Week 33 - Minions and Mission Conference

This was a big big big big big big week! The biggest part of it was spent in Croatia!! We had a mission conference where for the first time the WHOLE mission got together for a conference. Everyone from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro were all gathered together in the Zagreb church. It was so cool because we had a general authority and his wife come talk to us but you will hear about that later. 

The WHOLE mission!!

Monday 8/22:

A FIRE day. We went to Maribor and met up with one of our members there for ice cream and a nice chat. That was super fun. Then we hiked the infamous Maribor stairs with 454 steps. Straight up. Wooooooo!! The view from the top was really cool though.

The 454 stairs 

 Afterwards we met up with a past missionary that came home before I came out. Sestra Voigt and I actually taught her once in the MTC. We said some quick hellos and then Sestra Chandler and I grabbed dinner before our big event. Essentially if you speak all day in Slovene for 21 days, you are allowed to watch one movie. So every single day for these past couple of weeks, Sestra Chandler and I have been working and speaking only in Slovene to be able to watch... MINIONS. Hahaha. So funny. We got the whole setup of drinks, popcorn, and candy and then sat for the funniest/most confusing hour and a half of my mission. The movie was all in Slovene (as planned) but they used a mix of german/spanish/english for whenever the minions would speak so that was funny. I didn't understand much haha but I get the general gist of it. It was still so fun. Overall a really great day. 

Minionsssssssss

Tuesday 8/23:

Today we went to another english camp. It was with the very company we went to first and it was so fun. The kids were older and understood more english. They were also super nice and funny. We had then played games like down by the banks, duck duck goose, and more. Then they FED US!! So nice. While eating Sestra Chandler and I were able to have really good conversations with the counselors. We talked about why we are here, what makes our church different from others, how we aren't the Jehova Witness' haha, and more. And THEN we sat in a circle and sang Country Road in english and then in Slovene. So fun. Sadly we had to leave but the kids all came up to us and asked us for our AUTOGRAPHS!!! Are you kidding me?!?!?! Tears :,) These kids were really awesome.

English camp with all of the precious kids (photo used with permission) 

Afterwards we went and visited Mirko with the Barrus'. Mirko's cat was there and I swear I have never met a more sweet or needy cat. She was just constantly purring and I couldn't resist. I picked her up and just pet her on my lap. It wasn't long before my allergies kicked in and I was sneezing, sniffling, and crying all over the place. But hey. It was SO worth it. 

Mirko's cat Nedeljka

Oh I forgot, in the morning our land lord came in with his crew and started completely replacing it. They still hadn't finished installing it when we came back from Mirko's so we went outside and did the rest of our studies and then ate at Wok N' Roll aka the best Vietnamese place ever. We also had a really good conversation with the owner. She is the sweetest person ever. We talked with her about what we do here, why we decided to come, and then she shared some really cool beliefs from the Buddist religion. It is always super cool to learn about the beliefs from other religions. 

Wednesday 8/24:

We had district council in the morning here in Celje. And for lunch we went to Wok N Roll again hahaha. We just can't get enough of it. Then shortly after we drove to Ljubljana to switch into the car that Sestra Williams and Sestra Voigt were driving in. That was super fun. We drove to Zagreb with them and to the hotel. Sestra Chandler and I had a bit of trouble checking into the hotel hahaha. First we got checked in but we couldn't find our room. We asked the staff and it turns out we are on the wrong floor haha. We went into the room and other peoples' stuff was already there. So we went down again and got a different room. Go to the other room, unload and then go back downstairs to chat with the other missionaries who were there. But then we get a call from the Assistants to the President (they never call us) and they tell us that we need to check out because we are being moved to a different hotel. Yes you read that right. H o t e l. What the heck. We checked the list to see which other missionaries are being moved and it is us two and then a whole bunch of elder companionships hahaha. We were the only sisters that were going to be in the other hotel. Rip. It was alright though because I got to be reunited with Sestra Wendt and Sestra King from my mtc group and then have dinner with everyone. But hey the hotel that we were moved to was much nicer and had a beautiful view. 

