Tjedan jedan kao trener

Hello!

On Tuesday, Ses K and I cleaned up and loaded up and I drove us halfway to Zagreb, we stopped at The Burger King in Karlovac and waited an hour for it to open- worth it. Then we went to Zagreb and said our goodbyes. I will miss being with Ses K but I was also excited to see my trainee! 

SO. The new trainees arrived and we said all our hellos and picked one and went out on the streets on contacted with them! We were going to go in a straight line, my Sister and I, but somehow ended up super super far from the mission office and we had to have someone guide us by talking to us on the phone and we ran all the way back to the office while talking on the phone to him and it still took us 45 minutes. Fail. I still have no sense of direction but we made it back and I got a long run in! And we talked to a Catholic priest who said he didn't have a Mormons book but he had one of our Koran's. (clarification: we don't believe in the Koran) So we talked to him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and that was cool. 

The next morning we had a huge training meeting and I found out I'd be training.. the lovely.. 5'11".. from Mesa, Arizona.. super sweet.. SESTRA DURFEE! She is so awesome. Reminds me of me. We talked about how we really want to be exactly obedient and work hard and see miracles! And that we have. She's two days older than me. She told me the first day I was with her that I have nice eyebrows, I just love her so much. We are going to have an amazing transfer. It's interesting to talk to people and realize that now I am the one who has to understand everything they say! I pray everyday and the Lord helps me have the gift of understanding! It is a miracle. Miracle. 

We taught AnaMaria and her father this week. And, she has a baptismal date! October 18th! WE ARE SO EXCITED. We took the bus out there and taught her and she showed us her two cats and I just cannot wait. 

Sestra Durfee loves to talk to everyone, and so I do too! We met lots of interesting people. Two that wanted to know if we were going to stay here and marry Croatians. Everyone tells us they can see the spirit in us and glowing around us. We spent a lot of this week at the MUP trying to register and get health insurance and all that good stuff. 

We taught English class this week! We have 8 students in our beginners class and the Elders have 9 in the intermediate. I really love teaching that. 

We went hiking last week for P day and I found a frog and we found this cool abandoned castle thing. This country is just so beautiful. I kissed the frog but no luck. 

THE GOOGLE STREET VIEW CAR PASSED US. Last Monday. With all it's cameras. It looked like it could have been a spaceship. While we were sitting at the bus stop by our house. I was so giddy and pointed at it. Sestra K just laughed at me. I forget that maybe only a member of the Richardson clan would be giddy about something to technological. Yep. 

Coolest moments from this week: we just contacted a lot! A lot! Which basically means we stop people on the street and tell them we have a message about _____ and then share whatever message that is and ask if we can come ___day and teach them more about ____. We got new investigators from it! It has been so uplifting! One family, one man, one woman, and one couple. Super super nice people we have met these last couple days. The couple we met yesterday- I saw their reflection in a window in the town before we actually rounded the corner and saw them, and I can't even really describe the feeling I had to stop and talk to them. I told them we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we have a message about happiness. I asked what brought them happiness and they said love. They were so so sweet. We taught about the restoration right there in the street with them, they said they'd love to learn more and invited us to come with them to mass. I asked them if I went to mass with them if they would come to our church too. They said naturally, so we will be going to mass sometime soon! I am really excited for them to come to our branch here. We talked about the sacrament with them, I recited the whole first vision right there in the road! It was just. So much of the spirit. Right there in the middle of the sidewalk. It was so strong. I cannot wait to talk to them again. We went to a first lesson last night with a new investigator and Sestra Maeda (senior couple) and taught how Joseph Smith had the same question he did- why so many churches and which one is true! Also, he kissed us on the cheeks hello. I'm still trying to get used to that. But we challenged him to pray and see if the message we teach is true because he can and will get his answer from God. We are excited to teach him more. When we had the closing prayer he turned off the lights so we could relax as we prayed. That was new.

Training is great! I love you all! This is the true gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth! We can return to live together, as a family, forever! I love you all! 

Sestra Richardson 

my trainee and I!, a great view, some cool pipes we always pass on the bus

Žasto ne? Besplatno je!

Dobro jutro!

I'm really excited for today because A. we are going to sit on the shore at the beach (yay for staying safe by not swimming! but really. I love that rule not even joking) and B. we will get to hear about transfers tonight! So I may or may not be in Rijeka in about a week and a half. My guess is I will be though. But I might have a new companion, don't know yet.

Yesterday at church a member of our branch asked how long I'd been serving. I said I'd been in Rijeka for a month. Sestra K was like.. it has definitely been 2! Crazy. Time flies here. The days are long but then you're like it's P day again? How??

We had a lesson with one of our investigators about the importance of the Book of Mormon as a book and as a witness of Christ. But more so than that, that we are so insistant on having people read it because if the Book of Mormon is true, that means Joseph Smith had to translate it, and he had to do it by the power of God, and that means God's church is this church, His power is with us! And we can be saved through following Jesus Christ and enduring to the end. She loved that. Loved it. We made a reading calendar for her with different chapters to read every day and we text her every night to follow up and ask how it went. I love her so much! She is really cool.

We went through our area book this week and everyone who was in the number or address incorrect section we facebook stalked on the mission facebook and messaged them. I can't wait til we have iPads and can be less creepy by using our own FB accounts.

We didn't get any new investigators this week, but I did give out 3 Book of Mormons (or is it Books of Mormon?) this week tracting! We went almost every night. One old man talked at us for about 40 minutes on his doorstep about how we are bothering people and they don't need our message, how we need to go out and do service to children in Africa. So the conversation turned semi good so Ses K stuck out her hand and shook his and introduced herself and he just held onto it. For a good 5 minutes. I laughed aloud twice- I couldn't help it. After he had talked to us for a while, Ses K asked him another question and he looked confused. He asked us where we were from and we said "iz Amerike!" He laughed and said I am so so so sorry! He said you didn't understand me at all! We were like no haha we did for some of it though! And he was like oh pretty girls bless you bless you you are from America. So that was interesting. We do have three return appointments with families this week from tracting. I'm really pumped about that. I made one professor take a Mormonova Kniga. I told him I promised that if he'd read it it would change his life. (I know he was a professor because it said that on his door- they all have their names on their door) He took it and said he would. I was super bold. But it felt really good. I told him that book had changed my life and I promise it would change his- and it was besplatno je!

We volunteered at club heart again this Tuesday. We taught English for an hour. We handed out pictures of fruits, veggies, sports, animals. And then we'd say phrases like I eat... or I love.. or I play.. One student said, "I eat cats!" Because carrots was really hard to pronouce. They are so so sweet. I love going there. They are so innocent and you can see the light of Christ in their eyes. Also there are a lot of cats here. I probably saw 60 different ones yesterday.

We made tacos this week. They had tortillas here for Mexican week at our local grocery store so we bought a lot. We ate them for three meals in a row and a night snack. We had aktivnost this week be a birthday activity because of birthdays in the branch. We played cards and frosted and lit and ate cupcakes. In that order. It was lots of fun, and a lot of people came. One member offered to let us borrow her cat to get rid of the mice in our house. The members here are GOLD.

THE COOLEST. They had a big Europe women's meeting this Tuesday! They broadcasted it from Frankfurt and we watched it in the our chapel. Elders Ballard, Bednar and Hallstrom spoke. There was a lot of emphasis on the strength of youth pamphlet and on standing as a witness for Christ.

English advertising- we are restarting our English class up again. I designed new flyers using *microsoft publisher* it was rough but they look decent. I miss illustrator. Never thought I'd use that skill on my mission! We handed out 200 English flyers in one day. The Lord shared a miracle with us. So it rained a lot this week and we don't tract during the day, lots of lessons fell through, but it was raining so we couldn't go street contact about our English class restart. I prayed all morning that it would let up. It rained on the way to get the flyers printed, on the way to lunch, but as soon as we walked out the door to talk to people, IT STOPPED. The Lord is so good. When we'd come inside it'd start up again. It was truly a miracle. I wore a black business-looking blazer and Ses K this beautiful scarf and people were surprisingly really nice to us and wanted our flyers. I said we need to dress up every day haha! But also not because a guy at a cafe made us come talk to him as we walked past and asked if we had any women for him or if he could buy us a drink or get a picture from us? I said we only had pictures of Jesus.. Never a dull moment here. There was a big Vespa convention and so we went and contacted on the harbor but we got whistled at by this Mariači (sp?) band and so we left and went back into centar. Awkward.

Also, when we were English contacting, we were about 20 feet (horizontal) away from this woman and her husband and daughter. I had this feeling I could not deny that I needed to divert my path and walk and give her one. I tried to deny the feeling but it wouldn't go away. I walked and gave her one. She was thrilled. Thrilled! She spoke English but she really wanted to come practice and was super nice and adorable family and she said sto posto she would definitely come. That was a good day. I am so excited, and grateful for that prompting.

Volim te puno puno. Don't forget to pray. Choose the right. Be nice to everyone. More good words.

