Week 63: Back in Serbia, Pleskavica, and Translating

Hello once again! It seems like I do this every week or something. This week in Serbia the weather has been a little bit colder than it was last week in Slovenia. But, that's ok. Now it's finally cold enough that I can always wear a jacket, instead of having to figure out whether or not to take one with me.

On Monday morning we helped the sisters (all 6 of the sisters serving in Slovenia) get their luggage switched around and situated into the various cars. Elder Jensen and I got haircuts from Sister Monson, then had Kebab on the way from their apartment to ours to do apartment cleaning inspection. That night we went over to a member's place for dinner, and she'd invited over 3 other members to eat with us. That was really good for a farewell of sorts. I like these people.

On Tuesday morning, Elder Jensen and I loaded up the Celje car and drove off to Zagreb to meet a whole bunch of other Elders at the huge Ikea that they have there. I think literally a third of our mission was there to switch companions and luggage and cars for the transfers. It was great to see some old pals. That's where I got my new companion, Elder Criddle of Idaho, and we then drove off in the direction of Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia.

There was a big missionary reunion of sorts in the IKEA parking lot.

These were my MTC roommates! It was great to see them.

On the road, we eventually discovered that we were very low on gas, and then had a hard time finding a gas station. By the time we found one and were rolling in to fill up, the car said that it couldn't go any further, but we did get there and filled up and kept on our way. When we got to the border of Serbia, they asked us if we had any books. Yes, in fact, we had dictionaries and scriptures. When they had us pull over and I showed them our suitcases, I told them we had our personal stuff and that we were just going to Sremska. They guy did let us through, but he didn't look happy about it, haha. When we finally got to Sremska, we dropped of my stuff at the apartment really quick got lunch, did part of transfer planning, met the Deckers (the senior couple here), and then had ECG. Then we went with the Deckers in the car to the edge of town to an abandoned hotel to pick up Elders King and Jones. Long story. We showed them their apartment and got them set up, got dinner with them, and then went home for me to unpack.

Sister Decker, Elder Criddle, and myself, shortly after our arrival in Sremska.

On Wednesday we got some groceries, got my white card so that I'm allowed to be in Serbia for more than two days, and then headed up to Belgrade with the Deckers to go help with the massive annual book fair. I was actually there last year, and it was cool to see again. We had a bit of a run around getting to the actual event center, but we did eventually get there to meet Elders King and Jones who had come by bus. We sold a few copies of the Book of Mormon through the day, and occasionally got to explore a bit. We even sold one guy a Mongolian copy of the Book of Mormon. He also wanted a Swahili one, but we didn't have one with us, so we got his phone number. At the end of the day, Elder Criddle and I trammed to the bus station and rode a bus back to Sremska.

Elder Criddle and myself at the book fair in Belgrade.

Thursday, we showed Elders King and Jones where to go to get their white cards, then went contacting. Sremska is pretty cool so far. For lunch we got ćevapi at a place called "Pink Panter", and then had district meeting with the Deckers and the other elders. After that we had some more planning and such, then ECG again. Not many people currently come to ECG, so we're probably going to be working on promoting that. The other elders came over to our apartment to make dinner together, and it was great to have them around.

On Saturday we called some investigators and got some lessons set up, did some contacting, had tacos for lunch, did some planning and studies, etc. Nothing particularly interesting for the majority of the day. But, later on a bit, we did end up contacting over into a slightly poorer part of town. As we were walking through, one house's yard had a sizeable group of people that kinda looked at us, and so we said hello and kept going, but then I had the idea to talk to them I asked Elder Criddle what he thought, and we ended up going back a bit to talk to them. I spoke to the whole group of people and got some varied reactions. One old lady started complaining at me, one younger lady seemed willing to learn more, and one middle-aged man was willing to calmly say that he was already a believer and didn't care what we had to say. People started talking to us 2 or 3 at a time, and the older lady started shooing us out, so we left. As we were talking to some other people just down the road, the younger lady came over to ask some more questions and stuff. We got her phone number and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. From there we headed homeward, and ordered dinner at Tešić, the best little grill place in town. While we were waiting for it to cook, we walked around the shops in the immediate vicinity to explore, and there was this really strong wind blowing leaves in everyone's faces.

