Pictures

 English students

 

 A new English student that wanted his picture taken

 

 Their friend from Hungary

 

 The RS President and her kids

 

 Young Women's

 

 A view from the rooftop

 

 Rain!

 

 Waiting for the tram in the rain

 

Still raining



Almost September, Crazy!

Happy Monday...can you believe it is almost September. Crazy! We had another good week this week!

 

Monday...after pday we found an apartment building that we decided to tract. It was so bad that it was funny. No one would talk to us. They wouldnt even let us say hi before they closed the door. Thats how bad it was. Every door. But luckily we were in a really good mood that we just laughed about it. but...the very last door of the building a girl answered the door. She was 19. She was so nice! She invited us in and we talked to her. She didnt seem very interested in hearing about the church but I think if we continue working with her we can get there...we will get there!

 

Tuesday...We met with B in the morning which was the same as every week. We had district meeting and then we had an appt with some members. We decided we were going to teach them about the Restoration even though they have probably heard it a million times and it went really well. We were in their home that is not very well kept, they are members that we know have areas where they can improve but as we talked about the Restoration of the Gospel and asked them questions and had them tell us about it we could feel the Spirit. A few weeks ago when President Rowe was visiting he told us that we should be teaching members exactly as if they were investigators. We teach them the lessons that we teach to investigators. As we have done this the past few weeks we have seen great things happen and have had great lessons with the members.

 

Tuesday night was English. I love teaching English. We are using the program that we have been given to use but I adapt it a bit to adjust to the students. The lesson this week was learning numbers and colors which the students all know. So I decided we were going to do math with the numbers...like times tables, with the colors I taught colors rather than just the rainbow colors such as magenta lavendar, etc. and then we were going to work on pronunciations. Croatians have a hard time saying the th sound. They say it as a t. So instead of saying three they say tree. So I taught them how to make the th sound and made them say it over and over again. I also showed them how I cant roll an r so they wouldnt feel bad and it was great. By the end of the class we were all laughing at each other because we cant pronounce them. So I told them to go home and practice and I would test them on it next time. I also told them that I would practice rolling my rs. And apparently they are better practicers than me because I still cant roll my rs and everyone of them can say th now.  I have been practicing rolling my rs for 5 months now...I will get there. We have one English student who is an older woman who has been coming to English for awhile now. She walked in the door on Thursday and had a big grin on her face and walked up to me and said three thousand three hundred thirty three...and got all of the ths. She was so proud of herself! Not only am I loving English class the students are too. Every class they all come up and tell me thank you and that they are learning a ton. It really is great!  We are getting more and more students. Our students have almost doubled what we had last transfer between the two classs.

 

Wednesday...on Sunday we went to see a former investigator and she had guests over on Sunday and so we set up a time to meet with her on Wednesday. We went to her house and she had forgot about it and was heading out the door so we set up a time to come back later in the day.  We went back and she wasnt home.

 

Wednesday we also did Personal Progress. I love doing it! This week we read some conference talks on Faith. Friday for Aktivnost we were having a music night and wanted the members to be involved in it too so I taught Anna (the Young Woman) that duet on the piano that everyone knows and we played it together. She loved it! I have loved seeing the change in her these past few weeks. She comes to church every Sunday, she reads the Book of Mormon, she comes each week for Personal Progress and she is so excited to learn and is taking it all in. It really is great!

 

After meeting with her we had a meeting with the Prestons. We are starting a Family History class and so they had to give us training on how to do it...it was pretty pointless because I have taken Family History classes and know how to do it but whatever.

 

While tracting on Monday we knocked on a door and a nun answered. We were really caught off guard by it and my companion said to her Im sorry we didnt realize this was a church. She said no this is my apartment. We were super nice to her and she was nice too but after a few minutes she looked at us, pointed at her outfit and said obviously we dont really have anything more to discuss and shut the door. Last transfer Sister Mortensen always wanted to talk to a nun. Now I can say I have. She obviously wasnt interested in talking to us at all but she was super nice about it.

 

Here is our super funny story of the week. I hope that it is as funny for you as it was for us because we seriously laughed about it for days. Sometimes we still laugh about it. There were a few nights that I would think about it while falling asleep and start laughing. And Im not just talking about laughing a little...it was the serious Suzy laugh with tears and all. Anyway...we were sitting on the tram and an older woman got on so we said hi to her. She then came and stood right by us and said "tourists". We responded in Croatian that we were missionaries and what we were here doing. She did not speak English very well but she was determined that she was going to speak in English...so we were very patient with her and let her do it but we spoke in Croatian.  She was very hard to understand. We talked to her for a little bit and asked her about herself. We asked her if she had any kids and she paused for a minute and then said "Son and Doctor, and little boy from doctor". We then asked her where she was headed to and what she was doing. She paused for a few minutes and thought really hard about it and then responded "house". We talked for a little longer but I dont remember what else she said and then we got to her stop.  Here is the best part. She started walking down the stairs, stopped, turned around, and looked at us with a super confident face and said "cheese" and then turned and walked off the bus. Yes, she said cheese. I have no idea what she was trying to say...mabe bye or peace or I dont know. My companion said my look I gave her was a complete blank stare of what did I just hear. And that is exactly how I was feeling. It probably doesnt sound that funny but trust me...it was. In fact I am laughing as I am typing it right now. Good times.

 

Thursday we went to visit a member who lives about an hour away from Osijek in Vukovar. We have been trying to set up an appointment with her for awhile but she would never commit so we decided to just go. We got there and she was so happy to see us. She invited us in and we talked to her for a little bit. She has cancer and had just got out of the hospital for treatment. Her husband was home as well. He went in the kitchen and got a plate and put "candy" on it for us. They were really cough drops. But they were so nice and so happy to see us and told us to come back and visit!

