Monday, November 4, 2013

Week 5

Hey everyone!! I can't believe I have hit my third month already and my first month mark here in Slovenia!!
 
This past week has been so amazing and being out here in the mission is so amazing!!  I am learning so much and a mission really does change your life!! :)  I am really beginning to love the people here!  Last week we had a Chestnut picnick with all of the branches of Slovenia (3) and Celje was hosting it.  We had about 40 people show up and it was so much fun!  Our Branch President (Predsednik Stojanovič) put so much time and effort into it, and he has such a big heart.  The people are amazing and have such strong testimonies, despite the struggles of being in such small branches.  They also served SO much food at the picnick, which was amazing!!  The food here is really good!!  On another note I also found out I not allergic to chestnuts, haha!! And then I also found out I'm not allergic to Nutella either, so.... I have been eating a ton lately, catching up on everything I have been missing out! XD
 
This last Tuesday we also had an exchange and I went to Ljubljana with Elder Dearinger.  He was in the Older group of Slovene missionaries in the MTC and me and him became really good friends and so I was SO excited!!  It was such a fun excgange!!  When we got to the apartment my heart pretty much dropped!  It was like a mansion/palace compared to our apartment in Celje!!  Our apartment is so small, and I'm not sure if I have sent pictures of it yet, but I will next week.  But it was like heaven to me!  It had 2 rooms, a kitchen, a big entry hallway and then 2 bathroom, AND they actually had a real shower curtain and not a poor man's curtain, made out of trash bags (haha I hope you all saw the picture of ours from my last email! XD)   But literally the best thing of all was somehow the Ljubljana Elders had......... a guitar!!!  It was amazing!!! And I was so happy and I played it so much while I was there!!  It brought back such great memories and it amazing to see how such simple things can bring you so much joy, haha! 
 
Throughout the day we did lots of different things like preparing for English Class and then we teaching it and then we went out and went contacting on the way back to the apartment, because it was late and almost time for to end the day.  A lot of the day was taken from traveling from Celje to Ljubljana by train, so we didn't have much time to proselyte, but we tried to do about an hour after English Class. 
 
As we were contacting, nothing was really happening and there weren't a lot of people out on the streets, so me and Elder Dearinger went and prayed and asked for help and guidance to find someone that needs this gospel, and after that we continued.  In those last 15 minutes we still didn't find anyone to teach, which was disapointing, but we decided to walk back and go to the apartment.  As we got to the apartment, we stopped, and I felt that we should go for just a little bit longer and when I asked Elder Dearinger how he felt, he agreed.  We then turned around and walked down the side walk and as we were walking we saw a car driving by with a kid sitting on the drivers lap.  Elder Dearinger then pointed it out to me, kind of disapointed in the man, and then all of the sudden the car turned into the parking lot right in front of us and stopped.  Turns out it was a really good friend of Elder Dearinger's and that they met him at his restaurant the last week.  We started talking to him and we met his young boy, who he was having some fun with him and "teaching him how to drive" the little bit before home.  He wasn't in any danger, because they were going slow and his son loved it!!  He was just beeming with smiles! :)  We kept talking to him and then he asked us what we are up to this week and if we were working, and we said "Actually..." and then told him that we were missionaries and what we do.  He had never before heard of Mormons, Joseph Smith, or the Book of Mormon.  So we kept talking with him and then we got a little off subject, because we started talking about where he was from (India).  Then he had to go and said that we were welcome anytime to come over to their home and have dinner!!  We then walked back to the apartment and Elder Dearinger told me how great that was and that him and his companion have been wanting to bring up the gospel with him for a really long time, but that they were just waiting for the right time and if we hadn't have turned around we would have missed him! :)  I want to testify that the Lord really is involved in this work and that "little-miracles" are all around us, and I have actually noticed a lot more around me this week, but ya gotta be quick, because Heavenly Father doesn't want to be TOO obvious. ;)  But if we're looking, we'll see them. :)
 
Another thing that I would like to mention is that this Saturday we got 5 new investigators all in one day!!  It was crazy!!  Our goal was to find 2 for that week, but we found them all in one day!!  One is a family of three.  A brother and his sister and the sister's son.  They are atheist, but I think they mainly just know what to believe in.  She believes that all of the churches are just corrupted, and we told we understand and we would LOVE to teach our message. ;)  But for the first lesson we mainly focuesed on God, and who he was.  And then we got a feel of who they were.  And now we have another set up! 
Then the other investigators were a man and a woman (boyfriend and girlfriend) and we taught them the first lesson.  They are kind of in the same boat as the first family, and the woman asked the question why are there SO many churches and faiths.  So we talked about Joseph Smith and the first vision.  It was really funny, because in the whole first half of the lesson, they were actually rolling up cigarettes and smoking them in front of us, haha!  He smoked two and she smoked three and had a glass of wine, all in 30 minutes! The spirit wasn't really there until they stopped and were done and then that is when we got to the point of Joseph Smith and I recited the first vision to them.  The spirit was really strong then and it just shows that the spirit will not dwell in unholy places.  They took the lesson pretty well and we have another set up with them later. :) 
 
Well today I am in Maribor for P-Day and am currently in the Library there, but I am going to get going and go have some fun!  Thank you all for all of your letters and they are such a joy!!  They really help a lot and give me a boost, when times get hard.  I love and miss you all!
 
- Starešina Lyman

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