Week 60 Test-imony

I will quote a few Serbs:

"Serbs have ice in their vains.. We don't freak out about viruses."

OR yet another one

"I fear God, not this stinkin virus"

I love my fellow Serbs. The virus is slowly coming to Novi Sad.
 Day after day we see more and more masks. But all is well (: 

Our amazing Senior couple the Fitches are leaving tomorrow.
Sad to see them go, but they have blessed the people here in Novi Sad
 for a year and a half and have served the Lord with full spirit. Novi Sad is changed because of them. 

This whole week we were out and about talking to people and knocking doors!
The sun was shining, and the trees smell amazing!
This following week we will be staying inside more and being cautious. I
t's hard to know what will happen day to day- but we roll with the punches and the Lord's work goes onward. 

We taught a lesson today with our friend Filip.
 He loves reading the Book of Mormon with us and studying deeply what it means.
 He has a BOM at home, but every time we read he gets out his phone and takes pictures of the pages.
He sometimes brings his friends along to study with us and it is makes us smile lots!

We had the Sacrament with the Elders and our Senior couple.
It was a tender moment for sure. I am grateful for the Savior. 

As the Fitches bore their departing Testimonies to us in their living room-i thought of what strengthens Testimonies.
They talked about the tests and hard things they'd gone through.
 But how grateful they were for those tests that now have turned into trust in the Lord.
Our tests today really build our 'test'imonies tomorrow.
So work hard through the test of life today, and you'll look back and be grateful for the testimony you hold.
TEST TIME. Growth time 

Бог је са нама (God's with us) 

Сестра гитинс

Week 59 Fear Not...Go Forward

Quotes of the Week: Me: I use to have a really good Australian Accent (said in an "Australian Accent") Sister Toleafoa: Who told you that? Me: I was Self- Diagnosed. Sister Toleafoa: Yeahhhhh you sound more British or Scottish... Sister T: "That's a bloody little dog!" Sister T: "look at those heaps of pigeons!" Good 'da Mates! As you can tell, I'm really working on my Australian accent. My australian companion is hilarious! Sometimes I try to copy what she says in her accent, then we just die laughing because she gives me the look of "really? " haha. Cool Things: - We were in Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday for MLC! We had a really great council about finding and improving the work her in the Balkans. It was also so good to see old friends and companions. -In Novi Sad we just had a book fair! We had a stand for the Book of Mormon(: - Spring is springing more and more. It's been raining lots and blossoms are blossoming. My bones ache for the SUN!! Fear Not: I think something very common in life and in the world today is FEAR. Fear comes in many forms. Fear of talking to people, fear of failure, fear of a virus, fear of death, etc. But fear is not of God. I've been studying this recently and found some amazing scriptures. I love this scripture about the Children of Israel. They had MANY reasons to fear. And I love what Moses and the Lord say to them! Exodus 14 10 ¶ And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. 13 ¶ And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will ashew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The Lord shall afight for you, and ye shall hold your bpeace. 15 ¶ And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: So "hold your peace" and "go forward". Fear is not of God. Follow the Prophet, keep the commandments, and all will be well. HURRAH FOR ISRAEL Fear Not Find the Joy Sister Gittins P.S. More Fear Not scriptures (: Izvoli! 2 Timonthy 1:6-7 2 Kings 6:15-17 D&C 123:17 D&C 121:7-9 D&C 122: 7-9

 TWO WEEKS SUPPLY IN CASE CORONA VIRUS SCARES SERBIA!

 Stamps that the post office gave her to send ward members letters!

Week 58 New Comp Same City

Zdravo!

Well, I'm staying in Novi Sad Serbia!! And I'm training Sister Toleafoa!! She's from Australia--half Samoan. She's SO cool! We are also the STL's! So today we are in Zagreb for meetings(:

There is lots to do this transfer!

Conference is coming up! Everyone prepare(: Read last conference, pray, and come up with questions!

God is with us(:

Hurrah for Israel!

Sis G

Pics- me in my mom's coat! (s/o Sister Roberts!)

And my cute comp! 

