Welcome welcome welcome
This has been another amazing week filled with lots of funny and spiritual moments. I was really bad at writing in my journal so rip most of this is based off of memory. I would like to say that because of this, my email will be shorter, but nope. That is definetely not the case haha. It might never be the case hahahah. There also might be a lot of typos because I am typing on my phone. Just ignore them.
Summary:
Monday and Tuesday there was zone conference. It was really good to see all of the other missionaries. We taught two lessons this week only in Slovene. Both went very well even though I understood maybe 49% of what everyone was saying haha. The weather has still been pretty cold sadly. I can't wait for it to get warmer. I went up in church and bore my testimony all in Slovene. It went well too.
Monday 4/4:
Today we had our zone activity (when all of the missionaries in Slovenia, the President and his wife, and the missionaries that are the President's assitants come up to Slovenia for a fun activity one day and then a big meeting the next day)! It was pretty fun!
Usually we plan to go visit a really cool monument, site, or other thing but the weather was too cold for outdoor activities and most museums are closed on Mondays which sucks. In the morning I wrote my weekly email and then we went shopping for groceries - the fun stuff ya know. Then later on we headed to Ljubljana for the activity. We arrived at a really nice park and then met up with all of the other missionaries - so fun. Not even five minutes into being there, we already lost the frisbee to a roof haha but they eventually were able to get it down by finding a ladder in a random obscure location and bringing it allll the way over to the building. We played a lot of volleyball and some other random things. Sister Field (the mission president’s wife) had me do an intense pilates workout with her and it totally killed me haha.
Zone conference activity in the park - so fun
After we all got tired of playing, we headed back to the church building to eat and hangout. We ordered some yummy pizza (one of them was kebap pizza and was SO GOOD!!) While waiting for the food we played risk, but this particular version of risk was specific to my mission - the world map was of slovenia, croatia, serbia, montenegro, bosnia and herzgovina with funny specific rules on it that related to the mission. I don’t know exactly who made it but definitely a previous missionary. I was winning the majority of the game but then we had to leave to get back home before dark so we never ended up finished the round. They did say if I would have stayed I would have won (confidence boosterrrrrrrr).
Us playing risk (I would like to remind everyone that if I stayed I would have won)
When we got home we had a whole like 3 hour rant and therapy session while we made cookies haha. So fun and necessary.
Tuesday 4/5:
Today was zone conference (the day with all of the meetings haha). Elder and sister barrus picked us up and we headed on our way to zone conference wooo. Sestra Williams fell asleep on the way there so I took some lovely photos.
The meetings went very good. It was a very good spiritual pick-me-up. Then we had food and that was a glorious experience - I am pretty sure I ate 5 cookies. We had a missionary training workshop where other missionaries around the world join too and I saw one of my friends from the mtc there! It was so fun to see him! We were also told pretty last minute that we were going to be teaching a lesson to a woman named Tina on our own. We had been been on a lesson with her before but the other missionaries that were there (my dear previous comp Sestra Voigt and her new companion) led it. This was going to be Sestra Wiliams and I’s first teaching lesson only in Slovene - so pretty intimidating especially because we didn’t have a lot of time to prepare because of the workshop and other things. BUT the lesson went so good! We talked about general conference (the big church meeting I mentioned in my last letter) and read in the Book of Mormon with her. I did not understand everything but I was able to understand a lot which was cool.
Wednesday 4/6:
I started off the day by meditating with cucumbers on my eyes hahaha. so fun. We did some of our studies and then met up with our friend Betty at a cafe to chit chat and get to know each other more. I think I mentioned her last week too. Her and her son came and watched general conference with us on Saturday. We talked with her for quite a while and just got to know her more. She is so sweet, but then had to leave for a meeting. The guy who is in charge of getting my visa figured out called us and asked us to go take biometric pictures (something like that) for my visa. It was a chaotic experience. We walked to this one photo place that we thought was the right one - realized that we didn’t know how much money was on our cards - found an atm and checked how much - went all the way back to the photo place only to realize that it was the wrong place - walked all the way to the new place - got my picture taken - get told he only accepts cash - leave and find another atm - get cash - go back - pay for the photos and then boom finally done haha. On the bright side he had a dog. It was an adventure. Also today we booked so many meetings. We learned for the future to never do this because we can't function properly if we have to attend 2+ meetings online. We had a mentoring session (the same thing as last week with Lyndie Mott) with Truman Brown. This was another cool interaction because he served in the Boston Mass mission and served in my home ward for 5 months. It went pretty well! He is super chill. We had another workshop (like what we did on Tuesday) and this time Elder Larson (one of my buddies from college and who was at the mtc at the same time as me) was in it too. That was fun to see him. We were kind of dead and going mentally insane after all of the meetings but it was fun because for dinner we made some pizza and watched The Chosen which was great. We had another meeting after dinner and that was long too.
