October 28, 2011

Dear family,
I had a great week. Like I said in the other email the weather has been turning up and it's so beautiful here! Spring is my favorite season.
The most funny stories have to do with me and Sis Dillender morphing into one person. We are constantly thinking the same things and saying the same things and doing the same things. For example, in Spanish class the students were saying that to snow is "snije탑iti" or sth like that, but it sounded like they were saying "sneeze-iti" and Sister Dillender and I both laughed at the same time, repeated "sneeze-iti" and then pretended to sneeze! It was so funny! I can't think of any other good ones right now.
Another funny story. We were talking about the song "clair de lune" and Sister Dillender kept saying "creme brouillet" (you'll have to ask Michael for how to spell brouillet, that is way too hard right now) because, well, she didn't know why, and then that was earlier in the day and during during we were resting and listening to music and Sis Dillender said, "we should listen to creme brouillet" and I knew exactly what she was talking about and thought it was funny. So the conversation goes on and then she says, "No really, do you want to listen to creme brouillet?" and I said, "We ARE listening to creme brouillet! We've been listening to creme brouillet this whole time!" and by then the both of us were laughing really hard. It was pretty funny.
Also, the potted plant that Mom sent us has been brought to GREAT use. The plant flowered and the flowers died. And then the plant sprouted leaves. Which are still alive. And then we found two kidney beans in some corn nuts that we bought (you can buy corn nuts in bulk from the grocery store we go to every week) and we jokingly planted them. And they both sprouted!! So the next week we bought a couple of different kinds of beans to see what kind of plant they would turn into. It has been fun. I wanted to send pictures, but the "attach a file" function isn't working again. LAME. But I sent 3 pics that I had wanted to. As you know. So you may have to wait 6 more months before seeing pictures of our miracle bean plants.
Oh, and two of the elders were in Zagreb for a meeting and came home with mail and I got my Easter package! Mom sent it the 15th! Man, that was really fast getting it! We're thinking it must have gotten to the mission home RIGHT before the meeting. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It was fun really really fun to get pictures. Jesse looked really great with the cutey Jude. (I just see your new hair and now you've got even newer hair!) And it was good to see pictures of Michael. But no pics of Mom and Dad, why?? (I'm pouting, if you could see me in person) I'm kidding. The shirts fit, thank you, I needed a little spruce again, and everyone is jealous of the girl scout cookies. Don't worry I'll share with at least Sister Dillender. And we really liked the wind chime, too. It goes well with our potted plant in making our home more homey! And we got around to buying light bulbs today and some other home essentials, so we can actually see everything! (we weren't in complete darkness or anything)
Oh, and we had daylight savings. Nothing very exciting about that, but I have it written down that I wanted to tell you all. I'm not too tired, so that's good.
On Saturday we got invited by a lady from our English class to walk along the coast, there's a really nice walk down there, and we meandered and she bought us ice-cream. And it was SUCH a beautiful day. Again, I wanted to send pictures, but no go. It was really nice. And then on Sunday we walked out to the sphinx to see the same lady as last time, and last time we went we noticed there's a little pond on the trail, and there was a little family there feeding ducks! And so THIS time we took bread with us and took a little breather after we went to her house and she wasn't home, and fed ducks! Actually just one duck. Again, there's supposed to be pictures. Oh well. But there was this man-made "hut" thing floating in the pond that the duck lived in! And we had to throw bread to splash enough so that the duck would know we were there. And then it came out and was zooming around eating the bread, like gobbling it down, and then it got full and stood on top of it's "house" and shook it's tail feathers, and then went back to sleep. It was fun.
This week was good. I don't have any other stories.
I got apologized to twice this week in your emails for not being home for one reason or another. It's alright. There will be a lot of catching up to do, but it's all worth it here.
To answer questions: No, we're not traveling anywhere for conference, so it will be here in our small branch president's office like it was last time and in Croatian. I will understand a lot more this time, though. So that will be great. I am REALLY looking forward to general conference!! Yay! Inspiring words from prophets! Hoorah! Our english class is going really well. We still have around 20 students, so that is really great. The nun who said "God bless" was not being nice, she was saying it very pityingly and she was being condescending throughout the conversation. Oh well. It wasn't that bad or anything, and it doesn't happen that often.
I'm glad that Mom's trip out to sc is going well and that baby Kaaeliiiiisssee is doing well. (I did that so you wouldn't realize that I am having the hardest time remembering how to spell her name! Spelling has overall gotten harder, I don't know if my emails have shown misspelled things, but since Croatian is phonetic I haven't had to spend so much time thinking how things are spelled, and that part of my brain isn't working anymore! I'm sorry that I can't remember her name.) I'm excited for Jesse and all the volleyball! It sounds like so much fun, I'll have to join in when I get home. If I make the team, I mean, since I haven't played in FOREVER. And I'm happy to hear that Kelsey found her wedding ring! That's a miracle! Even more of a miracle than our bean plants! I didn't know it was missing. Or maybe I did and forgot. And thank you for the updates on Michael, since he doesn't email, and when I ask he doesn't e-mail either, and I'm dying with curiosity! And I wish everyone a happy March madness bracket! I heard the tournament is going kinda crazy, no number ones or twos this year left. Weird!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENT! (and congrats on losing weight!)
Have a great week!
Love you all,
Sister Laws
Here are some pictures that I've been meaning to send. Last week and the week before the computers I was on were SOO slow, so I couldn't send the pics. I hope you like them!

