I have so much to share about BG too but no time to write. We have seen so many people ın our mission cities and got to swim in the black sea, go to a discotek ın Rousse, and see the natıonal monument ın Sliven! Just a few of the things we only dreamed of doing as missionaries! And all the while stayıng with members along the way.
Ill try to upload some pıcs later.
Istanbul!!!
We rode the night train to Istanbul from Plovidiv, BG last night. In fact, a Turk woman smuggled lıquor across the border ın our traın compartment!! We had no ıdea untıl the mornıng when she came to get ıt out. Good thıng that we dıdnt get caught or we would have been in alot of trouble.
We have spent all day walking around the city! It is so great! We found this lil paint exibition on a cobblestone road and I found a fab paintıng. I haggled wıth the man forever but he wanted 150 euro for ıt and I only had lıke 20 dollars. So we left and went to the ATM, and then I still got a great deal because I bought it for about 45 dollars. It is an orıgınal painting and he even let me take a pic with him!
The muslım mosques here are simply fantastıc and we also found a friend to show us around to the cool places. He took us to the top of a hotel so that we could see the city and the sea from way up there! And then to the grand pazar. Wow, ive never had so many people tryıng to get me to buy something. It was fun to speak back in bulgarıan when they spoke english to me because then they did not treat me as much like a tourist. AND katie and I could communicate without them understandiıng – sınce they all speak and understand english here very well. We are goiong back on the train tonıght to BG and Im sad we only have 1 day! I would LOVE to come back to Istanbul again – probably more than I would Prague even.
Here we are in downtown Prague. The top pic is at the courtyard of the castle. Peter (in the 2nd pic) is the one who gave us a tour. We met him on the metro (so it was really was like old times on the mission!) He was fantastic and so nice. I’ll have to add more pics later. The internet connection here is too slow for lots of pics. But here’s a small taste. =)
On Sunday morning, we went to the Central Branch in Sofia! Katie was able to see Kiril (her convert) who was serving as the Elders Quorum President, had been to the temple, AND had received his patriarchal blessing!!! It was so fabulous to see how he had progressed. Then it was my turn. =) On Sunday evening we drove out to Lulin (a neighborhood that meets in another building) to see Lucy. She was baptized on the Saturday before I came home from the mish! She also is still active!! and had received her patriarchal blessing!! She was so surprised to see me and we had a wonderful time catching up. She wore the Endure to the End ring that I had given her as a gift and then presented me with a beautiful red pendent (for a necklace) that she had bought for me a gift to remember her! It was simply amazing to realize how much love there was between us and that that will always remain.
We visited a few other families on Sunday and made arrangements for sleeping in the other cities we will visit this week. Then we stayed the night with a member – Violeta! Her daughter lives in Utah and we sometimes hang out. So it was fun to share stories with Violeta. We also got to experience all over again the joys of living in BG =) We were simply grateful, though, for a bed and a place to wash up.
Today, monday, we have again visited with old friends, the missionaries (it is their Pday) and of course, President Bennett!! He is so great, by the way. I love that man. He gave me the mission emblem that I never got (because I left right after he arrived in country). It was fun to hear how the mission had grown and the wonderful strides that are being made.
Tomorrow we are going to drive to Ruse and then from there to Varna and to Plovdiv. From Plovdiv, we will take the night train to Istanbul for a day. So there is still much to do and see!!!
So we made it safe to BG!!!
We had a short, but fun detour in Prague.
Our flight from Atlanta to Prague was late so we missed our connecting flight.
That just meant that we had 5 hours to walk around the city, see the castle, and make a friend named Peter. He was on the metro and volunteered to give us a tour through the city (even with all our luggage!) We LOVED Prague, so beautiful and clean.
We got to BG late on Saturday night and ended up getting an expensive hotel room (since we got in so late and the first 2 hostels we tried were all full)
But we went to church this morning!!! So fun to see old friends. I was able to translate sacrament meeting for the humanitarian couple serving in Sofia. So that was cool.
We rented a car and it’s been amazing how diff Sofia looks from an air conditioned car =)
Well, we are off to visit more people!!!!
We’ll try to get to an internet zala again soon.
Love you all!!!
