Return and Report Meeting in Zagreb

Street view in Zagreb

Zagreb Chapel - one of two chapels in the mission

 

 Side view of Zagreb chapel

A Bosnian toliet 

 

One month to go!

Well...it has been a different and crazy week. We spent a majority of the week this week in Zagreb because of a few things which I will get to later. I am glad to be back in Tuzla now. Because we were gone all week there wasnt a whole lot that happened here so I am ready to get back going and hopefully get things to start happening this week.

Well...Monday night we had an appointment with E who became an investigator last week. She answered the door holding her Book of Mormon which we were excited about. Until she tried to give it back to us telling us that she didnt have time and she just wasnt interested. It was kind of disappointing because we finally got an investigator and then she didnt want to meet with us again. But, we left her building and went tracting to find more investigators!

 

Tuesday...We had a full day planned but everything managed to fall through. We started out the morning with coorelation meeting which went fine. After we had set up to go meet with two potentials and one member. Well, none of them ended up being able to meet with us. We also had a waitress that we talked to the week before at a restaurant who had taken a Book of Mormon so we went back there for lunch hoping to be able to talk to her and she ended up not working. So, all of of our plans fell through and it was another day of checking up on formers and tracting. Our favorite! We did have English class which was a good class and then the Sarajevo sisters got to apartment that night so that we could go to Zagreb together the next day.

 

Wednesday...President has started a new thing called return and report. It is for the new missionaries and their trainers and it is halfway through the training so that we can go in and he can kind of get a feel for how all of the missionaries are doing. It was good but it was kind of a short meeting and a long drive for it. He had the new missionaries do role plays so that he could see how things were coming language wise, he did some training, and had all the new missionaries give a report of their first couple of weeks and then he did interviews with all of the new missionaries and trainers. The meeting was actually really good and I really think it was a good idea. It is just difficult because of transportation and travel and such. That night we were with the Zagreb sisters and by the time we ended up finishing the meeting and getting out of the mission home we had time to eat really quick and go back to their apartment.

 

Thursday was a day in Zagreb. There actually ended up being 6 sisters in Zagreb for a couple of days which was kind of interesting so we were on splits and all kinds of things. Saturday morning I was with Sister Orgill and my companion. We started off the morning with a lesson with a member. We talked to him about the Restoration and challenged him to find someone that he could share it with. It was good but he was really talkative and kept going off on challenges. I then spent a few hours in the office and doing some other random things and then I was back with Sister Orgill and Sister Kawai and we drove out to visit another member named S. I had met her before and she is great. She is preparing to go to the temple. She has been struggling to read the Book of Mormon daily so we read a chapter and discussed it with her and talked to her about how important it is to read every day to help her prepare for the temple. The rest of the night was spent out and about contacting. A man actually stopped us and he is living in Zagreb and is from the US. He had heard of our church and had a lot of questions about it so we were able to answer his questions and had a really good discussion with him.

 

Friday morning we started off with a lesson with a member named J. She is another one that I had met with before in Zagreb. She has a son who is 10 who wants to be baptized but they are struggling to get permission from her husband. So the missionaries meet with him and he loves it. He wasnt feeling very good but the second we walked in the door he grabbed his scriptures and came and sat down to meet with us. He is really good at reading the Book of Mormon. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him and did an object lesson which he loved!

 

I then headed off with Sister Orgill and we went to the mission office for leadership council. Sister Orgill is the Sister Trainer Leader for Croatia and since her companion is a brand new missionary President asked me to come to leadership meeting with her. So we had that meeting. It was really good. We talked about goals and just had a few other discussions. It was really good but it was a long meeting. It went until about 9:30 at night. So when it was finished we all basically got ready for bed.

