Monday night we decided to go check up on L who is the woman who let us in a few weeks ago. We went to her house but she wasnt home. So we just started tracting around her apartment building. As it got late we started walking home and passed her on the street. She actually noticed us first and stopped us. So we talked to her for a little bit. She said she has been thinking a lot about us since we met last week. We tried to set up an appointment to go meet with her again but she said she didnt know her schedule (not sure if that is the real reason or not) so we are going to just try dropping by again this week.
Tuesday was a pretty normal day. We did reading with B, district meeting, and then English. English class is still going well and we got 3 new students this week. One of them ended up being completely crazy and super disruptive so we are hoping she doesnt come back. But the other 2 are great!
Wednesday...we had an exchange with the Sisters in Banja Luka. It is about 3 hours from Osijek so we had to drive an hour and a half and meet them half way and then drive back. So I drove there and dropped off Sister F and picked up Sister C to come back to Osijek with me. We ended up having a good day. We did personal progress with A which was great...she is still loving it and is still doing awesome! She is so excited about doing personal progress and gets so excited when I sign one of them off for her. It is great! We had a few other appointments scheduled but they ended up falling through. So we spent the night contacting and tracting. We found one guy that seemed interested and gave us his phone number but when we called it it was a fake number...that actually happens quite often. Our exchange went well. It was nice because Sister C knows the language so I could ask her questions and she could help me and it was good to see a different perspective on missionary work and get some new ideas of how to try things. However from being with her I learned why I am training. Because she knows the language so well I just let her talk because she could carry conversations with people and knew more than I do. With Sister F I know that I know and understand more than her so I have to try. So if I were with someone that knew the language really well I dont think I would be learning it as quickly as I am.
Thursday...we got up and did studies and then we drove and switched back. The exchange was great but I am glad to have Sister F back in Osijek. We just work well together and really balance each other out. When we got back we had to get the car back to the Prestons. Thursday night we had an appointment with a man named A. He is a tram driver and he always seems to be the one driving when we go home each night. So we usually talk to him on the way home. Well on Monday night I think we were talking to him and he asked us when we were going to come to his house to teach him. So we said when do you want us and he said how about Thursday. We werent really sure what to expect and since we cant teach men alone we brought the Prestons along. It ended up being a super funny situation and I dont think that he really wanted to be taught the gospel. His 3 kids were there, they are all teenagers 2 girls and one boy. And I think he just wanted us to come hang out. They know English really well and since the Prestons only know English we were talking in English. We got to know them and then gave the first lesson but our dear friend A just seemed to want to disagree with everything we said and everything turned back to him and how much he knows about history and how smart he is. But he was loving himself and loved it. His daughters had made a pastry type thing for us that was really good. I dont think his son knew that we spoke Croatian because he was talking on the phone to a friend and was totally making fun of us completely unaware that I could understand everything he was saying. Anyway...it was an interesting experience. When we see our friend A on the trams now it isnt weird and we still talk to him he just has no interest in the church so we arent really sure what he was expecting. But we did leave them a Book of Mormon. Maybe they wont read it now but maybe someday down the road him or one of his kids will find it and decide to read it.
When we got back from A's we were setting up for English and had a discussion with the Prestons and learned that we will no longer be teaching S. He had contacted one of the members and apparently has had different intentions for meeting with the church than we thought. We arent really sure exactly what he has told us is true and what isnt true and we arent completely sure what the circumstances are exactly we just know we will no longer be teaching him. At first we were a little upset about it because we thought when we found him that he was "golden". But we have had a few concerns about meeting with him in the past and have decided that it is for the best.
Friday...we got to go visit M! We took one of the members with us, I...they actually started dating a few months ago...long story. But it ended up being really good. We talked to him about how things went in Germany and how his reading is coming in the Book of Mormon, etc. and just kind of got caught up. He said that he didnt do as well as he would have liked to in Germany but now that he is back things are going better. He is still reading from the Book of Mormon and he loves coming to church and he loves the way he feels. He said that every day he is more and more for the Mormon church. I really do think that he will get baptized he is just taking his time which is ok. And thats what we told him. We told him that we are here to teach him and to help him be ready for baptism when he is ready. The only problem is he might have to go back to Germany for a few more months. So we will see how things go.
