Email: May 28th

Dear family and friends,

I am dead. Fo real. Im in sofia right now enjoying my last pday and prepping to come home. Im not going to lie - Im tripping. The past two nights I havent been able to sleep so well because my nerves and anxieties are going nuts. The whole adventure is coming to an end and Im not sure what to think about it. Im quite scared to come home and feel "alone" because Im pretty sure Im going to feel that even if there are a lot of people around me. Everyone will be living their lives and doing things and Ill be chilling on the couch thinking, "So.. what do I do?" lol... you guys need to help me make the transition. I dont have any money so I wont be able to really go do anything.... great. Lol. I got my flight plans. I will be leaving Bulgaria to Germany with all the dying missionaries way early in the morning. From Germany on? I am alone. I am scared. Im used to flying but Im not used to being alone, without a cell phone AND flying internationally by myself. *Loud sigh* I got this... I got this lol.

I finished my final week in Ruse. It was SOO good. I met with everyone I wanted to, taught a lesson and said my goodbyes. It was bittersweet. Anna, one of our solid investigators who wants to get baptized but cant because of her husband, made all of us missionaries lunch. It was so good. Shes so sweet and I cant wait to talk to her on skype when I get home. We met Stefi this week and we did an object lesson with brownies about enduring to the end. She loved it. I looove object lessons. Im hoping I get called as a primary teacher when I get home because I want to teach little kids in the most fun ways. People remember things if its hands on - talking is boring. Sister Bingham and I also met with our english student, Efgeni. Hes the one I mentioned last email who loved communism and doesnt believe in God. I asked him if he wanted to meet after english. He looked at me and said, "To talk about things I dont want to?" I looked at him and said, "Yes" He looked at me and said, "..Ok." Haha! So we met with him and the spirit was sooo strong.He knows perfect english but made us teach in bulgarian. Bingham wasnt too happy about that haha. In the beginning he had his arms folded and was sitting back in his chair telling us that he had NO desire to know more about God or anything. By the end? His arms were on the table and he was listening very intently. Sister Bingham and I taught about how God is real and how we can know through prayer and the holy ghost. I told him that faith and action is key because if we DONT try to search for the questions we have - we will NOT get an answer. He looked at me and said, "What happen to people like me?" I looked at him and said, "What do you mean?" Hes like, "If I dont accept this?" I looked at him and then said, "Efgeni, you will be held accountable for this at the judgement day. The Lord will ask you, 'Why didnt you listen to the message those girls had for you?' and you will say, 'I dont know' and then he will say, 'Why didnt you try to get to know me?' and you will say, 'I dont know...' . The spirit was SO strong. I was just testifying. It was pretttty powerful. Efgeni needs to get baptized! I committed him to pray to know if God was real. He said he would try. I committed him again and he said he would try but its a little strange for him. Bah. I got his skype and facebook so we can stay in touch. He wrote in my book some really nice things and I think I made a good impact on him. Hes known the church for 3 years so its his time to get baptized and shiiineee. He said we would for sure talk on skype but ONLY in bulgarian because he doesnt want me to forget it hahaa. He said he cant wait to see my little kids. Random but funny haha.

We had a 5.2 earthquake here in Bulgaria. (According to the rictor scale) It really shook up the western part of the country, not so much in Ruse or on the eastern part of the country. I woke up at 3 in the morning to my bed rocking me. I laid there thinking, "What the heck is going on!?" Lol. I laid there for a little bit longer as my bed continued to rock me. I then yelled for Bingham to wake up. She was like, "Whaaa?" Im like, "My bed is shaking!" She was like, "Maybe were having an earthquake?" Im like, "An earthquake?? here in bulgaria?? thats not normal... and how would it move our concrete block?!" But... sure enough, the next day we find out from our investigator that there was an earthquake. Crazy huh??? So intense.

We met with Sabina this week and said goodbye. She is really struggling - lots of problems (cant find work, hates bulgaria and shes completely alone). I noticed that she smelled like cigarette smoke. I think shes falling back on some old habits to help relieve stress. The spirit was there as we testified that she wasnt alone and that the Lord is mindful of her. She started to really get upset as we hugged and said goodbye. She cried and kept saying sorry for doing so. Oh man. I love that woman a lot. She told me she would buy a laptop so we could talk on skype :) That made me happy.

I dropped Sister Bingham off at the bus station on saturday and since then Ive been hanging out with Sister Speth, my MTC companion and companion from last summer and also the lovely Sister Meyers who was my companion just a few weeks ago for only a short time. Sister Pantigoso and Sister Child will be coming in today from Varna. We will all be having our interviews at 5 and then having our big dinner. Afterwards, we will all go to the park and close our missions by saying a prayer in the park (thats where we went the 2nd day in country to dedicate it) Crazy. And then? We will sleep for a few hours and then be up around 3 am or 4 am getting ready and then heading to the airport. Ah gosh! IM NERVOUS haha. Pray that I will be ok as I go by myself from germany to new jersey. I think Im gonna be TRIPPING without a companion. Im just being shoved back in the real world pretty fast.

I want to end this email by saying that I loved my mission. It was the hardest 18 months of my life but I really grew. The Lord stretched me in ways I didnt think I could stretch. He showed me how much potential I do have and how much effort and work I have to put forth to get that potential. Ive been shown how to be more humble (still working on that) and how to be more patient (also working on that one). Enduring to the end and long-suffering have also been some other things Ive learned a lot about these past 18 months. Im so grateful for the time I was given to serve the Lord and I will never forget this opportunity and experience. Bulgaria and the people here will always hold special places in my heart. I love the gospel. I love how we can find true happiness through it as we live the prinicples and obey the commandments. The Lord wants us to be happy - its as simple as that. Sure we will face trials and challenges but its because he wants us to LEARN, not to feel punished. The Lord lives and he loves us :)

See you tomorrow everyone :)

-Sister Kinkead

Email: May 21st

Dear family and friends,

I am starting my LAST week here in Bulgaria. Its a weird feeling and its finally starting to hit me that Im leaving my life here behind. I felt that at this point in time I would be ready and excited to come home but since I gave my dying testimony this past week during a mission conference - reality set in. My stomach has been getting anxiety knots in it due to thinking about how I have to return home. Im very uncertain about how my life will go, how all of you, family AND friends, will be and how much you have all changed and how I will be in the dark about a lot of stuff going on around me. Im very sad to leave behind all the choiced people here in Bulgaria that Ive met. Ive made some really good friends and I love them very much. Ive gotten so used to being a missionary that Im not sure how to be me me again lol. Im ME but... Ive had a schedule to keep my life in line. I welcome home but Im also scared and I feel like a part of me is dying here in Bulgaria. My mission has been the hardest thing in my life that Ive done and its very bittersweet, intimate and sacred. Im so glad I had this opportunity to be here to serve, learn, grow, become humble and learn how the gospel can really work in our lives when we choose it.

This past week didnt even happen! Sister Bingham and I were having lots of lessons, traveling to and from Varna for LTM (Large Training Meeting) and having a huge branch party! Sister Bingham and I didnt get much contacting in but when we DID go contacting it wasnt very successful. It kind of got me annoyed. It bothers me when Ive contacted for an hour on the street and no one wants to talk to me. It becomes tedious. One day we were walking and nothing became of it, no numbers, no conversations and no people interested. I decided it was time to head back and get some lunch. As we were walking back, I was in deep conversation with Sister Bingham and didnt notice that someone was riding their bike behind me ringing their little bell (Ringing Bell = Move out of the way). I didnt hear it and continued to talk and RIGHT as I FINALLY heard it, the guy on the bike was right behind me and had to slow down and swurve out of my way. He looks at me and says in bulgarian, "Did you NOT hear my bell???" I look at him confused and say, Im sorry! Im sorry! I was busy talking and didnt notice. He looks at me again and repeats, "Didnt you hear it??? Why didnt you move to the right side of the street?!" Im still looking at him confused, thinking that my sorry would be good enough for him. I told him sorry again, that I didnt notice. He then switches to perfect english, gets off his bike, parks it and asks, "Do you know the story of Jonah in the bible?" Lol. Im like... ya? Hes swallowed up by a whale. He then goes on to tell me the whole story of Jonah and how the people of Ninevah couldnt tell their right from their left. Hinting that... I couldnt tell from my right or left lol. Anyway, I decided to take the reigns of the convo and talk about our purpose and message as missionaries. We talked on the side of the street for an hour and a half! I went over some of the 3rd lesson, the book of mormon and any other questions he had about us. He told me that he had met the elders but they were very boring and he didnt like talking to them. He liked how animated and enthusiastic I was. I liked hearing that haha. He agreed to meet with us again and talk. I walked away feeling blown away! Ive never just had God GIVE me someone like that. It was suuuch a blessing. We met him again during the week at the church. We talked for 2 hours about a lot of stuff. How the Holy ghost works, how we can heed the promptings we have, the book of mormon, the sabbath day and when it is, the Godhead and any other questions he had. He wouldnt accept our Book of Mormon but he agreed to meeting again to talk about HOW and WHY we have the Book of Mormon. Hes SUUUCH an awesome person. His name is Stanislav. He is 48, married and has no kids. He has a really cool story about how at age 33 he heard a voice tell him, "Ive heard you my son, now hear to you". Ever since then hes been getting his hands on everything and anything about religion. He doesnt go to any certain church and he knows that icons, candles and anything of the sort that the pravaslav church has, are IDOLS. I LOVE it. He also understands that its all false traditions and its not REAL faith. Ahhh! I love him. Hes so fun. After the lesson, I felt so mentally wiped that all during dinner hour I just slept hahaha. He really wore me out mentally.

