Week 54 - We aren't in Slovenia anymore...

Welcome back to another catch up email - this one is worth the read I promise because this week Sestra Chandler and I went on exchanges to... BOSNIAAAAAA!!!!

Now I want you guys to know that this is the first time this has happened in this mission. Like ever I believe. Exchanges with Bosnia have always been over zoom (gross huh?). But before we get to that, I have a bunch of other super fun and exciting things to talk about soooo let's get into it

This email is for January 23rd to 29th

- it starts of with a bang because for our pday we went to Celje because Sestra Smith and I popped off when we were together and completed our 21 day SYL challenge (speak only in slovene for the day) so we got to go watch a movie

- okay but also it was snowing so much in Celje and we had to walk like 20 mins to the movie theater which would have been fine if I was wearing proper shoes haha 

- whatever it was memorable - so we ended up choosing to watch the new Puss in Boots movie and oh man that was such a good movie - it was so so so so so funny like 10/10 would watch over and over again - it was even funnier in slovene - Sestra Chandler and I were cackling the entire movie - it was cool to be at a stage where I understood most of the jokes and punchlines (if anyone has any memes from Puss in Boots please send it to me PLEASE)

- later in the week we had a lesson with Nataša and that went really well - we were able to talk to her more about the history of the Book of Mormon and she even told us that she believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God! Wooooooo!!! So good

Nataša's cat fell asleep on my bag and it was the cutest thing ever :,) 

- We went and visited the Kralj family with one of the elder companionships and man there was so much food. It was one of the elder's first times being at the Kralj's and I guess it is a tradition to have me and the newbie race to see who finishes their food first because I am such a slow eater. so far I have won 2 for 2 so let's hope the record keeps up 

- we also had zone conference this week and we had to present! It was a little nervewracking but honestly it went really well. 

and now we get to the fun part 

BOSNIAAAAAA

okay so we drove down to croatia on friday morning and then went to the airport and got on a plane and flew to bosnia. honestly I didn't think I would be on a plane again until I went home so it was a surreal experience but we landed and immediately everything felt so different. 

on the plane!!

We were picked up by the senior couple, The McLeods and the two sisters there, Sister Washington and Sister Parker and man are they amazing (spoiler alert: sister washington and I are actually going to be rooming together at college - yes this was decided completely out of nowhere and is the best idea ever and I can't wait)

Me, Chandler, and Washington

So straight after being picked up we went to their cute church and Sister Washington and I had a lesson. It was a little nervewracking because it was in Bosnian but honestly I could understand almost everything which was one of the biggest confidence boosters haha. That lesson went really good except for the times I had to read a verse or quote in Bosnian and completely butchered the pronounciation haha. After that we had a Book of Mormon read group which was again really good. We also got to meet the other elders in the area. They are all angels <3

We split the exchanges in half so for half of Friday until half of Saturday I was with Sister Washington while Sister Chandler and Parker were together and then we switched Friday evening. On Saturday, we had district council with the other missionaries on zoom and that was so good. We went out to lunch all together and it was so good. I can't remember exactly what I had but it was authentic bosnian food. 

lunch with all of the missionaries and senior couple at an authentic bosnia restaurant

Then Sister Washington, the senior couple, a member, and I all went to go visit that same person we had a lesson with the day before for an in person lesson. And again that was so so so good. It was so cool to see Sister Washington teach and be able to add the couple things that I could. 

Later that evening we met up with the other sisters to switch back over, get dinner, and grab a couple different souvenirs. Of course we had to try the most authentic and original čevapčiči you can ever get and man was that stuff absolute heaven. It was so good. Seriously. I also got some really amazing souvenirs. 

Dinner with the missionaries!! I got chicken tenders and they were actually fire 

We all got hand crafted rings from copper - here is the guy ingraving one of ours 

The next day was Sunday and we went to church and it was so amazing to meet up in the small room with just a couple of members and feel the absolute strength and spirit of the members. I love Bosnia :,) Even more precious, we had a luncheon afterwards where I got to try the famously hard to acquire green fanta (fire btw) and chat with the members while eating good food.

Luncehon after church in Bosnia 

missionaries + the sassiest and funniest member ever 

Everything was just a good vibe. One of the members there calls all of the missionaries rocko and as soon as he walked in and saw us he pointed as us and said rocko #9! It was such a small and simple action but man it hit me hard to feel welcomed. 

Me standing next to the eternal flame (not entirely sure the history of this - could be olympic game related or war related)

the streets of bosnia

Another scenery pic

 

I did not want to leave but alas the time came for us to leave but I know I will be back. 

On the way back from Croatia we stopped by one of our member's houses. She is a sweet single mom with a younger boy and man she just has the sweetest spirit. I love her so much. She has been such a light to me. I actually met her my first saturday in slovenia and she was very welcoming and played volleyball with me which was so sweet. 

Daniel (son of the member we visited later) gave us some cookies with minions on them #blessed

Sorry guys I am just in thankful hours over here :,) but fr I cannot express how thankful I am to be on a mission. It has been so so so hard but for however many sad, hard, low, frustrating, and ever other negative moment there has been, there has been an equally if not more joyful, uplifting, spiritually, lovely, experience as well. 

I love you all 

Turkish delight count: 6

Čevapčiči count: not enough

Week 53 - winter wonderland

I messed up the week titles again so last email I sent was supposed to be week 53 rip but hello hello hello everyone!! Get readz for the onslaught of weekly emails as I catch up. Hahahaha 

Sestra Williams and I :)

This email is from January 16th to 22nd 

Highlights:

- today was the big moving day!!! it wasn't too awful but I hate moving

- we all met up as missionaries at a fire pizza place and ate yummy pizza and then because it snowed so freaking much we went and had a snowball fight outside of the restaurant and then later we went to the park and continued our snowball fight. It was so much fun but I have never been more cold and absolutely soaked to the bone

Yummy pizza

- then we had an exchange with Celje and I went up to Celje with Sestra McConkie. It was so so so fun to be back. We ended up going over to one of our less active member's house and she totally thought I was Sestra Voigt (mtc comp). I walked in and she was like oh german sister come translate this german song for me. And I was just like um hi I actually don't know german. And she literally sat there buffering for a minute as I explained that I am Sister LaRose who had been here for 6 months and met with her multiple times and we were buddies and I gave her cookies many times. Rip. Haha but it was still good she apologized. After that we went and said hi to the Barrus' again and that was so fun because they are going home in a week or so. :( 

After chatting with them for a bit, Sestra McConkie and I of course had to treat ourselves to Stari Pisker and some fire ribs. It was so good

RIBBBBSSSSSSS

- Later that week Sestra Chandler and I had a lesson with Natalija and it was so good! She has just such a sweet soul. :,)

Natalija <3

 Natalija gifted us a cute little bible quotes

- After this we went and visited some members who lived in Bled which was so fun because I had never visited them before so it was good to strengthen my relationship with them

- we went and met up with some of Sestra Chandler's fammily which was so so so good - they are just the sweetest and most precious people ever - I love them so much

Sestra Chandler's amazing family <3 they showed me a fire serbian song called London in honor of my name - it is actually really fire

- We also went and visited another one of our members who always makes fire food 

Dinner and Mark's

- it snowed every day this week 

Eating at our favorite bakery - glad to be back with her :)

Since this was so long ago, I don't remember a whole bunch of details but hey it is okay because at least I am sending an email. 

No icecream count but I do have this

Twix bar count: 3 

Haircut time during district council (no it did not turn out good)

Post gas station snack visit - yes I got a twix bar

Sestre :,)

Week 52 - I love dogs 🐕 ❤️

Hello hello everyone and welcome back!!!!! This week was a good one! We did a lot of calling through old records and had some pretty fire visits and miracles!! 

Our attempt at taking a jumping picture at the top of the castle 

Highlights:

- On monday we had a lot of pday fun with everyone - most of the missionaries came down to Ljubljana and we all hung out and played games outside the whole time 

Pday games (secret hitler)

- One really cool thing is the mother of the boy that we teach english to asked us if we could bring the Book of Mormon for kids and read that with him. That was so so so so so cool because starting this week, we read a story from the Book of Mormon and then acted it out which was so fun. They are just amazing people and it was so cool to start sharing the true stories from the Book of Mormon with them. 

