June 2, 2014

June 2, 2014

 

Hey Mom,

 

The only really eventful thing I can think of happening this week was a lesson we had with a man named Dragi (a common name here.) I was pretty impressed when I met him the week before and he gave me his phone number after talking to me for about twenty seconds. I was even more impressed when he picked up his phone when I called and made an appointment, and still more excited to see him actually show up to the lesson, he was even early. He walks with a cane and is pretty slow, but it's from a handicap, not old age. He's about 35. We had the lesson in a cafe. He seemed to be testing me on my spiritual knowledge a few times. For instance, he asked me once, "The Lord is here with us right now. Do you know why?" 

"Because when two or three are gathered in His name, there He is with them? From the Bible, right?" He smiled halfway through my response so I knew I was giving him the answer he was looking for. I think a lot of times, people here want to make sure I know what I'm talking about. Which is of course understandable. On the street they ask me if I've received religious training or if I had to go to some type of school before I came here. Luckily in our church that scripture is quoted all the time so this guy took me seriously. Anyway, it was a good lesson and we hope to meet with him again this week.

I ate a record amount of ice cream this week. How am I supposed to resist when it's just 25 denar per топка? Since it's "summer" now there are so many ice cream vendors out and they display all the different flavors so prettily. My favorite so far is tiramisu.

I think I told you that Ana was called as a Sunday school teacher, so she teaches every other week in Serbian. Yesterday it was President Swineford's turn to teach. I sat next to Benjamin and since no one else was there to translate for him, I did. I don't nearly know enough Macedonian to be able to translate every word, but I told him the main idea every minute or so. I asked him at the beginning if he could understand me and he said yes, "super", but then the lesson started going faster and I got more nervous and Benjamin chuckled to himself whenever I translated. I think he understood me, but it was just bad Macedonian. Anyway, that's the first time I have ever translated an entire lesson (it was 45 minutes long) and I was pretty proud of myself. Continue to pray for me with the language, though!

There is a German family visiting Macedonia who invited us to lunch last Wednesday, and then again for this next Wednesday when they found out we never get any dinner appointments. They are a young couple only a few years older than us, her mom, and their almost two-year-old daughter, Stella. They are so, so nice and it was a relief on my ears to hear a language as beautiful as German after four months of Macedonian. I was able to say a few things to their little girl, but the adults all spoke English. The husband is the best because he served his mission in London. They talked to us about our mission and asked what our favorite food was so they could prepare it for the next time we came over. After we were done and the wife walked us to the bus stop, we sat waiting and I said to Sister Schofield, "I hope when I've been married for five years it only feels like a few weeks, like they said theirs felt." Then the husband came to play soccer with us this morning.

Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Love, 

Sister Riddle