20th - 26th September 2016

Good week, lots of finding as usual, nothing really too special we found a guy who was interested in meeting up this week, we found him at night and he said that he doesn't have a mobile and said we could meet at the church in 2 days a 3 but he said he wasn't really sure about whether or not he would be able to make it to the lesson, he actually came thought suprisingly! We had a good lesson although he was pretty straight up catholic, he was really hating on the Jehovah witness church! 

ex missionary came back from 10 years ago.

Apart from that it was just a normal week, had english classes and cleaned the church and there was an ex missionary who came back after serving here 10 years ago, he took us out for some pancakes and then walked with us a little, it was weird to see that the mission is really the same here. 

This week should be good, we have zone conference in Zagreb and we also have general conference which should be great. Looking forward to seeing what going on hope you all have a good week.

--

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

13th September - 19th September 2016

This week was good, just a normal week, kind of long, we couldn't find anyone to teach.  We are going to go visit all the less actives this week so that should be good!

I understand everything pretty much, now its just trying to find new words I don't know and getting used to new dialects depending on where I serve, I'm still not the best speaker though, something like that would take years and years of living here and not just doing missionary work with americans.

This mission is actually a 25 month mission, my return date at the moment will be late August, I won't be able to go home early either that's for sure.

I'm sick of it I hate the heat as a missionary.

The nearest missionaries are about an hour and a half away. We don't have a district it is just me and my comp and that's it really.

There is a senior couple in most cities and they always have preference over the car. We just walk everywhere so it kind of limits us, there is a bus but we can't really go out of our area without permission. The mission has rules so that you can only go on 1 pday a transfer (9 weeks) and that can only be somewhere within an hours travel and we are kind of away from everything, I want to go to check out Slovenia though we might do that.​ 

I'm about to start a bulking program! lots of chicken and rice and things like that, should be good!

6th September - 12th September 2016

My week was really normal, apart from the exchange we had with the zone leaders... and president Grant coming down.

I'm getting some of the Americans here into football which is cool

Say hi to everyone that asks! yeah driving isn't fun, but when you have to walk everywhere you get sick of that too! Today we have to make these big english class outlines and I'm doing mine today.

Below are pics we had with President Grant and I think it maybe his granddaughter. He wanted to show her the mission.

Have a great week.

Love ya all.

30th August - 5th September 2016

Well this week was good! It went quick it felt like yesterday I was writing an email, this week was pretty normal apart from the Zone conference we had in Zagreb which a great, a lot of good incite on things, they focused on being more obedient! Its kind of always like that but a special focus this time, you can always improve on things you do and I guess that's the beauty of the atonement, you can always do that!

Pretty much the whole week was dedicated to finding, we had a lesson with one of our investigators on date and we have decided to drop him, he just doesn't have the desire to change, he just isn't too interested, that's okay though I'm sure we will find someone else. Apart from that we just worked and had our normal schedules, this week we will have an exchange with the zone leaders, ill be staying here with another elder so I guess we will see how that goes I hope i don't get us lost, its not too big of an area so I should be right.

Good news is it rained for the first time in a long time today! good to feel something cool on me for once, the weather is meant to get hot 1 more time then its good from then so i am looking forward to sweater weather! I love the summer just not as a missionary as long pants and ties etc.. don't really suit the 35 degree weather outside.

I hope everyone is doing well at home im enjoying it out here just got to keep on keeping on.

23rd - 29th August 2016

I think I'm officially settled in now I know the area alright.  The last 10 days have been crazy though because of the big festival that was here called spancirfest. I don't know if you know anything about but it's huge here!

