Increased Excitement in the Mission

After a long dearth in baptisms and a special fast a couple of months ago, we are beginning to see some exciting trends in the mission. The month of January we have had more baptisms than we had for the whole year of 2008. We have felt the excitement in the missionaries as we have travelled visiting classes, attending fun nights, and speaking in Sacrament meetings. The Lord is pouring out his spirit upon the Bulgarian people and they are beginning to open their hearts and minds to the missionaries. Plovdiv had 2 baptisms. One was an 11 year old girl who lives in a selo (village) outside of Plovdiv. The other is an 8 year old son of a counselor in the Plovdiv District Presidency. How exciting to see young people join the church. In a few years these will be leaders.

Elder Kasabov with Christina Vacileva.

Старейшина Касабов, Христина Василева

Dimitar (Mitko) Marious Tcherpokov and his Dad, Marious Tcherpokov

Mитко Черпоков

In Pleven, we joined the branch in their Saturday night fun night after we observed the S/I class taught by Elder Taylor. Here we are making a pinata and getting really messy with paste. Elder Hawkes is on the right.

A Service Project To An Orphanage

Yesterday, 14 Jan 09, we had the pleasure of delivering a car load of clothes to an orphanage some ninety kilometers south of Plovdiv. The ride took us over the mountains, past a ski resort, and into a picturesque village which has been there some five or six hundred years. We experienced along the way rain, sleet, snow, more rain and lots of melting, making the narrow, winding road a kinky ribbon of mud. Going with us to the orphanage was Nikolai Gavazov, the Bulgarian Field Director for 'One Heart Bulgaria', the non profit group that looks after these poorly managed and funded state orphanages. We drove to the run down building when we arrived in the village, but learned the children were attending school about a block away. So off we skidded to the school. Conditions in the school were not much better than at the orphanage, the rooms were quite cold, children wore coats to keep warm. However bleak the place looked and felt, the headmaster was proud to show us some new desks and chalk boards they had received from a group in Holland. School finished for the day at 1:00pm, and soon the building was empty. When we arrived back at the orphanage, the children were already there and anxiously waiting to help unload the car. The look on the children's faces when they saw all the bags of clothing was priceless. We have included a few pictures to help you understand what we felt and saw.

We have included the website for the One Heart Bulgaria program if you are interested in making a donation. Its link is on the top right of our blog. The cause is more than worthy; the children are not members of the church, but they are children of God. The One Heart Bulgaria foundation was started and is run by former LDS missionaries to Bulgaria. Nikolai is in our branch and is responsible for the use of the donations the organization receives. He is the only paid personnel in the organization.
We hope you enjoy your week, and find peace in your hearts.

Love, Elder/Sister Andersen, John and Peggy

May This be a Happy New Year

Anticipating a wonderful display of fireworks from the local government set off from on top of the hill in front of our house we stayed up past midnight to watch what people said would be a wonderful display. (Yes, we know it is past missionary bedtime but then we knew the noise would not allow sleep.) So, we wandered from window to window to watch. As midnight grew closer we heard and saw an increase in activity ALL around the city. Our house is on a hill and the views from our house allow almost a 360 degree panorama of the city.

Soon, it got so we were practically running from room to room. To solve that, at midnight we stepped out onto our deck which is HUGE to watch and hear. From balconies all around us people were shooting firecrackers, rockets, and YES, even guns into the night sky, one of our neighbors did this as I watched the fire exit his barrel. In the dark we felt perfectly safe as we had a cover we could cower under if necessary. The display, though not organized was the most spectacular we have ever seen. The noise was as though we were in a war zone. We stayed out in the below freezing weather 15 minutes and then retired to bed but not to sleep. Miraculously it all stopped at 1:00 except for the drunken screems of revelry and the occasional shooting of fireworks through the night. Why, at 6:50 a.m. the neighbor decided to blast off 2 more rockets we can't figure out, except maybe drunkeness. One of his blasts landed on our deck waking us up from a restless night's sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. We hope all will be well with you and that your fortunes will be better, your family life happier, your service to our Lord and Savior more dedicated, and your mingling with friends more frequent. May the Lord bless us all is our prayer for all we love and hold dear.