 

We also had a lesson with S on Thursday. He had a lot of questions for us so we ended up just talking about those and helping him learn the answers. He told us that he knows for sure this is it and that he wants to be baptized but he needs to learn more first and we learned of a few concerns that we need to help him with first. But Im ok with taking things slow if it means it will help him Endure to the End after baptism. But he still comes to church every Sunday and he loves it and he loves learning about the Gospel. He always listens to what we say and then comes back with questions. We have a few concerns with him as well so we are trying to get those taken care of before pushing forward too far. But I know that it will all work out when it is supposed to.

 

Friday...ok here is our biggest miracle story of the week. So a week ago Friday we were tracting in a building and a guy answered the door and told us he didnt have a Book of Mormon and he needed one...Im pretty sure I told you about this last week. Anyway...I woke up Friday morning and felt like we needed to go back there. So I told Sister Frampton and she was a little hesitant and thought we should wait a little longer but we went anyway. We got to his door and his wife answered. We asked for him and she went and got him and he invited us inside. He had us sit down and then grabbed his Book of Mormon and told us sorry Im a little bit of a slow reader so I have only read half of the book. Half. Half of the Book of Mormon in one week.  He had been reading it to his wife too. So we decided to give them the first lesson. We started and got a few minutes in and he stopped us and proceeded to tell us the entire Joseph Smith Story. He then proceeded to tell us about the first half of the Book of Mormon. Not only had he read it but he had understood what he read. His wife had been in the hospital and just got out the day before and they were leaving the next morning to go out of town so if we had waited any longer they wouldnt have been home when we went. He told us that he would finish the Book and we could come back at the end of next week and talk more about it. My companion and I were both in shock. We could not belive what was happening. A lot of the members here probably havent even read the entire Book of Mormon. And here this man has read half of it in one week...and understands it. I havent even read the Book of Mormon that fast. Im not 100% sure what their names are...we asked them twice but we were so in shock that neither of us could remember. We will be going back this week to see if he finished it.

 

After visiting them we did some tracting and found a lady that let us in. She said she had talked to the missionaries a few years ago. We were only able to talk to her for a few minutes but we are going to go back this week again. After we went to visit one of our members who is in a Home. We took hymn books and sang with her and some of the other people there with her.

 

Friday night Aktivnost was great! We did a music night. We sang primary songs together and then Sister Frampton played the guitar and I played the piano.  They loved it! After we had ice cream sundaes...I made hot fudge and the members LOVED it. I am getting pretty creative with my cooking. The recipe I brought for hot fudge calls for sweet and condensed milk which they dont have here. I found a recipe in one of the cook books in our aparment to make sweet and condensed milk but I couldnt find everything it needed. So I just made up the recipe as I went along and it turned out great. We also made Hawaiian haystacks this week without cream of chicken soup. I just made up the recipe as I went along. I couldnt duplicate it again but it turned out good.

 

Saturday...we cleaned the church and then I had to do a zone conference call with the other district leaders and zone leaders. The Prestons were then going over to the Elders apartment to clean. The Elders supposedly cleaned it before they left but I dont think they really did. We asked the Prestons if they wanted help and they said it would be great. So we went.  Im glad we did because we were there for 3 hours and it could still be cleaner. It was disgusting. I cleaned the bathroom...thats all I did. The toilet was disgusting. It was worse than cleaning a toilet after Justin and his friends use it. There was seriously caked on urine. Im pretty sure it hasnt been cleaned for a long time if ever. It was disgusting. Sister Preston and I have decided we have done our share of cleaning apartments after missionaries.

 

Saturday night we had a lesson with V and S...they are a couple that I met with once last transfer but are really hard to set up appointments with. They are very nice but I dont think they are interested in learning about the church. We asked them what they expected to learn from us and they wouldnt give us an answer. They arent keeping commitments, half the time we cant even set up appointments with them, they have never come to church, and they dont read the Book of Mormon between visits. They are very nice and listen to what we have to say I just dont think they are interested. So we are going to give them a break for now. They speak and understand English but we still speak Croatian to them. When Sister Frampton finds out that someone speaks English she automatically stops trying to speak Croatian and switches to English...which isnt good. So I have started correcting her. Every time she starts speaking English I turn to her and say Croatian and make her start over. I think I said it about twenty times in the lesson with them. I think it started to get really annoying but the only way she is going to improve is if she tries. So even on the streets when someone says they speak English I turn to her and say Croatian and make her try in Croatian even if it doesnt make sense or takes longer and it is helping.

 

Saturday night we had an appointment set up with N and V but when we got there N was asleep. Our lesson was aimed more towards him so we werent sure exactly what to teach. Sister Frampton opened up her Book of Mormon and she had the Living Christ in it so I said lets read and discuss that. So we did. We read it and talked about Christ and the Atonement. V had never even heard of it before and was really excited about it. Afterwards she asked us "So Christ is going to come again?" We responded yes. and she asked when. So we explained to her that we dont know when we just know that He will and that we need to be prepared for when he does come. She has been a member for almost 6 months now and didnt even know that Christ will come again. Thats why it is so important to teach our investigators and even our members the Doctrine so that they have that foundation and know these things.

 

Last week when we met with V she had just cleaned out her closet and had a pair of shoes that she wanted me to have. They were a little small but I didnt want to offend her so I took them. So I decided since we were going to visit her I would wear them. So right before we got to her apartment I changed shoes and I changed them the second we got out.  I didnt even have them on for an hour and most of that time we were sitting and I got a blister from them. They made me really grateful for my shoes...even though they arent super attractive they dont give me blisters. And V didnt even realize that I was wearing them.

 

Sunday...church went well. I got to talk and I did it all in Croatian and didnt even have to write everything down that I said. I also played the piano so I went from Piano to talking and back to piano. One of the members told me after that my talk was really good and he understood everything and it was grammatically correct which made me really excited!

 

We had kids at church on Sunday so we taught Primary. We taught about Prophets and taught them the Latter Day Prophets song to learn all of the Prophets.

 

Sunday it was pouring rain. It actually is pouring rain today too. It makes tracting a little interesting. Especially since last night Sister Frampton forgot her umbrella so we had to share one. Im not sure if I like the extreme heat or the pouring rain better.

 

Last week D had told me it was her Birthday on Sunday. But apparently I misheard her and it was her Grandsons birthday...not hers. But we went over and took her a Birthday card. Luckily she just laughed about it. We decided since we were there we would teach her a lesson. We asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and she told us that she hadnt and she doesnt believe in it. I asked her why and she said because the people in it are different than the Bible. I asked her what she needed to do to believe in the Book of Mormon and know that it was true.  She said read it and pray about it. She said she would do it but she has said that the past 3 weeks and hasnt yet.

 

We are still surviving here...we are trying to stay dry while we are out and about all day. We are super busy and are always on the go but I love it! I am learning so much and as we focus on the positive and stay happy good things are happening and we are seeing results from our efforts and people are making progress. And when things arent going exactly how we want them to we just laugh and press forward until something good happens!

 

I hope that you all have a great week!

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts

 

Emails from Mom Dad Grandpa and Lex

 

Sretan Rođendan Chris

 

Good luck to all of you starting school this week!

 

Tyson...I am expecting an email from you next week to hear where you get your call to. Even if that is all you say in it because I know how much you love to write emails.

Pictures

This says, "Osijek, the place for me"

Tan lines from her shoes

 

Group at Aktivnost

 

Aktivnost invention

 

The chapel

 Pictures from PDay trip to a mansion

 

On the Hungarian border - they didn't cross it!!

Happy Monday‏

Well...its been another great week here in Osijek. We are seeing miracles every day and we are surprised more and more each day by the things that we are seeing. It really is a great time to be a missionary and we are going to make a difference here before we leave.

 

Monday night after Pday we went tracting. We went and found a random street and decided to tract it. We tracted a few houses and knocked on the door of a lady who we found out was a former investigator. We talked to her for a few minutes but she said she wasnt ready to start meeting with us again. A few houses later was a house where the Mom answered. She had 6 kids. We talked to her for a few minutes. She told us that she was Catholic and that the Catholic church had been good for her family and that she didnt see a reason for us to talk to her because she didnt see them changing. She wouldnt let us come inside but she stood at the door and talked with us for a few minutes. I could tell that she felt something but we couldnt get her to let us come in and talk to her more. We left her house and I kept thinking that we should go back and talk to her but she had told us that she had no interest. About five minutes later we knocked on the door and a man came out and started talking to us. He told us that he was Atheist and he didnt see a need to belive anything different than that. We ended up talking to him for more than half an hour and by the end of it he told us that he knows that his family needs a change. He asked us what he could read that could prove to him why we are different and why our church is the right way. So we handed him a Book of Mormon. He gave us his contact information and told us that we could come back and talk to him. He told us that he would read the Book of Mormon and if he felt good about it he would keep it and talk to us more about it and if not he would give us the book back. It was really great because at first he was Atheist and had no interest in anything we were saying and within half an hour we committed him to reading the Book of Mormon and learning about religion.  If we would have gone back to the house with the mother we wouldnt have met this man.

 

Tuesday we tracted for quite awhile with not much success. The best we got was a lady that let us in but we found out it was only because she wanted us to babysit her handicapped daughter...which we cant do. Tuesday night we had English. I love teaching English. This new program is great. I dont do exactly what the program says but pretty much.  I can tell that the students really like it and they are learning and actually retaining the information.

 

Wednesday Sister Frampton decided that she wanted to do an SYL day. So we did.  She told me not to speak a word of English. So I didnt...for the first half of the day. It got to the point that I couldnt do it any longer because I had to repeat myself a hundred times and then she would have to guess as to what I was trying to say. But we lasted half a day and it went really well. Maybe this week we can last a little bit longer.

 

Wednesday we had an appointment scheduled but when we got there they had forgotten and asked us to come back a different time. So we went to visit some people that we had met a few weeks ago. They invited us in and we talked to them for quite awhile. We had another appointment so we left and were walking to our other appointment and a lady started waving at us and called us over. This doesnt happen very often so we went over. She invited us inside and said that she wanted to show us something. She took us into a room and pulled out a Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. She said that she had lessons from the missionaries about 4 years ago but it wasnt the right timing and that they had lost contact. Since that time she has gotten married and has a son. She was super nice and we talked to her for a little bit and are going to go back this week to talk to her again. We then went to the church to do Personal Progress with A. It went well again and she loved it.

 

Wednesday night we had a meeting with D. We went in and were firm with her again. We asked her questions and told her that the only way she is truly going to feel ready for baptism is that if she gains a testimony for herself about the Book of Mormon and about the Gospel and that the only way to do that is to sincerely pray about it. She said that she prays every day and that she knows she recieves answers but she doesnt know if she can pray about it. I testified to her and told her that if she has doubt than she wont recieve an answer. When we left I told her that I hope that she will pray about the Book of Mormon, I hope that she will have a sincere desire for baptism, and I hope that she would come to church on Sunday even if it was hot outside but that the only one that could decide she needed to do it was her. And the only one that could make it happen was her. After leaving we decided to give her a break for a few days and let her think about what we had said and make the decision if she wanted to keep meeting with us. And yesterday she came to church...without us reminding her about it. She walked in and told me its hot today but i decided that I needed to come to church anyway. I could tell that what we had said to her really hit her and I think she really does have a desire to gain a testimony and a desire to get baptized it is just taking time for her to realize it and it is something she needs to realize on her own through the Spirit. We can help her but we cant force her into anything.

