Fourth Week in Bulgaria-Where has the time gone?

Alright I think I freaked out enough in the subject heading of my message so on to my letter.  First of all thank you all so much for sending letters to me and sorry grandpa I have been getting your letters and I will try harder to make mention of you from now on.  This week was really slow but still really good.  Me and my companion didn't have that well of a weekly planning session for this previous week and it sure did show in the results but that was alright because we still got a look done.  First of all we got to meet with Mapko (Marko) three times this week and that was really fun and I will till you about each meeting seprately.  The first meeting we had a random drunk guy got in the evlevator with us and insisted on coming in on the lesson.  This was kind of bad because he was really distracting and since my companion had to handle him to make sure he wouldn't blow up or do something crazy I had to teach Mapko on my own.  Luckly I had my handy dandy Plan of salvation puzzle to save the day.  I did a overview of the plan of salvation with him and we than ended the meeting and set up another time.  I was really worried about him because of the whole drunk accident but when we called him later to confirm the appointment (because I wasn't a100% certain that I had it done correctly) he said not to worry that he knows this is a good thing and satan was going to try to stop it.  I am so proud of him.  Our second meeting went better.  In the second meeting he brought two of his friends!  This was amazing he said he would but still it was really shocking.  The lesson went really well we covered the first part of the Plan of salvation and when we asked Mapko to read he would stop mid verse to explain and point out the importance of it to his friends.  I don't know if his friends will come back I am hoping and praying.  Our third meeting with him was the best before the meeting we had assigned him to read 2 Nephi 2.  When we started we began talking about the creation, the fall, and the atonment (the parts we didn't cover last time)  and when we came to the fall we asked him what he knew about adam and eve and we braced ourselves for a hour long lecture on what he knew and was taught but instead opened up 2 Nephi 2 and basicly explained the chapter and how it was true and made since.  We than basiclly had a discussion about the rest of lesson because he had done his reading.  One more cool thing about him reading is that in the begging of the lesson we asked him if he had read and he brought out a study journal with his thoughts on the scriptures.  One of the thoughts was about 2 Nephi 3 in the chapter talking about Joseph of Egypt (see were this is going) and how he prophised about Joseph Smith!  The coolest part is that he had such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon that he didn't doubt for a second that this wasn't true and said that Joseph Smith was a true prophet because he was prophisied about.  But wait there is more he had also gone through the plan of salvation pamphlet that we had given him and had read through all of the questions in the back and had answerd them through the scriptures.  (There is still more)  Near the end of the lesson we went over the five things you have to have on this earth to be saved Faith, Repentance, Baptism, The Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end.  When we got to Baptism he freaked out a little and said I haven't been baptised I haven't been baptised.  We had already planned this but after going over those five things we commited him to be baptized on November 13.  His one eye started to tear up and he said "Yes, Alleylua." (Alleylua is his faviort word)  He also told us that he would do anything that we asked him.  He also came to church sunday and watch a full session of genral confreence and would have stayed for the second half except that his work had called him and he need to go but it was alright the desire was there. 

Well now that that is finished let me go on about the rest of our week.  We did a lot of contacting while walking around to other apointments and to answer your question grandpa we do surveys to stop people than afterwards we share a short message with them and give them a pamphlet and maybe a book of mormon if they are intrested (this by the way is how we got Mapko (Marko) and one other investagator (He?? (Neli)) who I will talk about later.) This is what we do most of the time while contacting and I can almost do it on my own as long as they don't ask questions than I am doomed.  Luckly I have my compainion with me who can speak the language so he can take care of the complicated things.  We want to do Letter of Refferal tracking (were you get a letter by a member,  make many copies, drop it off at a block, come back a couple days or weeks later and use the letter to introduce your self,) but we haven't been able to set up an appointment with a member to write one.  Secondly we are working hard on getting permision from the city to street board hopefully we are allowed to.  Now on to H??? (Neli) we met her when we had finished tracking on an unresponsive block and had a very long meeting with a couple that only wanted to talk with us.  They were on the third floor so when we were done we didn't want to finish the block but I told my compainion we needed to and he agreed so we did.  The rest of the block wasn't fruitfull but if we hadn't finished ???? wouldn't have been out side of the door and we wouldn't have been able to meet her.  We gave her a book of mormon and set up a meeting. At the meeting she told us that she had been having a very hard time in her life lately but whenever she read from the book of mormon she felt better.  In the meeting I bore my testimony (with out knowing the previous I usally get an update from my companion after the meetings) in which I told her how reading the book of mormon will make you happier and you life easier because it has mine.  We then had her pray after the meeting and she said that that was the first time she had prayed infront of somebody in her intire life and that she was going to right it down in her journal it was so important.  We also have one other set of Investagators I already told you about (??? ? ??????? (gosh and Haydiyalka)) they are intrested in getting closer to christ so we gave them the book of mormon in our first meeting and since then every time we have walked up to there house they have been gone.  So we left them a note this last time saying we will come back tuesday at 7:30 but if they don't want to meet they need to call us. 

Well that was my week other than I got to listen to genral confrense in english this week and there were some good talks and I loved Elder Uchtdorf's joke on "what does it have to do with planes."  Sorry about the pictures I will try to pick it up but it is hard to get them all in the computer but I figured out how to pick and chose them now and know which ones they our so that shouldn't be that much of a hassle any more.  After that long spiel I am kind of written out and all I have left to say is the language is coming ( I was on fire this week with it! Yes!!!!)  Kenzie, Katie get along and have fun at Sadies.  Don't worry about me and money I am not going to go out of the way but if you want a christmas present I need the previously mentioned information.  I think the money thing is a great Idea for a present (but packages our very welcome too just make it a group packege to save money. Oh and don't insure it above 20 dollars and just lable it school supplies or somthing because if you don't I have to go through costums to get it and it will cost me a ton and I may not get it.)  Something intresting about bulgaria: one Haloween is brand new here and they don't know how to celibrate it, two on New Years they do have fire works but they don't shot them in the sky they have wars with them.  The weather is chilli here right now but not two bad espiclly after it rained for two weeks strait.  I am in the middle of the country and apparntly it doesn't get that cold here in the winter.  Tell me about your selfs.

Love,
Austin James Ewell