I love this branch!

Most people here don't really know anything about the states so when I say I'm from New York they assume it's the city so I sometimes tell them I'm from the other side of the state by Niagara Falls because lots have heard of that too.

 

This last week was good, we got a baptismal date for one of our investigators and this week we hope to get another! We have some cool new people that we have found and are excited to meet with! We had a bit of rainy weather for a part of this week and that slowed up the contacting quite a bit but it is still going good! No worries about me being cold either, today is so warm that I'm not even wearing a coat, so we are having some pretty good weather right now plus in Burgas it generally is one of the warmer places in the winter so we haven't had any terrible weather yet!

 

A lot of the branches here are pretty small, some of them are about 30 active members and actually in Sofia they just combined the two branches they have there so they have a very big branch and they have around a 100 every Sunday!!!

 

I love this branch the members are so cool and there are a lot of super solid members here so I really enjoy being able to work here even though there aren't that many members! Also this week we have zone conference and there will be a general authority too so I am looking forward to it!

Love to you all!

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Most people are nice enough...

This week was really good.  We had more lessons than we have had the rest of the transfer, so I am glad that those are picking up and we have some pretty cool investigators! It is hard contacting all day, all week and having no one to teach but it has picked up with lots of people being back from the holidays and having time to meet! We're doing a lot more tracting because the leaders are really emphasizing trying to meet with the families when they are all home. It is not to often though that we get to teach or even come back but most people are nice enough and just say they aren't interested.

 

Me and my companion get along well.  He is fun to work with and a good elder. He has some real "Idaho pride" so me and Elder Von like to tease about that a little bit and make some jokes about Idaho because he gets pretty defensive, all within reason of course, because contention is bad.

Love you all!!

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I am excited to continue...

This week has been really good, with the holidays finishing up, we were able to meet with a lot of new people who didn't have time before.  We have found several really great and interested people so I am excited to continue meeting with them and teaching them more!

 

Our investigator had his kids this week ( he is separated and only gets them occasionally) and we went and visited them and it was fun to be able to be around little kids again. It was kind of like home the one little boy really likes Spider Man so he would climb up everything then tell me to watch when he would jump off and he was always wanting to fake fight me and all, it was pretty cool kind of like the little guys only in Bulgarian!

 

This week is a pretty lazy week for Bulgarians they have a lot of holidays here but New Years is probably one of the biggest, there were probably more shops open on Christmas than on New Years!

 

Our branch had a baptism on Saturday for a younger girl, one of the daughters of the members.  It is nice having some really solid younger members in this branch to help with the teaching so it was really neat seeing her get baptized! We had to use the portable font though and the burzo bars that they use for heating it up overnight weren't with the font because some other elders from a different city had borrowed them so it was quite cold but she still went through with it!

 

Thanks for everything!!

Love to you all!!

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Happy New Year to you all!

It was really good to see you and talk to you all on Christmas, all the little kids are growing up so fast! Happy New Year to you all, sorry I forgot to tell you I'd be writing today instead of yesterday.  New Years Eve here can get pretty crazy and they do like their beer so we all had a regular day but then we had to be in our apartments by 5. We were going to stay up untill 12 but we got tired and just went to bed and set an alarm for a few minutes before 12.  We got up to watch the fireworks, from 12 there is just straight fireworks and firecrackers going off for probably about 20 minutes and it sounded like a war zone.  Everyone was throwing firecrackers out their windows and there were mortars going off all around us.  We are up a bit higher in a smaller block so we could see some good fireworks so it was a pretty good new year!

It has been a bit warmer, which is nice, Burgas usually has more mild winters than the rest of Bulgaria being more south and next to the sea which is nice because I like being able to just be out talking to people on the street!

This week was okay, we did a lot of contacting because everyone was too busy to meet for lessons because of the holidays and all but this next week should be really good with everyone getting back.  We have some really great people that I am excited to meet with! There is a baptism this Saturday for a younger girl and we are starting the new English courses too.  I've got a lot to look forward to this new year!!

I love you all Have a great 2013!!

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I really like it here!

The new area is way cool I really like it here, it is way smaller than Sofia and it's pretty cold which really stinks because we only have one investigator and that means we're outside almost all day contacting but it's all good I've got a warm coat and all so no worries!

 

The branch here is way cool.  We have some way nice members (there aren't any wards in Bulgaria yet), we had about 11 members at church on Sunday (there are more some are just gone for the holidays).  I didn't have to speak at church this week, we watched the Christmas devotional from the first presidency after the sacrament. Since it's so small, I've already met most of the members between church and the Christmas party we had on Sat. and I am way excited to be out here!

 

Our investigator is way cool, he is from Pakistan and he is Muslim which is pretty tough but he is way nice and a great guy. My new companion is cool, he is from Idaho and he actually is only one group ahead of me so two months ahead. He's the second youngest in his family and he played the trombone in marching band and he did wrestling and was pretty good at both of those. I'm not really sure what else to say.

