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  

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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)