Week 16 (and 15) : Pie, Eggnog, and Belgrade

Hey everybody! Sorry for missing last week's letter. Here's what happened for week 15:

-We made a pumpkin pie for our English Conversation Group (ECG) on Tuesday, and they loved it.

-Zone conference was on Wednesday, with President Johnson. Really good to get to see MTC pals again.

-Made our own Orange Chicken from scratch for lunch on Thursday. We did that with a member we've been helping out.

-Committed an investigator to baptism in our first lesson with him! It wasn't his first lesson with missionaries though, so we had a bit of a head start.

-During ECG on Thursday we talked about what we're thankful for and each made lists. #Thanksgiving

-After ECG I was a part of an incredible priesthood blessing that branch president McAlpin gave. The Priesthood is real, and God has truly restored his authority to the Earth once again.

-Friday night we tried some of the sausages they have around here. They sell them like giant hotdogs. Pretty good stuff.

-Sunday I gave a talk in church in Serbian, and it went pretty well (though it was kinda short).

-Sunday night we went so some religious concerts with some people we've been working with. I didn't understand most of what the choirs were saying as they sang =P

And now onto this week.

I don't remember what day it was, but we made eggnog this week. We don't have a blender though, so we had to do it in a mixing bowl with an electric egg beater. As the eggnog mixed, it also grew in volume (probably tripled). We poured the foam into a pitcher (filling it all the way), and I scooped a bit into a little cup which I put in the freezer to try to make eggnog ice cream. The next morning, the pitcher of foam was 1/3 full, but now with liquid. I love eggnog. The little cup from the freezer was really good ice cream, but it was so much air that it just vanished when you ate it.

Monday, P-day, I got a haircut! First one not in the USA. Elder Jex got his first, and since I have no vocabulary pertaining to haircuts except the word for hair (kosa), I just said "isto", which means "same". So, I got the same cut as Elder Jex.

  

Tuesday night I went out to Belgrade/Београд with Elder Osborn for companion exchanges while his companion stayed in Novi Sad with Elder Jex. While in Belgrade the next day and a half, I went tracting for the first time! We did a whole apartment building with 15 floors, 4 apartments per floor. The whole exchange, we didn't get any new investigators, but it was definitely ok. In general, with the whole exchange, I learned a lot. Plus we had some really good burgers for dinner on Wednesday at a "Tex-Mex" restaurant ;)

Friday, once I was back in Novi Sad, Elder Jex and I did some more really good street contacting. Still no one that wanted to learn more about God's plan for us, but we got closer than any other time we've been contacting.

Saturday we had a really good lesson about the Atonement and prayer, and we went with the McAlpins trying to visit church members that live pretty far out of town. We hit some wrong addresses and people weren't home, but it was a nice adventure. At the end, the last person we visited was someone working at a really nice restaurant. That restaurant has a nice view of the river (though we couldn't see it, since it was already so dark outside) and has live music. While we were waiting to talk with our friend, we did end up ordering food, and it was sooo good. And not even very expensive, compared to restaurants in the US.

Yesterday, Sunday, I gave the Sunday school lesson almost solo, and it went fairly well. We went through 3 Nephi 11, where Christ first visits the Nephites. There's some really good stuff in there about repentance and baptism. After Church we showed a less-active member a bit about doing family history using FamilySearch. That's a website where you can track your ancestors and see what your heritage is. Pretty cool stuff. RelativeFinder is also a cool one for looking at family history. Apparently Elder Jex and I are 10th cousins twice removed.

Anyway, your homework is to study 3 Nephi 11! Suprise. It's good stuff though, and since it's getting into the Christmas season, it's good to study about Christ. Also, that reminds me about the Church's "Be a light to the world" thing that's going on. It's really good and a really simple way to bring the Christmas spirit, the spirit of Christ. I challenge all of you to look at it and do something special each day as a little piece of service.

Have a great week! God loves you.
--

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

http://elderryanechols.blogspot.com/

Week 15: Mission Conference for Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro

November 28, 2016

Hi Everyone! This is Elder Echols' mother. Although Ryan didn't have enough time to send a group email today, he gave me permission to share a little excerpt from his personal letter to me regarding the wonderful conference he was able to attend last week! The area presidency did a mission tour and held a confernce with the missionaries serving in Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro. Here is what Elder Echols had to say about it:

"At the area presidency mission tour conference we heard a lot about setting goals and then making specific plans to help us achieve those goals. Also how to effectively extend a baptismal invitation, and we were reminded about following mission rules. One of the best parts for me was hearing from President Johnson, of the Europe Area presidency. He talked about the differences in the prophetic calls of Jeremiah, Lehi, Daniel, and 1 other prophet from that time that I forget. We started by reviewing their stories, and imagined them "opening their calls" to be prophets and finding out where they'd be going. Daniel gets one that sounds really nice; Lehi's is pretty good, but then Jeremiah and the other guy sound like they have a really hard one, and that people never listened to them. Then President Johnson asked, "so which of these 4 was the best prophet?" And of course it's obvious to us all how stupid of a question that is. Then he did the same thing with Alma in different cities that he visited after he gave up the judgement seat, some where the whole city was converted, and some where nobody listens. President Johnson again asked, "in which city was Alma a better missionary?" and it's again obviously a stupid question. And we're also starting to get the idea of where President Johnson is going with this. His point was, of course, that our call is different from someone who goes to Brazil or one of the other missions where each missionary gets at least dozens of baptisms. For our mission the average baptism per missionary per year is barely over 1. But that doesn't mean that we're bad missionaries. Every mission is different but we are blessed for our service."

