The End and New Beginnings

Well, this is it. The last post I'll ever send out to you all from my missino field. One more week ahead for me and I'll be home. It is going to be an amazing week. Up to Thursday I'll still be in Cyprus Larnaca and I'll have to avoid death by overeating. We've been invited at numerous homes. So, we'll be busy... Then I've got my interview with Presidend Freestone on Friday, shopping on Saturday and too much church on Sunday before flying out Monday morning. It'll be great and quick!

This past week wasn't the best for numbers, many of our investigators lost their enthusiasm and they didn't really find time to meet with us. Nonetheless it was a great week, punctuated by some great miracles.

On Wednesday at institute sister Lucy impressed us once more by coming up to us and saying there was a man named Denny that wanted to come to the church now. He was already at the bus stop. So we went there to pick him up and we showed him around the church. He liked it a lot and this Sunday he come to church right after work (he's a baker) and stayed for the classes. We then had a lesson with him later in the afternoon where he shared some of his concerns regarding religion in our day and the confusion the different sects create. It was really cool. He also brought his friend along who liked the services and the lesson too. That was a wonderful miracle.

Josie, me, Maria. Some great members.

Elder Watts, Lynne, me, Amanda, Sister Hansen, Teresa, and Mo xD

Elder Watts, Leah, me

Elder Watts, Eliel (one of our investigating friends), me

We had another miracle showing the hand of the Lord in our lives. We went in the evening to see an investigator from Africa at his house. He'd told us that we could pass by around 8 o'clock on Sunday. When we rang his bell, he didn't answer and no one else was in the flat either. We were about to leave again when we heard some music and talking in the neighboring flat and we felt like we should knock on the door. So we rang the bell and almost immediatly it opened and a nice young African asked us to come in before we could say anything. We did. We introduced ourselves and got talking with him and his friend that lives there too. They both seemed interested in our message. We shared some of our spiritual experiences we had and they had and we were able to give them a book of mormon and they also promised to come to church on Wednesday for Institute. It was amazing. It was like they were waiting for us to knock on their door. Both had difficult past experiences that redirected their lives back to God.

I'm glad for the examples of these and all the other people I've had in my mission. It has been more for me than anyone I've served in these two years. I've learned and grown so much. I'm eternally grateful for the opportunity that was afforded me to serve. I've come to know my Savior more than I thought possible. I learned that there is more to this world than sheltered Switzerland and happy valley in Utah. I know how great my life really is. I've learned to appreciate life much more. i'm glad to have served here and i wouldn't trade this experience for nothing in the world.

I wish you all a wonderful life and a great week! I'll see most of you some time sooner or later and I hope I was able to touch at least one of you by sharing the things that touched my life. 

Breezes and Baptismal Dates

I know I keep repeating myself but this week went by quickly. I think this is to me a sign of the hand of the Lord in my life. He's making time go by quickly so I don't have time to worry about going home. I can only just do so much to stay on top of the activities of the day. I'm very glad that the Lord is influencing my perception of time in this fashion.

Last night the Lord had mercy upon me and he let there be a wind that cooled me off at night. It was great! It has been steadily getting hotter so that breeze was a life saver.

Last Saturday we had a lesson with Gerald and we taught him about the authority, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As we discussed these things we had a great feeling of the Spirit with us. It was amazing how we were guided to the right scriptures at the right time. It wasn't at all how we'd planned it but it was exactly as it was meant to be. Then we asked him if he would be baptized and he said "sure". He then shared with us that he'd spoken with his friend about it that very morning. His friend had told him that he needed to be baptized. They'd discussed it that very morning and we then came and asked him to commit to a baptismal date. It was quite amazing. On Sunday both Gerald and his friend Kamara came to church (arriving 5 min early xD). It was really nice! That was surely the hand of the Lord in my life.

This morning we went bowling and it was great! I was horrible at it though. I only had one strike in two games. xD Never mind, I'll practice and one day I'll break the 100 mark.xD Amazing really, how bad I played. xD It was a great pastime and we were invited for lunch by the Hansens after that. Score!

Some great pix from this Sunday and last Monday:

This magnificent specimen did a beautiful belly-flop only  moments after this shot was taken.

We went doorknock in village outside of Larnaca. You should have seen our tan line afterwards.

Sister Lynne and me looking awesome in church.

Me, Despina, Amanda (her mom), Elder Watts

Training and Siopao

We had an amazingly fast week. I can't believe how it flew past. We had some wonderful great experiences. After our zone trip to the camel park on Monday things went by very quickly and before I knew it we were on our way to zone conference on Friday morning. My last zone conference ever! It is amazing how quickly time flies. The training was great. President Freestone gave a presentation on recognizing the hand of the Lord in our life. He shared an experience he had in his on life, which impressed me greatly. About 30 years ago he was called to be a temple worker in the Chicago temple, which was about a 6h car drive from his home. When he was set apart he was given the promise that if he performed his calling well all of his children would be sealed in the temple one day. Well, he really wanted that promise to be fulfilled and so they Sister Freestone and he gave it their all. Going there once a month for 4 years. Well, most of his children were married in the temple except for one of his sons who never really liked the church. Over the years President Freestone was doubting that it would ever happen until just this Thursday that son was sealed in the temple. President was so happy!  I learned that we need to trust the Lord's timing in this promises. It took 30 years for that promise to President Freestone to be fulfilled but it was fulfilled.

We had an exchange with the Assistants. It was a lot of fun. I was with Elder Matthews and we had a great time working together and teaching people and members that he knew already. Sadly we didn't really have bikes (because the other's used them) and so we had to walk through Larnaca. It was quite the trek. xD

This week the hand of the Lord in my life was on Sunday. After having a lesson at the conclusion of the Sunday meetings we came out to realize that we wouldn't have time to go home and have lunch before I had to be in my interview with President Freestone. So, just at the moment where I came to terms witht he fact that I would be hungry all afternoon Elder Davies gave us two Siopao (Filipino meat buns). It was amazing. Sister Amanda had brought them for us Elders when we'd been in the lesson and now we had lunch at a moment where I thought I'd go hungry. I know that the Lord had His almighty hand in this blessing. I was just grateful that I had something to eat at that moment.

Sadly no pix this week because I'm in a very bad internet cafe...

