Hey Mom and Dad,
Where to start? First off, thanks for all the updates on things! That's interesting about the change in the movie...that is a pretty funny movie. Also give my congrats to Rianne and Kevin! Wow. I am surprised and happy for them. Do you know when they will get married?
I had a great week. Weeks are going by really fast! On Tuesday we went out to a part-member family's house in their village. They live about 40 mins away from Plovdiv. It was quite the adventure. We took a train and then walked 4 kilometers to their village. It was really nice. We enjoyed being there with them and you could see they were happy to have us there. They made us a lot of food! It was really good too. They are from Armenia, so a lot of the food they made was Armenian food. Yummy.
We had a really goodlesson with a new man we met named Giorgi. He is in his mid-late 30's and is a 2nd grade teacher. It went very well and the spirit was very strong. He told us how he is searching for the truth.
We also had a good time contacting this week. We met this woman and her daughter on our way back to our apartment. We started talking and found out that they spoke perfect English. They had been going through some hard times and wanted to heear more about what we believe and how it can help them. We talked for awhile on the street and before we left we gave them a hug. You know that when you can end meeting someone on the street with a hug, it was good.
Church yesterday was amazing. There were so many little miracles happening here and there. We had been praying that a lot more people would come to church. We have a big building here in Plovdiv but it isn't filled with people on Sundays. Well, yesterday right as the meeting was about to start, so many people started coming in! People that we had prayed to come, came! I was leading the music up at the front and could see the sacrament room filled with members and non-members! It was amazing.
Also we were able to meet with a young woman that we had been trying to get a hold of for weeks! So many great things have happened this week.
I can't believe that the end of another transfer has come... I feel as though I just got to Plovdiv. On Friday or Saturday we will receive transfer calls. I am pretty sure I will stay here in Plovdiv (which I'd be happy about) but you never know what will happen...
Well, That's about it for me. I hope you are all doing well. Have a great week! Remember who you are and that Heavenly Father loves you!
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, April 22, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
April 15th 2013
Hey Mom and Dad,
This week went by very fast. We did so many things this week. We went into Sofia for my passport work and then on Wednesday we had zone conference in Plovdiv. We had some lessons and then we had a fun night for the young single adults. On Sunday, we were able to continue watching this Sunday sessions of General Conference.
Zone conference was great this week! I learned so many new things. We started of zone conference with learning about how to work with church leaders. This was a very important subject to talk about. We were taught by the assistants to the president (Elder Adams and Elder Hammond). We had a great group discussion of how we can really work with the church leaders and gain a good relationship with them. We have many new members in the church here in Bulgaria, which is exciting! However, we know that the new members need a calling right away! I don't know why, but sometimes the leaders here are a little reluctant to give them callings. We talked about how we can help encourage our leaders to give everyone callings.
We then learned some great things from Sister Wilstead. She taught us about "The Role of Angels." We learned many things about how we can recognize angels in our lives. We learned that angels comfort, protect, and strengthen us. I loved this lesson from Sister Wilstead. It taught me that even when I have moments when I feel alone, I am not. I always have my Heavenly Father and his angels all the time.
Then we were able to be taught by President Wilstead. He started off ny saying he had a great and important scripture to share with us. He said it was Luke 17:32 which reads, "Remember Lot's wife." After we read it we were all a bit confused. He explained that this statement is very significant. When we think about the history of Lot and his family and how they were told to leave all that they had. They left, but as they were just about to get out of sight of the city, Lot's wife turned and looked and turned into a pillar of salt. It's not the fact that Lot's wife looked back, it's the fact that she wanted all the things she had left.
President Wilstead related that to our mission. We are doing so great in our mission right now, we need to remember to stay focused and keep going!
Overall, zone conference was amazing. I learned many things that I want to remember for my whole life.
Our young single adult fun night was great. We had many investigators there playing games with us. It is a great way to get the members and investigators together and socializing.