As Ryan's mother, I feel so blessed that he has wonderful leaders who help him be the best missionary he can. He gets to have so many special experiences while on a mission. I know Ryan loves the people he is meeting and is glad to help and serve them in any way he can. He loves his Savior, and knowing the happiness and peace that has brought into his own life, he wants to share it with others. His sincere desire is to do what's right and help others be happy.

--Sister Rachel Echols

 

Week 14: Visas and an Early Thanksgiving

Hey everybody!

This morning we had a huge runaround trying to get stuff worked out for Elder Jex's Visa, so I'm short on time.

On Monday some other missionaries came to visit Novi Sad for their P-day. We had lunch with them and showed them around some. That's part of why I was so short on time last week.

Goofing around while sightseeing with other missionaries on p-day

Tuesday we had my first meal with local members! We had to take a long bus ride out to their place, and we though we were lost for quite a while, but then we magically showed up at their house. They fed us Sarma, with is basically meat wrapped in cabbage, soaked in sauce, and baked. Or something like that. Super good. I (deliberately) ate one of the whole peppers from the sauce. That was fun.

On Wednesday we got to go try and find a Referral that we got from online. He lives an hour's drive outside of town, so Elder McAlpin drove us. When we got there it was a bit of a miracle. We showed up at pretty much the exact time we needed to, and he was super open to learning more. First lesson that wasn't on the street! That was great. Finally got to feel like I was doing something worthwhile. We left him a copy of The Book of Mormon (in Serbian, of course) and some pamphlets. It's gonna be hard to figure out how to visit with him, since he lives so far away.

Thursday we had our Thanksgiving dinner with the McAlpins (senior missionary couple here in Novi Sad) and some members and other friends. That was quite enjoyable. After that we took a few of us to go visit the fort across the river. It was good to get to have some time off.

Friday morning I re-read Alma 34. I love that chapter. The Atonement is real, and Christ can truly help us. Also, random thing: in certain little corners of this city, I feel like I'm in South America. Though, I've never been to South America. This city is cool, though.

On Saturday while we were home for lunch there was a wedding promenade outside. Apparently here in Serbia the groom and his party drive around the city 3 times, honking all the while, go pick up the bride, then drive around the city 3 more times before ending at the church. This bride evidently lived in the apartment building across from us. So, we got to see the party outside on the street a bit. There were 2 guys in the group with accordions playing and singing. Also a pizza guy was in the group with a pizza to deliver.

Sunday we had District Conference, which was broadcast from Serbia. In the middle we had a break to eat a nice potluck lunch. When we came back for the second half, the sound was all messed up. It sounded a bit like chipmunk aliens. For you tech people, it was on their end, so we couldn't fix it. We ended up listening to it over a conference call, with the speaker over there holding a phone. Fun stuff.

Today we had a big run around with Visa stuff. Ate our whole morning. But we met another golden investigator today! So now we have two people that are actually interested in learning about the gospel, as opposed to zero. That's a good feeling. I know that what we teach is true and can really bless people's lives if they open their hearts.

Btw, we made tacos at some point this week. So, we ate better this week than we have yet.

Your homework this week is to read Alma 34 and think about what you can do in your life to better come unto Christ. I know that following him will bring you happiness and peace.

Have a good week!

-Elder Ryan Echols

--

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

Week 13: Exchanges and R & R

Hey everybody! I'm totally short on time today, so this has to be brief.

Notable events for the week: exchanges on Thursday, and our R & R meeting on Friday. And no, R & R doesn't stand for Rest and Relaxation. :) It stands for Return and Report.

On Thursday, I temporarily got to be companions with Elder Mangeris, who is awesome. He is a wizard at these languages. People argue with him when he says he's not native. He can speak with their accent. Awesome guy. While we were on the street, we actually stopped someone who listened and talked with us. He essentially had the same question as Joseph Smith, "Why are there so many churches with different doctrines, if there's only one truth?" We talked about the apostasy shortly and went into the first vision and The Book of Mormon. That was really cool to get to do. 

It is notably cold here as of this week, especially in the mornings and at night, of course. Last p-day we went shopping, and I got a big black missionary-ly coat. It has fur a bit on the inside and is really nice. I also got a hat and some gloves.

Here's me in my new coat I bought in Serbia

On Friday we had Return & Report in Beograd/Belgrade. That's basically a meeting to check on how new missionaries (such as myself) are doing. Really good stuff. I got to see 4 of the other Elders from our MTC district. It was really good to get to see them as well as President Grant, who we each had personal interviews with. We also got to listen to him and the APs talk to us about goal setting and stuff like that.We each went up in front of the whole group with someone else role-playing as an investigator, and had 5 minutes to briefly teach one of the 3 main missionary lessons, or about the Book of Mormon. We've been practicing that of course, since we knew it was coming. I thought it went pretty well. Got good feedback. I got a lot out of it.