Swiss night and Camels

Our week was a amazing. We had many great experiences throughout. On Thursday nobody wanted to meet with us so we took the chance of a whole day without appointments to go out to a village to do doorknocking. It was great! We arrived after a long sweaty bike ride and just as we were locking up our bikes a man waved us over from the other side of the street. It was truly the hand of the Lord. Because we were already tired and sweaty and hot. He waved us over and invited us on his front porch. He spoke to us and offered us watermelon and water. It was so kind. A really good elderly man. He even took a Book of Mormon for his wife. I was touched by his kindness. It was just what we needed at that time.

Thursday evening we had our weekly activity night in the branch. This week I did a Swiss culture night. It was really nice. I tried to help everyone understand that Switzerland is the greatest place on earth. I'm not sure if I succeeded but I gave it a good shot. I even had a powerpoint presentation. Can't go wrong with that. I made Roesti for it, which was my first try ever at it. (I learned that it's so easy even I can do it.) My favorite part was showing them a video of Schwingen. They were all quite impressed by this truly Swiss pastime. Also, the Jodeling was amazing to them.. xD It was good fun.

On Saturday we had another miracle. We met with Elder Jensen and Seluhins in Larnaca and did an exchange. I went to Limassol with Elder Seluhins. As we got in the bus we sat in the back and just before the bus departed a African came in with a great big smile and sat down two rows in front of us. After the bus started off he suddenly got up and came to speak to us and asked us if we had one of our magazines. It turned out that he thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses. As we explained his mistake we started speaking and he started asking questions. We offered him a pamphlet to read and he read it diligently during the ride. It was great. We got his number and he said he wanted to meet with us and come to church. He explained that he'd been searching for a long time for answers about life and about the bible. He's read the bible Genesis to Revelations but no one has been able to give him satisfactory answers to his questions about it. We challenged him to ask us one of them and as he asked it I immediately had a scripture come to mind that I'd read earlier in the week in my studies. I shared it with him and explained a little and he felt satisfied with the answer and was very willing to meet again for some more. 

Sister Anderson, me, Sister Watson, Ursula, Amanda

On Sunday I was able to attend church in Limassol. That was a treat. I saw many of the members again and said hi. It was satisfying to hear that they hadn't forgotten me quite yet. xD I really love those people and it is sad that I won't see them for probably a very long time!

This Monday we went to the Camel Park here close to Larnaca with the whole Zone. I rode a camel for the first time I remember. It was quite fun but I don't think I'll start doing it regularly. It is quite a bumpy ride xD We also had fun just looking at the animals and being stupid as missionaries. xD It was great!

I'm off to the Saharan desert...

Me, Jonny the ostrich...

The Spirit and Shoes

This week was amazing! I experienced soooo much! It was great. We had many miracles and experiences. However, two things stick out to me especially in this week.

On Wednesday we met one of our newer investigators (Gerald from Sierra Leone) for a lesson on the Restoration. He'd read the pamphlet and had many questions concerning it. They were very good questions. However, we didn't get through them all so we arranged with him to come again the next day. When we arrived on Thursday evening, they family there had guests come over just as we'd sat down. So, we ended up not discussing what we'd planned on but we had an introductory lesson and spoke of the Book of Mormon one of the guests was very interested in it. She serves in the British Army. She'd seen the book before but had never heard first hand about it, so she questioned us on it and agreed to meet with us and our other investigator on Saturday. That was when we had a the great experience. We spoke about the Apostasy. They actually spoke to us about the Apostasy they saw in the churches they'd attended and how they saw all the money-making that happens in the churches today. They got pretty excited about it. Then when they'd come to a close, we calmly told them about Joseph Smith's history. We told them of his search for truth and we let the soldier read the first vision for us from the pamphlet and we told both of them to ponder the picture right next to it afterwards. When she finished reading there was a hush. We stayed quiet for at least 3-4 min. It was great! The Spirit was very strong in the room as we just sat there and savored the feeling. Then Elder Watts and I testified humbly of our knowledge of the truth of these things. The Florence (soldier) just kept repeating how that account really touched her. She read the whole page on the pamphlet and was quite introspective after that. They both said that they wanted to come to church the next day. (Sadly they didn't make it for some reason :(   ) But, I saw what effect the Spirit had on those two people and it was definitely the Lord's hand in the lesson and in the "coincidence" of us meeting a second unplanned time with our investigator (Gerald) so we could also meet Florence and share that message with her also.

On Sunday we had a great miracle in Elder Watts life which touched me. We had an appointment with Sister Despina on Sunday evening. When we spoke with her in church in the morning she told me that she had a surprise for me. I was curious.
So after we'd ended the lesson we had with her and her mother I asked her what that surprise was. She ran to her room and came back out with a shoebox. Inside were a pair of really nice, unworn shoes. I was amazed and a little worried why she would be giving me shoes. It turned out that her uncle had bought them for her 2 years ago and had gotten them to large for her and they were also men's shoes. So she'd kept them but never really found any use for them. I looked at the size and realized that they wouldn't fit me and I told her. But then it turned out that that they fit Elder Watts. It was amazing. Because Elder Watts had been telling me just earlier this week that he needed to go buy new shoes and there were exactly the shoes he needed. It was quite amazing! It reminded me of the story in the Liahona a while back. I know now with certainty that the Lord looks out for his missionaries even in trivial things. That is what I learned from this experience! It is astounding. 

Changes and the Book of Mormon

We had a great week. Actually, we were surprised how well the week went when we looked back this Sunday. It was just amazing. We just went about our daily work and we were visited by small miracles throughout the week which made the whole amazing and magnificent. The first part of the week, we had the Christensens there with us helping us and when they left the Hansens took over, hardly missing a beat. They are doing a great job!

The Hansens are the new senior couple here in Larnaca. They are helping a lot already. They are from Chubbuk, Idaho which is close to Pocatello. xd They have 9 children and 36 grandchildren. They are great! They came with a how can we help attitude. We've had them with us for a lot of lessons already and they are doing great. On Thursday we wanted to meet them at our apartment for them to inspect it and then we were going to help them buy a GPS. Well, they really need it. It took us about 1.5h to find each other xD They went all around Larnaca and back and out again. But finally we were able to direct them to a street were we met them and took them to our place. After that we got their GPS and set it up and since then they've been doing a lot better with getting around. xD

The members were sad when the Christensens left.

