July 26, 2010

Hi family!
This week went by so fast, that I really can't think of anything new to say, because it feels like I just barely e-mailed you.
Mom asked if we have sno cones here. We do not. We have "the best ice-cream ever" which I don't even understand, because it just tastes like ice-cream to me. There are ice-cream shops everywhere here, in Varazdin, too. Maybe when I go home the ice-cream there will taste really bad and I'll appreciate what I have here, but really it just tastes like ice-cream to me. I must be getting the wrong flavors, which does remind me that I tried kiwi-flavored ice-cream a couple months ago and it was really good. We do have good ice-cream bars though, that we buy from grocery stores. Those I can appreciate.
Also she asked whether or not we have ice. We do -- some restaurants give ice with water and others don't, and we have a regular-sized fridge/freezer here in Zadar, which isn't really normal for missionaries here a lot of them have small ones, so we freeze water in water bottles a lot. But I froze some and brought it with me here to the Internet place and it was already melted by the time I got here. It's a 20 minute walk. So the ice we do have isn't lasting very long.
I am sorry to hear that Kelsey broke her toe. I can't imagine having a broken toe. That is crazy. We use toes every single day. Glad to hear that everyone else's families aren't so accident-prone as Kelsey's, you all seemed to have survived the travel and everything. Thank you for the pictures from last weekend! It's good to see you and to see ALL the chidlers together.
Yesterday at church we had some families visiting, so Sister Nelson and I got to do primary again! It was triple-lingual because one girl didn't know a ton of English, so her dad translated for her, and then one boy and his family is from Utah so he speaks English, and a family that spoke Dutch! And the oldest sister knows English alright, so she translated for the younger two. It was really fun. I'll send you some pictures. There were 5 kids total. We taught a little impromptu lesson on Alma the Younger and how to be a missionary and then "did a puzzle" but the kids picked out the puzzle with the most pieces, so we didn't get anywhere with it.

And Sister Nelson just got an e-mail from her Dad today that said that he met, at Costco in Utah, some of our members from Zagreb who were visiting Zadar for a couple weeks ago, and are now visiting a senior couple who served here.
So, that doesn't make sense.
The Croatian members from Zagreb visited us in Zadar for a couple weeks. And then they went to Utah to visit a senior couple there, and Sister Nelson's Dad happened to meet them at Costco. Cool story, huh?
Have a great week!
Love you tons!
Sister Laws

Dad & Mom,
Every time I have a p-day and do Internet I think about how awesome my parents are and how much I love to hear from you. I'm grateful for all the news you give me and for all the support and testimony. Thank you for telling me about the Blue Angels coming to Idaho Falls and all about the primary activity, it does sound like it will be really good! And for telling me about golfing and toodling. I love being here on a mission and Sister Nelson is a really good companion. We work well together and just keep brainstorming How can we get more investigators? How can we connect with people? We have four investigators, plus some that are in-between investigating and not. Three are teenage girls, two whose Dad is a member, but their Mom isn't and won't let them get baptized. They come to church every week and are just waiting to be baptized, so they're very solid. The other girl has been busy busy busy this summer, so I've only met her once, but I've met her parents, too, and they said we can come over and she wants to learn, she just isn't putting it first, which is hard, but it also makes sense, because she's a teenager and it's summer. And our other investigator we just found, she has three kids who are teenage/young adult age, and we've only been able to meet with her once, because we dropped by a couple times over the weekend and she wasn't home. So we spend a TON of time tracting and contacting and we hear "Ja sam Katolik" about a hundred times a day, which means I'm Catholic, and basically that they aren't willing to budge. And we talk to other people that at least listen, even if they aren't interesting in learning more. We definitely are aware of the "crazies" -- we don't really contact a lot of men so we don't put ourselves into any situation that isn't safe or positive -- I know that God is protecting us and the Elders watch out for us and I know and see that God is helping us with the work here. It will be so great to see the church growing here and someday there will be wards and stakes here, and that will be wonderful to see. Seeing all these new places makes me want to share them all with my family, so I'm grateful that we can keep in touch!
Love you tons!
Keshia

Pictures:
Sister Nelson with a Dutch boy, Jake.
Sister Laws (me) with the two Dutch girls, Alisha and we can't remember the younger one's name.
Us with the family from Austria.

