Živjo!
On Wednesday, we had an exchange with the Kranj sisters. My first one as a leader! Sister Kovač came to Celje, and we spent the day together. It was a really good exchange! She wanted to learn about working with members, and it was a good day for that. We taught Milena, an inactive member, in the morning. She's doing well, but we NEED to get the members more involved with her. Then we went to meet with Milka, an active member, and committed her to come to the next lesson with Milena! Plus, she had some great ideas about some activities we can do for relief society (unity is still a problem, and people want to have more activities). And then, in the evening, we met with Andreja, the relief society president! Sister Lambert came, and we set some specific goals to get visiting teaching going and work on one of Milka's ideas for an activity: making cards to invite inactive members to the branch's upcoming Christmas concert! I'm super excited for it!
We also had a great lesson with Jolanda, a woman who's been investigating the church for over a year now. She really wants to get baptized, but she's living with someone who doesn't want to get married (that happens a lot, as single moms get money from the government). She had invited the elders, and I was frustrated at first because the lesson was going way off track with four missionaries and one investigator. I finally just let it go, though, and it was cool. It ended up really helping her! The elders also gave her a blessing afterward, and the spirit was really strong. She just needs to be patient, but I know she'll get baptized someday. She's wonderful!
We've had a few practices for this Christmas concert, as well. We're hoping to use it as a good finding activity. It's basically going to be like a Christmas program we'd have at a ward at home. And guess who got roped into playing the piano? I did. Peter and Marko, our two active members who play piano, are going to be on vacation with their family. So I'm hoping we can find someone else to at least help out. I'm sure I could get some songs ready by the concert, but I don't know if I can play all 6 or so songs we have planned! Bomo videli!
The rest of the week was interesting, because each day felt super slow and
then ended well. It rained all weekend. Really, all weekend! Without
stopping! And, of course, those were the days when no one would set up and we
only had one scheduled lesson each day that went through. We just wrote down as
many potentials and formers as we could, and set out for hours in the rain to go
visit them all. Both Saturday and Sunday, we basically walked around in the
rain for hours, visiting people who wouldn't let us in. The interesting thing
was, though, that I was still happy about it. I just felt really good that we
were working and doing what we could with what we had. And both days ended
super well!
Saturday, our hours in the rain ended with a lesson with Medina. She's an investigator that we thought only wanted to listen because she's lonely. It started out seeming like that was all true. We went over the obnova (restoration) again (possibly the third time), because she had forgotten what she learned. Then we started talking about restoration of authority, and how it's important for things like baptism. She asked if we baptized kids, and told us that she doesn't agree with it because she was born into the Muslim church and doesn't want to be Muslim. We told her she always has the choice to change, and taught her how to seek answers and recognize the Holy Ghost. We asked her to pray to know if this was true, and she instantly said, "Okay! How do I do it?" and prayed as soon as we told her. It was beautiful! We all felt the spirit super strongly. It was a cool learning experience for me, too. The lesson started getting good as soon as we strayed from our lesson plan and started asking questions. With a few choice questions that we asked with guidance from the Spirit, Medina's whole outlook about our visits changed!
Sunday, we actually got let in by a former! His name is Bojan, and he's pretty cool. I don't really know why anyone dropped him (the records didn't give a reason), but he shows a lot
of potential. The lesson was a little
scattered, because Sister Flanders and I were both shocked that we had gotten
let in, but he still said we can come back. I'm excited to teach him!
Love you all! That was kinda a long letter, but it was a good week.
Fajn se imejte!
This last week was another one that seemed slow, but we got a lot of good
things done. People have been super flakey and don't want to meet with us, but
we've still taught people and found people, so it's okay.
On Wednesday, we had an exchange with the Kranj sisters. My first one as a leader! Sister Kovač came to Celje, and we spent the day together. It was a really good exchange! She wanted to learn about working with members, and it was a good day for that. We taught Milena, an inactive member, in the morning. She's doing well, but we NEED to get the members more involved with her. Then we went to meet with Milka, an active member, and committed her to come to the next lesson with Milena! Plus, she had some great ideas about some activities we can do for relief society (unity is still a problem, and people want to have more activities). And then, in the evening, we met with Andreja, the relief society president! Sister Lambert came, and we set some specific goals to get visiting teaching going and work on one of Milka's ideas for an activity: making cards to invite inactive members to the branch's upcoming Christmas concert! I'm super excited for it!
We also had a great lesson with Jolanda, a woman who's been investigating the church for over a year now. She really wants to get baptized, but she's living with someone who doesn't want to get married (that happens a lot, as single moms get money from the government). She had invited the elders, and I was frustrated at first because the lesson was going way off track with four missionaries and one investigator. I finally just let it go, though, and it was cool. It ended up really helping her! The elders also gave her a blessing afterward, and the spirit was really strong. She just needs to be patient, but I know she'll get baptized someday. She's wonderful!
We've had a few practices for this Christmas concert, as well. We're hoping to use it as a good finding activity. It's basically going to be like a Christmas program we'd have at a ward at home. And guess who got roped into playing the piano? I did. Peter and Marko, our two active members who play piano, are going to be on vacation with their family. So I'm hoping we can find someone else to at least help out. I'm sure I could get some songs ready by the concert, but I don't know if I can play all 6 or so songs we have planned! Bomo videli!
Saturday, our hours in the rain ended with a lesson with Medina. She's an investigator that we thought only wanted to listen because she's lonely. It started out seeming like that was all true. We went over the obnova (restoration) again (possibly the third time), because she had forgotten what she learned. Then we started talking about restoration of authority, and how it's important for things like baptism. She asked if we baptized kids, and told us that she doesn't agree with it because she was born into the Muslim church and doesn't want to be Muslim. We told her she always has the choice to change, and taught her how to seek answers and recognize the Holy Ghost. We asked her to pray to know if this was true, and she instantly said, "Okay! How do I do it?" and prayed as soon as we told her. It was beautiful! We all felt the spirit super strongly. It was a cool learning experience for me, too. The lesson started getting good as soon as we strayed from our lesson plan and started asking questions. With a few choice questions that we asked with guidance from the Spirit, Medina's whole outlook about our visits changed!
Sunday, we actually got let in by a former! His name is Bojan, and he's pretty cool. I don't really know why anyone dropped him (the records didn't give a reason), but he shows a lot
Love you all! That was kinda a long letter, but it was a good week.
Fajn se imejte!
Sestra Erin Jones
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