This is the first photo they took of me with the Adriatic Norht Mission President, Edward Rowe, and his wife, sister Brook Rowe. We spent some time with them, before having dinner at the mission home, and then we stayed the night at the mission home before traveling to our new assignments. My first area will be in Rijeka, Croatia. It is a beautiful city on the coastline, near the border with Slovenia. I'm actually not that far away from the very northern border of Italy also.
On Tuesday, March 18th, 2014, , after more than a day of travel from the USA, I arrived with Sestra Kropushek, and Elder Brown at the airport in Zagreb.
This is the first photo they took of me with the Adriatic Norht Mission President, Edward Rowe, and his wife, sister Brook Rowe. We spent some time with them, before having dinner at the mission home, and then we stayed the night at the mission home before traveling to our new assignments. My first area will be in Rijeka, Croatia. It is a beautiful city on the coastline, near the border with Slovenia. I'm actually not that far away from the very northern border of Italy also.
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Sestra Tiara Kropushek's parents came to see us off in Salt Lake. They had to bring her a new camera, because her other camera broke while she was in the MTC. They took this picture of our "tricycle" from the MTC; Me, Sestra K, and Elder Jacob Brown. The three of us traveled together to Zagreb. Elder Brown is in the Adriatic North Mission, but he will serve in Slovenia, (he learned Slovene, but not Croatian. Sestra K and I will be in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia/Herzegovenia. I'll post more news soon, when I get assigned to my first area. (Thanks to my Mom for keeping my blog updated) We left the Salt Lake Airport at 7:48 am.,headed to Chicago. Our flight from Chicago left at 3:15 p.m., and we flew for 8 hours to Frankfurt, Germany. We waited a few more hours before getting to Zagreb, Croatia at about noon, on Tuesday, March 18th, local time. It was a busy day of travel. These pictures were taken in the morning by Sestra Kropushek's Mom, Moana, at the Salt Lake airport. They came to see us off, and to give her a new camera. Also…Elder Jacob Brown was able to travel with us! We were so delighted to have him with us. More info later. Well DANGIT. This week has been the blurriest of all weeks... let me just TRY to think of some fun things to tell you. We got our travel plans on Friday! So the deal is we leave from the MTC at 3:30 in the AM on Monday morning (March 17) for our flight from Salt Lake to Chicago, so I'll be able to call you then! Maybe 10 or 11ish? But like, 9 o clock your time! SO BE READY :) Then we go from Chicago to Frankfurt (GERMANY. YES.) and then from Germany to Zagreb. We're kind of depressed, because Elder Brown got a mission reassignment... he's going to Cleveland, Ohio :( His visa still hasn't come in, so they gave him a reassigment until it comes in. Who knows! It could come in tomorrow or Friday! And then he can come with us :) But SK and I cried about it... it's kind of a blow. He's our tricycle and we just can't imagine going to our mission without him. :( We already miss him so bad, and we're not even seperated yet. It's crazy though, we're arriving in Zagreb on Tuesday at 10:30 Am their time, so we're gonna go tracting or contacting or something that DAY. I'll definitely need my rest... and apparently they only allow 18 pound carry ons. It'll be a tricky packing situation. Also, fun news, our teachers recommended us for the "new missionary orientation". Which means that when all the new missionaries get here, we are going to go up in front of all of them and show them how to begin teaching. Its made for a SUPER stressful P day. Its our last pday, and we had a meeting this morning, so we couldn't go to our assigned temple time. AND we have to start packing, AND plan for our TRC lesson on Thursday, because we will be at In field orientation on Thursday. So we have our English investigators, right? And they're actually the Bulgarian teachers, but we teach them, because we were practicing getting referrals, and that was who we were referred to. Anyway, so we had this crazy awesome lesson, because they've been doubting and just so unsure whether or not baptism is the right thing for them. So we gave them an entire lesson on prayer and the Holy Ghost, and we asked them to pray RIGHT THEN to know if baptism was the right thing to do, and we did, AND IT WAS AWESOME. The spirit was SO strong in there. And Bozidarka said YES! And after a bit, Ivan finally admitted that he was still unsure. He asked, "Why do you guys even want to be members of your church anyway?" And I just felt so inspired. Immediately I said, "Lets go to my favorite verse!" Mosiah 18:8-11 is like, one of my fave parts of the BOM. So we read it together, and he just kind of smiled and he was like "... I've known that all of these thing are good things. I've known that prayer is good, and that I feel closer to my wife and to God through prayer and through reading the sciptures... but reading this verse, I just felt so good. I know I need to get baptized. And I want to get baptized. All these things here are exactly what I want." I TOTALLY DON'T CARE THAT HE AND HIS WIFE ARE REALLY RM'S. THE SPIRIT WAS SO THERE!! :) :) :) It was probably my favorite lesson I ever taught. EVER. I didn't feel like it was just my teachers saying yes because they feel bad for my Croation. We've really had to struggle and teach these investigators, because we haven't had our language to fall back on. So when we got them BOTH to commit to baptism... Oh my goodness. I wanted to shout for joy. It was the best thing. Ever. Also, yesterday Sister Kropushek and I were practicing contacting in English for a little bit, just because that's the thing I'm most worried about totally being bad at? So we got the feel for it in English, and then just WENT for it in Croation, and I was just sitting there talking to her and I really could picture myself in Europe, talking to a native Croation person about the Gospel, and I GOT SO EXCITED. I am feeling the joy that comes from preaching the gospel, SO MUCH right now. Oh. My. Goodness. Just like in Ivan and Bozidarka's lesson, I just wanted to shout I was so excited. I think I did a little bit. This is just.. so. so cool. I am so happy. SO HAPPY. You know the feeling you get when it's like Christmas or Easter or General Conference or Disneyland? That's the feeling I have like, all the time. I guess that's what the Spirit is supposed to do, so I'm glad it's working :) I'm going to cry this weekend. Not even gonna lie. My teachers are just... the best things that have ever happened. And Elder Brown. and SK. And my zone. My goodness. This has just been amazing and I will miss everyone a whole lot... Well dangit, I don't know what else to say. I'M LEAVING, THAT'S WHAT I'LL SAY.
Sestra Catherine Chauncey View contact Content from Learn more|Turn off Ah! Lots of cool spiritual experiences this week. I had an absolutely incredible fast Sunday and so many prayers were answered. I got this amazing blessing from Elder Brown, and he answered so many of my questions and doubts. Well, I guess he didn't answer them, but he was definitely the mouthpiece. He is so in tune... it was awesome. Also, I was having sort of a bad night last night... just feeling a little bummed out and kind of down on myself. And then the branch president asked me to speak with him. So, we get in there, and he just sits me down, and says, "I just want you to know... that out of all the sisters that I have seen come and go through our zone... I am so impressed with your dedication to this work. You need to know that you are one of the best. I like to think I follow the spirit all of the time... but tonight, I felt specifically prompted to tell you this." Talk about a confidence booster. In a moment of weakness, the Lord wanted to remind me that He is proud of me. He knows! He knows us perfectly!! Act on the promptings you receive, thats all I gotta say. Man I'm getting converted. Brother Hansen finally came back this week!!! We missed him. He is so weird, it is so fun. He was on a cruise with his wife to Mexico. Brother Bell has also been coming in a lot more lately, so that makes us happy. We love our teachers. Like... most everyone doesn't like going to class, but we absolutely love it, because we're actually friends with our teachers. I'll try and send some pictures so you can get a face with the names. Unless you already have them. I don't even remember anymore. Haha. Also, we love Brother Freeman. He has recently become a new investigator for us and he is Valentino's Uncle? And so we call him "Uncle Freeman". The other day, SK accidentally called him "Uncle Freedom". Why is it so funny? We have no idea. We played a game the other night called "psyhciatrist" where one person left the room, the rest decided what the grammar problem would be, and the other person would come back and ask us questions to figure out what our issue was. So Brother Freeman decided that we would pronounce all of our "a's" SUPER american. So instead of pronouncing "Svaka Cast" like "Svahka Chahst" it would be "SVAKA CHAST." And we're still dying from that. I LOVE THEM. Elder Brown is so funny. We made him come to the gym we go to, where there are weights. And he started with "fivers" and lifting them like they were the heaviest things in the world. And we walked away, distracted with something else. But apparently, then he actually tried to lift weights, and the next night he told us he was thinking to himself 'Man this is probably too much... it's fine... just keep going.' But like... he, couldn't use his arms the next day. hahahahahah. So funny. He is our best friend. And apparently his visa is delayed! Most of the times, in our zone, they come in right before they leave? so HOPEFULLY all will be well. We can't travel to Europe without the TRICYCLE. Also I'm sorry I'm lame and I'm pretty sure all I ever write about is faith. So, in general, fear is the antonym of faith. It says in the Bible Dictionary that fear is unworthy of a child of God. Also, the first effect of Adam's transgression was the he was afraid. Faith cannot exist with fear. When we are afraid of men, or life, or death, or anything! We are not living up to the way God would have us live. Again, in the BD, it says that "The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character... so as to enable the mind of the man to place confidence in Him without reservation." We should not doubt!! We should not be afraid!! Christ has revealed Himself so that we DON'T have to be afraid!! Have faith!! Lift up your hearts and rejoice!! Christ is our Master, and he is leading us today. Trust him. Have faith. Be a child of God, and represent Him. After the incredible blessing I got from Elder Brown where he LITERALLY answered SPECIFIC questions I had asked in my prayer just that morning, I felt great. I shared that story with Sestra Kropushek and him and we just cried and talked about how incredible the Priesthood is. it was amazing. it was such a spiritual experience for us. #tearsforever Anyway, I don't know what more to say!! All of these days just blur together.. I should probably start bringing my journal along... that would be good. P days are soo stressful. Mostly, just the hour of email time. #PRESSURE. I love you all so much :) TRAVEL PLANS. TWO DAYS. CAN'T BELIEVE IT.