 

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready and then went and met my companion and then we headed back to Tuzla. The travel took a little longer than we had planned and we got back just in time for district meeting. They waited to do district meeting today since we were gone for the rest of the week. We are actually getting a new senior couple here in Tuzla. There has been kind of a senior couple transfer so the Shepherds are heading to Karlovac and the Devers who just got here from the MTC will be in Tuzla. So both senior couples were at district meeting. We had a good district meeting and discussed discerning by the Spirit to know what to teach people. We had to go over to the senior couple apartment to do something on the computer and it was the only time we could do that so we went there. By this time it was about 7 pm and we hadnt had a chance to go home yet from our travels and had barely eaten anything all day and Sister Shepherd was so nice and fed us while we were there. The Shepherds are really nice but I think this transfer and a new senior couple will be good for Tuzla. Anyways..so Saturday was kind of a crazy day but we survived it and we were glad to make it back to Tuzla.

 

Sunday...well, because we had 2 senior couples at church we broke double digits. We had 10. S also came to church and it was the first time she has come in over a month so we were really excited about that! We still cant get her to set up to meet with us but at least she came to church! Sister Shepherd taught Sunday school and she did it all in Bosnian. I was really impressed because most of the senior couples dont do so great and dont really try. It wasnt perfect but atleast she did it!

 

After church we had to do weekly planning since we hadnt been able to the rest of the week and then we had cleaning checks.  Then we went out for the rest of the night to find potential investigators. We talked to one woman at the door who told us that we could come back another time and that she would try to come to church.  We talked to another woman on the street who literally told us that she had heard about our church and if she knew how to become a member she would. We told her we are here to help people learn about our church so that they can find out for themselves if it is true. She seemed sincerely interested in learning more. So hopefully both of those will go well over the next week or so as we try to actually meet with them now!

 

Well, it was kind of a different, crazy week but it was still good. We are hoping that this will be the week that we can get in contact again with all of these people that we are meeting and see things start to grow. We are meeting great people and if nothing else we are helping them to have spiritual experiences that they will remember in the future.

 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week! I love being a missionary and I love the Gospel!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts...

emails...Tys, Lex, Dad, Grandpa, Mom, Carrie

and got a letter from home...it was just the ward newsletter but I still got it

 

Sretan Rodendan...Chris!

Happy Monday

This is what her hair looks like after a day in the humidity

I feel like during the week I had a good idea of what I could title my email but right now I cant think of what it is. So we get the same, usual one again. This week was another week like the past couple have been. It has been a slow week where we are struggling to see things happen. But each day as we keep trying and keep working we see miracles. Even though they may not be the miracles we want or are expecting, they are still coming.

Monday night after Pday we had an appointment with a women who we had found as a potential in the area book. We had tried to meet with her multiple times before but had been unable to. But Monday we were finally able to meet with her. She had only had missionaries at her house once and it was a long time ago so she didnt remember anything. She had a Book of Mormon and told us that she had read it. She said that she was raised Muslim but at the moment doesnt practice any religion. We taught her the first lesson and talked to her about the Restoration. We had a pretty good lesson with her and after she told us that we can come back to teach her more. New investigator! Its been a long time since that has happened! We spent the rest of the night after that tracting in the area around where she lives.

Tuesday morning we started the morning with coorelation meeting where we discussed the needs of the group and members. After that we went out tracting. We started tracting a building and no one was answering the door. After tracting 3 or 4 floors we started to question whether we should keep going or not. But we kept going even though no one was answering the door. Well...when we got to the second floor a woman opened the door and let us inside. She has 2 kids one of which has disabilities. She was so sweet and there was a special spirit in her home. We had a nice chat with her and her daughter (who doesnt have disabilities) was adorable and loved talking to us. We talked to them about how we are all Gods children and that He loves us and has a plan for all of us. They too claim Muslim but dont practice it. It went really well and she told us we are welcome back anytime!
We made our way to another building and started tracting there. We were having conversations with people unlike the other building with no one answering but no one that was interested. Well about 15 minutes before we had to be at English a woman opened the door. You could just feel it with her when you were talking to her. She was very thoughtful in her answers. I was really disappointed that we had to go to English so we couldnt stay but we set up an appointment to come back to meet her.  Then we went and had English class.

