The SUN and the SON

Dober dan! 

It is certainly a dober dan here in the beautiful country of Slovenija. On average in Ljubljana, we see the sun once a month (that may be stretching things just a bit..), but it is a pretty grey and cloudy place. Today however, the sun is in full shine-mode and we see beautiful blue skies! A very very dober dan. 

A funny story. 

We had a meeting set with a member, so after having a very large lunch of tasty burgers, we headed to her house. We found ourselves lost and unable to find the address we were seeking. As is typical of Slovenija, we could find the address just before and the address just after, but NOT the address of the woman we were trying to visit. 

So we call her. And we hear her voice through the phone and then it seems as if we're hearing her voice from the heavens, so we look up and she is waving off the balcony 100 feet over heads :) At the end of our nice obisk with her, we were trying to leave. I made the very poor choice of mentioning the pull up bar in the door frame and joking with her about if she worked out on it. So she then begins yelling down the hallway to her 27 year old son and asking him to come out and show us how he can lift himself. His response to her pleas was a definite no. And this exchange went back and forth probably five times. So then she tells me to try it. I obliged her, but I'm sad to say I can only manage about 3/4 of 1 pullup these days. However, she was impressed. So then she storms back to her son's room and makes him come out. But this time she doesn't ask him to do a pull up and says "watch how Sister Brown can do it!" And she makes me get back up there and struggle through the saddest looking pullup any of us have ever witnessed. Sister Jennings didn't even try to save me from this great embarrassment haha. 

An exciting thing! 

We have been teaching a very sweet woman for the past few weeks and she decided this week that she wants to be baptized in May! We are really excited for her! I believe in the power of prayer and I ask y'all that you would pray for her that she can withstand the opposition that comes her way and have the faith to continue on this joyful and peaceful path!

I love spring because I feel like the world just comes back to life. I love to see the flowers blooming and to hear the birds singing. I love to celebrate the life and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. And I especially love the peace that His life has given me in my life. I know that He lives! I know that He has made it possible for us to find peace amidst the storms in our lives. He wants to give us peace and joy! 

I love you and I hope you have a happy week! 

Steph

Ride the Bus to the End of the Line

Things are good here. 

Well sacrament meeting started and it was very very empty. 8 members and 4 missionaries. But then things began to fill a little more and a little more...and then our friend walked in. The spirit was so so strong. It was amazing. 

We are teaching an amazing young woman. Pray for her that she will feel the spirit confirm to her that The Book of Mormon is the word of God.

Really neat experience this week. Sister Jennings and I were outside and we didn't have a lot of time before we needed to go home, but we wren't quite sure what to do. I had a thought, "why don't we just go get on a bus?" So we did. And we rode it to the end of the line and back :) The woman I sat next to told me she was very tired, but on her way to a party instead of able to go home. Most of the time when people ask me where I am from, they get all excited and say "Oh DC! Bela hiša! Do you know our Melania?" haha, but she knew WA state right off the bat. And she even knew Spokane because...drum roll please...she had been there! Twice! She has an aunt who lives there. She was asking me about Sacred Heart hospital! What!? No kidding. We had the most amazing conversation and by the time she got off the bus she was brimming with energy and excitement. The Lord was leading us and we didn't even know it and it was amazing.

 

SO lots of good things! 

I love you! 

Steph

Love the Mormonova Knjiga

It has been a crazy week! I feel like I have said that pretty much every week since coming to Ljubljana. Maybe it has something to do with the city,,,maybe something to with the companion...maybe something to do with the long'awaited arrival of pomlad...or maybe it’s a beautiful combination of all of these things. Whatever it is, we have been very busy!  

We are going to celebrate Sister Crosby's birthday which was yesterday by going to the sea. We are going to Piran, a cute little coastal town! 

Spring has finally arrived here and it was incredible. I went out the door in my black peacoat and as we were walking down the street, my coat came off then my scarf came off and I was just like a free bird. I loved it. I LOVE spring! This has always been my favorite time of year and it is no different now. I love it. I love that everything begins to come alive again and the earth is filled with green and light and life. It brings new life and energy to the city and the people. 

We went on exchange with the sisters in Kranj this week, which means that Sister Crosby came here to spend a few days with me! It was so good to be together again! Sister Crosby has had a mission-long desire to spot a wild jez ( hedgehog), so we continued the search that we began nearly EIGHT MONTHS AGO together  :) We did not succeed, but we did knock on the doors of some kind people in the jezica area of Ljubljana!

