January 28th 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

So to answer a few questions... President and Sister Malm aren't our mission president and wife. They are the area general authority. They are Swedish and live in Moscow. Our mission president is President Wilstead and Sister Wilstead. They are from Southern Utah.

Vili knows a lot of English but we speak to her in Bulgarian. It is still hard for her to form sentences. She is attending our English classes/discussions we teach. She is great!

Well I don't have much to say about this week. We did a lot of contacting. We are on the look out for people who are interested in the gospel. We are starting from scratch. I hope that soon we will find some great people to teach.

We had a great time at Young Women's this week. We have been doing a lot of fitness activities lately. On Saturday I lead them in a AB work out called AB Ripper X. It was a lot of fun. They are so great. We have a girl named Neli coming each week who is not a member but loves what we do each week. She asked us if she could invite a friend for next week. I love Young Women's!

Church was great. Sister Frame gave a talk and did a great job.

I hope you all have great week! I love you and you are all in my prayers.

Oh yeah... I am pretty certain that June 11th will be my release date. I don't know anything about when you will get information. I guess you will need to just stand by and wait.

I love you.

Love,

Sister Farnsworth

January 22nd 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

Well this week was great. We did a lot of contacting trying to find new people to teach.

We had a lesson with Vili. She is amazing. We talked to her about missionary work and service. We told her about how we get callings in the church and we can serve that way. Then Sister Frame asked her how she herself could be a missionary (as in serving people in the branch and helping us with lessons). Well... she then shocked us and told us she wanted to ask us how she could me a missionary and serve a mission! She told us that she had just started thinking about it and wants to know everything she has to do. We were very happy for her. We told her that sh first needs to be a member for a year and then she can turn in papers! It was so exciting to talk to her about serving a mission!

We were not able to meet with Kiril this week because he left for Italy. He should be back soon. So hopefully we can meet with him this week.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference. Wow, it was amazing! It was so great to have President and Sister Malm(They are from Sweden but live in Moscow, Russia right now) there. I learned so much. We learned so much about how much potential we all have. This life on earth is so incredibly short. We need to make the most of it and be the best we can be. We also talked about being true learners through faith. We need to have the Holy Ghost with us at all times because the Holy Ghost is the true teacher.

We just got back from Rila Monastery today! It was fun to go again. It was really cold up in the mountains but very pretty.

Another thing I found out... so when I first got here in Bulgaria somehow our missions got changed to 19 months for Sisters and 25 months for Elders. That is because there was a lot of changes with how long people were to stay in the MTC. Anyway, we found out that they got together and fixed that to make it go back to 18 months and 24 months. This means that instead of me coming home on July 3rd (like I thought). I will now be coming home on June 11th.

Well I hope you have a great week! Keep up your hard work. I love all of you and pray for you all the time!

Love,

Sister Farnsworth

January 14th 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

I really do not know where to start this letter.... So much happened this week.

We were able to meet with Kiril two times this week! Our first lesson went very well. We asked him if he had grown to know if things were true in the church or not. He told us how at first he was a bit skeptical, but now he feels good about everything. We then had a lesson with him about ordinances and talked to him about baptism. He still doesn't understand the reasoning behind proper authority. We are trying to work more on that.

Vili is fantastic!! She is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! To re-cap: Wednesday we got the font sent to us. We set it up on Friday morning then we filled it. To fill it we connected a hose to the toilet and ran it down the stairs where the font was. We had a surprise visit from Vili and her aunt. They were so concerned because Vili doesn't know how to swim. We told her that it was not neccesary that she knew how to swim. Then they both wanted two men in the water with her just in case she were to "drown". They were very nervous about it... so we got it approved. We had a baptizer and a "helper" ready to pull her out of the water in case the other person fell in too! She came an hour before the baptism and she dressed in her suit. She looked like an angel! We got some great pictures. The program was amazing. Sister Framne played a beautiful rendition on the piano of "I Need the Every Hour and Abide With me Tis' Eventide." The spirit was so strong. Then we all went down stairs for her baptism. She successfully was baptized on the first try! While she change, Sister Frame and I gave a short lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We finished the program and had refreshments. It was great. She told me that everything was perfect...she only wished that her mother could have been there and Sister Meyers.

Later that night we had to empty the font. That was interesting. We had a siphon to get the water out but it was not working very well and we did not have much time... so what did we do?! We used buckets. Luckily the young women in the branch are amazing and on their Saturday night wanted to help missionaries bucket out water! It was quite the experience.

Yesterday was great. Vili was confirmed and I gave a talk. I talked about enduring to the end. I think it went well... but not too sure.

Other than that... this week has been mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausting. I loved every minute of it. I love all of you so much!! I hope you have a great week!