Wednesday we went and saw E. That was a rough lesson. He is struggling right now and has a lot of concerns. We talked to him about those and are trying to help him see that when he comes to church it will help him with his trials instead of adding to them. But he is struggling to see that. We spent some time checking up on potentials, did some area booking, and then checked up on more potentials.

Thursday...we had to go to the health center for Sister Kawai to be able to apply for a visa here. It was an...interesting...experience. I will just say that I am glad that I didnt have to go through that process for me.  It took forever so we spent a few hours there in the morning and then ended up having to go back again later in the afternoon. President and Sister Grant happened to be in Tuzla on Thursday because we are looking for a new church building so they came to check out a few places so we got to see them for a few minutes which was good. We did weekly planning, had English class and then did some contacting for the night.

Friday morning we had District Meeting which was a good district meeting. President Grant has been putting emphasis on us teaching the Book of Mormon using the title page, not the introduction, the title page because within those 2 paragraphs it teaches the purposes of reading the Book of Mormon. We had always used the introduction in the past so in District Meeting we talked about that and did some role playing with it as well.

We had a few appointments scheduled for Friday which cancelled on us...so we spent Friday tracting and visiting people from the area book trying to find people to teach.

Saturday morning we went with the Shepherds because they had some church buildings that they wanted us to see. But because it was Saturday we werent actually able to see any of the buildings. We went and cleaned the church and then did some contacting and tracting for the afternoon until we went to J's. We had a good lesson with her. Last week when we met with her we started to read the Book of Mormon with her and told her we were going to continue reading with her until she finished it because she has never read it from cover to cover and wants to but said it is too hard. Well, she had finished first Nephi and read the first couple of chapters in second Nephi so we read a chapter with her and discussed it. We were so happy that she had read so much on her own!

The steep hill they walk up to visit J (she says it is steeper than it looks here!)

Sunday we had church.  Unfortunately there were only 7 people at church. That seems to happen for a few weeks and then we will have one week with more people and then it goes back down. I spoke in church and I talked about the importance of gaining a testimony and even more than that how we gain a testimony and the strength it gives to us.

The Shepherds had invited us over for dinner on Sunday so we went there and ate and spent the rest of the day on Sunday trying to visit people from the area book, tracting, and contacting.

This area has probably been the area where we have done the most tracting and contacting. We keep making good contacts but then they unfortunately dont turn into anything.  I wont lie, sometimes tracting all the time gets really old and is really exhausting, its ok. We are making really good contacts and even if these people arent interested right now we are preparing them to be ready at a later date. I know that I am exactly where I need to be right now and there is a reason that we are doing so much finding. I love my companion and we are working as hard as we can and trying to make things fun to keep us going! This church is true and the people here need the knowledge of the Gospel so badly.  That is why we wont stop! I am so grateful for the testimony that I have of the Gospel, of the Book of Mormon, and of Christ. I have been reading Jesus the Christ and this past week I read about the death of the Savior and the events leading up to it. I cant even explain how I felt as I was reading it. But my love and gratitude for Him grew so much. It almost pains me to hear about the things that He went through and He did it all for us, for me and for you because he loves us.  It is because of Him that we have the great blessings that we do and that we can recieve the greatest blessing of all...eternal life. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

Sretan Rođendan...Carrie!

Emails from Dad, Lex, Mom, Carrie, Grandpa, Tyson, Chris, Allie

Pictures

It's been a rainy week

A random sign that looks like someone praying in bed

 

 Elevator mirror pictures

 

Dinner - watermelon and a spoon!

Happy Monday

Sorry my titles are lame and are always the same. Im just not creative enough to come up with something else to say. This week we had another good week here in Tuzla. Things are still going slow but we are still continuing to see miracles every day. Unfortunately, all of the people that we met last week werent home when we went to see them again this week so they havent turned into investigators yet but we have found more potentials this week so hopefully within the next couple of weeks we will have a lot of new investigators!

Last Monday when Pday ended we met the Shepherds and went with them to J's and B's because they needed us to translate for them for something. We were just there for a few minutes and then we spent the rest of the night contacting.

