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

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.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2009-10-38-lifting-burdens?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2009&lang=eng&cid=HPSU091414412

Love, 

Sister Riddle

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.

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/unity-of-the-faith?cid=HPTH090414350&lang=eng

 

Sister Riddle

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!

 

 

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