Email: July 25th

Hey hey heeeey!!

This week went by WAY too fast. It feels like I just emailed yesterday haha. I guess thats a good thing though! Ya? Ive got some good news! Sister Loss is back with us! She is feeling a lot better, so thats good. Apparently theres this nasty flu bug going around Bulgaria. Its already got Elder Rothlisberger and Raker. Hopefully I dont catch it. Eeeek. I dont want to be sick right now. However, whenever I walk outside in the heat, I get a headache, a sick stomach and my body just feels DRAINED. I need more water in my system. Dont worry mom. Im drinking! Haha.

Anyways, this whole past week Sister Speth and I have been on our own. It was a weiiiird week. We met so many interesting people while streetboarding it up on the park. Sister Speth set up our board near this bench where this man was sitting. He didnt look over at us or anything so I decided to not bother him. Some people really dont want to be bothered here and sometimes I dont have the guts to get right infront of them and be like, "Hi!!! Im a missionary! Heres the gospel!" I like it when they stop, look at the pictures of christ and ask me whats going on. BUT ANYWAY, the man remained sitting there even though we were right next to him. A little while goes by, maybe 30 minutes or so and while Sister Speth is busy talking to someone, the man from the bench decides to come over and talk with me. He says hello in english and has an american accent written all over him! I got really excited! Someone who speaks english and is from America! We begin talking about the gospel and of course I love to ask questions so I ask him where hes from. He responds with, "Cleveland." I freak out and say, "Im from ZANESVILLE!" He chuckles and says, "Im from Akron actually. I know where Zanesville is at'. I got so freakin excited! He began telling me that he studied slavic languages at OSU and what not. I was so giddy! I never thought about talking about OSU to a random person living in Bulgaria who is from OHIO! He was a legit guy. He didnt really want to hear about the gospel but he was very nice and told me that he liked mormons because they always tried to be very personal people. It was a cool experience.

Funny story, true story. I have some love stories from this past week. One of our investigators, rosen, who have a baptismal date has fallen in love with me. Hes been acting really weird this past week and I believe hes been calling us drunk. He called yesterday just to talk to me. He told me that he loved me a lot and was just thinking about me. He asked if he could bring me flowers when we meet next. Ugh. I had him on speaker phone so Loss could help me understand all of what he was saying. I kept asking Loss what I should say to all of this. She was just laughing and I kept whispering, "Well?!" Apparently Rosen overheard and got mad that Loss was hearing a 'personal' conversation. Oh my. Im not sure what were going to do with him.

Another love story that happened this week was when Sister Speth and I were waiting at the bus station. I was busy looking at all the concert posters hung up on the streetwall. A man who looks like hes in his mid 40s and who is russian comes up to me and in perfect english says, "Who are those people?" I begin to explain to him that they are artists who are coming to Bulgaria to perform. He then asks me what kind of music I like so I begin to name off some genres I like. He smiles and asks about our "name plates". I tell him were missionaries and that were here to preach the gospel. He smiles and then goes on to say, ''So..Im going to a restaurant, would you like to come with me?'' I told him no thanks. He asked me if I ever went to clubs or had any fun as a missionary. I explained to him that we had rules to abide by. He then tried telling me that his friends at the restaurant would like to hear my message. I gave him a brochure and told him they could give me a call if they really were lol. He got mad, thanked me for my time and left me alone. Can you say human traffiking? lol.

So ya, it was a crazy week to say the least. I'll leave it at that. I miss you all and I love you all! The work in Bulgaria continues to move forward.

-Sister Kinkead