Our pizza + the Chosen marathon
Thursday 4/7:
We had district council today woo. We did studies in the morning and then headed over to the church for the meeting. District council went pretty well. I like district council because it means afterwards we go and eat yummy food. We had lunch at Gostilna Motjaž where I got a kind of chicken steak - it wasn’t that bad but not amazing. I was in an ice cream mood so Sestra Williams and I got ice cream. It was the bomb. I got Mango and she got a Hazelnut one.
ICE CREAMMMMMMM
It was a nice day out so we just chilled and did the rest of our studies outside. We stayed at the church for the rest of the afternoon until we had our English teaching class thingy. This is where people can just come and practice speaking English with us. A lot more people came a couple years ago then it died out. We are trying to bring up the numbers again. Usually just one dude shows up and we talk to him the whole time. He is super chill. His name is Metod. BUT today Betty came and so we had TWO people there! WOOOOOOOO!!!!! It was really fun. We had a fun competition where they would say a word in Slovene and we would have to spell it correctly and then we would say a word in English and they would have to spell it. We had a lot of good laughs. Later that night Sestra Williams and I watched some more of the Chosen and it was amazing.
Friday 4/8:
Buckle up.
Today was so so so chaotic. In the morning we got kicked out of our apartment so the cleaning ladies could come in and clean it. I totally forgot to put on proper shoes so I was pulling of a shower sandals look to go with my fancy missionary attire. So great start to the day. There weren't any benches close by so we sat on some stairs and did our personal and comp study. After we finished that the ladies were still cleaning so we just went walking. We ended up going to that one bakery that had those heavenly pizza breads. She and I each got one and people watched while we ate. Once again, the bread was a 10/10. Would recommend.
Another feature of that heavenly bread (this might become a weekly occurance)
We went back and finished our other studies like language and then had another call. This was the same call as last Friday with all of the missionaries from my mtc group and their companion. It was fun to see them again and hear about what their areas are like and how they are doing. After this meeting we got ready for a lesson in Ptuj. It was like an hour and halfish to get there (maybe idk) by train. We were going to meet up with a woman named Karolina who was referred to us. This whole event was pretty chaotic. First, we buy our train tickets and go to find the train. Then we realize that we do not know which train it is and the ticket does not say where either. We go back and ask and then successfully make our way to the platform. As the train is pulling up, we get a call from one of the people that is in charge of certain missionary tasks and whatnot (I'm totally blanking on how to describe her). Anyways, she was trying to schedule something with us and the train is pulling up and then out of nowhere we see the Elders from Maribor. Everything is so chaotic. I am trying to say hi to the Elders, Sestra Williams is already on the train, the train is about to leave. A whole mess. I had no clue what was going on. I made it on though. There were not a lot of seats open for two people so we sat at one of the four seater ones with one other guy. At first he was really quiet, but you know me, I started talking to him and he was so chill. We just talked the entire time - mostly in Slovene. Actually that's a lie. A good part in Slovene but a lot of English too. Sadly we had to get off the train to get on another one so we had to say goodbye. Hopefully we will see him again sometime. We got on the other train and it was a pretty good. The ride was very pretty because we went right through the countryside. Ptuj is so pretty. They have the iconic red roofs and everything. I love it. We arrived at the train station and Karolina was there to pick us up. Keep in mind we have never met her once. We had a minute long convo on the phone where we asked if we could meet up but besides that nothing. It became very apparent from the start that she had a very very heavy dialect and knew no English. Her dialect was a specific one where they just cut of the endings of words which makes it very hard to understand. We were just going with the flow and doing a lot of charades work. We walked to her building and into her house. I was immediately greeted by a cat who climbed under my skirt and refused to move. I was in the awkard moment where I don't want to move my legs and risk stepping on it and my hands are too full to lift my skirt up. I kinda just stood there for a minute laughing. Thankfully Karolina's daughter came to my rescue. After I hang up my coat I go into the other room and am greeted with eight guinea pigs and one rabbit. The funniest thing ever happened. None of us knew what the other was saying so at one point Sestra Williams pointed to the guinea pigs and said something like "oh so cool" or something and the daughter misunderstand and thought we wanted to hold them. She literally just grabbed one and put it in Sestra Williams' hands. So funny.