We had LTM this week. 4 of us missionaries gave our dying testimonies. It went really well. Its been 15 months since I last bore my testimony in english infront of a group of people and I was VERY nervous hahaha. The last time I got up infront of people and bore my testimony was my 2nd day in country during the orientation meeting. I was very nervous hahaha, its not like me but ya.. haha. Sister Roth gave a presentation all about how to plan and set goals. I felt like I needed this very much since Ill be home soon and I will need to plan my life and set some goals for myself so I dont get totally lost.

We had a branch party this week on saturday. It was a GREAT turn out. Sister Bingham and I were in charge of decorations. It was a pirate theme and it turned out MIGHTY finnnneee. I was pretty proud of ourselves for how well we decorated the place. I got some pictures so I'll have to show you later. We had lots of people there. We had a BBQ, scavenger hunt and games. A english student of mine, George, came up to me and said, "Ive never seen so many people laughing at one time in my life." Two of my other english students, Tawnya and Efgeni were hanging around me, talking. Tawnya is very upset that Im leaving but very excited to skype with me and facebook me haha. Efgeni kept trying to be in every conversation I was. I think hes taken a liking for me,... not in a creepy way though. I love that guy. Hes 43 or so, divorced and doesnt have any beliefs in God because hes for communism but I asked him if he would meet with us this week to talk and he said yes! Yay! Im excited to meet with him.

This week on saturday I head over to Sofia with all the missionaries that are going home. From saturday-tuesday we will be chilling together having our goodbye dinner and interviews. CRAZY. I only have 5 more working days. Holy jaaank. I will email again on monday and then you will all see me next week chillin in the 'VILLE!

I love you!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: May 14th

Hey hey hey,

No one emailed me really but that was to be expected. I just skyped with you all this past saturday so.. no worries. I have a few things I do want to write about though.

This past week Sister Bingham and I went out contacting in the park near our apartment. To be honest - I wasnt looking forward to it because lately people have been completely rude to us. I went out there with a bad attitude but the Lord gave me tender mercies because every person I approached let me to talk to them and they were all REALLY NICE. I even got 3 people who gave me their information so we can talk again. I was blown out of the water hahaha. We ended our contacting session talking to a man named Peter who is 85. I saw him on a bench and decided, what the heck? Ill just approach him even if he just talks my ear off. He invited us to sit down with him and we began to talk about the gospel and such. Hes not a believer, sadly, BUT he was SOOOO fun to talk to. He asked me about my love life LOL. He told me that I was searching for a man lol.... He was realllly cool and very nice. At the end he told me, "If only I were 20 again..." Lol. Im hoping we bump into him again. He wasnt creepy at all.. he was just being silly and it was so refreshing to talk to someone and have a fun conversation and not get bashed haha. After that contacting session, I was really pumped up.

So I forgot to tell you mom and dad but I need someone to schedule me to get my teeth worked on and my eyes checked so I can get new prescriptions in glasses and contacts. Just saying. I need it BADLY. I forgot to mention that on skype. Sorry.

Anyway, thats about it for now. I'll write more next week. Love you all!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: May 7th

Dear Family,

Things over here are just SOARING. Time just doesnt seem to stop and Im loving it! Things were a biiiit slower in Blago but here in Ruse there is so much work and no time for it. It is definitely a great way to end my mission. This past week we didnt have too much time to work because for half of the week we went up and spent in Sofia for Sisters Conference. It was sooooooo fun. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I, of course, was the one who was running around, laughing and talking up a storm. Im quite the fiesty one out of the sisters here hahaha. Im going to miss em all.

We met with Sabina this past week. Im not going to lie, she really intimidated me at first when we started meeting with her but she has really warmed up to me and Sister Bingham. Sabina and I talked for a good 30 minutes before we even started the lesson. I was literally cracking up laughing. She was going on about finding me a husband after the mission. That topic seems to be the "hott" topic right now. Ah geeze. It was funny though. I have really made a connection with her and I love that! Its definitely hard making a connection in bulgarian but Ive done it!

We also met up with Stefi. Shes doing well. Her and I have just clicked! She doesnt speak english so therefore our conversations in lessons and out of lessons are all in bulgarian. Somehow, Im just rambling away in bulgarian to her. Its so crazy. I remember the days where I felt like I would never be able to express myself and here I am just babbling away about whatever in bulgarian. Sometimes after our lessons, I'll begin speaking in bulgarian to Bingham and then I catch myself and say, "Oh... Stefi is gone.. we can switch back to english" Lol.

Im not saying Im perfect at the language, HAHA. I am faaaaar from that but.. at least Im at a point where I feel comfortable and I dont freak out when a bulgarian speaks to me.

I taught gospel principles yesterday and Im going to be giving a talk on sunday about repentance. Should be good. Sister Bingham will be teaching gospel principles this week as a greenie. I think it will be good for her. She is so shy and its really hindering her from learning. She wouldnt approach people on the street for the first week. Sooo.. I made a rule that she has to talk to someone before I can talk to someone. It really pushes her and its good for her. Im kind of a strict mom but she is someone who needs to be slightly pushed. We were ordering at a restaurant the other day and she attempted to order in english. I stopped her and told her she had to order in bulgarian. The waitor looked at me and said, "I know english.." Im like, "I know but she needs to practice..." lol. It sounds harsh but I remember that my trainer made me order all by myself and figure things out on my own a lot of the time. I learned quickly how to do approaches and how to order by the first week. Its good to be stretched. Ive been stretched my whole entire mission lol.

So.. skype - I will be skyping home on Saturday the 12th. I will be on skype 7 pm MY TIME and 12 PM OHIO TIME. Ok? So all of you need to be on skype at 12 pm your time. Its so weird... it feels like I just skyped with you all. Haha.

Diana, a lady I baptized in Varna, was here in Ruse this past weekend. She took Sister Bingham and I out for chinese and it was SO fun to see her! Shes like my bulgarian mom. I helped her get conference set up on her laptop so she could watch it in bulgarian. She handed me some MILKA chocolate (german chocolate thats my FAVORITE) because she knows how much I love chocolate lol. Shes such an awesome member. It was a good little visit.

Im doing pretty good myself. If anyone is wondering how Im doing. It isnt real to me that I will be on an airplane in 3 weeks. It feels like life will just continue on here in Bulgaria. I think I will have a hard time adjusting back to real life... I will probably be a little weird lol. Ah well.

We continue to stay busy! I love you all.

See you all in.. 3 weeks! Ahh!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: April 30th

