Week #49

Kiša Umjesto Snjega-Rain instead of snow

It's weird for it to be December 17 and I look outside and it's still raining. All the other cities in Croatia have snow, but lovely Zadar is looking green as ever. It will be weird to have a Christmas without snow or some sort of wintery feel. This last week was extremely weird because it felt very warm, even with the rain. So I've just been enjoying the October weather :) As I mentioned last time, Sestra Trumbo is with me and Sestra Compare left to Beograd. It was interesting to switch from someone who I had been training and had similar missionary habits (because I trained her) to someone who was trained differently and had different experiences. It's been fun putting both of our thoughts and opinions together. But alas, it didn't last that long because Sestra Trumbo went on an exchange to Slovenia and I'm here with Sestra Tanner. So in the last week I've gone through 3 different companions. I keep forgetting what I've told to whom and how well does she recognize the city or not. It's been interesting. But all good because I've been learning lots in the last week which has felt like a month.

Well, there's no baptism this week, but she's still progressing. We're just trying to figure out what her true concern is. We've been bouncing around to different thoughts and they have been good lessons, but we haven't hit the motherboard. We were talking about the different concerns it could be and I think it all boils down to trusting the Lord and what that means to her. We want to trust the Lord. We want to be the best we can be through him, but what does that mean? While I was thinking about that, I thought that trusting the Lord to me means that I will talk to many people on the street. I won't have fear of rejection or worry about going to the destination of where we want to go but instead have the journey be the goal (if that makes sense). I thought of what trusting the Lord means in different parts of my life and it's different for each part. For you to go out to each person on the street and ask them about the gospel of Jesus Christ isn't necessarily your job, but waking up an hour earlier each morning to have a meaningful scripture study might be a struggle. Then it's trusting the Lord that this is what you need to do. For this woman, trusting the Lord that she'll be able to pay the bills because she paid for tithing and she's afraid to tell her friends about the church because they're strong Catholics. Trusting the Lord is something that's hard for each of us, but the Lord expects us to do it and so we do it anyways. But when we trust the Lord, we're not in it alone. He lifts us up (Mosiah 23:22). He promises that. And I have seen that on my mission and in life. If we do the things we need to do and trust that things will turn out all right, then we're lifted. We are stronger. I know we can do this! For the purpose of life was not for God just to see us fail, but to overcome our weaknesses and come to a higher plane than where we were before. So this week, do something that is hard for you, but God still wants you to do it. Put your trust in Him and I know He'll help you through it. Volim vas! Ugodan tjedan!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće