Dec 10, 2012

Monday morning Dec. 10, 2012 

Dear Kiddos,

We want to give you a report on the “Kingdom” here in Slavonia—not to be confused with Slovenia.  You may need to be reminded that we are in the flat plains (between a few hills and mountains) of south central Europe.  I was surprised to find out that our elevation here in Osijek is less than 300 feet and our river, the Drava, runs (down) into the Danube  about 10 miles from here.  The Danube, the major river in central Europe running about 1800 miles, starting in the Black Forest of Germany runs and passes through the capital city of 4 countries, Vienna Austria, Bratislava Slovakia, Budapest Hungary and Beograd Serbia.  It also runs through or touches Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania.  The two main rivers in Croatia end up in the Danube.  Zagreb, which sits at the foot of a ski mountain, is only about 500 feet over the sea (above sea level) and its’ river, the Sava, runs into the Danube at Beograd, Serbia, about 200 miles further down the river.  You get the idea that there isn’t a lot of slope on the Danube, especially between here and the Black Sea (sea level).  Next time we’ll learn a little about population distribution if anybody asks.

We prepared to teach a Sunday School lesson yesterday about fasting and the blessings that come from it.  We are grateful we could talk with each of you (we couldn’t reach you, Jonny and Lindsay) and help you recall times we fasted together and times you fasted on your own for a specific purpose.  We read together the 3^rd paragraph of the “Proclamation on the Family” that starts with “In the pre-mortal realm… “and details why we are here and how we plan to remain as an Eternal Family.  We didn’t spend much time on talking about fasting yesterday, but we are prepared to talk more about fasting in a later lesson.  It was so nice to hear your recollections that we want to share them with you.  You might recall more as you read the memories shared.  We would encourage each of you to fill in the details from you own memories and return them if you choose to and we can create a “Small Plates of Ivins” of our most moving memories. 

·         Grandpa and Grandma Babbel asked all of their children and grandchildren to fast and pray for Mike Babbel to get a job.  He got a really good job and is still happy with it.

·         Christian remembers fasting for Robyn and Jason while we were living in our old house to get pregnant.  Following the fast, we knelt in prayer and went around the circle, each of us asking a prayer. 

·         Grandpa and Grandma Babbel asked all the family fast and pray for Lee Brundage to get a job.

·          Our family had a fast with the Back family for the future of Meridian Title.  Allen started his own title co.

·         Michael remembered fasting on his mission to have a greater testimony of the gospel.  He said he remembered the card Richard Wilson carried in his wallet that says: “Nothing is more important than my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints.” Michael said he felt that his testimony helped support Betsy through her parent’s divorce.

·         Betsy said the prayer following Rosie’s baptismal interview with the Bishop.  Betsy said she felt a witness of the spirit that Rosie was doing the right thing.

·         Tasha and Geremy asked us all to fast and pray for them to get pregnant.  They knew they would if they were patient and waited for the Lord’s timing.

·         Peter remembered that we asked all of our family to pray for Dad and me to be healthy enough to serve a mission.

·         Amy said she and Christian fasted and then prayed about their decision to get married.  She felt peace and complete confidence to go ahead with their decision.

·         Just this summer Bishop Mott asked the ward to fast and pray for Gabe Stout following his serious motorcycle accident.  Amy said still today people in the ward talk about what a bonding opportunity it was for the ward.  New members to the ward felt a connection to all during the fast.

·         Robyn fasted and prayed for her friend that had quit coming to Church.  Over the next several weeks some of their common friends asked Robyn what they could do to help their friend.  Jason felt the friends wanting to help was an answer to Robyn’s fast, a different answer than Robyn expected.

·         Christian remembered two elders fasting for a lady in the hospital.  Following their fast the elders went to visit the lady in the hospital.  The elders both fainted during their visit and replaced the lady in bed.

·         While Tasha was the Relief Society president in Africa one of the sisters lost her place at the market where she sold her wares.  She didn’t have much and her livelihood came from what she could sell.  A fellow Congolese had taken over her place.  She fasted for a couple of days and when Tasha heard she was fasting she went to take her some food from the Church.  The sister told her she was fasting because she didn’t want to be angry at the man.  She went to the man and told him she forgave him.  A few weeks later she found another spot to sell her wares.

·         Tiffany went to Nauvoo for a semester with  BYU.  While there she began to question if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  She called Dad to talk to him and he was in a meeting and couldn’t talk right then.  She fasted to know if Joseph really was a prophet.  She said it was so good for her to find out on her own that he was indeed a prophet.

·         When I was called to be the Stake Young Women president for the Bountiful Stake I fasted and then went to the temple to know who I should serve with.  I had the impression that Carole Ann should be the secretary.  I sat in the Celestial room of the Bountiful Temple and after pondering and praying, I knew who should be my counselors.  It was an incredible experience.  Dad had driven me to the temple because I wanted to walk home after being there.  During my walk home it was confirmed to me over and over again that these were the sisters who should serve with me.   

·         Tanya emotionally recalled how all of our family (Babbels and Ivins), her entire ward, friends and friends of friends had fasted and prayed for her when she had her heart attack.  She remembered one less-active man from her ward told her that he had fasted and prayed for her.  She was filled with gratitude and love that so many cared about her.    

·         We can’t write down even the thousandth part of what we have cumulatively fasted and prayed for over the past 50 years.  We could estimate that about 20 of us have fasted 10 times a year for 25 years.  That is a lot of fasting. 

It’s our “P” day and we’re going to go for a walk.  We love you.  We fast and we pray for each of you. Thanks for your faith and prayers for each other and also in our behalf.  We feel them and know that each of you feel a greater confidence in asking Heavenly Father for the things you want and need knowing that there is great power in joining together in doing this.  We are praying right now for Tanya and her Doctor as she has her wrist operated on.  We love you. 