View from our hotel at night 

View from our hotel during the day

Thursday 8/25:

We woke up, got ready and then went downstairs for breakfast and it was insane. There were super fancy pastries everywhere. It was like rich people breakfast. They had caviar. Did I try some? Yes. Did I hate it? Yes. But hey now I can say I tried caviar. To get to the church we went on the tram where I reunited with Sestra Mefford!!! Wooooooo!!!

Traditional pic with Sestra Wendt <3

The conference lasted a pretty good amount of time but it was packed with advice and it was super spiritual. Really cool. The thing that I took away the most from it is the importance of prayer and asking/telling Heavenly Father what you want. He knows your heart and desires but wants to hear it from you. We can do that through prayer!! It was also really nice to interact with and meet all of the other missionaries. After the conference we went to the American Store but sadly they did not have root beer :( I did get peach fanta, a watermelon arizona, and cheetos. They don't taste the same but it is better than nothing :D

Peach fantaaaaa

Friday 8/26:

Today was another really cool day. We did our studies like normal and then went to the municipality to check on my visa and IT WAS THERE WOOOOO!!!! I am no longer illegal in the country!!!!!!! And then we met with Milka and she made us food :,) so sweet. It was actually really good. I stole the recipe of the salad that she made us. She also helped teach me how to finish my crochet bag. Then we were late for a meet up with a sweet sweet girl that I met in my first week of being here so we ran alllll the way to the park where she was sitting on a blanket with a whole tea pot set with flowers set up. So so so sweet. She had us sit down and then said she was going to make some fresh tea for us and we would drink it in silence and just share a moment together. I have never done this my entire life. It was such a surreal and precious experience for me to just be sitting in a park in Slovenia, drinking tea that was just made right in front of me, not saying a single word. 10/10 would recommend. We then had the most beautiful conversation about how Heavenly Father truly sees us specifically and personally. He loves us each so much more than we ever could have comprehended. She really is the purest soul I have ever met. Ever. We are hoping to meet up with her this week again. I can't even describe how amazing this experience was. 

Saturday 8/27:

We went and visited Sestra Chandler's family again in Ljubno and it was just as cool as last time. They were all so nice and welcomed us with open arms. The weather was kind of gloomy so we just explored around the house instead of going somewhere else but we went to the river right next to the river and it was so pretty. Fish were jumping out every couple of seconds or so which was super fun. We went back for lunch and wow it was so good. We had mashed potatoes with a stuffed pepper soup, dumplings, and a salad. 

The yummy yummy meal at Sestra Chandler's family's house

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I am a little on the picky side but man this was good. I am eating food here that I never would have thought to eat and I am LOVING it. It also started raining crazy hard while we were there and it took everything in me to not run out there and play in it hahaha. Overall another really really great day 

Sunday 8/28:

Today was a really good day too. It was a simple relaxing day. I would say the highlight was going to church. I love it so much. 

Ice cream count: 1 :,(

Highlights:

- I ate some grapes straight from the vineyard - so super super fresh

- I had a reunion with the whole mtc gang (Sestra Voigt, Sestra Wendt, Sestra Mefford, Sestra King, and Elder Walters)

- Got to see the whole mission 

- Ate caviar (not yummy) 

-I finally got my visa card so I am now legal 

- We went to the American Store and got a bunch of fun snacks

Week 32 - Cotton Eyed Joe 🤠

This week was an absolute blast not going to lie. There were a lot of adventures and a lot of growth. I felt so many moments of pure joy. 

Monday 8/15:

Today was pretty fun! It was a holiday so everything was closed. We decided to hike up to the Celje Castle which was so fun. 