Week 57 Staying in Novi Sad Training and STL

Hello Mom,

I have a little time to write you an email, so I'll take it! How are your feelings about being a grandma? Part of me is like wow, and part of me is like huh not a surprise. Mixed emotions! I'm just so glad I'll be home for the birth and everything! If it's a boy that would be crazy! Isn't it weird how life goes on.. It just keeps moving and I can't keep up! Haha. I was just a little girl and now I'm in Serbia speaking Serbian teaching another Sister how to be a missionary. When President told me what this next transfer had in store, I was a little shocked! Like really? Can I do this? But then I got this warm feeling that washed over me- it was almost like God telling me- Tacy, I trust you. And that made my heart so humbled and so excited. To have God trust me?? I'm weak and human and very humbled for what's ahead. I'm super excited for what's to come! I will just keep holding onto God and do my best(: I love being a missionary. Im really just trying to give this my all! Looking back I've given it my all and now want to magnify what I'm doing. I know God can magnify me! I just want to be and do my best!!

So I'm excited to learn(: This week we taught lots of good lessons! At one lesson I got really heated and have never been so blunt... I told him he was wasting our time and his if he wasn't reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He was a bit shocked, but I hope he now will read and do something to find out for himself!! We are still on good terms with him because he came to game note the next day! Then I beat him in chess so hehehehe. I've played chess twice! Both against Bosians (: hahah

We are driving to ZAGREB right now! Exciting times ahead. Be still my soul(:

I love you! Have a good day Grandy!

Your favorite child

Sister Gittins

Week 56 Sestra Opperman My New Companion?!

Hello there(: This week we did lots of knocking, talking, and trying to spread this beautiful message. You know those times tho when your heart just gets heavy and you get tired This week I got a bit tired and frustrated. I love being a missionary, but things just hit my heart a bit this week. But then like ALWAYS God comes around and gives my heart a shake and tells it who's boss. 2 miracles accured. I will tell them in order. After a couple days of feeling this frustration, I was reading in my scriptures and read this. 23 Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? I stopped and thought about that. I want you to do the same. 23 Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God?.... Know ye not that he hath all power, and at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll? My frustrated heart became soft as I realized who's hands I'd forgotten I was in. So I ask you--Have you forgotten who's hands you are in? Have you forgotten that the God who created the universe cares and loves about you? He won't leave you. THEN DRUM ROLL!!! Sophie Oppermann, you know that really cool girl who everyone wants to be like? The one that glows? Well best friend Sophie found a Serbian woman in France who doesn't speak English or French! So we got to call in and teach! It was so joyful sharing the message of the Book of Mormon and God's love for us with a Serbian woman--sitting in France next to my best friend!! The lesson went well and she said she wanted her husband to learn more too. Big prayers for this sweet woman. How cool that Soeur Oppermann wasn't able to really communicate with this Serbian woman in a spoken language, but this woman was able to feel her love for her through an unspoken langauge and heard the name Christ! I'm grateful for my missionary friends and their examples of having the spirit with them! Now Hermana Fowers you need to find a Serbian family! Or I will find a Spanish speaking one!(: Other random facts -We went hiking today with Eržebet! She is so good and a strong member here in Novi Sad! Her husband came too! We hiked to a cool tower, a limestone mine, and sat and talked for a few hours! -Sister Dimas and I stacked our meal time and went to a museum for lunch this week! They had stuff from before Christ! Really good language practice too as it was all in Cyrillics(: -Transfer announcements are this Thursday! God is always there for us even when we forget who's hands we really are in! In the little things and the big things! Love you all. Don't forget His Hands. Сестра гитинс

Week 55 New Friends!

This week has been AMAZING.

This whole week I jumped from day to day with gratitude in my soul. 

In summary we taught 10 new people this week and had 3 lessons on Saturday!!

Here's a little over view of what happened

<Tuesday>

We went out to visit a returning member. She is going through some hard things and we talked about the power

 of prayer in our lives. About half way through she stopped listening and started taking selfies!! 

So we are trying to read the Book of Mormon and she starts snapping away. Then she tells us to smile, 

and after about 10 minutes I can't handle the whole selfie thing and i start laughing so hard. In summary, 

we didn't get through our whole lesson on prayer, but we made our friend smile in a tough time and even laugh 

at the end. We walked out like "what just happened?!" We then did some tracting and met some fun people. 

Later that night the Stls came for exchanges and we went out to sushi together! 

<Wednesday>

Sister Henderson and I went to Belgrade for exchanges. We had a BLAST. We ending up laughing and talking 

and working hard together. It was great to see member in Belgrade and say hello.

<Thursday>

We switched back from our exchanges and Sister Dimas and I hustled back to a lesson. Our friends name is Nada.

 She is an older woman with such an open heart and mind. It was a really great restoration lesson 

and I felt the spirit so strong! We also taught her in her home! That's very rare for people to let us into their home. 

