May 24, 2010

Hi Family!

Thanks bunches for writing to me this week! Lots of good and fun news. My week was pretty good, too. Last Monday after I e-mailed Sister Whitaker and me met the Elders at the church and baked cookies, watched church movies - the Testaments, Legacy - and played Phase 10. That was fun. Today we met at the church again and made egg salad sandwiches and played chess. Later tonight we have an appointment to meet with a member family for FHE and they're going to feed us, excited for that! Last Tuesday and Wednesday we had regular stuff: contacting, tracting, itd. Thursday we had English class and set up an appointment to meet with a lady and read the Book of Mormon with her. Awesome stuff. On Friday we went to a restaurant here as a district, I had these good pork ribs with bacon wrapped around them and really good potatoes. I've eaten a lot of good potatoes here. And the best potatoes I had were Friday night! We went tracting and this little family let us in, the dad's brother is a member here, and they were super super nice, fed us dinner, really good potatoes, really, they called them Francuski Krumpiri, or French potatoes. And it was like being with a Mormon family, I dunno why they don't just join the church because they're doing it all anyway. Just kidding, not all of it, but they are really good people. Also on Friday, an old missionary came and visited here in Varaždin, her name is Beth Willen, I met her at the MTC because she volunteered TRC night once. And so we met up with her and went and got ice-cream. And on Saturday we went to dinner with her and then on Sunday she gave us some tips on investigators in the area, which will be supremely helpful. It was cool to see her, she got home like a year and a half ago and she still speaks Croatian really well, so that's cool. Yesterday was pretty basic. The church building was freezing cold. But yeah! It also rained this week again and more and still. A couple times it was sunny outside and then all of a sudden it was raining. While the sun was still out and we were getting wet because we didn't have our umbrellas. So that was cool. So overall it was a pretty good week. OH! And we were tracting this really tall building and we went all the way to the top, luckily there was an elevator, and we went out on this balcony thing to pray before we started and it was like BAM! Super amaying view of Varaždin, and I was like, Sorry, but can I take some pics of this? It was really pretty. This next week is looking like it has some good potential because we actually have some appointments and some lessons to plan for. Which is great!

Sounds like my family is doing amazing! I get "Hey Jude" stuck in my head every week, it's too bad I won't be meeting him with everyone else. And that I won't be seeing Amelia's fam and Tylie when they visit. I'm glad to hear that Olivia's eye appointment was successful, and maybe she may not have to do chemo. That's cool. And good that Dad got home safely from Japan! Elder Nitta, in my district, is half-Japnanese. That's a random side-note for you all.

So I'm trying to load some pictures to send you, but the computer isn't recognizing my camera... That really sucks. Looks kinda like the camera is too high-tech for the computer, because when I connect it the computer tries to get new software or something. I'll try it again next week somehow. Neznam. Sorry, they were really good pictures, too. Lame.

Well, until next week! Love you!

Keshia

So I'm on a different computer and it's letting me see my pictures! Yeah! Two are from when i was up on that tall building. the one with all four of us is my district at zone conference. and then the other picture was one of the times that it rained when the sun was out! Yeah!

May 17, 2010

Today is my 3-month anniversary! It feels like a lot longer and also very very fast. So bizarre.

Hi family! How is everyone doing?? I've been pretty good.

It has been raining a lot this week, which is very strange, because there are no people out when it rains. The same goes for the U.S., but there aren't usually people walking around there anyway. Here, there are always people walking around, so when there aren't it's a very strange sensation. We basically didn't know what to do with ourselves. What did we do?? We met with a newer member on Saturday -  she's doing really well and fed us a good lunch. It was this rice dish, with meat and vegetables in it, the flavor was really good. And she made this dessert that was like, white cake on the inside and chocolate on the outside with coconut flakies. Hard to explain, but they were also very good. We've also been trying to meet with this other newer member, but she keeps cancelling on us. Not cool. Oh! And on Friday night we had an activity, and I played ping-pong which was super fun, and we played UNO, and I played chess! And won! Only, kinda not really. Because apparently, according to Elder Brown who was watching, I was in check for a while, and neither of us noticed, and then at the very end, I moved some piece for the check-mate, and the person I was playing (a member here, Tomislav) cleared the board really fast, and Elder Brown said that there was a move he could have done and it wasn't really check-mate. But I will consider that I won, because he gave up. Oh! And that was the second game, the game before that Tomislav gave up on because I ate his queen so fast. So I really won twice. Sorta. It was fun. I know nothing about chess. But ping-pong is really fun. And Elder Nitta and me played with our hands, too. THAT is really fun. Like, you hit the ball with your hand instead of with a racket and you have to clap before you hit it. It was very fun. Lets not count how many times I say "it was fun" though.

