22nd August 2017

ELDER WINFIELD LANDED TUESDAY 22ND AUGUST 2017 AT APPROX 5.30PM

WORDS DO NOT DESCRIBE HOW HAPPY WE ARE TO HAVE OUR SON HOME. WE LOVE YOU AND ARE SO PROUD OF THE WORK AND SACRIFICES YOU HAVE MADE TO SERVE HEAVENLY FATHER FOR 2 YEARS.

YOU WILL BE BLESSED FOR YOUR EFFORTS.

ELDER WINFIELD'S FLIGHT PLANS 21ST AUGUST 2017 - ARRIVING HOME 22ND AUGUST 5.50PM

ELDER WINFIELD'S FLIGHT ITINERARY

FINAL EMAIL 8th - 14th August 2017

Well...... I guess this is it! The last one. Who would have thought. This week went really really fast, a little to fast for my liking but that's okay usually when it goes quick it means that you had a great week which is true. 

So just to start off on Monday we had a pretty chill day, we emailed and did a few other things that we had to do like shopping etc.. just a really cruisy day which was nice I needed that! We also visited a less active member who wasn't home but some other guy was and he kicked us out! But that's okay, he wouldn't even take the cinnamon rolls that Sister Decker made but whatever, do what you wish!

Tuesday was about one of the only normal days of the week, we just contacted as usual and had all the normal things happen like lunch, studies, dinner and some more contacting! Oh don't forget to mention that we had english too, that went well we actually have a bunch of kids that have started coming with their grandparents! it's kind of strange I feel like I'm a 1st grade teacher...But nonetheless it was fun, I kind of forgot about kids, you really don't have a lot to do with them out here!

Wednesday was Zone Conference! Our very last one! It went really well though, it was focused a lot on doctrine, a lot differently run that how President Grant did it but it was still great nonetheless :) We got to bear our final testimonies in front of everyone, they also asked us to pick a name of the Saviour which was used and explain why we like it etc.. I picked 2 Samuel 22:2 and the name used is "Rock" as he is my rock and its good to have someone you can always rely on. Big rocks don't move either, and its the same for the Saviour, as much as we are moving he isn't so its up to us to come back and not up to him. After Zone Conference we had to quickly take a bus back as we had a dinner appointment with one of the families here! It went great :) what else to say than that!

Thursday was pretty busy! We had a lot to do in the morning. First off we had to prep for district meeting and after that we had a lunch with a less active, and the daughter who is about 9 or so is learning the guitar and the Branch President/Senior couple is teaching her so we were mainly there for translating and friendship support :) but it went well! After that we had district meeting which was good, just another one in the bank! After that we had some studies and dinner etc... we had English class as usual which was nice, this time we had the advanced so it was just our man Dragan who always comes, he is a great guy! The day was also great for many other reasons! One of which was that we had an exchange and I was with my boy Deleeuw just like old times! 

Friday we switched back and had some lunch as usual, and apart from that I guess we just had a pretty normal day! I don't really remember what happened! I'm having a mind blank, I think it was just contacting but i'm sure something happened... a lot happened this week so please excuse me on this one!

Saturday was very busy! We had a going away party for someone named Ada in this branch who is actually leaving tomorrow for her mission in the Ukraine! So during the day we went over and I made some classic aussie pav, but without strawberries it was a little hard, it was okay though we replaced it with raspberries and it was alright, it failed a little but it was okay, they party was great and it was cool to say goodbye to one of my very good mates here! 

Sunday was the busiest day of them all! Seeing as it was Ada's farwell day and to an extent ours too but more for her anyways there were around 40 odd people at church! that is a ton! so it was a full house, anyways I had the honour of being able to say a few words and share my testimony which was great, even after 2 years of learning and speaking this language I still get very nervous going up and speaking! I thought it would go away but I guess not. After the sacrament meeting there was food and great vibes with some great people! After that Ada was set apart! It reminded me of me when I was set apart and what was said and I can honestly say that it has all come to pass! It was also an awesome experience to be apart of the setting apart. 

Well.... I guess I should finish off this email. Its been a great 2 years! It's been the best, hardest, craziest, unexpected 2 years of my life. In the end though I know what I did was right and that it was worth that least something to my Heavenly Father, and to me that is all that matters, because he gave me and and all I want to do is give my all. I can't wait to get back and get into life again, its a little scary to leave I must say, and in many ways I really don't want to, the people I have met here the experience I have had, the culture, the food ;), all of it I wish I could have with me! Unfortunately you cant have all you want. But regardless I still will keep what has been very close to me and I never want to lose any of it! I love you all and thank you all for your support throughout my mission, for those who have constantly emailed and given me words of encouragement, thanks from the bottom of my heart! And I guess apart from that there isn't much to say! See yous in a bit! Lataz! 

I will leave you all with a poem that was made by me and a great mate of mine :)

Ostavih stare i produžih dalje

treba reći zbogom

liti puno suza i služiti s Tobom.

Jedan od njih biću ja,

upamtih tad.

Ruke na mene oni polažiše i

zaboravit' te reči nika neću,

da ću ovim svetom širiti sreću.

Kroz školu jedva prođoh,

a sad novi jezik da učim dođoh.

U Beograd stigoh kao Gušter pravi

i sve se mislim šta sad da radim?!

Bog je velik i uz mene biće on, 

ukoliko ja služim snagom svom.

Korak po korak, stan po stan, 

stao nisam smeti tad.

Rekoše mi oni "Nemoj biti lud"

s razlogom si poslat' tu.

Znati mislio sam da nikada neću,

kome sada da udelim sreću?

Korak po korak, stan po stan,

nađoh razlog taj.

Kroz trnje do zvezda, prijatelje koje ovde stekoh,

moraću da ih ostavim,

ali nikad i da zaboravim.

Polako moram da privodim ovo kraju

i svi to znaju,

Rusty me željno očekuje, i njega ja,

ali znam da će nešto da mi fali tad.

Svojoj kući kada pođem

poželet' ću da na misiju opet dođem.

LATAZ!

--

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

1st - 7th August 2017

Well this week was on word.. HOT. 

This week was my last non busy week you could say so it was fun just to do the usual grind of contacting and more contacting! Unfortunately we didn't find anyone really cool but yeah. 

Monday was great apart from that the email place that we usually go to wasn't open so all 4 of us had to share the church computer which is a potato.. But after we got done with all of that we went to a members place and had some lovely stew and just had a chill day! It was great, although hot >.< at least we didn't have to be in our proselyting clothing. 

Tuesday was a long day, we went on exchange as my comp and elder Deleeuw had to do an audit at the church which took forever so I was with Lerohl all day! It took me back to our hot days in Varazdin! It was fun though it was just work, eat, nap, work, eat, study nap. We did also have english but I think because of the heat no one really showed up, we ended up have just 1 student come. 

Wednesday was good, we had district meeting and I had the lesson which was on baptism, I think it went well I don't know.. I can't be the one to comment on it so I guess I'll just leave it at that! After district meeting it was just work work work! We had a dinner appointment at our favourite peoples house! That was a blast as always! 

Thursday again was just a lot of work! Really hot but we got there eventually. It was just a long day of contacting and then we had dinner with the other elders just before english class! Again it was a pretty poor turn out but we had our dedicated student who always comes! He is a really nice guy, he is also counting the days down for us! He is going to party with us on James Bond day, which is when we have 007 days left! haah 

Friday was probably the hottest day of my mission! We Didn't have a lot to do either... it was again just contacting. I don't really remember what happened this day I just remember it was hard! 

Saturday was good we cleaned the church and the morning and had lunch with the other elders and then we had a lesson with a member. After that it was contacting until the other elders came back from Beograd then we went to a fancy restaurant for dinner to celebrate our 2 year mark!!! wooo so yeah that was fun, they then stayed the night at ours and we danced and laughed about good old times until we slept. 