1. me eating ice-cream from the famous Zadar "sveti Donat" ice-cream parlor. It closes during the winter so it's been a long time since we've had any! and it's delicious.
2. me and the famous Zadar sphinx. It's a really pretty walk out there, along the coast. And the weather has been turning up (except for today of course) so it's been sunny and warmer.
3. Sister Dillender and me at the street "vatroslava Jagića" after having wandered around for a couple hours looking for it! You can see that I'm on the phone getting directions, since that was the only possible way to find it.

21 Ožujka 2011

CONGRATULATIONS TO AMELIA!
Yay there's a new baby!
And thank you for all the pictures! So, how do you pronounce her name? I was thinking it was "Kay-leese" Is that right? I get a little confused nowadays because Croatian is phonetic, so to ME it looks like "kaw-el-is-say", but I now that THAT doesn't sound right. I'm happy that everything went well and there's a happy healthy baby!

My week: We had a couple run-ins with people of different religions! Kinda funny. Last Monday we were eating ice-cream, and a nun stopped and asked us what church we were from, We said Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she said "What sect is that?" And so that you know, the word sect is like a swear word here. So I say, It's not a sect. And she says, "God said that the Catholic church is his church." And I know I was just a little peeved, because I was thinking, there's no way that I'm going to lay it out on this nun, she gave her life to the Catholic church and I'm not going to get into an argument with her about it all in a public place. So I just say "We believe different things." And she said that the Catholic church is the only church again, and then she asked if we had any pamphlets or material, so I hand her a pass-along card, and she looks it over and says, "Oh, Mormons" hands the card BACK to us, says "God Bless" in English and walks away! It was so ridiculous! And now it's a really good funny story.
So then on Tuesday we are having sign-ups for english classes and Sister Dillender and I are standing outside to welcome people, and we see a lady go to the nunnery next door. And then we realized that the lady was looking for our sign-ups, but a nun came out and was talking to her and we overheard the nun tell the lady that it would be better to hire someone and pay money than come to our free english classes! So crazy! Oh, and yes, there is a nunnery next door to the church, which is pretty funny. We see nuns all the time walking past.
Lastly we met a couple of jehovah's witnesses, and they were nice. We were just talking and then one of our old English students, she's an older lady, was walking by and stopped and talked with us and they all got a little defensive and offended, and then we walked away with the English student. She's really nice, she had us come over and see her house, because we offered to help her clean up her garden. And she had a BEAUTIFUL garden and a really nice house, it felt like being in America again, when we were looking at her house. It was nice.
It's fun to be a missionary!