Bok.  We love you!  Mom and Dad/Mutti and Bumpa  xoxo

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

Thanksgiving in Osijek

Brother Bilič and road kill art (see Brian)

New missionary Robert

measuring his pants

Tree of Life art in leaves

photo of Tree of Life

Farewell to Sister Lethco and Elder Bates with Fani and Toni

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving left-overs

Utorak Studeni 27, 2012 (Tuesday November 27, 2012)

Dear Kiddos,

Hi all!  I am sending a short update since our last email home to you.  We did tell you about our finding a turkey, a large breast and 3 legs, but I don't know if any of you read about it.  Dad washed it all, rubbed everything with salt and put chunks of butter on it and placed it all in a cooking bag.  It turned out really good with lots of juice for gravy.  We had mashed potatoes with the gravy, dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, hot rolls and pomegranate fruit salad with lemon dressing.  We only had 7 of us for dinner and had enough food for 20 of us.  So Sunday we ate the left-overs with the missionaries, one of our members and one investigator.  We really missed rot kohl and cranberry salad and MaryAnn's cranberry relish.  We haven't found any fresh or frozen cranberries here.  We made a giant banana cream pie and apple crisp for dessert.  We were all so full that we ate very little dessert.  But, we did enjoy the desserts later over the course of the next couple of days.  We also missed pecan pie and lemon pie.  We haven't seen pecans but we have plenty of lemons so we will have lemon pie sometime soon.  It was a nice day being together with the missionaries and our member Violeta.  We all shared a few things we were thankful for and talked about Thanksgivings from the past.  Violeta told us how she is very grateful for her brother and how good he is to her.  We hope you all had a great day and enjoyed just being thankful and together with your families.

We only had 19 of us to Church on Sunday.  We have been having  close to 25 for the last several Sundays.   We are trying to be aware of who isn't there rather than who is there and focus on inviting those people the next week.  This Sunday, Dec. 2, is our District Conference in Zagreb.  We have rented the Kombi 9 person van again and will also take our 5 passenger car.  Zoran, one of our really strong members, will drive the van.  If everyone goes who have signed up to go we may rent another 5 passenger car and then Dad and I will each drive one of the cars.  The 4 other missionaries may go on the bus if we are too many people.  Everyone wants to go even though it is almost a 3 hour drive.  We'll see Saturday when we pick up the van if we really need the extra car or not.

We had a really nice time with Bozo this morning.  We are reading the Book of Mormon with him every Tuesday.  He has been taught by most of the missionaries over the last six years and still loves to come to Church; he just isn't sure if he is ready to get baptized.  He is working on his 1500 page history and is now trying to edit it and add pictures to it.  He is very busy but would like to really study the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants after the first of the year when he is through with his history.  He said he loves to come to Church because it always makes him feel so good.  He asked us to pray for him.  We told him we already do and so do our children.  He was very grateful and can't imagine that you all do that and don't even know him.  Please continue to pray for him and for the work here in our mission.  He is the only investigator that Dad and I have right now.  We are being a bit bolder and asking people we see on the street if they would like to know more about our church and why we are here.  We met a nice guy the other day.  He said he didn't believe in God but did believe he would be with his wife forever.  We wanted to tell him how he could do that, but he wasn't ready to listen to us.  We know there are some people who are ready to listen to us, we just need to find them.

Our weather has continued to be absolutely perfect!  I walked 25 minutes to the church yesterday to meet dad and was so grateful I could be out enjoying this beautiful place.  Sunday Dad and I both spoke in Church, he about the blessing of paying tithing and I about being thankful.  I started a gratitude list in my journal.  It is amazing how blessed I am!  I left lots of room so I can continue to add to the list each day.  I am so thankful for each of you.  You are why Dad and I are here.  You encouraged us to come.  You are why Dad and I are so happy (and also why we get lonely). You are why we will be so happy to come home again.  Thanks for the great blessing you are in our lives.  We are thankful to be here in Osijek.  We love the people and are anxious to help as many as we can learn about the church.  We love you.  Be happy.  Stay busy and help others.  Love, mom and dad/mutti and bumpa   xox       (we'll meet you in our prayers)

Elder and Sister Ivins

Elder and Sister Ivins

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

Pre-Thanksgiving Report from Dad

November 14, 2012

Dear Family:

I started writing this as a report  to Bishop Mott and then I added President Taylor and then decided I would expand the report  and send it to all of you.  We got word that Tyler and Ayden Hernandez were baptized in the MP 8^th Ward.  I don’t know if you remember that Mom and I took them to visit their father around conference time in April and they opened their Christmas presents from their dad and his family.  A baptism had been planned earlier but our Stake President, Brian Taylor, called it off because of the disharmony it was creating in the family.  I wrote to Bishop Mott in response to his email to us: 

“We are thrilled that their dad was there and that their mother gave a talk.  I can remember so well the great feeling of love and gratitude we all felt when Kailey was baptized the week-end of our big wind storm almost one year ago.  I am sure that same feeling was present for Tyler and Ayden.  I have used the experience with these three young people as a pattern when teaching about the blessings of trying to bring families together through baptism and not divide them.  Family and religious traditions are strong here and sometimes it is hard for some investigators, especially some of our great young adults, to tell their families they are preparing for baptism.  Many are not able to get their family involved in the teaching and the conversion process.

There have been seven baptisms in our branch since we got here in May.  One was the grandmother of a 16 year old girl who was baptized in June of 2011 and five are young adults between the ages of 17 and 21.

The young missionaries are great.  They work hard and are a great help to us with the language—which we find very difficult, if not impossible.  We are grateful for our priesthood leaders.  We love our Mission President, Ed Rowe, and his wife, Brooke.  They have five kids here with them in Croatia.   We are so grateful for our inspired call to serve in the Adriatic North Mission.  It has been such a blessing for us to see many baptized, but our greatest reward has been helping eight of our members take a 20 hour bus ride (each way) to the Frankfurt Temple.  We have really felt their love and gratitude for the blessings of the temple.