After M we had Aktivnost. We did a mini olympics and it was so fun! We just had a bunch of dumb little games. L, who is a ten year old boy brought 3 of his friends and they all had a blast! The other day we were walking down the street and turned around for a second to see L and one of his friends chasing us down to say hi. So we stopped and talked to them for a little bit. Not long after (or maybe it was before) we saw one of the older members who would barely even wave at us and they were chasing us down. I just love the kids here!
Saturday...we were on the way to the church to clean and Sister F said that we should contact along the way. As soon as she said that I pulled out my Book of Mormon and stopped the next person I saw. She was a woman named M. I dont even remember what I said to her but I asked her if she would like to learn about the Book of Mormon. And she said yes! We were both in shock! We talked to her for a few minutes and then she told us she lives in Zagreb. So we wont be able to meet with her but we are hoping the missionaries in Zagreb will be able to. After cleaning the church we were heading somewhere and were stopped at a stop light and a man stopped us and asked if we were Jehovahs Witnesses (we get that a lot). I told him we werent and explained who we were and what we were doing and asked if he would like to learn more. He said yes and asked if we had time to sit down and drink coffee with him. We told him we didnt drink coffee but juice would be great. We were right around the corner from a cafe so we sat down, drank juice, and taught him the first lesson. He seemed really interested and gave us his information so that we could meet again.
We went and visited a less active member, M who we werent planning on visiting but decided to anyway. And it ended up being perfect timing. She had just had something happen and was really glad that we had come and we had a really good lesson with her.
Saturday night we had a lesson with N and Va...he was actually awake this time. We talked to them about the Plan of Salvation and V helped us teach it. When we got to the Spirit World V turned to N and said see, youre family is there waiting for you to get baptized so that you can be baptized for them. He asked if that was true and so we explained that it was and talked a little bit about baptisms for the dead. He seemed to really like it and hopefully it will help him to be more interested in being baptized. Right now he likes meeting with us and he reads from the Book of Mormon but that is about all.
Sunday morning was a bit stressful. By the time we were done with church I was a bit frustrated with some of the members...which is really bad and I shouldnt feel that way but it is hard when the Prestons dont speak English so they are dragging me all over to translate. Im also the only one that plays the piano too. Anyway...church was really good I was just a little bit stressed. We had a branch council meeting after church which went really well and it is helping to get the members more involved and excited about doing things. We had forgot that Sunday was the first of the month and we hadnt renewed our tram passes and since it was Sunday we couldnt renew them. The Prestons had invited us over for dinner and they live fairly far from us so after church we just started walking to their house and contacted along the way. We saw one man and I stopped him and talked to him. It turns out he had met with the missionaries a few years ago but then had moved and lost contact. He gave us his information and said he would like to meet with us again. He even knew where the church was and said he had been a few times before. We walked a little bit farther and there was an old man that was wandering around a park. I passed him and said hello to him and he asked if we would sit on a bench with him and talk. So we did. I think he might have been a preacher from another church but he was still very nice and listened to what we had to say. He kept looking at me and would point at my face and say there is just something about you. He told us that as soon as we said hello he could feel our spirit and knew that we were good people and that he needed to talk to us. He had no interest in learning more about the church but it was exactly what I needed to hear from him after my stressful morning. We made it to the Prestons and she made a delicious dinner and then we walked back towards home and contacted along the way. So not having tram passes didnt end up being too bad of a thing.
This week has been a great week! We have had ups and downs but overall things are still going well. We are still seeing miracles every day and we are definitely being blessed for the things we are doing. Sister Preston had to have a sit down with us this week and tell us not to work ourselves too hard. Sometimes I think we are too hard on ourselves and are pushing ourselves too hard which isnt good because we dont want to wear ourselves out too quickly. But we are learning to find a balance of not completely exhausting ourselves but at the same time not feeling like we are wasting time. And usually I would rather be crazy busy doing things than not have nothing to do. Dont get me wrong, we still go to bed exhausted every night we are just trying to remain healthy and not have to big of a workload that we get stressed.
I still love missionary work. I still love Osijek. I still love Sister Frampton and the Prestons. And even though sometimes I get frustrated I still love the members.
I hope that you all have a great week! Love you lots!
Sestra Clark
Shoutouts!
Emails from Justin, Lex, Tyson, Mom, Dad, Grandpa
Congrats to Tyson on his mission call!
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