April 6, 2015

Hey Mom,

It's not every day you run into a Spanish-speaking Icelandic man in Macedonia. But that happened this week. We were in Ramstore doing language study and a guy came up to us and said he talks to Mormon missionaries all the time on the bus in Iceland. "You guys are everywhere," he said. I think he said he lives close to a church there. "It's so weird to have some pretty girl come up to you, flip her hair back, and say, 'Do you know Jesus?'"

So this week was pretty good. Yesterday was Fast Sunday AND General Conference AND Easter AND we got to go to the Nelson's to watch conference with the members and investigators. It was really fun. We had one room for watching it in English and upstairs it was streaming in Croatian (the closest thing to Serbian, which is the closest thing to Macedonian). The night before I had been in the Croatian room and one of the interpreter's accent was so bad people were leaning forward trying to understand him. He sounded like some American guy who had just barely gotten off a mission without learning the language too well. The interpreter last night was a lot better. I came to trade places with Sister Hassell halfway through in the Croatian room. Ana, Gordana, and our investigator Susana and her friend Bogdan were sitting in there. At one part during Elder Uchtdorf's talk we heard everyone downstairs laughing. "It must be funnier in English," said Bogdan.

"I think they're ahead," I told him.

"So soon we'll be entertained."

 Turns out it was just that the computer kept freezing during Elder Holland's talk when his face was making interesting expressions. Susana brought some type of burek that I ate and then Ana asked me if I knew what the green stuff was in it. "Spinach?" No, nettles. Which is like poison ivy. I looked it up on her phone and apparently it's ok to eat after it's been blanched. Ironically it works as an anti-inflammatory.

Earlier on Sunday we were waiting outside of Hotel Arka for Kone and some guy walked up to us and started talking to us. He said the elders had given him a card while contacting in Center about two or three months before. His name was Ilitsa and I sat next to him during church. He had a lot of questions and we started talking about grace, so I opened up to 2 Nephi 25:23. "You know the book by memory!" he exclaimed, really impressed. I've always wanted to get to a point where I knew the scriptures well enough that I could have references memorized, like some people do. I guess I'm like them now. Well, kind of. I don't have that many memorized. 

Thanks so much for your Easter package! I put Sister Hassell and Sister Barch's baggies on their beds yesterday when they were studying, not even trying to be cutesy about it, and then later when Sister Hassell went into her room she yelled, "Easter bunny came!" Ha ha.

This week I finally got around to making a poster I have been wanting to make for when we table. It's the same picture on the front of Preach My Gospel, of Christ's baptism, and below it has the baptismal invite in Macedonian. Now I just have to get some sort of stand for it for when we use it. I figure it's pretty to-the-point. It helps people understand a little better what we do without having to come up and talk to us. I'm pretty proud of it.

Have I ever mentioned the anti-Mormon Romanian guy? Well I ran into him again and asked him how long he would be working that day and then ran home to get him a Romanian Book of Mormon. When I came back he was gone. Maybe he was playing the how-to-waste-a-missionary's-time game. A lot of people here love that game. 

We taught this guy named Zlatko in a Best Western cafe and showed him the Because of Him clip in Macedonian. We taught him the Restoration and he asked, "So in between the death of Christ and His apostles and the time of Joseph Smith, none of the churches were true?" 

"Right."

"Oh, wow," he shook his head. Later he asked him what he thought about all that we had been telling him. "It holds water," he said thoughtfully.

We've been finding a lot of promising people lately, which makes me excited. I'm just not very good at contacting. Still I never know what to say to people. But while outside the post office one day I went up to a girl sitting on a curb and started talking to her. "Do you maybe know English?" she asked. She said she was from Hungary. I'm so used to people here being from all these different places and yet speaking perfect English, so I didn't question her lack of an accent until she asked where I was from. I asked if she knew where Maryland was and she said yes because she was from Pennsylvania. She had a job teaching and living in Hungary. Cool! Probably one of the least awkward conversations I've had as a missionary followed. 

Well, I can't think of what else to tell you.

