Pictures

 

A visit to Zvornik on P day

District meeting in a cafe

Yummy bread for Ramadan

Kebab

Only missionaries at church on Sunday

Transfers

Well hello! Cant believe it has been another week. In some ways it seems as if it has flown by but in other ways it seems like it has been a long week. But it was a good thing. Good things are happening in Tuzla...they are just happening really slowly.

Last Monday after Pday we spent the night out contacting and tracting. We seem to be doing a lot of that lately. From what Ive heard that is usually how Tuzla is. But it is good. We always talk to really nice people they just arent interested and it doesnt seem to go anywhere...but we are planting seeds for future missionaries!

 

Tuesday we actually did an exchange with the Sisters in Sremska Mitrovica. So we woke up early and drove halfway to meet them. Sister Peel went to Sremska and Sister Sturtevant came back to Tuzla with me. We actually had a really good exchange. Sister Sturtevant isnt a sister that I know very well so it was really fun to work with her. A few days before Sister Peel and I had gone through the area book and made a list of potentials so that is what we ended up doing all day Tuesday. We were searching for potentials. We were able to talk to a few of them. Sister Sturtevants companion had been having knee problems and is limited on how much she can walk so they have a car and drive everywhere. So when we walked all over the city and up and down hills she wasnt the biggest fan of it. But we survived and it went well! Tuesday night we had our first English class. We had 5 students come which was good and we had a really good class. We had 2 new students and the other 3 have been coming to English for years.

 

Wednesday morning we woke up and drove to exchange back. When I picked up Sister Peel she looked at me and said they actually teach lessons there...it was really nice. I said welcome back to Tuzla where we walk everywhere and tract all day! We spent some time Wednesday making flyers and passing them out for English class. Even when we start new English classes we continue to advertise throughout and let people come in the middle of classes because its good to constantly be getting new people.

 

Thursday we did some contacting in the morning and then we did weekly planning. We had a couple of lessons scheduled for Thursday but they all seemed to cancel before actually happening. So that meant we got to do more contacting and tracting! We also had English class Thursday night which was another good class.

 

Thursday night we got a phone call from President Grant which we were not expecting. We knew that we would be getting transfer calls but I have never got them before Friday. I answered the phone and he said is this Sister Clark. I said yes. He said I have a question for you. I said ok. He said are you getting trunky. My response was well President, Im trying not to. And he said good because Im sending a new missionary to you that I need you to train. So, I get to spend my last transfer training. Im actually really excited about it and I think it will be good to get a new missionary straight from the MTC. He told Sister Peel where she is going...she is going to Osijek where she actually served for about 2 weeks right after I left. But then he told us that we were not to tell anyone that we had gotten transfer calls and that everyone else wouldnt be getting them until Saturday. So it was fun to play dumb when everyone kept freaking out that we didnt have the calls yet on Friday.

 

Friday we had district meeting. The senior couple decided to go on a vacation so we had to have district meeting in a cafe since we cant be in the church alone with the elders. It was a bit interesting but it turned out good.

 

We then had to go to the MUP to deregister Sister Peel. That took up more time than we wanted it to but that usually happens at the MUP.

 

We had a lesson scheduled but that one cancelled on us too. So we went out to find some addresses of people that Sister Peel had found or something and knew where they lived but hadnt written down the address and we decided it would be good to know that before she left. There were also a few that missionaries before had forgot to write down an address and so we have been trying to talk to them to find out where these people are and they usually just give us directions and not an actual address. So we went out and found these addresses so that we could write them in the area book.

 

Saturday morning we did some contacting and Sister Peel showed me a few places that I needed to know where they were and then she took some time packing because we knew we wouldnt have any time any other time before transfers.