 

Half of the district here (6 missionaries) are from my MTC group, two others are from the group ahead of me and the district leader has been out for a bit over a year so we have a really young district! My MTC companion is out here too so it is good to see him again he is way fun and everyone here is super cool so I am pretty excited for this transfer!

 

For Christmas they have pretty much the same traditions as in America, I haven't really seen or heard of anything different except they do hand out little fortunes on the streets because it's Christmas time.

 

New years here is way bigger though, they have some interesting stuff like hitting their grandparents with decorated sticks and singing a song then they get some money or something from them. Ha ha it's not bad though they have thin little things that babas sell on the street and they don't really hit them it's more of a light tap thing.

 

Yeah so... have some good questions for tomorrow because we've got 40 min and I don't know what I would talk about. Have an awesome Christmas eve and morning and I will talk to you tomorrow!

Love you all!

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Heading over to Burgas!

This week I get to head over to the sea to serve in Burgas with Elder Peterson so I will leave tomorrow for that! That Christmas package was huge and don't worry I didn't open it yet but I did have Elder Wheat check in it to see if there were individual packages inside.  It was good to find out that there was, it will be a little bit easier to transport it like that!

From what I have heard Burgas has some way awesome members and I have met a couple already and actually the clerk here in Sofia is from Burgas, when I was helping him out yesterday he was telling me all about it and he actually is going to be out there for Christmas so I will see him again on Sunday! It is kind of strange to think that I will be leaving Sofia, it is so cool here and we have some way awesome investigators but Elder Babbitt will be staying and take care of them. I will for sure miss Sofia but I am excited to go to Burgas! We will be able to skpe on Christmas day so I will let you know next Monday when I write what time for sure we will call around!

It's crazy to think this time last year I had just been finishing up my first semester of school.  The time goes by way fast and I'm very excited that Ethan and Nick and a bunch of people from Oregon are going on their missions! It really is an incredible experience and I am glad that they are going too!
So this last week was really good we had some pretty good lessons at the beginning of the week and we had a lot of contacting for the last bit but it is pretty hard to get people to stop when it is so cold out. I hear it is warmer in Burgas though so that will be good! We got to have dinner with President and Sister Wilstead last night and the assistants and they are so cool I am really glad I will have them for the whole two years it's too bad that I'll be way out in Burgas, I probably won't see them around quite as much . Other than that things have been pretty normal and it's all going well out here!

Have an awesome week with one Elder Maxwell returning and hopefully you will be able to get everything all set for Christmas, it will be a busy week! I love you all and thank you for all you do!!

Love from,
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I love zone conferences!

So we had Zone Conference yesterday and it was really good I love zone conferences and I also am extremely jealous of dad and my companion because last night we had an investigator we had invited to FHE at the mission home and I couldn't go because dad would be there meeting the mission president. So I was on splits with a different elder and then that night when I got back with Babbitt he told me he had dad in a lesson with our investigator because he speaks french like our guy and so they had him help translate and teach because the investigators English wasn't perfect. I'm pretty jealous of all the elders here who got to see him and all so I might have to repent with you mom!

Disclaimer from Mom:  While I was writing to Christian, I asked Ian if there was anything he wanted to ask him and Ian said to ask him what he was doing "right now", which would have been 3am Christian's time.  Christian's answer made me laugh so I had to include it in the blog!

Ian, I would have been sleeping but a giant spider got into our apartment and tried stealing my bed so I had to wrestle him to the ground and tie him up with his own web so he couldn't bite me then I cooked him up and I tossed him out the window into the snow for the dogs and cats to fight over. It was pretty cool, he was really big and hairy.

This week was really good, we've been really working on getting a lot of members involved in our lessons and I wish that I had done it sooner. Members are so important in missionary work so be sure and keep up with the misisonaries and make sure that they know you want to help with their investigators! And Ben and Alan for sure you should go out with the elders and show them how its done! Sorry dad I didn't let you know about the weather we actually got our first snow last Monday and it has been pretty cold since then I was actually worried when I thought about you coming from India that you wouldn't have anything too warm to wear I'm glad the layers worked for you! We've been doing a bit more tracting especially after dark because it's colder and not many people will stop and talk, it's not my favorite and there isn't very much success from it either but there is some.

We got to watch the Christmas devotional from the first presidency in church and it was all translated into Bulgarian but I could actually understand what they were saying!! Oh and also our older guy that was baptized got to pass the sacrament this week for the first time and that was way neat having the members and all teach him how to do it and to watch him pass it!! There's not really too much else new I guess... we get transfer calls this weekend so I will find out if I am staying in Sofia or going somewhere else! The work is going good and I am glad to be here in Bulgaria to help build the kingdom of the Lord!

Love you all!
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