November!!!

So I apologize that I have not kept up to date on this blog, but I promise that I am going to be better! This past month has been crazy and there have been so many amazing experiences that would take me days to write about, so I will just share a few. The first pictures are of my first Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the American volleyball players over here in Slovenia. We all got together and had a feast! We were even able to have pumpkin pie, it was amazing!

I then had another Thanksgiving Dinner with all of the missionaries over here in Slovenia! What better way to spend Thanksgiving away from family, then with the missionaries! Pictures were taken, but I have not received them yet, so I apologize that there are no pictures with the missionaries.

The team is doing pretty good right now. We are doing really well in Slovenia, but in our league, which is with Croatia, Austria, and Slovakia, we are in the middle of the pack right now, so not too bad considering the level of teams that we are playing, but we could definitely be doing better. It has been such a blast to play such high level teams, I truly am learning so much each time that I play! Our club here in Kamnik had a pretty big thing happen about a week ago! It was the first time in Slovenia's history where both the guys and the girls club team for the same club, both reached the Semi-Finals for the Slovenian Cup Tournament!! So, there were cameras and news reporters everywhere, and the whole city was going crazy! It was really fun to be a part of! The Semi-Finals and the Finals for the Slovenian Cup will be on January 9th and 10th, and so I am excited that the guys and us girls are both going to be there!

This past weekend my team went to Greece for a tournament. It was the first time some of these girls have been on a plane, let alone in a hotel. It was really fun to be with them for their first experience and it truly made me feel so grateful for the experiences that I have had! So here are a few pictures to catch up on the past month!

Oh yes one more thing, here in Slovenia they do not know what pancakes are. They make crepes and put Nutella in them, but they do not know what American pancakes are, they have just heard about them. So I was able to make pancakes for my team and I was pretty impressed with how they turned out, especially since I had no idea what I was buying. They do not have syrup here and so we had to make due with Nutella, strawberries and bananas, so they were just as good!

Weekend with Erin and Richie

This past weekend Erin and Richie came all the way to Slovenia to visit me for a few days! They were so sweet to take a few days from their adventures around Europe to come and visit me! We had a blast! I don't think that I have ever eaten that much Netella in one weekend in my life, but it was completely worth it!

One of the days we went on a hike right outside Kamnik, which is where I live. The Alps are right behind my apartment, and so we enjoyed the gorgeous fall colors and the beautiful mountains all around us. My dad told Erin to give me a huge hug when she got here, so here you go dad!!
I was able to have my first real experiences of cooking something other than pasta. So, I learned how to make crepes and they turned out phenomenal! In fact, Erin and I are starting our own business once we both get settled! Here in Europe there are little coffee shops everywhere, and so we are going to open up a crepe business in the States, where you can just come and relax and enjoy the great taste of Netella!

One of the days we were all able to go to Bled, which is a gorgeous little city in Slovenia with a castle and a gorgeous lake, with an island on the middle of it.
Erin and I thought that we should pose a little different for a few shots. I think they add a lot to the picture!!

One of the nights we played "Shuk-e-darn," or "Mormon Bridge" for all you Californians. I ended up winning, after 5 bonus rounds!! Richie, as you can tell, was not happy!

Erin and Richie were able to make it to one of my games and Richie was able to take some pictures of the game! It was such a great game and so much fun to have them there for it! Thanks so much for coming Erin and Richie!! I already miss you! Sure love you guys!

AUSTRIA!!

While I have been here, I have been pretty lucky with the events that I have been able to go to with the Young Single Adults here in Slovenia. After going to Croatia with them a few weeks ago, the Young Single Adults in Slovenia were invited to a Conference in Austria with about 60 other Young Single Adults from other countries around Austria. The weekend was full of workshops, firesides, dancing, food, hikes, church and more.

One of the mornings we had a little extra time and so a bunch of us drove to Vienna for a few hours to see the gorgeous city! I was in awe how amazing it was! It is definitely a city that someone could spend days in and still not get to see everything!

One of our activities was to hike up to the waterfall in Wien Neustadt. It was absolutely gorgeous! These two girls are amazing! They are both in the Branch that I go to and the one in the middle is the Relief Society President here in Slovenia!! Talk about a huge job for someone that age!

These two girls are from Hungary and they are the sweetest people that I have ever met! They are sisters and they are so sweet to each other! They reminded me of the amazing sisters that I have!

Saturday night there was a big dance and I was not expecting the kind of dancing that I saw! All I can say is that everyone in America needs to come over here and see what real, clean dancing is like! I honestly did not know how to dance to their music because of how slow the beat was. It was not the hip hop kind of music that are at dances in the States. They were all pros at "The Waltz!!" It reminded me of Sound of Music and the dancing that is in that movie! It was such a neat experience to see what dances are like in other countries. I definitely learned a lot, and I feel bad for the guys that are still in pain for how many times I stepped on their feet. I for sure need to practice "The Waltz!"

