Week 28 - The Fire Fighter Olympics

 Hi hi hi hi hi everyone!!! If you read anything from my email please read the part underneath the highlights. 

Monday 7/18:

Today was pretty fun! We did a hike with the other missionaries to the top of one of the mountains here in Celje. It was really cool and super fun. My tan lines got worse though haha. 

Velenje lake :)

After the other missionaries headed home, Sestra Chandler and I hung out inside for a bit and then randomly went out to a bookstore so I could find Harry Potter in Slovene (woo!). We walked out into the center and there was a whole festival going on!! People were dancing in traditional dress with the traditional music playing. They were playing traditional games. 

Us with the firefighter mascot (he looks more like a roman soldier haha)

There were booths everywhere with food and free stuff from all of these different countries in Europe so we got to eat and get a bunch of free stuff. 

All of my free loot from the Monday festival

THEN. We went towards where the stage was set up and LPS and Slovene band (my favorite to say the least) were RIGHT THERE. Um what the heck. They were practicing for their concert later so I got to hear 10 seconds of their playing haha it was awesome. Sadly we had to be back inside before curfew and they played right when curfew started so I just had to strain to hear them from our window. 

Post ribs dinner . very very very good

Tuesday 7/19:

Today was a slower day but also a good catch up day. We were able to check things off of our to-do list that had been there for a bit. To spice things up we had lunch at a place called koper pizza. It was pretty good! Not too bad. I think my favorite thing that we did today was we studied at the library and found a whole bunch of movies in slovene. There was Barbie, Megamind, Teletubbies, Shaun the Sheep, and so much more. It was so fun to see the translations for everything haha. The rest of the day was spent getting back into contact with people from the past. 

Barbie in Slovene

Wednesday 7/20:

This was a fun day. One of the members in Ljubljana came to visit so he could see where the church in Celje was in case he wanted to come for church on time. He was such a funny character. He has a lisp which a slovene lisp is literally the best thing ever. It made it a bit harder to understand but it was so fun. He brought his sister along and we toured the church with them. We had district council over zoom afterwards. That was pretty interesting. Later, we met up with a sweet girl that we had met at a service opportunity for drinks. She was super nice and bought us drinks. I learned that pomegranate schweppes is fire. Then later we went to Velenje to meet with Luigi!!! That was really good. We walked around the lake again and just had really good gospel discussions. We have really high hopes for him. 

Thursday 7/21:

We had a call with a friend in the morning. She moved from Slovenia to London right now (jealous) so it was good to catch up with her. Today we got SLUSHIES!!!! I had no clue that we had them here but lo and behold!! It was really good. 

Slushieessss

We did our studies in the library again today which was good. We tried walking around to give away a Book of Mormon to someone but literally no one was out. It was a ghost town. Everyone was at a stadium just outside of Celje for the fire fighter competitions. So that was sad. No one showed up to english class too, but it was okay because we just caught up with the Barrus'. To cheer ourselves up we got ice cream from this really fun ice cream truck that was shaped like a christmas ornament ball. I don't know how else to describe it haha. But we got ice cream and it was half raspberry + pop rocks and + wafer chunks. So good. So so so good. 

Yummy yummy yummy ice cream

Friday 7/22:

We had a lesson with Srečko in the morning and that went so well. He essentially said that he was willing to be baptized but couldn't commit to a date just yet because he had specific health appointments that he had to schedule. Please pray for him that he will be able to keep up this desire. We went whiteboarding later in the afternoon and it was so so so so so so hot. I was dying. We asked the question "What are you thankful for" and ended up talking to a couple people, but a lot of people weren't out in the city which was sad. Later we met up with Milka's daughter (the miracle moment from last week) to help her redo her balcony. It was probably high 90's with high high humidity while we were painting and sanding the balcony. That was really good. I got to cuddle with her cats which was amazing despite sneezing every three seconds from allergies. Another cool thing was we saw that she still had her Book of Mormon out so that was a good sign. Afterwards the city had a big celebration where every country in Europe did a performance with a song or traditional dance. 