I love General conference. I am not quite sure if I can pin point a favorite...but I really like Neil L. Andersons talk on Sunday morning. He talked about missionary work and how we all should be missionaries! I am glad that Dad got challenged to give away a Book of Mormon. We gave that challenge out to the branch here a few weeks ago. It has been great hearing the stories of the brave members sharing their testimonies to their friends and essentially giving them salvation. Sharing the gospel to others is the best service one can give.
We had some lessons this week. We had an interesting lesson with a woman. Everything went very well. Then after the lesson our branch president told us that the woman we met with has been around the church here and there for about 10 years...and that she had been dating a spy to spy on the church about 5 years ago or something.... very weird and interesting the people you can come in contact with on a daily basis here.
My companion, Sister Wild and I are working diligently to find more people to teach and learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Things are great. Life is amazing.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you all very much. Keep reading your scriptures!
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
This week went by very fast. We did so many things this week. We went into Sofia for my passport work and then on Wednesday we had zone conference in Plovdiv. We had some lessons and then we had a fun night for the young single adults. On Sunday, we were able to continue watching this Sunday sessions of General Conference.
Zone conference was great this week! I learned so many new things. We started of zone conference with learning about how to work with church leaders. This was a very important subject to talk about. We were taught by the assistants to the president (Elder Adams and Elder Hammond). We had a great group discussion of how we can really work with the church leaders and gain a good relationship with them. We have many new members in the church here in Bulgaria, which is exciting! However, we know that the new members need a calling right away! I don't know why, but sometimes the leaders here are a little reluctant to give them callings. We talked about how we can help encourage our leaders to give everyone callings.
We then learned some great things from Sister Wilstead. She taught us about "The Role of Angels." We learned many things about how we can recognize angels in our lives. We learned that angels comfort, protect, and strengthen us. I loved this lesson from Sister Wilstead. It taught me that even when I have moments when I feel alone, I am not. I always have my Heavenly Father and his angels all the time.
Then we were able to be taught by President Wilstead. He started off ny saying he had a great and important scripture to share with us. He said it was Luke 17:32 which reads, "Remember Lot's wife." After we read it we were all a bit confused. He explained that this statement is very significant. When we think about the history of Lot and his family and how they were told to leave all that they had. They left, but as they were just about to get out of sight of the city, Lot's wife turned and looked and turned into a pillar of salt. It's not the fact that Lot's wife looked back, it's the fact that she wanted all the things she had left.
President Wilstead related that to our mission. We are doing so great in our mission right now, we need to remember to stay focused and keep going!
Overall, zone conference was amazing. I learned many things that I want to remember for my whole life.
Our young single adult fun night was great. We had many investigators there playing games with us. It is a great way to get the members and investigators together and socializing.
I love General conference. I am not quite sure if I can pin point a favorite...but I really like Neil L. Andersons talk on Sunday morning. He talked about missionary work and how we all should be missionaries! I am glad that Dad got challenged to give away a Book of Mormon. We gave that challenge out to the branch here a few weeks ago. It has been great hearing the stories of the brave members sharing their testimonies to their friends and essentially giving them salvation. Sharing the gospel to others is the best service one can give.
We had some lessons this week. We had an interesting lesson with a woman. Everything went very well. Then after the lesson our branch president told us that the woman we met with has been around the church here and there for about 10 years...and that she had been dating a spy to spy on the church about 5 years ago or something.... very weird and interesting the people you can come in contact with on a daily basis here.
My companion, Sister Wild and I are working diligently to find more people to teach and learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Things are great. Life is amazing.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you all very much. Keep reading your scriptures!
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, April 8, 2013
April 8th 2013
Hey Mom and Dad,
I got your letter and package! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Everyone loves the shirts!
Well, this week was pretty busy. We had an English sign-up night, Institute, a Relief Society party, and of course our regular missionary work.
