Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a great week. Over
here in Serbia we got some rain and grey skies, but that's ok, since it snowed
yesterday.
On Monday morning last week, we made pancakes for breakfast
with the other Elders and played some chess. I only played one game, and it was
against Elder King. Somehow I pulled a fast one on him and took his queen
before anything else got off the board, and then I eventually won. I don't
often win chess. A bit later we had a lesson with that investigator whose fake
name I can't remember right now. The one that we've been teaching this whole
transfer. We read 1 Nephi 10-11, and Elder Decker brought in some reading
glasses that he'd gotten for him, since our investigator guy can't read without
glasses, but has no glasses nor apparently any money for them. He seemed really
happy to get those glasses, and is now able to read out of the Book of Mormon!
From there we pretty much did the regular p-day stuff, including going to Pizza
XL for dinner at the end of the day. Elder Jones ordered a milkshake, but when
the waiter delivered it and Elder Jones tried it, he said it tasted funny. It
looked chocolate flavored. We investigate the menus a bit and it turns out that
they have a special frappe-milkshake offer thing going on right now. Many of
you reading this already know this, but it's against our religion to drink
coffee. So, we asked the lady that delivered our food if it was a frappe or
milkshake, and she said milkshake. So, Elder Jones finished it. I ordered a
"rolled pizza"and it came out as a huge horseshoe of a calzone thing.
I took half it home as leftovers.
On Tuesday morning we had another lesson with
"Peter", our investigator that says he has telekinesis and can
control televisions with his mind. He got off topic from the lesson and talked
about his supers for a good while, but we also did get to talk about prayer and
the Holy Ghost and how he can recognize the Holy Ghost. He also said that he'd
have his brother read the Book of Mormon to him, since he has cataracts and
can't totally see. After that lesson we went with the Deckers to visit a lady
that's a member, and her mom that isn't a member. Sister Decker brought lunch
over, and we had a good meal with them. At the end we of course had our
spiritual thought/miniature lesson, and we did it on the Restoration. That
is, we taught about prophets, why Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon are
important, etc. At the very end, two guys came in and interrupted a bit.
Apparently they're good friends that had come to repair something in the house,
but they sat down with us for the last few minutes of the lesson, and so we
gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon. The one guy seemed pretty open,
and the other guy said that he can't see well enough to read. Once we left
their place, we met up with the other Elders at the MUP (the place where you
get visas and such) and got our Serbian visas! This is my 4th one so far. After
some studies and working on some other stuff, we had ECG and then headed home
for dinner.
On Wednesday we went to the MUP and got some forms for a
public display, then filled them out. We went with the other Elders to the
actual police station to turn the forms in, and they took Elder King in by
himself and apparently kinda interrogated him about our plans, then approved
it. We had to take the forms back to the MUP to get a stamp on them and for
them to have a copy, but now we're approved! We're going to have a little stand
thing in the main square during all of December so we can advertise the
"Light the World" thing! But what's even better is that they're
currently putting up an ice-skating rink in that main square, and there are a
few vendors around the edge of the square, so we'll fit right in with the
party. This is going to be great. Then we had lunch, studies, had district
meeting, etc. That night for dinner we again went to Pizza XL with the other
Elders. Btw, we're not just pizza junkies; this place has a lot of really good
food that isn't just pizza. Don't worry, Mom. Anyway, Elder Jones ordered
another milkshake, just like before, and drank the whole thing again. But then
as we were up front paying, we heard employee A say to employee B the list of
things we ordered so they could get the total, and he listed off a frappe,
among other things. So... Elder Jones messed up. At least it was an accident,
right? And to be fair, we did ask them the first time, and they told it wasn't
a frappe. We're not going to let Elder Jones order any more milkshakes from now
on. As we were walking home, Elder Criddle and I ran into a few members, and
even a former missionary that served here (though I'd never met him). They said
we looked cold, and asked where my scarf was. I said that it was at home. The
mom in the group then told me that "scarves are to be around one's neck,
not in one's home" and had me promise to start wearing a scarf. So, I've
been wearing a scarf since then, haha. It was a pretty funny exchange.
On Thursday we started off by going around town again and
putting up posters for English Conversation Group (ECG). The only problem is
that it rained through the previous night, and that it was still drizzling a
bit. The signs seemed to stay up, though, even if they were already getting
wet. There's one in the center of town that we put up a few weeks ago that's
obviously been through some weather, but it's still there and still totally
readable, so it's fine. After lunch we went back out to do some normal contacting
along our normal route, but then we got a call from the Deckers to come to the
church to help translate for them. That was fun, and we even got to take a
quick field trip. After that we did our companionship study to plan a lesson,
and then went with the Deckers to visit one of the member families that we
visit pretty much every week. They're some pretty cool people, and had some
really good thoughts to contribute for the discussion. Then we headed over
(still with the Deckers) to visit another member at his house that he's
apparently been building for 18 years. I don't know the whole story there, but
he has started going quite a bit faster recently and is making good progress on
it. Then we returned to the church for ECG, and we had a new participant! Or
rather, the other Elders did. We divided into beginning and advanced groups
this time, since the two students were on such different levels. Elder Criddle
and I took the advanced group with our very regular participant, our dear
atheist friend that comes to church sometimes and always to Sunday dinner with
the Deckers. He's so cool. He even gave us some really good advice about our
stand that we're going to have in "Centar"in the main square. Elder
Criddle made grilled cheese at the apartment for dinner after ECG, and it was
pretty good.
Friday morning we had another lesson with "Peter".
He told us that he has a black belt in Karate. He went pretty off-topic for the
first half, but then the second half went quite a bit better. A bit after that
we went over to Te[i\ for lunch for the first time in a while. They commented
at the fact that we hadn't been there in a week or two but had finally come
back. They're pretty funny people. After lunch we did some searching around
town to find a tent-thing so we can have our Christmas table in all weather. We
couldn't find anything of the sort. For part of that I went on mini-exchanges
with Elder Jones, and our atheist friend came with us to help us look for that
tent thing, and we still didn't find anything. While we did that, Elders King
and Criddle went to check on that guy from last week that we found tracting.
Apparently he did read a bit of the Book of Mormon, but not much, and also
isn't interested at all. Then we did a little bit of contacting before going with
the Deckers to visit some members. We like them. When we got home to the
apartment, Elder Criddle made some breaded baked chicken and mashed potatoes
while I figured what I'm going to do for the talent show at Zone Conference
this next week. MVP.
Saturday we did a bit more prep work to get our stand ready,
and then Elder Criddle and I had a lesson with "Danny"(I actually
can't remember the pseudonym I gave him in the past, so that might be wrong.
Sorry.) This time around when we asked him if he'd read the chapter in the Book
of Mormon that we'd asked him to read, he said yes! The chapter we'd asked him
to read was 3 Nephi 11, of course, since that's the first chapter of the
crowning event of The Book of Mormon: Christ's personal visit to the ancient inhabitants
of the Americas, shortly after his resurrection. When we asked him what he
learned, he basically recited the whole chapter back to us, and it was great.
Then he told us that he's starting to see how commandments protect us from the
consequences that come from doing bad things. Then we smoothly transitioned
into teaching him about the Law of Chastity, and it actually all went really
well. He's suddenly making large steps forward, and it's great. After that, we
went with the other Elders and actually set up our little table in the main
square to advertise the "Light the World" thing that the church is
doing. Not many people stopped by, but there also weren't many people out and
about in the first place. I think it was still good, though. After that we went
and cleaned the church with the Deckers and our Atheist friend before heading
home for dinner and language study.
On Sunday morning when we woke up, there was snow outside! I
like snow. Then we of course had church, and this week was fast Sunday when we
have testimony meeting, meaning that there were no assigned speakers and anyone
could get up and share their thoughts about Christ and the gospel.
"Peter" and "Danny" were both there at church, and
"Danny" actually got up to share his testimony. He essentially talked
about how thankful he is that he's met us all and has this good influence from
us, unlike the bad influence he says others have at his college, and that he's
thankful that he's been learning about the commandments that will help protect
him from ending up in jail or anything like that. He's pretty cool.
"Peter" also stayed for all of the other meetings, and he seemed to
really like it and feel the Spirit. In other news, a 16-year-old young man got
ordained to be a priest, so that was cool. Elder Decker is always saying that
that young man is going to be the branch president here one day. For the rest
of Sunday after church, we did the regular stuff like weekly planning, had a
really great dinner at the Deckers (Sister Decker made meatballs with some kind
of awesome special sauce, and it was marvelous), and then came home for
language study.
So far today we've chilled with the other Elders a bit,
worked in the church while some guys cut down a big old tree in our little
courtyard using a chainsaw on a really long pole, helped a member with some
stuff, then made crepes with some of the younger members that are our age and
played Uno with them. People here really like Uno (and so do I, so this works).
Your homework this week is to read Alma 42. It's quite a
good one. It talks about Christ, justice and mercy, and how that all works
together to provide us the opportunity to receive eternal life in the end.
Have a great week! Here's a photo of the snow.
--
Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia
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