We got this letter while Jessica and I were at camp so we didn't get a chance to post it that week. Do you like how I got the smack down on the food? Do you know how hard it is to fill a care package if you don't send food? Mike did put together an awesome care package though with fun stuff. Yay Dad!!!
Dobro jutro moj obitelj! I love you kids! Okay, it's weird, but every time that I get on this computer I kind of freak out and tense up because I just don't know if I can get it all in... Well, here goes nothing!
This week seemed like it took about 5.6 seconds to get through, though each individual day consists of about 30 hours of study and simultaneous boredom. It's pretty great. The people are really fun to be with and the teachers even more so. Um, this is going to be all out of order, but I'm just following bullet points that I have. So bear with me. There's really no way of telling which day is which here. Except of course for p day and sundays. Is fun. :) We did something this week for the second time in MTC history - took a picture of ALL the missionaries here. We are about 2500 strong (which is tiny compared to the 52000 out in the field) and it was cool. That was immediately following a really great Sunday Fireside by a seventy about the importance of the Book of Mormon. S. Mulder and I were completely blown away. It was the best, most steadfast testimony of its importance that I have heard since Elder Holland's talk 2 years ago. So, basically I'm sold. Love it. It quelled some of my worries about retention in Croatia because if we just attach them to it, there's no way they can deny it. Such a good book.
I've started a study journal at the bidding of PMG so that I can better keep my thoughts oriented and remember things. It's way fun and a really useful tool for remembering what I've learned. Which just so you know is kind of a lot. It's just been great to write and read. I'm also going for two years straight of not a day missed writing in my journal. I've almost filled a third of Jessica's that she gave me already! Crazy cray.
Um, there's a song Prayer of the Children that S. Mulder was singing a while back that we realized we could translate some of it! So cool. It's apparently about the Bosnian children during the war in the 90s. It says Da li chuete, sve dieche molitve... Which is something about hearing the prayers of the children. It was a really cool moment and a huge boost in confidence for us. Also Come thou Fount. Heard that for the first time here. Ways good. Way.
Investigators. We have two. Marilena is great. We were teaching her a little about the Plan of Salvation and she really opened up about a friend that had died in a car crash. It was way sad, but filled us with hope as we explained about the Spirit world and how we can be with families and friends again. She read this great Hinckley quote with us too and really wanted to read the BoM. So much fun. So great. We also have one named Srjon. (Can't spell it without the "nasties" - the letters not in the standard latin alphabet. So frustrating while typing to you....). He believes in the church, has read the BoM, and loves what we teach. No way he's getting baptized though, because he's Serbian and thus Orthodox. He's only interested in like music and whenever we're exciting. Which means that with S. Harris, my teaching companion, he's often bored. We probably gave the worst lesson of all time on Friday, but we're seeking to redeem ourselves this week with just singing with him. Creative, no? Thanks, Pres. Stapley.
It was Pioneer day here and all the Utahans went crazy! I feel like I know NOTHING about Church History. The choir director on Sunday went crazy with all these little stories and things. So fun, but I'd never heard them. The devotional also talked about being our own self pioneers. First times for everything!
It rained last night. Oh, it rained. I love it. I was trying to breathe through my sicky sick nose to smell it, and it was wonderful. I absolutely love the rain. Oh my gosh, yes.
we play sick nasty tight volleyball during gym periods. We're actually really good, I think. It's fun to play with people who care. I'm too short and white, though so I've no hops for the front row. Ah well, we've got S. Biskup to spike it for us. My sets are getting way good! S. Mulder and I are going to start running a mile every gym period though, because we're getting fat from this nasty food and lack of moving around. It's pretty rediculous.
Sunday in Sacrament we had a really great talk given by our Branch president Presjednik Creer. He's great. Just absolutely fantastic. Love him. He talked about prayer and the need that we have to ponder things and then go and talk to the Lord about them in order to know what He needs us to do. Really simple, really profound. While trying to pray in Croatian all the time, now, we still have some in English and I've seen a huge change in my own. I love it. Prayer is just cool, you know? Such great answers all the time.
Wednesday we had new missionaries come into our zone. We inducted them by having "Zone prayer" and only speaking in our various languages rather loudly, having a speech given by our "Bilbo" and a fight between the new and old gingers. It was pretty great. Wrapped it up with a spiritual thought and prayer and then lights out and quiet time on time. Just to be the examples. Fun fun fun and then be good still. So fun. We realized that we'll probably have 2 more sets of English speakers before we leave here. Should get better every time!
So, tell me about some stuff! how was camp?! How is home? How is work? Really anything is good if it comes in a letter. Mom, I love to get yours because they're fun. This week I wasn't quite so inundated so I was able to read it a couple of times. So great. I like you. There are some things that I would like if at all possible. In your next care package, whenever it may be, DO NOT SEND FOOD. Blunt? Okay, maybe. It's just that we keep eating crap right before bed and it's gross. The gummy bears went quick, because I tried to parce them out and share as much as I could, ending up instead with more cookies and twizzlers than I could have ever dealt with alone. The M&Ms, though I have horded. Starshi Loynes (the British zone leader) has been coming in every night and praising your name. Even so, unless it's like a fruit leather or bag of baby carrots (hopeful look?) please don't? We's dying. Instead you should send me like another pair or two of athletic socks, because mine are pretty gross by end of week. And maybe like a bouncy ball or yo yo or something to keep me occupied and not going crazy in our residence hall. Idk. This is in no way a bash on your last package. We loved it, but just... ya. Love you.
I'm worried about the Croats. I don't know if I'm doing enough to be ready in the languages I'm learning. Croatian is easy compared to this gospel thing. I have a hard time simplifyng. I just worry that there will be people I miss because I'm not doing all I can here. Our 50 words per day goal is cute and all, but is it enough? Maybe. Our serbian teacher pushes us really hard. But it's good. I am trying to learn cyrillic on my own, because I think it's beautiful. It's really great. Maybe they'll transfer me to Serbia! Lawlz. Someday maybe I'll be ready to understand the magnitude of this. Will I? Idk. I hope so. It's the work. I'm hoping to do it my whole life long. My life is so incredibly rich right now. I am raw and sensitive to every emotion and spiritually uplifting teaching right now and I couldn't imagine a better place for me. There's so much for me to learn, there's so much for me to teach. I love you, guys. I love home. I have been blessed, however, with not being able to focus on home at all. I cannot think of you. It's not an admonition to myself, but rather a physical impossibility. Strange tender mercies. Be well this week. I love you all.
Znam da ovdije je dobro za ja. Volim moj obitelj, prjatelji, i Bog. Ja sam dobar sada. Ciao Ciao.
Starjeshina Adams
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