December 20

December 20,

I only have an hour on P-Day to check email, so yeah, I can't check it during the week. We're smart though and print the emails to read them back at our place, so all my email time is strictly for writing and we don't waste the hour with reading. The District Leader is supposed to check the mail twice a day, so I can get letters throughout the week. With packages he gives me a note and I go down to the mail office and pick it up. I like it better that way, though, it's more fun.  

Yesterday we had our first TRC's. (Training Resource Center.) Basically what that is is when we go and talk to people, usually return missionaries and Bulgarians, who we can practice the language with and share a spiritual message. I don't know if you remember but I did that once or twice when I was eighteen with missionaries going German-speaking. So it was interesting to be on the opposite side of it. Sister Lefler, Sister Stratton and I were talking about how it kind of sucks that none of us have a companion to practice our languages with, since Sister Lefler is learning Croatian and Sister Stratton Polish. We are the only three sisters in our zone now and we're a tri-panionship. We all kind of agree, however, that it's nice that we get some time away from each other, when we're each in our respective classes.  ANYWAY so at the TRC I was the only one who talked to someone who wasn't an actual Bulgarian, he was just a return missionary. I'm jealous that all my Bulgarian elders had companions to work with and help fill the time. I mean, when we talked to our fake investigator I worked alone too, but this time our teacher told us not to write out whole lessons or whole sentences in our notes. I think mine went well, though, especially when I talked to the elders afterward about how theirs went.

"I think at one point I asked him if I loved Bulgaria."

"No, you pointed at him and were like, 'Does he love Bulgaria?' and he was like, 'Who?'"

"Man, going to Bulgaria is going to be the most painful experience. It's gonna be six months of 'Do I love Bulgaria?' 'I'm a church and you should join me.'"

One of our Bulgarian elders left. He was contemplating just going home but then I guess his mission president suggested he try switching to an English speaking mission and see if it was any easier. So, we'll still see him around the MTC for the next little bit, but he's already moved into another residence and going to different classes. Lots of jokes in class about "only five remain" and "who will be next?" 

So far in the MTC I've run into Sienna Hawkins, a girl I was a YCL over years ago at girls camp, and Karyn Iforgetherlastname, who lived at the German house the year after I did. They were both going to Brazil. And Nicole Connor is here somewhere, but I haven't seen her yet. And this guy Spencer who works in the bookstore lived in the Spanish house with me. 

Oh man, I have to tell you about this experience I had in the laundromat last P-Day. It happened like as soon as I finished emailing you. I didn't think the story was that great initially but Sister Lefler has retold it so many times since that I guess it was pretty funny. Elder Boyce, who I think is going to the Czech Republic, was talking to Sister Lefler about this Harry Potter journal he was writing in and how he was a huge fan. This English-speaking elder sitting nearby overheard them and said, "You're talking about Harry Potter? What do you want to know about Harry Potter?"

"What do you wanna know about Harry Potter?" another random elder retorted.

Elder Boyce starts telling him about how he has a Hogwarts tie and had met JK Rowling before.

"Do you have the Hogwarts sweater though?"

Elder Boyce: "No."

"Because I have the sweater and the tie. I have Harry Potter pajamas, Harry Potter uniform, I ordered it online from the same guy who made the costumes from the movie. It cost me a FORTUNE."

At this point Elder Boyce was just kind of nodding, and the English-speaking elder was like, "Did you read the backstories on all the characters?"

"Yeah. I really liked Professor McGonagall."

"Well, I really liked the one on Lupin."

It kind of died down and then Sister Lefler decided she needed to get it going again. "So you read the backstories, huh?"

There was some more going back and forth, and keep in mind that the laundry room is full of people as this is happening. Some within earshot are just laughing, some shaking their heads and trying to do other things. I decided to interject, "Yeah, you guys might be pretty dedicated, but for me it's in my blood." I gestured towards my nametag, 'CECTPA Riddle'. "Voldemort doesn't die," I told them. One elder from our zone pointed at me with a big grin on his face from his seat at a computer. The English-speaking elder didn't have a retort, but looked at my nametag enviously. Sister Lefter later said he probably went to get the papers started to change his name. Long story short, the wizarding duel ended with the elder saying, "Oh yeah? Who's the bigger fan now??!!" He stood and ripped off his hoodie to reveal a t-shirt that said 'I'm a keeper' with three of the Quidditch goalpost things. One of the times when Sister Lefler reenacted this story, one of my Bulgarian elders was like, "Was this real life? This actually happened?" Yes. Yes it did.

Before Sister Mahe left, she was pretty sick and one day they pulled me out of class so I could go down to her residence and make her go to her doctors' appointment. When I got back an elder said to me,"What was that for?"

"They told me I was the best missionary at the MTC and had me do a victory lap around campus," I told him. Too bad I started laughing when I got to the words 'victory lap' because he said up to that point he believed me. WELL WHO WOULDN'T.

Not everything here is all fun and games, however! We just keep each other in good spirits. We have a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday, and we have scripture study in the morning, companionship prayer at night, etc. etc. I feel myself becoming closer to the Savior and understanding more my purpose as a missionary to help other people do so. I know that God listens to my prayers and answers them. I know that He loves me. I know that His word is in the Book of Mormon and that Christ has the power to deliver us from any affliction, from any sin. I really have a long way to go as far as my knowledge and faithfulness to the doctrine of the Lord's church, but He's going to help me. He wants me to come unto Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

With all the fake investigators and TRCs and stuff, it makes me more aware of all that I have because of this gospel. I really hope I can be a tool in Heavenly Father's hands to help people experience the love and joy that I have. 

Just keep me updated on you and everything.

Ciao,

CECTPA Riddle