Normally it's at a Cafe or park. We had District council later that day and 

I love the good laughs we have as a district. It's fun because we are all together 12 weeks so we get pretty tight(:

<Friday>

We taught the Fitches neighbor! Latter Day Saint charities did a water project in his small village in Montenegro

 and he was so interested in learning more about why someone would do that! We got together with his wife and 

him and explained the restoration of the gospel and the Humanitarian Organization of the Church. 

They were astonished and loved it all. His wife said "this is not the last time we will be seeing you". 

We then met a returning member for a lesson on Family History! That is such a powerful tool!

<Saturday>

LOVELY DAY. We met a nice woman on the street the other day from Albania.

 We set up with her and she brought all three of her sons! So we taught the four of them at a kafić in centar! 

We talked about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

When we talked about the Apostasy, the middle son said"they interpretted the Bible so many times, 

it eventually changed!" 

When we talked about the book of Mormon they asked- "why have we never heard about this? " 

Then they eagerly asked - where can I buy one? 

We gave them our favorite book with a smile and a promise that if they read it, they will be closer to Christ! 

Then we met with our friend Đorđ. He is a very logical minded one, and we talked about faith. 

Sometimes you don't know everything! But you have to trust God and move forward anyway. 

The elders came on the lesson with us too. We had some good laughs as we all talked. 

Đorđ told me that I was probably the most "Mormon girl" he'd ever met. I took it as a compliment and laughed.

Then we taught Milan and Goran! Milan met the sisters three months ago and finally found time to meet. 

Then he brought his friend Goran(: So we had a great talk again about the Restoration!

<Sunday>

Church was great, the Elders talked about Presidnet Nelson's invitation to us all! 

Do you know what the invitation is? Here is the link:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2655288044538615&id=501224873278287&sfnsn=mo

In church I am involved 24/7. I play the piano, translate for the ficthes, then we teach young womens after that. 

Young women's was on Joseph Smith so yahoo for more Restoration discussions! 

We also had dinner at the Fitches(: We have hillarious conversations as a district, 

and it's fun to laugh with everyone.

Sorry for all the detailed explanations of the week--but it has been one of my favorites from my mission! 

Lots of teaching about the Restoration of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon. 

I know Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and I know that God prepares a path for His children! 

I'm so grateful for the people we taught this week and their desire to be more like Christ. 

I know He is our source of joy and hope today, tomorrow, and forever.

We are on week 11 of this transfer! Who know what will happen next transfer, we find out next Thursday.

Thank you for all the love and support! The prayers and the thoughts mean a lot. 

Hurrah for Israel! 

Sister Gittins

Week 54 Keep your Eye on the Miracle(s)

Hey Friends and Fam,

I'll start with something that made me cry this week.....Sister Dimas told me a joke--ENJOY:

A grasshopper walks into a pie shop. 

The pie shop owner say- hey we have a pie named after you! 

The grasshopper says

You....... have a pie...... named.......... Kenneth?

Please understand the joke- because it made me cry.

If anyone has an jokes, please send them my way! I love a good joke. 

But in all seriousness life is good. We had 14 new faces at English this week!!

We went from 0 people coming to 14 people! That's what I call advertising;) 

We've been talking to lots of people! We have some cool friends we are teaching, 

but we need to set expectations again and encourage them even more to keep commitments. 

We had zone conference this week! It was incredible. Sister Melonakos talked about "pain blessings". 

There are some blessings that you go through a lot of pain to receive. Growing isn't easy. Changing isn't easy. 

Sometimes it hurts! But there are so many blessings from the pain and the change! 

I've received a lot of "pain blessings" out here. I've had a lot of pain- 

but nothings can match my joy and my blessings. So those pain blessings hurt,

 but the outcomes are worth it!

Sister Dimas and I have been trying to keep our eye on the Miracle and wow! 

In softball when I'd keep my eye on the ball, things went much better.. Wow haha.

 Now as we've been pointing out the miracles immediately as we see them, there are so many blessings! 

It's astonishing! So keep your eye on the Miracle and you'll realize how blessed you are!

I love this work! I love my Savior Jesus Christ! I love that we can have a relationship with Him!!

I love Serbia (: I love being a missionary ️🇷🇸

Волим вас!

Сестра Гитинс

P. S.  I made the softball reference because everyone thinks I'm obsessed with softball.

 I explained a few rules to them and now they think I'm obsessed. I love that game so much! 

But people think I am babe Ruth or something haha. Serbs.