A concert in Ljubljana!

We are excited at the news of Paul Cardall and David Archuleta performing in Slovenia on May 13th.    Paul Cardall visited the Adriatic North Mission last year in September of 2015, to share music, and raise awareness of congenital heart disease.  He had a heart transplant in 2009, and has performed numerous benefit concerts.  We are also fortunate to have David come and perform with him.  Everyone knows him from American Idol fame, but more importantly, the decision to put his career on hold to serve a mission for two years.  He served in Chile from 2012-2014.  We were happy to find out that he is willing to do a fireside in Zagreb. Which brings me to our "14 hour day".  This is not a common thing for us, but I know that other missionaries (senior and young) have many days such as these.  I will refer to EK's journal which is much more detailed than mine.  Last Thursday, we left the apartment early, to attend a planning meeting for "An Evening with David Archuleta Fireside" in Zagreb. The Grants were there along with two sister missionaries (media sisters), a recently returned missionary, the Bobić's, and us. The meeting was a success, and many ideas were shared.  President Grant conducted the meeting and afterwards turned the committee over to EK and said, "make it happen."  A little something else to keep us busy.  As I said before, the days are flying by.

Beautiful sky as we returned home

We then hopped in the Opel and drove to Varaždin for another meeting that EK had. Meanwhile Sister Porter and I went over to Metro (mini Costco) to price food for the upcoming Singles Conference in March.  We have met weekly to plan for it and the committee has worked very hard in providing interesting workshops and awesome speakers for the event.  This is the first one ever in the mission, and this one is the "kickoff".  Think of it... planning an event where people are coming from five different countries and speaking three different languages. It's a little different than planning an activity back home.  There are challenges, but we have amazing people on the committee.

We left Varaždin for home, and met the Ostergaards at church to talk about seminary.  We are trying to get one of the young men to join an online seminary class. We weren't able to meet with him, so Sister Ostergaard showed me the online presentation and hopefully I can show it to him another time.
Then it was time for English Class - full house again!  And at 7:30 it was time for Institute Class.  We got back to the apartment at 9:30 p.m. It was a full and productive day!

Sister Washburn, Sister Rusick and I did our weekly service for the Jak Kao Jakov Foundation.  We go on Wednesday nights for two hours and do a variety of things.  We make craft items for them to sell at bazaars with the proceeds benefiting families who have children with cancer.  The people are so nice and appreciative of us coming. We ended up going out to dinner beforehand at the restaurant down by the river.  Good food and good company.  It is another place where they make "big" hamburgers.  Sister Washburn ordered a sandwich that filled half of her plate.

My new slow cooker!

We had Branch Conference on Sunday, and later on went over to the Reich's house.  As we sat in the living room visiting, Julie said that someone gave her a SLOW COOKER (whaaat?) several years ago and she never used it. I spied it on top of her kitchen cupboard and tried to contain my excitement.   She wanted to give it to me, but I didn't want to take it, so after some haggling, we made a deal.  I will borrow it for a while, and then give it back to her.  She doesn't want it back, but I know some future senior missionaries will be thrilled to use it. I have looked all over this country for one.  I have no idea where this one came from, but it looks sweet on my kitchen counter!  Ahh, it's the little things
that make life good...

I have seen many street cleaners in the different cities.  I've never been quick enough to catch a shot of one until last week.  It has been rainy the last few days and on our way to church, we came across a diligent Karlovac street cleaner, being sheltered by his kišobran.  

 Street cleaner in the rain

The word of the week is: umoran (oo mor on) which means tired.  You can be sure that 14 hour days leave us umoran!

Tip in case you didn't know... click on any picture to enlarge...

A New District

Karlovac District

The announcement for transfers was this week and Sister Yardley has been transferred to Tuzla, Bosnia.  She will be training a new missionary, and we know she will be awesome.  Sister Washburn replaced Sister Hertz, and Sister Rusick replaces Sister Yardley.  Elder Poore and Elder Mangeris will stay in Karlovac.  It is a strong district and we are excited to serve with them.

We went to Zagreb last week.  EK had a Leadership Training Meeting and a bunch of us ladies went to IKEA. We didn't have much time, but were able to find some frames for our upcoming Singles Conference.  We buzzed through the store in 45 minutes, which is probably a record.

We took the hygiene kits we put together a few months ago, to the Red Cross on Thursday.  It took two trips in our little Opel, to deliver a total of 450 kits.  They were very happy to receive them.
They included kits for men, women, and children.

Helping hands

Elder Mangeris and Elder Poore taught grammar at English Class on Thursday evening.  It was a full house, and their lessons are always good.  It's amazing how we take the English language for granted. We use these rules everyday,  but we tend to forget why.  After English, we taught Institute Class and our regular two students attended.  The lessons center on Jesus Christ and this week it was entitled, "Come Follow Me".  It was a good lesson, and we had participation from both students.  One of our students, T, is normally quiet, but through the weeks has opened up.  When the question was asked, "When are we disciples of Christ?",  he took a moment to think about it and then replied, "When we take upon us His name and live as He lived."  A profoundly simple statement from a humble young man.  I felt the Spirit so strongly, and knew in my heart that T was loved by not only us, but by our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, as we all are.  I love teaching these lessons that confirm that to me time and time again.

We had three baptisms to go to on Saturday!  One was in Varaždin, and the other two were in Zagreb.

Zoran's special day

President Grant told us that there were four baptisms in the mission that day.  There were three in Croatia, and one in Serbia.  It was a Spirit filled day!

Zoran, with Elders Osborne and Burnett

Serving a mission allows us to concentrate on things that matter most. We are privileged to serve with other remarkable missionaries, young and not so young, who are united in the same purpose,  "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. " (Preach My Gospel)  We are to invite, teach, and serve.  It is a mission of love, and we love this mission.

The word of the week is:  vjera (vee-ye-ra) which means faith.   A tip for our unuci:  when pronouncing the r, let the tip of your tongue, touch the roof of your mouth.  Good job!