 

Thursday we decided to go check up on inactive members. The first one we went to her parents were home but she wasnt. We talked to her dad for awhile and he was very nice and gave us information of how we could contact her. The second one wouldnt open the door. The third one his daughter answered and he wasnt home. But we went back a few days later and were able to talk to him for a little bit. I dont know if any of them will come back anytime soon but at least we are trying to find them and hopefully sometime down the road they will. We have a lot of inactive members right now that we are hoping we will be able to get to come back or at least let us get in contact with them. Baby steps...

 

We went tracting Thursday night and my favorite phrase someone said was Im not interested in anything...alrighty then. We also had English which went really well again. And our friend that we met from Hungary came.

 

Friday we went tracting for the morning. We were in an apartment complex and knocked on a door and I dont even remember what we said but it was something about the Book of Mormon. The guy looked at it and then looked at us and said I dont have that book and I need it. We said yes you do and gave him one. He was even willing to pay for it. We told him a little bit about it and told him to read it and that we would come back and talk to him about it. Its hard when we find males that are interested because he was home alone so we couldnt go in and teach him so we have to find someone to go with us and go back another time.

 

We went and visited E and J again and it went really well. We got Js son D involved in the lesson and are hoping that if we can get him excited about the church he will want to come and it will help J come back too. They love having us come and are great. They know the Doctrine. J just wont come to church.

 

Friday night we had Aktivnost and it was awesome. While we were waiting for people to come Elder Preston started a giant dot game...you know the one you play during church where you make boxes. So we had like 10 people playing on one board and everyone got really into it. For the activity we had a bunch of random objects that we had found around our apartments and the church and we split into groups and made inventions. Everyone got super into it and loved it.  We came up with some pretty creative things. I will send pictures.

 

Saturday...we went and cleaned the church in the morning and then we had a lesson with N and V. We decided to just start at the beginning with N and so we taught about the Restoration and had V help us teach it. After we finished the lesson he asked us to read a chapter with him in the Book of Mormon so we said ok and asked him where he was. He opened to 2 Nephi 3 which is the chapter that talks about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon coming forth. It was perfect for what we had just talked about.

 

After their lesson we went tracting. We decided to try apartment buildings. The hard part about apartment buildings is that they lock the outside door and so it is hard to go in. Sister Frampton saw a man walking into a building and decided we should follow him in. So we did. We walked all the way up to the top floor knocked on the door and a woman named L answered. We showed her the Book of Mormon and she invited us in to talk about it. She had 2 kids who were so cute. We gave her the first lesson and talked a little bit about what she belives in. We left her with a Book of Mormon and committed her to read it and we are going to go back this week to teach her again.

 

Later Saturday night we went to check up on a former investigator. They too lived in an apartment complex that was locked. Sister Frampton told me that she was just going to try and guess the code to get the door open. I told her there was no way she would be able to guess it. She typed in some numbers, we heard a noise, tried the door and it was open. We tracted the buliding with not much luck and then talked to the former investigator for a little while. She had guests but set up a time for us to come back...hopefully she will actually follow through.

 

Sunday...we went to church which was good. 2 members of our Branch went to the temple this week one for endowments and one for baptims so they both shared their testimony which was really great. S came to church again this week! We were unable to meet with him this week but we talked with him several times and are hoping this week we can meet with him and get somewhere with him.

 

After church we went tracting but I wasnt really feeling it. I was in a weird mood on Sunday. I was just kind of feeling down. I was just feeling like I wasnt doing enough and I didnt know how I could do more. It was kind of like I needed verification that we were doing ok and that we were doing what we were supposed to be doing. I talked to Sister Frampton and we decided to go home and eat lunch and then head back out and start fresh. We ate and then we headed back out and started knocking on doors. After a few doors we got let in to a house with a family with three kids. They werent interested but they listened to what we had to say. A few houses later we got let in to another house. We had a good conversation with them and they fed us a ton of food. We left them with a Book of Mormon. A little while later we got let into another house. This lady again listened to what we had to say but wasnt interested. We got let in 3 times. 3 in one day. None of them were super interested and I dont know if they will go anywhere but it was a little reminder that we are doing just fine. As long as we are working hard that is all that we need to do.  W will see little miracles and we will find people that will be willing to listen to us. And maybe these people arent ready now but maybe they will be ready a little ways down the road.  We are doing what we need to be doing. We are working hard, we are being obedient, and thats all that we can do.

 

Today was a good day. The Prestons called us last night and told us they were going to some mansion and asked if we wanted to go with them. So we did. On the way to theirouse we talked to a lady on the tram who was super nice and gave us her information and told us to come by sometime. I dont remember the name of the place that we went to today but it was really cool...I will send pictures.

 

Anyway...things are going well here. I have heard that the heat wave is over and it will still be fairly warm but it wont be hot hot anymore so hopefully that is right. We have got a lot of work to do but we are making baby steps every day and helping to strengthen the people here. I love Osijek. I love being a missionary. And I love the Gospel.

 

I hope that you all have a great week. Love you lots!

 

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts

 

Sretan Rođendan Carrie

 

emails from Lex, Justin, Mom, Dad, Carrie, Grandpa

Pictures

 View of the city from a balcony

 

 An older part of town

 

 Graffitti that says "I love you Osijek"

 

 Picking plums

 

 One of their English students that plays guitar by the river

 

 A member of the branch

 

 Church on Sunday

 

Decorated walls in an apartment building



I cant think of something creative to put here...sorry‏

Alright...here goes another weeks email.

