I will go to Blagoevgrad

 

This week was pretty good.  We had a lot of lessons with members so that was really good, lessons are always better with a member, they are pretty helpful! We also had the zone leader training up in Varna and that was really good, there is so much I can still learn on how I can be a better missionary!

 

So from this week... our best appointment from this week is probably with an investigator, he is a newer guy we found.  He is from Ukraine and we taught him about the plan of salvation and it was pretty good.  He is kind of quiet but he asks really good questions and is a very nice guy! The best thing I ate, probably the biscuits and gravy that we had last night or I had this pretty good kind of cinnamon roll thing except it has nuts in it instead of cinnamon and it had strawberry jam on the top and they have it sitting in this syrup stuff so the roll is kind of syrupy and very sweet, I don't really know how else to describe it but it was really good! And it was from this one Turkish bakery that we go to because we are friends with the lady that owns it, she calls us her American boys and is super nice! I would say a moment I could really tell the Lord was leading me was in a lesson with one of our investigators and we were teaching him about the restoration.  He is already pretty religious and I felt like that lesson went really well and we were guided in teaching it to him specifically according to what he needed to hear.  The lesson before he wouldn't take a Book of Mormon and this time he took one and committed to start reading it!

 

Oh and we got our transfer calls and I am already leaving Burgas and I will go to Blagoevgrad and I will serve with Elder Breeze, he is two groups after me.  I will be the district leader for us and the sisters who are there. So that is going to be a big step and change but it will be good and I look forward to seeing what else I can learn! I am sad to be leaving Burgas, I got to know the members a lot better here than I did in Sofia and I hope that I will be able to come back sometime to see them! Burgas is a very special place and the members here are so awesome and close, they are like a family I had a very good time serving here with them! So tomorrow I will travel back over to Blagoevgrad, I love long bus rides! ( not really)

 

Oh and as far as I know I haven't lost any weight overall on my mission so you don't have to worry,  I get plenty to eat and we eat pretty healthy, I do try my best!

Lots of love!

Elder Maxwell

I hope I get to stay here in Burgas a bit longer!

Winter break! I forgot that there is the second break they have in NY but that is pretty cool and factories are pretty neat places so I bet you'll have fun!! And the pools at the hotels are always fun too! (Note of explanation from mom: Between January and mid March, our mission will be getting 52 new missionaries and only 7 will be returning home!) That is a lot of missionaries! That's almost as many as our whole mission! It is exciting that Victor is getting their own though, I hope they are able to have some good success!

So for your question - I do "fold" my clothes and put them away mostly because there isn't enough room on the rack for both of our laundries so I've got to get them down before he needs to put his up. And yes I do have to iron my shirts every time, it's not too bad though. But I will be glad to have a dryer again when I get back!

 

My week was pretty good, Thursday we had the Valentine's branch activity and it was super fun.  We had a pretty good investigator turn out between all the missionaries!  I made some Mississippi mud cake and all the Bulgarians were loving it and basically everyone wants the recipe!  And I actually made another one today (for one of the members birthdays) for at FHE because they liked it so much! For the Valentine's activity, Elder Vonn wrote a skit for him, me and Elder Bryce (and we had a member help us too).  It was pretty funny and they really liked it too!
 

Other than that, the week was decent, most of our investigators were pretty busy so we didn't get to meet with them very much so we had a lot of contacting out on the streets and knocking doors but we found a couple pretty cool new people and next week we should have lots of lessons! Oh and this week the branch got some new furniture so now we have a new podium and a little stand thing for up front and we got some new chairs and shelves for the building!

 

This week we are going up to Varna, on Friday, for our zone leader training meeting and on Saturday we get our transfer calls! This transfer has gone by so fast, I hope I get to stay here in Burgas a bit longer, it is pretty awesome!

I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Love,

Старейшина Максуел

Nothing too special...

We haven't had snow or very cold weather here for a while, or at least since the beginning of a couple weeks ago. Being next to the sea definitely keeps us a lot warmer than the rest of Bulgaria. It isn't anywhere as cold as it is back home and I am grateful for that and I hope you all are able to stay warm!

Mom, I would for sure give myself a dryer hug but sadly there basically is no such thing as dryers in Bulgaria, at least not in any missionary apartments.  We just have drying racks that we dry everything on.

This week was good we found a lot of cool new people that we have started meeting with, which is good because a lot of our older investigators have stopped meeting with us for whatever reason.

 

We've only got a couple more weeks left in the transfer, it has gone by pretty fast. Nothing too special from this week mostly just the usual contacting and teaching. This week though for Valentine's the branch is having a talent show and the member in charge of it is making all the missionaries do something... so, I think me and a couple others might just do a skit or something we will see.

Have a great week and keep being great examples to everyone around you!!

Love

Старейшина Максуел

A bit of the stuffed up nose and never ending booger sickness!

I am doing well, I had a bit of the stuffed up nose and never ending booger sickness for a couple days.  I'm over it now and it wasn't anything too bad so I still was able to work!

 

We went to Sizopol last week for P-day so I've got some cool pictures from there I might send a couple!

 

 

 

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week.  We didn't find many new people this week but our investigators are doing well. One in particular, I think she would accept baptism, but she has some family problems that keep us from being able to commit her to that. She is a bit younger so for us to be able to meet with her she needs to have permission from her parents.  Her mom didn't want to give permission right away but she was way nice and reasonable, unlike a lot of parents here, and we were able to meet with her on Saturday and answer her questions.  She came to Sacrament meeting with her daughter and everything so that was pretty cool!

 

We are only 2 elders to an apartment but we usually do something as a district for P-day. My companion is cool he is fun to work with and he really likes Idaho.  He doesn't use his lips when he eats, ever, for anything so that is pretty unique!

Love you all! Have an awesome week!!

Старейшина Максуел