 

We then had a lesson with A. We read Helaman 5 with her and talked about having Christ as our foundation because then we will not shake during hard times. She has been reading the Book of Mormon since we met with her last and she has also started reading the Doctrine and Covenants. After her she walked with us to visit J and B. It was kind of a weird lesson and it mostly just ended up being J who we had a lesson with. She wanted to read from the Book of Mormon with us and we read with her in second Nephi where it talks about choosing liberty and eternal life or eternal death. We talked with her about agency and how the choices we make not only affect us in this life but they also affect us in the afterlife and that is why it is so important to keep the commandments and make good choices and make sure we are following Heavenly Fathers will for us in everything that we do. It is hard because the members here struggle. They dont understand why it is so important to come to church or why it is important to keep the commandments. They love the missionaries and they call us to come visit them but we are trying to help them to see that they need to do more than just meet with the missionaries once a week.

 

After J we met the Elders to go teach a lesson with them. There is a man who is the brother of a member. He is not a member but is really good friends with the church and missionaries and has expressed desire in getting baptized but isnt quite ready. He has a "wife" named A. A few nights ago the Elders went out to teach H and he wasnt home but his wife was and her sister, A, and a friend, D. They were all very excited about the church and wanted to learn more. Well, the problem is they are all female so the Elders decided that they would take us with to introduce us and then we can start teaching them. So we went and had a really good lesson with them. We taught them about the plan of salvation and they all listened and asked questions. They were all so excited and really do seem sincerely interested. A who has actually been to church told about her experience at church and how good she felt when she was there. It ended up being a really good lesson with them. They all have baptism dates. We just have a few things to work through with them to help them to be ready. One of which is that two of them arent married legally...this is the first experience I have had on my mission with people who arent married. But they are very excited and willing to learn and change. They were all very excited to come to church...but they didnt end up coming unfortunately. But I am excited to keep working with them and see them progress.

 

Sunday...well, we hit another record at church today. We had 6 people at church, all of which were missionaries. We dont know what to do to help people see the importance of coming to church. We had a really good sacrament meeting and a really good Sunday school class it is just too bad that people werent there for it. I have never been in an area before where the thought even crossed our minds that maybe we would just have missionaries at church. This is the first time that it has actually happened but it has come close a few more times. We have a lot of work to strengthen the members and strengthen the group here in Tuzla!

 

After church we went to see E. He told us that he didnt come to church because he has a hard time hearing so it wouldnt have done him any good anyway. We explained to him why we go to church to take the sacrament and that even more important than what we hear is what we feel when we are at church. We spent the rest of Sunday night out contacting and the Shepherds invited us over for dinner.

 

Well, it has been a good week. This next week might be a little bit crazy because I will be in Zagreb for a few days but I am looking forward to this next transfer and I am excited to see what it brings. But it will be a good transfer.

 

Yesterday in church Elder Harmon spoke and he spoke about faith. We also studied the topic of faith as a district this past week for district meeting. I read through the Bible dictionary about faith and really liked that it said that faith is to have confidence in someone or something. We may not have a perfect knowledge or know how it is going to happen but we know that it will. I have confidence that the church will grow here in Tuzla and in Bosnia. It may take time but step by step it will. I have faith that this next transfer will bring some changes and we will see people start to grow and to regain their faith and I will be right there with them doing the same thing.

 

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

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

Shoutouts

 

Emails...Jordan, Tys, Grandpa, Dad, Carrie, Lex, Mom

 

Sretan Rođendan...B!

Hello family!‏

Well! Here we are back at emailing today. We are emailing a little bit later because we decided to be adventurous today and go see a castle this morning that was a little ways outside of Tuzla. It ended up being beautiful and was a good change for a little bit. I took some pictures and will try to send a few.

 

Anyway...now for our week. Monday was a chill Pday and Monday night we started off doing some contacting and then we went with the Shepherds to J's and B's because Elder Shepherd needed to talk to them and needed a translator. So we did that for a little bit and then we went out contacting some more. While we were contacting we ended up in a weird part of town that we arent usually in and ran into S who is a member. We met with her my first week and then she came to church my first Sunday but then we hadnt heard from her or been able to get in contact with her since then. We were a little bit worried about her since it had been more than a week since we had seen her so it was good to run into her and be able to talk to her for a little bit.

