Can you believe that it is December already? I about had a heart attack when I wrote December in my journal last night...I cant belive that it is here. This week was a good week! It was a busy week and it went by really fast but it was good!
Monday...we had a good, relaxing pday and then we met the Prestons and got the car and drove to meet the Tuzla sisters for an exchange. We met them half way and Sister Menjivar came back to Osijek with Sister Frampton and I went to Tuzla with Sister Matthews.
So Tuesday I spent the day in Tuzla, Bosnia and we had a great day! First off, we woke up to snow. Like a lot of snow. Every thing was covered in it. But it luckily wasnt too freezing cold and I survived the day. Bosnia is a Muslim country and so I heard their call to prayer multiple times throughout the day. It was kind of cool to hear...except for in the middle of the night...that one wasnt so cool. Sister Matthews is great and I loved spending the day with her. We started off the morning with a lesson with one of their investigators. She is older...in her 70s. She had come to church on Sunday for the first time. So we talked to her about church and how she felt. We then read 3 Nephi 11 with her and talked to her about Baptism. We had a really good lesson with her but she said that she cant get baptized because she is afraid of the water and she cant come to church again until May because there is snow on the ground and she might fall...gotta love Croatians or I guess in this case Bosnians and their fear or weird feelings about weather.
The church in Tuzla is even smaller than it is here in Osijek. They dont even have a branch...it is a group due to the fact that they dont have any Melchizedek Priesthood holders. And their church is one room, about the size of our family room at home (just family room not kitchen) and one bathroom. It is teeny tiny!
We had a few other lessons that fell through so we spent the remainder of the day tracting and contacting in Tuzla. It was great to be with Sister Matthews and get some ideas and get a point of view from someone else because Sister Frampton and I have been together for so long. We then got the car and drove back to Osijek. Sister Matthews hates driving so I got to drive. The Tuzla Sisters had to go to Zagreb on Wednesday so they spent the night at our apartment Tuesday night because it is closer to Zagreb. It was kind of interesting because our apartment is really small but it was fun!
Wednesday was another good day. Because I was in Tuzla on Wednesday we switched District Meeting to Wednesday so we started out the day with that. It was a really good District Meeting. I had been looking through Preach My Gospel trying to find something that we could discuss and saw an idea that it gave to discuss and show gratitude for the ways that the Lords hand is in our work. I decided since it was Thanksgiving week that this was fitting for the week. It turned out really good! It was good to be able to take turns sharing the positive things that are happening in the branch and in the area because sometimes we overlook those and focus on the negative things as we are talking to each other. There really are a lot of great things happening in Osijek right now and I know that His hand is in our work every day. We did some tracting and then went to Childs English...we had a new record this week and no one showed up...I dont know if we are going to continue with it because nothing seems to be coming from it. We didnt know what to do after and it was freezing cold so we decided to ride the tram. So we just picked a tram, rode it, and talked to the people that sat by us. It actually ended up being really good and we had some really good conversations with people.
Thursday...we got up in the morning and did our studies and then we went to the Prestons for Thanksgiving. It ended up being great...it was definitely different but it was still good. Turkeys are hard to find here so Sister Preston did roasted chicken. We had all of the normal foods...potatoes, bread, etc. Sister Preston even made stuffing and Elder Preston made a pie. So we ate and just hung out at their apartment and played games. After we went to the church for English. We did an activity for English so we had both classes together and played review games that turned out really great! The students are all learning and progressing and doing so good!
Friday...N called us and asked if we could come to the church to practice for the Christmas Program. We had a little bit of time and were able to work out a time in the morning that the Prestons could be at the church so that we could practice with him. His plan for the Christmas Program is he is going to sing all of the songs we have in Croatian (which are 6) and then the congregation will all stand and sing all of them...not sure if that will fly but we will see. N is a bit ridiculous and likes to get a rise our of people...he takes pride in offending people. He always says stuff to us to try to get us mad at him but we know what he is doing so it doesnt work. But...it made his day that we went to practice with him and so it was good that we were able to. We then did weekly planning at the church because we didnt have enough time to go home for it. Then we went to N and V's! What a great lesson! We started off by asking N about church. He said that he really enjoyed it. We asked him if he would come again this week and he said of course, I have to. ( He didnt end up coming though). He then opened his Book of Mormon and had a paper in 3 Nephi 11 that we had given him awhile ago...thats what we were planning on reading with him anyway so it worked out perfectly. We read that and then after V said to him, when are you going to get baptized? He said I dont know, we need to figure that out. It kind of caught us of guard so I said N, Will you prepare for baptism? And he said yes! We were so excited! The only problem is for some reason V has put it in his mind that spring is a great time to get baptized so he says he cant get baptized until then and that until then he has more to learn. But we told him to pray about a date and are hoping that we can get him to see that he doesnt want to wait! But he committed to baptism!
We then went and visited M. We were actually able to talk to her son and her husband too. We had a really good lesson with them then we went to the church for Aktivnost. Aktivnost was AMAZING! We had the biggest turnout that I have ever seen at an Aktivnost. Our plans were just to decorate the Christmas tree...we were a little worried that it would take 5 minutes and people would think it was dumb. But everyone was getting into it and loved it! We decorated the church and tree, made snowflakes and hung them up, played games, and did a puzzle! It was great!
Saturday...we went to clean the church which was good! We had a few other things that we did in the morning and then we went to D's. We havent been able to meet with her for a few weeks due to our schedules not matching up. We ended up having a good lesson with her and her boyfriend. Sometimes it is hard to teach them because they are strong Atheist and have their opinions on things but we had a good lesson with them on Saturday. After their lesson we spent the night tracting.
Sunday! What a great Sunday! Church was really good! It was fast and testimony meeting. Dad has asked a few times about how that goes in such a small branch. We manage to always fill up the time. Sacrament Meeting here is only an hour rather than an hour and ten minutes. We have our regulars that bear their testimonies each week and then usually get a few others as well. If it comes to a point that we have a few minutes of silence then one of the missionaries will get up...yesterday none of us had to though! We take about a ten minute break before we start our next meeting (we switch off between Sunday School and Relief Society/Priesthood). This week was supposed to be Priesthood and Relief Society. Well...about 5 minutes before class was supposed to start Sister Preston came up to me and said that the Relief Society teacher never showed up and the Priesthood teacher forgot and didnt prepare a lesson. So we had no lesson. So Sister Frampton and I taught. It was a little rough getting started because we had no notice and hadnt even read the lesson but once we got going it ended up being really good! The lesson was focused on Christ, that He was once upon the earth and that He will return again to the earth. We know that He will come again, but we dont know when so we always need to be ready for when He does. Being that it was December 1 it was a perfect lesson to start off this month and the Christmas season talking about Christ.
We are lucky enough in our mission right now that one of the Senior Missionaries is a Patriarch and he got permission to be able to give Patriarchial Blessings while he is here. He was at our church yesterday and after church 3 members were able to get their Patriarchial Blessing. It made me so happy for them to be able to experience that! After they were all finished we had Branch Council to talk about how we can work together with the Branch members this month...weve got a lot going on this month with Christmas coming up! Its going to be a great month!
We then went to P's and met with his neighbor M again. We have had a hard time meeting up with her so we were excited to meet with her again. P always talks about how she wants to get baptized and talks to her about baptism and so we decided to give her the third lesson and talk about the steps before baptism as well as after baptism and that we dont just get baptized because it sounds cool. We have to have a testimony and have to have faith first and that baptism is not the end. We have to continue to live the gospel throughout our lives. We shared scriptures with her and she really liked the lesson and we could tell that she felt the Spirit. She said that she wants us to meet with her again when her husband can be here so that he can hear about it too. We were able to meet her daughter as well who is 5 and she is adorable!
And then Sunday night we went to J's...We had high hopes in him. The past few times we met with him went so well and even when we talked to him on the phone he was very enthusiastic and excited to meet with us. But we went to his house and it was just weird. We decided just to ask him up front what his intentions were and if he had any desire to learn more about the Gospel. He told us that he had learned enough and wasnt interested in learning anymore. He was still really nice about it but we left a bit disappointed because of what he is turning down. And it went so well the first couple lessons...we dont know where it changed. But...maybe he isnt prepared now but will be later.
This week we were able to get in contact with 2 inactive members...both of which told us that we can come back! One of them is an older woman who was on the dont contact list. We called her a few months ago and she was not very nice to us at all. A few weeks ago the Prestons went and visited her and had a good conversation with her. I called her this week and she was SO nice. She told us that she would like to set up a time that we can come and see her every week! She wants us to help her to learn English as well as to talk about the gospel with her! So we are very excited to be starting that! The other one is named R. Sister Frampton and Sister Menjivar actually found him while we were on the exchange. They were tracting a building and we had no idea that he lived in that building. They knocked on the door and gave a power statement and he said Im a Mormon come on in. They went in and had a really great discussion with him. He actually served a mission so they talked to him about that and about why he stopped going to church. They had a great meeting with him and he said that we are welcome back anytime so we have an appointment to go this week and I am really excited to meet him!
This week was a great week! For the past little while I have been reading one section a day in True to the Faith and I read the scriptures that go along with it. I finished it this week and the last section was Zion. One of the scriptures that it had was D&C 136:31 "My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion..." This scripture hit me hard because this is exactly what is happening here right now. Right now we are going through a transition stage where we are trying to help the church to grow and to strengthen and to help the members become independent. Right now we are preparing for when Zion is here. I know that it can be. I know that it will be. But I know that it will take a lot of work, a lot of struggle, and a lot of faith. But years from now when the church is strong here I will be able to look back and know that I was a part of helping the church to grow here. Right now, we are building Zion!
I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Thanks for the love, support and prayers!
Volim vas!
Sestra Clark
Shoutouts...
Thanks for the emails from Dad, Mom, Carrie, Grandpa, Lex
I hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving last week!
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