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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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).
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Bus tour around Belgrade with a group of missionaries |
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| 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.
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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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