July 12, 2010
Hello my dear ones,
I tried to make the font different....but sometimes it's better to give in than to fight....because otherwise I would have to pay for a new computer. Don't worry I would have taken off my missionary tag before throwing the monitor and computer.
Anyway, on that note, the Wanilla dream team is doing well. We just finished a very slow week, but onto a good one....with three appointments set up already (yahooo for a mission in Croatia). The members don't have a dinner calendar or anything so all the appointments we have we get ourselves. In this mission the missionaries still give the new member lessons and they are the only ones who want to meet with us. We like looking for tourists and talking to them because they are so nice and all know Mormons. So when we are having a down day we look for tourists to talk to because they are the only ones that don't hate us. We met these two girls from Belgium last week and talked to them for a long time about the church. It's nice because now they will be so much more open to talking to the missionaries when they go back home because now they have some kind of a connection with the church that interested them. Another reason we like to hit up foreigners, foreigner=English.
Every Friday we have aktivnost where we play games and have refreshments. We invite investigators and other people to it and members sometimes come. Last Friday was so good because two people came that we haven't seen in a long time and there were a lot of members wohoooo. I got to practice a lot of Croatian and I realize how bad I am at it and then I got that epiphany solidified when I had to give a talk in church last Sunday. I am not good at all and it's really annoying. But the members liked the talk. I had prepared it a while ago and I prayed about what to speak on and that it would be what someone needed to hear. I feel like a lot of people really connected with it and I'm happy for that. I also played the piano for Relief Society because after Sister Thompson left we don't have a piano player. So when I said "played" I mean just one song one handed.....it was as bad as my Croatian.
My Birthday was so good! We went to eat cheese cake and contacted alllllllll daaaaaaaay. But it was really fun anyway and I had such a good time being with Sister Fitzsimmons. We did go to this Mexican restaurant and it was very tasty. Then we ended the day by going to McDonalds for dinner and German happened to be playing Spain (world cup games). We found out Spain ended up winning and went on to win the world cup last night. But don't worry, Germany still came in third. I mean come on I am a missionary in Europe during the World Cup that only comes around once every four years.....next World Cup, I'll be 28.....Weird!
I wanted to ask everyone who reads these to tell me some things that they would like to hear me say. Every Sunday night I make a list of the week that you would maybe like and I find myself always racking my brain. I'm sure some things will be new to you that are old to me, but I can't think of them. So just let me know if you ever think of anything.
Thank you again for all the support and love!
Sister Dillender
July 19, 2010
Bok svima,
I hope you are all doing very well this week! We had a normal week...but what was not normal is that we went through three rolls of paper towels wiping our sweaty faces. Last week was plus 40 (aka 100 degrees) and probably about 90 percent humidity. The reason why I know this is because I carried a San Francisco zoo key chain in my bag that has a thermometer on it...and a compass just so we always know the mission home is north (so we can run away in a different direction.) I keep the key chain in an outside net pocket of my bag so it can get the actual heat. The key chain has Celsius on one side and Fahrenheit on the other. I also know it was so humid because I had a constant layer of sweat between my skin and my clothes. I don't really know how humid it was but I felt like I was walking around in soup all week and I thought I was breathing water instead of air. But Sunday and today has been so nice and a lot of breezes. I think this week will be a lot cooler.
Last district meeting was very funny, Sister Fitzsimmons and I and we have been giggling about it all week. There are six elders and us in the meetings. The elders talked about how we are all depressed and bad missionaries for about an hour. They gave three different conceits comparing missionary work to three different kinds of sports, and didn't realize they all said the same thing. The best part is that their solution to be better missionaries is....suck it up. I wanted to say don't put me in your crap missionary pile, maybe you don't work but Sister Fitzsimmons and I work our butts off, but I didn't. I started to say something about making steps to being a missionary we want to be, but then I realized that they already know it's about goals, they just want to vent. I do like that Elder Pasche ended district meeting on looking at our goals and reevaluating them or having a commitment to look over them again. It really was a nice ending to a testosterone filled venting session. District meeting wasn't bad, just very funny.
We prayed on Saturday that we could get enough contacts to fulfill the standards of excellence, and that we would be able to teach a lesson. When we got home and at the end of the day we had one contact over what we needed to get for the standers of excellence, even though it was a slow Saturday and a lot of people were gone. Earlier that day when we were leaving Maksimir park, a man selling something asked us if we were interested and we said no. Then Sister Fitzsimmons said, "but are you interested in...." He said he was very catholic but started asking a lot of questions. She pretty much taught him the first lesson because he used way too big of words for my Croatian vocabulary and I couldn't really understand him. We talked for a long time. He was very nice but it was obvious he just wanted to tell us we were wrong. At the end he says, "At the judgment, God will say leave me I don't know you." And Sister Fitzsimmons laughed and said, "yeah but that's not going to happen to us." She is so funny. The whole situation could have turned to bashing very easily, but she is so good at stating facts about the truth instead of arguing.
Also in Maksimir Park we started talking to this guy and at the end of our spiel, he says in English, "sorry I don't speak Croatian." Well you know how much we love foreigners. Turns out he is from Sweden. I thought I would look extra American if I said, "I LOVE SWEDISH FISH!" But I didn't. Then as we were talking to him his friend comes out from the bushes and joins our conversation....needless to say we did not shake his hand. I don't blame him though because I have no idea where the closest bathrooms are either.
