Although Ryan is serving in Osijek, Croatia, the mission headquarters is in Ljubljiana, Slovenia. The November 1st issue of the Church News had a nice article about a new chapel recently dedicated in Ljubljiana. We understand this is the first new church meetinghouse in the mission. We think that is pronounced "Lube - li - ana" with a silent "j". Ryan is quite a distance from Ljubljiana, so we doubt he was able to attend the dedication. What a blessing this chapel will be to the saints in that part of the world.
Excerpts from Ryan's last email:
Subject: 1 Munf in Osijek......
Helloooo!
How's it going fam?
Welp Osijek is still great. I told you about Maja I believe... She is so amazing, guys. We had the first lesson with her, and she committed to read 3 Nephi 11, and we told her she could read more if she wanted. So the day before we met again, she called us just to make sure we would be able to meet the next day. Elder Giberson asked her if she had read from the Book of Mormon. She told him that she had basically read the entire thing, except she only read the chaper headings for the war chapters!! She then proceeded to basically bare her testimony, that she knew the Book of Mormon was of God. She said really liked Alma and Nephi and that she loved the doctrine about the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. She said that the Book of Mormon really clarified what she knew from the Bible... She went to Bible School in England for 3ish years. Thats how she knows such amazing english. Were teaching her in english btw.
So, then we met the next day to teach the plan of salvation. We started out with the questions - where did we come from? why are we here? where are we going?... Then we asked her what her beliefs were. She then basically told us the entire lesson we had planned, minus a tiny bit of restored truth. She actually taught me alot - made me think of things in a way I never had before. She covered everything -adam and eve all the way to life after death. She included a little of what she learned ing the Book of Mormon. Basically, we just recapped and filled in some blanks, and set up another appointment. We have met with her since, and that was a great meeting to. We had talked to her a little bit about baptism and asked her to pray about it. We asked her when we met again what she felt about Joseph Smith, and also the Book of Mormon. She said she had prayed and felt good that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She said everytime she reads, she feels good about it. Also, she said she feels like she should be baptised... I was freaking out inside. Man, she has been so prepared. SHe has a ways to go, but she is progressing so well. She is so knowledgable. We are really trying to help her gain a personal relationship with heavenly father - to feel the gospel in her heart, not just in her mind. Shes so sweet . Keep her in her prayers.
We tracted into a sweet family last night. We gave a brief first lesson, talked for a long while and left Book of Mormons with them. We just talkd to Darko and Silvija (Sylvia), the parents, but they have a daughter that lives with them and two other kids. They seemed touched by the restoration. Darko is kind of large and in charge with a huge beard, and he had buckets and bags of thousands of empty bullets just chillin in his kitchen... Turns out hes a way nice guy, and he likes to hunt... We are going to visit with them next week.
We revolutionized Osijek english classes, and distributed 10k fliers last week. We sacrificed some proselyting time, but we have over 100 people attending english classes twice a week! Thats pretty much unheard of in a town like Osijek. Elder Nelson, another elder hear, really went to bat to make sure we got the word out, and its really paid off. Now over 100 people a week will be meeting with us, learning English in a dedicated church building, and having the opportunity to hear two spiritual thoughts a week... We already have investigators from English classes that started a week ago, including Maja. We were passing out flyers when she spotted Elder Giberson.
Btw, we do do alot of contacting and sometimes tracting. But contacting we do alot. We are trying to work out better ways to find. But the answer is yes, we contact alot and tract too.
jtlyk, I am very safe here. It sounds like granhopper may have had a bad dream about me or something... I feel safer here than some places in M-town. Were pretty safe.
So, they dont celebrate Halloween here, but they rock whats called the Day of the Dead. Its a catholic holiday, and 99.999999% of Croatia is catholic. They go and but bokays (heh...) of big flowers and candles on deceased relatives graves, and it looks sweet. The gaves here all have giant head stones, so everyones grave is like a monument. But theres so many candles, its sweet.
I better bounce. I hope everyone is doing good. You are in my prayers. Take care.
Love
Elder Dixon
Excerpts from Ryan's last email:
Subject: 1 Munf in Osijek......
Helloooo!
How's it going fam?
Welp Osijek is still great. I told you about Maja I believe... She is so amazing, guys. We had the first lesson with her, and she committed to read 3 Nephi 11, and we told her she could read more if she wanted. So the day before we met again, she called us just to make sure we would be able to meet the next day. Elder Giberson asked her if she had read from the Book of Mormon. She told him that she had basically read the entire thing, except she only read the chaper headings for the war chapters!! She then proceeded to basically bare her testimony, that she knew the Book of Mormon was of God. She said really liked Alma and Nephi and that she loved the doctrine about the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. She said that the Book of Mormon really clarified what she knew from the Bible... She went to Bible School in England for 3ish years. Thats how she knows such amazing english. Were teaching her in english btw.
So, then we met the next day to teach the plan of salvation. We started out with the questions - where did we come from? why are we here? where are we going?... Then we asked her what her beliefs were. She then basically told us the entire lesson we had planned, minus a tiny bit of restored truth. She actually taught me alot - made me think of things in a way I never had before. She covered everything -adam and eve all the way to life after death. She included a little of what she learned ing the Book of Mormon. Basically, we just recapped and filled in some blanks, and set up another appointment. We have met with her since, and that was a great meeting to. We had talked to her a little bit about baptism and asked her to pray about it. We asked her when we met again what she felt about Joseph Smith, and also the Book of Mormon. She said she had prayed and felt good that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. She said everytime she reads, she feels good about it. Also, she said she feels like she should be baptised... I was freaking out inside. Man, she has been so prepared. SHe has a ways to go, but she is progressing so well. She is so knowledgable. We are really trying to help her gain a personal relationship with heavenly father - to feel the gospel in her heart, not just in her mind. Shes so sweet . Keep her in her prayers.
We tracted into a sweet family last night. We gave a brief first lesson, talked for a long while and left Book of Mormons with them. We just talkd to Darko and Silvija (Sylvia), the parents, but they have a daughter that lives with them and two other kids. They seemed touched by the restoration. Darko is kind of large and in charge with a huge beard, and he had buckets and bags of thousands of empty bullets just chillin in his kitchen... Turns out hes a way nice guy, and he likes to hunt... We are going to visit with them next week.
We revolutionized Osijek english classes, and distributed 10k fliers last week. We sacrificed some proselyting time, but we have over 100 people attending english classes twice a week! Thats pretty much unheard of in a town like Osijek. Elder Nelson, another elder hear, really went to bat to make sure we got the word out, and its really paid off. Now over 100 people a week will be meeting with us, learning English in a dedicated church building, and having the opportunity to hear two spiritual thoughts a week... We already have investigators from English classes that started a week ago, including Maja. We were passing out flyers when she spotted Elder Giberson.
Btw, we do do alot of contacting and sometimes tracting. But contacting we do alot. We are trying to work out better ways to find. But the answer is yes, we contact alot and tract too.
jtlyk, I am very safe here. It sounds like granhopper may have had a bad dream about me or something... I feel safer here than some places in M-town. Were pretty safe.
So, they dont celebrate Halloween here, but they rock whats called the Day of the Dead. Its a catholic holiday, and 99.999999% of Croatia is catholic. They go and but bokays (heh...) of big flowers and candles on deceased relatives graves, and it looks sweet. The gaves here all have giant head stones, so everyones grave is like a monument. But theres so many candles, its sweet.
I better bounce. I hope everyone is doing good. You are in my prayers. Take care.
Love
Elder Dixon
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