Week 43

Hey Fam,

Sounds like everyone is doing good and that you all have good weather.  The weather here is great as well!  I love wearing long sleeve shirts now, but mostly because I think it looks better.  So it's nice and really quiet here in Zadar with the summer and all the tourists gone.  It was windy and raining one other day this week but now it's all good. 

So this week was pretty good.  Nothing really too exciting.  I have a couple cool stories so I will continue with those. 

So one member in the branch is really doing great.  He has been a member for about 4 months and will be receiving the Melchizedek priesthood this next Sunday.  He has read anything he can get his hands on and is really doing good.  So Elder Truman, as the branch president, had a interview with him this week.  Him and his wife have had some problems with having children and she is now pregnant but seems to being having some problems.  So I asked him how she was doing before he went in for his interview and he said not to good.  So I slipped in the office and told Truman about that before the interview started.  So that is just some back ground info.  So the interview started and I busied myself with playing piano and doing dishes.  So while I was doing the dishes I felt that I should pray for both of them.  This was a tough time for this member and his family and Truman's first interview.  So I thought ok I'll be sure to pray for them tonight.  Then the thought came again, no now while they are in the interview.  So again I thought ok when I'm done with the dishes.  No sooner than the Lord had to tell me one more time that I needed to pray now was I literally running to the couch, soapy hands and all, to kneel down and pray.  I just prayed that both of them would be comforted and that everything would be ok.  I thought that this would be one of those times that you do what you know is right to possible never know why.  Well that wasnt quite the case here.  I later found out that in that very frame of time, and not just the interview as a whole, but in those few minutes, that this member has begun to cry as he told Elder Truman that something had gone wrong in the pregnancy and that the baby was not developing correctly.  I then learned that this was not one of those experiences, but that I was able to see the need for my prayers. 

I was reminded once again to follow impressions as they come and not to delay them.  Also, I now have an increased testimony of the mindfulness of our Heavenly Father.  I know that he knows each of us by name and knows exactly what we are going through.  This is in times of bad as well as times of good.  This knowledge is so comforting to me.

I came across a talk by Elder Uchdorf this week and he put it very well.  It said something to the effect of, God, the most powerful and supreme being in the whole universe, knows your name and loves you!  That is just a little of the thought but nonetheless, how wonderful a thought that is to have.  I am so thankful for the love that I feel from my Eternal Heavenly Father and the opportunity that I have to share that love and knowledge of him with others. 

Also we have a new investigator this week.  He isn't a new face to any members or missionaries but he is a new investigator.  He is the husband of a very strong and active member.  He is down here is Zadar working at a resort as a chef.  Some one that we went to for that buffet and all. So this is how it went down. 

So his wife is living in Zagreb with her parents.  She was down here but has since gone back up to Zagreb while he finishes working the rest of the summer/tourist season.  So he has notoriously avoided missionaries in the past.  Well we had a bag for him that had some stuff from his wife in Zagreb and so we were going to visit him.  So I told Truman that we are not living, or giving that bag to him, until we talk to him about the church and things.  So we went to his house, helped him with some things, and we about to leave.  So I told him that before we left I wanted to make a deal with him.  Mind you that all of this is in English because he doesn't speak Croatian.  So he said ok.  I told him that I wanted him to do two things for me and if he did those two things and didn't want to talk about religion anymore I wouldn't bother him.  You return missionaries can probably guess that those two things are read and pray.  To that he said ok but he doesn't like to read.  I quickly responded that we have the Book of Mormon on CD and he can listen to it.  So that curve ball handled no problem.  Like I said this was in English so I was being as bold as possible.  I talked about his family and how I wanted them to enjoy the blessings of the gospel TOGETHER.  So he was very open with us and told us that he was free every Tuesday.  I was happy to hear that seeing as I hadn't asked him when we could come back.  I hope that it all works out, even if he does want to play hard ball and say he doesn't like to read. 

We had branch conference on Sunday so Pres was down and Truman and I had interviews.  It was good.  Rumor has it I might be a Zone Leader but I told him that wasn't necessary that I am find down here for the winter.  I think I will stay down here for at least another transfer.  Transfers are on the 8th so that is fun. 

So just to prove that I am indeed my mothers child I put on my ˝Relief Society Hat˝ and got us a new family to teach.  I made some banana bread and took it over to introduce ourselves as the missionaries who live next door.  It may have looked a little gay but they understand.  They are the nicest little family with one little boy.  They let us right in and we talked for about an hour.  They asked some great questions about the Church.  One obstacle is that the wife is a vjera nauk teacher.  That means Faith Doctrines.  It is a requirement for all kids here.  So she teaches that.  Good for us that means we have a lot of knowledge to work with!  She said that she hear we have apostles.  So we explained that this is the same church that Christ organized when he was on the Earth, only to have her husband comment, ¨The Catholic church doesn't have apostles.¨  It was great.  I followed it with a, ˝ya and we have a couples quorums of 70 too!˝  It was the bomb.  So look at what a little banana bread can do to people. 

For the Packages just go ahead and send them to the adress that I sent last week.  It is a Coratian address and is in Zagreb.  If anything goes to the other Slovenian address it runs the risk of getting lost and taking forever to get to me.  So that is it and the finally birthday list is as follows.  I forgot my real list at home so these are just the things I remember

Ties
Sour Patch Kids
Beef Jerky
Velvita Cheese
Recipes (be mindful that we can not get cheddar cheese hence the want for velvita)
Reese's peanut butter cups  NOT REESE'S PIECES, enough for two (they are Truman's fav)

And really the exchange rate is great over here like 5:1 so if you don't want to bother putting together a package or buying things you can just put money in my account and I will buy myself a tie and go to dinner.  Same applies to Christmas.  I know the packages are a bit of a hassle and one was already lost (mom never got your package) so money is great and easy.

I think that is about it for this week.  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

 The Sister Missionaries carved this pumpkin for them...

Week 42

Hey Fam,

Well I'm back in country now.  Slovenia was great! (see pictures)  I actually understood the language fine and was able to participate in lessons.  It was a really good experience and lots of fun.  It was really cold up there but it was all good.  My companion was Elder Niemenin.  He is from Finland and so awesome.  Poor guy has to translate everything, sometimes through 2 languages.  It was just a really good breathe of fresh air.  It looks about the same.  The people are a little different.  I don't like to make excuses for myself but I think that it is easier up there.  The people seem to be a lot nicer.  Doesn't really effect what I do down here but just an observation.  Again, great experience and lots of fun. 

I got to see a Zone Conference in Slovenia and Croatia, same meeting different place.  That was a little boring at time but highly beneficial at others. 

When I got to Slovenia one of the first things I did was tiddy up the apartment later.  Elder Niemenin was thankful as well as his returning companion seeing as after the conference we had apartment checks. 

We have senior sisters now.  One is a nurse for the mission and her companion is Sister Rowe, President's mom.  They are so fun!  We call them Grandma Rowe and Turner.  I love them.  They make me miss my grandma's. 

So nothing really happened while I was away from my area so nothing much to talk about.  Sorry fam. 

So about the packages your all wondering about.  I still haven't got that one from you Mom but you didn't say where you sent it.  Go ahead and and send whatever you want about 3 weeks before my birthday and send it to Zagreb.  The address is:

Adriatic Mission
Crkva Isusa Krista Svetaca Posljednik Dana
Svačićev Trg 3/1
Zagreb 10000
Croatia

Put that in the address of where you want it to go and in the return address put my name with your address.  This is so that they don't have any problem accepting the package but still know who it is for and who to return it to if it doesn't quite make it.  Make sense??

So that is about it.  The pictures of Slovenia are not to great because it was raining the last day when i started taking most of the pictures. 

Love you all!!

Week 41

Hey Fam,

Well this email is coming to you all from Slovenia.  Due to a short notice invitation to come up I will be serving up here for a week.  I am in Celje and will serve with an an elder who's companion is still waiting in the states for his visa.  So basically I am being used as a pawn.  No worries I like it.  Always an adventure.  Previous to my coming up here I was on an exchange in Zagreb.  I got to see all my old friends at church and here West give the gift of the Holy Ghost.  That was cool.  So I was asked on Saturday to come up here till Friday and so I had to call Truman and have him send my passport and more clothes.  So the Slovenes are getting a little taste of Massey as I will be attending a meeting up here on Wednesday.  I feel like a Greenie again. 

I will have you all know that I am still one of the fav missionaries in Zagreb.  Now my opinion is a little bias so I will share with you an example.  I want to remind you this is in spite of the fact that I was in Zagreb for my first six months and my Croatian was terrible.  A language barrier is no match for my personality.  So I get there and we started planning the next day.  We had a couple lessons and I suggest we try and get a member to come on a few.  So I called one of my fav and I told her it was Massey.  She reassured me that she would know my voice anywhere.  That part I'm not sure is good.  I had called a member in Zagreb previous to going to ask a question and she found out i was coming to town.  She invited me to lunch.  Loved that.  Also ever member that I saw after that asked if I was going to lunch at the Sambunjak's.  I asked how they knew and they all said, ˝Oh Lydia has been bragging about it for a couple of days now.  You're her favorite.˝  Needless to say I felt very loved upon my return to my ˝birth city˝.

So other than the fact that I came up here and to Zagreb last week nothing much really happened. 

A member in Zadar needed some financial assistance so I can now add that to my resume.  I can't decide if I like it so much when I hear that a mission prepares you for your life and other service in the church than I see all that I am doing now.  What does that mean for the future?

Well turns out that the rotating wheels on my suitcase don't particularly like the cobblestone here.  I will be needing to buy a new suitcase when I move next.  Those wheels I thought I would like so much don't exactly work out as nicely when the bag is 50 lbs on bumpy roads.

Sounds like everyone is doing good.  Sorry for the short email.  I'm in Slovenia for perhaps the only P-day I will send here so I'm going to be a tourist for a bit.

Love you all and hope you have a great week.

Week 40

Hey Fam,

So this week was a little bit ˝slow˝ for lack of a better term.  We just didn't have much going for us this week.  I guess you could say that the work was the slow part and the time was fast.   In fact, so fast that we didn't get a chance to catch our breath and set up some appointments.  I was looking at our weekly goals come Saturday night and wanted to do more before I had to report numbers.  Another thing that I have learned as a District Leader is that I get to take the fall when our companionship doesn't put up some good numbers at the end of the week.  This doesn't go to say that it's all about numbers, because well we all know it isn't, but it does easily show your work ethic.  So I have taken a greater responsibility in meeting my goals.  If you set a goal with the help of the Lord it can and should be treated as revelation; revelation for your area and the progress therein.  So when I don't meet a goal knowing that it is the will of the Lord I have reason to look inward at what I can do better.  So just lessons learned as a District Leader.

We did however take a road trip to Split, Croatia.  B-E-A-utiful!  It was a little last minute but it was good.  The sisters had a referral to contact down there and so when they call Pres. Rowe to get the phone number turns out Sis. Rowe had already set up for the following day at 12.  So I started to call people and see if we would be able to meet with some members down there.  There is no branch down there so they don't see much from the church.  So we called people and two members were very open.  They told us to just call when we got there and we could work something out.  So we set out at 6 in the morning.  It was a gorgeous ride down, right on the coast nearly the whole time.  But the ride itself was terrible.  It is the only bus that goes down the coast so it stops at every little t

own turning a two hour ride into 3.5 hours.  But it was worth the sites and I don't think I will be doing it again soon.  The sisters however are going to be teaching this lady probably once a week and making that trip accordingly.  So it was great to be able to go down there and meet some members.  We met with one couple that found the church through business.  They travel a lot so I considered myself lucky to have met with them.  They were so nice!  They came and picked us up, took us to their office, and talked with us for about an hour.  The other person who said he would met with us ended up not having time but maybe another time.  We tracked down one member at his house and he was kinda crazy.  He confirmed that he was indeed the person we were looking for but that he had forgotten everything about the church and had a problem that only he could fix.  Well alrighty then... After further investigation I found out that we were quite lucky because he actually admitted to being the person he was and that in the past he had denied his identity to missionaries.  Always an adventure. 

Other than that not much.  We will have a meeting on Thursday in Zagreb after which I will stay there for an exchange.  It seems that Pres. Rowe really loves his training meetings. 

The weather is about the same here.  Rained the whole bus ride home from Split and fall is in full swing.  I have a closet full of white shirts (yes more than normal) because I dont know if it will warm back up so I have my short sleeve and long sleeve.  So it is a little chilly but Truman is very excited for ˝sweater weather˝. 

That really is about it for this week.  I love you all and it sounds like your all doing good!

Love, Elder Massey

A few pictures from when he was in Split...  An old building and a dog walking himself! Ü

Week 39

Hey Fam,

Looks like you were all comfy for conference.  I missed all the goodies and made some banana bread and brought popcorn for the members.  Yes I made banana bread.  It was so legit.  It was awesome!  This week was fun filled so I'll get right down to it!

First we had a sister from Slovenia down here in Zadar this week.  That was fun and I got some good ideas from what her district leader does for her.  I was sure to take advantage of that opportunity because I have been having a hard time knowing how to help the sisters in my district when we cant go on exchanges like Elders.  So she was helpful.  It was good to have a guest.  President has started mixing up the borders a little bit.  Missionaries from here have gone to Slovenia and switched places and stuff just to get us a little more blended.  Maybe I will get to go to Slovenia!

So we had a couple lessons this week with our 2 investigators Elvino and Valter.  Elvino is the quiet one that I talked about before and Valter is a guy that was taught by missionaries before.  He is a little out there and the last mission pres. said that he needed to get his life in order before he could be baptized.  So he has worked on some things and will have an interview with Pres Rowe and hopefully we can have another baptism here.  Like I said he is a little weird.  He has read the Book of Mormon two times and has a great desire to be baptized.  I hope that we can help him out.  However other missionaries are really not to big of fans.  He does have some problems but when I see his desire and love for the scriptures I cant have those feelings.  It is my job to give that opportunity to follow Christ and I feel that if I allowed myself to think anything bad about him it would be unfair to him.  So I love him and his desires and just want to help him. 

So I am glad to say that I did have the opportunity to listen and watch some conference.  We watched the first session live at 6 PM in Croatian with the members.  We just streamed it on the Internet.  So I didn't get to much out of it.  I did understand more than I thought I would but I can't connect the thoughts so it is hard to follow lol.  But after church we watched Saturday afternoon and priesthood sessions.  The priesthood session was awesome!!  Holland told 'em whats up like always and I loved it!  Dad, I did hear that story that you talked about and it was great.  I absolutely loved that.  Now, I don't feel that way but I know people in our mission that do.  We can just never tell what we are doing.  That is why I try my best to just fulfill my purpose with a smile and the Lord with take care of the rest.  So then we watched Sunday morning live last night and so we are watching Sunday afternoon today at the church.  I will have to re listen to the other ones so that I can hear them in my native language.  Everything that I did hear and watch was great. 

So I just have to mention that we went to a members house to help her move some things and this ladies apartment was NASTY!  She has stuff every where and we could hardly walk.  I got physically ill just being in there.  I am going to ask her if we can go over and help her.  I would like to just burn the place down but whatev.  It was interesting that she showed us a picture of one of her kids.  She happen to be in the apartment and so we saw what it looked like when it was clean.  The place is big but so cluttered.  She also said, ˝Look what happened when I stopped going to church˝.  aahhha see that!  Your life falls apart without the gospel!

Also we have a member who's husband works at a resort here.  So we went to a buffet for the resort and it was absolutely divine! I had shark, pork sirloin in a plum sauce, veal steak, mussel, and other great things!  It was just what I needed.  And best part it was all free because we knew the guy that worked there! 

Well that is about it.  I love you all and hope you all were able to get something from this great conference.  And to all the men reading this, if you have not watched the Relief Society meeting it is HIGHLY recommend.  If you dont have much time just watch Pres. Utchforf's talk for it.  It is great!

Bday list for anyone that wants it
1. Beef Jerky
2. Life savers
3. Ties
4. Just put money in my account
5. no worries I will add to it later. 

I will give you the address to the church so that it can come to Zadar and I wont have to wait for it from Zagreb.  But my bday is about 3 weeks after transfer.  So just hold on a bit and I will tell you where I will be and you can send it to that church. 

Everything is going good.  The language is going good.  I have learned to express myself using all the words I know partly because I cant stand to not say all the great thoughts that run through my little head.  Being a district leader is still teaching me lots and I love it.  Glad to know Timmeri didn't/doesn't hate me.  They looked couzy on the couch.....  Who did Josh Zitting marry?  I got the pictures that Lance sent from his iPod, are you selling it to pay off credit cards.  You could get a couple hundred I'm sure.  And I'm sure you know I was sad to hear that Utah lost....

Love, Elder Massey