Živjo!

They split the Ljubljana branch, and now we have a branch in Kranj!!! We had an amazing district conference yesterday, and they organized the new branch. I'm so excited! Sadly the building isn't quite ready yet and they won't actually be having sacrament meetings in Kranj until December, but we'll be having sacrament meeting separate from the Ljubljana branch. This is the first branch in Slovenija that they've created by splitting an existing branch, so it's a pretty historical step and a sign that the church is growing here.

I could just end there, since that was definitely the highlight of my week, but I guess I'll write a little more :)

We had a good lesson on Monday with Dušan and his wife (a guy we found a few weeks ago). He sometimes seems reserved and like he's not sure what to think about all this, but it's clear he feels the Spirit and he wants to feel that more. His wife isn't as crazy about it, since she thinks we believe the same things she already does, but she was a huge help with prayer. We asked Dušan to pray, and when he said he didn't know how because he had never done it, she told him,"It's easy! You just say what you're grateful for and anything else that's in your heart!" It was awesome.

We had another funny finding story this week, too. We were looking up a potential and (as often happens in Slovenija) getting confused because the numbers on the street don't line up like you think they should. As we were looking, we passed a blok that had its doors wide open and felt like we should tract it. As usual, I wanted to go to the top, and pushed what I thought was a light. Turns out it was a doorbell. The lady who opened the door, though, was awesome! We talked to her about how the gospel has been restored to bless families. She had three young sons that she was just putting to bed, but she asked us to come back again.

I'm pretty sure that story is about the third time when we've either accidentally started at the bottom or felt like we should start there and had awesome miracles happen. That might be a sign that we should start doing it at the bottom. And, there seems to be a trend that the members tend to live at the top of bloks. Our theory is that that is due to the missionaries' tendency to start at the top. Maybe it's time to break that trend ;)

This week we also went to do visiting teaching with Ana, who is mostly recovered from breaking her hip (she can walk now, but uses a cane). We visited Marjana, a member in really bad health in the retirement home. I learned a lot from seeing Ana and Marjana. We were with one old woman who had her own health problems, who took the time and effort to visit someone who needed love and care more than she did. I think that the image of Ana gripping the bedridden Marjana's hand while smiling and talking to her is about the most vivid image of Christlike love I have ever seen.

Another random thought about district conference: the missionaries did a musical number and sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth." It was a really cool experience for me, and was really powerful. I would encourage you all to read the words to that hymn and really think about them. They're really good!

I'm really grateful to be able to serve as a missionary! I know that Christ lives and that His restored gospel is the way to true happiness. He truly makes us more like His Father when we live the gospel. The church is true!

Love you all!

Sestra Jones