Week 76: Member Visits, Someone's Birthday, and My Illness

Hello everyone! We're running pretty short on time, so this email is going to be a short one again.

On Tuesday we had french toast for breakfast, and that was a nice change. Shortly after that we had an appointment scheduled with a member, so we walked over there, but then right as we "arrived" I realized that we were on the wrong side of town. So we called him to tell him we were going to be late, but he told us first that he needed to re-schedule for later in the day. Convenient. For comp study a bit later we read some stuff from the talk "Be Ye Therefore Perfect. Eventually" by Jeffrey R. Holland. It's a really good one. You should read it. Then a bit later we went over for that appointment and got to know him some and shared a spiritual thought from that talk, and it was really good. Then we went to the church for ECG and had a fair group again.

Although it looks like we are drinking alcohol here, we are not! Just having some fun with water in those fancy glasses.

Wednesday started off with district meeting, and then after lunch we made a birthday card for a member and went to drop it off. Then we had about 5 hours left in the day and didn't really know what to do with them, so we kinda just started walking. To our credit, we went along the river, where there are usually a lot of people, so it wasn't just dumb. Though, it turns out that there weren't that many people there then. Darn. Later on in the day we set up a table in front of the church with a TV on it where we played the 20-minute Restoration video a number of times. After we packed up and started heading home for the night, we ran into a funny old guy that was willing to talk to us, though he wasn't interested.

A rooftop view of Celje, Slovenia.

On Thursday morning we drove out to one of the smaller towns around here to visit our beloved Peruvian member, the Elders' Quorum president. He's so great. We tossed a frisbee around a little bit, taught him how to play "Horse" on the basketball court, and then he cooked us some legit Peruvian food for lunch. After we got back to Celje, the rest of the day was just kinda the normal stuff, including ECG.

 

Friday started off with me feeling a bit ill. Just the standard "I have a cold" kinda stuff. So, we stayed inside mostly and did stuff in the Area Book and made calls. At some point we went with the Monsons to visit a different member family. Since they don't speak English, I was suddenly the translator, like my good old times in Sremska Mitrovica. They fed us some cake and juice that was pretty good, and we had a nice little discussion. That night for dinner we went with the Monsons to a restaurant called "Pri Prijatljih" that was pretty darn good. I got "the Celje burger", which had an egg on it. Like, "sunny side up" egg. The egg popped when I put the top bun on. It was a good time. For dessert we got a lava cake to share with some ice cream (and no, Elder Newton, I don't think it was better than the one at Ms. Sofija's 4 Rooms; the record still stands).

Elder Love blowing out a candle for his birthday! He's 19!

Saturday was Elder Love's birthday! And I woke up even more sick than I'd been feeling on Friday. In any case, we went with a member to do some Home Teaching. We visited one of the older members. What a funny guy. After we read a chapter together from the Book of Mormon, he fed us some cold lasagna that we ate with our hands (no, we didn't have plates either). But the other member didn't ask for a plate or anything, so I guess it's normal. Sounds good to me. Later in the day after some of the normal stuff, we met up with one of the younger members to briefly celebrate Elder Love's birthday. So, we went to Hotel Evropa where they have really good cakes. I got a lemon one that was really really good. The member even brought a candle for Elder Love's cake. Then he went with us back to the church to teach a lesson, but the lesson got delayed by an hour or so. In the end we did have the lesson, and it was pretty good. It was the same guy that we met at the end of the year and then had one lesson with while Elder Jensen was here on exchanges. He seems to have promise, but he's kinda busy so our meetings might be infrequent.

The yummy lemon cake I ordered at a restaurant.

On Sunday we of course had church, and the District President was there visiting. He's a really friendly guy. Our Elders' Quorum president gave one talk, and the District President gave the other, and they were both really good. The rest of church was definitely really good too, and since the District President served his mission in Spain (if I heard correctly), he helped translate for our dear Peruvian friend when he wanted to more fully express himself. The rest of Sunday was pretty regular, including weekly planning and a delicious dinner at the Monsons'. We even got leftovers to take home that we had for lunch today! Haha.

The beautiful cobblestone streets of Celje, with cafes everywhere.

Today, since I still wasn't feeling good, I asked Elder Monson and Elder Love to give me a Priesthood blessing, and then later tried to go to the doctor, but the doctor was first busy and then closed and it just didn't work. So, we'll try again tomorrow.

Your homework is to read that talk I mentioned, "Be Ye Therefore Perfect -- Eventually". It's super good. Here are some photos! Have a great week!

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