We get to go and have exchanges with some Sisters that serve in a city close to us. We are doing the exchange from Friday to Saturday. I am excited because I love my girl time. I love the Sisters here and I wish I got to spend more time with them than the elders, but I guess if it was that way then a mission wouldn't be hard. We get to see them all once a month for zone conferences, but it just goes by so fast.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and are very happy and healthy.
s ljubavlju,
Sister Dillender
Monday, August 2, 2010
Thursday, July 1, 2010
June photos - from Croatia
Note the little dog in the bushes sleeping, we call him our little dog.
On our way to finding a less active with my really good milka bar.
With the Thompson's two grandaughters that came here to visit them in Zagreb. This is in the back of the chapel.
Sister Fitzsimmons and I near the Babic' place.
Sister Whitaker and I practicing numbers because they are rediculous in this language. This is in one of the rooms at the church.Photos from Croatia - June 2010
All above photos are at Plitvica.
This photo was taken after we arrived home from tracting in the rain.
June 14th through June 28th - 2010
June 14, 2010
Bok!
First of all sorry to all those who may have written to me and I was not able to write back. I have less time than usual today because we went to a wonderful place called Plivička Lakes. I spelled it wrong to a few people already, oops. It was an amazing sight to see. There were a lot of waterfalls and beautiful green lakes everywhere. I thought I was in paradise, especially since the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day too. It was fun to go with the Elders and hike around. My favorite part of the day way when Sister Fitzsimmons almost fell into the water. Actually my favorite was a dialog that went like this between elder Matson and Elder Pashce:
E. Pasche: "This reminds me of scout camp. Did you have a really hard core scout group?"
E. Matson: "Yeah we would go cliff diving and ...."
E. Pasche: "No I mean like did you have a really intense scout group."
E. Matson: "Oh! yeah man, we would go on camp outs all the time and...."
E. Pasche: " No, I mean was it really intense like...
E. Matson: "Dude what do you mean."
E. Pasche: "I mean, like did you wear your scout shirts all the time and stuff."
I started laughing and stopped listening after that, well they were laughing a lot too. Anyway, I will send pictures next week.
This week end was so much fun! We had Zone Conference on Saturday and then the next day we had District Conference. For both, Elder Sterri, an area seventy from Norway came. He said so many things that Sister Fitzsimmons and I really needed to hear. It was a Zone Conference better than others. Darija who was going to get baptized decided not to and it was hard for us to hear. It made us wonder what we are really even doing here. Elder Sterri taught us about the Faith clock. We read through Alma 32:27 ( I think it's verse 27) and we talked about all the things that we need to do to have faith. Then in the next verses it describes what the Lord does. From 12 to six it's our part and then from six to 12 the Lord does his part. It is a great way to show us that we and investigators go half way and then the Lord does the rest. I realized me being here is to help me, my companion and others work their side of the clock. When people decide to get baptized or become active etc it's not me and my success or my doing, it's the Lord. My success comes from doing my part and doing what I can.
So at the end of this week all our senior couple is going to leave and there will be none to replace them, therefore I am officially the oldest missionary in the mission, well starting now and especially July 7 when I will be 24. Ha ha, that is ridiculous. We had seven countries in our mission Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. Only Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia are open to missionaries though. But since May, our mission is only these three that are open to missionaries. So this is a little piece of church history I get to be here for.
I was going to talk about District Conference but I will talk about it next week. Sorry I don't have much time! Thank you for the letters, support, prayers and financial help! I miss you all and think of you often!
s ljubavlju,
Sister Dillender
June 21, 2010
Bok svima,
I hope everyone finds themselves doing well. I miss you all a lot, especially lately. The past few days it has been raining a lot and it feels like the fall in Oregon and you know what the fall in Oregon brings....Halloween. I feel like it is the Halloween season right now, but it's the end of June. I can't believe it. I just feel bad for all the tourists I see walking around in the windy rain. Actually, after our English class on Thursday, we got caught in a thunder and lightning storm. By the time we got home we literally looked like we had just gotten out of a pool. It was a great missionary moment and so we took pictures. The week was topped off when we went out contacting on Saturday and got stuck in the rain again on our way home. We didn't look like we just got out of a pool but we did look like buckets of water were splashed on us. We took pictures again. It's nice that it was always on our way home and in clothes that are very okay to get wet.
We had district conference last week and it went well, as I think I mentioned. I just wanted to say a little more about it. Since there are only branches in Croatia, all the branches make a district and President Hill (mission president) is over the district and the District leader. President and Sister Hill came to our chapel in Zagreb (there is only the one) and so did as many members as could from all over Croatia and all the missionaries. It was great to see the chapel so full, I wish it was like that every Sunday. President Thompson and his wife just went home to Oregon. They were a senior couple here and President Thompson was the District President. Elder Sterri who is an area authority from Norway came and spoke in our Zone Conference for the missionaries and in District Conference. It was a great, but tiring week end. Those who only spoke English, gave their talks in English and there was a translator who stood up there with them. They would say a line and then the translator would translate the line. This is what they do for every talk that is given in English. The translator is usually a Croat because most of them here in Zagreb speak English better than I do.
