Mission Moments: And the verdict is ......

Well....Since the main subject at the top of all of your emails is where in the world am I, Im going to make you wait. Youre welcome. First off I want to appologize for the gramatical errors and possibly even spelling errors that are bound to happen. This keyboard is different than the ones in America and I am having a hard time figuring it out.

Well....after a long 50 plus hours of traveling we finally made it to Croatia. I talked to you in Seattle so I will go from that point. We finally made it on the flight to Paris more than 24 hours after we were supposed to. And surprisingly the flight ended up not being too bad. The flight was super empty so we all got our own rows and tried to sleep. It was hard to find a comfortable position but it worked. We landed in Paris and it ended up being good that we had a longer layover than we were originally scheduled because if we wouldnt have been delayed I can guarantee we would have missed our flight from Paris to Croatia because of how the layout of the Paris airport. Luckily though everything went smoothly and thanks to Sister Menjivar speaking French fluently we made it to where we needed to go and caught our flight to Croatia. And I cannot tell you one thing about that flight because the second I sat down I fell asleep and stayed that way the whole time. We all did actually. I dont even remember taking off. But the important thing is we made it to Croatia safely! And we only lost one bag. It wasnt mind and I am pretty sure if has been recovered now.

We got off the plane and met President row and the APs after getting our luggage. We loaded up the cars and went to the Mission home. I had heard so many good things about the Rowes and everything I have heard is true. They really are amazing people! We arrived at the mission home where they had dinner ready for us and then they sent us to shower and straight to bed. We woke up in the morning, they fed us breakfast and then sent us to the church to meet the trainers and have a training meeting. President did interviews during the meeting while the Office couple were talking about the information they had. My interview went great. President Rowe is great and you can tell he is an inspired man. He really tried to get to know me and tell me things that would help me personally to be a good missionary and he talked about things that I needed to hear and things that would help me.

Training lasted most of the day. And then we all went our seperate ways to our area. I am in Croatia. It is an area called Osijek. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive from Zagreb. It is actually right on the border of Serbia so we are actually in the Serbian zone. My companion had borrowed the senior couple in our areas car so we actually drove back here. Which was nice that we didnt have to haul all of my luggage on a bus. And I was actually able to stay awake the entire drive which was a miracle because I was exhausted. The drive was beautiful! It is so green and I loved just looking at the different area.

The jet lag has not been fun. The first few days I was exhausted all the time but it is getting better and I am getting used to the different time zone, etc.

My companions name is Sister Mortensen. She is from Provo. She is on her second transfer right now so we are kind of learning together. But it is going great. She knows the language well for how long she has been here and is doing good at helping me to learn. She makes sure that I understand what is going on. She challenges me to do things that are scary to me but she doesnt challenge me too hard. Luckily the members here are good about coming to lessons with us when we need them which is helpful because sometimes neither of us know what is being said. Some of the older people talk really fast and mumble so it is hard to understand them.

Our first lesson was on Friday with a recent convert. I understood most of what she said, at least I think I did and I was even able to talk a little bit with her and she seemed to understand what I was saying. Some of the people I can communicate pretty well with. Others talk really fast and mumble making it a little bit more difficult. When that happens I just smile and nod and pretend like I know what they are saying and pick up as many words as I can. Its hard but it will be ok.

The members here are great. Every Friday night we do Aktivnost where members and investigators can come to the church and we play a game or do some other activity. This Friday we played spoons and it was really fun. The members here are great. There are about 20 people that are active and come to church each Sunday. We had about 10 people come to Aktivnost. It was fun to be able to talk to them and get to know them and they are really good with realizing that I am still learning Croatian and dont understand everything that is being said.

We are trying to work on reactivation a lot and meet with one less active or inactive member everyday.

This month for the entire mission it is the Month of Invitation. Our goal is by the end of the month to have invited over 10,000 people to church as a mission. This means each companionship needs to invite about 11 people a day. However, my district decided they wanted to raise that and invite 15 people per missionary per day. And that started on Saturday. When that was decided I was terrified. I had only been in the country for a day. But, we have done it. On Saturday we were walking along the river that is in Osijek and there was a group of about 11 people standing around talking. My companion looked at me and said go invite them to church. I looked at her like she was crazy and then realized she was serious. And so I did. I just went up and started talking to them and invited them to come to church with us. They gave me dirty looks and walked away while saying things to me that I didnt understand, and im glad I didnt understand. It is so weird to talk to people that I dont know because it is something that I never would have done before. Starting conversations with people on the bus is scary but I have already done it a few times. I have actually surprised myself with how much I have been able to do. Most of the time I dont even realize what I am doing until I have already started and its too late to turn back.

