Zdravo!

This week I was on an exchange. It feels like forever since I've been on one of those. I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be with the famed Sister Peterson, who happened to come out at the same time as me. We finally had the chance to get to know each other this week, though, since she was in the other Croatian-speaking district in the MTC, and we did not mix with that district (I'm kidding; we just had a bit of a rivalry is all). She is a wonderful soul.

So, because we had an exchange with the sisters in Tuzla, we drove and met them halfway in a town called Doboj at the beginning and end of the exchange. Now, on the way to Doboj to pick up Sister Peterson, Sister Marlow and I spotted a turkey farm. This is significant because it is almost impossible to find whole turkeys in the Balkans. We joked about buying a turkey and saving it until Thanksgiving so we could do the holiday the right way. Then, when the exchange came to a close and Sister Marlow and I were once again reunited, we were feeling pretty adventurous (or stir-crazy on account of being 4 hours in a car), so when the sign for turkeys rolled around the corner, we pulled over and got out of the car. After making a quick phone call to our senior couple to get permission to buy a turkey for our district's Thanksgiving celebration, we were promptly greeted by an elderly lady whose hands indicated that she had just come from doing something, don't ask me what, that your typical privileged American would probably consider beneath them. Man, I love these people. Anyway, we relayed to the woman our desperate need for a turkey, and she called for a man to come help us. The man then told us that the smallest turkey he could give us was 9 or 10 kilograms. 

Now, you have to remember that this story is about two helpless, patriotic, young girls who simply wanted to pay tribute to the stars & stripes with a good ol' Turkey Day turkey. So when the helpful gentleman offered us a plucked and cleaned 20 pound fowl, we accepted before we knew to what we were agreeing. We were later informed by our beloved Sister Varty that 20 pounds of meat is adequate to feed about 40 average humans. At that point, however, there was nothing we could do, as the beast had already been carried (or maybe I should say forklifted) into the trunk of the car, and the money transaction completed. Unapologetic, we arrived home to tackle our next obstacle: fitting our new friend into the freezer. Thank goodness ours is larger than that of the average Bosnian resident, or it would have been a real struggle. Now, we just need to wait patiently and refrain from buying too much ice cream since we're tight on storage spacet. It was a successful day!

I've enclosed a picture of me and Sister Marlow at the turkey farm. There were... a lot of live turkeys there. You only see a few. It was terrifying.

The church is good and true! Missions are a lot of fun in every way! 

Sve najbolje,

Sestra Watts

The sunset over the Vrbas river in Banja Luka on Sunday night.

This is some artwork in Banja Luka. There are so many walls here with HUGE murals on them.
 This one's really small, and really pretty compared to the rest. Some ten story apartment buildings have a whole
 side wall dedicated to the weirdest paintings. I'll get pictures of those later. The poem says
 "Spiders in the corners, don't worry. I won't sweep you."

Attention, everyone! I went to Sarajevo on Saturdayy! The most historically awesome town around. We had zone conference there, which made it so we didn't get too much time to look around, but afterwards Sister Marlow and I got permission to go out on the town for an hour as dinner break before we started the 4 hour drive home. It's a gorgeous city. You're just going to have to take my word for it though because both of us completely forgot to take pictures. All I have from that day is of the two of us at McDonalds for breakfast (breakfast included chicken nuggets and french fries-- desperate times...). But trust me, it was amazing there! We drank out of this sketchy fountain downtown because legend has it if you drink from there, you will one day return to Sarajevo. I am not sick yet, so I think it was okay water. They also were selling so many beautiful Muslim scarves and rugs and a million other cool things. We also had some of the best burek in the country. I love Bosnia a lot. Oh, and the conference was good too :)

Another highlight of the week is that one of our investigators told us she wants to get baptized once she confirms that this church is true! We've been teaching her for a few weeks, and she loves the church a lot. She was even friends with Kresimir Cosic, the first member in the former Yugoslavia. We're really excited because she will obviously come to know it's true if she's sincere-- and she is! That's a big blessing.

Okay. You all stay strong and keep believing.

Sestra Watts

We did a humanitarian project for the refugees on Saturday with some members. This is me with soap.

Hi everyone! Did you know that the internet is one of the Church's best proselyting tools? People are reading about the Mormons all day everyday on any number of websites and blogs, and some of them are actually finding accurate information! The Church has spent a lot of time trying to correct the rampant hordes of false information that is so prevalent on the world wide web. They are doing such a good job, too. I really feel strongly about the admonition to not put your trust in amateur bloggers and wikipedia articles. That being said, I know that my letters get posted on a blog every week. That means that you probably shouldn't trust me; however, it DOES mean that I get to refer you to beautiful, official websites about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that have so much more validity than I do. Just a few examples are:

mormon.org

lds.org

mormonchannel.org

crkva-isusa-hrista.rs

And so much more! Please visit them and see what there is to be seen that is true and good in this world! I'm sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but I only write things that I care about in these letters. The Church is true! 

My week was a fantastic one. If you hadn't already guessed, some of it involved witnessing a very good presentation on flooding the earth with wholesome technology. Internet devices have so much capacity to do good things, but also the raging tendency to tempt people with so many terrible things. Resist the temptation! Stick it to the man! Watch a Mormon Message, or a Ted talk, or do family history work or something. Keep your life clean and free of internet baggage. You don't need that bringing you down. Little phone games are as pointless as a dewlap on a moose's neck. Don't give in!

Okay. That's my rant for today. Missions are the best! Superlative intended!

Lijepi pozdrav,

Sestra Watts

Hello everyone! 

The only thing I can remember about last week was the fact that we probably tracted more than I ever have before in a week. It was awesome. Friday was an interesting day. All we had planned for the day was to go out and find people to teach. It was really hard to get out the door, but we prayed a lot and went out there anyway. The first several hours were pretty bleak and by dinner time, we were not looking forward to going back outside. But we prayed again and set off to knock on some doors in search of the prepared. It was probably the one of the funnest/funniest nights I've had in a loooong time. First of all, we met a really cool couple that were slightly older with a perturbed teenage granddaughter that let us in to teach them. I don't think they'll get baptized, but the old man was hilarious and gave me marriage advice (he told me to NEVER marry someone shorter than me, or else I'll have to kiss his forehead goodnight) and really liked the Book of Mormon. So you never know.

Then we knocked on the this one door, and the woman took a pretty long time to answer. When she finally did, all we saw was a wet, shampoo-lathered head poke around the door, and we already knew we were in for a fun experience. The head in question turned out to be a really nice woman who would probably have loved to talk to us, had she not been momentarily occupied. So Sister Marlow handed her our card, and she took it with a sopping arm that appeared from behind the door. It could have been a lot more scarring of an experience; nevertheless, I'd still have to rate it on the awkward level of your average colonoscopy. We said our goodbyes and hurried on to the next door.

Our third interesting encounter was actually a little miracle. It was a young man who told us that he'd actually just barely run into the elders down in Podgorica, Montenegro about 3 days prior, and had received a Book of Mormon from them! We told him those people were our friends (they're in our same mission), and asked if he was interested to learn more. Even though he wasn't, he promised he would read the whole book. We're hoping he realizes how true it is! 

Our final tender mercy for the night was accidentally ringing the doorbell of one of our English class students! She was so excited to see us, and let us in for some kolač (little cake treats). She's actually 7th Day Adventist, so it was cool to talk to her a little bit about living in a predominantly orthodox society. 

The Lord hears your prayers, and He answers them, if not in the way you'd expect! I know that more than ever before. I also know that He has a really good sense of humor. 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Beautiful Bosnian countryside.

You know when scientists are growing bacteria in a petri dish and they take a swab of it so they can put it under some tests and see what the little germs are doing? I feel like that is the nature of my weekly emails home. There is no way I can write about all the amazing or not-so-great things that happen in my day to day life, but I hope that the sample that you do get is a good representation of my life here in the Balkans, and through that, you can conclude that my mission as a whole is the best thing that ever happened to me. 

Last week involved a very good combined zone conference in Belgrade, Serbia (I got to go back!) with special guest Elder Charles, of the Seventy, and his wife. They are a delightful British couple with an amazing conversion story. If you want to see some pictures of the event, go to: 

https://www.facebook.com/mormoni.rs?fref=nf 

I don't think it will be in English, but you can still look at the pictures. You should probably like the page, too. 

Oh! Yesterday, we met this fantastic couple who invited us into their house so we could teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel. We had a happy time, and then they told us that we should teach their grandson, too! He's been having some health issues lately, and they think this would be really good and lift his spirits. We're pretty excited about that. 