Dear Family and Friends, Im settling into my new home - Ruse. This week was really busy. It kept me on my toes at all times and it feels like I JUST wrote an email to you guys. Wow. I mean, Im not complaining, I like when the time goes by fast but man.. its stressful all at the same time. Sister Bingham and I are starting to warm up to each other. We were laughing and giggling about her boyfriend while we were having our SECOND companionship study (We have 2 during training. one in the morning and one at night) It was fun to just let loose and have us both feel comfortable to just joke. Sister Bingham is such a quiet, reserved girl that I think she is starting to come out of her shell with me. Its fun to see. This past week we had many lessons, some contacting time in and a lot of time for my arms and shoulders to get sunburnt! Yay! Ruse is HEATING up. Almost 35 C here which is getting hot. I prepare all the lessons of course and give all the lessons. Sister Bingham sits there and at the end testifies. Im flying completely solo but Im getting used to it. Not only do I teach all our lessons, contact people on the street by myself, I now have to teach gospel principles next week and give a talk sometime in church. Im pretty sure Ill be doing Relief Society somewhere in there. *Takes a deep breath* I got this. Im being stretched. Im glad but... by the end of these 4 weeks? I will be ready to be done with responsibility and just worry about myself lol. I feel its all up to me to get our numbers, our lessons, our receives, etc etc. We had a lesson this past week with this man named Chris in the park. He speaks good english and talked for 1 1/2 about conspiracy theories and how mormons were wrong. He pulled scriptures from the bible telling me that we were wrong and that we were the false idols and the sheep in wolves clothing that had been prophesied of. He then went on about how we communicate with the dead and how that is evil. He brought up baptisms for the dead and went off on that. I sat there - patient and nice. However, when he started to get really riled up, I looked at him and said, "Chris. You. Dont. Know. So STOP." He was taken aback and at the moment I said, "You think were wrong but guess what? Every church thinks theyre right... and so do you but I respect your beliefs so respect mine." He then talked about how he was worried about my salvation. I told him I was worried about his and then got up from the bench we were sitting at in the park. He told me to be safe and I told him to be safe too. Lol. I know we are supposed to be humble servants but.. I will not allow someone to completely bash me and get away with it. No. I will stand up for what I believe because I know its TRUTH. He wants to meet again and show us a documentary. I told him, "Chris, we will not be meeting again. I will use my time trying to find someone who DOES want to listen to my message and not waste my time with you." Lol. Ouch. Ya.. I was on one. We've been working with 2 women. Sabina and Stefi. They are new converts and its been fun to teach both of them. Sabina is in her 40s and has lived a hard life of drugs and partying. She has really cleaned up and its so amazing to see how much she loves the gospel. Stefi is 15 and LOVES the gospel. We try to see her often because all of her friends at school have ditched her and its been really hard for her. But shes a strong girl! We love her :) There is a member here named Eyri. Ugh. Hes bad news. Hes 23 and speaks perfect english. He looks just like AND acts just like, Bryce. Ya... I havent brought that name up in... a long time but ya. Its really hard being around this member. I get so uncomfortable. More details to come... maybe when Im home. Im in Sofia right now for a sisters conference. We are having 3 days of having fun and doing little workshops with President and Sister Roth. Im loving my life being around all my best buds such as, Sister Tate, Sister Meyers and Sister Child. GAH! I have MISSED them. The missionaries really do become your family. They have been the ones Ive really grown close with. I just want to bear testimony that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Without the gospel in our lives - we cannot have true, long-lasting happiness. The Lord lives and so does his son, Jesus Christ. They know us, they know our names, they our problems, worries, concerns and they are waiting to help us as we seek them out. I know that the Book of Mormon is TRUTH! I testify that it IS another testament of Jesus Christ and the only way we can know if it is true is if we actually read, ponder and pray. God is a god of Order, he doesnt want us to be confused. He wants us to be happy. Im grateful for the many blessings I receive each day from him and the love I feel from him. The gospel is TRUE. Have a good week all. I love you. Remember you are in charge of your actions, happiness and life. -Sister Kinkead

Email: April 23rd

Dear Family and friends, Things are soooo stressful for me right now. I dont think you all understand how many stomach aches Ive had in the past few days due to anxiety. I picked up my greenie last week in Sofia. Her name is Sister Bingham, 21 and she is from a small town near Vernal, Utah. She doesnt know any bulgarian except for little words like, yes, no, and Taka (meaning, ya, thats how it is in english). We are working with 11, ELEVEN, people here in Ruse. Thats a lot! We also have a list of 20 people who we just need to follow up that past missionaries have talked to. Am I freaking out? Just a tad lol. It took me 2 1/2 hrs to sort through all the people, their needs and to set up appts with them. Im nervous to meet with these people. I know it will be good but Sister Bingham cant even testify... so Ill do the whole entire lessons myself. I need to work with her and her testifying and then working on a principal a day with her in bulgarian but theres no TIME. We already have to do her training notebook and we have a set Language study about what were supposed to study. AND WE HAVE THE LESSONS TO ATTEND TO. Lol. Talk about NO TIME for even sitting and thinking for 2 minutes. It'll be ok... we'll trudge through it somehow but... its scary when you realize youre the one doing all the work. Literally. Shes just enjoyin the ride. Im patient though, No worries. When we got into Ruse and into our apt.. I got really homesick. I wasnt homesick for america but homesick for Blagoevgrad. I sat on the couch thinking about how much I missed my home and normalcy in Blagoevgrad and that this new apt wasnt my HOME. My HOME was in Blago. Ya... Ive gotten over that but its so funny how I get homesick for past areas and not even my actual home which is actually in America. The members here, however, are really cool. I can tell church will be good,.. even if Im teaching gospel principles and relief society on my own :) High maintenance branches, gotta love em! We will be working with a new member here named Stephi. Shes 15 and a ball of energy. Theres a man who comes to church even though hes not a member. Hes mentally handicapped. The story about him is that his mother didnt want him and tried every drug in the book to kill him when she was pregnant with him. Apparently her drugs werent strong enough because he survived. Hes in his late 30s and the sweetest spirit. He came up and hugged me with a huge smile on his face. I looooove him. Hes my favorite. He is sooooo sweet. I make sure to always give him extra attention and make sure I always smile when Im looking his way. So here it is people! I will be giving my HOMECOMING TALK on June 10th at the Zanesville ward building. So call off and come! I will be giving 2 talks that morning and I will have some kind of reception afterwards around 2, 2:30. More details to come later. I will be SKYPING on May 12th. Details of the time will come later. Im not sure yet. So ya... set aside to skype on MAY 12TH. Hmm anyway, thats about it. Theres a ton more but thats all that really matters right now. Have a good week! -Sister Kinkead P.S. - I can walk across a bridge here and be in ROMANIA. I can see it across the river. ITS SO NUTS

Email: April 16th

Oh man am I having feelings of anxiety right now! Hah.
 My greenie will be flying in this wednesday and Ill be meeting her that night! I am prettttty nervous. I hope she has a fun time with me and adjusts well to Bulgaria and the mission. Elder Babbit, my district leader in Ruse, called me last night and asked me when I would be arriving into Ruse. I told him I wouldnt get there until Thursday night. He told me that he already has four women that he wants me to work with and that there is A LOT of work to be done! He told me he has everything ready for me and cant wait for me to get there and dive into the work. To be honest, this makes me very stressed lol. I will basically being doing all of the missionary work myself and having my little greenie just testify. I will have to KNOW what these peoples needs are and it will be up to me to teach them the doctrine. AHHH. Lol. Im being stretched but... The Lord calls us in our weaknesses right? Funny how I have been studying that lately and know I feel like Im being pushed to apply it lol. Oh the gospel. Pray for me!! Sister Meyers says Ill be a good mommy. I hope shes right lol.

The other day Sister Meyers and I were talking about the pre-mortal life and what we were "Studying" to develop ourselves in our first estate to take to this earth. Sister Meyers looked at me and said, "Sister Kinkead - you were talking" LOL. Shes right, I think. I just talked to anyone and everyone and built strong friendships, Im sure. It was a cool conversation. I've been very intrigued by the pre-mortal life as of recent. Its fascinating to learn about.

Sister Meyers and I were streetboarding 2 weeks ago. (We have a board with pictures and then a table with Boms in all different languages for people to see.) This man comes up with his dog and lays a 20 lev bill under one of the book of mormons and walks away saying in ENGLISH, "Ive always wanted to take you sisters out to lunch but I have no time... treat yourself." Im like what the... heck?! Lol. A week later, the same man comes up and Sister Meyers stops him, trying to talk to him this time. She asks him if he knows anything about the church and he says, "Yes, I know a LOT about the church" and then she responds by saying, "What do you know??" and he looks at her and says, "I graduated with an MBA from BYU... and I served a mission in Idaho." LOL. What the heck?! Were just chilling on the street of a small city called Blagoevgrad in BULGARIA and we meet a MBA major from BYU? lol. He told us that he WAS bulgarian but lived in Salt Lake now working for Progressive. He told us that both of his parents are gone and he only has his little dog. He really talked up BYU though and told me that I should look into if I'll be in the valley. I was pretty shocked. It was SUCH a cool conversation and then he handed us another 20 lev bill and said. "I really want to go to lunch but I dont have time so.. here!" Such a cool guy. Im hoping Ill find him in salt lake one of these days.

As for investigators - we met with Daniella this past week. It was another good lesson and the spirit was really strong but I just dont think shes fully ready to commit yet. Its so annoying. However, she told us that she read what we asked her to in the Bom and that shes been seeing her life being blessed since shes been meeting with us. Her son, Borislav, has read 7 chapters out of the kids Bom. He even said prayer over dinner. He was really proud to tell Meyers and I. It was sooo cute.

Peter hasnt been meeting with us. He has stood us up twice. I think hes heard things and has been scared away. Thats annoying. Bah.

We have a NEW investigator which I met during contacting on the street named Cindy. She is an 19 yr old girl from Albania who is studying at the american university here. She told me that she knew the missionaries in Albania and that she learned english from them. She agreed to meet and told me that it was so good to see mormons in Bulgaria. We met with her a few days later and went through the whole 1st lesson. She was SO excited to know that we have a living prophet NOW! She was also thrilled to hold an english Bom in her hand. She wanted the original... not the albanian copy. However, we will be getting her an albanian copy soon hah. Shes such an open girl and she had such good questions! "What about the people who dont accept God in this life?" or "What does God think about our technological advance and how we use our bodies??" Meyers and I were so excited to teach during that lesson and it was in ENGLISH. Ahhhhh. Cant ask for any better. Were hoping to meet with her one more time before we tap out of this place.

Our last investigators were meeting with are Tenka and Kircho. They are a couple who we tracted into. We went back to start the 1st lesson and they had prepared a whole easter dinner for us. I thought it was really nice but it was very overwhelming at the same time because I wasnt sure how we were going to transition into a lesson. We sat for a few minutes and ate and then Meyers brought up the fact that we had prepared something. As we began to teach, Kircho, went on about how much he hates the pravaslav *Orthodox* church and how corrupt men are in the church these days. He talked AT us. Not with us. Ugggh. Their dog was at our feet whining for food and when it came time for me to take my turn teaching a principal - bulgarian was not there. And you want to know why? Because the spirit was not there so I just stuttered and struggled. Ugh. We tried watching the vision with them and they talked during the whole thing and at the end said, "See? You arent supposed to join any of the sects, only believe in Christ and be a christian!"........... Ya. Meyers testified after but I didnt.. I couldnt. It just was NOT happening. We said a closing prayer and got out of there. I was very grateful for Meyers... she really pulled us through in that rocky lesson. Im not sure were going to go back. They dont seem to interested anymore. They just want someone to talk to.

We celebrated easter by having a branch party and painting eggs. The dye for eggs is REALLY good here. Im going to buy a ton of packets so I can use them for future easters! We played some games afterwards and ate snacks. It was good branch bonding. Meyers and I didnt give each other anything for easter... its just another day to me here. Plus, I dont like focusing on holidays on the mission too much - I just get trunky and miss home. Its not good.

Well! I love you all. Keep keepin on!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: April 9th

Dear family and friends,

Happy easter?! We havent celebrated it yet here in Bulgaria. We celebrate it a week after everyone else in the world celebrates it. Weird eh? So ya.. havent done easter yet but I dont think we'll be doing much. Sister Meyers and I will be packing sunday night to leave for Sofia monday morning to get our greenies next week! Its been fun to chill with Sister Meyers. She killed my best friend Sister Loss in the mission and its been fun to exchange stories of our beloved friend Sister Loss. I miss that girl a lot.

General conference has begun here in Bulgaria. I watched the first saturday session yesterday in church and got tired of trying to really focus on what was being said so I decided to have a little personal study with my scriptures. Ive been learning a lot about weaknesses that prophets have. For example, Moses, Enoch and Moroni all had weaknesses that they talk about. Moses struggled with his speech and would stutter a lot - therefore he was given Aaron to help him. Enoch, too, struggled with his speech but was called of God to prophesy and teach people. Moroni writes in Ether 12 about how he is strong in speech but struggles writing what the Lord wants him to write in the scriptures. He talks about how the gentiles, us, will mock his writing but he writes anyway. I LOVE THAT. People are called in their weakness - they really are. God doesnt expect us to be PERFECT over night. Perfection is a journey and as Henry B. Eyring has said, "Men are that they might have joy... not guilt trips." I think sometimes we beat ourselves up so much and think we need to be better than "The Jones" or whoever... and we forget that.. the church isnt a place for perfect people...its a hospital for people who struggle in life. And guess what? WE ALL STRUGGLE. But its ok...so do the prophets. I love it.

Sister Meyers and I met with our investigators Peter and Daniella this week. Peter has a baptismal date!!! We started the plan of salvation and as I was testifying about the atonement, Sister Meyers felt it was a good time to commit him to baptism and low and behold - he agreed! Its exciting!

We taught the whole restoration lesson to Daniella and her son Boris. We watched the 20 minute video of the restoration and the spirit was really there. Daniella was crying a lot but I dont think it was good crying. After thinking about it, Sister Meyers and I both agreed that Daniella knows that the gospel is what she needs but she doesnt want to act upon it and change. She felt the spirit but we think it scared her and she didnt know how to handle it. We tried comforting her and setting up another appointment but shes busy this week so I will have to hand her over to the next sisters that come in.

Sister Meyers tracted into a lady named Tanka. She said she wanted us to come back and we did! We met her husband, Kircho and found out that they had 2 little kids. We taught some principals out of the 1st lesson and introduced the book of mormon. They were very friendly and open to us. It was very refreshing to have people not bash us and actually listen and agree with what we were saying. Were going back tomorrow and hopefully again later on this week!! :D

The work is slow at first but it picks up, you know? You work hard and the Lord provides.

Two weeks ago, I was laying on my bed during dinner hour because I was just too tired to eat. Sister Tate laid on hers and we talked about the mission, the people, the experiences and everything in between. I began to cry because the end is coming and even though its welcoming, its scary and Bulgaria holds a very sacred place in my heart. Its very bittersweet. The people here will always be my eternal friends.

I love you all and I will see you soon. You are in my prayers and you are in my heart.

-Sister Kinkead

Email: April 2nd

Hey hey hey!

I am officially having a little baby in 2 weeks! Hahaha. I will be training a new missionary coming in! Yaay. And guess what? The best part is that I will be opening ANOTHER city for sisters. Bwhahahaha. So I will be training and opening a new city called Ruse. Its near the coast of the black sea and up near the Romanian boarder so..I will be heading over to THAT side of the country again and...dying there. Weird. Its exciting but at the same time its kind of stressful because this sister will know nothing about Bulgaria or Bulgarian! I will be literally doing everything. Cuuuh-razzzy. I have to wait 2 weeks because, technically, this transfer isnt over yet but were switching companions for the next 2 weeks. Sister Tate will be leaving me tomorrow to serve in Sliven and clean up a sister. Sister Myers will come with me and stay here in Blagoevgrad as we both wait for our greenies. We have 11 trainers this time around. Its going to be a party with 22 missionaries in the orientation meeting. Bigger than a zone conference! That is... if all the missionaries get their visas haha. I feel like Im really just sliding down a slope for the last part of my mission. I havent had to deal with too many problems and Sister Tate and I had a lot of fun so the transfer just flew. I think my greenie will be a cool girl and the work will keep me so busy that before I know it...Ill be on the flight home. Its so nuts.

Im really going to miss Sister Tate. Shes near and dear in my heart. She reminds me so much of me in some ways and I think I might cry when I have to see her leave me tomorrow.

In other news...we have found an investigator here named Peter. We met with him twice this past week. Hes a 28 yr old guy who is interested in learning from us. He always shows up on time and called me on saturday to know when we could meet again. You never have that here in Bulgaria unless someone is really serious about the gospel. We'll see where it goes.

We're working with another woman named Daniella. She is in her 40s and has a son named Borislav. We've met with Daniella twice and the second time around was pretty interesting. We taught about how the gospel blesses families and how the family can be a strong unit if its based on gospel principles. She then began to lecture her son infront of us about how he needs the gospel. I looked at her and told her before she can teach others, she needs to learn herself. Lol. Seriously. I think shes just interested because she wants her son to be a good kid with good values but she doesnt want to change herself. She used to be an english student and she was thoroughly impressed with Mary, this 13 yr old member here. She saw how mature and smart Mary was and wanted that for her son. She even started comparing her son to Mary in the lesson. Awwwkward.

Anyway...thats about it for the work. We went to the Zoo this past week with some members and had a little spiritual message afterwards. It was a fun time. Sister Tate and I also had a girls party with the Young Women here this past saturday. Mary and Irina were the only girls there because...they are the only young women here hehe. We watched a movie as we made hair accessories and chomped on some snacks. They had such a good time! Irina made me a hair accesory. She told me she wanted me to have it and then told me how much she was going to miss me. It touched my heart. I think it really meant a lot to these two girls.

I feel like Tate and I are leaving here on a really good note. Even though we didnt baptize the city... I feel like we really strengthened the branch here and were good examples to girls who really needed it. Mary got up in testimony meeting yesterday and bore her testimony. She said, "I remember something Sister Kinkead said when she bore her testimony here the first time. She said... 'The gospel is happiness' and it is! The gospel IS happiness." She went on about it and it really meant something to me that she remembered that little part out of my testimony 7 weeks ago. Irina then got up and began to cry as she said, "I am so grateful for the 2 sisters here." That was really touching too. I had kind of felt like a failure here but I didnt realize how much I had done until that moment in testimony meeting. I feel like the chapter of Blagoevgrad is coming to a close. A good close.

Well everyone. I love you so much and I really cant wait to see you all again! It will be a joyous reunion! I need to find out about my scheduled date for my homecoming talk so you can all come! Details to come.

