Week 78: Slovene Holidays, Part 1

Hello everyone! So, slight change of plans: I'm emailing you all today! I guess that just means that everything is normal, though. So on to the summary of the week!

Last Tuesday was kinda just all the normal stuff, with the addition of dropping off some lemon bars for one of the members, and some extra work on the computer. We also got a call from some lady saying she wants a copy of the Book of Mormon, so that was new and cool. She lives far away though, so this could be tricky. We of course had ECG at the end of the day, which was a slightly smaller crowd than normal, but really good anyway.

Missionaries do lots of walking...it always feels good to take off the shoes when you get home.

Wednesday started off with district meeting with the Monsons, and then we had quesadillas for lunch with them at their place. What a great start to the day. Then we made some calls and such to invite people to the branch party on Friday, had companionship study, and then headed out for a lesson. The lesson was kinda across town, with a guy that we contacted from our area book. Long story short, he really likes arguing (the main problem), disagrees with us on a lot of things, and has read a bunch of nonsense on the internet that he takes as pure truth. His mom was really nice though, and gave us cookies and juice. She also occasionally interjected to disagree with him and agree with us, which was kinda funny. At the end she sent us home with the package of leftover cookies.

Cookies in a cup!

Happy Prešeren's Day! That's a Slovene holiday that was on Thursday the 8th. Prešeren is a very famous poet and sort of national hero of Slovenia. He wrote the poem that is now the national anthem of Slovenia, so on Thursday morning I got out the accordion and played the Slovene national anthem. Because of the holiday all the schools for closed, and most businesses too. So, there weren't many people out and about. Though we did stop by the apartment of one family that the sisters had talked to once (about 4 months ago) since the sisters said we should keep trying to get in contact there. And we did! This was the first time we'd stopped by while they were home, and so we got a phone number so we can better coordinate a visit in the future. That was cool. Then we went to have lunch with a member at a cool little café/kayaking club that's right next to the river. The rest of the day was kinda just the typical stuff, like studies and contacting.

Playing the Slovene National Anthem on the accordion.

 Thursday morning started with some contacting, and we talked to this one guy that believed more in some kind of energy, though not quite "God", and though we didn't get a phone number from him, he took a copy of the Book of Mormon. A bit later we had lunch and studies and baked some cookies. Then we delivered some cookies and did some more contacting. That evening we had a branch game night, and so we of course played some really intense Uno, plus some other games, and it was all quite a good time.

Good food with the Monsons.

Saturday was a lot of contacting. Though, in the middle we had lunch with the Monsons and that really good Burek place. Also, there were a fair number of people dressed up in costumes around town, since there's a multiple-day holiday going on right now. One of the best things was when we saw a pair of inflatable T-rexes walking down the street, like the kind you sometimes see on the internet doing funny stuff. Another part of the holday is that doughnuts (krofi) are suddenly being sold everywhere. They're always filled, but not always with the same stuff.

T-Rexes walking down the street!

Sunday, yesterday, we of course had church, but this time it was in Ljubljana for District Conference! (District Conference is like Stake Conference, but we don't have a stake here yet.) So we took a trip down there and got to see a bunch of friends from across Slovenia and meet new people, plus of course listen to great talks and learn together. The general theme of the whole thing was how important it is that we 1) read the scriptures every day, particularly the Book of Mormon, 2) pray often, definitely at least once a day, and 3) go to church every week. If we do these things with real intent, we'll stay strong in the faith, and gradually become better people. After all the meetings, some socializing, and interviews with President Melonakos, we headed back home to Celje, and the rest of the day was the typical stuff like planning and a delicious dinner with the Monsons.

District Conference in Ljubljana with other missionaries.

So far today it's been snowing quite a bit, and we did some calls and stuff to try to get some lessons set up. We also of course got to email today, as you can see, since our actual P-day tomorrow with the Pust festival will take all day. I think it'll be cool.

We got some snow!

Your homework this week is to read Alma 37. It's when Alma is saying goodbye to his son Helaman, and he tells him how important the scriptures are. Also, here are some photos of our wintry Celje, and the two T-rexes. Have a great week!
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Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia