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
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