View from the top of one of the towers of the castle

View of Celje from the castle

That was the very first thing I did when I first got here so it was a fun little throwback. The lady at the ticket area recognized our tags which was super cool. One of the castle towers has a medieval torture display. I now know how to say executioner in Slovene (krvnik). We also found a new area that I hadn't been in before. It was a cool ancient printing press display! Sestra Chandler got a cool paper with a crest and her name on it. We got to watch the guy make it right in front of us. We spent a good amount of time there looking through the different towers and seeing the views before going back. On the way back, our favorite ice cream place for the first time EVER had lavender ice cream there. And this is one of the best ones I've had. It was so good.

Lavender ice cream  

Tuesday 8/16:

Since yesterday was a holiday and all of the stores were closed we went grocery shopping today with the Barrus'. Also in the morning, our heaters randomly turned on so our entire apartment felt like a sauna. The rest of the day was a massive contacting and messaging day. Our landlady did come and fix our heaters though which was good. Thankfully our land lady came and fixed our heaters so we weren't roasting all day. We also had a call with a member who hadn't come to church in a while and he said he would come! So wooooo!

Wednesday 8/17:

In the morning we met up at the Barrus' with the Maribor elders to say goodbye to Elder Poulos. So weird. Sestra Hart and Sestra Buehner are also going home, but we didn't have a chance to go down and say goodbye to them :( we will miss them. 

Sister Barrus made her absolutely amazing biscuits and we had a nice farewell breakfast. Afterwards we did our studies and then went to the park for language study. That was really fun. The weather has been absolutely perfect lately. We met up with one of our friends in the park and had a good conversation with her about a bunch of things. She caught me up on what is happening with 90 Day Fiance. Hahahahaha so funny. Don't worry we also talked about missionary work and had a lot of good conversations about that. Then later we had a call with one of the members in Maribor. He is super cool and is always super helpful when it comes to language questions. Because we didn't have time this morning for our exercise time, we moved it later in the evening and went on a run to the top of a really cool church here in Celje. It has a long staircase up towards it so if you want to run stairs you can (I chose to jump rope instead haha). We couldn't have gone at a more perfect time because it was right when the sunset was. Ugh it was absolutely gorgeous. It is times like these where I am just hit with how good God is. Sunsets are one of my favorite things in the entire world and in that moment I felt God's love for me. Wooo!! Such a cool moment. I hope you all take time this week to notice God sending you an act of love. 

Thursday 8/18:

This day was so fun. The same guy that comes every week to be taught piano by Sestra Chandler came again today, but this time he wanted me to teach him something. For context, last time he had on a texas line dancing tshirt on so I asked him if he knew how to line dance. He said no but he wanted to learn. I quickly did one tiny step dance that I remembered and I don't know how he got it into his head that I am an avid country line dancer but he asked me to teach him how to country dance.... HAHA. The only "country line dance" that I know is Cotton Eyed Joe so when he came and asked me, I totally taught him the Cotton Eyed Joe hahahahaha. It was so funny. He got it down pretty quickly!! Later for lunch, a new restaurant opened and we tried it - it was pretty good! It was a cute little pizza place.

New restaurant 

The other sisters, Sestra Williams and Voigt were in the area so we met up with them for ice cream and that was really fun. It was good to see them. :)  

Ice cream with the Sestri

We met with another one of our members to practice another musical number for this next Sunday. We are planning on singing I Stand All Amazed. We had a lot of really good conversations with this member about how we can improve and help our branch improve so that was good. 

Friday 8/19:

It was fun to meet the "new" elder that replaced Elder Poulos. He isn't a new missionary, but he was a missionary sent up from Croatia to fill in for the next couple of weeks until the transfer ends and the new missionaries come in from the mtc. His name is Elder Sharp and he originally was called to Russia but was moved around a lot because of the war. Right after district council we went up with the Barrus' to Velenje to visit Luigi!! Velenje is absolutely beautiful. It is honestly such a beautiful place. We met up at the biggest lake in Velenje (out of three that are all right next to each other) and there is this ramp like building which is a little hard to explain. Just imagine a big big big ramp that is as tall as a two or three story building with a concert stage and cafe under it (pretty big ramp). Anyways you can walk up the ramp to the gorgeous lookout of the lake so we went up there and WOO the view was so amazing. 