We are grateful for our inspired call to the Adriatic North Mission at this time.  We have had the opportunity to visit all four countries which comprise our Mission: Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina which is one country and is abbreviated “BiH”.   Osijek, where we serve is in the East of Croatia near the Hungarian and Serbian borders close to where the Drava and the Danube meet and is primarily flat, flat farmland about 300 feet above sea level.  We have been to the coast (Adriatic Sea) on the West and to Belgrade in Serbia on the East.  We have been in the Alps in the North, where Slovenia touches both Austria and Italy and through the mountains in the South near Sarajevo, BiH, where the 1984 Winter Olympics were held.  We love all these lands and the people here."

I now expand on a few things I only mentioned to our Bishop.  We went out to Baranska Petrovo Selo a little town about 25 miles North of Osijek near the Hungarian border to visit Brother and Sister Bilič.  They are the older couple, who were sealed in the Temple in August. They told the Elders that they would invite their adult daughter, Evica (pronounced Ehveetsa) to come to their home and meet with the Elders and us.  

On the way we talked about what lesson we should give.  I suggested the Plan of Salvation and Eternal Families because it is “my” lesson when I speak English but I don’t do it in Croatian.  Elder Mulder thought we should teach the Restoration.    We got there and sang a song and had a prayer and then we got way side-tracked.  They thought I would fall asleep, but it was actually Elder Mulder who started falling asleep.   When we finally tried to get on track and start a lesson, Elder M. asked me to start the lesson in English and he and Elder Bates would translate.  The Biličes speak no English, but, fortunately their daughter understands English (pretty well).  I think Elder M wanted to see what I thought we should teach.  I was sitting next to Evica and she was sitting next to her mother.  I wasn’t sure where the lesson would go, but I asked Evica “How did your mom and dad like their trip to the Temple?”  It turned out to be a heaven inspired question.  Both her mother and her dad  just lit up when she translated the question into Croatian for them.  They made her very happy too.  She started talking to her mother and her mother  replied to us in Croatian and Evica translating in mixed English how much her parents loved the Temple.  Sister Bilič was at that moment a living testimony to Evica of the joy of the Gospel.  Evica was able to help us understand also that their Temple trip was a life changing event and what was being said and experienced at that time was really true.   It was a living testimony from mother to daughter and daughter to mother and then back to us.  It was such a thrill for us to be a part of this exchange between the mother and father and their daughter and to have them express how much joy and happiness they have felt as a result of going to the Temple and being sealed.  The Biličs didn’t need to say many words in order for Evica and us to understand how they feel about the Temple, even today, three months later.  It was fun to have Evica help translate for her mother, expressing her Mother’s feelings and telling her mother how this made her feel.  She added her own observations and tried to help us understand what her mother was saying by summarizing her mother’s thoughts and feelings, explaining that her parents had not stopped talking about the Temple since they returned from the Temple in August.

Mom pulled out her little quote book and read  some quotes from Brother Bilič when we were visiting with them helping them to prepare to attend the Temple in the  summer:  “The Temple is the place where we prepare for our meeting with God.”  And “No one knows what is waiting for us there.”  We really enjoyed the moment as we basked in a wonderful atmosphere of love and gratitude and their desire to return to the temple.  We asked Evica to read 2 Ne 2:25 and we asked what the great word toward the end meant.  She said the word “radost” a couple of times and couldn’t find an English word to use.  We told her that the English word is “joy”.  She liked the English word.    We then asked her if she could think of anything that would add to the joy that her parents were feeling about the Temple.  At first she said that would be impossible because they were already full of joy. We asked her to read in D&C 18:16 which says that if your joy is great with one soul, how great will be your joy if many souls come unto me.    She read and tried to help her mother understand in Croatian.  As she thought about it and talked to her mother, both of their faces lit up and both she and her mother said together:  “If we could go to the temple together.”    It was a very tender moment for them and for us to watch and listen to them talk and laugh and we were all close to tears.  It was so great to watch Evica make the discovery that she could give her mother more joy by getting ready to go to the Temple with her parents.  Mom quoted from 3 John:  “I have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in truth.”  I got the inspiration that for us, walking in truth may mean having a temple recommend and attending the temple together.   Evica promised to come to Church this Sunday and she said she would also invite her 17 year old daughter, who is apparently living independently, to come to church with her.

Unfortunately, this whole family is very poor.  Evica is divorced and recently lost her job working in a distribution center for United Colors of Beneton. Her parents have a garden, a few chickens and pigs and are barely getting by.   We had a closing prayer and then took care of business.  They needed money to get their car registered and so the missionaries and we bought and/or placed some orders for some of Sister Bilič’s hand-made crocheted goods.  They ended up with enough kuna to get their old beat up car that runs (most of the time) on faith registered.

Brother Bilić was recently called as a counsellor in our Branch Presidency and he told us he has been waking up very early in the mornings thinking about who should be called to which position.  Sadly for us we don't understand his Croatian very well  and he hardly speaks a word of English.  But we are often surprised at how well we are able to communicate with the help of the missionaries and the spirit.

I had a few comments to the Bishop about the young adults who have decided or are trying to decide how to involve their family in the teaching and conversion process.  The Missionaries try to get families involved in the teaching process because it is so much easier for new members to have the support of their family when it comes to coming to church and living the word of wisdom, etc.  Unfortunately, the approach has not been too fruitful. Most have had to make the decision to be baptized in spite of family resistance and not with their blessing and support.  Most eventually see the Gospel and the Church as a positive influence in the lives of their loved ones who join the church and work toward becoming fully converted.  President McKay  is quoted as having said, “The church helps bad men become good and good men become better.”  Good people can see the change for good in those they love.  We have been in this area long enough that after our next transfer--next week--most of the missionaries that were here when we came in May have moved on or gone home.  The converts do not like to see them leave and neither do we.  Elder Bates is a man after my own heart.  He says he doesn’t do well with change—and neither do I.  He has been told (unofficially by the President) that he will be going to Beograd, Serbia to be a Zone Leader.  Our District is in that Zone so he may still come here on exchanges and for interviews.

