Week 84: a Russian War Dog, and some "Annual Events"

Hello everyone! So, this week, thankfully we had a bit more sun and warmth than we did last week. It's been good.

Tuesday morning it was still snowing for the most part, and no one was really outside, so we did some more business-y stuff that needed to get done at some point anyway. Later in the day we went with the Deckers to visit a member family and talk about their plans with the upcoming annual temple trip that'll be in the summer. Members from the mission here all carpool up to Switzerland or Germany (the temples in each are about the same distance from here) and stay there for a few days, since we don't have temples over here. That evening we of course had English Conversation Group as always.

Wednesday we got ditched for a lesson and then had lunch. In the afternoon we had district meeting with the Deckers, and Sister Decker taught a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and why it's important. In case you didn't know, the Book of Mormon is important. It teaches about Christ, like the Bible does, and also confirms the Bible. It adds to our knowledge about God's plan, and proves that God speaks to prophets even today. I'd highly suggest reading it.

 

Thursday started off with companionship study and then going contacting. For lunch I made some sort of fried chicken, which was pretty good, and then we had language study before going contacting again. We didn't get very far though that time, since we got a call from President Melonakos saying that he and Sister Melonakos would be arriving early for interviews. That meant that we had to just turn around to go back to the church, and we all arrived at the church at the same time. They brought the mail with them, which is always great. While Elder Heaton had his interview, I sat and talked with Sister Melonakos and the Deckers, and then some members that showed up to get their temple recommends for this year's temple trip. After they had their interviews with President, I had mine which included in part getting my "ecclesiastical endorsement" for BYU, so that I'll be able to go back to BYU in the fall. After my interview, we played some ping pong and Elder Heaton showed Sister Melonakos how to serve the ball with a spin on it. After they left to continue on their voyage, we had ECG, and then Elder Heaton and I went off to have a lesson with some guy that had called us saying that he wanted to learn more about Jesus. We had a bit of a hard time finding his place in the snow, but we eventually found it. When we got in and met him, I recognized him as someone that Elder Criddle and I had met once while we were with Elder Decker.

On Friday, Elder Heaton woke up feeling sick enough that we couldn't really go anywhere, so we stayed inside and I got some extra study time. We did have a lesson set up for the very end of the day, and Elder Heaton was feeling up to it, so we went to that, but the person bailed on us.

Saturday while we were in the park contacting, we met a cool older guy that had a dog. It was a Russian war dog, or something like that. It wasn't even 2 months old yet, and it was already pretty big, but you could tell from its paws that it's going to bo absolutely huge when it grows up. Anyway, the guy was willing to talk to us for a bit, and though he wasn't willing to set up to meet or anything, we got him to take a Book of Mormon and he said he'd read it. After lunch we went with the Deckers to visit some members, which was good, and then at the end of the day we had our branch game night again. We played some ping pong and Uno (always a favorite), and then cleaned the church all together.

Playing the piano for a musical number in church a few weeks ago.

Yesterday, Sunday, was the Deckers' 41st wedding anniversary! And also when the daylight savings change happens over here. It was also my birthday. A lot of people came to church, including some visiting members from Belgrade, a number of investigators, and pretty much all the regular members. It was quite a turnout. After our church meetings, we all had a big branch lunch together. At the start, everyone sang for me the local version of the birthday song, and congratulated the Deckers on their anniversary. It was really great to have that many people there.

Your homework this week is to watch General Conference! General Conference is a semi-annual broadcast when we get to hear messages from the leaders of our church, most notably from the Prophet (Russel M. Nelson) and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. It's definitely worth checking out. If you watch it with a personal question, like "How can I be a better parent?" or "How can I be happier?" or something similar, you'll come out with a definite answer.

It's kinda a long story how exactly this happened, but for dinner this week at one point my "pigs in a blanket" meal ended up more as a hotdog pie. It still tasted good, but here's a photo of that, plus a certain Lego something that I received for my birthday. Have a great week!

--

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

Week 83: 10 Dinar, Rain, and Return of the Snow

As a little side note to start off, the weather was really good at the start off this last week. The sun was out and it was warm and feeling like spring. Today it's snowing. No, I don't know how that happened.

Anyway, on Tuesday Elder Heaton was feeling quite ill, so we stayed inside for a while to do calls and such. But, we did go over to the other (currently empty) apartment to grab some basketballs, in preparation for Wednesday's "sports night". I did some needed work on the computer, we contacted a bit, and then we came back for English Conversation Group.

On Wednesday we started off with a nice lesson with "James" (though that's not his real name), that investigator that lives pretty far out of town. We taught him some more about the Gospel, particularly repentance, and he said he'll be traveling soon, but that he'll use that time to read The Book of Mormon some more. After that lesson, while waiting for another lesson that never showed up, we saw an old man on a bike with his dog, a husky, on a leash. The dog was running enthusiastically, pulling the man along on his bike so he didn't even have to pedal. Later on we had district meeting, and at the end, some guy just walked into the church asking for us to pray for him, so we of course did. He said he'd come to church on Sunday, and seemed sincere. Later, while Elder Heaton and I were contacting by the river, a drunk guy walked up to us and asked us for 10 Dinar (that's about 10 cents). We're still kinda wondering what he'd even do with 10 Dinar. After some studies and such, we changed our clothes and headed out for the basketball court for branch "sports night". In addition to me and Elder Heaton, the Deckers showed up for a bit, and one youger guy came, who we know from English Conversation Group. Even though hardly anyone came, we had some fun shooting some hoops.

Thursday started with more contacting. Then we had language study until we got a call from the building manager guy. He needed to work on something in the church, so we had to let him in and such. While we waited, I practiced piano some. When he was done, we did more contacting, and at the same spot along the river we ran into the same guy that had asked us for 10 Dinar. He again asked us for 10 Dinar. A bit later, we went with the Deckers to that other empty apartment to clean out some stuff that's still there in the drawers and closets. Then we of course had ECG, like every Tuesday and Thursday, and then after we got home I made pasta again for dinner.

On Friday we went contacting, we did actually run into one guy that was willing to listen to us, and so took two copies of the Book of Mormon; one for himself, and one for his son. Then we went with the Deckers to visit some members, which was good. After that, Elder Heaton and I went into the center of town with our table and a whiteboard and set up a little stand. We put out some copies of the Book of Mormon, and wrote John 10:16 on the whiteboard. We actually had one guy that came over and asked us what the deal was, like what we were selling, and so we told him about Christ's ministry in the ancient Americas and how the Book of Mormon is how we know about that. He took a copy, and our card. Then it started raining a few minutes later. Since we were right next to a building, and it wasn't raining very hard, we just pulled our stuff closer to the building and that got it out of the rain. But, then everyone vanished and there was no one to talk to, so we just packed up and headed back to the church. That evening we went with the Deckers to again visit the owners of the other empty missionary apartment. The husband gave us more of his award-winning sausage, and the wife showed sister Decker how to make Gibanica (I think I spelled that right), which they'd fed us last time we'd come over. They're great people.

 

Who doesn't love pancakes for dinner? I think I made some pretty good ones!

Saturday was pretty boring for the majority of the day. The Deckers and most of the members were gone to Belgrade for a conference thing for most of the day, and we hardly managed to speak with another living soul the whole day, even including phone calls. Though, at the start of our dinner hour, while in the grocery store, we did run into two of the younger members that had just gotten back from the conference. It was great to get to speak with other humans. Then we went back to our apartment and made pancakes for dinner. Some lady that the missionaries had apparently met last transfer did text us out of nowhere, and we ended up getting a lesson set up for this next week. Right as we were about to go to bed, we got a call from Elder Decker saying we needed to go to the hospital to give a member an emergency blessing. Turns out it was one of the members that Elder Heaton and I had run into at the grocery store, who had since started having extreme abdominal pains, like appendicitis or something. So we got dressed again real quick and headed over with the Deckers and found them and gave the member a blessing. They are definitely going to be ok, but it's undoubtedly a stressful situation for the family. I was glad that we were able to do something to help, though. Anything at all.