View from the top of the Velenje ramp

It was thunderstorming so our hair was sticking right up which was funny at first but then we were nervous that we would get struck by lightning so we went down haha. We walked along the lake and were able to have a really good conversation with Mario and kind of see where his understanding was and clarify some things with him. We hope that as he continues to pray and ask God, he will recognize answers to questions. 

Velenje ramp view pt. 2

It started raining a little bit the whole time and right when we said goodbye and started walking back to the car, lightning came down literally right in front of us. It was terrifying but really cool to see. It was a really good day. 

Saturday 8/20:

Today was a good day too! We went to the park for our language study again and met a guy from Nigeria! He is a professional football player (soccer for my Americans) for the team here in Celje (I am pretty sure) and was super cool. 

Football kids

He saw that we were learning Slovene and expressed that he wanted to learn how so we are going to meet up with him more to teach him Slovene! He also said he would be interested in talking about religion too which was so cool. One of the things we do to not awkwardly approach people or awkwardly start conversations is we go up to someone and ask if they can take a picture of us. Usually that leads to a discussion about oh where are you from? yo you're from America and learning Slovene? Whaaaaatttt why? So we were able to have a really good conversation with a woman. Her daughter actually got a tennis scholarship to a school in Arizona! We were able to get the instagram of the daughter and hopefully get in contact with her. But that was cool. We were able to talk about why we are here and she told us about how great our Slovene was (tears). Later we planned out the next week and were able to call one of our members to practice teaching lessons. It was pretty hard because she asked some hard questions but it was really good practice. Then Sestra Chandler made kettle corn and I almost cried tears of happiness because I love kettle corn.  

Sunday 8/21:

A wonderful day. So amazing. Church was awesome. A lot of our members that aren't very active were able to come today. The guy we called on Tuesday came!! It was really cool to see them keep on coming through the door. We sung I Stand All Amazed and the Spirit was just so strong. It was cool to look out at everyone and see them mouthing the words, too. I always feel the Spirit when I sing this song. We also had some great talks about repentance and the Atonement. It is important to remember that repentance is not just something you do when you make a big mistake. Repentance is changing yourself every day for the better. It is recognizing where you can improve to become more like Jesus Christ. When I was younger, I thought repentance was something bad like "oh I have to repent now that means I am a bad person. That means I did something wrong." but that is not true. Repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest gift we have been given. We are able to repent and be forgiven of our sins. Hebrews 8:12 says "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more". How amazing is that? Repentance is not a one time or a couple of times thing. Repentance is a continual process. We were able to have a really good conversation about this with our members. 

Sunset woo

After church, one of our members brought some food for us to snack on. It was kind of like a burek but instead of the usual cheese or meat ones that I have had, it had cheese, zucchini, and salmon. Now, anyone that knows me knows that I do not like salmon but I trooped on and ate it. It wasn't bad but if it didn't have the salmon it would have been better. Later in the day we had dinner with the Barrus' and afterwards went on a walk. On our walk we saw some kids playing football (american translation: soccer) and stopped to watch them. Overall a really good day.

Ice cream count: 4 1/2 

Highlights:

- I tried a plum and a golden plum fresh off of a tree

- I finally bought myself sunglasses 

- I jump roped while watching the sunset

- I broke a bowl :(

- Lavender ice cream WOOOOO

- Sestra Chandler made Kettle Corn 

- Hiked to the Celje castle which I haven't done since my first Monday here 

- We did just dance for exercise one day 

- A lady let us pet her dog :,) 

Week 31 - October Weather in August?

 Hello hello! This week was really interesting weather wise! In the beginning, it was nice and warm but then towards the end, it felt like the middle of August. The "fallness" aspect is heightened even more because since there has been a major drought going on, all of the leaves are drying up and falling so it literally looks like it is fall. I am not complaining too much though because I love fall. 

