Hello!

Most of what I want to say to y'all is about yesterday (Sunday) because it was the coolest day of the week.

But first, I had an amazing exchange with one of my favorite sisters (I'm allowed to pick favorites, right?), Sister Chauncey, who goes home in a WEEK and you wouldn't even know it she's so dedicated to working hard. She's one of the nicest, smartest, funniest, beautifulest (I KNOW that's not a real word) people I've ever met. So attention, all of my friends that go to BYU-Idaho, please date her. She'll die if she knows I wrote this, but that's okay. I don't lie. So anyway, I missed Sister Kawai, but exchanges are fun because you get to work with someone that you're not typically with, and you get new ideas for how to teach/ find people to teach.

Alright. Yesterday, first of all, was a blast because we went to church. I know people typically don't describe church as a blast, but I truly have realized that Sundays are the best day of the week, strictly because going to church is so good. It's good for the soul. It also doesn't hurt that we were in charge of the primary yesterday ("primary" means Sunday School for children under 12) and we probably have the cutest kids ever in Beograd. It was weird, too, though, because all the native children were gone on vacation, so everyone there was English-speaking, whether they were here because their parent(s) work at the American embassy or they were just passing through. So we sang English songs and taught an English lesson about Jesus and -- wait for it--- how to be a missionary! I don't know how much they got out of the lesson (I'm not used to teaching people besides adults O.o), but Sister Kawai and I sure had a grand old time.

We also had a successful day outside of church. We decided to focus on talking to couples and families, and the first couple we stopped on the street agreed to come have a tour of our church while we told them about what we believe! They asked a lot of questions. They were foreign, too, so we did the whole thing in English. WEIRD. I spoke English way too much yesterday.

Also, we got to teach a lot about how our church came about and what we believe to yet another couple that we stopped on the street. We tend to try to do that kind of thing a lot, but this conversation was just so good and so inspiring for everyone involved. I don't know how to describe it. We have high hopes for those two.

Alright you all. Have a great week.

Hi friends.

I would like to formally apologize for not having written a mass email in approximately forever. We finally have a day to relax! The past few Mondays have been pretty insane. Two weeks ago we were in Zagreb for another MLC, and last week, Sister Kawai and I were responsible for driving a ton of people around 3 different countries because SOMEONE had to get kicked out of Serbia (cough cough sister hertz), so things had to get rearranged a bit. It was a ton of fun. Not a lot of people can say they spent quality time in 3 different countries in one day, I don't think.

But yeah. As for big news, I got a nice blister on the back of my foot again. These things tend to happen fairly often, since we seem to find ourselves walking a lot, to make a vast understatement. My goal is to come home with dark brown skin and the ugliest, knobbliest feet you'll ever see.

There's only two more weeks till we find out about transfers. Time just gets faster the longer I'm here. I'd like someone to explain the science behind that. And then tell me how I can counteract it, thanks.

Peace and blessings!

Your Sestra


An excerpt from a letter to mom:

Throughout my entire mission, I have found myself thinking about Mummi (Finnish grandmother) a lot more than I ever have. These past two weeks I have especially felt that she is more present in my life. At MLC President told us something that Elder Eyring said at the funeral for President's mother (how neat that President Eyring spoke there-- it's okay though, Elder Nielsen at Pappa's funeral was amazing too) directed towards the grandchildren of the deceased. He said that now that their grandmother has passed, she has the chance to check up on her grandkids even more so than she did in mortality. I never knew, or rather realized, that Mummi and Pappa could be so involved from the other side. I find that I wonder a lot more now about what Mummi experienced on her mission and in her life in general, since she is my closest related convert to the church, and my life has now become entirely focused on the conversion of myself and others. I also recognize that I am the only granddaughter to this point who has served a mission. I hope that what I am doing is making her happy. Even more so, I hope that what I am doing is making the Lord happy. I have to constantly remind myself that even though it's hard, it is not the hardest. I don't remember which, but one apostle said that we did not come here to fail, but to succeed gloriously, or something like that.