Week #29

Dom Bolestan-The Home is Sick

The literal translation of Dom Bolestan is "the home is sick" and I thought that would be more funny than whatever the actual word for homesick is :) And I'm not homesick for America, but I was home sick for Rijeka. I was comfortable there and knew my way around and what to do. Now I feel like my role as a missionary has changed quite a bit because this area needs more of a focus on the enduring to the end part than baptizing. Don't get me wrong there are still people we are teaching and bringing into the gospel, but I just feel the role has changed to a different focus. And I can just feel the sense of community wanting to come out of these members and investigators, but they don't know how. So I'm excited to help these people feel the love for each other and to grow and become one unit. It's great :)

This last week for the youth we had a pioneer trek to help them feel more of a sense of what the pioneers in America went through and also the pioneers in Croatia. Then we wanted it to all come together and help them realize that they are pioneers making their own footsteps. It was a good experience for them and I think they made some connections. The coolest part for me was to see one of the girls bring a friend and help the friend see this way of living. She turned to me at one point and asked if we smoked. I told her, no and she asked why. But then we got distracted so I didn't answer her question. But we saw her and a group of her friends later that day, and she waved at us! To me this was very surprising because Mormon missionaries aren't the most highly looked at people in Zadar, and she is a teenager who we just forced to walk 7-8 miles, so I was expecting her totally ignore us. But she didn't so we'll see what happens at the next youth activity.

I gained a testimony this week of bringing members on lessons. We brought one of our recent converts on a lesson with us and we encouraged her to teach the lesson. She was wonderful! Then when the investigator had concerns, the convert would look at us, ask if she could answer, and then say, "I had the exact same concern..." then share her experience. It was so good for our investigator to see that she's not the only one. It's been great to see both of these women grow in just 2 weeks. I love missionary work!

I'm starting the Book of Mormon over again, but this time summarizing the chapter and then a lesson summary of what I could do with a recent convert or less active in that chapter. It's been so great! So the scripture for this week is 1 Nephi 9:5. Sometimes we don't know why the Lord asks us to do certain things. For instance, why sisters left Rijeka and now serve in Zadar. But the Lord commanded it for a wise purpose in him. So just do it and have faith! For the Lord knows better than any man or woman (Mosiah 4:9), so believe and do it! I have no idea what future I have because I chose to go on a mission, but I know for sure that it's for the better. The purpose? I don't know if there is a specific purpose, but I know there are many purposes. Now for you? I have no idea why God has asked you to do certain things, but I do know for sure that there's at least one purpose for it and through time we can see the many purposes from it. Keep going! Be strong! Follow the Lord and it will all come out right. Volim vas puno! Do sljeduća vrijema! Until next time!

Sa vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće

Week #28

Pozdrav od Zadra! Greetings from Zadar!

Oh my. It's been crazy busy! I feel like I'm just going from one lesson to the next. It's an interesting dynamic for me from going to a place where we had to work up to be super busy with people to a place where I just got off the bus and headed to a lesson (seriously 20 minutes after I got off the bus we were in a lesson). It's been difficult putting in all the Zadar history in my head in one week, but I also see the blessings of new eyes at a place. I just add ideas of what we could do for people and different takes on what they could be feeling. Then we pray, have faith and go in with a plan! Then the Spirit takes over and does the rest :) The thing about Zadar for me that there are all these families that aren't complete. But now is the time to complete them! That's one of our focuses this transfer, and I know it's what the Lord wants us to do this transfer too. So expect baptisms this transfer! I know I'm being confident and bold but that's what I need to be. Bam. The family we're most focused on is this family with 3 kids. The dad was baptized 4 years ago and 2 of the kids wanted to be baptized pretty much a few months later, but the mom doesn't understand why they need to be baptized. So all of the kids have been actively dry members of the church since then. After a lot of teaching and trying, the mom gave consent for one daughter to be baptized since she was 18. The daughter didn't want to get baptized without her mom being ok with it. So that's why she didn't just go on ahead. But the mom hasn't given consent for the other two children, so our goal is to get them all baptized this transfer. Oh and just so you know, there was a church article about the 40th which you can read by clicking on this address:
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/62558/Anniversary-observance-Churchs-beginnings-in-former-Yugoslavia-observed.html

The scripture of the week is Jacob 5:71 because it talks about laboring in the vineyard with all your might and finding joy. I feel like that all the time. I know the last few weeks in Rijeka were hard, but I just wanted to let you know that there was still joy. Even though I couldn't see the change in those people, there were changes going on and I could see the change in myself. I'm so excited to see the changes here in Zadar because they are just ready to come out. Like what a senior couple told us, "This is a game of hide and seek. They are the ones hiding and we are the ones seeking." So I just want to declare Olly, Olly, oxen free! (or something like that) and have everyone who is ready, to come out and join us and be happier! Have more knowledge of what true happiness is and become prepared to meet God! For that's our purpose in life, and we will need to show that we know it. So everyone (not just missionaries) declare this out and let's step forward together against Satan so he can't harm anymore. Keep it up! Don't lose faith! The Lord is with thee. So say hi to him, talk a bit, and follow his counsel! :) Volim vas puno! Do sledeći put! Until next time!

Week #27

Blago Milosrđe-Treasures of Mercy

Every night before we start planning for the day, we talk about the mercies of the day. This week had a lot and it was a result from the trials of a few weeks ago. So on Wednesday night, we were talking to President Rowe and at the end of the conversation he gave us an assignment. To every person, we were to act like we would never see them again. So we needed to be bold. He said that if we offended people because we were telling them to repent and get over their sins, he didn't care. He just wanted us to be bold and push ourselves. So the next day we pushed ourselves. There's one particular person I talked to on the bus. I would have stopped and just gave him a pamphlet, but I kept pushing that he needed this truth. I didn't have an extra Book of Mormon, so I took the little things out of my Book of Mormon and gave it to him. He said that it wasn't necessary. And I told him, "No, it is necessary. You need to read this book. You need truth." Because I was so persistent, that changed his heart to see that I was holding something special. I don't know if he's read it, he was leaving town the next day, but I know that this week I said what I wanted to say. Which is a good thing because it's transfer time and I'm leaving beautiful Rijeka to....drumroll....Zadar!!! The only other sea city in our mission :) I'm so excited because that is where the church started in Yugoslavia. Krešmir Ćosić lived there and everyone in Croatia loves him. (If you don't know anything about him, look him up on Google. He had a pretty amazing life.) The sad thing is that I'll leave the people of Rijeka especially the investigators and branch members. The harder thing is that Sister L is leaving too! She's going to Osijek and there are no other sisters coming here... So we have to put all our investigators on the Elders workload. I really hope they can handle it. Because the last two weeks we found 8 new investigators! It's been cool to see after our hard moment we were able to see so many people who are so willing to read the Book of Mormon and find out for themselves. But I'll have to just hear about it because I'm starting a new tomorrow. It's so weird. All I've known is Rijeka. Change is an exciting thing, but it's hard. I don't know what the future is going to be. It reminds me of new investigators and when they enter the waters of baptism. It's a new life. So much changes, but the gospel builds on some one's knowledge, not completely erase it. So it's something that I'll be experiencing. I have had a wonderful 6 months so far and I'll only add on that and have even more success with Sister Cr (it's her last transfer so we're going to make it her best!)

Our latest new investigator we found during a hard tracting night a week ago and she said we could come back on Sunday. I thought she was just going to blow us off on Sunday or tell us that we're nice girls but no. (It's happened plenty of times before.) No she let us in and she was so ready to find out truth! She had some great questions and whenever we revealed something unique about the gospel (baptizing at 8 years old, having a prophet today,...), she would reply "That makes sense" or "I've thought of that too!" It was sooo great! Both Sister L and I just came out of the lesson with smiles on our faces. I'm sad that we won't have another lesson with that woman and her son who said he would like to read the Book of Mormon too. BAH! It was awesome :D


I have two funny stories. In my zeal to talk and push our English students because of President's request, I got in an interesting conversation about the gold plates with one English student. She had read the first part of the Book of Mormon about Joseph Smith's experience and the testimonies. She asked me some questions and I thought I understood what she said and answered correctly. But then a member who was kind of listening in on our conversation asked me when I had seen the gold plates. That caught me off guard and I told him that I hadn't. Then I made the connections and I had told the English student that only a few people have seen the plates and I was one of them. Opa! (oops!) Good thing she was there and I was able to straighten it out. Pa joj. I'm learning every day. Which brings me to the second story. In my talk on Sunday, I was baring my testimony and letting the branch know how much I loved working with them. Well in English, I wanted to say "I will miss you all." But the verb "faliti" means "to be missed". So what I ended us saying was "I will be missed to you all." haha I know I want them to miss me but I didn't think I would force it on them ;)

The investigator with a baptismal date but is smoking now and is having tons of trials with work and her husband, we saw her this morning before we went off to finish up packing and all the other hundreds of things we need to do today, and I shared with her the scripture in 2 Nephi 25:23. I told her that if she did her best to stop smoking and try to get to church that Heavenly Father would help her find a new job and everything will just work out, BUT she needs to do all that she can do. I'm not sure if she actually will, but I know that what I said was true. I can't even count how many times Heavenly Father has given me the strength especially during school to do all the things I needed to do, because I didn't give up. I kept pushing and Heavenly Father pushed me farther. And I know this is true for you too. I don't know what you're all going through, but Heavenly Father knows. He's there for us. I think of it like I'm this little child learning how to walk. Heavenly Father can't carry me around everywhere. It's not like he can't, but I won't learn if I don't get up myself. I also have to fall sometimes to realize why it's important to keep walking. I also grow from getting up right after I fall. And I know there are many times when Heavenly Father has caught me just like my father did when I was learning to walk. Keep going! Keep walking! Get up and move! For this is the time to prepare to meet God. We have this wonderful opportunity to fall and learn how to stand up. We will live for eternity, but we only have this one time to be mortal. We are so blessed to show our faith and do what Heavenly Father knows is best for us. I'm grateful for this time to be a missionary. I only have this short time to focus all my efforts on bringing people to truth. I feel like I have been training the last 6 months, so now I have the chance to start over in Zadar and build on my knowledge. Ugodan tjedan! Have a good week!  Volim vas puno!!!

Week #26

Brdska Željeznica-Roller Coaster

I'm going to say the bad news like ripping off a band-aid. Just doing it fast. So our first investigator with a baptismal date is slowly going down hill and losing faith, and it seems like the more we meet, the worse it's getting. Please pray for her. The second investigator with a baptismal date seems to be opposite and growing in faith every time we meet. But the only problem is that she can't seem to make it to church :( Every week she comes up with a new excuse... People keep thinking we're Jehovah Witnesses or they don't want to listen to us because they watched an hour long BBC broadcast about "the truth of Mormons"...to sum it up, it's not true. Then we're having hard time keeping faith among our members...nothing that really needs details, but so you know that these are the downs. But it's ok, now the pain's over :)

We have two new investigators who are totally searching for truth!!! One was a college-aged student who is Atheist and when we asked if he ever wondered if God existed and if he wanted to find out how to know, he said sure. We taught him a lesson a few days later, and he said he would read but he's not sure if he's willing to really search right now. But he asked many great questions and is willing to come over to the church for activities and things. He's not sure if he's searching, but he definitely is looking for something. The other investigator is a man we talked to last night. He said he was sick of asking for truth and not finding answers. So we told him that the truth was in the Book of Mormon. We weren't able to go in since his wife wasn't home, but we gave a lesson to him right there on the steps. He seemed very accepting and was willing to meet up again tomorrow with his wife. AH! He said he was willing to do anything to find truth. I'll let you know what happens next week :)

So after a district meeting, we talked about the authority we have as missionaries. We focused especially on when we get let in doors, give a lesson, then have a prayer. Many of these people usually just let us in because they pity us for trying and just let us in to give us some juice or water maybe some cookies if they feel really charitable. But our duty as missionaries is to teach the gospel to everyone even if they're not ready to except right now. Another thing we can do is have them write something down in their "Book of Evidences" where they will remember the missionaries, so the next time they hear the word Mormon, they'll think about to that experience. And typically that experience happens during the closing prayer. If we pray for them and their families and whatever trials they are going through, we can bless them. So after this great district meeting, Sestra L and I went tracting. We talked to this woman and at first she was very closed but asked us how we came to choose Croatia for a mission. I told her we didn't choose because we have a prophet who knows where we need to be and I testified to her right there that that is why I was there. So I could tell her that we have a living prophet and we have a message to tell everyone. You could just see the change in her face. After talking a little bit, we asked her if we could pray with her. She invited us in, it was my turn to give the prayer and I simply asked for her to be blessed, in her work and family. She loved the prayer and offered us water and just told us all of her problems. I didn't realize everything that was going on at work, it was going down hill and she didn't know what to do because she would have to move and a lot of other stresses. She didn't want to set up a return appointment, but she said we could call. So we called the next week to see how work was going and she was soo happy!!! Everything went right for her at work the previous week and she said it was because of us. So when we asked if we could meet with her, what do you think she said? :) DA!!! Never underestimate the power of prayer and what the Lord wants to happen.

Another fun follow-up is with a man that we saw about a month ago. We thought he was drunk, but gave him a pamphlet anyways. We saw him again and then asked if he read the pamphlet we gave him. He said yes and liked it and that his wife had read it too. We asked if we could meet with them. He said yes, and we went right then and taught a lesson with him and his wife. It was about 5 minutes because the wife is sick (they're an older couple) and was really tired, but they said we can come back and talk more later. Another reason why I shouldn't underestimate every person I talk to. We thought this guy was mocking us and asking for a pamphlet just to prove us wrong about something in it. But no, he's just another child of God looking for hope and guidance.

