Pictures

BAPTISM

 

 The two young men that got baptized

 

 

She got soaked in the rain

Faith proceeds the miracles...

I dont know how to start to describe what is going through my head today. This past week as a missionary has been incredible. Miracles continue to happen every day and even though it will be hard through writing I hope that I will be able to express even a small amount of what I am feeling right now. This week has been one of the greatest of my missions so far. I am seriously on top of the world...I am on cloud nine right now and I never want this to end. I love being a missionary!

Monday...The day was spent in Zagreb running around like crazy getting Sister Burton ready to go. We seperated about 5 and I was able to go on splits with the Zagreb sisters. So I went out with Sister Walker and we went and visited 2 less active members who live in Zagreb. We had good lessons with both of them and it was fun to meet some of the other members in Croatia.

Tuesday...was another long day. Because I was companionless I spent the day in the office doing whatever they needed help with there. It was miserable...haha! But I got to go out at night with the Zagreb sisters again after transfers and stuff were finished. We taught a lesson to one of their investigators and then had English class and then we went to a Relief Society thing that the branch had. Apparently it was or is the birthday of the Relief Society so they had some speakers talking about the history of the Relief Society in the church and in Croatia.

Wednesday was another day in Zagreb. Wednesday was training day for the new missionaries. So we met with President and Sister Rowe and the APs and went over training and talking to the new missionaries kind of about what to expect, etc. It was a good meeting and then we caught a bus back to Zadar. We got home in time for Sister Bunker to unpack and then we were off to bed. Oh ya, my new companion is Sister Bunker. She is President Rowes niece and she is from Las Vegas. She just graduated BYU with a degree in nursing actually. She is great!

Thursday morning we started off the morning doing service. The Elders tracted into a guy who needed some help with yard work so I went back to my days working for the city and we spent a few hours that morning working in his yard pulling weeds. When we got home from that we did weekly planning and then we had a lesson with A. We decided that we have been focusing so much on baptism with him that we decided to talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost. A is great and already knows everything so it ends up that he teaches right alongside us. But we had a really good lesson with him talking about what it means to have the Holy Ghost with us always.

After we had a lesson with B. We have determined that she thinks that we just go around to peoples houses and pray with them and leave.  When we got there she told us that she would come to church each Sunday and we could come to her house once a week and pray with her...so that is why she randomly left in the middle of both of our last lessons. We explained to her that that was not our purpose and we shared with her the Restoration. She understood it but we still arent really sure where she stands right now...

Friday morning...so the Elders have an investigator named D. He is great. Anyway he has a sister who the Elders have said for a long time that they wanted us to meet but it has never worked out. Well, D said that for one of her classes in college she has to learn to play a few songs on the piano and asked us if we could teach her. We of course said yes so on Friday morning we met with her to teach her piano. It was really good and I really think that these lessons can lead to something with her. Especially with D involved too.

After her piano lesson we had a lesson with H. She is a little miracle. She really feels the Spirit. She sees the goodness in the members and thinks of the branch as a family for her. It is really amazing. She came to the baptisms this weekend and told us that it really makes her excited for her own baptism. She recognizes the Spirit and loves the way that she feels when she is in the church. No one was more surprised than I was when I asked her to be baptized but it is for reals. Like she really is being prepared and I really think that she can be ready. She has the desire. Anyway...we watched the Restoration video with her and talked to her about the Apostasy and Joseph Smith. She told us that she believes that it happened and we told her that she needed to pray about it to find out for sure that it is true. We also gave her a baptismal calendar and talked to her about what needs to happen to help her prepare for baptism. We then had some time to go out tracting for a little bit. Nothing really came from it but it was good. I gave Sister Bunker a line in Croatian to memorize as a door approach so someone answers the door and she says that and then I take over from there. She is doing great being that she came out to the field not even knowing MTC Croatian. It has definitely been a challenge at points but she has the desire to learn and is trying really hard and she gets better every day!

