Young Single Adult/Youth Conference

Carol touching the Black Sea

Carol and Charles with Sister Neli Mahaleva

Cute little heads

One of the youth

Family Group (sorry it's blurry, it's the best I have)

There aren't many young people in Bulgaria, so the Youth Conference and Young Single Adult Conference were for the entire country.

Youth Conference and Young Single Adult Conference were combined at the same resort and the same weekend this year in Bulgaria. We went to a very nice resort on the Black Sea. There were a lot of Romanians and a few Germans there that we heard on the elevators.

We left Sofia Friday morning, 1 May and drove all day (about 8 hours total with stops) to get from the west side of Bulgaria to the shores of the Black Sea on the east. We rode with Ron and Carolyn Jorgensen (another Sofia senior couple). They live in our apartment building here in Sofia.

We checked in and Carol and I got a suite away from the throng. We had a very nice room with a great view of the sea from our several windows and our balcony. We even had two TVs and two mini bars!

Well, the conference was packed with programs and talks. President Gibbens of the Eastern European Area Presidency was our main man at the conference. Henry and Igor (professional CES men) were there too. We had presentations on money management, dating, etc.

There was also an activity that simulated what the Celestial Kingdom might be like. The foyer to our room was a "plane" that "crashed" (with sound effects and lights out) and there were no survivors. Later, the plane crash victims were taken to the Bennett's room where they experienced the Celestial Kingdom. It was touching.

We had great food at a buffet for each meal. It reminded me of a cruise ship. The only catch was that the drinks were pay as you go so most of us didn't get anything to drink for lunch and dinner! A bottle of water was 2 Leva ($1.50 US).

The youth played a game on the beach call Kube. I looked it up Google and it is a valid game that you can buy over here.

The young singles had an obstacle course and did Karaoke in the bar.

Mom and I did demonstrate the jitterbug, but they weren't too interested in learning anything. I also taught Sister Bennett how to Two-Step.

Sunday morning was testimony meeting. Fasting was not done, even though it was Fast Sunday. They just bore their testimonies. By noon the cars were in motion ferrying the young people to the bus station or the train in Varna 17 kilometers away. Most of them didn't get home until dark thirty.

We drove home and arrived at about 8:20 PM ourselves. Then mom came down with a bad cold and 5 days later I came down with it too. They were really bad ones, and the Jorgensens got them too.

That's about it.