English sign-up night didn't exactly go as planned. It was too bad, but not very many people came. There might be people who end up coming for the actual course. We will see.
Institute was pretty good. We had a few investigators there with some members. It was good to see the members act as missionaries as they answered the concerns of our investigators. I think having more young people coming to institute will be a great way to find more people to teach.
We had a relief society party. It's still interesting thinking about how they do parties here whenever I think about how they would do parties back home. They are very different. They both work, it's just different.
Oh yeah, on Sunday we were able to watch the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference! It was great! It was so great to listen to the general authorities speak. I could really feel the spirt as they testified. It also was great to hear about how many missionaries are out in the field and all those who will be out soon. I think it is so great that all these young adults are serving the Lord, along with the couples.
We have been having a lot of rain lately! So we have been doing a lot of tracting in blocks. The funniest things always happen... One very old man told me I needed to learn 7 more languages and then come back and speak to him. It has been fun. We had a few good lessons as well. We are hoping to meet with more people this coming week. Although it seems as though we have many other things we need to do.
Tomorrow I go into Sofia for more passport work and on Wednesday we have zone conference! So many things happening.
I hope you are all doing well! I love all of you very much! I hope you all have a fantastic week! :)
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
I got your letter and package! Thank you so much! I really appreciate it! Everyone loves the shirts!
Well, this week was pretty busy. We had an English sign-up night, Institute, a Relief Society party, and of course our regular missionary work.
English sign-up night didn't exactly go as planned. It was too bad, but not very many people came. There might be people who end up coming for the actual course. We will see.
Institute was pretty good. We had a few investigators there with some members. It was good to see the members act as missionaries as they answered the concerns of our investigators. I think having more young people coming to institute will be a great way to find more people to teach.
We had a relief society party. It's still interesting thinking about how they do parties here whenever I think about how they would do parties back home. They are very different. They both work, it's just different.
Oh yeah, on Sunday we were able to watch the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference! It was great! It was so great to listen to the general authorities speak. I could really feel the spirt as they testified. It also was great to hear about how many missionaries are out in the field and all those who will be out soon. I think it is so great that all these young adults are serving the Lord, along with the couples.
We have been having a lot of rain lately! So we have been doing a lot of tracting in blocks. The funniest things always happen... One very old man told me I needed to learn 7 more languages and then come back and speak to him. It has been fun. We had a few good lessons as well. We are hoping to meet with more people this coming week. Although it seems as though we have many other things we need to do.
Tomorrow I go into Sofia for more passport work and on Wednesday we have zone conference! So many things happening.
I hope you are all doing well! I love all of you very much! I hope you all have a fantastic week! :)
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, April 1, 2013
April 1st 2013
Hey Mom and Dad,
So when I went into Sofia for passport work, I got the letter you sent me! Thanks so much! I loved it.
Just to clarify... when I go into passport work, that means that I am going to get a new card that says I can stay in Bulgaria. I need my passport with me so they can write down information, that's why they call it "passport work."
I hope you all had a great Easter. They don't celebrate Easter here this year until May 6th.... I have no idea why it is so late! We had a great fast and testimony meeting. Some of the new converts in the branch bore their testimonies and it was really powerful. It is so great seeing people change their lives and strengthen others by bearing their testimonies.
This week was great. We had our big institute fireside. It was pretty stressful getting everything set up, but it was great. We had guests from Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine. When the guest from Moscow spoke the man from Ukraine had to translate it into English and then a member who knows perfect English had to translate into Bulgarian. I thought it was pretty cool! They gave a great presentation on Joseph Smith and the start of the church in America. They talked about how you can be truly happy even when you don't have the material needs you want. It was a really good message and the spirit was very strong. We are really hoping that we can get institute big and strong here. We need the youth of the church to unite and become friends.
We had some great lessons this week. My favorite lesson this week was when we taught our new convert about Temples. She absolutely loved it. I love being able to show people pictures of temples and explain the importance of them.
