May 24th, 2010

Bok!

So I have a few good stories for you this letter. P.S. My mom only said sissies proof read, and I'm no sissy.

First of all, this week we were heading out to go to this insurance place. On the way down we saw there was a package and then I read my name on it. I was so excited! But then I also read Fitzsimmons and couldn't understand why it had both our names until I realized....Sister Fitzsimmon’s dad sent me a package! I was so excited. When we came home for lunch I opened it and he sent a suomi (means Finland in finish) t-shirt and these salmiakki chocolate bars because Sister Fitzsimmons told him I like those. He wrote that a little bird had told him I like the chocolates and wanted to send me something of Finland. I can't believe how nice and funny that was. It totally made my week and I wear the t-shirt every day when we come home. We took pictures because Sister Fitzsimmons has the same one and I will send some next week.

Also on our way to the insurance we thought we would stop at this Pekarna (bakery) to see if one of our English class students works there. Her name is Dragica (Drag-ee-tsa) and we told her that we wanted to stop by her work and she was telling us where it is, but we couldn't figure it out. So we thought she might work at this one close to us. We stopped in and asked if a Lady name Dragica works there. The two ladies that were working there looked at us weird and I know they were thinking that we were gospel stalking Dragica. So they called her up and we were hoping that it was the same one we were looking for. The ladies looked at us very eerily and then Dragica comes through the door sees us and yells with a loud smile, "Eh, BOK!" the two ladies were all smiles too and we all talked for a little bit. She is so fun to have in the English classes and she wants to hear so much about the gospel and is so grateful to us for teaching English. She makes me so happy.

This really isn't a story but Sister Fitzsimmons said a blind lady in Rijeka used to call her Sister Fifymon because she couldn't read her name or hear very well. Ha ha, so I call her fifymon all the time.

So I have been here in Croatia for three months now and on a mission for five. Weird. I still can't speak or understand very much...but I can ask for the bathroom no problem and tell people I'm tired and hungry. Baby steps through the essentials. I've started reading my Book of Mormon in Spanish and then in Croatian and it helps to learn in Croatian a lot. I am trying to learn to separate the languages so that my mind can switch to one or the other. Right now, when I try to speak Spanish it comes out Spanish and Croatian and I don't even realize it most of the time.

Well, I read in the end of Mark today when Christ was being taken away from the Garden of Gethsemane after being betrayed by Judas. It says that a disciple came in a loin cloth took hold upon them and then ran away naked (that really is in the end of Mark). Ummmmmm, so what I got from that is when we are immodest we can't really do much and then get embarrassed in the end. I'm just being stupid today, what I really got out of my personal study today was something out of reading about the widow's mite. I read in Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage about it a little more. He said that we can see it's not about quantity but it's about the quality that we give the Lord. As I am here I can give a lot of things or I can give my heart and only I and my Savior and Father know what was given.

I hope you are happy and healthy, I hope you remember your Savior, and I hope you can give to him some quality everyday! I love you and think of you often, if you are reading this email, than yes I really do think of you often!

Volim Vas,

Sister Dillender

May 3 and 17, 2010

May 3, 2010
Dobro Jutro! (good morning)

So Sister Laws came last Tuesday! It was such a crazy week, just to put that out there. She is so nice and easy going and super cute. We were all in District Meeting when we heard a lot of noises in the hallway of the church. Then Sister Thompson (senior couple here) said, "she's here". We all just look at each other in silence and then Elder Matson half yells, "look at us, get it together guys." and we all scramble around to clean up the candy wrappers and make the table look nice. So President Hill walks in with her and we meet her. I am so happy to have her here. We talked for a while all of us and I got to ask her a lot of questions about the MTC since I just left from there two months ago. She stayed overnight with us and the next morning President and Sister Hill took them both up to Vraždin (I keep mixing up ž, and š in the name Vraždin, sorry). Since Wednesday it has been just me and Sister Fitzsimmons and I'm not going to lie, it has been.........AH-MAY-ZING! She is such a good friend and missionary. She has been carrying me through my first two months here and has been so wonderful. It's so funny that we spend twenty four hours a day with each other and still don't have enough time to say all the thing we want to. She is just so wonderful and I wake up so happy and excited every day.

We are doing a lot better with having more people to meet with this week and we are so excited! We started our next set of language classes and already have four investigators out of them, well, all of us missionaries and hopefully more to come. My Spanish class had about thirty people come which is awesome because most usually have ten at the most. I hope at least half keep coming though, there are a lot of young adults in the class, so that would be great.

So we went to Darija's house last week and we talked about the atonement and repentance. The best part was when Sister Fitzsimmons finished saying all this great stuff about how repentance is a changing process and a great opportunity for us while we are here on this earth. It was quite and Darija looks at her and smiles and says, "what's your Zodiac sign?" ha ha. So we talked about that for a little while. Needless to say, Darija is a wonderful investigator and loves hearing about the gospel, she loves it, but it still is just talking time for things to click into place. My sign is Cancer if any of you were wondering.

We have Zone Conference this week and I am so excited because my battery is running a little low and it will be nice to have a recharge. Fortunately I have Sister Fitzsimmons to keep it recharged too, so I am doing well.


I'm sorry I don't have much to say this week but it was a really long weird week. But I will have more to say next week! Thank you again for all the emails and prayers. I feel so loved and blessed!

I love you,

Sestra Dillender


May 17, 2010

Hello loved ones,

This week in Croatia has been on the not so sunny side, and I do mean weather. I hate the rain, but I do love my rubber boots. They are one of the best purchases I made before coming here. It was raining really hard the other day and Sister Fitzsimmons and I got stuck in a mud puddle. So no big deal, we just stomped our feet to get the chunks off our boots and then went to a puddle to wash off the mud. We were standing there swishing our feet around in a puddle to our ankles when Sister Fitzsimmons stops, looks at me and with a straight face says, "I have a hole." ha ha. Nothing like a puddle to show you have a hole in your boots by getting your socks wet. Also, there is nothing like a mission to show me my holes, and I feel like my socks are soaking.

We went over to the Thompson's last night with Maja (incase you forgot, the Thompsons are the senior couple here and Maja is our new member, well technically the Lords new member). We watched Elder Uchtdorf's talk in a CES fireside last year. Maja loved it and she heard a lot of things she said she needed to hear. I on the other hand heard everything and most of it was very inapplicable....for example finding your eternal mate. It's nice not to think about if someone could ever like me enough to put up with me all the time. Instead I get to relish in the fact that Sister Fitzsimmons has to like me and if she leaves me she's going back to Finland. Too bad marriage isn't like that, "ha ha You have to be with me companion, because the Lord said". Well, that is just another reason why God's thoughts are higher than my own.
But we only have the Thompsons for another five weeks then they go back home to Eastern Oregon, while we are trying to manage without them here. They have not only been invaluable to the people here, but for Heavenly Father as well. I truly love them and I am so happy that I got to serve with them....what am I talking about, I still have five weeks left.

Speaking of time, I have been on a mission for five months and three in the country. What have I learned? Well here is a list:

-Elders are still 19 and 20, if you get lucky they are 21
-how to make a lazy eye
-Croats are happy when it's sunny
-I love American food
-root bear isn't as good as I remember
-I still can't explain that my last name isn't Dillinger
-everyone looks better in white
-Finns are passive aggressive and know where you sleep
and
-There are only two types of people in the world, those you love and those you don't know yet

I know you and I love you and I thank you individually for making me who I am today....well only the growth parts of me not the annoying parts.

Volim Vas jako puno! I love you all so much!

Sestra Dillender