Wow! Just Wow!  Somehow, even while keeping a journal, I managed to skip so many parts of my mission.  People, events, places that mean so much to me in my memories, apparently were so common to me at the time that I didn’t write them down.  Oh so sad!  For goodness sake, Elise, so many things taken for granted.
Let me introduce you to Sister Penfield.  She was my last companion in the mission field, my greenie who came out to Slovenia pretty much fully trained already.  I’m pretty sure she was my longest running companion, as well.  

So, I’m doing this a little differently this time.  I’ll just add in pics where they are relevant, or where I think they may have been relevant.  Dang my leaving out details!

5 May 1996

I have so much I need to write.  Today is my mom’s birthday, and I called right when she wasn’t home.  So now, I’m just waiting for her call back.

Today was cool. We went to church and at first the key wouldn’t work, so most everyone crawled through the window.  It was pretty funny. I’m sure it looked very suspicious from the street. Then, finally Nenad figured out the key and let us in.  I just remembered I learned a new word today: pokvarjen- spoiled or polluted. Anyway, church was cool. Then we went out contacting in the park.  We taught 3 first discussions and then went a little tracting. The 2nd door we knocked on we were let in. It was cool. The man’s name was Edvard, and he was an artist.  We talked for a while, then we asked him if we would be interested in reading the Book of Mormon. He said yes, so we gave it to him and set up an appointment with him on Wednesday.  Cool!

Well, I had to quickly finish writing that story.  Mom called me back and we had fun talking for about an hour.  Everyone is doing great. It was fun because it was just Mom and Dad on the line.  Well, Megan for about a minute, too.

 

11 May 1996

Hey!  It’s Deb’s birthday today!

I know.  What am I doing, never writing in here.  It seems like I just don’t have any time, and when I do, I’m always too tired.  I haven’t even written about us going to the circus. That was, or it feels like, a long time ago.  What else was there way back then? Hmm…, I don’t remember.

I had fun talking to Mom and Dad.  That was cool. We talked for about an hour, just us 3. It was more just Mom and I, but Dad was on the phone too.  It was Mom’s b-day though, so she had the reigns. They’re going to call again Sun/Mon for Mother’s day while everyone is there.  Yay!

For p-day this week we went to Rogaška Slatina to the steklarna, in other words, the crystal factory. it was so cool! The main man gave us a tour of the factory, and we got to see them making the crystal .  It was so cool. They just have this piece of red, gloppy, liquid glass on the end of a pole, that is hollow, and on the other side they blow with their mouths and just shape it like that.  We went all over. Then he showed us his designs. He has a showroom on Madison Ave in New York and he says Mikasa, a crystal company, practically buys them out. So, then we got to buy some.  That was fun, but I’m the slowest chooser.  I finally bought 3 vases, 1 set of candlestick holders, and my oil and vinegar things. I almost flipped when I saw the price, but then I got home and figured it out.  It came out to be about $80. Not too bad really.

Then we went on a fun ride back to town with the Balazics.  They’re so cool.

We had an appt with Edvard, but he wasn’t there, so we went and took a flower to Ljubica.  She is so funny. We laughed the whole time. We planned on staying 10 minutes at the most, if we even went inside.  We ended up being there an hour and a half. She’ll come to church and then we’ll set a time to give her the 2nd discussion. I can just see her a member so badly.  I hope she can too.

We visited Edvard Thursday night. That was very interesting.  In between everything else, we got a little bit of religion in.  I did try squid though, for the first time. It was good.  We didn’t know what it was until after we ate though. And, we got some salad made with pumpkin oil.  I had heard about that too, but never tried it. Interesting. But the most interesting was how we ate it, or with what.  I’m sure they were the same utensils he ate with earlier in the day. They were gross, covered with food. I’m sure it looked funny while we were trying our hardest not to touch the utensils with our mouths.  He also showed us some of his work. He’s a sculptor and it was amazing. He’s really good. He showed us this awesome Indian head he did. It had the coolest detail. Then his friends came over and we stayed for a little bit more, but then had to go.  It was about 9pm, and it just felt like time to go. One of his friends, Steven (He Americanized his name for us.) had lived in Australia for 12 years with his dad, and he wanted to practice his English, so I told him he could find us at church, and gave him a pamphlet.  Then we left. But with an invitation to dinner next week. I just hope he gets some new utensils.

Yesterday we had a cool visit with Janja.  We got to know everyone better and saw her wedding pictures.  We got the lowdown on how she met the church and why she isn’t yet a member.  The reason I already knew, tithing, but I’d never had a chance to talk to her about it.  I think she knows it is right, she just isn’t ready to commit to it. That’s ok. We’ll help her prepare.  The meeting was so good. It was just getting better when we had to leave, so we stayed. Then ½ hr later we really had to go, so we were only 30 minutes late for DDM.  The elders didn’t seem to mind. It was a cool meeting. I always like them. Then for treat, we had Dr. Pepper. I wasn’t very excited, but I think the elders were going to turn somersaults.  They just got it here a week ago.

We had relief society meeting  at Mihela’s then we went to see if Lučka was there.  No luck! We called Štefka, then Matjaž- “call back next week”- good answer.  Joj!  We started tracting instead, but the tracting book was such a mess that it wasn’t working, so we came home and organized the ol’ book.  Poor Sister Penfield didn’t think we got much done. You know, she’s right on one side, but we sure were out all day, and my bum sure hurt from the bike seat.  