Love, 

Sister Riddle
 

http://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SA_4-4-2015_dMIS_fMRMN_xLIDyMSTHD1_

 

March 30, 2015

Hey Mom,

 

So I didn't write last week about going to sister's conference in Tirana. We actually found a bus that goes straight from Skopje to Tirana. Usually we have to stay in Prishtina overnight. It was really cool doing exchanges in Albania; I was companions with Sister Braha who is a native Albanian and was serving there for a few more days until she got her visa to England. She's called to Leeds. I actually have a friend from the MTC who'll still be serving there when she gets there. She told us that pretty much every Albanian gets called to England. We asked her why and she said one of her best friends who served there said, "We're like the pioneers of Albania, most of us being converts, so it's easy for us to relate to them and have them be the pioneers in England." On the bus in Tirana, guess what played on the tv? The Because of Him video!!! So cool. With all the words in Albanian of course. Sister Braha told us, "We have this one investigator who found us through the commercial, and she said she got on three different buses waiting for the video to play again so she could copy down the phone number." 

One day this week we got locked inside our apartment. We were all standing by the door with our coats and everything and when we unlocked it the door just wouldn't open. I called the landlord and he said he was on the other side of the city and would be there in half an hour. He came and tried to unlock it from the other side, but it still wouldn't work and he left to go and find a repairman. We hung out and cleaned the apartment. I guess it needed it. It was nice to get a break. By the time we finally got out it was about 4:30pm. 

Yesterday it was Brother Davis' birthday so I made him pumpkin bread using the canned pumpkin you sent me.

I can't think of what else happened this week. Sorry for the short email again!

John 6

Happy Easter

Love,

Sister Riddle

March 23, 2015

Hey mom,

This week was good. We now have 4 people on baptismal date. And Blagoy was going to be among them for this week but unfortunately his wife moved back in and, again, he can't get baptized.

Sister Hassell pointed out to me, "Everyone we meet, even if we only have a first lesson with them, mentions something about how they've been searching or thinking about God recently. Like Naim who had been going to the mosque for the past five months. Or Halim who said he'd been questioning his beliefs lately. Or Sloboden who said he'd started reading the Bible again about a month ago." She listed more examples and I realized she was right. How great. Heavenly Father is so anxious for His children to learn the truth. 

Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." 

3 Nephi 12:6, "And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost."

 

The girl I met in the MTC from Vanuatu emailed me the other day. This is what she said, 

"I'm glad to serve my Heavenly Father to build his kingdom with my

voice. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of us and he gave us
dalent to build his kingdom in this last dispensation. I know that we
all are preciouse to our Heavenly Father. We must share our dalents
with others to help them know that they have  dalents and they have to
share with everyone. We all have awesome dalent but we must not hide
them or ignore them because is a gift from our Heavenly Father to us.
I know that we can do missionary work by singing too. Me and my
companion when we went to our appointments i sang to all of them and i
see how they touch by the spirit and want to change they're live to
better. I'm glad to have a wonderful voice that my Heavenly Father
bless me with. I don't want to hide my dalent because i love everyone.
I'm glad to learn how to love others and that's a huge thing to me. In
Moroni 7 :45 it talks about charity. Is something that we should have
in our lives. If we don't have that charity we are nothing. We don't
want to have that to us. This is a video that we have in our young
women's conference in Highland area in Utah. I'm glad to be part of it
and to know the importance of why we must share our dalents with
other's. Hope y'all have a great day:)"

That's all I have time for right now. I love you.

Sister Riddle

March 9, 2015

Hey Mom,

 

Well, I have a few things to announce. Big news. First of all, we are extremely close to getting a church building. Did you hear me? I said A CHURCH BUILDING!!!!!!!! The property they're looking at is a ways from Center so all of our members and investigators would have to take a bus every Sunday, but still. Anything is better than nothing. This gives us so much more credibility. It may even be open by next month.

Miracle #2. Guess who's on baptismal date? Blagoy. His wife decided to move in with their daughter so that he can get baptized. He's on date for March 28.

