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

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. 

http://www.crkvata-na-isus-hristos.org/

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

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

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

June 16, 2014

June 16, 2014

Hey mom,

One day last week me and Sister Schofield decided to talk to an old man sitting on a park bench. He seemed really enthusiastic and invited us over to his house since on that day we only had a few minutes to talk. We invited Elmaz to come to the lesson with us. I don't remember this guy's name, but it was a great lesson. We asked him if he'd had the opportunity to read from the Book of Mormon and he showed us where he was in 2nd Nephi!!! That has NEVER happened. He had come to church the week before and wanted to know what he could read for the following Sunday so he could be a part of the discussion. He asked us what we wanted him to read for next time and told us that we had to come over every week and keep teaching him. He gave us each a huge plate of strawberries and cherries at the end. He's totally getting baptized. Knock on wood. He said to Elmaz during the lesson (talking about me), "She needs to perfect her Macedonian! So that she can teach the gospel!" Elmaz said to him, "For the amount of time she's been here she speaks very well." That was nice of Elmaz and I also thought it was cool that this investigator already took everything that we were telling him so seriously.

I've called Dragi a couple times but he hasn't been answering. He seemed so genuinely interested! I'm sad. 

We took Benjamin to Family Home Evening this week and had a very interesting time. There's a woman named Maria who has been coming to church and likes to make unique comments quite frequently, plus she makes them all with a scottish trill. At the end of the lesson on Wednesday, she gave everybody a sponge. This man Zoki, who is an investigator who speaks a bunch of languages, turned to me and said, "I see no purpose."  Neither did I.  Anyway, Zoki is a guy from Skopje originally but he was taught by the missionaries in Germany and is keeping it up here. So, go German missionaries! We've been told before that our Macedonian name badges are in fact, wrong, and we asked him more specifically what was wrong about them and he helped us make all the necessary changes. Who knows how long until we actually get the corrected name badges, though.

     After the lesson when everyone was eating cake I turned to Gordana and said, "Howdy."

"Good," she responded.

"No, howdy means hi."

"Howdy?"

"Yes."

"How? Dy?"

"Howdy," I nodded.

"Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy."

"Yes Gordana, hi."

"Howdy. Howdy. Howdy. Howdy."

I laughed. So did she. 

"Howdy. Gotcha!" 

I kept laughing.

"That was good. Teach me another one."

"Badonkadonk."

While in a lesson with Benjamin the other night he made a good comment. "Во љубов нема години." In love there are no years.

On Wednesday we're going to Albania for a mission conference. We weren't due to have one for a while but since the Fords are leaving at the end of this month they wanted all the missionaries who hadn't had one with them (myself included) to come. 

2 Timothy 1:7, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Love,

Sister Riddle
                                          
                                                Beautiful poppies in Macedonia        

June 9, 2014

 

Man, I just asked Sister Schofield about the tiramisu thing and I'm an idiot and might have accidentally ingested coffee. I knew I loved coffee flavored things, but I assumed they didn't actually put coffee in the ice cream. She says it was probably safe, but I think she was just trying to be nice. I forget sometimes that I'm in Europe. I don't know though, if I will ever stop being mad when someone sits down beside me and starts smoking a cigarette. Everyone here just assumes that everyone smokes.

This week we got a new Macedonian grammar book with a cd. So hopefully that helps me with my studying. 

Today we went to Lake Matka which is only like forty minutes away, so I'll send you some pictures of that. 

Nothing cool happened this week. 

Something I said to Sister Schofield this week about contacting people: I showed someone Alma 34:32 and they said something to me like, "So, we're all going to meet God, huh?" It was really weird to me because I just assumed that every Christian believed that God was in heaven and that we're going to heaven when we die. It has always just seemed like such a fact to me. I guess that's what a testimony is though. I know that God lives, and that He is our Father and we are His children, and that one day we will return to His presence.

Love,

Sister Riddle

                                                                      Lake Matka

                                                                 Restaurant in a cave.

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