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