-Sister Kinkead

P.S. I love this. Watch it!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zk2tyEM9i8

Email: March 20th

Hey everyone,

Once again, this week just flew on by. The transfer is already coming to an end! CRAZY! Its a shorter transfer though than all the other transfers due to transfer mess-ups and what not soooo ya!. Ive already been told I will be training for my dying transfer and Im quite glad about that. It will be fun to have some greenie juice as Im slowly going down into my grave here in Bulgaria. Im not sure if I will stay here in Blagoevgrad or not but I really want to! This place is small but its so cozy and I really like it here... its home.

This past saturday we had our big relief society party. It was quuuuuuite stressful for me. Krasi, the relief society president was not willing to help at all. She kept shoving all responsibility onto Sister Tate and I. Sister Tate decided to call Sister Roth about it and see what we could do to have Krasi help us. One thing led to another annnnd Krasi was called by one of the bulgarian church leaders here and was told exactly what she needed to do. I was told that Krasi was willing to be there and lead the entire meeting and what not so that put a lot of stress off my back. Saturday rolls around and Sister Tate and I decorate the church, have chili on the stove heating up that we made the previous night and have our dessert, brownies, all ready to go for after lunch. We got the tv out and set it up so we could watch the leaders of the church speak SPECIFICALLY to the eastern european women. I was really excited! We also put on mormon tabernable choir music on in the background as people were walking into the church. I definitely felt like a relief society woman lol. 10 o' clock rolls around and women are piling into the church and sitting down for the party. 10 was when we had plan to start but there was no Krasi in sight! 10:10 rolls around and still no sign and the members are looking at me like, "Come ooon..." So I decide to give Krasi a call. She answers the phone and in a almost happy voice tells me she cant make it because she has work. HAH. She couldve CALLED me to tell me that. Yaaaaa..... Sooooooo I led the entire meeting. LOL. I got up there, put a smile on and in bulgarian greeted them to the meeting, explained a little about what we would be doing and then started the DVD. Hahaha. I dont know....some people man...some people. Ah well...Im learning how to be a good little member for when I get back home. Ya?

The party actually went very well and the women really enjoyed it. They were excited that we had actually made them a meal and dessert. They couldnt get over it. I think it was definitely a spiritual experience for all of them and it really built their faith.

As service, even though it really wasnt service, we took some toys up to the orphanage kids and played with them for a little bit. They LOVED IT. They also kind of went crazy haha. One kid ran up to me, Tony, hugged me and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. Hehehe. It was a cool experience.

After the party, the elders, Tate and I and 3 members from the ward went to the park for another ward activity. Its a tradition to go to the big park and play games there as a ward. Its a time for bonding. I had so much fun. I was running around playing soccer with them all and feeling like a normal kid. Elder Gardner was trying to go against me in soccer but I cant compete because he played in germany as a soccer player and was asked to sign a professional contract for some soccer team in europe. CRAZY. Hes crazy good.

We had zone conference this week. The mission is becoming more white-handbook and were being given a lot more instruction than what it was like when I first got into country. Its weird but..whatever. I guess its good. I have my own opinions but I submit and do what Im asked to do. One thing that were doing now is receiving certificates with our name on it and with the persons name on that we baptized this year. Eeee-yaaa... awkward. I dont think its a good idea. We should just feel the joy from baptizing someone and knowing that the spirit worked through us to baptize that person....not be called up during zone conference to shake hands and receive a certificate. Ah well...whatever. Zone conference was still good though. Its so fun to come together as a zone and see all the missionaries. Ive made some pretty good friends and some eternal friendships. Its amazing.

Well everyone, I love you! I come home in 10 weeks. CRAZY. Ill see you soon!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: March 12th

Yo yo yo!

Things here are starting to pick up here in Blagoevgrad! Sister Tate and I tracted into this 17 yr old girl who let us in. We gave her a book of mormon and talked a little bit about it. She let us come back and she had already read from the introduction to the second chapter of Nephi! Wow, that never happens lol. She told us that she believes the words are true and then looked at us and said, "They are true, right??" Lol. The lesson was kind of everywhere because we were answering her questions and talking about all kinds of gospel principles but it was really good. We will be meeting with her again this week.

Sister Tate and I have been trying to visit teach all the sisters in our branch. Its been successful so far and its been good to get to know all of them. I havent really focused too much on member work here in bulgaria as a missionary but I feel that this branch needs it. We have the Relief Society Birthday party coming up this saturday. Sister Roth told me about all that needs to happen at this party. Sister Tate and I went to go talk to the RS president about it. We wanted to get a game plan of what would go on. She was very short with us and didnt seem interested in doing anything. She asked us what we were going to do for the service project. Haha.... yaaa. She drilled us of how much money it was going to cost the branch. Im thinking, "It doesnt matter...we just want this to be good!" In the end..Sister Tate and I decided we would take this matter into our own hands and plan and do everything. I dont want the stress of trying to work with someone who doesnt want to...even though its her calling. Sometimes Bulgarians just want the missionaries to do everything. Bah. I really feel this experience is preparing me for future callings and future laziness of members. Hmmm.

In other news, I gave a talk on sunday. My talk was on enduring to the end. I was kiiind of nervous about it. It was only 7 minutes long and the first speaker got up, spoke and sat down and gave me 30 minutes to work with. Hah... lol. I tried to improvise by adding more to my speech while I was up there. It went really well though :). One of the members, Tawnya, told me that I did a great job and that she could understand everything I was saying. She said that the holy ghost told her what I said was true and she could feel the emotion. That made me feel REALLY good. Finally! Someone compliments me instead of insulting me and my bulgarian lol.

I got myself a "Book of Mormon: Seminary Student Manual" from the mission home garage. Ive been studying that as I read my book of mormon. LOVE IT. I cant wait to get home and really get into some institute classes and get ahold of some more study manuals of the Book of mormon. So much to study! I feel like I still havent made a dent into my knowledge of the scriptures. They are a wonderful thing!

Anyways... thats about it! Zone Conference will be rolling around again already next week and Im looking forward for that! Party in Sofia, baby! Haha.

I love you all. Stay safe! I'll be home soon!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: March 5th

Dear all,

This week wasnt too productive. Sister Tate and I had to travel many
times to Sofia. Passport work and a baptism to attend to. We attempted
to meet with some people we had contacted on the street but only ONE
showed. So...we only had 1 lesson this week. Ouch. I have faith things
will look up though. In due time...in due time. We met with a
less-active and her mom on sunday and read some parts out of
Uchtdorf's "Forget me not" talk. We made them a little hand out with a
forget me not flower that we made and I think they both really felt
our love for them. Tate and I feel that we are here in blago to really
strengthen the branch and the women. Our goal is to see every woman on
our branch directory and make sure they know that we love them. They
need it.

On friday, the elders, Tate and I went over to this orphanage filled
with gypsy kids. The deal is that their parents put them there because
they are too poor to raise them and then when they want to see thei
kid they can come in and visit. Its sad when one parent comes for one
kid but some of the parents never come for others. All the little ones
were all over me. Three of them wouldnt stop grabbing for me. They all
wanted me to hold them. One 2 yr old, Mario, he was constantly in my
arms and if I put him down he would hold onto my jeans and say,
"Mamo...Mamoooo" which means.."Mooom, Mooom" Lol! It was tooooo cute.
So of course I would pick him up and hold him in my arms. Im looking
forward to going back there this friday.

We had a branch party on saturday. We ate nasty bulgarian food and
played some games. Even though it wasnt too thrilling, it was good to
see that the members were really enjoying themselves.

The baptism I went to up in Sofia was a lady that sister Tate was
working with. I invited my friend Tedi who I used to teach english to
when I was in Sofia. She came and it was really good to see her. We
havent seen each other in 6 months so it was good to hug and talk.
Shes one of those bulgarians who I stay in touch with over the phone.
Shes not looking forward for the day I have to return back to the
states haha. I love Tedi.

Its been getting pretty warm here and the sun is shining. Tate and I
want to take our bikes *Ya..we have bikes :D* and bike up on the trail
towards the mountains. Its soooo pretty.

Anyway, Im still expecting someone to send me Peanut BUTTER M&Ms...just saying.

I love you all, keep it real.

-Sister Kinkead

Email: February 27th

Hey everyone, This past week started off by losing our apartment keys. We all went sledding as a district for P-day and the keys went missing during that time. Sister Tate and I spent the rest of our P-day in our wet clothes trying to find someone who could make a mold out of our key lock and give us a new key for our apt. It wasnt possible with the key we have. Soooo we sat outside our front door as 3 men worked on breaking into our apt and installing a NEW lock and a new set of keys to us for a good...4 hours. It was kind of stressful. I had to call the landlord and what not. I always get extra nervous when I have to call the Landlord about something. Landlords here are all business and I freak out thinking I wont understand something they say to me. Oh bulgarian. We had one lesson this week. One. The work is slow, thats for sure. Sister Tate and I went to go visit a lot of members but they were either 1) not home 2) they didnt live there anymore or 3) they wouldnt open the door to us. I tried calling people but their number was always wrong or I had a "mistake". It was kind of annoying but thats missionary work. We set up lessons with people we had met and received numbers on the street but all of them flaked except for the one lesson we had. Being in Blagoevgrad is starting to drive Sister Tate a little crazy. Shes so used to the work and busy-ness of Sofia that being here in a small city where we really have to build up the work is annoying her. I told her that it takes patience to find people even if its tedious at times. She told me that she has no patience. I laughed and said, "Dont worry, your mission will teach you to have patience" Haha. She has confided in me in some other mission things and I see a lot of me in her when I was her mission age. Her and I enjoy serving together. We work the same pace and really want to teach someone. I know that as we pray, do whats right and work hard, the people will come. It just takes some time. Even if she goes a little bonkers at times lol. She asked me why it was soooo hard to find people here. I just smiled and said, "Bulgaria is a hard mission...." I dont know what else to say lol. Some transfers its all about finding people and having the first lesson a lot...and some transfers are all about lessons and teaching people. The work varies. Shes seeing another light of the mission right now and I think its good for her. We all go through it one time or another. What doesnt kill you strengthens you. Eh? Anyway, if anyone wants to do a good deed for a sister missionary they can send her a big bag of Peanut Butter M&M's. Im CRAVING them. Love you all! Pray that the work can really take flight here in Blago! -Sister Kinkead

Email: February 20th

Dear Family and friends,

I am in Blago!! This past week was full of moving, getting adjusted and figuring out what the elders left us here in Blagoevgrad to work with. It was quite the adventure getting here. Sister Tate and I met up in Sofia and caught a bus to Blagoevgrad. We arrived in this small bus station with little to nothing. We were handed our luggage from the bus and then were left to figure out how to get to our apartment when we've never even been there. We tried getting a taxi that would take all 4-5 suitcases in his little car. It didnt take too long, thank goodness. We found a man who, could somehow, shove all of our stuff in his car lol. We told him our address and he was unsure of where it was at. I looked at him and said, "Ya, same here" Lol. After 45 minutes of driving around, calling the elders and making stops to ask random bulgarians, we FINALLY got to our apt. Its soooo nice. Its a pretty new block and we have a 2-story apt!!! Its so sick. We have 2 bathrooms, a niiiice kitchen and all the space we could ask for. Sister Tate and I were giggling like little girls as we ventured around seeing what our apt was like haha.

The work we were left by the elders is...nothing. They had lots of 1st lessons but it never went anywhere. So...we have been doing a lot of finding this past week. I think I burnt Sister Tate out on tracting already lol. Ah well...its what we have to do as missionaries, you know? We "superman" contact in the mornings in center. We just walk and talk to people. Its been kind of successful. Theres an american university here so thats really cool. There a lot of people who can speak english.

Blagoevgrad is a very small city. It has like...2 buses. The number 2 and 3. Lol. But I like it. Tate and I were blessed to find everything mostly on our own since the elders arrived a few days later than us. The president of the branch found US on the street and showed us where the church was. It was weird how he approached us. He looked at us and then asked if we were missionaries. Ive only had this happen a small amount of times on my mission because no one wants to talk us. We said yes and then he laughed and said, "Well I am President Cvonko from the branch here!" Hahaha. It was a nice little surprise.

Sister Tate is a really cool girl. Shes 21 and from South Jordan, Utah. She is very girly girl and is always looking very cute as a sister missionary lol. Ive gotten to the point where I want to look good but at the same time..I dont care if Im not looking girly girly or anything...Im just a sister hahaha. I will soon be cute again! Lol.

Im hoping that as Sister Tate and I work hard we will be able to find the people who want to hear our message. President wrote me telling me that he has felt so inspired to send sisters here and that it will be such a good experience for sisters to be here. Im so grateful to be here and I feel very blessed from the Lord.

Well all, thats about it. Have a good week. I love you all!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: January 13th

Hey everyone!!!

So transfer calls were this past week!!! I was NOT expecting the call that I got. President Roth calls me and says, "Sister Kinkead! You will be serving with Sister Tate.......*a pause* and you will both be serving in...*another pause* Blagovgrad!!" I started freaking out!! I was jumping up and down and saying, "yes!! yes!!! Thanks President!" I was so excited because 1) I really wanted to go with Sister Tate 2) Its finally my time to shine and Im going senior companion and 3) I AM OPENING A NEW CITY FOR SISTERS!!!!!! There has NEVER been sisters in Blagovgrad. President has always talked about it but has never had the chance...now he does! And Tate and I will be doing it together! I am quite nervous but excited at the same time. The elders that are in that area with us wont be there the first couple of days so Tate and I will have to find our way around lol. It'll be an adventure but a good one at that. Im looking forward to a new change. I feel like Im finally hitting that point of my mission where Ive climbed the mountain and Im finally getting to the top. The beautiful top that everyone has been talking about. The view is great and you can just stand, take it all in and enjoy. The end of this next transfer will be in mid April and in May I will be coming home so...this next transfer will almost finish my mission and it will be a good one. Were going to work really hard but enjoy ourselves at the same time and not run around like chickens with no heads. Ive had companions like that....hehe. I love Varna but Im sick of the wind here. Brrr!!! It gets SO cold here. I hear Blagovgrad is a lot warmer. I also heard it has some ski resorts! That would be so cool if President would let us go skiing but Im 99.9% sure he wouldnt let us go lol. 

Fabio left this past week for Spain. We had a huge surprise goodbye party for him. We blind folded him, put him in a taxi and went to a nice restaurant where all the missionaries and some members were waiting for him. We unfolded his blindfold and he began to shed some tears. He really enjoyed his party and I know that he really felt the love that we have for him. Fabio has told us in the past that he cant cry anymore. hes gone through too many things that he has become numb to showing emotion but that night I saw him wipe away his tears and it really touched my heart. He sat beside me all night and was laughing and joking. Hes one of my favorites and I will never forget him. He signed in my memory book and told me that he hopes to see me again in this life...he says he has a good feeling we will cross paths again :) Love him. 

Our investigator Julian has been progressing very well! I dont know if Ive mentioned him or not but the elders were working with him before but they dropped him because he wasnt reading or praying. Julian came up to me on the street wanting to know more about the plan of salvation. I got his number, checked with the elders about teaching him and set up an appointment to meet with him. Since then, we've met with him 5 times and hes progressing SO FAST. He really thinks about everything we say and has so many good questions. Hes been reading his scriptures and praying!! I am so proud! He even came to church the other week. I have good feelings about him. 

We had mission tour this past week. It was......interesting. 

Anyway, thats all for now! I travel into Sofia tomorrow to grab my new companion and head down to the borders of Macedonia and Greece. Hahaha. Blagovgrad baby! Have a good week everyone!!

I love you!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: Monday February 6th

Dear family,

Another transfer is coming to a close. Time is flying and I am not complaining. We've had a lot of work this past week and will finish this next week up with a lot of work. I love it! Time goes so much faster when the there is work! Im looking forward to a new transfer. This transfer with Sister Pantigoso has been quite an interesting one. She is someone who is very blunt and isnt afraid to voice her opinion about you even if its not nice. I feel like Ive had to count to 100 sometimes instead of 10 with her. I love the girl but...its been trying. Im thinking next transfer I will be transferred back to Ctara Zagora ( I was there last year from April-May ) and maybe will serve with Sister Tate. I hope so...I hear Sister Tate is really fun. We shall see! 

This past week we met a lot of people who are interested in learning. Ive been making Sister Pantigoso tract even though she hasnt wanted to. She told me it was very ineffective and we would find a lot more people if we just walked up to people randomly on the street and just start a gospel conversation. Ehh. Anyway, we went tracting and found 2 people who were interested. One of them was a girl named Melena. She acted very enthusiastic about our message and told us to come back. She said she would be expecting us. I was floored. Ive never had that happen my whole entire mission!! Lol. She seems like shes 26 and she speaks perfect english. Its so awesome. We tracted into a younger man around 22-23 and listened to our message. He didnt seem too interested but he told us that we could come back and share more. We'll see. We tracted into another man who was from Louisiana. I asked him what he was doing here in Bulgaria and he told me it was none of my business. Rawr. Lol. He then told us he escaped from the states...He looked pretty sketch. We may have just tracted into a man who had killed someone and was hiding in some poor post-communism country Lol. It made for a good eye opener and laugh afterwards. 