 

Tuesday...we started out with reading with B. They had me translate for him but he would say something in Croatian...I would translate it...and then he would proceed to say the exact same thing in English and it is the same thing he says every week. So my translating was pointless. But it was good practice. After we had district meeting which went well. I decided that for role plays we would just start with the first lesson and work our way through the lessons but do it a little different every time. So this time we did the first part of the first lesson in a paragraph or less...so basically just getting to the basics.  Knowing how to teach each lesson is what we need to most...so hopefully it helps. After district meeting we went to a members house, N, who lives in a village outside of Osijek. He has a ton of plum trees and I am pretty sure he calls me every day telling me that we need to come pick more plums. He always says that we need to come see paradise on earth. So we went out with the Prestons to pick plums. It was fun but we got a ton of plums...I am kind of sick of eating plums. We had English class Tuesday night. We are starting a new English program mission wide and President asked us to start it and kind of work out all of the bumps before everyone else starts using it. It is a good program but it kind of contains a lot of stuff and sometimes I feel like we are rushing through things. But the students seem to like it and they are learning so hopefully it turns out good. I get to teach the beginners class which is a bit difficult because I dont know how to explain English grammar in Croatian. So I just speak in English and I just talk really slow and if they have questions then I try to explain it in Croatian. But I figure it is good for them to have to pay attention and try and understand in English and it pushes them a little bit.

 

Wednesday...We had scheduled appointments but everyone cancelled. So we just decided to just go visit people without appointments. We went to visit M and decided to talk to her about the third lesson The Gospel of Jesus Christ and to have her help us teach it and then to focus on the enduring to the end part. It ended up being really good and got her thinking because we were asking her a lot of questions about it. After her house we were at a tram stop and started talking to a lady who made it clear that she did not want to talk to us. So we got on the tram. And after about 2 minutes the lady came back and started talking to us. So we talked to her the entire tram ride.

 

We have a girl in the branch who is 12 and we decided we wanted to start doing Personal Progress with her each week. We talked to her Mom about it and her Mom told us she would love us to do it and she wants us to do it at the church so that she gets in the habbit of coming to the church. So we did Personal Progress with her and she loved it! We gave her a for the strength of youth pamphlet and she was so excited about it. She told us that she had started reading the Book of Mormon and she pulled out her scriptures and she had been marking them too. So we worked on Personal Progress with her for about an hour. All we did was read scriptures and talk about them but she loved it. She asked when we could do it again and yesterday at church she asked when we could meet again. I am happy that she is so excited about it!

 

Thursday was hot. It was 40 degress celcius plus humidity. It was ridiculous. We werent very smart and decided to go contacting along the Drava. It was really quite humorous because there was not a single person there...not one. It was completely deserted. But if you looked across the river at the swimming pool there were a million people. Needless to say contacting was unsuccessful. But...we had a lesson with S! He is the man that we met on the street and then he came to church. We texted him to set up a time to meet and he responded that he was glad to hear from us because he feels goodness in us and he wants to meet with us more often. So we met with him on Thursday and taught the first lesson and he was really accepting of it. He told us he had looked up information about President Monson (it made me a bit nervous that he was looking on the internet but he seemed to only find good things). He said that he would read from the Book of Mormon and pray about it and he came to church on Sunday again! And he really does love it! I think we have a lot of potential in him but we are going to take things slow because we have seen from other investigators that we need to take it slow and make sure they have that firm foundation before taking the next step.  We arent going to baptize people just to baptize them. We are baptizing people to Endure to the End and even if it takes time its ok.

 

We had English again on Thursday and then after we taught B. He doesnt get why we left America to come to Croatia for a year and a half. We talked to him about how we know that it is true and we know how much it can bless the lives of others but he still just doesnt get it. We told him that if he read and prayed about the Book of Mormon he too could know it was true and could understand why it is so important to us. We were able to have a member present on the lesson and he did a good job of explaining how it was hard for him to understand too and that at first it was weird but once he understood it just made sense and he knew that he needed to be baptized. So once again we are back at the basics and helping people to understand and gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

 

Friday...was zone conference. I think it was kind of a last minute thing because we didnt find out about it until Tuesday and on Thursday afternoon they called and asked us to teach part of it. President Rowe wasnt even there but it was still really good. We did a lot of role plays and practice and a lot of talking about working with Members and Less Actives.  Even though we had short notice our teaching part went good. We talked about Recieving Revelation Through Church Attendance and the importance of getting people to come to church. Coming home from zone conference only took 5 hours this time as compared to the 6 hours it took last month even though it should only take 2 1/2 to 3 hours. It was ridiculous.

 

Saturday...we cleaned the church and then we had a lesson with N and V.  When we got there N wasnt there so we taught V. We talked about the Restoration and had her explain it to us and if she didnt know something we would talk to her about it.  It went really well. As soon as we were about to leave N got home. We didnt have anywhere to go so we stayed and taught him too.  Then we set up a time with them for this week so that they both know about it.

 

Saturday afternoon we went tracting. There was a street that I decided would be good to go to. We were seriously having no luck...no one would talk to us. But then a man walked by on the street and we said hi to him and he stopped and started talking to us. We talked to him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he asked if he could have one. So we gave him a copy. We asked him if we could get his information and we could meet sometime to talk about it. He thought about it for a minute and said ya I would like that. It was one of those moments of being in the right place at the right time. We didnt have any success with any of the houses but if we wouldnt have been in that area we wouldnt have met him.

 

After we went contacting at the Drava. We talked to a few people that were really nice but no one was interested. We started talking to a girl who gave us weird looks and acted like she didnt understand what we were saying. We found out that she is actually from Hungary and doesnt speak Croatian but she speaks English. So we talked to her in English. She is only in Croatia for this month but she was really nice and seemed interested. So...I got her information in Hungary and am going to pass it along to Elder Giacalone for when she returns.

 

Sunday...was a crazy day. First off Sunday morning the lady that was supposed to teach Sunday school texted and said that she wouldnt be there. So I called the Prestons and they had to quickly prepare a lesson.  It ended up being perfect. Elder Preston taught about the gathering of Israel and the lost tribes.  There was a couple visiting from Dubai. He is from Croatia and she is from the Phillipines but they are members living in Dubai. They talked about how in Dubai they have a stake and how the church is growing there and they dont have missionaries because they arent allowed...it is growing because of the members alone and even they could get in trouble for talking about the church.  I think it really opened the eyes of the members. They were asking a lot of questions and were really interested in how they did it.  I hope it makes them want to go do missionary work because if the church can grow so much there without missionaries it can do the same here. We just need the members to share the Gospel with their friends.

 

Church was crazy though...I was playing the piano, I had Sister Preston asking me to translate for her, and my companion kept calling me to talk to people to tell her what they were saying. I was running everywhere like crazy. I actually really like translating for Sister Preston during sacrament because 1 it is good practice for me and 2 it helps me to focus better and understand what they are saying.

 

Sunday night we were contacting and we stopped a guy and were talking to him. He was asking us questions about the church and I would answer but he didnt like the questions that I was giving and he wouldnt agree with anything that I said and to top it off his dog kept jumping on me and we all know how much I love dogs. I didnt want to get into an argument with him so I stopped him in what he was saying and bore my testimony. I just told him I knew it was true and why I knew it was true and if he didnt agree with me that was fine but I didnt want to argue with him.  It softened his heart because he then stopped trying to argue and listened to what I had to say. He took a copy of the Book of Mormon said that he would read it and gave us a date and time to meet with him again to talk about it. Its amazing the change that happened when we first started talking to after when I bore my testimony. Through the Spirit miracles can happen.

 

This week really has been a great week. We are still working hard. We are still exhausted but its ok. The language is coming more and more every day and I am realizing more and more how I am able to say things correctly without thinking about it.  When I say something wrong I notice it and after I can usually correct myself to how it should have been said and then the next time I know. Its a work in progress but I know that if I put in all the effort I can the Lord will step in and fill in the rest. We are seeing miracles every day from all the effort we put in and it is such a great feeling when those happen. I know that if we keep working hard and being obedient we will see more miracles every day. I hope that you all have a great week. Love you lots!

 

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shotuouts...

 

Emails from Lex, Jordan, Mom, Carrie, Dad, Grandpa, Allie

 

Good luck to Tyson moving out this week...thats so weird that it will only be Justin and Alexa at home

 

Good luck to everyone starting school...is that this week or next week?

Pictures

 Sister Clark & Sister Frampton

 

 Sister Moody, Elder Mulder, Sister Clark, Sister Frampton

 

 A member with sister missionaries

 

 Sister Clark on a street in Osijek

 

 Imitating a statue in the Centar

 

 Eating ice cream

 

 They found a church

 

 Musical chairs at Aktivnost

 

Sister Clark with investigators



Dobro Jutro!

Every week I start off by complaining about how I never know how to start the email. So I will just skip that and move onto my week. I guess that was a little bit of complaining....sorry about that.

 

Monday we just had a chill pday around here getting things done that we needed to and getting ready to go.

 

Tuesday...we headed to Zagreb to meet the new missionaries. We got there Tuesday afternoon and went to the mission office. We hung out there for awhile and then the new missionaries came. 7 sisters came in and 5 elders. We had a brief meeting talking about office stuff and then we split the missionaries into groups and took them out contacting as well as doing other things. I took 2 sisters out contacting (seperately, not together). It went well. One of them was not afraid to talk to people and was doing great. The other one I could barely get to say a word. After we went and stayed at one of the senior couples apartment for the night (just me and Sister Mortensen) and got to watch the driving videos so that I could drive home on Wednesday.

 

Wednesday...The best part about being a trainer is that we get to go to training meeting where President and Sister Rowe talked to us as well as the APs. It was a great meeting. I also got to see some of the sisters that I was in the MTC with because they are training too...Sister Menjivar, Sister Erbe, and Sister Rankin. So that was fun. We also met our companions. My companion is Sister Frampton. She is from Lindon, Utah. She is very enthusiastic and is FULL of energy (like its unreal...I dont know where she gets it all). After training meeting we got in our car and headed to Osijek. It was about a 3 hour drive and we spent the car ride talking about the area and getting to know each other. I told my companion that she had to stay awake because the person in the passenger seat isnt allowed to sleep. I thought she was going to have a problem with it but she did just fine. I think I was more exhausted by the time we got home than she was. Seriously...she has a lot of energy. When we got home we met up with the Prestons to give them back the car and they took us to get ice cream to talk a little bit and get to know Sister Frampton. Im an awful trainer and that was our dinner because we didnt get home until 9 and by that point neither of us wanted dinner. But...I survived my first time driving in Europe and even though I hadnt driven in over 4 months it wasnt too bad.

 

Thursday...we woke up and did our studies and then headed to the MUP to get registered.  They wouldnt let us register because we didnt have one of the papers we needed so we had to go back on Friday to do it. I had scheduled a lot of appointments on Thursday just so that we were busy but I left time in between them so that we werent rushed to get places. So our first meeting was with V and it was good because her husband N who the Elders had been teaching was there so we got to talk to him for a little bit. Our lesson with V went really well. I understood everything that was said and was able to communicate and tell them what I wanted to. And Sister Frampton really surprised me with how much she talked. She is not afraid to speak...her grammar isnt correct and sometimes she doesnt make sense but she isnt scared to try which is great. After V we went to meet with E and J. We got there early so we decided to tract their apartment building. We had one girl that we opened the door and started talking to her and then she told us she spoke English. We talked to her for a few minutes and then told her that we taught free English classes and gave her a flyer. She told us that she had been looking for English classes because she is going to Canada soon and wants to practice. So she said she would come and would maybe bring friends. So hopefully tomorrow she really does come. We didnt find anyone else that was very interested but everyone at least listened to us and talked to us for a few minutes.