Let me clear up something to those of you reading. Sister Hassell told me that back when she was in the MTC and read my blog, she thought our only investigators were the ones I mentioned. No. Yes, we have had our share of dry spells and there have been periods of time where we have had zero investigators. But as a general rule we always have multiple people to teach. Even zero investigators doesn't mean we don't have lessons.

This week I discovered just how great I am at keeping up my companions' morale.

Sister Hassell smiling, "I just went and told that lady her bag was really cute."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. And her English was really good too."

"Oh, you said it in English?"

"Well, I said, 'Твојот bag...is really cute.'"

I laughed and said, "Ok."

She responded energetically, "I'm proud of myself though. That was good missionary work!"

"How is that missionary work?" I asked disdainfully.

Or back when she was still in training

"Stop talking to creepy people," I told her while contacting one day.

"We're supposed to talk to everyone!" she said happily.

"No. Don't talk to creepy people."

 

We had zone training in Kosovo again, then later went to the army base and taught institute again. We talked about brotherly love and read some verses from 1 John. We were also able to make plans with some of the missionaries there to invite Shelton, who we met one night in Skopje, to come to institute. Shelton lives at the base and though we didn't get his number when we met him, he had told us the name of an LDS guy he knew at the base and we contacted him that way. 

We had a lesson this week with this 15-year-old girl named Nora and her friend; we ran into one of "our kids" named Atige on the way and so she came to the lesson as well. I think she knows how to pray now.

On Friday we went to the Swinefords and made cookies for some type of priesthood meeting. 

On Sunday there were a few more Americans at church than usual. The branch president in Kosovo and his family were there visiting, as well as some people with LDS Charities who were there to train doctors in neonatal resuscitation. Two of the four investigators who told us they would come to church came. We had dinner with the Nelsons that night and the LDS Charities people were there. One of them was named Shayne and he said he had served in the Austria Vienna mission, and back then that mission included Albania. One of his friends was called to be the first missionary there. Pretty cool considering during my mission I traveled to Tirana for the creation of the first stake there. Shayne said that he had served in Serbia and Croatia and helped open it up towards the end of his mission. He said he never learned much Serbian and they just found people who spoke English or German to teach. His daughter is putting in her mission papers soon so he took a picture of us "the three sisters of Macedonia" as he called us, to show her.

While walking back from a lesson at Zdravka's, we passed a house that had a labrador retriever and her three little puppies outside. The mom dog was nice and let us pet her and her babies. So cute! We may or may not walk that same way to and from Zdravka's every time we meet with her now, you'll never know.

http://media.ldscdn.org/images/media-library/by-event/april-2014-general-conference/meme-monson-courage-1240634-gallery.jpg

 

Love,

Sister Riddle

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

February 23, 2015

Dear Mom,

 

This week was so good! Did I mention that our investigator that dropped us, Deon, came to church to hear Sister Schofield's talk last Sunday? We had never been able to get him to come before. The Schofields were supposed to leave the following Friday, but then their flight was cancelled. So the next day me and her went on splits while the other two sisters did their work. We actually ended up having another "lesson" with Deon. "I liked church. There was positive energy there," he told me as we walked to the park to sit down. Once we were there, Sister Schofield asked him to elaborate. "I was surprised. I have been to a lot of other churches, 25 years ago, I was going to a lot of different ones. Baptist, Evangelist, Jehovah's Witness, Seventh-Day Adventist...There was very strong, good energy there on Sunday." We asked him if he would come again and he said not every week but that he would come sometimes. I was so happy. We had him read Helaman 5:12 and he said, "That's true." Deon really is such a sweet, good man. Maybe we just paced him too fast from the beginning. 

Later that day we went to the Asans so that Sister Schofield could say goodbye to them. I gave the lesson, which was about the story of Esther and how she was an example of bravery and relying on the Lord. We shared this scripture, "...Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 

We also made one last stop at the hospital to visit Zdravka. She had just gotten cataract surgery. We had her say the closing prayer as usual and she said, "I'm grateful for Schofield and Riddle, like my daughters I love them." Maybe Sister Schofield's flight was cancelled because the Lord wanted her to have the chance to say goodbye to absolutely everyone and tie up loose ends.