We felt this week like we should go see President Ivanov for a lesson. The thing is, that he lives far out and we feared that we might lose a lot of time but we still felt impressed to do so. So, on Wednesday morning we waited for the but out to his house. We waited at the bus stop for almost 1.5h. The buses are terrible... We spoke with a very nice lady that was waiting for the bus too during this time, so all was not lost. Then we finally arrived at President Ivanonv's and we had our lesson and spoke with him also about how we can support the branch and what we missionaries can do to help him. We spoke of the book of mormon and it's importance in our lesson. Then going back we waited a long time for the bus again. We were able to give a Book of Mormon to a lady there and speak to another one. However, I felt like we'd wasted time. I felt like we hadn't used our time as well as we should have and I wondered why we'd felt so strongly about visiting him in the first place. My answer came on Sunday in the gospel principles class. President Ivanov spoke about missionary work in the class and helped everyone there recognize how they were missionaries. He reminded some how they'd already done missionary work and brought friends to church and he spoke of the joy we feel when we do so. Then he challenged everyone to give a Book of Mormon to one of their friends this week. He told us how after we'd left he'd found an answer to one of his question he'd had in the Book of Mormon we'd left him for his friend. We'd given him a Book of Mormon with one of those papers that has the questions of the soul on it and where to find the answers in the Book of Mormon. That is when I felt and understood why we'd gone to see him and I knew that we'd done the right thing. I know the Lord had His hand in my life in that experience.

Sister Ivanova, "Alex", President Ivanov

Well, we are teaching San, as I told you last week. She came to church again this week and is really serious about her commitment to everything concerning the gospel. She's progressing wonderfully and has a baptismal date for June 15th. I'm really excited for her. She's been an investigator in Larnaca since before I came on my mission. xD She's been around for a long time. So, I'm really glad that she's finally come to commit herself to this cause and to the plan Heavenly Father has for her. In just the last two weeks we already saw a great deal of growth.

San, Candle, Princess, Antonia

There are more changes coming to Larnaca. We've got transfers this week. I'll be transferred again... Elder Watts and I are moving to the other apartment in Larnaca. The one I used to stay in when I came into the mission. Which I find quite ironic. xD We're moving because Sisters are coming to serve in Larnaca and they'll stay in the apartment I'm in now. xD It's pretty exciting because Larnaca has so many female member that the Sisters will really be able to make a difference and help a lot, I believe.

We made a new map for the Sisters to find their way.

We met a lot of new people this week and some of them have become investigators. We'll see how they progress in the coming weeks. We met a family from Sierra Leone which seems very promising. They've lived here in Cyprus for 11 years and the father used to play professional soccer here and around Europe. I'm excited to see them progress...

Teaching and Finding

This week was awesome. We had some great experiences. We don't have that many investigators anymore, so we've been focusing mostly on finding and making sure that the people we DO teach are being taught to the best of our ability. We had some amazing teaching experiences which I know were led by our Heavenly Father.

We met with San, from Cameroon, who's been learning for quite some time on and off. She'd been doing fairly well in reading the Book of Mormon and she's been keeping all the commitments we've given her with one exception. She's been struggling to come to church. For some reason she missed quite a few Sundays. So we decided to focus on the Sabbath and the importance of everything that goes on in church. We'd planned to teach about how we learn and stuff in church and how we go to renew covenants. As we taught, however, we somehow started speaking of the Holy Ghost and the covenant of baptism. We spoke of how it is essential to attend church to keep the Holy Ghost in our lives. We were 100% guided by the Spirit in what we taught and she participated and shared how much she wanted that blessing of the Holy Ghost in her life. It was quite special. She committed to come on Sunday and every Sunday after that. I think she really understood that lesson. And she came this Sunday! It was amazing. I know that the hand of the Lord was in that lesson.

We had another wonderful experience in finding. We were doorknocking close to the Christensen's house around noon. We were in one of these very small narrow streets with small little houses. As we progressed a small open garage came into view with a man working on something there next to his (fairly nice) car. For some reason I felt prompted to speak to this man about his car, instead of just approaching him about the gospel. So I spoke about where he got the car from and what he'd fixed and done on the car. He opened up and we suddenly got speaking about why we're here in Cyprus and we were able to speak of his faith in God and how God guides us in this life. He opened up quite a bit and was more that happy to have us come over to visit with him soon. I'm convinced that Heavenly Father inspired me to speak about the car first so as to allow this man to open to our message.

Sunday was wonderful this week. We had a great Sacrament meeting. One of our recent converts, Daniel from Nigeria, blessed the sacrament for the first time in his life and he also shared his testimony with the congregation. President Freestone came to Larnaca for church. He came to Cyprus for interviews with the missionaries during the week. My interview with him was great. We spoke mostly about going home xD...

Anyway, he shared a great message about he Book of Mormon. He shared his testimony and taught us about it's importance in the gathering of Israel. He also shared how reading the Book of Mormon will bless us in our lives. He said "The more we read [the Book of Mormon], the more we will recognize the Spirit"! I know that this is true. He was speaking under the influence of the Spirit when he shared that. May we all follow that admonition and read the Book of Mormon daily and as often as we can. We WILL be blessed.

Sorry about the lack of pix..The upload isn't working today. I'll compensate next week.

Baptism and Kykkos

Archangel Reading

We just had an epic day. We went to Kykkos monastery in the Trodos mountains. It was awesome. It is a working monastery you can go look at and we saw some crazy cool mosaics on the wall and lots of orthodox paintings. The best was in the chapel they had. Sadly we couldn't take any pictures. There was so much gold in that chapel that you could probably buy a nice mansion with it. It was crazy! It was great fun. We went with all the missionaries in Cyprus. After the monastery we met up for lunch at a restaurant nearby. It was a great way to spend our day. I hope to keep up these great activities the rest of my stay here. 

The good samaritan

We had a very good week. We had a baptism! It was a very beautiful baptism. Sister Merlien from the Philippines got baptized. She's married to a Dutch man that lives here and we had the baptism at their house (they have a pool). The setting at Sister Merlien's house was really nice and private. We had about 28 people from the branch and also a fair number of non-members there. We even got some less active members to come out too. It was great. Sister Merlien loved it. Elder Watts was able to baptize her and he did an amazing job. Elder Christensen (senior couple) did a wonderful confirmation on Sunday at church.

I think I saw the hand of the Lord in my life this Sunday. I saw it twice within a very few hours. We had a lesson at the Christensen's house with Mirasol (new investigator) after church. She'd had a small zero lesson with us on Thursday and she'd come to the baptism and church. She's a referral from Sister Janice who is a recent convert herself. As we sat down for the lesson Sister Lucy (who'd been at the Christensen's for lunch) decided to stay in the lesson with us. We didn't complain as Sister Lucy is a great member and a good help in fellowshipping. We wanted to speak about the Godhead and how Heavenly Father loves all his children. As the lesson progressed it developed a bit beyond what we'd expected and Mirasol was very concerned about why we are allowed to have trials even if we believe in God and try to do His will. This is where I saw the Lord's hand in Sister Lucy's presence. She shared a deeply personal account of one of her own trials she had when she was first learning about the gospel in 2001. She shared how she'd felt and how she'd overcome that trial. It was a very moving moment and it touched Mirasol's heart, I believe. I'm sure that was the most important part of the lesson and it was the reason Sister Lucy felt prompted to stay in the lesson with us. I'm grateful that she was ready to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost to help one of Heavenly Father's children.

In the afternoon we had a lesson with a few of the members from the branch together with the Christensen's again :) We spoke with them about personal revelation. This time the Lord inspired Elder Watts to share an experience he'd had with personal revelation to help one of his family members. He asked for inspiration to know what to pray for to help someone in his family and after time the answer came to him. The members had been a little bit lighthearted and distracted before this but when Elder Watts shared this the Spirit came into the room very strongly and everyone was touched. Then some of the sisters shared when they or their friends had felt personal revelation and everyone was edified. The lesson didn't go how we'd planned it but it went how the Lord needed it to go to teach everyone present something. That is how I know it was the Lord's hand in our lives to bring us closer unto us.

The Cyprus Zone

Dying Elders and Larnaca

This week has been crazy. In the office time just goes by too quickly! I can't really believe it. I'm in Larnaca now! The city of my birth xD I'm excited to work here and do my very best! I hope to make a difference here. We had transfers today. I'm now with Elder Watts. He's from Sheffield, England. We're gonna have a great time here in Cyprus.

The Lord always influences our lives.

The hand of the Lord in my life was that I got my hope and wish for transfers! I really wished to come to Larnaca. I've always had a great love for this city. I was very sad to leave Larnaca in my first transfer so much earlier than I'd expected. I'd always hoped to return one day and "finish what I began". Well, I'm glad the Lord saw fit to let me have this wish and now I'll make the best of it. My desire is to serve the Lord (and the people who live here) as well as I possibly can. I'm going to give everything I have. I'll go ALL OUT!

Elder Neville has to stay in the office, I am set free! xD

We had the departing missionaries (Elder Rahal, Nicholls, and Brandenburg) with us the last few days. They came in Thursday evening. When we picked them up we went out for dinner with them and Elder Rahal's mother who came to pick him up. We also invited Tasos and Sypros who are the same that I did translation with for General Conference. IT was a great time. I ordered squid and it was delicious. Then we also got these small fish and we ate them whole. Head and tail and everything! It was actually really yummy but somehow everyone else didn't really want to eat them. I wouldn't have believed it if you'd told me two years ago but I really enjoy sea food nowadays. xD

Elder Nicholls, Elder Brandenburg, Elder Rahal

We had a great time with those three Elders. We tried to make the last few days with us as enjoyable as possible. It is sad to see missionaries leave. These are people you've worked with and had a fun with for almost two years and now they leave and you don't know if you'll ever see them again. It is strange. It was also weird to think that I would be the next one to leave after them. I'll be sure to work so as to be ready when the time comes.

On Saturday we had another miracle. Vasilis, a non-member we taught once before, who'd come to church on his own showed up at the mission office for a lesson. That was definitely the Lord's influence in his life. We sat down with him and had a great lesson on the restoration and how the Book of Mormon will bless him. We tried hard to help him discover the truths he needs to know rather than just lecture him. I'm realizing more and more how challenging that really is. It is a lot of work to properly involve your investigator and guide him rather than just throw truth at his face. I'm glad for that training we had and I'm excited to become a better teacher by mastering this technique.

My last time driving as a missionary.

Conference and Exchange

This week went by like lightning. We didn't have time to say "boo" before the week was over. We prepared for the meeting with Elder Kearon (First Quorum of the Seventy) to come visit us on Thursday and Friday. It was quite amazing. Elder Neville and I worked hard to clean the chapel together with some other missionaries for the occasion. We also had to get all the electronic equipment to work properly. We organized multiple backup systems so that he could use his iPad. (luckily, in the end it all went without a hitch.)

He came and had a zone conference with us on Thursday. I tried to prepare myself spiritually for this meeting. I pondered and prayed for before the meeting and I prepared two questions that I would have on my mind during the duration of the meeting with Elder Kearon. Both questions were answered! I know the Lord love me and He cares about me enough to guide me through His chosen servants. I asked how I could gain and retain my conversion and I asked how I could make the most of the upcoming two months I've got left on my mission. The answer came to me over and over again throughout the meeting. It was wonderful to feel the influence of the Spirit guide my thoughts to understand and apply what Elder Kearon was saying to my own personal situation.

I learned some great truths that I need to apply in my life to successfully navigate the river of mortality. I'm quite grateful that I prepared myself. Elder Kearon was really great! He went to great lengths to make us feel comfortable enough to share our thought throughout the meeting. He said that he prepared carefully to not ask any questions that we could get wrong. It was really wonderful. He emanated an aura of kindness and love.

Elder Kearon and I.

On Friday we had some great surprises! We had an extraordinary leadership meeting with Elder Kearon in the morning. I'd never seen anything like it. He made us share what we learned and then we spent 2.5h discussing and thinking how we can condense the list of things we'd  mentioned into 3 terms. These we will now use to convey what we want the mission to focus on. It seems quite strange to me but I already noticed how it works. This process made these terms stand out as something special to me because I connect them with the feelings I had in the training.

We had an exchange with the Elders in Sepolia (my old area) and I was with Elder Nicholls (who's going home next week) and we just had the greatest 4h exchange ever. It was just amazing. We were on fire for some reason xD We went out and we spoke to practically everyone and we had success with almost as many as we spoke to. It was a very uplifting experience for me as I don't get to go out and contact that much right now. We just had a great time going about the Lord's work.

This Sunday we attended church in the Athens 1st branch (Greek-speaking). It was a treat to meet the members there and chat with them.

Tasos, I, President Spyros Dimitropoulos

Finding and Waffles

We had a few great experiences this week. Most of our week we were running here and there preparing for Elder Kearon's visit this week. We had to figure out how to make the projector setup we have in the church work with an iPad, as Elder Kearon wants to show us things from his. By Sunday we finally managed to get that work.

