Monday, September 26, 2011

Week 38

Hey Fam,

So this week has been crazy.  But full of great stuff. I will try not to expand so much.  I know it gets a little boring and dry.  So Mom no worries your not getting old.  I have a list every week of what I am going to write home about.  I don't want to forget anything.  So I will get started....

Well Monday we had that big storm which I sent pictures of.  It was fun to go down to the sea organ and hear it during a storm.  I have a video but it was to big to attach so the pictures will have to do for now.  I know I have been saying this for a while but I really am getting close to sending a camera card. 

Tuesday we had district meeting.  Because I am the district leader I get the ¨privilege¨ of planning and organizing that every week.  It can be tough sometimes especially being so busy.  But I am trying harder everyday to seek the Lords will for my small little district.  I just want to be sure that I can be of the best help to the Lord in the work here in Zadar.  So they are getting better. Just another opportunity to learn and grow.  The better I get at this the better I will be able to lead board meetings when I am a CEO HAHA. 

So Elvino that I talked about a little before, our investigator, is doing better.  He is still so quiet and I keep trying to talk to him but he just is that way.  I know this is such a different personality type to deal with lol.  But we are working slowly and hope to be able to help him.  His mom is really sick so I just want to let him know that he can find peace and hope in the Gospel.  So cool experience this week.  We were over teaching them and just talking with them both.  His mom likes to talk to us a lot and just lays on her bed, because she is so sick, and says whatever see pleases her, which is not such a different personality type lol.  Elvino had asked us to come and give her another blessing and so that was good that he requested it his time and it wasn't solicited to him by a member.  So we went over and before we left Truman stood up and we walked over to her but then Truman just offered a pray at her bedside.  I was so confused.  Why wouldn't he give her a blessing.  We sat down and talked a little more but I was just thinking that we should really give her a blessing.  We have the priesthood.  Anyone can offer a pray, but we have the priesthood and use it!  I thought of the talk by Pres. Uchtdorf titled, ˝Your Potential, Your privilege˝ that he gave in priesthood session.  I was convinced that we were living below our potential and not using the privilege that we had, at that moment.  I thought well maybe I should give the blessing??  I quickly backed down to the fact that my companion had felt that a prayer was better and we should stick together on this.  I left that apartment that night not pleased with myself at all.  I knew that I should have said something and I didn't.  As we walked home in silence I honestly felt that I had failed the Lord.  He had sent me a prompting and an opportunity and I didn't take it.  My night was ruined.  As we got home I knew I had to say something to Truman.  So I asked him, ˝why didn't you want to use your priesthood?˝  He of course felt attacked and I expressed to him what I was filling and why.  He said maybe I wasn't supposed to use my priesthood.  I knew then more clearly that a blessing was supposed to be given and by me.  Dang it, I thought, I don't know Croatian but this lady is supposed to be given a blessing and I am the one who needs to give it.  I took this as my second chance and without calling we walked back over and had explained that I was sorry but I forgot to do something before I left and asked if it would be ok that I give her a blessing.  So I proceeded.  It was hard to translate the voice of the Lord into Croatian.  I knew that the language that I said it in was important only so that they could know what I was saying.  As I finished Elvino told me I could have done it in English, I told him that she needed to be able to understand.  I said thank you for the opportunity and we left. 

That night I didn't just learn how to give an blessing in Croatian.  I learned a great lesson that will bless me for the rest of my life.  I have the priesthood.  I can bless people's lives.  The Lord is will to give me personal revelation only if I am willing to listen and follow.  I was fortunate enough to have a second chance.  I hope that I wont need 2 in the future that I can be bold enough and in tune enough to follow it the first time.

In other news we had a baptism this week.  It was the daughter of a couple here.  They are both members making this the FIRST EVER full family in Zadar!  This is just another of those experience that I talked about last week about being able to see church history form here. It was great and now we just wait for them to be able to go to the temple together!

Last night we were at Elvino's again and they insist on feeding us every time we are over there.  So they made us grilled pork chops.  Don't be jealous they aren't that great.  Then in the grease of that they fried eggs.  I like fried eggs but even for me they had a bit to much grease.  So on Trumans he was scrapping every last bit of grease.  So just to tease Truman I told them that he loves eggs especially like this.  He glared at me then said I will give you 100 Kuna ($20) if you eat these.  I couldn't resist so I did it.  I'm sure it was worth it though.  I made 20 bucks on eating 2 eggs that just had a little extra grease.  SWEET DEAL!

That is about all the fun for this week.  President is working on breaking down the barrier between the countries.  We already have a huge barrier called language, but he wants us to get to know and interact with each other more.  So one of the sisters from here is in Slovenia this week.  He told me he would be doing this with elders to so I may be going on a little trip to be a greenie again. 

Ok Ryan this is for you but I want everyone to hear it.  Timmeri Blair!!  That is so weird to me!  How did that even happen!?  I'm pretty sure she hated me in high school.  Have you kissed her yet.  You cant possibly let Tommy beat you right now!  When I heard that I squirmed a little like I imagine Dani does about her brother dating her friend.  Well have fun!

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Week 37

Hey Fam,

So the best thing out of all the Emails I got was the Utah BYU game.  Oh how great was my joy!  After hearing that there in sunshine in my soul today even though it is rainy here in Zadar.  We got hammered on the way home from grocery shopping this morning.  Ok enough about that.  So everyone keep your heads straight with this next story, it's just a thought that quickly went away. 

So my companion and I were listening to some takes by Elder Holland and we happen to come across one that was a devotional at BYU for the beginning of the school year.  He was just basically bragging up BYU and there standards and school history and stuff.  So you all know what an amazing speaker Elder Holland is.  Well just to show how amazing he is, as he was talking I began to think wow this school doesn't sound all that bad, maybe I could handle it... WOW then I went and put on my Utes shirt and shorts and the thought ended, hopefully never to return again.  Oh Holland, you have such a way with words.  Then I also listened to a talk where he absolutely tore into the student body for booing their own quarter back.  I wont say that Utah has never done that before because I'm not sure but I do know that they didn't win the award for most regrettable sports move of the year.  The talk was about loyalty and I learned to also be loyal to my Utes.  Ok now onto the real convincing of men, missionary work. 

So everything has been going really good here.  It is still hot but what can you do.  We continue to go outside and work on our tans while staying as far away from the beach as possible, we don't want to get distracted.  We have been working on trying to get the Book of Mormon out to more people, knowing that if they will just read it with an open heart and mind they will see the happiness it brings.  So we headed out Thursday morning with each of us carry a backpack full of ˝Mormonava Knijga˝ Books of Mormon and went to work.  Well after about an hour and a half we passed out one.  He was so kind as to give us his number, that didn't work.  So I will speak for myself when I say I got a little down about the whole thing.  But no worries we smoothed it all over with some gelato!

This was the day after we headed up to Zagreb for a specialized training meeting, so special that everyone was invited.  The way the mission is running now everyone is either a leader now or will soon be one.  So going back to Zagreb felt like going home.  I love it and maybe miss it a little but Zadar is the change I begged for and got and now love.  It didn't help my Zagreb ˝homesickness˝ when a member from there came to church in Zadar on his way out to one of the close by islands.  The meeting was great and based off a meeting that Pres Rowe just went to in Denmark for Mission Presidents all over.  Elder Bednar lead the meeting. 

I know that I said that everyone wants to be my companion because of my ˝tidiness˝ but I have begin to discover that this may be more of a blessing than a curse.  This is in correlation to the deep frying which seems to be turning out the same day.  So as my mothers child I clean when I get a little stressed out.  Well our apartment is currently spotless including baseboards, blinds, and windowsills.  The deep fryer however is a different story.  It totally stuck it to me when I made the decision to clean it because it was so nasty.  I tried everything we had and it did not meet my expectations.  So I finished what I could and placed it on the top shelf, not to come down for another week and a half.  I need to find a different, more productive, less time consuming stress reliever.  I don't want this small idiosyncrasy to impose on my job to be a missionary.   If no one can relate I still know that you can mom. 

