memory for the week.

Well, as you have read that I don't remember which memory I am on I don't have a number for this one either. I could find out of I really wanted to but that wouldn't be as fun. My memory for this week did not happen in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, or any other country that/was is in my mission. It happened in Germany. Most of you are asking (those that haven't really stayed in contact with me) when did he go to Germany. Well, I just happened to have a chance to go to Germany in the month of July of 2010. I can tell you the day to it was the 6th of July. My companion and I had to fly to Germany for a few things. As we were up there in Germany we had some fun (up in a country where you don't know the language you aren't very useful.) One of the things that we did was go to the Zoo there in Frankfurt. It was really fun. It was my companion, another elder in Germany for some medical reasons, and I. We had a blast. The main thing was that we had the funnest time watching the monkeys that day. There were some monkeys that had a mountain type deal in their area. On the mountain deal there was like a trail that went around it. The monkeys would run around it for a few minutes than attack the door that lead to the inside place. After a few minutes of them attacking the door, they would do the process all over again. It was very funny to watch. I will put photos on when I get home (in a week). If you have any questions please ask them to me by emailing me at tmorey@gmail.com. I will get back to you in a few weeks.

Have fun.

Must likely be the last one while on my mission.

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memory #?

Okay I don't know what memory this is. Some of you are asking how can you not know. Well, one I haven't looked at my blog for a long time (2 years), I have been emailing my blog posts by my missionary email. So I don't know what memory it is, if you want to know just take the number from the last one and add 1 to it. It isn't that hard a 1st grader can do it.

Okay, back to the memory. This one is first and only Christmas that I had in the mission field. (I did have two Christmases on my mission, but one was in the MTC.) So my first and only Christmas was in Zadar, Croatia. If you have kept in touch with me you would have known that I spent part of my mission in Croatia and not in Serbia. Well, for this Christmas I first went to some of the members and had a short Christmas lesson with them. After that we had district meeting, had phone calls to the family, and while waiting for that we made banana bread. I will say this. It is one of the Christmases that I will remember the most. I didn't receive anything that day (it came about 2 months latter, stupid postal service in post-communist countries), but I did get to see Christmas in the true spirit as it should be. Helping out with those in need and talking with those that you love. I shouldn't limit this just to Christmas day, but to the Christmas season. During the Christmas season my companion and I helped deliver food to those that where helpless and couldn't leave their homes. That was always a good feeling when we were done.

That is my memory for the week. Holidays on a mission are very different from those at home with the family. Don't think that your well be different when you go on your mission.

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Memory #5

I think that I am on memory #5. I am not sure. Everything seems to me as a bler.This week has been so fast that I just think that everyday has been the same almost. That is one reason why love Sundays. It gives me a day that I know for sure what day it is. I would say p-day, but that is after Sunday, and I didn't have this memory on a p-day.

One Sunday (when I was in Novi Sad) I was trying to play the piano. Most of you know that I can't play, but a few hymns. Well, one of my companions (was the Branch President at the time) was having a interview with one of the members. He had asked for a blessing at the end of the interview. My companion asked if he could use my oil that I had. So I gave the oil over. The first counselor was the one that was going to be placing the oil on the guys head. (something that my church does when we give blessings to the sick. don't worry it is in the bible) Well, he didn't had never given a blessing before. He started off with placing his hands on the shoulders of the member. He then said the beginning of the blessing, however, he had not put the oil on until the middle of the blessing. When he did put the oil on his head he dumped the whole thing of oil on the guys head. (talk about greesy) Tp add on top of that it wasn't just the whole thing, he put it on in a shape of a cross. That was funny. When my companion handed the vilel over to me it felt a little empty. I opened it and tried to poor out more oil. EMPTY. My companion then told me the story.

Don't worry the blessing was done again the right way.

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memory #4

Well, we are on memory number four. I think that this memory was when I first had to stay inside because it was unsafe outside. It was the 10 year anneversiary for the bombing of Serbia by NATO. We cooked a lot of food for we had to stay in for about 4 days. To be honest I got really tired of being in. Not much of a memory. That is about it. Have fun.

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Memory #3

Memory #3 is going back into time from #2. It was my first experience in Serbia that I had with the police. It was the very first day that I had ever seen Serbia. My companions (I say companions for I was trained in a three-some. weird isn't it?) and I were on a train heading to my area. My mission president had dropped me and another missionary off in Belgrade. I meet my companions there. So back to the story. We were on the train when two cops came over to us. They started to ask for my papers. (I not know the language yet didn't understand) I was like what is going on. One of my companions had me get out my passport. The cop took it and started to look at it. The other cop started to ask questions like why we were there. Then, the cop that was looking at my passport pulls out his flash light to look at my passport. I don't know why for the train had the lights on. It isn't like he is going to see any black light marks on it either with a regular flash light. It was a really funny experience. That night was one of the few nights that I got home late on my mission. Don't worry I had permission to get home late every time from the mission pres. or my zone leaders. I got home at about 1-2 in the morning that day. Luckily my mission president let us sleep in 1 hour. Well that is about it for this memory

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Event #2

Okay, event #2 happened in Novi Sad as well. My companion and I were invited over to a house that belonged to two of our English class students. They invited us over, and when we got there they hadn't had breakfast. It was the first time for a long time that I had eggs and bacon. I hadn't had that since the MTC and this was was right before I got put into Sremska Mitrovica. It was great. I wouldn't say that this was a very spiritual experience, but I have made friend with their family because of that. If their daughter gets big with her band then I can say that I know her. She is well on her way too. I just think that if they can brake out of Serbia that they will hit it big. Back to the event. We had a very good talk about the gospel and a few other things, but it was them that helped me to learn that Serbians were great people. Most of you know that I have always said that I love the people here. It was this event that made it even stronger than it was before. There have only been a few other events that had the same effect on me. I can honestly say that I love Serbian now. Sure they can be stubborn, but they can also be some of the nicest people I have meet. I don't think that there are many people that will let you in (not knowing who you are) and just give you cake and juice to drink. They also love to talk. I think that I have heard more life stories from them than I will ever hear again on my mission.

