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