So this is it, the final transfer! Weird!

 

So this is it, the final transfer!  Weird! I am going to be in Shumen, I have gone there before on exchanges.  It's a pretty little city although, they only have a group there so it'll be my first group city! I am going to be serving with Elder Johnson and I don't really know much about him, just that he's from Utah and that's about it. Next week I can get you some updates on that.

This week was good, we had one of our new investigators commit to baptism yesterday so that was really cool although they haven't accepted a date yet they felt that it was still too early but they are incredibly prepared and have a strong desire to follow Christ!

We also were able to get in to a less actives house that we have been trying to meet for a long time and that was really good. It will take some time with him to get him back fully active but he is very nice and still loves the church he just has a few concerns and hasn't been in a long time and feels like he won't know anyone and is to old to make new friends, but we will see about that!
Wow, it's crazy how fast time flies, and I'm going to finish - giving it all I've got!  It'll be good in Shumen, I'm very excited!

So yeah it's exciting, I love you and hope that you have a great week!
Elder Maxwell

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter (a day late)!! I hope you had a good day and it sounds like church was really good! I got to translate for all three hours again sometimes I get a break in the second hour in gospel principles but this week we had some investigators and visitors I got to translate for!! So it was a fun and good Sunday! We had a lot of rain this week four days of non stop rain but that didn't stop us and we were able to find and teach a lot of people! It was one of the better weeks that we have had! For Easter here I can't remember if I told you all last year but they dye the boiled eggs then you choose an egg and take turns knocking the eggs together with others and the last person with the unbroken egg gets a "zhiva i zdrava godina" жива и здрава година.  So that ıs a fun lıttle tradıtıon they  have here!

Other exciting things from this week we had zone conference and it went really well we learned a lot of how to work more with members to find new investigators by helping them to share the gospel with their friends and family! Also as the assistants were out the rest of the week to the other conferences so we took care of a couple of their investigators while they were gone. It is cool they are working with one guy in Germany who has been coming to the church there for a couple years but he doesn't know any German and so we have skype lessons with him to teach him the gospel. It is so cool because even though he doesn't know German he feels the spirit as he attends and as we have the lessons with him on skype he is so happy to be able to learn more and to discuss these things in his language! So that was really cool being able to teach him a couple lessons this week!

So we get transfer calls on Saturday so that is when I will find out where I get to finish my mission! I hope to be able to stay here or to go back to one of the cities where I have already been but we will see what the lord has in store!! As much as I would love to go to turkey there basically is no way I would get to go there but I will see Elder Bennion soon enough!

Love You!! Have a great week!!
Elder Maxwell

That was pretty exciting and I am never missing a night of brushing or flossing ever again!

This week went by really fast with some pretty interesting events! First of all at the beginning of the week my companions tooth was really bothering him so we went in to a Swedish dentist that a member recommended and my companion ended up getting a root canal without anything to numb it!  That was pretty exciting and I am never missing a night of brushing or flossing ever again! It wasn't really that bad the dentist was actually really cool and really good but still I would prefer to not ever have to go in for anything. It was funny, before they had the root canal, they sang a song in Swedish together, Austin might know it, something about a Lucia or something like that it was pretty funny.

This week, we went down to Pazardzhik for some exchanges and that was good, it's a pretty small city, actually most of the cities in Bulgaria are pretty small in comparison to Sofia, I've mostly just served in the bigger cities so I can't complain.

So, with all of that and our other responsibilities and a weekend full of conference our open time was very limited.  We are still working on finding new investigators but we had some good lessons with members and this next week we should be having some lessons with  a couple of them and their friends!

 

Conference was really good, I really enjoyed it and I especially liked Elder Ballards talk on Sunday morning ( I liked them all a lot) but in relation with his talk, do you, as a family and personally, use and study Preach my Gospel? If you do, keep doing it you are awesome, if not, now is a great time to start! And I can promise that it will help you in your missionary efforts and grow your testimonies and strengthen the family!

One of the best things from this week was probably getting back in contact with a less active who was baptized as a kid and now is 26 but hasn't really ever been active.  He is really cool and we were able to meet with him a couple times and he came to the Saturday morning session of conference with us!
 

My companion is doing well he is very unique and occasionally our personalities clash but that is normal and the work continues! I've learned some principles of chess but I don't really play him ever, he is pretty ridiculously good!

I hope you all have a great week! Love you lots!

Elder Maxwell

I got some Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes, and don't worry I had a very good day.  My companion told everyone that it was my birthday so everyone knew.  We got to go to the Shultz's for dinner (one of the American families from the embassy) and they fed us very well ( wings, potatoes and beef!!) and they let us pick something from their pantry so I got some Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce, I am excited to use that!!  I did get the package and I have so much candy I don't know what to do with it all!! I may gain a little bit of weight.

Also, cool thing from this week we have a less active that we met (who was brought to church by another member) way back in January and we had been trying to meet with him but never could get anything set up. But when we would see him in church we would always say hi and when I got a new companion I introduced them to each other and the next week when my companion saw him he said hi and called him by name and he was so surprised that he had remembered his name and then that week when we called him he asked US when we could meet! So that was really cool meeting with him and seeing how us knowing his name and saying hi to him had really made the difference for him!! So always be friendly and say hi to as many people as you can at church especially the ones that you may not know as well or even at all!
For conference, we are going to be watching it this weekend - like it is watched in the US, only we are doing it a week later, so that's a bit different for us this year. So... I haven't seen any of it yet.  But I will get to see it next weekend!!

Other than that, the week was pretty good, we had some exchanges up in Pleven and those went well it's a nice little city! We don't have a lot of investigators right now and the ones we are working with we cant meet them too often and so they are progressing a little bit slower but we are doing are best and are planning on working a lot with members this week to find some new investigators!

I love you all, have a great week!
Elder Maxwell