Tuesday, December 16, 2014

December 15, 2014

Hi Mom,

Today was one of the best P-days ever. We finally went to see the castle here in Skopje. I've never walked around on it in all my time here. I looked it up and apparently it was built in the year 500?? Guess people back then knew how to build. It has been so, so foggy these past few days in the city but the view from up top was still pretty decent. Two stray dogs followed us around, which is pretty normal, and didn't part until we crossed the river later that day. Around the base of the castle were two tiny doors which Sister Hassell pointed out. I told her they led to Narnia and with that she disappeared behind them and I didn't see her for another twenty minutes (which for her I'm sure was about six months.) The castle was beautiful and artful up close and I appreciated all the arches, heavy doors and lookout points, and the slope of the castle in general, which definitely isn't the style in architecture today. So impressive was how sturdy it was and the fact that it's built out of a bunch of stones. I said to Elder Prince that tall buildings like that must have been the bomb for people who weren't used to being in planes or seeing pictures or movies from aerial views. Kind of strange for me to see a city I thought I knew so well from another vantage point, so I can't imagine how they must have felt. 

Then on our way down we stopped at the mosque that I've been to before, only last time we got there right when it opened so it was empty. At the mosque it's nametags off to show respect, then shoes off before entering or even placing your feet on the rug outside as a rule, and once inside this time a worker asked me to cover my hair and pointed to a rack full of headcoverings. He said it very respectfully. Another worker informed us that the call to prayer would be in about two minutes and had us stand to the side. I had never seen the actual prayer before so I was excited. The song came on as usual in Arabic and I realized that a man standing to the side was singing it into a microphone. People, all men, kept coming in late and knelt at the front of the room. There were about thirty of them, including the workers. The prayer lasted about fifteen minutes and was silent. I know that it's a memorized prayer though, and together they all knelt, bowed, moved their heads, and did everything else in unison. One guy who came in the latest I noticed had wet arms and legs, and once we went back outside I saw a huge fountain with soap around it that I guess they use to wash before entering to pray. Which is pretty notable considering how cold it is right now. The one worker who had told us about the call to prayer wanted to take a picture with all of us once we were outside. We stood around and talked to him about Islam for a few minutes and I heard him say, "What religion teaches people to kill? That is not a religion. A life is not ours to take. I see this on the tv, people who say they are Muslim and I think it's horrible. I don't know what it is." He told us he owned a restaurant in Tetovo and if we ever came he'd give us a free coffee. He told us to add him on Facebook and then we headed back out of Old Town; cobblestone and cigarette butts everywhere, and what Elder Gierisch calls "Balkan Spanish" music playing. 

All of the missionaries went over to the Swinefords on Sunday to watch the Christmas devotional and they gave us each a bag of American candy as an early present to all of us. Sweet! 

Haha, that's funny what you said about the Schofields giving you that ornament because in our apartment right now we have a little Christmas tree that includes some tiny lights that Sister Hassell got at the MTC and a bunch of Book of Mormon ornaments. I looked at it one day and said to Sister Schofield, "Ugh. We are such sister missionaries."

We have a big "He is the Gift" sign in Macedonian that we take contacting now, which is great! It makes us look so much more professional. But it also makes us look a lot more like Jehovah's Witnesses because they always have little setups like that. The first night we had it, I talked to a woman for a long time and tried to get her to come to church. She said she didn't want to until she was sure we weren't a cult. "You guys don't, like, do sacrifices and stuff like that?" I told her no but she didn't seem to believe me.

 Sister Schofield has had fun wrapping Book of Mormons at this time of year. She's doing a 12 days of Christmas thing for all of our elders, which is really nice of her, and we're taking out our portable DVD player when we go contacting to show people the He is the Gift video. President Weidmann says he'll get more cards to us, and we're planning a few more cool things for the season. Among the missionaries we're all doing a secret gift exchange. It's lots of fun. 

Psalms 31:1-3, "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me."

Love,
Sister Riddle

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

December 8, 2014

Dear Mom,
 
The new missionaries are here!!!! I was so excited going to pick them up from the airport on Wednesday and was the first to be waiting at the arrival gate. President and Sister Weidmann were there too, and they told us that Elder Prince and Krajnc would be training, along with me. I hadn't known beforehand that one of us would be the official trainer, I just figured me and Sister Schofield would both do it together. Elder Prince spotted them first, and then I went around to give Sister Hassell a hug. I remember her saying, "Is this really happening?" And another one of the first things she said to me as we were waiting for the APs at the curb outside was, "I read your blog." Apparently Elder Rigby's dad found it and mailed a bunch of my letters to him via DearElder while he was in the MTC, which Elder Rigby then passed on to the others once he was done reading them. He said to me, "I felt a little invasive reading them because they all start out, 'Hi Mom'. But they were so cool and I got to find out about everything and it kept me totally pumped to come in-field." I thought it was pretty cool too, that they read them. Unexpected. He served in Payson for I think a month while they got his visa ready.
 
It's so nice having new people. I feed off of their excitement and hope. It's nice knowing enough that I'm able to help them.

I forgot to mention that President Weidmann made an exception for Macedonia to the no-teaching-opposite sex rule. Woohoo! We can teach men again. And now that we're a threesome with Sister Hassell we don't have to bother our members so much to come to a lesson (not in public) when it's with a man. Like Blagoy, for example. For most of my mission I have only contacted men because I didn't want another Benjamin to happen. That backfired the other night when a woman asked me out. So now I'm contacting men again.
 
You know the He is the Gift video I sent you last time? So I have read in my friends' emails that in their missions around the world they are all doing these pass-along cards with the website to the video. President Weidmann mentioned it in a letter to us and I assumed that as with everything else it wouldn't apply to Macedonia. But then an amazing thing happened!! We asked Zoki to translate the card into Macedonian and when President came down with the new missionaries he gave us all cards in Macedonian! So awesome! The most professional-looking ones we have ever had. And it's so great and easy because everyone can connect with Christmas and it segways so easily into talking about the Savior. Plus watching a 2 minute video at home is a much easier commitment that coming to church or meeting with us. Call it a Christmas miracle. Now I just need to convince President Weidmann to send us more because we don't have nearly enough to last until January 7, which is when they celebrate it here. Elder Prince even worked on making the video in Macedonian and we're going to see if it can be played from the big tv screen in the center of Skopje. That would be so amazing. Fingers crossed!

The past couple of days have been super busy with getting the new missionaries settled and all the legal stuff and everything. We had training with President Weidmann for the first two days and went up to Mount Vodno and read Macedonia's dedicatory prayer for the first time ever. We had Zone Training in Kosovo on Saturday and today for p-day we all went bowling. 
 
Alma 39:15, "And now, my son, I would say somewhat unto you concerning the coming of Christ. Behold, I say unto you, that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people."
 
Merry Christmas and I love you,
Sister Riddle

 
 

Monday, December 1, 2014

December 1, 2014

Hey Mom,

So there's not really anything exciting that happened this week but I'll tell you about the new pass-along cards that we designed. The front has the church's full name with a picture of Jesus on it (inspired from the Yarn's cards) with the question, "Does God speak to His children today?" below that. (I came up with the question. Yay me.) On the back it has our phone number with some church websites on it, plus an explanation of what happens at church and the location. People always ask us what we do at church so we figured we'd just put it on there. We all think the cards are an improvement from last time. The cards used to have a picture of the first vision on the front and the question, "Do I ever ask myself how to become a better person?" on the back. We hoped that would jog people's interest but it didn't really. It's too soon to tell the efficacy of the new ones but I'll let you know.

The day after Thanksgiving when the elders got back from Tirana I made them all General Tso's chicken and rice, which I've been waiting for a special occasion to make since I got here. I gave them some to give to Elmaz along with some banana bread.

Anyway, I love you, and I miss you a lot. in 24 days I can talk to you on Skype. Merry Christmas everybody.
Sister Riddle



What's that? Oh, just the best temple in the world.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 24, 2014

Hey Mom,

So we planned to go to Albania for another mission conference/Thanksgiving celebration this week but Sister Schofield has the flu so we she might not be well enough to make the trip. She sure does get sick a lot. We're taking her to the doctor today.

We found another family!!! We started talking to this taxi driver named Mervan who speaks a bit of English and he said that even though he was Muslim he liked talking to other people about their religious beliefs. We met up with his wife and went to their home one day last week. His mother and 6-year-old daughter were also there for the lesson. Unfortunately Sister Schofield gave most of the lesson because once their little girl came in she showed me her toys, books, and videos on their iPad and I was pretty much no help during the lesson. Sister Schofield said it was ok though because she thought it was important that we showed we cared about them and not just converting them. The little girl was so cute, she only speaks Albanian and a little bit of English and almost everything I said to her she responded, "Yeah." I do the same thing in Macedonian when I don't understand. 

Anyway, not much new to report on other than the new missionaries get here next Wednesday December 3rd

Happy Thanksgiving.
Love,
Sister Riddle

 

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

November 17, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
So this week we went to Albania again for mission conference. We got there the night before and went out with some of the elders for dinner. It's so nice to be with different people. We slept in Tirana with the sisters there and then drove to Durres the next day since there's a chapel there. The best speaker wasn't the main one. We slept in Tirana again and drove back to Skopje the next day. 

I finished reading Jesus the Christ. A fantastic way to spend 800 pages. I'm happy though because now I can read more scriptures during personal study.

Language classes are going well. The other day I translated the phrase "too gay to function" into Macedonian and Elder Krajnc gave me a man point. I didn't even know he knew what those were or how to give them. He's been holding out on me. 

By the way, apparently it's never too early for the opposition to start working against us. Remember how I said I wasn't worried about there being anything anti-mormon online? Yeah I was wrong. Online and on tv. Apparently there was an hour special on the other night about how we're here illegally. Which is pretty rich considering the church is the most rigorous rule-following organization ever. I can personally testify and reassure anyone who wants to know that through the amount of things I have signed, pictures I have taken, trips to visit our lawyer, Elena, or to go to the ministry building, that I know that we are here 100% legally. If we didn't care about the law we would be tracting and have a better meeting place, probably. 

On a personal note, I don't know how anyone gets by in life without prayer. This morning I didn't have time to pray and I feel like I'm going to die. Be grateful for prayer and that Heavenly Father not only is willing to communicate with us but has commanded us to pray. 
 
"Choose to converse with your Father in Heaven often. Make time every day to share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Tell Him everything that concerns you. He is interested in the most important as well as the most mundane facets of your life. Share with Him your full range of feelings and experiences.
Because He respects your agency, Father in Heaven will never force you to pray to Him. But as you exercise that agency and include Him in every aspect of your daily life, your heart will begin to fill with peace, buoyant peace. That peace will focus an eternal light on your struggles. It will help you to manage those challenges from an eternal perspective.
Parents, help safeguard your children by arming them morning and night with the power of family prayer. Children are bombarded every day with the evils of lust, greed, pride, and a host of other sinful behaviors. Protect your children from daily worldly influences by fortifying them with the powerful blessings that result from family prayer. Family prayer should be a nonnegotiable priority in your daily life." -Elder Richard G. Scott
Love you all so much,
Sister Riddle

Sunday, November 16, 2014

November 10, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
So, usually every week we do service by picking up trash in Skopje. Did you know it's the most polluted city in Europe? Disgusting. 3rd most polluted city in the world. Zoki our language teacher told us that. This week we had all of our language classes by his work and then afterwards decided to do our contacting down there instead of at our few usual places. It was such a nice change. A lot more people talked to us there. 

The only truly Macedonian materials we have are the Gospel Fundamentals book and some Joseph Smith pamphlets, which aren't very helpful when contacting. Everything else we use is in Serbian. For the past several months we've been using some self-made passalong cards. President Ford had it approved for a one-time printing of I think 5,000 denar worth. But we're running out and thus designing new ones in the hope that President Weidmann will be sympathetic to our cause and approve more to be printed. Anyway, since I still wanted to pass out things in Macedonian and we were short on cards, I had the idea to write out parts of my testimony on these card-sized pictures of Jesus that the Yarns gave me right before I came out on my mission (about a year ago!) I also wrote out the information for where to come for church and our phone number on them. So far they've gotten a great response because people are more willing to hold onto a picture of Christ than our card, which does have a picture of the first vision on it, but people don't always recognize that. I gave one of them to a couple that was intermittently staring at us and making out one night while contacting. They were from Czech Republic and said they were followers of Christ and in turn gave me a couple booklets about their beliefs. I thought that was really nice of them. 

Did I tell you that in Macedonia you can buy actual chestnuts roasted over an open fire? Well, more like open grill, but still. I haven't tried any yet. They were here when I first arrived in Skopje, which is a reminder of just how much time has passed. 


Love you,
Sister Riddle

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 2, 2014

Hey Mom,
So not much really happened this week worth talking about but I figured I'd share this video with you.


Love you all. Keep going on.
Sister Riddle

Monday, October 27, 2014

October 27, 2014

Dear Mom,

President Weidmann made a new rule that Sisters can only teach women and Elders can only teach men, no exceptions. This rule had been suggested but not completely mandatory beforehand. Anyway, he sent out the message via text one morning about two weeks ago. So, me and Sister Schofield now have zero investigators, unless you count Natasha. We divided up our investigators and all the phone numbers we'd gotten while contacting among the elders. It's just really hard getting women to talk to us here.
We both went to the dentist today. If you ever are apprehensive or uncomfortable about going to the dentist back home, just know it can be a lot, lot worse. I spent the entire cleaning intermittently spitting out mouthfuls of blood into a little sink that they placed next to my head. The last time I remember bleeding at the dentist was when I was little and they had me show them how I flossed, and they quickly pointed out that the bleeding was my fault for not flossing regularly. The whole cleansing was quite painful and they ended it with flossing my teeth with what felt like sandpaper. Afterwards I went into the bathroom to clean my face off and my gums throbbed. I avoided Sister Schofield directly after my appointment because I knew I wouldn't be able to keep from telling her how bad it had been, and I figured it was better if she was going in to not know beforehand. She came out with an interesting look on her face and started shaking her head. At least now I am tartar-free. (Though in America they seem to integrate their knowledge of how bone doesn't bleed into their tartar cleansings.)
We also took Sister Schofield to the doctor today to try and find out what is causing her headaches. We found some holy water in a bathroom cupboard in our apartment and I suggested pouring it on her head to see if that helped.
Forgot to tell you about the institute lesson at the army base last week. The lesson was only with two soldiers because apparently a bunch of people were just shipped in and out and they don't know everyone who's a Mormon yet. The lesson we taught was on the Atonement, and I think it went really well. We sat in the chow hall with them and two senior couples (the Nelsons and the Tooles) and gave it there. When we first sat down one soldier said to Sister Schofield, "How's it going with keeping world peace?" "Isn't that your job?" she asked him. "No, our job has to do with when world peace is threatened." "I guess we work from the inside," I said. We ate at Taco Bell afterward and at the little grocery store I got some instant oatmeal, chicken noodle soup, skittles, and a protein bar.
I also got a package from Anna aka Sister Boucher (in North Carolina right now). She sent me a shirt, a cd, and some halloween oreos along with a very nice note. I gave a few oreos to the elders and the package was gone after three days. It was so, so nice getting that.
The Nelsons showed us some video they found online of some missionaries who made a song called "All About That Book", which I thought was fantastically cheesy. A few days later when we were in Center I heard the song All About That Bass playing out of a cafe and appreciated the remix a little better after that.

https://www.lds.org/church/news/the-surprising-science-behind-supremely-happy-people?cid=HPFR102414513&lang=eng
Found something scientific yet uplifting on the church's website. I hope you have a good week. I love you so much.
Sister Riddle
John 14: 18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."
Sorry for any repeats with the scriptures. I forget which ones I have posted.