Saturday morning we tried some more to get our branches new computer set up right, and it wasn't working, and then we called Tešić to have them start cooking our lunch before we got there. Just a minute after that, we got a call from Elders King and Jones asking for Tešić's phone number so they could order some for themselves. When we got over there to pick up our food, we of course found them waiting for theirs also. Though, apparently the employees got confused by the fact that they called immediately after us and ordered the same thing, and so they didn't actually put in the second order for the other elders, and so they had to wait longer for their food. Maybe next time we'll have to use tags like "mormon team A/B", or just order all of our food at the same time. After some studies and such, we had a lesson with an investigator that's been around for a while. I'll call him "Davis". He's got some interesting misconceptions about miracles. For example, he's currently struggling to understand why God doesn't make good people rich when they follow the commandments and pray for money. We'll work on it. After that lesson we cleaned the church with the other elders, and then a different lesson cancelled on us.

A view of Sremska Mitrovica.

Yesterday we got up and headed over to the church to get stuff ready for church like normal. Elders King and Jones showed up at the same time as us and helped, but then we all realized that we all blanked on daylight savings time, since that was supposed to be between Saturday and Sunday. Anyway, we had an extra hour before church. The Deckers had their son and daughter-in-law there visiting, and they were pretty cool. They spoke in sacrament meeting, and then for Sunday School, Elder King and I took turns translating what Elder Decker was teaching for the lesson after that. Elder Decker was talking really fast, and it was pretty fun to try to keep up with him, but it's good to be back in Serbia where I have more experience with the language. Tonight for dinner we had the other elders over, and they helped contribute to make fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy, and it was great.

We make some pretty good fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy!

Your homework is to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon! You know, with all the conference talks recently about the Book of Mormon, it's probably worth knowing what it does for us. So, look in the introduction for something that it does for us that could help you in your life. Perhaps like gaining a stronger testimony of Christ as our Savior?

Sorry for no pictures yet! I don't currently have a way to upload them. I might get it later today, but if not, then next week! Stay awesome!

--

Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Week 62: Transfers, Feminine Dual, and Painting

Hello everyone!

Before I get too far, we found out this last Thursday about transfers, which are today and tomorrow. Long story short, I'm going back to Serbia! Specifically to the city of Sremska Mitrovica, tomorrow. I'm excited. Anyway, the weather this week has been pretty great again, though it rained yesterday.

Celje in autumn.

On Tuesday we just did the regular thing with contacting, and ended up going to a part of town called Lava. We also had ECG, like usual. Nothing particularly special.

Wednesday we did some contacting, had a great district meeting, and then went to visit two members of the church, a husband and wife, that haven't been to church in a long time. They were really nice and gave us juice and chocolate, and we shared a spiritual message with them about repentance, and it was good. Apparently they still read the Book of Mormon and pray every day, and it's just a situation with other members that's keeping them away from church. Sad. For the rest of the day we didn't have a whole lot else to do, so we contacted a lot. We even did some contacting later in the night, instead of putting studies and dinner later, and we remembered why we never go contacting that late: the city is abandoned. Celje is a small town that goes to bed fairly early.

Burek. One of my favorite Balkan foods!

Thursday morning was when we got the transfer announcements. Like I said earlier, I'm going to Sremska Mitrovica, in Serbia. Exactly this time of year one year ago was actually when I first arrived into Serbia from the Missionary Training Center, so I think I'm going to get some serious Deja Vu this transfer. I'm also really excited for Serbian Burek again (that's a type of food that you get at the bakeries that are everywhere). Apparently my companion will be Elder Criddle, and if I'm not mistaken he's just now finishing his first transfer in the field. There'll be a second companionship of elders in Sremska, and so Elder King will be our district leader! In case you forgot, I was companions with him 2 transfers ago. Anyway, after lunch we went to visit an older member that hasn't been to church in at least 3 years because he has a hard time walking, and doesn't want to ride in a car at all. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays every day still, but hasn't made the sacrifice to get to church in recent years. So, we read a chapter of the Book of Mormon with him, and encouraged him to come that next time on Sunday. What a great guy. That evening just before ECG we had a last-minute lesson with "Jane". She told us more about hard things that have happened to her in the past, and we basically just told her that keeping commandments will help her, and so we want to teach her the commandments. We also re-affirmed that the Book of Mormon will help her if she'll just read it. She still carries it in her bag with her literally everywhere she goes. I hope she'll take the time to open it soon.

On Friday we did some of the regular stuff, and took some time at the church for Elder Jensen to mostly finish up his outline for a session of English Conversation Group. Then we had a lesson with "Mary", and Elder Monson was there to help. We taught her all about repentance. Recently she's been very hesitant about baptism, and said that she doesn't yet want to be baptized. We taught her about repentance so that she'll  repent more, since true repentance leads a person to a desire to be baptized. We watched a short General Conference talk about repentance, and Elder Monson also had some great input, and it was a good lesson. From there we went out to Lava again to follow up with some people but didn't get anything.

