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