Week 69: Christmas Conference and a Flat Tire

Hello there, friends and family! I hope you all are doing well. This week was a pretty good one. It's snowed some more, we got to go to Zagreb and see other missionaries, etc. I like zone conferences.

So, on Tuesday after our studies we went with the Deckers to visit that same member and her mom who isn't a member. Same pair from last week, or whenever that was. We taught them the Plan of Salvation, God's plan for us, and it went really well. At the end we asked the mom if she'd prepare to be baptized, and it basically came out that she doesn't understand why she'd need to, since she was baptized in the Orthodox church. We tried to explain the authority thing better while we were there, but we'll need to work on it some more. After lunch, Elder Criddle worked on some random stuff, and then put up our Christmas stand/table in Centar on the main square again. It was really cold that day, but some people took stuff and it was good. That night we had ECG with one student, but it was really good.

Me playing the accordion at our Christmas Zone Conference in Zagreb

On Wednesday we packed up and headed out on the road to go to Zagreb, Croatia for Zone Conference. This one was special, since it's the closest one before Christmas. So, Christmas Conference. The drive all the way to Zagreb was long and cramped, with 5 not-so-small people in a fairly small car with hardly 5 seats. Once we got to the mission home, we got to see some old missionary friends, like Sisters Locey and McColm who were in the same district as me in Sarajevo at various points, or Elder Valentine who was in the same MTC group as me over a year ago. Also, the Belgrade district had all matching sweaters. We had some scripture trivia and such, and then all went out to do some Christmas caroling in the big park right there. When we finished caroling, we all got to go wander around and look at the shops and all the cool stuff that's set up in Zagreb. It's quite amazing. Then we had a big fiasco while trying to take our car from the parking garage so we could go to the mission home for the night. Long story. We eventually made it out and over to the mission home where we then had a talent show. One of the highlights was President Melonakos telling jokes. And, in case you're wondering, I did participate by playing something on accordion. I enjoyed it. To end the night, we all had some free time for games and such, and some of us ended up playing a huge game of Uno that was total insanity, and then a few rounds of "4 Women on a Couch". That game is kinda hard to explain without seeing it, so I'll just let you wonder. Sorry, haha.

I got to see lots of other missionaries at zone conference, which was so fun!

On Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast and stuff, and continued on with zone conference. There were a lot of good presentation, a number of which were based on passaged from "The Living Christ". We had a lot of really good discussions, and good musical numbers spread throughout too. At the end, Sister Locey gave her departing testimony, since she's finishing her mission at the end of this transfer, which is in a week. Anyway, after some lingering, we all headed on the road back to our respective cities, and the drive on the way back was just as long and cramped was it was on the way there. Weird how that works.

Driving in the car with other missionaries and Elder Decker

On Friday life returned to normal. Though, on our way out of the apartment in the morning, before even getting out of the building, a lady stopped us and set up a lesson with us for the next day. Apparently she's one of the people in the phone that Elder Criddle and I have never actually met, but who we'd called a time or two to see if they'd be interested to learn more. Anyway, then we went outside to do some contacting and didn't get any other new investigators. We gave out some cards, though. Then we got lunch from Tesic and took it back to eat at the church, at which point we discovered the other Elders working there and waiting for their own lunch from Tesic to be delivered. After that we got our little table set up again in the main square of town, and while we temporarily split up, Elder Jones and I ran into "Peter" and his brother on our way over. So, we set up a lesson with him for the next day. Right as Elder Jones and I were arriving at the stand, a guy from across the street waved and stopped us and asked us if we were from America. He said he was partially from North Dakota and partially from Serbia, and said that he'd bring his family to church on Sunday. Awesome. At the stand, some lady came up and almost immediately asked what'd take for her to be able to meet with us to learn more. So, we exchanged phone numbers. Nice. All the cool things happen when we're not trying to make them happen. After we were done with the table for the day, we had district meeting back at the church with the other Elders and the Deckers. Then Elder Criddle and I had dinner and a companion study before we had a lesson with "LJ". He's a guy that flips back and forth between Sremska Mitrovica and Novi Sad, where I started my mission. So, I've actually met him a number of times before while I was there a year ago. In any case, it was a good lesson and it seems like he's learning a lot from long-term exposure to the gospel.

Our little display table set up at the main square.

Saturday it was snowing more! We started off with some lesson planning, and then we went over to the church for our lesson with "Danny". He's doing really well, and we talked about prophets, temples callings in the church, marriage, and the Word of Wisdom. He always has really good questions. We also invited him again to be baptized, and though he knows that baptism is a really important and good thing, he said he's afraid of what friends would say to him if he got baptized in this church. At least it's a clear next step, right? After that lesson we helped Elder Decker with some stuff, then had another lesson, but this one with "Peter". This lesson was really good, and he didn't go off-topic talking about paranormal stuff quite as much. We taught him about obedience, and how it's a commandment to read the scriptures like the Bible or Book of Mormon, as well as of course keeping the Sabbath day holy, and following the prophets. I think we got some good stuff cleared up, too. After that, our lesson with the lady from the stairwell didn't happen, and so we had lunch. Then we set up our table in Centar on the square, even though it was snowing. Then we had language study and dinner before going over to the branch activity, another game night. People here really like Uno, and it's great to have everyone socializing like that. I also played two heated matches of Fusball (does anyone know how to spell that?) with "LJ", and we each won one. Once the activity was over, we cleaned up the church and then headed home for the night.

Enjoying the Christmas Market in Zagreb with other missionaries. I'm behind the sister with the white hat.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a lesson with "Danny" before church, and we had a member come to the lesson. It was that young man that recently got ordained to be a priest, and he really helped a lot. He helped answer some of Danny's concerns about how his friends might react to him getting baptized. It was really good, and we told him to pray about it too. I think he'll get baptized within the next 2 months for sure. Anyway, then we had church of course and "LJ", "Peter", and "Danny" were all there. It was great. There were some really great talks and really great classes. After church some of us had to wait around a bit, and I got to talk to some of the younger members about their mini-missions that they'd served in Sarajevo, where I served before, of course. Anyway, the rest of the day was just the regular thing with weekly planning and a wonderful dinner at the Deckers'.

As for today, it's been kinda crazy, but among other things, we went to Belgrade and went bowling with pretty much the entire zone. All 12 of us except the 4 Podgorica missionaries and the Zone Leaders. So, I guess it was 2/3 of the zone. We also discovered as we were heading out to head back to Sremska Mitrovica that our car had a flat, so we're figuring that out. I guess we'll be going back to Sremska in the morning.

Elder Criddle and I with Sister Decker

Well, I don't really have much time for email, so you'll have to figure out some homework to assign yourself. Have a great week!

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