 

Tuesday was zone conference. We got up early and rode up with the Shepherds to zone conference so we got to ride in the car. We got to zone conference right as it started. The zone conference was a little bit different than our past ones. It was shorter than usual and was kind of an introduction to President Grant but it was really good. He started off talking about the importance of asking questions...but even more importantly to get the student or the investigator to ask a question. He then spent the next two hours answering any question that we asked him. It was really good. We got to hear about his experience in the MTC and the seminar for new mission presidents. He talked to us about the vision for the mission and such. I honestly cannot compare him to President Rowe because they are so different but I think he really is going to be great for the mission. He then talked about how we can have the Spirit with us more as missionaries. He taught institute for a time so he is a really great teacher and I learned a lot from him. Sister Peel and I then got to take the bus home from zone conference. The bus from Sarajevo to Tuzla is about 3 and a half hours. The problem is there are no freeways in Bosnia so it was through mountains and backroads that are super windy.  The bus driver was going extremely fast and there was no air conditioning on the bus. Poor Sister Peel was sick the whole time. I felt fine but spent the whole bus ride fanning her trying to help her get a little bit of air to feel better. It was bad. We got home and she went home and crashed.

 

Wednesday morning...we started off the morning with correlation meeting. It was...interesting. The senior couple here...bless their hearts...sometimes they are really difficult to work with and I dont agree with them most of the time...well none of the young missionaries do. So meetings can sometimes be really frustrating. But we try to be really patient with them. After our meeting we honestly spent the rest of the day out contacting and passing out English flyers for English class signups.

 

Thursday morning we woke up and did studies and then needed to get out of the apartment for a little bit so we went outside and did an hour of contacting before we came home to do weekly planning. Weekly planning doesnt take as long as it has in the past because we have so little people here to teach. We are still struggling to find. We talk to so many people every day but we cant seem to find the people that want to keep learning more. Right now we are really working with the members and helping to strengthen them so that we have a strong church and strong members that can welcome and help investigators. So that is mostly what we talked about during weekly planning...how to best help the members.

 

After weekly planning we went out and did some tracting. It was probably the best tracting night I have had since I have been in Tuzla. We had some really good conversations with people and everyone we talked to was really nice. I dont know if any of them will go anywhere right now but maybe in the future. We also had English class signups Thursday night. We had a lot of people come. More people came to signups than I have ever seen in even one English class so I hope that the people will actually come to the classes.

 

Friday morning we had District Meeting. We did kind of a review of what we learned in zone conference and how we can apply it in our work. We also talked about obedience. Obedience has been something that I have come to have a strong testimony about on my mission. My companions and I have decided that as missionaries we honestly have two options. We can choose to be obedient or we can choose not to be. Once we choose to be obedient the choices are made for us. I have seen the blessings that come through obedience...it doesnt make it so we dont have struggles but it helps us to know that when we are doing everything we are supposed to things will work out even if there are bumps on the way.

 

After District Meeting we did some area booking. The area book here is really small because missionaries have only been in Tuzla for about 2 years and Sisters about one year. So we were able to go through the entire area book and right down the addresses and kind of map out a plan of how to go and visit them.

 

We then had a lesson with A. It didnt go as well as our first lesson with her because she has been sick and is going in for surgery so she wasnt focusing very well. She has been reading the Book of Mormon though and said she will continue and that we can come back after she is feeling better.

 

We then went to J's and B's. B is hoping to be able to go to the temple to do baptisms next month with other members from the mission so Elder Shepherd asked us to help her to be ready for that. So we took her a copy of Strength of Youth and read through some of it and discussed her with it and told her to read some before next time and then we can discuss it more with her to help her understand it.

 

Saturday morning we went out contacting and then we went to visit E. He hasnt been praying so we talked to him about the importance of prayer. He said that his life has been going good so he doesnt need to pray. We helped him to see how even when life is good we still need to pray. We also talked to him about how he can strengthen his faith.

 

We then went to the church for another session of English signups which went well and we had a lot of people come and then we met with A. She is a member. She is 14 and is the niece of J. She has a hard life and feels as if she is alone at times. So we helped her to see that she does have people that care about her. She talked to us about how she met the missionaries and how she felt when she was baptized and we challenged her to start reading the Book of Mormon again. The Shepherds were then going to J's because it was her year mark of being baptized and they asked us if we would go with them. So we went and it ended up being good. We were able to talk to J about her baptism which brought back memories for her and we talked to her about how she needs to start preparing for the next step...the temple.

 

Sunday...M came to church in Tuzla today. She is the member that lives about an hour and a half outside of Tuzla and usually goes to Beograd for church but she decided to come here this week. But the bus got here at about 8 in the morning. So the Shepherds needed us to go with them to pick her up at the bus station and then we went to their apartment and had breakfast and talked with her to translate for them then we went to church. We more than doubled our church attendance from last week...we had 15 people at church today! I got to speak in church today. It wasnt the greatest talk I have ever given because by the time I got up to talk there was only 5 minutes left of Sacrament meeting and a few members decided to leave early and caused a big distraction. I had also had a hard time preparing for my talk because I would have something ready and then I felt I needed to go a different route so I changed topics about 5 times but it went ok. After church we did some contacting and then we made phone calls and such to English students to make sure everyone knows that class is starting this week, etc.

It has been a good week! We are still hoping to see some progress and things start to pick up here in Tuzla. It is proving to take a lot of work because there is a lot that needs to be done here. But I really do love it here. I love the members and I love working with Sister Peel. At Zone Conference we talked about how missionary work is expanding to be more than just teaching investigators but it is also working with members and reactiviating. That is a lot of what we are doing right now. We are helping the members to know what it means to be a member and helping them to see the importance of living the Gospel and coming to church. Because right now that is really what we need. We need members that can be that strong foundation for when we do bring others into the church. I am so grateful that I am able to be here right now and even some days it is really hard I know that Tuzla is where I need to be right now and I hope that I can help to make even just a small difference in the lives of the people here. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Thanks for everything!

All 4 Tuzla missionaries are USU Aggies!

Scenery in Tuzla

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

Shoutouts!

Emails...Mom, Dad, Carrie, Jordan, Lex, Grandpa, Chris, Tys

Happy Fourth!‏

Well...I have officially survived my first week in Bosnia. It took some more getting used to than I thought it would because it is definitely different than Croatia. It is hard to describe what the difference is but it just is. But I already have a love for the people here and I am finally at the point where I feel comfortable and know what I am doing and things are going well. Tuzla definitely needs a lot of strengthening of the members that are already here as well as building up of the church by finding new members.

 A random bear she decided to pose with

Birthday cake!

 

Monday...we had a relaxing Pday and then Monday night we went and had a lesson with A who is the woman that came to church the day before. We taught her the first lesson. It went really well and she listened and we had a good discussion with her. The only problem right now is that she is in the phase of she just wants to learn because she is interested and doesnt get the why or action part of it. But we will continue working with her to help her realize that. After her lesson we did some tracting.

 

Tuesday we actually took a drive to visit a member who lives in Bijeljina which was about an hour and a half drive from Tuzla. She is a very active member but she goes to the Beograd branch each Sunday because it is more convenient for her due to the bus schedule. But she lives in our group boundaries. We had a good lesson with her and she made us lunch and then after I had to border hop because I had been in the country too long without registering and she lives right by the Serbian border so we quickly drove across the border and then headed back to Tuzla. That took up a good part of our day and when we made it back we went contacting for the night. There werent very many people out because most people were home preparing to break their fast for Ramazan. Ramazan is a difficult time here because no one is out at night but they also are not happy with you when you knock on their doors at night. So after Tuesday night we tried to make sure that we had something scheduled at night.

 

Wednesday we had Correlation meeting which is where we talk about who will speak in church and the needs of the members, etc. It was a good meeting. We had an appointment with a woman scheduled right after but she showed up at the church with some man and gave us an odd excuse as to why she couldnt stay. So unfortunately that didnt turn into anything. We then spent some time contacting and handing out English flyers. We are taking a break from English right now and doing signups next week so we are handing out flyers like crazy in hopes of getting more students.

