Well...another week has come and gone. Its crazy how fast time is moving. I have almost been in Croatia for three weeks now and I cant believe it. We are constantly crazy busy but its great. We are constantly doing something or going from appointments or tracting or contacting, etc. There have been multiple nights this week when we eat dinner when we get home for the night at 9 because its the only time that we can because there is so much going on. But its great!
Monday night after pday we had a meeting with A and T. It was my first time meeting with them. They are Jehovah Witnesses and have been meeting with the missionaries for awhile. My companion told me she wasnt sure how she felt about meeting with them but wanted me to go once to see what I thought. I did not like it. We went in there and they basically had a presentation to prove what we were saying wrong. They werent listening to anything that we said and had "research" from jw.com to prove why what they believed were right. They have no interest in learning about the Gospel or reading the Book of Mormon, they basically want to Bible Bash which is not what we are here for. Needless to say I dont think we will be meeting with them again.
Tuesday. We first met the Senior Couple to read with an investigator named B. He is in his 70s or 80s and has been investigating the church for more than 8 years. He comes to church every Sunday. He reads the Book of Mormon every day. He meets with the senior couple once a week. He comes to all of our activities. But he wont get baptized. He is Catholic and thinks that the Catholic church needs him because they need good people too. My companion and I went to the meeting with him determined to question him about it. And we got the same answer. He wont get baptized but he will keep coming. It really is sad. I had heard about him from my teachers in the MTC.
Wednesday. We have a member who lives in a nursing home. Wednesday she had a program that she was in and wanted us to come to so we went. I have a special place in my heart for the elderly. They sang and played instruments and even though they all sounded awful because none of them could sing and I couldnt understand much of what they were saying it was great. And after we were able to talk with R who is the member. She was really glad that we had come and happy to see us so it was good. They served us lunch at the program. They had traditional Croatian soup with was like a broth type thing with meat it it and pollenta and cabbage. It was good. The desserts werent very good. Croatians dont like sweet things so they werent very sweet. It was good though.
After the program on Wednesday we went to meet with E and J who are a less active mother and daughter. We talked to them about recieving revelation because they had asked us about it last time. And then we asked them about their conversion story and how they had met the missionaries which was cool to hear. They were both baptized many years ago. E has started coming back to church. She is older and is so sweet! We are still working on J but we will get there!
Thursday our investigator M invited us to his house for lunch. He told us that he was inviting a lot of his friends and family and wanted us to meet them. We thought it would be a good place to talk to people and get some potentials. Apparently there was some miscommunication because we were the only ones there besides him and his parents. We were able to talk to his parents quite a bit and get to know them which was good. His Mom made a fabulous meal that she had probably spent days cooking. Everything was made from scratch and all of the vegetables were grown from their garden. We started with a soup that was basically chicken noodle soup. We then had chicken that was delicious and pork along with potatoes, fresh vegetables, bread. It was delicious. Most of the members are poorer and most of our investigators are as well so we dont eat with people a lot. So this was a rare occasion to eat at a Croatians home and have a traditional meal and it was delicious! She also made a cream pie for dessert. We felt bad that we werent able to stay very long because we had other appointments.
Friday night for Aktivnost we played games outside. It was a lot of fun for those people that we were able to get to come outside. The Croatians dont like being outside a ton because the mosquitoes are so bad. So a group stayed inside and played games with the senior couple while the rest of us played capture the flag and other games outside. It was a lot of fun and we had the biggest turnout that we have had at a Friday night activity since I have been here which was good.
Saturday the senior couple asked us to go visit some less actives with them that live a little ways from Osijek. The senior couple doesnt know Croatian so they have to take us for translation. That can get interesting when sometimes neither me or my companion know what is being said either. The senior couple is great. Sister P is awesome. Elder P likes to have us translate things using words that most people wouldnt even use in English so we have no idea how to say it in Croatian. So it can be interesting. Anyways...we first went to Čepin to visit S. We had an appointment with her. She was really happy to see us and was glad that we had come. We talked to her about reading the Book of Mormon. She told us that she wants to read the Book of Mormon but cant because she doesnt have good eyesight. So we are going to try to find another way for her to read it...maybe a tape of something to listen to. Her living circumstances were not very good. She has a very small apartment and it was really dirty and quite gross. But we had a good visit with her and it was good for her to have contact with the missionaries. She lives about 20 minutes away from the church and has no means of transportation so she is unable to come to church.
The other member we visited lives in Vukovar which is about 45 minutes from Osijek. We were unable to set up an appointment with her but decided to go anyways. When she answered the door she was very hesitant and I dont think that she really wanted to let us in. But she did and it ended up being really good. She has been really sick so Elder P was able to give her a blessing. After a little bit she warmed up to us and I think she ended up being really glad that we had come. She even told us that we could come by once a month to visit. She was baptized in 1997 in Italy. She showed us pictures of her baptism and talked to us about it which was really fun to hear. We tried to leave several times and she would go get something else for us to see which was good since at first she didnt even want to let us in.
