THANK YOU FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND LOVE AND LETTERS!
I LOVE YOU ALL VERY VERY MUCH AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE AND TALK WITH YOU!
TOMORROW!
LOVE YOU!
SISTER LAWS
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
THIS IS MY LAST REAL PDAY!!!!! BAH!!!!!!!
Well, the time has come. So a couple of you asked, next week I will probably be able to READ emails, and write back, it's a pday, but we'll be going to zagreb and we'll be doing meetings etc. so i'm not sure what time i'll have, can't promise that i'll email ya'll. so you probably don't have to worry about it either BECAUSE WE'LL BE SEEING EACH OTHER IN 8 DAYS AND I WON'T NEED EMAILS BECAUSE I CAN TALK TO YOU FACE TO FACE!!!!! WOOHOOO! But feel free to email :)
This last week was really good. I can't think much right now, because i'm too excited, so I don't know how many details I'll be able to give you. ... It just felt better, like it felt like we were working harder and not like I was going home soon, like I wasn't thinking too much about coming home or worrying about it and we have people meeting with us and lots of things scheduled for this week upcoming, so I'm going to have a busy last week! It's going to be great. I have to pack and clean and lalala. It's going to be great. And I'm happy whenever I think about coming home and seeing you all! um um um... oh well last week I forgot to mention that I gave a talk in church. that was good. and then we also did a musical number, a song from the children's hymnbook, and I PLAYED the piano for it! it was probably the first time I've "accompanied" so to say, a musical number, and it was fun. It turned out good. and then yesterday at church we did another musical number, another song out of the children's book, and i sang this time with sister creager, and one of the elders played the piano. It's been fun, we decided a couple weeks ago to have a musical number every week before I go home, because we don't have musical numbers very often and it's nice for the members.
my mission-winding-down plans: on monday morning very very early we're catching a train to zagreb, we'll arrive around 10am and have to be to the mission office at 11 for some meeting or another, and to finalize finances, make sure we're not stealing money from the mission type of thing, and have a last interview, and then that evening we'll have dinner at the mission home I think, and have a final testimony meeting, I'll spend the night there at the mission home. and then very early tuesday morning someone will take me to the airport and I'll be off! So. yeah... yeah, that's basically all I can think about right now. I don't know what else to say.
We ate at mcdonald's this last week. it's a pretty nice place here. the apple pies aren't the same, not as good. but there's a ciabatta "sandwich" hamburger that is really good. and "domaći pomfrittes" home-land-made french fries that are really tasty, they have good seasonings on them. I've still got to pack this week and I'm not too worried about weight-limit, but maybe a little. I've collected a lot of books since being here, we have everything once in english and then in croatian so I have twice as many books. No, that's a lie I have way more than twice as many. but anyway, that's something I'll do this week. and we'll have to clean the apartment for whoever is coming in new, and we need to have last meetings with lots of members and people. busy busy busy.
ok, I better wrap this up! have a good week!
sister laws
SEE YOU SOON!!!
This last week was really good. I can't think much right now, because i'm too excited, so I don't know how many details I'll be able to give you. ... It just felt better, like it felt like we were working harder and not like I was going home soon, like I wasn't thinking too much about coming home or worrying about it and we have people meeting with us and lots of things scheduled for this week upcoming, so I'm going to have a busy last week! It's going to be great. I have to pack and clean and lalala. It's going to be great. And I'm happy whenever I think about coming home and seeing you all! um um um... oh well last week I forgot to mention that I gave a talk in church. that was good. and then we also did a musical number, a song from the children's hymnbook, and I PLAYED the piano for it! it was probably the first time I've "accompanied" so to say, a musical number, and it was fun. It turned out good. and then yesterday at church we did another musical number, another song out of the children's book, and i sang this time with sister creager, and one of the elders played the piano. It's been fun, we decided a couple weeks ago to have a musical number every week before I go home, because we don't have musical numbers very often and it's nice for the members.
my mission-winding-down plans: on monday morning very very early we're catching a train to zagreb, we'll arrive around 10am and have to be to the mission office at 11 for some meeting or another, and to finalize finances, make sure we're not stealing money from the mission type of thing, and have a last interview, and then that evening we'll have dinner at the mission home I think, and have a final testimony meeting, I'll spend the night there at the mission home. and then very early tuesday morning someone will take me to the airport and I'll be off! So. yeah... yeah, that's basically all I can think about right now. I don't know what else to say.
We ate at mcdonald's this last week. it's a pretty nice place here. the apple pies aren't the same, not as good. but there's a ciabatta "sandwich" hamburger that is really good. and "domaći pomfrittes" home-land-made french fries that are really tasty, they have good seasonings on them. I've still got to pack this week and I'm not too worried about weight-limit, but maybe a little. I've collected a lot of books since being here, we have everything once in english and then in croatian so I have twice as many books. No, that's a lie I have way more than twice as many. but anyway, that's something I'll do this week. and we'll have to clean the apartment for whoever is coming in new, and we need to have last meetings with lots of members and people. busy busy busy.
ok, I better wrap this up! have a good week!
sister laws
SEE YOU SOON!!!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
16 kolovoza 2011
HELLO FAMILY!
I think as it's getting towards the end of my mission I am becoming less satisfied with emails and wanting more and more to see you all face-to-face!! you know?? of course you know! so how is everyone? Good by the sound of your emails. I love hearing from you all SO SO much. You have such wonderful families and you all love me. :)
Well, what happened this week? Yesterday was a holiday, that is why we didn't email. Velika Gospa, some catholic holiday. Everything was closed and all that. But we went over to VUKOVAR! Dad sent me some cool facts about that place. We walked around and saw the famous water tower that was basically destroyed, I would send pictures but the place we're at I can't. So you will see them in a couple of weeks. It is a pretty holey water tower. And there is a lot of holey buildings, too! Unfortunately on the way there our bus broke down so we sat on the grass for an hour waiting for the next bus. And then we missed our bus going back, so we were in Vukovar for an extra 2 hours after we had already seen everything we wanted to. So we went out to eat and then sat at an ice-cream place for the rest of the time. It was actually pretty fun. I think because we didn't have emails yesterday, so we didn't have anything better to do but hang out in Vukovar. It was a nice place, a little bigger than we were expecting. I thought we'd never make it to that water tower, haha. And then we found a shortcut, well first we went the long way. And from a distance the water tower looks close. so we ended up going the long way and then found a short cut but the shortcut scared me, so we ran through it, it wasn't that scary really, actually really pretty with trees etc. felt like a hike, but then we finally got to the tower and it was HUGE and I was like, no wonder it looks so close, it's HUGE. It was a fun day.
The day before that was Sunday. While we were at church (halfway through) a blind lady walked in and asked "is this the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints?" and i said, yes. I was worried about who she was, what she was doing there. but apparently she lived in the united states for 8 and a half years, she went there as a refugee I think, and she didn't know any english or have family nearby, and so she prayed that God would help her and a couple days later two sister missionaries tracted into her! she's not a member, but we talked to her and she said she wants to be one. so anyway, she's in croatia right now because of some legal problems, the government took her property away or something, and she was looking for us since she got here but no one knew where we were or didn't want to help her, so Sunday she finally found us! And we met with her this morning, she loves hearing the hymns so we sang to her and lalala. she's a cute old lady, her name is Mira. She's planning on going back to the united states sometime, because her mom and brother live in Boise Idaho. Cool!
On Saturday, oh wait. I need to start back on last Monday for this story. So last Monday Sister Creager got her card taken by the ATM because she was positive that she knew her pin. But she put the wrong one in 3x and it was taken. We went into the bank right away and asked and they told us we could come back in on Tuesday and they'd give us the card. So on tuesday they closed early and we missed it. on wednesday we went in and they told us that they needed to cut up the card. and we were like, what? but we told them we'd call our people and our bank and work something out so they wouldn't cut it. on thursday we went back in and told them, we talked to our people and they said it's fine, that we can take the card like, they know it's not stolen or whatever and we have the right pin now. well, they said that their bank, the main office wouldn't let them give it to us, but they'd email and we could come back the next day. we were in zagreb on friday, so on saturday we went back in and miracle of miracles! we got the card back. they just asked her to put in the right pin and if everything was fine then she could take it. WOOHOO! what did I learn from this experience? don't put in the wrong pin. if you do, ask the bank and they will try to be accomodating. and if all else fails, bribes work. haha, i'm just kidding we didn't bribe them. but around wednesday we were considering it. That was our miracle for saturday.
Friday, as I mentioned, we were in Zagreb for zone conference. it was my last zone conference! which meant i gave a final testimony with the other 6 elders going home at the same time. and they somehow wrangled me into singing "ye elders of israel" with them for a musical number. just kidding, it was fun. they are a great group of elders. And zone conference was good. kinda surreal, because i knew everything that i was learning i didn't have a lot of time to implement. and i didn't get any mail from anyone. except for a letter from the office telling me about when i'm leaving. so super weird!
on thursday, i don't see anything exciting in my planner.
last wednesday, nothing also.
tuesday, we ate figs! they are so good and i was worried that i wouldn't be getting any, since they don't grow in osijek. well, they aren't native to osijek, people grow them still. and we found some and they were good. And we had another miracle on tuesday, because we've been trying to get sister creager registered at insurance. and ... oh just kidding. that was last monday. on tuesday we completed the task of registering. on monday is when we got the numbers etc. and I'm pretty sure I already told you about that.
Overall, a pretty good week. oh, and also yesterday, pday, we had family home evening as a branch, and a girl that me and sister creager met on the tram came! she is so much fun, full of energy, makes a lot of jokes, and she used to come to activities all the time when she was younger, so she's already had contact with the church etc. and knows stuff. should be great!
to answer a question: I don't exactly know how hot it is here in osijek. it's not exactly hot but last week INSIDE the internet cafe it was EXTREMELY HOT because the air conditioner was broken and there was no air flow. it was pretty disgusting. this week they have a window open and it's a little better. only a little longer and i won't have to be at an internet cafe. i can use my own computer. i still have a computer, right? and yes, it's more humid here than at home.
tonight we have english class. I think that is everything.
AMELIA: glad to hear that you're settling in and your ward is nice. i'll pray for the job thing!
JESSE: that's REALLY great that you guys have your own place now!
DAD: LOVE YOU, glad your bday was good.
MOM: you are such a good mommy :)
KELSEY: the picture of Nyah that you sent, I initially thought "what? she got her ears pierced and no one told me!!" and then i remembered that you had told me and I concluded that its been too long since I've seen your children.
MICHAEL: thanks for the quick note! looking forward to hearing all the details next week!
I love you my family!
SISTER LAWS
I think as it's getting towards the end of my mission I am becoming less satisfied with emails and wanting more and more to see you all face-to-face!! you know?? of course you know! so how is everyone? Good by the sound of your emails. I love hearing from you all SO SO much. You have such wonderful families and you all love me. :)
Well, what happened this week? Yesterday was a holiday, that is why we didn't email. Velika Gospa, some catholic holiday. Everything was closed and all that. But we went over to VUKOVAR! Dad sent me some cool facts about that place. We walked around and saw the famous water tower that was basically destroyed, I would send pictures but the place we're at I can't. So you will see them in a couple of weeks. It is a pretty holey water tower. And there is a lot of holey buildings, too! Unfortunately on the way there our bus broke down so we sat on the grass for an hour waiting for the next bus. And then we missed our bus going back, so we were in Vukovar for an extra 2 hours after we had already seen everything we wanted to. So we went out to eat and then sat at an ice-cream place for the rest of the time. It was actually pretty fun. I think because we didn't have emails yesterday, so we didn't have anything better to do but hang out in Vukovar. It was a nice place, a little bigger than we were expecting. I thought we'd never make it to that water tower, haha. And then we found a shortcut, well first we went the long way. And from a distance the water tower looks close. so we ended up going the long way and then found a short cut but the shortcut scared me, so we ran through it, it wasn't that scary really, actually really pretty with trees etc. felt like a hike, but then we finally got to the tower and it was HUGE and I was like, no wonder it looks so close, it's HUGE. It was a fun day.
The day before that was Sunday. While we were at church (halfway through) a blind lady walked in and asked "is this the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints?" and i said, yes. I was worried about who she was, what she was doing there. but apparently she lived in the united states for 8 and a half years, she went there as a refugee I think, and she didn't know any english or have family nearby, and so she prayed that God would help her and a couple days later two sister missionaries tracted into her! she's not a member, but we talked to her and she said she wants to be one. so anyway, she's in croatia right now because of some legal problems, the government took her property away or something, and she was looking for us since she got here but no one knew where we were or didn't want to help her, so Sunday she finally found us! And we met with her this morning, she loves hearing the hymns so we sang to her and lalala. she's a cute old lady, her name is Mira. She's planning on going back to the united states sometime, because her mom and brother live in Boise Idaho. Cool!
On Saturday, oh wait. I need to start back on last Monday for this story. So last Monday Sister Creager got her card taken by the ATM because she was positive that she knew her pin. But she put the wrong one in 3x and it was taken. We went into the bank right away and asked and they told us we could come back in on Tuesday and they'd give us the card. So on tuesday they closed early and we missed it. on wednesday we went in and they told us that they needed to cut up the card. and we were like, what? but we told them we'd call our people and our bank and work something out so they wouldn't cut it. on thursday we went back in and told them, we talked to our people and they said it's fine, that we can take the card like, they know it's not stolen or whatever and we have the right pin now. well, they said that their bank, the main office wouldn't let them give it to us, but they'd email and we could come back the next day. we were in zagreb on friday, so on saturday we went back in and miracle of miracles! we got the card back. they just asked her to put in the right pin and if everything was fine then she could take it. WOOHOO! what did I learn from this experience? don't put in the wrong pin. if you do, ask the bank and they will try to be accomodating. and if all else fails, bribes work. haha, i'm just kidding we didn't bribe them. but around wednesday we were considering it. That was our miracle for saturday.
Friday, as I mentioned, we were in Zagreb for zone conference. it was my last zone conference! which meant i gave a final testimony with the other 6 elders going home at the same time. and they somehow wrangled me into singing "ye elders of israel" with them for a musical number. just kidding, it was fun. they are a great group of elders. And zone conference was good. kinda surreal, because i knew everything that i was learning i didn't have a lot of time to implement. and i didn't get any mail from anyone. except for a letter from the office telling me about when i'm leaving. so super weird!
on thursday, i don't see anything exciting in my planner.
last wednesday, nothing also.
tuesday, we ate figs! they are so good and i was worried that i wouldn't be getting any, since they don't grow in osijek. well, they aren't native to osijek, people grow them still. and we found some and they were good. And we had another miracle on tuesday, because we've been trying to get sister creager registered at insurance. and ... oh just kidding. that was last monday. on tuesday we completed the task of registering. on monday is when we got the numbers etc. and I'm pretty sure I already told you about that.
Overall, a pretty good week. oh, and also yesterday, pday, we had family home evening as a branch, and a girl that me and sister creager met on the tram came! she is so much fun, full of energy, makes a lot of jokes, and she used to come to activities all the time when she was younger, so she's already had contact with the church etc. and knows stuff. should be great!
to answer a question: I don't exactly know how hot it is here in osijek. it's not exactly hot but last week INSIDE the internet cafe it was EXTREMELY HOT because the air conditioner was broken and there was no air flow. it was pretty disgusting. this week they have a window open and it's a little better. only a little longer and i won't have to be at an internet cafe. i can use my own computer. i still have a computer, right? and yes, it's more humid here than at home.
tonight we have english class. I think that is everything.
AMELIA: glad to hear that you're settling in and your ward is nice. i'll pray for the job thing!
JESSE: that's REALLY great that you guys have your own place now!
DAD: LOVE YOU, glad your bday was good.
MOM: you are such a good mommy :)
KELSEY: the picture of Nyah that you sent, I initially thought "what? she got her ears pierced and no one told me!!" and then i remembered that you had told me and I concluded that its been too long since I've seen your children.
MICHAEL: thanks for the quick note! looking forward to hearing all the details next week!
I love you my family!
SISTER LAWS
Monday, August 8, 2011
8 kolovoza 2011
Well family!
It was great to hear from you. I am feeling very tired, very thirsty, and the internet cafe that we're at is very very hot. I don't have a lot of energy for emailing right now...
Ok, I'll buck up a little bit for it..
Obviously the craziest news of this week: I'M COMING HOME A WEEK EARLY! Something about a mission presidents' meeting and so president rowe won't be in the mission when we're supposed to go home so he could have kept us all a month longer or sent us home a week early. He chose a week early since we have a very large group of missionaries coming in. and he probably wouldn't get brownie points for unexpectedly extending all of our missions, though if he had asked, I would have probably told him I would. anywho, here I come in 3 weeks home to the good ol America and family. THREE WEEKS! That's like nothing, that's like sneezing. Pretty crazy. I go back and forth about it, at first I was more disappointed because it meant I would miss out on that week, and I spent my whole mission thinking i would come home on september 6th. but the 30th is my day now.
oh, and because of this change of plans half of our group (there are 8 of us going home) is going at one time, one plane, and the other half is coming a little later or something. So the elders I actually served with are of course in the other group. So I may have a very boring plane ride home. but on the other hand, i'll have fun getting to know some elders that I didn't get a chance to serve with. make new friends I guess.
so i have definitely come to terms with coming home a week early and all that that entails and of COURSE I'm excited to see all of you :) as for my preference, if I would prefer you at the airport or at my homecoming. Probably the airport. It wouldn't exactly be coming home if I didn't see my family for a week and a half after I arrived. But if it is better for everyone else the homecoming, I'm ok with that, too. It will be how it will be.
what else? as I'm getting closer to the end of my mission I'm getting less talkative, I can't think of a lot of things to tell you all. and my week was pretty boring, and it's really hot here...
ok, second wind.
Last monday I played ping pong at family home evening after we were done with internet. That was pretty fun.
On tuesday while we were waiting for our english students to show up one old lady and I were talking about all kinds of things, Oprah, Obama, Michelle Obama, Croatia etc. And somehow we got on the category of singing and we ended up singing Edelweiss together. She's a cute old lady, and it was fun. It's kinda crazy all the people I've met through english classes.
Wednesday, nothing.
