Dragi Obitelj i Prijatelji moji,
I know that I have promised you information on what is going to happen for transfers. I know they are not exciting for you, but they are for me and I love to hear where everyone is going. We make transfer predictions all the time since there are only 25 and three coming (in Croatia). Don't worry, I don't get distracted. Since there are not many of us, President just calls us all a couple of nights before and lets us know what is happening to us. But this time for our Zone meeting he introduced the Box B. He said Box B was used in the early days in the church where the presidency would just call out where missionaries were going at the pulpit from Salt Lake City. So after telling us that he said that is what we are going to be doing today and then says, " We will be starting right now" ha ha. A rush of excitement came over the room and I quickly grabbed a pen and paper to write down who is going where. So he started with Zagreb. Everyone is staying the same except for Sister Fitzsimmons who is going to be training Sister Stratton the new one in Zagreb. Then he said, "Sister Dillender, you will be with Sister Whitaker.....in Zagreb." AHHHHHHHHH! YAAAAAAY! He said, “So that means that all four of you Sisters will be in that apartment." Everyone is talking and laughing and then I yell, "WAIT! Can we stay up past ten thirty?" We all just laughed and President just shakes his head...and laughs.
But then the next most exciting part was where the 7 footer was going to go. So a little later President says, "Elder Rhodes you will be training Elder Bakinski." We didn't know what the 7 footers name was since we always just refer to him as that, so we were all left wondering if he was the tall one or not when president says, "Elder Rhodes stand up! Elder Lee, stand on your chair.!" Elder Rhondes stands up to his tall frame of 5'6'' and Elder Lee, next to him stands on his chair, towering about 18 inches over him. Then president says, " the new companionship in Zadar." We all laughed and so did Elder Rhodes. They are going to be such a great sight. He really is 18 inches taller than him and Elder Rhodes is one of the two shortest missionaries in this mission. HA HA HA HA HA! The nice thing for the 7 footer is that in Zadar most men reach at least 6'5'' and it's not uncommon to see 7 footers. He will feel right at home.
I was reading over some of my old Zone Conference notes from when Elder Causse was here. The part that really stood out to me was when he was talking about planning being a sacred part of the day. He told us to be specific in what we do. So Sister Fitzsimmons and I decided to do that and before we left the apartment to do go talk to people we prayed for a lady to be interested and want to learn more and give us her phone number so we could get a hold of her. The first person was a rude old lady the second was a rude old guy and the third was a lady who wanted to give us her phone number. We told her about family history and offered her a chapel tour. She said that would be great and told us that we can make an appointment with her, so, we asked for her phone number and she was happy to give it. She actually asked if we live close by because she sees us walking here all the time. We walk home that way everyday and I wonder what kind of an impression she got from us. Well it couldn't be that bad since Sister Fitzsimmons and I are best friends and we are usually running for the tram anyway. But the faith building exercise for me was : THE LORD BLESSES THE FAITHFUL!
I am sorry I don't have much time to write beyond this today. But from now on I will still have stories of Sister Fitzsimmons plus two more sisters. It's pretty much going to be a party every day!
s ljubavlju,
Sestra Dillender
Aug 23
Hi,
I just also wanted to let you know if you wanted to send something not via email you can send it to my apartment, and I will be there at least until October 24 and if it comes later the other sisters can give it to me:
Sister Babe
Hermanova Ulica 13 H
10000 Zabreb
Hrvatska
The name you send it to is very important by the way!
If you send it to the Sovenia address it just goes to the mission home and takes a little longer to get to me because we wait for them to come down to Croatia so they can give it to us. But either address you have is a good one just the Zagreb one is faster.
Hvala ljepo!
Sestra......Babe!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Aug 16, 2010
Hello my loved ones,
This week has been a very long week for some reason, but not at all bad just really long. There have been a lot of changes in the mission since I got here and one of them is that there wouldn't be anymore Zone Conferences, where all the missionaries get together once a month in the country. We talk about a lot of good things that really help us and boost our morale. Plus, my favorite part of Zone Conference is hearing from President and Sister Hill. They truly are amazing and I am so happy every time we get to see them. But then we heard that for the next six months there will be Zone Conferences here in Europe every month, yay! It's nice to see the other four sisters in the country, swap stories and have a little bit of girl time. I love the ones that are here and it's always so fun to see them. But I am happy that I get a few more Zone Conferences before I go home.
