5th August - 27th August 2015

Hey mum, dad & family :D

Well I finally get to check my emails it was so good to read them and hear things that I actually know about. I arrived on the Monday I left (Tuesday for you guys) I think I got the cold that everyone had so the last week I have been sick, coughing heaps and most of my district has it now too it might not of been from you though. The plane ride was so boring I didn't get much sleep and didn't eat much for the next couple of days after I arrived.

It is all well now I am eating lots I feel fat :/ they have unlimited food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So the way it works is there is a zone which is all the missions which are kind of close to us (Bulgarians, Macedonians, Slovaks, polish ect..) and the zone leaders are elder bednar and elder bebel who are both american and yes Elder Bednar is a relative of David Bednar. There is then districts which are the mission specific so our district has 11 people and they are all going to Adriatic north with me. I am the only non american in the district and I'm pretty sure for the whole zone, it kind of sucks but that's okay. I am in a trio companionship with Elder Matthews and elder Deeluew, they are both from Utah and they are pretty cool, being in a trio has its ups and downs but overall it is good. It is a bit weird having to be with someone 24/7.

The first language class was crazy, the moment I walked in the teachers were speaking Croatian at me and I had no idea what they were saying, they rarely speak english, maybe a sentence a class so its full immersion into the language. I am starting to get how the language works though it's just a matter of memorising words ect... they expect you to know 500 words and 150 phrases minimum before you leave the MTC. Next week I will be learning Serbian and what all the letters mean. We have already taught 4 gospel lessons to a Croatian "fake" investigator who we found out will be our teacher his name was Dabor, it is so hard as sometimes one word that you don't understand will stuff up the whole lesson.

The first devotional that we had was Russel M Nelson, it was so cool to listen to the president of the quorum of the 12 speak i learnt a lot from that!

I have learnt so much gospel based information on my mission so far and it has only been a week and a bit! I'm really missing you guys and its hard to walk around and hear no aussie accents or no funny saying from Richard, Asher and no Rusty chilling in the lounge room no Faith or Rachael teasing :D. I hope that Liam went well with his L plate lessons and that everyone is doing well. If you guys want it would be really cool if you could use the "dear Elder" thing it means I can receive emails on paper during the week instead of waiting till Thursday to check my emails, this will also give me more time to reply and give you better emails as I only get 1 hour. You can pretty much send me anything here at the MTC people get food packages and all kinds of things all the time, pretty much any letter or dear elders make the week so much better! I got one from Kim so if you have any questions ask her she knows how to use it.

Need some photos of that EH dad!

I have some photos but I can't take anymore as I can't charge the battery because I don't have a converter for american to australian power, by any chance could you send me one? I would absolutely love a package from you! all the other missionaries get letters, packages everyday I feel a bit out getting nothing but I know that you are thinking of me and that you love me and that is all I need. I can also send hand letters back and ill send you some things here and there. If you could also maybe please pretty please send a couple of normal shirts to wear, some lamingtons, shapes, smiths salt and vinegar crinkly, maybe some solo? and my favorite drink bottle of voss :D:D:D its up to you though. Oh and the external hard drive too, ill put the address to send to on the bottom of the email.

Now my schedule is pretty busy we wake up at 6:30 every morning to be at breakfast by 7 to then be in class around 8 and from 8AM - 11AM its personal study, comp study then language study then it's lunch for an hour then its 12PM - 3PM of language and lesson prep study then its gym for an hour then dinner, then we ave study again from 5PM - 9:30PM then bed. It's so hard for me to sit still in a classroom for all that time, I'm glad they at least have a little bit of spare time to get some exercise. P days are on Thursday for me I have temple in the morning which I just got back from that was cool, not too much different to the one in Melbourne just bigger, a lot more rooms and they have a cafe there too! So usually ill be email you at 11am - 4pm thurdays on american time so I'm not sure what that is exactly for you. 

I want to say a lot more its kind of hard to explain every little thing that happens at the MTC if you email a list of questions on dear elder i could write some replies during the week for you :) I want to upload some photos I took but it wont let me for some reason :(

Love from Starješina Winfield (pronounced Star - Yay - Shina)

3rd August 2015 - Send off at airport

Words cannot express who we felt that day as a family. So many mixed emotions but knowing that Elder Winfield was serving our Heavenly Father made it all worth while.
We hardly had any sleep the night before because we packed and named everything til about 2am or so.
Everything felt so surreal until we couldn't see him anymore as he passed through the gates.
When we got home, everything felt so empty. Our new normal was about to begin.

2nd August - Mission Setting Apart and last day at Church

ELDER  JOSHUA DAVID WINFIELD

MISSION SETTING APART - 2^ND AUGUST 2015

PRESIDENT VALDES

GIPPSLAND STAKE CENTRE

Brother Joshua David Winfield,

By the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood which we hold and under the direction and assignment from the First Presidency, we lay our hands upon your head this evening and set you apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints assigned to labour in the Adriatic North mission.

We bestow upon you at this time Brother Winfield the rights, privileges and authority pertaining to this wonderful, exotic calling of the Lord as extended to you at this time through his voice and mouth piece and oracle - the Prophet of God. We bless you with the assignment to speak the Croatian language. We bless you with the ability to do so fluently in the coming weeks and months ahead of you. We bless you with the gift of understanding and perception to be able to quickly grasp the language and be able to quickly communicate as you arrive at your destination.

We bless you with health both spiritual and physical, that your body will be able to withstand the rigors of missionary labour, to be able to be obedient and follow the program and the schedule there set before you as given to you not only by your Missionary Training Centre President but as you arrive on your mission field by your Mission President and his wife.

We bless you with the gift of compassion. We bless you with the gift of charity as you walk among the people within your mission. The Lord will guide you and point out to you those that he has been preparing to accept His Gospel. As you develop these gifts, you will find guidance through the Holy Ghost, to know what to say and how to help and bless their lives.

We bless you that you will grow in stature before the Lord, that you will be able to magnify your Priesthood and exercise it in righteousness. We bless you with obedience to follow the counsel and guidance and guidelines and rules that the Mission President will give to you.

We bless you to love your companions, all those that you will come to serve with. You’ll care for them, serve them, you’ll be mindful of them and their needs and be able to comfort them in their time of need as well.

We bless you with strength of character but yet humble. You’re going to be able to serve the Lord to the fullest of your capacity.

We bless you to come to know yourself fully, to know who the Lord has created in you. To be able to fulfil the things that were announced in your Patriarchal Blessing. We bless you that later, those promises that are given to you will begin to be fulfilled.

We bless you Elder Winfield to grow in stature before the Lord in amongst those you are serving. We bless you that you will be able to work well with priesthood leaders and the auxiliary leaders in both wards and branches that you will come to serve in.

We bless you that you will be a powerful witness of the Gospel. We bless you that you will utilise the Book of Mormon as a tool to teach, to expound and to invite others to come unto the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless you with success in changing lives in those who will accept the Gospel and those that will return to his fold.

We bless that you’ll come to know the meaning of the plan of salvation and you’ll become resolute in the way you’ll live your life from here onward and you will return a man of God and you will continue to grow in stature before the Lord. We bless that through your obedience you will come also to know how the Lord protects each one of us in his service. We bless you that you will be able to lead others to do likewise.

The opportunities will be given to you to serve other missionaries both that are within your District as well as your Zone.

We bless you that the Lord will give you opportunities to associate with many others from different nationalities and nations, that you will come to appreciate cultures particularly the ones of those you serve. You will come to be enriched through this culture. We bless you to become one of them, one with the people. As you do so you will come to know the thoughts in their hearts and become as they are and have their hearts open to you. We bless you with the gifts of compassion and charity. That their hearts will be fully open to the spirit as you teach that the Holy Ghost will come unto their hearts, that they will be open to allow Him to come into their hearts.

We bless you with protection, that the Lords angels will be round about you as you remain faithful and obedient throughout this service.

We bless you to have enjoyment, to learn and to grow and to be able to have joy through this service and to know that He is with you as you remain faithful and obedient.

And these blessings we leave with you as you embark upon this great service for the next two years as a starwort and faithful servant of the Lord.

In the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.