Hello, Hello!

Well, I didnt think that I would get a chance to email today but it turns out that I ended up having a little bit of time. I debated even writing anything and thought about just doing a quick hello but decided while I had the time I would go ahead and write a normal email just because I kind of want to have it documented. I wont be sending pictures though because that stuff is all packed away.

 

Anyway...Monday night after Pday we were unsuccessful at setting an appointment up so we got to go out tracting! Fun stuff! But while tracting we met several really nice people and we met one girl in her 20s named D who seemed really interested. We were able to have a lesson with her about the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to take a copy and read it!

 

Tuesday morning we started out with correlation meeting which was a good meeting. We discussed the members and the area and such and how we can work together as a district. We then had to do some random business stuff such as Visas, etc. We then went out and did contacting and such and then we had English class.

 

Wednesday...I wont lie, I woke up Wednesday morning and was a little worried about how the day would pan out because it was completely wide open. But it ended up being a really good day. We started out the morning with contacting and then we went to lunch with all of the missionaries because it was the Devers birthday. Afterwards we were able to go have a lesson with E. Oj! He was doing so good but he seems to go through these phases of up and down. We were barely able to even get him to let us come see him and he told us there is no way he is going to read the Book of Mormon or come to church anymore. But its just another bump in the road and we will be able to keep working with him and get him back where he was last week.

 

Wednesday night we went with the Devers to go see J. We had a good lesson talking to her about baptism and the covenants that we make and what it means for us. It was really good because 2 of her neighbors were there and sat and listened to the whole thing. They were really quiet and didnt really want to talk to us but they did listen!

 

Thursday...ended up being a weird day. There were some people here from LDS charities and they were doing a wheelchair thing with the Red Cross. The church donated a bunch of wheelchairs so they were doing a training with some of the Red Cross volunteers to teach them how to fit people to wheelchairs and determine what type of wheelchair is needed. They had asked us to come early in the morning to help them assemble wheelchairs so we did that. And then they asked us if we could stay and help them translate. So Sister Kawai and I stayed there for a good portion of the day to help them. When we were finished with that we went to English class but we ended up having to cancel it because no females showed up and the Elders had something scheduled so they were unable to stay. So we cancelled English and spent the night doing contacting.

 

Friday...we were supposed to have cleaning checks so we spent some time in the morning cleaning our apartment...that apartment is so clean. I was scrubbing the bathroom floors with a toothbrush...it looks good! After that we had to do weekly planning because we were unable to on Thursday. So that was most of the day on Friday.

 

Saturday ended up being a really good day. They needed our help with the wheelchairs again so we went and did that for the morning. Saturday was the day that people actually came to get the wheelchairs so it was a really good day. It was so exciting to see these people walk in the doors and then walk out so happy! It is amazing all of the different things that the church has set up to help people in need and it was really cool to be able to be a part of it.

 

After the wheelchair thing we went to the church and had district meeting which was really good. We had to go to the Devers and borrow their computer for a few minutes and then they came to our apartment to do the cleaning check.

 

Sunday...was a good day at church. So Tuzla is a group and it is a part of the Sarajevo Branch. The branch president in Sarajevo is from Utah and he works at the American embassy in Sarajevo. Anyway,..he and his family came to church in Tuzla so that he could meet the people and they could meet him, etc. He and his wife spoke/bore their testimonies and I got to speak as well. And then for Sunday School since they have 4 kids we got to teach primary! It was great! I have missed being able to do that because in both of my other areas the sisters taught primary every week. It is much funner than teaching regular Sunday school! Afterwards we went over to the Devers and ate lunch with them and all the missionaries and then we went back to our apartment to attempt the fun task of packing. We got partway through and then we headed up to see J.  We were able to meet with her and B and A even came for a few minutes. I was really glad that I was able to see all of them! We read a chapter with them in the Book of Mormon...we actually read Moroni 7 at J's request and talked about charity. And then we came back home and finished packing. I was miraculously able to pack everything in 2 and a half hours and surprisingly everything fits the weight limit...wont lie...I was a little bit worried about that.

 

Well...I am in Zagreb now and Im not really sure what to think about what is happening right now. I honestly dont know that it has really hit me what is actually happening and Im not sure when it will. Its weird though...really weird.

 

I guess I will end by saying how grateful I am for being able to be here serving in these countries. I know that if nothing else I have at least made a difference in one persons life, mine. My faith has increased and I know that my testimony is so much stronger than it was 18 months ago. I know that we are children of our Heavenly Father, He loves us, and He has a plan for us. All He wants is for us to be happy and the way to find that happiness is through the Gospel.

