Terrorizing children and playing on tanks!

5/28/12

~Such a "guy thing" (climbing on a tank)~

~A bit of a confession...as a mother, I found this picture (which came on Memorial Day), to be rather poignant because I thought of all the moms whose sons/daughters are actually operating real ones that are not in the yard of a museum.  I can't imagine what they go through every day while praying for the safety of their children, and the anxiety associated with hoping and praying they each come home safely. I admire those sons and daughters, and their equally strong mothers and fathers.  I can't imagine my son having real guns aimed at him with real bullets coming in his direction.  I am grateful that I do not need to worry about P.J.'s safety. This picture reminded me strongly how much I have to be grateful for, and how thankful I am that he is serving a mission.~  

~This photo is of the remnants of a Serbian plane that was shot down.  Karlovac (where P.J. is serving) was a front-line location for a war that happened just a few short years ago.  These people have been through a lot.~

Well, to start things off, sorry that you have to go to Tyler....how boring of a place. But the idea of having an iPad sounds super awesome. I’m a little technology hungry.... I'm not sure how much I’ll be able to send today because there's a herd of Croat teenagers behind me waiting for me to get off and they might hold me down and choke me with the cigarettes in their fanny packs if I don't hurry.

I'm excited for the package. I bet it smells like America....like freedom and soap and shampoo....and not like buckets of cologne to try and mask your stink....and tobacco free.....hopefully. That would be bad if I got a smoking habit from my mother. And it won’t be a problem what's in it. The office people are way cool. It's President and Sister Rowe, the Erwins, and then maybe Sister Rowe Sr. and Sister Turner. They're all way cool.

1.  Do you ever get discouraged over there?

Not too much so far. The most obnoxious thing is when you have a nice busy, full day planned out the night before and then everybody, hour after hour, cancels on you or just doesn't show up. That's a little frustrating, but you just have to remember that disappointment is an event, discouragement is a choice (compliments of Brat J in the MTC)

 2.  Are you ready for new scenery?

A little bit. Karlovac is cool and all, but it's small and I’ve seen everything after almost 3 months, but I have to be careful what I wish for because I could be banished to Serbia.

3. We need new pictures of you?  Not a question…but since I have your attention, I decided to throw that in and put in a question mark to make it legit.

Uh...well that probably means I need to take some. I don't have a whole lot of pictures of myself, but I’ll look on other people's cameras and see what I can find.

4.  Have you had an interview (individually) with your mission pres.?

When I first got here, half way through last transfer and the beginning of this transfer. Pretty much just about how everything’s going. 

5.  How is the language coming?  Are you fluent?  'Cause it didn't take you long to get fluent in German, you know.

Psh....I don't really remember my German anymore. It's been replaced by Sloverbation (Slovene/Croatian/Serbian....sounds bad....compliments of Elder K*** for coming up with that one). But it's coming slowly but surely. It's weird how sometimes I'm starting to think in it first. It's rare, but it happens.....

 6.  Any insight yet into why the Lord sent you to Croatia?

Ehhhh....not quite yet. I mean it hasn't been anywhere close to miserable yet, but there hasn't been any major revelations or anything yet. But it's not like I'm questioning it either.

7.  Do you need anything?

Not that I know of. I'm chugging along getting by.

It's so weird to think I’m gonna be 20. I’m getting so old!...and gross.....

So just a couple of funny stories and then I have to go....a woman that has harassed us in the past that we think is a prostitute just walked in.....so gotta hurry.

So the other day we were tracting and some little kids started asking us what we were so we told them that we were missionaries from America. They started asking us how to say random words in English, so we were entertaining them and just talking for a few minutes. So everything was going all right, but then a girl about 6 or 7 years old started making fun of Elder B**** for not being able to roll his "r's" like a native Croat would. So she started correcting him and laughing. So he bent down to her level (almost over her) and said super fast in Croatian, "I apologize if I can't speak Croatian. But can you speak English? I think not...So see ya...bye bye." Her eyes got really big and she new she just got called out. It was so funny. If anyone harasses us here by mockingly speaking English to us (mostly kids) we just have to make fun of their English and they shut up real fast (grammatically incorrect on purpose). We don’t usually do it, but it's fun.

Then another story from last night. Some little kids kept on bothering us while we were standing outside of the other Elders’ apartment to plan what we were going to do for p day. So we were just ignoring them, but then they kept on getting closer and hiding behind trees trying to spy on us and just annoy us. So we ignored them and let them get really close (they were hiding behind the tree right behind us). They didn't think we noticed them....but we quietly counted to three and just turned around and charged the tree while yelling. They were so scared! They all screamed like little girls. All of them were like 5 or 6 and there were 5 of them. They all screamed and started running backwards, and then a couple of them tripped and fell on the ground and started scrambling on the ground trying to get away. I died; it was so funny.

 So ya...just a couple of good stories from this last week. Also, a day this last week I went to a medieval fair that trumps the one in Waxahachie. It was at the castle. And they had the castle open for it so I got to go inside. It was awesome. A bunch of people in costumes, people shooting archery, people selling little crafts in booths, tons of people drinking beer from wooden mugs, etc.... It was way cool. I got some pictures but I don't have a ton of time to upload today, so maybe next time.

Well, it was great to hear from you. Sorry this email is a little skimpy...like the skank lady/prostitute's clothes...the one waiting for the computer.....sorry... a little harsh. Oh, well.

So I think that's about it for this week. Have a great week. I'm excited for the package!

Love you all!

P.J.

P.S. Some pictures from the homeland war museum we went to a little outside of town. The wreckage is a Serbian plane they shot down....pretty awesome, huh?