Thursday we went out to ice-cream with some of our english students after class, a mom and her three daughters. The daughters are 14ish, and two twin girls that are 8. They are such a sweet family and so loving. They invited us over to their house on Saturday, too, and fed us lunch. Yummy stuffed peppers, breaded chicken, these weird green potato and spinach ball things, and bacon. Well, croatia doesn't do bacon, but it was something like bacon. It is so cute to see how much they love each other and how affectionate they were, if it wasn't for the crosses and smoking etc they would be a golden mormon family. I guess they'll just have to be golden, for now. Oh, and the little girls are kinda half trying to learn english, they mostly just come to be with their mom and sister. And one of them wrote "aj lav mam" on the whiteboard, which is the phonetic, Croatian way of writing "I love mom" so stinking cute! they have a brother, too, that doesn't come to class but we met him on saturday, and we expected him to be maybe "too cool for school" or something, but he was really nice and he wants to live in NYC and he's training for American football. that's weird! he's the first person I've met here in croatia that is training for american football. They are a very cute family.
on friday we went over to an inactive's house and had a good lesson with them and talked a lot about recipes and cooking, which is hard because those words aren't exactly used that often in Croatian, so it was a little hard to follow the conversation, but we got along alright. I think I'll take them some American recipes like chocolate chip cookies and brownies etc. Because they mentioned liking American desserts.
So I was preparing a talk all week, because elder warren asked me to give one. and I was thinking on saturday morning, ok tomorrow we're fasting, because it's fast sunday. oh, and I need to finish my talk. and then i was like, wait a second, why am I giving a talk?? So I called him and he had totally forgotten that it was fast sunday as in, testimony meeting. And then during testimony meeting I was sitting there and I was thinking I probably wouldn't bear my testimony, just because. And then all of a sudden I realized that it would be my last fast sunday in Croatia. So I bore my testimony and I would have started to cry, because it overwhelmed me for a second, but I got ahold of myself and didn't cry at all.
Kinda crazy to start hitting "lasts" like, last fast sunday and last etc. can't think of other examples.
today we ALMOST finished everything we had to do for legal stuff. I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we'd spent the whole day doing legal stuff, this morning was a little like that. but we experienced some miracles, because we needed some numbers, like personal identification numbers, for sister creager. And the last time we had gone by the police station to get them they told us they couldn't give them to us, that we had to go to zagreb for them. well this time we went in, and they handed them right over! miracle! yay! I can't wait to be a citizen in the country I live in. haha, just kidding.
And with all of that we walked around in the sun and heat all day, it's been kinda hot today and this last weekend. so that's another reason I'm tired and the heat is NOT helping! so that is that :)
I love you my family! it was great to hear from you!
I will be seeing you all the sooner!
LOVE SISTER LAWS
oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
It was great to hear from you. I am feeling very tired, very thirsty, and the internet cafe that we're at is very very hot. I don't have a lot of energy for emailing right now...
Ok, I'll buck up a little bit for it..
Obviously the craziest news of this week: I'M COMING HOME A WEEK EARLY! Something about a mission presidents' meeting and so president rowe won't be in the mission when we're supposed to go home so he could have kept us all a month longer or sent us home a week early. He chose a week early since we have a very large group of missionaries coming in. and he probably wouldn't get brownie points for unexpectedly extending all of our missions, though if he had asked, I would have probably told him I would. anywho, here I come in 3 weeks home to the good ol America and family. THREE WEEKS! That's like nothing, that's like sneezing. Pretty crazy. I go back and forth about it, at first I was more disappointed because it meant I would miss out on that week, and I spent my whole mission thinking i would come home on september 6th. but the 30th is my day now.
oh, and because of this change of plans half of our group (there are 8 of us going home) is going at one time, one plane, and the other half is coming a little later or something. So the elders I actually served with are of course in the other group. So I may have a very boring plane ride home. but on the other hand, i'll have fun getting to know some elders that I didn't get a chance to serve with. make new friends I guess.
so i have definitely come to terms with coming home a week early and all that that entails and of COURSE I'm excited to see all of you :) as for my preference, if I would prefer you at the airport or at my homecoming. Probably the airport. It wouldn't exactly be coming home if I didn't see my family for a week and a half after I arrived. But if it is better for everyone else the homecoming, I'm ok with that, too. It will be how it will be.
what else? as I'm getting closer to the end of my mission I'm getting less talkative, I can't think of a lot of things to tell you all. and my week was pretty boring, and it's really hot here...
ok, second wind.
Last monday I played ping pong at family home evening after we were done with internet. That was pretty fun.
On tuesday while we were waiting for our english students to show up one old lady and I were talking about all kinds of things, Oprah, Obama, Michelle Obama, Croatia etc. And somehow we got on the category of singing and we ended up singing Edelweiss together. She's a cute old lady, and it was fun. It's kinda crazy all the people I've met through english classes.
Wednesday, nothing.
Thursday we went out to ice-cream with some of our english students after class, a mom and her three daughters. The daughters are 14ish, and two twin girls that are 8. They are such a sweet family and so loving. They invited us over to their house on Saturday, too, and fed us lunch. Yummy stuffed peppers, breaded chicken, these weird green potato and spinach ball things, and bacon. Well, croatia doesn't do bacon, but it was something like bacon. It is so cute to see how much they love each other and how affectionate they were, if it wasn't for the crosses and smoking etc they would be a golden mormon family. I guess they'll just have to be golden, for now. Oh, and the little girls are kinda half trying to learn english, they mostly just come to be with their mom and sister. And one of them wrote "aj lav mam" on the whiteboard, which is the phonetic, Croatian way of writing "I love mom" so stinking cute! they have a brother, too, that doesn't come to class but we met him on saturday, and we expected him to be maybe "too cool for school" or something, but he was really nice and he wants to live in NYC and he's training for American football. that's weird! he's the first person I've met here in croatia that is training for american football. They are a very cute family.
on friday we went over to an inactive's house and had a good lesson with them and talked a lot about recipes and cooking, which is hard because those words aren't exactly used that often in Croatian, so it was a little hard to follow the conversation, but we got along alright. I think I'll take them some American recipes like chocolate chip cookies and brownies etc. Because they mentioned liking American desserts.
So I was preparing a talk all week, because elder warren asked me to give one. and I was thinking on saturday morning, ok tomorrow we're fasting, because it's fast sunday. oh, and I need to finish my talk. and then i was like, wait a second, why am I giving a talk?? So I called him and he had totally forgotten that it was fast sunday as in, testimony meeting. And then during testimony meeting I was sitting there and I was thinking I probably wouldn't bear my testimony, just because. And then all of a sudden I realized that it would be my last fast sunday in Croatia. So I bore my testimony and I would have started to cry, because it overwhelmed me for a second, but I got ahold of myself and didn't cry at all.
Kinda crazy to start hitting "lasts" like, last fast sunday and last etc. can't think of other examples.
today we ALMOST finished everything we had to do for legal stuff. I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we'd spent the whole day doing legal stuff, this morning was a little like that. but we experienced some miracles, because we needed some numbers, like personal identification numbers, for sister creager. And the last time we had gone by the police station to get them they told us they couldn't give them to us, that we had to go to zagreb for them. well this time we went in, and they handed them right over! miracle! yay! I can't wait to be a citizen in the country I live in. haha, just kidding.
And with all of that we walked around in the sun and heat all day, it's been kinda hot today and this last weekend. so that's another reason I'm tired and the heat is NOT helping! so that is that :)
I love you my family! it was great to hear from you!
I will be seeing you all the sooner!
LOVE SISTER LAWS
oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!
Monday, August 1, 2011
01 august 2011
The first one is a monkey at the zoo. We were friends. And him and the monkey next door were basically the only animals awake and active. Ok, that's an exageration, but right before that we looked at the big cats and they were all sleeping and boring.
The next one is Elder Schouten pretending to grab the monkey's hand. We think the monkey stuck his hand out because I'd reached my hand up when he was sitting there, because he picked up some food in his cage on the ground and then perched up there. So I was asking him to share. He didn't want to. And then he stuck his hand out. haha.
And the last one is a view of Osijek from the bridge! you can see their cathedral and the river and the "coast" stuff. hotels etc.
ENJOY!
Sister Laws
Today is the first day of AUGUST!! Woohoo!
I was actually writing in my journal yesterday or the day before, and I wrote "it's the last day of July, so now we're going into March... I meant August!" This year has truly flown by. Sister Creager mentioned that next transfer is Halloween and I was like, "WHAT?? We just had Halloween! That felt like yesterday!" And that is true and not at the same time. I really can't believe that it's already the end of the year -ish. Not to mention that it's the end of my mission! Holy crow! Kelsey asked if I've been counting down. Not exactly, but Elder Warren in my district, going home at the same time as me, reminds me often enough of how much time there is left and so I know there are only 5 more weeks. Some days that still seems like a long time and some days it's not. Like today, when I was thinking about it, I realized how fast that is in home-time. That is going to come so fast for you all. For me, too, of course. But for you! That will be like tomorrow. It does seem a little more real now that we're in August. Because this is my last full month. WHELP! Enough trunky talk :)
My week was good. I forgot my planner, so I can't remember everything that happened. Last Monday, I may have mentioned, we spent the whole day working on legal stuff. At the police station etc. Not a very fun pday activity. on Tuesday we had english of course and district meeting. On wednesday, nothing exciting. on Thursday, english class.
on Friday we got lost a little bit. Well, I think my definition of lost is different. Because to me we weren't lost, because I knew where we were and how to get home, but we were looking for a house for a lesson and we couldn't find it and didn't know exactly how to get there. So we weren't lost but we were confused. We rode a new tram (Well, there are only 2 trams in Osijek, so we rode the other one) and we ended up at the end of it, missed our stop. And then wandered around in a circle back to the tram and went home after that. I got ahold of the lady, because she hadn't answered her phone and told her that we were lost and we'd come the next day. Kinda funny.
Saturday was one of those classic missionary days, had a couple of lessons and 2 people told us they didn't want to keep meeting with us and one person just stood us up! But don't worry, I'm not discouraged. Those days happen. It kinda made me happy because I felt like a real missionary :)
Sunday was good. Church. Not as many members came as last week, but still a good number. And they all came like, 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started, so we were worried there wouldn't be anyone! That hasn't happened to me yet on my mission. So that's good.
TODAY we went to the Osijek ZOO! It was pretty fun. It's not exactly like American zoos, the meer cats had a 2-foot fence and we could have reached over and grabbed them out and cuddled with them. I guess if they had let us. A pretty small zoo which was good, because we were all tired by the end of it. The heat and walking and all that. And the zoo is on the othere side of the river, so yes, I walked over the foot bridge! Today was the first day that I did. We've been meaning to check out that side, but haven't gotten around to it. We've also been to a couple of different restaurants that are actually boats floating on the river. It's kinda cool.
And to answer your other question Dad, yes. There actually is a lot of war damage here in Osijek. There are a lot of buildings with bullet holes and they are re-doing a lot of old buildings so they look nice again. Some of the older historical-looking buildings.
And we'll probably go to Vukovar next week! That was really cool what you told me about it. Well, maybe cool isn't the right word for a war. But it's good stuff to know.
(Here's what I told Keshia: You are only about 30 km from Vukovar a prominant city in the Croatian War for Independence. Vukovar was basically bombed to the ground and it has been called the Worst damage to a city in Europe since WWII. 2,000 Croatian defenders held off 36,000 Serb troops for 87 days before being overrun and killed. Another 23,000 civilians went missing or were killed when the city finally fell. They left their heavily damaged water tower standing as a symbol of their losses. 10 km from Vukovar is a town named Ovcara. Some of the Vukovar citizens were taken to Ovcara and were tortured and killed there. They built a memorial in Ovcara for Croatians killed in the war.)
I've been reading in 3 Nephi and one of our lessons this last week a lady brought up a question about baptism and I was able to turn right to 3 Nephi 11 and read her what Christ teaches right when he arrives to the Americas. I thought that was cool. I remembered where it was because I'd just read it. and I found a Ensign from 1985! at the church and I read it this last week one day, and there was a really cool biography about Elder L. Tom Perry. His first wife died 7 months after he was called as an apostle! Crazy huh? And then he got remarried a little more than a year later. And he was talking about how much his parents involved all the kids in church callings, and they'd go clean the church and also with work, and he'd be at his dad's office a lot. And like, how we should involve our families and kids in our callings and work. It was kinda neat. Ooh, and President Harold B Lee (I hope that's the right one) ordained Elder Perry to be a high priest when he was in the quorum of the 12, and he said in the blessing that Elder Perry would be involved in the church's leadership councils or something like that, and Elder Perry was called to the quorum of the 12 when President Lee died! So he basically replaced President Lee. I thought that was pretty cool. I like learning stuff about the apostles. They are cool.
I'm glad that Amelia is getting settled in! I heard from her before she left for Texas but mom and dad mentioned that they'd talked to her. One of them said something about making connections with ward members, maybe job opportunities, and that's awesome! Oh, and I've totally thought about how fun it would be to live with you again, but I probably won't this time :( We'll see.
Jesse congratulations on getting a place! Well, on moving in this weekend hopefully :) New spaces to organize and make homey! so much fun.
Mom, say hi to grandma for me!
I love you all to pieces!
Sister Laws
The next one is Elder Schouten pretending to grab the monkey's hand. We think the monkey stuck his hand out because I'd reached my hand up when he was sitting there, because he picked up some food in his cage on the ground and then perched up there. So I was asking him to share. He didn't want to. And then he stuck his hand out. haha.
And the last one is a view of Osijek from the bridge! you can see their cathedral and the river and the "coast" stuff. hotels etc.
ENJOY!
Sister Laws
Today is the first day of AUGUST!! Woohoo!
I was actually writing in my journal yesterday or the day before, and I wrote "it's the last day of July, so now we're going into March... I meant August!" This year has truly flown by. Sister Creager mentioned that next transfer is Halloween and I was like, "WHAT?? We just had Halloween! That felt like yesterday!" And that is true and not at the same time. I really can't believe that it's already the end of the year -ish. Not to mention that it's the end of my mission! Holy crow! Kelsey asked if I've been counting down. Not exactly, but Elder Warren in my district, going home at the same time as me, reminds me often enough of how much time there is left and so I know there are only 5 more weeks. Some days that still seems like a long time and some days it's not. Like today, when I was thinking about it, I realized how fast that is in home-time. That is going to come so fast for you all. For me, too, of course. But for you! That will be like tomorrow. It does seem a little more real now that we're in August. Because this is my last full month. WHELP! Enough trunky talk :)
My week was good. I forgot my planner, so I can't remember everything that happened. Last Monday, I may have mentioned, we spent the whole day working on legal stuff. At the police station etc. Not a very fun pday activity. on Tuesday we had english of course and district meeting. On wednesday, nothing exciting. on Thursday, english class.
on Friday we got lost a little bit. Well, I think my definition of lost is different. Because to me we weren't lost, because I knew where we were and how to get home, but we were looking for a house for a lesson and we couldn't find it and didn't know exactly how to get there. So we weren't lost but we were confused. We rode a new tram (Well, there are only 2 trams in Osijek, so we rode the other one) and we ended up at the end of it, missed our stop. And then wandered around in a circle back to the tram and went home after that. I got ahold of the lady, because she hadn't answered her phone and told her that we were lost and we'd come the next day. Kinda funny.
Saturday was one of those classic missionary days, had a couple of lessons and 2 people told us they didn't want to keep meeting with us and one person just stood us up! But don't worry, I'm not discouraged. Those days happen. It kinda made me happy because I felt like a real missionary :)
Sunday was good. Church. Not as many members came as last week, but still a good number. And they all came like, 5 minutes before sacrament meeting started, so we were worried there wouldn't be anyone! That hasn't happened to me yet on my mission. So that's good.
TODAY we went to the Osijek ZOO! It was pretty fun. It's not exactly like American zoos, the meer cats had a 2-foot fence and we could have reached over and grabbed them out and cuddled with them. I guess if they had let us. A pretty small zoo which was good, because we were all tired by the end of it. The heat and walking and all that. And the zoo is on the othere side of the river, so yes, I walked over the foot bridge! Today was the first day that I did. We've been meaning to check out that side, but haven't gotten around to it. We've also been to a couple of different restaurants that are actually boats floating on the river. It's kinda cool.
And to answer your other question Dad, yes. There actually is a lot of war damage here in Osijek. There are a lot of buildings with bullet holes and they are re-doing a lot of old buildings so they look nice again. Some of the older historical-looking buildings.
And we'll probably go to Vukovar next week! That was really cool what you told me about it. Well, maybe cool isn't the right word for a war. But it's good stuff to know.
(Here's what I told Keshia: You are only about 30 km from Vukovar a prominant city in the Croatian War for Independence. Vukovar was basically bombed to the ground and it has been called the Worst damage to a city in Europe since WWII. 2,000 Croatian defenders held off 36,000 Serb troops for 87 days before being overrun and killed. Another 23,000 civilians went missing or were killed when the city finally fell. They left their heavily damaged water tower standing as a symbol of their losses. 10 km from Vukovar is a town named Ovcara. Some of the Vukovar citizens were taken to Ovcara and were tortured and killed there. They built a memorial in Ovcara for Croatians killed in the war.)
I've been reading in 3 Nephi and one of our lessons this last week a lady brought up a question about baptism and I was able to turn right to 3 Nephi 11 and read her what Christ teaches right when he arrives to the Americas. I thought that was cool. I remembered where it was because I'd just read it. and I found a Ensign from 1985! at the church and I read it this last week one day, and there was a really cool biography about Elder L. Tom Perry. His first wife died 7 months after he was called as an apostle! Crazy huh? And then he got remarried a little more than a year later. And he was talking about how much his parents involved all the kids in church callings, and they'd go clean the church and also with work, and he'd be at his dad's office a lot. And like, how we should involve our families and kids in our callings and work. It was kinda neat. Ooh, and President Harold B Lee (I hope that's the right one) ordained Elder Perry to be a high priest when he was in the quorum of the 12, and he said in the blessing that Elder Perry would be involved in the church's leadership councils or something like that, and Elder Perry was called to the quorum of the 12 when President Lee died! So he basically replaced President Lee. I thought that was pretty cool. I like learning stuff about the apostles. They are cool.
I'm glad that Amelia is getting settled in! I heard from her before she left for Texas but mom and dad mentioned that they'd talked to her. One of them said something about making connections with ward members, maybe job opportunities, and that's awesome! Oh, and I've totally thought about how fun it would be to live with you again, but I probably won't this time :( We'll see.
Jesse congratulations on getting a place! Well, on moving in this weekend hopefully :) New spaces to organize and make homey! so much fun.
Mom, say hi to grandma for me!
I love you all to pieces!
Sister Laws
Monday, July 25, 2011
25 srpnja 2011
I almost forgot to tell you, but I cut my hair! nothing fancy, but here you go! and as you can see I got the package you sent! thanks for the letters and pictures and candies! and headbands. It was so so much fun!!
me and Sister Creager at the baptism in Zagreb, with president's youngest daughters (6 years old and twins. they really like us)
the đakovo cathedral, that's where we went last week for pday
I would stay on my mission just for pdays and getting emails from everyone! It is so great to hear from people!
