Week #54

Osijek-Osijek (O-see-yek)

Osijek is the city that I'll be serving in next starting Wednesday! Yes, that's right, transfer calls happened this week. I was very excited to hear that I'll be moving to Osijek. It's very different from Rijeka and Zadar (one it's not by the sea and flat). Also it's cold. There's snow. Tracting's going to start getting a lot more fun :) But seriously tracting hasn't been bad at all. I think every night this week that we went tracting we were let in at least one time. It was very cool. But the coolest thing that happened this week was church on Sunday. When I found out I was leaving, I called everyone I knew and contacted the different store owners and invited them to church. I couldn't believe how many people that I was still in contact with and how many people I talked to within a 6 month time span. It took some time. So on Sunday, I was playing the piano and I couldn't see how many people came because how the piano is situated, you can't see everyone. But then I went up to go speak and the room was full! 20 people came to church not counting missionaries! (Usually about 12 people come to church) We had 4 investigators at church! The most I have ever had. It was absolutely amazing. But the most amazing part is that one of our investigators is going to be baptized tomorrow right before I leave (seriously, we're going to leave right after the service). This is the former investigator that I found with Sestra CC in November and she had chicken blood on her hands. Ring a bell? It's just a wonderful way to leave a city. So pray that everything goes well tomorrow. For I know that she wants this. She wants to feel loved and be a part of the gospel. And I'm so grateful that I was able to help her receive it.

I was called to serve on a mission. As I continue to learn my duty as a missionary, the scripture I gave at my last district meeting in Zadar this week describes perfectly what I feel for these people: 1 Thes. 2:8 . At first, I taught the gospel to these people. Now, I've realized that I have not only given the gospel to them, but my own soul. These people I have come to love. When I think of Osijek, I am excited to meet more people and see what I can do to help. But when I think of Zadar, I almost start crying because I'm leaving these wonderful people until who knows when. But it will all be good, because I'm going to be where God needs me to be. And I'll continue my adventure as a representative of Jesus Christ. Wish me luck and I'll let you know next week how everything went! Volim vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće

Week #53

Napor-Effort

This week we've been gathering in the harvest of the efforts from us and missionaries before. Started off with tracting and being let in 5 times two nights in a row! One night, we knocked on three doors and were let in three times. What a blessing! The other is that the guy who called us last week we met with and he is so great! He brought his friend with him (who we also contacted on the street) and we had a great lesson. They had great questions, committed to reading, praying, and coming to church! He had been reading a little but didn't come to church because he slept in. But he was definitely committed to coming this upcoming week!

Also the woman on date for baptism came to church! She absolutely loved it! She felt so much happier and couldn't wait to become a member of the branch. January 23, her birthday, is the date! Pray for her that she'll stop drinking coffee and she'll come to church this Sunday. That's all she needs to do right now then she can be baptized. I'm so excited!!!

We went to the woman who I helped be baptized this week and something happened that I thought would never happen while I was here in Zadar. While we were talking with her about different gospel subjects, her husband came and sat and listened. I thought at first, "Good. Maybe he'll hear something that will spark his Atheist ways." When I first met this man, his response to us whenever we brought up religion was I'm Atheist and he would leave the room. He would never even stay for a prayer. So as he sat there, we brought up faith and church. He spoke right up and pretty much bore his testimony how our church was different (he came last week for his grandson's baby blessing). There was a different feeling about our church and he couldn't find anything negative. He continued on and talked about faith and that if we didn't have faith then we didn't have anything in this life. I just sat there shocked. I couldn't believe that this man (who I knew would be converted one day) was expressing his thoughts about religion to us right then. I'm so grateful that I was there to see that miracle. The change that I have seen in this family the last 6 months have been a strong influence to me and my life of what one person can do to change their family through time.

Seeing the change in myself and the people of Zadar the last 6 months has been a great blessing. I am a witness that we just need to apply 3 Nephi 27:21, do what Christ does. See every person with the potential of being able to overcome. Have the faith and hope that everything you do that Christ would do is not wasted. In Preach My Gospel it says, "Your consistent efforts in serving and teaching as many people as you can is one way God prepares His children to eventually receive His servants. He often reaches out to His children through you. Even when people do not accept the opportunity to learn the gospel, your service and words are evidence of God's love for them and may plant seeds that future missionaries and members of the Church will harvest." Even though your responsibility isn't to go on the street and preach the gospel, it is your responsibility to preach the gospel when the missionary opportunity arrives. So don't let your guard down! Be an example to everyone around you and always be open to who the Lord will put in your path. I know He will because of the example you have been in my life and what an influence you have been. Keep being that light to someone else because someone needs to see it! Volim vas! Do sljedeći tjedan!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće

Week #52

Hajdemo!-Let's go!