Cool hedge art they have in the city

We put our dinner time towards that and got some really really yummy pulled pork while watching the performances. They had more traditional Slovene dances and games which was super fun to watch. I have learned that when you listen to traditional Slovene music you literally cannot be sad haha.

Yummy pulled pork, potatoes, and coleslaw dinner while watching the performances

Saturday 7/23:

Today was 103°. Are you kidding me. 103° + intense humidity = death. Thankfully we weren't outside too much today. We had interviews with the mission president which went great! Later on we went up to team teach a really cool woman that the elders were teaching. It went pretty well and we were all able to teach her about faith, repentance, and how to pray in a personal way. Afterwards we went and visited one of our members and that was really good. We were able to have a really good conversation just about how God is aware of our trials, needs, and wants.  

Ice cream: 3 wooo

Highlights: 

- every day there was something fun going on which was cool

- got a slushy which I didn't even think we had here

- there were pop rocks in the ice cream!!!!

- we got to experience a bunch of Slovene culture this week

- we had some fire lessons with our friends and we are excited to see how it goes

This week was honestly really hard. I struggled quite a bit with a lot of things but one of the biggest things that I have learned is said in Mosiah 23:20-22.

   20 And it came to pass that they did multiply and prosper exceedingly in the land of Helam; and they built a city, which they called the city of Helam.

   21 Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.

   22 Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.

There will be many times where we will be doing what God asks of us. We will be praying, reading our scriptures, following the commandments, and so much more but feel like we are being tried. Trust me I felt like that this week. God recognizes our efforts, He really does, but like in verse 21 "nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people, yea, he trieth their patience and their faith". God doesn't give us trials and hardships just to punish us. It may seem like it. But God gives us trials for us to grow and to show our trust in Him. He gives us trials so we can change. So we can have experience. It sucks sometimes, well, most of the time haha, but trust that God is molding you into a better version of yourself. All we need to do is continue trusting in Him and let Him change us. 

Cool picture of the sun one morning

Week 27 - 6 months!!!

Hello family and friends!! Welcome back to another email!! On Saturday I hit my 6 month mark of being a missionary. That means I have one year left. What the. That is just so crazy to me wow. 

Monday 7/11:

Happy slushy day everyone!! Sadly I wasn't able to get one but it is okay. Next year haha. Today was another chill Monday. We went to a cafe for lunch and a girl that I met all the way back in March recognized me and said hi. That was really cool because that usually never happens but she said hi and we made plans to meet up another time for ice cream. That was a really cool miracle. 

Family call <3

Tuesday 7/12:

Another absolute fire day. We had one of the biggest miracles of my mission happen today. Today was the one year anniversary of Milka's (the sweet Serbian grandma) sister's death. It was a really hard thing for the whole family to go through. We knew that today was going to be hard so we decided to bring her some chocolate, flowers, and a sweet little card. But when we knocked on her door, her daughter answered. And let me tell you. Milka's daughter was about to get baptised and she was really awesome and strong in her faith and then out of nowhere completely dropped off the face of the earth. No one was really able to get back into contact with her for over 7 months. But by God's divine timing, she was able to answer the door and be there at the exact time we decided to come over unannounced. She then proceeded to INVITE US OVER TO HER HOUSE THE NEXT DAY!!!! Are you kidding me. What an absolute miracle. She was just so happy to see us and wow everything about the interaction was just a miracle. After dropping everything off, the Barrus' picked us up and we went to Mirko's!!!! I love going to his house. He has the sweetest laugh and it is always such an adventure. It was really fun. We fed his horse some bread per usual and then had a great conversation about how he found our church and why he joined it in the first place. 