Earlier today, we took a bus to the city of Čakovec, which is 20ish minutes away, and walked around and took a bunch of pictures of statues and stuff. It was fun. The Elders wanted to go there to buy ties, which they did. I did not buy anything although there were some very soft scarves that were tempting. Sister Whitaker says they have summer sales here with really good deals on stuff, so I'm holding out for that.

Dad: your pics were cool, and it's awesome that you got to walk around Tokyo and check out the sites. I like going to church in different places, it's sad that you couldn't. I hope I get to go to Tokyo someday.

Mom: I looked for sandals kinda, but I didn't see anything. I don't think the shoe stores here have their sandal selections in. I'm leaning towards you sending me a pair, because it's hard to know what will be good quality here. But since its been raining I don't think I need to worry about sandals yet. Sorry that you aren't sleeping well. You too, Dad, since I know you probably aren't sleeping well without Mom, either. Also, I have no idea how Michael would find housing in Cedar City. They have bulletin boards around campus that would probably have apartment postings. Thanks for telling me about Lauren Laws! It's fun to hear about other people, especially sisters, deciding to go on missions. Tell me when she finds out where and if you hear any more about Heidi Bringhurst, etc. Glad that you could visit Kelsey and fam this weekend.

Kelsey: your week sounds like it was hard. I am sorry. I hope all the doctors visits, etc. go well. I keep thinking about Olivia and remembering her baby blessing. I don't remember everything from it, but I do remember that when it was done I said, "whoa, that was a REALLY good blessing" and then I don't worry about her, because I know she'll be OK. Maybe not if she's so accident prone, though. Just kidding. :)

Amelia: Tylie is so grown! I can't believe it! Thanks for the pictures and I think it's so cool that you got to go through the temple for our family! Keep up the good work!

Jesse: Thanks for the pictures of Jude! He looks so cute in the onesie I made him :) I tried looking at your blog, but the video didn't work. I don't know why. Hope you get to feeling your best quickly! Me and my comp have been talking about movies a lot and I told her that you and Justin know every movie that was ever made, so she told me to ask you about a few that she has seen, but doesn't remember the title of. 1. an anime movie, the very beginning shows a warrior who attacks this ship and kills everybody in it single-handedly. and 2. a movie with Christian Bale, and nobody is allowed to feel anything, any senses or emotions or anything, and he plays a character that goes and tracks down people who do feel, and they get killed, and they burn books and stuff. She said that Taye Diggs and Sean Bean are also in it. So we were wondering the titles for those. :)

Michael: Hi. :D I don't know why I would sound different to you. That's weird. Cool stories about finding people to teach! Thanks!

So, what else did I do this week?? I have really enjoyed my personal studies this week. Judges, in the bible, has a lot of good stories. And I read a ton about angels, too. Like, through using the Bible Dictionary and the footnotes and everything, it's really cool to read up on topics. And I read some good Ensign articles. There was one by Elder Eyring called "Always remember Him" that I read last night, that was very good. You could probably find it on lds.org. I recommend it. English classes went well. Hopefully we get some new investigators from it, because the people that have been coming are really cool. Oh, and on Fridays we have District Lunch, and we went to a Chinese restaurant. It was so weird to be in a Chinese restaurant in Croatia! lol. It was good food. We had fried ice-cream and that was not as good as I've always heard it was. But still good.

I guess that really is all I can think of!

Love ya tons!