YSA trip to Croatia

This past weekend I was able to go to Croatia and visit the Adriatic Sea with the Young Single Adult group here in Slovenia! It was such an amazing experience! All of the Single Adults here are converts and most of them are the only members in their families, and so it was fun to see the support that they are to each other. They were all very close and it was fun to be a part of and to learn from such a strong group of people! It took about 3 hours to get there, but on the way we would get out and take a lot of pictures and enjoy the gorgeous mountains and scenery. We then got to the Sea and I have never seen such gorgeous water! The water was white, green and blue! It was incredible! We then had a fireside on the Sea and then walked around the little city of Basnik and had dinner together. It was such an amazing day and I learned so much from them and their stories.

We then were able to all watch Conference together because all of the Branches in Slovenia met at our building, and so it was fun to spend the entire weekend with them!

End of Pre-Season!

Well we are finally entering into our last week of Pre-Season! My coach has tried to schedule as many games as he can to give us the experience that we need as a new team before our Season starts. This past week we played 9 games!!! I did not think that he was serious by telling us how many games we had, but he was and I have never been so tired in my life. By the last game I was not getting off the ground because of how tired my legs were. I hardly get off the ground anyways, so this was really bad! We are now 13-0 and ranked 2nd in Slovenia, so not too bad at all! Right now Maribor is #1 and we play them next weekend, and so I am excited to see how we match up against them. They have many of the Slovenian National Team players on their team, so it will be fun to play against them!

I am beginning to understand more and more what people are saying. It is fun to be able to learn some of the Slovene language, even though I am laughed at because of how terrible I am at it! The food is great, the people are so sweet, and the country is gorgeous, so I can't complain at all!

The branch that I am going to is absolutely amazing and I am learning so much from the members here and the sacrifices that they are going through to be the only members of the church in their families! It is truly humbling to be around them!! They radiate with goodness! They are working towards building the church in Slovenia from a Branch to a Stake in less than 5 years, so it is so neat to be a part of amazing missionary work that is taking place right now!

3-0!!!

We have now started into Pre-Season and so far our record is 3-0!! We are playing really well and becoming much more familiar with each other and how everyone plays. The game is totally different from how Americans play, so I am still trying to get used to the European style, but so far I am absolutely loving every second of my experience here! Here is a picture of my team, even though most of them are not smiling, they are such nice girls!

I made the team!!

So this past week I found out that I made the team here in Kamnik!! My tryouts were for about a week and a half, and I finally found out that I made it and I am so excited! I absolutely love it here and they treat me so well, and so I am excited to spend the next 7 months here! The girls have been very nice to invite me out to do things with them. Last Saturday we were able to go to the main city, Ljubljana, and it was a lot of fun! They took me and we had pizza for lunch and then they took me to another little place for dessert. I thought that most Europeans just like ice cream, gelato, but the Slovenes actually like cakes/pies, and so they took me to a dessert place and we all had cakes! They were delicious! I was not able to translate everything to the waiter, and so I told him that I love chocolate and so he said that he would bring me his favorite chocolate dish, and it was amazing!

Right now we are still in pre-season and we have started playing games to get us ready for the League to start. We beat an American team who came two weeks ago and then we beat another team, who is in the top division here, so I was pretty excited! My team has a lot of really good girls and it is very fun to play with them!

I have started to learn some of the language also, which makes it easier when my coach is yelling at me, so that I know what he is saying!

So, Ciao!

Ljubljana

Sunday I was able to go to the cute branch in Ljubljana and go to church there.  It was amazing to see the members and the strength that they had, they are truly pioneers in Slovenia!  The chapel that we went to church in is the only chapel in Slovenia, the rest of the branches just meet in members homes.  One of the families in my branch were the first members of the church in Slovenia and so it is pretty amazing to see how far the church has come in Slovenia!  The members were so kind and welcoming to me and it truly felt like a home away from home.  Right when I entered the church, I felt that I was with family.  The Senior Sister Missionaries and the Sister and Elder Missionaries serving in the ward were so kind and helped me get to where I needed to go.  The ward is in Slovenian, but they have headsets for all of the English speakers.  After church the sisters invited me to go to lunch with them at their home, and so hopefully if it works, I will show you some pictures from after church and then from Kamnik where I am staying.  

Ciao!

Hello Slovenia!

I finally made it to Kamnik, Slovenia after a long day of traveling.  It is absolutely gorgeous here!  Kamnik is a little city outside of the capitol Ljubljana.  (Don't ask me how to say that because I have asked about 5 people and I haven't got it right yet.)  I met my coaches right when I got here and they are very kind.  My head coach does not know English, which could actually be a good thing because I won't be able to know what he is saying if he is yelling at me.  I was thinking that I would have the day off and get to know the city of Kamnik better, but the coach told me that we have a 4 hour practice tonight!!!  Oh wow!  So I guess there is no complaining about jet lag, it is time to get down to business!  Wish me luck!:)