Well I hope you all have a great week! I can't wait to see General Conference this weekend! make sure you all take great notes! I love you all very much.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
So when I went into Sofia for passport work, I got the letter you sent me! Thanks so much! I loved it.
Just to clarify... when I go into passport work, that means that I am going to get a new card that says I can stay in Bulgaria. I need my passport with me so they can write down information, that's why they call it "passport work."
I hope you all had a great Easter. They don't celebrate Easter here this year until May 6th.... I have no idea why it is so late! We had a great fast and testimony meeting. Some of the new converts in the branch bore their testimonies and it was really powerful. It is so great seeing people change their lives and strengthen others by bearing their testimonies.
This week was great. We had our big institute fireside. It was pretty stressful getting everything set up, but it was great. We had guests from Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine. When the guest from Moscow spoke the man from Ukraine had to translate it into English and then a member who knows perfect English had to translate into Bulgarian. I thought it was pretty cool! They gave a great presentation on Joseph Smith and the start of the church in America. They talked about how you can be truly happy even when you don't have the material needs you want. It was a really good message and the spirit was very strong. We are really hoping that we can get institute big and strong here. We need the youth of the church to unite and become friends.
We had some great lessons this week. My favorite lesson this week was when we taught our new convert about Temples. She absolutely loved it. I love being able to show people pictures of temples and explain the importance of them.
Well I hope you all have a great week! I can't wait to see General Conference this weekend! make sure you all take great notes! I love you all very much.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, March 25, 2013
March 25th 2013
Hey Mom and Dad,
Thanks for all the updates! It's great to hear about all those going on missions and coming home from missions! Everyone should serve a mission!
Well, it was another great week in Plovdiv! Zone Leader Training was amazing! It was a bit different not having to travel at all. It was great seeing everyone in my zone. We learned a lot about planning our time wisely because after all, this isn't our time, it's the Lord's time. We were able to have personal interviews with President Wilstead. It was really nice being able to talk with him. There are so many great missionaries here. i feel incredibly blessed to be serving with all of them. Sister Wild and I were the last ones to have our interviews on Wednesday. President and Sister Wilstead were so nice and took us out for dinner. It was great getting to know them on a more personal level.
The environment is so great here. We are all working as a team to try and get goals accomplished. President, Sister Wilstead, Sister Wild and I had a great conversation about Senior Missionary couples. We talked about how great of a need it is to have more couples out here on a mission. I really want to serve a mission when I have a husband and am a bit older. I would be willing to go anywhere...but I would request Bulgaria.
We have been working on getting the YSA bigger here in Plovdiv. We have many YSA but they are either not active, or just have a hard time getting to know people. We have been preparing for a big fireside this Thursday for them. We will be having guests from Moscow (they are the area coordinators or something for YSA). We hope all will go well. It's been pretty difficult trying to get it all organized and ready... but we know it's worth it. The youth are the future of the church and they need to be strong.
Tomorrow I will be going into Sofia for passport work... it's hard to believe that it's time for me to do that again.
Oh yeah, last Friday we got special permission to go to Pazerjik! It is a city about 40 minutes away. They have many women there and no visiting teachers. So Sister Wild and I spent our day visiting many Sisters and getting to know them. It was great seeing how excited these Sisters were to see us there! It was a great and successful day. Visiting and Home teaching are very important! Everyone needs to do it!
That's about it for this week. I hope you all have a great week! Remember that you can always be a missionary even if you don't have a tag! I love you very much.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Thanks for all the updates! It's great to hear about all those going on missions and coming home from missions! Everyone should serve a mission!
Well, it was another great week in Plovdiv! Zone Leader Training was amazing! It was a bit different not having to travel at all. It was great seeing everyone in my zone. We learned a lot about planning our time wisely because after all, this isn't our time, it's the Lord's time. We were able to have personal interviews with President Wilstead. It was really nice being able to talk with him. There are so many great missionaries here. i feel incredibly blessed to be serving with all of them. Sister Wild and I were the last ones to have our interviews on Wednesday. President and Sister Wilstead were so nice and took us out for dinner. It was great getting to know them on a more personal level.
