Week 49 Translating is like a Spelling Bee

8 more days until Christmas! We have yet to celebrate Christmas here in Serbia! 
It is weird  celebrating News Years before Christmas! 
But January is always a long cold month, 
so I'm fine with celebrating the best holiday a few weeks into it(: 

We found some great people this week:

A mom and a daughter who want to have a personal relationship with Christ and not go through their priest to do that. 

On the 25th we tracted into 2 painters who paint pictures of Christ for their careers. They let us see pictures they have painted and showed us the view from the rooftop and it was incredible! We talked about the Book of Mormon being all about Christ, and they were super excited to read. 

A cute old woman let us in! We sang Silent Night together and she told us about her life history. She thanked us as we left and told us it felt like we had been friends for a long time. So glad we could brighten a day(:

This week we taught some really great people! 

Our friend Filip has some great opinions on eternal truths! When we get together and talk about the principles of the gospel, he shares some great insight and personal stories. We had a great discussion this week on faith and truth. After reading in Alma 32 about faith he asked, how can you know what is true? We testified to him about the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the "power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things". We challenged him to seek for truth in his life by seeking for the spirit. 

We taught our other friend named Đorđ (George). He went to the U for a year and it was so fun talking about Utah compared to Serbia! He looks at life through a scientific way, but all of his reasoning helped prove why there is a God. He is a successful business man and had to go to a job cite after our lesson. We went to give him a Book of Mormon but he quickly explained he wouldn't have anywhere safe to put it, 

"That is a sacred book, so I will take it from you next time." I loved how he called it a sacred book. The Book of Mormon really is a sacred record preserved for our day. I was so grateful he realized the sacridity of my favorite book. 

While walking down the road this week we saw:

A marching band of Santa Clauses banging on drums and playing trumpets. Everyone was hanging out their apartment windows videoing or just laughing at the group. 

A motorcycle gang of Santa's- riding through the cold all dressed up for the season. 

Yesterday in church I translated for Sister Fitches (senior couple here in Novi Sad) as she gave her talk about the Covenant path. I have translated from Serbian to English plenty of times, but this was my first time translating in church from English to Serbian for sacrament meeting. But don't you worry, whenever I would pause or stumble on a word- someone from the crowd would yell out the translation for me. Or if I didn't know a word, people would give a shot out and help with the translating. It was pretty funny, and also very humbling. I felt like I was in a spelling bee and when I didn't know the next letter people would yell it out for me. It went something like this:

Sister Fitches: "They are wathmen on the tower that look over the horizon." 

Me: "they are watchmen on the tower that look over h.." 

Group: HORIZON! 

Me: thanks

Sister Fitches continue on.

One time after I got shout out help from the audience and I smiled a little awkwardly, one of the members yelled out- "you're doing great! We understand you, keep on going!" hahah. 

It was a fun adventure that helped me learn a lot! 

I really love this talk by Elder Rasband titled:" Standing by our Promises and Covenants"

In this talk there is a quote by President Nelson. "We increase the Savior's power in our lives when we make sacred covenants and keep those covenants with precision. Our covenants bind us to Him and give us godly power." Elder Rasband then said-"when we keep promises to one another, we are more likely to keep promises to the Lord." It is so vital that we honor our promises to the Lord. And to our fellow men. If we say we are going to do something for someone, we need to do it. We need to be exactly honest in everything we do. I know there is power in our lives when we keep our covenants with God.

Happy 2020!! I hope everyone sets some goals this year and makes plans to achieve them! Thanks for all the prayers and cheering me on!

Ћао!

Сестра гитинс

Photos: my little sister is the BEST! HUGE s/o to her. She gave me a Donovan Jersey for Christmas!

Also- balkans love fur coats! So we always are rocking our big fur hoods.

Sister Dimas is a real gem and we have a great time in Serbia together.