Zdravo kiddos!
Well, this week was kind of uneventful.
SIKE. I'm just gonna go, let's see when it stops. To start, Monday night was Christmas Eve and we went to a little gyspy bonfire with the Jovanović family, and then shared in some Serbian Christmas traditions, i.e. hay everywhere, breaking open tons of walnuts, eating fig fruit (the heck?) and dried plums. We sang songs, and shared in each others' company.
Tuesday was one of the strangest Christmas' I have ever had. No family, no presents, but who needs that when you are in Serbia as a missionary??? Not this guy. We loaded ourselves up and drove to Novi Sad, where all the Serbian missionaries (so.....13 of us) and also the Senior couple missionaries had an all day party. We ate some bomb soup and bread which I love, and played games in the Novi Sad church, and again just enjoyed each others company. There was much love and laughter, especially as Elder Radaković would whip out his extensive few sentences in German and many YAAAAA's to try and be like the 2 Sisters we have from Germany. It was a good ol' time, and as you can see from the picture of Mcallister and I (mother, those 2 pictures I would love to be made into a Christmas Card) we had a good time. It was the best.
Wednesday Žika had us all over again to eat sarma, which I love a lot. I don't think I ever said before what it was, but it's basically ground meat wrapped in cabbage and a lot of good sauce soaked in. So, count me in!!
We did a lot of work trying to find....but alas we are still without any investigators. We did work with less actives and among our members, we are finishing our home teaching this week also. We went out to Pančevo to find inactive members and found them to be nonexistent at their addresses, so we did the footwork for finding that out. We were told no by who knows how many people, and basically had 0 visible success. It started to become discouraging. If I wasn't with 2 of the funniest elders I know, I may be depressed. But I love Elder Rad and Elder Fisher. These 2 are so dang awesome. I find the Lord working very intimately in my life. Elder Rad was my first companion in the field, and I will be his last. He has 22 days left, and we are doing our best to get him out with a bang. And Elder Fisher will be in the mission all the way with me, as we are now at equal time out. So, just some postcards from the Lord, looking out for me.
But that's not all. Oh no that's not all. I got a call from Zagreb yesterday. A bit of background refresher, remember that African guy Felix that Elder Bennett and I contacted in Zagreb on New Year's Eve? The story went that Elder Bennett and I were waiting to meet up with someone, and Elder Bennett pointed out an African guy and said 'Elder Hixon, look, an African guy! Is that Amadu (investigator we had)?' I said 'I don't know, but doesn't matter, he is African and we must contact him.'
Well we did. And Elder Stuart and Bennett have been teaching him, and long story short he wants to join the Church. So, I count that as a visible success, and turns out the Lord had a reason for keeping me in Croatia for a bit after all! Not patting myself on the back, not at all, but I only include this story as proof that the Lord puts us where He needs us, and it is up to us to have hope and faith in His judgement and to do good regardless of the visible success we see, and proof that He loves us and will reward our efforts as we look back.
We had an incredible Zone Conference on Thursday, and the three of McAllister, Sheridan, and I were reunited once more. MAN. I don't know how to tell you guys how much I love those 2. OH man!!! There are many stories from that conference, but for another day. I want to share a few quick ones from yesterday.
First, I got to see Vladan again :)
Second, Brat Glenn (embassy worker) wished me a 'Happy Birthday on Friday,' and that was pretty cool of him. I asked him how he knew, and he said that they've been keeping tabs on me since I left. He also knew the day I was back in the mission. So, another blessing. He is so awesome, and a close friend of mine here. I will treasure that friendship forever.
Lastly, we were in Primary this week helping with singing time. So us three, Brat Glenn, and 2 other embassy workers (we have 3 embassy families now?!) were there with 8 of our little rugrats. Elder Rad and I let Elder Fisher spearhead it and he did very well. There were 2 very moving instnaces. One, there is an embassy kid named Fox (Faux?) and he can't be over 5. He would sing very loud (Serbian and English, cause we teach them both for the songs) and with his cute nasally voice and mispronounced r's and l's, he would turn around before the song and look to his mom and, with true uncertainty and desire, ask, 'Mom, am I good at this one?' and she would smile at him and assure him that he was, and then he would smile and belt the song flawlessly. And at the end, he would turn around and ask her again, 'Did I do good, mom?' She would again reassure him that he did perfect, and that was good enough for him. And the process would continue. Not only was it freakin cute, but it was a little look for me into something a bit more eternal and about all of us. And to top that, the minute 'Božje sam dete ja' (I am a Child of God) EVERY kid pulled out their pipes and belted it with the pride and conviction of any full primary I have ever been in. It moved me. These little ones KNOW who they are, and they love that knowledge. They know, more literally and with more certainty, their divine nature, more so than many of the most learned men. And they believe in Him, find hope and assurety in Him, and know how to speak with Him, and ask Him 'Am I good enough to do this?', and to return at the end of the day and ask 'Did I do good?' and recognize the answer of assurance from their Father that they did.
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