Let's see... to answer your questions real quick...the weather has been awesome lately. I havent worn my coat for a whole week!
I went to Plovdiv on Tuesday and Wednesday for Zone conference and it was really nice. President and Sister Roth said some really insightful things. Oh and my district (the 4 of us) sang a song for a musical number! It was fun for us, but not too sure about the people who had to listen... we got to sleep in a Hotel! It was pretty nice. It had carpet! I miss carpet...I don't know why, but pretty much no one has carpet in Bulgaria.
Oh and I went to McDonalds! It was a pretty big deal because they only have them in big cities. Plus, they are so much nicer here. McDonalds is a nice place to here...unlike in America.
Let's see... Oh and yesterday we had a special Conference because President and Sis. Roth came to speak. It was great. The members were so excited. They were on their best behavior and they cleaned the church so well. So that was really nice. Oh and their daughter came and was visiting them for a week from Austria. I got to talk with her for a bit and she is pretty cool. She told me they are from the same place that The Sound of Music is! I thought that was so cool!
We are trying to do a lot more contacting because some of the investigators we did have fell of the face of the earth and the ones that we do have arent really progressing very much. It is pretty hard but we are trying to find a lot more people to teach! Its kinda funny...one of the ladies we teach, she really likes our lessons and then when we finish she says, "My friends don't know about this! I've gotta tell them about what you guys taught me!" Her "other friends" are the Jehovah witnesses...It's pretty funny. So she meets with us and them...so yeah.
Oh this friday we get transfer calls. I am pretty nervous about it because I really want to stay with Sis. Child. But we will see what happens. I am sure anything will be great.
Tomorrow we have passport work so we are taking a bus into Sofia around 3:30 today and willget there around 8:30 its a fun 5 hour drive on a yummy smelly bus :) (That's another weird thing here or maybe in Europe but people don't shower here...maybe 1 time a week...maybe. So you can imagine the wonderful smells...yum.) But before we go we are going to go up a mountain (Carindilla) on a ski lift here in the city. It's a pretty popular place for the locals here. It should be pretty fun!
Well thanks for the updates and everything! I love you. :)
Have a great week!
Love,
Jodi
p.s. congrats on the car! I'm not gonna lie...I laughed...a lot. But I am glad you like it :)
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
March 20th 2012
Hey mom and dad!
Sorry about the long response. We have zone conference tomorrow so we are traveling to Plovdiv today so our p-day got changed! Oh and the scripture is D&C 31:3. Hopefully it will finally work with that haha.
That's so exciting that Rianne is getting married! Oh can you tell her congrats from me and that I give her a big hug and wish her the best with everything and I wish I could be there! That makes me so happy :)
It's good to hear that everyone is doing well. I just found out that I will be training very soon! The Sister who I will be training will be arriving on June 20th...so Happy Birthday to me haha. My Trainer has been out for over a year and she goes home at the end of May. So its really really rare that people start training when they have only been out a few months... I am pretty nervous about it!
That makes me so jealous that Keith just went and got some taco bell!! Ugh. haha but I am glad he enjoyed it. Hmm... Let's see. Nothing too exciting happened this past week just the usual missionary work. Except it has started to get much nicer here these past few days it has been so warm. Even though it is warm people look at us really weird because we aren't wearing a coat. They sometimes come up to you and say "Why arent you wearing a coat?!" And i say because its hot outside and they say "But it's March!" For some reason they think that just because its March you HAVE to wear a coat...even if its 80 degrees outside. Crazy.
We had a women's conference this past saturday. The General relief society, young womens, and primary president's talked to the women specific for Eastern Europe. It was pretty cool. Except for the fact that it was an hour and a half of me not understanding 80 percent of what was said... haha. Then we had a Lunch prepared by the men and after that we did a service where we made cards to give to the less active in the branch (there is a lot) in the branch here there are about 15- 20 people who come each week. So its pretty small. Sometimes its hard because the missionaries pretty much run everything...so if for some reason we couldn't make it to church on sunday the branch wouldn't really function right at all. We are trying to get them less dependent on missionaries but its really hard because they don't know any different. So we are working on that slowly....
Oh yeah my district (my companion and two elders) is doing a musical number tomorrow at Zone conference...kind of a big deal haha. So we will see how that goes.
I hope everything is going well for everyone there! Tell everyone I am doing great and thanks for all the support! It's nice to know that even though I am all the way on the othre side of the world with not much support from people (because the church is sooooo tiny here) that I have lots of support back home!