The environment is so great here. We are all working as a team to try and get goals accomplished. President, Sister Wilstead, Sister Wild and I had a great conversation about Senior Missionary couples. We talked about how great of a need it is to have more couples out here on a mission. I really want to serve a mission when I have a husband and am a bit older. I would be willing to go anywhere...but I would request Bulgaria.
We have been working on getting the YSA bigger here in Plovdiv. We have many YSA but they are either not active, or just have a hard time getting to know people. We have been preparing for a big fireside this Thursday for them. We will be having guests from Moscow (they are the area coordinators or something for YSA). We hope all will go well. It's been pretty difficult trying to get it all organized and ready... but we know it's worth it. The youth are the future of the church and they need to be strong.
Tomorrow I will be going into Sofia for passport work... it's hard to believe that it's time for me to do that again.
Oh yeah, last Friday we got special permission to go to Pazerjik! It is a city about 40 minutes away. They have many women there and no visiting teachers. So Sister Wild and I spent our day visiting many Sisters and getting to know them. It was great seeing how excited these Sisters were to see us there! It was a great and successful day. Visiting and Home teaching are very important! Everyone needs to do it!
That's about it for this week. I hope you all have a great week! Remember that you can always be a missionary even if you don't have a tag! I love you very much.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, March 18, 2013
March 18th 2013
Dear Mom and Dad,
Thanks so much for sending a package and a letter!! I am so excited. I will let you know when I get it! Sister Haddock sent me a letter! It was so nice. She is an amazing woman.
This week was very busy and great! We had many lessons with people who have great potential. It is exciting to meet all these new people and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, everything led up to the baptism on Saturday!
Our investigator, Valentina got baptized this Saturday. It was such a great experience. Leading up to her baptism she was ready in every way, but was still having trouble with coffee. She had reduced her intake but still needed help stopping. She asked one of the Elders for a blessing. After the blessing she didn't even crave coffee. She would always tell us how good she felt! It's amazing seeing so many blessings all around us. When Saturday came she was prepared and ready to follow Jesus Christ and to be baptized.
Not only Valentina got baptized on Saturday! There were 3 others as well. Two of them were from Pazerjik (a city about 30 mins away) and one of the Elder's investigators! It was a big day!
Sister Frame and Christensen came from Blagoevgrad because Sister Christensen helped teach Valentina. Then I had a great surprise... Vili and Irina from Blagoevgrad came along with them!!! I was so happy and surprised to see them. The church was so full that day. There was such a strong spirit.
What can I say? There is so much work for us to do. I love being a missionary and helping these people change their lives!
I am doing well. Everything is going great. We have Zone Leader training in Plovdiv on Wednesday. That should be exciting. It is always great seeing everyone in the zone together and growing and learning how to be better missionaries.
I love you all so much. Thank you for all your support! I feel the love :) I want you to know how special you are to me. I hope you have a great week! Look for blessings all around you. They are everywhere.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Thanks so much for sending a package and a letter!! I am so excited. I will let you know when I get it! Sister Haddock sent me a letter! It was so nice. She is an amazing woman.
This week was very busy and great! We had many lessons with people who have great potential. It is exciting to meet all these new people and teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, everything led up to the baptism on Saturday!
Our investigator, Valentina got baptized this Saturday. It was such a great experience. Leading up to her baptism she was ready in every way, but was still having trouble with coffee. She had reduced her intake but still needed help stopping. She asked one of the Elders for a blessing. After the blessing she didn't even crave coffee. She would always tell us how good she felt! It's amazing seeing so many blessings all around us. When Saturday came she was prepared and ready to follow Jesus Christ and to be baptized.