Sunday was fast Sunday. I really liked being able to hear the members bear their testimony. One of the Members who speaks English really well told me if I wanted to bear my testimony he would translate it for me. But I decided to try it be myself. And I made it through. After people told me they understood it. I hope they really could and werent just trying to make me feel good. A lot of the members speak English which makes it difficult because they try to talk to us in English which makes it hard to practice and learn Croatian. I have just learned to say I want to practice my Croatian so lets speak in Croatian. And it is still hard to understand everyone but usually I can pick out enough information to understand atleast what they are trying to say. Sunday we decided to hold primary for the first time in a long time. We had 2 primary kids and it went really well. My companion and I taught it with one of the members. We talked about the Apostasy and Restoration. We used the color by numbers book that Mom sent but didnt tell them which color was which number and how because they didnt know which one was right they colored it wrong and applied that to the Apostasy and talked about how because people couldnt find the truth they just did what they wanted and they didnt have it all right. It went well and the kids enjoyed it.

Right now we have about 8 investigators that we are working with. I havent met all of them yet. We have 2 that are close to baptism and our goal is to get them baptiyed this transfer.

In our district/area we are the only sisters. There is also a set of Elders and then a senior couple, The Prestons. They are all great!

To get around we either take the tram/bus or walk.

The culture is definitely different and it is taking some getting used to. My companion told me that when you meet the members you would be able to tell which ones have showered in the past few weeks and which ones havent. And you definitely could.

I am really doing ok. I am glad to be in Osijek. The members are great, the people are great, and it is a great city. I still dont know directions and I dont know where we are half of the time but luckily my companion does. Our apartment is decent. Compared to some of the other apartments I have been in while here it is really nice. We are lucky enough to have a washer and a dryer in our apartment. I am pretty sure we are the only missionaries in our mission with a dryer so thats a bonus.

The food here is good. So far what I have had is a lot of bread. Oneday for lunch we had Kebab which is a roll that has meat and veggies and sauce in it. Im not sure exactly what was in it but it was really good. I even ate it all and Im pretty sure there were tomatoes and onions in it. They also have bread that has chocolate in it which is good. Thats all that I have eaten so far that we didnt cook on our own. Im excited to try more foods this week.

I am glad to be here. I know that I am in the area that I am supposed to be in with the right companion. I am still getting used to things but it is going well. We have got a great week planned and I am excited to meet more of our investigators. The past few days we have mostly only met with less actives. I am excited to be here in Osijek and I am excited to help spread the Gospel to the people here. Ive got a lot of work to do on the language but I know the only way it will come is if I open my mouth and try. So thats what I am trying to do. It is hard and it is scary but thats ok. I know that the Lord is with me every step of the way and that if I do my part and try and open my mouth it will be filled with what needs to be said to these people. I know that there are people that are prepared for me to teach and they are waiting for me to find them. Now that we have the first week of getting used to things behind us I am ready to jump full force into missionary work.

I love you all! Thanks for all of the love and prayers and support! You really are amazing!

Love, Sestra Clark

Shoutouts!

Thanks for the letter that was sent and waiting for me when I got here! It made things a lot easier and it was good to hear from home! Also, thanks for all of the emails that I had this morning!

You have asked where everyone ended up so here it is. Sister Palmer Banja Luka (Bosnia), Peel Zadar, Erbe Novi Sad (Serbia), Fausnaught Banja Luka, Stuart Tuzla (Bosnia), Menjivar Sarajevo, Rankin Karlovac (Croatia)

So we are all all over the place. I have been told that the closest to me is Banja Luka which is about an hour and a half away. Novi sad is about that far too.

Anyways love you all! I hope my email isnt all over the place and that I answered your questions that you had. Let me know next week if there are things you want to hear about or dont want to hear about or any questions. I liked the list of questions that Dad sent and I am pretty sure that I answered them all in here somewhere.

A few pictures!