Welcome back! I'm glad you're here.
So, last week on Monday besides emailing, we did our daily
work on Facebook, which included something pretty cool. I got in a conversation
with a guy that'd tried to get a visit from the missionaries a few times in the
past, but they could never find where he lived. The missionaries would always
just get lost. So, I chatted back and forth with him some to get more details
about where he lives, and other details to help out, and set up an appointment
for the Zone Leaders to go visit him on Thursday, since they were the closest.
Keep reading to hear the end of the story ;) Later in the day on Monday we got
some good food, did an Escape Room, and had a really good time with it all.
Tuesday's plan was for the Sisters to ride with the Nields
to the home of two members that live kinda far out of town, and for Elder
Christensen and I to take the bus. We missed our bus by about 30 seconds. So,
we called the Nields to tell them that we'd missed the bus and probably
wouldn't be making it. As we were slowly walking back into town (the bus
station is kinda far away), we called the members that we were going to visit.
The lady asked us where we were, had us ask some people for directions (but no
one wanted to talk to us), and then she told us to cross the street and get on
the next bus. We did. I have no idea how that worked out, but when we got off
of the bus at the last stop, way out of town, their van was there in that other
little town waiting to pick us up and take us the rest of the way, which was
only a few minutes. So, we did indeed have a fantastic meal with them,
including the Nields and the Sisters. That lady speaks German, since she lived
in Germany for quite a few years, so Sisters Icke and Marinković had a fun time
getting to speak to her in German. The husband in that couple is a musician and
plays guitar at a nearby restaurant, so he played a few songs for us while
singing, and it was great. Anyway, when we all got back to town, we had some
business-y stuff to take care of around town, during which time we happened to
run into someone that I knew from my time(s) in Sremska Mitrovica. Later in the
day the Sister Training Leaders, Sisters Woolf and Orchard, showed up from
Belgrade to start exchanges with our sisters here. They joined us all for a
group language study, and then English Conversation Group, too. A lot of people
came to that, and then the 6 of us went to get some food before the end of the
night.
Wednesday started with some work on Facebook, during which I
somehow ended up in a conversation with a relative of one of those members that
we visited the day before. I didn't even realize that he had the same last name
as our member friend until he asked if I knew the guy, haha. After that we had
District Meeting at the Nields, at which I gave a lesson on studying these
languages. Nothing particularly interesting happened for the rest of the day.
Thursday started off with some contacting, which somehow led
us to McDonald's at about lunch time. So, we had McDonald's for lunch, then
kept contacting. After doing our work on Facebook and then more contacting, we
had language study, and then headed over to the church for English. At the end
of that, the Zone Leaders showed up to start exchanges with us. But first, they
told us what happened with the lesson that I'd set up for them over Facebook.
Apparently they kinda struggled to get there where he lives, and so arrived a
bit late, but they did indeed find him and had a great lesson. Turns out that
this guy has read the whole Book of Mormon and has a pretty cool story. He also
asked to be baptized and join the church. So, they set a date for him to be
baptized! At the end they of course set up a return appointment, invited him to
church, and then came here to Novi Sad to start exchanges and tell us the
story. I also found out yesterday from them that the guy did indeed come to church
on Sunday! From there we went and all got burritos together at Tortilla Casa,
which was great as always, and then the Zone Leaders (Elders McNeil and
Bradshaw) stayed the night with us.
Friday morning was when our exchanges with the Zone Leaders
started, so Elders Christensen and McNeil headed out for Belgrade, and I stayed
with Elder Bradshaw. After that, the morning got pretty crazy. We went
contacting into the center of town, and as we were waiting at a crosswalk to
get there, an older couple that looked like tourists came up to us and said
"Guten Tag!". So, I told them "Guten Tag. Ich spreche kein
Deutsch. Sprechen Sie English?" which being interpreted is, "Hello. I
don't speak German. Do you speak English?" They told me they don't speak
English. The guy showed me a card thing that said he doesn't receive blood
transfusions (at least that's what I gathered from the little illustration; the
card was in German and I didn't have a half hour to try to understand it). Then
I realized that they're Jehova's Witnesses. I told them in my broken German
that we're Mormons, and that we talk with people about "the book", as
I showed them the Book of Mormon that I had. I also told them that "the
book"is about Jesus. They said that they love Jesus and that Jesus is
their life. We had a nice little moment, and my vocabulary ran out, so we shook
hands and parted kindly. Then I explained to Elder Bradshaw what had happened
since he speaks even less German than I do. Then we continued into the center
of town where there were apparently even more tourists. One lady approached us
and said in American English, "Wow, you guys sure are recognizable
anywhere."Turns out she was a member of the church on vacation, so we
talked with her a bit. Then we kept going, and tried talking to one guy who
apparently didn't speak Serbian. So, we asked in English where he was from, and
he said Israel. Apparently he was on vacation too, even though he didn't look
like it to us. As we continued, we talked to a guy that was pretty funny and
seemed open enough to listen, and he told us where he lives and that we could
come buy next week at some point. Later in the day, it was looking like it was
going to rain, and then a huge strike of lightning and crack of thunder
exploded in the sky, a few minutes before it started raining pretty hard. So we
took shelter in the church and called some people. One of them agreed to meet
up with us this coming week. Later that evening after it had stopped raining,
we were doing some more contacting, and then we got a text from the sisters
asking if we were coming to American Corner. American Corner is where we go at
6:30 on Fridays to help local students practice English with natives in a
casual setting. When we got that text, it was 6:45, since we'd totally
forgotten about it. Well, I'd forgotten about it, and Elder Bradshaw didn't now
about it to start with. So, then we went over there for that, and for dinner
went to a cool Chinese restaurant at the top of a mall. It had a really good
view of the city.
Saturday of course started off with church cleaning, and
then we planned our Sunday School lesson with the sisters, since we were going
to be in charge of it. We got our stuff figured out, had lunch, did some
studies, and then Elder Bradshaw and I met up with the Nields to head up to
Belgrade to finish the exchanges. It also just so happens that there was a
baptism scheduled in Belgrade that evening, so we attended that, and it was
great. Somehow I got pulled into a "special musical number"for an
interlude thing, but it was all good. It was also of course really good to get
to see other missionaries there. After that we of course drove home to Novi Sad
with Elder Christensen again.
On Sunday morning we had to be to the church early for some
meetings. Then sacrament meeting included me translating for Elder Nield, the
sisters performing a musical number, and a member of the district presidency
giving a great talk. For Sunday school, we and the sisters presented our lesson
about how we can get more people attending church, and it seemed to go pretty
well. After church we took care of some interviews and paperwork, did our
Facebook work, had weekly planning, and then had yet another wonderful dinner
at the Nields' place.
As for today, Monday, we started off with some tennis down
by the river with the Nields and the sisters, since the Nields are pretty good
at tennis. That was pretty fun. I haven't played a real sport in quite a while.
Then we got lunch, did some emailing, did some more paperwork, etc. It's been a
pretty good P-day so far.
Well, we're running out of time, so you'll have to figure
out your own homework! Here are some photos from this week including one along
the Danube, plus one on our magical bus ride out to visit those members. Have a great week!
--
Elder Ryan Echols
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Adriatic North Mission
Svačićev Trg 3/1
HR-10000 Zagreb
Croatia
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