June 25

So this week was really good but it had an interesting twist at the end.  You will have to read my email to find out what the twist was.

Monday:

Had a good P-day.  After writing we window shopped, bowled, and had family home evening.  While window shopping I found "The Giver" in bulgarian.  I love finding things like that.  Also while bowling I got 70 which is a high score for my mission.  Family home evening went great too and the family from Slovacia was there and it was nice talking to them again.  We then came home for the evening.

Tuesday:

Tuesday was good.  For the majority of the day we contacted, had a dropped meeting, and met with Georgi.  We met some cool people contacting and Georgi is doing great.  Also I was reading the October 2007 Liahona and I found an artical in it by a bulgarian titled "Enduring to the Beginning." I think it might be in the 2007 New era for october if anybody wants to read it.

Wednesday:

Had district meeting then lunch.  After lunch we tried to find some less-active members, but got lost.  We had to go back before finding them though because we had a lesson and Institute.  The lesson fell through and institute went well.  After institute we met with a recent convert who has been trying to be a missionary with her friends and they keep asking her questions from the bible and she keeps trying to give them answers.  It is destroying her testimony though because she wants them only from the Bible and not from the book of mormon or modern revelation.  It is said to see so please pray to five her strength.  

Thursday:

We mainly contacted all day and also made lunch with a member.  We also had english which was good and after english we went on companionship exchanges for the night and Friday.  I went with Elder Furtado kind of as a birthday present to my self.

Friday:

Splits went great we did some contacting and had a lot of success.  In the morning I was thirsty so we decided to buy some water and Elder Furtado said he wanted to go to buy water from this one lady that he has been wanting to talk to but has felt too guilty if he doesn't buy something from her.  Well she was really cool and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she started reading it right there, then we had two other reciveds litteraly one right after the other and a really good conversation with a girl who just lit up at the mention of eternal families and the plan of salvation.  All that happened seriously one right after another and it was really cool.  That was the perfect being in the right place at the right time.  We also had three meetings but one dropped.  The other two were with members.  The first was with Babcheto for lunch.  During that I got a call from President Roth.  The call was an Emergency Trancfere.  My companion Elder Bryce is going into the Office and Elder Dropla (the elder I cleaned up A.K.A. my daughter) would join me in Burgas for the rest of my mission.  The reason was that Elder Bryce is young and really good with people and President Roth wants somebody who isn't that attached to a President Roth mission to be in the office when they make the transition which happens this Friday.  So the rest of the day was contacting and then I made a cake and pizza and we all celebrated my birthday.

Saturday:

Well I had to go pick up Elder Dropla and drop of Elder Bryce at Sofia so I was on a bus all day traveling for 13 hours.  Fun!!!

Sunday:

Church went really well and I really enjoy being with Elder Dropla again.  After church we had lunch at a members house then gave the sacrament to Baba Raina. We then weekly planned and went to bed.

Monday:

Well we have plans to play some baseball and I will tell you more next week.  Thank you all for the letters and Birthday wishes.  It really means a lot to me.  I am loving my mission and these last three transferes have been the best on my mission so far and I plan to keep it that way.

Love,

Elder Ewell

June 11

This week was really long and we did a ton of contacting.

Monday:

P-day was good we checked out a new mall and shopped then the branch had a family night.  They made banizta and Elder Furtado and a return missionary member did a spiritual thought.  It was all really good and it is really nice to see a branch actually do that here.

Tuesday:

Contacted all day until the evening when we met with a member (Petia) and talked about callings and the priesthood.  We then had Institute which went really well.  I am super impressed with this Branch.  They are so strong and actually work together.

Wednesday:

Again contacted most of the day.  We had one meeting with Babcheto.  We went over callings.  It is a little hard to teach here because she loves to talk and it is hard to get her to listen.  Also the Assistants to President came in at night because they went on companionship exchanges with us on thursday.

Thursday:

Had district meeting again.  It went really well and everybody liked it which makes me happy.  Part of the reason might be because I brought a treat for them but who knows.  After lunch I went to work with Elder Bishop.  He is from my group and currently one of the Assistants to President.  We had fun together and mainly contacted.  We did haveone meeting with Gerogi (you pronounce both G's as G's not J's.)  He is an investagator who wants to get baptized.  His only problem is smoking and coffie.  So we started him on a plan to stop.  He can't go cold turkey so we are going bit by bit and hopefully he will be ready tro be baptized by the end of July.  Please keep him in your prayers to help him, he is really trapped by this addiction.  In the evening we had English which was fun.

Friday:

Had proably the most frustrating meeting in my whole mission.  We met with a potential investagator and he brought his friend who is a Easter Orthadox Priest.  That priest only wanted to argue.  I now know how Alma felt when he called out the lawyers for trying to lay traps for him with his words.  It was so Aggravating and even though I tried not to argue it still took me around two hours to calm down.  We then had a meeting with a lady who despite only having five minutes still dropped byt the church to learn who we are and get a Book of Mormon.  That was really thoughtful of her and most people don't do that here.  Other then that we contacted all day.

Saturday:

Had English in the morning then met with Babcheto again and went contacting some more.

Sunday:

So we had a city confrence at Varna for the branches in Ruse, Varna, Shumen, Dobrich, and Burgas.  This was President and Sister Roth's last time to see all of the members before going home.  It was really cool and it was really nice to see everyone there.  My old investagators (Mariyka, Simiona, and Peter) from Ruse came as well.  I was so happy to see them all.  The confrence went really well and President Roth gave a really good talk.  I was so happy to see everyone and it made my day.  We finally got home with barely enough time to weekly plan.  Despite that it was one of the best planning sessions I have had.  That was the week.

Love,

Elder Ewell

First Week in Burgas

So first of all to answer all of the questions that you probally have about my companion I will metion that first then continue on with the week.  First he is from Orem, Utah.  His name is Andrew Phillip Bryce.  He has 3 brothers and he is second oldest.  His dad is a personality expert and I think mom you might have taken a course from him.  He uses the colors Gold, Green, Blue, and Orange and I think you know him because he has these quick refrence picture cards that I recognized from the one time you showed one to me.  His mom is a stay at home mom.  If you have anyother questions ask away but for now that is it.  Oh and sorry I will send a picture of him next week for your computer wizzes he has a blog www.apbryce.com that you can check out.

Well I love it here in Burgas and it is so nice to be by the beach.  We can't go near it though because like most of Europe clothing is optional and lets just say Bulgarians like there options.  Anyways other than that I love it here and here is a view of my first week here.

Monday:

Well the day was filled with getting ready to leave Ruse and last minute shopping

Tuesday:

Because of some complications due to transferes I was told to travel on Wednesday.  So I had one last working day in Ruse.  In the morning we contacted and after lunch we had 3 lessons.  The first one was with Ivo.  He brought his wife along and we finished teaching the ten commandments.  The lesson went well then we said good bye.  We then met with Peter.  We showed him the short Restoration video and we were going to committ him to baptism but something felt off.  We hope it wasn't anything to big and that after time it will all be good.  We then had a meeting with a new Investagator named Konstantin.  The lesson went well.  Then it was time to head in.

Wednesday:

Woke up at six and traveled to Burgas.  I got their around 12:30 but the bus station that the other Elders weren't waiting at.  They found me about an hour later then me and my new companion, Elder Bryce, went to our apartment.  Our taxi driver got lost which was fun.  We finally got there, planned for the day, had lunch, went to a branch activity where we learned how to dance a traditional bulgarian dance, then came home and went through the Area book to learn what we had to work with.

Thursday:

Had my first District Meeting today that I was leading.  Everything went well and it was a good District Meeting.  After that and lunch, we contacted all day until around 6 when we had a meeting with Dima.  She is a investagator here and she has a desire to learn and wants to get baptized,  but we aren't sure if she understands what that intails.  We are going to deffinetly,  meet with her more and see what happens.  We then came in to language study and dinner.

Friday:

Basiclly contacted all day, had two dropped meetings, and met wtih the Branch President about english advertising.  We live super far from the church building here and it is taking me a while to get used to the travel time.  This slows down the work a bit, but I think I am used to it now.  Also I got to see the sea (it has been rainy and cool so we were safe to get that close) There is a park right next to it.  It brought me a lot of peace to be near a large salt body of water again.

Saturday:

Mainly contacted all day again and advertised for English.  We did have a meeting with a recent convert though.  Her name is Maria but we call her Babcheto which means little grandma.  She is a very energitic Baba (Grandma) and I had a lot of fun getting to know her.  She also said she would show me how to cook a bunch of traditional Bulgarian foods, which is cool.

Sunday:

Church was good.  The Branch here is super strong and very bonded.  It doesn't have very many people but they all love each other which is amazing.  I am so happy I am in Burgas for my last transfere it is a great city.  After church we took the sacrament to a member who lost her left leg about a year ago.  She was a very happy lady though and asks a ton of questions.  We then contacted a bit and came home to weekly plan.

Love,

Elder Ewell