So transfers are upon us once again. I think I said already, but transfers here are nine weeks because we don't get as many missionaries as other places, so that means that Sister Dillender gets to serve a 19 month mission ;). First off for me I get the best situation possible, I get to stay here in Zagreb with Sister Fitzsimmons. YAHOOOOO! I am glad that we will get to have at least one more transfer together before she goes home in October. Sister Nelson, my MTC companion, is going to get Sister Laws (who is on her second transfer now) in Zadar (which on the coast). Now this may not be a shock to you, but to those who have served a language speaking mission...this is huge. Sister Nelson and I can only understand about fifty percent of what goes on since we are starting our fourth month and so Sister Laws who is starting her second obviously doesn't understand much either. I talked to Sister Nelson yesterday and asked her how she feels. She said the first day she was thinking, "Okay I can do this" the next day she was freaking out and the third day she was numb. Ha ha! I am just laughing because I am not in the situation, ah! She is a wonderful missionary and is going to do so well. Their language is going to go out the roof especially with all the blessing that are going to fall on them.
I feel like every Sunday we get to see the fruits of our labor. If we didn't work hard it shows in sacrament and no one came and we have nothing to do. But when we do work hard our Sundays are sooooo busy and it's so nice. I feel like this week our fruits showed and it was so nice to feel really busy. Most of the people that come aren't even directly related to us and what we did, but the Lord blesses us when we do our part. I know I mentioned this last week, but it is hard to go on each day wondering why you are here when no one is interested, but then you get that one person who is. Even if that interest doesn't last, it is such a nice high and it makes every thing worth being here. Then we trudge through the next weeks still on the high, until the next one comes a long. It's a hard mission in the sense of just looking all the time and it's not rude, but common to ask do you have any investigators? It's nice to have a great companion and have this time to learn and grow. Ha ha just for fun you can see how much different our mission is from Mexico where Sammy Ray is serving and here are some stats:
Lesson taught in a week
Croatia: 8-15 Leon Mexico: 45-60
Contacts a week (which is going out and talking to people on the street or tracting)
Croatia- 140-200 Leon Mexico- 13
We all have our challenges in a mission!
I love you and I will talk to you next week. Thank you for all your letters and love, I am so happy here and I hope you are happy too!
s ljubavlju,
Sister dillender
June 28, 2010
Hello everyone!
So this has been a very slow week. We usually teach four language classes a week and it takes up four hours each week. But this week we don't have them and we are starting over with the seven weeks again. We have been giving out flyers like crazy and dropping them on a bunch of trams. So without our four extra lessons last week, it felt very looooooong. But on Wednesday, we went out and hit the town going crazy on the flyers. It was so fun to be doing that with Sister Fitzsimmons, she is such a good missionary and we always laugh at all the awkward moments. It was such a good feeling too to be working extra hard and the joy that comes when Heavenly Father says well done. I obviously wasn't perfect at it, but with extra effort comes extra joy.
Yesterday President Hill came for interviews and it was so nice and needed! He told me all the things that I needed to hear and now I feel like I am so much more stress free! I realized that it is more and more the perfect mission for me. A few weeks before I received my mission call I was reading preach my gospel. I realized that the selfish reason I was going on a mission was to know my Father and Savior better. It's funny because when I opened my mission call and saw Slovenia/Croatia I was so excited to learn a Slavic language and I couldn't believe that He was giving me exactly what I wanted. Now that I am here and learning, I can't believe that He really is giving me exactly what I wanted, just not on a superficial scale like I thought before. What a perfect mission this is to know Him better!
Just a funny little side story that I thought was hilarious was when Sister Fitzsimmons and I were walking home. We always walk by our neighbors chickens and we realized that recently some of the chickens had some babies, but they are not babies anymore but not full grown chickens yet. They were running around all together and I said, "Look it's so cute to see teen-ager chickens. I haven't really seen this stage before, only a chick and a full grown chicken." Then Sister Fitzsimmons adds with her dry humor, saying under her breath, "Yeah look at them running around flirting with each other." I laughed so hard. You have to hear her voice and it just came out of no where ha ha. You see why I love serving with her!!!!!!
Again, as usual, thank you for all the letters. I am so happy to hear how you are doing and I am so happy that I have email to keep in touch! I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Dillender
Bok!
First of all sorry to all those who may have written to me and I was not able to write back. I have less time than usual today because we went to a wonderful place called Plivička Lakes. I spelled it wrong to a few people already, oops. It was an amazing sight to see. There were a lot of waterfalls and beautiful green lakes everywhere. I thought I was in paradise, especially since the sun was shinning and it was a beautiful day too. It was fun to go with the Elders and hike around. My favorite part of the day way when Sister Fitzsimmons almost fell into the water. Actually my favorite was a dialog that went like this between elder Matson and Elder Pashce:
E. Pasche: "This reminds me of scout camp. Did you have a really hard core scout group?"
E. Matson: "Yeah we would go cliff diving and ...."
E. Pasche: "No I mean like did you have a really intense scout group."
E. Matson: "Oh! yeah man, we would go on camp outs all the time and...."
E. Pasche: " No, I mean was it really intense like...
E. Matson: "Dude what do you mean."
E. Pasche: "I mean, like did you wear your scout shirts all the time and stuff."
I started laughing and stopped listening after that, well they were laughing a lot too. Anyway, I will send pictures next week.
This week end was so much fun! We had Zone Conference on Saturday and then the next day we had District Conference. For both, Elder Sterri, an area seventy from Norway came. He said so many things that Sister Fitzsimmons and I really needed to hear. It was a Zone Conference better than others. Darija who was going to get baptized decided not to and it was hard for us to hear. It made us wonder what we are really even doing here. Elder Sterri taught us about the Faith clock. We read through Alma 32:27 ( I think it's verse 27) and we talked about all the things that we need to do to have faith. Then in the next verses it describes what the Lord does. From 12 to six it's our part and then from six to 12 the Lord does his part. It is a great way to show us that we and investigators go half way and then the Lord does the rest. I realized me being here is to help me, my companion and others work their side of the clock. When people decide to get baptized or become active etc it's not me and my success or my doing, it's the Lord. My success comes from doing my part and doing what I can.
So at the end of this week all our senior couple is going to leave and there will be none to replace them, therefore I am officially the oldest missionary in the mission, well starting now and especially July 7 when I will be 24. Ha ha, that is ridiculous. We had seven countries in our mission Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia. Only Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia are open to missionaries though. But since May, our mission is only these three that are open to missionaries. So this is a little piece of church history I get to be here for.
I was going to talk about District Conference but I will talk about it next week. Sorry I don't have much time! Thank you for the letters, support, prayers and financial help! I miss you all and think of you often!
s ljubavlju,
Sister Dillender
June 21, 2010
Bok svima,
I hope everyone finds themselves doing well. I miss you all a lot, especially lately. The past few days it has been raining a lot and it feels like the fall in Oregon and you know what the fall in Oregon brings....Halloween. I feel like it is the Halloween season right now, but it's the end of June. I can't believe it. I just feel bad for all the tourists I see walking around in the windy rain. Actually, after our English class on Thursday, we got caught in a thunder and lightning storm. By the time we got home we literally looked like we had just gotten out of a pool. It was a great missionary moment and so we took pictures. The week was topped off when we went out contacting on Saturday and got stuck in the rain again on our way home. We didn't look like we just got out of a pool but we did look like buckets of water were splashed on us. We took pictures again. It's nice that it was always on our way home and in clothes that are very okay to get wet.
We had district conference last week and it went well, as I think I mentioned. I just wanted to say a little more about it. Since there are only branches in Croatia, all the branches make a district and President Hill (mission president) is over the district and the District leader. President and Sister Hill came to our chapel in Zagreb (there is only the one) and so did as many members as could from all over Croatia and all the missionaries. It was great to see the chapel so full, I wish it was like that every Sunday. President Thompson and his wife just went home to Oregon. They were a senior couple here and President Thompson was the District President. Elder Sterri who is an area authority from Norway came and spoke in our Zone Conference for the missionaries and in District Conference. It was a great, but tiring week end. Those who only spoke English, gave their talks in English and there was a translator who stood up there with them. They would say a line and then the translator would translate the line. This is what they do for every talk that is given in English. The translator is usually a Croat because most of them here in Zagreb speak English better than I do.
So transfers are upon us once again. I think I said already, but transfers here are nine weeks because we don't get as many missionaries as other places, so that means that Sister Dillender gets to serve a 19 month mission ;). First off for me I get the best situation possible, I get to stay here in Zagreb with Sister Fitzsimmons. YAHOOOOO! I am glad that we will get to have at least one more transfer together before she goes home in October. Sister Nelson, my MTC companion, is going to get Sister Laws (who is on her second transfer now) in Zadar (which on the coast). Now this may not be a shock to you, but to those who have served a language speaking mission...this is huge. Sister Nelson and I can only understand about fifty percent of what goes on since we are starting our fourth month and so Sister Laws who is starting her second obviously doesn't understand much either. I talked to Sister Nelson yesterday and asked her how she feels. She said the first day she was thinking, "Okay I can do this" the next day she was freaking out and the third day she was numb. Ha ha! I am just laughing because I am not in the situation, ah! She is a wonderful missionary and is going to do so well. Their language is going to go out the roof especially with all the blessing that are going to fall on them.
I feel like every Sunday we get to see the fruits of our labor. If we didn't work hard it shows in sacrament and no one came and we have nothing to do. But when we do work hard our Sundays are sooooo busy and it's so nice. I feel like this week our fruits showed and it was so nice to feel really busy. Most of the people that come aren't even directly related to us and what we did, but the Lord blesses us when we do our part. I know I mentioned this last week, but it is hard to go on each day wondering why you are here when no one is interested, but then you get that one person who is. Even if that interest doesn't last, it is such a nice high and it makes every thing worth being here. Then we trudge through the next weeks still on the high, until the next one comes a long. It's a hard mission in the sense of just looking all the time and it's not rude, but common to ask do you have any investigators? It's nice to have a great companion and have this time to learn and grow. Ha ha just for fun you can see how much different our mission is from Mexico where Sammy Ray is serving and here are some stats:
Lesson taught in a week
Croatia: 8-15 Leon Mexico: 45-60
Contacts a week (which is going out and talking to people on the street or tracting)
Croatia- 140-200 Leon Mexico- 13
We all have our challenges in a mission!