Sunday was church as usual, we had our usual investigator who has been coming and we asked him to have a lesson for today and he said yes which was cool so we had a good lesson but ill talk about that after this. Anyways so it was fast and testimony meeting and it was cool to hear others testimonies! I got a text during the meeting though that we were not going to be able to spend our last Sunday of the mission in Sremska Mitrovica so us 3 that are going home bore our last testimonies, it was a bummer because I felt a little rushed and I didn't really say all that I wanted to but that's okay. After that we contacted some more and then we had dinner etc... made our classic Sunday evening Palacinke! and slept... 

Today we don't have a lot on which is nice so we can have a relaxed day! Much needed! We had a lesson this morning with one of our investigators and when I asked him whether he wants to get baptised (as he has came to church the last 7 weeks in a row) he said yes! He said he wants to learn a little more before that but said that he would. Which is awesome! I won't be here to see that but I'm excited for that to happen, we will be meeting him again this week and have some more lessons which is good, he is an old man and prefers just to talk in a casual manner rather than having a proper lesson so it's a little different than usual but it works!

On the whole it was a successful week! This week will be pretty busy as we have a lot on with zone conference etc... so I guess until next week! Lataz! 

​Love yous! xo​

--

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

25th - 31st July 2017

Hey... so the emailing place we usually go to is closed so we have 1 computer in the church that we get to email on and we are only going to do 30 minutes each so we can actually have a pday. I'll just give you a short summary on how the week was! In general it was another week of grinding! Lots of work. We didn't have the most successful week in terms of finding people but we worked really well which is the main thing for me.

We had a list of about 15 peoples numbers that we had gotten during the transfer so we called them all up again and none of them wanted to have a lesson anymore which was a bummer. We still have a few that we could meet up with so we will see. The good news is that we had 5 investigators at church! most of them being internals but one guy came who we contacted earlier in the week, he was a very old man and we had probably a 20 second conversation with but we invited and he came which was a cool little miracle to see.  He said he enjoyed the sacrament meeting and all, he doesn't want to meet up but I think he might come next week so lets hope for that!  

We also had a good pday last week in Beograd. It was weird to go back there! Reminded me of my first transfer and I felt like a ton has happened since then. I even went back to my favourite gyros place which was awesome, it had been a while! It's getting pretty hot here though.... I forgot what it was like to be a missionary in the summer it has been a while! All is going well its just grinding and working hard to the end.

A lot more happened in the week but I really don't have time to make a big one sorry :/ I promise it will be better next week! It's all good it won't be long and then I can just say it all in person anyways... Seems like yous are doing good, hope you had a good birthday Dad! UP THE TIGES! eat em alive! If we get top 4 I'll be over the moon... we really need it! Wait did faith go on another mini mission? or... were they just more photos from last week? Tell Rachy as well that she should clean my car for me before I get back :P 

Sorry I couldn't email and say more! I hope yous have a good week and all goes well.. Love yous all! xoxo

--

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

18th - 24th July 2017

I'll just send a short one :) I am about to go to an escape room with the zone.

This week was good, it was mainly another normal week in the mission! We found a decent amount of new investigators this week so that was cool to see that, we have their numbers now its just a matter of having constant lessons! The other investigator is doing okay.... he just doesn't understand a lot we teach and doesn't want to change unfortunately. 

The new Mission President and his wife are a lot more quiet and laid back than the last one. It's kind of weird because I really won't have any time with them so that's just how it is...

Happy birthday to liambird :) and to Dad as well :P and happy anniversary Mum and Dad :) love yous all and hope that you have a great week! xoxoxo be safe!

--
Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд

Adriatic North Mission

11th - 17th July 2017

Hello! well.... another pretty quick week. :) 

Monday was fun we had a casual pday with some of the members and played some card games and Frisbee etc... it was hot as though... like 40 odd degrees outside! After all that we had a lesson that night with a guy who has been coming to church the last few weeks, it went well I mean I think he just wants to talk and have a really casual conversation rather than a sit down lesson. I'm not 100% what the next step will be. He drinks, smokes, (which is fine, fixable) he says he can't read because he doesn't have glasses or something I'm not 100% sure but either way he says he doesn't read at all really and that will be hard for him to get a testimony of the Book of Mormon if he can't read. We had a member on the lesson too she helped a lot! He came this week though which was good, he makes it seem like he doesn't really want to change and just enjoys the socialization, we will keep working with him and see what is to be done next. 