Mirko's house with Lučka the horse

He also had a cat that I cuddled and then promptly forgot that I was allergic and rubbed my eyes. I was dying the whole time and then when I got home, I had to ice them hahahah rip. It also started downpouring out of NOWHERE. Like full on waterfall outside so Sestra Chandler and I ran outside and played in the rain for a bit. 10/10 experience

Wednesday 7/12:

Like last week, we had another english camp. It was the same group as last Wednesday's and was still pretty fun. Yes I still went by Lola because no one could pronounce Londyn haha. Rip. The Maribor elders came and did the camp with us which made it more fun. Sadly, the kids were a lot more shy this round so we mainly spoke in Slovene even though it was an english camp haha rip. It was still really fun and I enjoyed it. After the english camp, we then went back to Celje and did district council which was very interesting. As part of district council, we do it all in Slovene and then one person is in charge of translating it into english. Well. For the very first time, I was asked to translate and man it was hard. But it was so cool to see just how much I understood and could translate. I needed a lot of help BUT I am still proud of myself for trying. 

My favorite building in Celje

After district council we met with Milka's daughter and it was so beautiful. We just went over to her house, sat on her cute little balcony outside, and had a wonderful conversation about life after death and how we can still feel the presence and influence of our loved ones who have passed away. Even her daughter joined which was so cool. Ugh, everything about this was a miracle. We want to meet up more and more and more and more. Please pray that everything will keep going well with her

Thursday 7/13:

Today we had exchanges!!! Sestra Hart was here in Celje with me while Sestra Chandler and Sestra Williams were together in Ljubljana. It was a pretty good day! The morning was mainly filled with our studies but later in the afternoon we met up with Marko to go eat some kebab together. He took us to this place I have never been to where supposedly the "best kebab in Celje is". Honestly, he was right. I am not crazy about kebab but man. This was good. 

KEBAB WOOOO 

We also had english class right after which was so fun because Metod and Filip came so we just talked all about funny and crazy stories from our life. I told them about the time that I ate pepper spray which was fun. After English we went back and got ready for a meeting that we had with the entire mission. But then we got a call from Sestra Williams and Sestra Chandler. They were trying to get into their apartment but soon discovered that Sestra Hart had the KEYS. So unless they wanted to sleep outside, we were going to have to drive down to Ljubljana and rescue them. So we did just that and a fun little sleepover with all of them! It was a really funny experience as a whole haha. 

Friday 7/14:

We hung out in Ljubljana in the morning and then ate breakfast with a past missionary and all of the other sister missionaries here in Slovenia. That was really good. I had a granola bowl that was delicious and the restaurant was right by the river in Ljubljana. 

My breakfast next to the river

Shortly after eating we had to start traveling back home. Now what usually takes around 45 minutes to an hour to travel back essentially to over 2 and a half hours. First we had to walk to the train station and then wait in the train station for the next bus to go which took probably an hour or so. The train tracks from Ljubljana to Skofija Loka are being fixed so we had to take a bus from Ljubljana to a small town in the countryside called Litija. That took about an hour. And then we had to take a train to Skofija Loka which took I think maybe 30 or 40 minutes and then finally another train to Celje which took another 30 or 40ish minutes. We had other plans for the day but because of the travel time, we planned to just finish our studies. To spice things up we went to the library to get out of the apartment and while there we saw one of our friends!! We ended up walking all around Celje and had good conversations. That was really cool with the timing of it all. 

Saturday 7/15:

AMAZING DAY!!!

We had planned to go to Velenje to visit Luigi and walk around the really pretty lakes they have got but again the buses and trains are not working normally right now. We were ready to go but apparently the bus schedule that we were looking at was completely wrong rip. He ended up coming to Celje and we walked along the river to a cool metal swinging bridge. We had such a fire conversation on the way there about family history and wow just literally everything about what we believe. He is just amazing and it is so cool to see him understand more and more. After our visit with him we prepared for an activity that we had planned with the youth in our branch. We went to the park and just played a bunch of games. It was just really cool to see the youth become closer. We also had a really good conversation with one of our members. AND THEN we went to STARI PISKER AND HADS RIIIBBBSSSSSS WOOOOOOO!!! This was to celebrate me being a missionary for 6 months and was probably one of the best celebrations ever haha. 