Not only Valentina got baptized on Saturday! There were 3 others as well. Two of them were from Pazerjik (a city about 30 mins away) and one of the Elder's investigators! It was a big day!
Sister Frame and Christensen came from Blagoevgrad because Sister Christensen helped teach Valentina. Then I had a great surprise... Vili and Irina from Blagoevgrad came along with them!!! I was so happy and surprised to see them. The church was so full that day. There was such a strong spirit.
What can I say? There is so much work for us to do. I love being a missionary and helping these people change their lives!
I am doing well. Everything is going great. We have Zone Leader training in Plovdiv on Wednesday. That should be exciting. It is always great seeing everyone in the zone together and growing and learning how to be better missionaries.
I love you all so much. Thank you for all your support! I feel the love :) I want you to know how special you are to me. I hope you have a great week! Look for blessings all around you. They are everywhere.
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Monday, March 11, 2013
March 11th 2013
Hey Mom and Dad,
Well, I am very happy that you received the letter! I am glad you like the pictures. Sorry if you got confused with the name on the back of the picture. I am pretty sure I wrote her name in Bulgarian.
Thanks for your effort to write me an actual letter through the mail. It means a lot to get "real" mail. Speaking of which, I got a big letter from the young men and young women in the ward. That was a nice surprise!
Things here in Plovdiv are great! The work is amazing.I love being in an actual church building. It still isn't quite like the buildings back home, but it is very nice. I am still in the process of meeting everyone and getting situated. I still get confused with where I am and what not. It is actually pretty refreshing to not know exactly where I am all the time. Plovdiv is a beautiful city. It is a very old city as well.There are many tourist places here. Remember last year when we had our mission conference and I sent you pictures of the old amphitheater and other things? Well that is where I am. We even have a medium-size mall here. I also really enjoy being companions with Sister Wild. She is really cool. I sometimes find myself saying "British" words and sayings every now and then.
This week we had quite a few lessons. The majority of the lessons were with young people. Our goal is to try and get a strong Young Single Adult program started here. We have Young Single Adults but they do not socialize with each other. So we are going to help with getting that in order. That way when we bring in our young investigators there will be other young people there.
We have an investigator named Valentina. She is so sweet. She will be getting baptized soon! She is 31 years old and is amazing in every way. I think it is amazing the people that I have the opportunity to meet while being a missionary.
Let's see... other than that... I am doing well. Thank you for all of your prayers. I love all of you very much. I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
Well, I am very happy that you received the letter! I am glad you like the pictures. Sorry if you got confused with the name on the back of the picture. I am pretty sure I wrote her name in Bulgarian.
Thanks for your effort to write me an actual letter through the mail. It means a lot to get "real" mail. Speaking of which, I got a big letter from the young men and young women in the ward. That was a nice surprise!
Things here in Plovdiv are great! The work is amazing.I love being in an actual church building. It still isn't quite like the buildings back home, but it is very nice. I am still in the process of meeting everyone and getting situated. I still get confused with where I am and what not. It is actually pretty refreshing to not know exactly where I am all the time. Plovdiv is a beautiful city. It is a very old city as well.There are many tourist places here. Remember last year when we had our mission conference and I sent you pictures of the old amphitheater and other things? Well that is where I am. We even have a medium-size mall here. I also really enjoy being companions with Sister Wild. She is really cool. I sometimes find myself saying "British" words and sayings every now and then.
This week we had quite a few lessons. The majority of the lessons were with young people. Our goal is to try and get a strong Young Single Adult program started here. We have Young Single Adults but they do not socialize with each other. So we are going to help with getting that in order. That way when we bring in our young investigators there will be other young people there.
We have an investigator named Valentina. She is so sweet. She will be getting baptized soon! She is 31 years old and is amazing in every way. I think it is amazing the people that I have the opportunity to meet while being a missionary.
Let's see... other than that... I am doing well. Thank you for all of your prayers. I love all of you very much. I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Farnsworth
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