Week #63

I Tako Dalje (itd.)-Eccetra (etc.)

 

It's that time of season again for transfers!!! Every time is a bittersweet feeling, but this time I'm blessed to stay in Osijek for at least one more transfer. Sestra B is going to Beograd to be with Sestra C! It's so exciting for them and they'll be able to talk about all the weird habits I have ;) And I will be training again this transfer. There are 5 sisters coming to our mission and then there are 11 coming the next transfer! Therefore all the older missionaries now will most likely be training. It's super cool because I came to this mission with only 4 sister missionaries in Croatia and none in Bosnia or Serbia, then leaving with 20 sisters in at least 2 cities in Serbia, 2 cities in Bosnia, and maybe all 6 cities in Croatia! This is soo exciting!

 

This week was another week of growing and miracles happening. One huge miracle was with the Jehovah Witnesses. They keep asking questions which is good, but the questions are so specific that we can't answer them all. So I asked them if they asked God to answer their questions. The look in their eyes is the look I search for in every investigators' eyes--sincerity. They are sincerely trying to understand why we believe in the Book of Mormon. They aren't searching for themselves quite yet, but they are making progress. We have come to an understanding of each other and now they want to understand why we believe what we believe. Once they see that, I know they will want to find the truth for themselves.

 

Another fun thing that happened this week was English class. English classes are hit and miss for me. Sometimes I'm super excited and they're really fun, or it's the finding activity that I dread. But this week for the final class, we set up the church as a town. Each one of us missionaries had a different part of town to be in charge. We had the movies (Mormon messages/I'm a Mormon), post office, travel agency, Wal-Mart, and jail. Every station had something they had to do in English. It was super fun. I was the police woman, so I went around and if I heard any speaking in Croatian, I put them in jail then they had to answer an English question to get out. It was super fun.

 

Well, again, V didn't get baptized :( But the reason this time was because her husband had work, so we scheduled for it this week. But there's another complication that has come up, then next week we have General Conference. V is sooo ready now! I'm just wondering when she's going to be baptized now. But it will happen. The more we meet with her, the more I see her grow. It's so amazing to see now that she has stopped smoking, the change that has become in her. It reminds me of a member who went on a lesson with us with L and R (the woman who has been meeting with Jehovah Witnesses). The member said that she didn't receive an answer about the Church until she stopped smoking. Therefore, it wasn't until she was keeping the commandments when the Spirit could really teach her. Hopefully, V can get baptized this weekend...again..but we'll see. I'm still praying :)

 

This week's title is "itd." because I'm getting to the point where this is my life. It's hard still because I'm now figuring out how to improve myself. When I first got here, I saw everything and that I needed to improve in everything. Now I'm getting the gist of things and this will be my second round of training, and I'm just ready to keep going. etc. etc. Yes, I need to improve everything still, but it's not such of a shock. But I know I need to keep moving forward and not just forward but push upward. I need to bump myself up. I think I shared this scripture before, but I feel like it's the scripture that describes what I'm feeling. Alma 32:27. "Arouse your faculties" Change something. If you have that desire, do something about it! I have a desire to be the best missionary that I can be for these last 4 months (I'm still not used to that 4 month thing, but I'm getting a grip on it). There's so much that I still see for Osijek and that I see for me. Now I just need to do something about it. So will you join me and do something different? Get out of the day to day life, and find something that you desire. Then do something about it and become better! Reach that potential that God sees in you. Don't look back with regrets and move forward with faith! Forward and upward! Volim vas!

 

 

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće