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| The scary elevators that we ride up to the 18th floor:) |
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| These are our favorite kinds of buildings to tract. Luckily they are everywhere! |
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| Sestra Trumbo and I!!! |
Wow, it is crazy to think that its already
been another week! So much has been happening here in my beloved city of
Sarajevo. We are tracting like CRAZY and loving every minute of it. Its
funny because people are really taken aback when they open the door and
see two smiling 21-year-old girls from America speaking to them in
broken Bosnian. It usually takes us a few seconds to help them
understand who we are and why we are knocking on their door. People are
really nice here and listen to our introduction of the Book of Mormon
without slamming the door in our faces, which is really kind of them!
There are quite a few who we set up a follow-up appointment with from
just knocking on their door! Thats probably my favorite part of
missionary work is that I get the opportunity to bring the gospel,
literally right into their homes. Right where it is the most needed and
where it will help them the most. Sometimes its hard for me to not just
burst into their front room and tell them that I love them and they
should be baptized tomorrow. haha
We have met with a lot of potential investigators
this week. It is INCREDIBLE how some people are just prepared for this
gospel! They have an innate feeling that something is missing from their
lives and when we start to teach them they really feel something. We
have most recently been meeting with a woman who has cancer. She is
Muslim, but since her prognosis isnt looking too bright she has begun
investigating different ideas about the afterlife and religions, etc.
When we visited her this week it was the second time Sestra Trumbo had
taught her. We presented the plan of salvation (which the Muslims have a
very similar idea of in their religion) so it wasnt anything she hadnt
heard before until we started talking about General Conference. Sestra
Trumbo and I both were able to bear solemn testimony that we have a
prophet and apostles that are on earth to guide us and help us with the
things that we struggle with in our lives today. She really took this to
heart. It was cute because she had invited a friend over to hear our
message as well (she sounds pretty prepared huh?!) and after we talked
about General Conference and when and where it was her friend piped in
and said, Okay and after you go to the meeting you need to call me and
tell me everything they say! haha I loved her enthusiasm for the new
guidance and advice that we will be able to hear from our prophet and
shes not even a member! How many people do we know that would call their
non-member friend and tell them all about General Conference because
they wanted them to have that good advice in their lives?!
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| I'm the Bosnian Betty Crocker! |
Another new favorite part of my week is our English
class! We hold english class on Wednesdays from 17:00- 18:00 and
Saturdays from 14:00-15:00. We have about 30 students in each class.
THEY ARE AWESOME! This week we set up an obstacle course/scavenger hunt
for them to practice giving each other directions to different places in
English. One partner was blindfolded and it was really really fun! They
are very eager to learn. At the end of each lesson we have a spiritual
thought and have gotten a lot of interest in the BOM through the ideas
we have been able to share. We have 3 lessons this week from people in
our class. This week I also baked Lorna's Chocolate Chip cookies and they
LOVED them! (And so did the Elders. haha) They dont have cookies here
so they were so excited to have something from America! Im going to try
out pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Wednesdays class. I have to
subsitute some different ingredients, but it is so fun to play around
with and see how they turn out! The best ingredient that we have to
subsitute is the chocolate chips. They dont have chocolate chips here so
we get to smash up a delicious Eurpoean-made chocolate bar and put it
in the cookies instead. (Dont worry Dad, I will bring some home and make
some for you!) If anyone has ideas for lessons or activites for
teaching English to intermediate english-speakers I would love to hear
them!!
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| Our District! Elders Brown, Shillabeer, Mecham & us! |
The work is progressing so rapidly here we can
hardly keep up. The Elders tracted into a family on Saturday, invited
them to church on Sunday and right at 10:00 there was a Mom, Dad,
15-year-old son and 8-year-old son sitting in their seats ready to hear
their first Mormon sacrament meeting. They were so precious and loved
sacrament meeting. We already have 7 lessons set up for this next week
and it hasnt even started. The Lord is really blessing us here.
On the cultural side of things: 1) I have been
kissed on the hand probably 30 times since Ive been here and all by men
age 70 and older. 2) There are wild dogs everywhere! The other night
Sestra Trumbo and I were walking through the market on our way to our
apartment and were lucky enough to have 4-legged, furry body guards all
the way home! They didnt bother us at all, but just made a little circle
around us and escorted us home! haha It may be the only time in my life
I have actually liked a dog! 3) I am officially a regular on the public
transportation system now. I have a bus pass and everything! haha There
are a lot of friendly people on the busses and trams here, but also a
few interesting ones.
In my studies this week I have been studying a
different Christlike Attribute from Preach My Gospel. As I am trying to
be the best representative of Jesus Christ I am realizing how far I
still have to go! One of the attributes I especially loved studying was
obedience. In mosiah 15:7 it talks about the will of the Son being
SWALLOWED UP in the will of the Father. As I am trying to live and be
obedient I can feel the Lord more prevelantly in my life. I am able to
speak Bosnian a little better, I can understand what people are saying
during lessons, I have the courage to stop someone in the street, not
knowing what I am going to say to them. With General Conference coming
up, I think this is something that each of us can apply. Our leaders in
this church are going to counsel us on how to lives our lives so that we
can be the most happy. I know that as we listen to the spirit as they
are speaking, stay humble and trust in the promises that we have been
given for our obedience that we can become better people and better
examples of our Savior Jesus Christ. We all can let our wills be
SWALLOWED UP in the will of the Lord and become increasingly blessed in
our lives.
I love you all! Thank you for the emails and the mail and prayers and the love.
Volim vas,
Sestra Giles
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