We went to the church after to clean and make sure everything was ready for Saturday and then we had a lesson with S. We read Mosiah 5 with her and talked about covenants. We talked about how through the Sacrament we renew all of our covenants and not just the covenant of baptism and encouraged her to remember that as she takes the sacrament. S has an incredible mind. She knows a lot. She knows the doctrine and she has stories about everything.

Saturday...what a great day! I honestly hope that I can describe this as well as I would like to in words. We started the morning with A's baptism at 10. He had asked Sister Matosich to speak and she spoke about baptism. She shared a song that her daughter had found that reminded her of A called One Voice. It is an EFY song by Tyler Castleton...I encourage you to try and find it and listen to it because it is amazing. Anyway...she had asked us if we could sing it as part of her talk. Well, Sister Bunker was playing the piano and I didnt want to solo it so luckily there were a few other sister missionaries who had worked with A who came to the baptism so we were all able to sing it together. It was amazing and it was perfect. My favorite part is the end of the song because it talks about the Savior how he was one person, one voice but he changed the world. After Sister Matosich spoke A was baptized! Elder Matosich baptized him and had to do it 3 times because he kept messing up the Croatian in the baptismal prayer. But third time was the charm and he got it. The grin on A's face was indescribable. He kept saying after I am really clean because I had to do it 3 times. Anyway...after he had asked me to speak on the Holy Ghost. I was stressed about it all week because of how crazy a week it was. I finally had time to prepare it on Friday morning but the minute I finished preparing the talk I knew that I wouldnt be giving it. So I got up to talk on Saturday and set my notes to the side and just talked. It wasnt perfect but I know that it was 100% from the Spirit and what needed to be said. As I got up there I completely put myself in the Lords hands and he was right there to help me through it.

After A's baptism we had a lunch at the church. We were able to talk to members, investigators, and visitors who came to the baptism and talk to them about their thoughts and feelings and explain to them what baptism is.  Then we had L's baptism. We thought about having their baptisms together but after much thought we felt strongly that they needed to be seperate based on the circumstances.

Anyway...L's baptism was just as great. He only had to be baptized once because Elder Matosich had practice with the baptismal prayer. After he was baptized while we were waiting for him to change Sister Bunker and I taught the first lesson for investigators and visitors who were attending the baptismal service. It was really cool right after seeing someone make this covenant to be able to talk about how it was all possible, how it was all started, and how truth was found. The Spirit that comes from sharing the first vision is incredible and undeniable...every time.

It was a great thing to see two great, young potential missionaries enter the waters of baptism on the same day. Both of them were so prepared and so ready and are going to be a great asset to the branch and the church in Croatia.

We had an English student that came to the baptism and after the baptism I talked to her about how she felt about it and asked her if she would be interested in learning more about the church. She said yes. I told her we had time right then and that we could meet with her but she couldnt but said that Wednesday after English we can meet!

 

After the baptism we were able to go and see L. Her daughter actually showed up at the church just after the baptism and took us over to see her. L was so happy and so grateful that we came. We were able to have a really good lesson with her and talked to her about how Heavenly Father sees us and how he cares about us and loves us. We talked to her about the strength that comes from daily reading of the Book of Mormon and she committed to doing it daily! At the end she prayed and it was straight from her heart. It was beautiful. She really is changing.


We had English class which was good...except we only had 2 students. Im afraid our numbers for English are going to be small throughout these next coming months.  We ended the night with a lesson with A. We talked to her about prayer and reviewed how we pray and what prayer was and then we talked to her about how daily prayer and scripture study are commandments. We were able to commit her to reading the Book of Mormon daily instead of like last time when she got angry with us and thought it was ridiculous that we would ask that.


Sunday was another incredible day. We had choir practice in the morning...L was the only one that came and then we had church. The highlight of the day was seeing A and L both recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was without a doubt in that room. What was the greatest for me was seeing Elder Uhlig give the prayer for when L recieved the Holy Ghost. He did it in Croatian. Elder Uhlig has been out for 6 months...his Croatian is good but is not perfect. But when he gave him the Holy Ghost his Croatian was from my understanding flawless. It was a big faith builder for me because I know without a doubt that that prayer was 100% led by the Spirit and that the words came from directly from Heavenly Father.


The rest of church was great. L was there and we were able to teach her primary and we stuck with the topic and taught about the Holy Ghost.

Another miracle...D came to church! We dont know what happened that got her through the door because she hasnt come in over a year but she came. After I was talking to her and she said that she was really glad that she came. She loved it! She told multiple people, multiple times that she will be back next week. We are going to try to meet with her once a week to make sure that happens and help her to restrengthen her testimony.

 

After church we got caught in a rainstorm on the way home and by the time we got home we were soaking wet from head to toe...good times!


We met with a member from Varaždin named V who is in Zadar for a few weeks visiting a friend. She is having some struggles in her life right now and is having a hard time accepting them and feeling peace and comfort and seeing the love that Heavenly Father has for her. We had a really good lesson with her and helped her to start to realize that she is blessed and that Heavenly Father is aware of her and does love her.


Sunday night we ended the night with V. She is the greatest. She expressed her desire to us to serve a mission and asked us when she can start working on her papers and preparing for that. So we discussed that with her and then we worked on Personal Progress and talked about Faith with her.

This week has been an incredible week. The Spirit that has been with me and stayed with me is the greatest feeling. This week has definitely been a faith building week for me and I know that it was exactly what I needed to give me a boost of energy and boost of enthusiasm for missionary work. Witnessing these baptisms helped me to see that it really can happen. There are more people out there who are prepared, they are prepared for me to find them. The people here in Croatia, in Zadar need and deserve the Gospel and I can through the Spirit bring it to them. I love being a missionary. I love this Gospel and I know that it is true...it is the only true church on the earth. Heavenly Father lives and loves each of us. He is aware of us. We are so blessed to have the gift of the Holy Ghost, to have him with us always and to be able to feel him in our lives. As members of the church we are entitled to receive direction from Hm and we will if we live worthy of it.

 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts!


Thanks for the emails...Dad, Mom, Jordan, Tyson, Alexa, Justin, Grandpa, Carrie, Ryan (another miracle...I got an email from all of my siblings in the same week...Im pretty sure that has only happened twice my entire mission)

Sretan Rođendan Dad!

Happy Pday

Well...Im not sure exactly how much time I will have for email today so I am starting with this email and then will see what else I have time for. So if you only get this email today...sorry. Just know that I got all of your emails and I love you all!

 

As for this week...It was another great week! Monday night after Pday we tried to schedule appointments but that didn't work so we were out and about tracting. After reading Tysons email for the week I decided to try his contacting approach of asking them to get baptized right on the spot...lets just say that Croatia and Brazil are definitely 2 different places! Haha! Anyway...we did end the night with a lesson with V doing personal progress which was good.

 

Tuesday morning we started off with a lesson with A. He is so excited and so happy to be getting baptized. He walked in the door with the biggest grin on his face and he is just glowing...he is so ready! We went over the baptismal interview questions with him to make sure he is ready for that and that he knew what to expect when he has the interview with Elder U.

 

After A we met with L. It has been a few weeks due to her being sick. She walked into our lesson looking exhausted and as if she had no energy but by the end of it her energy seemed to be up a little bit. We talked to her about prayer. She has been praying but we weren't really sure exactly how she had been praying or how sincere it was so we talked to her about how to pray and the purpose of prayer. We had District Meeting which was good. It was probably the best District Meeting I have had so far on my mission because it was completely focused on our investigators and helping them and role playing rather than discussing business items which usually seems to happen.

 

Tuesday night we went to M's and had a lesson with her. We are kind of stuck on what to do with her. She believes everything that we teach her but she thinks that it doesn't matter what church she goes to as long as she goes she is fine. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and were very clear with her and bold and it went right over her head...she thinks her baptism is fine. She invited us to go to her church with her after because there was some big event going on. We went with her and it was super weird but luckily we had something scheduled so we couldn't stay for very long.

 

To finish off the night Tuesday we had a lesson with J...oh J. It is hard for me to see her as a member because when we meet with her it is more as if we are teaching an investigator who is hearing about the church for the first time. She takes the church doctrine and then reads other things as well and mixes them so gets completely bizarre beliefs. On Tuesday the topic of the word of wisdom got brought up...We read D&C 89 with her and talked to her about the Word of Wisdom...we will be talking about it more next time. :)

 

Wednesday morning we were up early to catch a bus to Zagreb for a Sisters conference. That lasted all day Wednesday and Thursday. It was at the mission home and all of the young sisters in the mission were there. They talked about preparing ourselves to handle the demands of missionary work and making sure that we are all taking care of ourselves spiritually and physically. We had like a conference type thing were we were learning and discussing and practicing most of the day but then had a little bit of free time at night to just talk with the other sisters. It was a lot of fun...we had close to 40 people in the mission home...we pretty much took over their house for the few days that we were there.

 

Friday morning we had a lesson with H. We were talking to her about the Book of Mormon and teaching her about what it was and how she can find out if it is true. We gave her a copy of it and she told us that just by holding it she could feel how powerful it is. We committed her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong in the room and I felt prompted to ask her to be baptized...so I did. And she said yes! So she is on date for April 19 and said she hopes to be ready by that date. It was amazing and was a great lesson! We have a lot of work to do with her to get her ready since we have only had 2 lessons with her but I think if she really has the desire that she can be ready by that date!

 

We had a cleaning check on Friday so we did some cleaning of the apartment and then the Matosiches came to check that...we passed. Then we had a lesson with B. We had scheduled to meet at her apartment and got there literally 2 minutes late. There was a note on the door saying I waited for you. Well we then got a call from the Elders saying that she was at the church. She said we didn't get there right on time so she went to meet us at the church. So we quickly went to the church and had a lesson with her. Im not really sure about her...she seems more of a just wants to talk with us rather than actually learn about the Gospel. She lets us pray and we start teaching and then she says she has to go...so we are going to try it one more time at her house where we leave and not her because then she cant just get up and leave...We will see how that goes.

 

Friday night we had a lesson with B. We read Mosiah 2 and talked about how the people pitched their tents with the doors towards the temple in order to hear King Benjamin...and those that couldn't hear had it written down and passed out to them to read. We talked about General conference and how it is coming up soon and we need to prepare ourselves for it and pitch our tents with the doors towards the temple. And that even though we cant physically be within the sound of the prophets voice we get it through broadcast and other means.

 

Saturday morning we spent the morning with Sister Burton packing since she is leaving. We then went to A's because she had invited us over for lunch and to have a lesson with her. We read 2 Nephi 32 and talked to her about the importance of keeping all of the little commandments such as daily prayer and scripture study. We then went to the church and had piano with L...she loves it but she tries not to let you know that...shes a little stink but she is cute. We had English class. When I first got here to Zadar we had one English class with about 3 students. We know have 3 English classes with around 5 students each. Its pretty cool...and we are getting investigators from them! We ended the night by going to see D because it was her birthday. We talked to her briefly because she was heading out...we just need to get her to come to church. She always promises us that she will and then she doesn't...one day she will!

 

Sunday...we had a brilliant idea that if we hold choir before church the members will come to choir and then they will be on time for church...so we tried it...and it worked! The members were all on time to church. The choir doesn't sound real great because no one is super musically talented so we have to do basic hymns but it gets people to church on time. So we had choir and then we had church. Church was good and we got to teach Relief Society. The lesson was on Faith and Repentance...which is what we pretty much teach every day. We talked about how they are the first two principles of the Gospel. We talked about how faith leads to action and that it leads to Repentance which leads to the other ordinances of the gospel.

