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!

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