Hello everyone,
So, I forgot to say an important bit of news last week. When President Rowe came last sunday and did interviews, he asked how I felt about doing an exchange to Slovenia. Probably in 2 or so weeks, I`m going to Ljubljana for a week. Crazy. I figured we wouldn`t ever get to do exchanges because we`re so far away from the other sisters in the mission. There are 4 in Slovenia and 2 in Zadar, on the coast of croatia, and the 2 of us in Osijek, but it takes like 8 hours to get to Zadar. and we never interact with Slovenia. It might as well be another mission. so I figured it would never happen. and I don`t even know Slovene. granted, I don`t know Croatian either, but more than Slovene. I can`t even say the word Ljubljana. This sunday we taught primary to Filip (who is 8 or 9 and baptized) and his cousin (who isn`t a member), and we were talking about Ammon and King Lamoni, and when we said the word ˝kralj˝ (king), they corrected us about 10 times, and then taught us the Croatian alphabet. I just can`t make the sound. It`ll probably be a while before I can say ˝lj˝ well enough that they stop giving me alphabet lessons. Oh well. that, and the difference between č and ć, are going to give me headaches.
anyways, I`m really excited about the exchange. So on thursday, we went to Serbia for zone conference. last time was just a training meeting. This time the AP came, and Sister Rowe was going to come, but then she couldn`t. It was very good. The branch president`s wife there in Sremska Mitrovica made Elder Adams promise that we`d go see them before we left. fortunately, they live next door to the church. Apparently, there used to be Sister Missionaries there in Beograd or somewhere close before the war, wherever she was living at the time. She was so excited to see us, and she told President that they should send sisters to actually work in Serbia. I figured there wouldn`t ever be sisters in Serbia while I was out, but now, I`m not sure. There`s a new sister coming out in January, and another 2 in March. President`s trying to get another one so we don`t have an odd number. or have a Croatian serve a mini mission here to be companions with one of them. My guess is that one set will go in Zagreb, but the other set? They could very well go to Serbia or Bosnia or somewhere completely different. There`s only one other city in Croatia that I know of that`s ever had sisters in it. Very interesting stuff. We`ll see what happens. We weren`t expecting any more sisters until Sister Creager and Sister Milius go home next September.
On Monday, we met a member named Zoran. He`s been living on the coast, so he hasn`t been in Osijek for like a year or something. He`s awesome though. If you look through the area book, his name is all over it because he helps so much in missionary work. and he`s a righteous priesthood holder. We had 2 native Croatians blessing the sacrament! it`s awesome. He was planning to move to Zagreb and transfer his records there, and when we told President that he was planning on moving, he said ˝tell him he can`t move. The Lord needs him in Osijek˝. On sunday, Zoran told us that he had gotten a job, so he`s staying in Osijek. The funny thing was that he wasn`t even looking for a job. Interesting how that happens, huh?
Speaking of sunday, we had an investigator at church. A girl named Ivona from the Elders` advanced english class is very interested in the church. The elders gave her a Book of Mormon, and she`s been reading it. Her mom is in our beginners class, and she broke her leg, so we went over there to visit, and we talked about what Ivona had read in the Book of Mormon, and we gave her some things to read and invited her to come to our activity on friday. She noticed a picture in our church of Jesus that she loved. She says that our church feels more like church should feel than the big cold cathedrals, and asked if we had a midnight mass for christmas because she said she`d rather come to our church. We told her we didn`t, but that we had church services every week on sunday that she could come to, and that Sister Creager was even giving a talk in Croatian. She said she`d come, and on sunday she said she`d try to come every week. She said that she liked the meeting, but that the talk by a native speaker seemed longer than necessary.
This week Marijana`s been in the hospital. that place is scary. We`ve gone over to visit a few times, and the elders took her the sacrament to her on sunday. I hope she gets better soon. It doesn`t sound fun to be in that place. A male nurse drew on her hand while she was sleeping with her markers. Creepy, huh? things like that don`t happen in american hospitals. And apparently, the only thing they give her most of the time is tea, coffee, and weird bread. and they get mad at her for not drinking her coffee. luckily she has her own juice and people bring her other food.
Elder Schouten is in Serbia for the week, so Elder Jacobsen is here. It`s interesting. He actually knows Croatian, but people still tell him to speak english. it`s not just us. It`s weird. Like just now, Sister Creager`s keyboard wasn`t working, so I asked the guy at the desk if we could switch it with another one, and he acted offended that I spoke in Croatian and assumed he didn`t know english. People do things like that all the time. It definitely makes it harder to learn the language.
anyways, it`s been a pretty good week. I hope you`re having a wonderful day. I love you all, and God loves you infinitely more.
love,
Sestra Black