 

We met with A after church to plan his baptism. He is so funny...everything we asked him he didn't care about...he told us he wants it to be as short as possible and all that matters is that he is baptized...but we did manage to get him to choose speakers and songs and such. After the Matosiches invited us over for dinner so we went there.  Then after we went as a district over by the sea organs and drew a giant sidewalk chalk plan of salvation and contacted people and talked to them about it. It didn't work as well as we were hoping but we got a few good contacts and some potential investigators so that is good! And we learned how to improve it so we will probably try it again. But it was good to do something a little different for awhilie. We ended the night on Sunday with a lesson with V which kind of turned into a P family lesson which was good!

 

Well...sorry if this email is shorter than usual...like I said our email time is a bit shorter than usual. We drove to Zagreb this morning and have a ton of things to do today here since my companion is heading home. I guess I should tell you about transfers...I am staying in Zadar. My companion will be a mini missionary again. It is President Rowes niece who came here on vacation and is now serving a mini mission because an extra sister is going home this transfer. Its a little overwhelming to be with another mini missionary who doesn't even know MTC Croatian especially when it is your mission presidents niece. But I know that President Rowe is inspired and I know this is what I need to be doing and this is what Zadar needs right now.

 

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all and pray for you daily! I love being a missionary and I am so excited for this weekend to see 2 people be baptized!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

Thanks for the emails from Tyson, Dad, Mom, Carrie, Grandpa, Lex

Miracles...miracles‏

Well...it seems that they just keep coming! It has been another week full of miracles. The work really is progressing here throughout the entire mission! It is so exciting!

 

 Visiting the sea organs on the beach at night

Monday...After Pday we did some tracting and then ended the night at the P's for family home evening. We talked to them about seeking first the Kingdom of God. We had a really good lesson with them and I think if was really good for all of them.  Their Dad was talking about goals. He talked about how a goal is a dream with a date of when you want to accomplish it by. Until you have the date of when you will do it, it is just a dream. We have to have the date in mind and we have to do everything in our power in order to accomplish it by that date. I really liked how he explained it and actually used it several times throughout the week in our lessons with investigators.

 

Tuesday...we went to A O's house. She invited us over for lunch and to share the visiting teaching message with her. She is amazing! (found out her son lives in Chris and Dereks ward, so he is right by you...Im not sure if he is active though because I know some of her kids are and some arent). Anyway the visiting teaching message talked about the Light of Christ. We talked about how he is the perfect example for us and we need to seek his help and seek to be like him through the hard times just as much as the good...the second we start relying on ourselves, or thinking we can do it alone it will be made known that we cant. A lived in Utah for awhile and she actually used to do the translating for general conference as well as she did some of the translating for the temple video into Croatian...she told us about her experience with doing that...wow!

 

After A we had district meeting. We talked about goals that we want to have as a district for this month and how we can accomplish them. And after we had a lesson with an investigator named B. She is someone that the Elders found and they gave her to us because she is a single older lady. She is very nice but boy is she a talker. We had a hard time getting a word in and had to cut her off at times because she kept going off subject. But we talked to her about prayer and how it can be a blessing to us in our lives. We went about doing some tracting and then we met with E. We talked with her about the importance of families and we talked to her about the temple.

 

Wednesday morning we had a lesson with A which ended up being a double member present lesson. We had asked B to come but she told us she couldnt so we asked V. Well B ended up coming as well as V but it worked out great. They were both able to testify to him and talk to him about their experience with the church and how it has blessed their lives. We had V share what her Dad had talked about during family home evening with goals which I think really helped A...he wouldnt commit to a date but told us that he would pray about it and chose a date by our next lesson...

 

We had a lesson with V after and worked on some things for Personal Progress and then we had Branch council. After Branch council we had English and then D had asked us to take some fish to her house...they were really gross fish that had been in the freezer for a long time at the church...she wanted to give them to her cats. Anyway...we got to D's and she wasnt home but D was. She let us in and we were able to have a lesson with D which was really good. She is a member but hasnt been to church in a long time which we are hoping to change!

 

Thursday morning we did weekly planning and then we had a lesson with S. We talked with S about the importance of scripture study and how we can receive revelation through scripture study if we are truly prepared to listen and search for it. A few weeks ago actually I had an experience with this. I always pray before I do my studies but I prayed that I could listen to the spirit and recieve revelation from what I am reading. A few weeks ago I prayed before studies and stopped to think before beginning my studies and had the thought come to my head..."Ask what to study." I had never done this before. So since then each morning before I do personal study I ask what it is that I need to study that day...and then I take a minute to pause and listen and feel what it is that I need to study. My studies have been much more in line with what I need that day to help me prepare for my investigators.

 

Thursday night we borrowed the car from the Matosiches and went out to visit A. We talked to her about Obedience and read 1 Nephi 3 with her and talked about how Nephi was obedient in getting the plates and how he was protected and blessed for his obedience because he was fully obedient. We talked with her about a phrase that we were told in our last zone conference "Almost obedient, almost blessed".

 

Friday we had a lesson with S. It has been awhile since we have met with him and we were worried that he wasnt progressing and honestly didnt have the desire to progress. Our lesson with him on Friday was really good. We were bold and followed the Spirit and were able to say exactly what needed to be said in a way that wasnt too harsh. We learned that he does have desire and he really does see the need for the Gospel in his life.  We committed him to start making changes and to start today instead of procrastinating.

 

Friday night we had Aktivnost. V planned it for her Personal Progress and she did it like a family home evening. So she taught a lesson and it was about choices and media and how we need to make sure we are choosing good media.  Then we played a human board game and the cards had either consequences or rewards based on the choices made. It turned out to be a lot of fun...I took my usual role when it comes to games and just passed out the cards rather than actually playing. :)

 

 

 

Saturday morning was spent out tracting and then we met with L to do piano lessons. It went good except for the fact that her Mom was there and she tends to act up and be kind of bratty when her mom is around...but it was a good piano lesson. We had English class and then cleaned the church and then we had to go in early because Sister Burton was dizzy and we didnt want her passing out on the street. :)

 

Sunday was another great day! I got to speak in church which went well. Elder Matosich asked me to speak and told me that I got to pick the topic but wanted it to be based off of a conference talk. So I prayed to find out what I needed to talk about and felt the impression that I needed to talk about Heavenly Fathers love for us. So I read through the Liahona and actually found two talks that applied so I combined them and used them both. The first one was from the Relief Society meeting in October from President Monson entitled "We Never Walk Alone". It talked about how Heavenly Father is aware of us and even when we dont realize it He is with us. The second talk was from this last conference from Sister Carole Stephens entitled "Are We Aware of What We Have?". It talked about the need for Priesthood Ordinances and that we have all of them in our church...that right there is evidence that Heavenly Father loves us. Anyway...it went well. After Sacrament Meeting we were able to talk to A. He told us that on Saturday he was out riding his bike and wasnt thinking about anything church related and the thought came to his head that he needs to get baptized and then the date March 22 came to his mind. He said he knew right there that is the day he needs to be baptized. He told us that he almost called us but then decided to just wait and tell us at church. So he is officially on date for baptism! The 22nd will actually be a double baptism because that is the date that L is on date for. So it will definitely be an exciting day!

 

After church all of our appointments cancelled on us so we spent the rest of the day tracting...gotta love long days of tracting!

 

Anyway...It was another great week! Miracles continue to happen. People are prepared for the Gospel and through the spirit we can help them see that they are prepared and help them to enter the waters of baptism and make covenants with Heavenly Father. The Gospel is true. Missionary work is great! I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts...

 

Emails from Dad, Mom, Carrie, Grandpa, Lex, Zach, Tyson

Pictures

Missionaries, members & investigators



Beautiful Sunset on the sea

It was Carneval this week (similar to Halloween)

Miracles do happen!

Holy cow! I dont know where to start with this week! This entire week was literally a week of miracles. It was amazing and makes me so excited to see what is in store over the next couple of weeks!

