March 2, 2015

Hey Mom,

So this week two native Albanian returned sister missionaries were passing through Macedonia on their way to the temple in Frankfurt, Germany and we met up with them to do some non-traditional exchanges. It was so much fun and we were able to meet our goal for member-present lessons this week. :)  The two sisters had been friends before their missions and then were both called to serve at  different places in England. So their English was really good. The girl I worked with, Jona, had served in a visitors center. She said that at the beginning when she didn't know English, it was really hard because not even her trainer spoke English well. Maybe our situation in Macedonia is more common than I thought it was. They both also used to be Muslim. Apparently the other sister, Denada, was very beneficial in a lesson Sister Barch and Hassell had with an Albanian Muslim that day. Unfortunately I think I bored Jona to death because our only lesson cancelled and I spent all of our time in the print shop. Whenever we want to give someone a conference talk, we always have to take time out of our day to go to the print shop, find the talk in whatever language, pay for it and then try to keep it safe in our bags for the time until we see said person. I had the idea to just print a bunch so that we didn't have to make a special trip every time we wanted one. Plus sometimes we go there and it's closed. I got a bit carried away and by the time I looked over at the printer to see how much I had printed so far there was a huge stack. One hundred and fifty pages to be exact. Luckily printing is cheap and I carried it home immediately. The next day I got a nice binder and some plastic sheets and things so we could keep them nice and organized at home. A lot of times people in the church complain that when talks are given, they're all about the same things. Talks have only been available in Albanian for the past several years and in Serbian only for the past two or three. For these people, a lot of times it is the first time they're hearing any of it. It makes missionary work so much easier to be able to give it to them stated clearly and plainly in their own language. (Sister Schofield was so happy when the talk Sacrament-A Renewal For The Soul was given last conference because sacrament can be difficult to explain. Plus when it's a different speaker they have their own way of explaining it which may be better for the listener.) We've added to the binder since then and I've been going through conference talks trying to find every one that would be easy for someone with little gospel knowledge to understand. I just wanted to tell you that because it's exciting to have a new project.

Here's a few random stories of Macedonian/Serbian fails:

When me and Sister Schofield went to visit Zdravka in the hospital she didn't have her glasses, so I read aloud a verse from the Serbian Book of Mormon. As soon as I began, Zdravka said to Sister Schofield, "Ooh, she doesn't know how to read." A few weeks prior to that I had also been laughed to scorn by a fifteen-year-old doing the same thing in a lesson. So embarrassing. I also said a very inappropriate word on accident in the lesson with Ismael. I realized what I'd said the second I said it, and we both pretended like it hadn't happened.

While walking one day back when I was companions just with Sister Hassell, there was a cat making some weird noise in the distance. She tried to ask me, "Do you hear the cat?" in Macedonian. "You just asked me if I protect the bear," I told her.

Even more long ago, while doing exchanges with Sister Singer, she kept asking me how to say conversational things so she could help with contacting. She was funny because instead of just making nonsense-Macedonian-garble like most people do when they say words for the first time, she would say actual other words. Instead of saying, "How are you?" she kept saying, "It is cocoa." She told me, "You're nice, you could just be telling me how to say, 'I am stupid' and I would be saying it without even knowing." Then she really did want to know how to say "I am stupid" but then when she repeated it it came out "I am beautiful." That was a fun day. 

On Sunday we met with a Muslim guy who, for the first time in a long time, actually seemed interested in our religion. "I believe in God. You believe in Jesus. I don't know yet whether I do or not," he said openly. We are seeing him again tomorrow. His name was Halim, and he was such a nice guy. It makes me think back to the MTC when they told us all the time, "It's not all about baptisms." Right now there are at least two Muslim men in Macedonia (Halim and Ismael) who are reading the Book of Mormon because we handed them to them. Isn't that helping them come closer to Christ? Isn't that powerful?

Let me tell you about Sister Hassell. Sister Hassell is so great at talking to people. (Sorry this email is all over the place. My trainees/companions have given me the feedback: "You're really good at changing the subject. And interrupting," while not even trying to be sarcastic. It comes from a year dealing with long-winded Macedonians who will talk about their brother-in-law for an hour unless you get them back on track with the gospel.) One night she stopped and talked to the owner of a new Belgian waffle place that was opening up. He ended up giving us all free cookies. The next day we went back and celebrated for her half birthday. Really. She's also told me that her "spirit animal is a river otter" and one time we got into an argument about whether a spirit animal is the same thing as a patronus. She's a character. Also, she has a brother named Forrest who runs cross-country. That needed to be said. Today she told me she found my old blog letters among her things and reread some of them. "Your personality is different when you write than when you speak," she told me, "In your letters you sound about 2% smarter."

We've been teaching the Roma kids English at the Red Cross center again. Our first week back, one of the girls put my hair in a really pretty braid. It's weird seeing them having grown so much in the months since I've seen them. One little boy, Delson, drew me a picture of a flower that is hanging on my fridge now. 

Speaking of the Red Cross, back when Sister Hassell was my only companion we were contacting out on Stone Bridge one night and I had some pamphlets in my hand. I found an old one that I had scribbled a phone number onto long ago. Above the phone number I had written "Negil- red cross guy." Wow. I was referring to Negat, and I had written that the first time we met him. I excitedly showed it to Sister Hassell. She told me I should keep it as a piece of history but I scratched it out and handed the pamphlet to someone else. Let the pamphlet save two people.

On a similar night with Sister Hassell on Stone Bridge, I looked out across the Vardar and was hit with a wave of sadness realizing that these were now the last days of my mission and there would be a day when I wouldn't do this anymore. Missionary work is so fun sometimes. In our mission, and maybe missions worldwide, I don't know, missionaries do a D&C countdown, reading one section each day starting when they only have 138 days left. I realized a while ago that I should've started mine There was a point in my mission where I looked forward to the time that I could start my countdown because it would mean I was close to the end. Now that it's time, I don't think I'm going to actually do it. If I finish reading the Old Testament I will have read all of the standard works and missionary library on my mission. I think that's a more beneficial use of my personal study. 

"For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,..Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand." -How Firm a Foundation, Hymns of the Church.

Love,

Sister Riddle