With Elder Gierisch in Kosovo and Elder Prince in Albania,
it's Elder Krajnc, Chingas, and I left in Macedonia with the sisters. It's been
weird not seeing other companionships around contacting people since it's just
us. That also means the 3 areas got merged into one, so we've been a lot busier
this week! But busy is good, because it means less hours on the streets and
more time with people that actually want to meet up with you! So that's been
nice.
The number of people we have at church at the hotel is
usually somewhere in the 30s. I'm not sure what happened this week, but we only
had 20, including the Swineford's baby. We had a lot of investigators this week
tell us again that they would come to church the day before, but again, none of
them showed up. It's getting frustrating! But with is being fast Sunday this
week, I had the opportunity to bear my testimony, which always feels so good. I
got a bit nervous so the Macedonian was pretty bad, but it's still coming
along!
Here, there's a drink called боза (Boza) that everybody
LOVES to drink. It's fermented wheat drink that is basically beer, but it's not
alcoholic, even though it still has a pretty strong taste and smell. A lot of
times when we have lessons in cafes, the people always get it and want us to
get it too. I'm just starting to get used to it, but I always have to get it
with a lot of fruit juice in it, or else it's just nasty.
Elder Chingas' mom sent him a couple tennis racquets with
Sister Schofield's parents, so we went out and played for the first time on our
missions! It felt so good :) Elder Chingas has been playing a good while longer
than me, so he can beat me pretty easily, but it helps me play better so it's
all good! We're looking forward to playing a lot for the next year and a half!
That's all I got! Have a splendid week
Elder Rigby
Dad research:
Boza is a traditional beverage made by yeast and lactic acid bacteria
fermentation of millet, cooked maize, or wheat flour. It is rich in vitamins
and carbohydrates. A nonalcoholic version became common in Baltic Muslim
countries. In the Republic of Macedonia, Boza is much thinner and lighter, and
tastes sweeter, compared to neighboring countries. Other lactic-acid fermented
foods include yogurt, sourdough breads, sauerkraut, pickles, and kimchi. The
presence of lactic acid is responsible for the sour taste. Boza-like fermented
drinks date back to 8000 BCE.
