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.

 

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

 

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

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

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