Bulgaria Week 4

Bulgaria Week 4

Our first investigator was baptized & confirmed this yesterday & Saturday. It was an amazing experience & his story is great! Before he met us he prayed that something in his life would change & then we met him the same day! When we asked him to pray about Joseph Smith, the church, & the Book of Mormon he went home & prayed about it that night. Later he testified to his mom who was against are church (protiv as we call it in Bulgarian here) he testified to her & she is no longer protiv incredible! He is an amazing person! He is so ready & prepared so we are still working with him. I still can't believe we found him. We were up north contacting & we were by a park by some blocks (old communist apartment complexes) & we stopped & prayed where to go. We had the thought to go west & that is when we ran into him:) He said he agreed to meet with us because we were so friendly. So that shows you always need to be friendly & an example, you never know who you might find.

I have been studying & reading so many things it is super exciting. Alma 12 is amazing & completely outlines the Plan of Redemption & it is awesome! Alma 13 is all about the Priesthood which has excited me to study all the chapters about Priesthood. I restarted the New Testament which is awesome as well I am in chapter like 20? or 22 or 23? Christ just said woes upon the pharisees, it was intense.

I have been learning a lot about myself, thinking about the future, trying to improve. My Bulgarian is definitely improving which I am happy about:) I can understand better if I really listen & God helps me.

I have been having a lot of thoughts about prayer. Prayer is simple, be specficccc, express gratitiude. Every prayer should be different. Never the same.

Earlier last week I went to Stara Zagora with my companion of course because we had to get the font.. yes there is a portable font that we have to grab & drag between cities. In Stara Zagora they have giant chess boards, & people playing chess.. unlike in Hackovo where I am. We had extra time (2 hours) I introduced myself & began playing with all these old men:) they seemed skeptical at first & I was a little afraid because I wanted to make a good impression & I hadn't really played in a while. I played this gentleman twice & won both:) then I think I played another guy? I don't remember exactly. But the last guy I played was (as everyone there had told me) Bulgarian champion 30 years ago. We played, I was black but equalized in the endgame but lost a pawn, then created a drawn rook endgame pretty much but he pressed for the win made a crucial mistake & I went on to win:) I was trying to be as nice as possible & speak in my broken Bulgarian but I also explained why I was here & such. I hope I left them with greater respect for us missionaries. I directed them to the church & told them good day:) so that is my chess story!