I found out today that one of my old companions, Sister Nelson, is ENGAGED! She got home.. the fourth of July. So she's one of those fast-movers, too. BUT her and her man have been writing letters to each other for 3 years (his mission, and then hers) so she deserves to be married. She's so great and they are perfect together. Cool cool.
If only pdays lasted the rest of our lives!
So my dear family, how are you all?? I know that you're great, because I got emails from all of you. You're being so faithful at the end of my mission! Thank you so much!
My week was good. English classes started. Tuesday was a good class, more people showed up than I was expecting and then THURSDAY we had more people show up, because they'd heard about it from otehr people. So that is really great and it should be a great class, really fun. Some younger kids are coming and they are great because they automatically love good people, so they automatically love us. haha. We assign "homework" at the end, and one of the girls finished her homework before she left, and one of her sentences was "Sister Creager and Laws are nice." it was really cute. She's 12 but she looks 9 or 10 to me.
We had a lesson with one of the members here, she's active but we just met up with her. And she is Hungarian! She has a Hungarian book of Mormon that she brings to church. It's cool-looking. AND we had a lesson with another member, her son is a member but her husband isn't. We went over to her house and had like "family home evening" and her husband sat in on the lesson and her son's friend that was over sat in, it was a fun lesson. And THEN her husband came to the fireside that we had yesterday! woohoo!
The fireside was good, President Rowe came, it's the first time he's visited Osijek so all the members were happy to meet him.
Ooh, I bought a CD. It's from a band called 2cellos - you've probably all already heard about that because I guess they were a youtube hit. But we happened to see a commercial for them on tv at a restaurant one time, and they look cool. So I bought a cd. They are jamming celloists. Oh, but I haven't listened to the CD or anything, that sounds like I have. haha. They did more pop music I think. So I'm excited to actually listen to my cd when I get home.
It's been rainy the last couple of days. I love rain. And it makes everything cooler which is better, it was pretty hot the week before. Osijek is cool, it has a lot of parks and it's right next to the river, and it has a cool bridge. We ate lunch one day on a restaurant that's a boat on the river. It had mexican food, haha. and it was pretty good Mexican food, too. It's kinda funny, because it seems like a lot of people in Croatia are interested in Mexico, because they have these Mexican soap operas that everyone watches, and whenever someone does a Spanish class lots of people come. So now they're moving on to loving the food, I guess.
AND that is basically everything I did this week.
Kelsey - that NF1 walk sounds cool, I am in. GO OLIVIA'S TEAM!!!
Amelia: good luck with the move! and have fun in your new house, I like making new spaces homey.
everyone: I LOVE YOU!
Čut ćemo se!
i vidimo se za ŠEST TJEDANA!!
potpuno ludilo!
Sestra Laws
me and Sister Creager at the baptism in Zagreb, with president's youngest daughters (6 years old and twins. they really like us)
the đakovo cathedral, that's where we went last week for pday
I would stay on my mission just for pdays and getting emails from everyone! It is so great to hear from people!
I found out today that one of my old companions, Sister Nelson, is ENGAGED! She got home.. the fourth of July. So she's one of those fast-movers, too. BUT her and her man have been writing letters to each other for 3 years (his mission, and then hers) so she deserves to be married. She's so great and they are perfect together. Cool cool.
If only pdays lasted the rest of our lives!
So my dear family, how are you all?? I know that you're great, because I got emails from all of you. You're being so faithful at the end of my mission! Thank you so much!
My week was good. English classes started. Tuesday was a good class, more people showed up than I was expecting and then THURSDAY we had more people show up, because they'd heard about it from otehr people. So that is really great and it should be a great class, really fun. Some younger kids are coming and they are great because they automatically love good people, so they automatically love us. haha. We assign "homework" at the end, and one of the girls finished her homework before she left, and one of her sentences was "Sister Creager and Laws are nice." it was really cute. She's 12 but she looks 9 or 10 to me.
We had a lesson with one of the members here, she's active but we just met up with her. And she is Hungarian! She has a Hungarian book of Mormon that she brings to church. It's cool-looking. AND we had a lesson with another member, her son is a member but her husband isn't. We went over to her house and had like "family home evening" and her husband sat in on the lesson and her son's friend that was over sat in, it was a fun lesson. And THEN her husband came to the fireside that we had yesterday! woohoo!
The fireside was good, President Rowe came, it's the first time he's visited Osijek so all the members were happy to meet him.
Ooh, I bought a CD. It's from a band called 2cellos - you've probably all already heard about that because I guess they were a youtube hit. But we happened to see a commercial for them on tv at a restaurant one time, and they look cool. So I bought a cd. They are jamming celloists. Oh, but I haven't listened to the CD or anything, that sounds like I have. haha. They did more pop music I think. So I'm excited to actually listen to my cd when I get home.
It's been rainy the last couple of days. I love rain. And it makes everything cooler which is better, it was pretty hot the week before. Osijek is cool, it has a lot of parks and it's right next to the river, and it has a cool bridge. We ate lunch one day on a restaurant that's a boat on the river. It had mexican food, haha. and it was pretty good Mexican food, too. It's kinda funny, because it seems like a lot of people in Croatia are interested in Mexico, because they have these Mexican soap operas that everyone watches, and whenever someone does a Spanish class lots of people come. So now they're moving on to loving the food, I guess.
AND that is basically everything I did this week.
Kelsey - that NF1 walk sounds cool, I am in. GO OLIVIA'S TEAM!!!
Amelia: good luck with the move! and have fun in your new house, I like making new spaces homey.
everyone: I LOVE YOU!
Čut ćemo se!
i vidimo se za ŠEST TJEDANA!!
potpuno ludilo!
Sestra Laws
Monday, July 18, 2011
18 srpnja 2011
Hi family!
I am so blessed today because I heard from ALL of you and from some of my old companions. It feels good to be loved!
Well, where to start?
First off, we're in a hurry because we're heading over to Đakovo today, and we're supposed to catch a bus at 11. (it's 10:25) It should be really fun. One reason I'm glad to be in Osijek is seeing a whole new part of Croatia that I thought I'd never get to. Starting with today.
My last week was good. We mostly tried meeting with members, active and inactive alike, so we can start getting a feel for the branch and start working with them. There are about... I want to say 40 people who are members and maybe 8 or so who are active. Some people live farther away and that's why they don't come. So anyway, back to a small branch. I like it. It means we really can work with every single one of them. And those are our plans. We had a less-than-great english class sign-ups. It's the summer and english class always has fewer people in the summer. It's too hot to learn english. And the actual classes start up on Tuesday, that should be good. um, THEN on Saturday we went down to Zagreb on a train, it's about a 4 and half hour train ride. And we saw the baptism of the brother and sister we taught. It was nice. Their non-member mother came and it looked like she was really touched by it. And it was nice to see our friends in Zagreb, seems like we haven't been there in a long time, but really, it's only been a week! That's kinda crazy to think about.
So the pronunciation of Osijek: oh-see-yek, the j makes a y sound. and the emphasis is on the first syllable. OH-see-yek. We serve here with two elders, Elder Warren who is going home at the same time as me, and Elder Schouten, who just got here. They are doing a lot of great work. Elder Warren is the branch president. There isn't a senior couple.
Đakovo apparently has a really great cathedral, that's what we're planning on seeing there. Oh, and because of our close vicinity with Serbia the war hit this area pretty hard. There are bullet holes in a lot of the buildings, and we're planning on going to Vukovar, where the most recent war started, the one between Serbia and Croatia. That's kinda interesting to see, I saw some of that stuff in Zadar but here in Osijek it is everywhere.
Yesterday I gave a talk. I tried writing it on the train ride down to Zagreb, but I didn't get very far and we were talking to the people in our compartment a lot of the ride, well some of the ride. And so I wrote it on the drive back to Osijek, we left Zagreb at 7 and the APs drove us, by car so it was a lot faster, and so we got back to church in time for me to give this talk, that I barely finished writing. I got nervous right before it, because of the lack of preparation. But it went well. It was on patience. It's kinda interesting how giving a talk isn't as hard as it used to be. you know? We give talks all the time and now it's kinda, maybe not fun, but interesting. Not scary anymore. Now, in front of 200 people back in Idaho Falls, I'm guessing it's going to be scary again! September 11th will be a nerve-wracking Sunday!
I hear that Elder Fowler is engaged, I know mom said that it was a maybe, but I heard it's officially official! Pretty crazy! That is not for me. Too fast.
Fall Finale sounds good. And the Harry Potter marathon, too! Actually Rebekah wrote me today and mentioned that, too! Funny! She said we have to read all the books together and then watch all the movies. Sounds like a LOT of good-spent time :)
Oh, I started to read a really good article this morning from Bednar in an ensign, talking about the dangers of reality worlds and knowing real from unreal. It was highly fascinating. I'll tell you more about it next time because we gotta go!
Love you all tons!
Sister Laws
Hello family!
Well here I am again.
We went to Đakovo and back already. It was fun. Small, too.
We went to the famous cathedral, I guess it's like the biggest one in Croatia or something. And my camera died after we'd been there for a little while. And then we had to leave because it was closed for cleaning in the afternoon. And then we went and saw these horses. I guess it's a breeding place and they have a bunch of pure-bred Croatian horses. I can't remember the name of the horse, but they're born black and then turn white as they grow up. Pretty beautiful horses. And now we're back here at internet, because none of us finished this morning. Too many good things to report!
So that article I mentioned. I finished it on the bus. It's called "Things as they Really Are" by Bednar, it's a June 2010 ensign but it was first given as a BYU Idaho devotional. It was really good. He was warning against basically living in reality worlds and in video games and computers because that's one way Satan gets us to be disconnected from our bodies, since he doesn't have a body. I recommend it. It made me think.
So the people here: for some reason I feel like I recognize all of them. It must be something to do with living in Croatia for almost a year and a half now. But for some reason, almost all the people I see I think, Wait, have I seen you before?? And I know that isn't possible since we've only been in Osijek for a week. Really weird. People are generally nice. Like everywhere. Nice and not very interested in what we're sharing. That's kinda the life here in Croatia! Sister Creager's brother is serving his mission in Argentina and he just barely got there last week so she heard from him today and she was like, "what? He already has two baptismal dates?" And I had to tell her, we cannot compare missions! I've always thought that way, because every mission has its own challenge. Missionary work is never easy! But it's always worth it.
Oh hey, I almost forgot. Mom said they went to a body exhibit. I'm pretty sure that (I'm guessing it was the same one) SAME body exhibit was here in Croatia last year. Some of the missionaries told me about it. I'm not sure I would enjoy it.
I feel like there was something else I was going to mention. Can't remember. I would attach pictures but my camera died! Next time!
LOVE YOU ALL
Sister Laws
I am so blessed today because I heard from ALL of you and from some of my old companions. It feels good to be loved!
Well, where to start?
First off, we're in a hurry because we're heading over to Đakovo today, and we're supposed to catch a bus at 11. (it's 10:25) It should be really fun. One reason I'm glad to be in Osijek is seeing a whole new part of Croatia that I thought I'd never get to. Starting with today.
My last week was good. We mostly tried meeting with members, active and inactive alike, so we can start getting a feel for the branch and start working with them. There are about... I want to say 40 people who are members and maybe 8 or so who are active. Some people live farther away and that's why they don't come. So anyway, back to a small branch. I like it. It means we really can work with every single one of them. And those are our plans. We had a less-than-great english class sign-ups. It's the summer and english class always has fewer people in the summer. It's too hot to learn english. And the actual classes start up on Tuesday, that should be good. um, THEN on Saturday we went down to Zagreb on a train, it's about a 4 and half hour train ride. And we saw the baptism of the brother and sister we taught. It was nice. Their non-member mother came and it looked like she was really touched by it. And it was nice to see our friends in Zagreb, seems like we haven't been there in a long time, but really, it's only been a week! That's kinda crazy to think about.
So the pronunciation of Osijek: oh-see-yek, the j makes a y sound. and the emphasis is on the first syllable. OH-see-yek. We serve here with two elders, Elder Warren who is going home at the same time as me, and Elder Schouten, who just got here. They are doing a lot of great work. Elder Warren is the branch president. There isn't a senior couple.
Đakovo apparently has a really great cathedral, that's what we're planning on seeing there. Oh, and because of our close vicinity with Serbia the war hit this area pretty hard. There are bullet holes in a lot of the buildings, and we're planning on going to Vukovar, where the most recent war started, the one between Serbia and Croatia. That's kinda interesting to see, I saw some of that stuff in Zadar but here in Osijek it is everywhere.
Yesterday I gave a talk. I tried writing it on the train ride down to Zagreb, but I didn't get very far and we were talking to the people in our compartment a lot of the ride, well some of the ride. And so I wrote it on the drive back to Osijek, we left Zagreb at 7 and the APs drove us, by car so it was a lot faster, and so we got back to church in time for me to give this talk, that I barely finished writing. I got nervous right before it, because of the lack of preparation. But it went well. It was on patience. It's kinda interesting how giving a talk isn't as hard as it used to be. you know? We give talks all the time and now it's kinda, maybe not fun, but interesting. Not scary anymore. Now, in front of 200 people back in Idaho Falls, I'm guessing it's going to be scary again! September 11th will be a nerve-wracking Sunday!
I hear that Elder Fowler is engaged, I know mom said that it was a maybe, but I heard it's officially official! Pretty crazy! That is not for me. Too fast.
Fall Finale sounds good. And the Harry Potter marathon, too! Actually Rebekah wrote me today and mentioned that, too! Funny! She said we have to read all the books together and then watch all the movies. Sounds like a LOT of good-spent time :)
Oh, I started to read a really good article this morning from Bednar in an ensign, talking about the dangers of reality worlds and knowing real from unreal. It was highly fascinating. I'll tell you more about it next time because we gotta go!
Love you all tons!
Sister Laws
Hello family!
Well here I am again.
We went to Đakovo and back already. It was fun. Small, too.
We went to the famous cathedral, I guess it's like the biggest one in Croatia or something. And my camera died after we'd been there for a little while. And then we had to leave because it was closed for cleaning in the afternoon. And then we went and saw these horses. I guess it's a breeding place and they have a bunch of pure-bred Croatian horses. I can't remember the name of the horse, but they're born black and then turn white as they grow up. Pretty beautiful horses. And now we're back here at internet, because none of us finished this morning. Too many good things to report!
So that article I mentioned. I finished it on the bus. It's called "Things as they Really Are" by Bednar, it's a June 2010 ensign but it was first given as a BYU Idaho devotional. It was really good. He was warning against basically living in reality worlds and in video games and computers because that's one way Satan gets us to be disconnected from our bodies, since he doesn't have a body. I recommend it. It made me think.
So the people here: for some reason I feel like I recognize all of them. It must be something to do with living in Croatia for almost a year and a half now. But for some reason, almost all the people I see I think, Wait, have I seen you before?? And I know that isn't possible since we've only been in Osijek for a week. Really weird. People are generally nice. Like everywhere. Nice and not very interested in what we're sharing. That's kinda the life here in Croatia! Sister Creager's brother is serving his mission in Argentina and he just barely got there last week so she heard from him today and she was like, "what? He already has two baptismal dates?" And I had to tell her, we cannot compare missions! I've always thought that way, because every mission has its own challenge. Missionary work is never easy! But it's always worth it.
Oh hey, I almost forgot. Mom said they went to a body exhibit. I'm pretty sure that (I'm guessing it was the same one) SAME body exhibit was here in Croatia last year. Some of the missionaries told me about it. I'm not sure I would enjoy it.
I feel like there was something else I was going to mention. Can't remember. I would attach pictures but my camera died! Next time!
LOVE YOU ALL
Sister Laws
Monday, July 11, 2011
Pictures
Me and sister creager with a rainbow, in Zagreb. Most of Zagreb does not look like this! we were on the outside of Zagreb at a member's house. This was last Wednesday. It was sunny AND sprinkled on us a little bit. hence the rainbow :)
A picture of Zagreb's main square. This is much more like Zagreb. Busy, big, lots of people and trams. This was Thursday after we found out we would not be serving in Zagreb anymore, which meant I would never serve there again (since this is my last transfer!)
Me and sister creager at zone conference, which was... last month, the 22nd or later. Can't remember the date exactly :)
The sunflower fields we passed on our way in. beautiful!
This is Osijek's cathedral. we went inside already, it was pretty nice. as nice as any catholic cathedral is. Mostly today we've been walking around EVERYWHERE, because we've been doing the police stuff again (i forgot to bring important papers, which I always do) and going from here to there just looking and trying things. we went to an ice-cream place for one of the elders, it is his birthday today, and then to the cathedral, we just took a break from internet and ate at a fast food place and came back, etc. etc. Lots of fun.
Inside the cathedral. this was the least catholic part and it was really pretty.
11 srpnja 2011
YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHERE I AM RIGHT NOW!!!!
I am in OSIJEK!
OSIJEK!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this is the story, Sister Creager and I have been transferred to Osijek.
On Thursday, in the early afternoon the assistants called us and asked us to come to the mission office for an interview with President Rowe. Well, we had just had interviews with President Rowe the Saturday before that, so we're like, this isn't just an interview. And we started joking about getting sent to Bosnia.
(In case I haven't said anything about this, and I don't think I have, probably a little more than a month ago the first senior couple was sent into Bosnia, as full-time proselyting missionaries. So that's huge, and we've been hearing rumors about missionaries being taken from our mission to start up the work and also that they might send missionaries in to get some signatures, to petition so that we can send the other missionaries in.)
So we were joking about it. It was one of those, so long-shot that it would be impossible but still really fun to think about jokes.
So a few hours later we go to the mission office in centar and we go in to President Rowe's half-put-together office. And we sit down. He says "You are an answer to my prayer" and personally I was like, Oh this really IS serious, like not just an interview etc.
And he says "I need you in Osijek" and we both, well, we were extremely surprised so we both start laughing. And he explains a little more and we say yes, of course. And so he said, Is Sunday too early for you to leave? And we're like, well, we guess not! It's a little fast, but ok. So we leave the office and we're standing in centar and I'm like, this is the last time we're going to be here, what do we need to do here?? So we actually went and bought a few little Zagreb souvenirs, haha, and then went home and we PACKED.
The assistants called us and asked us to make the move on Saturday instead of Sunday so we could attend church on Sunday here. And we basically packed all of our stuff Thursday night. And we called all the members and told them that we were leaving. We set up a couple of appointments with them for Friday. Friday we had to go to the police station for our legal stuff and the insurance office and then we went to the church for some stuff there -- we ended up having to cancel with the members because we didn't have time -- and then had a lesson with two of our investigators.
And I feel bad for not having mentioned this, but yes Mom, they have baptismal dates. They are getting baptized this Saturday, the 16th, and President already said we could come back for the baptism. So we'll be in Zagreb on Saturday. They are a brother and a sister, 18 and 20, their dad is a member, and the other sisters started teaching them last transfer, so we inherited them, and now we've passed them on to a set of Elders, because now there are 10 elders in Zagreb! That's a lot.
So that's pretty cool. Actually it felt like with them that we were just filling in for the sisters, didn't feel like they were our investigators, and then this last week I was like, wow, some of OUR investigators are getting baptized! And then.. we had to pass them off. Kinda funny.
So yeah, we had a last lesson with them and then went home and CLEANED Friday night, because we switched apartments with the elders, so we had to make it "elder proof" and then Saturday morning we cleaned some more.
The assistants came and drove us to Osijek. Thankfully they drove us because we had a lot of stuff, because it really felt like we were moving apartments, which we were, rather than just being transferred so there was some extra stuff we had to take, like a new tupperware bowl that we had just bought and some food that we had just got from America from Sister Nelson's family. We weren't going to leave that stuff!
So they drove us and first of all, all you hear about going to Osijek is that it's the most boring drive ever. Everyone tells us that. And it went by pretty fast, a little boring because the car's cd player went kaput so we didn't have music or anything. But we got there in good time, since we were driving and weren't on a train. And it was actually really pretty. There were sunflowers growing everywhere, huge sunflower fields, and everyone said that it was really flat but there were hills and little towns every-so-often. I'm guessing it's a lot worse on the train because the trip really wasn't bad at all. about 3 hours by car. And we came into Osijek and it was extremely hot. And we pulled up to our apartment, it's actually like, ok it's in this yard type thing with the front doors to several places all right there, and it's more like a house. because we have our own separate front door, and we have a downstairs with a kitchen (which is nicer than the Zagreb one) and a front room and an UPSTAIRS with a couple of bedrooms and there are two bathrooms one upstairs and one downstairs. It's a nice place, and actually missionaries just started renting it like, last December or something. So gross Elders haven't lived in it for too long, haha. And it's pretty nice. The bedroom has an air conditioner. That has been a lifesaver. But the first night, the elders had it set at 17 degrees celcius, which is like, 61 degrees F, and I just FROZE I was so cold. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to turn it off. We've turned it up to like, 23 C now. It's a lot better.
So on Sunday we went to church. There were... probably more than ten people there including missionaries. So I'm back in a small branch, which I'm excited about.
It's a little weird, too, because I got used to church for 3 hours, but now it's only two again. But it's really great. I am really excited to be here.
And if any of you are keeping track, this is my FOURTH city. Which like, is unheard of for sisters. It's really exciting. Most sisters get 2 cities and 3 if they're lucky. I'm extra lucky I guess. I'm really really excited! In case you can't tell, I'm really excited.
So we had a kinda crazy week! It was great. Now why are we here? Well, that is all in the brains of President. There are a lot of women, the newest converts are all women, and it's been about 2-3 years since sisters have served here. So we've got a lot of opportunity to talk to a lot of women. We have a lot of work ahead of us! And the Lord works in mysterious ways, so He knows why we're here on the spur of the moment. it's really great.
Um... questions that you (mostly Mom) had. Yes, Dad sent the stuff about Nelnet, etc. Thank you!
Um, the first movie you quoted Mom, was French Kiss. The second one I have absolutely no idea.
The frozen t-shirt thing: you fold up a t-shirt and stick it in the freezer until it's frozen, obviously. And the competition is seeing who can unfold the t-shirt and put it on first, since it's frozen. It's a family tradition of the Rowes'.
The mission home and the mission office ARE separate, which is different than it has been in the past and probably in other places, too. I think it's because he's got a family and they had a good space for the office which was already church-owned but too small for him and his family to live in. Yeah, that's my best guess.
Um, will I help with September sharing time? I'm guessing yes, but you didn't give me any details at all so I'm a little scared. But yes, I can't imagine why I wouldn't be able to.
When do I want my homecoming? Well, I have no idea. That is a hard question, because I don't exactly have a preference. It would be probably easier for everyone (and the most fun for me) if you all came when I got off the plane, like at the airport, and then if it was the following Sunday, because that wouldn't be two trips. But if you all can't come for basically a whole week, then it would be ok with me if it was a week to a couple of weeks after I got home. So I am basically no help at all with that question! I really don't know when is best. Let me know if anyone wants it sooner or later.
AND I believe that is everything.
Wow, busy week. Kinda crazy. I'll try to send some pictures, but I don't know what I'll be able to do. We shall see.
Kelsey - I can't believe that Nyah almost died. that's what it seems like to me, what a crazy story! and I am very jealous of Kurt (and I can't believe that he was like, really close to where I am! he should have stopped by in Zagreb and met the new misison president or something, like, I know he can't see me but he was really close to Croatia. He should have got a ferry over to Zadar or Rijeka or something.)
Amelia - I wish you all the good fortune you can get. hang in there, everything will work out.
Jesse - I didn't realize how light Jude's hair is! did it get lighter because of the sun or was I just missing something? And I am so glad you let some JWs in, because there really aren't that many people who let us in. I would never want to be a Jehovah's witness, they are all missionaries. They believe in "every member a missionary" to a whole new degree. It's like, some kind of requirement for them to get a certain number of hours proselyting or something. I don't know the details, though. Oh, and I had no idea that the new Harry Potter movie was coming out. Crazy! It's the last one! Weird.
Michael- hope you're doing good.
Parents - I love you SO much and you've been a lot of help to me while I've been here. I haven't gotten the package, no surprise, and now it might be a little while before I get it, since I'm in OSIJEK! Oh, I don't know if you know where it is. It's really close to Serbia. I'm in the east, the Slavonian region of Croatia. I'm like, in a whole different country out here, because Serbia is to the east and Hungary is to the north... It's pretty cool.
I LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Laws
I am in OSIJEK!
OSIJEK!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this is the story, Sister Creager and I have been transferred to Osijek.
On Thursday, in the early afternoon the assistants called us and asked us to come to the mission office for an interview with President Rowe. Well, we had just had interviews with President Rowe the Saturday before that, so we're like, this isn't just an interview. And we started joking about getting sent to Bosnia.
(In case I haven't said anything about this, and I don't think I have, probably a little more than a month ago the first senior couple was sent into Bosnia, as full-time proselyting missionaries. So that's huge, and we've been hearing rumors about missionaries being taken from our mission to start up the work and also that they might send missionaries in to get some signatures, to petition so that we can send the other missionaries in.)
So we were joking about it. It was one of those, so long-shot that it would be impossible but still really fun to think about jokes.
So a few hours later we go to the mission office in centar and we go in to President Rowe's half-put-together office. And we sit down. He says "You are an answer to my prayer" and personally I was like, Oh this really IS serious, like not just an interview etc.
And he says "I need you in Osijek" and we both, well, we were extremely surprised so we both start laughing. And he explains a little more and we say yes, of course. And so he said, Is Sunday too early for you to leave? And we're like, well, we guess not! It's a little fast, but ok. So we leave the office and we're standing in centar and I'm like, this is the last time we're going to be here, what do we need to do here?? So we actually went and bought a few little Zagreb souvenirs, haha, and then went home and we PACKED.
The assistants called us and asked us to make the move on Saturday instead of Sunday so we could attend church on Sunday here. And we basically packed all of our stuff Thursday night. And we called all the members and told them that we were leaving. We set up a couple of appointments with them for Friday. Friday we had to go to the police station for our legal stuff and the insurance office and then we went to the church for some stuff there -- we ended up having to cancel with the members because we didn't have time -- and then had a lesson with two of our investigators.
And I feel bad for not having mentioned this, but yes Mom, they have baptismal dates. They are getting baptized this Saturday, the 16th, and President already said we could come back for the baptism. So we'll be in Zagreb on Saturday. They are a brother and a sister, 18 and 20, their dad is a member, and the other sisters started teaching them last transfer, so we inherited them, and now we've passed them on to a set of Elders, because now there are 10 elders in Zagreb! That's a lot.
So that's pretty cool. Actually it felt like with them that we were just filling in for the sisters, didn't feel like they were our investigators, and then this last week I was like, wow, some of OUR investigators are getting baptized! And then.. we had to pass them off. Kinda funny.
So yeah, we had a last lesson with them and then went home and CLEANED Friday night, because we switched apartments with the elders, so we had to make it "elder proof" and then Saturday morning we cleaned some more.
The assistants came and drove us to Osijek. Thankfully they drove us because we had a lot of stuff, because it really felt like we were moving apartments, which we were, rather than just being transferred so there was some extra stuff we had to take, like a new tupperware bowl that we had just bought and some food that we had just got from America from Sister Nelson's family. We weren't going to leave that stuff!
So they drove us and first of all, all you hear about going to Osijek is that it's the most boring drive ever. Everyone tells us that. And it went by pretty fast, a little boring because the car's cd player went kaput so we didn't have music or anything. But we got there in good time, since we were driving and weren't on a train. And it was actually really pretty. There were sunflowers growing everywhere, huge sunflower fields, and everyone said that it was really flat but there were hills and little towns every-so-often. I'm guessing it's a lot worse on the train because the trip really wasn't bad at all. about 3 hours by car. And we came into Osijek and it was extremely hot. And we pulled up to our apartment, it's actually like, ok it's in this yard type thing with the front doors to several places all right there, and it's more like a house. because we have our own separate front door, and we have a downstairs with a kitchen (which is nicer than the Zagreb one) and a front room and an UPSTAIRS with a couple of bedrooms and there are two bathrooms one upstairs and one downstairs. It's a nice place, and actually missionaries just started renting it like, last December or something. So gross Elders haven't lived in it for too long, haha. And it's pretty nice. The bedroom has an air conditioner. That has been a lifesaver. But the first night, the elders had it set at 17 degrees celcius, which is like, 61 degrees F, and I just FROZE I was so cold. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to turn it off. We've turned it up to like, 23 C now. It's a lot better.
So on Sunday we went to church. There were... probably more than ten people there including missionaries. So I'm back in a small branch, which I'm excited about.
It's a little weird, too, because I got used to church for 3 hours, but now it's only two again. But it's really great. I am really excited to be here.
And if any of you are keeping track, this is my FOURTH city. Which like, is unheard of for sisters. It's really exciting. Most sisters get 2 cities and 3 if they're lucky. I'm extra lucky I guess. I'm really really excited! In case you can't tell, I'm really excited.
So we had a kinda crazy week! It was great. Now why are we here? Well, that is all in the brains of President. There are a lot of women, the newest converts are all women, and it's been about 2-3 years since sisters have served here. So we've got a lot of opportunity to talk to a lot of women. We have a lot of work ahead of us! And the Lord works in mysterious ways, so He knows why we're here on the spur of the moment. it's really great.
Um... questions that you (mostly Mom) had. Yes, Dad sent the stuff about Nelnet, etc. Thank you!
Um, the first movie you quoted Mom, was French Kiss. The second one I have absolutely no idea.
The frozen t-shirt thing: you fold up a t-shirt and stick it in the freezer until it's frozen, obviously. And the competition is seeing who can unfold the t-shirt and put it on first, since it's frozen. It's a family tradition of the Rowes'.
The mission home and the mission office ARE separate, which is different than it has been in the past and probably in other places, too. I think it's because he's got a family and they had a good space for the office which was already church-owned but too small for him and his family to live in. Yeah, that's my best guess.
Um, will I help with September sharing time? I'm guessing yes, but you didn't give me any details at all so I'm a little scared. But yes, I can't imagine why I wouldn't be able to.
When do I want my homecoming? Well, I have no idea. That is a hard question, because I don't exactly have a preference. It would be probably easier for everyone (and the most fun for me) if you all came when I got off the plane, like at the airport, and then if it was the following Sunday, because that wouldn't be two trips. But if you all can't come for basically a whole week, then it would be ok with me if it was a week to a couple of weeks after I got home. So I am basically no help at all with that question! I really don't know when is best. Let me know if anyone wants it sooner or later.
AND I believe that is everything.
Wow, busy week. Kinda crazy. I'll try to send some pictures, but I don't know what I'll be able to do. We shall see.
Kelsey - I can't believe that Nyah almost died. that's what it seems like to me, what a crazy story! and I am very jealous of Kurt (and I can't believe that he was like, really close to where I am! he should have stopped by in Zagreb and met the new misison president or something, like, I know he can't see me but he was really close to Croatia. He should have got a ferry over to Zadar or Rijeka or something.)
Amelia - I wish you all the good fortune you can get. hang in there, everything will work out.
Jesse - I didn't realize how light Jude's hair is! did it get lighter because of the sun or was I just missing something? And I am so glad you let some JWs in, because there really aren't that many people who let us in. I would never want to be a Jehovah's witness, they are all missionaries. They believe in "every member a missionary" to a whole new degree. It's like, some kind of requirement for them to get a certain number of hours proselyting or something. I don't know the details, though. Oh, and I had no idea that the new Harry Potter movie was coming out. Crazy! It's the last one! Weird.
Michael- hope you're doing good.
Parents - I love you SO much and you've been a lot of help to me while I've been here. I haven't gotten the package, no surprise, and now it might be a little while before I get it, since I'm in OSIJEK! Oh, I don't know if you know where it is. It's really close to Serbia. I'm in the east, the Slavonian region of Croatia. I'm like, in a whole different country out here, because Serbia is to the east and Hungary is to the north... It's pretty cool.
I LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Laws
Monday, July 4, 2011
04 July 2011
FAMILY!
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY / INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
Well we have had yet another quite crazy week.
last Tuesday, we had Sister milius with us still. That was cool. She's a good missionary. We had a lesson with some investigators about the Holy Ghost and we hid some chocolate in the church and said, There is chocolate for you here in this building, you can look for it. And they did for a little while. And then one of us was the Holy Ghost and gave them directions and they found it so much faster and then we talked about how the Holy Ghost gives us directions, etc. It was kinda fun. That was Sister Creager's idea. She's pretty good at coming up with object lessons. The investigators actually did expect chocolate, so when they found it they were like, oh wow! Funny.
Then Tuesday night Sister Lethco came! Sister Milius' new companion, straight from the MTC. She was tired. We didn't have a lot of time with her to get to know her, because she got in at ten at night and then we sent them off first thing the next morning on a bus to Zadar. But all the missionaries from the whole mission are coming up tomorrow for a meeting with the new mission president! So we'll see the sisters again there.
So that was Wednesday morning. Then we had district meeting on Wednesday and a lesson with a member that night. Standard day.
Thursday, me and Sister Creager got to go over to the new mission home and help make beds! That was kinda fun. We got a sneak-peak at the house. And we had heard like, that it was big. We had heard that it was maybe a little extravagent or whatever. You would not believe this house. I took pictures. First floor, ground floor, there's a very nice kitchen. A good sized dining room. A large front room. Goes out to a nice balcony. Basement, an indoor swimming pool. Walk out to the patio where there's a barbecue and picnic tables, a second kitchen with some locker-rooms, because there's some stairs down to a TENNIS COURT! They have a clay tennis court in their backyard. Then you go down some more stairs and there's a little miniature orchard with cherry and apple trees and stuff. Crazy! So you go upstairs and you have the master bedroom with bathroom that has a garden-tub, bedrooms and office, and then you go up one more floor and you reach some more bedrooms, and it has a little balcony that looks off to the best view of the whole house. It is so crazy! And there's enough beds and bedrooms that they are going to have missionaries stay the night there like, when they're coming and going. So that will be cool at the end of this transfer! Really nice house. It's kinda far away, too, that kinda sucks. Oh, and while I'm on this subject. They do have the mission office here now. It's in center so not too far away. I've been to it, it's pretty spacious and nice. Should be cool to have there.
Also on Thursday I talked to President Hill on the phone. It was his last day and he was here in Zagreb, he wanted to maybe do some interviews with us but we had a busy day and he did, too, so our schedules didn't match up. :( That would have been really nice. And I talked to Sister Hill, too. She's so great. She said, "yeah, we're flying out tomorrow. It's so sad!" and I was thinking, yeah, I bet! I can't believe how weird and crazy that would be. 3 years in one place doing the same thing and then.. you go home. weird!
Friday night we had a branch activity at a park. It was fun. There were lots of people, including Sister Nelson and her parents and sister, they've been touring Croatia this past week. They actually flew out this morning. It was great to have them here.
On Saturday we had interviews with the new president! And we were fervently cleaning our apartment because it was planned that he would come to each of us, but they called Saturday morning and asked us to come to the mission home so that we could meet his wife and kids, too. Only the two youngest are here for now, 6-year-old twin girls. They are cute. The older ones are visiting family and working etc. The next oldest (9years old I think?) is coming next week. And Sister Rowe is really nice. They are a young family, so it's quite a bit different than having President and Sister Hill. Just different, still good.
And this is exciting. President Rowe told me for my last transfer he wants me and Sister Creager to focus most of our time on inactive people. And he told me to reactive someone before I go home! I am really excited about that because I really like doing things with inactive people. Should be a really great transfer.
Also on Saturday we all went to dinner with the Nelsons. Fun, and Sister Nelson showed me all her purchases- they had been shopping a lot and the best thing she got was a bunch of movies! Some of them are sinchronised into Croatian and the other ones have subtitles. It made me want to go shopping, haha. But we'll see what I come home with. The best looking movie was a Croatian classic that Sister Nelson got, a member went with them to the store and said it's a movie that they always watch when they're young and like, basically Disney for us. I'll probably look into getting that one. ANYWAY!
Sunday after church we had a little get-together with the members and the new mission president and family. And then we went to work. and now it's today.
So TODAY we went over to the mission mansion again for a fourth of July celebration! It was short and sweet, the elders who have tennis rackets brought them and we all took turns playing, and they had a frozen t-shirt competition and we ate lots of good food. Everyone brought something and then sister Rowe made the meat, delicious. And two of the Elders found some sparklers for the girls. It wasn't dark yet so it wasn't that cool, but it was fun. And now here I am at internet! So that was my whole week! It was great!
Glad to hear that you're all doing well. amelia- good luck with everything. You've got a lot of faith! Mom, that's crazy that you met Elder Fowler! He did just get home, like, almost two weeks ago now. That's cool. he was a good missionary. Oh, and thanks for the wimbledone updates. Actually on our walk here one of the elders got a newspaper, because there's a daily newspaper here that they hand out for free and he likes checking the weather. So I looked at there was a picture of Dokovic. I can't believe he won! That's kinda cool, since he's been wanting to win for so long. And he's a Serb! Cool! Of course, I still wish that Federer had won, but I guess we can't get everything that we want.
I hope you all have another fantastic week!
Love you!