 Sestra Chandler and I in the park :)

Monday 8/8:

Today was a good chillax day. The Barrus' took us out for kebab which was lovely. They also had pomegranate schweppes. We went shopping and found HARRY POTTER IN SLOVENE!!!! I definitely bought the first two books. It was so amazing. did all of our errands and then took the rest of the day as a catchup day. 

Harry Potter!!!

Burek ft. pomegranate schweppes

Tuesday 8/9:

We taught piano in the morning again and that was fun. Later we had a call with Amy, the girl who got baptized a month ago and it was so fun. She said a lot of funny half slang, half english words. It is cool to be able to joke around in Slovene. Then we had a lesson with Luigi and it was sooooo good!! We talked about the importance of prayer and being genuine with prayer. We have all been blessed to be able to talk to our Heavenly Father through prayer. We were able to help Luigi understand that prayer is a two way phone call. We can't just pray to our Heavenly Father and then hang up when we are done! It is important that we take a moment of peace and quiet after praying to pay attention. I have found that when I have done this, I have received answers to questions. Our Heavenly Father wants to talk to us! Another really cool thing is that he said he is willing and has a desire to be baptised. He doesn't feel the timing is quite right now but it is cool to see that he has the desire. WOOOO!!!

Wednesday 8/10:

Today we had our very LAST district council with Elder Poulos!! It was bittersweet. 

Last district council lunch with Elder Poulos!!

I will say one of the best parts about this was we went to lunch at Jack and Joe's (where I had the famous pizza burger). It was so good but I have no clue how I ate it all. 

My Jack and Joe's burger

To top it off we got lastovka (the absolute best ice cream place here in Slovenia aside from our cute little truck here in Celje). We also went into the park for our language study and it was so good. We also saw a cat on the way home. Overall, a great day. 

The CAT!!!!

Thursday 8/11:

We had a call with one of the members in Maribor who is super cool. He always helps us with language questions. Later on in the day, we wanted to treat ourselves. We practiced a musical number with a member here for Sunday. We practiced The Lord is My Shepherd which is just an absolutely lovely song. Afterwards we had english class which was so cool! A new guy showed up, well technically he is not a new guy because he came in the past regularly but hadn't come for over 2 years. He was super cool and we can't wait for him to come more. 

All of the Sestri <3

Friday 8/12:

Today was a good day. It was raining!!! Well correction, it was downpouring but it was fun because we walked all the way to Milka's. Milka made us her famous pizza and it was so good but she gave me a portion the size of my face. I ate as much as I could haha but I literally could not fit any more. It was good to visit with her. She is so sweet. 

Milka's famous pizza - it is so good

She also got a haircut which was so cute!!! Afterwards we went to Mirko's and that was good as well. He gave us at least 30 apricots. He is the sweetest person ever. We had a good spiritual message with both him and Milka about a talk that President Russel M. Nelson gave in the most recent general conference. It is called The Power of Spiritual Momentum and is absolutely fire. 

Here is the link for it. 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2022/04/47nelson?lang=eng 

Later that evening, we taught our new friend Ilir at the park. It was interesting. He said that he was mostly Muslim but wanted to learn more about our church because he feels peace when he comes to church and reads the Book of Mormon. We were able to teach him about Jesus Christ and his Atonement. We read a good part in Alma 7:10-13 that talks about why Jesus Christ came to the Earth and what the Atonement is. So cool.  

Saturday 8/13:

We had a lesson with Lea in the morning. Lea is the sweet Slovene girl that Sestra Chandler knew who moved to London for work. We occasionally do calls with her to catch up, but she actually met the missionaries who are in London and now they are teaching her! Such a miracle!! We joined a lesson with the England missionaries to translate anything that Lea may not have gotten. It went pretty good. We definitely want to help more with lessons so Lea can understand everything. We did our studies and then made some fire snickerdoodle cookies to give out to our friends. We also cleaned the church with the help of the Barrus' and then got to meet up with our friend Maria! She is the one from Peru who we help teach her how to make certain cookies. She is so awesome. We just went and walked along the water. She gave us one of her onions because we needed it for our dinner later. Ugh she is just the sweetest person ever. 