This week's homework is 2 Nephi 32 and 33. They are short chapters, but they talk about how we can learn from the Spirit.

Have a great week!

--

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

Serbian Waffle Fries!

Week 12: Some Graveyards and Burnt Pancakes

So, this one's gonna be pretty short, folks. Sorry about that.

Tuesday was All Saints' Day, and so we went to visit some graveyards and see all the flowers and candles people had put out by graves. Most of the graves here are really big family graves written in plenty of different languages like Hungarian, German, or Hebrew. It was cool seeing how much people respect their deceased.

At some point this week we made American pancakes. They were pretty good, except for the fact that most of them were overdone. The first one was solid black on one side. Elder Jex was the one to turn on the stove, and I was the one to actually cook them, and I had no idea how high he'd turned up the stove. The pancake was way past overdone by the first time I even thought to check it =P We threw that one out.

Yesterday in church I of course bore my testimony in sloppy Serbian, and taught Sunday School with Elder Jex in more of my sloppy Serbian. Other than that, it was a pretty regular week. Sorry for how short this email is.

Your homework is to read Ephesians 6. It's one of the chapters that talks about the whole armor of God. Verse 19 is one that sticks out to me a lot right now. We each need to open our mouth and share the gospel with those around us, no matter how scary it is.

Have a good week!

--

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

Week 11: Balkan Crepes, Un-Halloween, and the Town Next Door

October 31, 2016 

Hello again, Friends and Family!

To start off, last Monday I got my white card! That means I'm legally registered as living in Serbia, and am on my way to getting my Visa. I also got to play some piano for part of our studies on Tuesday morning. That was a nice little break from the regular routine.

For dinner on Tuesday, Elder Jex made us Palačinke, which are essentially just Crepes from this part of the world. We put on ours some Euro Creme (like Nutella) and Plazma crumbs (think something like crush Nilla Wafers). Those were pretty good.

Elder Jex makes a mean Palačinke!

My wonderful companion and trainer, Elder Jex

On Wednesday we were responsible to man a booth at a huge book fair going on in Belgrade/Београд, so we had to get up a bit early and get on a bus to ride all the way over there. Pretty fun. At the fair, our booth was in the very corner of the building, with not much traffic coming by, and right next to the Jehovah's Witness booth. We got talking with them a few times throughout the day and got to be pretty good friends with a few of them. In our booth we had a whole bunch of copies of The Book of Mormon in probably 20 different languages, plus plenty of pamphlets. Not a lot of people came by to talk to us, especially when they saw the sign over our booth that used the word CHURCH. Oh well.

For lunch that day we got to meet up with 2 of the elders stationed there, including Elder Hanks who I'm good friends with from the MTC. Good to see him again. We got Pljeskavica (Balkan burgers, reeeally good) at a little cafe.

On the way home, we of course rode more busses. At one point I tried talking to a guy in Serbian, and he promptly responded with "what's up, man?" (in English). So, we got talking and he apparently has gone to plenty of English conversation groups with missionaries before and knows about the church.

On both Tuesday and Thursday this week, Elder Jex and I held English Conversation group. Pretty cool things, really. We just get people together that are learning English and want to practice, and we have a discussion about things like perserverance or integrity; things that everyone can relate to on some level, and learn about. Around lunch time on Thursday we went to a bakery and I tried ordering a muffin and what looked like a little pizza ball, but I read the wrong stickers on the glass display case, and thus got two pretzel ring things. I really have no vocabulary to use that is related to food =P

It's beautiful in the fall here in Novi Sad, Serbia

 On Friday we went across the river as we were talking with people on the streets. There's a cute little town over there that seems to be straight out of a fairy tale. I'll include a picture. The view from the bridge was pretty great too. There's a fort up on a hill there that overlooks the river, and we got to go up and look at that a bit.

A Fairy Tale Town

Overlooking the River

On Saturday night, we had our branch "Harvest Party", which was really just a Halloween party without costumes and such, since people here don't really celebrate Halloween. They do celebrate "All Saints Day", though. I think that's tomorrow. It's kinda like Day Of The Dead from Hispanic cultures. Celebrate and remember your dead. Put a bunch of candles on their graves. We haven't seen yet, but apparently the graveyards really are quite a sight when that happens.

Our Branch Harvest Party

Carving for Halloween

 Yesterday, Sunday, I woke up feeling notably ill. That continued in various fashions until we got back from church, and I took a 3 hour nap. That nap fixed me, pretty much. I don't know what was really up with it all. I've definitely been feeling a lot better since then into today.

This week I've learned a lot about the idea of having our lives built upon the sure foundation which is Christ. So, you're homework is to read Helaman 5. Try thinking about how Nephi and Lehi had their foundation built in Christ, and how that helped them succeed throughout the whole chapter.

So, that's it for now. Like always, have an awesome week!

--

Elder Ryan Echols

Adriatic North Mission

Svačićev Trg 3/1

HR-10000 Zagreb

Croatia