 

I love you all!

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts!

Emails...Mom, Dad, Lex, Tys

Pictures

Tesanj Castle on Pday

Last Email

Well...its been another week here in good old Tuzla, or maybe I should say in Bosnia because I spent part of the week in Banja Luka. But nevertheless it has been a good week.

 

Monday...well, since we were doing the exchange we talked with the Banja Luka sisters and discovered that the city where we would be meeting in had a castle. So we decided since it was Pday we would meet there and go look at the castle. So we did. It was really cool. We spent quite a bit of time just walking around and looking at all the nooks and crannies and looking at the view from it. Right when we got to the very top, like the highest you could go it started raining. And not just raining, but pouring. It lasted for all of about 10 minutes but by the time it stopped we were all soaked from head to toe. Good times! After seeing the Castle Sister Peterson headed back to Tuzla with Sister Kawai and I headed back to Banja Luka with Sister Rankin. We got back to Banja Luka and got our stuff dropped off and the car returned and then we did some contacting for the evening.

 

Tuesday was a day in Banja Luka. And it was a good day. In the morning we did some contacting and then we met with a woman named S. The Sisters meet with her about once a week to help her practice her English. We just talked with her and it was actually kind of fun just to talk with her. She was very nice. We then went and had a lesson with some of the members in Banja Luka. We had a good lesson with them talking about testimonies. We discussed what a testimony is and how we gain it and also talked to them about the importance of bearing our testimonies in order to strengthen them and we encouraged them to prepare to bear their testimony next fast Sunday at church. We emphasized the fact that a testimony doesnt have to be something big, rather short statements of truth. Whenever we have testimony meetings at zone conference, etc. President Grant always reminds us that a testimony is 3 minutes or less, anything more than that is a travelogue.

 

After meeting with them we went to the church and had English class which went well and then we spent the rest of the night out contacting. Tuesday was a beautiful day. It was the first sunny day without rain in a long time so we actually enjoyed contacting and being able to be outside most of the day!

 

Wednesday we had District meeting in Banja Luka. We talked about applying family history to missionary work because that is another thing that President Grant is putting emphasis on. We were going to have a lesson and then leave to exchange back but we ended up cancelling the lesson and exchanging back earlier which ended up being a good thing because after we had switched back and Sister Kawai and I were on our way back to Tuzla it started pouring rain! Like the streets were giant puddles and people were setting up sandbags. I dont think it actually started flooding but I dont think that we would have made it back if we would have left any later. But we made it back to Tuzla safely!

 

Thursday morning President Grant was in Tuzla for our quarterly interviews. We actually all ended up going to the senior couples apartment and we all had our interview with him and then he talked to all of us for a few minutes. It was great. He talked to us about the importance of getting the members to read their scriptures every day because that is what is causing them to fall away. They arent being nourished by the good word of God. We have been trying to read the scriptures with the members  and getting them to read them every day but we are going to work even harder at that because that is what will be the key to getting them to come back.

 

After interviews we went home and did weekly planning...well we started weekly planning until we got a phone call from the Elders 20 minutes before their English class telling us that they werent going to make it in time and needed us to go teach it. Well, we were a half an hour from the church so we booked it out the door and booked it to the church and barely made it in time for their English class. We taught the first half of their English class until they got there and then we went out contacting for half an hour and then came back and taught our English class.

 

Friday morning we started out with District Meeting. We kind of discussed what we had learned last week at zone conference and how we could apply it in our district and we also did a review of the goals we had made for the month and what we still needed to do in order to accomplish them.

 

Afterwards we went and met with E. We had another really good lesson with him! We were able to discuss with him how if he wants to recieve answers to his prayers he needs to be doing his part. And not only did he realize that but we were able to get him to realize it for himself rather than us telling him what he needed to do! We talked about the importance of reading the scriptures and he committed to reading the Book of Mormon every day!

 

After meeting with E we drove out to see M. She called us that morning and asked us to come see her and it just so happened that we were available and the Devers were free so we went out to see her. She is great. She is the member that lives in Bijeljina which is closest to Tuzla but she goes to church each week in Beograd because the bus schedule is better even though it is a little bit longer of a drive...about 2 and a half hours. We shared the visiting teaching message with her and had a good visit. She talked to us about how right after she was baptized she moved to Montenegro and at the time the nearest church to their was Beograd. So once or twice a month she would take a 9 hour one way bus ride all by herself to go to church. She is amazing. She has a hard time understanding why the members who live a 15 minute walk from the church cant go every Sunday when she travels so far. She has such a strong testimony and is such a great example of sacrifice to do what the Lord wants.

 

Saturday morning we went out contacting. We ran into R. She is so sweet and loves us but unfortunately isnt interested in the church. We talked to her for a little bit and then we went and cleaned the church. After cleaning the church we spent the rest of the day contacting and tracting. We actually had a decent night of tracting. We had one man that we were able to talk to about the Book of Mormon and he took a copy and said that he would read it and that we could come back! We also tracted into another man who apparently the Elders had contacted the night before and had gotten his information to meet up with him. So that was kind of crazy.

 

Sunday was a good day at church. We only had 7 people there including missionaries but we had really good meetings. After church we did contacting and checking up on some potentials who had told us that we could come back today. But, unfortunately none of them were home. Contacting was fine until it started pouring rain and we didnt have an umbrella. By the time we got home we both had to completely change our clothes because we were completely soaked from head to toe. I dont like the rain. Especially when I am out in it. We went over to the senior couples house for dinner and then we watched a broadcast from Germany that was for the women in the Europe Area. We are hoping that we can find a way to get the members to come and watch it at the church because it was really good. They had several different speakers from the area representatives as well as Elder Bednar and Elder Ballard. The talks were all really good and it is hard to explain what they talked about but the overall theme was finding strength through the Atonement and being examples and standing for what we believe even when it is hard. It was just really good!

 

Well, I guess that is all for this week. It was a good week and it went by way too fast which I fear might happen with this next week. But this next week is going to be a great week! We are going to work harder than we have, tract more doors than we have, and we are going to help the members start to make changes in their lives.

 

I hope that you all have a great week! Love you lots and lots! Thanks for everything!

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts!

Emails...Dad, Mom, Carrie, Grandpa, Lex, Tys

 

Sretan Rođendan...Tyson!

Pictures

Centar in Tuzla

Sarajevo

Muslim Missionaries??

Happy Monday!

Well, well! Its been another week. It was another week that during the week seemed to go by really slow but I cant believe that it is Pday already. I guess that is how every week goes.

Monday night we were hoping to have an appointment but it ended up falling through. So we spent Monday night out contacting and tracting. One of the buildings that we went in was kind of an old worn down building but it had a super nice remodeled elevator that had flourescent movie theater lighting around the entire ceiling, a full body length mirror, and elevator music. It was legit. I dont know why I am telling you this but for some reason I felt the need to. I should have taken a picture but I didnt. I did get a video though I just cant send those through email. Anyway...we went tracting. We didnt find anyone super interested but we did talk to one older man at the door who is Agnostik. He had some really good questions and was really surprised when we were able to answer them. But, his wife wasnt too happy that we were talking to him so he told us that we couldnt come back...

 

Tuesday we started out with Coorelation meeting. It was a really good meeting. I may have already said this and will probably say it again but our new senior couple is fabulous and they really want to help the people here. We sat down and went through every member that we have on record and talked about them and where they are now and what we need to do to get in contact with them and get them back. As of this Sunday we officially dont have any active members in Tuzla because none of them have been coming to church. So we have a lot of work to do but I really think that working with this senior couple will bring a lot of changes.

 

Tuesday afternoon we went to visit a woman named S who the Shepherds had asked us to give something to. They wanted to before they left but were unable to so we went and saw her and talked to her for a few minutes. We had English class on Tuesday and the Elders had to stay again since we didnt have any females come to class and then we did some contacting for the rest of the evening.

 

Wednesday was zone conference. We were lucky enough to get to ride with the senior couple both ways so we didnt have to take the bus either way. That bus ride is awful! We had a really good zone conference. President Grant talked to us about faith. Wow...he knows a lot and he is so good at explaining things. He talked to us about what faith is and what faith isnt. He talked to us about how we need to increase our faith because that is what will bring changes. I wish I could explain to you all that he talked about but its really hard to do in writing. Its weird to think that this was my last zone conference. They have departing missionaries bear their testimony their last zone conference. I remember my first zone conference having that happen and thinking that will never be me, But here it has come. A lot faster than I thought it would or wanted it to. But I also know that I am a different person than I was a year and a half ago. I have a greater understanding of the Gospel, my testimony has grown. I am more confident in myself. I know that I have definitely changed over the time I have been here.

 

Thursday we had a few appointments scheduled but they didnt show up. So we did a lot of walking and tracting and contacting until we went home and did weekly planning. There was a big soccer game here in Tuzla on Thursday that everyone was at so we purposely scheduled weekly planning during this time because we knew there would be no one to talk to.