July 19, 2010

Hi family!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NYAH!
I can't believe she's 8!

It's been a good week. Last p-day we went to Šibenik, I'll send some pics, it's a pretty little coastal town, and the whole thing goes uphill, so we walked a TON of stairs.
And we've been running a lot in the morning for work-out because there's a nice track about a half a mile away, so no worries! I don't think I'll be gaining 50 pounds this transfer :) There's just no time for that and we are melting in the heat. It's funny, because we learned a few weeks ago the phrase "u hladu" which literally means "in the cold" but they say it for standing in the shade, like "u hladu je bolje" -- in the shade is better. And I thought, sure in the shade it's better, it's going to be 35 degrees this week, somewhere in the 90's, and the shade is going to make all the difference, but it is so true! The shade is our only relief. We have to cross the street and walk on whichever side has the shade, and when we're at stoplights we stand in the shade from the pole from the streetlights, and there are no other people out on the streets in the afternoons so whenever tourists need directions they ask us -- yesterday we talked to a czech tourist, he didn't know english, but czech is close enough that he could point at the map and we know a few words from being in the mtc so when he said "dekuju" we knew he meant "thank you" --
luckily Zadar is breezy, so we have enough wind that we aren't overheating. But we've been living in our bedroom because it's the only room in our apartment with a klima - air conditioner. So we study in there and we make food and take it in there and whenever we come home for a meal we go straight to the bedroom.
It's insane. And we run home at least once a week, to get home on time. Because for some reason we always get our best contact the last person we talk to. Or we're at the church with members and they want to talk or whatever reason, we end up running home.

So in Šibenik we saw some ruins and we went into my first Catholic Cathedral! It was so dark and gloomy and everything looked old and worn out, and we payed 10 kuna to go down into their "baptismal font" or krstionica, which is just a small basin on a pillar type thing in this round room with little statues and paintings. Pretty weird, because when I heard about it and heard about a baptismal font I kept thinking of ours, like the big hole in the ground that we fill with water, and so when I saw their "font" I was like, of course oh yeah, it doesn't need to be big because they baptize babies by splashing some water on them, so that was funny.

On Tuesday we talked with a bunch of kids, high school age, that are here from France, just outside of Paris somewhere, they were on a tour of Croatia for three weeks, and asked if we spoke English and if we could help them find something. It was so fun to hear French! But when I tried to think of ANYTHING French to say to them the only thing that came was Croatian. Because I know I once knew how to say "my brother lived in France" but when I tried to think of the French the only thing there was "moj brat je živio u France" so I just told them that in English.

We've met some crazy people this week: this one old lady that we didn't know at all, smiled at us and kissed us on the cheeks and patted our hair and stuff. That was bizarre! And then one old lady we met while trakting, she would just laugh like a maniac after she said something, and she let us into her house, so we started with a prayer and halfway through it she just started laughing and went into her kitchen and was talking, she was SO crazy. I don't know of another way to describe her, she was insane. Eccentric, to say the least, but it was so funny and bizarre that it was funny and I still laugh every time I think of her.

Jesse asked what the people of Croatia are like. Well, so far here in Zadar, they all talk about how hot it is. They all ask us if we've been to the beach. They think if you drink something too cold you'll get sick, and that if you walk around the house with slippers on it hurts your kidneys, and they always give you sok if you're at their house and they're a little demanding, like if they serve you some food and you don't eat it fast enough they say "Jedi! Jedi!" which is pronounced "yedee" and means "Eat! Eat!" Or when we stop them on the street they say "recite mi" which means, "tell me" like, tell me what you want right now. And they don't let you leave until you've eaten and drank everything that they've offered you and all the members are really nice and we've met some other really nice people. And some crazies like I said. And there are kids around, but we just don't talk to them as much.

Jesse also asked what the mission is like for me compared to the Elders -- we do all the same things. We contact, we tract, we have lessons, we do stuff for the ward. The only difference is we can't be district leaders or branch presidents, so we don't have that responsibility on top of being a missionary. Which is great with me. And Croatian: it is coming. Slower than I want it to, I feel bad because when I don't understand a conversation it's like I'm just standing there and Sister Nelson has to do all the talking, but I'm understanding a ton more than I was, and I know I'll get it eventually, so.