Now, with regard to our ability to speak Croatian.  Mom has been working hard to study and learn and talk one on one with some of the members and neighbors.  I haven’t studied and learned the written words as well as she has.   But even when I know the written words from the scriptures etc. it is really tough to make the connection to what is being said and what we see or have seen written down.    It is a lot easier for me when we sing the songs from the book and pronounce the words syllable by syllable.  But mom is usually playing the piano and it is harder for her to multi-task.  But the real problem is when they speak fast, or even a normal speed, we can barely follow even when we know what is being said.  One example is listening to the Sacrament prayers while we are reading them.  It is so hard to hear the words as they are being said because of the way they pronounce them.  The Croatians think it should be easy for us because they pronounce every letter and say it just like it sounds--the same letter(s) has/have the same sound(s)  every time in every word.  But the hard part is where they put the accent.  I can barely hear my own name because they are always putting some letter at the end--so we are hearing Jamesa Ivinsa or Josephu Smithu.  I had a hard time figuring out if they had made a typo on the baptismal program of Robert and Mirko which were written, “The Baptism of Roberta and Mirka”.  I didn't want this letter to sound like I am  complaining.  I just want to express our appreciation for the incredible job the young missionaries do, some of whom haven't been here much longer than we have.  I woke up this morning with one scripture on my mind:  “Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.”  I know this is for me.  But, I hope I can also extend  this charge to Bozo and to Andrej who have not been able to make the big leap of faith and get baptized so they can really help move the work of the church ahead in Osijek.   We need their help to build this branch and be ready when the time comes to become a Ward in a Stake of Zion.  The missionaries want to have an Osijek Stake.  We read about Tonga which has fewer people than Osijek and has 17 stakes.  Oh that we had a king here who loved the Church.

Sorry for being so long-winded.  This has been a combination of what I wrote to Bishop Mott and President Taylor and some things I had written in my journal  and a few new thoughts that  I decided to write here as well.  This may end up being something  for our use only because nobody else will take the time to read it all.  

We love the Lord.  We love our mission.  We love the people.  We miss all of you and we love you.

Mom and Dad; Mutti and Bumpa

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

November 13, 2012

Getting Milk from Malu Muu

Malu Muu...Mooooooo?

Osijek Branch--Fall Festival

FHE

FHE

Fall--Outside the Church

November 13, 2012

Hi Kiddos:

Today we had a couple of very interesting meetings.  We met with the assistant to our new friend who runs/owns the public open-air markets in Osijek.  We met him a couple of weeks ago in the market by our house.  He was standing by us while we were shopping for fruit and vegetables.  He saw our tags and turned around toward us and began talking with us. He speaks pretty good English.  He told us he was very interested in religion and we asked if we could come to his home and tell him why we are here in Croatia.  He said his wife would not like it but he invited us to come to his office.  We also talked about some of the problems that our members have because they don’t have jobs.  We told him a little about some of the members.  When we met at his office the next week he told us we could meet with Ljiljana and tell her about what we are doing and what we need. 

While meeting with the Assistant, we gave her a printed copy of the talk by Elder Oaks to Enterprise Mentors about the programs of the Church to help the poor and the needy.  She was looking at the paper while I was talking and telling her about (1) Fast Offerings for members of the Church; (2) Church Humanitarian projects, primarily for non-members; and (3)  Person to person (Members) to others, one on one.  It was powerful for me to explain to her a little about the Law of the Fast.  We explained that the fast offering funds are pooled world-wide by the Church and funds are available here in Osijek to help our members here.  We also shared with her a few chapters of Jason Fairbourne’s Tool Kit for Micro-Franchising.  She was familiar with many of the names as she thumbed through it and seemed very pleased to receive what we gave to her and said she would like to receive the whole package. 

The Assistant told us about her role in coordinating a cluster of little businesses that are selling organic vegetables and herbs at their own little specialized market.  We talked to her about a few of our members who are not working including a young single man in his 20s that graduated from high school with a certificate for flower arranging and landscaping; a sister who would do a great job cleaning homes; our laid off firefighter and several others who are unemployed.  We also told her about a couple that has some extra land out of town quite a ways.  She took everything in stride and told us we could bring these people in to meet with her one on one and she would do her best to help, including free space at the market for a time and some operating capital if a reasonable arrangement could be agreed on.  We told her that Tiffany had suggested we find someone local who understood how the local economy and business systems work.  We told her she was an answer to our prayers and those of our members and our family.  Mom was inspired to ask President Rowe to assign Gary and Ann to come here and help us establish some community gardens for our members so they can sell the produce in the markets starting next spring.  (This is still just inspiration, not mentioned to Pres. Rowe yet.)

The context of our meeting and conversation was very interesting because Mom and I had spent a good share of our P-Day on Monday talking about the welfare needs in our little Branch.  We had studied together and read about caring for the poor from the scriptures, especially the Old Testament and the Doctrine and Covenants.  We also read from the handbooks that the objectives of Church welfare assistance are to strengthen needy members and help them become self-reliant, spiritually stronger and maintain their self-respect and dignity by giving them opportunities to work and serve others.  The handbook explains that the Lord’s storehouse includes Members’ offerings of time, talents, compassion, materials, and financial means that are made available to the bishop to help care for the poor and needy.  The Lord’s storehouse, then, exists in each ward (branch).  The branch president is entrusted with the responsibility of using the resources of the Lord’s storehouse to care for the poor and needy members of our branch.  The Branch President uses the gift of discernment, sound judgment, and compassion in determining how best to help those in need.  Each circumstance is different and requires inspiration.  We are trying to trust the Lord and go and do what he wants us to do.  We need your continued faith and prayers.  (Dad was an amazing spokesman for the Church and described so carefully what about the Church’s plan to help its’ members and help them learn to be independent in the process.)