On Tuesday evening President Freestone called us over to his house at 9.15pm  and had an impromptu meeting with us about how missionaries are using their time and how district meeting are going. It was quite interesting, but it went on so long that we got home late... What can we do? xD

The Mission Office, we live in the dungeon below.

A great experience I wish to mention happened on our exchange this week with Elders Kopischke and Smith. Elder Smith is a new missionary who came to Greece about five weeks ago. I was with Elder Smith all of Friday. It was a great opportunity to work with him and I got to feel the joy a trainer feels again as he helps his trainer progress to become a fully powerful missionary. Elder Smith struggles with speaking to strangers on the street or elsewhere, and he finds it especially difficult in Greek (in which he doesn't feel confident). As you can easily imagine that makes missionary work pretty tough. So, we decided to work on that together during our exchange. When we went out I contacted the first person we met as an example and then I turned it over to him. He didn't speak to anyone, at most a "hello" for while. I encouraged him and pointed out people to him that he might contact. As I prodded and encouraged and pushed a little he finally spoke to someone. They stopped and we spoke to them. Then we went through the same process again. Each time it took him less time to gather the courage to speak up. Finally, we got to the point where we switched after each contact and I didn't have to say more than that it was his turn.

In the afternoon we went through the same process with doorknocking. At first he wouldn't do anything. Then I told him he should say hello and introduce ourselves and I would continue. Once he'd done that a few times I just didn't speak up and after glancing at me he continued speaking to the people. It was a wonderful experience for me (and I hope for him) as he grew during the day and gained confidence that he COULD speak to people. Although he wasn't really comfortable by the end of the day speaking to random strangers, he now know that he can do it. I'm so glad for these opportunities to do exchanges and help people grow. It is one of the greatest joys! I'm grateful that the Lord inspired me to know what to do with him and how to help Elder Smith overcome some of this fears. At the beginning of the day I felt very worried about how we would approach this, but as we went out and I put my faith in the Lord things just worked and ideas came to my mind.

We had another wonderful experience on Sunday! In the afternoon after church we finally managed to meet with a less active member we've been trying to see for months. His name is Julian and he's from Albania and has been a member for about 14 years or so. We sat down with him at the chapel and spoke about why he'd left the church and what was missing in his life. He was quick to admit that he felt a big difference and something large missing in his life. He said that he didn't know why he'd left the church. He'd just missed one Sunday and then another and 2 became 3 and so forth. Now, he said it was hard to change the habit of not going to church back. But he's willing to try. He committed himself to praying every day again and he'll come to church, he said, after Easter. I'm just glad we could speak with him. He's a great person and I know he could help the church here if he just gets back in 'the game'.

On Sunday evening we were invited by President Freestone and Sister Freestone for waffle dinner! We should now call it an official tradition to have waffles on Sunday at the Freestone's. This is the second time they invited us. The waffles were super delicious and I couldn't help but eat a lot. In fact I had so much I was afraid I'd pop. It really hurt :) It was a wonderful end to this week.

Training and Exchanges

On Tuesday we had our Specialized Training in Greece. It was just as great as in Cyprus. I'm not sure that our presentation went as well as it went in Cyprus but the missionaries couldn't tell the difference. xD We had pizza for lunch from Domino's. No complaints here. xD

We did a lot of this things this week. We had a small exchange with the Elders from Thessaloniki that came down for training. I had a lesson with Harry (recent convert) together with Elder Rahal who baptized Harry. It was a nice treat for both of them. We spoke of the ten commandments and Harry had some great insights. I'm so grateful to be here and be able to learn from all these different people.

We had a great blessing of the hand of the Lord in our life this week. Elder Neville and I went door-knocking after district meeting on Thursday. As we progressed down the road we didn't find anyone who was interested. But then we just a great opportunity where we were blessed in a way that I'd never experienced before. There was a lady walking down the road with some shopping bags in her hand and I asked her if we could help her. She said no. But even as she said so, she was really impressed that we'd offer and was very grateful for the offer and was then curious to know what we were doing. We explained our purpose and our mission and she was very friendly and interested enough to take a Book of Mormon. This was the first time in my mission where an offer to help someone on the street actually had any positive consequences.

On Friday I had an exchange with the Zone Leader here in Athens, Elder Brandenburg (Holland). It was really cool. We did contacting all day except for a small while during the early afternoon where we had a lesson with a member in our area. This member is 84 and he was baptized when he was 78! He's Greek and amazing. He still works as a Physiotherapist. Teaching him is always amusing as he usually just goes on about how great Greece is and the Greek language. I LOVES Greek. xD

During the contacting part of the day we met some highly interesting people. One person bore testimony to us of the orthodox church. It was really cool to see that he actually believed what he said and had studied it out as well. I was impressed. Another cool experience was later where we met a lady and when she heard that we were Mormons she told us that we practiced polygamy. We told her that we didn't. Then she said: "Yes, you do!" We gently repeated that we don't. She insisted and told us that we should check what we believed. We tried to explain that we knew what we believed but she would have none of it. So we changed tracks and told her of the Book or Mormon and testified of it. She took one. XD It was amazing!!!!

On Sunday morning I had a great experience. We put in our newly burned CD with talks on it. The talk that came first was just perfect for me at this time. It was Elder Bednar teaching about prayer and how we can have more personal and powerful prayers. I felt like he was speaking only to me. I'm so grateful for the Lord teaching me through his Apostle in this way. I really needed to hear that talk at this time and I've already worked to apply it in my praying and I've realized that I'd become lax in them somewhat and I'm now able to move back praying as I should and more importantly to praying so I'm truly communicating with my Heavenly Father.

This Monday we went to Delphi. This time the thing was actually open, not like last time. It was absolutely great! I enjoyed every minute of it.  I hope you enjoy some of the pix below.

All the missionaries in Athens.

This is the temple of Apollo

Its the Roman invasion!

Children and Cyprus

I had a special experience this week with Harry and his children, which I know is from the Lord. He asked us if he could come over with them and have us "teach" them something little about the gospel. Obviously it would have to be very very simple. We agreed and then we had no clue what to do. I don't know how to teach children. xD Well, when he came over we ended up showing them some videos of Joseph Smith for children that we found on lds.org. It was a very simple activity. Maro (the girl) really enjoyed the videos and was fascinated by them.

General Conference

What a week! It was just crazy. We were busy, busy, busy. I'm glad the transfer is over and everyone has settled into their new areas.