Tuesday was pretty normal, we had a contacting session in the morning and walked around the city trying to find strawberries.... there is legit none because of the season but it's fine we found mangos to replace it instead. (as I was making pavlova) anyways after all of that it was just normal contacting and then we had English class, we didn't have anyone show up to advanced so we helped the other elders with their beginners class. I also realised that I caught some sort of bug and was becoming sick... so yeah I was pretty much sick all week, it's hard though you still got to keep functioning and I still have never taken a day off on my mission :P I know I took millions off school. Maybe because the Lords work is 1000 times more important than school? I'm better now though which is great. I hate feeling sick it is the worst. anyways......

Wednesday was pretty busy, we worked in the morning and then had lunch, after that we had district meeting, it was good to have the whole district back together for that as the senior couple has been away the last couple of weeks. After that it was a little more work and then we had a dinner appointment at a members house. We went a little early as I wanted to make some Pavlova, it turned out alright it was kind of hard without fresh strawberries but it was okay. The mum of this family is an amazing cook! It was really great and kind of them to do that, you could probably count the amount of times you have been fed on 2 hands so you could say that it is nice to have that for a change. 

Thursday was as well fun, in the morning the zone leaders came here for our exchange, I was staying here in Sremska with Elder Valentine! (my son :)) so it was fun to be back with him in the city where I trained him, it was cool to see the improvement, I remember when he could barely say "my name is....." and now he is going great so that was really fun to see, obviously doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with me as I just trained him and it is more about your personal attitude but nonetheless it was cool to see. We just mainly contacted a lot and then we had English class, we only had one student so it was just nice casual conversation in English. 

Friday was pretty packed as we wanted to visit some members with Valentine being back. In the morning it was contacting mainly and then we had a lesson booked with a couple of guys that called and gave us their address, we went over there and they weren't home or anything, I called them like 10 times and still nothing so we just went back to the normal grind!, after that we visited another members house and had a good discussion and ended up giving a blessing to her and her daughter which was awesome. After that it was more member visiting and saying hello to people that Valentine hadn't seen in a while. It was great though :) I wish we could do that more than contacting but you know you gotta find people somehow and that's the main way right now... regardless it was a great day.

Saturday was again pretty busy, we had the Beograd elders return and I got my comp back, we had lunch at our little BBQ place that we always go to. After that we had the land lady come around because on Wednesday night our apartment flooded a little because of a stupid as leak we have in the corner of our house, anyways she came and checked it out and someone is supposed to come today and fix it. We will see though.... Those guys who weren't home ended up calling us back too and wanted to have the lesson still so we went over to their place which is around a 30 minute walk from our place, their house was pretty rank, everything was just dirty and all they had were cigarettes, water and rakija (dad you can ask Tony Difresco about that). They were high the whole time I'm pretty sure... so we weren't there too long just because it is really a waste of time dealing with people like that. We might play some basketball another time with them though we will see... we had to book it back to the church though as we had to help with cleaning, after that it was just studies and dinner!

Sunday was the big day as always! I always think of church on Sunday like my football game on Saturday, we get there early prepare etc... and hope we have a good game (meaning we hope we get some investigators and have lots of members there) this week you could say we won! We had a decent amount of members, mainly because we had the area president and counselor come down, they gave great lessons and talks though. After church we went back, did some weekly planning and then we had dinner at the senior couples place, they are really nice, (elder  Decker) loves sports and was a carpenter so you could say we have a decent amount in common, although he loves that panzi American football sport its okay I still respect the man. :) he actually served his mission in new Zealand like you dad but a little bit earlier.

That was about our week though, this week should be pretty normal though we don't have a lot on, we have the misison president coming down tomorrow for some interviews, so that will be cool to be able to finally talk to him face to face. 

I heard that Federer won Wimbledon.. (however you spell it) bet you and pappa are pretty happy mum! Hope yous are all doing good :) love you all! have fun in the cold while I'm in the heat.

-- 

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission