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