 

Tuesday was zone conference. We were up early and on our way there. We got to ride with the senior couple but they dont really like driving so I got to drive which was fine but it also meant that I didnt get to sleep. But we had a really good zone conference. We talked about finding, using the Book of Mormon and the importance of having people read it from start to finish, and President Grant talked to us about choosing the higher law. A lot of missionaries had asked him questions about what we could and couldnt do so he basically just went through the white handbook with us with all the questions he had been asked and emphasized what it said and that he trusted us to choose to what extent we were going to take it, if we were going to follow the higher law or the lower law. He also talked to us about unity...about having unity in our companionships, our districts, our zones and as a mission. It was a really good zone conference and then we got to catch the bus back to Tuzla.

 

Wednesday was a really weird day. Nothing seemed to go as planned and even the unplanned things didnt go as planned. It started out with a phone call from President at 634 in the morning checking to see if we made it home safe last night. Definitely was not expecting that and the rest of the day kind of followed. We had set up an appointment with one of the women that we met last week so we went to visit her and she wasnt home. So we checked up on a few other potentials and none of them were home either. We decided we were going to go home and make some phone calls from the area book and after the third call our phone randomly locked up and we couldnt get it to work. So we spent the rest of the night out contacting and tracting.

 

Thursday morning we went to visit one of the women that we had met tracting a few weeks back. We had tried numerous times before but she wasnt home. Well, she was finally home but was leaving to go somewhere. She let us in and we talked to her for a few minutes until she had to go but she told us she still wants to talk to us so to come back next week. So it wasnt exactly what we were hoping for but at least she knows we havent forgotten about her and we know that she is still interested.

 

We came home and did weekly planning and then we had English class. Its the first time we have taught English class in almost 3 weeks because we have been gone so much. But it was a good class. After English class we went out contacting for the night.

 

Friday we started out the day with district meeting at the church. We discussed zone conference and what we learned and how we could apply it here in Tuzla. Our district leader right now is really good and we have really good district meetings which is good! Later that day we did some contacting to the senior couples house because we needed to use their computer for the training program and their computer is the only one we have access to. They live about an hours walk from us so we contacted to their house and then contacted back to the church where we had a lesson with A. She had told us that she wanted to start personal progress with us but she forgot to bring her book and we dont have one so we just talked to her about the young women theme and what it means. It ended up being good.  Then we went out tracting and it ended up being a really good night of tracting! The first door we knocked on was a family that let us in. It was a husband and wife and they had a 2 year old son who was adorable. The husband was the one that let us in but in the lesson the wife was more talkative. We taught them a good first lesson but after the wife told us that she wasnt interested in talking to us. She left the room for a minute and the husband started asking us more questions and even said he would read the Book of Mormon and asked when and where church was and said he might come. But then when the wife came back he stopped. I really think if she wouldnt have been there we would have been able to commit him to more things and been able to have a deeper discussion with him. But unfortanately we cant be with males alone. But, it will be ok and we are hoping that he will come to church and then we can have the Elders teach him.  I think if we can get him that eventually she will change too. We talked to several other people while tracting too and it was just really good!

 

Saturday morning we did some contacting in the morning and then went and cleaned the church.  Then we spent the next few hours contacting and tracting some more. Saturday night we had a lesson with J that went really well. For awhile now we have been trying to help her to read the Book of Mormon and she kept coming up with excuses. So we told her we were going to read it with her. So we went to her house and read 1 Nephi 1 with her and then discussed it. She then asked us if we could read the next chapter so we read chapter 2 as well and discussed it.  She told us she would read chapter 3 before we come next time and then we can read 4 together! Yay!

 

Sunday we had church and people came to church! We had 11 people at church! 6 missionaries, 3 members, and 2 potential investigators! It was really exciting! Sister Shepherd talked so I got to translate for her and then my companion and I taught Sunday school. Unfortunately everyone left after Sacrament so it was just missionaries for Sunday School but at least we had people come to church! So that is a plus! The lesson that we taught for Sunday School was on the Lords Covenant People so we talked about what covenants are and the blessings of keeping them. It turned into a really good discussion.