Oh here is something funny, sometimes Sister Fitzsimmons talks about wanting to see an Asian person because we never see Asian people here, and then we see one that day. The other day was no exception. In the morning she talked about how she wanted to go to Asia just to see an Asian person. Later around lunch time we were talking to this really nice lady on the street, when all of the sudden this huge swarm of a Japanese tour group surrounded us and the guide was saying something in Japanese. We started laughing sooooo hard just because of the irony of it all. ha ha Heavenly Father even gives us things we don't ask for in prayers. He really knows the desires of our hearts ;) he he, but he really does.
I feel like a mission is the funniest thing I have ever done in my life. I feel like I am laughing all day long, you would think I would have stronger abs by now. I feel like there are so many funny things that happen everyday and there hasn't been a day that has gone by that I haven't had to bend over and put my hands on my knees for support. You know m,e I love to laugh, so Heavenly Father does send us what we want.
Thank you so much for all your emails and letters of love and encouragement. I always here what I need to every week. I love you!!!
Love,
Sister Dillender
This week has been a very long week for some reason, but not at all bad just really long. There have been a lot of changes in the mission since I got here and one of them is that there wouldn't be anymore Zone Conferences, where all the missionaries get together once a month in the country. We talk about a lot of good things that really help us and boost our morale. Plus, my favorite part of Zone Conference is hearing from President and Sister Hill. They truly are amazing and I am so happy every time we get to see them. But then we heard that for the next six months there will be Zone Conferences here in Europe every month, yay! It's nice to see the other four sisters in the country, swap stories and have a little bit of girl time. I love the ones that are here and it's always so fun to see them. But I am happy that I get a few more Zone Conferences before I go home.
Oh here is something funny, sometimes Sister Fitzsimmons talks about wanting to see an Asian person because we never see Asian people here, and then we see one that day. The other day was no exception. In the morning she talked about how she wanted to go to Asia just to see an Asian person. Later around lunch time we were talking to this really nice lady on the street, when all of the sudden this huge swarm of a Japanese tour group surrounded us and the guide was saying something in Japanese. We started laughing sooooo hard just because of the irony of it all. ha ha Heavenly Father even gives us things we don't ask for in prayers. He really knows the desires of our hearts ;) he he, but he really does.
I feel like a mission is the funniest thing I have ever done in my life. I feel like I am laughing all day long, you would think I would have stronger abs by now. I feel like there are so many funny things that happen everyday and there hasn't been a day that has gone by that I haven't had to bend over and put my hands on my knees for support. You know m,e I love to laugh, so Heavenly Father does send us what we want.
Thank you so much for all your emails and letters of love and encouragement. I always here what I need to every week. I love you!!!
Love,
Sister Dillender
Aug 9th, 2010
Aug 9th
Dear loved ones,
Since yesterday was my dad's birthday, I thought I would write him a letter to show how much I appreciate him.
Dear Daddy,
First off I would like to say that I miss you dearly! I thought of you all day yesterday and I thought you probably don't care to celebrate your day of birth into mortality, but I wanted to celebrate who you are. Yesterday, Sister Fitzsimmons and I made a cake in honor of you and we both blew out the candles together. It was really tasty and we ate it at ten o'clock at night (since that is after proselyting hours). It was fun to have a party for you and we didn't even care about the few extra calories :D.
After we got home from church we were really tired. I thought as a present I would try to work as hard as you do. So, instead of taking an extra hour to weekly plan we went out and talked to a lot of people. No one was interested but we did talk to a group of six crazy old ladies. They complimented us on how modest we dressed and they were really fun to talk to.
Being out here is so much different than I thought it would be. But I am so glad I came and I am staying out here. Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is, or if I am even being what the Lord needs me to be. But you know what, I read your old notes and your favorite scriptures and quotes you wrote down all the time. They help me more than you probably know.
I miss not being able to just walk in the room and ask you questions or get your advice on something. I miss hugging you and holding your hand. I even miss the garlic fries and the Giants games we went too. But I know it's worth it to be here and to get help from you in other ways.