We also got a new kitchen faucet this week for our sink. And we got invited to mass by a couple people who were trying to convert us to be Catholic. And President Hill visited our branch on Sunday to change Branch presidents, because Elder Babcock has been doing it but he's going home in a week, so Elder Rhodes is now our branch president. It's always fun to see President Hill. Oh and on Saturday we were trying to meet up with someone, so we walked kinda far from the church to this small street and we're looking for number 18, but it only goes to number 8, so we're super confused, we try calling the sister who was just here, who I replaced, because we knew she would know which house it was, and we tried calling the lady we wanted to see, and our district leader, and FINALLY we figured out that we were on the wrong street on the opposite side of Zadar than we needed to be. So Sunday, we walked from our house clear our to the right street, and couldn't find number 18 again, and couldn't get ahold of the lady, finally we find her house, but she isn't home! So her neighbors gave us sok, juice, and we tried to teach them the first lesson, but it wasn't working so we left, and both times it was the middle of the afternoon in the scorching heat! And Sister Nelson felt sick after we left the neighbors' and almost passed out on me. I didn't think she was going to, but she said she was about to hand me the phone and make me call 911, because she thought our drinks were drugged, only I don't know how to call 911, because it isn't 911! No, we carry emergency numbers with us, and we weren't drugged, but that would have been two companions in a row to pass out on me. That would have been too much probably, lol.

Parents, thanks for sending me those numbers, one of them worked! And for updating me on the Nelnet stuff. And thanks Dad and Michael for telling me how awful The Last Airbender was, I'm so glad that I'm not there to be disappointed too. I never understand why they change perfectly good plots etc. which end up horrible. We'll have to be content with the tv show, which I am ok with. Keep traveling safe, and staying happy!

Lots of love!
Sister Laws

Pictures:
From on top of some ruins in Šibenik, and the cathedral we saw!




Sister Laws

July 12, 2010

Hi Family!
For some reason I was under the impression that everyone was getting together this past weekend, not this next weekend. I don't know why.
How is everyone doing?
I had a good week, the MOST EXCITING news I have: I tried real live Croatian bread balls!! Amelia and me made some before I left Columbia, and it was so fun, and I haven't seen a single one the whole time I've been here, but last night we went to a member's house for a little lesson and she had just finished making some! They were good, a little more bread-like inside, not doughy, but bready, and they weren't as wheaty as the ones we made before. So that was really fun for me. She put less sugar on them, too, but that was ok. I think they have a name, but I didn't ask what that was and I forget.
I also tried a smokva, which is a fig. Straight from the tree or wherever figs grow. It was a really good fruit thing.
Our apartment house thing has some kiwi vines growing on a lattice over the driveway, and there is also an apricot tree somewhere, so fruit is sometimes in the driveway, and the other day I TOTALLY slipped on an apricot, it was really funny, and somehow I didn't drop my Book of Mormon or get scrapes on my hands. I think my volleyball instincts took over or something, because I ended up doing a roll-type thing and landed on my side. Hard to explain. It was really funny, because we were laughing really hard and then Sister Nelson tried to help me up and almost slipped on the same fruit!
Also we had zone conference this last week, so we took a little trip into Zagreb, woke up pretty early to catch a bus, and got home at 9:30 or something. It was good to see President and Sister Hill and all the other missionaries, always fun to get together.
Today we're heading to Šibenik, about 30 minutes away, so hopefully I have some pictures to send next week. Should be fun.
Thank you for telling me Sophie's full name, Sophie Mae Richards, that is so cute! And she looked like a cutie again. Does she have blond hair? It kinda looked like that from one of the pictures.
You all sound so busy, running around traveling everywhere and visiting everyone. I hope everyone is safe and happy. I am so happy to hear that Mom is taking some names to the temple for initiatories etc. it is so excited to me to see "the hearts of the children turn to the fathers" and to see that prophesy being fulfilled! It's amazing that we can do temple work and help those who have gone before us without the gospel receive it. It's a powerful tool in missionary work as well, to help people do family history. We don't have a center for it here in Zadar, I think they do in Zagreb.
Dad, thanks for letting me know that Spain won the world cup, someone may have told me that, but it was in Croatian, so I didn't understand! And I didn't know if they were talking about the final or if it was just a preliminary game. So thanks. Michael, your new job sounds AMAZING. I hope that when I get home I can find a job where I get to speak Croatian. That would be a miracle. I am already jealous.

Love you all!
Have a great week!
Tell all the chidlers that I say, "Hi" and that I miss them, too!
Love, Sister Laws

Keshia asked us for the pin code to her debit card (which we sent) and I thought her response was really cute:

I'm pretty sure that one of those numbers is my number, thank you SO much!
I was searching and searching my brain, but I couldn't think of any clues, it totally left me. I still can't believe how I couldn't even remember anything, it's like Croatian invaded my brain and stole all my occidental knowledge space. And I looked at the papers I brought with me and nothing said anything about that.
No need for Plan B!
Love you!
Keshia

July 05, 2010

Hi family!
I heard from almost all of you this week! Yay! Just not Michael, the stinker.

And Welcome to the World Sophie! Guess what?? I still don't know her full name. Does she HAVE a middle name? I would really like to know what it is :) Thanks Kelsey for sending me some pictures, she looks like a cutie! And she also looks really different from your other children, from what I could tell. From what I remember when they were that old.

I'm grateful that everyone is traveling safely, keep it that way! :D

What can I say about this week? We've been working hard. We've been talking to lots of people. An older man that we talked to yesterday told me about Wimbledon, how Nadal beat a young Czech player in the final. And Dad told me that Nadal and S. Williams won, thank you. Tennis really is a distraction for me, :) because I LOVE hearing all about it, and I love thinking about it, too. That's probably the only type of entertainment that I'm genuinely missing. Movies and everything else will be there when I get home, but not live sports. Not the ones I missed, I mean.
Does anyone know how the world cup is going? Our neighbors the other night were watching it outside, all at a picnic table with a big tv.

Somehow it's cooler outside than inside, probably because of the breeze, and a lot of people don't have/don't use air conditioning, so the Croatians are always outside sitting on front porches or at cafes or balconies. We have a balcony, too, and we ate breakfast outside this morning, it was really nice.

And yesterday at church, we had a ton of people again! We started the meeting and then two young Austrian families came in, both with three children, and it was testimony meeting, so we had a triple lingual meeting, because they knew English so one bore his testimony in English and one of the elders translated into Croatian, and then another visitor bore his testimony in German and one of the members translated into Croatian! It was so fun. I guess we usually get a lot of visitors in the summer months, so we'll probably see that again! And Sister Nelson and I prepared a primary lesson, because we have a member family visiting Zadar from Zagreb this summer, and last week they stayed so we taught their two daughters, so when I saw all those kids come in I thought, this is going to be a really interesting primary today... but most of the visitors left right after Sacrament, so we didn't have to worry about primary at all. Phew!
After church we went to one of the elders' apartments and had a Fourth of July barbecue! It was fun, but we didn't have any fireworks, but actually, Saturday night someone set off some fireworks, they were really small and were halfway blocked by some other homes, but Sister Nelson and I went out on our porch and watched what we could see. I don't know why they set them off, it could have been for a wedding maybe.
Thanks for writing, I love hearing from everybody, I always read my e-mails and write down things that you've said that I like or is funny, and read it again later on p-day, or write about it in my journal, and I just like knowing what's going on with everything! It's fun.

Hugs and kisses for everyone and I hope everyone fits in Kelsey's house next weekend without too much chaos!

Love,
Sister Laws

Here are some pictures.
The one of the flower is just a really crazy-looking flower that we saw here, I have never seen anything like it and have no idea what it's called. But it's cool :)



And the other pictures are from last p-day when we went to Uglijan. It's a ruins or something, and it was a pretty good hike up to the top, and the island that it's on is called Preka or Preko, I can't remember which. And then a view from the ferry of the city of Zadar. So. U탑ivajte!






Keshia