As for english classes, we had so many people sign up!! Yay! It's going to be a good transfer for that. I'm excited.

The last couple of days Sister Dillender and I have been a little too united, it's probably from being together for so long, but we've been saying and thinking the exact same things, and we keep wearing clothes that are the same! Like brown skirt with a pink shirt and a white sweater! And it's really really funny, because she or I will say something, and then the other one will say "I was just thinking that!" I'm really glad to be her companion still!

Thank you all for writing! Mom, have fun in South Carolina with new baby! Thanks for the kids' stories and updates and LOVE!

Love you tons!
Sister Laws

14 ožujka 2011

Dear family,
How are you all doing?
Thanks for writing me this week!

This is another week where it seems like I don't have a lot to say!
But the biggest news we heard last night.
The missionaries in Serbia got pulled out! Well, all of them but 2. We don't exactly know why, because our mission president said that more missionaries will be coming in the summertime. That's kinda random, isn't it? But before today we were thinking, "Oh no, what if it's because of political unrest? What if we're going to be pulled out next??" What if what if. Anyway, it won't affect us at all, and the work goes on! So the missionaries that were pulled out have been reassigned to other missions (mostly in the United States, but one will stay here in Croatia and another is going to England.) That would be pretty strange to switch missions halfway (or not even halfway) through. Weird! All is well though, as far as we know.

Funny story:
Last Thursday we left our house to find a lady that the elders tracting into and passed onto us. They gave us her address and we looked at the map and found it and I knew where it was, having been in that area before. So we leave our house at 1:30 and aren't able to find the address until 4:45!!! It was so insane! We were looking and couldn't exactly find it, so we called the elders and asked for directions, but they had found the address from a different direction, so the directions they had didn't really make sense, which made us wander all over the place until we found the place that they were talking about that the address was nearby. And then we walked all over the place and asked all kinds of people, and they all said, I'm not sure but it's somewhere over there, so we would wander "over there" and ask someone else. Finally we called the other elders, because they have a map, but they weren't home so we wandered around until they got home (they were on their way) and they called us and gave us directions. Whoa! That was actually a really fun adventure.
In result of the adventure we found the Zadar sphinx!
We actually hadn't heard about it before a couple weeks ago, but apparently it's famous here. I will send pictures. It is stone, of course, and pretty small, don't get your hopes up, but it's a sphinx! Crazy, huh? Actually when I say "pretty small" I mean, it's a lot smaller than the actual sphinx. But it isn't tiny or anything, or it wouldn't be cool. Oh, and the lady we were looking for wasn't home. Oh! AND we figured out that the first street we thought it was when we were walking around, was the REAL street. There just wasn't any signs and it looked like it ended. So, that's really funny.

Oh yeah, and Lent started.
The Catholic "holiday" or tradition, where you give up something for the 40 days before Easter. Well, Sister Dillender and me thought we'd give it a try! Woohoo! We decided to give up chocolate. And it seemed totally doable, but we forgot and ate chocolate ice-cream the very first day of lent! Because the famous ice-cream place in Zadar opened up for the summer (its been closed the whole time that Sister Dillender has been here) and so we got ice-cream! So then we thought, we just won't include ice-cream in Lent. And THEN I forgot the next day and got a chocolate-filled pastry at a bakery. And then I ate chocolate at institute. And then this morning I ate a candy bar. :( It's too bad that I didn't manage to do it, it would have been fun. But I'll probably keep it up, too, because Sister Dillender is still doing it.

Oh, and last story.
On Friday we were at district lunch at a restaurant, and the tv was on! And so we heard all about what happened in Japan, and we justified watching tv a little bit, because it was a world event, and it was news it didn't have any commercials. That being said, we probably shouldn't have watched. But that is pretty crazy what happened! We've been talking about the end of the world ever since. If there are any interesting updates, let me know!