- Another amazing visit was with Tina. I have talked about her before in past emails. She is the one that has the two dogs that are the craziest, funniest, sweetest, and most adorable dogs in the entire world. Well we went and visited them again with the other sisters and it was just so so so amazing. They are the sweetest people ever. They kept making us their fancy tea and bringing us things to eat. 

Casual bus stop pic 

We got on the wrong bus and it took us to an area we have never been in before but it's okay cuz it was fun 

- Ooo Thursday was also really fun. One of our members needed help with moving so he asked the missionaries to go up to Kranj really early in the morning and help bring things out of the apartment and outside and then out of the apartment down to the basement. It was so good to serve and help them. We actually ended up staying in Kranj to visit Stanka who is such a funny and spicy grandma. Sometimes she just says things and you have no clue how to respond. I love her. She is my buddy. :,) 

Bus selfie

- We were able to meet with Natalija this week which was so good. She made us palačinke and we read 3 Nephi 14:7-8 together. If you haven't read this before or at least not in a long time give it a good read. It is fire and SO true. 

- We also brought breakfast to one of our members which was so fun. We made pancake batter and my homemade almond syrup - soooooo good 

Pancakes  with my homemade syrup (thnx mama) 

Sorry this is kind of a shorter email!

As most of you remember, me and my companion are in charge of our country's social media page Pridite H Kristusu (go check it out it is really cool). And so often we need to write captions and make posts for the page. This next week, we are going to be focusing on forgiveness and one of the questions that I chose to answer was How Do We Know When We Have Been Forgiven? I have been doing a lot of pondering and studying to answer this question and I felt prompted to include it in my email. Essentially we do not feel we have been forgiven of our sins, because we still feel guilt and shame from our actions. Christ has taught that when we repent He will "remember our sins no more". He will take our guilt, our fears, and our shame and replace it with joy, peace, and a fresh start. Because of the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can be comforted and know that God will ultimately judge us by what we have become, and not by what we were. We can know we have been forgiven by the feelings of peace and joy through the Holy Ghost. 

The best dogs ever - this picture is such an accurate representation of how they are

Dogs pt. 2 

Tea count: 13 (it was a cold one this week)

Average buses taken in one day: 6 

Week 51 - srečno novo letoooo

Happy new yearrrrrrr WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! That is literally so insane that it is now 2023. Whaaattttt !!!!

This week was so much fun! 

Here are a couple highlightssss 

- monday was considered a holiday so it was full of just relaxing and sending a bunch of emails wooo! We also went to the Ljubljana castle with the other sisters which was so much fun. My mom got me a bougie selfie stick for Christmas so we used that. 

Ljubljana castle again haha

Sestreeeee (credits to the selfie stick)

- We went and visited the Kralj family (my mtc teacher's parents) with the other sisters and two elders. It was so much fun. They always make a whole bunch of food for us. It is expected to eat at least 3 servings of food. And this includes the 4 different courses of soup, salad, main course, and dessert. I don't think I have eaten as much food as I have eaten at their house. It was also just a really good visit in general. They are both really strong members in the church so it is always awesome to have conversations with them. 

Gibanica from Sestra Kralj - yummy 

- The other sisters had an exchange with the Celje sisters and so Sestra Smith and I decided to get lunch with them because we haven't interacted with Sestra McConkie as much (she just got here a month or so ago). Well, while we were waiting for the other sisters to arrive, we bumped into the sister of a member in Maribor. I personally have never met her but have heard so many things about her. She was able to join us for lunch which was so amazing. God's timing is so good. 

Center + the Christmas tree

- Another day we went and visited another family. They are the coolest people ever. For real. They have a couple kids who are the funniest and sweetest ever. The youngest girl insisted that she sit in the middle of Sestra Smith and I. They made us homemade hamburgers and fries. It was so good. Then Sestra Smith made them her special homemade tea which was fire. We played a lot of games with them and just talked. For the spiritual message we talked a lot about goals and had them all make their own goals. They were all so fun. I love this family so much. 