Kelly Perdue View contact Content from Learn more|Turn off BOK! The past few days have been absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Oh man, i can't even tell you how nice it has been. I've been outside every day, for one reason or another. Today we sat outside for like TWO HOURS, just writing letters and enjoying the beautiful day. Yesterday, Sestra Kropushek and I ran around campus yesterday and then laid out in the sun and did some crunches. AND we studied outside. It was awesome. we found this secret little spot of tables in the sun, on the edge of campus, that no one EVER goes to. It is amazing. SK and I are just realizing that we are going to Europe during springtime... and we are just so excited. we get out travel plans in 9 days CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? NEMOGU BELIEVE IT! :) haha. I feel like Wendy Butler should know that there is an Elder here (Elder Hon) and I could swear, he is her long lost son. His personality and his demeanor is SO butler-ish. He is the FUNNIEST person in our zone, but he is also a district leader, and the most spiritually mature in the Polish district. he is so cool. he just says the funniest stuff all the time and reminds me of Brock/Luke. I love him!! We had a goal of SYLing this whole week (speak your language) and it is so hard. It is so annyoying how you can forget to speak in croation, although your teachers are right in front of you, speaking croation. but... malo po malo!! mogu raditi tesko stvari!! :) whats most irritiating about a second language (for me) is that I can't spit out sentences in 2 seconds. I have to slow down and think about how to say it. Parent's I'm sure you can imagine how difficult that is for me... Ugh. I CAN'T TALK FAST? WHAT? I have been so blessed with a happy attitude this week. Especially the temple this morning. All I really wanted was to be happy while I was there, and that was exactly what i got! its amazing. I'm so blessed to be in such a good mood, especially because i was so grouchy the week before. It's been very nice. and the sunshine has helped a lot. Sister Frampton is my favorite sister... she is so funny. she just walked by, and her tongue was stuck to a creamsicle. hahahahaha. Only her. Only. Her. She wore an outfit 3 days in a row last week, just to see if anyone noticed. NO one did. We had a wonderful devotional last night. we sang the song "Faith of our Fathers", and Brother Eggett insisted that we think of what we're singing about it, and then he told us a BUNCH of cool missionary stories from the early saints. and the entire devo talk was on the first missionaries in this dispensation. oh man. got me so pumped. and I feel SO BLESSED to have so much history within this gospel. I mean... we can pretty much find SOMEONE we're related to in every important moment in church history. so, the combination of that feeling, and the spirit of faith that was there just got me so pumped. Speaking of which, parents, I want you to send me as MANY cool family history stories as possible. Mom, I know you probably have a bunch. actually, you too dad. but I am just super into family history right now, and I want to know everything i can about them. We had our teacher, Brother Bell, come in and teach us monday morning. i'm not sure why it was such a good experience, but he kind of just studied, and then talked about what we had studied? And then he shared with us that he had been thinking a lot, and had no idea how to figure out what it meant to know God's will. so he invited us to look for an answer in our own personal study time, and then we could get back to him later and then we could talk about it. So, that's what SK and I did during personal study. we found this one verse that was so good: Words of Mormon 1:7 "For thus it shispereth me, according to the workings of the spirit of the Lord which is in me, and now I do not know all things, but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will:" i was like THERE WE GO. and that sort of answered the question that i had forever too. The point of living is not to know exactly what God's will is for you. follow the commandments. follow the promptings of the spirit. but, we're not always going to know exactly what god has in plan for us. as long as we follow the little promptings day by day, then, by the end of our lives, we will realize exactly what God's will for us was. and if we're lucky, and if we've listened, we'll know that we've done exactly what he has wanted us to do. There is something so incredible about studying for another person. I just love to read and think of things that I could teach someone. either something I haven't realized before, or teaching them something that is exactly what I think they need. Being a missionary is just... is the best job ever. Hey, have you ever wondered where in the heck Adam (and Eve) learned how to talk? Because I wondered that. Adam didn't really have you know -- earthly parents or anything. And then I studied and figured out that he learned how to speak and write all through inspiration. How cool is that. that's why his language was perfect. Totally cool. Anyway, I think that's about all for now :) I'll send some pictures along too. It has been such a good day. I didn't realize how much I needed the sun. But I totally need it. #almostlikecalifornia #almost
Heyyy everyone!!! Every day is blurring together. And I really just don't remember which way is up anymore. SO hopefully I can tell you some stories that aren't too LAME or repeats. Well, I was super super super glad that I got to talk to you on Friday. Happy Valentines Day to ME!! but also unhappy because I got a root canal. Dr. Albert Clark (Provo dentist) finished the treatment today, and I cried. I was much stronger last week. I must have just lost my strength. I was super tired, BUT IT WAS EMBARASSING. and all these dental ladies are cleaning up and chatting and it was just giving me the craziest homesickness. Ha Ha. I MISS MY SURFSIDE DENTAL! I would much rather be in the swirly chair than the dental chair, if you know what i mean. but it seemed to be okay. I wish my injuries would quit making me go past Wymount Terrace. (Where Candace and Taybor live) Because I'm pretty sure I'm near Wymount Terrace MORE than Candace and Taybor are. Okay, maybe not. but it feels like it. I keep an eye out for them everytime, but I never see anything... maybe that's a blessing. OKAY, so THE CRAZIEST thing happened the other day,after the root canal initial visit, I was going to the health center to pick up some pain pills and antibiotics, and I was walking across the street and I hear 'CATHERINE' coming from a car. I'm like... who the heck... and I start looking at this window and theres this tall blonde girl waving at me and I'm like… "Corinne... no... wait... who?" AND IT'S KIERSTEN BRADSHAW. (She is a friend form 9th grade that lives in South Jordan) Omg, it was AMAZING. I haven't seen her forever! AND SHE'S IN FRONT OF THE CROSSWALK. #tendermercies so she jumped out of the car and gave me a big hug. Her wedding ring is totally beautiful. I didn't get a chance to meet her husband, who was driving, but its okay. but it was just so cool/ironic to see her again. Also, I'm sure Carly (Caroline) told you all about Sunday, but it was just... the best. I saw Caroline, AND Elder Jeffrey Holland. I don't even care that he didn't speak, because just the fact that my favorite apostle was in the same room as me made me so happy. and his son (Matt Holland, who is the President of Utah Valley University) did SUCH an amazing job. He told these incredible stories about Joseph Smith that made me cry a lot. I'm just crying so much lately. Emotional! We sang the hymn, "Praise to the Man" in the end of the meeting, and to sing with Caroline in this big huge choir RIGHT after experiencing this super-powered Joseph Smith devotional? Um...I'm surprised I didn't just drown from tears. The language is coming much better this week. probably because I haven't noticed how bad it is, because we've only been teaching English lessons. it is SO FUN to teach in english - to actually feel like I can say what I want to say, and bear my testimony in my native tongue… Who knew that I would actually be jealous of English speaking missionaries. But learning a language is tough. but our teachers made me feel a lot better… There is a teacher named Brother Jacobsen, and he rarely comes into see us, but he came in yesterday. It was great croation practice. first, he bribed us and told us that if we spoke croation the rest of the morning, then he would show us pictures of his wedding (which was awesome cause it was in San Diego temple), and I didn't feel like a totally idiot. I could express myself and stuff. who knew? and he sat in on our lesson (he came in and said "shhh... ja sam sveti duh..." which means "i'm the holy ghost" we laughed) and he made us feel better. ! and, he said "you're grammar isn't perfect or anything, but you know what you're doing. if you don't know how to say something exactly the way you want to say it, then you think of a way around it. and even if you can't speak perfectly, you understand SO much. stop doubting yourself. You know what you're doing." And it was a way good pick me up. Yesterday was a really cool/kind of awful experience. haha let me explain. I was really down on myself... like, i had a bad week, not gonna lie, and this was the climax of the bad week. I felt like everything was weighing down on me. EVERYTHING. I just wasn't even sure if i could make it to the end of the day. and as I was spiraling down, into this terribly depressing state, I realized that the more awful things I thought about myself, the more there was a voice and a feeling telling me that I would be okay. and the worse things I thought, the stronger this voice got. It was an inner argument with myself and the Holy Ghost. I would doubt, and He was there to comfort me. I have never truly felt the power of the Holy Ghost as a comforter until yesterday. I was in the worst place i've been in such a long time, but the Lord fulfilled his promises, and I was not left comfortless. By the end of what should have been a debiliating cycle of thought, I came out of it feeling stronger and ready to face the day. He won the argument. The Holy Ghost WILL be there to comfort you, no matter what. Even if you might not expect him too. He will be there. I just got a huge reboot for the reasons I came out here in the first place. I want people to know that there is a God. I want people to know that there is a way we can be comforted in the worst of times. I want people to experience what I experienced, and to never give up, even if its the only thing they want to do. because that is what I experienced, and I know it can happen for everyone. Anyway, I think that's about all for now. I miss ya'll like crazy. volim nas! Sestra Chauncey
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AuthorThis blog documents the journeys of Sister Catherine Chauncey on her mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is serving in the Adriatic North Mission, from January 2014 to July of 2015. Archives
March 2015
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