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and share this really great scripture with you that has been circulated throughout the mission today. It comes from 2 Kings 6:15-17:

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

"...they that be with us are more than they that be with them." We, every one of us, are surrounded by heavenly people who are helping us every step of the way. I pray that the Lord opens my eyes so that I never forget how supported I am. I know that we are loved by God and by His Son, Jesus Christ. They want us to succeed! 

Have a blessed week.

My week in a nutshell:

Monday: scrambled around trying to get stuff clean and done for transfers. Had a beautiful lunch with one of my favorite Americans from the embassy as a goodbye. Bought a jacket for like 16 dollars from a china shop (best things ever) that will hopefully be thick enough for the winter. 

Tuesday: DROVE ALL DAY from Beograd to Tuzla, Bosnia to meet with like half the sisters in the mission and switch people. There I found my new companion, Sister Marlow, and we drove to Banja Luka safely. I was a little nervous because people tell scary stories about the roads here, but they weren't even bad. Bosnia is gorgeous. The drive was so scenic, hills and trees everywhere. 

Wednesday: Taught English at a rehabilitation center for kids. It was the coolest thing ever! They were so cute and we traced one of them and labeled the clothing/body parts. One of the girls told me I look like an actress from the films, but she couldn't remember which. It's funny because balkan people tell me that seriously all the time.

Thursday: Taught regular English at the church (a small, rented flat with two levels) and met a ton of really cool people. English classes are always hilarious. You just get so many different types of people with varying levels of English skills. We also met our elders, who are Elder Swink (he's been out 4 months) and his brand new trainee Elder DeLeeuw (pronounced Dih Loo -- it means "The Lion" in Dutch). They are also hilarious. I forgot how crazy it is to be a new missionary. Just a deer-in-the-headlights look constantly.

Friday: District meeting. Nothing too crazy.

Saturday: We showed the Sunday morning session of General Conference at the church and the mother of our most recent convert showed up, and she loved it! It was a great day. It was hard to watch President Monson speak. This time we watched it with a Serbian translation (last week in Belgrade was in Croatian because the Serbian doesn't get translated live), and the lady translating choked up at the end and of course I started crying too since I'm a sympathy crier. But all was well.

Sunday: I got to meet a lot of the members, and I gave my second talk ever! The branch has an average attendance of about 5 minus the missionaries, so we get asked to speak a lot, apparently. I talked about good works and following the pattern of service that Christ showed us.

It was a good week! I love Sister Marlow a lot, and we are going to work really hard so she doesn't even think about going home in two months. Čućemo se!

Sestra Watts

I have finally gotten the ability to send pictures, so I'll just do a few snapshots from the last few months.

 These are my favorite people, the Raičević family.They are always all talking at once and they are the funniest people ever! I call Sister Raicevic my Serbian mother, but she could never replace you, mom!

 Me and Sister Derenthal on the exchange, 

and me with my American food from one of our embassy families!

 They got us taquitos!!

ATTENTION: I am serving in Banja Luka, Bosnia (technically Republic of Serbia, but Bosnia) as of tomorrow,Oct. 6. I'm torn apart to be leaving Belgrade, but the Lord has something in mind for me in another land, I suppose. I'll be with the magnificent Sister Marlow, who finishes her mission in 9 weeks! aka I will be her last companion. Hopefully. You never know. I'm really excited to see new things and meet new people (except let's be real, I meet new people every day anyway regardless of where I am) and be a missionary still. I love being a missionary. It's really hard. But it's better than anything else I could be!

My last week in Serbia was a delight. Sister Derenthal and I were on an exchange together (see Karlovac, Transfer 2)! We still love each other a lot and got to catch up on 6 months of mission, and we've both grown a lot. I love her and am so happy for the stellar missionary she is!

Also, what about General Conference?? I think that every time I find more and more excitement in watching our inspired leaders speak the words of the Lord to us. I found so many things I need to work on, and instead of being completely overwhelmed, I am grateful for the opportunity to improve myself and be more what my Heavenly Father wants me to be. He knows best and He loves me!

I'll try to keep you all more posted in the following weeks. We've had some busy p-days these past couple transfers :D

I love the gospel. I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. I am overwhelmed at the thought that He pleads for me with the Father, and that He wants so badly for me to return to live in His presence forever. I love the fact that I can share this message of hope with everyone I meet. The church is true!

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