I received a letter from one of my best friends today and she told me that she met a total stranger last week, and he was going to the Adriatic North mission (my mission) and has been reading my blog updates. It was a hit to reality for me that these updates aren't just for my family and friends. So here's a shout out for all those entering the MTC in the near future. Be ready! Be excited! I cannot think of a better place for me right now or for those people I talk to every day. They need you! Yes it's going to be tough, but PA DA (OH YES), IT'S WORTH IT! Now a shout out for those who are about to go to the Adriatic North mission, you are blessed!!! This is the time to be a missionary in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Bosnia. This last month we had 19 baptisms making 38 baptisms for this year (more than what this mission had all last year!) And the baptisms just keep coming in. Be ready. It's going to be tough, but it's going to be worth it. You can just feel the change and the growth that is happening and how the Lord is watching over these people. Words can't express it. You'll see for yourself in just a few short months.

So that is plenty for an update of this last week. We talked to a Jehovah Witness and it was sad to me that he said that they don't believe in miracles like in Bible times. That's so sad for God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. In Mormon 9:19 it talks more about miracles and that God "is a God of miracles." I see miracles all the time from the physical miracles to the healing of the heart. I know this to be true because I feel the healing all the time in my own heart. For those grieving or need a healing of some sort, look to Christ and be healed. Don't doubt. He's there. Love you all and for all your prayers for me and the other missionaries of the world! We need it, but we need you to stay strong too. So keep it up! Keep being awesome! Volim vas puno puno puno!!!

Week #25

Glistening :)

My dad or mom once told me that girls don't sweat, but they glisten. Oh boy, it's the time for glistening. I don't remember ever being in hotter weather. Whenever we ask people how they are nowadays, 98.756% of the answers are "hot". The other answers are "could be better". Then they say "it's hot". So eventually we talk about the weather and that it's quite warm outside. So I think I should stop saying it has been a rough week because it seems the Lord keeps letting us know that it could be worse. It was alright until Saturday, we tried to meet with 4 people with a member and everyone wasn't there or bailed. She's never been on a lesson before so I felt super bad that that night was her first impression of missionary work outside of her own experience. Then yesterday, we had a lesson with an investigator we've met with for about 2 months now and she still hasn't read any of the Book of Mormon, so we told her we couldn't come by anymore until she actually read. She said she would but she's been saying that since day 1...Then we went by another investigator's house. On the way we saw one of our investigator's husband. She has a baptismal date and he asked if we were going to go by and see his wife. We said we didn't plan to because she said she had work on Sundays all day. He said she wasn't home at the time, but that she never has work on Sundays and usually goes to her parents house up the hill. That just confused us. Why would she lie to us the last few weeks that she has work on Sundays and so she can't come to church? So we kept going and went to the investigator we first were going to see and she told us at the door she's too busy to meet with us and tried to give us back the Book of Mormon. We told her we didn't want it and told her to keep it. We asked if there was anything we could do, and she kept saying no and was really sorry. She truly was sorry. We both wanted to cry after that. But we kept going and contacted some more people on the street before returning home for the night. No potential investigators, but we kept going and that's the point. I read a talk Robert D. Hales gave about 10 Axioms we need in life and one was "it's not the obstacles that counts, but how you overcome it." I totally thought about just going home and crying. I thought, "It's close enough to 9." My heart hurt. I wasn't sure if I could handle rejection anymore. But Sestra L and I just kept talking to people. And I KNOW that was what Heavenly Father wanted us to do. He never wants us to sit down and give up. He wants us to learn and move on, find ways to become better. Russel M. Nelson said, "Perfection doesn't come in this life but the next life." We're asked to be perfect like our Father, but we won't see that perfection in this life. What we do in this life will help us be perfect in the life to come, but we have to do our part now. In Helaman 10:4-5, God told Nephi he was blessed for his "unwearyingness" in declaring the word and "has not sought thine own life, but has sought my will". I have to go unwearyingly. Even when people decide not to take the happiness I'm telling them about. Then I have to keep trying, keep finding ways to help them see that actually yes, they do want this happiness. Because I know that if they just knew what this gospel could do for them, they would not hesitate to accept. But how are they to know if I don't tell them? So I will keep going. Keep trying to find ways to show Heavenly Father's love for them. These people need to be blessed. There's so much hurt and sadness from the war here, but they are ready for change. For hope again. Many of them just don't realize that they're ready. So I'll keep going and keep talking to people. Yes, sometimes they don't understand what I say, but usually after I say what the Lord wants me to try to say. They say they understand. Either through the Holy Ghost telling them what to do or Heavenly Father just put the words in my mouth, they understood. It's amazing how mindful Heavenly Father is of every one of us. How much he knows what we can handle and what we are capable of. So don't give up! Keep finding ways for the Lord to bless you. He will show you what to do. Ja znam. I know it. Love you so much! Until next week!