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| New friends in Čelinać |
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| Palačinka for Aktivnost |
June 9, 2013, Banja Luka, Bosnia
We have officially been in Banja Luka, BiH, since the 15th
of May. We have begun the process of
getting registered in a new country. It
takes sometimes several weeks before the process is complete. We have had 2 fun activities with our Branch
members and four Sundays. The members
are all quite new in the Church but are very faithful and are coming to Church,
taking part and learning. They are great
and we really love them.
On Monday, May 20 we had a really great missionary
experience while walking 20 minutes to a member family’s home for FHE. A man was riding his bike by us going the
same direction and noticed our nametags.
We always try to greet everyone while we are walking; they all stare at
our name tags, some smile and return the greeting, but most look away and keep
on walking. Some are reluctant to look
us in the eye, let alone stop and come back to talk to us as Zlatko did. He told us later that he never stops to talk
to strangers. He returned our “dobar dan”
and asked about our nametags and the church.
We talked in broken English and a little German and got his card . We got his name and phone number and invited
him to the church (we live above it) to learn more. He said he would love to come. He came the next day and we helped teach him
with the sisters. I offered a prayer and
afterward he said, “That was for me.
Thank you.” Then he said “I guess
I should tell you how I came to believe in God. “ He was raised by an atheist/communist father
and was never baptized. He said he
believed there was more to life and has been reading the scriptures every
day. He is someone who is one of the
elect, someone who has already been prepared by our Heavenly Father, one who
Heavenly Father placed in our path. He
hasn’t always been a believer, but he is now.
He was very open to reading the Book of Mormon and was thrilled when he
was given one to take home and read. I
told him that things happen, sometimes good and sometimes bad and we may not
know why until much later. But God knows
why because He sees the big picture. Later
when we can see in hind sight then we too understand why some things happen. He was very humble and understood things as they
were told to him. Sister Crump asked him
to be baptized and follow the example of Jesus Christ after he knows the gospel
is true. He said, “You don’t know
me. I don’t know you. I may be a bad guy.” We then knelt and Zlatko offered a
prayer. It was a wonderful strong spirit
present in the room
Zlatko came the
next night and brought his friend, Darko with him. They had both read the Joseph Smith pamphlet
and said they wanted to know which church is true, just like Joseph Smith. Dad told them about the Book of Mormon being
translated by Joseph and that it is a history of three different groups of
people who came to America from Jerusalem before Christ’s birth, that it is a
record of them and God’s word to them.
That morning I had been studying Moroni 10:3-5 and felt impressed to
read it to them in English while they followed along in Croatian. They both said they would read the book to
find out if it is true. We all knelt
down and again Zlatko offered a prayer.
What a great experience we have been having. Zlatko came to church on Sunday and is coming
tomorrow morning for a lesson on the restoration taught by the sisters. We are excited to help him learn more.
We met with Zlatko again and had another great lesson
with him. He has read quite a bit of the
Book of Mormon already and as we talked about it with him he said while holding
the Book of Mormon, “This is good fruit!”
He had been reading about the tree of life. He said he has investigated other churches
and something has always made him stop.
He said if nothing stops him while he is studying he will get
baptized. The name Zlatko means
golden. We feel he is a golden
contact! He has left for Austria for
work so we haven’t met with him since then.
We continue to pray for him and hope he will return ready to be taught
some more.
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| Aktivnost fun |
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| Volleyball |
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| Zorana and Kača |