Monday night after Pday we went out to visit A, a less active member. She lives about an hours walk out of town so that was pretty much our night. We walked out there, had a lesson with her and walked back. We had a pretty good lesson with her. She is hard to get focused and likes to go off on tangents and gets offended really easily. We talked to her about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon. We talked to her how the Croatian district has a goal that each of the members read one chapter in the Book of Mormon a day. So we gave her a reading chart so that she can do it and talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and reading it the right way, with a desire to learn and find out if it is true. She didnt seem to like us telling her that she should read the Book of Mormon every day and got angry at us. She gets angry every lesson though so its ok. :)

 

Tuesday L called us and asked us if we could meet with her so we had a lesson with her in the morning. She told us that she has been praying and she feels the Holy Ghost when she prays and it stays with her after and she doesnt know why. So we talked to her about the Spirit. We talked to her about the difference between the influence of the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Our biggest problem with L is that when we give her a commitment she does it...but she does it with her own twist and then comes up with weird things that she thinks happens because of it. We are still helping her to build her relationship with Heavenly Father and to trust in his plan for her. After meeting with L we had District Meeting. We had a good meeting and did role plays, practicing to teach about the Book of Mormon. We spent the rest of Tuesday night out checking up on potentials and tracting.

 

Wednesday morning we spent the morning out visiting potentials.  Then we had a lesson with D. It was probably the best lesson that I have had with D, a less active member. We have found that she struggles understanding some of the basic doctrine so we have been teaching her the missionary lessons. We taught her the first lesson and broke it down and really made sure that she understood every point of the lesson starting with God is our loving Heavenly Father. It was the first time that she actually sat quiet during a lesson and listened without interupting and saying random things.  After D we had English class which was good and then we went out to check up on more potential investigators. One of the ones that we went to was home and she let us in. Actually her grandparents that she lives with let us in but she came and talked to us...well we talked to all of them. She has a brand new baby (like maybe two weeks old) and it was kind of late so it was a short lesson but we have an appointment to go back tonight.

 

Thursday President Rowe was in town to do interviews with us. So we spent the morning at the church doing that. I had a good interview with President Rowe. I talked to him about some of the goals that I have and he gave me tips and advice on how to help accomplish them. We discussed the investigators that we are working on and just overall how the work is going here in Zadar. He is great. While we were at the church and doing interviews a woman walked into the church. Her name was H and she was someone that we had called a few days before because she had met missionaries before. She told us that she wasnt really interested but if she ever had time she would come to the church...we didnt think we would ever see her. Well, she came! She told us she was around the area and had a feeling that she needed to come. So she came in and we had a really powerful lesson with her! She has had a hard life (a lot of people here have) so we focused on how Heavenly Father loves her and talked to her about prayer. We prayed with her and when we finished we asked her how she felt and she said she felt like she had a family and that she wasnt alone. We committed her to go home and pray.

 

Later on Thursday we had an appointment with M...she is the one that we met with 2 weeks ago that thinks all religions are good and should work together. The Matosiches wanted to come with us because she has helped us find service projects in the past. So a majority of the time was talking about that. But we also talked to her about the Book of Mormon. She told us that she knows that the Book of Mormon is true and that she knows she needs us in her life...but she still doesnt see that not all churches are true.

 

Thursday night we had Branch Council and then we had some people from FamilySearch come and teach us how to use the program and talk to us about using Family History in our missionary work. It was good but most of the stuff I already knew how to do and I spent a majority of the meeting translating.

 

Friday morning we woke up to our water heater leaking all over and it was non fixable. Luckily we had scheduled to do weekly planning that morning so we were there when someone came to fix it. So we got that fixed and taken care of (and our new one is much better and we actually have warm showers instead of water that goes ice cold after 2 minutes) and we got our weekly planning finished as well. We went out and about checking up on potentials and then we had a lesson with B. I probably say this every time but I love when we get to meet with her. We talked to her too about the importance of daily scripture study and especially on the importance of daily scripture study as a family.

 

Saturday morning we met with A. We had a member, R (she is V's sister who is normally in Zagreb because she goes to school there but was here for her break from school) on the lesson and she was great. We talked to A about Faith and then acting on that faith and then we talked to him about the blessings that come after baptism. Sometimes we think he is afraid to make the commitment because he knows that it is a lifelong commitment. So we talked to him about the blessings that come and how great it is, hard, but great to be in the enduring to the end part of life. Still no set baptismal date but he still says it will be in March...

