Two weeks in

So much has happened since my last post I don’t even know where to start. Yesterday marked two weeks that I’ve been here in Croatia but it feels like so much longer. L’nae and I really feel like we have known the Masseys for years and that this apartment is our home. I can already tell it’s going to be a hard transition back to the states. Before we came we didn’t really know what our trip would look like, we had a basic calendar of major events but we weren’t sure how our daily lives would be. I had some ideas in my head of what might happen but it’s really turned out to be much different than I thought. A lot of times interns show up for the summer and are constantly working camps or working at an orphanage or building houses and that’s the only thing that I could really invision but our work here is much different. I really feel like we’re getting a taste of what it’s like to be a full-time missionary here, we haven’t converted hundreds of people or built houses but we have fully immersed ourselves in the culture and became part of a wonderful family who has dedicated their lives to serving the community. This summer is more laid back and focused on relationship building, we spend a large portion of our time just helping out around the house, babysitting, gardening, helping with homework, cooking and spending time with the kids. I really feel like this summer is more about my personal growth and building strong friendships while I provide some relief to the missionaries here. In these past week we’ve been to a waterpark with the homeschool coop, toured a castle with the family, watched several of Cameron’s amazing concerts, wandered around Zagreb and Samobor, formed a biking/running club in Mala Gorica, recruited for ACU, become addicted to Creme Schnitte and croatian ice cream, folded hundreds of flyers for the christian camps, handed out balloons at the park, taught bible classes at church, had a girls night out with Erin, gotten really dirty at a ceramics workshop, mastered the public transportation system, lost quite a few pounds, got lost walking around a lake, toured a vineyard, picked our weight in cherries and taught the Massey children how to do the cupid shuffle.

I think my favorite day so far was this past saturday. We got to sleep in for the first time since we’ve been here and rolled out of bed at 9:30 and had a quick breakfast before we all piled in the car to go watch Cameron’s last soccer game. It was beautiful outside so we just sat under a shade tree and watched as the boys killed the other team. They won this last championship game and took first place in the league with a score of 12-0. After the match the team was awarded with a trophy and pizza and we watched as they paraded around and celebrated their victory. We then headed over to Samobor to the Art school where Ian and Roger had been taking ceramics lessons all year. They had all the students work on display and we saw some really amazing pieces. Then they helped us make something of our own, I grab a giant chunk of clay and proceeded to make the biggest mess of my life. About three hours later when you could no longer tell what color my hands were I had created an amazing serving plate that I am super proud of. When we arrived back home I squeezed in some time for exercise and rode about 5 or 6 miles on my bike. Around 5 o’clock we piled back into the car and headed over to the next village to visit some of our friends. The Slamars had a beauftiful house and two humongous cherry trees. All seven of us climbed up in the trees and picked as many cherries as we could carry. When we had picked enough cherries to fill the trunk of our car we came down and had dinner and homemade wine. The night ended with us taking a grand tour of the gardens and vineyards which is where I took a lot of the pictures I have posted on facebook.

Today we are spending the day inside because of the  rain. We had discipleship and helped Addie with her essay for school and now we are going to clean up and cook for our guests and then tonight we will have a worship practice for church. I am really in love with this place and the people here and even though I miss home very much I am having the greatest summer of my life.