Monday, October 13, 2014

October 12, 2014

Hey Mom,

Elder Barber once suggested to us that when the salespeople of Skopje come up to us on the street trying to sell us their junk, that we try and sell religion back to them. A few months ago, a guy named Marian came up to us as we were sitting on the Alexander the Great statue with a clipboard and gave us a health survey. We started talking to him about the Book of Mormon afterwards and got his phone number. Nothing happened for a while, and then I saw him again one night and we sat and talked for a long time. I decided to call him randomly a week or so ago, but he kept bailing on appointments. Then I saw him again one night and he called me later when he wasn't working asking to meet. Bam. New investigator.

We also keep having lessons with this guy named Deon, who is drunk 50% of the time, but receptive to our message. He doesn't want to pray or read from the scriptures when he's been drinking, which I think shows respect, so that's good. It was really weird because in our first lesson he said something like, "The heavenly kingdom will be here, only the world will be perfect and changed." How did that random piece of mormon doctrine find its way into a Macedonian church? I guess it isn't really mormon doctrine, it's just truth, but as far as I knew no other church believed that. 

There's going to be baptism in a few days, two or three of the elders' investigators. 

Guess who gets to go to the US army base again tomorrow and teach an institute class to the LDS soldiers there? Me and Sister Schofield. So cool!

1 Corinthians 2:9, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

Love you so much. Keep it up this week,
Sister Riddle

Thursday, October 2, 2014

September 29, 2014

Hey Mom,

So, there are 3 missionaries in the MTC Macedonia-bound right now. Elder Rigby should have been getting here in a few weeks, but he's having some visa problems so who knows when we'll see him? Then there's a Sister Hassel and an Elder Somethingorother coming at the end of November. Exciting.

Transfer calls happened in Albania, Kosovo, and for the Elders here in Macedonia. I remember last time for transfer calls President Ford just called me and asked how I was doing.

We had Sister Training in Albania and then Zone Conference in Kosovo the next day. They were both great. Everything is longer under President Weidmann. He set a goal for each companionship to have four more baptisms by the end of the year. It's now a new rule to pray for our companions in every single prayer, and to pray "at every finding opportunity". He's come up with a mission motto for us and says he wants to find a mission hymn as well, so that throughout our lives when we hear it we can remember our missions.

Remember the Albanian lady who heard voices and told me I was fat? Well, her name was Alyria and apparently she talks to Sister White and Sister Curtis about me pretty much every time they see her. I guess she really liked me and said that I prayed "the right way", which is kind of confusing because I pray the exact same way that they do. They also told me they thought it was funny that Alyria has known them both for so long and gets both of their names wrong, she calls Sister White "Wyatt" and Sister Curtis "Courtis" even though she speaks great English, but every time she references me it's always, "Sister Riddle."

While in Tirana I went to a lesson at a member family's house. The woman showed us a picture of her, her husband and little boy in the May 2012 edition of the Liahona. I tried to find it online to paste it into this email, but online there are no pictures. It was a talk by Henry B. Eyring, though. 

Sister Curtis goes home to Missouri on Wednesday, and Sister Wilding is leaving too. I really liked them both.
 
Well, that's really all I have to say this week. I love you so much.
Love,
Sister Riddle

Monday, September 22, 2014

September 22, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
This week nothing really happened other than the elders' investigator Veli being baptized.

Don't know if you remember me telling you about the German family who was at church over the summer, but the grandma who is native to Macedonia came back this week and took all of the missionaries out to lunch. We went to a traditional Macedonian restaurant and spent what would be a pretty penny if we ate that much in America, but here I think only amounted to about $40 total. It was so nice of her. Since nothing exciting has happened lately maybe I'll tell you some more about Macedonian food.

So there's something called a Shopska salad which is just raw onion, cucumber and tomato cut up with a bunch of shredded feta cheese and several whole olives over it. Sometimes it comes with olive oil and salt. The first time I tried it I ate it because I hadn't known what I was ordering, but now I love it. Minus the olives. Gross. 

Plain bread is served pretty much at every meal. I feel like rice is to Japan what simple white bread is to Macedonia. Some people eat a piece of bread from a bakery with plain white yogurt for breakfast. 

Tavche gravche is a small casserole dish of beans cooked with cheese. It's pretty delicious. Elder Prince plans on finding out how to make it and when he does I want him to teach me and bring some of the beans back to America so I can make it for you.

Stuffed peppers are another traditional food. They are so, so good and usually stuffed with rice and ground meat. Not to be confused with the regular skinny green peppers that people roast and add to anything to give it spice. I have only ever seen them here, but maybe they exist in the states too and I'm just oblivious.

Once when we were over teaching the Asan family they gave us a drink called Ayran. She was telling us how healthy it is. It's basically thick, salty milk.  Sister Schofield bribed Elder Barber with three scoops of ice cream to get him to drink hers for her when she was in the other room.

In the bakeries, burek is pretty popular. It's flaky bread with either cheese, meat, spinach or a combination in the middle. 

As far as pastries go, they look pretty decadent but are usually mild in taste. The cake is dry and usually has some type of mousse or fruit filling to give it moisture. I like to get apple strudel or this filled doughnut-type bread when I eat at a bakery. They have pretty good tres leches cake here, but seem to think it's Italian when we all know it's from South America. Right? When we went to visit Suat in his sweets shop one day, he gave us something made from just eggs, milk and sugar. I ate it for both myself and Sister Schofield because she thought it was gross. It did taste like eggs. But then she also thinks I'm weird when I put syrup on my eggs in the morning. 

You know what baclava is, right? Pastry dough with honey and nuts. Different varieties and flavors. There are shops all over, usually they sell baclava in little 25 denar pieces, so you can get however much you want. I love it.

Macedonians love their large hunks of well-seasoned, greasy meat. 

Usually when you get a fast food burger here, they stuff the fries between the meat and the bun. The ketchup and mayonnaise here is weird.

There's doners, which are Turkish, and gyros, which are Greek, but they're essentially the same thing.

Pizza here is always flimsy crust and usually you have to squirt the tomato sauce on top. It's more common here to put eggs on pizza than in America.

There's a few different types of cheeses here that I've only experienced here.

Lamb, goat, cabbage, liver, and intestine are more common in Macedonia. Lamb is good if it's cooked right.

Pancakes are eaten for dessert.
 
Carbonated water. One of my first weeks here I made the comment, after choking some down in a member's home to be polite, that I would never, ever voluntarily drink it. It's not just fizzy but bitter and salty. Sometimes now I buy it of my own free will.