I saw the Lord's hand in my life again this General Conference. I had the privilege to participate in the translation of General Conference into Greek. I'm very grateful that I got the opportunity again. It was just amazing. The intensity with which I felt the Lord's help was amazing. I recognized that I couldn't do this alone from the beginning and I prayed for the strength do read the talks in Greek at the tempo and rhythm and with the feeling that was necessary to convey the Spirit and the power of what these Apostles and prophets were saying.

This is the first session on Sunday.

I was able to translate President Eyring's talk, Elder Cook's talk, Elder Andersen's talk and I had the privilege to read the translation for Elder Holland's talk and I knew that I needed to work hard to convey that emotion he conveys when he speaks. I also knew what I wouldn't be able to do it on my own. So, I prayed for a miracle. I prayed that I could feel what Elder Holland felt as he spoke and that I could speak as Elder Holland spoke. It turned out to be an amazing experience. As I read I felt like I was giving the talk and that what I was saying where my words i.e. they came from my feelings. It was a little bit like floating. It was quite amazing. I hope that it will be a great experience for those who'll listen to it in Greek.

This is towards the end of the second session on Sunday.

That Sunday I had another experience with the Lord's hand in my life. In the morning I remembered that it was our turn as missionaries to give the Priesthood class in Halandri branch. I had completely forgotten that and because we were in Ilion and Elder Neville was in Akropoli we hadn't planned on going to church in Halandri. We called Pres. Karamboulas and he said we shouldn't worry about it. But as we were sitting in Sacrament meeting in the Athens 1st branch (Greek) I just had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to be in Halandri. At first I wanted to suppress it and make excuses why it wouldn't be practical. However I spoke to Elder Neville and we decided we would go after Sacrament meeting up to Halandri to teach that class.

So, it was and we went and we taught the class somehow (we didn't really have time to prepare). I could tell that they were very grateful that we'd shown up. I'm also very grateful that I went, because the whole time I knew I'd made the right choice. It turned out to be a little difficult to coordinate our meeting with Elder Barber and Demeyere again (who were doing translation too) and I ended up staying for the whole 3 h in the Athens second branch (English). It was pretty nice though. I was able to meet Canada again. He was in church there. We were both really happy to talk again. It worked out and I wasn't worried at all about not having time to practice reading the talks we'd be translating in the evening because I knew that I'd done what Heavenly Father wanted me to do.

Elder Holland's talk.

Questions and Caves

This was my last week with Elder Jensen. We had a lot of fun stuff to do. Also a lot of less fun stuff. We did a lot of preparation for next week. We're getting 6 new missionaries. It'll be pretty fun. Elder Jensen will train a missionary from Latvia and we have no clue if he knows any English xD. I'm getting a new companion! I'm staying as Assistant and I'm getting Elder Neville (France) to join me here. He's from my MTC group too! I'm really excited for that.

We had a lesson with Harry last Wednesday. It was really awesome. I really saw the hand of the Lord in that lesson. We tried to apply what we'd been preaching to all the missionaries in the trainings we've been doing. We prepared with scriptures and also questions that we wanted to do. We took some extra time when we prepared in the morning. We started out and it just flowed. We kept asking Harry questions and he started to answer and teach himself. We wanted him to realize that he needs to commit himself to come to church consistently. So, rather than just telling him that he need to come to church we spoke of obedience and the blessings of being obedient. Then we spoke of reasons why we are disobedient and we came to the conclusion that a great reason for disobedience is fear of man rather than of God. As we discussed this I could see in his eyes and his demeanor that he was realizing that he himself needed to work on his fear of man.

By the end he committed himself to bring his aunt to church and to be there no matter what. It seems that he had trouble convincing himself to come with her. At the end of the lesson I was sure that he 'got it' and he wanted to to what we never had to tell him to do. I'm so grateful for the Spirit teaching as we left time for Him to teach and to testify. The next part of this story is that Harry showed up this last Sunday in church with his aunt in tow. It was just wonderful that they both came and were there!

And today we had a great morning experience. We went up on a mountain behind our house with Harry and President Freestone. We got to the top and could see all around. We saw down over all of Athens (which is huge) and to the sea on the other side and to Marathon (the place the race is named after). It was a great, great view. A little further down on the mountain there is an awesome cave. It is where the ancient Greeks excavated the marble for the parthenon on the acropolis. It is quite huge and has all sorts of small tunnels. Some of those even go all the way down to Athens. It was used in the 16th century or so by a famous Greek robber. He would hide there and go down into Athens through the tunnels. XD We didn't get to go in the tunnels but the cave was epic!

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Oracles and German

This has been a great week. I loved it! We had some great experiences. What just disturbs me is that the time is passing by faster and faster. I can't really keep up with it. Especially here in the office days can zip by like nothing.

We had some lessons with Sean this week. We came to a really interesting point with him. Earlier in our lessens a week ago or so, we asked him what he thought about the BoM. He told us that he knew it was true and good. We were kinda happy to hear that. We asked him how he knew and after his answer we were a little less happy. He said that he had his ways.... He wouldn't tell us at that point what his way was. This week we came to this topic again and he shared that he consulted an oracle (in form of a book). We explained to him that we didn't believe in these kinds of things. He was saddened about that and he said that he didn't really want to stop using this oracle because it helped him. It seems that we've reached an impasse with him. It was a very interesting conversation but a little saddening.

We did a lot of work inside this week. We prepared many things for the training we'll have with the missionaries next week. One thing we had to do was really funny. President Freestone asked us to copy a quote from President Hinckley and to make some nice cards and laminate them to put in the scriptures for the missionaries. Elder Jensen wrote it up on the computer and printed everything out. Then we laminated them together and cut them up and everything. Just as we were finishing up Elder Jensen asked me if I wanted to check the quote for spelling. Well, I did and I found some typos. Great! President Freestone spotted them too later on and we got to re-do everything again. So we'd just wasted two hours laminating and cutting. That was a great moment. xD

We had an exchange on Friday with the Elders in Akropoli. That was tonnes of fun. They are three together so I got two of them for the exchange. We had fun startling people as we walked up to the people to contact them. Three big guys coming up to these small Greek people xD We also had some great lessons in the afternoon. We taught two brothers from Kongo (separately). One lesson was in French and then the other we taught in German. That was really cool. Elder Kopischke speaks German too. This was my first full lesson in German. This man from Kongo lived in Germany for a long time and because of that he speaks almost perfect German. We taught him the message of the Restoration. It was quite good. We gave him a baptismal date in the end. I was really happy about those two brothers. They are both really good.