Well I love you a 100 Killer whales, 10 spider monkeys, 50 Unicornfish, and 80 siberian tigers :)
Love Your Favorite Daughter (out on a mission),
Jodi :)
Sorry about the long response. We have zone conference tomorrow so we are traveling to Plovdiv today so our p-day got changed! Oh and the scripture is D&C 31:3. Hopefully it will finally work with that haha.
That's so exciting that Rianne is getting married! Oh can you tell her congrats from me and that I give her a big hug and wish her the best with everything and I wish I could be there! That makes me so happy :)
It's good to hear that everyone is doing well. I just found out that I will be training very soon! The Sister who I will be training will be arriving on June 20th...so Happy Birthday to me haha. My Trainer has been out for over a year and she goes home at the end of May. So its really really rare that people start training when they have only been out a few months... I am pretty nervous about it!
That makes me so jealous that Keith just went and got some taco bell!! Ugh. haha but I am glad he enjoyed it. Hmm... Let's see. Nothing too exciting happened this past week just the usual missionary work. Except it has started to get much nicer here these past few days it has been so warm. Even though it is warm people look at us really weird because we aren't wearing a coat. They sometimes come up to you and say "Why arent you wearing a coat?!" And i say because its hot outside and they say "But it's March!" For some reason they think that just because its March you HAVE to wear a coat...even if its 80 degrees outside. Crazy.
We had a women's conference this past saturday. The General relief society, young womens, and primary president's talked to the women specific for Eastern Europe. It was pretty cool. Except for the fact that it was an hour and a half of me not understanding 80 percent of what was said... haha. Then we had a Lunch prepared by the men and after that we did a service where we made cards to give to the less active in the branch (there is a lot) in the branch here there are about 15- 20 people who come each week. So its pretty small. Sometimes its hard because the missionaries pretty much run everything...so if for some reason we couldn't make it to church on sunday the branch wouldn't really function right at all. We are trying to get them less dependent on missionaries but its really hard because they don't know any different. So we are working on that slowly....
Oh yeah my district (my companion and two elders) is doing a musical number tomorrow at Zone conference...kind of a big deal haha. So we will see how that goes.
I hope everything is going well for everyone there! Tell everyone I am doing great and thanks for all the support! It's nice to know that even though I am all the way on the othre side of the world with not much support from people (because the church is sooooo tiny here) that I have lots of support back home!
Well I love you a 100 Killer whales, 10 spider monkeys, 50 Unicornfish, and 80 siberian tigers :)
Love Your Favorite Daughter (out on a mission),
Jodi :)
Monday, March 12, 2012
New Pictures!!
a sweet family
bus stop right by our apt...
Here you have our apt "Martinelli" pic.
A classic gypsey cart with all the stuff they got from the trash...
my first duner...
bus stop right by our apt...
Here you have our apt "Martinelli" pic.
A classic gypsey cart with all the stuff they got from the trash...
my first duner...
March 12th 2012
Hey Mom and Dad!
Let's see... This week was really good. Women's day was awesome.
Basically everyone gives you flowers and they all say "happy march
8th" to you and everyone smiles at you because you are a woman! It's
great! I think that was the most I have seen Bulgarians smile in one
day! Contacting was pretty good that day too because people would stop
and talk to you!
Oh yeah and this week we found an investigator (who we thought was
avoiding us) while contacting and found out we couldn't get a hold of
him because he was having eye surgery. Anyway that was good because he
is the only investigator we have right now with a baptisimal date! So
that was a good day.
Also, we did some service. We helped a family in the ward peel around
600 oranges...no joke. When we were done we asked them what they were
going to do with them. They told us they were going to make their
homemade alcohol....so for service we helped a family make
alcohol....but it's how they make a living for themselves....so is
that bad? haha
As far as packages go...ask kelly. My companion says she has gotten
lots of packages from her family and has gotten all of them. So I
think it should be fine.
The weather here right now is crazy. One day its nice and sunny, the
next stormy and cold. Everyone calls march the "women's month" because
its so unpredictable...haha I think that's funny.
This week I discovered that they have the best icecream here!!! YUM so
good. That made my day when we got some icecream and it tasted bettter
than in America.
Wow! Way to go you guys! That's awesome. Yeah they have bowling here
but probably only like 4 bowling alleys in the whole country...Its not
very popular. There isn't one in my city I am in.