As I wear my badge I think of the two names I wear over my heart. I wear Christ's and yours. It's such an honor to represent my Savior and it's such an honor to represent you. Every time I think about chickening out on doing something I just remember how much I want to live up to both the names I wear and it gives me a lot of courage. I wish you could hold my hand through a lot of these things, but that wouldn't help me grow at all. Instead Sister Fitzsimmons holds my hand till I can do it myself :).
I think of the person you are all the time. Don't get me wrong, I want to be like my Savior and I don't think of you more than Him, but you are just such a great example of Him. You show me what discipline is, how to wade through adversary, use faith to bring about miracles, love people, and lead by example. I am so privileged to know you!
Just to walk down memory lane a bit, I remember driving home with you one time. We were driving up Wallace road and you were telling me about how we lived with our Father in Heaven before we came here. That He knows us and loves us. I remember feeling so strongly that that is true and praying to Heavenly Father to never let that feeling fade away. I love all the simple moments we have together. Like the time we went to Sausalito before a Giants game and had dinner in a restaurant on the Bay. Then we took the Ferry back over to San Francisco and watched a game. I don't even know if they won or lost, I just remember how it felt to be with you.
I hope you are proud of me. I know you love me and are always praying for me. I feel your love and I feel your support. I really need that! Thank you for being what I need and I am more than grateful to say I am your daughter. I just want to wish you a very Happy Birthday or Stretan Rođendan, and know that I am grateful for you.
I just can't wait to see you again! I love you!
Love,
Your Sister Dillender
Dear loved ones,
Since yesterday was my dad's birthday, I thought I would write him a letter to show how much I appreciate him.
Dear Daddy,
First off I would like to say that I miss you dearly! I thought of you all day yesterday and I thought you probably don't care to celebrate your day of birth into mortality, but I wanted to celebrate who you are. Yesterday, Sister Fitzsimmons and I made a cake in honor of you and we both blew out the candles together. It was really tasty and we ate it at ten o'clock at night (since that is after proselyting hours). It was fun to have a party for you and we didn't even care about the few extra calories :D.
After we got home from church we were really tired. I thought as a present I would try to work as hard as you do. So, instead of taking an extra hour to weekly plan we went out and talked to a lot of people. No one was interested but we did talk to a group of six crazy old ladies. They complimented us on how modest we dressed and they were really fun to talk to.
Being out here is so much different than I thought it would be. But I am so glad I came and I am staying out here. Sometimes I wonder what my purpose is, or if I am even being what the Lord needs me to be. But you know what, I read your old notes and your favorite scriptures and quotes you wrote down all the time. They help me more than you probably know.
I miss not being able to just walk in the room and ask you questions or get your advice on something. I miss hugging you and holding your hand. I even miss the garlic fries and the Giants games we went too. But I know it's worth it to be here and to get help from you in other ways.
As I wear my badge I think of the two names I wear over my heart. I wear Christ's and yours. It's such an honor to represent my Savior and it's such an honor to represent you. Every time I think about chickening out on doing something I just remember how much I want to live up to both the names I wear and it gives me a lot of courage. I wish you could hold my hand through a lot of these things, but that wouldn't help me grow at all. Instead Sister Fitzsimmons holds my hand till I can do it myself :).
I think of the person you are all the time. Don't get me wrong, I want to be like my Savior and I don't think of you more than Him, but you are just such a great example of Him. You show me what discipline is, how to wade through adversary, use faith to bring about miracles, love people, and lead by example. I am so privileged to know you!
Just to walk down memory lane a bit, I remember driving home with you one time. We were driving up Wallace road and you were telling me about how we lived with our Father in Heaven before we came here. That He knows us and loves us. I remember feeling so strongly that that is true and praying to Heavenly Father to never let that feeling fade away. I love all the simple moments we have together. Like the time we went to Sausalito before a Giants game and had dinner in a restaurant on the Bay. Then we took the Ferry back over to San Francisco and watched a game. I don't even know if they won or lost, I just remember how it felt to be with you.
I hope you are proud of me. I know you love me and are always praying for me. I feel your love and I feel your support. I really need that! Thank you for being what I need and I am more than grateful to say I am your daughter. I just want to wish you a very Happy Birthday or Stretan Rođendan, and know that I am grateful for you.
I just can't wait to see you again! I love you!
Love,
Your Sister Dillender
Monday, August 2, 2010
July 2010 Emails
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
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
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
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