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

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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!

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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 

4th - 10th July 2017

Well this week was quick! We had a fair bit on and was pretty strange at some points but it went well in the end :) 

We first started off the week on our pday doing nothing really until it was later then we went down and played some basketball with some random people. It was fun they were alright, one guy could just dunk it and just wrecked but it went well. After that it was just normal pday things, just cleaning etc..

Tuesday we had zone conference so we had the other elders stay over then in the morning we went off to Beograd to meet our new mission president! It was an interesting Zone Conference... most of it was just getting to know them etc.. but for us it doesn't matter too much but nonetheless it was still fun! On the way back we stopped in and got some things from the shopping centre. Apart from that nothing too much happened on Tuesday.

Wednesday was pretty bland, there was just a lot of contacting and we had district meeting which was nice to split things up but apart from that it was just the same old same old! We also played Frisbee with some of the members here and taught a little lesson. I brought the footy as well so it was great to kick the pill for a bit! I was rusty as but I think it didn't really help wearing crappy shoes. Cant wait to get back into it again! The young girl was pretty good at kicking the footy, beats the rest of the Americans that have tried :P 

Thursday was really a strange day.... My comp was a little sick in the morning so we did our studies then.. I also got really burnt that day which sucked! We have a balcony and I'm trying to fix my stupid as neck tan that looks horrible! Its alright I got some aloe vera and she'll be right! After that we went contacting and had some weird experiences... not sure why, must of been something in the air but we had some really strange contacts, the main one was when we were on the bridge and we were talking to some lady, we just got her number when about 20 meters down the bridge some old guy ate the bitumen and fell off his bike. There weren't a lot of people around so we went over and helped him up etc... then a couple of others came and called the ambulance. He wanted us to leave him and let him walk home but he was for sure wrecked and no way was he making it back alive! Anyways that was really weird... but yeah. Apart from that we just had english class which was good, we had someone come in who was new and he took a bunch of church material and seems a decent amount interested, I'm not 100% sure about him I thought he was high when he came to english but I don't know, we will see.

Friday was pretty normal, we just had contacting as usual, we ended up doing a mini exchange just to change things up! The beauty of 4 elder districts is if you are sick of your comp it is okay because an exchange is only just around the corner. The whole day was just contacting though I don't really have much else to say than that.

Saturday was good, we kicked it off with a morning session of contacting, we couldn't find anyone cool but nonetheless it was good. After we went and cleaned the church and had lunch together. We had a lesson organised too but unfortunately he didn't turn up. After that it was back to the grind!

Sunday was pretty good, we had one of our investigators turn up which was cool, we organised a lesson with him and we will meet with him tonight so I'm hoping that will go well, he is around 80 years old and smokes and drinks so we will see how all that goes, he seems to enjoy church but it will be a tough one! After church we had lunch at the other elders then we went contacting. After that we actually bumped into like 20 Americans who were here for something. Lucky Sorensen was there to translate for me so they could understand. They were on kind of a mission for their non-denominational church which went for 2 weeks.... I was like geeez I have been out here more months than you have days! But it was interesting, they were nice at least. After that we went back to the apartment for dinner and had some Palacinke for desert!

This week will be fun, we had a decent amount on, I'm going on exchange with the zone leaders who is actually my son (the one I trained) so Valentine is coming back here to Sremska! Same apartment and everything, it will just be like old times, expect he will know what he is doing and I heard he is pretty good at the language now so it will be awesome to see the changes that have happened since I was with him last. 

I love yous all :) sorry about the tiges dad... cant win em all aye? Anyways... thanks for finishing my room! Look forward to seeing it! Lataz xoxo

Zone conference with our new Mission President and wife 4th July

President: 'During the lunch break, we also took a picture with each missionary with their favorite scripture listed on a board next to us. We thought you would like to have these pictures, so I've attached them here.' 

-- 

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

27th June - 3rd July 2017

Well this week was pretty good!

Monday was pretty busy we emailed of course as usual, after that we shopped and chilled out for a bit, I actually took a nap which was nice, well needed! After that we got our gear on to play some basketball, it was pretty good, I mean out district isn't full of basketball champs but its all good we had fun nonetheless. Some chick came up as well who was barely wearing anything and wanted to play.... it was pretty awkward to watch all the other elders not know what to do or how to talk to her..  haha it was funny though, she realised we weren't interested at all! After that we had some food and headed back for a normal night in the apartment.

