An Interesting Time to be in Bulgaria

Ever driven down a country road to the smell of roses? On a P-day we took a trip to the Valley of the Roses, near Kazanlak – the place where the world famous rose oil is produced. There we toured the museum and drove through the acres and acres of Damascus roses which produce more rose oil than any other kind. The picture below shows us and Elder and Sister Mace as we stopped to smell the roses. Since we last wrote we have attended 2 baptisms, which are always the highlight of any mission experience. It is too bad that we don’t seem to have more of them. Our main focus is on the seminary and institute programs. These past 3 weeks we held 2 Super Saturdays and teacher training, along with committee meetings for our YSA and Youth conferences. As we prepare for the conferences we are fearful that the numbers of those who will attend will not be anywhere near as high as the potential. Many of the young people leave the country for England and the US for work, marriage, or whatever. Hopefully they stay active, but the percentages of that are not very high. But we will have a great time, and it is occupying our efforts.














We are giving firesides in the branches every chance we get. Our message has been to keep journals using our family journals as examples. The Church has been here only about 17 years and so the members here are the Pioneers of the Church in Bulgaria. They need to write their stories for their posterity as did our ancestors. We tell a story of a man who, in 1963, felt a need to leave the country of Bulgaria, but it being communistic was not able to leave until there was a job-related opportunity in Algeria which the Government wanted someone to fill. His name was miraculously drawn for the job. When he was required to return to Bulgaria he defected to France where the missionaries found him and taught him the gospel. He later immigrated to America. He became the first mission president in Bulgaria after the government became a democracy. Recorded stories like this are great examples the Bulgarian saints need to help them understand the importance for keeping journals.

Our biggest thrill since coming here has been the CES Sr. Missionary Conference, held this year in Kaunas, Lithuania. We were so excited to return to our first mission area, even if it was only one of our cities. Our Area Supervisor, our dear friend, Henry Kosak, was the leader of the conference. He really filled us with the spirit to go back to our mission and increase our impact, and exposure, and involve the leadership of our branches. We feel we can make a difference in the numbers if we just follow the guidelines he presented to us. They even taught our husbands some self-defense tactics, the Haka. We are sure feeling a lot safer now. Along with 3 days of inspiration, we did a little exploration. In Kaunas, the place to visit is the 9th Fort, a place we had been to twice before, but still interesting. This was not a concentration camp, as we called it, but an extermination camp during the war, and a prison before and after. Here 9000 children were killed along with others totaling 37000 people in all; they were lined up against the wall and shot just because they were Jews. The monument is impressive and can be seen for miles around.

Pictures are: Kaunas 9th Fort monument. The night before the conference with Henry and Elke.

The Church here in Bulgaria is experiencing a great deal of opposition at the moment. The news media have associated the Church with the FLDS situation in Texas, and it has really caused some problems for the missionaries who proselyte. The local churches have picked up on the tempo, and this past week one of the local priests made sure two of our missionaries made the national news. An “investigator” invited two Elders to visit her church in the city of Burgas (near the Black Sea). When the Elders arrived at the church, they entered the building looking for the lady who had invited them; soon a priest approached them and they were told to leave. Whenever we enter another church, we are told to remove our name tags; the Elders involved had done so; they never mentioned to the priest they were Mormon Missionaries. Nevertheless, they did leave where they met their investigator outside. They told her they were not welcomed; she went inside the church and moments later came out and said it was OK for them to enter. They followed her inside and this time when the Priest saw them, he began yelling at them to leave the building. (He was at the pulpit yelling at them). They turned and left the building without saying anything. As they exited the building, they were met by the press asking what had happened in the church. (Who called the press?)This was obviously a set up, and the report that hit the news was the Elders had entered the church and tried taking over the meeting by preaching to the people while the priest was fighting to keep order and physically trying to throw the Elders out of his church which took 30 min. to accomplish. Maybe you have already heard of this incident, but it makes work here interesting. In another of our cities, the one in which we live, the city council is voting to see if it is legal for our missionaries to pass out tracts as they meet people. At the moment it is illegal, not a written law, but one of the Mayor’s, and the police are always stopping our missionaries and telling them to move out of the areas where they are trying to meet people. This is not true for all areas of Bulgaria, but in the areas where the Mayor of that city doesn’t like us, or has been influenced by a priest, we are finding all kinds of hurdles.

Life is good; the Lord is on our side, and no unhallowed hand will stop this work!

Love,

Elder and Sister Andersen, Peggy and John