Yeah I am staying warm enough and I think healthy. When we make our
own food it is yummy and healthy, but when we have to eat what
bulgarian make us....not so much haha. I dont know why but bulgarians
think they need to have cups and cups of oil in all their food or its
not good. They use oil as their "flavor and seasonings" so sometimes I
feel my arteries are going to clog and my heart will stop... So I
learned a new trick. Apparently if you tell them you are full that's
not good enough, they won't believe you. However, if you tell them you
don't want to get fat... they respect you and are like "oh ok...no
problem we won't make you eat more" It's way funny but it works and
they dont mind because here the women are so so so skinny. All of
them. Anyway, I am happy I learned that trick!
Well I hope you have a great week! I love you :)
Love, Jodi
Let's see... This week was really good. Women's day was awesome.
Basically everyone gives you flowers and they all say "happy march
8th" to you and everyone smiles at you because you are a woman! It's
great! I think that was the most I have seen Bulgarians smile in one
day! Contacting was pretty good that day too because people would stop
and talk to you!
Oh yeah and this week we found an investigator (who we thought was
avoiding us) while contacting and found out we couldn't get a hold of
him because he was having eye surgery. Anyway that was good because he
is the only investigator we have right now with a baptisimal date! So
that was a good day.
Also, we did some service. We helped a family in the ward peel around
600 oranges...no joke. When we were done we asked them what they were
going to do with them. They told us they were going to make their
homemade alcohol....so for service we helped a family make
alcohol....but it's how they make a living for themselves....so is
that bad? haha
As far as packages go...ask kelly. My companion says she has gotten
lots of packages from her family and has gotten all of them. So I
think it should be fine.
The weather here right now is crazy. One day its nice and sunny, the
next stormy and cold. Everyone calls march the "women's month" because
its so unpredictable...haha I think that's funny.
This week I discovered that they have the best icecream here!!! YUM so
good. That made my day when we got some icecream and it tasted bettter
than in America.
Wow! Way to go you guys! That's awesome. Yeah they have bowling here
but probably only like 4 bowling alleys in the whole country...Its not
very popular. There isn't one in my city I am in.
Yeah I am staying warm enough and I think healthy. When we make our
own food it is yummy and healthy, but when we have to eat what
bulgarian make us....not so much haha. I dont know why but bulgarians
think they need to have cups and cups of oil in all their food or its
not good. They use oil as their "flavor and seasonings" so sometimes I
feel my arteries are going to clog and my heart will stop... So I
learned a new trick. Apparently if you tell them you are full that's
not good enough, they won't believe you. However, if you tell them you
don't want to get fat... they respect you and are like "oh ok...no
problem we won't make you eat more" It's way funny but it works and
they dont mind because here the women are so so so skinny. All of
them. Anyway, I am happy I learned that trick!
Well I hope you have a great week! I love you :)
Love, Jodi
Monday, March 5, 2012
March 5th 2012
Hey Mom and dad!
Let's see... nothing too exciting has happened this week. Just typical street boarding, contacting and teaching english. Last monday we went to a city about an hour away from here called Starz zagora. We visited the sisters there and celebrated the 22nd birthday of Sis. Myers. We walked down the Glav and had a duner.
Oh yeah something to tell you about Bulgaria is they have tons of holidays! One that is huge happens all during the month of March especially on March first, it is happy grandma march day. A few weeks before march the streets are covered with vendors selling these things called "martinitzi's" they are bracelts made with white and red thread that symbolize good health.
So people buy a whole bunch and then on March 1st everyone goes around saying "Happy Grandma March Day" and then they put a bracelet on your wrist...I think I have around 12 or so right now. Everyone gives them to everyone. Then once you have them you wait until you see the "first" blossoms on a tree or bush or and kind of plant and you wrap it on there.
Anyway its pretty cool. Later this week on March 8th is "womens day" A whole day devoted to celebrating women. That should be interesting.
OK so to try and answer your questions... it's hard to say if my bulgarian is getting any better...I think its too early to tell. I have had some good meals. Most of what I eat from people is a very popular dish here called bonitsa. You should look it up... its hard to explain but some people are really good at making it and some people struggle.