Tuesday was pretty long we didn't have a lot on, it was mainly just contacting all day! We had a lesson organised with some guy but he didn't show up... after that it was English and some dinner! Apart from that though that was about all we did, we didn't find anyone who would listen. We also had a 5 minute skype with President and Sister Grant to say our last goodbyes! Its kind of weird knowing that they are now gone.... I didn't think it would ever happen. 

Wednesday morning was just contacting and then we had lunch as a district at their place as they owed us a lunch. After that it was just district meeting and seeing as the senior couple wasn't here because of some problems at home we just did district meeting at their place. After district meeting we just went back home and did our normal studies etc... just the usual you know! :) Had dinner and finished the night off with some contacting, we got a couple of peoples phone numbers which was cool, we are hoping to meet up with them this week. we had a lot of problems with some unpaid bills for our apartment which was a pain and then the office was being a pain so yeah pretty much it was a big waste of time but that's okay... I guess someone had to do it!

Thursday was pretty normal we had to go finish off with all those bills in the morning at the post office, after that we started a mini exchange I guess.. I was with Deleeuw, it was just like old times! We didn't have much success contacting unfortunately but the other elders did so that works :P I guess that's the beauty of having a 4 Elder district! We met back up and had some dinner before English class then we had English. After English class we had a couple of the members who know Russian try to teach us a bit haha it is actually really hard >.< I thought it would be easier but yeah, that's okay maybe another day, need to still get better at this one first :P 

Friday we went to a members place to visit and teach a lesson which was nice although it was pretty hot! The mum member has a younger daughter so we played a few games with her which was fun, here you don't really have much to do with younger kids as there isn't many of them. It's a blessing in some ways and in others it kind of sucks to not have little kids running around causing chaos! After that we had to visit another members place to drop some papers off, now I thought the first house we were in was hot... this place was at least 40 degrees I swear.... haha we were all dripping! We were there for like 40 odd minutes too. Anyways but yeah that was about it for Friday.

Saturday we contacted in the morning until around 1 o'clock then we sat and argued for like 20 minutes as to what we wanted to have for lunch.... sometimes the heat just gets to you haha but anyways we finally chose what we wanted then had that.... After that we cleaned the church etc.... Then we went contacting for a change :) woo! We actually had a lesson booked too.... So we had the guys address which was a little different as we don't usually get addresses but anyways we tried to find the place and eventually we got to what we thought was his house but he wasn't home and was at a meeting... We will go back another time, we know when he works so we will just pop in one time! After that we got a surprise call from the other elders to visit another member as he wanted a blessing, he has rarely came to church for the last year or so and really needed some help so we gave him a blessing, the spirit was really strong though which was cool :) he said he would come to church the next day and we got the other elders to swing by in the morning to pick him up but he bailed the last minute.... that sucked but oh well... we aren't going to stop trying of course! 

Sunday was church and seeing as the Senior couple wasn't there we kind of had to run things a little more and take up the slack. We had the Sunday school lessons so we went to the church early to finish preparations for that etc... anyways then church started and we realised that we had no one that could play the piano! Because the member that usually plays decided to turn up late :P (thanks Ada..) anyways but we somehow managed to get something going but it was probably the saddest Joseph Smiths First Prayer song I have ever heard sung... I also realised I forgot how to conduct as Elder Bowles taught me ages ago in Zadar but anyways... so yeah I decided that I'm going to retire after Zone Conference tomorrow as they asked me to conduct for that... for some stupid reason but that's okay.. I'll do it...  Anyways we had Sunday school after Sacrament meeting and it went alright for the amount of prep that went in etc... we only got told last minute by the other Elders because they are spuds and forgot to tell us but that's alright we did it and it's done so end of story :) After church I had some help from a mate translating some things which was great :) then we headed back to the apartment and did some studies before we had a nice dinner to break our fast! Later that night we had the other Elders come around and stay over as they wanted to... so yeah that was fun but our place is a mess now as always when you have someone over.

That about sums up the week... This week will be different I guess..  We are going to Beograd tomorrow for our Zone Conference and we will get to see our new Mission President! It will be weird and from what I hear he is a hell of a lot different than President Grant so I guess we will see... it should be fun though ill get to see some old faces at the Zone Conference who I haven't seen in a while. 

Sounds like things are going alright back at home I hope that everyone's doing alright. Love yous all! Have a fun week :) xoxoxo

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Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission