What a fun week filled with rollercoaster moments!!! This week was R and R (return and report). It is something that I think only my mission area does because I haven't heard of anyone else doing it. Essentially, 6 weeks after you have been in the field, you get back together with the people in your mtc group and do a check in kind of a thing. You teach each other a lesson, review how the training program is going, talk about the languages, etc. It is all super fun and a good chance to see everyone again.
Monday 5/2:
Today was SO FUN!! It was a holiday so everything was closed but Betty and her son came and picked us up for a fun adventure. Betty is so funny everytime we drive with her, she blasts music and it is so fun. We drove to this one area first and visited a church and my goodness. It was absolutely gorgeous - so stunning. The artwork was just fabulous. She was so sweet and gave us all of these different church pamphlets in both English and Slovene - I love her to death
The other super cool church
I love it. We took more pictures outside of the church on the bench and by a pretty bush then headed on towards podčetrtek. The drive was just stunning. I don’t think I will ever get over how absolutely breathtaking slovenia is. Also on the way there we found out we are literally right next to Croatia and within sight of the border - hello to all of my Croatian friends! Once in town we stopped at this other church/cool building and it was super cool. The church had a really cool gothic/black vibe going on.
Goth church on the outside
Beautiful view from the church
The goth church buildingThen we went to this place called jelenov greben which is essentially a giant deer park. There are deer everywhere that you can feed and interact with.
Sestra Williams and I with some fun deer
My scrumptious ice cream
Now, I know I have said this for essentially every ice cream I have ever tasted here, but this ice cream was amazoned here straight from heaven. It was lavender flavored and the epidament of everything good in the world wow. If you ever do anything in Slovenia, go here and get this ice cream. After eating I got myself a sweet little souvenir and then we headed back to drop Betty's son at his dad's house. There we got to meet his dog and it was the CUTEST DOG EVER!!! I wish I got a picture but next time I will. The dog was a spaz too haha. It kept running around every one and doing donuts hahahah. After dropping him off, we headed back home but then Betty had us stop by another ice cream place because it was ˝the best ice cream˝. I got a bubble gumish flavor with vanilla and it was pretty good. I wouldn't say the best but definitely good.
Tuesday 5/3:
Today was good. We went on a run along the river and found our new favorite scenic path to take! We also ate some pizza palčka (that yummy bread thing I always rave about) so that was lovely. One of our less active members was moving so we went over and helped her all morning. There was so much stuff in her house but we were able to make a very big dent in it which made us happy. She kept pawning stuff off to us haha so now Sestra Williams and I have a brand new knife set, nail polish, and a portable sewing machine thingy. We love it. Remember that guy from last week who wanted to learn English, well we had a call with him and he wants to come to our English group. We also invited his buddy to come too, so now we will have more people coming woo!! The rest of the day was just studies but overall a good day.
Wednesday 5/4:
Today we had district council which was fun. Right in the middle of it we heard some noises coming from outside where there was a woman and her kids trying to carry big bags of potting soil. We all jumped right in and helped carry them to her apartment. Afterwards we stayed and talked to her for a little bit. It was funny because she asked us if we had found love yet hahahaha. Definitely one of my favorite interactions of the week. As always we went out to lunch afterwards. I got a four cheese pizza (a štiri siri - such a fun name) and it was pretty good. We got ice cream later on and as always it was the bomb. I got green apple and oreo which was actually a really good flavor combo. We didn't have anything too crazy going on today. We got all packed and ready to leave for tomorrow!
Ice cream for dayz
Thursday 5/5:
Woke up at 5:30 and got ready to leave for Ljubljana by 6:30. We drove to the train station, met up with Sestra Voigt and Sestra Hart, and then headed2 onto the bus. We got on and man it was crowded! We had to ask random people to sit with them. We were all split up across the bus. I sat by a sweet old grandma. I tried talking to her but it didn't go very well haha. I asked her why she was going to Croatia and she just said yes haha rip. She slept the entire time so I just let her be and enjoyed the 2 hour ride. The two border stops were alright - the first one a lady asked if we had a cigarette lighter haha. We said no ofc.
The second border stop, Sestra Voigt and I were in line together and the same lady (who asked us about the cigarette lighter) was behind us. She kept talking to us but we had no clue what she was saying at all . She actually might have been speaking Croatian but I have no clue. Anyways she literally stood so close to us it was crazy. Everytime we moved she would move directly behind us again. There were a couple times where she stepped on my foot because I swayed forward and she thought I was stepping. Pretty freaky haha but we kinda just rolled with it and kept talking to each other in English. At one point Sestra Voigt was talking and the woman tapped her a bunch of times and then said "SSSHHHHH". We were so stunned. We were absolutely baffled. I had absolutely no clue what to do or say hahaha. Thankfully we were pretty close to the passport check area. We avoided her for the rest of it haha. She was sus. Anyways we arrived and got all of our stuff and whatnot. We were the first ones to arrive so we went and picked up all of our stuff and picked our beds (we went in the cool kid corner). Soon enough Sister Mefford and her companion, Sister Coleman came with Elder Walters and his companion Elder Brown following. Later on Sister Wendt and her companion Sister Olsen and Sister King and her companion Sister Matuschek arrived and the party started!!!
The mtc gang reunited <3
We ate some lunch first (I got teriyaki chicken and rice and it was so yummy) and then got right into teaching each other lessons. Everyone did so well4,!! It is really cool to see how much everyone has progressed, especially with the language. The rest of the day was meetings and then we played fun games together. I would say that the highlight of this entire thing was I got to hear Sestra Voigt play the piano again. After we were all done with the games, her and I went into the piano room. She played and played and played while I journaled and relaxed. 10/10 would recommend. Later on before bed we all came with a gift from our area to give to each other. I gave everyone a cute little Celje magnet and in return I got some yummy chocolate candy things from Novi Sad, a magnet from Belgrade, some cedevite vitamins from Ljubljana, and a cute wooden bookmark from Zagreb.
Sister Wendt and I's traditional selfie - my favorite part is just how blurry it is
Friday 5/6:
We finished off the rest of R and R today which was sad because I had to say goodbye to everyone again :( I am so glad that I even got to see them in the first place though. Sister Wendt wanted a shout out in my email. She told me she would actually read it if I shouted her out haha rip. So here's my shout out: I LOVE SISTER WENDT!!!!!! Thank you. We left for Slovenia around 12ish. The way back on the bus was pretty chill. There were not a whole bunch of people so Sestra Williams and I got to sit together. At one point the bus stopped at a gas station so we got out and grabbed ourselves some souvenirs. For the train ride back to Celje, I had a really cool experience. Of course it is super full so Sestra Williams and I get separated with her sitting behind me, but I noticed that the woman across the row from me had an ˝Learn English˝ book that she was reading. So of course I strike up a conversation with her and she does not really know a lot of English haha so we were going back and forth in broken Slovene and English. We had a really nice conversation! We talked about food, I showed her pics from my family (thanks Brat Kunzler for the idea), asked her to show me pictures, etc etc. At one of the stops, a younger boy probably in late teens or early 20s sat by us and he spoke very good English. He kind of worked as my translator when I did not know a word or how to say something. At one point she asked me why I am here in Slovenia and after telling her about me being a missionary and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, she asked me what our beliefs and principles are. WOOOOOOOO!! I was actually pretty nervous because I could tell that more people around us were listening in and being interested but I still sent it and told her about what we believed. She did ask me if I was going to get married here hahahahaha. I told her that was not my focus haha. Overall it was such a nice experience and I was able to exchange contact information with her.
Saturday 5/7:
Today was so good! We had planned a branch picnic and it went so amazing. It was raining outside so we had to do it in the church but no biggies because we had so much fun and amazing food. It was great to see a lot of our members and build relationships with them. The rest of the day was just studies and planning what to do for next week.
Sunday 5/8:
Happy mothers day to all of the wonderful mothers out there!! Little shout out to my mom for being my best friend and such a big support. I am forever grateful for her. Today was a very good day! Church was amazing as usual. We sang in church again. Me, Sestra Williams, and two of the kids in our branch sang the song Love is Spoken here in Slovene. That was very fun and interesting because it has two parts, an alto and soprano part. Everybody wanted to do the alto part so I got the soprano part all on my own wooo. I love how much peace music can bring. Sestra Williams also spoke in church. She shared a wonderful message about families and the blessings we can receive in the church. Later on in the day we met up with Betty. She took us on a ride up a nearby mountain that had an absolutely wonderful view. We came back and had dinner with the Barrus' which is always great.
Betty and the gang66
Ice cream count: 3
Highlights:
- I found someone else with hearing aids and we first bumped so that was a cool interaction
- all of the flowers are blooming like crazy and it is so beautiful to see
My favorite interactions from R and R:
- Sister Olsen's hugs are the most fabulous things in the world 10/10 would recommend
- Sister Wendt and I got to take our traditional selfie <3
- Sister Mefford called me an idiot (our lovely inside joke)
- Elder Walters ate a whole loaf of bread
- Sister Matuschek and Sister Voigt are both from Germany so they got to speak together in German which was so fun to see
- When I was narrating for Werewolf (a game like mafia), I was trying to give hints to Sister Coleman and King about who the werewolves were. They would accuse someone and I would slowly shake my head so they would accuse someone else and still be wrong. I would keep doing that until they accused the right person
- Elder Brown was the right accused person haha sorry I threw you under the bus.
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