Elder Joshua Winfield August 2015 - August 2017: 12th April - 18th April 2016

Well this week was pretty crazy! First of all Pday was pretty fun, We had Elder Parkinson and Lewis come down from Rijeka, as they were staying with us overnight because of transfers, we just walked around center and then went to the Sea Organ ect.. it was alright nothing too special, it was just great to hang out with the district! We went back that night and all 6 of us stayed in the other elders apartment which was crazy. The next morning Elder Parkinson and I left to Sarajevo, Bosnia! It is a 5-6 hour drive so I let Elder Parkinson drive on the way as I knew that I had a long drive on the way back, a little bit into the drive we realise that the cars GPS doesn't work and we have no map so we had to bludge our way there to Sarajevo, after a while we eventually made it! We had lunch there as we were starving, Bosnia is so cool and amazing the mountains are just crazy! Also they have a lot of Muslims I felt like I was in turkey or some Arabic country, just so different to every other country in the mission. So the trip began on our way back to Zadar, I was with my new companion Elder Bowles who is from a little town in Utah, he is cool he is in to music and enjoys having fun! It should be a great transfer. Anyways back to driving, I forgot to mention they drive on the wrong side of the road which was a little strange although surprisingly I got used it. On the way back we got kicked off the Bosnian freeway so we had to go through a bunch of little villages and though every mountain, the roads were so skinny and there was always a truck with 10 cars behind it, the view was amazing though 12/10 worth it. I wish I could of got photos, maybe next time.... Lets hope I will have the opportunity to serve there! Eventually we got back at 9 oclock, I was stuffed after that long day!

The next day was pretty busy, we had to go to the Police Station and get Elder Bowles all set up for his Visa then we had district meeting which was great as always, we then had to get our food for the week, then Branch Council then some planning.... It was a pretty jam packed day. Thursday was pretty good,we had a lesson with one of our investigators, it went okay but i just get the feeling his desire isnt really there to find out weather or not this church is true which is a shame because he makes the effort and walks a fair distance to church every week. After that we were able to go out and work for a while, couldn't find anyone who would listen but thats okay maybe another day.

Friday was pretty normal we had to plan for the week so in between that we made cinnamon rolls which were amazing, we also worked for a bit that night, we went on a little split with the other elders in our district, Elder Matthews and I went to the church quickly as I had to go to the toilet, then this guy just came walking in and was telling us about how he knew elders in Zagreb a year or two ago or something and then we asked whether he wants to be taught he said yes, after that we taught him the restoration he listened and asked good questions and then said he would like to get baptised, we said we can organise it about a month from now and he said that's too late and that he needs it this weekend because he is going to Ireland for work which was a little strange but okay, then after the lesson he was asking if we have food to give him or money ect.. We told him we can't really do that as missionaries and offered him some oranges that a member dropped off for us a day before that and he said no he wants something with substance like a sandwich or something but we could do that.

Saturday we had a little bit on, we had a good finding session in the morning although not many people wanted to talk I just felt like it was good for some reason, after that we had lunch and then went back out to work and there was literally no one on the streets they all just magically disappeared, I honestly have no idea where they went.. so we just kept going talking to everyone we could, after that we had a lesson with one of our members whose grandson is 8 and ready to be baptised, it was a great lesson we read from the Stories of the Book Of Mormon (He enjoys them) and then we taught about prophets, he understood it all and I think he knows a lot more then what I did when I was 8. They are going to hopefully get him an interview for the baptism sometime this week so that should be great. That night we were contacting when this older lady stopped us and started pointing at this concrete thing claiming it was a bomb and then was trying to tell us to go tell the police ect... I went over and had a look at the thing, it was just a concrete thing to hold up temporary fences, I told her that but she didn't believe me, she then was trying to convert us to being Catholics and told us if we watched this video of this catholic preacher guy on youtube for even 2 minutes we would change faiths... pretty funny I thought.

Sunday was pretty good, we get to the church at 9:20 (yes 40 minutes early, you know just because my last name is Winfield doesn't mean I'm late all the time) to find the guy who we taught on Friday sitting on the stairs, the first thing is asked was for food, I thought wow common don't do this to me, I was in the same sort of position about 2 months earlier and it just sucked, I told him to go to the soup kitchens that they have out here but he said he couldn't or something, anyways he stayed for church then left after sacrament meeting. We had 5 investigators at church which was great, we also had a couple of families come who were from France and they didn't really speak much English, one of them wasn't too bad but they still requested a translation to English so we did, apparently during the summer you get the church packed full of tourists from all over the world but mainly Germany. After that we worked until dinner at the Devers (the best senior couple on the mission) Sister Dever made Spaghetti and an amazing coconut pie desert thing, after that we did tithing and then went home.

It was a good week overall, it went pretty long, I always find the start and the end of transfers are usually pretty slow and then in the middle time just seems to disappear, looking forward to this transfer with Elder Bowles here in Zadar, I'm loving it here I hope I can stay here for longer! I guess we will see though.