Today we had a very nice session with our most faithful investigator.  As you may remember we have been reading from the Book of Mormon.  We were interrupted when his mother died about a month ago and he went back near the coast to visit her grave for All Saints Day which is the day after Halloween and is referred to here as the Day of the Dead.  It is treated much like our Memorial Day.  The graves are covered with flowers and burning candles in little red plastic covers to keep the wind from blowing them out.  So now he has missed church about 7 times in almost 6 years.  The last three were to visit his mother when she was sick, when she died and most recently on November 1.  When he returned we read from 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection.  He especially loved the words, “O death where is thy sting?”  Today we continued to read in Moroni where we left off before he went away.  We started reading chapter 8 about the abominable practice of baptizing little children.  I drew the familiar circles of the Plan of Salvation on the board and tried to explain in English (with Elder Bates helping to translate into Croatian) about the spirit world and the opportunity for everyone who has ever lived and who will ever live, to have the opportunity to be taught the fullness of the Gospel and receive the ordinances including baptism.  We talked about the blessing of going to do this work in the Temple.  We asked him (who is still a practicing Catholic who goes to mass almost every day) what he thought about Mormon’s letter to Moroni.  He said all good men know in their hearts that what Mormon wrote was true.  We then read D&C Section 138 together with him and Elder Bates in Croatian.  We asked him what he thought about what President Joseph F. Smith learned from his vision of the Spirit World.   Again, he was very positive and was so happy to learn and talk about it.  But he also said he wanted to go back home and study and read and understand it better so we could talk about it more.  He was very tender and kept holding his hands over his heart telling us how these things made him feel.

  

We love you and miss you.  We’ll meet you in our prayers.

Love,  Mom and Dad, Bumpa and Mutti.   xoxoxox 

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

November 7, 2012

Studeni  (Nov) 7, 2012

Dear Kiddos,

We have had a long, but successful day—well sort of--.  Dad wouldn’t check the election forecasts last night before bed because of his fear of the results.  We woke up about 5 am and still had the same fear so we stayed in bed.  Then finally we checked and weren’t surprised—but were a little sad to see that Obama beat Romney by 1 million votes (55m to 54m).  We were so bummed that we just about didn’t go to a meeting that turned out to be really amazing.

But Dad called the Elders and they tracked us down and we went to an Investigator's office and found him before our District meeting.  We met with the director of the markets here in Osijek.   We met him Monday while buying some produce at our fresh market.  He noticed our name tags and wanted to talk.  He said he was interested in religion so we asked if we could come to his home to talk or would he like to come to our home.  He said his wife wasn’t interested so we could come to his office to talk.  He is a very successful business man.  He said he made a few deals and before he knew it he had millions in the bank.  He has been generous with his money.  This morning while meeting in his office with the elders and Robert, he told us the political history of this country for the past 6-700 years.  He talked for the first 45 minutes so we only had about 20 minutes to talk about why we had come to meet with him.   All of us were very interested in what he had to say so it was a good meeting.  He said he would try to help us help our members get some jobs and lined us up with his assistant.   We will meet with her next Tuesday morning.  He has lots of space at the markets that he would let the members use and would give us some ideas.  He has sponsored some people in selling some herbs, oils and other specialty items that he has helped promote.  He said he had some ideas and would listen to any ideas our people might have.  It was a good meeting.  We’ll see what comes of it.  He has known the missionaries ever since they came to Osijek and has liked them.   He said he is a religious man and takes his problems to the Lord for help.  When he has problems he gathers about 17 of his workers and heads to the church to pray.  We thought it would be great to convert him and his friends.   President Rowe said we could look for a new place to hold church when we filled our chapel.  That would more than fill our chapel! 

In our district meeting we set goals for this next month and the end of the year;  we had some training and scriptures about baptism with dad doing a spiritual thought about baptism also.  Our missionaries do a great job and our meetings are very helpful.  We made a list of all our members so we can visit them all again this month.  Elder Mulder suggested we visit each of them monthly and teach them at least one missionary discussion each month and then start over.  Many of our active members have only been members for a few months and the other active ones are recently coming back to church.  So, they all need to be taught and re-taught to help them be really converted to the Savior; not just have a testimony of Him.  (Elder Bednar’s  talk, Sunday afternoon session.)    After the meeting we took the sisters to visit some members.  She is the visiting teacher to them.  It was a great experience as she learned a bit about being the visiting teacher and gave the lesson.  She and her husband don’t have much so I think she really enjoyed riding out in the countryside and being with the sisters.  While we had the lesson, Dad and Brother Bilić went through the parts of the red handbook that are in Croatian together.  He in Croatian and Dad in English.  All of these people are good and humble and wanting to learn.  It was a great experience.  We go early tomorrow morning to Beograd, Serbia for our Zone conference meeting with President and Sister Rowe.  Since we are so far removed from the other Branches in Croatia, we meet with the Serbian Branches. 

We really enjoyed the training and audit in Slovenia last Tuesday and Wednesday.  When we arrived in Ljubljana about 4:30 it was just getting dark and there was snow on the ground.  We met with the district clerk and also the auditor for Slovenia.  The District President was out of town.  This audit was slow in getting done because the clerk was new and they had to find the records.  But, all was in order and it went well.  Dad tried to help him learn what he needs to do, Dad speaking Croatian and the clerk trying to understand with his limited English and Slovene.  The auditor was the first person in Slovenia to get baptized and speaks English very well.  We had a great meeting for 3 plus hours and then decided it would be good to go back at a later date and do some more training.  We will probably go back in the next few weeks.  We went to dinner with the Hansens, the senior couple in charge of the Young Single Adults in Ljubljana and had a nice visit with them.  We spent the night about 25 km north and east of there in the town of Radomjle.  We stayed at a little place that has been around for many years and is full of old, wonderful furniture.   The breakfast was great with homemade apple strudel.  We drove through Slovenia on our way back to Osijek and stopped at the 2 other Slovenian Branches, one in Celje and the other in Maribor.  The country was so beautiful; so much like Switzerland and Austria!  We drove onto some side roads to wander around the little villages.  It was really a treat and we took the whole day getting back.  We stopped in at the church in Celje and met the missionaries teaching a man who gets baptized in another week.  There are no sister missionaries there and no senior couple.  In Maribor we met the missionaries again at the church, this time the sisters teaching a lady.  The senior couple in Maribor, the Ewells, are a cousin to Wilma and Gary.  We went to lunch with them and then they showed us around the city.  Everywhere the trees have turned to brilliant colors to make the trip even better.  We feel pretty blessed to have been able to travel around our entire mission. 

Friday night was our Fall Festival.  Dad and the missionaries bought several pumpkins, 30 donuts, apples, lots of candy, and juice and water.  I made about 5 dozen spritz cookies and frosting for the cookie decorating.   Several members came early to help decorate for the party.  I think most everyone loved the pumpkin carving best of all the activities and we carved some pretty good jack-o-lanterns.  They loved the apple bobbing and donut eating off hanging string.   The final activity was musical chairs with Dad being 3^rd last to go out.  We had lots of members and lots of investigators.  A mom of one of the investigators made some great little cream cheese and sunflower seed appetizers that were really tasty.  It was a great party!

The highlight of last week was Sacrament meeting and Sunday School.   Many members bore their testimonies, never letting any time lapse.  As I listened to each of them (with translation) I really could envision this little Branch becoming a strong ward with the members getting along with one another, mourning for one another,  and listening to and sharing one another’s burdens.  It was such a great experience.   Sometimes I lose the vision of becoming a stake here in Croatia (I don’t know if Dad does), but as I look at how many people there are here walking around and we only have 52 of them as members…I think how are we ever going to get all of these people interested in the church and get them baptized.  Sunday I caught the vision of the members’ helping to take the gospel to all of these people.  That was one of our goals we set this morning, to have the members invite their friends into their homes and we will teach them there.  We are going to have a Sunday School lesson this Sunday about member-missionary work.  President and Sister Rowe just returned from a meeting with all of the Mission Presidents in Europe who were taught by the Area Presidency.  They said there is an urgency to get people taught.  That is why the age for missionaries has been lowered, so we can get more missionaries out preaching the gospel.  It is expected that 55,000+ missionaries now will become about 100,000 within the next year.  It is pretty exciting to be part of it.  We need you to continue to pray for us and for all of the missionaries.  And pray that Dad and I will be equal to the challenge of also being better finders, even if we don’t do much teaching.  This will be a step beyond  passing out cards.  We love you all so very much.  Stay healthy, happy and continue to serve one another.  Have a good week.  Love, mom and dad/mutti and bumpa  

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

Love from Croatia

Lippizan Horses

Changing Tires in for Snow Tires

Dakovo

Dakovo

Serbian Flags

Monday October 29, 2012

Dear Kiddos,

We have had another great week; have thought about all of you and what you are doing, missing you but keeping busy and still happy to have this great opportunity of serving our Heavenly Father and learning so much.  Dad has gone to pick up some cleats that were left in the town of Đakovo, about 40 minutes from Osijek.  I decided to stay here to write an email to you.  We are leaving in the morning for Ljubljana to train the new District Executive Secretary.  We have emailed back and forth and we are excited to be able to go there again and meet this member.  He is anxious to learn and do his calling in the best possible way so we are looking forward to being with him.  I will try to keep this short and send a few pictures with it.  

Last Monday we went with the Elders to Đakovo to see the Lippizan horses.  The Sisters had gone with us another time and chose not to go again.  We took Nancy and Greg there right before they got on the train to leave us.  This trip with the elders was such a great day.  It was the perfect fall day!  Nice sun, clear skies with a couple of clouds and a perfect temperature.  We went to see the Moms and their little foals who were hanging out together in some beautiful gently rolling hills.  It was truly a glorious day.  We felt bad the sisters hadn’t joined us and we wish all of you could have been there with us.  The Lippizan stallions are famous horses who have been show cased in Vienna, Austria for years.  They are born black and then turn white as they mature.  The man in charge of the place was very pleasant and said we could take a look where ever we chose to wander.  Dad gave him a pass-along card of the SLC temple (1 of the 200 you sent to us).  The man was really sweet and said he wanted to show it to his wife and kids.  We haven’t taught much with the cards, just encourage them to look up the Mormon web site and we are hopeful that  when they are contacted by the missionaries in the future they will ready to be taught.   Who knows, maybe one of our grandkids will be the one to teach them.  We are getting more bold as we meet people and are still looking for a family to teach.  

We were busy teaching a piano lesson, reading the Book of Mormon, taking a member to the doctor and then back to stay in the hospital for some more recovery, going out to help Dad's Counselor learn more about being a counselor in the Branch presidency and then taking a mom and her son to Serbia to some of their family who they hadn’t seen for 5 years.  They were pretty worried about going to see them, but when we arrived they were met with hugs and warm greetings and really glad to see each other.  It was really great to see how much they had missed each other and wanted to be together.  We were there for about 3 hours so when we were returning home it was pretty dark.  As we were driving along the country road to the freeway about 45 miles an hour, out of nowhere we came upon a tractor without any lights on.  I let out a loud gasp and grabbed Dad’s arm.  He instinctively swerved around the tractor and then had to correct out of a slight fish tail.  It was a pretty scary few moments!  We stopped the car and had a prayer of thanksgiving for our safety.  We thought it would have been a lousy way for all of you to see Croatia…to come and take us home.  I don’t know how many of you remember that in dad’s patriarchal blessing he was given the blessing of being safe on the roads.  We have been so grateful for that blessing several times over the years and were grateful once again.  

