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