Hi family and friends!!!
How am I doing? Im doing freakin awesome. The week ended on a really good note!! We have a NEW investigator named Way. Way is a chinese man who is 32 yrs old and is studying here in Sofia. Way and I connected pretty fast when we first met. He came into my english class all excited to practice his english. I made him write and speak some chinese for me and I giggled because hearing and seeing other languages makes me get giddy and think, "Woooow! Thats so cool!" Haha. I dont think he minded too much. Anyway I gave a spiritual thought at the end of english class about the Book of Mormon. After class Way ran up to me asking me about this book. "Can I get this book??" Of course I said YES!!! He then looks at me and says, "...in chinese?" I shake my head yes all excited!! (We shake our heads for yes for those who didnt know that about bulgaria). He wasreally excited. I got his number and then asked for a time when he could meet. He gave me his number and we decided to meet at 5 on sunday. I was SO excited for this lesson because I found a chinese book of mormon in the mission home and I found "The Restoration" movie in CHINESE!! :D Isnt it wonderful how many resources we have for missionary work these days? Even though Im in Bulgaria, I can still teach a chinese man in his language! He came to the lesson on time and I told him that we had something for him. He got real excited. I handed him the Book of Mormon in chinese and he looks at it as if Im giving him a million dollars and then he says, "Wooow....wow...thanks..thank you so much" I look at him and say, "Is that your language???" (There are 2 different chinese languages) He responds with a "Yes..." as his eyes are glued to the front cover. He reads the cover in chinese. Im thinking, Oh my goodness!! This is so cool!!! He loves it! We never get that reaction here in Bulgaria lol. We watched the movie and then afterwards we talked about everything and explained the Book of Mormon and its purpose. He says, "I really was touched by the movie...but I noticed that God told Joseph to not enter in any other church...I entered into a church and was washed in China....(Way looks worried) So..what do I do now?" I looked at him and said, "Thats a VERY good question!!" I explained the Book of Mormon and its promise and if he finds out its truth he can get baptized. He seemed to really like that answer. Hes such an open man and he was proud to tell Loss and I that he was a christian because in China they arent allowed to believe in anything. Im 99% sure he will get baptized soon :D
In other investigator news, Emille never called us back!!! I had been waiting and waiting and waiting for him to call us! I knew that Emille was legit and he seemed like he was really taking to the lessons but he never called! Well, Loss and I were walking through the park the other day and someone calls out for us. Loss and I turn around and its Emille sitting on the bench. I was a bit confused because he hadnt called us at all and we had tried calling him earlier that day but he didnt answer our phone call and now here he was willing to talk. We sat down and began to talk to him. He didnt show like he wanted to talk about the gospel and gave us some books on chess and the depression in Bulgaria back in the day. I was sitting there wondering why he ignored our call and why he hadnt called us. I felt really hurt and betrayed. I almost felt like I was sitting on a bench as my boyfriend was telling me he wanted to break up with me and be done with our relationship. Thats how much I loved and respected Emille. He left saying he had to go do something but that he would call us later if he had time to see us. He called us an hour later and met us in the park again to talk. Emille says he doesnt understand why the Book of Mormon is all about wars, blood and innocent people dying. He struggles with the thought of "Opposition in all things". "If God loved us, why wouldnt he stop the rape? the murder? robbery? 9/11?" He doesnt like how God sits back and lets things happen sometimes but we have our free agency! We talked for 3 hours and it did no good. He just kept going at it with us and Loss was getting really annoyed. I just sat hurting inside and thinking, What do I do? Finally he asked if he could be taught the other 2 lessons. I looked at him and said, "If you cant understand the basic things how will you understand things that build off that? But...if you want to learn, I cant deny you." I said that purposely because I wanted to see his reaction. He was taken aback. He jumped back in his chair, laughed a bit because he was hurt and said to me, "Oh...so you dont want to see me anymore?" I looked at him and told him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him. He looked to me and said, "You remind me of my son.." Thats a good thing, I think. We ended the conversation on a good note and he said he would call us to learn more because he really loves being with us. He asked for a hug from both of us. We said yes because were not sure if we'll ever see him again. He gave Loss a hug and then he hugged me. I pulled back and he wouldnt let me go and finally did. I felt like we were breaking up with Emille. A lot of emotions in the air. We left and we havent heard or seen him since. *Sighs* Guess hes not ready...well I continue on.
Genun, a 30 yr old turkish man from my english class almost proposed to me the other night as we were on the subway lol. He asked me how young mormon girls get married. I told him 18-19. He asked me how old I was and I said 22. He laughs and says, "Youre late!" Im like heh....lol. He then asked me if I would ever marry a bulgarian man. I told him no and then gave him my opinion on bulgarian men (Its not a very nice opinion) He understood where I was coming from and then said, "So you'll just go back home after your mission then.." Im like, "Yep and Ill get married so!" Hahaha. It was perfect because then Loss and I had to get off the metro so the conversation didnt go any further lol. Oh genun. Hes had his eyes set on me forawhile now. Hes a Johnny Depp look alike but...Im not marrying that foreign of a man lol.
I was blessed to hear the Saturday Session of General Conference yesterday in church. We had it in english and I really liked it. The second half was bit of a doozy though. I kept going in and out of sleep. Missionary life is tiring mmk? I did like how L. Tom Perry said that using the internet to share the gospel is a wonderful resource! Hes dang right too! I also liked the talk on geneology. I forget who spoke about that. Im excited to get home and do some family history work! Holla! Haha.
We went to go see a less active this week. Shes an elderly woman who has a lot of health problems. Shes real sweet. She gave us some cookies when we got in and then she got some "Barclays Whiskey" out. Loss and I were like...uhhhh we dont drink alcohol. She told us that it had no alcohol in it and that it was "something" she had "prepared homemade" which in other words means, I made homebrewed whiskey. She poured us some whiskey and then watered it down with a lot of water. I refused to drink mine and so did Loss. Right as the woman walked out to get something, we both ran to the kitchen sink and poured it down the drain. She came back and poured us SOME MORE! Ahhhh!!! This time we told her that we were fine and full. She put it in a bottle for us and sent us home with whiskey. Oh my goodness. *Rolls eyes* The adventures never end here lol.
WELL! Pray that Way will get baptized, Emille will come around and I wont be given anymore alcohol when I go over to that less-actives house to clean.
I love you all! Heres a video I want everyone to check out. I love this one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nczw6xHJ0I
Have a good week!! MUCH LOVE
-Sister Kinkead