Food overall is more plain. 

When you go into someone's house, they always offer you either something to eat or drink and it's rude not to take it.

People spend hours talking in restaurants or cafes, so the waiters never come over to ask if you need something. In cafes where only drinks are sold, they're overpriced because they figure you'll be spending a long time there using the table.

There's your Macedonian food culture lesson for today! Hope that covers all the bases. I'm gonna bear my testimony for you in Macedonian, not because you can read it or even pronounce it, but because it's pretty to look at. 

Знам дека оваа црква е вистина и дека Џозеф Смит беше пророк. Бог е нашиот отец и ги слуша нашите молитви, и може да контактира со нас преку светите писма и светиот дух. Бог не сака. Во името на Исус Христос, амин.
I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. God is our Father and hears our prayers, and can communicate to us through the holy scriptures and the Holy Ghost. God loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love, 
Sister Riddle

Monday, September 15, 2014

September 15, 2014

Hey Mom,

So, not much happened this week. Elder Prince, Gierisch, and Sister Schofield passed their one-year mark on September 11. We went out for crepes to celebrate. I thought about how in America people would probably be doing a moment of silence in the schools to remember 9/11. I remember in my Doctrine and Covenants class at BYU, my teacher pointed out the fact that these verses on forgiveness were given in section 64, exactly 170 years before the terrorist attacks, "Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. And ye ought to say in your hearts—let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds." I remember he said he didn't think it was a coincidence.

The elders are having a baptism this month. A Turkish man named Veli, who I met on my very first night here in Skopje. I tried talking to him in Bulgarian and he didn't understand because he doesn't even speak Macedonian that well.

We had another lesson with Suat, the owner of the sweets shop. He always brings different friends, which is awesome. Something I forgot to mention about our first meeting with him was when he asked us, "Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Who is Jesus' grandfather?" In a lesson there's no room for even a shared look with my companion. Plus, I come to realize more and more that there really are no stupid questions. The people here have had such different experiences with religion than I have, and I would be ignorant to think that mine are superior just because I was raised in the true church. 

We ran into two soldiers from the army base in Kosovo. That was pretty cool. It was probably my first experience as a missionary with someone who already knew about the church and the gospel. The one that we mainly talked to had read most of the Book of Mormon before and the entire Pearl of Great Price. It was weird just because the feedback was so different than what I'm used to. I think that probably is a factor in missionaries' callings, the common questions asked and each missionary's respective answer.

Elder Barber turned 21. Elder Prince made him a Captain America cake because he loves superheroes so much.
Well, sorry I can't send you another long email but really nothing new is going on. I love you so much and I miss you! Let me know how the family is.


Love, 
Sister Riddle

Saturday, September 13, 2014

September 9, 2014

Dear Mother,

So, today for our P day we went to the Holocaust museum here, and then the Macedonian Museum of National Struggle. We got our P day switched this week because yesterday was a holiday and it would've been impossible to do anything, including email. And all government buildings are closed on Mondays anyway so this was probably the only time of our missions that we'd be able to go to those museums. 

The holocaust museum was cool, there was a lot of artwork on the first floor, which made me think how some people are so much more visually creative than I am. I think some people must think in pictures and color as opposed to words and ideas, like I do. They also had what seemed to be a real cattle car from Bulgaria there. It was so sad. On the other floors Jewish culture and history of the holocaust in the Balkans were explained. At the center of the museum was an artist's rendering of the burning bush from the Bible, and the description commented on how it looked different from every angle in the building. 
In the museum of Macedonian history, we each paid 300 denar for a tour in English, but we might as well have done one in Macedonian, because our guide's accent was so bad I gave up trying to understand him ten minutes through. It was a wax museum. It was creepy. There were a lot of things to read, though, so I did learn a thing or two about this country. You know those moments you have where suddenly something makes sense? I had about a thousand of those in that museum. The graffiti that I see written everywhere here, "слобода или смрт" (Freedom or death) is an adage that began in a revolutionary war here against the Ottoman Empire. (Patrick Henry anyone?) I saw it in old paintings written on flags, some with what appeared to be either old Macedonian or possibly Bulgarian. Graffiti has also morphed the saying into, "слобода или страв" (freedom or fear), sometimes accompanied with a question mark. I guess Macedonia has been trying to be independent for a long time. I remember when I looked up Macedonia on the internet before my mission, it said something about Macedonia not being able to be a part of NATO or anything because of its name. Macedonia is also the name of a state in Greece and Greece still likes to claim Macedonia as its own. One of our members here told us one day how important it was to her to be able to call herself a Македонка, the identity she had grown up with. Within this country itself, people are so infuriated by the government. I don't blame them. It's so corrupt. I don't know if you remember me telling you about how all the fountains and statues here are new and how people here are so mad that that is what the government decided to spend its money on. I said to Sister Schofield, who's lived in Italy, that it's kind of like when the Colosseum was made, or when Nero built his huge palace and the people were angry. I wonder if at some point in history Macedonia will make its mark, or even if it doesn't, we lived here when it happened. Pretty cool to think about.

I had a Francheska sighting this week while contacting in the mall. At first I didn't see her but as she passed me she said, "Riddle..." and then turned back. She was very angry about something and talking so fast that I couldn't understand her. I was just so happy to see her that she quickly calmed down, and I invited her to church again on Sunday. She was happy as a clam when she left. But she didn't come to church.

One day while contacting in the mall due to rain, I decided that God must be British. I imagined a Macedonian man dying and going to hell and praying, saying, "God, why didn't you show me the true way?" And God answers and tells him, "I tried." The man realizes it and says, "Those six kids in Center Mall? Who didn't speak Macedonian very well? Whose name tags were spelled wrong, with their backpacks and rained-on pamphlets? They had the true church, the everlasting gospel, age-old answers about life? They had the true path to exaltation and carried with them Thy word? They could have saved me?" God says, "Yes. It was those kids in Center Mall the whole time." 
British humor. Not very doctrinally accurate, but something that made me laugh to myself when I was super bored one day.

I contacted a family while out on the street one night, and the man was an owner of a слаткарница, a sweets shop, so we went to visit him there on Monday night. He told me he was an atheist but didn't want to be. The shop was closed but he let us in and turned on a few lights and offered us some sweet cream pie. He also tried to get us to drink Боза, a nasty traditional drink they have here made from yeast. I tried a sip of it once and it seemed like it was inspired from someone drinking the remains of an ashtray. He told us Боза is better when mixed with blueberry juice, but I had no desire to make myself like it and so took just the blueberry juice by itself. His friend came over and they smoked cigarettes as they talked to us and Elmaz. His friend was a Muslim and took a long time to make the point to me, "Al Qaeda is not Muslim. If you read in the Quran, it condemns killing other people. If you kill a person, you are no longer a Muslim. Al Qaeda are just terrorists, they are violent people who hide behind the banner of Islam, and it is false. Islam is a peaceful, tolerant religion." I told him I knew and that I actually had a lot of respect for Muslims. It was nice that Elmaz came because he used to be Muslim himself. Overall a good lesson, plus we got a referral without even trying.

