Elder Joshua Winfield August 2015 - August 2017: 13th

Hey, sooooooo..... this week was pretty busy I guess....

Turns out I'll finish off my mission back in Sremska Mitrovica! I'm super pumped it should be good, Deleeuw and Lerohl will be in my district and then my comp will be someone I don't know so that will be interesting but either way it should be great.

So this week was fun, we started off going on a hike to Banj Brdo which was fun, I'm not a big fan of hiking on the mission because I mean we walk all day everyday so why walk more than what you have to but that's okay, it was actually pretty good. After that we went to Kod Muje.. we then got some souvenirs as Bowles was leaving the next day and after that we went to this fancy restaurant which would have cost in Australia probably like $30 a meal but here it was like $10 so I mean it felt expensive because I'm used to my cheap cevapi but it was really good :) it was kind of a goodbye dinner for Elder Bowles.

Tuesday we were off to our summer conference in Zagreb, we had to take the 7am bus which was fun...... but yeah we eventually arrived and got some ice cream in the centre with a Zagreb member that Bowles knows. After that we went to the mission home and started our Zone Conference, we were up second with our presentation so that was good to get out of the way early, after our presentation we had some outside time/ relax time which was good, we played some volleyball. It was a little sad as none of my mates were in my Zone but none the less I still had Parko and a few others but not the normal crew so we couldn't play basketball.... but that's alright.

Wednesday was the conference again and transfer reveals! My last one... wow. crazy. anyways, a lot of people already knew where they were going, there were like 4 out of the 20 that still didn't know and 1 of them was me so in the morning we got the transfer board, I was super surprised when looking at it but I'm super happy - it will be great. After all the presentations it was back to Banja Luka where I would take Elder King and train him into the area before I leave.. once we got back it was just dinner and unpacking etc..

Thursday was pretty busy we had district meeting, my last one as district leader (wooooo) now I don't have to worry about all of that... anyways that was good.. after that we went contacting and had lunch etc... I got my visa too which was kind of useless as now I'm leaving but that's okay. After all of that we had english class, it was sad to say goodbye to all of them as usual, you kind of have to get used to saying your goodbyes but yeah... I hope I can see them all again one day. After all that we went back home and had dinner and that was about it.

Friday was pretty normal we had a lot of contacting which was good, we got one person to come meet up with us so that was cool, we organised it for Saturday. After all of our contacting etc... we had our last institute class! And then uno of course... I won one but lost the others.... so sad.. but that's okay I still got one!

Saturday we had a few lessons and had to do a few business things at the church with the Branch President so we did all of that.. Our lesson went well with this young guy, he is really interested as to why we would travel half way across the world to come to a place like this... well we explained, I'm not sure how much he really believes what we say but we have another appointment with him. I won't be there but I'm sure it will go well. After that we had to clean the church and yeah I think that was about it..

Sunday was my last day at church here in Banja Luka. I gave my last talk which was nice, we had 2 investigators there too which was really good to finish on that note. One of the investigators is a seventh day and after church started on a bible bash talk etc... it was frustrating but we just said we can meet up another time we don't want to argue about the bible etc... it's kind of hard to pull yourself back sometimes because you want to be the best and the guy who proves him wrong etc... but you gotta realise sometimes that it's better to not do that as they say "it's not what you say, its what you don't say" anyways after that we had to translate for an interview for a member getting a temple recommend. After that we booked it to a members house to say goodbye and then we had lunch etc... after that we went back to the church to say goodbye to a mate that I made here. We then had to book it back home to clean the apartment before President came because he wanted to do the temple recommend interview with the member there for some reason... anyways there were like 10 people in our tiny little apartment, it was really weird but anyways.. said my last goodbyes to President Grant too as I wouldn't see him again, it was pretty sad actually.. he is a great man, it was awesome to have him as my mission president it was for sure inspired! After all of that I just finished packing and we made some palacinke!

So yeah that pretty much sums up my week..... today I'm leaving with Elder Parkinson to Tuzla and we will stay the night there and then tomorrow morning I'll head off to Sremska to finish my last transfer! I'm super excited to work hard and finish strong, we have a great district and I'm looking forward to seeing all the members there and just really enjoying the last bit of my mission.

I love you all so much! hope yous are doing good, by the sounds of it everything is alright..

Take care and be safe :) xoxo