 

Thursday morning we went out contacting in the morning and then we went home and did weekly planning. We then had a lesson scheduled with a member. He was baptized I think a year ago but it might have been longer. He is less active right now. Sister Peel said that the past couple of times they went over there he made it very clear that they were not to pull out the Book of Mormon and that he didnt want them to pray. Well, our lesson with him today was completely opposite. He let us read the Book of Mormon with him and he said the closing prayer. It was a miracle. We had a really powerful lesson with him. We couldnt commit him to come to church but he did end up coming to the fireside where President Grant came so that was good!

 

Friday morning we started out the morning with District Meeting. Since it was the fourth of July we decided to sing the Star Spangled Banner for the song. We had a good district meeting. We always pick one of the Christlike attributes to study throughout the week and then we discuss what we have studied at district meeting. This week was diligence. We talked about what it means to be diligent...to keep going even when things get hard but that it also means that we need to be happy in the process and using our time wisely and that no matter what the outcome is we know that we have done all that we can. We also talked about how we can better make our purpose known to the people we come in contact with as well as the members.

Pancakes for breakfast

 

Making ice cream

 

 Happy July 4th from Tuzla, Bosnia!

 

After District Meeting we decided we needed to celebrate the fourth of July by eating American food...so we went to the most American place we know...McDonalds. We spent the next few hours out contacting and then we had an activity. We made baggie ice cream which actually turned out really good but was a huge pain. The church building here is very tiny. It is literally one room plus a bathroom. So it was very chaotic trying to make ice cream in that one room especially since we dont have a kitchen. But the activity turned out great and we played a few other random games. We had a pretty good turnout and we had put a poster up in our window advertising for it and had some random people show up who said that they would come back another time. So it ended up being a good activity.

 

Saturday we passed out English flyers and contacted in the morning and then we went to do church cleaning. Church cleaning didnt take too long since our church building is teeny tiny but it still needs to be done. We then went back to our apartment and did some area booking and then we had a lesson with J and B. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon. We got the Book of Mormon and we just opened up to a random chapter and read it and then we all discussed what we learned about it. We talked to them about how it doesnt matter what we read in the Book of Mormon but we can always learn something from our reading if we really study it. We tried to commit them to read the Book of Mormon every day but they didnt seem too sure about it. The members here need a lot of strengthening. They let the missionaries come over and visit but it has seemed that in the past that is all they have done, visited. So we are trying to go and have spiritual experiences with the members that help to build their faith and give them a greater desire to not just come to church every once in awhile but to actually live the Gospel.

 

Sunday...well folks, we had an all time record at church this week. We had 7 people at church...how many of those were missionaries...6. We kept hoping that someone would walk through the door but they never did. So it was us 6 missionaries and a man named S who isnt a member but comes to all activities and church and such. So, we had no members at church. We have found that the members think that if they come to the church once during the week they are good...so they come to the activity and then dont come to church. So we are working on helping them to see that that is not true. Anyway...with it being testimony meeting we all got to bear our testimonies. And then for Sunday School the Shepherds taught and they talked about family history.

 

After church we did some tracting and then we had an evening side. President and Sister Grant came as well as two of their daughters. Their kids are all older so 2 of their daughters are here just for a few weeks and then they will be going back for school. Anyway...it was kind of just a get to know you type thing so that the members could meet them. Luckily, we had more people come to the fireside than church so he actually got to meet a few people. President Grant is great. I was honestly a little worried about how things would go with a new mission president and such but as soon as I met him it was totally fine. He and his wife are great and I am excited to get to know them better. After the fireside we had interviews with President which were fairly short but good. We basically introduced ourselves and talked about how things were going and such but it was really good.

 

Anyway...it has been a great week and things are going well! We are still in a finding phase and doing lots of tracting and contacting but it seems that it is that way throughout the entire mission right now. But one of these days it will start to pick up and until then we will just keep working...we will keep being diligent! I love you all and I love this Gospel. I love helping people come to know Christ and for a lot of people in Bosnia they need that because they dont realize who He is and what He has done for us. I know that He is our Savior and that He is the one that made this whole plan of happiness possible for us.

 

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

Shoutouts...

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

Sretan Rođendan...Al, Lisa

Pictures

 

Happy Birthday!

 

Last night in Zadar

With a few of her favorites

 

Last time at the sea

Happy to be with Sister Peel again!