Just an update...

We are doing well here. Serving a mission is not at all what we had imagined. The language is very hard to learn. We can sound out the words, but there aren't too many that we have a grasp of the meaning. There is printing and cursive and both in upper and lower case to understand in both types. However, we are getting by.

We work hard for at least 8 hours each day (secretarial work for Carol and financial for me) and then we go home and work at home on our stuff at night.

TV is almost all foreign here, but we do find some shows in English to break the monotony of it all.

We do replace a companionship of young men who would be tied to the office if we weren't here, but other than that we are not helping with proselyting. I do financial audits and teach them how to do them (it takes an Elder to interpret at these).

We had and interesting thing happen last Sunday. A lady who plays the piano in one of the branches bore here testimony in Russian and it was translated into Bulgarian. Then an Elder was translating that into English for us poor Americans.

We are enjoying the office missionaries (we have 4 of them) in the mission home. It takes all 6 of us to do everything that must be done.

We have 10 or so new missionaries every 11 weeks. Then there are a similar number of missionaries going home. All have to be setup in the computer for funds and all have travel arrangements that we must coordinate. Not so much coming, but a lot of effort going home. About 10% of them have family come to meet them here and tour before they all go home. The list goes on. My biggest task is balancing all the finanddces on a weekly basis.

I have been given two engineering assignments, too! They have moisture in the walls of the mission home and I am working up a plan to find the source and repair the problem.

Then there is a meeting house that has plumbing and electrical problems. It is rented by the Church. The Mission President wants to get a new place ---soooo ---- I get to write an unglamorous report on the conditions in the building and how much we would have to pay to fix the problems. We find that landlords are not very responsive to fixing up their facilities.

Well, enough about our mission and what is is and what it isn't.

We are starting for feel at home. We have neighbors upstairs who practice (they are accomplished) on the violin, cello and piano almost 24/7.