As for the rest of the food, I am excited for spring to come around because they will have tons of fruits an veggies everwhere for really cheap! The fruit they have now is amazing! Way better than fruit and veggies in the U.S. So we went shopping today and got lots of everything. Oh, another thing that is good and cheap here is the bread! Its like 50 cents a loaf for fresh bread! Yum. Oh and something that I eat all the time is called Museli. It's my favorite. It is granola with stawberries(the kind i love)...and if you want to make it "real" museli you mix the granola in with this special kind of yogurt and chop up a whole bunch of fruit really small...and there you have amazing museli, yum!
The weather here reminds me of the weather in Idaho. It is pretty cold and windy, but i am pretty sure it will start getting warmer soon... I hope!
My address is Стефен Стамболов No. 18 Сливен, България
I hope you can find it with my bulgarian address...because i am not sure if it transfers over to english...
Yeah, about the packages... they have to be packed sneaky... and pretty light but if you could I would like it if you sent some more little perfume things like the ones you sent for christmas and fruit snacks and maybe skittles... Not too much but things like that you could hide in something. Maybe you could send something in a month or so for my birthday because it takes a couple months for us to get packages. Anyway...yeah. :)
That's Awesome you did so well in bowling! woo hoo! keep it up!
Dad- Thanks for mentioning me in your testimony! that makes me feel happy and special :)
That's too bad you didnt feel very well :( I hope you feel better! My comp didnt feel very well this week so we had to stay in a day when she was really bad.
Could you tell Keith hi for me and I miss him and going to subway and taco bell with him!! (boy, do i miss taco bell...haha)
Anyway, I wish you all a great week!! I love you all so much! Thanks for you prayers and support! I pray for all of you also :)
Love, Jodi
Let's see... nothing too exciting has happened this week. Just typical street boarding, contacting and teaching english. Last monday we went to a city about an hour away from here called Starz zagora. We visited the sisters there and celebrated the 22nd birthday of Sis. Myers. We walked down the Glav and had a duner.
Oh yeah something to tell you about Bulgaria is they have tons of holidays! One that is huge happens all during the month of March especially on March first, it is happy grandma march day. A few weeks before march the streets are covered with vendors selling these things called "martinitzi's" they are bracelts made with white and red thread that symbolize good health.
So people buy a whole bunch and then on March 1st everyone goes around saying "Happy Grandma March Day" and then they put a bracelet on your wrist...I think I have around 12 or so right now. Everyone gives them to everyone. Then once you have them you wait until you see the "first" blossoms on a tree or bush or and kind of plant and you wrap it on there.
Anyway its pretty cool. Later this week on March 8th is "womens day" A whole day devoted to celebrating women. That should be interesting.
OK so to try and answer your questions... it's hard to say if my bulgarian is getting any better...I think its too early to tell. I have had some good meals. Most of what I eat from people is a very popular dish here called bonitsa. You should look it up... its hard to explain but some people are really good at making it and some people struggle.
As for the rest of the food, I am excited for spring to come around because they will have tons of fruits an veggies everwhere for really cheap! The fruit they have now is amazing! Way better than fruit and veggies in the U.S. So we went shopping today and got lots of everything. Oh, another thing that is good and cheap here is the bread! Its like 50 cents a loaf for fresh bread! Yum. Oh and something that I eat all the time is called Museli. It's my favorite. It is granola with stawberries(the kind i love)...and if you want to make it "real" museli you mix the granola in with this special kind of yogurt and chop up a whole bunch of fruit really small...and there you have amazing museli, yum!
The weather here reminds me of the weather in Idaho. It is pretty cold and windy, but i am pretty sure it will start getting warmer soon... I hope!
My address is Стефен Стамболов No. 18 Сливен, България
I hope you can find it with my bulgarian address...because i am not sure if it transfers over to english...
Yeah, about the packages... they have to be packed sneaky... and pretty light but if you could I would like it if you sent some more little perfume things like the ones you sent for christmas and fruit snacks and maybe skittles... Not too much but things like that you could hide in something. Maybe you could send something in a month or so for my birthday because it takes a couple months for us to get packages. Anyway...yeah. :)
That's Awesome you did so well in bowling! woo hoo! keep it up!
Dad- Thanks for mentioning me in your testimony! that makes me feel happy and special :)
That's too bad you didnt feel very well :( I hope you feel better! My comp didnt feel very well this week so we had to stay in a day when she was really bad.
Could you tell Keith hi for me and I miss him and going to subway and taco bell with him!! (boy, do i miss taco bell...haha)
Anyway, I wish you all a great week!! I love you all so much! Thanks for you prayers and support! I pray for all of you also :)
Love, Jodi
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