Afterwards we drove around Vukovar a little bit. It is the town that was hit the worst during the war. A lot of the buildings and houses are still destroyed from the war because people couldnt afford to fix them but people still live in them. We saw the cemetery where the war veterans are buried. We also saw the water tower which is the symbol of Croatias victory. It is destroyed quite a bit from the war but is still standing. It represents that even though there were many shots and bullets Croatia is still independent and still standing.
Afterwards we went back to Osijek and had a lesson with D. She is Atheist so she is very difficult but everytime we go she understands a little bit more and is open to learning more. It is going to take some work but we see a lot of potential in her. We talked to her about the afterlife and she asked us why God allows bad things to happen to good people. So we used the scriptures and talked to her about that.
We then went straight to a lesson with M which went great. He has been investigating for awhile and has had all of the lessons he is just having a hard time giving up his traditions and people around him dont agree with him learning about the church. We have pounded baptism into his head so much that we decided this time we werent going to talk about it. But he brought it up. We showed him Doctrine and Covenants 58:42 which is the scripture that talks about if you repent of your sins they will be remembered no more. We showed him that scripture and told him that is what baptism is for. Its so that we can retain a complete remission or our sins and move on and start with a clean slate. It really clicked with him that that is why we are pushing baptism and why it is so important and that its not just the way to gain membership into the church. We were still unable to commit him to a date but we took a step in the right direction. And we were so close to getting a referral from him for his brother in law and sister but he said he needs to talk to them first before giving us their number.
Sunday church was good. I understood more of what was said than I have the past few weeks so that is good. I got to play the piano today. My companion also plays as well as one of the Elders so we switch off which is nice. We taught primary and had 4 kids there which is the most we have had since I have been here! We also had 18 members at church today (not investigators, missionaries, etc.) which one of the Elders said he is pretty sure is a record. So we were really excited about that! We are focusing a lot of our efforts on reactivation and strengthening the testimonies of the members to help them become more independent because right now everything is run by the missionaries and we want them to be able to survive and run things if we werent here.
Sunday night we had a lesson with D. I may have told you about her in past letters. She has had all of the lessons multiple times and is so ready for baptism but wont get baptized until October because she wants a certain person to baptize her and he cant come to Osijek until October. We brought the Elders with us on the lesson to see if they could help her understand the importance of not waiting but she has her mind set. So for now we are just going to keep in contact and go by weekly and teach her or read a chapter in the Book of Mormon because she is set on waiting.
Things are going great here! Our apartment right now has 3 rooms we use one as a bedroom, study room, and storage room. It has two bathrooms a living room and a kitchen. It is on the other side of town from the Elders but is right around the corner from the Senior couple. We are actually in the process of looking for a new apartment which is stressful because we dont have any time for it but missionaries have been in this apartment for a long time and its time to get out.
We get food from grocery stores. There is one right around the corner from our apartment and there are several others really close. For the most part we can find everything we need to make stuff at the store. Sometimes we have to get a bit creative with substitutions because they dont have somethiing here but everything we have made has turned out. We do a lot of our own cooking which is good and is a lot healthier and cheaper. The food here is good. So far I havent tried anything I dont like. But like I said we make a lot of our own food.
Our church used to be an apartment that we turned into a church. It is small but works for what we have now. There arent any wards in Croatia. Im not sure how old this branch is.
I think that answers all of your questions.
The big news for the week here is flooding. Everywhere we go that is all we hear about. And everytime we hear about it, it is much worse than it actually is. They have had people preparing sand bags but we havent had to use them yet and I think that we hit the peak of the flooding yesterday. Apparently some towns and countries got it worse than we did. The river has raised by about 10 feet. If it were to raise anymore there probably would be flooding because it would start overflowing but at this point nothing too serious has happened. Some of the walking paths are underwater though.
It is hot here. And its not even as bad as it is going to get. We leave the apartment and start sweating. But its great. I just try not to think about it.
The language is still coming. I like to think I am improving every day. My companion and I did our first SYL day this week which was hard but I think it helped. We are going to try to do them every other day which will hopefully help me improve. Ive still got a ways to go but I am starting to pick up on more words and I am understanding more. My pronunciation needs help still but Im working on it. One of the Elders here is on his last transfer and knows the language really well and is really good about trying to help. I have told him if I ever say something wrong that he should correct me so he does that which helps. He is also good that if I ask him how to say something he will tell me how and then explain it so that I understand why and then he will quiz me on it later which is good. Sometimes I get frustrated because I want the language to come faster but I know that it takes time and that as long as I keep trying and pushing myself it will eventually come. Yesterday while contacting we started talking to some people and after awhile they asked us where we were from. We said we were from America and said sorry our Croatian isnt very good we are still learning. Their response was we know. The people here are very honest.
I am still doing good. Time is flying by and I cant decide if it is a good thing or a bad thing. I am still liking it a lot in Osijek. I love the people here and the members and I am glad to be here. I know there is a reason that I have been called here and I am looking for those that are prepared for me to teach them. I will find them!
I hope that you all have a great week! I love you lots! Thanks for everything!
Love,
Sestra Clark
Shoutouts!
This week I heard from Tyson, Grandpa, Ryan, Al, Lex, Carrie, Jordan, Mom and Dad.
I hope that you all have a great week this week! I will be thinking about you and I hope that everything goes smoothly and goes well.
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