STARI PISKER RIBBSSSS

Spiritual thought:

God's timing is one of the coolest things to observe. Throughout this entire week, I have been able to witness time and time again where God has placed specific people in my life at specific times. Because we were in a certain place at a certain time, we were able to meet so many people. We were able to see that one girl who recognized me. We were able to get back into contact with Milka's daughter again. We were able to have a good conversation with our friend. And honestly so much more. 

Tiny coke cans woooooo

Highlights:

- I got to eat a lot of good food this week 

- I got to impromply visit Ljubljana haha 

- Right now the firefighter olympics is going on so there are a bunch of really cool fire trucks all over the place - there are fire trucks from every age like the 1960s and more - so cool

All of the fire trucks 

They have these cool firefighter feet stickers all over Celje

- As a thank you gift from the english camp, they gave us cool bottles that were painted

- The weather has been amazing lately 

Ice cream count: 1 :(

Week 26 - English and Adventures

Welcome back! I am finally all caught up with emails. I hope everyone had a wonderful week filled with wonderful experiences. This week was really interesting, haha. We did a LOT of stuff. 

Monday 7/4:

Happy fourth of July to my friends and family in America!!! Today was a chill Monday. We walked all over Celje and took pictures of the scenery. It was so cool and beautiful. 

Beautiful sunset over Celje

Tuesday 7/5:
Okay so today was soooo fun. We went with the Maribor elders and taught an English camp today. It was so funny. Literally the oldest kid was 8 with the youngest being 4 so not much english conversation haha rip. It was still fun though. There were 9 kids there let me see if I can remember their names
Emma - african american girl super adorable - she was 8 or 7 - she liked to dance - she also really like Sestra Chandler
Emma - adorable 4 or 5 year old - she kept stealing my name tag - she wore it for a good solid hour - I am pretty sure she asked to take it home haha - she also kept trying to sit on my lap
Gregor - adorable 4 year old boy - I probably hung out with him the most - he didn’t want to play any of the games so I hung out with him and checked out his tiger backpack - it was really cool because it had a tongue on it that you could pull out and have a secret pocket - he was hilarious - if he did join in on the game, he would get mad if he wasn’t sitting by me - he and I hung out under the table with Deja
Marko - one of the 8 year olds - he was the more shy one but still funny - he asked us if we have a lot of McDonald’s in America
Niko - I didn’t interact with him that much maybe 6 or 7
Lucas - I also didn’t interact with him that much - I am pretty sure he was maybe 6
Vito - I also didn’t interact with him that much - he might have been 4 or 5
Bor -  he was the most hyper and talkative haha - he would ask us all of these funny questions - I am pretty sure he was 8
Deja - the other cutie that I hung out with under the table - she was adorable - she said her and Gregor were going to get married
The kids I was closest to were Deja, Gregor, and Emma - literally the youngest kids there haha. It was so fun. I had next to no clue what they were saying the whole time and you know what, sometimes you just have to go with the classic vauuuu (wow)!! a res (really)?! super!! and boom you’re good. For the actual interaction we started with our fun little presentation about us and America, then they asked us a bunch of questions like what scary animals were in America, what our favorite colors are, what our favorite car is, etc. then we played some games. These are the ones I remember and are probably not in order: simon says (the older kids joined us for this one), duck duck goose, down by the banks, heads up 7s up, hangman, etc. We had lunch after which was this really fire soup made with beans, meat, rice but it wasn’t rice haha, really good and then palačinke with nutella so good. Also at the end there was one part where I sat down and all of the kids started attacking me with stuffed animals and toy chainsaws. Marko came after me with the plastic saw and literally sawed my arms so hard that it cut me (not enough to draw blood but it hurt haha) - I’ve got battlescars now haha. While waiting for the Barrus’ to pick us up we went and saw the infamous beer fountain in Žalec. And no the beer fountain is not an actual fountain with beer flowing out of it. It is like those water fountains in the school where you have to buy a specific cup and then you can fill up your cup. The rest of the day was pretty much just our studies. 

I was in my tiptoes for this

Wednesday 7/6:
Today we had another english camp but this time with a different group. It was really fun! There were a lot more kids this time and they all were older. I don’t remember exactly how old but the youngest was probably five or six and the oldest was 15. The camp had an Egypt theme so we all went on a fun treasure hunt around a nearby lake. Afterwards we came back and then all got together and played games. At another time we got leaves from the maple tree and painted them as well as rocks. I befriended an adorable little boy - he kept taking pictures of whatever I drew or painted on a digital camera - it was so funny. The lunch they provided was also really good - it was this potato, peas, beans, and asparagus soup that was all mushed and mixed together. It was so good because then they put some bread crumbs on top and wow heaven. They also had the typical slovene salad with pumpkin oil and then chicken wings, roasted potatoes, and vegetables. Overall, it was really good and they gave us ice cream afterwards. One of the cute younger girls asked me to play the "I Am a Gummybear" song on my phone. Hahahahah she knew nearly all of the lyrics it was so funny. We got asked a bunch of questions about America which was funny. We also did the same fun little presentation. And!!!!! At the end we got cute little bookmarks of hieroglyphs saying hvala. Then we got charted home in a van with all of the other kids who live in Celje. The rest of the day was essentially studies and media. We did go on a cute little walk to the stairs which was cool because of the sunset and the air was nice and fresh. An overall vibe. Oh I totally forgot to mention, I was called Lola all day today haha. Londyn is a bit hard for Slovene kids to say so today I was known as Lola. Very interesting haha. 

Thursday 7/7:
Today was another fun day. We had district council in Maribor and before we had district council it was a nice sunny day and then afterwards when we left it was downpouring. But we were all hungry so we got soaked haha. But for anyone that knows me, I love rain so I was having a blast. We ate at the pizza scissor place (the place where you cut your own pizza with these massive scissors). So yummy. 

The massive scissors

The scissor pizza place!

Then we got soaked again on the way back to the car. Later we practiced a musical number with one of our members which was fun. He is really cool. For english class, only one kid showed up but he is super chill. We introduced him to the black and blue vs white and gold dress. We had a fun little debate about the true color (black and blue ofc). Overall a great day. 

Friday 7/8:

Today was pretty interesting. Earlier in the week we got a call from a woman who used to be a member saying hey this other lady needs your help go help her. Well we planned a meetup for today in the market but when we got there at the designated time, the woman was nowhere to be seen. We called her a couple other times and it was just confusing so we ended up saying we would meet up another day. We later walked to Milka’s house with another one of our members and just had a really good chat with them. Milka is the precious serbian grandma that is teaching me how to crochette. The rest of the day was chill.

Saturday 7/9:
Today was an absolute adventure!!! So one really cool thing about Sestra Chandler is that she has family here! She is actually half Slovene! Her great grandparents immigrated to America in the 1900s but a good amount stayed here in Slovenia. Today we got the opportunity to meet them! Her cousin Matic and his girlfriend Anja came to pick us up and then took us to where they all lived in Ljubno. Before they arrived, we were just waiting by the train station and there was this whole band that came out of nowhere and started parading through the streets and playing on their drums. So cool haha. The drive over was nice - Matic and his girlfriend Anja both spoke really good english. We showed up to the house and it was so cool - they had a whole farm essentially on it. They had greenhouses, two cows, a whole bunch of pigs, chickens, ducks, baby ducklings, a cat, and I think more horses and cows but I didn’t see them. Sestra Chandler’s family is literally the sweetest ever. It was the grandparents, Matic’s mom, Anja, Matic and his step brother. We spoke mainly in Slovene and I was so surprised at how much I was able to understand. WOOOO!!! They fed us some bread, a whole bunch of meat that was from their animals on the farm, cheese, bezeg (so freaking good - one of them was a mint vibe and the other was fresh apple juice), and crackers. We hung out and talked to them all for quite a bit and then checked out the rest of the farm where we saw all of the animals. Then we went with Matic and Anja to……….logarska dolina!!! Which I didn’t really know anything about this place but it is literally like the coolest place ever - apparently very few missionaries have been able to go so this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. You are in a valley and are completely surrounded and encased by mountains. So cool. 