 

We met with E and J which went well. E had made us some pastry bars that were kind of like turnover things. They were super sweet and super delicious! She asked us what we thought was inside them and I said apple. She said no. I said pear. She then told me what was inside of them and from what I understood I heard zucchini. So I was really confused. So she went and brought one out of the kitchen. Sure enough it was a zucchini. But it was sweet. It was weird but really good.

 

After we had a lesson scheduled with D but had some time so we decided to walk and take it slow and contact along the way. We were stopped at a stoplight and Sister Frampton said hi to a man that was on his bike. We talked to him for a minute, he asked where we were from, the light changed, and we both went our seperate ways. Less than an hour later we were walking past a house and heard someone yell America. We stopped and looked around and it was the same man. He invited us in and offered us juice to drink. So we sat and talked to him and his daughter and her boyfriend. They were super surprised that we were from America and were sitting in their house. We talked with them for a good half hour and told them about who we were and why we were there. They seemed fairly interested. We left them with our information and they told us that we could come back. So we are going to go see them again this week!

 

We made it to D's lesson and it went as usual. She likes to talk a lot so when we got into the lesson I told her we could talk for ten minutes and then we were going to say a prayer and start the lesson. She said ok. So she talked for ten minutes and we listened (and I understood what she was saying). And then I told her that it was time to stop talking so that we could start the lesson. (If you dont say this to her she will just talk the whole time.) So we did. We had planned on talking to her about the Spirit World but the minute we started talking about it she said that she already knew everything. I tried to keep going with it but she wasnt having it. So I turned to my companion and said we are switching gears. She is the one that wants a certain person to come baptize her and is set on waiting until that date. But part of me feels like the only reason she is getting baptized is for him. So I decided to ask her about it. So we read a scripture about baptism and then I questioned her about it. I asked her why we have baptism and why it is important to be baptized. I had told my companion about the situation so my companion told me to ask her if this guy couldnt come to baptize her if she would still want to be baptized. So I asked her and her response was he will come. I then told her to pretend like she had never met this guy and had only met us if she would still want to get baptized. Her response was If I hadnt met him I wouldnt have met you. I felt prompted to ask her about the Book of Mormon. So I asked her if she knew the Book of Mormon was true. She kind of paused for a minute and then said I read the Book of Mormon every day. I said thats great but do you know that it is true. And she couldnt give me an answer. She has been investigating for over a year and has had baptism dates in the past but doesnt know that the Book of Mormon is true. She loves the missionaries and she loves us to come but I think the reason that she lets us keep coming is because she is lonely and likes us to come. So I left her with the commitment to pray about the Book of Mormon and we will follow up on it this week and we are going to figure out what her real intentions are for meeting with us. After meeting with D we went and got an ice cream with one of the members and then walked along the Drava.

 

Friday...we went to check up on one of the inactive members that we have been trying to get in contact with for awhile. But we havent gotten any farther than talking to her husband for a brief minute at the door. Sometimes when we go we can hear them inside but they dont answer the door. We are hoping that if we keep going every week they will realize that we arent going to give up and will eventually let us in. Friday when we went her husband answered the door and we talked to him for a good 5 minutes. He said that she wasnt home but that we could come back a different time. So we will just keep trying.

 

We did a little bit of contacting and then met the Prestons and got Kebab and then had district meeting. I ran my first district meeting and it went well. We just talked about things to make sure we were all on the same page and to see what we need to do within the next few weeks to help the branch grow as well as to strengthen the members. Weve got a lot ahead of us but if we combine all of our efforts together and move forward we can do it and its going to be great. We talked about some things that we are going to try and do and I am really excited for what we have ahead.

 

We then had a lesson with M who is a less active member. We got there and were talking to her for a few minutes and then her son who I have never met before came in and introduced himself to us. We invited him to stay for the lesson. He asked us if we wanted some juice so we said sure. He then disappeared for awhile. So we started with the lesson. M started telling us about how much she wished that she could get her family to come to church and stuff. He came back and had gone to the store and bought juice and ice cream for us. We then started talking to him and asking him questions. We gave him a Book of Mormon which had the questions of the soul in it and he read them and asked us questions about it. So we talked to him about some of them and gave a brief first lesson. So what was supposed to be a less active lesson turned into a member present lesson. M was testifying and helping us to teach. It was great. He told us that he would come to church...he promised us he would. But he didnt. But maybe he will this week. But he told us that we could come back and that he would like to learn more.

 

They live far from us so we decided while we were out there we would do some tracting in that area. We found a street and started knocking on doors with no luck. Sister Frampton is a singer...she sings really good. I remember from YW Sister Giacalone telling us that on her mission when they were tracting when people were going to close the door they would ask them if they could leave them with a song and that a lot of times it would make it so the people would talk to them. Im not a singer but I can carry a tune if I have someone else that knows what they are doing so I suggested it to Sister Frampton and she said it was a great idea. So we knocked on a door and a lady answered. She told us she wasnt interested so we asked if we could sing for her before we left. She seemed hesitant but told us that we could. So we sang I am a Child of God in Croatian. And it brought the Spirit and we then spent a good 10 minutes talking to this lady who was about to close the door on us.