The Guinea pig that was sprung upon us
Then it was my turn to hold it. So hilarious I can't. We started our lesson and it was once again really hard to understand what Karolina was saying. We essentially had to try and have our entire lesson through google translate whether it was stuff she was trying to say or stuff we were trying to say. Even though it felt like a trainwreck it still went really good. When we were leaving Ema asked if she could take a picture with us and they both gaves us really really big hugs. Another cool thing was that both Karolina and Ema expressed that they wanted to get baptised which was so so so cool. Anyways well we left to get back on the train home but the ticket office was closed. This meant that we had to pay on the train, but this particular train only takes cash, which we did not have. The nearest ATM was essentially in the center of town. The train arrived at 5:28 and it was 5:18. We booked it to the atm, which took its sweet time getting cash, and booked it alllllll the way back to the train station. Our faces were so red and we were so out of breath but we made it back at 5:27 (a total miracle). But then. The train was 15 minutes late so we did all of this effort just to sit and wait for another 15 minutes. It was so funny. The way back was pretty chill. There weren't a whole bunch of people on.
Us at the train station dying after having ran all around the city trying to find an atm (reminder the train didn't arrive for another 15 minutes) - also ignore my crooked nametag
Sestra Williams and I took a bunch of funny photos which was amazing. Overall, even though this entire event was so chaotic and weird, it was so cool to see Karolina's desire to know more and be baptized. Even though it was a struggle to communicate, the Spirit helped us know what she was feeling and what she needed.
Saturday 4/9:
Today was raining so it was a very rough and long day. Whenever it rains the days automatically lengthen by at least 5 hours. And Sestra Williams and I's mood just goes into crazy mode. We spent a lot of time messaging people and making flyers for future activities. Essentially a lot of looking at our phones. For dinner we put potatoes in the oven. We had this same meal the day before and it was pretty good but for some reason I was not vibing with it at all. Sestra Williams and I made the consecutive decision to combine mess around with our food and take some fun photoshoots with it.
Us playing with our food (yes those are our initials)
Sunday 4/10:
THIS DAY WAS SO AMAZING!!!! I felt the Spirit so strong. So today was fast sunday (once a month usually on the first sunday of the month we hold a fast where we do not eat for two consecutive meals). On fast sundays, our church meeting is different than normal. Anyone can come up and share their testimony and it is usually a very spiritual and nice time where you can hear the testimonies of others and feel the Spirit. I can't remember if this was explained before but because there are so few members here in Celje and in Maribor, we have church together over zoom. People who live in Maribor go in person in Maribor and the same in Celje but we hold the meeting at the same time. I don't know if that makes sense haha. People on zoom and in Maribor shared their testimonies and 2 of the 3 people who came in person in the Celge church building (my one) came up and bore their testimonies. The Spirit was so strong. Even though I couldn't understand exactly what their mouths were saying, I knew exactly what their hearts were saying. I kept getting the feeling that I should get up there and bear my testimony in Slovene, so I did. I was shaking like a leaf the whole time, but it felt so good. To share my love for this gospel and what I know in my heart to be true, especially in a language that is not my native tongue. The strength that comes from bearing your testimony of Jesus Christ and God cannot be described. The peace that comes from knowing who God is and what you mean to Him is inexpressable. I have already been changed heart, mind, and soul because of my decision to make God and Jesus Christ the center of my life. I love in greater quantities. I forgive more easily. My faith is stronger. And I have the peaceful confirmation that Jesus Christ died for my sins specifically. And only through Him and His Atonement, I can have my sins washed away.
This email is so long I am so sorry hahaha
Highlights:
- We went to McDonalds and the way they deliver your food is with a CAT ROBOT!!!!!! The robot will come find you and bring you your food. It literally says the cutest things. Whenever it arrives it says "Tukaj sem!" which means "here I am!" so cool
- I know in past emails I have expressed my sadness over the lack of cheesesticks here BUT on Monday when we went grocery shopping I FOUND SOME - I was so happy but the I ate them and they were the worst things I have ever put into my mouth - worst things ever. I don't know what kind of cheese it was but I did not like it - so that was very depressing
- someone brought ranch to the zone conference lunch and that was one of the highlights of my life
Sestra Williams and I have gotten to the point in our relationship where we are pranking and messing with each other daily haha. Here are some honorable mentions:
- S. Williams threw a whole stack of tortillas at me
- We had a food fight and I threw a tomato slice at her - we thought we had lost it but it ended up lodging itself in her hair like a hair clip - we laughed SO hard
- I took funny pictures of her while she was napping in the car
- I flicked water at Sestra Williams and the she proceeded to retaliate by throwing th eremainding water in her cup at me - it got all over me, the fridge, our calendar, ME, the wall, etc. I was soaked (she keeps trying to justify it by saying that she thought there was less water in it - I think that is a lie)
- Every time she walks by I will try to trip her
- I take a million selfies on her phone whenever she is not looking - I think she has at least 38 photos of me on there
I swear there are so many more I just can't remember them. She is so great and funny. I love that we can laugh and have fun while still being able to be focused on missionary work.
I hope everyone has an absolutely WONDERFUL week!! Don't forget to message me anytime!!