Sister Laws
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY / INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
Well we have had yet another quite crazy week.
last Tuesday, we had Sister milius with us still. That was cool. She's a good missionary. We had a lesson with some investigators about the Holy Ghost and we hid some chocolate in the church and said, There is chocolate for you here in this building, you can look for it. And they did for a little while. And then one of us was the Holy Ghost and gave them directions and they found it so much faster and then we talked about how the Holy Ghost gives us directions, etc. It was kinda fun. That was Sister Creager's idea. She's pretty good at coming up with object lessons. The investigators actually did expect chocolate, so when they found it they were like, oh wow! Funny.
Then Tuesday night Sister Lethco came! Sister Milius' new companion, straight from the MTC. She was tired. We didn't have a lot of time with her to get to know her, because she got in at ten at night and then we sent them off first thing the next morning on a bus to Zadar. But all the missionaries from the whole mission are coming up tomorrow for a meeting with the new mission president! So we'll see the sisters again there.
So that was Wednesday morning. Then we had district meeting on Wednesday and a lesson with a member that night. Standard day.
Thursday, me and Sister Creager got to go over to the new mission home and help make beds! That was kinda fun. We got a sneak-peak at the house. And we had heard like, that it was big. We had heard that it was maybe a little extravagent or whatever. You would not believe this house. I took pictures. First floor, ground floor, there's a very nice kitchen. A good sized dining room. A large front room. Goes out to a nice balcony. Basement, an indoor swimming pool. Walk out to the patio where there's a barbecue and picnic tables, a second kitchen with some locker-rooms, because there's some stairs down to a TENNIS COURT! They have a clay tennis court in their backyard. Then you go down some more stairs and there's a little miniature orchard with cherry and apple trees and stuff. Crazy! So you go upstairs and you have the master bedroom with bathroom that has a garden-tub, bedrooms and office, and then you go up one more floor and you reach some more bedrooms, and it has a little balcony that looks off to the best view of the whole house. It is so crazy! And there's enough beds and bedrooms that they are going to have missionaries stay the night there like, when they're coming and going. So that will be cool at the end of this transfer! Really nice house. It's kinda far away, too, that kinda sucks. Oh, and while I'm on this subject. They do have the mission office here now. It's in center so not too far away. I've been to it, it's pretty spacious and nice. Should be cool to have there.
Also on Thursday I talked to President Hill on the phone. It was his last day and he was here in Zagreb, he wanted to maybe do some interviews with us but we had a busy day and he did, too, so our schedules didn't match up. :( That would have been really nice. And I talked to Sister Hill, too. She's so great. She said, "yeah, we're flying out tomorrow. It's so sad!" and I was thinking, yeah, I bet! I can't believe how weird and crazy that would be. 3 years in one place doing the same thing and then.. you go home. weird!
Friday night we had a branch activity at a park. It was fun. There were lots of people, including Sister Nelson and her parents and sister, they've been touring Croatia this past week. They actually flew out this morning. It was great to have them here.
On Saturday we had interviews with the new president! And we were fervently cleaning our apartment because it was planned that he would come to each of us, but they called Saturday morning and asked us to come to the mission home so that we could meet his wife and kids, too. Only the two youngest are here for now, 6-year-old twin girls. They are cute. The older ones are visiting family and working etc. The next oldest (9years old I think?) is coming next week. And Sister Rowe is really nice. They are a young family, so it's quite a bit different than having President and Sister Hill. Just different, still good.
And this is exciting. President Rowe told me for my last transfer he wants me and Sister Creager to focus most of our time on inactive people. And he told me to reactive someone before I go home! I am really excited about that because I really like doing things with inactive people. Should be a really great transfer.
Also on Saturday we all went to dinner with the Nelsons. Fun, and Sister Nelson showed me all her purchases- they had been shopping a lot and the best thing she got was a bunch of movies! Some of them are sinchronised into Croatian and the other ones have subtitles. It made me want to go shopping, haha. But we'll see what I come home with. The best looking movie was a Croatian classic that Sister Nelson got, a member went with them to the store and said it's a movie that they always watch when they're young and like, basically Disney for us. I'll probably look into getting that one. ANYWAY!
Sunday after church we had a little get-together with the members and the new mission president and family. And then we went to work. and now it's today.
So TODAY we went over to the mission mansion again for a fourth of July celebration! It was short and sweet, the elders who have tennis rackets brought them and we all took turns playing, and they had a frozen t-shirt competition and we ate lots of good food. Everyone brought something and then sister Rowe made the meat, delicious. And two of the Elders found some sparklers for the girls. It wasn't dark yet so it wasn't that cool, but it was fun. And now here I am at internet! So that was my whole week! It was great!
Glad to hear that you're all doing well. amelia- good luck with everything. You've got a lot of faith! Mom, that's crazy that you met Elder Fowler! He did just get home, like, almost two weeks ago now. That's cool. he was a good missionary. Oh, and thanks for the wimbledone updates. Actually on our walk here one of the elders got a newspaper, because there's a daily newspaper here that they hand out for free and he likes checking the weather. So I looked at there was a picture of Dokovic. I can't believe he won! That's kinda cool, since he's been wanting to win for so long. And he's a Serb! Cool! Of course, I still wish that Federer had won, but I guess we can't get everything that we want.
I hope you all have another fantastic week!
Love you!
Sister Laws
Monday, June 27, 2011
27 June 2011
AHHHHHH!
I'M STARTING MY LAST TRANSFER!!!
Mom said it best, that's kinda a big deal, right? Yeah, I think it is.
It seems like I should be feeling something special related to that, but I might be in shock still.
We had a very interesting week, I'll try to remember everything but I forgot my planner, so I'm bound to forget the most important thing, right?
First off, I LOVE YOU ALL! VOLIM VAS!
I heard from every single one of you this week. Good job! Keep up the good work! I need some extra love and kisses these last two months, I'm probably going to get very trunky. And very weepy. OK, maybe not weepy. But it will be a race of endurance. Or a sprint to the end. Or maybe I just won't be able to describe it.
OK.
To answer questions: no, my companion didn't receive a package to the house. Someone from the mission office delivered it to us. So mom, you can send the one you have to wherever you're going to send it. I know the senior couple in charge of the office has been in Zagreb a lot lately organizing etc. So they are around.
And... yeah. that was the only question. No it wasn't. What do I want to do? Talking about living at home or not. I think I would rather live closer to college. So probably not at home. But I don't know, has anyone found me a job? I'll go where a job is. haha. If there's a job at home that would be good with me!
So last Monday, we spent the day at the church with all the missionaries. The other sisters made cinnamon rolls, tasty. And we played card games and ping pong. I love ping pong! And we exchanged pictures on the computer. Pretty low-key day.
We finished it off with teaching our last english class for the transfer, and we wanted to do individual interviews with each student, and not make them come back an extra day, so I did that and I made Sister Creager teach the whole class! haha! It's a beginner's english class so they don't really know english yet and she doesn't really know croatian yet. She was probably a little mad at me. But it was good for her. And that was it for Monday.
Tuesday, I don't recall anything exciting... We had our last district meeting... oh yeah! We made "quivers" - little paper pockets that we put compliments to each other in. Since half of our district was leaving. That was fun.
Wednesday, nothing. A holiday, so there weren't a whole ton of people around. Which is funny because this city has a million people, so you'd think that no matter what day it is there would be a lot of people. But no, everyone disappears on holidays.
Thursday, we had a party for all the english classes and the spanish class. We played ping pong (I played a 2 out of 3 doubles game with three of the elders, really fun) and we played UNO which the students really liked because they've never played before. And unfortunately this was another holiday, so by the time we thought about buying treats or drinks for the party all the stores were closed, because everywhere closes early on holidays! So it was kinda a lame party, but I think everyone had fun.
Friday, was sister Hači's last day. And her and Sister Nelson had closing interviews with president in the morning and then we took Sister Hači and her stuff to the bus station and sent her off to Rijeka (it's like a two hour, three hour bus ride) so we spent the rest of the day in a trio with Sister Nelson. And we went out to dinner with two of the senior couples, that was fun. Sister Erickson is so great. She is amazing.
And then Friday night we went to one of the squares in Center and some BYU folk dancers came and performed. They are doing 3 weeks in Europe and Zagreb was one of their stops. So they performed in center because their real performance, like in a venue, got cancelled. It was really cool and one of the members here got permission from the government for us to proselyte. So all the missionaries went and walked around talking to people. It was pretty cool. Actually one drunk man, older, talked to me and Sister Creager and he was trying to ask something in English, his words were very slurred, and I kept saying like, I don't understand what you're asking. So he finally asked in Croatian, if sisters in our church were allowed to get married. And I was like, do I tell the truth here and risk this guy proposing to Sister Creager? or do I lie? And I said, No. We don't get married. And he said, oh that's the same way here, they don't get married. And I was like, yeah, we're like nuns. We don't get married. And he said to Sister Creager, you're very beautiful. And I said, we gotta go. And we walked away. It was really funny. I hope that was the right thing to do. I think it was. haha.
Saturday morning we met Sister Nelson's parents and passed her off, they came for about 10 days or so. They went straight to Zadar because they had a baptism there that Sister Nelson wanted to go to, but we'll be seeing them again at the end of this week. It was really fast, we basically only had time to say hi and goodbye, because they wanted to catch a bus. Kinda weird! Then we went right to the church because the BYU dancers were performing there for members. And we had lunch, too. It was pretty fun and entertaining.
Sunday, the most exciting thing. The Zadar sisters, meaning Sister Dillender and Sister Milius came to Zagreb, so that the assistants could pick up Sis Dillender and take her to Slovenia so she could fly out on Tuesday. Missionaries leaving always have a last pday with the mission president. So they came into town and we made dinner for them. And the assistants came later than they were expecting (they showed up at our apartment at 10 30 pm) and so we got to spend lots of time with them! And then we sent off Sister Dillender and now Sister Milius is with us still. So that was really fun to have a last night with my good friend Sister Dillender. SO MUCH FUN! And so I got to see all three sisters leave. That's weird, I just realized that.
It's been pretty strange to watch them go, because that means I'm the oldest sister and I'm the next one getting the caboot, and all of my previous companions have now left me. AND so. really weird.
We had a great week by the looks of it. :)
Thanks for writing to me ya'll! I love you!
Happy Birthday Sophie this week! That is the same day, july 1st, that we are getting our new mission president. So this next week should be pretty interesting, too!
Amelia, good luck finding a job.
Kelsey, your kids' stories were especially funny this week. Mom said to me, something about when you haven't seen a kid in a while and then you see them and they aren't kids anymore. And then, that will probably happen to you with your nieces and nephews. but I am glad to hear so much about them and see pictures of them! hopefully it's not too much of a shocker!
Jesse, have a great week with water babies! that's pretty cool sounding.
Michael, good job with basketball. You are a winner. It has been three years and a month since we've seen each other. Hang in there.
Parentals: you are the best! love you bunches! Have fun with your upcoming travelings.
Love,
Sister Laws
I'M STARTING MY LAST TRANSFER!!!
Mom said it best, that's kinda a big deal, right? Yeah, I think it is.
It seems like I should be feeling something special related to that, but I might be in shock still.
We had a very interesting week, I'll try to remember everything but I forgot my planner, so I'm bound to forget the most important thing, right?
First off, I LOVE YOU ALL! VOLIM VAS!
I heard from every single one of you this week. Good job! Keep up the good work! I need some extra love and kisses these last two months, I'm probably going to get very trunky. And very weepy. OK, maybe not weepy. But it will be a race of endurance. Or a sprint to the end. Or maybe I just won't be able to describe it.
OK.
To answer questions: no, my companion didn't receive a package to the house. Someone from the mission office delivered it to us. So mom, you can send the one you have to wherever you're going to send it. I know the senior couple in charge of the office has been in Zagreb a lot lately organizing etc. So they are around.
And... yeah. that was the only question. No it wasn't. What do I want to do? Talking about living at home or not. I think I would rather live closer to college. So probably not at home. But I don't know, has anyone found me a job? I'll go where a job is. haha. If there's a job at home that would be good with me!
So last Monday, we spent the day at the church with all the missionaries. The other sisters made cinnamon rolls, tasty. And we played card games and ping pong. I love ping pong! And we exchanged pictures on the computer. Pretty low-key day.
We finished it off with teaching our last english class for the transfer, and we wanted to do individual interviews with each student, and not make them come back an extra day, so I did that and I made Sister Creager teach the whole class! haha! It's a beginner's english class so they don't really know english yet and she doesn't really know croatian yet. She was probably a little mad at me. But it was good for her. And that was it for Monday.
Tuesday, I don't recall anything exciting... We had our last district meeting... oh yeah! We made "quivers" - little paper pockets that we put compliments to each other in. Since half of our district was leaving. That was fun.
Wednesday, nothing. A holiday, so there weren't a whole ton of people around. Which is funny because this city has a million people, so you'd think that no matter what day it is there would be a lot of people. But no, everyone disappears on holidays.
Thursday, we had a party for all the english classes and the spanish class. We played ping pong (I played a 2 out of 3 doubles game with three of the elders, really fun) and we played UNO which the students really liked because they've never played before. And unfortunately this was another holiday, so by the time we thought about buying treats or drinks for the party all the stores were closed, because everywhere closes early on holidays! So it was kinda a lame party, but I think everyone had fun.
Friday, was sister Hači's last day. And her and Sister Nelson had closing interviews with president in the morning and then we took Sister Hači and her stuff to the bus station and sent her off to Rijeka (it's like a two hour, three hour bus ride) so we spent the rest of the day in a trio with Sister Nelson. And we went out to dinner with two of the senior couples, that was fun. Sister Erickson is so great. She is amazing.
And then Friday night we went to one of the squares in Center and some BYU folk dancers came and performed. They are doing 3 weeks in Europe and Zagreb was one of their stops. So they performed in center because their real performance, like in a venue, got cancelled. It was really cool and one of the members here got permission from the government for us to proselyte. So all the missionaries went and walked around talking to people. It was pretty cool. Actually one drunk man, older, talked to me and Sister Creager and he was trying to ask something in English, his words were very slurred, and I kept saying like, I don't understand what you're asking. So he finally asked in Croatian, if sisters in our church were allowed to get married. And I was like, do I tell the truth here and risk this guy proposing to Sister Creager? or do I lie? And I said, No. We don't get married. And he said, oh that's the same way here, they don't get married. And I was like, yeah, we're like nuns. We don't get married. And he said to Sister Creager, you're very beautiful. And I said, we gotta go. And we walked away. It was really funny. I hope that was the right thing to do. I think it was. haha.
Saturday morning we met Sister Nelson's parents and passed her off, they came for about 10 days or so. They went straight to Zadar because they had a baptism there that Sister Nelson wanted to go to, but we'll be seeing them again at the end of this week. It was really fast, we basically only had time to say hi and goodbye, because they wanted to catch a bus. Kinda weird! Then we went right to the church because the BYU dancers were performing there for members. And we had lunch, too. It was pretty fun and entertaining.
Sunday, the most exciting thing. The Zadar sisters, meaning Sister Dillender and Sister Milius came to Zagreb, so that the assistants could pick up Sis Dillender and take her to Slovenia so she could fly out on Tuesday. Missionaries leaving always have a last pday with the mission president. So they came into town and we made dinner for them. And the assistants came later than they were expecting (they showed up at our apartment at 10 30 pm) and so we got to spend lots of time with them! And then we sent off Sister Dillender and now Sister Milius is with us still. So that was really fun to have a last night with my good friend Sister Dillender. SO MUCH FUN! And so I got to see all three sisters leave. That's weird, I just realized that.
It's been pretty strange to watch them go, because that means I'm the oldest sister and I'm the next one getting the caboot, and all of my previous companions have now left me. AND so. really weird.
We had a great week by the looks of it. :)
Thanks for writing to me ya'll! I love you!
Happy Birthday Sophie this week! That is the same day, july 1st, that we are getting our new mission president. So this next week should be pretty interesting, too!
Amelia, good luck finding a job.
Kelsey, your kids' stories were especially funny this week. Mom said to me, something about when you haven't seen a kid in a while and then you see them and they aren't kids anymore. And then, that will probably happen to you with your nieces and nephews. but I am glad to hear so much about them and see pictures of them! hopefully it's not too much of a shocker!
Jesse, have a great week with water babies! that's pretty cool sounding.
Michael, good job with basketball. You are a winner. It has been three years and a month since we've seen each other. Hang in there.
Parentals: you are the best! love you bunches! Have fun with your upcoming travelings.
Love,
Sister Laws
Monday, June 20, 2011
20 lipnja 2011
FAMILY! fAmIlY! FaMiLy! family! FAMily! famILY!
hi! I can't really think of much that happened this week. I was on exchange with Sister Hači from Sunday night to Thursday morning. That was good. I enjoyed speaking Croatian with her. And learned some new words. Last pday we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee - it's been a while since I played (since leaving Zadar) and it was really fun. That is a good game. And we played capture the flag, too. Today we don't have any big plans.
Thursday was zone conference, our last one with President Hill! Crazy! I can't imagine serving in this mission without him, but I'll find out what that's like pretty soon because our new mission president is coming in July 1st. Weird! Zone conference was great, we did BOX B, so we already know our transfers but don't change until this next weekend. I will be staying here with Sister Creager. Just like we expected. The missionaries leaving (including two of my old companions, sis nelson and sis dillender) will go on saturday and sunday, and so I will be in a trio for 3 days with Sister Milius and SIster Creager, until Sister Milius's new companion comes! Because they cut the MTC short for the new missionaries coming in, so they'll be coming a week from this Wednesday. Which means that Sister Milius is training her second transfer! I am glad that didn't happen to me. But she'll do ok.
So I'll be finishing out my mission in ZAGREB. And like you have all mentioned, I only have one more transfer which equals approximately two months. Only two months! Holy crow. That is really really crazy for me. I'm pretty excited. Glad that I have two months left, but very excited to come home, too. Life is a crazy thing. And I love you all SOOO much! oh --
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I'm sorry I couldn't call and that last Monday I didn't remember to say so. Daddy, you are a really really good Dad. I love you!
On Saturday we had a baptism, one of the sisters' invesitgators. Really cool. She's a lady that has translated for the church for 12 years! And she's finally a member! And she has a friend from France, Gilles Francois, who came to the baptism and gave a talk. He was her first boss for this translating job. And he had a translator for his talk, he was speaking in english, but then he read a bit from preach my gospel in Croatian about the Holy Ghost and it was the best thing ever! He totally had a French accent and hearing the Croatian... it was so so funny.
Yesterday at church President and Sister Hill gave their last talks in sacrament meeting here in Zagreb. They are so great, Sister Hill got up and said, I forgot my notes. So I hope I say something you all need to hear! So she totally did the whole talk without notes and she did a great job. And one of the member's recently had a new baby and brought him to church (not the first time I've seen the baby) and he was so cute. I just wanted to hug him and squeeze him and hold him. He was the cutest baby. And his dad came up when I was standing there at the stroller with some others,and he started singing to the baby, and he grinned and smiled and laughed. Oh so cute!