- Sestra Richardson

pics: setup of the Europe area meeting, boat with my number on it, me and the harbor.
another selfie, birthday aktivnost, what a "meal" looks like when you're out and about.. but the juice here is to die for

Sok po zdrav

Dorbo jutro!

Yesterday on the bus into town I was thinking about how it had been what I'd call an *average, normal* week of missionary work. I mean being a missionary is not ordinary but the week hadn't had any super outstandingly weird things....So, THEN:

I have to begin with this story because it is.. just. Just continue reading. So at zone conference in Zagreb this week President Grant taught a lot about faith and Sestra K and I set some goals to be better at finding (contacting on the streets and everywhere, tracting) because without contacting people you have no one to teach, and with no one to teach you have no missionary work, etc etc. So last night we went tracting (door to door, doorbell to doorbell, building to building) after a delicious dinner at the Maeda's, the sweet senior couple serving in Rijeka. We decided that people are more likely to come to church if it's close to them so we tracted buildings close to the church.  First miracle: we got let in! The sweetest woman answered the door. She said she believed in the Qu'ran(sp?) but her husband came to the door too and told us to come in! We said thank you thank you and they let us sit down. It had been fast sunday and she asked us if we wanted anything to drink so of course we accepted. Sestra K said water would be just fine. She said she had sok po zdrav (juice for health) and so we said okay that's fine! We asked if it was samo s voćom i ništa još? (only with fruit and nothing else?) and she said naravno (naturally, of course) and so we said okay that would be fine. They just have the juice syrup and then they put the water in it. So she did that and gave us some as we started to talk to her husband at the table. We talked with them about how Christ had come and established his church on the earth. They agreed. Then we talked about after, His apostles were killed and the priesthood, or power of God, was gone from the earth. At this point we'd both had some of the juice. She asked if we wanted more and I said sure. So she adds more of the (what we thought was syrup) and water. I take another sip. So: background story, they really love their juice and I have had some interesting juice but this one tasted a little different but I figured it was just an acquired taste. Then she puts the bottle down on the table and said if you want more, just add some. So, about 20 seconds after she had set it down I read the bottle. VODKA. It was Vodka. Guys. So we proceeded to teach the lesson and ate napalatonke (little cookie wafer things) and he smoked two cigarettes during our teaching and she smoked one too and they offered us some be we said we don't smoke. I am not quite sure at what point Sestra K noticed too but she stopped drinking it and I had too but I didn't want to be rude so I ate a lot of the cookies and we proceeded to invite them to read and pray about if this is God's true church on the earth today! They took of the Book of Mormon and were really nice but said that they believed that all churches had truth and that we could come back and talk to them as friends and have coffee with them but that they didn't want to hear about our church more and were not interested in praying about it. We fervently thanked them for their time and kindness and cookies and "sok".. and said that if more Mormons come again sometime, to let them in because the message will be the same but their feelings would be different. She agreed and was very kind! For about two flights of stairs on the way out of that building we were both silent. Then we both burst out and were like oh gosh! When did you realize?!?!? We talked about how those are the kind of stories your grandkids read in your journal and are like what grandma?! Is that for real? And that if someone ever played the game never have I ever..and said "had vodka" that we could not say that anymore. In hindsight, we totally should have said something when we realized it, and that was bad on our half. We laughed and were like what are we doiiingggg but the lesson was still very powerful. We called President Grant and were like so? what do we even do now? He was like you're fine, it's okay, but you sound a little tipsy! (jokingly) Oh man. So that happened! We both felt super sick the whole way home. Could be a little guilt, could be a little vodka inside our systems! Haha no just the vodka. We both actually tried to throw it up at home, but no luck. Sorry that may be disgusting but the truth! So that's the story!

Last Monday we planned this elaborate Minute to Win it night for branch FHE. It was super fun. We planned it all (Ses K and I) and were exhausted from it because besides going to the gym that's all we did that day was run around and get things for that night. I feel like I am RSP again haha. It was really fun though, we only had six members come but all six missionaries came and it was a good time. It was also really fun for me to try and explain some of the games in Croatian! But those pictures are really nice. At one game, wrapping up in toilet paper the fastest Ses K and I beat the Elders and I got really dizzy and fell on the ground and thought I was going to puke! But I didn't! And we won! So it was all worth it. Really fun night though, worth the planning.    

At testimony meeting yesterday I said "I want to change my testimony" instead of "share" my tesitmony. Woops. I definitely just wanted to share it. My testimony is stronger than it has ever been. Even though a lot of people here are firm in their beliefs, when we talk with them they tell us there is something different about us and they love to talk to us. I know that they can see the spirit and the happiness we feel. I feel different too when I can go to church, when I pray, read the scriptures and when I do those things that bring the spirit of God into my life! ALSO GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING UP. I AM SO PUMPED FOR THAT.

Family: do you remember how we played that "Bocce" (boče here I think) ball game out on the grass all the time? So here they legit play it in cement and sand pits and men in their 30s-60s  play it and they wear jerseys. The window in the church you look down and you can see them playing all the time. I want to go contact down there and ask one of them if they will teach me and then I will teach them.. the gospel! What a good trade. Also family, we didn't start the fire is playing right now in this internet place!! The old old memories..we are old. I feel old.

The rest of the week after Monday Ses Kropušek and I were super super sore from the gym. That was a very well intended idea but we had a hard time walking for a few days! Woops. We taught a less active this week the visiting teaching message. She, and most people, are looking for jobs. We called another friend of our church this week to see how she was, she said (she's a teacher) that she was not ready for school to start but excited because she has a job. The church offers an employment class every Saturday but it's still really hard for people to get jobs. Even at fast food places, adults work there.  But- anyways she said she had moved and gotten a new apartment that's more expensive but it's better for her cats (she said.) People here love their cats and I love that. Their dogs too.

Random: Helaman 3:10 where it talks about shipping. I never realized that shipping means to send by way of boat/ship. I hope I am not the only one who has never made that connection. More random: does icy hot get more potent with time? Because I put some on + because I was so so sore from the gym and it was really hot and cold! I washed it off my legs because it hurt so bad haha. I found it in my adventures in cleaning out our house! It expired in 2003 but I figured it would be fine? Hmm. The guy that kissed me on the head like 4 weeks ago just walked into the cyber and I ducked my head and said ne možeš! But he put out his hand so I shook it. Svaka čast.

We were walking to the church one day and a man in his 20's we passed and he took his cigarette out and yelled MORMONI! I turned around and said "Da! Da li si čuo prije?" He said he knew that the church was near, then his 5 friends came out of the building too and we were talking half in English and half in Croatian. He asked what the differences were in our church and others and how many members we have. He said he believes in Christ because his grandma taught him to do that. They go to school really close to the church, so we talked some more and gave them a flyer for our free English class. They called themselves "the hooligans" so I guess that is either a cognate or a word that people love to use here! I just love talking to people and hearing their life stories.

I've ran into quite a few people this week who really love to talk about the Utah Jazz! They love to name drop Karl Malone, John Stockston and talk about the good old day of the Jazz. They like the Bulls too. One man heard us talking about the Utah Jazz and told us about how he had an aunt that lived in America. I asked him which state and he said the Caribbean...... I told him I'd been there before! Everyone likes to tell us about their relatives that live in America.

We taught a Jehoviah's witness this week! The one we met last week on the street. He lived in this train station looking metal building. It was really cool and different. Painted red and blue and spray painted house numbers. He was very very nice and his wife made us palačinke. We talked about the fall of Adam, the Bible, and he let us teach a little about the restoration. A lot of people here like to talk to us but if we invite them to do something they say no no we can talk about religion and you can come over whenever you want but I will not join your church. We burned him a disk of the Life of Jesus Christ videos from the church that had been translated by a missionary here into Croatian. He really liked that and gave us two of JW videos. We invited him, and we invite everyone to pray and ask God if the Book of Mormon is the word of God and if our church has the authority of God. We explained that we don't want to argue and dissuade him away from his views, we want him to get his answer from God! He had some questions for us that we answered and he asked how we could be so sure of that. We testified that we have both received our answers through the power of the Holy Ghost.

S ljubavlju,
Sestra Richardson

pics: view from a building we tracted, scenes from FHE, pointing to a word on the street of how I felt this week,
national geographic had a big exhibit on korzo, more from FHE, waiting for the bus selfie with our umbrellas because lots of rain this week

#tendermercies

Bok,

Tender mercy: we ran out the house one evening after snarfing down some dinner real fast at our house. We have been super super busy.  We wouldn' t have gotten to the lesson on time if our bus didn't come within the next five minutes. We prayed aloud as we left the house and ran to the bus stop- the bus pulled up right as we got there! I just see things like that every single day that we find the hand of the Lord in our lives.

We taught a less active member the visiting teacher message for the month. She showed us a video of her granddaughter- look up "Sabrina Hebiri, I'm on a vacation" if you want to see what the prettiest area in my mission looks like!

