Well...here goes another week. This week has been a crazy busy week. And these next few weeks are going to be even crazier. But I will get to that later.
Monday...for pday we didnt really do anything super exciting. Monday night after pday we had an inactive member that we decided we would go check up on. On the way to her house we decided we would do some tracting. After a few houses it just didnt feel right so we decided to just head straight to her house. We got to her house and she wasnt home...no one was home. We stood there for a few minutes really confused as to why we both felt that we should go to her house when she wasnt even there. So we decided to look around the area and find some other people that we could talk to. One of her neighbors was outside so we talked to him for a few minutes but he wasnt interested. So we started walking. We walked a little ways and ran into two girls. We started a normal conversation with them and talked to them for a good fifteen minutes. We told them that we teach free English classes and they were both really excited about it and said they would come. Hopefully it turns into something! The Lord works in mysterious ways. We both felt the reason we were supposed to be in that area was to talk to the less active member that we were originally going to visit. But sometimes the reason we are put in specific areas is for a different reason than we think.
Tuesday...we met with B again. We had assigned him 3 Nephi 11 to talk about baptism after our lesson from last week. We are at a loss of where to go with him. He is and possibly forever will be an eternal investigator. What he got out of that chapter was that he needs to become as a little child. When we brought up the part about baptism and following Christ and being baptized he went back to the fact that we need to be like little children. We arent sure if he really doesnt understand what we are trying to teach him or if he understands and just doesnt want to talk about it. After meeting with B we had district meeting. For district meeting today we discussed things that we need to do to help the branch and the area grow and then we spent the rest of the time reading scriptures together and discussing them. I loved it! I love studying the scriptures and I love studying them with other people to get different perspectives on the scriptures.
Tuesday night before English we met with one of the members and did Personal Progress. Her name is M and she is 17. She is one of the more active members here. We then had English and then after had a lesson with B. We taught him a few times my very first week but then he left and went to the coast for awhile but now he is back. Tuesday night we talked to him about the Word of Wisdom. The word of wisdom is one of the hardest things for people here because everyone smokes. He was really surprised when we told him we have never smoked, never drank, and never had coffee. He didnt belive us at first. Anyway...the lesson went really well and we committed him to stop smoking. He said it will be really hard but he wants to quit and knows that with the Lords help he can do it. We met with him again on Thursday and talked to him about baptism. He is catholic so was baptized as a baby. People here dont understand why they need to be baptized again if they were already baptized. He actually said it made sense to him why babies dont need to be baptized. But he still says he was already baptized so he doesnt need to be again. So even though he understands why babies dont need to be baptized (which is a step in the right direction because a lot of people dont even understand this) he thinks that because he was baptized as a baby he doesnt need to be again.
Wednesday...all of our appointments cancelled on us. Seriously...all of them. So we went out and tried to do some contacting. But it is so hot in the middle of the day that no one is outside. So we decided to go home and call people from the area book. We were able to talk to a few people on the phone and then were able to meet with one of them Thursday morning. She asked us questions about how our church works and why we are here. I think we had a pretty good meeting with her...but she seemed a little crazy. So we will see how it goes.
Thursday we got to go out to Čepin to visit Z again. She has been a member for several years but has been inactive. We went out and visited her towards the first of this transfer and a few weeks later she came to church. Since then she has come to church every week and she calls us and asks us when we are going to come visit her that week. So we have been doing weekly visits with her. Which is good because I think she needs it and it seems to help her. Even though we dread going to her house because it is one of the grossest ones here. But its ok. Thats not what matters.
Friday morning...the anticipated day for transfer calls. I was seriously so nervous it was ridiculous. We had been told that there was a chance they would come on Thursday but most likely on Friday. Elder Mulder kept calling us on Thursday telling us that they had gotten their call and wanted to know what we were doing. They didnt really get them on Thursday he was just trying to scare us...and it worked. I was seriously afraid I wouldnt be able to sleep Thursday night. But I managed to just fine. But calls came Friday morning. The Elders did get their calls before us. Elder Mulder is going home so we already knew that. But Elder Baldwin is going to Slovenia. Anyway...Elder Mulder also found out what we were doing too but couldnt tell us. The one thing he did say was I would be more scared if I was Sister Clark than Sister Mortensen. So we assumed that meant that I would be leaving and she would be staying. We had to start ignoring calls from the Elders because it took a good hour for the APs to call us after they called the Elders and the Elders kept calling us every 5 minutes. Anyway...we finally got a call from the APs. They started off by telling me that I would be staying in Osijek and Sister Mortensen would be going to Varaždin. Alright...I can handle that. I was actually happy about getting to stay here for another transfer now that I am used to it. We were then really confused as to why Elder Mulder said I should be afraid and figured he was probably just trying to mess with us. The APs then told us we would both be training. Terrifying...but I can handle that. So then we asked him if he could tell us what Elders would be serving in our areas with us. He told Sister Mortensen which Elders she would be with and then said and we wont have Elders in Osijek. Yep...thats right. I am staying in Osijek and training. And it will just be the two of us. So not only am I training a new missionary, I will be the most experienced missionary in our area. We get to take on the elders investigators as well as the ones we have and we are in charge of the entire area. I may have had a slight panic attack at the time. I am still a bit terrified about it but I am feeling a little bit better about it. Not only that, it is up to me for translating. We have let Elder Mulder do the translating for sacrament meeting, etc. because he knows the language so well. And now it is up to me. The Senior couple will still be here but they dont know Croatian at all. The reason they are taking the Elders out of Osijek is because the senior couple that was in the office went home early so they had to move a set of Elders to be office Elders which meant that they had to take Elders out of somewhere. I am not 100% sure why they decided on Osijek because there are a few cities that have more than 1 set of Elders but I guess it is what President Rowe felt like he needed to do and I trust his judgement.
Friday night I had a sit down with Sister Preston and told her how I was feeling about all of the changes. She told me not to worry. She said I just need to focus on doing missionary work and training the new sister and that I just need to let them know what I need and they will be there to help me with it. We have members that know English that can help with translating, etc. She told me when they first found out what was happening they were shocked because of how young of a missionary I am but after thinking about it she says it makes sense. She said out of the two of us sisters right now she is glad that it is me staying because I have the personality that I will set a plan of what I want accomplished and do whatever it takes to make it happen. She said that once the new trainee gets here (we go get her from Zagreb tomorrow) we will all sit down and have a meeting of what needs to be done and how we are going to do it and we will all get to work. She said in a way it will be nice because we are all fairly new and havent been anywhere but Osijek so we dont know how it is done other places. So we can make any changes we feel need to be made and move forward without anyone telling us it wont work. And that way when they put Elders back into Osijek we can tell them this is how we do things here and this is what needs to be done. This transfer is only 3 weeks so we are thinking that there will be Elders back in at that point but we arent positive. It will be difficult to do things such as English class since we are done a set of missionaries to teach a class, we will all have to speak in sacrament meeting more often, we wont have as many people to help plan aktivnost, etc. but it will all work out. Im not 100% sure what will happen with our district because we wont have a district leader. And since the nearest missionaries are more than an hour a way we will see what happens. Sister Preston and Elder Mulder said that I will act as the district coordinator so to say until they put missionaries back in but I havent actually heard that from president so we will see what happens. I am hoping that when I go for training meeting I can talk to him and get a little more information as to what exactly is going to happen.
I have also talked to Elder Mulder and told him how terrified I am and he said that the same sort of thing happened to him his second transfer. He said it was definitely his hardest transfer and the time when he had to work the hardest but it is also the time that he grew the most and learned the most on his mission. He said that it will be hard but I need to just relax and not worry and I will do just fine. Saturday we did a language study with him to pick his brain one last time. He told me that if I can just speak slow and think about what I am going to say before it I will be just fine. I know the grammar principles I just need to be better at applying them. He also said that if I insist on only speaking Croatian even to people that speak English then it will help me improve a lot. I have talked to a few of the members and told them to only speak Croatian to me and when I say something wrong to correct me so that I can fix it. What better way to learn the language then when I am put in a situation where I have to learn it because I dont have anyone else that I can rely on.
Anytime I have doubts or feel overwhelmed I think "The Lord qualifies whom he calls." Yes this transfer will be hard and it is going to take a lot of work but I know that I am supposed to be here for a reason and that if I can rely on the Lord everything will be just fine and I will be led to do exactly what needs to be done to help build the branch here in Osijek and I know that it will be worth it. When I was talking to Sister Preston she told me that she could feel the prayers of my family back home helping me to succeed and be better every day. And shes right. You guys are awesome and there is no way I would be able to do this without knowing I had a huge support system back home!
Friday night for Aktivnost we played tellestrations. Everyone had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it!
Sunday...Church was really good. Elder Mulder was already scheduled to speak since it was his last Sunday and the other speaker didnt show up so Sister Mortensen and Elder Baldwin both bore their testimony since they are both leaving to other cities. I sat next to Sister Preston and she turned to me after the announcements and asked me to translate for her. So I translated sacrament meeting for sister Preston. And I understood everything! It was easier because it was only the missionaries speaking rather than a native but I was still able to understand it all which is improvement from 2 months ago. It was a little confirmation that I will be ok on my own without someone else that knows the language better than me. When natives speak i still dont understand 100% of what they say but I understand enough to figure out what they are trying to say.
After church on Sunday we went to visit the member of the branch that lives in the Nursing home, R. We took hymnbooks and went and sang with her. The Prestons didnt sing with us but just sat and listened. When we finished Sister Preston told us that singing really is like bearing testimony because when we sang it was as if we were angels singing. And the Spirit in the room was so strong. And even though Elder Mulder is the only one of us that actually has a good singing voice it didnt sound bad. When we went to leave Rajka told us thanks for coming. She told us that when we come the feeling is so Powerful that it is as if time stops.
Normally when we go places together we let Elder Mulder do the translating. But today he told me I had to do it for practice. So I did. It wasnt as good as if he would have done it but I did do it and we were all able to communicate.
Tomorrow morning we are heading to Zagreb so that we can both pick up our trainees. We will have training meeting on Wednesday and then I will be heading back to Osijek to survive on my own. The other missionaries in Osijek right now have made sure to not let me forget how much time I have before I am on my own. And I dont really like the fact that all of the other missionaries are leaving me. Not even one of them are staying. But I was just as sad to leave my MTC group and I have survived just fine so it will be ok. I know that with the Lords help I can do anything and that if I obey with exactness I will see miracles. If I overcome my fears and doubts and have faith to push forward I can find those people that are prepared for the gospel in their lives. With Faith miracles will happen. I hope that my new trainee is ready to go to work because we have got a lot ahead of us. And that is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to forget ourselves, overcome our fears and weaknesses and we are going to step out of our comfort zone and do whatever it takes to spread the Gospel here in Osijek.
This morning in my personal study I was reading in Moses chapters 6 & 7 about the story of Enoch. The Lord called him to go out and preach the gospel and his response was why me. Im young, the people dont like me, and I am slow of speech. That is exactly how I feel...I am young, and my language still needs improvement. And although its not that the people dont like me they dont know me and I dont know them. But the Lord said to Enoch that he would walk with him every step of the way. So Enoch went and did what he was asked. And in chapter 7 it says that he was able to move mountains and gain the love of the people and able to talk to them in their language. And I know that the Lord will do the exact same for me. He will take me by the hand and lead me to exactly where I need to go to be able to "move mountains" here in Osijek. I know that it will take time but if I try and not be afraid of failing I will be able to learn the language and communicate with the people here. I know that if I will be exactly obedient I will see miracles. I know that the Lord called me here for a specific reason and although sometimes I may not understand exactly why things happen, he does, and he knows what is best. So I am ready to put my doubts and fears behind me and make this next transfer even better than the last. And I know that if at anytime I feel like giving up or feel like I cant do something, I can turn to my Father in Heaven through prayer and he will be there to lift me back up and help me make it through.
I hope that you all have a great week and remember that I love you lots!
Sestra Clark
Shoutouts...
Thanks for the emails from Jordan, Dad, Grandpa, Lex, Carrie, Mom
Sretan Rođendan MOM!
Sister Clark & Sister Mortensen
Sisters with the Prestons
Final district picture
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