Me and Elder Monson. The Monsons are wonderful and do so much for us!

That night when we were doing our normal thing of contacting, I ended up contacting two girls that were a bit younger than us. It's hard to explain why, but the Slovene grammar required to speak to 2 girls that are younger than you is very difficult, and that's the first time that's happened since I've started learning Slovene, so I had a fun time trying to speak correctly to them. Then we got Kebab for dinner, and during language study I finished reading our Slovene grammar textbook, and just in time to leave Slovenia!

On Saturday morning we went with the sister to help a member re-paint her late uncle's apartment in preparation to sell it. That was pretty fun, and it was good to have something out of the ordinary. We went home to change, and then had a lesson with a college-age girl that's been friends with the missionaries for a while. She likes hearing what we have to say, but isn't open yet to apply it to herself at all, so I guess she's going to stay as a "friend of the church" for now. For the rest of the day we had some of our studies, reviewed our transfer together, then Elder Jensen cleaned the apartment as I did some packing.

At church on Sunday I said goodbye to the friends I've made here in Celje.

Yesterday before church we had branch council, and then right as church was starting we had a few members show up that don't come very often, so that was good. But you know what's even better? You remember that older guy that we visited that has a hard time walking and won't let anyone drive him to church? He came! And with how slow he walks, I'm sure it was quite a journey. Everyone was glad to see him, and he seemed to be glad to be there. For the talks, I was assigned to speak, plus sisters Crosby and Brown, since we 3 are leaving Celje. I gave a short talk on forgiveness, including the fact that forgiveness isn't just for others, but rather it helps us be spiritually healed also. If you're always willing to forgive, then no one can ever actually offend you. It was also pretty nice to give the talk in just Slovene and not have to worry about also saying it in English (here in Celje they have a little translating set with wireless headsets, so Elder Jensen was in the back just translating the meeting into English into the headsets). After church we did some more cleaning and I did some more packing, and we also went over to the Monsons' for dinner with them and the sisters. I think it's great that we can fit our whole district around a normal/small dinner table. The Monsons are really great, by the way.

Today so far we did some more cleaning, helped the sisters get on their way for transfers, and got haircuts from Sister Monson. I'll be heading out tomorrow morning for Sremska.

The sister missionaries serving in Slovenia.

Your homework this week is to review another talk from the most recent General Conference! These are words specifically sent from God to help us here and now, so they're worth reading.

Here's a photo of part of the river here in Celje, and some Burek! Have a great week!
--

Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Week 61: An Artist, Two Serbs, and a Lot of Mountains

Dear friends and family,

This week the weather was really good! Like, reeeally good. Perfect, even. There were some days where the mornings started of foggy, but all the rest was sunny, but not too hot. Fall is great.

Fall is beautiful.

Last Monday after email we got Kebab, and then had a lesson with "Mary". Even though all three of us had fasted for her to get an answer about baptism, she said she hadn't gotten one. Anyway, we taught her about temples and ordinances, and it ended up coming back around to the priesthood and baptism, of course. The rest of the day was just the normal stuff. Tuesday wasn't very interesting. We did have ECG, and only one student came. So, we played Pictionary with him to work on vocabulary.

On Wednesday we ended up talking to a guy that lived right next to the Croatian border. You know, I've talked to some Slovenes that use a number of Croatian words, and I've spoken to some Croatians that use a number of Slovene words, but I've never before spoken to someone like this guy who spoke an even 50% of each. It was really interesting. I ended up giving him a copy of The Book of Mormon and a pamphlet about the Restoration. He said he'd at least read the pamphlet. Let's hope he does. Shortly after that we had district meeting in the park, and the sisters brought Oreos; it was a good district meeting. That evening we had a lesson with "Jane" and had a member in on the lesson. We didn't get to do a lot of talking, but she opened up to us about some tragic things that've happened in her past and how no one has answers, but she's still searching anyway. We did get to quickly summarize the Plan of Happiness for her, especially of the fact of the resurrection, and that all things will be made right in the end. We just need to get her to read the Book of Mormon so that she'll see that it has the answers she's looking for.

On Thursday morning we met a former investigator and his friend. And, when I say former investigator, this guy new the missionaries something like 20 years ago when he was a lot younger, about their age. Since then he's had plenty of contact with the church and been to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, but it's been a while since he's had much real contact with the missionaries. They were really cool guys, and both spoke near-perfect American English. And it also turns out that the guy founded a local church around here, and his friend is a pastor there. The meeting was mostly to get to know them some, but they were really awesome and I think we could have some good discussions with them in the future. We'll see what happens. The rest of the day was just normal stuff.

Friday we started off with a lesson with a long-time investigator that we've met with a few times before, and we mostly just answered his questions. He has some really good questions. A bit later we met up with the sisters and a painter guy that they know for him to show us his studio. I think one of his family members is a member of the church. He's a pretty good artist. Also, it turns out he has a didgerydoo (does anyone know how to spell that? It's a long tube thing from Australia used for making sound) and can play it pretty well, including doing the circle-breathing.

The art studio we got to visit with the sisters.

That afternoon we had a lesson scheduled with "Mary", but we couldn't find anyone else to come on the lesson, so we just walked with her around town a bit. While we were doing that some other Christian guys handed us some little pamphlets. It was pretty funny. At the end of the day we went tracting, and found a little street with some VERY fancy houses. One of the last ones was a lady with her kids that actually listened for a second to hear what the Book of Mormon is and such, but she didn't have a specific time that we could come back, so we left her a copy of The Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet, so she hopefully does some reading and calls us.

On Saturday we tried to go renew my visa, but the place was closed, so we did a bunch of normal stuff. Later on we had weekly planning, and then did some contacting more in the evening. We ran into to younger guys that were apparently Serbians. I had a fun time trying to switch back to speaking Serbian for them. Even though the one guy was kinda feisty asking questions about why our church would be anything special, they were willing to listen to my answers, and like always it just came down to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, so I gave them the Serbian copy that I had in my bag and he said he'd see if it was devilish nonsense or actually something good. They were some pretty funny guys.

Yesterday was Sunday, so we of course had church, and it was great. A member came that hadn't come in a long time, and everyone was really glad to see her. We heard some good talks, I taught a lesson for priesthood and suddenly lost any Slovene-speaking abilities that I previously had, and after church we all had a branch lunch together. Elder Jensen and I did some contacting and such, and then there was a broadcast for the Europe Area from Frankfurt, and Elder Ballard of the 12 Apostles was there. He talked about miracles, and it was really great. I think stuff is going to change across Europe as a whole, pretty soon.

Today we had a big runaround of confusion as pertaining to my Slovenia visa, but the situation was resolved within an hour. We did some contacting and stuff, bought groceries, did a very small amount of emailing, and then hit the road! We went with the sisters and Elder Monson, of the senior couple here, to go to a place called Velika Planina. It's a place really high in the mountains with some great views. It also reminded me a whole lot of Lord of The Rings, in some spots. Rolling hills in the mountains with a mix of plains and trees and rocks scattered throughout, and I felt like an army of elves was going to come over the hill, or something. It's a really cool place.

Me, Sister Brown, Elder Monson, Sister Crosby, and Elder Jensen at Velika Planina.

Velika Planina is in the Kamnik Alps.

Your homework for this week is to read Mosiah 13, where a prophet, Abinadi, talks about Christ and why he's important for us. Keeping the commandments is good, but it's only because of Christ that we can be saved.

Velika Planina is a high elevation settlement of traditional herders dwellings.

Here are a few photos from the week. Go on some adventures this week! Enjoy it!

--

Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia

Week 60: Chocolate Cookies in a Pot

Hello, friends and family! Greetings from Celje. The weather has been really good recently. It's of course getting cooler here and turning into fall, so that's nice, and it also hasn't been nearly as rainy this week.

So, last Monday we ended up having another lesson with that high-school kid from a while back. The first time around, he brought a friend and they didn't seem serious about anything. I don't remember how we ended up with another lesson scheduled, but it happened, and this time he brought a different friend. It was mostly the same nonsense, especially at the start, but eventually we got them to see a bit of the positive impact that this could have on their lives, and they got a bit more serious for a while. At the end they definitely started joking around again, but it was fine. We'll see where that goes. If we can get them to take stuff seriously, they seem to have some good potential. At the end of the day we wandered around town some, and found a Chinese Store. We went in to look around, and they had a bunch of random cool stuff like super-mini decks of cards, some swords, purses, etc. It was a very interesting place. When we got home for the night, Elder Jensen made a boatload of chocolate cookies. We didn't have enough other containers to put them in, so we ended up storing them in a large cooking pot for the whole week.

Cookies in a Pot.

Tuesday morning we pretty quickly found a lady who was willing to meet up with us to learn more, so that was cool. The slightly less cool part was that she doesn't have a phone. Fast-forward a few days to when we were supposed to have a lesson, and she didn't show up and now we can't re-schedule. Lame. But, life goes on. Back on Tuesday, we of course had ECG in the evening, and this time we had a spiritual thought after. We played the video "A Piano's Purpose", and really quick talked about how sometimes we feel broken or forgotten, but everything can and will be made right through Christ. Really quick after that, we talked to "Jane" some about her religious background. Apparently she grew up Catholic, was looking into Hari Krishna for a while, and now is generally into meditation.

A quaint little street in Slovenia.

On Wednesday we started of with district meeting, which is always good, and then got döner kebab for lunch, which is even better. Shortly thereafter, we got a last-minute lesson set up with the guy that used to work at the Frankfurter stand near our apartment that recently shut down. It was a fairly interesting conversation, but he really really likes talking, so we didn't actually get to teach him anything about the church or Book of Mormon like planned. Immediately after that we had a lesson with "Mary", the one who had been on baptismal date, but then entirely vanished for 2 or 3 weeks because she was extremely sick. Apparently she missed over 2 weeks of high school. In any case, now she's back! But in that lesson she told us that she really isn't sure about baptism right now. She said maybe in a year or so. We're of course trying to figure out why she wouldn't want the blessings of baptism right now. On the way home that night, we talked to a lady that was holding a cat, and she agreed for us to come to her place the next day to teach her. Apparently she lives right around the corner from there. So on Thursday, we had a total of 5 lessons scheduled with women, so we had Elder Monson on call for part of the morning to help us out with that. Some of the lessons were set up fairly last minute, but the only one that actually showed up to their lesson was "Mary". We re-taught her the restoration, and it was great.

Friday morning we got a text from "Jane" (that mom that came to general conference last week who always brings her kid to ECG) asking if we could have a lesson in about an hour. So, we started calling a bunch of members to find one that could come to the lesson with us. During that process we even accidentally called the Croatian mother of one of the members. Everyone was busy, except for the last person on the branch roster, and he's typically busy with work, so it seemed fairly miraculous. Anyway, we all arrive at the church for the lesson, and it turns out that our member friend and "Jane" already know each other a bit. Another interesting thing about the situation is that the member speaks English and only a bit of Slovene, and "Jane" speaks Slovene and only a bit of English, but they both understand the other language pretty well. So, the lesson was mostly in Slovene, but whenever the member would have some input, he'd speak in English, and everyone could still understand. It was great! At the end of the lesson, "Jane" told us some about the meditation stuff that she's been looking into recently. She really seems to be searching for answers and how to find peace. So this is perfect! She's seeming very promising. Later that day we had another lesson with "Mary," though her bus to come into town was late, of course making her late too. So, the lesson had to be shorter than planned, since there was a branch activity starting soon. We taught her about fasting, and asked her to fast on Sunday to get an answer about baptism. Right after that we had the branch activity, which was great. It was just a bunch of games, but a lot of people showed up and it was wonderful. Elder Jensen and I brought the rest of the cookies that he had baked, and some other people brought treats too.

Saturday afternoon we had a lesson with someone that had talked with the missionaries a bit last transfer, but never really learned about the church or how our message can actually really help people. He opened up to us a lot, and we explained a bit of how faith in Christ can help with every-day challenges, and we set up to come back again another day. He's had a rough time in the past, and I really like the idea of him potentially soon turning his life around and finding hope. That's what the gospel does for people.

On Sunday we of course had church, before which we had branch council. It's great to see members working together to do their best to help other members of the branch. Also, for church itself, "Mary" came and it was great to see her, and there was also a guy there who apparently is a member that hadn't come to church for at least 3 years. There was also generally a good number of people there. After church Elder Jensen and I took some time to organize the little cabinet where we the missionaries keep all of our pamphlets and cards and such, and then a bit later went over to the Monsons for a meal with them and the sisters. As Sister Crosby was sure to remind us, yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving Eve, and today is Canadian Thanksgiving! So if there are any Canadians out there, happy Thanksgiving! Later that evening Elder Jensen and I met up with a member that hasn't been to church in a long time because of some hard feelings. At this point we've visited with him a few times, so we're getting to be friends more, but he's having a hard time seeing why he'd come back to church. The answer of course is because we all need the church!

Sister Crosby wishing her family at home a Happy Thanksgiving (Canadian)

Your homework for this week is to read some more of General Conference! I know you probably watched it last week, but now the talks are up on LDS.org for you to read. So, go back and read some more! Try to apply something to your life.

Here are some photos of cool buildings around Celje, and an actual watch-maker. Also, last week there were some special yogurts that were flavored like American things, such as apple pie or blueberry muffins, so there's a picture of one of those, too. Have a great week!

Watchmaker Shop

Yummy Yogurt

--

Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia