! A fine book, I tell you what.

 

Love,

Sister Crumb Ball

Week of January 13, 2013: Pie!

Hello yet again! Yet AGAIN! Guess what happened this week? Svetlo (aka Sezgin, aka the Cowboy) got baptized! It was pretty adorable. I have to admit it took me a little bit of time to understand him and get used to teaching him, and I wasn't sure if this would really happen the way it happened, but it did. 

 

The more I've gotten to know him and his friend, the 13-year-old "Jane", the more I love them and realize how sincere they are and their desires are. We spend a LOT of our time with them somehow, and on Saturday Sisters Walch and Cross from Sliven and Sisters Coryell and Roper from Sofia came in to our little city, and we had a cute little family baptism in our little building. Svetlo is also really, really shy, and one of his big concerns that I didn't realize was a concern until recently was that there would be a lot of people at his baptism making him feel self-conscious. But it was a big step.  We told him that, in fact, he could have no one at his baptism but a bird, like at Jesus' baptism.  

 

And so that's how it was. Just the missionaries, Elder and Sister Eames, and three members who are his friends. And the baptism was perfect. He was so happy and calm, but excited. The cool thing about baptisms that's been in common between the ones I've been to here is that, inevitably, whoever is in the white jumpsuit just gets so calm and peaceful, before and after the baptism. No matter what their personality or individual worries or whatever, they just get so calm. It's hard to explain. But nice. And then we all ate soup and PIE that I made. Apple and berry with a woven crust.

 

A side-note about pie (just a little slice of information, hahaha): people here apparently see and hear about pie in the movies all the time (to quote their own words) and American pie is kind of like this fantasy thing they never really think is real, so they get REAL excited about seeing it for the first time. It's kind of adorable. There was the guy Mitko in Stara Zagora, who was from a village and very village-y and country-y and humble, who said something to the effect of: "All my life I saw of this American pie in films, and I dreamed of it. Oh, how I dreamed of it. And now, who would have thought that the day would come when I would have not one kind, but TWO kinds of pie to choose from!" It was pretty awesome.

 

I also made a giant floppy crazy red hat this week.

 

Also, what else? Very cold city I am in? I guess. My hair froze on the way to church and turned gray yesterday. 

 

I'd like to encourage everyone to read the last few chapters of Moroni this week. I read them recently and they are prettty good. Recommend them.

 

I love you all! Spay or neuter your pets!

 

Sister Crandberry 

Week of January 7, 2013: A Week in Pictures/Ironic Sweater

Let me set the scene for you in terms of yarn: (while I spin you all a yarn): I'm sitting in our old internet zala, which is all but abandoned on account of it is a BIG holiday called New Year's Day here, and wearing the following wool products:

 

1) wool Land's End tights

2) wool plain tights underneath

3) gray sweater (purchased with GG! Thank you GG! I love you!)

4) white fluffy huge yarn eternity scarf I MADE LAST NIGHT, thank you

5) huge blue and white and dark blue swooshy big hat I made a few weeks ago

6) remember in that one book when a southern grandma was trying to express the idea of "whirlpools" in the river near their house but says like "wool pooh," and then the grandkids imagine that there is a winnie-the-pooh demon made of wool in the river to kill them? What book was that???

 

Just setting the scene for you. As I mentioned previously, Sister Tate's going-home-soon-stress-reliever is crocheting, an old passion of mine given to me by GG/Eva. And I have fed right into its madness. Here are the mane events (haha, lions):

 

1) Christmas eve. Found us pretending to have p-day but not really, because we had to prepare to entertain members and entertain ourselves and try to do real missionary work at the same time. Also, wearing my new fur hat. Eventually we found ourselves at the house of a long-time investigator named Ina, who wants to get baptized but whose husband isn't into it, having Christmas eve dinner! Did I tell you about this already? Whatever. We also met her husband and it was actually really nice. He's cool. They want to move to Australia, like a lot of young mover and shaker Bulgarians. Also, guess what mom and dad: there are a million Bulgarians in Vancouver, B.C. So. Let's go there someday and buy cirene. Eventually we ended up at the church hosting a party that one member was excited to have (a lot of members here are kind of alone/have bad family situations) and we watched "Horton Hears A Who" (in Bulgarian! not as funny, I don't think)  and made gingerbread houses out of chocolate biscuits and Christmas candy sent in packages to us.

 

2) Christmas day! The longest and most stressful day ever! I think I understood the "adult" side of Christmas more than I ever had, where you kind of are just responsible for making sure everyone's happy and has a good time. But it was nice. I realized how happy and sweet it is when you get to a point where all the people in your care ARE happy and quiet and not fighting (like we kids used to). We visited our investigator Rumi and gave her a CD player with headphones and a MoTab CD (thank you GG and Papa!) which she LOVED, and looked at all the cool pictures of when she used to live in Libya and Tunisia and be a hipster. And then went to go see sister and brother Boyanka and Peter, who are some less-active members who randomly have a daughter/niece in Utah who is roommates with the daughter of Elder and Sister Eames, the senior couple working here with us. Pretty crazy. And I talked about John Lennon to Peter for a while, and played some Johnny Cash on my guitar for him that he wanted to hear. He was SO excited. Then we went home to make a pumpkin pie (I promised I would) and went back to the church for another party in which we made pizza and watched that awful movie about the green guy who is not in agreement with the institution of Christmas, and skyped you guys! It was so tender and sweet! I am scared of how grown up and different everyone is, but also peaceful about how happy you all seem. So keep being happy.

 

And last night, we had been given the direction to work only until 5PM because New Year's Eve is kind of nuts/dangerous here, what with all of the shooting guns and fireworks going off from every single house with no laws or regulations and also drunk folks all about. So we came in at 5 and had a nice old lady's evening in which we crocheted for like 3 hours and I completed a scarf, and ate pumpkin bread and pumpkin soup, and then went to bed at 10:00. And then were violently woken up all night by fireworks EVERYWHERE. Like, off the balconies below us and above us and across from us.

 

Anyway. A kind of crazy week and even crazier to realize my mission will end this year.  I love you all so much. Happy everything!

 

Love,

Sister Grundbag