 

A came to the church after and we briefly met with her...both her and her husband have been sick for more than a week now so she didnt want to stay long. Saturday night we had English and then we taught L piano. We had decided not to teach piano lessons but then B called and said that L would like to learn...so we got permission to just teach her which I think will be good! It is interesting teaching it in Croatian but we will survive!

 

Then Saturday night we went to J's (inactive member). Our lesson with her went a lot better than the one that we had with her last week. We taught her the first lesson and went into depth on each point and asked her a lot of questions and really made sure that she understood everything. And then we talked to her about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon daily. We still have a lot of work to do with her but her letting us into her home each week is a start.

 

Sunday was our big day of miracles! Miracle number 1: as we were walking into church H was coming in. She came to church! I sat by her and before church talked to her about what was going to happen so that she wasnt confused. She sat through Sacrament meeting and after told me that she felt really good and really liked it. I told her that we had 2 more meetings and asked her if she would be able to stay for those. She said she would like to. So she came to all 3 hours of church!

 

Miracle #2: We have a problem with getting people to church on time. Sometimes when we start church we have less than 10 people there...including missionaries. The most I have ever seen is 15. Sister Burton and I have had a goal to have 20 people at church when church starts. So we have been doing everything we can, setting aside time on Saturday to remind people and inviting people like crazy. Well, Sunday when we started church we had 21 people at church!

 

Miracle #3: First off, a little background info. S is a member. She is married but her husband is not a member. They have 4 kids. The oldest is B. She is married to Ž and they have two kids L and L. All 4 of them are members. Well, L is only 1 so he isnt actually baptized. The second is B...he is not a member. He is in America working or going to school or something. Third is D who is on a mission in California. Fourth is L. He is in high school and is not a member.

 

Ok...now that you understand that. L turned 18 just over a month ago. S anted to have a birthday party for him at the church but he told her no he wouldnt go into the church. So we had it at their house. At the end of the party the missionaries shared a spiritual thought (because we are missionaries and that is what we do). But that was that. Well, yesterday B walked into church late and someone was with her. I assumed it was her husband but turned around and looked and it wasnt...it was L. He came to church! I looked and saw him and then made eye contact with Elder Uhlig and we both had a look of what on earth is going on. So after sacrament we talked to L. I asked him what brought him through the door and he said I just couldnt wait any longer. He said that at his birthday party when we shared the spiritual though he felt something and had a hard time sleeping that night because he was thinking about it. He said that he had been talking to his brother D who told him that he had to decide for himself when the right time to come to church was. So he said I decided I was going to come today. He didnt tell anyone that he was coming...he just happened to get there about the same time as B so they walked in together. Seeing B and seeing S when they realized he was at church was so exciting. They were both smiling from ear to ear and were so happy that he was there.  Anyway...Le told us he wants to be baptized. He said if I could do it right now today I would but I know I have to take missionary lessons first. It was amazing! So the Elders are going to start teaching him this week and he will be baptized in the next couple of weeks. This is a kid who just over a month ago wouldnt even walk through the door of the church for a birthday party and now walked himself through the door to church, stayed for all 3 meetings, wants to be baptized and is ready to start doing missionary work with us!

 

The rest of our Sunday was great! The Matosiches had the missionaries over for dinner. All of us had the biggest grins on our faces all day! It was such a great day!

 

After dinner we went to some potentials who told us to come back today but none of them were home. But we finished the night off with a lesson with V hich went great as usual!

 

Missionary work takes a lot of patience. We never know when or how our efforts are going to pay off but they will and they do...sometimes in ways very unexpected. We never know what seeds we are planting along the way by our examples and the way that we interact with others. Miracles do happen and they will continue to happen every day!

 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Thank you for all that you do, for your love, prayers and support!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts!

 

Emails...Dad, Mom, Carrie, Lex, Grandpa, Tyson