Pantigoso and I were outside Mcdonalds last week waiting for a lesson. The church is kind of hidden so sometimes we meet at locations where people will know...aka Mcdonalds lol. Pantigoso thought she saw the man coming and she goes up to him and its not him... it was some other man...but this man starts talking to us in english. He tells us that hes from Germany and is a computer software engineer. We went into Mcdonalds and talked for a bit because our original lesson came late. The guy from Germany is named Wolfgang lol. We gave him our information and were hoping to meet with him this week for real. He doesnt have kids and I dont think hes married so I hope he doesnt have other intentions but we'll see. 

Fabio is leaving this week!!! I AM SO SAD. Hes my favorite here in Varna. Hes leaving for Spain and will be working there for some entertainment company. We set a baptismal date and will be giving all of his information over to the spain missionaries. Were not sure if he will go through with his baptism but we need some kind of motivation for him to drop his cigs and he has limited time to do so. Hes very excited about baptism and we've talked about it so many times that we know that HE knows its no game. Its serious business. Hes already finished the Book of Mormon and Pearl fo Great Price. Hes halfway through the Doctrine Covenants. He started and finished True to the Faith and has been reading all the general conference issues. Hes so freakin sick. He loves getting his hands on church material to read. 

Radka, a member here, invited all of us missionaries over to dinner at her house with Fabio and Vesko, another member here. It was SOOOOO fun. Fabio made lasagna for dinner for all of us. A real italian making me real italian food (Hes originally from Italy ) He was so proud. He told me that I need to tell everyone back home that he made me dinner haha. After dinner he was making fun of all of us missionaries with our little kinks and quirks. He got up and impersonated students from our english class and we were all just LAUGHING. I was laughing so hard that my stomach was hurting and I was getting sick hahaha. Its so good to have those times where you are just having lots of fun and you can relax for a moment. Fabio is great. He asked me when I was going home. I told him may. He was like, "Ok..Ill go with you and then we can get married." Lol! He calls me his wife sometimes. Hes so funny. 

We met with another one of our investigators this week, Giro. He came back telling us that he read some of the Book of Mormon but he just cant believe it. We sat down and tried to explain the book of mormon but he would keep coming up with questions and not letting us answer. I hate that. I finally looked at him and said, "If you ask a question, you need to let me answer it before you ask another one, ooook?" Ugh. We had all of the answers for him but he wouldnt seem to listen. He  says he wants to be happy and believe but he has no desire and he doesnt want to give the effort it takes to have happiness. We ended up telling him that were always here if he has interest and that was that. We tried. 

Mission Tour is this week on thursday. I hope its good...Im sure it will be. 

Well all, have a good week! I love you. 

-Sister Kinkead

P.S. - People have asked me. When is my release date? Its May 29th. Holla!

Email: January 30th

Hey everyone,

Well I wasnt so lucky this year. Snow finally hit Bulgaria this past week and its been prrreeeeetty cold. Sister Pantigoso and I have been feeling pretty powerful walking through all the snow to get to less-active houses or simply just getting around the city on foot (I really wonder what its like for missionaries who have a car. Spoiled.) Anyways, lol, there have been a couple times where we've almost slipped due to black ice being on the sidewalks. I dont know how old people do it here...its definitely dangerous. It finally feels like its really winter and I cant wait till Spring. Snow and Ice as a missionary are no bueno. You have no motivation to go out in a blizzard and find people. Sister Pantigoso and I have been having to switch to tracting to find people. Tracting is all right but it can be a really weird/awkward situation since you try getting into an apartment complex and knocking on everyones door. People wonder how you got into their complex and why you are trespassing. Its annoying. I havent done tracting in awhile but its "my element" meaning..Im comfortable doing it. However...Pantigoso has anxiety attacks every door we knock on. She is very uncomfortable with it and for most of her mission she has gotten away without tracting. She makes for a good laugh though lol. She makes me go first every time we get into a new block and when its her turn she grabs me and pulls me close while she talks. Lol..... Oh the mission.

In other news we are handing over our investigator, Christo, to the elders. Hes a really nice man and has come to all of our lessons but we think he may just like our company and not so much the gospel. Hes probably close to his 70s, hes been divorced for 15 years and lives alone. He likes to hug us when he sees us and he gave me a kiss on my hand the other day. Awkward. We sat down with him yesterday at his place and had some tea (Dont worry, herbal tea) We talked about the standards of the church but he brought up some interesting topics and I wasnt feeling too good about meeting with him anymore. We left and Pantigoso and I both decided that we would hand him over to the elders. If he really wants to learn, he wont mind learning from the elders. Right?

Fabio is just shining. He makes my day. Every time I see him I just laugh and smile. He is such a unique person. We're continuing to work with him but his weaknesses are something we're not sure how to deal with. Hes an amazing man. Hes gone through so much in his life that, honestly, I dont know how hes NOT in prison for certain things. Hes overcome so much and I love him to death. We sing in english together during church because he doesnt know bulgarian and were always laughing and joking. I LOVE HIM. I told him that he needs to come to my homecoming talk. He said he wants to. It probably wont happen but...I can wish, ya? Such a cool kid.

Pantigoso and I were working with a family this past week! I found this man on the street last transfer. He asked Child and I if we could teach english to his son personally and we were unsure so we said no but I saw him again 2 weeks ago and he asked about it again. I decided that we could teach his son english if we could have a spiritual lesson afterwards. He agreed and we went over last wednesday. It went over really well and the family was really receptive. Low and behold...we tell the elders about it and they are already teaching THE SAME FAMILY TOO. Ya...in the end...we handed them over to the elders even though I found them first. The elders just want them for themselves. I was kind of mad over the whole thing but I decided that its better to just let them have it and have no contention or get into a big argument over it all and have hard feelings. Were all on the same team............right? Lol. *Sarcasm*

We had a Cowboy Night for a ward activity. Us missionaries all made Chili, Baked Potatoes and Brownies. We had cowboy dances and barrel racing Lol! It was SOOOO fun. I thoroughly enjoyed the line dances and having fun with people I love. Im so crazy...I love it. One guy who was there lingered around me and then later asked for my number as a joke. I was like...Im a missionary....Sorry. Awwwwkward lol. But it was still really fun.

For a Young Single Adult activity we all went laser tagging. THAT WAS SO FUN. It was a really legit place with a whole obstacle course, fog machines and loud music. It really set the mood for some laser tag! I ran around screaming and running from people. Hahhaa. I loved it...it really helps relieve stress. Im hoping we can do it today for Pday with all the missionaries.

We are now sending missionaries to TURKEY!!!! My little Elder Redpath is heading over to Turkey next transfer, along with 3 other elders from Bulgaria. I feel sorry for them..they finally get bulgarian down and now have to learn turkish. Shudder. Im glad thats not me lol. I hear they will be attending university in the morning to learn turkish and then contacting in the afternoon lol. Im so excited to be here at a time where we are having missionaries go into Turkey!!! Its something big for the BSM. Thats for sure.

Well everyone, have a good week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYhDhiojBPA Check that clip out :) I love you all. Thanks for being wonderful!

