4 May 2008 - Humanitarian Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria

On the 22nd of April, we left to attend the Europe East Area Humanitarian Conference held in Sofia, Bulgaria. We traveled from Astana to Amaty, then Almaty to Frankfurt, Germany and from there to Sofia. We arrived Wednesday afternoon on the 23rd. It was so exciting to meet all of the couples and learn where they are serving their missions.

We stayed at this very nice hotel on an extremely narrow street and in a very old part of the city. It was very nice and they treated us royally. We had good food and good company. What could be better!

This is taken from the window of our room. The building down the street is a school. You can see that the streets are very narrow. Notice how old all of the buildings are. The only new buildings we saw were the hotel we stayed in, the museum and the airport. Bulgaria is a very old city!

This is a beautiful, modern government building. It is across the street from the Parliament building.

This is the Parliament building and we were able to see the changing of the guard. It happens every hour on the hour.

This is the oldest surviving structure in the city which still serves it's original purpose. This is the Rotunda of the Church of St. George. It was built by the Romans in the 4th century. It was built on the ruins of a previous civilization that you can see in the foreground. These ruins existed at the time of Christ.

The church was named for St. George. For you that are familiar with children's literature, this is the St. George of St George and the Dragon.

These are the ruins they have unearthed in front of the Church of St. George. This were evidently cooking ovens. We walked among the ruins.The conference was presided over by President Pieper. Here we are with him and his lovely wife. President Pieper and his family and another American family were the first members of the church in Kazakhstan. Because of their efforts, the church got it's start in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

During one of his talks, he told us that serving a mission in the States was a "convenience" but serving in the Europe East Area was an "adventure". He told us that miracles would happen in our families because of our service. He also said that we need to have patience and that the Church in this area would move forward on the Lord's time table and not ours.This is Jerry and Sue Ann Capener, Roy's cousin and our former dentist! They have been serving in Belarus since July. It was so good to see them!

These are two of the couples that we were in the MTC with. We enjoyed seeing them again. Richard and Joanne Loosli (back), Country Directors in Istanbul, Turkey and Paul and Lois Fifield, serving in Izmir, Turkey. We have become good friends.

We also met couples serving in the countries of Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria, and all 7 Russian Missions, including Novosibirsk, Moscow West, St. Petersburg, Samara, Yekateringburg, Vladivostok and Moscow. And yours truly, serving in Kazakhstan!

It was interesting to hear about each mission and the things that they are doing. We learned a great deal and gleaned a lot from each other's experiences. There are other countries that are experiencing greater challenges than we are and we feel grateful to be serving where we are.

Friday afternoon we went on an excursion to the Bulgarian Museum of History. It was extremely interesting and educational. The reason that we all wanted to go was to see the "Gold Plates".

You may have seen these. The information has been circulating on the internet. These are 6 bound sheets of 24 karat gold plates that are 2 and 1/2 millennia old. They were discovered 60 years ago in a tomb in south-western Bulgaria. These are the only known gold plates bound together into a book. They just help prove the reality of the Book of Mormon!

This is the Alexander Nevski Memorial Church. It was built in honor of the large number of Russian casualties during Bulgaria's War of Liberation of 1877-1878. Craftsman and artists worked for thirty years to create this enormous church, where nearly 300 mural paintings and decorative finishes in marble, onyx, alabaster and gold can be admired.

This is the front door of the church. We went in, but it was the weekend of the Orthodox Easter and it was full of worshipers so we couldn't take any pictures. But it was beautiful inside.

These are some of the Humanitarian couples we got to know. We had a wonderful time and a trip we will never forget. It's great serving in the Europe East Area!

We left on Sunday morning early and got back to Astana on Monday morning and spent the rest of the week catching up and following Taryn's heart surgery and recovery. Her surgery has truly been a miracle as has her recovery!! We are so grateful for all of your faith and prayers in her behalf! She came home on Saturday, five days after her surgery!! If you haven't been following her surgery, and would like to know what happened, go to www.thekingsfordfamily.blogspot.com

Thanks again for the wonderful support. We couldn't do it without all of you!!

Love,

Elder and Sister Welling