 

Friday we went and met with R.  She is the woman that came to church last week. She is very nice but we had a really interesting visit with her. We arent completely sure what religion she is. She kept talking about all sorts of different religions. She then tried to give us back the Book of Mormon telling us that she couldnt read it because it wasnt new or old testament and was just written by some man. So we explained to her what the Book of Mormon was using the title page and introdution and it clicked! She told us that she would read it because she now understands that it is scripture. But she told us that she wouldnt come to church anymore because there are only a few people there and that for how long the church has been here we should have more people so we will never see success here. She also gave us a bible and told us that we should read it. We explained to her that we do read the Bible but we took the Bible she gave us anyway because it was a Jehovah Wtiness Bible and we decided it would be best to get that thing out of her house. :) After R we had another appointment scheduled but they didnt show up either. So we got to go out contacting. We talked to a really nice woman on the street. We meet great people and have great conversations they just wont agree to more. The Devers had asked us to go with them to see J so we then went with them to visit her which was good. B and A were both there too which we were happy about because we hadnt seen any of them in almost 3 weeks. We had a good visit with J.

 

Saturday we cleaned the church and then we went with the Devers to teach E. It was a great lesson. We had talked with the Devers beforehand and had kind of prepared the lesson together and we all took parts and were teaching and testifying the entire time. It also meant that I got to do more translating but it was ok. We talked to E about the Kingdoms of Glory and helped him to understand them. We also talked to him about prayer and recieving answers to prayer. It was a really powerful lesson. At the end E said the prayer! He prayed and said something along the lines of I am grateful for the missionaries and I know that they are trying to help me understand things so that I can be happy. Yay! I told him how many Sundays I have left and told him it would be so great to see him at church before I leave...and he didnt say no!

 

After E we had another appointment scheduled...that didnt show up. Im not kidding, 3 days in a row that people just didnt show up. They didnt call and cancel or anything. So we got to go out tracting and contacting again! We went and met with J again because she wanted us to come, just us. But when we got there it didnt really appear that she wanted us there because she kept saying how tired she was and how much she just wanted to sleep. So we kept it really short and just read a few verses of scripture with her.

 

Sunday at church we had 8 people. 6 missionaries and 2 visitors. So it was a missionary testimony meeting again. But we had a good meeting. One of the women that came named L told me its a shame that more people dont come to church because we are nice people and there is a great feeling. She then told me that we need to go around on the streets and try to talk to people about it. Trust me...we are trying!

 

We went out tracting and we met a really nice husband and wife that told us that we could come back next week and then we went over to the senior couples house for dinner. And that was pretty much our Sunday!

 

Well, it has been a great week! And this next week will be great! We are going tonight to meet the Banja Luka sisters to do an exchange for a few days so I will be in Banja Luka for a few days. It is going to be good practice for my companion to see how she does here without me. But Im sure she will do just fine! Well, I hope that you have a great week! I love you all! I love the Gospel and I love being a missionary!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts!

Emails...Lex, Dad, Carrie, Mom, Joe, Grandpa, Jord, Tys

Letters...from Dad!

Happy September

Wow! I cant believe that it is the first of September. This month has snuck up on me way too quickly and I fear that it is going to go by just as quick as it came. This week was a good week. We finally had a week where we were actually in Tuzla all week. It was kind of weird but was good.  We finally started to see some little changes this week. I think we taught more lessons this week than we have any other week that I have been here. That doesnt mean we didnt do our fair share of tracting and such this week though.

Monday...after Pday we went out contacting for a while and then we went to meet with J. Her life is a little crazy right now and unfortunately because of all the things she has going on she is putting church on the last of her priority list. So we are still trying to help her see the importance. She hadnt read the Book of Mormon since our last visit so we read with her from where we had left off.  Before we started we asked her what we had read last time and she remembered and was able to tell us so that was good! She is comprehending as we are reading...we just need to get her reading more on her own!

 

Tuesday we had coorelation meeting. It was the last one before the Shepherds left and we were kind of discussing with the Devers what we do here, etc. It was a good meeting and then after we went with both senior couples to see E. It was kind of a short visit but it ended up being really good. I am really excited to work with the Devers on helping him to come back because they have some really good ideas and are going to help us to resolve his concerns. Even in the few minutes we were there they said some things to him that I think helped him.

 

We spent some time on Tuesday tracting and looking for potential investigators and then we had English class.