New Year's Eve was a great evening with the members and then going home to a restless night of hearing fireworks going off all the time. It was so crazy to me how many fireworks went off right in the middle of the city. I finally was able to doze off through the noise and then it hit 5 minutes before midnight and the place went crazy! I woke up and looked out the window. It was so loud and so colorful. But it was just describing how this year was going to be for the Adriatic North Mission. This week was full of awesome experiences. Starting with an investigator we have who has given us three referrals who are very interested (just so you know, referrals come far and wide, I think before this week, I have received 5 referrals total on my mission thus far). This woman also said that as soon as she receives an answer from God, she will be baptized. Bah! It was so great. We met with our other investigator ( the one who I first met with chicken blood on her hands) on New Year's Day and she said that she wanted to be baptized this year. We prayed and then she chose the date January 23rd, her birthday. She was so excited and had more of a drive in her after that. So we'll see how it goes. The first time in the history of the Zadar branch, we had a baby blessing. Our branch president's son. It was such a spiritual experience and the bigger miracle was that the branch president's father came (the husband to the woman who I taught to be baptized) came to church for the first time and loved it and felt the spirit so strong. Yesterday we received a call from a man who said that we talked to him on the street and we talked about faith with him. I bet you could imagine our reaction. How many people do we talk to in one day? Lots. Sestra Trumbo continued to talk to him and he asked if we could meet because he was reading the pamphlet and he has one question, "Which church is true?" Wow. Yes, we can meet and we'll help you answer this question. Such a great way to end the week and to start this week.

A friend of mine sent me a letter that shared the scripture Moroni 8:3. God is mindful of us always. And I don't care who you are and how alone and unloved you may feel, but there are people praying for you. And through our Savior, Jesus Christ we can endure with faith to the end. Keep going! And the Lord will help you through it. Volim vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće

Week #51

Sretna Nova Godina!-Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are excited for the new year! This last week was a great week talking to people at home. There are so many people we found at home and that we'll be visiting after the holidays. They were a little busy with the excitement of the holidays and guests over, but they said we could come back and talk to them more. We're going to be so busy these next few weeks! I'm so excited! Today is New Year's Eve and we're having a birthday party for Elder Matosich and celebrating the new year :) It was exciting yesterday to hear from this woman in Split (3 hours away but she's still in our branch boundaries). We've been in contact with her a little bit and she told us she was going to go to come to church. This shocked me so much! Her faith has been down and it's been a big struggle to lift her up. But she came! And it was so great to talk to her face to face and help her get a reboost. Hopefully with all these new missionaries coming out that more places will be opened up so the church can grow here tremendously. We'll see. Last night when we went tracting, we were talking to this lady and she was a little strange at first, but then she said 6:30 (because that was the time) and then it seemed like a flip switched. She started chanting and when she saw the picture of Jesus on the back of a pamphlet Sestra Trumbo had, she grabbed it and started kissing the picture and kept chanting talking about the sun and the moon. It was really weird. But what was even weirder to me that afterward I felt a huge love for her. There are so, so, so many people in this country who have been effected so much by the war which happened in all these adults' lifetimes. I don't know if this woman we tracted into was a not there because of the war or what, but I felt this love for her and a desire for her to understand what the gospel can do for her. In 1 Nephi 11:17 Nephi knows that God loves his children nevertheless he doesn't know the meaning of all things. I switched it up for me that I don't know the meaning of all things like why these people have to be effected by all these hardships nevertheless God loves his children. No matter what happens in life, the Atonement can fix it. We just have to do our part so the enabling power can do its part. So will you take some time and allow the Atonement to heal your life? I know it can. It has healed mine many times. Start this year with no regrets and moving forward to a new year bright and full of hopes and dreams! Because you can totally reach them! Volim vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley

Uvijek Sljedići Braće

Week #50

Sretan Božić!-Merry Christmas!

Wow all this switching around of companions has been messing with my mind a bit. More with Sestra Trumbo, but we're getting refocused and on track to start these holidays with some great contacting on the street with "Living the Christ" tonight and then going around to the members caroling before we call families!!! This last week we were blessed with a senior couple: Matosich's! Their name is Croatian which has already been great for the members here. Elder Matosich's grandpa was born in Split (which I visited about a month or so ago) and his grandmother was born on Hvar which is an island that's pretty popular to go see. It's great! Our branch president asked him to give his testimony at our branch Christmas party/dinner, and Elder Matosich did it all in Croatian! It was very simple, but powerful. And everyone there loved it because he tried so hard. We had a lesson with a member that was having a hard time and Sestra Matosich was able to say the perfect thing and made the member feel so much better. They are going to be a great contribution here in Zadar. I'm excited for their work here. They will be great. So the branch Christmas party was hectic, but such a success! We've been trying to plan something for weeks, but we never got together to plan. Then Friday night our branch president met with us and we planned it all pretty much right there. So in less than 48 hours we had a fantastic party with about 25-30 people and half members and and half nonmembers. What a success! It wasn't like the ward party back at home, but our little church was filled! So great! The best part was a former investigator we invited said she wanted us to come over again and we'll talk more. She's been reading from the Book of Mormon and she really felt the Spirit during the Christmas program we had. Yay!!! So I'll let you know how that goes.

Our woman with a baptismal date didn't come to church...so her date has to be pushed back. She still doesn't understand what baptism means completely still, but we're working through it and I'll get back to you with her. But a baptism that did go through is a woman I taught in Rijeka. We taught her when we first got to Rijeka and her first baptismal date was at the end of June but then she continued to not come to church so her date was pushed back and back then I left. Then I heard that she left Rijeka to go to school in Germany. I thought that was the end for her. But she came back in November and she is now baptized! I talked to her on the phone for a little bit and it was so good to hear her voice and how excited she was to be baptized! She even mentioned some things that she learned from Sestra Lethco and I and how much we helped in her conversion. I wasn't able to make it to her baptism because it was 3 1/2 hours away at least and I'm needed here in Zadar. But it was good to see pictures and know that I was an influence in her life. There are so many people we talk to on the street and people we teach, but I will never know how much of an impact I really gave to everyone. But I'm grateful to know that I did help with this one girl who is so strong now and such an energizer bunny to the branch. It's great!

This last week we had a Christmas devotional/party with the whole mission, it was so great and too short. There were so many people I wanted to talk to and I talked to everyone, but it was like 5 minutes. But then I thought that we'll have more time after the mission so it's all good. But it was very fun to see everyone, play some games, then end with a wonderful devotional with Pres. and Sis. Rowe as the speakers and missionaries doing musical numbers in between. It was a nice ending to a very fun day.

For the branch Christmas party, it was really cool because we had different testimonies from the apostles and prophets that went along with the Christmas story. It may sound confusing but it worked really well. And we started the Christmas story talking about the ancient prophets prophesying of Christ in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. So in the Book of Mormon we quoted Alma 7:10-12. I loved the part that says that Mary is a precious and chosen vessel. I was thinking more about that and how we are all precious and chosen vessels. We all have the potential to fill our vessel, our purpose in life. We need to do everything we can everyday to follow Christ. He's right there along the way. He knows the way. He's already been on the same path. I'm so grateful for this opportunity this Christmas season to teach these people what Christ can do for them. Have a happy Christmas and enjoy this time with your family and friends! Volimo vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće

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

Week #48

Nisam Znala-I didn't know

A few weeks ago, I thought I was going to be transferred out of Zadar and go to Beograd, Serbia. But then President Rowe asked us to stay, and I was very grateful because I love these people. It's frustrating sometimes, but I love them. We got a call from President Rowe last week. He talked to us for a few minutes and then said, "Sestra Compare, I would like you to go to Beograd." At first I thought he just meant an exchange because he talked about us going on exchange for a little bit now, but then he mentioned being transferred. It's crazy. Both of us thought I would leave before Sestra Compare. But this is good. Sestra Trumbo is coming to Zadar and we were companions in the MTC, so it'll be fun. After thinking I was leaving Zadar, I found some more ways how I could help and I haven't finished. There's so much for me to do. There are so many more people I need to find and talk to. There's plenty for me to see happen. We thought we were going to have a baptism on Saturday, but she isn't ready. She's still progressing towards baptism, but she still needs a little more time. Definitely before the end of the year. She'll be ready.

I have been reading the Book of Mormon over and this time summarizing each chapter and how it could fit in one of the Preach My Gospel lessons. I'm in the middle of Alma and all the missionary work from Ammon, Aaron, and the brothers. It's been interesting to see the contrast of the missions, but what I loved most from this week was in Alma 23:6. We were talking to some members and they were joking that Zadar people are like the Lamanites. But then I read how the Lamanites just flocked to baptism as they came to believe "according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy." My mission president is inspired. My zone and district leaders are inspired. Now I have to act on my inspiration and those I just mentioned, so the miracles can work within us and those who believe what we preach will be converted and never fall away. We're finding these people. Now we just need to preach them according to how they need to hear it. It's coming. I know that's what I have been saying pretty much my whole mission, but I have to see the potential these people have. Have faith in them. Only when I see them how God does, then the miracles will happen. Have a great week! Volim vas!

S vjećnom ljubavlju,
Vaša kćer,

Sestra Kristine Jolley
Uvijek Sljedići Braće