- On New Year's Eve we spent a lot of time in the afternoon trying to go street contacting. Well, it turns out not a lot of people wanted to talk hahaha. Rip but hey we got outside and now have a bunch of pictures of us (we asked people to take a picture of us in order to try and get a convo going haha). It was a fire idea though cuz...

MIRACLE INCOMINGGGGGGG BELOWW

- Okay let me tell y'all about Tomaž. In Ljubljana center they have a bunch of booths set up for Christmas. They all sell a variety of things. Some booths sell candy or food while others sell clothing or little trinkets. It is all so so so cute. I love it. 

 Ljubljana center :)

Well weeks ago all of the sisters in Ljubljana and I went to this one guys booth because Sestra Chandler wanted one of the sweaters (it was actually so cute. I wanted it too). Well of course we start talking with the guy because it is pretty obvious that we are not slovene. We talked to him a little bit about how we are all from America and are living here in Ljubljana. It was pretty chill and everything. Later, Sestra Smith asked the guy how much a book she was eyeing was. And guess what. The man said it cost nothing and that she could have it. Tears. What a kind guy. So so so cool. Obviously, we wanted to do something to thank him for his kindness so Sestra Smith and I came back and brought him some cookies to say thank you. We talked to him a little bit more about why specifically we are here. He gave us his business card and was like you girls are awesome. If you need anything at all please let me know. Everytime we passed by we made sure to stop by and say hi/chat. We talked to him maybe two more times. All of these have been shorter interactions because of course he is still working and people are trying to buy things. Well on New Year's Eve after not talking to a bunch of people we decided to walk by and wish him a happy new year. As soon as he saw us he said "ah my missionaries! hello!" which was so cool and THEN he said "guess what I am reading right now?" Obviously intrigued, we were like whatcha reading? He turns his phone around and shows us the Book of Mormon. He was reading the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon. My mind literally exploded right at that moment. Neither of us have ever talked to him about the Book of Mormon but there he was reading it. He explained that he saw our tags and was curious about what we believe. He found the Book of Mormon online and has been reading it all day. He had read until 2 Nephi chapter 14. 2 Nephi chapter 14. That is almost 100 pages. What the heck. Is this not the coolest thing in the entire universe?!?!?!?!? I then asked him if he would like a physical copy because it can be hard to read it on the phone. He said of course! I would love that so much!! Come back tomorrow because it will be the last day that I am here. So the next day pulls up, we go and meet with him and give him the physical copy of the Book of Mormon. He is just so thankful. He says that he is going to read the entire Book of Mormon and that we will stay in contact. And then he gave us both a giant bag of stuff from his booth. The same exact sweater I wanted, a tshirt, a handmade mug, a cashmere scarf, and chocolate. Are you kidding me?!?! This man is the coolest and nicest guy ever. He is so amazing and I can't wait to keep seeing where this goes. 

The gifts from Tomaž :,)

- For New Year's Eve, we got it approved to stay over at the other sister's apartment. We all posted up and it was so fun to be with Sestra Chandler and Sestra Williams again. When the countdown started, we all went out onto their balcony overlooking the city with our poppers and sparkling cider. As soon as it turned midnight, sooooo many fireworks went off and there were echoes of "Srečno novo leto!!!" across the entire city. It was just such a beautiful moment to experience being in a different country and area during the new year. I think I will treasure that time for my entire life. What an incredible opportunity. 

The castle with Mayte

Selfiiieee

The castle again but at night

- We also got to meet up with our friend Mayte and walk up to the castle yesterday. It was fun to meet with her and see all of the beautiful sights. We were able to talk about how we have seen God in our lives this past year and what we want to do this year to get even closer to him. 

Beautiful view of the city from the castle

As a new year starts, it is the perfect time to start creating new goals and plans for this year. For some it is to eat healthier or workout more. For others it is to have more patience and treat others nicely. For others it is all of the above. As you think about your goals, write down how you will get closer to God this year. For me, I really want to get better at reading in the scriptures. I have seen such a big difference in my life when I study the scriptures with real intent. If you want to send me a message of what your goal is, I wouldn't be mad!

Cups of tea had this week: 11 letss goooo

Times going to the Ljubljana castle this week: 2 

Photos of the Ljubljana castle: 6