This past weekend we enjoyed a visit from Elder and Sister Smartt, one of the counselors to Pres. Rowe.  They took us to dinner Saturday night and we chatted for 2 ½ hours until he and Dad remembered BYU was playing football and they could listen to the game.  We talked about the work here and some of our concerns.  We feel that our members, poor as they are, need to sacrifice something and save up to go back to the temple.  When we went this summer with 8 of our members, none of them had any money to help pay their way.  They did bring food for the bus ride there but that was all they could do.  I told the Smartts we wanted to give them each a piggy bank (made from yogurt cartons) and ask them to start saving so they could pay their way to go to the temple again.  The District President suggests they save their money for a month at a time and then put it into the “other” account at the Branch under temple.  He said it will be too much of a temptation to have the money at home.  Pres. Smartt told us to not get discouraged, that we were doing a good job, and this was the Lord’s work and He would help us.  Sometimes it is almost overwhelming looking at the struggles the members go through.   We feel very strongly that we would like to help them get lined up to work.  We want to help them become self-reliant and teach them begin to store some food, one can at a time.  There is so much to do.  It would be great to have all of you here to help us help them.  

We had a great Sacrament meeting with the Smartts followed with Pres. Smartt teaching our Sunday School.  It is a real treat to have the mission leaders come participate in our meetings.  Pres. Smartt talked about dealing with adversity and the trials we all have to go through.  He promised all of us that as we keep the commandments and pray for Heavenly Father’s help, He would be with us to guide and help us.  Heavenly Father wants us to be successful.  Dad and I feel just the same.  We have the Lord helping us all the time.  We are blessed each day.  And part of our blessings are seeing and knowing how well each of you are doing while we are gone.  Just as we were promised by President Taylor when he set us apart, we can see how you are watched over by angels.  You are all doing right and helping others and when you do that, you are blessed beyond measure.  Please keep saying your prayers.  Heavenly Father delights to bless us.  Thank Him for those blessings and continue to pray for one another.  We are thinking about all of you getting together tonight at Jason and Robyn’s, about Tasha and Germey’s fiesta farewell and birthday celebration tonight and Peter holding down the fort in Missoula and leading his class in being such a good student and friend to all.

We love you and will enjoy Slovenia tomorrow for all of you!!

Love, Mom and Dad/Mutti and Bumpa

--

Elder and Sister Ivins

kayivins@gmail.com

Matije Gupca 7a

31000 Osijek, Croatia

385 (0) 91 444-8114 (Elder Ivins)

385 (0) 91 444-8115 (Sister Ivins)

Thurs, Oct 18, 2012

Hi all,

This is our kitchen wall:

Our landlady, Sylvia, just came up to bring some new curtains and checked out the wall.  She said how nice it was that we could eat with each of you every day (svaki dan).

We love you all!!  mom and dad

Monday, Oct 15, 2012

Monday October 15, 2012

Dear Kiddos,

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!  Nancy and Greg brought the big duffel full of goodies for us.  How fun to have Christmas in October.  We are grateful for all of your efforts in getting it ready to send with them.  We love everything you sent, especially the photos.  We are just sitting down to look at them.  Everyone who comes into our apartment loves to look at all of you on our wall.  You all look happy and beautiful.  It is great to now have Barrett on the wall among all his cousins and aunts and uncles.  We truly are the richest people not only in America (as our Croatian policeman told us after he studied our wall), but in the whole world.  We love each of you and are so grateful for your goodness.  Thank you again for being you and doing what you do to make the world a better place not only for us but for everyone else in the world. 

We have had a great week with Nancy and Greg.  The country of Slovenia is absolutely beautiful; very similar to Switzerland, Montana, Canada and Redfish and the cabin all rolled into one.  We took so many pictures—until our battery went dead-- so we also downloaded all of Nancy’s pictures onto our computer.  We took a little boat (like a gondola) over to the island in the middle of Lake Bled.  The Slovenes have a fleet of the boats and the rowers share the money earned from taking people to the island.  The boats and drivers pass from father to son and have been around for years.  Tuesday morning we walked around the lake, about 3 ½ miles and up to a castle on the hillside.  There is a large path around the lake lined with big trees and several estates with beautiful houses.  It was so picturesque!  It takes twice as long as it should to walk around it because you feel like you just need to capture one more view on your camera.  We had the opportunity to hand out several Pass-a-long Cards—mostly to people we asked to take our picture or if we could take their picture.  Our favorites are of the Salt Lake Temple at Christmas time.  Thanks for sending us another 200.  We gave out about 50 in four days. We met a single girl from Taiwan who travels the world alone for two weeks every year on her annual leave from work in advertising.  We met a couple from Brazil who live in Germany for work and their friends from Brazil who used to live in Chicago.  They all love the picture—especially the kids.  We talked to three accountants (men) from Egypt, Somalia and Italy, who work in London.  At least one of them promised to visit the web site.  We also gave away one of the new cards with the box-code square who was happy to get it and said he was a Christian.  We invite many of them to visit Salt Lake and to learn more about the Mormons at www.mormon.org. 

We stayed on the lake in a bed and breakfast with a gorgeous view right off our balcony and enjoyed fresh pressed apple juice for breakfast.  Later in the day we walked through a gorge carved out by the river.  It was just spectacular as we walked along a boardwalk and followed the crashing, beautiful, almost glacier like water.  It was crystal clear and we could see the fish swimming.  We drove to the borders of Italy and Austria and took pictures of Nancy and Greg walking across the borders from Slovenia into Austria and Italy.  There is no longer any border control and no need to show passports because these three countries are all belong to the EU.  The Italian border was a little interesting in that there was about 10 feet on “no man’s land” with the road in serious disrepair because neither country claimed it.  We checked out the biggest ski jump in the world in the Julian Alps of Slovenia.  If you come in winter you can try and break the record (about 800 feet?).  We headed from there over a pass with 50 hairpin switch backs that are numbered that was built in the First WW by Russian Prisoners of War for the Germans to supply their troops fighting the Italians. Each of the 26 turns going up the pass were made of cobblestones; coming down the pass, the remaining turns were paved just like the rest of the road.  We spent the night in the little village of Bovec, which was in the center of about 30 WWI battles fought up and down these valleys and mountains which were the main thoroughfare between Italy and Vienna.  There were waterfalls and old glaciers all along the pass and the whole drive was an ooh and ahhh experience.   