It is still pretty warm, our apartment doesn't have an air conditioner so it is so stale and hot in there. I'll do an email next week there really wasn't much that happened except the big festival and we had an open day at the church which was cool.  We didn't have the greatest success but a couple of people came so that was cool. 
​
Take Care,

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

16tth August - 22nd August 2016

We contact pretty much 24/7.  There is a guy here on date for a baptism but I still haven't met him, he didn't come to church but we are going to go today to try and meet him. He has an issue with smoking so I guess I will see where he's at soon.
My was in my MTC group so I already knew him, he has a funny southern kind of accent and is into hunting, kind of like an american version of Tom Fornaro.

We have a proper chapel, I'm 90% sure I will be training here next transfer. We have about 5-6 active members not including missionaries - so small.

I can't get onto the computers because the library doesn't open until 2pm - it is because its summer hours, the town is a lot smaller then Zadar and the branch is a lot smaller.  No one in the branch speaks english which is good I'm really enjoying being able to speak the language a lot more - they just use different words. 

Oh yeah, I'm the clerk here now too again...

I don't know if i will send many photos as I'm not on computers at the church and I don't trust the public computers here I have heard so many bad stories of missionaries losing all their photos.

The senior mission couple are just not the same as in Zadar - I miss them so much. 

We won't get invited over for dinner here either but there is a recent convert here who is super cool and buys us meat all the time so I'm really happy about that.

Love you all,

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission 

9th August - 15th August 2016

So this week was pretty big we went to split on Monday which was a pretty crazy day but I enjoyed it, got to chill out with my mate Bozo and all the other boys in our district. We had to see the Krehbiel's goodbye as they went back to their area in Karlovac, I was hoping to get transferred there with them but that didn't happen :/  

Tuesday was pretty normal we had a few things to do and then we just contacted the rest of the day which was fun, we also had lunch with the Krehbiel's before they left that day.

Wednesday we just had an all working day apart from English class, so we went on an exchange, we just worked and worked nothing to special really, you could feel the tension around the mission as it was the day before transfers! its always like that, kind of crazy.

Thursday! the big transfer reveal, we got to the church and then there it was.... I looked for my name and there I found out I was going to a place called Varazdin, its a small town up the top of Croatia, I've heard both good and bad things about the place, mainly good people just don't like it being so small but its okay Elder Lerohl and I will have the whole area to ourselves which makes things a lot easier, after that I had to go to the MUP (Croatian police station) and tell them i was changing address etc... that was a breeze. After that it was just working and a little bit of packing during dinner.

Friday the new senior couple came, it was pretty intense as we had to get them unpacked and try and sort out there internet and a few other problems, they are really cool so the Zadar branch will like that. Once we got them set up we had a little talk and kind of gave them a lot of information, you could tell they were jet lagged as! It reminded me of when I came I was just out of it! 

Saturday we had a meeting in the church in the morning to show the new senior couple the church building and to also finalise everything for the Branch party that we were having later that day, we were going to get sandwiches from a place called papicas which are one of our favourites so we ordered 15 of them on Friday saying to make them for Tuesday but they must of misheard the other elders or something as they made them later that Friday night and we didn't come pick them up! They were apparently a little mad but still did us a good deal and we ended up getting them just in time for the party on Saturday night, it was good in the end the senior couple got to mingle with everyone before Sunday as Sunday was pretty chaotic.

Sunday came and it was my turn to speak and I was the only speaker and there were a few testimonies from Elder Bowles and Bolan as they were leaving, the crazy thing was that there were 55 visitors from all over the place who just rocked up, we didn't have enough chairs so we had to get some more from the other rooms and move the pulpit back and just squish everyone in... so we had 10 members and the rest visitors from the likes of Germany, Austria, France and america. It was chaos! My talk was on the keys of Elijah and I had to do it half in English and half in Croatian, it was pretty scary speaking to so many strangers all squished in the room.

So yeah that's pretty much in short all that happened this week! I will be leaving to Varazdin tomorrow so that should be exciting to change things up, I will really miss the Zadar branch here its been 8 months and its been a lot of fun I love it here I will for sure return one day!

 

Elder Winfield

Starješina Winfield

Старешина Винфилд 

Adriatic North Mission