Meanwhile, Sister Barch and Hassell had an apparently amazing first lesson with a man named Zoran, who also goes by Kone. They also decided to give a man in a wheelchair a chocolate bar. He saw their nametags and excitedly showed them the logo on the back of his wheelchair, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I remember when I first got here hearing some snippet of conversation in which the Andersons talked about finishing up a project where they gave out free wheelchairs. 

To back up a bit. Tuesday during district meeting Elder Barber and Sister Schofield both gave their final testimonies. The first Elder called (for his whole mission, not a transfer) to serve in Macedonia and the first Sister called to Macedonia. "This is my baby, so take care of it," Elder Barber told us. The night before he left I went over to his apartment and gave him a sandwich I made. He always told me "Make me a sandwich," whenever there were lulls in our conversations.

On Thursday the Sister Training Leaders from Gjakova came for exchanges and I got to work with Sister Boettinger again. We had a really good first lesson with an older man named Dragi in a cafe. For the first time I was able to use the part of the First Vision that I had memorized. Throughout the whole thing he kept saying, "Riddle, you surprise me." I don't know if we'll ever see him again, but at least I can say I gave that lesson all I had.

Saturday night we met with the Muslim man I met in Бит Пазар named Ismael. He was really nice and is reading the Book of Mormon, but he's not interested in the church. On Sunday we went and taught the Jehovah's Witness lady who works across from him, Nergus, at her home. She was likewise a really, really good lady. We met her husband and he had a good spirit about him as well. Likewise, though, I don't think we were able to stir up any interest in them. I think I'm good at finding religious people who are already comfortable in what they have, or people who are "searching" but not really looking to commit. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaWA2GbcnJU

Never forget that God has never forgotten you.

Love,

Sister Riddle

February 16, 2015

Dear Mom,

 

This week was good. Sister Schofield's parents got here on Saturday night and we got to go pick them up from the airport. I could feel her mom's relief after not seeing her daughter for a year and a half. Sister Schofield is staying with them at the Swinefords for another week showing them the sights in Macedonia. She flies home Friday. On Sunday she gave a talk on sacrifice and our investigator that dropped us came for the first and last time to church. I forgot to tell you a funny conversation I had with him one day. He had told me that there was a demon in his house that tried to possess him every morning at 4am. The next time I saw him, I said, 

"How is the demon?"

"Well, he's good. I'll tell him you said hello."

"How is the problem with the demon?" I clarified.

A few days this week me and Sister Hassell contacted walking around Бит Пазар, which is like a pepped-up flea market. I felt prompted to talk to one woman sitting next to a table of clothes she was selling. She was a Jehovah's Witness and asked me right off the bat if I was a Mormon. It always catches me a bit off-guard when someone here actually knows who we are. She wasn't very open to our message but her dad and another man selling stuff near her were. We had good conversations. While talking to the other man, who turned out to be Muslim, I asked him out of curiosity, "What do Muslims believe that God is? Energy? A spirit?"

"God is One," he responded. I felt so frustrated because that's what they all say and it doesn't answer my question. While walking back towards with Sister Hassell towards Center I remembered a man with a bum leg we had run into earlier in the day. He was just sitting on a bench looking out at the Vardar and we decided to talk to him. He had also been Muslim. "This bench is wood. Nothing else can be like it. What is this? Stone. It cannot ever be anything but stone. This river is a river of water. The river is one, and that is how God is. God is One, and He will always be One. He is without beginning and without end. That is it." I also remembered another Muslim saying to me, "We believe that no one can be similar to God," and the man in the Бит Пазар saying something about how Moses didn't see God and we cannot see God because we don't have the strength. Or maybe it was power. Those are the same words in Macedonian. It clicked and I said this to Sister Hassell, "Ooh. So that finally makes sense. They think that God is something very powerful but they just don't know what that something is because we're unworthy to see him. And they can't describe to me what He is because He cannot be described; He's unknown. He's something unique and individual to Himself. Nothing on this earth can be used to describe Him or compare Him to." We were both like, "Ooooh." We paused near some concrete staircase and she said to me, "Get out your thoughts."