Yesterday, Sunday, we had church like always, but there were only a few members in attendance, since so many people are sick or in the hospital at this particular instant. In any case, do you remember that guy that came into the church at the end of district meeting on Wednesday to ask us to pray for him? He did actually come to church! I had the opportunity to play a special musical number during sacrament meeting, which I quite enjoyed. Later, for Elder Decker's lesson, I also got to translate into Serbian; translating what other people say from English over into another language is probably one of my favorite things to do with the mission languages. Speaking on my own in another language is fine, but there's something oddly satisfying about translating someone else's words. After church we of course got our business stuff done, including weekly planning, and had a wonderful dinner over at the Deckers' place.

Today we woke up and it was snowing. In any case, we did some cleaning, bought some groceries, and had lunch at Pizza XL (just like old times, except without Elders King, Jones, and Criddle). I really don't know how the weather turned around again like that and turned back into winter.

Your homework for this week is to read or listen to "Achieving Your Full Potential" by Elder Donald L. Staheli. I don't know where Elder Heaton originally found it, but we listened to it this week, and it's great.

Sorry for not having sent photos last week. Here are some more from visiting Novi Sad last week, part of our trip to Belgrade, and pancakes from this week. Have a great week!
--

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

Week 82: Russian, a Book Fair, and Football

Since we went to Belgrade today for our P-day, I really don't have much time at all to type. So, here's the 30-second run-down of the week.

Monday, after emailing, our landlady's husband and some repair guys came over to our apartment to install our neighbor's satellite dish from our balcony.

Tuesday, the electricity got fixed in the church, and we turned in Elder Heaton's papers for his Visa. After ECG in the evening we had a bit of a lesson with one of the older participants that has been coming to church recently. He seems open to our message, so we'll see what we can do.

Wednesday, we had a great district meeting lesson taught by Elder Decker, made a lot of calls, and then had a branch activity that no one attended.

Thursday we went with the Deckers to a member family home for a guitar lesson with the daughter. Since they're from Ukraine and speak Russian, I took the opportunity to talk to the mom and learn some basics of Russian. After that, Elder Heaton and I went to a police station to get permission to set up a table in the center of town to hand out copies of The Book of Mormon. The police officer that helped us was a really nice guy. I made tacos for lunch. After ECG we had another lesson with our older friend. We watched the Restoration movie with him.

The Novi Sad missionaries

Friday we went with the Deckers over to Novi Sad so we could help with the church's booth. As we got out of the car, Sister Decker got stung by a wasp. Apparently she's allergic. Though, miraculously, for this one time in her life, the sting didn't swell up and cause a huge problem. Apparently it wasn't even hurting by the end of the day. Cool. Also, it was really really cool to be back in Novi Sad again, after more than a year. I really like that city. It seems so alive. Anyway, we got to see the Novi Sad missionaries and help man the booth and give out some copies of the Book of Mormon.

The Novi Sad Book Fair

Saturday we had a lesson with our investigator that lives way out of town, and it was really good. Like I said a few weeks ago, it's hard for him to come in to town here, but he's really seeming to understand the message and take it to heart. That afternoon we went with Elder Decker to the weekly practice of Sremska's American Football team, the Legionnaires. I now know about 4x as much about football as I previously did, and we have some new acquaintances. After we'd gotten back from that, we went with the Deckers to visit the home of the landlord of the other currently-empty missionary apartment. He and his wife are really cool. Apparently he makes award-winning homemade Serbian sausages, and she's a doctor. After he showed us his "office" where he makes these sausages, we sat down and had a great discussion with them. Great people. That evening we had our branch game night, and though only 3 people came besides us and the Deckers, it was quite a good time and definitely worth the time.

The Deckers, some of my favorite people!

Yesterday we had church, which was fairly normal, helped Elder Decker get a video conference-call up and running, and then at the end of the night went to visit a member in distress. His father is dying and really in bad shape, and so we gave the father a blessing, and then had a discussion with the son for a while. He ended up wanting a blessing too, and so we gave him one also.

Today for P-day we went to Belgrade and did an escape room, which was awesome. Essentially, you solve puzzles until you figure out how to escape the room. That's the first time I've done one, and I really enjoyed the puzzles. We then got some food, and went to play basketball. Pretty chill, and it was great to see all those other missionaries. Plus, two of the Sremska members came along, and their company was quite appreciated.

And I'm totally out of time today! But, I hope you all have a great week!.
--

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