I love you and I will talk to you next week. Thank you for all your letters and love, I am so happy here and I hope you are happy too!
s ljubavlju,
Sister dillender
June 28, 2010
Hello everyone!
So this has been a very slow week. We usually teach four language classes a week and it takes up four hours each week. But this week we don't have them and we are starting over with the seven weeks again. We have been giving out flyers like crazy and dropping them on a bunch of trams. So without our four extra lessons last week, it felt very looooooong. But on Wednesday, we went out and hit the town going crazy on the flyers. It was so fun to be doing that with Sister Fitzsimmons, she is such a good missionary and we always laugh at all the awkward moments. It was such a good feeling too to be working extra hard and the joy that comes when Heavenly Father says well done. I obviously wasn't perfect at it, but with extra effort comes extra joy.
Yesterday President Hill came for interviews and it was so nice and needed! He told me all the things that I needed to hear and now I feel like I am so much more stress free! I realized that it is more and more the perfect mission for me. A few weeks before I received my mission call I was reading preach my gospel. I realized that the selfish reason I was going on a mission was to know my Father and Savior better. It's funny because when I opened my mission call and saw Slovenia/Croatia I was so excited to learn a Slavic language and I couldn't believe that He was giving me exactly what I wanted. Now that I am here and learning, I can't believe that He really is giving me exactly what I wanted, just not on a superficial scale like I thought before. What a perfect mission this is to know Him better!
Just a funny little side story that I thought was hilarious was when Sister Fitzsimmons and I were walking home. We always walk by our neighbors chickens and we realized that recently some of the chickens had some babies, but they are not babies anymore but not full grown chickens yet. They were running around all together and I said, "Look it's so cute to see teen-ager chickens. I haven't really seen this stage before, only a chick and a full grown chicken." Then Sister Fitzsimmons adds with her dry humor, saying under her breath, "Yeah look at them running around flirting with each other." I laughed so hard. You have to hear her voice and it just came out of no where ha ha. You see why I love serving with her!!!!!!
Again, as usual, thank you for all the letters. I am so happy to hear how you are doing and I am so happy that I have email to keep in touch! I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Dillender
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June 7, 2010
What do you call a person who doesn't know the Star Spangle Banner? Not American.
This past week in district meeting we had the Star Spangle Banner as a closing song. The good thing is that we are all Americans, except for my halfie friend and companion Sister Fitzsimmons. But to my horror, everyone started grabbing at the hymn books to find the song. I yelled, "No you do not need to open the Hymn book for this song!" Like my name is Shaniqua from Oakland. The elders just looked at me and just made excuses for it, they just did it out of habit. We all had a good laugh and in the end we all put our hands over our hearts, especially during the prayer when Elder Robinson thanked Heavenly Father for America and every thing about her. It was funny, but not sacrilegious. These poor Elders miss the mother land :).
Well, one of our investigators has decided to get baptized. We are so excited for her. She is so happy now and has a sort of a peace about her. The only hard part is she always feeds us and makes food for four. We end up shoveling our faces so she will not think that her excellent cooking is bad. Now we are meeting with her twice a week, and twice a week we have to shovel our faces. But I'm not going to complain about good food, since what the Lord giveth, he also taketh away. She is so good to us, really. For Easter she had us over and said, "Today I am your family." We had a great meal and a great lesson about the Resurrection.
I have been reading the Hymns a lot lately. I really miss poetry, and I really miss singing hymns in English. I have been reading the song, "Jesus The Very Thought of Thee" on page 141 a lot. I'll share my favorite verse:
O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall how kind thou art,
How good to those who seek.
Okay one more verse I love,
Jesus the very thought of thee,
With sweetness fills my breast,
Far sweeter great thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest.
I just love the Hymns and there are a lot more I read often. What I love about poetry is that something new always pops out and it just gets better and better the more I read it. I have been memorizing them so I can think about them in the trams or just sometime during the day. I feel such a peace when I read and think about them and also hum the tune in my head.
We talked to the Elders in our district this week about our concern that we don't feel they have confidence in us as missionaries. They are so wonderful and afterward I felt such a weight lifted from my shoulders and freedom to feel their confidence in us and to be the missionary I want to be. Sister Fitzsimmons and I are not looking forward to this transfer ending because we have such a good time together and with our dear Elders. But Sister Fitzsimmons didn't get my joke when I said to everyone, "I'm really glad that we are learning to work together because this is going to help your wifies, this will help Sister Fitzsimmon’s husband, and it will help my colleagues."
We went group contacting in a park last Saturday. Elder Pashce and I were going around and talking to people and here are our favorite quotes from the day:
-What church does the devil go to?
-Christ was a communist
-Man is God
We still haven't figured out what church the devil goes to, other than his own church.
Well I will be sending some pictures today, they will be great. I love you and thank you for your emails. Just to let you know, if you write me I will write you, but if you don't this is all you get! My email is kristen.dillender@myldsmail.net
I also cannot and don't check my regular email, or my blog site. Thank you Lynny for putting this up for me. So if you comment on anything, I won't see it till July 2011. Thanks everyone for the support and love!
s ljubavlju,
Sister Dillender
This past week in district meeting we had the Star Spangle Banner as a closing song. The good thing is that we are all Americans, except for my halfie friend and companion Sister Fitzsimmons. But to my horror, everyone started grabbing at the hymn books to find the song. I yelled, "No you do not need to open the Hymn book for this song!" Like my name is Shaniqua from Oakland. The elders just looked at me and just made excuses for it, they just did it out of habit. We all had a good laugh and in the end we all put our hands over our hearts, especially during the prayer when Elder Robinson thanked Heavenly Father for America and every thing about her. It was funny, but not sacrilegious. These poor Elders miss the mother land :).