Keshia

I just skimmed through the e-mails again and realized there was one question from Mom that I meant to answer and didn't. She asked about how since there are only 6 sisters and 3 cities, if I'll end up staying in one place for a while. My prediction is yes, because Sister Whitaker was in Zagreb before we came here to Vara탑din, and she had been there for 8 months. And there's a sister in Zadar: Sister Carter, and she's been there for 10 months. That's a long time to be in one place. So, my guess is that there's a good chance I'll be here for a while. Don't know for sure, though! We'll see!

Love,

Sister Laws

the article i meant to tell you about is called "always remember him" by Elder Eyring, from the December 2005 New Era. I just wanted to make sure that if you wanted to look for it, you could find it. :)

May 10, 2010

Hi Family! I love you all so much and I LOVE hearing from you every week. It's way more fun than I thought it would be :)

Don't really know what to e-mail about because I talked to Mom and Dad yesterday, yay!, and MICHAEL! Thank you parents, because I was hoping that you'd think of that and you did!! So I told them everything and now my brain is mush. It's so fun getting updates about you guys, I'm SO happy to hear that Jude is doing well, I got pictures from Mom and he is so cute! AND I snuck a peak at everyone's blogs and my sisters children are the cutest group of kids EVER. I can't believe how old and cute they all are.

So--I have P-day on Mondays and my transfers come every 9 weeks, but I don't have a different p-day on those weeks like Michael does, so it's always on Mondays. Varaždin (var-uzh-deen) is a great little place, we walk everywhere and we live in a residential area, lots of families around, basically a cute little place. I always forget what size it is (pretty small but not a village or anything), because we see the same parts of it every day. Basically our house, the church, and center - the square with cobble-stone streets and shopping - and then wherever in our area we decide to go, which has so far been pretty close to our house, still. Meaning, we haven't ventured out too far. I hope that made sense. The church is nice, it's a rented building, but it feels like a church still. It also has a ping pong table and a games closet, so last p-day we hung out with the Elders and did a puzzle, and then on Friday or Saturday, I can't remember which, we went and played ping-pong as a branch activity. Everyone in the branch is pretty nice, we're going over to a family's house tonight for FHE. Vladimir (who was taught by one of my teachers in the MTC) and Daniela (who served a mission to London) and their daughter, who I can't remember the name of. And the other members that we've met are really nice, too. My companion is Sister Whitaker, she's from Pennsylvania, and we're getting along really well, we talk about books and movies and stuff and we've seen and read almost all the same things, so that's really fun. There are two Elders here, Elder Brown from somewhere outside of Logan, and Elder Nitta from Las Vegas. They are pretty funny. Food: I haven't tried a ton of new stuff, because we haven't eaten at a member's house yet. But I do really like the cereal here and my companion made polenta, which was good, I have no idea how to explain what it is. And all the brands of stuff are different, so the food has been good in that respect. We've found stuff that's close enough to American food that it doesn't seem like I'm eaten foreign food that much. Except there isn't cheddar cheese. And I keep looking at little kid clothes, because I thought it would be so cool to send the kids something Croatian, but all the clothes I've seen so far have English writing on them! So I'll keep looking and send something for Christmas. Also, the tie originated here in Croatia and they have really good tie stores, I haven't been to any yet, but I hear that they are very good and some are very expensive. But that's cool.

So, I hope everything goes well for Dad in Tokyo and for Olivia's appointments! And I hope that everyone is safe travelling around!

Love you all!

Keshia

May 03, 2010

Bok moja obitelj! (Hi, my Family!)
Kako ste?  (How are you?)
Dobro sam. (I'm fine.)
I arrived in Croatia, Tuesday afternoon here, early morning hours for you.