Maria :)

We came home and then made PUMPKIN SOUP!!!!! Now hear me out. I know for some of you that may seem interesting or potentially not good but this is literally so good. And it was the perfect weather for soup today. The PERFECT weather. All of my dreams were made because now I know how to make pumpkin soup. And we have leftovers. Win win win win win. 

PUMPKIN SOOOUUPPPP

Sunday 8/14:

Today we had our musical number and it went so good. It was really interesting because not a lot of people were able to come today but I felt the Spirit so strong. I just felt filled to the brim with joy and peace. I am not a big singer but man music can just instantly bring the Spirit. After church we planned out the week and did some of our studies. Then we had dinner with the Barrus' and it was so great. WE HAD CORN ON THE COB. Aka one of my top favorite foods. Afterwards we went to the park for the rest of our studies.Such a good day because we saw the cat again!!! And then I got to talk to my family. Woo. Great day.

Ice cream counts: 7 WOOOO

Highlights:

- I keep forgetting to mention this but nearly every single day for the past two or so weeks, Sestra Chandler and I have been speaking only in Slovene

- I found a yoyo and bought it 

- We found Harry Potter in Slovene

- saw a cat on the way back home and got to pet it

- saw the same cat two days later and got to pet it again 

- ate corn on the cob for the first time in years

- heard a prayer in Turkish which was cool! 

Week 30 - Ljubljana Zabava

 Welcome back welcome back! Another amazing week here in Celje! 

Monday 8/1:

Today we had our pday in Ljubljana with all of the other missionaries. It was soooo fun! We went to a random field and played kickball all together. I made it home every time ;). 

Pday with everyone in Ljubljana!!

I also have never felt more tired and sweaty hahaha. It was a really hot day but we recovered by getting pizza at Pop's Pizza (the best pizza in Ljubljana). Which was heavenly. The rest of the day was filled with travel, talking to the fam, and writing the weekly email. Overall a really fun day with the other missionaries. 

Tuesday 8/2:

On our way to the library for our studies, we ran into Mirko!!!!!!! So so so fun. He was on his bike just passing by. We all went and got ice cream together which was so precious. He is just such a sweet old man. I love him. 

Ice cream with Mirko :,)

Later on we went and visited Milka with some cookies. She was amazing as always. I am almost done with crocheting a bag. She is going to help me finish it off with the straps soon. Later on we met up with Milka's granddaughter who is so cool. We went to a mall and got SLUSHIES!!! WHAT??!?! So freaking cool. I love slushies.

Slushies :D

 Then we sat and just talked all about life and religion with her. It was sooo cool and fun. Especially because it was her BIRTHDAY (Milka told us) and she totally was chill with just spending a couple hours with the missionaries haha. I love it. She even helped us buy all of our groceries for the week and then walked the 20 minutes home CARRYING the heavy groceries with us. What an absolute angel. She is so cool and we see a lot of potential with her. 

Wednesday 8/3:

We had district council in Celje today which was good. It was our last district council with Elder Poulos before he leaves to go home!! We ate lunch at that yummy Chinese/Japanese place. The waiters recognized us hahaha. 

Wok N' Roll ;)

Later on in the day, we met up with a new guy who was interested in getting to know what God's plan for us is. We were able to meet up with him, give him a Book of Mormon and pamphlet about God's plan for us, and then invite him to church. He said he would try to come so that was cool! In the evening we were going to have a lesson with Luigi but something came up on his end. We were still about to have a call with David though who is one of our members in Maribor. 

Thursday 8/4:

In the morning we taught that guy how to play the piano again which will probably become a weekly occurrence haha. Later in the day we practiced a song with one of the members here in Celje for a musical number. We are learning how to sing The Lord is My Shepherd. Which is an absolutely beautiful song based off of Psalms chapter 23. Which is a fire fire fire chapter. Please read it. Later that evening we had a zoom call with our entire mission where we heard the departing missionaries' testimonies. It was bitter sweet because the missionaries who were leaving all gave really great advice and testified strongly about how they have seen God help them in their lives and so much more.  

