Week 88: Over the River, and Transfer Info

Hello everybody! Sorry if last week's email seemed rushed. We went up to a national park here last Monday and got to enjoy some nature, so we were a bit short on time for emailing. I have some pictures though.

We have new about transfers! I'm going back to Novi Sad! That's the city here in Serbia where I started my mission, and I'm really excited to go back. I'll be companions with Elder Christensen, who's now on his last transfer before going home. That means, if you take the average mission-age of all the companionships in the mission (the average of how long each missionary has been out on the mission), we're going to be the oldest companionship in the mission by a notable amount.

A cute little brick house in the little village we visited.

Anyway, Tuesday started off with us going across the river to a little village that we don't visit very often. Right as we arrived, a guy on a bike stopped and started talking to us. He apparently has met missionaries before, and so gave us his address and said he'd come to church. Awesome. Also, it turns out there are some pretty nice houses back there. We saw some kids playing handball, and later got a bit lost and ended up walking through some huge fields to try to get back. Later in the day we had some work to do like translating things, and then ECG at the end when not even the regular guy came. Oh well.

A fountain in the village.

On Wednesday the weather seemed cool enough that I decided to put on a jacket before we went out contacting. Turns out it was warm enough that I was definitely regretting the jacket by the time we were done. After lunch we had a great district meeting with the Deckers about agency, and then went to visit a member couple for her birthday. They'd made some food, and Sister Decker brought dessert, and it was really great to get to spend some time with them. They have a son on a mission, and really appreciate seeing us, since we remind them of him.

Thursday's activities included setting up a table in the center of down with our big whiteboard. An old man stopped to talk to us, but he only really wanted to argue with us. There were some younger guys that stopped and asked us some questions, and then took a copy of the Book of Mormon. That evening for ECG we had a whole 5 people come, which is an unusually large number for us here. That was good. After that we went to have dinner with another member family, and they'd made Sarma for us, one of my all-time favorites (and you can't really buy it anywhere, either).

Out in a field with Elder Heaton

Friday morning was transfer announcements! That's when we found out that I'm going back to Novi Sad, and Elder Heaton is staying here in Sremska to get a new companion. Also, as a really cool sidenote, this transfer they're putting sister missionaries in the country of Montenegro for the first time ever! Legendary. In any case, after lunch we went over the river again to that little village to look for that guy who gave us his address. We found his address, but the guy that lived there was not the same guy, and said that there's no one on that whole street with the name of the guy we were looking for. But, the good news is that there's a street with the same name way on the other side of Sremska, so we'll try to find him there soon.

Saturday started off with a lesson with that really awsome investigator from the start of the transfer who lives pretty far outside of Sremska. He's been busy recently, but as soon as he had time he texted us to say he could meet up. Man, this guy is awesome. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and the 10 commandments, and apparently he already lives all of it, which is extremely remarkable to me. He's very prepared. After that we made some phone calls, had lunch, did some studies, etc, and then in the evening cleaned the church, wrote some talks for Sunday, and had dinner.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Deckers and some members were out of town, so there was a really small number of people at church compared to normal, but everyone that was there really helped pull it together like any normal week. Elder Heaton and I gave talks, and I played the piano in place of Sister Decker. It was a pretty good Sunday.

 A scene from Fruška Gora last week.

Today we did some work, and then met up with Elders Rasmussen and Jones to get lunch, since they were driving through on their way to Zagreb for Elder Rasmussen to finish his mission. It was of course really great to see both of them.

Your homework for this week is to read Alma 5, which is a bit of a sermon from the prophet Alma telling us what we need to do in this life to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come. It's a good one.

Here are some photos from Fruška Gora last week, plus some from over the river this week.

Have a great week!​

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