Thursday, September 13, 2012

Seeing some homeless guys' lives changed and he got mooned!!!!


Dear Family,

It's going to have to be another quick one this week. We are trying to make the 8:00 bus to Zagreb and it's 7:00 right now, so I have half an hour. We are going up today to spend p-day there and then there's a fireside tonight with Elder Rasband for members, investigators, and members and then we have our zone conference with him in the morning, so we are spending the night at the zone leaders apartment (it's pretty nice...it has a loft and a dishwasher....was there almost 2 months ago).....It's going to be fun in Zagreb, but I hate the bus ride. It's 3 and half hours long...they take a 30 minute smoke break about half way. It wouldn't be too bad if I hadn't already been to Zagreb and back this week.

On Wednesday, We left for Zagreb at 8, got there around 11:30 and had an exchange with the assistants until Friday morning. Elder M  was here in Zagreb with Elder H  (the M's nephew) and I went up to Zagreb to be with Elder F. He's way cool. He goes home in like a week, but he's still hitting it hard. So we had fun up in Zagreb. We taught some homeless people that they met at a McDonalds. They overheard them in the corner talking about "the Jehovah’s Witnesses over there" so they got up to talk to them and tell them that they aren't  Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was kind of interesting. They found out the guys were homeless and created a plan to make them not homeless by the end of the month. They found out that the homeless guys were spending 50 kn a day on alcohol and cigarettes and they told them that if they stopped smoking and drinking, that they would be able to afford an apartment. That blew their minds. The guys had never thought of it before. So they taught them the Word of Wisdom, and they stopped drinking tea and coffee and between the 3 of them, they've pretty much stopped smoking and drinking too. It's way cool. Now they are spending their money on new clothes because they have job interviews. It's pretty crazy. But we had a lesson about the Restoration and watched the movie. They all liked it. Two of them said that they thought it was a true story, so we asked them to pray until they knew. They said that they would. It's cool seeing that dramatic of a change in somebody. Three bums that collected plastic bottles for a dime apiece so they can have their smokes and beer to three guys that are getting jobs and an apartment and learning about the gospel.

We also went to a pretty crazy restaurant. It's in the center of Zagreb around the corner from the mission office. It's a place called Karakas, and you walk in the door, go down stairs and the restaurant is all wood paneling and pirate themed. It feels like you're in the hull of a ship. And the waiters wear pirate clothes too....but for some reason, all of the food on the menu is Mexican food. It's the weirdest thing, but it was really good. The waiter was pretty cool too, which can sometimes be a little bit hard to find. 

And while I was in Zagreb I got my PACKAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In case you haven't opened the picture yet....that Warhead candy really does turn your mouth blue. I went and got my hair cut after eating it, and the lady got a bit of a kick out of it. The Gatorade is awesome. And I like it better with the 20 oz. of water. It's a bit like Kool-Aid if you just use 16. The music is great too! A couple of other missionaries made the comment that you're a good package maker/sender. They were impressed that I didn't get any weird decorations or other things like that. The Velveeta was a savior yesterday. Because I was sick last p-day, we weren't able to shop, so we were pretty much out of food. But Velveeta just needs water, so we were in business....It was so good....so much fake cheddar goodness.

So a quick interesting story from earlier this week. We were walking across the bridge from the town center, and a guy at a cafić started waving and yelling, "Hey!" at us. We weren't sure if he was yelling at us or someone else, but when we crossed the street, he kept on yelling. So we walked over to him, and he said "Help me....my soul is so lost" and he was obviously messing with us, but we walked over to him anyways. So we walked over and he had a bunch of empty glasses on his table and he was kind of staggering and one eye was more open then the other....so drunk.... and he said, "Hi, my name is Jesus, you know...your boss...What are your names and what are you doing today?" So we told him that we were missionaries and told him that he had to be serious. He said, "Okay, you don't think I'm being serious?" And then he turned around and dropped his pants.....full moon in full public.....So yeah, we got mooned by a drunk guy claiming to be Jesus. We just walked away..... I've been thinking a lot about this. Maybe this guy had some legitimacy to his claim...after all, Jesus always said to turn the other cheek.... Bud-dum-ching (like the drums.....)

So I've been feeling fine since Tuesday...not sick any more. I think that's pretty much the major events from this last week.  

Guess what? We have transfer calls this Thursday. Can you believe it? Probably not because it's not that big of a deal for you, but this last transfer/2 months just flew by. So we hear this week what's going down for the next 2 months. It's pretty crazy. I hope I stay. I like it here and it feels like I haven't been here very long. So by next Monday, when I email again, I'll know what's going on and I'll let you know.

I better get going. I love you all a bunch. Mollie, don't worry about the lack of the email....I’ll talk to you next week. And Bri, thanks for the email...and I'm glad your dental won't be too bad. I hope you get your papers in soon. And Dad, I'm super excited to see your new truck. It sounds pretty awesome. And that sounds like a ton of fun to work on that '67!

Until next week, Love,
P.J.

P.s.... I tried to attach a pic of my blue tongue, but it's taking too long....so maybe next week.

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