So, it’s been almost two months since Christmas.  Who’s missing it?  Yes?  Perfect!  We’ll take a little trip back to Christmas time 1995.  There really is nothing like the holidays in the mission field.  You’re whole life is pretty much devoted to service and testifying of Christ, so the Spirit is already so strong, but with the birth of our Savior being on most people’s minds, they were able to feel the healing warmth of the Holy Ghost even stronger.  Thank heavens this works for missionaries as well.  It seems that we were able to get through some of that extra grief we were giving to each other in November and October.  

I do remember this being a particularly hard time for me, but one of my favorites too.  This is one of the times that I realized how hard and rewarding missionary work actually is.  The Lord really does bless His missionaries and helps them carry through.  Jesus lives!  His gospel is true!  His church is on the earth today and it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, po Slovensko, Cerkev Jezusa Kristusa Svetih iz Poslednjih Dni

1 Dec 1995

First day of December, cool.  Well, it’s still morning so I don’t have any great stories from today, but I have a couple okay stories from the last 2 days.  Let’s start with P-day. It was cool. My comp went to Italy. She had to get her passport stamped. So did Sister Basker. So, Sister Groberg and I did splits.  I was supposed to get out the letters, but it didn’t happen. I only wrote 3, and not even one to home. So, I’m putting a postcard in the mail this morning. Not getting letters out was the least of anything.  Sister Groberg and I went to this little tiny town to see a castle that was supposed to be there. Well, when we got there we found out it was about 15 km away and no buses ran out there. You had to have a car.  Since we found out hitchhiking was against all mission rules, that was pretty much out of the question. We soon found out there was nothing to do in this town. So we went and bought some crackers, cheese, and pickles, and had a little piknik at an autobusna postaja (bus stop).  Then we came home. This was a fun little trip, and the only place I found a public bathroom that was just a hole in the floor.  I had heard about these, but never actually saw for myself until this little trip to Litija.

When we got home, we found 2 packages in the mail with my name on them.  They were all wrapped up, so now they are under the Christmas tree. It’s going to be cool to have something to open on Christmas.  

That night we found out that we couldn’t have the concert 2 nights.  That’s still not settled. President Swensen told Elder Holmes.  Sister Groberg wrote a six page letter to President and asked if we could still do it just a dress rehearsal without the missionaries in Maribor and Celja, and not advertise it anymore, but we just already had so many flyers out that we don’t know who will show up.

Yesterday was weird.  Sister Purser got a phone call from President Swensen asking her to extend, then saying never mind, it’s not right, sorry to have bothered you.  That’s the short form of the call. Then she got papers to arrange travel plans. Weird! Then she got a crazy phone call that was a bad prank call, we hope.  I had nightmares all last night from it. Yuck!

FHE was fun.  Marko gave a good little lesson about trusting God.  Then Jelka sent us on a crazy scavenger hunt.

12 Dec 1995

I can’t believe I let almost 2 weeks go by without writing in my journal.  That’s plain crazy. Tons has happened. I wish I could remember what it all was.

The dress rehearsal/performance (kind of) is tonight.  I’m so glad that it’s almost over. This concert has caused more stress, but it’s also brought missionaries closer together.  Anyway, there have also been so many misunderstandings because of it.

We found out Anka is getting baptized on December 23rd.  Yay!

Going back further, on Thursday we had a big practice with all the missionaries in Slovenija, and we just had a 3-day snow storm, we had the funniest snowball fight.  The practice went really well. Elders and sisters are getting along, and most everything’s cool. We had a Christmas party that night at the Fryers. It was great! We played “in the manner of the adverb”, had a huge arm wrestling match, made Christmas wishes for each other, and took Elder Barnes brother on the wildest ride of his life.  Too bad he wasn’t there to enjoy it.

Then zone conference was awesome on Friday.  I was so proud of a couple of elders. They bore the strongest testimonies in English, so President could understand.  They even cried. They tried to hold it back, and it looked like it almost hurt, but the tears came anyway. It was cool to see.  The Spirit was so strong in there. President read Cleon Skousen’s “The Real Meaning of Christmas” I bawled the whole time. I really couldn’t control myself, how embarrassing.  I wasn’t embarrassed for crying, but that it was uncontrollable.

It’s hard right now, but so cool to see.  All the missionaries are in such growth stages.  I know I’m having a kind of rough time, anyway. In 3 days is my hump day.  I know that’s an awful word. It’s my ½ way mark, and I’ve never been so homesick in my life.  I mean I love it here, and wouldn’t go home, but man, do I miss my family. It has a lot to do with the fact that it’s less than 2 weeks until Christmas and I just found out my sister is having a baby, and I don’t even know where my other sister is living.  Plus, Sister Groberg and Sister Purser are getting ready to go home, and that is what is talked about, a lot. We are really going to try to change that. Christmas is going to be fun though. We get to talk to our families, and the sisters are coming over for a slumber party.  We’re going to midnight mass, and we’re going to find lots of service to do. I’ve still got to get packages in the mail. No way will they get home on time, unless there is a miracle, but that’s okay.

It’s been snowing all night and morning, and now everything is white.  Beautiful!

20 Dec 1995

There’s only 11 days left in 1995.  Geez Louise! We’ve got all our Christmas wrappings under our tree now.  I guess we just couldn’t wait to open them. What bad girls we are. It’ll be an awesome picture though.  I got some letters from the primary and YWs today. It was fun.

We’ve been working at the fair a lot lately.  Bojana’s brother came by the other day. That was cool.  Anka is getting baptized on Saturday. Unbelievable! That is the coolest! The concerts are almost over with. They should be already, but I guess we’re doing it one more time for the members and such after Anka’s baptism, in correlation with the primary program.  I’ve got to get busy writing letters, but hopefully I’ll get more written in later.

21 Dec 1995

I just realized how extremely lazy I’ve become.  You can see it just in my journal by how seldom I write, and the things that I write.  I know I would sound and be so much happier if I was doing what I’m supposed to be. Man, have I got a lot of repenting to do.  Sister Purser just got a package from her family and in it was a tape of Sister Mix’s homecoming report. It just reminded me so much of what I was before.  She was the obedience queen, so when I was with her we did so well. Then, with all of our sicknesses, that includes homesickness, I let it get to me, and I’ve become the lazy monster girl.

There  have been some amazing things happen lately though.  First, we’ve been meeting some really cool people at the fair, except today.  This lady came straight up to us, which is very abnormal, and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Well great! So I told her to fill out her name and address and we would bring her one. She asked if she could take it right now, or if we would send it to her.  I said we would bring it to her. She asked, rather surprised, “You’ll bring it to me?” Then very quickly ripped the paper, and put it in her purse, and said forget it.  We were very confused. Sister Purser said we could send it if she would like, but she wouldn’t listen, and just walked away. I don’t really know what the problem was. I thought I was being nice, and my companion reassured me of that.  I just felt so bad, like this sick feeling came over me. It was awful. I don’t know what else I could do. All I did was just simply answer a question. It was all just very weird.

A cool thing that happened last week was that Sister Purse was making some phone calls and asked if she should call Maja Kobal.  I said sure because we hadn’t contacted her for a long time. When she did, Maja was actually home and even better invited us to come visit before Christmas. I was so happy, I wanted to cry. We’ve been trying to get a hold of her this week, but she’s never home. Then today we went and visited Maja (the member), and on our way home from that we met Maja Kobal on the bus. She’s going to try and come to the program Saturday night. I hope she does. Words just can’t express what I hope for Maja. She was so cool on the bus today too.

Our cute little chestnut man saw us walking by last night and called us over there.  He had already put everything away, and he always has something to give us, so this time he gave us his burek.  He had already torn it apart and gotten ready to eat it, but then gave it to us. We didn’t want to take it, and refused it, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.  He said he had another one and insisted we take it. Well, we both knew full well that he had just given us his dinner. I really was going to eat it. Sister Purser couldn’t but I made her take one bite.  I did the same, but then couldn’t take anymore. I’m sure it was fine, but my mind just kept saying, “This is a little old drunk man’s dinner.” There was no way anymore of that was going into my stomach without coming back up.  We are for sure making him something for Christmas.

Well, I’ve got to get ready for bed.  I want to be on time tonight for a change.  Just the beginning of a huge one that I need to make.

26 Dec 1995

What an incredible couple of days.  Christmas Eve was so cool. Church was awesome. Then we came home and had tons of preparing to do.  The other sisters came over and we ate chili and homemade rolls and kool-aid and waisle.  We played skip-bo and speed and this game that Sister Groberg knew called Gadiantan. Then we went to Midnight Mass, only when we got there it was already 11:30 and the church was full, the doors were locked, and there were tons of people standing and waiting outside.  Some people would come and push through all the people to get to the front, like they were so much more important and try the doors. Of course, they were locked for them too. This guy looked at them, and was like, what do you think, that we’re idiots. That man and his party were just making the hugest fuss.  I almost burst out laughing. By midnight they didn’t open the door, so we left and went home and played some more games. Sister Basker was tired so she went to bed, but the rest of us went to the kitchen and played and talked. Sister Purser went to bed about 3am, and Sister Groberg and I stayed up for a little more than an hour later, just talking about tons of stuff.  It was really good to talk with her. I was so afraid that she was starting to not trust me before. I could just feel her getting hard. But then when we just talked forever, it really did so good. I loved it so much that there was such good feelings now between the sisters. We ended up going to bed around 4:15. I was expecting a call at 6am. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to wake up, so I left the door open so I could hear the phone, and my alarm right by me.  At 6:00 all I heard was Sister Purser screaming,”Sister Bogle, wake up!! It’s your family!”

I woke up immediately after that, heard the phone, and ran into the other room.  I really don’t think she had any clue how loud she yelled.

I answered the phone and it was so cool.  There was my family, all of them, almost, on speaker phone.  Joj! I couldn’t understand a thing. Finally my dad took the phone.  It was so good to hear his voice. Everyone sounded so good. Dad sounded totally happy, so did Mom.  Monique was just being the best mom, and teaching Lauren who I was from pictures on the wall. David’s being a great dad.  Lauren is his life. It sounds like he’s working a lot, but I know he’s always around for them, (Mo and Lauren).

Then Merilee was so cool.  I was sad though because the phone cut out on her.  Then she had to get off, but she came back and talked to me a little bit later.  I was also sad because I didn’t get to talk to Megan and Tyson very much. I feel so bad because I don’t even remember much of what was said.  Christopher was funny. He broke another skateboard, and got contacts, and has his hair almost in a mohawk. Poor Mom! Man, my family is turning into a bunch of little punks.  Even Kristin has her head shaved above her ears. Bobby’s family seems to be doing great. That makes me so happy. He said he has 3 letters and pics for me, he just hasn’t got them sent.  Maybe I’ll get them before I go home. It did feel good that he has thought about me though. It’s also cool because he might get a job as a crop duster this summer, and that is such a great job.  All except the dangerous part. Emily sounded good. She assured me that she’s still alive. Her and Toad are moving into his parents house, and she’s going back to high school. I hope things work out for her.  I hope she finds the path back. She just makes me cry so much.

It was also pretty cool  because Mom said that Toad and Chris C were having a slapping fight over who gets to talk to me next.  Then Thomas joined in. That kind of made me feel good, that even my brothers-in-law were fighting over me, even if it probably was more just because it was fun to fight.  Toad seemed to be doing good. He works with Chris at Mobil now. Freak! He wanted me to say “I look like a big moose” in Slovene. I told him I didn’t know how to say moose.  Then he was so shocked, so I told him it wasn’t a gospel word. So he told me to say, “I look like a holy moose.” It was so funny. I’ll have to finish my saga later. We’re taking p-day today, so we have to go play with the Fryers.

Ok, I’m back.  Cool day, but I’ll get to that later.  First I have to finish my call. It was so cool talking to Thomas.  It was his b-day on Saturday, so he was telling me about that. He got some new scriptures, and was so excited.  Then he asked me how to cut his hair, so he could bless the sacrament. He said he didn’t have a girlfriend, but that since he’s 16 he’s going to date so many girls, one every night except Sunday.

28 Dec 1995

I never got to finish my Christmas report.  Obviously, I loved my phone call. I wrote enough about it.  I just hope my family did too. I don’t know that I sounded as good as they had hoped.  Of course, that’s because I’m not, but I’m working on it. It seems like I keep doing that over and over.

Christmas was so cool!  First we had our little gift party.  The sisters had brought Santa stuff. Then we opened everything.  I got some black clips and sparklers from Sister Basker. Fun! We made her and Sister Groberg go on a scavenger hunt, play Mother May I, and and In the Manner of the Adverb in order to find their gifts.  Then we met the elders at the fair, and went and sang at an old folks home. Then we went and visited Saša Golob and her kids, and brought them Christmas stuff. Then we went and looked at the nativity at the big pink church.  Then we went and fed some homeless people. They were so cool. Wow! Those were some humble people. Then we worked at the fair. Over all, it was a good day, but man, was I wiped out this week. So, for New Years, we’re celebrating from another part of the world.  We decided we wanted to have a Chinese New Year, and get to bed on time, at 10:30. I am so tired now. I want to go to sleep. I guess I’ll wait for my comp. One of our new goals. We made a lot today, and I intend to follow them. What a novel idea. Lahko noč!

29 Dec 1995

This has been a really good, very cold day.  It’s been so good because we were out all day. Much improvement from what we’ve been doing. But, I definitely think today was the coldest so far this winter.  Even the slush was frozen into ice. We went tracting this morning, and some Jahovah’s Witnesses answered the door.  At first I was a little scared that one of them was wanting to totally bible bash, but then he caught on that we weren’t going to, and we all just ended up talking very friendly like.  I knew we couldn’t change their minds there in that meeting, but at least I think they have a better impression of Mormons than they already had. At least it’s so for me, of them. Then we went to lunch with the sisters and Bojana.  It was so good and totally filling. There was so much food. Then we worked at the fair with Jelka Komel. She is so cool. I think she’s probably one of the spunkiest old ladies I’ve ever met. Now, it’s about 9:17:27, approximately. 😉  I’m all ready for bed. Yay! I’m putting Anka’s baptismal program in here. That was the coolest to see. Wow! She is doing awesome! She totally gets along with everyone, and is all into the member activities.

She’s even going to the sea with the young adult group for New Years.  Awesome!