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
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