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. :)