I came across this scripture one day in the Book of Mormon while not even looking for anything in particular. I think it says something about how much Heavenly Father speaks to us through the scriptures, and how willing He is to answer our prayers if we will ask Him and then seek in faith. I had been thinking about how hard it is for me to make good friends with the people we teach, and how I'm not a good student when it comes to studying the language, and how there are so many aspects of missionary work that I will never be good at. I'd been feeling really down on myself. Then I read this, Alma 29 verse 6, "Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" and also some other verses in the chapter. It was very humbling. The Lord called me here to do my best. He knew exactly what I would and wouldn't accomplish here and called me here anyway. I shouldn't want to do anything more or less than that, because anything else is not the will of God. I hope that this realization I had can help someone else who reads this to realize that all you ever have to do is your best. Because I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for our lives, and that we can always repent and He will be there, that He loves us so much, and that He wants to help us.

 
Sister Riddle

Thursday, September 4, 2014

September 1, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
Turns out that the horrible cough I've had was actually bronchitis, in my right lung. Sister Schofield made me go to the doctor on Wednesday and they prescribed me a bunch of medicine and rest and so we had another unproductive week. The doctors' English on the prescription-thing was hilarious. My name was "Lanven Riddle" and "She has coughing before few days. Advice for rest home." At least my "oropharynx mucosa is good," thank heaven. I had been worried.
 
I did go to language classes this week, though. We're going to have them every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Zoki's house until we find a better place. He's a good teacher. Even though we're still working through the same book. He's also been called as a Sunday school teacher, so he's going to switch off with Ana every other week. The first time we'll have lessons actually in Macedonian!!! Ana speaks Serbian, which the members understand. 
 
Natasha finally told her family about the church!!! We're so proud of her. We had suggested she just get baptized without her family knowing, but she respected her parents too much and said it was important that they knew. She said her dad took it really well and even said he would start reading the Book of Mormon. Actually setting up a baptismal date with her is probably going to take time as well, but at least one of the most important obstacles is out of the way.
 
Sister Schofield turned 23 on Saturday!! I mostly got her food as presents, because I didn't know what else to get her. The elders got her a ton of stuff though, and we went to the Irish pub we always go to and had them bring out a cake for her as they blasted a happy birthday song. I think she had a good day.
 
Mosiah 24: 14-15, "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."
Love, 
Sister Riddle
                                                   Sister Schofield's Birthday!
 
 

Thursday, August 28, 2014

August 25, 2014

Hey Mom,

This week it was my turn to be sick. I was nauseous, had a fever, and a horrible cough. But luckily I'm mostly cured now. Contacting one day before my symptoms took a turn for the worse, we were tabling and an American woman and her 17-year old daughter came up to us and asked us, "What are you doing in this country?" They were a couple of very happy, nice New Yorkers. The woman told us her husband, who had died three weeks ago, was from Macedonia and they were here to bury him. She said they had just come from the cemetery and started to cry a bit. I felt so bad for them. Elder Prince gave them a pamphlet in English about the Plan of Salvation. We said goodbye to them but then they returned a few minutes later with six ice cold water bottles and a big bag of Macedonian chocolates for us. What good people. http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/ReligionSymposium/2003_01_25_Bednar.htm

So, we had arranged to meet up with Francheska before FHE on Wednesday night but she never showed. I was so disappointed because she had even confirmed the time and place with me at the end of our lesson. Then the next night after a meeting with an investigator, I wanted to take a taxi straight home because I was feeling so sick, but then decided to wait until we parted at a traffic light. We were waiting there and I heard a voice behind me say, "Riddle." I turned around and it was Francheska! I gave her a hug I was so excited. She told us she had come and waited but we hadn't been there. I have no idea what happened, but we've noticed that she isn't necessarily all there so that might have something to do with it. We had another lesson but then she didn't show up again for the next one and didn't come to church. But I don't think we've seen the last of her, just considering everything that's happened.

Language classes were approved at the beginning of the month, but for one reason or another have been delayed, and now we are finally actually starting this Wednesday. So I'm excited.

Visiting Metia and Negat this week at their home, Negat showed us a song he found on youtube when he searched the church on there and asked if it was us. It was. I'm not too worried about him googling the church, because I'm pretty confident in the assumption that no anti-mormon literature exists yet in Macedonian. 

Love,

Sister Riddle

                          This is what you wear when you want to wear traditional roma wedding guest clothes.
 


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

August 18, 2014

Hey Mom,
So today we rented bikes for P day and rode around harassing the citizens of downtown Skopje. It was only ten denar per hour! Less than thirty cents per person. They weren't very high quality bikes, but it was so much fun. First time I have ridden a bike since I quit my job at El Azteca last November. Plus the weather was my favorite, blustery, so I was in a great mood. That iPod you sent me plays without speakers so I played it as I rode for a little bit. 
We used to go to this place called American Corner for free internet but they just decided to enforce their one hour limit last time we were over there, so looks like the rest of my mission emailing home will be spent in nasty internet cafes. Some woman sitting next to me just asked me how to write "j" in Croatian. She didn't get that I had no idea.
Sister Schofield was super sick still this week but we still managed to meet most of our goals with all the sitting inside that we did. We went and watched Testaments with Natasha in the park.
This lady named Franceska that I contacted in Center came to church on Sunday! I was so pleasantly surprised. Most people I talk to I only talk to for like two minutes, and she was one of them. She told me she would come to church, but I just figured she was just trying to get away. Anyway, I sat next to her in sacrament and set up a lesson with her for later this week. She seems like a really really sweet lady.
I contacted some nuns this week. That's a first. One I saw while we were tabling in the park. She was dressed in all black with a huge silver cross on her chest, talking on her cell phone. I gave her a church invite. Then last night I saw two more nuns wearing blue, so I stopped them to chit chat. They spoke Slovenian with Elder Krajnc. If there are two types of people who are willing to talk about religion it's those who are either 1) insanely religious or 2) not religious at all. Which is kinda weird. Guess it puts the whole "lukewarm" thing in perspective.
(Revelation 3:15-16)
Anywho, hope you have a fabulous week and remember to say your prayers. Blago wanted me to tell you hello.
"It is well to know that prayer is not compounded of words, words that may fail to express what one desires to say, words that so often cloak inconsistencies, words that may have no deeper source than the physical organs of speech, words that may be spoken to impress mortal ears. The dumb may pray, and that too with the eloquence that prevails in heaven. Prayer is made up of heart throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul, of supplication based on the realization of need, of contrition and pure desire. If there lives a man who has never really prayed, that man is a being apart from the order of the divine in human nature, a stranger in the family of God’s children. Prayer is for the uplifting of the suppliant. God without our prayers would be God; but we without prayer cannot be admitted to the kingdom of God. So did Christ instruct: “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” " -James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ.

Love,
Sister Riddle


 


Sunday, August 17, 2014

August 11, 2014

Hey Mom!

Guess where I got to go this week? The US army base in Kosovo!!!! We were already in Prishtina for another Zone training, and then our mission president approved us to go with two of the senior couples to the army base. We went with the Nelsons and the Tooele's, the couple serving in Gjakova. For some reason or another President Weidmann made a new rule that a senior couple must always be accompanied by a young proselyting companionship every time they go to the base. No idea why, not complaining. The main reason to go to the base is to get American products!!! I Guess they're friends with Sergeant Bunjes, who's a member of the church and helps us get in. Anyway, he met us at the gate and we all got passes to wear around our necks and our car was searched. I hadn't heard a southern accent in a long time. We went with him to the little store they have there. Walking in was just like walking into an American store! It was awesome. I got some teeth whitening strips, salsa and dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds. Everyone was speaking American English so I understood everyone for a nice change. Sister Schofield was excited to see black people. I used the bathroom there that was super clean. They had a few American restaurants there but we decided to go to the chow hall. Along the way we kept running into more LDS soldiers who ended up eating with us. One of them had the last name Whitney and he told me about how he served his mission in Panama and once served for a little bit to these islands that are to the north of it, and while there he and his companion killed and ate a Toucan. His companion kept the beak. "They don't really like to send missionaries there though, because they come back...different."