And we performed as a choir last week and now we're taking a break, so I don't get to do choir anymore. We didn't have practice or anything. They're going to start back up in September. I'm a little bummed about that.
AND I believe that is everything. Crazy how time flies. Happy Birthday to Kelsey this week! Have a good one!
I love you all! Sister Laws
O_o o_o o_O
Hey ps. So I got the email about my stupid nelnet student loans thing. That is really no good at all. I hate debt. Um, thanks for getting me the new password, but I can't for the life of me remember my user name. For nelnet OR for my bank account. In fact, I can't even remember the name of the credit union. All of that information flew right out of my brain from disuse. But I'm pretty sure that the security question is "Red Mountain Drive" or small letters. So if you could send me my usernames and stuff then I'll ask my mission president if I can go on and defer a little longer. Otherwise I'm not going to have any money when I come home. And I'm not sure I'd have enough money to cover it. I think I do, but I haven't seen a bank statement in a while. How much money do I have?? Am I poor? haha, just kididng. The word for password is lozinka in Croatian.
It's sad to hear that Taylor Bytheway passed away. That's really crazy to think about. Did they already have the funeral and everything? Mom, are you sending a card? I send my condolances. Moje saučešće. I think I spelt that wrong. hm.
As for a package: I don't think there's anything I need. It would be fun to get some pictures of our family, but not essential since I'll be seeing you all before I know it! And... I'm good with clothes and shoes and socks and bathroom stuff. So. yeah. I think I'm good.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY again! Love you!
Keshia
hi! I can't really think of much that happened this week. I was on exchange with Sister Hači from Sunday night to Thursday morning. That was good. I enjoyed speaking Croatian with her. And learned some new words. Last pday we went to a park and played ultimate frisbee - it's been a while since I played (since leaving Zadar) and it was really fun. That is a good game. And we played capture the flag, too. Today we don't have any big plans.
Thursday was zone conference, our last one with President Hill! Crazy! I can't imagine serving in this mission without him, but I'll find out what that's like pretty soon because our new mission president is coming in July 1st. Weird! Zone conference was great, we did BOX B, so we already know our transfers but don't change until this next weekend. I will be staying here with Sister Creager. Just like we expected. The missionaries leaving (including two of my old companions, sis nelson and sis dillender) will go on saturday and sunday, and so I will be in a trio for 3 days with Sister Milius and SIster Creager, until Sister Milius's new companion comes! Because they cut the MTC short for the new missionaries coming in, so they'll be coming a week from this Wednesday. Which means that Sister Milius is training her second transfer! I am glad that didn't happen to me. But she'll do ok.
So I'll be finishing out my mission in ZAGREB. And like you have all mentioned, I only have one more transfer which equals approximately two months. Only two months! Holy crow. That is really really crazy for me. I'm pretty excited. Glad that I have two months left, but very excited to come home, too. Life is a crazy thing. And I love you all SOOO much! oh --
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I'm sorry I couldn't call and that last Monday I didn't remember to say so. Daddy, you are a really really good Dad. I love you!
On Saturday we had a baptism, one of the sisters' invesitgators. Really cool. She's a lady that has translated for the church for 12 years! And she's finally a member! And she has a friend from France, Gilles Francois, who came to the baptism and gave a talk. He was her first boss for this translating job. And he had a translator for his talk, he was speaking in english, but then he read a bit from preach my gospel in Croatian about the Holy Ghost and it was the best thing ever! He totally had a French accent and hearing the Croatian... it was so so funny.
Yesterday at church President and Sister Hill gave their last talks in sacrament meeting here in Zagreb. They are so great, Sister Hill got up and said, I forgot my notes. So I hope I say something you all need to hear! So she totally did the whole talk without notes and she did a great job. And one of the member's recently had a new baby and brought him to church (not the first time I've seen the baby) and he was so cute. I just wanted to hug him and squeeze him and hold him. He was the cutest baby. And his dad came up when I was standing there at the stroller with some others,and he started singing to the baby, and he grinned and smiled and laughed. Oh so cute!
And we performed as a choir last week and now we're taking a break, so I don't get to do choir anymore. We didn't have practice or anything. They're going to start back up in September. I'm a little bummed about that.
AND I believe that is everything. Crazy how time flies. Happy Birthday to Kelsey this week! Have a good one!
I love you all! Sister Laws
O_o o_o o_O
Hey ps. So I got the email about my stupid nelnet student loans thing. That is really no good at all. I hate debt. Um, thanks for getting me the new password, but I can't for the life of me remember my user name. For nelnet OR for my bank account. In fact, I can't even remember the name of the credit union. All of that information flew right out of my brain from disuse. But I'm pretty sure that the security question is "Red Mountain Drive" or small letters. So if you could send me my usernames and stuff then I'll ask my mission president if I can go on and defer a little longer. Otherwise I'm not going to have any money when I come home. And I'm not sure I'd have enough money to cover it. I think I do, but I haven't seen a bank statement in a while. How much money do I have?? Am I poor? haha, just kididng. The word for password is lozinka in Croatian.
It's sad to hear that Taylor Bytheway passed away. That's really crazy to think about. Did they already have the funeral and everything? Mom, are you sending a card? I send my condolances. Moje saučešće. I think I spelt that wrong. hm.
As for a package: I don't think there's anything I need. It would be fun to get some pictures of our family, but not essential since I'll be seeing you all before I know it! And... I'm good with clothes and shoes and socks and bathroom stuff. So. yeah. I think I'm good.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY again! Love you!
Keshia
Monday, June 13, 2011
13 lipnja 2011
Another week come and gone! This week was fast! Wowzer! Sounds like it was fast for all of you, too. Junk food, hand and foot. Aww. Well, I'll be home in 3 months time now. Only that. So I won't get weepy about missing out :( In a couple of weeks the sisters that came out one transfer before me are going home. That really puts things in perspective, meaning this time goes by so fast! This is their second-to-last pday. Then one new sister will be coming in, we'll have two here in Zagreb (me and Sister Creager will most likely stay together. as in, we already know that we're staying together even though we haven't gotten an official transfer call) and the other two will be in Zadar. And then it will be my turn to come home. And the mission will go on without me. Time is quite a strange thing.
So! I was so happy to get pictures! I got some from Kelsey with the kiddies and from Michael with my family. Oh, it was so good to see you all. I was just thinking the other day how long its been since I've seen pictures of all my sisters (meaning, it hasn't been that long but it feels like it has) and it was good to see your distorted faces (you were making funny faces in the pictures. I don't think you're disfigured.) What am I going to do with you all? Sigh. I can't believe our family numbers to 18 people now! How big we've grown! How we're all grown up now! Joj.
I am happy to hear you got my travel itinerary and I am beyond stoked to be going through Paris. Michael, you'll have to send me some French phrases like, where's the bathroom? and how to order food and stuff. And I'll take pictures with the eiffel tower... just kidding, I'm sure I won't be leaving the airport. That will be so cool. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm going home with the biggest group of elders. There will be 8 of them and one of me. Should be really fun. (8 is a big group for our mission, considering there are only 24 missionaries in Croatia right now. That's 1/3 of all the elders here! quite a turnover)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!
I almost forgot to say so. I do not believe that he'll be 10. I remember when I was in the MTC and one day I just realized that he'd be 10 by the time I got home and I was so blown away. He's all grown up!
This week has been good. A lot of the same stuff from last week. Funny story though. Last pday we went shopping and Sister Creager bought two shirts. And the total came to 200 kuna. Croatian kuna. But she was thinking dollars! So she was like, oh no. I can't believe how expensive clothing is here, I can't buy anything more, my parents are going to be mad at me. And I was thinking, sure I guess so. Like, I wouldn't like spending 40 dollars on two shirts, so it's a bit more expensive. And we're leaving the mall and she turns to me and asks "Sister Laws, how many dollars is 200 kuna?" and I told her and she was like, "what? this whole time I thought I had spent 200 dollars!" It was really funny. But by then we had all our groceries so we had to go home. So funny.
We ate out at a really good restaurant this week. There's this "salsa" type of thing here. It's actually nothing like salsa. It's called hajvar - tomato paste type thing with peppers I think. It's really good. I'll miss that when I go home. Maybe I'll bring a bottle home.
oh! and right now we're on exchanges. They're having a long exchange amongst the sisters, so my companion is down in Zadar with SIster Dillender. Sister Dillender's companion is here with Sister Nelson and that leaves me with Sister Hači! Which means I get to speak Croatian all day every day, it will be so much fun. That lasts until Thursday, so I'll tell you next pday whether or not we've killed each other! haha. just kidding. We get along and it will be fun to get to know the new sister, too. cool beans.
I love you all a bunches! Have a superfantabular week!
Love,
Sister Laws
I can't wait for wimbledon, too! I love wimbledon. whenever we were walking past a restaurant with tvs and I spotted the french open on, I would like, try to figure out who was playing or what the score was or something. no success. But I don't know how I'll be able to restrain myself at all with Wimbledon on. And I'm practically in the same time zone! This will be a great trial on my mission. haha.
This was the first time that this particular pope came to Croatia. So yeah. We totally were making the same comparisons with President Monson. Like, if he came would they shut the whole city down? Would the trams be down? NO. Now would 500,000 people go? Maybe, if he was somewhere where the church was quite large. I guess. That probably has happened before already. Really crazy.
Hm, that was all I guess. Have a good day.
I love you.
Keshia
So! I was so happy to get pictures! I got some from Kelsey with the kiddies and from Michael with my family. Oh, it was so good to see you all. I was just thinking the other day how long its been since I've seen pictures of all my sisters (meaning, it hasn't been that long but it feels like it has) and it was good to see your distorted faces (you were making funny faces in the pictures. I don't think you're disfigured.) What am I going to do with you all? Sigh. I can't believe our family numbers to 18 people now! How big we've grown! How we're all grown up now! Joj.
I am happy to hear you got my travel itinerary and I am beyond stoked to be going through Paris. Michael, you'll have to send me some French phrases like, where's the bathroom? and how to order food and stuff. And I'll take pictures with the eiffel tower... just kidding, I'm sure I won't be leaving the airport. That will be so cool. I don't know if I mentioned this, but I'm going home with the biggest group of elders. There will be 8 of them and one of me. Should be really fun. (8 is a big group for our mission, considering there are only 24 missionaries in Croatia right now. That's 1/3 of all the elders here! quite a turnover)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN!
I almost forgot to say so. I do not believe that he'll be 10. I remember when I was in the MTC and one day I just realized that he'd be 10 by the time I got home and I was so blown away. He's all grown up!
This week has been good. A lot of the same stuff from last week. Funny story though. Last pday we went shopping and Sister Creager bought two shirts. And the total came to 200 kuna. Croatian kuna. But she was thinking dollars! So she was like, oh no. I can't believe how expensive clothing is here, I can't buy anything more, my parents are going to be mad at me. And I was thinking, sure I guess so. Like, I wouldn't like spending 40 dollars on two shirts, so it's a bit more expensive. And we're leaving the mall and she turns to me and asks "Sister Laws, how many dollars is 200 kuna?" and I told her and she was like, "what? this whole time I thought I had spent 200 dollars!" It was really funny. But by then we had all our groceries so we had to go home. So funny.
We ate out at a really good restaurant this week. There's this "salsa" type of thing here. It's actually nothing like salsa. It's called hajvar - tomato paste type thing with peppers I think. It's really good. I'll miss that when I go home. Maybe I'll bring a bottle home.
oh! and right now we're on exchanges. They're having a long exchange amongst the sisters, so my companion is down in Zadar with SIster Dillender. Sister Dillender's companion is here with Sister Nelson and that leaves me with Sister Hači! Which means I get to speak Croatian all day every day, it will be so much fun. That lasts until Thursday, so I'll tell you next pday whether or not we've killed each other! haha. just kidding. We get along and it will be fun to get to know the new sister, too. cool beans.
I love you all a bunches! Have a superfantabular week!
Love,
Sister Laws
I can't wait for wimbledon, too! I love wimbledon. whenever we were walking past a restaurant with tvs and I spotted the french open on, I would like, try to figure out who was playing or what the score was or something. no success. But I don't know how I'll be able to restrain myself at all with Wimbledon on. And I'm practically in the same time zone! This will be a great trial on my mission. haha.
This was the first time that this particular pope came to Croatia. So yeah. We totally were making the same comparisons with President Monson. Like, if he came would they shut the whole city down? Would the trams be down? NO. Now would 500,000 people go? Maybe, if he was somewhere where the church was quite large. I guess. That probably has happened before already. Really crazy.
Hm, that was all I guess. Have a good day.
I love you.
Keshia
Monday, June 6, 2011
06 lipnja 2011
Dear family!
Hija. haha.
I typed that in without even thinking about it. J in Croatian is pronounced like a "y" so that says hiya. That's kinda cool.
SOOO my week was good. I don't remember if I told you, I think I did, that the pope was coming to Croatian. That was cool. Well, I asked president for permission to go see him and he said that it would be better if we didn't. because of the crowds and everything. It would have been kinda cool to say that I've seen the pope! But it's actually not that important is it? Zagreb unfortunately disagreed with us missionaries about the importance of this visit and everything was all messed up while he was here Saturday and Sunday. And when I say everything I mostly mean the trams. The tram schedule was weird, nothing was going to center (luckily we didn't need to go either) streets were taped off and police were everywhere. There is one set of elders serving here who actually live in center so they were late to church on Sunday because of it. AND the pope went RIGHT BY THEIR APARTMENT so they DID get to see him. And they took a video and pictures, so that's pretty cool. Have you ever seen the Pope Mobile? It's a pretty ridiculous looking contraption. I'm planning on finding some kind of souvenir though, to comemorate the experience. I was in Croatia when the Pope came. Cool!
What else was good this week? We went to mass last night. Sister Nelson has never been and Sister Creager has never been, so that was fun for them. It was actually pretty weird, when I went in Zadar we were at an old cathedral, like pretty old. So there were lots of statues and old-looking stuff. Well this one that we went to is quite new. Newer anyway. And so it was a lot more modern and had less of the weird creepy stuff, but what it did have was creepy, don't get me wrong, but it was modern. And then before the mass started (people arrive early and we did so we'd get seats) all these old people were praying together out loud. Chanting. And that was kinda creepy. Last time they didn't do that. And the building was all dark, they didn't have many lights on... this time was definitely more weird. But the experience is interesting and I like the songs they sing. One of them said something like, Jesus Christ is the Shepherd and ... I can't remember. Watches over his herd or something. It sounds a lot better in Croatian. So we kinda had a Catholic week, didn't we? haha.
Well another thing we did was help a member in the family history center. She's actually a professional geneologist and is doing a lot for people looking for family trees here, because nothing for Croatia is really online. Family history wise. She's a really amazing person. Anyway, we went and helped do something. I can't even remember the technical word for it. Oh, and our family history center is the busiest in central Europe and usually centers only have one or two "file readers" (that is not the technical term for that, either, but again, I can't remember) and ours has FOUR. So we helped her out and that made me really excited for when I come home and can do family history on my own time! I know our own family tree has been sought out pretty well, but there's stuff you can do online with familyhistory.org or whatever the site is. Anyway, all in good time! That will be fun.
OH! And this week, so I guess most of the stuff we did this week was about the Sambunjaks. This lady, pro geneologist is Sister Lidija Sambunjak and she invited us over for dinner on Thursday. That was really good food and really nice to sit and chat with her. She is from Slovenia and her husband is from Croatia. They live here in the Zagreb branch and have two daughters. So her husband couldn't be there because he was helping someone move and so we just got to chat and get to know her. She has the best meet and marry stories! It was so funny to hear her tell it. Super fun. She knows english really well so Sister Creager didn't feel left out. So that was Thursday. Friday we helped at the family history center. And Saturday the Sambunjaks' oldest daughter, Hana, got baptized! It was pretty great. She was so sweet. Her birthday was this last week (so she's eight. we don't do that differently in Croatia. haha.) And she bore her testimony at the baptism, she said that she knows God loves her and she knew she'd be with an eternal family. So so cute. And us four sisters sang for the program thing. We sang the song "Baptism" maybe. It's called "Krštenje" in Croatian, which means baptism. About Jesus getting baptized. And their family members came and there was food afterwards and so. All very good fun stuff.
Overall: GOOD WEEK!
I think that's everything. Oh, Mom asked that I share something spiritual today. I don't have my study journal with me. I'll bring it next week. But one thing from this morning. I'm reading in Helaman. Nephi was preaching from his tower garden thingy. And he said (in my words) "How could you let Satan have so much control over your hearts when all he wants to do is drag you down to hell?" Obviously he said it better, but it was a really good verse. vs. 11 I think. And it may have been chapter 7. I'm not sure though. You'll have to find it on your own. And then I read Uchtdorf's talk from conference this morning about "waiting on the road to damascus" and how we can't expect a vision or visitation to say that we have a testimony. I think that's something very prevalent (I pulled that strange English word out of the depths of my brain, am I using it the right way here?) in Croatia. Valuable. I have been reading talks a lot and they are pretty good so far. I think it was... Scott? A talk on service and I thought that was quite good. Oh, that reminds me. I noticed this week that Elder Hales didn't speak at conference. Is he sick? Is he ok? Did they mention anything about it when they were live? That's kinda scary. I like all the apostles a lot more than I ever have, because I've been reading so many ensigns and all the conference editions, and I think it will be more sad from now on to see any of them die. But I guess when an apostle dies there's not a lot to be sad about, since they live so righteously. Another thing I've noticed, lately as in these last several conferences, a lot of people have mentioned and tesitfied that President Monson follows the Spirit. All the time. It's kinda interesting that they've been saying it so much. I think (my opinion) that we can expect Satan to be tempting people into thinking that Pres. Monson is just a regular guy, and our leaders are preparing us by bearing firm testimony that he is a prophet of God. Which I know! He is! That's the geratest thing ever, that we have prophets today. How do people survive without them?
Everyone, have lots of fun! I miss you all, love you all, have a great week seeing each other and talking and chatting etc.
Oh wait, questions: our new mission president. His name is ... I have the hardest time remembering his name. I don't know anything new about it. I think I already told you he lived in Bosnia? He has four? kids. or five. And they'll be living in Zagreb. They moved the mission office this week to Zagreb and will be moving it more of course, so the mission home will be moving soon, too. I don't know much.
Thanks for the updates on the French open! I'm glad I wasn't there to see Federer lose to Nadal AGAIN. But I'm glad he beat Djokovic.