I want to thank many people today. I have had so many examples in my life that have made me the person I am right now. Out here in Bulgaria I have met some amazing people who have helped me through a lot. When I didn't know what to do, they did. It was hard seeing Sister Meyers leave and then Elder Olmstead... and before that, Sister Child. However, I am so grateful for the example they set for me and all that they do.

In life we always have people that we can look up to. People who have the ability of being so "Christ-like." My family has been one of the greatest example to me. I want all of you to know that I love you and appreciate all that you have done for me. I hope to become better and better each day.

Mom and Dad... Keep going to the Temple. I think it is amazing that I have two wonderful parents who understand the importance of temple attendance. You both are amazing and I love you.

I hope you all have a great week! Keep praying and reading the scriptures!

Love,

Sister Farnsworth

January 7th 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

That's cool to hear that it snowed, and that it stopped before school started. It also started snowing here, a lot. We got around 5 inches this morning. New Year's was quite the holiday here. on Saturday there was a huge parade that lasted around 5 hours! People were dressed up in traditional Bulgarian clothes and also many other costumes. Some people were wearing outfits that looked like an abominable snowman, others were wearing very interesting masks. Apparently it was to drive bad spirits away for the new year.

Things seemed to go by fast but at the same time really slow this week. We finished all the lessons with Vili and she is getting baptized this Saturday! She is so cute! Just to re-cap...she is 20 years old, a law student and has amazing faith. Before her Interview with Elder Sanft (the District Leader) she was very nervous. She came out of the interview with a big smile on her face saying, "I passed! I am ready to be baptized!" We are so happy for her and want to make sure the baptism goes very smoothly.

This week will be very busy because we have our "English sign-up open house" on Friday and then on Saturday, the baptism! It will all be great!

I was getting a little nervous with Kiril this past week because I could not get a hold of him. However, Saturday he called and explained he had been out of town all week because of work. So we will meet with him this week!

There are a lot of great things happening out here in Bulgaria. Sometimes you go through a period of time when it seems, feels, and looks like you aren't really making a difference. Then all of a sudden things work out! It just goes to show that we are the Lord's servants and things will happen in His time, not ours. In 2 weeks we are having Zone Conference. This time President Malm will be there. He is the Area General Authority for Bulgaria. We are preparing to learn from him.

Let's see we had Young Women's this Saturday again. Our girls are so cute! They love Young Women's and are determined to get the Young Women's medallion. Every time they see us they let us know how much they love Young Women's and how it is the highlight of their week!

Hey Dad... thanks so much for writing me! I really appreciate it! That is so exciting to hear that the amount of missionaries coming out into the field is doubling! There is so much work to do. I am grateful that I can be apart of it right now.

Keep doing what you do! You are amazing and I love you and admire your example! Make sure to read the conference talks out of the Ensign! One of my favorite's from this conference is, "The First Great Commandment" by Jeffery R. Holland.

I love you all! Thank you for all of your love and support! I think about you often and pray for you always. Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Farnsworth

January 1st 2013

Dear Mom and Dad,

It was amazing being able to skype with you on Christmas! I absolutely loved it! It was great seeing everyone and hearing your voice! It brought back so many great memories. After we skyped we went back and had a nice Christmas dinner. We made chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, fruit salad, pumpkin pie and cookies. It was quite the dinner!

Vili is amazing. She will be getting baptized on January 12th. We told her that she can decide what the program will look like for her baptism. She is so cute and has everything picked out with the hymns we will sing, who will give talks and the musical number. Every time we meet with her we try and have a member present in the lesson. All of the members love her and have grown a friendship with her.

Kiril is doing well. We had a good lesson with him. He is reading the Book of Mormon and is already in Helamen. He admitted to us that at first when he started meeting with us he was skeptical. However, as he has continued to come to meet with us and read the Book of Mormon he feels it is true. I asked him if he knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He wondered why I asked him that because we talked about the sabbath day. I told him that he needs to pray and really know for himself if Joseph Smith was a true prophet because then he would know that are church is the only true church with the authority of God. He said he would pray to know.

The holidays are great! However, it makes it a little more difficult when everyone is gone out of the city for the holidays! It will be nice for everything to be normal again. Here they celebrate New Year's as a bigger holiday than Christmas. It is absolutely crazy! Today there was absolutely no one on the streets. Nothing opens until at least one. Also, people dress up and walk around the streets with masks and wigs... it's very interesting.

If any of the stores open ... we will go do some grocery shopping and get some relaxing in... hopefully!

Well that's all I can think to say today. Thank you for everything. I love you all so very much. I miss you and appreciate your love and support. Happy New Year! Make 2013 amazing centered on becoming better disciples of Christ.

Love,
Sister Farnsworth