We all had to wash our hands before we were allowed to go in to eat. I just got a regular hamburger, onion rings, and chocolate milk. A lot of the soldiers in there were younger than me, which was weird. I'm still used to always being the youngest. I got "ma'am"-ed a lot. Anyway, it was just so so nice to kind of be at home for a little bit. Sister Schofield said it was the best day of her mission so far, and I have to agree. America is great. (And I wasn't even there.)

The next night the sisters from Kosovo came down for an exchange. Not much really happened other than Sister White getting Sister Schofield sick. We've been inside for the past few days and I've been reading Jesus the Christ, which by the way is a great book.

On Saturday Yacin got baptized. His dad was able to baptize him, even though he's afraid of the water, which was great. I made the comment to Sister Schofield that his mom Metia looks more like a Mormon every time I see her.

"Just as earthly seeds require effort and patience, so do many of the blessings of heaven. We cannot put our religion on a shelf and expect to harvest spiritual blessings. But if we plant and nurture gospel standards in the daily life of our family, there is a high probability that our children will grow up to produce spiritual fruit of great value to them and to future generations.
God’s answers to our prayers do not always come immediately—sometimes they do not appear to come at all—but God knows what is best for His children. Assuredly, one day we will see more clearly; and on that day we will recognize the goodness and generosity of heaven.
In the meantime, our goal and great joy is to walk in the footsteps of our Master and Savior and to live good and refined lives so that the promised and precious harvest of God’s priceless blessings can be ours." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Love,
Sister Riddle

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

August 4, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
LANGUAGE CLASSES HAVE BEEN APPROVED. Let me say that again for emphasis. Language classes approved. They're going to start this week and Zoki will be our teacher. The man speaks 20 languages, have I mentioned that before? So hopefully he'll be a good teacher. President Weidmann asked at his baptism if he would be willing to do it, and had the elders work out a fee to pay him. Three times a week, an hour each. Now of course we have the problem of where to meet. Wouldn't it be great if we had a regular church building? But still. Sister Schofield was on the phone with the elders one night and told me and said the expression on my face was priceless. I was so excited and happy. I gave her a hug. 

It was really cool, too because I had been praying about the language that morning, and later when doing personal study I read this parable, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Reading it, I felt like it was God saying to me that He was definitely going to help me out with the language, and in a huge way. I felt so inspired that I copied it to a piece of paper and taped it to my wall. I meant to tell Sister Schofield about it but then forgot until she told me about the classes being approved later that night.
Metia and Negat's son, Yacin, is getting baptized this Saturday. Negat says he wants us to talk to his mom and see if she's interested in the church.

Not much else is really happening. Today we went to an American-style bakery and it was so weird. It was pretty accurate since the lady who owns it had lived in America before, but it was weird to see what stuck out to them about America and weird that it doesn't feel normal to me anymore.

I love you,
Sister Riddle

Sunday, August 3, 2014

July 29, 2014

Hey Mom,
 
So, yesterday we couldn't email because there's a four-day-long holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan and the places we usually go for internet were closed. I was so bummed! But I guess the upside is, no more grumpy Muslims. 

ON SATURDAY WE HAD A TRIPLE BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT WAS SO EXCITING. Mom, I was so happy. President Weidmann came down with his APs to get to know us (interview us) on Wednesday morning, and then came back for the baptism, since it would be a historical day for Macedonia. We greeted Metia and Negat (I think I incorrectly wrote his name as Nigel before) in front of the church the morning of and Metia was SO NERVOUS. She kept talking about how excited she was and kept taking steadying breaths. We milled around for a bit and then took her upstairs to help her change. Several times she almost cried and she asked me if I remembered my baptismal day. "Well, you were a kid then. You don't really remember. I'm just so excited/nervous, and there's all these people here...." I mostly just patted her back and let her know we would go back down with her in her baptismal clothes and I would give a talk, and then she would be baptized. I told her, "It'll be peaceful," mostly because I don't know that many other adjectives in Macedonian to help her calm down. She listened attentively to my talk on baptism once we were downstairs and cried at the end when I said, "Congratulations and welcome to our new members as brothers and sisters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I promise that God knows what you're doing today and is pleased with you." Metia was the first to be baptized, and she and her husband both asked Elmaz to baptize them. Apparently the elders had practiced and explained to him multiple times where to put your hands when you baptize someone, but it took probably a good five minutes to get it right. I felt so bad because I knew the water was cold. Elder Krajnc tried to explain in Macedonian, then the APs from Tirana called out instructions in Albanian, while Elder Barber and President Weidmann acted it out for him in the corner. I stood on the edge of the pool with a towel for when she got out, so I had a pretty good view of everything. Two women who had just been standing outside of Hotel Arca when we all met up had come in to see the baptism, so that was pretty cool. Also, Natasha came and it was the first baptism she'd ever been to. Once Elmaz finally figured out how to do the ordinance, Elder Krajnc held up paper with the words written on it that he should say. It was kind of funny. After Metia, Negat was baptized. Once he got out of the pool they gave each other the sweetest hug. I was so happy for them and their family. Zoki, the elders' investigator, was also baptized by Elder Prince. 

In our interviews with President Weidmann though, we really emphasized to him our lack of language skills and our inability to find a solution. He agreed that we needed to figure something out and said he'd be in touch with us about it. That is the most sympathetic response we have gotten so far to our language needs, so I'm happy. I also felt special that he took the time to get to know each of us on a personal level. He seems like a really nice guy.

I don't remember if I told you that two elders have been called, one comes in October and one in November. Two sisters have been called but one doesn't get here until January and we don't know about the other one. 

Last Friday one of the elders' landlords invited all of the missionaries out to lunch. We put our lunch and dinner hour together to be able to make it happen and drove a ways to a fancy Macedonian restaurant. I ate so much I thought my eyes would pop out. 

I copied and pasted the part about dress and appearance from For the Strength of Youth into Google translate and printed it out for Metia because 1) she had asked about modesty and 2) to see if it was a good Macedonian translation. She said it was! Hooray Google Translate and it's fabulous wonders! This means I can give her more material once she's done with her Gospel Fundamentals book. I printed out a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and one of just a regular chapel for her to see since she'd asked about that too, and she asked for a picture of the Frankfurt temple next time since she knows that's the one she'll go to to be sealed to her family. I love her excitement and enthusiasm for the gospel. Her story is even more incredible because she comes from a strong Muslim family but said she never really liked the Quran, and somehow or another started reading the Bible (about 15 years ago) and loved it. She said she's been wanting to become Christian for a long time but had no one to help her, and her father told her if she was baptized that she wouldn't be his daughter anymore. On Sunday after receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, she bore her testimony and said that it didn't matter that things were bad with her family now, because the church was her new family and she had a new life. After giving her the page about modesty, the next time I saw her I noticed she only had one pair of earrings in. She's great. 

I forgot to tell you something funny that happened a few weeks ago. We were street contacting and I was taking a break, sitting on a bench with my head between my hands, feeling tired. Someone physically lifted up my head and I saw that it was one of the little kids who we've befriended who sells handwipes and chocolate bananas on the street everyday. She gave me a hug. It was so cute and I heard Elder Prince laugh. Then she stole my glasses and Book of Mormon.
 
Matthew 25:34-40, "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Love, 
Sister Riddle
 

Thursday, July 24, 2014

July 21, 2014

Yello Mumsy,
 
Blago's baptism had to be postponed. He and his wife have been divorced for about twenty years, but they still live together in the same apartment in separate rooms. Apparently it goes against the "living with a member of the opposite sex out of wedlock" rule, even though I thought that was just fancy language for saying they can't be sleeping together.  Everyone else will be baptized according to schedule, though. The family we teach has even mentioned their son going on a mission when he's old enough, in ten years. Metia asked me what she can read when she's done with the Macedonian Gospel Fundamentals book, since she doesn't understand Serbian. I felt so bad. I'm going to copy and paste from the church website in Google Translate and ask her if it works. She keeps saying she can't wait until there's a Book of Mormon translation into Macedonian. 

At Family Home Evening this week, Maria gave everyone a wooden spoon and gave me and Sister Schofield matching purple and yellow hats. Our branch is crazy, but it's also crazy how well they all work together. If you'd ever lived in Macedonia you would understand how miraculous it is to have a bunch of Macedonians, a Serbian, a few Albanians, and a Roma family all in the same room and have peace. We were talking about Noah and the ark, how God sent a flood to destroy the wicked, and how the rainbow symbolized that He wouldn't ever do it again, and Ratko made the conclusion, "Now we can do what we want." I love the reactions from people who have never heard the gospel before.

Elmaz is really the best first member ever. We bring him on a ton of lessons since he can relate to everyone and he knows English, Macedonian, and Albanian. I remember after a lesson, riding back on the bus with him, he was wearing a shirt that said "Legend in my mind" and talking about how he was going to help bring sooo many people into the church. He is the cutest, sweetest old man. He asked Sister Schofield why the mission president and people from Albania and Kosovo didn't come to our next baptism, like they had at his (since he was the first person baptized in Macedonia).
 
Love,
Sister Riddle

Monday, July 14, 2014

July 14, 2014

Hey Mom,
This week was a week of firsts. First of all, we were told on Wednesday night that we were all being emergency evacuated out of Macedonia because our new president was worried about the rioting that was to take place there starting Friday. We thought it was a tad extreme, but thus marks the first time I have ever fled a country. 

We rode with the Nelsons, who were going to Kosovo that day for a meeting anyway, to a city called Gjakova on Thursday morning. We worked a little bit with the elders there. We couldn't really do much more than just stand with them as they talked to one man on the street in Albanian, although Sister Schofield did try out saying "thank you." ("Falemnderit.") We asked them what they had talked to him about and they said, "We told him that Jesus' favorite color was purple, so if his favorite color was purple too he should definitely come talk to us." So they were a lot of fun. At the end of the day they gave us a self-help book for newly returned sister missionaries who have trouble adjusting back to regular life. No comment. We wanted to stay in that city because there was going to be a baptism, but then one of the APs called and said we should be working with other sisters in Pristina. 

I worked with Sister Curtis all day Friday. We had a lesson with a woman who told me I was fat, but beautiful. (She spoke English. Pretty sure Sister Curtis wouldn't have translated that for me had it been in Albanian.) That lesson was the first time I have ever promised someone that if they came to church, the voices would stop. 

We also went tracting which was exciting for me since I'd only done it once before in Albania, never in Kosovo. We got phone calls from people wanting to meet for a lesson twice while in one apartment building, so we kept having to leave and come back. Once, after ringing a doorbell and waiting so long in the hallway that the motion-detector light went off, I decided it was a good idea to sing the theme song to Three's Company, and Sister Curtis performed some impromptu beat-boxing. 

We did group exercise both mornings I was there, volleyball with all the missionaries. Combined we were 12 missionaries in that city, and everywhere we went while working we kept running into the others. It was great that Pristina could have a doubled work force. We also did group street contacting our second morning which was SO MUCH BETTER than street contacting in Skopje. People are so much friendlier and willing to talk, plus street-boarding and tabling aren't illegal there. In Macedonia they're illegal in pretty much any place where there's lots of people. We Macedonians were invited over to lunch at the branch president's house, which was normal American delicious food, and then we were approved to go back to our country. I had so, so much fun with Sister Curtis and Sister White. Side note: I saw a sign advertising "pop con" and told Sister White how much I loved seeing English fails printed in mass, and she told me her favorite had been a t-shirt that said, "You count touch this."

We had really missed our investigators though and we met up with Blago in Center on Sunday. We were teaching him about obedience and prayer and he started telling us his life story, about his son's death, how he was so glad that we had found him and how much we meant to him, everything he hadn't liked about other churches, and how his life was now so much easier because of the church. He said he felt so supported by us and the people in the church, and that no one had ever done for him what we had done for him. That's the only time I've ever seen someone as old as him cry so hard.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints really is "the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth." (D&C 1:30)

Love,
Sister Riddle


Thursday, July 10, 2014

July 7, 2014

Hey Mom,

We dropped Billy Crystal. He was creepy. 

At church on Sunday we had six investigators come to church!!!! Including Abraham again. I'm so happy! During the second hour we talked about the law of chastity, and he stood up and said, "In the Bible it says that men should only have one wife. But Abraham had three wives. Why is that ok?" He really gets the discussion going and I like that. At the end Elder Krajnc passed out a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World in Macedonian to everyone. On the way home, Elder Barber said something about it being a "shady" translation. I asked what made it shady and guess who he told me did the translation for it? Billy Crystal. Yeah. Apparently the very first missionaries here commissioned him to do it. But I guess it is one of the few church materials we have in Macedonian.

We made some new pass-along cards in Macedonian, because all we had before were ones in Serbian and the church invites. They look quite good. We put our numbers and the website for the church in Macedonian on there. When you go there it's quite short and incomplete, but I guess it's something. 
I asked Blago who he wanted to baptize him and he said me. We haven't talked about the priesthood with him yet.

Our family is doing great. All of them were in church on Sunday and we tried to have a lesson with them after but it didn't really work out because everyone was milling around and kept interrupting. 

So, apparently a few years ago here some Albanian men killed five Macedonian kids. The other day they sentenced them to life in prison, and apparently people were protesting saying that it was racist and that the men were innocent. We were over at a lesson with Ana and Gordana and the elders called us about a thousand times telling us to stay inside. Gordana ended up driving us home, and a portion of the city where the courthouse was was blocked off. Gordana was on the phone with someone and I heard her say, "Бомби фрлаат," which as we all know, is Macedonian for, "They are throwing bombs." We stayed inside for most of the day and I got to take a nap. NAPS ARE AWESOME. I MISS THEM. Then the next day we were in Шутка (Shootka), where the Roma live, teaching the family at their home, and on the bus back the driver told us he could only take us so far because they were protesting again. We took a taxi the rest of the way home and it took twice as long since we had to go around that part of Скопје. 

We had Zone Conference earlier this week in Kosovo and I met President Weidmann and his wife! They are from Switzerland, don't know if I told you that before. I was so impressed with his English. 98% of the time he sounds just like an American. He seemed to really care about us all and was excited about working with us. He also brought us a five-foot long Toblerone bar. Afterwards the missionaries took some butcher knives to it and served it up.

2 Nephi 8

Well, I love you.
Sister Riddle

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

June 30, 2014

Dear Mom,
 
Today for P-day everybody asked me what I wanted to do and I said I wanted to go into some of the churches and mosques that we pass all the time. They looked at me like I was nuts, but that's what we did today. Only we didn't have time to go to a mosque today, so we'll do that later. The churches were mostly open space with a bunch of old religious murals. They each had little shops for you to buy icons or crucifixes.

Elder Krajnc randomly bought me a skirt. He even gave it to me in a little gift bag. He said he noticed I didn't have a lot of skirts and he hadn't given me anything for my birthday last month. It looked like it was too small but I'm wearing it today and it fits fine and is actually really cute.
 
Me and Sister Schofield are breaking some Macedonian records. Three investigators on baptismal date and a ton in church on Sunday!!! Almost every seat was filled. Even Abraham the shoelace salesman came again. I was so happy to see him! I've been hounding him, I mean inviting him to come every time I see him. He showed me where he was in reading the Book of Mormon; he'd read through most of 3rd Nephi. Wow. I assumed he'd just dropped us. I gave a talk on the Word of Wisdom during sacrament meeting and then for second hour Abraham started a very good discussion about the Sabbath Day. He raised his hand and said, "I've been reading the Bible for twenty years. It says to rest on the seventh day. The seventh day is Saturday, not Sunday." I told him we'd come and see him one day this week as he was working. I had tried to plan lessons with him before and he always said he was working, which I interpreted as him politely blowing us off. But then he said something about missing us and seemed very open to us coming to teach him at work. 

To all those praying for us, thank you!!

On Wednesday we go to Kosovo again to meet the new mission president and have Zone Conference and maybe do exchanges with the sisters there.

One of our investigators asked us to call him doctor because he's a veterinarian.

Another one of our investigators, named Живко (Zivko), is the Macedonian version of Billy Crystal. He looks and even sounds a lot like him. Apparently the elders have taught him before but they dropped him because he never came to church. He came to church this week after our first lesson with him.

One day about a week or so ago, me and Sister Schofield were street contacting and I asked her if she wanted to go contacting in the park. On the way there she asked if we could pray, so we found a semi-private place in a kind of alleyway and asked for help. We were both just so tired and downhearted that day and didn't want to talk to anyone. Then, once we were in the park she made eye contact with a man sitting down and we went over to talk to him. Immediately I thought he was very nice and seemed open to our message. He worked for the Red Cross and another humanitarian organization and said he'd come to church on Sunday. That week he really did come and was showing me some pictures of his family on his phone. We set up a lesson with him, his name is Неџел (Negel), and I asked him to bring his family. On Monday after we emailed we met up with him, his wife and two little boys and Elmaz and walked over to the Nelson's house to have the lesson. They are the most incredible and amazing family I have met since coming here. We talked about the Apostasy and the Restoration, bore our testimonies, talked about their beliefs, etc. A highlight of the lesson was when his wife, Метија (Metia) told us very emotionally, "I think God sent you to us." I said to Sister Schofield later that I didn't think she realized how literal and accurate that statement was. We've met with them since and they are on baptismal date. Their boys are too young to be baptized with them, but one of them will be old enough in August. They are all just so, so great.
Our investigator Blago (Благо in Cyrillic, in case you were curious) said he wants us to meet with him every day so he can adequately prepare for his baptism. 

I forgot to write that last week it was Elder Gierisch's birthday. We walked over to their apartment on the way to contacting, and they were out on their balcony. I shouted "Happy birthday!" up to him. He responded by nailing me with a water balloon.

Yesterday we had a branch activity and met up at the park to play soccer. Only no one really showed up except for Ana and Gordana. Benjamin came super late. After playing soccer they wanted to play volleyball and I decided to sit on the bleachers and just watch. Sister Schofield and Elder Gierisch kept telling me to come and play and finally I yelled, "MAKE ME!" Sister Schofield said something to Elder Gierisch, who nodded and then came and physically dragged me onto the court. 

Billy Crystal gave me some huge praise on my language that made me feel super good so I have to tell you about it. In our lesson with him he said, "You're very good at the accent. You seem like someone who was born here, and then lived in America for a few years and then came back. Plus you have a Macedonian face. You seem Macedonian."

Alma 26: 27-31, "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.
  And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.
  And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their synagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.
  And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
  Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us."

I hope this week that everyone reading this will realize or realize more that God answers prayers, that He is in your life, and that He knows and loves you. Because I for myself know that to be true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love,
Sister Riddle

Monday, June 23, 2014

June 23, 2014

Hey mom,

A lot of times when it comes time to do language study I just feel really, really discouraged. There's only so much you can learn from one stupid book and I hate just sitting down and memorizing words which I forget unless I review them every single day. I forget how much of the situation I've already told you, but the dictionaries here are unreliable, so unless a word is in our grammar book's glossary I'm out of luck. Once I can find a way to bring a new word into a conversation I have it seems to stick from that point on, but when you're not talking to anyone... I can read out loud from our Macedonian Gospel Fundamentals book, but it all gets old fast. I talked to Benjamin about calling him on the phone at night and talking to him, but he said he'd rather talk to Sister Schofield. He disses me so much. Besides, I'm usually too tired at the end of the day to care about knowing Macedonian. Ok, enough complaining.

The Sister Training Leaders from Albania, Sister Kokol and Sister Forte, came to Macedonia for exchanges on Monday night and stayed until Tuesday when we all started driving together to Mission Conference in Tirana. The eventful part of my exchange with Sister Forte was our lesson with the old guy who'd already read so much of the Book of Mormon. His name is Blago, I finally found out. We talked about the plan of salvation and he told me he'd spent ten hours reading the entire Gospel Fundamentals book. Wow. I translated for Sister Forte and at the end she told me, "You seemed to understand each other very well, which is great especially considering he only has one tooth." Since then we've committed him to a baptismal date. That day it poured rain and my feet got soaking wet in a puddle and the rest of the day I was so uncomfortable. We drove to their apartment to stay the night in Fier, and on the way split a giant Milka bar which has cookie, milk white and dark chocolate in it. It contains 1,665 calories of deliciousness. Also on the way, we stopped and asked a woman for directions. She turned out to be deaf. We're really smart. And that's the first time I have ever heard deaf-Macedonian. When we got to their apartment Sister Forte told me to wash my feet because she couldn't sleep with the smell.

The next day on the drive from Fier to Tirana they pointed out Italy to me across the Adriatic Sea. I know I have already said wow in this letter, but wow! I saw Italy!!!! It changed my mental picture of Italy from a shape on a map to a blue mass of land. And the actual Mission Conference was great. I got to see some new missionaries, talk to some old ones, like the ones I met at the MTC or Sister Wilding who I did exchanges with one day. Especially during the testimony meeting at the end, I felt the Spirit really strongly. I was surprised to hear so many people sniffling during the closing prayer.

Today we went to a city called Tetovo and took taxis up to some castle ruins there. Our drivers acted as our tour guides and told us all about it. It was super green and there were a couple of horses grazing there. Our driver even wanted to take us out to coffee afterwards. He said because we were from so far away he wanted to make sure we had a good time. Eastern Europeans are really proud of being good hosts.

At church yesterday Blago told me that I needed to stop biting my nails and that I need to be more outgoing. Shaking my head. Everyone loves me.

I'm grateful that I know that God has a plan for us and our lives though, because it brings me peace knowing that even though my mission isn't having the type of success I thought it would, I know that as I live faithfully God will accomplish exactly what He needs to be accomplished through me.

D&C 88: 73, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time."

Love, 
Sister Riddle