WEEK #16 - exchangesssss

 Hellloooooooo!

This week was an adventure haha. We had exchanges where for a day or so we essentially switch companions haha. Sestra Voigt came here to Celje and spent the day with Sestra Williams and I went to Ljubljana with Sestra Hart. You will hear more about it later in my email but it was an absolute blast. Right now as I am writing this email there is a guy outside our window singing and playing songs on the guitar. I love Celje. 

Monday 4/25:

pdayyyyyyyyy

Today was so fun! All of the missionaries in Slovenia came to Celje for a fun hike and hangout. Before meeting up, Sestra Williams and I made a necessary stop at the bakery to get that heavenly pizza bread again. I really need to remember what it is called haha. But anyways we all met up by the ice cream truck and of course we just had to get ice cream. It was right there hahaha. I got cookie flavored and it was the absolute bomb. While we were waiting for the elders from Maribor to arrive by train we walked to the park and played ultimate frisbee (my team won). Everyone arrived and then we went forward on our hike! W

e hiked straight up and it was so fun. I

 got to catch up a whole bunch with Sesta Voigt which was lovely. We had a beautiful view of the entire from the very top.

Later we went back down and ate at hood burger. I got the brie burger again. We were going to grab something from our apartment when the elders saw a guy they knew who sharpened knives so they had us go get ours. The guy straight up just sharpened our knives for free which was sick. Then we went and dropped off everyone at the train station. And then went shopping because one store had an everything is 3 euros sign. We got a whole bunch of new shirts and whatnot for super cheap. Super fun pday. 

Tuesday 4/26:

I woke up to a tick on my leg from the hike yesterday. So fun. We called our medical advisor lady and she said she had never dealt with it before and that she doesn't really know what to do....... what the heck. hahaha we just googled what to do and went from there. Everything is all good now though. 

We met up with the same girl that we made those funky cookies with a couple weeks ago. We went to a cute little cafe and just caught up. That was so fun. We were going to go meet up with one of our members but then it was pouring and thundering so it got cancelled. This day was pretty long and filled with a lot of phone work. 

Wednesday 4/27:

Today was bomb! We had district council today in Maribor and that went super well. I swear every time we go to Maribor it gets greener and greener. SO beautiful. 

Afterwards we went to lunch at this place called Jack and Joes and let me tell you this place is insane. Their menu is at least 28 pages long. Insane. I got a pizza burger. Yes you read that right... a pizza burger. It was so delicious.

 I don't even know how to describe it but it was massive and had three different types of meat (regular beef patty, salami, and then another type of meat that I don't remember). It took me SOOOOOOO long to eat it, BUT I ate the whole thing. The fries were also fire. When we got home the Barrus' did an apartment inspection and we passed with flying colors so WOO! We then went and got ice cream. 

I got lime and wow. Fire. Soooooo good! I will never tire of the amazing ice cream over here. We went to the church and did some studies and then went back to the apartment so I could grab my packed bag for exchanges. However I was really craving green apple ice cream. I know it sounds a little weird, but trust me, it is amazing. Well, lo and behold, we pass by one of the thousands of ice cream shops here and they have green apple ice cream. So of course I had to buy it haha. 

Later on in the evening Sesta Hart and Sestra Voigt drove over from Ljubljana to do our exchange. We swapped and Sestra Hart and I went on our way to Ljubljana. I was excited because I have only been to Ljubljana twice and both of the times were for less than a day. 

Thursday 4/28:

This day was so good. Sooooo good!!!! In the morning Sestra Hart and I exercised and I realised just how long it had been since I had a proper run. We ran over to a track, ran all around the track, and then ran back. My legs were shaking hahaha. She worked me hard but it was good. The rest of the morning was filled with studies and then we contacted this sweet old couple to ask if we could help them in their garden. They said yes and we started on the 25 minute or so drive over. 

Well uh those 25 minutes ended up turning into over an hour and a half because the traffic was so bad. Škoda (the literal translation is damage and it is used like dang it hahah - I love this word). When we showed up, the wife had prepared an entire full course meal for us. We had a really yummy noodle soup, chicken with seasoned rice, and a salad. They just kept piling it onto our plates until everything was gone. I was in heaven haha. AND THEN she brought dessert out which was a fried banana, chocolate ice cream, some kind of yummy pudding and whipped cream. I loved everything. Then we went and helped in their garden and just chatted. They had a really really cute cat. After we finished we sat and just hung out. Oh also we had these oranges that were kind of a mix between a blood orange and a regular orange but that was also the best orange I have ever eaten. So so so so so good. In the evening we went back to Celje and I was reunited with Sestra Williams. 

Friday 4/29:

Today was so random and so good. Basically many unexpected blessings haha. The morning was just filled with our studies but the craziest thing happened! During one of our studies we got a call from one of our members who was less active who we have been trying to meet with for a while. She essentially said hey I am coming to your apartment, I will be there in 2 minutes. Haha WHAT. We went down and met her and she was with two other girls. One of them was actually a previous missionary here in Slovenia, Sestra Jennings and the other was her friend. That was a welcome surprise! We went and got ice cream with them! I got a dragon fruit flavor which was so so so good. We just sat around and chatted with them all for a bit BUT then another less active member who we have been trying to meet up with walked by and recognized the past missionary. I was able to meet this less active member for the first time ever which was so good. We had to split up after a bit but that was just such a lovely bunch of miracles. And then later on we had a dinner schedule with this lovely family. It consists of the mom (Dani), the dad (Rob), a son who is 10 I think (Ben), and a brand new baby (Liz) who was just born around when I first arrived. Dani is very strong in the church but Rob is not. In the past we haven't been allowed to go over or really interact too much with the family because the father didn't allow it but we were able to go over for dinner and share a spiritual message with them. Dani's mom was actually there who is also a member and she only speaks Spanish. I forgot to mention this earlier but Dani and her mom are from Bolivia. But anyways we had a bunch of google translate conversations with her. She made two Bolivian desserts that were so so so so so good. One was a kind of cookie thing with coconut shavings around it and some kind of caramel or sugar glaze in the middle. The other translated to cheese bread but it wasn't super cheesy. They were both delicious and I stuffed myself to the brim with them haha. Overall a day filled with good food and good times. 

Saturday 4/30:

Boosted from my run with Sestra Hart and having a desire to workout more intensely, Sestra Williams and I went on a run this morning. We ran along the river which was so pretty. Walking up stairs after it was a little rough though hahaha. Studies were all in the morning per usual but then we had to leave around noonish to go drop some things off and show a couple of our members how to get to a picnic run by two different previous missionaries haha. We only stayed for a little bit and then had to leave to prepare to have a lesson with Betty. To get to Betty we had to take a bus which is something that I personally haven't had to do yet and it was kind of a rollercoaster. I guess the people could tell we had no clue what we were doing because this one guy came up to help us. He was wearing a hot pink sweater, had slicked back hair with shaved sides, a chew spit cup in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. He was such a character. We had the funniest convo with him. He asked us where we are from, why we are here, why we are learning Slovene, etc. And we told him all about it and I guess one time when I was saying my answer my head was turned so he could see my hearing aids. And here is how the convo went:

Him (in Slovene - this is a rough translation): Is there someone talking to you in your ears? Telling you what to say?

Me: *did not understand*

Sestra Williams: *translates for me*

Me and Sestra Williams: *kindly explain that no, these are hearing aids because I can't hear*

Him: Oh so you have problems?

Me: ne veliko samo malo (not a lot, only a little) 

 I think he still thought it was sus but he was so funny. We added him on Facebook and everything. Hopefully we can have more funny interactions with him. But yeah then we met up with Betty and Žan which was so good. We just went and walked around a beautiful river. We made a bold move and asked them if we could teach them and they said yes so woooooo! On the way back home we saw the past sister missionaries again and they found a guy who wants to learn English so we are going to start teaching him English!

Sunday 5:1

Such a good day! Today was fast sunday so that meant that people were able to go up and bear their testimonies! We broke another record!! We had 10 people at church!! They just kept on coming in which made my heart so happy. We had a yummy dinner with the Barrus' and I got to call my family later on. So good. I am running out of time sorry this one is late haha

Ice cream count: 5 

Highlights: 

- I am getting tanner so I no longer look like a ghost next to Sestra Williams (I still look very pale though haha)

- Sestra Williams told me that one thing she likes about me is that I am deaf because it makes her life more fun

- I showed Sestra Hart a fun Slovene song and we listened to it on repeat for at least 8 times

- I saw the cutest cat from across our building in Ljubljana 

Photos:

1. Random stretch of yellow flowers

2. The beer fountain 

3. View from the top

4. Cat in the window :)

5. My pizza burger

6. My favorite people in the world

7.  Reunion with Sestra Voigt + ice cream