Well, one of our investigators has decided to get baptized. We are so excited for her. She is so happy now and has a sort of a peace about her. The only hard part is she always feeds us and makes food for four. We end up shoveling our faces so she will not think that her excellent cooking is bad. Now we are meeting with her twice a week, and twice a week we have to shovel our faces. But I'm not going to complain about good food, since what the Lord giveth, he also taketh away. She is so good to us, really. For Easter she had us over and said, "Today I am your family." We had a great meal and a great lesson about the Resurrection.
I have been reading the Hymns a lot lately. I really miss poetry, and I really miss singing hymns in English. I have been reading the song, "Jesus The Very Thought of Thee" on page 141 a lot. I'll share my favorite verse:
O hope of every contrite heart,
O joy of all the meek,
To those who fall how kind thou art,
How good to those who seek.
Okay one more verse I love,
Jesus the very thought of thee,
With sweetness fills my breast,
Far sweeter great thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest.
I just love the Hymns and there are a lot more I read often. What I love about poetry is that something new always pops out and it just gets better and better the more I read it. I have been memorizing them so I can think about them in the trams or just sometime during the day. I feel such a peace when I read and think about them and also hum the tune in my head.
We talked to the Elders in our district this week about our concern that we don't feel they have confidence in us as missionaries. They are so wonderful and afterward I felt such a weight lifted from my shoulders and freedom to feel their confidence in us and to be the missionary I want to be. Sister Fitzsimmons and I are not looking forward to this transfer ending because we have such a good time together and with our dear Elders. But Sister Fitzsimmons didn't get my joke when I said to everyone, "I'm really glad that we are learning to work together because this is going to help your wifies, this will help Sister Fitzsimmon’s husband, and it will help my colleagues."
We went group contacting in a park last Saturday. Elder Pashce and I were going around and talking to people and here are our favorite quotes from the day:
-What church does the devil go to?
-Christ was a communist
-Man is God
We still haven't figured out what church the devil goes to, other than his own church.
Well I will be sending some pictures today, they will be great. I love you and thank you for your emails. Just to let you know, if you write me I will write you, but if you don't this is all you get! My email is kristen.dillender@myldsmail.net
I also cannot and don't check my regular email, or my blog site. Thank you Lynny for putting this up for me. So if you comment on anything, I won't see it till July 2011. Thanks everyone for the support and love!
s ljubavlju,
Sister Dillender
May 31, 2010 - Church in Zagreb
Hello Everyone,
Monte Picasa came and did some training at the American Embassy. But while he was here he took some pictures of all the branches he visited. The first bunch are the Zagreb branch where I serve. (you will obviously see me in the pictures with the elders I serve with here). I thought you would like to see them. You can read his letter and at the end of his letter is a place where you are invited to look at his photo album. I hope you enjoy!
Dear President and Sister Thompson, Elders, Sisters, beloved members of the church in Croatia, and their friends and family,
My wife Sandi and I, and our good friends Tony and Cathy Hall, had the great blessing of visiting Croatia recently and meeting the most wonderful missionaries and church members while there.
By way of introduction, we all live in Boise, Idaho, where Tony and I work for the United States Attorney's Office. Tony and I traveled to Zagreb, Croatia in early May in order to teach Croatian prosecutors for the United States Department of Justice. Because we arrived on a weekend, Tony and I wanted to attend church at the Zagreb branch.
After getting some general idea of the branch's location, we embarked on a train that was supposed to take us near it. After riding for some time, we became worried that we had missed the church. Just then, a young women got on the crowded train. Her wonderful spirit immediately identified her as someone we needed to talk to, and is it turned out, she was indeed on her way to the same location. She led us off the train and to the chapel where we met the rest of the members, the missionaries, and Elder and Sister Thompson. Elder Thompson was serving as the District President at the time.
I can't begin to explain the spirit that was in that little church. Tony and I enjoyed three hours of meetings and then stayed and talked with the members and missionaries for some time after. (See attached pictures). At the risk of leaving someone out, I won't try to mention each missionary by name, but they were all wonderful, and their families should be very proud of their faithful service and the love shown to the people of Croatia.
As we left the church, the missionaries inquired about the rest of our trip. When we explained that our wives would be arriving in the next few days, and that we would be traveling to the Dalmatian Coast, we were told that we should visit the little branch in Zadar where 8 members resided. We were given the name and phone number of Elder Hadley in Zadar.
Our wives arrived mid-week. By Friday, we were ready to leave Zagreb, but were still trying to decide our route of travel. Because of the wonderful stories that we shared with Sandi and Cathy about our visit to the Zagreb branch, they were very anxious to make sure that our travel plans would allow us to be in Zadar on Sunday. Consequently, we changed our itinerary, forgoing a trip south to Dubrovnik and spending our time in Trogir and Split instead.
(As an interesting side story, before we left Zagreb, Tony, Cathy, Sandi and I were making one more visit to the main square in Zagreb when we ran into President and Sister Thompson, their son, and two grandchildren. Because of this wonderful and miraculous reunion in a city of almost one million people, our wives were able to meet some of the wonderful people they had heard about. Again, pictures are attached.)
We arrived in Zadar near sunset on Saturday night and had the chance to talk to Elder Wood on the phone. He assured us of the meeting times and the location of the house where they met. The next morning, we used the GPS in our rental car in an attempt to find the church, but again, we seemed to be lost until we saw some young ladies walking down the sidewalk ahead of us. One of us mentioned that it looked like the Relief Society headed towards the church. As it turned out, it was the Sister missionaries and a wonderful young lady who they had invited to church for the first time.
The church in Zadar is held on the bottom floor of a small apartment building. We immediately were welcomed by the wonderful people in the branch, some investigators, and of course, the missionaries. This happened to be Mothers Day, and the presence of Cathy and Sandi seemed to be especially appreciated by the missionaries (who would be calling their mothers shortly after the meetings ended.)
The Spirit of the Lord was again powerful as this little group met to partake of the sacrament and learn the gospel. It would take me an hour to explain everything I felt, and every conversation I had. Instead, I intend to send this email to my wife, and Tony and Cathy, since I am quite sure they will want to add their own thoughts about the experience.
Again, we took group pictures after church. Because photography is my serious hobby, I was carrying a large number of lenses which I exchanged frequently as we took pictures. About 10 minutes after leaving the church (headed north towards Istria) I received a phone call on my cell phone which I did not answer (despite my wife's insistence that the call may be "important.") Two hours later, I realized that I was missing my 15 mm lens, which would be important to me the next day when we arrived in Pula. I immediately called Elder Hadley and Woods, who assured me that they had found my lens and had tried to call us right after church. I asked anxiously about the possibility of sending the lens via Fed Ex or UPS, and was told that these services couldn't help me under the circumstances. Instead, the Elders told me that they would contact a bus driver who would be driving all the way to Pula the next day. They told me that this bus driver would then be met by the missionaries in Pula.
The next afternoon, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of a wonderful Roman colosseum in Pula, we called Elder Champion and Warren. Within 10 minutes, they arrived with a strange package of plastic bags, tape, and a scarf that carefully protected my lens. It had been wrapped and sent by Elder Woods and Hadley. What a blessing this was, and quite a miracle. I took a few pictures of the Pula Elders near the colosseum on their prep day.
The attached pictures are a few memories of missionaries and members who we had a privilege to meet. Because of the difficulties of handwriting, I hope that I have properly discerned the correct email addresses of all of you. If you find that someone has not received this email as intended, please forward as necessary.
To the members of the church in Croatia, we admire your faith and dedication to the Lord. You are making history there, and we will continue to pray for your welfare. To the many wonderful Elders and Sister Missionaries, thank you for your service, for your love of the Savior and his church, and for the people of Croatia. May Heavenly Father continue to bless you in your missionary efforts. To President and Sister Thompson, we believe that you are now back home in Ontario, Oregon, where you are missing the missionaries and members you lovingly served. May God bless you and your family as you return to life at home.
To my wife, Sandi, and good friends Tony and Cathy, thanks for sharing this wonderful place with me. Please feel free to hit "reply to all" when you want to share your thoughts about these wonderful people.
Since I took about 4,000 pictures of Croatia, I will be sending additional pictures of the country at some point, and I will try to include all of you. But this will take some time. Croatia is a beautiful country filled with walled cities, cathedrals, castles, ancient ruins, mountains, and green rolling hills. Two weeks was not nearly enough time to see all of it. The people there are also wonderful, and made our trip all the more enjoyable.
Although we saw many interesting things of historical value, and saw many beautiful sites, our best experiences were with the missionaries and valiant members of the church. I hope you enjoy the attached pictures of them.
Monte Stiles
Boise, Idaho
You are invited to view Monte's photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=monte.stiles&target=ALBUM&id=5477290932891397617&authkey=Gv1sRgCLz6z43c3MzQ4wE&feat=email
Monte Picasa came and did some training at the American Embassy. But while he was here he took some pictures of all the branches he visited. The first bunch are the Zagreb branch where I serve. (you will obviously see me in the pictures with the elders I serve with here). I thought you would like to see them. You can read his letter and at the end of his letter is a place where you are invited to look at his photo album. I hope you enjoy!
Dear President and Sister Thompson, Elders, Sisters, beloved members of the church in Croatia, and their friends and family,
My wife Sandi and I, and our good friends Tony and Cathy Hall, had the great blessing of visiting Croatia recently and meeting the most wonderful missionaries and church members while there.
By way of introduction, we all live in Boise, Idaho, where Tony and I work for the United States Attorney's Office. Tony and I traveled to Zagreb, Croatia in early May in order to teach Croatian prosecutors for the United States Department of Justice. Because we arrived on a weekend, Tony and I wanted to attend church at the Zagreb branch.
After getting some general idea of the branch's location, we embarked on a train that was supposed to take us near it. After riding for some time, we became worried that we had missed the church. Just then, a young women got on the crowded train. Her wonderful spirit immediately identified her as someone we needed to talk to, and is it turned out, she was indeed on her way to the same location. She led us off the train and to the chapel where we met the rest of the members, the missionaries, and Elder and Sister Thompson. Elder Thompson was serving as the District President at the time.
I can't begin to explain the spirit that was in that little church. Tony and I enjoyed three hours of meetings and then stayed and talked with the members and missionaries for some time after. (See attached pictures). At the risk of leaving someone out, I won't try to mention each missionary by name, but they were all wonderful, and their families should be very proud of their faithful service and the love shown to the people of Croatia.
As we left the church, the missionaries inquired about the rest of our trip. When we explained that our wives would be arriving in the next few days, and that we would be traveling to the Dalmatian Coast, we were told that we should visit the little branch in Zadar where 8 members resided. We were given the name and phone number of Elder Hadley in Zadar.
Our wives arrived mid-week. By Friday, we were ready to leave Zagreb, but were still trying to decide our route of travel. Because of the wonderful stories that we shared with Sandi and Cathy about our visit to the Zagreb branch, they were very anxious to make sure that our travel plans would allow us to be in Zadar on Sunday. Consequently, we changed our itinerary, forgoing a trip south to Dubrovnik and spending our time in Trogir and Split instead.
(As an interesting side story, before we left Zagreb, Tony, Cathy, Sandi and I were making one more visit to the main square in Zagreb when we ran into President and Sister Thompson, their son, and two grandchildren. Because of this wonderful and miraculous reunion in a city of almost one million people, our wives were able to meet some of the wonderful people they had heard about. Again, pictures are attached.)
We arrived in Zadar near sunset on Saturday night and had the chance to talk to Elder Wood on the phone. He assured us of the meeting times and the location of the house where they met. The next morning, we used the GPS in our rental car in an attempt to find the church, but again, we seemed to be lost until we saw some young ladies walking down the sidewalk ahead of us. One of us mentioned that it looked like the Relief Society headed towards the church. As it turned out, it was the Sister missionaries and a wonderful young lady who they had invited to church for the first time.
The church in Zadar is held on the bottom floor of a small apartment building. We immediately were welcomed by the wonderful people in the branch, some investigators, and of course, the missionaries. This happened to be Mothers Day, and the presence of Cathy and Sandi seemed to be especially appreciated by the missionaries (who would be calling their mothers shortly after the meetings ended.)
The Spirit of the Lord was again powerful as this little group met to partake of the sacrament and learn the gospel. It would take me an hour to explain everything I felt, and every conversation I had. Instead, I intend to send this email to my wife, and Tony and Cathy, since I am quite sure they will want to add their own thoughts about the experience.
Again, we took group pictures after church. Because photography is my serious hobby, I was carrying a large number of lenses which I exchanged frequently as we took pictures. About 10 minutes after leaving the church (headed north towards Istria) I received a phone call on my cell phone which I did not answer (despite my wife's insistence that the call may be "important.") Two hours later, I realized that I was missing my 15 mm lens, which would be important to me the next day when we arrived in Pula. I immediately called Elder Hadley and Woods, who assured me that they had found my lens and had tried to call us right after church. I asked anxiously about the possibility of sending the lens via Fed Ex or UPS, and was told that these services couldn't help me under the circumstances. Instead, the Elders told me that they would contact a bus driver who would be driving all the way to Pula the next day. They told me that this bus driver would then be met by the missionaries in Pula.
The next afternoon, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of a wonderful Roman colosseum in Pula, we called Elder Champion and Warren. Within 10 minutes, they arrived with a strange package of plastic bags, tape, and a scarf that carefully protected my lens. It had been wrapped and sent by Elder Woods and Hadley. What a blessing this was, and quite a miracle. I took a few pictures of the Pula Elders near the colosseum on their prep day.
The attached pictures are a few memories of missionaries and members who we had a privilege to meet. Because of the difficulties of handwriting, I hope that I have properly discerned the correct email addresses of all of you. If you find that someone has not received this email as intended, please forward as necessary.
To the members of the church in Croatia, we admire your faith and dedication to the Lord. You are making history there, and we will continue to pray for your welfare. To the many wonderful Elders and Sister Missionaries, thank you for your service, for your love of the Savior and his church, and for the people of Croatia. May Heavenly Father continue to bless you in your missionary efforts. To President and Sister Thompson, we believe that you are now back home in Ontario, Oregon, where you are missing the missionaries and members you lovingly served. May God bless you and your family as you return to life at home.
To my wife, Sandi, and good friends Tony and Cathy, thanks for sharing this wonderful place with me. Please feel free to hit "reply to all" when you want to share your thoughts about these wonderful people.
Since I took about 4,000 pictures of Croatia, I will be sending additional pictures of the country at some point, and I will try to include all of you. But this will take some time. Croatia is a beautiful country filled with walled cities, cathedrals, castles, ancient ruins, mountains, and green rolling hills. Two weeks was not nearly enough time to see all of it. The people there are also wonderful, and made our trip all the more enjoyable.
Although we saw many interesting things of historical value, and saw many beautiful sites, our best experiences were with the missionaries and valiant members of the church. I hope you enjoy the attached pictures of them.
Monte Stiles
Boise, Idaho
You are invited to view Monte's photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=monte.stiles&target=ALBUM&id=5477290932891397617&authkey=Gv1sRgCLz6z43c3MzQ4wE&feat=email
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
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
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
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