Week 97: Transfers, Summer Conference, and the Odyssey

Hello everyone!

I'm sure you're wondering about transfers (if you knew that the announcements were this week), so I'll just start with that. I'll be staying in Novi Sad for my last transfer! That means I started here and I'll end here too. Also, both of the sisters are staying right where they are, meaning I'll get to keep learning German on the side. My new companion will be Elder Bird, from Idaho. Anyway, onto the rundown of cool things that happened.

After our adventures and emailing in Belgrade last Monday, we rode a bus back over to Novi Sad, during which time it started raining. So, we were definitely soaked by the time we got back to the apartment, haha.

Tuesday morning started off with us trying to visit an investigator guy that hasn't been answering our calls recently, but he also didn't answer his door. After lunch we packed up some stuff in preparation to go to Zagreb, and then went to the church to do our Facebook work and some other business-y stuff. From there we went over to the bus station and got on a bus to Sremska Mitrovica. We showed up at the apartment that I lived in last transfer, and Elders Rosenvall and Heaton pretended to not be home, haha. They eventually let us in and we got some pizza for dinner at my beloved Pizza XL.

Seeing friends at zone conference is always great.

In the morning on Wednesday, the 4 of us slammed into the back seat of the Deckers' car, with the Deckers up front, and drove out to the highway to intersect with the Novi Sad car. I hopped out and switched over to the Novi Sad car with the Nields and the Novi Sad sisters. The sisters played Ukulele in the back until they eventually ended up playing Christmas songs and we turned on some other music, haha. When we all showed up in Zagreb for summer Zone Conference, a bunch of us played tennis with Sister Melonakos, who is a pro, and then everyone played volleyball. After that, we had some food cooked/barbecued by the wonderful senior missionaries in attendance, and then went down to a huge park for more games. There was kickball, ultimate frisbee, and even spikeball. Once it was getting to the evening, we all went back up the hill to the mission home and had rootbeer floats before a comical fireside. We had a few performances, including the Assistants to the President introducing a song that they wrote about the mission. Elder Christensen and I, along with Sisters Icke and Marinković, performed the song "Gospel Rap". I think it's by James the Mormon. That was fun.

Missionaries practicing a musical number.

In the morning, more people played some tennis, we had a nice breakfast all together, and then Zone Conference itself began. All of the presentations were really good, but my favorite part was probably transfer announcements, haha. Usually transfer assignments are sent out by email. This time, we had a huge video call with everyone across the mission and President Melonakos read out names 1 by 1. That was pretty cool. Anyway, after all of our good studying and stuff, Elder Christensen gave his departing testimony, and that was the end of Zone Conference. But, when we went outside to start loading up vehicles to depart, we discovered a certain Jessa Locey (someone that served here as a sister missionary, including in Sarajevo at the same time as me, that got home about 6 months ago) and her family. It was really cool to see her again, and Sister Mom Locey went around taking pictures of missionaries and sending them to their mothers, which was pretty funny. Then began the odyssey.

Sister Locey and I served together in Sarajevo last year.

Sister Orchard and I also served together in Sarajevo.

The first part wasn't too interesting. We just loaded up in the cars we were in as we came to Zagreb and headed out the way we came. When we got near Sremska, we stopped at that abandoned hotel on the side of the highway where Elder Jones fell in an uncovered manhole at transfers in October. I hopped in the Sremska car in the back row with 3 other elders. The Novi Sad car continued onto Novi Sad, but we pulled into Sremska to see if there was a bus headed to Novi Sad. The last one for the day had left more than an hour before that. Oops. We did find out in advance that there was a bus in the morning at 9:15. So, Elder Christensen and I went with the Sremska elders to get food at Tešić, and it turns out that some other elders (including Elder Jones) were there getting dinner before continuing on their way. So, Elder Christensen and I spent yet another night in Sremska.

On Friday morning we had Elders Heaton and Rosenvall drive us up to the bus station, and got there at 8:45 or so. We bought two tickes for "the soonest bus to Novi Sad". Somehow that was at 9:45. Weird. So, we waited around for an hour, got on a bus, and then rode the bus for an hour back to Novi Sad. Eventually we got back home and dumped our stuff before having lunch and then doing our Facebook work. Then we helped prepare for our branch barbecue! When people started showing up, it was great. A pretty solid number of people showed up, including someone that I'd talked to on Facebook! Apparently she'd come to church a long time ago and knew a lot of people back then. It was really good to have a bunch of people all together like that socializing.

Saturday morning started off with church cleaning like normal, but this one also included some guys showing up to check our fire extinguishers. After doing some work as Data Master and then getting lunch at Gyros Master, we went home for Elder Christensen to pack some and for us to clean the apartment. I also happened to throw a cake in the oven. The Nields came over to do cleaning check, and then we went with them to the church. I brought the cake. We helped Elder Nield assemble a new lawn mower, and then did our Facebook work before the sisters' German class started. They had another really good turnout. After that, I stuck 2 candles in the cake, lit it up, and we had Elder Christensen blow them out. Happy 2 years!

The cake I made to celebrate Elder Christensen finishing his mission!

On Sunday we of course went to church, which was great as always. Elder Christensen gave another departing testimony, and then the sisters surprised him with their special musical number, which was "God Be With You 'til We Meet Again". After church we of course did some paperwork stuff like every week, and then went home for our studies. We had a great Final Supper over at the Nields' for Elder Christensen, and then went back home for him to finish packing.

Me and Elder Christensen. He will be at BYU in the fall, so I will get to see him again then!

As for today, Monday, we got up and printed off some emails to look at in the car, and then we drove to Belgrade. We picked up some luggage and a passenger (Elder Koncurat) to go over to Zagreb. So, another journey has begun. We'll see how long it takes to get back to Novi Sad this time, haha.

Your homework this week is to read Enos. Chapter 1. All of it. This week at zone conference we talked a lot about repentance. Enos is a really good example of true repentance. Also, praying is really good.

Enos praying in the wilderness

Here are some photos! Have a great week!
--

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

Week 96: A Fence, more Facebook Adventures, and Belgrade

Hey everybody! This week was another pretty interesting one, but we don't have a whole lot of time today so I'll see what I can fit in here.

Monday last week included all the normal stuff like email, but we also went to an escape room! That means an hour of puzzles and surprises, so it was great. We finished this one with maybe 20 seconds left, so that was exciting.

Escape Room photo with the clock showing 25 seconds left!

Tuesday's schedule ended up being pretty interesting. To start off with, Elder Christensen and I got in the car and drove to Belgrade to pick up the Nields from the airport on their way back from their little vacation with their kids. When we got back to Novi Sad and had some language study, we met back up with Elder Nield to go over to that member's house and help with building the fence and gate some more. That evening we of course had ECG, and then for dinner we went with the sisters and one of the "friends of the church"that I know from my first time here in Novi Sad back at the start of my mission.

Service for a member...helping to build a gate.

Wednesday morning started off with rain. Since that means that no one is going to really be outside or willing to talk, we decided to make some phone calls and try to set up some lessons. After some studies and lunch, we had district meeting with the Nields, the sisters, and our guests the Christensens, who are the mission's senior couple in charge of public affairs. If you remember the video project last week, they were in town still from helping with that and other things. After district meeting was over, we spent a little bit more time with them figuring out some other details with our Facebook Finding stuff. From there we went home to change and then went with Elder Nield again to work on that member's gate and fence. This time we dug a hole, cut some roots, and stuck a really big wooden post in it (a whole log, really), then poured some concrete (or cement? I don't actually know the difference, haha) around it to help hold it there. That evening after cleaning up we went to dinner with the Nields, Christensens, and the sisters, since the Christensens were heading out the next day.

Dinner with good friends

On Thursday morning we went with the Nields, Christensens, and Sisters to go visit some of our members that live outside of town. They of course had food prepared for us as an early lunch, and it was really good to get to talk with them. Since the wife in that couple lived in Germany for a long time, she likes to speak German with the sisters here, since they're from Germany. Most of the time I'd be translating from Serbian to English and vice versa so they and the Christensens could understand each other. So, imagine this: The wife is speaking in Serbian, and I'm saying what she's saying, but in English for the Christensens. Then the wife turns to the sisters and starts speaking in German, but I keep translating into English. After a few times of this happening, she noticed, stopped what she was saying, and turns to me and says, "Wait, you speak German?"to which I replied "...I understand German". That was pretty funny. When we got back into Novi Sad and the Christensens had left to go back to Croatia, my companion (Elder Christensen) and I went to the church to do our Facebook Finding. The Serbia page's inbox was kinda overflowing, and so we just hammered out a bunch of messages and it was great. A bit later we went contacting in real life and met a guy that was willing to listen to what the Book of Mormon is, just at a different time since he was in a rush, so he gave us his number. We had English that evening like usual, after which I got another mini-lesson in Hungarian from one of our participants. Novi Sad is close enough to Hungary that there are a fair number of people here who speak Hungarian or have Hungarian roots (or both).

Me and Elder Christensen doing our FB missionary work

On Friday we had a call-in report with one of the boss guys in the Area office to talk about our Facebook work, and that was really good. After that we just did our daily hour of Facebook work, and we got a lesson set up for two of the Elders in Belgrade! After some lunch, and some business-y stuff with Elder Nield, we had a bit of a video-call lesson with our dear friend that's not quite a member yet but who wants to be and is really ready. The problem is that he doesn't live in Novi Sad (or anywhere else where there are missionaries) and can't regularly pay for transportation to come to church. So, he's trying to get a job in Novi Sad so he can just move here and none of those things will be a problem. Then we went with Elder Nield to do some more work on that one member's fence and gate, and then Elder Christensen and I headed over to American Corner. This time was a little more relaxed since we all had a bigger room, so as part of us helping the kids practice English, I ended up doing some magic tricks and other fun stuff. The whole place was a bit of a party.

Me and Elder Christensen and other missionaries enjoying a bus tour of Belgrade

On Saturday we of course started off by cleaning the church, and then had some language study with the sisters. We got some lunch at Gyros Master, and then Elder Christensen and I did our hour of Facebook work. But you know what happened? We got 3 people who wanted to meet up with missionaries! All of them were in or very near Belgrade, so the Belgrade missionaries will be having a busy week I guess. That evening we helped a bit with the sisters' German conversation group (we helped the attendance be higher!), and then got some pizza after.

Sunday was church, like always, and it was great. One of our members that can't always come because of distance was the one to give a talk, and it was really great. After church Elder Christensen did our paperwork stuff for the week, and had a video call with the next DataMaster for us to train him a bit more on what he'll be doing when I officially have to turn the authority over to him. Later on, we had dinner over at the Nields'place with the sisters there too, and the food was great as always.

Bus tour around Belgrade with a group of missionaries

Sitting on the top level of an open air bus is a great way to see the sights of Belgrade

As for today we all ended up in Belgrade to spend some time with other missionaries. We went on one of those tourist buses where they have seats on top and headphones to listen to historical information, got some lunch, and played some games at the church. Pretty relaxed.

Your homework for this week is to read Mosiah 18, since it's about people coming to get baptized and making covenants. Covenants are like promises with God; if we do what he says, he will bless us. It's a good one. The people in this chapter were really ready to accept Christ into their lives and follow him, and that's part of the covenant we make when we're baptized.

Anyway, here are some photos! Have a great week!

P.S. my travel plans for my flight(s) home arrived in my email this week.
--

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