 

Wednesday...all of our appointments cancelled which meant it was a day of tracting. After awhile we were getting really tired and we were both done with tracting so we decided to go home and make some phone calls from the area book. So we did that and we ended up getting an appointment set up for the next day!

 

Thursday morning we went to check up on some of the potentials we had found. In the past couple of weeks we have found so many good potential investigators but we have been unable to get back in contact with them. Every time we go back they are either not home or something else. We have kept trying but this week we finally came to the conclusion that we are spending so much time trying and trying with the same people and nothing is coming from it. So we have decided to give it a break for awhile so we are back to square one of just tracting!  I wont lie, 3 hours of tracting every day sometimes takes its toll on you and can be frustrating but right now its what we need to do.

 

We had a lesson with a girl named Z who is the girl we called yesterday from the area book. She is 19 and is as Muslim as you can get except that she doesnt dress like them. But I loved meeting with her! We had a really good discussion with her. And it was a discussion because we were talking and asking questions and we were all involved in the conversation. She is a very charitable person and thinks of others above herself and there is just a good feeling talking with her. She said that we can meet again and talk but right now she is more interested in that than actually changing religion. But we feel strongly that we need to keep meeting with her and in time I think if we gain her trust and keep teaching her and talking to her about the Gospel I really think it will go somewhere with her.
 

After Z we went home and did weekly planning and then we went to the church for English. We only had men show up for English and since we cant be alone with men the Elders ended up staying at the church with us so that we could actually teach our English class.
 

Friday morning we started out with District Meeting which was good. We talked about finding...because that is what we seem to be doing a lot of lately. We went home after and my companion wasnt feeling too well so she rested for a little bit while I made some phone calls from the area book and we got someone else to set up to meet with us for the next day.  Then we went out Friday night and did our nightly tracting session! We went over into a different area than we usually go to and it was good to kind of have a change of scenery.
 

Saturday we started out with church cleaning and then we had a lesson with E who is the woman we called the day before in the area book. We had a really good lesson with her. She claims Muslim as her religion because that is what her parents were but she has gone to all different churches throughout her life. We taught her the first lesson and it was a really powerful lesson. I know that she felt something. She took a Book of Mormon and was really excited to read it.  She told us that she would be interested in meeting again and learning more! Yay!
 

After our lesson with E, the rest of the night was spent tracting. Nothing came from it except for one lady who talked our ears off for more than half an hour about what Muslims believe. People here like to talk.
 

Sunday we had 12 people at church! None of them were the members that live in Tuzla but we still had 12 people! M who is a member that lives about an hour and a half away from Tuzla came with her son and daughter in law who are members that live in Canada. So it was fun to have them there. A woman named L came who is a woman that was contacted by the missionaries before I got here. She has come to church a few times and said she would be interested in meeting with us but every time we set up an appointment with her she cancels on us. And a woman named R came. We actually tracted into her last week and she told us she would come to church and actually came and she said that we can come see her this week and talk to her more. The only problem is that she is one of those people that likes to talk...a lot...about nonsense. After church I got to translate for the senior couple while she was talking to them for an hour. Good times!
 

After church on Sunday we spent the rest of the day tracting. Gotta love tracting!
 

A few notes for the week...last night we were trying to decide what to make for dinner and were out of food but had the stuff to make cookies. Anyway...we made chocolate chip cookies. And lets just say I dont know what I did but they were the best batch I have ever made. For reals. They were delicious.
 

Ok, so maybe only one note for the week. But we had a good week. And Im hoping this week we can get more people to set up appointments and meet with us so that we can cut down on some of our tracting time. It will happen!
 

On Sunday we got to teach Sunday School and we talked about Faith. And imparticular Faith in Jesus Christ. We were talking about how we have Faith in every day activities, we wouldnt work if we didnt have faith that something would come from it, we have faith that the sun will rise, etc. But the most important kind of Faith to have is Faith in Jesus Christ. We talked about how important it is to constantly be increasing our Faith in him and how the way that we do that is through action. Through reading the scriptures, through praying, through attending church, etc. I have seen throughout my time here that it is my Faith that keeps me going every day even when times are hard. And as I continue to do the little things I know that my Faith has grown each day.
 

Anyway...I am doing well. We have zone conference this next week which will be good! I am doing well and I am happy and healthy. Just really tired! I hope that you all have a great week! Love you lots!
 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts!

Emails...Dad, Mom Lex, Jordan, Tys, Grandpa, Carrie, Marie

 

 Return and Report Meeting in Zagreb

Street view in Zagreb

Zagreb Chapel - one of two chapels in the mission

 

 Side view of Zagreb chapel

A Bosnian toliet