Oh, and I heard from Rebekah Sappington this week. She said that she's moving to St. George again and she gave me some updates. Apparently the Watters caught our old house on fire when they were burning weeds! I don't know anything more about that. And she said Sister Pierce had a heart attack (I am racking my brain but I honestly cannot remember who that is. So I'm just passing along this information in case you parents want to know) And that Terri Gardella (who I'm pretty sure was my 7th grade math teacher, is that right?) died. I don't know how. That's pretty weird.
Thought you'd be interested in hearing.
Ok. Long email this week. Have a good one!
Love you all!
Sister Laws
Hija. haha.
I typed that in without even thinking about it. J in Croatian is pronounced like a "y" so that says hiya. That's kinda cool.
SOOO my week was good. I don't remember if I told you, I think I did, that the pope was coming to Croatian. That was cool. Well, I asked president for permission to go see him and he said that it would be better if we didn't. because of the crowds and everything. It would have been kinda cool to say that I've seen the pope! But it's actually not that important is it? Zagreb unfortunately disagreed with us missionaries about the importance of this visit and everything was all messed up while he was here Saturday and Sunday. And when I say everything I mostly mean the trams. The tram schedule was weird, nothing was going to center (luckily we didn't need to go either) streets were taped off and police were everywhere. There is one set of elders serving here who actually live in center so they were late to church on Sunday because of it. AND the pope went RIGHT BY THEIR APARTMENT so they DID get to see him. And they took a video and pictures, so that's pretty cool. Have you ever seen the Pope Mobile? It's a pretty ridiculous looking contraption. I'm planning on finding some kind of souvenir though, to comemorate the experience. I was in Croatia when the Pope came. Cool!
What else was good this week? We went to mass last night. Sister Nelson has never been and Sister Creager has never been, so that was fun for them. It was actually pretty weird, when I went in Zadar we were at an old cathedral, like pretty old. So there were lots of statues and old-looking stuff. Well this one that we went to is quite new. Newer anyway. And so it was a lot more modern and had less of the weird creepy stuff, but what it did have was creepy, don't get me wrong, but it was modern. And then before the mass started (people arrive early and we did so we'd get seats) all these old people were praying together out loud. Chanting. And that was kinda creepy. Last time they didn't do that. And the building was all dark, they didn't have many lights on... this time was definitely more weird. But the experience is interesting and I like the songs they sing. One of them said something like, Jesus Christ is the Shepherd and ... I can't remember. Watches over his herd or something. It sounds a lot better in Croatian. So we kinda had a Catholic week, didn't we? haha.
Well another thing we did was help a member in the family history center. She's actually a professional geneologist and is doing a lot for people looking for family trees here, because nothing for Croatia is really online. Family history wise. She's a really amazing person. Anyway, we went and helped do something. I can't even remember the technical word for it. Oh, and our family history center is the busiest in central Europe and usually centers only have one or two "file readers" (that is not the technical term for that, either, but again, I can't remember) and ours has FOUR. So we helped her out and that made me really excited for when I come home and can do family history on my own time! I know our own family tree has been sought out pretty well, but there's stuff you can do online with familyhistory.org or whatever the site is. Anyway, all in good time! That will be fun.
OH! And this week, so I guess most of the stuff we did this week was about the Sambunjaks. This lady, pro geneologist is Sister Lidija Sambunjak and she invited us over for dinner on Thursday. That was really good food and really nice to sit and chat with her. She is from Slovenia and her husband is from Croatia. They live here in the Zagreb branch and have two daughters. So her husband couldn't be there because he was helping someone move and so we just got to chat and get to know her. She has the best meet and marry stories! It was so funny to hear her tell it. Super fun. She knows english really well so Sister Creager didn't feel left out. So that was Thursday. Friday we helped at the family history center. And Saturday the Sambunjaks' oldest daughter, Hana, got baptized! It was pretty great. She was so sweet. Her birthday was this last week (so she's eight. we don't do that differently in Croatia. haha.) And she bore her testimony at the baptism, she said that she knows God loves her and she knew she'd be with an eternal family. So so cute. And us four sisters sang for the program thing. We sang the song "Baptism" maybe. It's called "Krštenje" in Croatian, which means baptism. About Jesus getting baptized. And their family members came and there was food afterwards and so. All very good fun stuff.
Overall: GOOD WEEK!
I think that's everything. Oh, Mom asked that I share something spiritual today. I don't have my study journal with me. I'll bring it next week. But one thing from this morning. I'm reading in Helaman. Nephi was preaching from his tower garden thingy. And he said (in my words) "How could you let Satan have so much control over your hearts when all he wants to do is drag you down to hell?" Obviously he said it better, but it was a really good verse. vs. 11 I think. And it may have been chapter 7. I'm not sure though. You'll have to find it on your own. And then I read Uchtdorf's talk from conference this morning about "waiting on the road to damascus" and how we can't expect a vision or visitation to say that we have a testimony. I think that's something very prevalent (I pulled that strange English word out of the depths of my brain, am I using it the right way here?) in Croatia. Valuable. I have been reading talks a lot and they are pretty good so far. I think it was... Scott? A talk on service and I thought that was quite good. Oh, that reminds me. I noticed this week that Elder Hales didn't speak at conference. Is he sick? Is he ok? Did they mention anything about it when they were live? That's kinda scary. I like all the apostles a lot more than I ever have, because I've been reading so many ensigns and all the conference editions, and I think it will be more sad from now on to see any of them die. But I guess when an apostle dies there's not a lot to be sad about, since they live so righteously. Another thing I've noticed, lately as in these last several conferences, a lot of people have mentioned and tesitfied that President Monson follows the Spirit. All the time. It's kinda interesting that they've been saying it so much. I think (my opinion) that we can expect Satan to be tempting people into thinking that Pres. Monson is just a regular guy, and our leaders are preparing us by bearing firm testimony that he is a prophet of God. Which I know! He is! That's the geratest thing ever, that we have prophets today. How do people survive without them?
Everyone, have lots of fun! I miss you all, love you all, have a great week seeing each other and talking and chatting etc.
Oh wait, questions: our new mission president. His name is ... I have the hardest time remembering his name. I don't know anything new about it. I think I already told you he lived in Bosnia? He has four? kids. or five. And they'll be living in Zagreb. They moved the mission office this week to Zagreb and will be moving it more of course, so the mission home will be moving soon, too. I don't know much.
Thanks for the updates on the French open! I'm glad I wasn't there to see Federer lose to Nadal AGAIN. But I'm glad he beat Djokovic.
Oh, and I heard from Rebekah Sappington this week. She said that she's moving to St. George again and she gave me some updates. Apparently the Watters caught our old house on fire when they were burning weeds! I don't know anything more about that. And she said Sister Pierce had a heart attack (I am racking my brain but I honestly cannot remember who that is. So I'm just passing along this information in case you parents want to know) And that Terri Gardella (who I'm pretty sure was my 7th grade math teacher, is that right?) died. I don't know how. That's pretty weird.
Thought you'd be interested in hearing.
Ok. Long email this week. Have a good one!
Love you all!
Sister Laws
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
30 svibnja 2011
Hello family!
I am really tired all of a sudden. I woke up a little earlier this morning to study Croatian, maybe that's why. ...
I shall start at last pday!!
Monday: We went on a hike. I think I mentioned that maybe. It was really fun. 8 missionaries and one member. He was our tour-guide. It was a pretty intense hike, pretty steep and when we got to the top? There was NOTHING. No view, no spectacular feeling of success, just trees. And a restaurant. We bought food and ate and enjoyed each other's company and then me and some of the others RAN DOWN the mountain! It was unbelievably fun. And I was thinking, How could I have gone this far in life, hiking as much as I have, and never have I run down a mountain? And then I realized that I've always been hiking with mom and can you imagine her letting me run head-first down a mountain? It was so much fun. I understand the dangers, though. There's a good chance I won't ever do it again, but this once was really really fun. And we had sore legs for the next three days. So serves us right.
Tuesday: We had mini exchanges because the other sisters had two appointments at the same time. I went with Sister Nelson and we taught a lady who has been translating for the church for a really long time, she speaks a bunch of languages, and she knows a lot of the doctrine, she just has never been taught by missionaries. And Sister Nelson extended a baptismal commitment! So this lady, her name is Marija, is getting baptized this next month. It's really cool. Actually, I don't know if I mentioned this, but last year as a mission we got 28 baptisms, and our goal for this year is to double it. Which means we need 28 baptisms before the 1st of July. So far we have 10 and do you know what? We have seen a true MIRACLE occur in this mission. Right now we have 18 investigators with baptismal dates. So we are going to REACH our GOAL. It is the most amazing miraculous thing I have ever seen. It's SO awesome. One of those people is a guy down in Zadar, and his wife is a member and I taught her a lot of new-member lessons etc. Met with her a lot and they have one daughter. And I found out this morning that he is getting baptized and I couldn't be more happy for him and her and their family. It's SOOO awesome! I can't describe how happy and surprised I felt when I heard that. AMAZING!
That was a long side-note.
Wednesday: we had a couple of appointments with members, one for lunch and another to help her move. She isn't moving yet though, so we just stayed and chatted and had ice-cream. A good missionary day.
Thursday: Nothing exciting.
Friday: Nothing much. we went to the church to pick something up and I saw a member from zadar, she was there for a meeting, so that was fun. I asked her how everyone was and caught up really fast. And then saw her again on Sunday for church. And then Friday night we had "date night" with the other sisters and sat around eating junk food and talking about stuff. It's pretty fun having four of us in one apartment.
Saturday: I got my package! Yay! Thank you so much, Mom, you really delivered on the crackers. I ate some better cheddars last night and it was so great. It really hit the spot. The cookies are good, but they didn't travel as well as some of the other ones you've sent. So a little stale, but still tastes like home! And I've been reading the conference edition ever since. The pictures in that are AMAZING! Wow. Ooh, and somewhere towards the back there's a picture of some girls reading the Book of Mormon, or should I say "Mormonova Knjiga" because they were from SLOVENIA! That's my mission! Cool cool. And I also got a letter from Jesse! Good to hear from you!
Sunday: an inactive member came that we had visited. Well, we went over on her birthday and gave her a card. And she came to church, that was cool. She didn't stay for sunday school or relief society, but it was good to see her. Then we had choir afterwards, that is so much fun. I'm doing alto and it's hard! But I'm getting a little better at it. We will be performing for district conference in a couple weeks. That means all the members in all of Croatia are coming to Zagreb and we will be singing for them! Yikes! That will be good..?
And finally today. We are planning on going to a park and playing some volleyball and having a picnic with everyone. That will be fun. So overall? I had a GREAT week.
Wow, it's pretty amazing being a missionary.
To answer some questions: yes, I was once in a mission newsletter as a greenie. I have a copy of that Harvest, so you can see it when I come home. We also get the newsletter, it's pretty fun.
My hand is fine, it healed very quickly. The wound was quite small, no worries!
I don't know of any good cello music, Mom, but I feel like I should... Maybe on one of the CDs I have or have heard recently it had cello. I'll think about it. Right now, actually, in the library someone is giving a performance. The piano and I'm guessing a violin. So we have some very good mood music, it's really pretty, too. I wouldn't mind a CD of this kind of stuff. I think this is something they do every Monday, let someone come and perform. It's awesome.
Elder Fowler is going home pretty soon. One month. Kinda weird, because he's been assistant to the president almost my entire mission. There was an elder who went home at the very beginning of May and he's already engaged! That's crazy. Sister Hill said she thought that was the record for missionaries that they've sent home. He was engaged after two weeks, I think. Anyway, I heard some elders joking about Elder Fowler beating that record.
But I don't know anything more about that.
It's so great to hear that you're all doing good! Love you tons and thank you for all the love and support!
You are my heroes!
Sister Laws
I am really tired all of a sudden. I woke up a little earlier this morning to study Croatian, maybe that's why. ...
I shall start at last pday!!
Monday: We went on a hike. I think I mentioned that maybe. It was really fun. 8 missionaries and one member. He was our tour-guide. It was a pretty intense hike, pretty steep and when we got to the top? There was NOTHING. No view, no spectacular feeling of success, just trees. And a restaurant. We bought food and ate and enjoyed each other's company and then me and some of the others RAN DOWN the mountain! It was unbelievably fun. And I was thinking, How could I have gone this far in life, hiking as much as I have, and never have I run down a mountain? And then I realized that I've always been hiking with mom and can you imagine her letting me run head-first down a mountain? It was so much fun. I understand the dangers, though. There's a good chance I won't ever do it again, but this once was really really fun. And we had sore legs for the next three days. So serves us right.
Tuesday: We had mini exchanges because the other sisters had two appointments at the same time. I went with Sister Nelson and we taught a lady who has been translating for the church for a really long time, she speaks a bunch of languages, and she knows a lot of the doctrine, she just has never been taught by missionaries. And Sister Nelson extended a baptismal commitment! So this lady, her name is Marija, is getting baptized this next month. It's really cool. Actually, I don't know if I mentioned this, but last year as a mission we got 28 baptisms, and our goal for this year is to double it. Which means we need 28 baptisms before the 1st of July. So far we have 10 and do you know what? We have seen a true MIRACLE occur in this mission. Right now we have 18 investigators with baptismal dates. So we are going to REACH our GOAL. It is the most amazing miraculous thing I have ever seen. It's SO awesome. One of those people is a guy down in Zadar, and his wife is a member and I taught her a lot of new-member lessons etc. Met with her a lot and they have one daughter. And I found out this morning that he is getting baptized and I couldn't be more happy for him and her and their family. It's SOOO awesome! I can't describe how happy and surprised I felt when I heard that. AMAZING!
That was a long side-note.
Wednesday: we had a couple of appointments with members, one for lunch and another to help her move. She isn't moving yet though, so we just stayed and chatted and had ice-cream. A good missionary day.
Thursday: Nothing exciting.
Friday: Nothing much. we went to the church to pick something up and I saw a member from zadar, she was there for a meeting, so that was fun. I asked her how everyone was and caught up really fast. And then saw her again on Sunday for church. And then Friday night we had "date night" with the other sisters and sat around eating junk food and talking about stuff. It's pretty fun having four of us in one apartment.
Saturday: I got my package! Yay! Thank you so much, Mom, you really delivered on the crackers. I ate some better cheddars last night and it was so great. It really hit the spot. The cookies are good, but they didn't travel as well as some of the other ones you've sent. So a little stale, but still tastes like home! And I've been reading the conference edition ever since. The pictures in that are AMAZING! Wow. Ooh, and somewhere towards the back there's a picture of some girls reading the Book of Mormon, or should I say "Mormonova Knjiga" because they were from SLOVENIA! That's my mission! Cool cool. And I also got a letter from Jesse! Good to hear from you!
Sunday: an inactive member came that we had visited. Well, we went over on her birthday and gave her a card. And she came to church, that was cool. She didn't stay for sunday school or relief society, but it was good to see her. Then we had choir afterwards, that is so much fun. I'm doing alto and it's hard! But I'm getting a little better at it. We will be performing for district conference in a couple weeks. That means all the members in all of Croatia are coming to Zagreb and we will be singing for them! Yikes! That will be good..?
And finally today. We are planning on going to a park and playing some volleyball and having a picnic with everyone. That will be fun. So overall? I had a GREAT week.
Wow, it's pretty amazing being a missionary.
To answer some questions: yes, I was once in a mission newsletter as a greenie. I have a copy of that Harvest, so you can see it when I come home. We also get the newsletter, it's pretty fun.
My hand is fine, it healed very quickly. The wound was quite small, no worries!
I don't know of any good cello music, Mom, but I feel like I should... Maybe on one of the CDs I have or have heard recently it had cello. I'll think about it. Right now, actually, in the library someone is giving a performance. The piano and I'm guessing a violin. So we have some very good mood music, it's really pretty, too. I wouldn't mind a CD of this kind of stuff. I think this is something they do every Monday, let someone come and perform. It's awesome.
Elder Fowler is going home pretty soon. One month. Kinda weird, because he's been assistant to the president almost my entire mission. There was an elder who went home at the very beginning of May and he's already engaged! That's crazy. Sister Hill said she thought that was the record for missionaries that they've sent home. He was engaged after two weeks, I think. Anyway, I heard some elders joking about Elder Fowler beating that record.
But I don't know anything more about that.
It's so great to hear that you're all doing good! Love you tons and thank you for all the love and support!
You are my heroes!
Sister Laws
Monday, May 23, 2011
23 svibnja 2011
Hi family!
I'm guessing you've all been busy because I only heard from mom, dad and Kelsey this week. And Kelsey didn't have time to send pictures. Or you forgot :( I just realized that I didn't get any pictures this week. Oh well.
HOW ARE YOU??
I'm great. I had a great week so I'll start at last Monday. I already told you (I think) that we helped out at the old church in the morning, so that was the first time I got to see it. It's pretty cool. We had english class sign-ups that night and it wasn't very busy so I spent a lot of the time watching general conference and putting introductions into book of mormons (we have to glue them in). That was good. I love conference and I can't WAIT to get the conference edition. I haven't gotten my package yet, but I'm sure it's coming. We do get mail a little more often here in Zagreb, because people are passing through etc. So that's good. I'll get it soon.
On Tuesday we got a new investigator. His name is Darko. So mine and Sister Creager's first investigator together. We didn't inherit anyone. But we'll actually be handing him over to the elders, because it's recommended that women teach women, men teach men. That sort of thing. And I think it will be good for him.
Wednesday we went contacting in this big park that we've never been to. The sisters told us about it. And it is a really cool cool park. It has a couple of really awesome playgrounds and a little lake and it's big, so there's lots of picnic tables and benches and a long looped pathway. I highly recommend this park if any of you are planning on visiting Croatia with your kids. It's awesome. We're planning on going one pday and playing on the playground. Because it's pretty stinking cool.
Thursday we had a lesson with Darko. That was the only really exciting thing. And Sister Dillender called to ask me something, so we caught up a little bit. Like, on whats happened the last two weeks, haha. But it was nice to hear from her.
Friday we had a meeting with President Hill and Sister Hill and the other greenies (except for Sister Dillender and Sister Milius didn't come up for it) there were two new elders and their trainers there. And it was just basically for the greenies, so we talked about rules and health and simple stuff like that. Not very exciting. But because president and Sister Hill were in town they went to a concert Friday night, one of the members here is from China and he plays in an orchestra and gives us missionaries tickets sometimes. So Sister Creager and I were invited too! and two elders, so! That was super fun. So that was Friday night. It was a pretty good concert. A big orchestra. And one song, by Franz Liszt (or something like that) they put a big piano out. Sister Creager said it's the best piano you could get. The highest quality etc. And a special piano man came out and played with the orchestra and he was SOOOO good. He killed that piano, like, he was a whizz. It was so good and so awesome. we weren't at the very best angle, but we could kinda see his hands, and they were flying. cool.
Saturday we were out working and a storm moved in. So on our way home for dinner it started to rain and we didn't have umbrellas or anything, so we got completely one hundred percent soaked. I love rain. So I didn't care, it was fun for me. But we were really soaked. We paused under an underpass while it was hailing. It was raining so hard. And thunder and a really good storm.
And lastly, yesterday, Sunday, I gave a talk in church. It only needed to be 5 minutes so it was easy. So the talk was on recognizing personal revelation. And I used the story of Nephi killing Laban. But I figured I'd just be talking to a bunch of members, so they'd know the story and I didn't need to worry about explaining it that much. Well right when we got there we found out that one of the members was bringing her neighbor. And then two of the sisters' investigators showed up and one of them just barely started investigating. So I had to do a little bit of impromptu to clarify the story and explain it better. I hope I didn't scare anyone away. "And the Spirit told him to, so Nephi killed Laban" and they never come back.haha. just kidding.
Also yesterday, we were all at home making lunch together and we have a dishwasher, but we just use it as a drying rack, because by the time we fill the dishwasher we don't have any dishes and it takes too long. Anyway, so I was reaching into the dishwasher and I stabbed my hand with a knife that was facing upward, it hurt pretty bad. It's not terribly deep, definitely not big or a big deal but it bled pretty good for a second until I got some pressure on it and now it's a little sore. It was sad :(
Yeah, that was my entire week! It was good. Today we're going on a hike with some members and all the missionaries. Should be pretty fun.
Oh, this is random. But we got a package from two sisters who served here and went home last year, so they sent a package to all the sisters here with some reese's and oreos and letters. Pretty fun. And they wrote us letters. And one of them told me she met Angela Walter at school and she said Angela went on a mission! Cool huh? I had no idea, I never heard that. She couldn't exactly remember where to, but she said east coast somewhere. Cool, huh? It makes me wonder how many other people have left on missions and I haven't heard about it. I think Michael should make that a project - go on facebook and see how many people we know are on missions. Or how many people I know, haha. Ok, you don't have to.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Keep me up-to-date on tennis, I can't believe the French open started. That means it's almost June! That means we're almost halfway through this year!! I can't believe that! When I think about it that way it seems like everything has gone by so fast. WEIRD.
Love you all!
Sister Laws
I'm guessing you've all been busy because I only heard from mom, dad and Kelsey this week. And Kelsey didn't have time to send pictures. Or you forgot :( I just realized that I didn't get any pictures this week. Oh well.
HOW ARE YOU??
I'm great. I had a great week so I'll start at last Monday. I already told you (I think) that we helped out at the old church in the morning, so that was the first time I got to see it. It's pretty cool. We had english class sign-ups that night and it wasn't very busy so I spent a lot of the time watching general conference and putting introductions into book of mormons (we have to glue them in). That was good. I love conference and I can't WAIT to get the conference edition. I haven't gotten my package yet, but I'm sure it's coming. We do get mail a little more often here in Zagreb, because people are passing through etc. So that's good. I'll get it soon.
On Tuesday we got a new investigator. His name is Darko. So mine and Sister Creager's first investigator together. We didn't inherit anyone. But we'll actually be handing him over to the elders, because it's recommended that women teach women, men teach men. That sort of thing. And I think it will be good for him.
Wednesday we went contacting in this big park that we've never been to. The sisters told us about it. And it is a really cool cool park. It has a couple of really awesome playgrounds and a little lake and it's big, so there's lots of picnic tables and benches and a long looped pathway. I highly recommend this park if any of you are planning on visiting Croatia with your kids. It's awesome. We're planning on going one pday and playing on the playground. Because it's pretty stinking cool.
Thursday we had a lesson with Darko. That was the only really exciting thing. And Sister Dillender called to ask me something, so we caught up a little bit. Like, on whats happened the last two weeks, haha. But it was nice to hear from her.
Friday we had a meeting with President Hill and Sister Hill and the other greenies (except for Sister Dillender and Sister Milius didn't come up for it) there were two new elders and their trainers there. And it was just basically for the greenies, so we talked about rules and health and simple stuff like that. Not very exciting. But because president and Sister Hill were in town they went to a concert Friday night, one of the members here is from China and he plays in an orchestra and gives us missionaries tickets sometimes. So Sister Creager and I were invited too! and two elders, so! That was super fun. So that was Friday night. It was a pretty good concert. A big orchestra. And one song, by Franz Liszt (or something like that) they put a big piano out. Sister Creager said it's the best piano you could get. The highest quality etc. And a special piano man came out and played with the orchestra and he was SOOOO good. He killed that piano, like, he was a whizz. It was so good and so awesome. we weren't at the very best angle, but we could kinda see his hands, and they were flying. cool.
Saturday we were out working and a storm moved in. So on our way home for dinner it started to rain and we didn't have umbrellas or anything, so we got completely one hundred percent soaked. I love rain. So I didn't care, it was fun for me. But we were really soaked. We paused under an underpass while it was hailing. It was raining so hard. And thunder and a really good storm.
And lastly, yesterday, Sunday, I gave a talk in church. It only needed to be 5 minutes so it was easy. So the talk was on recognizing personal revelation. And I used the story of Nephi killing Laban. But I figured I'd just be talking to a bunch of members, so they'd know the story and I didn't need to worry about explaining it that much. Well right when we got there we found out that one of the members was bringing her neighbor. And then two of the sisters' investigators showed up and one of them just barely started investigating. So I had to do a little bit of impromptu to clarify the story and explain it better. I hope I didn't scare anyone away. "And the Spirit told him to, so Nephi killed Laban" and they never come back.haha. just kidding.
Also yesterday, we were all at home making lunch together and we have a dishwasher, but we just use it as a drying rack, because by the time we fill the dishwasher we don't have any dishes and it takes too long. Anyway, so I was reaching into the dishwasher and I stabbed my hand with a knife that was facing upward, it hurt pretty bad. It's not terribly deep, definitely not big or a big deal but it bled pretty good for a second until I got some pressure on it and now it's a little sore. It was sad :(
Yeah, that was my entire week! It was good. Today we're going on a hike with some members and all the missionaries. Should be pretty fun.
Oh, this is random. But we got a package from two sisters who served here and went home last year, so they sent a package to all the sisters here with some reese's and oreos and letters. Pretty fun. And they wrote us letters. And one of them told me she met Angela Walter at school and she said Angela went on a mission! Cool huh? I had no idea, I never heard that. She couldn't exactly remember where to, but she said east coast somewhere. Cool, huh? It makes me wonder how many other people have left on missions and I haven't heard about it. I think Michael should make that a project - go on facebook and see how many people we know are on missions. Or how many people I know, haha. Ok, you don't have to.
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Keep me up-to-date on tennis, I can't believe the French open started. That means it's almost June! That means we're almost halfway through this year!! I can't believe that! When I think about it that way it seems like everything has gone by so fast. WEIRD.
Love you all!
Sister Laws
Monday, May 16, 2011
16 May 2011
Dear family,
HOW ARE YOU!?
Guess what?
My COMPANION FAINTED THIS WEEK! while we were on a tram. It was... Ok, I was laughing because this would be my SECOND companion to faint. So it was funny to me. Otherwise, maybe not so much.
This is the story:
We woke up early to go to the police station for some visa stuff. Sister Creager wasn't feeling so well (which she told me after she fainted), hadn't slept well the night before and felt hot already, we left the house late so we walked fast. We got on the tram. It was a rainy-ish day, so the tram heaters were on, or it was just stuffy, and as we go along people are getting onboard. So in a short time the tram is full. Sister Creager is hot, she doesn't feel well, and all of a sudden a little claustrophobic. Closes her eyes for a second (oh, we're standing ok, hard to explain. but there's a part of the tram that has flexible "walls" so that it can turn, and that part is kinda cushiony, so we're standing next to and leaning up against that) I turn and look at her because she starts leaning against me, which is fine, but surprises me, and I see that her eyes are closed and that her head is lolling and she starts to slide down the wall, by this time it has hit me that my companion has fainted, so I'm saying "sister creager?? Sister creager??" and kinda holding her up/sliding down the wall with her. Croats start swarming, sister creager wakes up, they're all talking to her, trying to help her stand up, telling her to sit down (someone gave up his seat for her, that was nice) and then realizing that she doesn't understand them. She says, Oh thanks. (in english) And sits down. I'm standing right behind her chair and am like, I can't believe that just happened.... So we go to a cafe and buy juice and then go buy some food from a bakery ( we didn't have time to eat that morning) and then head all the way back home and she spends the rest of the day sleeping.
It was an experience.
Is there like, what am I doing to make all these people around me faint?? I dunno. I think it's pretty funny. Now, but not when it's happening. So that was the most exciting thing.
Another good story: we were tracting and we found a very large building. We went in, and up to the top floor, floor 16 or something. But it was the end of the day so we only tracted a couple of floors and no one but old people were answering, so we call it quits. We go to the elevator and call it, it comes up, we go to open the door and it won't open. So we're like, that's kinda weird. The elevator came but the door didn't unlock. (I hope this story makes sense, because I just realized that elevators are different here. There's just, a door that you open, instead of the doors sliding open.) So we go around a corner to the second elevator (it's quite a large building, so it has 3 elevators) and call it, and it comes, and AGAIN we can't open the door - and that's when we realize that you need a KEY to use the elevator. A KEY! We didn't need one to come up, but you have to have one to go down. It was extremely strange. So we walked down however many flights of elevators -- we actually kinda fled down them, because the building was a little scary and I got scared. It was very weird, that's the first time I've seen that.
Good things that happened this week: On Thursday we got the bright idea (the Spirit told us) to call members whose birthday were in the month of May, we look through the member list and there are THREE people with birthdays THAT day. So that was cool. We got ahold of two of them and they were both pleasantly surprised and happy to receive birthday wishes from us. That was really awesome.
And last story: Sister Nelson and Sister Hači had a lesson with two guys and it went kinda bad, but after that they went to the bus stop and saw the two guys, and they were pretending to be missionaries! They had the Book of Mormon that the sisters had given them and they were trying to talk to people on the street, so they saw the sisters and came over and said "I can't believe you do this everyday, this is so hard, no one is stopping --" so they were, so funny, trying to be missionaries. I guess to see how it was, I dunno. It was funny to hear about.
Today, so far, is a good day. I'm sorry if Amelia woke up early to read this, because we're here at the library a little later than usual. So you've probably been awake for a while :/ We got up early and went to the police station (since we didn't make it on Friday) and then helped out at the old church building, to clean it up. We have an old building, where church used to be, it's an apartment, and they're cleaning it up because that is going to be the new mission office. The mission home will be separate somewhere. I don't know details. Oh, and we heard that the mission president's name has been announced, but we won't hear about it until Friday. For some reason that I don't know. So you could all find out who he is before any of us. Again, I don't really know details. So anyway. Now we're here.
Happy Birthday Jolie! yesterday. I didn't even think about it last week, and then yesterday I was looking at my calendar and was like, it's her birthday tomorrow! because the whole day I thought it was a Saturday. I dunno know why. And then realized that her bday was that day, as in yesterday, and I forgot.
Happy know-whats-happening-with-the-future to Amelia and Brent! Wow, moving to Texas. That's a strange state... people are weird there. I actually think that one of the girls from my ULM volelyball team was from Arlington. Or two fo them. Hard to remember. YAY! It's nice to know.
And lastly, congratulations to Jesse's husband's brother on his wedding. That's cool beans. It's cool that you (Jesse) got to go and dance up a storm.
Thanks mom, for sending a package my way! Something wonderful and magnificent to look forward to. Sister Creager got a letter from her brother SIX DAYS after he sent it. He's in the MTC right now. SIX DAYS! I can't believe that. So maybe this will be fast, too.
How's my new area? Good. We've got the most important trams down, and have ventured a little more out into our wider area. People are nice. We've moved all into our apartment. Mostly all settled in. Enter apartment: to the left is the other sisters' bedroom and a "getting ready room" without beds and with all the closet space. straight ahead is the bathroom. To the right is the living room, around the corner is the dining/kitchen. And then there's a rickety spiral staircase, small, that goes to the upstairs. Where we live, it's kinda like a loft. We have mattresses on the ground and slanting ceilings. We don't have any furniture so we furnished some bedside tables from some cinderblocks in the sisters' clsoet (which is a little scary. hasn't been touched in a while. full of old clothes and shoes and random stuff) and we bought some fancy boxes for our study materials. So it's a little home now. Pretty nice up there, really. I like it. New companion? well the two sick days we had this week gave us the opportunity to get to know each other a little more. Sister Creager is great. It's been good with her. AND that is that. I'm pretty sure. So. cool.
LOVE YOU ALL!
Have a gerat week. Give the kiddies and babies hugs and kisses from Auntie Keshie --
LOVE, SISTER LAWS
HOW ARE YOU!?
Guess what?
My COMPANION FAINTED THIS WEEK! while we were on a tram. It was... Ok, I was laughing because this would be my SECOND companion to faint. So it was funny to me. Otherwise, maybe not so much.
This is the story:
We woke up early to go to the police station for some visa stuff. Sister Creager wasn't feeling so well (which she told me after she fainted), hadn't slept well the night before and felt hot already, we left the house late so we walked fast. We got on the tram. It was a rainy-ish day, so the tram heaters were on, or it was just stuffy, and as we go along people are getting onboard. So in a short time the tram is full. Sister Creager is hot, she doesn't feel well, and all of a sudden a little claustrophobic. Closes her eyes for a second (oh, we're standing ok, hard to explain. but there's a part of the tram that has flexible "walls" so that it can turn, and that part is kinda cushiony, so we're standing next to and leaning up against that) I turn and look at her because she starts leaning against me, which is fine, but surprises me, and I see that her eyes are closed and that her head is lolling and she starts to slide down the wall, by this time it has hit me that my companion has fainted, so I'm saying "sister creager?? Sister creager??" and kinda holding her up/sliding down the wall with her. Croats start swarming, sister creager wakes up, they're all talking to her, trying to help her stand up, telling her to sit down (someone gave up his seat for her, that was nice) and then realizing that she doesn't understand them. She says, Oh thanks. (in english) And sits down. I'm standing right behind her chair and am like, I can't believe that just happened.... So we go to a cafe and buy juice and then go buy some food from a bakery ( we didn't have time to eat that morning) and then head all the way back home and she spends the rest of the day sleeping.
It was an experience.
Is there like, what am I doing to make all these people around me faint?? I dunno. I think it's pretty funny. Now, but not when it's happening. So that was the most exciting thing.
Another good story: we were tracting and we found a very large building. We went in, and up to the top floor, floor 16 or something. But it was the end of the day so we only tracted a couple of floors and no one but old people were answering, so we call it quits. We go to the elevator and call it, it comes up, we go to open the door and it won't open. So we're like, that's kinda weird. The elevator came but the door didn't unlock. (I hope this story makes sense, because I just realized that elevators are different here. There's just, a door that you open, instead of the doors sliding open.) So we go around a corner to the second elevator (it's quite a large building, so it has 3 elevators) and call it, and it comes, and AGAIN we can't open the door - and that's when we realize that you need a KEY to use the elevator. A KEY! We didn't need one to come up, but you have to have one to go down. It was extremely strange. So we walked down however many flights of elevators -- we actually kinda fled down them, because the building was a little scary and I got scared. It was very weird, that's the first time I've seen that.
Good things that happened this week: On Thursday we got the bright idea (the Spirit told us) to call members whose birthday were in the month of May, we look through the member list and there are THREE people with birthdays THAT day. So that was cool. We got ahold of two of them and they were both pleasantly surprised and happy to receive birthday wishes from us. That was really awesome.
And last story: Sister Nelson and Sister Hači had a lesson with two guys and it went kinda bad, but after that they went to the bus stop and saw the two guys, and they were pretending to be missionaries! They had the Book of Mormon that the sisters had given them and they were trying to talk to people on the street, so they saw the sisters and came over and said "I can't believe you do this everyday, this is so hard, no one is stopping --" so they were, so funny, trying to be missionaries. I guess to see how it was, I dunno. It was funny to hear about.
Today, so far, is a good day. I'm sorry if Amelia woke up early to read this, because we're here at the library a little later than usual. So you've probably been awake for a while :/ We got up early and went to the police station (since we didn't make it on Friday) and then helped out at the old church building, to clean it up. We have an old building, where church used to be, it's an apartment, and they're cleaning it up because that is going to be the new mission office. The mission home will be separate somewhere. I don't know details. Oh, and we heard that the mission president's name has been announced, but we won't hear about it until Friday. For some reason that I don't know. So you could all find out who he is before any of us. Again, I don't really know details. So anyway. Now we're here.
Happy Birthday Jolie! yesterday. I didn't even think about it last week, and then yesterday I was looking at my calendar and was like, it's her birthday tomorrow! because the whole day I thought it was a Saturday. I dunno know why. And then realized that her bday was that day, as in yesterday, and I forgot.
Happy know-whats-happening-with-the-future to Amelia and Brent! Wow, moving to Texas. That's a strange state... people are weird there. I actually think that one of the girls from my ULM volelyball team was from Arlington. Or two fo them. Hard to remember. YAY! It's nice to know.
And lastly, congratulations to Jesse's husband's brother on his wedding. That's cool beans. It's cool that you (Jesse) got to go and dance up a storm.
Thanks mom, for sending a package my way! Something wonderful and magnificent to look forward to. Sister Creager got a letter from her brother SIX DAYS after he sent it. He's in the MTC right now. SIX DAYS! I can't believe that. So maybe this will be fast, too.
How's my new area? Good. We've got the most important trams down, and have ventured a little more out into our wider area. People are nice. We've moved all into our apartment. Mostly all settled in. Enter apartment: to the left is the other sisters' bedroom and a "getting ready room" without beds and with all the closet space. straight ahead is the bathroom. To the right is the living room, around the corner is the dining/kitchen. And then there's a rickety spiral staircase, small, that goes to the upstairs. Where we live, it's kinda like a loft. We have mattresses on the ground and slanting ceilings. We don't have any furniture so we furnished some bedside tables from some cinderblocks in the sisters' clsoet (which is a little scary. hasn't been touched in a while. full of old clothes and shoes and random stuff) and we bought some fancy boxes for our study materials. So it's a little home now. Pretty nice up there, really. I like it. New companion? well the two sick days we had this week gave us the opportunity to get to know each other a little more. Sister Creager is great. It's been good with her. AND that is that. I'm pretty sure. So. cool.
LOVE YOU ALL!
Have a gerat week. Give the kiddies and babies hugs and kisses from Auntie Keshie --
LOVE, SISTER LAWS
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