Spectacular Fountains

Our goal is to visit each of the Branch Presidents in Bulgaria as soon as possible, before the new school S/I year starts. So when we went to Pleven, we knew we were in for a treat as the Branch President's wife served with us in the Baltic Mission. Her name then was Sister Petrova, now it is Tatiana Vezerov. They have a beautiful baby named Annie. We enjoyed our visit there, however short it was. We will definitely make a return visit to this beautiful branch and the Vezerov family.

Never have we seen such a beautiful park and walking street in all of Europe. It was covered with these beautiful fountains and paths that wound through it. We took many pictures and had to show them to you.

Pres. Wolfgang Paul from our Area Presidency came on a whirlwind tour of the mission. We had Zone conference under his direction and then a very spiritual fireside that evening. During the Z. Conf. I, Sister Andersen, was asked to bear my testimony. Having just been spiritually fed, this was an emotional event and opportunity for me. Both Pres. Paul and his wife gave us much to contemplate about our purpose for being here in Bulgaria. Much can happen if we just dig in and do as we have been asked. "Open our mouths." We need to show our gratitude and not murmur but have faith and rely upon the Lord. We are here for just a short time. But the one thing that caused us to ponder the most was his statement, "The 10 year mark after our mission is the true measurement of the success of our mission." When I thought upon this, I thanked my Heavenly Father that our sons can say that their mission was a success, not because of the number of baptisms, but by the lives that they live. This gospel is TRUE.

Our 5 day whirlwind tour of the branches.

As we travel to various parts of the country, we take time to look at historical sites along the way. The first 3 pictures are of the Rila Monastery in the south-west part of Bulgaria. It is probably 800 years old, still functions as a monastery, and one can even stay there as they offer hotel accomidations.
On our way home from Shumen, a town about 100 km from the Danube River and Black sea, we drove to the top of a mountain to see this monument, called Buzludjia. (The spaceship like structure at the top) It is from the Communist era and it was boarded up about 20 years ago. People have broken into the place and as it is falling apart, no one seems to care that people go in and look around and maybe take some of the mosaic tiles. We did enter, but did not pilfer. There is mosaic tile murals on most of the walls and they are falling off, exposing the paintings underneath used to guide the placing of the mosaic tiles. We don't know what this monstrosity was used for, but it had huge windows overlooking all sides of this mountain peak.
This shows the murals and the deterioration of the place.
You can see how extensive the murals are and how intricate. This section is the most intact of all the walls.

In the last 5 days we have met with 7 branch presidents. When we meet with them we take them out to dinner and discuss their seminary/institute needs including going over the list of potential names belonging to their branches. A new direction from SL just arrived regarding the calling of seminary/institute teachers. As senior couples we no longer call the CES teachers; that job is now the branch president's, and he does this like he would any other calling in his branch. This puts more emphasis on the program and more responsibility on the district and branch where it should be and not on the mission. Though it sounds great to be going out to eat all our meals when we travel, it gets old, but is a good way to get a feel for the needs of the branches. We have learned a lot and have found out some of their strengths and weaknesses. Some of the Br. Pres. have no concern about the need for S/I. They grew up without such programs in their lives and, of course, have no idea how seminary or institute should be run. One Branch President, who's own son should have been attending, did not have a teacher for 5 months after the original teacher quit, and did not even think to call a new one. We learn and wonder what we can do to increase their understanding of how important S/I is for the future of their branches. The picture below is of the teacher and his wife in Hascovo.

Out of 19 branches we still have 5 more to visit this month. We go to Pleven this weekend, and Ruse and Velico Turnovo next weekend where we also have to speak in Sacrament. We will be speaking every 3rd Sunday in the 3rd zone of the mission, the area closest to the Black Sea, rotating with the other Senior Couples through the zone's 6 branches.

Where has the time gone; we have now be in Bulgaria six months.

Miscellaneous from Bulgaria

Nobody knocks on our door at 8:30 a.m., or so we thought. We opened our door to Tony, our landlord, who had this wonderful cake in hand. We did not tell him he was a month early. He is a very thoughtful person, who is so aware of us. He speaks a little English, wishes we would speak even that much Bulgarian. A former pro soccer player in Germany, he owns 7 apartments in our building and 3 on the Black Sea. We shared the cake with the missionaries that night at the branch.

An interesting fact about Bulgarians: They do not eat lettuce. The lettuce we have purchased was tough, tasteless. So we eat our salads as they do. Chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, a small amount of onions and green peppers with fresh parsley. We decided to grow our own garden. Yes, we have 4 pots with 2 cucumber plants and 2 tomato plants. They are on the patio next to our bedroom. This is also the place where we hang our clothes to dry in the summer. So, you can know the luxury of living in the past we are posting pictures of our wonderful patio.

The Black Sea

Joining millions, or so it seems, we spent our weekend at the Black Sea. This has to be the resort destination for Europe, and Russia. In our travels between the 3 branches we visited, we stopped at 3 beaches just to see what it was like. Our pictures show little sand, mostly white umbrellas, and almost nude bodies going on for what seemed like miles. We walked out on Varna Beach and navigated our way to the water's edge. Looking back over the path we covered we decided that modesty was not a word they understood and we decided to make our exit as quickly as possible. Sunny Beach was so crowded that finding a place to park the car was impossible. We were there to meet a young friend named Radost, which means Joy, a new member of our Branch in Plovdiv who was working there for the summer. After visiting with her for lunch, we walked to the beach and found a repeat of Varna Beach. I did not know there could be so many people in one place at a time; on the beach, in the swimming pools, walking the shopping areas, Half of Europe and Russia had to be on the Black Sea Beaches this past week; the other half of Europe on different weeks. The Germans get 45 days of paid vacation, and most of them spend it here at the Black Sea resorts.

Our efforts were to meet with the 3 branch presidents in that area and give our fireside. They are all wonderful men and work hard for their small branches. Dobrich has fewer than 10 people who show up each Sunday. The Br. Pres. is retired and handicapped with only 1 leg, so he doesn't get around very much. But he is so dedicated and loved by the members. His name is Dimitur Neykov (English spelling)

TheVarna Branch Pres. is young, 29, with one child. He is quite busy, but knows his people very well, and tries to work with them as best he can. His name is Nikolai Danev. He is one of only few members who understands the administration of the church.

Burgas' Pres. is a very loving person, very concerned about his people, and shows them he cares in so many ways.

We took each of the Branch presidents out to dinner to show them our appreciation, and to talk about the young people in their branches. In 2 of the branches we took the missionaries out to dinner with us. Translation is only an excuse; they love to eat, and we love to feed them. This is how we get to know them and learn about how the work is going in their areas. We also quiz them on the youth and young adults in their branches so we can know who is active and how

the inactives are responding to their efforts of

reactivation. The branch presidents are also

working hard to get their young people enrolled

in Seminary and Institute. We also gave a fireside to 2 branches and spoke in Sacrament Meeting at Burgas on Sunday.

President Nikolai Nikolav is the 2nd from the right. This is a picture of the branch who came to the fireside.

Sunflowers, oh, how beautiful they are with their yellow eyelashes surrounding their piercing brown eyes. Thousands of acres of this plant are planted each year covering the landscape of Bulgaria. The farmers raise them for their seeds; not to eat at ball games, but to press them for their oil. Sunflower seed oil is used in cooking mostly; we use it regularly. We couldn't help stop near one of the fields and have our pictures taken among them. Above, Peggy is giving them competition for their beauty.

YSA Conference

YSA Conference couldn't have been in a better setting; mountains, trees, a small lake with croaking frogs, and wonderful people to work with. We had Elder and Sister Senkans, our Area Authority Seventy and friends from Latvia, come to speak to us. Our Supervisor, Igor Poddubny, from the Ukraine, also came and gave a wonderful presentation. President Bennett gave a scintillating talk on how Joseph Smith received the plates. With dancing in the evenings, and great workshops, the young adults had a marvelous time. John put on his bridge-building activity and everyone, adults included, were seen frantically working together to create a bridge out of newspapers strong enough to hold a 35 pound box for 10 seconds, and big enough for the box to pass under. Exhilarated and exhausted, we are now home and basking in the pleasant memories and preparing to do it all over again for the youth of our mission this weekend.

YSA Conference - Momino Resort

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