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Corinth and Number plates

We had a great week. There were some wonderful highlights this week that really touched my heart. We went up to Corinth again, this time with President Freestone, Elder Wilderspin (went home this Monday) and Harry (Greek new member). Wow, that was a great experience! It was actually quite cloudy and rainy that day. However, we didn't let that put a damper on our spirits. I'm very grateful that I was able to go. What warmed my heart was to see Harry so light hearted as he was on that trip. He has a lot of trouble here in Greece. He was divorced just very recently and he gets to see his two children only every 2 weeks. He quit his job because of harassment he suffered there. So, he doesn't have a lot to smile about right now, but that trip to which we invited him really was a treat for him. Or so it seemed. He was joking and laughing and just all-round happy throughout the day. That just made me really happy...

Elder Wilderspin, Me (instigator of this pic xD), Elder Jensen

I'm grateful for the moment when I saw Emmanuel in church this week. We'd had a lesson with Emmanuel, a less-active member the week before last together with President Freestone. He has been a member longer that I have (since 1991) but he somehow just lost the fire of his testimony or something and he decided that he didn't need to come to church any more. With President Freestone's help (he did most of it) we convinced Emmanuel that we needed him in church (which we do) and he agreed to come to church again and give it another try. What a highlight! He stayed true to his word and I know he'll be blessed for it. I hope he continues on this path and that he'll actually re-find that fire for the gospel in his heart. I know it must have been there once and I'm sure it'll come out again if he only does as he's supposed to. The Lord will look out after him.

Me, Harry, Elder Wilderspin, Elder Jensen

Another highlight of my week came this morning. We had the group of missionaries leaving this Monday (5 pers.) in our apartment for the last 3 days. We had to host them for those days. It went alright. We had a fun time with them. Even if they made a mess of our place. And they were very loud. XD So, we dropped them off at the airport this morning and we won't see them for a while at least. Then we went to the police station to pick up our number plates. Finally! We got there, and we'd called them earlier in the week to verify how, when and where to get them, and then they told us that we had to go to another police station across town (the main one) for those plates. But we told them that we'd called and talked to them and they'd told us to come to the place we were right then. They wouldn't have any of it. So we had to drive across town (without GPS because it broke just two days earlier for some reason) and get to the station there. It was the main one, we had to go through a security check and everything before we got in. But finally we obtained those number plates. We are once more FREE to drive around with our car! I've very grateful for that mercy of the Lord.

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Tickets and Illness

Last Monday Elder Jensen and I were in for a treat. We had to help President Freestone with some translation in the morning with the guy that brought the heating oil and afterwards we sorta invited ourselves to his house to watch a Disney movie. We watched Aladdin and we got some sandwiches and stuff from Sister Freestone. It was a very simple and humble pleasure but I enjoyed it nonetheless!

Also, we had another great experience on Wednesday. We were invited by Tasos (member) for dinner with him. The dinner was really nice. We ate at a small restaurant close to his house and we had these delicious snails. They were to die for! After the dinner we made our way back to the car where we were in for a nasty shock. We'd gotten a parking ticket and they (the police) had taken our number plates! This wasn't very nice for us. Obviously we thought we had to leave the car there and take the metro back home. We were worried, of course, about leaving the car in Athens. Especially for such a long period. So, as we were getting on the metro I felt impelled to read the ticket we'd received very carefully again. As I was going through it I came to the second to last point and I realized that it said that we had the permission of with that slip of paper to drive our car back home on a direct route. So turned to Elder Jensen and explained this and we turned back and were able to drive the car home. I'm grateful for this small mercies the Lord shows to us even in our infirmities and when we err.

On Thursday we had an exchange with the missionaries in Agios Dimitrios (south of Athens). We set up a whiteboard on the street  in the morning and we contacted people and used the whiteboard as a means to gain some attention. We spoke with people about family prayer (3 Nephi 18:21). It was heart-warming to hear that a lot of the people we spoke to actually prayed in their families and felt that it helped them and blessed them. One young couple (twenties) was very cute when we asked them if they would like to be together forever they both immediately said yes. xD

On Saturday Elder Jensen and I, as well as Elder Clark (Senior Couple in the office) got sick with the flu. It his us all at the same time, which was rather strange. We were down and out for a day and a half. We laid low all of Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Not very fun. Yesterday we stayed home all day and we had the chance to watch a good movie about President Thomas S. Monson. But luckily it's passed and we all got well quickly. I'm feeling great again and so is Elder Jensen. Elder Clark is feeling a lot better but he still needs some rest.

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Rain and Church

Well, we had a great week! On Monday night we had the privilege to have a Family Home Evening with President & Sister Freestone, Elder & Sister Clark and Sean. We had a yummy pizza from Domino's for dinner and then we had a spiritual thought by President Freestone on gratitude. We watch the Mormon Message about living in Thanksgiving daily and we spoke of something we're grateful for. It was pretty nice. We got to Sean and he started talking, and talking, and talking and he almost shared his whole life story speaking about what he's grateful for. It was quite epic! xD But all in all a good FHE.

We also got to meet with Kostas and his girlfriend this week. We drove back out to the little village they live in. We met with both of them this time. They are really cool and nice! We just spoke with them about God and who He is to them. Then they asked us about marriage and family. We explained a little about the temple and about eternal marriage. They seemed to like the idea. We'll see if they can commit themselves enough.

We had an exchange with Elder Barber and Elder Hatton this Friday. It was a really good experience. I got to spend the day with Elder Barber and I discovered that he's an extraordinary missionary. I was very impressed with him. I saw the Lord's mercy in our life this week. When we woke up it was raining like nothing I've ever seen in Greece. All of us were just really dreading the moment we had to go outside after our studies. So, I prayed that we wouldn't get drenched in my morning prayer. Then as soon as we finished our language study the train stopped. We didn't even have a drop hit us during all the time we were out! We also had the mercy to have a lesson with a man that the Elders had been trying to meet for weeks without success. We just walked to the guy's shop and he was there and available and we were able to have pretty good lesson with him about God's nature and how the gospel could help him. Afterwards Elder Barber said that he hadn't ever expected to be able to meet with him. He'd always been telling them that he was busy...

