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!

С љубављу,

Сестра Вац

Hello!

First off, I'm sincerely sorry that I don't have the capacity to attach pictures to my emails today, because I would love for you all to see what Sister Berrett and I did today:

For the last few weeks it has been continually impressed upon the minds of Sister Berrett and I that we are in desperate need of haircuts. Today we finally succumbed to the impression and, as a result, I got a haircut after ten months of avoiding the scissor. What made this even so fantastic, however, was that we were accompanied by our favorite member/Serbian mother, Sister Raicevic. It's a known fact that anything done with Sister Raicevic turns into a party. So we got the full treatment, with shampoos, cuts, blowdries, and a whole lot of styling. You will see pictures later. The cool thing about Serbia is that there is a hair salon on every corner and the average price of a haircut is about 4 to 5 American dollars. And they are not bad cuts, either. So we treated ourselves and had the time of our lives. Don't worry though, I only got a trim.

Also, one of our investigators agreed to get baptized! I told you all about him last week, I think, the one who lives really far away. He is the most spiritually prepared person I've met here. He teaches himself more than we teach him. It's been a really cool experience to teach him, albeit over the phone. Hopefully (fingers crossed) missionaries will be down there to meet him this week, and then things will really get moving!

We find out about transfers on Thursday, and then everybody moves starting next Monday. The last week of the transfer is always chaotic. We'll see what happens! I've already been in Belgrade 4 months (two transfers), which is the typically amount a missionary stays in a city here. I could get the boot! Stay tuned.

Read your scriptures!

I am so sorry that it's been a while since I've written! I am not even going to try to summarize everything that's happened to me in the past few weeks, nor will I probably even hit all the highlights. 

First of all, if you love me, you will go to crkva-isusa-hrista.rs and make it the homepage of your web browser. Yes, I know it is in Serbian. We are trying to get the good name of the church out there in these countries because our web presence is not so redeeming and mostly false. Just a suggestion.

Okay... let's see. We have been teaching this really, really cool man who is actually like 3 hours from Beograd and we teach over the phone. We didn't really ask for it, he found us and asked if he could get baptized. So we'll see where that goes. He is so, incredibly sincere. And not too far from Sofia, Bulgaria, so he could go to church there.

We're also teaching the coolest lady who is a pilates instructor up the street. She's awesome and when we contacted her on the street she told us it must be God's will that she learn from us because she normally never, ever walks down that street but just felt like she should that night. Cool stuff! The church is true.

We've celebrated 3 birthdays in the past two-ish weeks (mine, Sister Berrett's, and our Serbian mom Sister Raicevic's) which has involved a lot of home-cooked Serbian specialties from Sister Raicevic. I had lost some weight at the beginning of the transfer but now I have probably gained it all back. Life is good!

We had a cool zone conference last week... I don't really know what else to say about that. But it was really, really cool.

I noticed something cool in the Bible the other day. John 11:39 says that when Jesus was raising Lazarus from the dead, He commanded those who were there to move the stone from the place of Lazarus' burial. Isn't it interesting that when He was about to raise the dead He did not simply exert His power to move the stone without asking others to do so? This shows me that, although God is a god of miracles, He also requires us to put in some effort to do what we can first. He will not do anything that is unnecessary. We must first trust in Him and be His tool by doing what we can to help others (aka removing that stone) and then He will step in and do the real miracle.

Have a wonderful week.

Sestra Watts

Dear wonderful, amazing parents,

We had an amazing week this week, Sister Berrett and I. We started teaching a man named Goran who actually lives in Pirot, which is southern Serbia, 4 hours away by bus, but he found us online and referred himself, so we're doing over the phone lessons! He is an hour away from a city called Nis, which has a few members in it who watch our Beograd sacrament meeting via broadcast and bless the sacrament themselves, so we're going to try to get him down there for church. He is honestly the most sincere investigator I've ever known. On our first phone call he asked what he needs to do to get baptized, and yesterday he told us all these times when he felt the Spirit (i.e. at our church in Sofia, Bulgaria, or when he read about us online) and RECOGNIZED it! He is so cool. We are praying that the Lord clears a way for him to get baptized and attend church regularly. We have been very open with him from the start by letting him know that it will be hard because he needs to commit to coming to church. He's willing! I'll update you on that.

We ALSO met this really cool woman named Gordana who agreed to meet with us on Saturday. We invited our member Sister Raicevic to come on the lesson, but she didn't get there till we had already finished! It was the best lesson though. Gordana agreed to keep on taking the lessons, too! And she invited us to her pilates class. We might not be able to resist.

So yeah, we're pretty happy. I was happy when we weren't teaching people, too, for the most part (it was an acquired feeling), but life is just so much better when people actually want to hear what you have to say. Thank you for your prayers, and I love you both so much. 

I promise I read both of your emails and printed them off so I could fully appreciate them. SO cool mom got to go to MN. Weird about the Torontos. Weird. Now we have to go celebrate Sister Berrett's birthday (which is tomorrow) by stuffing our faces at the Raicevic's house. Of course. 

P.S. I am so sorry I haven't been sending pictures this transfer. The internet place we go to and the computer at the church don't let me upload pictures! Ugh. I want you guys to see the Raicevic family so bad. They are the best.

LOVE YOU,

Vasa cerka