 

Saturday...We cleaned the church in the morning and then had to go somewhere and did some contacting along the way. On the way we talked to a guy named S. We talked to him for several minutes and invited him to come to church. He told us that he would and he told us that he was not a liar. We then walked towards the bus station and contacted along the way. The bus station is by a place called the Cookie Factory which I have never been too. Sister Frampton wanted to go inside just to look.  It was their birthday and everything was half price so we got ice cream again...except for this time it was a brownie with ice cream. It was delicious. I know ice cream 4 days in a row is not a good idea and we arent doing it anymore but it was really good!  Anyway...we caught a bus to go visit Z out in Čepin. Sister Frampton really is fearless. She spent the entire bus ride talking to a group of people and singing to them and just not caring what they thought. They were laughing at her the entire time but she just kept going. We had our visit with Z which went fine and then we caught a bus back to Osijek. While waiting for the bus we talked to a girl at the bus stop and then talked to her on the bus ride home.

 

Saturday night we spent the night contacting along the river. We talked to a lot of people and had some good conversations and hopefully something will come from it. On the way home we saw a police officer. He then walked and talked with us for a good 15 minutes before he had to go somewhere. We talked to him about who we are and why we were here. He said that he thinks its really great what we are doing and wants to meet again to find out more. Not even a minute after he left a car pulled up next to us. We were a bit confused but it was President and Sister Rowe! We knew they were coming to church this week and they were just pulling into town and saw us. President said he saw a light and knew it had to have been the Sister Missionaries.

 

Sunday...such a great day! Church was great! The Spirit was so strong at church. And S, who we had met the day before on the street came! He walked in and said I told you Im not a liar. He sat through Sacrament (I translated for Sister Preston during Sacrament) and then I sat next to him during Sunday School. He was very into it and was following along in the scriptures. Afterwards I asked him what he thought and he said he really liked it. I asked him if he had any questions and he told us he only had answers. He then tried to tell me his story but I could only pick out parts of it and wasnt really getting it all. Elder Mulder was there with his Mom and Sister and so he talked to him and told me what he said. He had a really cool story about how when we met him we were an answer to a question that he had and that we found him at the perfect time. He said that he really enjoyed church and that if he doesnt hear from us before next Sunday he will see us on Sunday. He said that he liked being at church and then he said I think this is it. No I know this is it. It was such a great moment. Out of all of the people we had talked to the past few days one came to church. But he is one that I think if we take it slow enough and keep working with him it will eventually lead to something great.

 

After church we had a branch council meeting with the leaders in the ward, the missionaries, and the Rowes. It was good and we talked about how we can work together to help the branch grow. I then had an interview with President Rowe. He is a great man. He gave me advice and encouragement and said exactly what I needed.

 

Sunday night we were out tracting a neighborhood. We walked past a church that I had never seen before and there were some kids around it so we asked them if they knew the name of the church. They didnt know what it was. They asked us where we were from. They also asked me if I was Sister Framptons translator. We talked to them for a few minutes. We pulled out our passalong cards and let them pick one and told them to go share them with their parents. About a half an hour later one of the kids came riding towards us on his bike really fast. He stopped us and said I found out the name of the church. He told us what it was and then turned around and left. So he came chasing us down just to tell us the name.

 

We have spent so much time the past few days contacting and tracting. And I love it! We have had more people willing to talk to us even though most of them arent interested they will atl east listen to what we have to say. Sister Frampton is really good at just being friendly and starting small talk with people which leads to a conversation. We work really well together. She has a ton of energy and will start a conversation with someone and then I can keep the conversation going and talk to them. We seriously talk to everyone. And we get a lot of weird looks but its ok. Sometimes when Sister Frampton talks it sounds like she is singing which people arent really used to here. But I have learned that by just being friendly and starting conversations with people they will talk to you. So it is to the point now that everyone I pass on the street instead of just saying hello and walking by I will stop and ask them how they are. Sometimes they dont answer and keep walking but other times they will listen to me and then we talk for awhile. Just be being genuine and real people the people are being open and listening to us.

 

This past week has probably been my favorite week of my mission so far. Last week when I found out what was happening with transfers I was terrified and stressed. But we all know how I stress about everything. But this week as I have learned to rely on the Lord and put my trust in Him that this is exactly what was supposed to happen everything has been great. I truly am happy and I love doing missionary work. Sister Frampton and I work really well together. We balance each other out, we work hard, and we have fun.  My language skills have improved so much. I have definitely been blessed with the gift of tongues. As we sit in a lesson I understand everything they say and I am able to communicate with the people and the second we leave I dont remember a word of what was said. As I am talking to people I will say something and then I will think hey i just cased that word in the right case. Its a great feeling. I still have work to do...I am no where near being fluent but I know enough to be able to communicate and understand people which I know is not because of my own effort. As I give everything that I can the Lord will step in and fill in the rest. And He has. I have even had natives tell me how much my language is improving and how impressed they are with it which is a great feeling. Sister Frampton and I decided that by the time we finish our missions we arent going to be just missionary fluent we are going to be fluent. And by giving our all every day and just trying I know that we can do it. I know that this is exactly where I need to be and who I need to be with right now and I am so excited to see what else we have in store this transfer.

 

 

Funny stories...

 

We were tracting and a lady answered the door in her swimming suit. We started talking to her and she told us she wasnt interested and it was a little awkward because she was in her swimming suit.

 

We saw some old ladies sitting on a bench and asked them if we could sing for them. They responded we are grandmas go find someone younger to sing to.

 

We were at a train stop and a lady came up and asked us where we were from. So we told her. We were speaking to her in Croatian and she understood. And then she would respond in some language. I have no idea what language it was I just know it wasnt English and it wasnt Croatian.

 

I hope that you all have a great week! Thanks for all of the love, support and prayers.

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts

 

Thanks for the emails from Jordan, Dad, Carrie, Grandpa, Mom

 

Good luck to Justin with football