"I'm just trying to remember what their needs were so I can remember them for next time." I pulled out my planner and wrote down Islam: people in the Bible who saw God. "He said Moses didn't see God, but didn't He?" The words came to my mind, The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto His friend. "Is that in the Bible or the Pearl of Great Price?" (There is no Pearl of Great Price in Macedonian, Serbian, anything. Plus it just makes things simpler if it's in the Bible. Not that I don't have confidence in the Book of Mormon as scripture, I just think it helps to build upon what people already believe.)

"I don't know."

"And that Jehovah's Witness lady, she made it seem like they believe that the Bible is the end. Which is kind of sad."

"Yeah, that is what they believe. There was a guy who realized one day that people were doing things that really went against what was in the Bible, so he went through the whole thing and that's how Jehovah's Witnesses started." She went on to say how she was so thankful for the living prophets and how, when she heard them speak, her testimony was strengthened because she felt that they were really speaking to her and made her feel so good. She had us pray and then we continued contacting. When we got home I pulled out my scriptures. "It's in the Bible! Exodus 33:11, 'And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend...'" So that, and Genesis 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." are two evidences in the Bible that God has a body. Which is backed up by modern revelation, stated clear as day, "God is the Father of our spirits. He has a glorified, perfected body of flesh and bone. We lived with Him in heaven before we were born. And when He created us physically, we were created in the image of God, each with a personal body." (Russell M. Nelson) Cool that we can know that. I personally have never pictured God as anything else but my literal Father. Why is it so important to know that we are children of God? Why is this knowledge so precious? What happens if we don't know that?

I finally got a Macedonian Bible from a Baptist church here. It is so cool to me seeing well-known scriptures, like the ones stated above, articulately stated in perfect biblical Macedonian! For language study I have started memorizing scriptures. I already have the First Vision committed to memory. I also finally found a reliable Macedonian-English dictionary. Only ten dollars. Wow. 

Articles of Faith

We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.

We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression.

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth.

We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth.

We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul-We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. - Joseph Smith. https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/macedonian/pdf/language-materials/64370_mkd.pdf?lang=eng&clang=mkd

I know these things are true. I love this church. I am so glad we have so much more outside of the Bible. More truth. 

President Weidmann called me last night and delivered the shocking news that I will be staying in Skopje and have two trainees, Sister Hassell and Sister Barch. Sounds like a waste of phone credit to me.

I'm trying to think of what else to tell you. We have an investigator Zoran who loves to talk about history and anything in the humanities department, particularly the 5th century. He ALWAYS goes off-topic. I wonder how he'll react when I tell him the Book of Mormon ends in the 5th century. The other day we ran into him on Stone Bridge and he asked me, "Дали си видела Крамер контра Крамер со Дастин Хофман?" (Have you ever seen Kramer v. Kramer with Dustin Hoffman?) I looked Sister Hassell dead in the eye and responded, "Не. Никогаш не чула за тоа." (Nope. Never heard of it.) So glad she is a Jimmy Fallon fan. 

I actually had the idea to share stuff about marriage this week, which is weird because I'm actually not married. I was reading in the Book of Mormon yesterday and saw two verses that I hadn't really noticed before. 1 Nephi 16:7-8, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, took one of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also, my brethren took of the daughters of Ishmael to wife; and also Zoram took the eldest daughter of Ishmael to wife. And thus my father had fulfilled all the commandments of the Lord which had been given unto him. And also, I, Nephi, had been blessed of the Lord exceedingly." Awwww. I think this email is turning out a lot cheesier than I had intended it to be. Anyway, here's this video that will make you cry: http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/enduring-love

This church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know that God loves us.

Love,

Sister Riddle