Oh, and Mom asked about daylight savings.
I guess we didn't have it, because we had church at the regular time yesterday. Maybe we had it without even noticing... nope, because I didn't change my watch and it still matches the phone and everything. I guess we're on a different schedule for that! I thought it was the same because it seems like we "fell back" at the same time as America. Oh well.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is having a good time!
Love you tons!
Sister Laws

March 07, 2011

Hi family! I love you guys :)

I had a pretty uneventful week. All the elders who are now serving here have arrived and I'm getting along with all of them so far, so that's good. And the branch is good and our investigators are alright. We're advertising for english classes again so we've been passing out fliers. Hopefully we have a lot of people come for that. It's probably the best time of year for it, because during the summer it's too hot and during the winter it's too cold, so people don't come out for it, but right now is spring! Well, this last week we actually had really crappy weather. I'm not a fan of wind, but three days in a row (and now today) has been some ferocious winds! Which are also FREEZING. So that's not exactly fun! I made chocolate-chip cookies on Thursday. (chocolate chips substituted for Milka chocolate bar, because Croatia doesn't do chips) They were yummy. I got some letters (the elders coming down from Zagreb brought them) so THANKS for the Valentines Kelsey and family! I also got a card from Sister Blackburn, she hadn't sent a Christmas card and I was beginning to wonder if she had died! The card just said that her doctor told her to take it easy and that was the hold-up. Phew! And I got a wedding announcement from my friend Alicia (she's getting married this weekend I think)(She was my roommate at SUU). Fun stuff!
And that is IT. I can't believe how lame this week was! I can't even think of any good funny stories or anything... Wow, this will be a big disappointment for you all, considering I usually write a TON more.. I don't even have pictures to send because last Monday my camera battery died and I just barely charged it today. So there are no new pictures... Hmm. I'll send some pics anyway.
As for you all! I'm also surprised to hear that Grandma will be moving to Idaho Falls. Sounds like there's a good chance she'll still be there when I come home. (Even though that is 6 months away) Which will be good because I have a new appreciation for old people. Especially ones that can speak English, it won't be that hard to carry a conversation with an old person now, certainly one that speaks the same language as I do. Your children sound wonderful, as always, and I'm glad that life goes on! I'm glad Mom got the valentine for her birthday, considering her birthday card (which I was supposed to send at least two weeks ago) is still in my backpack right now. That was a really fun pday making the cards, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Love you ALL!
Sister Laws

I read Nehemiah this week From the old testament, and it was a REALLY good book. It talks all about the Jews rebuilding the temple and the sacrifice they put into it (Well the first 4-5 chapters talk about that) and Ezra talks a LOT about that, too. Really good stuff. I can't remember if I mentioned that last week. And I'm reading Zechariah this week. It's looking good. So far it has a lot of confusing visions. And the Bible Dictionary doesn't really help at all (for once). And I just read about Abinadi in Mosiah. It's so cool that Alma believes him and carries on the work! Woohoo Alma!
Which reminds me, that there was a soccer game. The stadium is pretty close to our house, so we had to walk by it on our way to an appointment. And we got a bunch of catcalls, but not even for being Mormon! It's because they thought we were jehovah's witnesses! I hate that! So then later that night when we came back home everyone was leaving the stadium, and some guys were like, "mormoni! Mormoni!" and I was like, Yes! Persecution for the right reason! It makes all the difference! That was funny.

The first one is with me and Lovre, his Mom and sister are members, but he is not. (all of the youth that come to our ward don't have permission to be baptized from one of their parents, and the other is a member. It's interesting) That was last Sunday.
The church is in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It's pretty.
Me and Sister Dillender on the ferry to Ugljan. That picture was from the beginning of LAST transfer. It was a nice day, but pretty windy on the ferry.
And the last one: was quite a while ago, but we were bundling up at night to go out and work, and I put on a scarf that's really large and the whole thing made it look like I was hunch-backed or something. Well, you can see from the picture :D

I LOVE YOU!