So we now have a progressing investigator, Elvino.  He is the previous investigator that came to church upon our invitation the other week.  He is really quiet which is proving to be somewhat of a challenge.  But he is doing good.  Keeping his commitments and coming to church without a problem.  Operation baptism is fully underway. 

I also had a cool experience this week.  Well it was interesting to me at least.  We met with one of our member to teach her how to teach a lesson for Relief Society.  It was easy and fun but the great part game in the latter of the day when Elder Truman and I were walking home and I was thinking of what a unique and amazing mission I had heard.  With my companion as the branch president, which yes happens often here, only two branches have native branch presidents, and only about 6 active members our job is to build this branch from nothing.  Many of these members have no idea of what a fully functional ward or stake even runs like, so as we teach them the simple things that I was taught as a child, we get to have great experience.  I told Truman that I don't care if we only have 5 members at church we get the opportunity to meet each of them one-on-one and teach them things that will help them for the rest of their lives.

Just a bit more on my comp as the Branch Pres.  Bless his soul it is so hard im sure.  The kid is a stress case! lol.   He tells me that I keep him sane and is thankful for me always cracking a joke to keep the mood light.  

Well I think that is about it from me this week.  I love you all and hope everything is going well. 

Love Elder Massey
Elder Massey and his comp, soaked from the rain Ü







This lady and I, this is the place where we do service.  We deliver lunches to older people who cant leave their apartments.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Week 36

Hey Fam,

So I have to admit this week has been very emotionally and physically draining.  I had to help organize my first funeral in Croatia.  There was a member here in Zadar that had been sick for awhile and in the hospital.  She passed away on Tuesday and the rest of the week was consumed with trying to contact people and organize a service.  Because the branches are so small here missionaries serve as branch presidents in some of the cities.  Well my companion is the Branch President here and so we had a lot to do.  From what we had known she didn't have any family.  However, after having searched through her wallet we found a number and got in contact with some family members in Zagreb.  So they came down here on Wednesday to be caught up to speed on what we had already done and organize some other things.  I thought that maybe they would be mad that they weren't contacted sooner but they were really nice and very appreciative.  So it was an interesting experience.  The family was very considerate of her obligations to the church in the way that although she will be cremated she will be dressed in her temple clothes.  My companion and I worked through the whole thing together and all is well now.  It all ended, for us at least, with a small service here in Zadar before she is moved up to Zagreb where the family lives and the main service will be. 

Throughout the whole thing I had a great opportunity!  So I don't really know why but when missionaries serve as branch presidents they aren't really sustained or set apart.  So when the week was getting really stressful and Elder Truman and I were thinking of what else we can do to help the branch and family he asked me if I could give him a blessing to help him.  He spends a lot of time in the spare bedroom which has now been named ˝the revelation room˝ as that is where it is quieter and he studies in there.  So as he came out from saying his personal prayers and we were talking he asked me to give him a blessing.  As I begun, I took a deep breathe and my head began to spin and little.  I was a bit nervous, I had never done this before.  As I stood there with my hands on his head in silence for a moment I tried to clear my head as to be sure that what I said was from the Lord and not my own thought.  This turned out to be a great experience.  As I searched for the Lord's will to be dictated through me to my companion I could feel the spirit working through me and it was truly a great experience.

So that was one blessing for me this week, that I gave.  But my companion managed to one up me this week.  We went over to an investigators house and gave his mom a blessing.  She is sick but we decided that it would be better to not bring our oil until they understood a little more about it.  Well the member that accompanied us was so nice as to explain to her that next time we might bring the ˝holy oil˝.  Wasn't that so nice of her!

The other blessing was to a member who had found out that she was pregnant this week and has had some problems with that so they asked Truman to give her a blessing.  Her husband has been a member for about 3 months and told us that he anxiously awaits the day when he wont have to call on the missionaries to offer a blessing to a member of his family.  It was great to hear that a recent convert already has such great goals for him and his family. 

We played tourist last week after emails and I got lots of cool pics.  Just for Lance I visited the 5 wells, Lion's gate, and the sea organ.  This is along with all the b-e-a-utiful sunsets that I see off our balcony.  I have attached a few. 

So that is pretty much my week.  Hopefully we can hit the ground running this week with the funeral over.  I have specialized training on Wednesday in Zagreb and I am excited to ˝go home˝ for a day. 

Well I love you all and hope you enjoy the pictures!


This is Elder Massey and Elder West (his companion from the MTC) holding signs for their car wash/service project they had a couple weeks ago while still in Zagreb

This is from a couple weeks ago as well, at Dajana's baptism Ü




Monday, September 5, 2011

Week 35

 Hey Fam,

So the info you have all been dying to know.  Either that or I've been dying to tell... I absolutely love my new area!  It is so beautiful.  I get to see the sea and the boats everyday.  It is a little hotter here but it will get better and then it will just be great.  I am so happy to be down here.  It is exactly the change I needed.  It really is so pretty here.  I almost fell in the water the other day cause the sidewalk just drops off into the water and I was just staring into the water.  Partly because it is so beautiful and partly because it is so hot and I want to go swimming.  But it has been really fun being here and getting adjusted to a new area. 

Elder Truman is my new companion.  I am the district leader and he is the branch president, so we are just telling people what to do all day, just kidding.  He told me the other day that it felt like he had been dragging me around the week.  Well we came to the conclusion that this is because he walks so dang fast that he is always a couple feet in front of me.  No worries we walk side by side now and no dragging, physical or mental, is taking place.  I think that we will compliment each other well in our teaching styles and such, I am excited to get teaching some people.

So I got to meet the branch on Sunday.  This is one of the biggest changes.  We had 10 people at church on Sunday, that is including the 4 missionaries.  So that is a lot different but it is what it is.  Everyone here is really nice and I got to teach a recent convert the day after I got here.  That was good and he is a great member.  He is the only male in the branch.

So when I first arrived here I had to do some cleaning which resulting in me taking out 6 trash bags and the landlord getting mad that we filled the trash can lol.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing but I am now known in the mission as the ˝clean freak˝ and that if for nothing else people want to be my comp so that they have a clean apartment.  I take pride in the fact that I am clean and like living in a tiddy apartment where everything has it's place. 

So with a transfer over that means that we lost some elders.  This time 8 people went home and my trainer was in that group.  I know that I complained about it but I really liked him, mostly after the transfer was over, but none the less.  I knew all of these elders pretty good and was sad to see them leave.  I feel like I ˝grew up˝ in the mission with them and it was a little tough to see them leave.  But at the same time they needed to leave.  They were making everyone pretty trunky lol. 

So in cleaning the apartment I made an amazing discovery with has been used everyday since.... A DEEP FRYER!!!  I went shopping today and sometime in the near future will be trying homemade mozzarella sticks and onion rings.  As of now the sisters just gave us a bunch of potatoes that they got from their land lord and we have made french fries and hash browns.  I also deep fried my chicken nuggets and it made them so much better.  It is really a great an uplifting tool here in the mission. 

So some other things on a more missionary note happened this week.  We were going through our area book to see if we could find anyone worth contacting and Elder Truman called on guy just invite him to church and he totally came!  It was awesome!  One of the members at church was talking to him and even went over to his house after church to talk with him and see if she could help with his mother, whom he had mentioned was sick.  So that was great.  Also we contacted a man on the street and he told us he had been to church before and mention some missionaries names.  We asked him for his number and he told us we already had it lol.  So we looked in our phone and we surely did.  It was kind of funny.  He told us that he had read the whole Book of Mormon so we are going to meet with him sometime this week and see what is up with him.  Sounds like some pretty dang exciting prospects for the first week of the transfer. 

Well I think that is about it.  I am so happy to be here on the coast.  I am taking lost of pictures and cant help but think how much you all would just love it here.  I saw a cruise ship at a dock the other day and thought how much you (Mom and Lance) would just love to cruise here.  No worries lots of pictures are being taken. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week.  And just so you all know the gelato is sooo much better down here.  Lance that is for you!

Love, Elder Massey


These are just a few pictures.  We use an internet cafe here instead of the library so I can plug my camera in now.  I will send this every once in awhile but dont expect something every week lol.  Love yall!!