My last thing to say to all of those that are going on a mission. Love the people. Want to get to know them. If you don't want to get to know them, then they don't want to listen or get to know you. The work will be a lot better if you get to know the people individually and as a whole. That is it for this week.

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Not much is going on here

Well, not much is going on here in Serbia. The weather has turned bad and we have started the book fair. It will be nice to be inside at the book fair when it is raining though. Well, a new transfer has began, and I keep being reminded that it is my last. (if you are one of those people stop please.) In fact I had a fellow missionary say that I only have one and a half months left. Since I was told that (5 min. ago from now) I have been pondering on the many things that have happened to me on my mission. There have been a lot of fun things happen. Some good and some bad, but I have learned (I hope) from every experience that I have had here in Serbia and Croatia. It is amazing what a mission will do to a young boy. It is like I don't know myself anymore. A mission changes you faster than you know. I don't think that I will now all of the changes that have happened to me on my mission until a few months after I get home.

Okay enough about the future. The past has been good and bad like I said. I think that I am going to try and tell one fun, good, or spiritual experience that I have had on my mission every week. I don't know if I will be able to do it but we will see. This week is the one of the first of my mission. We (my companions and I) were contacting on the kej (boardwalk) in Novi Sad (my first area). We came upon a young guy that wanted to talk to us. He was from a different city, but was there in Novi Sad for School, and wanted a Book of Mormon. He had a little bit of contact with the missionaries before but not much. The only problem that we had was that he didn't know how to read Cyrillic. He is originally from Hungary. I just happened to have a Croatian Book of Mormon (not in Cyrillic) on me. I had a thought before to leave that book in my bag. If you want to find out what happened to that young man, you can wait until I get home.

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A Mission

Many of you know that I am on my mission right now. I have noticed that I don't have much time left on this mission. So I have been pondering about my mission and the things that I have experienced and seen.

As many of you know that a mission is full of trials and hardships. I have had my fair share of them. However, I have noticed that it is through these hardships that the Lord thakes our rough edges and smooths them out. It is his way of making us worth more. Like a diamond or silver. The purer the silver the more value it has. Like it says in the Book of Mormon that it is through our trials that the Lord proves us, and makes us stronger. (that is not a direct quote as you can tell) I have decided that it is one reason why the boys of the church at age 19 go on their missions and come back as men at age 21.

No matter how many trials we have it is the blessings and good times that we have that we remember best. I believe this to be try. For when I look back in my past I have an easier time remembering the hike that my companion and I went on with an investigator than the time I was threatened to be hung by my tie. It are these blessings and events that keep us going. I know for at least for me they have.

With these two things together; would say that it is really hard to go home from a mission, and still be the same person that you were when you left. For you see things that effect your whole life, experience things you will never forget, and more important chooses you have made change you as well. I will say that I am so happy to be here right now. If I wasn't here I would probably be in some sort of trouble. I would have been able to have the same experiences that I have had. It has been the best decision that I have made up to this point in my life.

I have heard it said that the mission is the best two years of my life. I would change that to say they have been the hardest, but of the most worth. For it changes you for good. You can never go back to be the person that you were when you left. I say that for on a mission you make one choice that effects the rest of you life. It is either to do as the Lord commands or not. If you haven't made that decision yet and you are on a mission or have been on a mission than you have not really done what you need to do.

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The Wheelchair

Hey everybody, here is a video of me in a wheelchair. The guy there at the project who was in a chair himself said that it takes about 16 months for people to get it down the way I can balance. So here is the video. For all of you not it a chair just try it is fun.

My year mark in the country

Well, sorry that I didn't do this earlier around my year mark in the country, but I didn't have time to do that. Since I have been here in Serbia and Croatia there has been some weird things that have happened to me. I think that I will start off with the ones that happened first and do them in that order.

First was the week that My trainer, my other companion, and I had to stay in for a week. By the way that is coming up again. We had to stay in for the fact that it was the ten year anniversary of the USA bombing Serbia and there were a lot of stuff going on that week. I hated being in that apartment for that long. You get cabin fever real fast. I don't know if we will have to stay in this year but we most likely will have to. That sucks. Second thing was when my name tags were stolen by a huge dude. That was with Elder Singer (the other companion that I had during the first deal) when we went contacting. The guy was not a nice guy he told us to leave or he would kill us. Then he just came up and took the name tags. I don't know what he was going to do with them. The third one didn't happen for a while after that one. It was the University Olympics. They were really fun and we got to see a lot of people from all over the world. If you didn't know the missionaries in Serbia got in the church news for that one. The fourth one was in a small town of Sremska Mitrovica. It was my second area that I have served in on my mission. I was with Elder Christianson and Beaumont. My pen was stolen and the guy threatened to kill us. He wanted to hang us by our ties and leaves us there. For some reason I got a lot of that at nights. Night time is not a good time to be out. The fifth thing was that I was being sent to Croatia. The whole Croatian experience was a weird one. How many people can say that they served in two countries on their missions, and then return to the one that they started out in. I even got to touch the sea during this experience.

Those are the big ones for me it has been a very interesting year. I don't know if this next one will top it. We do have a baptism coming up so that might put it over this other one.

I have also learned a lot about myself and those that want to know they are just going to have to wait until I get home. By then I will have changed even more I guarantee that. So, that has been the big factors for my in my mission. I have now served in three areas and returned to my first one. Until next time have fun! I will be have some.

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