We finished off the week by bringing the whole zone into town for zone conference, which is always a party. Our conference was centered around The Book of Mormon, so I have had a lot of time to ponder about what The Book of Mormon means to me as a young lady far from home and family trying to share the gospel with the people of Slovenija in a completely foreign tongue and culture.

Why do I love The Book of Mormon? It fills my heart and mind with light. It causes me to look heavenward. I feel closer to Jesus Christ when I study it. It is a gateway to personal revelation directly from my Heavenly Father to His daughter, Stephanie Brown. I have felt His great love for me as I read. I am filled with greater love. It brings peace to my heart when all around seems like chaos. I walk onto the street and see life with more light and color because of THe Book of Mormon.  

What people really need to see is how the gospel and The Book of Mormon have blessed and changed our lives. We need to be full of light so that people will see it and want it and we need to be full of joy. Love it. Love you! Love the Mormonova Knjiga. And if you don't love The Book of Mormon yet or don't know what it is, find out! 

Love, Steph

Bloom where you're planted - even when you are replanted - Ljubljana

Pozdravljeni! 

The Ljubljana branch has around 200 listed members. On Sunday I think we had about nineteen members on Sunday. At ten o lock, when the meeting actually started, there were about three. And in a real church it feels pretty darn empty. So that's tough. But it was really good! I spoke which was poorly done, and then we taught Sunday school and it went really really well! Then I was the pianist and translator in primary, so that was fun. 

I will take my turn translating sacrament meeting every few weeks. There are now only two sets of missionaries in Ljubljana, so my turn will come quick every time.

It is really cold these days. The wind is intense and it is freezing my brain. I have been having terrible headaches when we are outside in the wind. Awful! But that's okay! 

It's been a great week and I have learned a number of things! First, you can bloom where you're planted and you can love it. You can also bloom when you've had yourself ripped out of the soil and put into a new pot, and you can still love it! Second, the Lord will sustain us and in some of our toughest times, if we will choose to turn to Him, he will use us as instruments in his loving hands.

We have been inviting people right and left to come into our church building and go on a tour of the church with us. We've only had one so far, but it was incredible and the spirit was so strong. As we stood together in the chapel and talked about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us, she hugged us and said that she was "just so happy!" It was a sweet sweet thing and I feel so grateful for Jesus Christ. I am grateful for his life which was an example of pure love and selflessness. I am grateful for his suffering in the garden and on the cross because he give me healing in my own pain and suffering. I am grateful for his resurrection and ministry among the Nephites because it fills me with hope for our future. 

So yesterday....we were headed out to visit a couple women on a list given to us from the Elders Quorum president. These are women who we have never met before and for whom we did not have phone numbers. They didnt' live in our area, so we had asked President for permission to visit them. We got in the car and put the first address in our GPS. It was about a 45 minute drive. We debated if we should still go because it was so far away. We prayed about it and both felt that we should go. So we went! We found ourselves in the cutest little Slovene vas on top of these beautiful snow-covered hills on a teeny tiny "two lane" road which barely had room for our little car. We passed 17 Tepe in search for 31 Tepe. Well....after driving away from 17, we suddenly found ourselves staring at 69! Unsure about how this had happened, but unsurprised because the numbering system in this country is a disaster, we just parked our car in the street and started knocking doors for help. Up walks an adorable Slovene couple, complete with hiking sticks :) They told us that we should keep going and then we'd hit a really steep down hill, take a sharp left and we would find it. They themselves lived at 30. 31 was nowhere near their house...As we drove away, he informed us that the people who live in 31 are Mormons, "just so ya know." :) It was so funny. Well, after much searching and more door knocking, we did finally find ourselves outside 31b. And there was a growling barking dog. Seriously? Well I was not to be stopped by a dog and luckily I have a dog-LOVING companion, so she distracted him while I made my way to the door and knocked. We were so excited to meet this woman who we had been searching for quite a while and was known by the people roundabouts as "a mormon." So the door opened and I was all ready to greet her....and out pops the head of our relief society president... huh? :) Yep. haha. 

Turns our we were looking for her daughter who had actually moved out about five years ago :) So we had kosilo with Dragica and Maja and it was a wonderful little surprise and blessing! And turned out to be a pretty hilarious story.

Have a great week! Love you! 

Sestra Brown