  

Logarska dolina še en krat 

Logarska dolina

Even the drive there was gorgeous! My favorite part though was when we heading on over and then pulled over at this one place. I get out and it is the NEEDLE!!! Aka one of the main things that I have wanted to see in Slovenia. The needle is based off of a Slovene legend where essentially a giant was sewing and then got mad and threw their needle on the ground. This needle then formed this specific rock formation and it is super cool because there is a gorgeous river and bridge right next to it. 

THE NEEDLE 

We got out and took some pictures and man wow this place was gorgeous. I felt like I was on cloud nine. After taking a bunch of pictures we went down and dipped our toes in the river and man the river was FREEZING but it was so fun. 

Me on a bridge 

Beautiful river 

We got back on the road and headed to logarska dolina and passed so many beautiful things on the way. And then when we got there man wow. It felt unreal. Seriously surreal. We ran out and took pictures real fast and then parked the car somewhere for a quick walk through the woods. It was really cool to talk to Matic and Anja. They are really really cool and chill people. We spent a good amount of time there and then headed back for lunch that the grandmother had made for us with Metic’s mom and it was so good. We also ate some super fresh fruit and wow so good. Lunch included a traditional slovene salad with vinegar, pumpkin oil, and garlic as the dressing and noodles with a yummy sauce and chicken and zucchini pieces. They also made us raisin potica which was yummy. We came home and then immediately had a lesson with Luigi and it went really well. I would rate this day a solid 12/10. 

Ice cream count: 2 

Highlights:

- Sestra Chandler and I did a fun clay mask 

- Marko brought us some bezeg that his grandma made and it was soooooo freaking good

- we have a crabapple tree right outside of our apartment so we have free snacks at any point of the day wooooo!! crabapples are actually fire over here - they aren’t that sour

- I saw a dog that looks fake haha - there is a picture below 

The dog that looks like a Muppet 

- I ate mountain goat !!! we potentially have a whole slab of mountain goat meat in our fridge right now haha

- we also got to drink fresh fresh water from the springs

- I actually love zucchini now

- two of the days were SYL days (Speak Your Language) where we ONLY speak in Slovene for the whole day 

Week 25 - swimmin in da soča (jk jk)

 Alright I am sorry I lied last week about getting two emails but this week you will!!! You will get the email from last week and the email for this week. WOOOOO. 

My horrible tan lines 

Monday 6/27:

IF YOU WANT TO LOOK AT PICTURES GO HERE (It wouldn’t let me add all of the pictures I wanted) 

Today was so so so so so so so cool. We had our zone activity which happens once every three months. The zone activity is just a fancy word for activity where we get to meet up with all of the other missionaries in slovenia, the mission president and his wife, and then also the assistants to the president and we go and do an activity that we couldn't on a regular p-day. We take advantage of these times to go to places that are far away or big tourist attractions. So. Guess where we went today. We went to the Soča valley, aka where they filmed the second Narnia. Narnia is literally my favorite movie so I was pumped out of my mind for this. So insanely pumped. I will be sending a separate email with just pictures from Soča so I can add as many as I want. In the morning though, we went to a funeral for one of our members who recently passed away. It was my first Slovene funeral. All of the missionaries were asked to sing which was a really beautiful and touching moment. After paying our respects and helping out any way we could, we headed towards the Soča. The entire drive was gorgeous. We would occasionally stop at a few places to take pictures and gawk at the beauty haha. Later on we stopped near Lake Jasna and dipped our feet in the river and played around. Then we drove through Triglav National Park which consisted of 26 hairpin turns all the way up to the top and then 24 on the way down on the other side. A total of 50 hairpin turns! You'd get whiplash every time you turned haha but it was so fun. We also stopped at many points on the drive up the mountain and took pictures or went exploring in the woods. The beauty of the mountains was surreal. Then we made it to the focus of the whole trip... the SOČA VALLEY WOOOO!!! I have never been in a more beautiful place. The water was gorgeous. We got permission from our mission president to dip our hair into the water (as missionaries we aren't allowed to swim for safety precautions) which was so nice and refreshing. I definitely want to go again. We hung out and went to different parts of the river for the rest of the day before heading back home. 

**SOČA PHOTOS**

Tuesday 6/28:

Today was my sister in law's birthday today!!! Happy birthday Shaylee!!!! Today was also zone conference where the president, his wife, the assistants to the president, and the other missionary leadership all speak. It was a really good spiritual boost. Zone conferences are always really good at leaving me feeling inspired and fired up.  

Zone conference 

Wednesday 6/29:

Today was a fun day too! The Barrus' were super nice and took us out to eat at the same chinese restaurant that our friends Maria and Tim took us to. Soo good.  

The rest of the day was chill filled with studies and other tasks we needed to do. We had a meetup cancel so we just walked around the city which was super nice. 

Celje 

Cute cat we found

Thursday 6/30

Today was district council in Celje which was nice! Later we taught Luigi and that went pretty well. He is doing really well and it has been amazing to see how much he has changed. We also had a sister dinner call with all of the other sisters in Slovenia but also the sisters in Bosnia. That was really fun! 

Post district council with lavender ice cream - I converted everyone 

Friday 7/1:

Today we taught Srečko over zoom and that was also good. We had a lot of really good conversations about the Book of Mormon. Then one of our friends' kid had chicken pox so we brought over some medicine (aka cookies) and chatted with her a bit. 

 Sestra Chandler and I

Saturday 7/2:

Today was my momma's birthday!!!! And also one of the best days ever so far. Today we went to TWO baptisms!!!! Do you guys remember the woman who got baptised a couple weeks ago? Well, her 13 year old daughter decided that she wanted to be baptised.

 Amy's baptism!! 

The other man who got baptised was someone who has been taught by the missionaries for almost over a year. He had a really rough life and made a lot of tough decisions but decided to do a complete 180 and change his life. It was such a beautiful day. Luigi came as well which was so cool because he expressed to us multiple times that today a lot of his questions were answered. We had a really great conversation with him afterwards and were able to answer more of his questions and have a really good conversation about how we can receive answers from God and even how we can recognize those answers. Definitely a fire day and a really good experience. I think one of the coolest experiences though was the fact that I have been able to see with my own eyes just how much Karolina (the woman who got baptised a couple weeks ago and the mother of the girl that was baptised today) has changed. Sestra Williams and I were the first ones to meet her in person. She was a woman that was searching for the truth. She was a woman that was searching for peace and for guidance. The woman that I saw today was completely different. There was a light about her. I seriously cry almost every time I think about it because she is living proof that what I am doing here in Slovenia is what God wants. He wants people to feel the peace and joy we feel when we choose to follow Him. I testify of this with my whole heart. This change is real and palpable.  

Sunset!

Sunday 7/3:

Today was another really beautiful day. In our church we do not baptise our children when they are born. We wait to be baptised until at least the age of 8 so we can make that choice ourselves. Instead of baptising our children, we give them a baby blessing. This is to give a baby an official name and give a blessing for the child's spiritual and physical health. Today, one of our members gave their baby a baby blessing and it was just super beautiful. We had a lesson with Srečko right after church and had really good conversations. Later we had a nice luncheon to celebrate the baby blessing with some good food. Overall, a really beautiful day. 

Ice cream count: 2

Highlights:

- Soča of course

- two of these days we only spoke in Slovene

- it was my sister in law Shaylee's birthday

- it was my mom's birthday! Jennaaaaaa

- the baptisms were fire