I saw the hand of the Lord in our lives on Sunday too. We got to church and were helping Ralph with the Sacrament. After we finished with that and came out of the Sacrament Room we bumped into to gentlemen from Africa (some country I can't spell or remember) and they were looking around rather forlorn. We spoke to them and welcomed them in to the meeting room for them to have a seat. I got to speak with them a little before the meeting started and it turned out that they'd been invited by someone to come to church. I didn't catch who invited them the first time and we got talking more. They are French-speaking but one of them had decent English. They did great during the meeting. They both tried to sing along with the hymns, which impressed me immensely.

As we got talking after the Sacrament Meeting I asked them again who brought them and they pointed and said that it had been that "old lady over there". I followed their finger and I saw Helen at sitting over there! Helen is and elderly lady that likes to speak to herself. She comes to church every Sunday and also goes to the branch that is in the afternoon at the Akropolis. She isn't all there and couldn't be baptized because of it; however, she has a sweet spirit. I was impressed just how much the church means to her to see that she would invite some people to come to church with her. Even when you don't understand everything, the Spirit that you feel in church makes a great difference and anyone who doesn't harden his heart can feel it.

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Training and Exchange

This week we had a training with President Freestone on Tuesday. As always it was a spiritual feast and also a nutrition feast. We enjoyed great food prepared for us by the senior couples. During the training we spoke a lot about our mission plan and the action plan we have to achieve our mission goals. It was really good, because we'd all worked together on these goals and actions that we wished to take. So everyone was in agreement about them and wanted to do these things. It seemed to me that the statement by Elder David E. Bednar "Revelation is scattered among us" is really true. We also watched a driving safety movie that we're supposed to see every year. It was quite amusing. Though, I'm not sure how effective it was. Athens traffic is just quite different from anything you can imagine. :)

Elder Rahal and I relaxing after training in the Dungeon (Elder Jensen's and my abode).

We had a few experiences this week where I felt the hand of the Lord in my life. The two experiences that stick out to me this week happened both during the exchange we had this Saturday-Sunday.
During my exchange with Elder Dale we worked for about 5h in Nikaia doing contacting and some tracting. We were about two hours in to contacting and we'd been rejected quite a bit and I was feeling a little discouraged by that time, when we turned into a small park which included a playground with a fair amount of families on it. As we walked in I suggested we go past the playground first and walk up to the man sitting on the bench on the far side first and then work our way back. As we approached the man on the bench he started berating us for trying to change people and started pontificating about something or another (I tuned him out fairly quickly). We wrapped up that dead-end conversation and zeroed in on the playground. The first family: cold rejection! The second family waved us away too. We were about to leave the playground when Elder Dale spoke to a mother and two girls (one late teens and one around 10). The mother was super friendly and spoke with us and accepted a Book of Mormon. She didn't really want to meet to learn more at the time but she was just so friendly and upbeat, that I was again encouraged to continue and we were again enthusiastic about the work.

Another experience of how the Lord guides and helps us was a little more indirect. Elder Jensen and I have been thinking about transfers and we had figured out a transfer board which we felt pretty good about the evening before the exchange. Then we had the exchange and we worked hard with our exchange partners and then on Sunday afternoon when Elder Jensen and I drove up to the office from the church after finishing the exchange, Elder Jensen turned to me and said we have to change the transfers. I was relieved because I felt exactly the same way. So, we were very glad for the Lord making sure that we scheduled our exchanges like we did, for this gave us the information that lead to the inspiration to change the transfers again.

I'm glad that we always can rely on the Lord to help us perform His work. It isn't always easy the Lord's way but it always is possible. I've found that He lets you struggle just enough for you to learn and grow but never for you to fail in what is really important.

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Roundabouts and Switzerland

This week we had some great experiences teaching the gospel. We got to go visit a referral from Switzerland xD out in a village out of Athens. His name is Kostas and he's Greek but he lived in Switzerland for a little while. It was really cool for us to go and visit him. It took us a super long time but we got there and he turned out to be a great man. He is very sincere and was taught quite a bit already. He said he was reading from the Book of Mormon and how he wanted to learn more still.

What I feel, was the Hand of the Lord in his life, is that he got in contact with the church in Switzerland at bus stop close to his house. He'd only been in Switzerland for 2 months when he met the missionaries and only a month later he had to leave again. I really think that he went to Switzerland to be able to come into contact with the church in a more neutral (no pun intended) setting. I really hope that he'll take this opportunity and continue with the church up to being able to strengthen the kingdom.

We had some other cool experiences. On Wednesday morning we called President Freestone if we could come over to his house (down the road) to pick up some desks for our apartment from the  ones he has in storage. He said sure. So we took the van and drove over. When we got in the house we met President Freestone drenched from head to toe. It turns out that a pipe had broken in the room with the water heater and water was just spraying everywhere. President had tried to find the valve that would close off the water. During the time we were there he managed to find the valve and someone came over and we could get repairs arranged. I'm just glad that we'd decided that morning to try and pick up the desks. Because, we'd considered doing it another day and then President Freestone might not have noticed the leakage for a much longer time.

We also had an exchange on Thursday. That was really fun. We got to be outside all day doing contacting. I worked with Elder Kopischke and we said that we'd talk with everyone we crossed paths with. That was a great experience. We managed to give out 9 BoM to people on the street throughout the day just speaking with them all. We also met some very interesting people. We met one funny guy who spoke to us on and on explaining that he didn't really like words because they can't truly explain reality. (He sure like to hear himself talk considering how much he hated words and language xD). That was funny and just before him we met an elderly Greek man that got quite worked up about the Swiss. Why didn't they just give a check to Greece with all their money to help the Greeks. It was just all so unfair.... I understand that he was upset but I didn't quite know how Switzerland could pay for all of Greece's debt. Well, it was at least a very entertaining day.

Driving has been a treat here in Athens. People are crazy on the roads. Wow, it is quite amazing how crazy people drive. And you have to adapt or you don't survive xD So, I'll probably be worse driver for having driven here xD That's ok I guess... They do have some really strange rules and things on the streets here. I found them quite difficult to adjust to. In Greece, the person coming into the roundabout has the right of way. So you sometime have people just stopping in the middle of the roundabout to let someone in. It is quite disconcerting. I've also seen some strange stuff like stop signs and a traffic light right next to it. I also saw a stop sign coming into a roundabout. I seems that they like their stop  signs here. NOT that anyone pays attention to them xD

What our screen looks like on an average computer day.

It has been a great week and many cool things have happened. We're going to have a specialized training next Tuesday which I'm looking forward to and another exchange.

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