Bok sve!!!Ja sam na Hrvatska!!! I'm in Croatia!!! Wow what an amazing two weeks!!! The last week in the US for 16 months was fun and too slow. But now that I'm in Croatia, I don't think time can slow down fast enough! I'll start with our adventures in the airports. We made it to Minnesota great and then that's where all the trouble began. We got on our flight and for about 30 minutes into the flight they said that a windshield cracked, so we had to land and get on a new plane. In the meantime, I was talking to this lady who was on a church trip. We talked about churches and the differences between the churches. I don't even know how, but I taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She said, ˝Mmm interesting.˝ And then became really awkward. Then I told her if she wanted to learn more, we have a website and gave her a pass along card. When we landed, I talked to the man behind us because he was in their church group tour and on his name tag it said Fr. I asked him what that meant think Frank or something, but no. Father. Her pastor was sitting behind us the whole time! I realized why she was acting so weird. When we got on the new plane about 3 hours later, I decided not to mention religion unless she did. She didn't. Well hopefully in the future something will happen. So since we were about 5 hours behind schedule, we missed our connecting flight to Paris. The next one was 8 hours later. So we waited, again. But then my companions were able to talk with this famous tennis player from Brazil (I was studying and didn't realize they went to talk to someone two or three rows down) and gave him a pass along card. So maybe that's the reason we were in the airport for so long. Neznam (I don't know). But then we had no problems with the Paris airport other than trying to find a carry on that was checked in because there was no room on the flight and finding the gate but we had 8 hours so sve ok (all is ok). We made it to Zagreb at about 9.30 with a senior couple and President and his wife waiting for us. We were so excited to see them all!!! But then tragedy struck again and both of Sister Moody's and my bags were lost and all of the Elders had at least one bag lost. So good thing we were taught well to pack essentials in carry ons. Happy day!!!
But the even better day happened the next day, Thursday.We met with the President first thing, and then afterwards he told us where we were going. I'm in Rijeka!!! Rijeka is a place where sisters haven't been for about 2 years. There are only one set of Elders right now, so my companion, Sestra Lethco, and I are ˝white washing˝ Rijeka (pretty much starting from scratch but not the first ones here). Sestra Moody is in Osijek and Sestra Trumbo is in Bosnia!!! Yes, there are now 2 sets of Elders and 1 set of Sisters in Bosnia!!! I don't know much but I'm guessing every thing's going well!
So, my first week in Croatia was adventurist. Sestra Lethco is so awesome and so patient with me and the language. Whenever I start a conversation with someone, she takes over because I can only speak, and understand very little. And the parts that I do understand, I don't understand the context so I know the words but not the sentence. Like I hear if...I know...faith...Book of Mormon. So I don't know how to respond to that. But I was soo excited this morning. I almost had a whole conversation with someone without needing my companion's help! Yes, afterwards when I talked to her in English, I understood some of the questions wrong, but I answered close enough that it was right! Where before I would just start the conversation and then Sestra Lethco would take over and I would just look for words. My goal though next week is to be able to have a complete conversation with someone without Sestra Lethco needing to translate. Oh and if my English is bad, I'm going to blame it on the Croatian because I'm trying to think in Croatian as well as speak and understand in Croatian. So sorry if this doesn't make sense.
2 funny stories that happened this week, is that the first lesson we had tracted was with these women who let us in, we think now, to teach us the true gospel. They are Adventists and started playing this DVD in English about the Creation and where evil came from and it was a little weird. After a few minutes, we asked if we could talk to them since we don't have a lot of time. They said sure and they would burn a copy of the DVD for us. We were like ok and then traded the DVD for a Book of Mormon. After they taught us about what they believed, we talked about what we believed. Prayed both ways and then left. We didn't ask for a return appointment...The other funny story happened today. I was trying to speak to my companion in English. And this guy asked us if we were from the United States. I said yes in Croatian, and he asked if we understood Croatian. I said a little and I had only been here a week. We kept small talking and then he wanted to teach me swear words. I said, no I don't want to or need to. He then said some words and laughed which I think were swear words. He then asked us if we wanted to go out for drinks. We told him no. He asked why not (and this is after we explained we were missionaries). We told him we can't drink or date as missionaries. He kind of gave this bewildered look and then said good luck to us and left. First time I was hit on as a missionary and Sestra Lethco said it was her first too. So hopefully it doesn't happen again, but we are in Rijeka which is a university city, so there are a lot of college students around. We'll see.
My scripture for this week is Alma 32:43. This verse talks about waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you. I was told a long time ago not to think waiting as sitting down but as a waiter in a restaurant--serving. I can't just sit around expecting for the rewards to come. I have to do my part. If I was a waiter in a restaurant and just sat around, I would never be paid. I need to work hard and be diligent. Only then will I find my reward. I know this gospel is true! And we can only receive the good word by searching for it and finding it ourselves. Others help us along the way, but others are not a strong foundation. Jesus Christ is the only strong foundation and the more we hold onto him, the easier life will be. Even when hard temptations and trials come, Christ will help us through. He will be our strength. Hold on! I love the strength I'm receiving the more I'm holding on through this trial of not understanding like anyone.
Volim vas! Love you all! Vidimo se! See you later! Do sljedući put!
Until next time!
Sestra Kristine Jolley
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