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
No comments:
Post a Comment