So in our house we have like 5 EFY, church music CDs that we just cycle through over and over again. There is a song that goes, " A more excellent way.. I'm leaving the way of the world behind me! I'm choosing to take a more excellent way." And it basically just gets stuck in your head for ever and ever. But I talked a little bit about that in district meeting. Ether 12:11 talks about this more excellent way and so does Corinthians. I feel like it's kind of one of those church phrases that is just kind of said. It's a weird English phrase and it doesn't translate well to HR. But anyways, I read about how the more excellent way is the Lord's way, and it requires faith. When we teach the Word of Wisdom lesson, it can be hard for people to see why they need to change. We teach how if the book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ and Joseph Smith was a prophet, which means the Word of Wisdom came from God. We just need to pray with a sincere heart and the Holy Ghost will testify that that is true.  That the Book of Mormon is scripture!

Update on our mouse: so our landlord was outside and we came in one night and I told him we had a mouse and he just laughed and laughed so hard and his wife said how do you know? And I said because I put a little piece of cheese in the cupboard and it was gone the next morning! Gross!!!!!!!!! He laughed and came inside and just laughed and laughed and told us there is no way one could even be behind the cabinet because it is too close to the wall. He said it probably got in because we leave our doors open. ... we only do to the french doors in the morning when we are there studying because it is cooler that way and super nice outside. Anyways... he put out some poison and told us to turn of our Air conditioning at night because "nije podrav" it's not for health. We have said this phrase so many times since. They say leaving the AC on like that all night is bad for you. SO then the next day the mouse had eaten a big chunk out of the poison cube thing and so we told him and he brought in big traps with smoked ham on them. Smoked ham! We all laughed so hard at this together. We didn't really know how to say any phrases or words related to catching mice with a mouse trap, so it involved a lot of charades. He told us to look for the current mouse that was probably dead somewhere because of the poison and that it would stink and we would find it soon.

We had three Zagreb sisters come stay with us for a two night exchange. That was interesting. Our finding activity on Korzo which involved a couch, picture frames, and plan of salvation and FHE pamphlets got cancelled because they had this HUGE like county fair thing in the middle of Korzo and there was noooo room to walk, let alone set up a couch. But that's okay. We still are going to hold the FHE tonight. When the 3 Sestre came I had to take the Sisters Marlow and Bradley with me and I felt like I was the senior comp because I knew the area. That was a scary moment haha. We got dropped by two investigators this week, so not a lot of formal lessons are happening right now, which is discouraging but we still work hard and are going to find those who need to hear the good word! 

I have talked to four Jehoviah's witnesses this week.  Not really sure how but we run into them a lotttt. One yesterday we talked with for an hour. He was actually super impressed with us (or so I took out of it) and spoke some Croatian and some English with us. My favorite.  I got his info and we are going to go over there this week to bring him the church's new bible videos, which a missionary translated into the language. I had this feeling to take a plan of salvation pamphlet before we left the house that morning. I did and what do you know- I gave it to him! He really did not want to take it but I said Žasto ne? and was very persistent. Don't worry, he took it. We are going to visit he and his wife this week. The Lord works in great ways. I'm glad he told me to bring that pamphlet that morning. We never bring pamphlets unless we have a lesson.

So. Last P day, Ses K and I bought matching bright pink shoes and tops. So, that describes our companionship accurately. We get along super well. She is so awesome. Also we bought a baka cart to haul lots of things around in. We talked to this drunk guy on the bus (well he talked to us) and he was just so confused and we told him we represent Jesus and so he slobbered all over himself and was crossing himself and would kiss his hand and cross himself and he staggered off the bus and just stared at us as the bus pulled away. ?

This Saturday we had a 7:30am-3:30pm service activity-- cleaning the church. Somehow it got unorganized and such in the time it's been here (they just moved it last year) and there were like cardboard boxes full of stuff in the shower, all kinds of old things, yeah. We took all day and threw so much away, scrubbed things. Even threw away the old baptismal font! And the best part of it is, every time we went to the dumpster, people had taken all the things out of it. So, yeah. People dumpster dive here and it is totally normal. So, someone has the old baptismal font now. We made bread this week, I made one in the Croatia crest thing. It was pretty legit. ALSO I translated sacrament into English for Sister Maeda and then was called on to go bear my testimony. So, that was interesting. I am working hard to get this language down.

LOVE YOU ALL

the bread I made, trying to find a mouse, eating at a really fancy ice cream place last p day,
locks from the harbor, my shoes we bought, my closet hahaha