-Sister Kinkead

Email: January 16th

Hey everybody,
This week was a good week, I felt the love from the Lord, from loved ones and
from friends a lot this week. I received some mail this week from Sofia. I
received a letter from my Aunt Jody, Thank you Aunt Jody!! I received a letter
from my ward back home, with everyones signatures and little messages. It made
me feel good that I was still remembered back home by people I havent heard
from in 14 months. I received a letter from the Stake Presidency which was nice
and then I received a letter that was written, " S. Kinkeit" It was
from a bulgarian. I opened the letter and to my surprise it was from Nikolai
and his son Efgeni in Veliko Turnovo! They wrote me a little letter wishing me
a happy birthday. It filled my heart!!! I dont know if any of you remember who
Nikolai and Efgeni are but they are members in Veliko that I worked with back
in April-May of last year!!! Ive called Efgeni a couple of times since then. I
really worry about him because him and his dad, Nikolai are the only members in
that city and Efgeni is this 18 yr old boy. I dont want him to lose the path.
Ive been trying and trying to call them but I cant seem to get ahold of him.
Its annoying haha. Anyway, it just really touched my heart. When I think of
Nikolai and his son Efgeni I am filled with love for them and it makes me get
teary-eyed. They are precious precious spirits to me and I am so glad that I
met them and that I made some kind of impact on them for them to write me a
christmas card after 8 months of not seeing or really hearing from them. I
loved it. A tender mercy for sure.
This week Sister Pantigoso and I had an opportunity to go out with a few people
for lunch and talk about the gospel. One of them being a man named Giro. Hes
32, single and from Armania. Hes in my english class and hes a very very cool
guy. He says he envies the missionaries for their happiness and their
knowledge. I told him he could be happy to if he would just let his guard down.
He told me that he couldnt. I looked at him and told him, "Giro, you can.
Im your friend, I know you and I see something in you. Please let me and Sister
Pantigoso teach you a little bit about how we CAN be happy in this life."
He agreed to so we now have a NEW investigator. We went out to lunch with him
after english and really discussed the gospel. He had really good questions and
I know he wants what we have. Im excited to teach him. He told us that he might
be moving to Denmark for work and he wanted the missionaries information so I
already hooked him up with the info. Hes so sick! Love him. Another tender
mercy.
Speaking of people traveling to different counties, DIANA, our investigator who
got baptized last transfer and who moved to spain is BACK in Bulgaria!!!! Shes
back on break for 2 months or so and Im excited to teach her again! I saw her
come into church late and after sacrament I ran up to her and just hugged her.
She began to cry and it was just epic. Im so glad shes back! She looks really
good :D Tender mercy number 3?
Sister Pantigoso and I were streetboarding the other day when a man by the name
of "Asin" came up to me. He began speaking to me in bulgarian and
then switched to english and says to me, "im from the evangelical
church... my preacher tells me this book *Book of Mormon* is another
lie..." I look at him and say, "And what do you think?" He
looked at me and didnt really know what to say. I bore testimony to Moronis
dream and how we can know for OURSELVES if the Book of mormon is true or not.
He was a very nice fellow. We talked for another 20 minutes in english and I
was really able to express myself and let my spirit shine. He wouldnt give me
his number but I gave him my information and a little pamphlet on the Book of
Mormon. Afterwards I was very pumped....and I realized how merciful the Lord is
towards me. Somehow I always find people who can speak english and I can
testify to them freely. Tender mercy number FOUR.
I had an interesting experience this week. I was left alone for 4 hours by
myself lol. Pantigoso had to do an english exam for BYU since english isnt her
native language. We took her over to the testing center but they had no room
for me so I had to travel back to the church alone and sit alone for 4
hours...it was so weird. I felt so paranoid lol. I havent been alone for
awhile....I think I may be weird when I get home...lol.
Anyways...thats it for me for now. Thank you all for your letters. love and
emails! I love you!!
-Sister Kinkead

Email: January 9th

Hey everybody,

This week went by slow...yet again due to not being able to find legit investigators. Its soo annoying sometimes. Pantigoso and I have been making sure that we are finding each day and weve been tryinnnngg to get peoples numbers but no one is giving us a chance. As of right now we only have 2 legit and progressing investigators. That would be Christo and Fabio. Christo is progressing fast. Weve been meeting with him since last transfer but he hasnt come to church at all. Panti and I decided to give a lesson about faith and how we build our own and develope testimonies of our own. We stressed that reading the scriptures was important as well as going to CHURCH. He loved the lesson and guess what? He came to church! Hes SO open and I just love it. FINALLY. Someone who wants to LEARN. Haha. He is progressing pretty fast this transfer and I feel good about him. I think by next week we'll be able to sit down and talk about baptism with him. Hes really funny though, everytime he comes to the church for a lesson he gives me and panti a big hug lol. Fabio is doing really well. Can I just tell you that Fabio is so talented? He is a choreographer in Spain, hes a cosmetoligist, an artist and a singer. Hes soooo funny. Weve been meeting with him a lot and everytime we get together its hard to start a lesson because were laughing so much and chatting it up. Fabio has a really good heart, he struggles with multiple things such as the law of chastity and the word of wisdom but he really wants to change his life and give it over to the Lord. We covered the word of wisdom this past week and the next big thing to hit is the law of chastity...Panti is quite scared of teaching him about that because he may get up and leave due to his lifestyle but Im not afraid. Im ready to do this. The gospel is the gospel, right? Fabio and I were sitting in church yesterday and he just sat there zoning out while we all sang in bulgarian. I noticed that there was a english hymnbook on the piano so I grabbed it, flipped to the english song and we began to sing the same song together in english. I havent sung in english in church in over a YEAR. It was sooo cool and I know Fabio really liked being included in the singing. I believe music is where you feel the spirit most strongly. After church Fabio asked me. "You have such a beautiful voice, why do you sing softly??? You need to sing loud! You have the voice!" Lol. Fabio would know, I suppose. He is the singing teacher. I love the kid. Im going to miss him when he heads back to Spain and continues on with his work there. Ill definitely have to skype with him after the mission.

So last night I had a wonderful conversation with this little boy named ценко - Sinko. Panti and I decided to go streetboarding for an hour last night and she found this old grandma with her grandson Sinko. Panti was talking it up with this lady and I decided to make small talk with this little boy. The funny thing and surprising thing is that he continuted to talk to me and ask questions even after we did the whole, "Hi, how are you? whats your name?" I asked him how old he was - 12 and then he asked me how old I was. He asked me if I had a boyfriend and I told him no. I asked him if he had a girlfriend - he does. LOL. Hes 12! But kids start young here. He asked me. "Why dont you have a boyfriend?" I told him that I didnt want one..I had one but things were just complicated. He looks away in thought and then turns back to me and asks "What kind of problems?" I sort of talked to him about it and then he says to me. "Dont worry, youll find someone better, more handsome and really rich. You just need to find one!! You should find now.." By this point Im just like..wow this is a cool kid. Hes actually holding a decent conversation with me and sincerely interested in what Im saying instead of his little 12 yr old toys. He told me his thoughts on God and how hes been to a lot of churches but how "none of them really speak of God" I thought to myself. holy crap! This is the next joseph smith! Lol. Panti got his grandmas number and we'll be meeting with them soon. Im really excited. They have a lot of potential, I think.

This is random but one of the elders investigators told me that when I smile my eyes are laughing. I liked that lol....thats good, ya?

We continue to have no snow in Varna. Im loving it. I want to get by snow as best as I can as a missionary here in Bulgaria. Its no fun when you are trudging in the snow trying to find less actives. Bah. Some days I really wonder what its like to have a car as a missionary. Those missionaries are spoiled!! Thats all I have to say on that note lol.

Well, have a good week all. I love you

-Sister Kinkead

Email: January 3rd

Dear all,

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! 2012 BABBBBBYY! Holla. How was your guys new years? Anyone do anything fun? We had a SPECTACULAR new years eve party this year. There are 3 pairs of elders serving in Varna along with the sisters and they had this great idea to invite all the missionaries over to their apt, set up the projector to play movies, have games and make lots of food! This idea came up because we were all supposed to be in our apts by 4 pm due to crazies running around outside. So why not just gather at one of the elders apt?! Lol. You all are probably freaking out right now, I love it. You want to know the best part about it? WE GOT PERMISSSION. President Roth approved and it was GLORY. We headed over to their place around 4. Sister Pantigoso, Elder Patterson and I started in the kitchen making a huge meal while Elder Brown was out on the balcony grilling away. The other elders got the movies set up and were visiting. It was like being at home for new years with all your friends. Real chill and real fun. We had dinner, watched "Tangled" made some hot cocoa thanks to Sister Pantigoso and then we sat down and played the game "Magic" for 2 hours. I decided Ive been asked too many times in my life to play this game and now was the time to give in and just learn. I got real into it. I was building up my little creatures. equiping them and becoming a complete nerd by yelling out, "I OWNED YOU!" to the elders which I killed Lol. After the 2 hour session of Magic. it was countdown time. We went ontop of the roof and watched all of Bulgaria go nuts with their fireworks. There was a huge firework show over the Cathedral here and it was so pretty. Dont worry kids, I got lots of footage. I screamed and ran around. It was such an experience and probably one of the best new years eves yet. Who gets to chill with all the elders at home, party and then see the new year in a foreign country with crazies running around? It was epic, for sure.

You all are probably wondering about Christmas. Christmas was pretty good. Zone Conference was here and the Roths bought us presents and lots of candy. We got to watch a real movie which was nice considering it had make out scenes in it and President is in the back just eatting his dessert and loving life. Lol. I love that man. We stayed in for most of Christmas due to Panti being sick and we just chilled. The elders gave us a portable dvd player so we did a lot of watching movies, baking and takin naps. It was really nice. Definitely hard to jump back into work though hehe.

Hmm what else? We had a lot of lessons this week but we only have one progressing investigator and that would be Fabio. He told Sister Pantigoso that he wanted to get baptized. We'll see what happens. We still need to explain the law of chastity because he struggles with that annnnd he will be returning to Spain in a few weeks so the missionaries in Spain will probably baptize him. I wish the work would pick up here. We get a lot of potentials but no one takes the bait lol. Sorry...No one wants to investigate! Gah. When there is no work the weeks become very SLOOOOWWWW. Bah. I hate when you have to find work.

Well all.. the weather is still nice here and I think I may be able to slip away from getting hit too hard with the winter weather....*crosses fingers*

I love you all...thats it for now. Choose the right and remember who you are.

-Sister Kinkead