Man, I’m wondering when that will stop.  My bum hurts, I have calloused hands again, and I’m sure I’m going to fall soon, if I don’t get a helmet.  It might be a little embarrassing at first, but with all the accidents Dad’s been in lately, I hope it’s not an omen.  

Yikes!  I got an awesome letter from Thomas today.  He should be a writer. Sister Penfield and I were laughing the whole time.  Who knows, maybe I’ll get more, but that was a first and if I wait this long again, I’ll be home before I get the 2nd.  Anyway, this is pretty much the end of my 2nd journal while in the mission field. Crazy! I’ve got 3 ½ months to finish my 3rd.  Somehow, I see a lot more writing in my future.

13 May 1996

Well, since I already put the date in here, I guess I should write a bit.  A very little bit, though because it’s 15 after 10:00. I need sleep!

Today was cool.  I talked to my family. I translated a story.  We had french fries and ranch dressing. We made a friend in a little record store.  We taught a 1st to 2 13 yr old girls who invited us to play volleyball with them. We visited our cute older couple, she made us Kompot.  We visited Edvard, always interesting. We met a guy in our building with a California driver’s License. We came home, and that pretty much sums it up.  At least as to where we went and what we did. The stories to go along with these faces will just have to come later.

20 May 1996

This has been quite an interesting week.   The thing that most sticks out in my mind is the “Lamanite Generation” concert.  It was so cool! I think it was very much underestimated. Or, so it was told to me by a friend from Ljubljana, and I gathered it myself since it was almost cancelled.  It was at Hala Tivoli, in the small dvorama, and only 1 side of the gym was used. It was still a good size though, and the place was filled to the brim. The concert was great.  Awesome dances and songs! The coolest part was the contacting afterward. President gave us each 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and said for us to give them out after the concert.  Well, at first it sounded a little difficult, but man, once we started, it was a breeze, and so much fun. It was like having people just standing there waiting to talk to you. It was definitely addicting and exciting, contacting at its prime.  I gave away 5 books in about 20-30 minutes. Not to brag, but it was just fun. It got, I think, all of us totally excited about the work again.

One of the coolest things about it was that Jana came with us.  It was almost an accident that she did. We went over there Tuesday to try to see her, but she had company.  We almost said we’ll come back next week, but no. At the last minute remembered about the concert. Luckily, she had dopust (vacation) and she said she would call us Thursday morning to say whether she could come or not.  Well, Thursday morning came and all our other investigators had flaked. Or rather, they couldn’t make it. But man, I was praying that Jana could still come. Then she called and said she could. Yay! So we all went to Ljubljana together, separated for the day, then met up again at the show.  

Once inside, Elder Reynolds asked me to sit with Doroteja, so we separated.  Sister Penfield sat with Jana though and said she had a great time. Afterward we took Jana and Jasna (she was also with us) to the Balazics for the night.  I think that was so cool for her. They also had another house guest that night. She was a friend of the Swensens from Salt Lake City. Anyway, I guess the two of them stayed up chatting all night.  It had to have had good results. She came to church on Sunday, which was awesome. She left, though, after Relief Society because she wasn’t feeling well. I think she might have caught whatever was keeping Sister Penfield and I down.  I would feel so bad if that was the case, but I really think it might have been.

Anyway, we were going to visit with her this week, and hopefully this all will turn into a beautiful investigatorship turned member.

Last night was cool too. We went over to Petra’s, but she wasn’t home.  I’m worried about her, but that’s another story in itself. So after that, we went over to visit “Brother Davor”  You see we tracted into him last week and he was so cool at the door. He didn’t let us in because he had just gotten home from business and his house was shambles.  But, he said that he had talked to some elders before and he already had the Book of Mormon. He said he had read a little, but he thought it was much too philosophical for him, so he stopped and put it away.  Well, he called himself Brother Davor because if we were sisters, he must be a brother. We didn’t bother to tell him that the elders were called elders. Of course, he was right in a sense. Anyway, he said come back.  So we did last night. It was a very interesting meeting. All in English. He is very funny. He is also an economics professor and a world traveler. We taught him a first discussion with small excerpts from the second and fourth and all in all got an invitation to return, a phone #, and a promise to read the Book of Mormon, not to mention he will not smoke, he says.  I don’t think he does anyway. Well, we’ll see. It seems good now. Faith!

22 May 1996

Happy p-day!  Today’s going to be cool because we’re going to play sand volleyball.  It’s cloudy outside, and could probably rain at any second, though. So it should be fun.  I like to play in the rain, as long as the ball doesn’t get too wet.

Yesterday was a very interesting day.  I’ll just put this question forth. Why are so many men so ignorant?  I don’t really know if I can call them men, but they are of the male species.  I won’t go into detail. We did decide though, that unless the spirit really tells us to, we will not be going back to Edvard’s place.  Nothing really happened, but a horrible feeling and bad conversation that made me just want to hit the guy.

Other than that and another unfortunate incident on the street yesterday, it was an okay day.  We visited with the Ojsteršeks, and their daughter and granddaughter. She was adorable, 8 years old and reminded me of Megan at that age.  Then we also visited with Nataša. We actually got to meet Erni. Amazing! It was cool. We also got invited for dinner on Thursday. yay! We found out she’s really not allowed to do anything with church, but we’re allowed to come visit.  So we will until she’s old enough to decide for herself, 18 that is. Then we came home and ate dinner at 10:15 pm, chicken stir fry. Yum!

Well, that leads to today, and I already covered that.  All except today is 3 months from my release date. Weird!  But actually who know exactly when that will be yet. Crazy things.