2nd - 8th February 2016

Well this week was pretty crazy, we found out transfers, went to split, went to one of the islands and had a little fun while we were at it too.

So first of all I can say that I'm staying here in Zadar! woo. But I still have to pack up and move :( I'm taking over the sisters area and apartment, meaning I have pack up and set up again and get adjusted to a new area, I may as well of moved to another city :( It is okay though I now have McDonalds in my area so I should be good!

So first off we had p day which was amazing, we went to one of the islands called Preko, it was a beautiful sunny winters day! I have dodged the winter, everywhere else in the mission it is snowing but I get sun and 15 Degrees! anyways we hiked up to the very top, took us about 30 minutes and it was well worth it once I got up there! the view was amazing! We then had to hike back down to catch our ferry home, it was a lot of walking that day but i enjoyed it. 

The next day was pretty normal, we had english class which was fun and district meeting, we then just contacted for the rest of the day, it was nothing to special, this week was pretty rough we didn't find any new people.

Wednesday was pretty normal, except once we got home we got a call from president and he told us what was happening with transfers a day before everyone else found out! what a party pooper, we also had a lesson with one of our eternal investigators, we are currently going through the book of mormon with him and trying to help him gain a stronger testimony of it, I think it is working and I reckon that he could get baptised next transfer.

Thursday was busy, we went to see where everyone else was going for transfers and then went to the MUP which is the police station where I had to go and tell them that I was changing address, they were pretty angry :/ We also then had lunch at the Devers as one of the sister missionaries was about to leave back home to america! After that we had english class and then contacted the rest of the night, very busy days!

Friday we had planned to go to Split so we could visit a recent convert and it was a 3 hour bus ride, it was all worth it though, I really enjoyed going over there and teaching the Plan Of Salvation, he was also so excited to have us over, he has given up so much to be a member of this church, his family kicked him out of his home, he now has to live on his own ect.. but he still comes to church every Sunday and is just so faithful, such a great example for me!

Saturday I had to pack a bit, do some planning and get everything ready for this movie night where we were playing 17 miracles with Croatian subtitles, it went really well we had about 12 people there and a decent amount of investigators, unfortunately a lot of people are sick at the moment but I was happy with it all, we also had one of the sisters investigators who will now be mine who has a baptismal date come but unfortunately he couldn't come to church the next day because of work and then bailed on the lesson last night, still hasn't been answering our calls or texts.... it's always really disappointing when something like that happens :(

Sunday we had church which was great, seeing as the sisters left we don't have a piano player so I had to play, using the tap function where as long as you keep the beat you will be fine, and it has no intro so you have to play the first verse through first then sing when the second one starts, but for some reason everyone started singing when I was about half way done playing the intro.... from there it was never going to be the way it was meant to. So that was interesting, apart from that though it was just a normal day at church here in zadar, I then went and dropped one of my bags off at the apartment which ill be in next transfer, you know you have to claim the good bed and desk before your comp arrives ;) I actually don't fit on one of the beds and my comp is very short so that works well anyway.

Now I'm here :) I have my new transfer ahead, I'm looking forward to the challenge and hope that I can achieve my goals. Hope everyone had a great week all the best.

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

26th January - 1st February 2016

Well this week was pretty long but it was good, we ended up finding one person on Pday while we were trying to buy something called a "Tunja" which is some hand fishing thing made out of some hard Styrofoam which a lot of people use here. Then the store owner asked us whether we were Jehovah Witnesses and then we said no, he then kept asking questions so we then just taught him the first lesson right there, it was pretty cool, we then met up with him the next day and taught him the plan of salvation, we then soft committed him to baptism so that was really cool, unfortunately he didn't come to church but he said we will meet up this week which is cool. 

Apart from that it was just a normal week, a lot of contacting and just normal stuff, we had a mid transfer transfer so we lost a sister and got one who is going home next week, I was with her in Beograd, it is weird how time flies! My 6 month mark is in a couple of days, it has not felt like that at all though.

Today we are going to one of the islands so I'm looking forward to that, It will be my 2nd last p day of the transfer, we will be finding out what is going on this Thursday so m looking forward to that! My guess is I will be staying here in Zadar which is what I want, I'm really enjoying it here :)

Sorry for the short email I don't have much time today as we are going to the island, next weeks email will be great so get pumped for that, hope everyone had a great week, all the best :)

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Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

19th - 25th January 2016

Just another week here in the Balkans!!

We had a pretty normal week this week just doing a lot of contacting people on the street, when you do that you realise that you meet all the crazy people too, we were about to got home then I contacted this guy and said we are here just talking a bit about Christ with everyone and then he said "I am Jesus" and yeah it was pretty strange! That was the only conversation we had that day literally everyone else says "I'm in a rush" or "I don't have time" or just put there hand up and keep walking, it's sometimes frustrating but you can sometimes understand when you hear stories of the war and what they have been through and if they change faiths it means that whole war was in vain. One old man had a good analogy, he said "Us old people are like big trees, hard to push over because they are so rooted in there faith, he then said the young people are still little trees and you can push them over so go talk to them" It actually made a bit of sense, it is also true, we always have better conversations and more "openness" with younger people.

We had a big worldwide missionary conference and the big topic was teach repentance, baptise converts. They had a lot of apostles talk and I learnt a lot about how we should really use the spirit in conversion, I'm looking to use what I learnt in lessons ect... I'm trying to get better at teaching repentance as a lot of people here have the thought of repentance as you pay a priest money and do 30 hail Mary's or whatever but it really isn't anything like that.

I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks, with our big finding efforts we have gotten a bit of interest and a few numbers so we are going to hopefully meet up with them all this week! One of the things that you definitely learn about coming on a mission is getting into good habits! Once you get a good habit it makes life a lot easier and things seem to go smoother. Good habits are always hard to start but once you get them its easy!

I might only have another 2 weeks here in Zadar depending on whether I get transferred or not! I hope I stay here in Zadar, I feel like my work has only just begun! I have a feeling I will but I guess you never know.

I hope everyone at home has a great Australia day and doesn't have too much fun without me! Sorry that this weeks email was pretty boring and short, there really wasn't too much special that happened just a lot of finding and rejection! I'm sure the weeks to come will be good it is all about keeping that faith about that light around the corner.

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Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission