Elder Ryan Echols: 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!