May 7

Well this week was busy but the letter is short so sorry.

 

Monday:

After writing we went out to the bridge to Romainia and took some pictures on it (No we did not cross!)  That took most of the day and then we went contacting for the night.

 

Tuesday:

We had a meeting wtih Ivo first that went well.  He has a lot of deep questions.  Then contacting all day.

 

Wednesday:

From pure contacting to pure lessons.  We had 6 back to back lessons.  First was with an investagator name George. He is cool and old, but he actually kept his commitments which we are super happy about.  Then we had a dropped meeting, but a member showed up asking for help with a talk so it wasn't a waist of time.  Then we met another member for home teaching but he said he didn't remeber anything from confrence or last sunday.  We are not sure if he was joking or not and that worries us.  We then met with a husband and wife who only complain and didn't listen much.  We are giving them another shot and hopefully it will be better.  Then we had another meeting with a member who is amazing and strong.  The last meeting was one of the best.  It was with and investagator named Alex.  He brought a friend and had read a little.  It was really good to see them and the lesson went well.

 

Thursday:

First another meeeting with Ivo that went gread as always.  Then we had district meeting and lunch.  We then contacted, had a dropped meeting, English which is always fun, and finally institute.  Institute was tiring.  The Church Education senior couple were teaching and I was translating (that is why it was tiring.)  The lesson was really good but by the end my mind was a giant blob of bulgarian and english and I couldn't speak strait.

 

Friday:

Conatacted like crazy all day and had good success.  At night we had dinner with a less-active and the sisters.  We gave him a liahona and had a nice relaxing lesson.

 

Saturday:

First was English.  After english a funny thing happened.  We were having lunch when we got a call saying two people were locked in the church.  We ran down there and found out it was two english students who were playing ping-pong.  Everything was okay though.  Then we had a meeting with a new investagator named Tsveti that went really well.  We then went contacting and had another meeting with a mother and daughter named Marika and Simion.  The lesson went great as well and they came to church this week.

 

Sunday:

A lot of people came to church.  I was most excited about Marika and Simion and Miroslav.  He came in with my suit on and it was so nice to talk with him again.  We even got a meeting for friday so more about that later.  After church we planned for a branch activity.  We are doing a scripture scanvager hunt.  They are going to use the scriptures to find clues and the final treasure.  We need help though finding scriptures.  We need scriptures still for; a bus stop, stairs, strait, narrow red brick road, a yellow house, a restruant, a muesem with a statue next to it, a purple/pink building, a ramp down to the river shore walk, a chess board at the end of the ramp, Dock achor points for a ship, and some more stairs by a ship.  Remeber english puns won't work because this will be in Bulgarian and the words are different.  Also some of the people are new members or non-members so vague scriptures or ones you have to use a background or mormon culture with wont work well.  You can use all the standard works though but try to stick to the bible and book of mormon.  Well that is everything.

 

Love,

Elder Austin James Ewell

Ruse Again

First of all I don't have much time this week so sorry if this letter is shorter than normal.  This week was super busy though because we are supposed to have sisters in Ruse with us but until the new sister arrives we are on our one as a two elder district.  So it has been hetict doing double the work load.  It is all going good though and it was a good week.  First though My companions name is Forrest Wayne Babbitt (yes two r's, b's, and t's.)  He is from Mesa Arizona and fresh from the office and ready to work.  He is the oldest in his family and we get a long great.  My area is the same as last time because there is only one branch in Ruse and I do have the same apartment which I am happy about because it is my faviorit apartment in the mission.  So now onto the week. 

Monday:
After writing you guys we watched some movies, played pool, and got fed a great goodbye dinner by the other elders landlord.  After dinner we went to bed.

Tuesday:
All day traveling.  Me and my new companion finally got into Ruse around 3:30 and went strait to work. Our days have been full of meetings and preping the area for the sisters since we need to figure out who they should teach and lets just say it is a long prayerful process.

Wednesday:
We had a two elder district meeting which basiclly was just cleaning the area books and starting the seperation process.  We then had a meeting with an investagator who got baptized with his daughter on saturday.  He is a quiet guy but rock soild in the gospel and completely values prayer.  Him and his daughter (I will say more in the Saturday and sunday portion about her) are going to be great for this branch.  We contacted for awhile and then had a meeting with Tihomir a member I had started to reactivate last time.  He is now fully active and doing well which is really great to see and makes me feel good.  After him we had  a dropped meeting and then it was time for dinner and bed.

Thursday:
In the morning we met with another member who I was trying to reactivate last time as well.  He is still strugguling but he did come to church this week and it seems like he is going to start coming more.  We contacted basicly all day and in the meeting had a meeting with Sabina a recent convert who was baptized two weeks ago.  She is awousem and really smart. She also will be great for this branch.  That was thursday.

Friday:
Had two meetings to day and weekly planning.  One meeting wasn't that long.  It was with a investagator who lives in a villiage outside of Ruse.  The meeting was alright but we only had ten minutes and we were outside.  Hopefully next time we can meet with him for longer.  The other meeting was with a member named Tsevtilin to help him with his talk on sunday.   He is really weird but funny and he was super happy to see me again.  That was it for friday.

Saturday:
We had the baptism for Stefi and Ivo.  Stefi is a 15 year old ball of energy and and super excited to become a member.  The baptism went great.  I will try to say more next week but I am almost out of time.

Sunday:
Well this was a very special day for me because Stefi asked me to give her the holy ghost.  For those who don't know that was the first time for me to do that and also the first time I have given a blessing in bulgarian.  It was a very precious experince for me.  The rest of the day was just contacting but we got 4 numbers which was really cool.  Oh yeah we did meet with some members.  It was a good meeting.

I am sorry this letter is so short and doesn't have much detial. I just don't have much time today and I promise next week I will send a bigger one.

Love,
Elder Ewell

Experience

Our stake is holding a missionary prep class and the teacher asked if the missionaries serving from the ward could email and share an experience.  Here is Austin's.  I did not edit so I think he thinks in Bulgarian so he is having a hard time with grammar.  Enjoy!

One of the most uplifting spiritual experinces of my mission came when I started to pray with earnest for help from God.  Praying has always been a hard thing for me to get into a good habit of saying.  I finally have gotten into the habit of saying them everyday now and the blessings are very apparant.  One of the blessings that I feel are directly related to constant prayer is when one night a family investagated the church with out us doing a single thing (in fact at the moment we were trying to reschedual for a different time.)  Here is what had happened.  We had been tracting and we were on the 2nd floor of a apartment complex after having worked from the top down with little succes.  Once we not on this door immidetly two dogs started barking extreemly loud bad sign number one.  The door was opened by a young girl who before we could even ask for her parents just left (bad sign #2.)  The mother then showed up and said that she had guests over (bad sign #3) then before we could even explain why we were their and give her our information since obviously the time wasn't right 3 guys came up searching for a person in the house (bad sign #4.)  She went off to get him and then came back with chocolates to treat us because it was her birthday (good sign chocolate bad sign birthday.)  Then her husband came to the door which 90% of the time turns out bad (bad sign #6) and then her father (#7.)  All the while this little dog is yapping its head of.  At this point we are just trying to say that we would come back at a later time, but we kept getting interupted.  Then dispiet not having said anything all that important, about the gosple, or about why we were there she invited us in (7 bad signs + 1 good sign =  let in?)  We were thoroughly confused and just agreed to go in.  We went in and she took us to their living room where her mother and father and daughter were celebrating her birthday.  She then went and brought us some dinner and we were able to talk a little about the gospel.  The only thing that really had helped us get in is that my companion could play the piano (lesson two it is important to know some type of musical instrument to get let into houses) and they wanted him to play a little.  Anyways I was an amazing night and after talking for awhile we all sang together and my companion played the piano.  Then the daughter played and she was amazing.  We then manage to rescheadule another meeting with them for the next night.  The amazing part about this story is that; One, we didn't really do anything, but pray for succes and did the work, two that night and the next was the only two nights that that family had free and were all together.  So that was our only chance to find them.  We have now been teaching them and they are some of the coolest people I have met in bulgaria and are progressing in the gosple.  That was also the first time in a year and a half that that had happened to me.  I know that prayer is the most powereful tool we have and can bring to pass miricules.  My life and mission has become so much better as I have relied on prayer and I can feel the litterl strength I recive from it everyday.  I know this church is the true church of God on the earth and I am so happy that I decided to serve a mission.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Ewell

April 2 Transfers

Well as you can tell from the subject heading we had transferes this week.  You will never guess where I am going so just keep on reading and you will find out.

Monday:
After writing you guys we had a nice relaxing P-day.  At the end we went contacting and dropped of a cake at the Nikolovi because their four year old daughter's birthday was today.  They loved the cake and thanked us a ton. we then came back home to bed.
Tuesday:
In the morning we had a meeting with Toni a new investagatior.  She is really cool and understands religion very well.  We had a really indepth first lesson focussing a lot on the great apostasy and who is god.  We did run into one problem though about how she doesn't belive any man can see God, because the bible says know man has seen god.  We tried explaing that ment unworthy men and showed examples in the bible of people who did see god.  Nothing worked so we commited her to pray about it and she said she would.  Other than that hick up everything went great.  After the lesson we went out contacting for the rest of the day.  We even went tracting for a while.  I was rusty since it had been a while but we had a great time tracting and had a ton of succes.  There was the coolest doorbell while tracting as well.  It basicly was just a string attached to a bell inside the house but it was cool because it was unique.  I got a picture of it and will send it with this letter.  After tracting and contacting all day we came back in for the night.
Wednesday:
In the morning we had our last district meeting in Pleven together as a district.  It went well, I did a review of the previous Zone Confrence and then we all shared a spiritual experiance from this transefer.  After eating we contacted all day until the evening when we had a meeting with the Georgivi family.  We did a really good lesson on the fall, atonement, great apostasy, and restoration.  It was a really powerful lesson and also it was the first time their boy was there as well to listen in.  I really hope that they gain a testimony and get baptized.  After meeting with them the day was over and we came in for the night.
Thursday:
In the morning we contacted until lunch.  I wasn't feel all that well while contacting though.  It was all because of nervousness for transfere calls.  For some reason this time I am super nervous about what might happen.  I think it is because either I don't know were I am going or I knew exactly and I didn't know if I wanted that.  Anyways you guys will have to read down to Friday to find out were I am going and lets just say It was completely unexpected and unpredictable.  After lunch we had a meeting with Petur and recent convert.  He hadn't been coming to church lately and we wanted to know why.  Well we found out that his grandma had been in very bad health and had died on tuesday. That explained why he hadn't been to church lately so we focused on how we can see our loved ones again if we keep our covenets.  We then went out contacting until it was time for English.  English went really well and I enjoyed it a lot.  We talked about the indefinit artical (a,an) because they ,despite being in third level, still couldn't use it right while speaking.  We then went contacting until it was time to go in.
Friday:
In the morning we were supposed to have a meeting with Toni again.  She came but only to tell us she couldn't come and to give us her new number since she had switched phones.  She could only stay for a little because she had a job interview that she had to go to.  It was really great that she actualy thought to let us know.  We then had a another meeting that fell through.  We then had lunch and then had our weekly activity with Vladi.  We taught him the piano most of the time.  After Vladi we had transfere calls.  So here is the big shocker, you could say also it is a first in our mission.  I am heading back to Ruse.  This is the third city I am going back to.  First was Stara Zagora, then Pleven, and now Ruse.  I am going to be serving with an Elder Babbit who I will tell you more about next week when I know more about him.  Also unlike last time Ruse will have sisters in it.  So instead of 4 elders there will be 2 elders and 2 sisters.  I am very happy with that transfere call and am really looking forward to going back to Ruse again.  After reciving our transfere calls we went to go see the Geogivi investagator family again.  The meeting was more like a goodbye party but it was alright and I am happy that I have gotten to know them.  We then came home for the night.
Saturday:
In the morning we had English.  I got into a little Physics discussion with my students and they were all shocked that I knew so much about Physics.  We then went out contacting for a while and then had lunch and language study.  After that we had our weekly Mutual improvment soccer game.  Almost nobody came,but we had a good time anyways.  Vera an old investagator of mine did show up though which was great.  I got to see her before I left and that she got to socialize with some of the youth.  We then tried to go see the Nikolovi one last time but they weren't home.
Sunday:
Church was alright, but we were stuck there for about three hours after church had ended because of some branch work.  We then had to pack because we might have to travel to Sofia monday and so we needed to be prepared.  We then went to the other elders' place so Elder Law could Weekly plan with Elder Walker who he will be serving with until his Greenie comes in.  Once all of this was done it was time to head home for dinner and bed.

That was the week and I am super excited to be heading back to Ruse.  I hope you all have a great week.

March 26

So this is another big letter because I had some extra time.  This week was tough and tiring because a lot of things fell through and I was sick.  I am good now and know that there are always bumps in the road and we just need to keep on going no matter how hard it gets.  Well here is the letter.

Tuesday:
After writing you guys we were going to go bowling but the other elders got held up with some urgent branch work so we just ended up watching movies all day.  At 6 we went to the Nickolovie's house.  They are doing so much better since when I saw them at the beging of this transfere.  I hope though that they will still come to church while I am gone.  They need to be called in the morning so they can wake up and I am afraid that the next elders may not do that.  They need it right now though and hopefully they will later have the strength to come on their own, but as of now they need to fed with milk and not meat.  They meeting with them went well we brought up the temple as a goal for them and hopefully that will help them push forward and make the extra effort to follow the gospel.  I truly hope they continue in the church and come back to full activity.  After meeting with them we contacted a little and then came home for the night.

Wednesday:
Today was a flop but alright.  In the morning we went street boarding.  I was starting to get sick because of the weather change to spring like every year at this time, so I wasn't doing a hundred percent.  That was alright though because my companion was on fire and got two numbers while we were street boarding.  After street boarding we had lunch and then started a long four hours of waiting for four dropped meetings.  During the spare time we contacted some more but it was a huge flop.  Luckily we were able to reschedule 3 of them for other days.  Another good thing happened too.  While we were walking around doing a little contacting when we ran into Angelina.  I had help baptize her last year but for the last 5 months she has just dropped off the Radar.  Well aparantly she had moved to a differen't apartment and her phone is with her mother so she techinally doesn't have one.  She gave me her email though which is great because we now have a way to contact her.  That just made my day and whole week.  After waiting for all of our meetings and then language hour We had institue.  I was teaching institue for this week.  I started from the old testement teaching manuel since we haven't been teaching from it, mainly because we didn't have any.  The lesson went well and we got some good questions in.  I was even able to use some of the things I learned from the book have been reading "Belive Christ".  It is a good book and about beliving Christ can save you and not just belive in him.  After instituet we it was time for dinner and to head in.

Thursday:
In the morning we went streetboarding again.  While street boarding I ran into an old investagator.  We talked for a good while and I found out that she had read the whole Book of Mormon even the index.  Also we talked about baptism and she said that she needed to be baptized but admitted that she didn't want it at the moment.  We talked some more and something that really shocked me is that she started crying because she was so happy to see me.  I never knew that I have made such and impact on somebody here in my mission and it was really touching.  She gave me her contact info so we wouldn't lose tract of each other and then I joined Elder Law with street boarding.  After streetboarding we had lunch and languge study.  We then went and taught a lesson to Dimiter the guy that had sent a complaint to us.  This lesson went better but he loves to talk and so it is hard to keep control of the lesson.  He knows a ton about the basic principles of the goesple though which makes it easier yet harder to teach him.  We don't have to explain a whole lot but we then we don't know what needs to be explained.  The meeting went well though.  We then had english prep and english.  English went well after enlish we contacted a little and for dinner we took out Elder Hotchkiss to dinner because his birthday was Wednesday and we didn't have time then.  After dinner we came home and prepared for bed.

Friday:
In the morning we went to go see Iveta and Nickoli.  We had a lesson on coming to church on sunday because they still weren't doing it.  Nickoli understood and he said he would come to church.  Nickoli's son was there which was my first time seeing him.  He is a cool kid and apparantly wants to be baptized but his mom is completely against it.  It is a complicated situation but the kid is really cool and smart.  The meeting went well and we had a good time.  After that we came back to Pleven and took Vladi out to the Panarama.  The Panarama is a muesem here about how the Russians helped free the Bulgarians from the turks about 170 years ago.  At the top level it has a rotunda with a Panarama which matches up with the outside but is painted of the battle in Pleven around 170 years ago.  It is really cool and Vladi liked it a lot.  We then had a short lesson on how we are all fighting wars in this life with sin and how we need to always gaurd ourselves.  It went well, afterward we had language study, dinner, and then bed.

Saturday:
In the morning before english we had a meeting with a new investagator.  She is pretty cool.  She is curious about religion and wants to know more about us.  She said that she was willing to meet everyday as well so we will see how that goes but it is really nice and refreshing to have somebody that willing to learn.  After our short meeting with her we had English class.  After English we had lunch and then a small member crisis.  The crisis got taken care of and then we went to the church youth soccer game.  Soccer went well and it was a good game.  It is good to for the members because they make friends and also we almost always have a investagator or two there.  After soccer we helped clean the church and then it was time for bed and dinner.

Sunday:
Church went well but I had a nasty cough like I always get near the end of my semi-annual cold and all the members thought I was going to die, even though I felt better then I had all week.  After church we had lunch and weekly planning.  That took the rest of the day but for the evening which we used to go teach the Georgive (members.)  The meeting went well.  We used an object lesson with a jar potatoes and rice.  The jar was our life, the potatoes the kingdom of god, and the rice worldly wants.  The lesson was about how if we put God first in our lives that we can fit everything good into our life, but if we don't we can't fit everything.  Vladi enjoyed it a lot and it was a good lesson.  We then talked about a couple of things they could do to put god first and challenged the parents to ask for a calling.  We then came back home for dinner and bed.

I have been asked to share my testimony by a couple of people as well so here it goes.  Before my mission I would say that I knew the gospel.  I knew all the answers but I just had information.  I even commited on this to a couple of people that I knew it all in my head and I belived it up their but my heart seemed not to know.  I craved for a heart felt testimony.  While I have been out here I have gone through many trials and uplifts but I can now say that my heart is bursting with testimony now and is still growing.  I am so thankful I came on a mission and now I know with my heart and my mind that the gospel is true and it helps me so much knowing that.  I bear this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love,
Elder Ewell

3/20

Well this week was really good and thank you guys a ton for all the letters this week.  This week was really good and I enjoyed it a lot thank you guys for all of your support.

Monday:
Well we had a really relaxing P-day after writing you guys.  At 6 we went to the Nikolovi's to meet with them like every monday.  They are doing so much better.  You can really see the difference the spirit has made in their lives.  After meeting with them we contacted a little and then went in for the night.

Tuesday:
We went out to a members house in a nearby village to help them with their spring yard work.  They are the Karojovi and they had us removing cement posts and old grape plants.  They have two giant German Sheperds.  Those dogs are really smart.  I was trying to get a grape plant out and one wanted to play fetch.  I told it in bulgarian that I needed to remove the plant first and to help me.  Immedetly he started grabing the grape plant with his teeth and pulling and digging trying to get it out.  It was amazing and I was astonished.  With the dogs help it took little time to remove that grape plant.  Tip don't remove grape plants they are a pain and don't want to be removed.  It took us all morning to  remove all the posts and plants.  We also burned all the weeds and leaves that had gathered up during the winter.  It took all morning though because there were a ton of bees there and we had to be careful to not be stung.  After doing all that we had lunch which was delicious, played with the dogs, talked, and striped a long branch of bark while we waited for a train.  The train finally came and we got on it and headed home.

Wednesday:
First thing in the morning we had district meeting.  District meeting went really well.  We then had chinease for lunch and I ate a little to much.  After lunch we had to pick up some packages for the church and then we had a meeting with Rumen.  We talked about callings and then president Taty came and gave him an interview.  He has been called to be the young mens president and young single adults president.  So we taught him a little about how to be a leader and what types of activities he should organize and how often.  He is amazing and picked it all up really quick. After the meeting with him we had a ton of branch work to do with President Taty.  First thing though was that we had recived a complaint from somebody.  Apparantly missionaries had called him multiple times for a meetings and hadn't been there for the meeting.  We were confused because the number that he listed as having called was the number for the Elders in Varna on the otherside of the country and nobody their has served in Pleven and shouldn't know him since he was contacted in Pleven.  Well We called to apologize and the guy was okay with it and still wanted to meet.  Aparantly the complaint was just a complaint saying that the system was broken and to please fix it.  You will hear more about him on friday's section.  Since everybody we called had never even heard of him I am saying that he is John the Revolaters or the Three Nephites contact.  The other branch work was just a finacle mess that is fixed now but took us three hours to fix.  After that was all done we had a language study and then institute.  The new CES senior couple were there and it was great to get to meet them.  Institute went really well and I enjoyed it alot even though I was translating.  Afterwards we had some treats and then it was time to go in for the night.

Thursday:
First thing in the morning we had a droped meeting that was reschedualed for two in the afternoon.  So we had lunch and then went to the Nikolovis and helped them gather and chop wood to use to cook with and heat their house with.  My back and arms are still sore from doing that but we got a ton of wood for them.  We then rushed back home to change so we could be to the meeting we had at two.  Well we were on time but the guy wasn't.  So we waited for him.  Our other meeting with Anna started at three before he showed up and then right before we said the opening prayer he showed up.  Well we couldn't just tell him to go away so we re-taught the restoration to Anna and taught Simion (the late guys name) the restoration for the first time.  Well the lesson was a little chaotic but it ended on a good note and we will be meeting with Simion again.  After this double meeting we had english prep and then English.  English went well and after english we went contacting for a little bit then we had language study, dinner, and got ready for bed.

Friday:
First thing in the morning we had a meeting with Vasil.  He is a communist that wants to know about all the major religions that influence the world.  He is learning about ours because of Mitt Romney.  We are letting the Book of Mormon do its job.  We taught him a little about the restoration but not a whole ton because he had a lot of questions that we were answering.  After the meeting with him we met with the complaint guy from Wednsday.  He actually is very spiritual and knows alot of basic gosple truths from his own life experinces.  The only bad part is that it took him 40 minutes to explain all of this and he uses really big words so it was hard to understand.  We taught him a little and asked him to read the Book of Mormon and the Restoration booklet that we have so we could talk about it next time.  We then had lunch and then went street boarding for about 3 hours.  We then went to a Young single adults activity were we all played soccer.  I was super rusty and now my legs are sore (I just hurt all over now.)  It was really fun though and we have it figured out that we can do that once a week.  That well be a great way for some of our investagators to make friends with the members.  After soccer there was a service project at the church.  It was for the Relief Society 170th annirversy.  We were deep cleaning the church and because only two women could show up all of the youth but three who had to leave helped as well.  After cleaning we had language study and then dinner and bed.

Saturday:
The morning was really stress full.  Because we live above the church and have a big kitchen we were incharge of cooking all of the food.  So we made a huge batch of rolls and two things of lazagnia.  It was very stress full but everything got finished and everybody loved the lazagnia and rolls.  In facted they couldn't eat all the rolls which is impresive because bulgarians eat bread like it was water and they are dying of thirst.  I was really happy that I had mangaged to overfeed them.  After the whole thing was done we cleaned up and then had two meetings that fell through, language study, contacting, and weekly planning to finish off the day.

Sunday:
Church was good and I enjoyed it alot.  After church we had to rush to get all of our stuff gather and head to the Bus station for a bus to Sofia.  They had said there was a bus at 1:44 and we were at the station at 1:31 to find out that the bus was really at 1:30 and we had just missed it.  I was a little mad but not really since bus stations are always confusing with their times here.  Well the next bus wasn't until 4:30.  So after a long 3 hour wait we finally got on a bus to Sofia.  We got in and then had our interviews with President Roth.  I love my interviews with him and I always look forward to having them.  After the interviews we went to the apartments were we were staying and I was voted as the cook.  I don't even think I can cook that good but they all wanted it and with some help in the spice department the food turned out grate.  We then talked for awhile and went to bed.

Monday:
Zone Confrence was a blast.  There wasn't as much doctrinal stuff this time around but I have to say I felt the spirit more in that confrence than in any other one I have been in before.  A funny thing that happened was that for dessert for lunch there was a supposed unlimited supply of oreos and milk.  Well one elder wanted to prove them wrong and ate around 80 oreos all on his own and asked all of us to help.  It was hillarous and good fun.  After the zone confrence we picked up everything that we needed to take back to Pleven (it was a ton) and caught a bus.  Back in Pleven we took one of the city buses back to our apartment to head in for the night and I guy started asking us questions.  We had a nice conversation and gave him our number.  Well we got off the bus and about a minute later we got a call from that guy saying that I had left my scriptures on the bus.  Well after talking with him for a while we figured out how to get them back and now they are safe and sound in my apartment.  

Well that was the week.  Thank you all so much for all the support and letters I will here from you all next week.

Love,
Elder Austin James Ewell

3/12

Well this week seemed to drag by so there won't be much to report. 
Monday:
After our P-day we had a meeting with the Nickolovies.  The spirit in their house was a ton better than last week and they could feel it.  Now that we have a system to get them to church we are now working on reading everyday.  I used to be frustrated having to go so slow with people but out here I have really appreaciated how powerful doing the little things can be.  They are improving though and hopefully they won't need to so much help soon.
Tuesday:
Today was a lot of contacting.  We did help the Nickolovies though gather some wood which was fun and frightining.  There boy does not know how to handle an ax safely.  I was just waiting for an accident.  He wouldn't listen to us but luckly nothing happened.  We also had a meeting with Anna which went well.  I really hope she can keep coming because we found out her son had stopped her from going to other churches before.  Please pray for her.  Other than that a whole lot of contacting.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was good but other than district meeting it was pure contacting.
Thursday:
Well other than english which was a ton of fun it was all contacting again.
Friday:
Today was busy.  In the morning we went to Nickolia's and Baba Iveta's place.  It was a good visit but we also got into a discussion about not judging and let me just say I don't think it went as well as aunt Anna's.  Anyway after them we had our time with Bladi.  He is a young member (12) so once a week we hang out with him and try to teach a gospel princeple or too.  So you could say we are the Scout/Young Mens/Only Friend in the church combantion.  Anyways we watched the other side of heaven with him and talked about missionary work.  After him we finally got to meet the the Georgievies again (the investagators.)  It was a very good meeting.  We talked about the plan of salvation and they had a lot of questions.  Please pray for them, they are a amazing family and the church is just perfect for them.  After meeting with them we came home for dinner.
Saturday:
Same as thursday, just english was in the morning.  We did meet with the Georgievies (Members) at night though.  We talked a little about doing the little things to keep the spirit with us.  The meeting went well and it was a nice fun evening.
Sunday:
Church was good but like the rest of the week we contacted all day again. 
Thank you guys for all of the support and keep sending the letters.
Love,
Elder Austin James Ewell