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