--sidenote: the keyboards here are a smidgen different, so if i misspell something it probly isn't because i can't remember enlgish, because i still can, or that i've learned croatian reallz (my point exactly, that is supposed to say really) well, because i don't understand evertything happening around me, it's because the y's and z's are switched, the ' sign is a ć etc. --

I was picked up by the mission president and his wife and we drove straight to the church building in zagreb, where the missionaries of zagreb were having a district meeting, so i met all of them. i had my entry interview with president hill, got assigned to varaždin and got sister whitaker as my companion, we drove to a very nice and cute little restaurant with a view, where I ate hardly any of my very delicious food, because i was way too tired to eat. we walked around a little bit and then pres. hill dropped me and my comp off and set us lose to do missionary work, which included helping a lady to her english class and calling it a night!
we walked/caught a tram to the zagreb apartment, hung out with the other sisters there, got to know them a little - sister dillender from california and sister fitzsimmons from finland-i think-and then slept.

i've been taking naps every day, but the last few days i haven't had to because i feel like i'm on a normal sleeping schedule again! yay!
the next morning we ran an errand to the police station for sister whitaker, or as it's called here, the MUP (moop). Then pres. hill picked us up and drove us to varaždin, i slept almost the whole way, but what i saw of the drive was very beautiful.
varaždin is AWESOME. ODLIČNO! It's pretty small, we walk everywhere, a lot of people say hello back when we greet them, most of them are very nice about turning us down, and it has a fun square, in the center of town, good weather, it rained most of sunday, the building they're renting for church is nice, the elders who are here-elder brown and elder nitta- are really cool.
we've spent a lot of time unpacking and organizing, we live in the old senior couple's apartment since they moved out, which is nice. one bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, a large bathroom. and the people we're renting from are super nice, they said they love renting to mormons, because we don't drink or smoke etc. plenty of room for our stuff and everything we don't have we're getting from zone conference this thursday, which is going to be awesome, because i guess all zone conferences are awesome.
we have spent our time here contacting, because our area book is empty and there are no investigators that the elders could pass off to us. we've been passing out Free English Class fliers for the most part, because we teach English here. I hope that goes well for me when I have to do it, seems a smidgen daunting right now to teach english in croatian.
we met with a member, Vanja, on Friday and taught her a short lesson. and hopefully we're going to be working on the young womanhood recognition award with her, which will be fun and good. and we happened to run into a lady named Svetlana, who wants personal English classes.
Which was awesome, because it was Saturday, or May Day, which is a holiday here and aparently on holidays every one disappears, because there was no one out walking around, no one in center, everyone went down to the river -we went for a little while-- and so we'll get in touch with her this week and start teaching her.
we went tracting and met a jehovah's witness lady and her daughter, who talked to us for almost an hour. i did not understand any of it, but sister whitaker said it was hard for her, too, because varaždin has its own accent. and a completely different word for what. instead of što they say kaj, which hasn't been too hard for me to switch because, just because, lol.
we went tracting yesterday and had some good conversations with people, which is great. and last night we met a lady, not a member but really nice, almost completely deaf, and she was actually a little bit easier for me to understand when she spoke, when I knew what the words were. She gave me and Sister Whitaker a book each. She gave me a book of poetry, by Puškin, a Russian author, to help with my Croatian, she said. Really nice lady.
And earlier today we went to a bookstore so I could buy a better dictionary and it was so hard to restrain myself! i wanted to buy every book I like in Croatian and read them, but i'll wait for the end of my mission for that, so I can bring them home and actually read them, instead of just having them. i am looking forward to that and just to being able to know Croatian better in general.
Oh yeah, on Sunday we had church. It was nice .There aren't enough members for a relief society/priesthood so it is only two hours long. I wrote down words I didn't know during Sacrament meeting, but i couldn't understand anything in sunday school, which was funny.
the members are nice, one of my teachers at the mtc served here so she told me about some of them before i came, so i recognized a few. we got invited to a members house for next week, vladimir -he has a wife who served a mission in London, and a little baby, so that's really exciting.
what else can i tell you about?? when i got here the sisters gave me a little bag of Croatian treats, so I've already tried lots of new candies. that was really fun- there's this thing called 'bananko' and it has the weirdest texture ever. it tastes like a banana. and my favorite is a thing called beuno, which has cream stuff in the middle, chocolate on the outside. and of course, just different chocolates, we've tried 3 different kinds of chocolate bars from a brand called Milka, which actually isn't Croatian, but still really good.
I think that's everything that I could possibly think of.
Thanks for the pictures everybody, I love seeing my nieces and nephews!! And you all, too. Glad to hear that Baby Jude and parents are doing well, and everyone else, too!
Thanks for writing and I'll e-mail next week!

Volim vas!