 

After church the rest of our day on Sunday was spent tracting. We talked to some really nice people and an older woman let us in and we had a good discussion with her but she was very hesitant to accept anything that we taught her.

 

Well...that is how this week went. It has been a good week and we are making a lot of contacts and planting a lot of seeds that will one day grow. One day the people here will have a desire, they will see that something is missing in their lives and have a desire to find out more. Because thats what it starts with, desire. This past week I started the Book of Mormon over again and reading the first few chapters it made me realize how important it is that we first have desire and then we act on that desire. Lehi didnt just recieve the vision that they were to leave Jerusalem, he had a desire to know what to do for him and his family so he prazed and asked and then he acted on the answer he received. Nephi had a desire to know if the things that his father said were true so he too asked and recieved a witness. Just like so many other great prophets in the Book of Mormon as well as other prophets including Joseph Smith who had a desire to know the truth and then he acted on that and prayed, we must too first have a desire and then act on that desire. We have to work and exercise a particle of faith and then we have to act on the answer we recieve.

 

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

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

 

 

Shoutouts...

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

Pictures

Visiting a cemetery in Zagreb, Croatia

 

Kresimir Cosic's grave

Mosque in Bosnia

A view of Tuzla 

The church

Monday again

Hello hello! Well, another week has come and gone. And today we actually have access to a computer luckily! The weeks seem to be flying by especially since we have seemed to be doing a lot of traveling lately. My poor companion is brand new and we are going all over the place and are super busy. But she is doing well and adjusting well. This week was a good week!

 

Monday night after Pday we went out contacting for the night in the pouring rain. There were actually 5 days this week that it started raining unexpectedly and we were caught in the pouring rain without an umbrella...you think we would have learned but we didnt. We had an appointment scheduled that canceled on us at the last minute and because of the holiday we felt that tracting wasnt the best idea. So we contacted. It actually ended up going well. We had several good conversations with people and one man that said he would meet with the Elders. So we gave them his information so that they can work on that,

 

Tuesday...we had an exchange with the Banja Luka sisters. Due to us not having access to a car and a few other things it ended up that both my companion and I went to Banja Luka and we went on splits in Banja Luka for a few days. It was a little weird but ended up being really good. So we were up Tuesday morning and took a bus to Banja Luka. We got there right as they were having District Meeting so we joined them for part of their district meeting. We then emailed and the Banja Luka Sisters went out for a little bit and then we split up. My companion went with Sister Rankin and I went out with Sister Peterson. We did some contacting and visiting potential investigators. We talked to some really nice people and had some really good conversations. We scared a poor little girl who was probably 3 years old and we could hear her crying for a good five minutes after the door was shut...oops! We then had English class which was good and then I went out contacting with Sister Rankin for the night.

 

Wednesday morning we had a lesson with a woman named L. Her family lived in Salt Lake for a time and she visited them there and heard about the church. Im not sure exactly the whole story or how long ago that was but she was a recent referal from church headquarters that we went and had a lesson with. It was a really good lesson and she is so prepared for the Gospel! When we got there she asked us questions about the Book of Mormon and where it came from which lead perfectly to us teaching the first lesson. She talked about how she doesnt have anything to belong to and doesnt really know what to call herself so she is really searching. The lesson with her was really good and was really powerful. She asked some really good questions and told the Sisters they could come back because she is interested in learning more!

 

After I went out with Sister Peterson again and we went contacting and tracting. For some reason we were both super exhausted but we had a lot of fun and were laughing like crazy. We also had some really good conversations with people. One door we knocked on a woman opened the door and was so happy to see us and gave us big hugs...I have definitely never had anyone open the door and hug we before so that was an interesting experience. I loved contacting with Sister Peterson. She is full of energy...it is almost ridiculous how much energy she has 24/7 and she is a people person. It was just good.

 

Later that day we had a lesson with some members in Banja Luka. It was a mom and dad and their son. They were very nice and we talked to them about baptism and the covenant that it is and what it means to keep that covenant. Right as we were finishing the lesson there was a knock at the door and the Elders showed up. We definitely werent expecting that and it was really funny. We left shortly after they got there. That night I went with Sister Rankin and we did some contacting and passing out flyers for English.

 

It was fun being in Banja Luka for a few days and I really liked being able to switch off between 2 different missionaries and learn from both of them. We had a lot of fun together and got a lot accomplished in the two days that we were there.

 

Thursday morning we got up and caught a bus...sort of...back to Tuzla. We went to the bus station but when the bus pulled up it was not a bus but a 15 passenger van...good times! But it got us safely back to Tuzla...sort of...it dropped us off on the outskirts of Tuzla and we got to walk the rest of the way but either way we made it home. Driving through Bosnia is my favorite! It is so green and beautiful everywhere! We got home and went out and did some contacting just to get out and about for a little bit and then went home and did weekly planning and then went back out and did more contacting!

 

Friday...we started off with District Meeting. The Senior couple was out of town so we got to have district meeting in a cafe which is always interesting but it was still really good. We then had planned to go visit the two woman that we met last week but on the way there it started pouring rain and we had no umbrella. We realized we were still a good 10 minute walk from their apartment and didnt want to show up on their doorstep soaking wet so we jumped into the nearest apartment building that we could and decided to tract it. And it was great! We actually had a lot of great tracting this week and had really good conversations with people and found like legit potentials that I think will actually lead to somewhere. As our door approach we have started asking people what the 3 most important things to them are. Something they say can always be turned into something about the Gospel. It is a good starter that lets us lead into Gospel discussion rather than just jumping straight to it and we have had a lot more people actually talk to us since we have started doing that. Interesting fact, number one on every persons list no matter how old they are is health. Anyway...we talked to several really nice people in the building who we are hoping to go back to and they will let us talk to them more. But one of them imparticular was a woman named E. She had a baby that was no older than 6 months who was adorable. We had a really good conversation with her at the door and then she said I would really like to invite you in but my baby just woke up and I need to take care of her and my husband will be home in just a minute and I just finished making lunch so when can you come back. We set up an appointment to go back the first of this week so I am really excited for that!

 

Friday night we went and had a lesson with J. Our lesson with her went about as they usually do. Right now we are really trying to help her see the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and to get her started reading it everyday. But so far she still isnt doing it. We are trying to have spiritual experiences with her to help her have a greater desire to do it.

 

Saturday we went and cleaned the church and then we met with A. She told us that she will start doing personal progress with us which I am really excited about and I really think that it will help her a lot. And then we spent the rest of the night out tracting. And it was another really good night of tracting. No new investigators but I think this week we found a total of 7 legit potential investigators who I think will let us in and actually talk with us more! So I am really excited to go back and see them this week!

 

Sunday... Sunday. It was another Sunday. We had 7 people at church again...the missionaries and S who is a friend of the church. And it was fast Sunday so we all got to bear our testimonies and then the senior couple taught the Sunday School lesson with the help of the missionaries for translating. It was a really good meeting we just need to help people want to come to church! At this point there are only 6 members that still live in Tuzla. The others live in cities around Tuzla but most of them are more than an hour a way which makes it difficult for them to come but we are still struggling to get the members who do live here to come to church. We luckily have contact and are working with them but just like reading the Book of Mormon we are helping them to have spiritual experiences so that they have a desire to come to church. It just makes me so sad when no one comes. But we will get there...

 

After church we did some contacting and then we went to the Shepherds house to have coorelation meeting to plan Sacrament meetings for the next couple of weeks and then my companion and I needed to use their computer to do something for the training program. And then we did some more contacting.

 

Anyway...things are still moving slowly here in Tuzla but I feel as if we are finally starting to see some things start to happen. The members are still struggling and we are still working with them but we are starting to find people that we can start teaching. It might be slow but change is coming...I can feel it! I love the people here and I love the members! Things are going well with my companion and we are working really well together! We have zone conference tomorrow and then hopefully we will have a few weeks where we dont have to travel anywhere so that we can just hit the pavement here in Tuzla and start to make these changes happen faster!

 

I hope that you all have a great week! Love you lots!

 

Volim vas!
Sestra Clark

Shoutouts...

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

Happy Tuesday!

First off, an explanation. I hope that the mission office emailed you yesterday because they said they were going to. Yesterday was a big holiday in Tuzla because it was the end of Ramazan so everything was closed. We spent two hours trying to find an internet place but everything was closed. We dont have a computer at the church and the senior couple was out of town so we had no access to a computer yesterday. So we called President and he told us they would send an email home to you letting you know that we couldnt email and told us to email as soon as we could get access to a computer. So sorry you didnt get an email yesterday but you are getting one today. And since it is not a Pday I dont have a ton of time so it might be shorter than usual and there wont be any pictures but it is better than nothing, right? But I am safe and fine just didnt have access to a computer yesterday.

To start off the week...last Monday after Pday we went and met with J and B because they wanted us to come one last time before Sister Peel left. It ended up being a really good lesson with them. I know we read from the Book of Mormon with them but I honestly cant remember what chapter we read with them. But it was really good. As we were leaving J kept telling us that she was going to have more faith than President when she prayed and get Sister Peel to stay in Tuzla...unfortunately it didnt happen. When we got home Monday night we had to make final preparations to leave Tuesday morning.

 

Tuesday we caught a bus at 7 to Zagreb. It was a 6 hour bus ride which was kind of miserable but we survived it. I have gotten really good at traveling long distances for not very long periods of time. We got there and got to the mission office and Sister Peel headed off to Osijek and I was in the office until the new missionaries got there. They got there about 3 and all looked exhausted because they brought them straight from the airport. We took them out contacting for about an hour and then President had a meeting with all of the trainers so that we could give input on what we thought from taking them out and kind of give him a feel for how they are all doing. That night I was at the Hobbs who are one of the senior couples in Zagreb with Sister Kropushek who was also training. Sister Hobbs loved having us there and chatted our ears off.

 

Wednesday morning we had training meeting at the church. We started off with a meeting for just the trainers and the APs and President talked to us about training and such and then they brought the new missionaries in and assigned our companions. My companion is Sister Kawai. She is 19 and is from Provo, Utah. She is great. She is studying linguistics at the University of Utah so she does really well with the language since she studies languages. The training meeting was really good...for me at least. Im pretty sure the new missionaries slept through it because there wasnt much interaction. They basically talked to us about finances and Visas and all that fun stuff and then President and Sister Grant spoke to us. Usually the training program is a 12 week program but President told us that he wants us to try and do it in 9 weeks because at least one of the new missionaries will be training next transfer. He pulled me aside after and told me that I especially need to make sure that I get my companion trained in 9 weeks because since I will for sure be leaving she needs to be able to handle Tuzla alone and there is a very good chance she could be training. After the meeting we got a ride with some of the missionaries and ended up at the mission home where Sister Grant fed us dinner. The Grants are great and I love being around them. The Hobbs picked us up from there and took us to their house to stay the night again. On the way home Sister Hobbs wanted to show us the big cemetary in Zagreb which is where Krešimir Ćosić is buried...so we got to see his gravesite which was really cool.

 

Thursday morning we went into the office for a few hours and helped out there. I sort of felt bad for my companion doing that her first day but the office is really swamped right now and they asked for our help. We had a bus at noon back to Tuzla. The biggest problem with being in Tuzla is that there arent very many buses between there and Zagreb...or really between Tuzla and anywhere so traveling is kind of a pain. But we had another 6 hour bus ride back to Tuzla. We got home and Sister Kawai got unpacked and settled and then we had about an hour so we went out contacting. I think that it was a little overwhelming for her. President told us that he really wants us to push our companions especially with the language so I told her that I am only going to speak in Bosnian when we are out of the apartment and I will gradually work up to speaking only Bosnian. After the first night of contacting I decided I needed to give her a few days before I jumped into that because I think it freaked her out a little bit. But she is doing great now.

 

Friday morning we went and got her registered at the MUP and then we had District meeting. It was a really good district meeting. We have a new district leader, Elder Blackburn, and since we have 2 new missionaries he had us all tell a little bit about us and how we made the decision to serve a mission. He then talked about how all of us recieved a spiritual confirmation that we needed to serve a mission. We all know that this is where we are supposed to be and what we need to be doing right now. It was one of the best district meetings I have had on my mission.

 

We went out tracting on Friday. We left the apartment and I had in mind an area that I wanted to go tract. It was actually an apartment building that I wanted to go to. But partway there I had a feeling that we needed to tract houses instead. So we went to the first group of houses we could find. We knocked on a few doors and no one was home and then I saw another apartment building and said lets tract that. We went up to it and it had 3 entrances. We randomly picked one, went to the first door, I told my companion it was her turn so they opened the door she said something and they let us right in. It was 2 sisters who lived there. They were both so nice. They are Muslim so I asked them a little bit about what they believe and then they asked what we believe. I told them an introduction to the Restoration and when I was done one of them looked at the other one and said I never realized that there is probably only one true religion but after hearing that I know there has to be. They told us that they would love to learn more and that we can come back and teach them the missionary lessons. I dont remember their names but it was a really cool experience.

 

After we went to see A and C who are the ones that we visited last week with the Elders. Unfortunately, a lot happened this past week and when we got there they werent very happy to see us and told us not to come back...so that was disappointing. But we will just use the time to find other people who are prepared!

 

Saturday we went and cleaned the church and then we met with E. The lesson with him was shaky at points but it ended up being really well. His testimony is very weak right now and he said that right now he doesnt even think the Book of Mormon is true so he doesnt see a need to come to church. He hasnt read the Book of Mormon in a long time so I testified to him of how important it is to read the Book of Mormon and to have a desire to know if it is true and that the only way that we can find out is to act and do something on our part. He thought about it for awhile and then said ok, I will start reading the Book of Mormon again and pray to know if it is true. YAY! He also said the closing prayer! We spent the rest of the night on Saturday out contacting and trying to find former and potential investigators.

 

Sunday. Church was good. We had 9 people at church so it was moving up from last week! Only one member and 2 visitors but it is still better than only missionaries. Both of the Elders spoke and then for Sunday School we watched President Uchtdorfs talk from last conference on finding gratitude in any situation.

 

When we got home Sunday we had to do a quick weekly planning session because I wanted to give my companion a few days to get used to being a missionary before throwing her into a 3 hour planning session. We then went out tracting for a few hours. We had some really good conversations with people but nothing too promising for right now.

 

We ended the night with a lesson with J and B. I love meeting with them and they love the missionaries I just wish they would love reading the scriptures and coming to church as much as they love the missionaries. We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon to them and talked about how reading the Book of Mormon brings us closer to Christ and how when we read the Book of Mormon our testimony of it grows stronger along with our testimony of everything else. It was a really good lesson and I hope that they will start reading the Book of Mormon again!

 

Anyway...sorry again that it is a day late and not super informative but I am doing well. Im hoping to see things start to pick up here in Tuzla and I hope that we will start seeing changes and start seeing people coming to church and having a desire to learn more about the Gospel. Things are going well with training. It makes things a little difficult because we have to do an extra hour of studies every day which takes away from our finding time but I know that it is helpful. I told me companion when I first met her I am training you to train. Thats what my trainer told me and I ended up training after 9 weeks. I am really excited to be training and feel much more prepared to be doing it than the other times I have. It will be a great experience and I know that I will be able to learn a lot from Sister Kawai while I am with her and I hope that I can help her to learn and have a good experience that will help set the tone for the rest of her mission. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

 

Volim vas!

Sestra Clark

Shoutouts!

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

Sretan Rođendan...Mom! Hope you have a great day tomorrow