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
Monday, June 27, 2011
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
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