Friday 8/5:

Today we had exchanges!!!! Sestra Chandler went with Sestra Hart in Celje and I went with Sestra Voigt in Ljubljanaaaaaa!! Woooo!! It was really fun. We had our studies by the river and later on met up with Sestra Williams and Buehner for lunch! We got pizza again with was alright but then I got a yummy cheesecake to balance it out. And ice cream. ;)

 Lunch in Ljubljana with all of the Sestri!

 For the rest of the day, Sestra Voigt and I had two calls. One with this really sweet woman in Africa. One day she texted Sestra Voigt randomly asking to know more about the church. She is being taught by missionaries that live in her area, but every once in a while they have a call to catch up. It was so cool to have this call because she essentially taught us hahaha. We talked about the importance of following specific commandments and she was like yeah of course we need to follow them because God asked us to!! We will receive so many blessings if we do! Um yes absolutely I agree!!! Haha so so so cool. Then we had a call with a member in Ljubljana and she remembered me all the way back from an activity I went to during my FIRST WEEK in Slovenia!! So cool! She was super sweet and cool. After the calls Sestra Voigt and I sat out from the balcony and watched as the sun went down as we did other work. It was so nice and then for our exercise time we just decided to go up to the Ljubljana castle and finish watching the sunset! It was so cool and beautiful. 

Sunset from the Ljubljana castle

Ljubljana castle ft. Sestra Voigt

Ljubljana castle

The coolest thing though was to be able to be back with Sestra Voigt for a little bit and see how much we have changed since the mtc. I have seen so much personal growth since then and that was only 4 months ago. What. So crazy. It was cool to see how much she has grown too. I can't wait to see how we will continue to grow in the future. 

Saturday 8/6:

We travelled back to Celje in the morning which was nice. The majority of the rest of the day was studies and then planning our next week. But we did have dinner with one of the families here in Celje. They are really cool! She is an amazing cook and everytime we go, you have to be rolled out of the house hahaha. She cooked us this really amazing veal soup with mashed potatoes and yummy yummy bread. It was so so so good. 

 ROOTBEEEEERRRRRR WOOOOOOOO

Sunday 8/7:

The highlight of my week, not going to lie. Today was just an absolutely amazing day. Because today was the first Sunday of the month, that meant that it was fast and testimony meeting where anyone can get up and share their testimony.  So many people bore their testimony and the Spirit was just so so so strong. I just felt overcome with love for every single person in the room. AND!!! Our new friend came!! He said he absolutely loved it and wanted to come again next week!!  

Sunset from the balcony

Ice cream count: 2 

Highlights:

- one of our members brought us A&W Rootbeer and Sour Patch Kids (both of which we do not have in Slovenia)

- the Barrus' fed us tacos 

- I ate a yummy strawberry cheesecake

- Wok N' Roll opened back up after being closed for a month 

- Sestra Chandler and I translated slovene memes 

- I found a bunch of disney songs in slovene 

Week 29 - sick days woo

 Hello!! So I messed up the week numbers again rip. Thank you mom and dad for telling me haha. Last week was supposed to be week 28! But welcome welcome welcome to another week in the lovely land of Slovenia. Also please read Saturday. 

Cute comp pic by the Maribor river

Monday 7/25:

Nice and relaxing day! We went shopping and just chilled all day. 

Tuesday 7/26:

Today was really good! While we were planning our day, we got a call from one of the members in Ljubljana and he said yo I am in Celje!! Let’s meet up and I will buy you breakfast! So we met up with him and got a croissant + chocolate muffin + tangerine schweppes (amazing). It was really good because we were able to just chat and talk all about music and other cool things. We then got a call from Fila and she was like yo pull up. So we did and she was like alright help me make your lunch haha so we made spaghetti and a salad but the spaghetti was so spicy and man. I was lowkey dying. It was really good and yummy but sooo spicy - well when I say sooo spicy I mean not that much bc I aam a wimp when it comes to spice. Later for when we were doing our language study, we went to go to the library and then ended up going to the cute little cafe and man that was great. We found twilight in Slovene and they had pomegranate schweppes and woo man what a vibe. Then we came back home and had a lesson with Luigi. He really is great. We asked him to pray and he prayed for us in English and man it was so sincere and sweet. One of my favorite parts of the lesson was when sestra chandler asked if he had his physical copy of the Book of Mormon with him (we just gave him his own copy this past Sunday) and he broke out in the cheesiest grin and held up his book that was hiding below the screen. He was literally so excited to show us it and it literally killed me. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and read from Helaman chapter 5 (really really good chapter would 100% recommend).  A really good day overall. 

TWILIGHT IN SLOVENE

Wednesday 7/27:

Today was a good day. Sestra Chandler in I didn’t feel too hot in the morning so we just went on a nice little walk to the stairs and back. We also met with Mirko (my favorite Slovene grandpa)!!!!! He is so amazing - he told me my slovene was amazing (tears) and was feeding us all of the fruit from his backyard. He remembered when my birthday was  and was just like bro you gotta come over and we will celebrate it together. Elder barrus and I both were farmers with the plant (I forgot which plant it is rip) hanging out of our mouths. 

Embracing my inner farm girl with Elder Barrus 

We came back home and then met with Hana who was one of the counselors from the english camp at karitas. We got ice cream from our favorite truck (mango) and just chatted for a good while. Vibes. 

Ice cream :)

Later that evening Sestra Chandler and I weren't feeling too hot so she checked her temperature with a thermometer and it was 102. Something so woo

She took a covid test and it was negative so woo.

Thursday 7/28:

Sick day wooo. I was not feeling super hot today. We took covid tests and they were both negative again. 

Negative covid tests woo

We took today pretty easy. We did meet up with one person in the church and taught him how to play the piano for a bit haha. We called Lea and it was cool because she was able to meet with the missionaries in England. They are teaching her now but in the future we will join lessons so we can help translate them into Slovene. The rest of the day was studies and then english class. 

Friday 7/29:

Today I felt way better which was good. We met with one of the families from our ward and that was super good. We went on a fun little walk around Celje and they bought us ICE CREAM. They knew the way to my heart haha. Sestra Chandler and I got to read Slovene books to their 4 year old son which was fun to try and personality to all of the kids book lines.

Reading children's books 

Then we had a call with one of our members to practice teaching a lesson with her. It went good. She gave us a lot of advice about what we could do to say things in a more natural way. 

Saturday 7/30:

FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE FIRE DAY!! The son of our branch president just turned 8 years old recently so his baptism was today. It was in Maribor and was just so cool. His mom is from Austria so her entire family came and it was so cool to see the Maribor church full of people coming to support. Other members from Ljubljana and Celje came to support as well. Sestra Chandler and I were asked to sing a couple songs while he was getting changed back after the baptism. We prepared two songs and then had another song as a back up back up but didn't plan on singing so we didn't practice it.

Singing at the baptism 

Well two songs go by and he is still not back so we hurry and get ready to sing the other song which was "I Am a Child of God". And this was among the top 5 most amazing and influential moments of my mission, if not my entire life because as we were singing "I Am a Child of God"  in Slovene, people just started singing it in their own language quietly. People sung it in Croatian, German, Slovene, Spanish, and English. Definetly one of the coolest experiences ever because so many people just automatically started singing along with us in their own language. Adding in their own testimony of the fact that they are children of God. Sooooo cool. 

Baptism (notice the death choke hold on my neck hahahaha)

Sunday 7/31:

Pretty chill day. We went to church and it was lovely as always. We then went back home, did studies, planned out our week, and then had dinner with the Barrus'. Then I got to call my family :) :) :) :) :) 

Ice cream count: 2

Highlights:

-  Metod gave me a book about all of the different famous athletes to study the language more 

- we did not have covid

- I got ice cream bought for me

- Singing at the baptism (see Saturday)