 This was the “part of Italy” where Hemmingway was a Red Cross ambulance driver fought during WW I.  He wrote A Farewell to Arms about the tragic four year war here—which was fought much like the battles in France with trenches and poison gas.   The town of Kobarid (which the Italians call Caparetto) has a museum filled with photos and many artifacts of the war and a documentary with footage shot during the war.  It was very interesting to learn about this area about which we knew so little even though there were about one million casualties (killed and wounded) here from 1915-1918.  Dad wants to read more about this area, including the book The White War.

We travelled on to Rijeka and Opatija, two beautiful cities on the Adriatic coast and then on to Zadar where we spent the night with Elder and Sister Tanner in their beautiful apartment.  (Tanners also stayed with us at Lake Bled.  Greg’s brother is married to Sister Tanner’s sister.  Tanners have been here 5 months longer than we have.)  We enjoyed the sea organ play the gentle waves from the Adriatic and walked along the travertine cobblestones of the city.  Zadar is a great city also.  We enjoyed games and tortilla soup from Sister Tanner.  Thursday we visited Plitvice in a mist and light rain and then traveled to Zagreb, and enjoyed the night views and then stayed at the mountain retreat where we had stayed with all the senior couples.

 We have had a great missionary week with Greg and Nancy.  They helped us talk with people everywhere we went and shared pass along cards with all of them.  We visited with people from all over the world and spoke to them about families being eternal.  We decided one good approach to talking about the church is to offer to take a picture of them.  Then they want to take a picture for you and then you start talking and tell them why we are here as missionaries and about our church that helps families be together forever.  One of our great experiences was meeting a family in Zagreb at the main cathedral.  The mom took a picture of us.  She was a beautiful lady and looked foreign.  We asked her where she was from and she said Utah.  From Salt Lake!  She and her husband have lived there since March of this year.  She is the manager of City Creek Nordstrom.  We asked her if she knew Nora Cummins (do you remember she used to live in our ward with her family?)  She said Nora is her boss.  Linda and her husband live on the avenues in Monson’s ward.  They are not members and don’t know much about Mormons yet.  Linda’s relatives are from Croatia but she was born in Australia.  She grew up speaking Croatian and they were here to visit relatives.  Nancy said they would love to have them over for dinner when they all return to Utah.  We decided we were witnessing the Lord’s hand in getting us all in the same place at the same time to meet.  They should have been there 3 hours earlier but were delayed at the border of Bosnia with car problems.  We have seen and experienced so many tender mercies while here on our mission and are so grateful for them. 

 We arrived home to Osijek just in time for Activnos.  The whole Branch was so excited to meet Nancy and Greg!  We played Do You love your Neighbor?  (MaryAnn and Darrell's famous game) and the country game.  Two friends made chocolate mint palačinka (crepes) and we brought ice cream to go with it.  Saturday was a baptism.  He is a 20 year old student.  It is so great for our members to have another young person to hang out with.  It is so important for them to have friends with similar interests and the gospel to help them remain strong.  Sunday was our Branch Conference and President Babić, his wife and 2 sons came to our meeting from Zagreb.  Our newest convert was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost and Brother Bilić was sustained as a counselor to Dad.  Greg stood in the circle to help confirm.  Dad and President Babić each spoke; Dad about unity, families and the ward family and President Babić about Croatia becoming a stake by 2020.  He told us about joining the church, being the only one in his family, serving a mission to England and then coming home to marry his wife who had joined the church while he was on his mission.  He didn’t grow up in a family with the church, but now he and his family were the new generation with the church.  His wife is so proud of him and said he always gives a good talk.  President Babić also taught Sunday School about becoming converted, having a change of heart, and helping to strengthen one another as we work toward becoming a stake.  Dad’s talk was very humble and spoken from the heart about all he believes and loves about his family including each of you, his siblings and my siblings.  He is doing such a great job as president of our little branch as he tries to help each member with their different needs.  It isn’t easy with the language but somehow communication works.

 We also enjoyed a short time Sunday afternoon in Serbia.  We went to a cemetery and met several sweet people.  They all understood us with our limited Croatian, their Serbian and our English.  One grandmother was putting flowers on her grandson’s grave who passed away 6 years ago from cancer.  He had it for 3 years and died at age 6.  We gave her a card and told her families could be together forever and encouraged her to go to the website on the back of the card and learn more about the Mormons.  One sweet man had just lost his wife a few months ago and was tenderly taking care of her grave.  Another was a small older lady, bent clear over trying to tell us about her life.  They were all sweet, gentle people who were ready to receive the gospel.  We couldn’t communicate much to them, but hopefully we planted a few seeds.

 We can’t say enough about the Monsons’ influence among the members and people here on our mission.  They were so involved one on one with each member, taking time to talk with them and learn about their trials and listening with their hearts.  Nancy initiated taking a picture of the whole Branch to put on our bulletin board.  They loved the members and now have gone home promising to pray for them and told them they would be anxious to hear about them and their progress.  They told another friend they would be excited to hear about his baptism (when it happens).  We witnessed the importance of other people’s influence for good as they take a genuine interest in your life.  We are grateful they came.  We had a wonderful time together and could see how nice it would be to serve with another senior couple.  We wanted to make this short to make it easier to get through.  There is so much more to talk about but we will save it for a later date.  We love you each so much.  We miss you but we are happy and busy.  We have lots we would like to see happen while we are here and already we are 5 months out of 18.  We need to get on the stick!  We sure think it would be great to have Gary and Ann join us in the Adriatic North Mission but will be happy for them wherever they are called to serve.  We are waiting anxiously for them to receive their call.  We love you!!!  Mom and Dad/ Mutti and Bumpa