Mission Pictures

12-19 Update from Elder Novakovich

So today I am sending my Christmas package to the family!  I am hoping that it arrives by Saturday, which I imagine it should.  If not, be expecting some package some time after Christmas.  There isn't much in it, but it is a descent taste of what New England is like!  I figure the only real thing I have to offer is something that you don't get out in Utah.

I don't really know how things are going to work out on Christmas, but I do know that after church, which is only sacrament as well, we will be heading to Donna's (Bill and Betty's daughter) house to eat lunch and spend time together.  Of course Bill and Betty will be there as well.  From what I know, we will probably spend a good chunk of the day over there.  As for the morning to open presents, we have had a less active lady offer for us to come over and open presents at her house.  That should be a cool experience. 

So Bill heard that we didn't have a Christmas tree in our apartment last week when we were at his house for dinner... The next day he had a little tree with ornaments sitting inside our front door for us..  Bill truly is my favorite person I have met out here in the mission field.  I love that guy.  I have pictures that I will be sending in the package that will have our cute little tree with presents underneath! 

Our investigators are doing great.  The only bad thing that really happened this week was one dropped us.  He gave us a call last Wednesday and said that he talked it over with his girlfriend and Mom, and the Church wasn't for him.  What can you do?  But the following day, we were given two new investigators by our Bishop.  He visited a less active lady and asked if the missionaries could come teach her two un-baptized children.  She consented, and now we are planning on teaching them this week.  Cool!  One falls from the tree and two more replace the empty slot.  We didn't have the chance to teach ------ this week: her fellow shipper went to ER for kidney pain (hopefully not kidney stones) and so was unable to help us teach her.  We have tried calling her to see if she was ok, but haven't had any success.  We plan on trying to call her tonight to make sure everything was going well. 

So I think I will probably call right after we finish dinner with the Esterline's.  My guess is that will be around 2:00 PM Eastern time (noon Mountain time), which will work out perfectly for you and the family.  I would assume by that point that all the presents will have been opened and omelets consumed.  That will give us something to talk about: what presents everyone got.  I wish we could use skype... That would make things sooo nice! 

Our church this week is only sacrament as well!  We are having a Christmas program, which both Elder Peterson and I will be a part of.  We will be singing in the choir.  I don't know if I told you this before, but Elder Gaykowski and I sang in the stake choir during Stake Conference in August... Anyways, that should be a fun experience.  I am looking forward to calling!!  I can't believe that time is here at last.  It seems like forever since we talked in May. 

And so you know, transfer calls will be this Saturday.  I talked with President Wilkey during our interviews this week, and he mentioned that he wants to be stay in Gardiner for another transfer.  He can't promise anything, because 13 new missionaries are coming and that alone will cause a lot of movement of missionaries throughout the mission.  I pray that things work out and I can stay here for my 5th transfer, but you never know.  My fingers are crossed. 



Love

Elder Novakovich

Excerpts from Some Recent Letters

We've had several people ask how Darren is doing.  The short answer is that he is doing great.  Posted below are some excerpts from his two most recent letters:

December 12, 2011

Holy cow!  I read Grandma's email before I read this and she mentioned how Tyson was in a sling and experiencing some pain.... At first I thought, "What the crap happened?"... That's a bummer he broke it at Classic Skating.  See why I tell Tyson to stop growing?  He is much to tall for his poor 13 year old equilibrium.  I hope he now understands the wisdom in why I tell him to stop growing... haha.  Anyways, that sucks for him!  I imagine that will deter his video game playing for the next little while.  I bet that's why he is crying the most I imagine: that's why I would be.  4 to 8 weeks without video games... I hope he can survive! 

So nothing that exciting happened to me this week... We did get two new investigators.  They are the children of the lady we got last week.  They came to church yesterday and we had the chance to escort them from sacrament to primary.  They are good kids.  They sat next to us in Sacrament, and I couldn't believe at how well behaved they were: attentive, reverent, and listening to the speakers!  Both the 10 year old boy and the 9 year old girl seemed to love their primary classes.  After we dropped them off, we talked with their mother.  She expressed a strong desire to be baptized.. Woah.  This week we are teaching her and will be extending a baptismal date.  Can you believe it?  We show up to church two weeks in a row and expressed her desire to be baptized.  I imagine her two younger kids will follow suit.  She does have a husband and 16 year old kid, but I haven't met them yet.  Hopefully they want to hope along for the ride! 

Our investigating pool is getting pretty large.  We did weekly planning on Friday and had to plan for 13 investigators!!!  Of course, 4 or so of them are dead beats who like us coming over.  When we first started the transfer, all we really had were those four investigators.  Now we have 6 or 7 solid investigators who have potential.  It's nice to have solid people to teach!

Elder Peterson and I are getting along great.  We both have our routines down and things are meshing quite nicely.  Elder Peterson knows a lot for only being out 4 months.  He must of prepared quite well before he left his mission, something I wished I would of done a bit better!  Oh well, you live and learn. 

So we eat at the Esterlines yet again this Thursday.  I am sure excited for that.  They rock! 

So I am putting on my winter cushion quite nicely.  I have been trying my hardest to avoid it, but it seems unavoidable.  I can't really control it to much, so I have given up trying to put on that sixpack, haha.

I sure do love you Mom!  Thank you for everything you do for me.  I love you more than anything!

December 5, 2011

So our teaching pool had a HUGE spike this week.  I will copy and paste what I sent to the mission President:

I guess I will begin with the recap of miracles we experienced this week.  We had a guy last week flag us down while we were walking to an appointment.  We talked with him, scheduled a time to start teaching him, and went our merry way.  Well we taught him two days later and he seemed to enjoy it.  He said he would read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and come to church the upcoming Sunday.  Well the miracle is that he did.  He also expressed that he truly loved it and wanted to come back.  He was talking with a member during Priesthood and mentioned that he had met with 8 or so pairs of Elders before and that these two (Elder Peterson and I) were the first that he felt answered his questions and concerns.  What a miracle.  And if having a investigator show up as he said, we had a member pull us out of gospel principles and told us that she brought a friend who has 3 kids, ages 16 through 10, who was interested in joining.  We talked with her friend and scheduled an appointment this Wednesday at the members home for a lesson.  Wow.  We were completely speechless.  The Lord truly is involved in the work, I have a sure testimony of that!  I wanted to call you as soon as church was over due to my overwhelming feelings of joy, but I talked myself out of it.  So that was what Elder Peterson and I call our "Miracle Sunday."

We have a busy time ahead of us for teaching, which couldn't be better timing with the winter months ahead of us.  Our investigators we do have now seem to be maintaining the same progress.  We did however get the chance to meet up with a fellow who we haven't seen in awhile.  We set up a firm time of this Tuesday to meet with him. 

Pretty friggin awesome....  I can't believe how this week went.  It was truly a miracle to see all this happen. 

Have you seen my Tomahawk?

Elder Novakovich and Elder Gaykowski are apparently on the side of the Indians in this pre-Thanksgiving celebration sent to us by one of the members in their ward.  Darren was able to e-mail us to let us know that their eighteen week run as companions is over.  Apparently the members thought enough was enough having to pronounce "Novakovich" and "Gaykowski" every Sunday.  Elder "G" is being transferred to a new city and Darren is getting the opportunity to serve as senior companion to a missionary who has been out for about three months now.

10/2 Letter from Elder Novakovich

Things went really well this week.  I was extremely pleased to hear that Elder Gaykowski and I would be serving yet another transfer together.  We seem to be really clicking and it could definitely be seen in how the work is going.  A lot of exciting things are happening with John's baptism this Saturday.  We still don't know who will be baptizing him, so I guess I will let you know next week in my email.  I will be sure to include some pictures as well!  I am glad that Dad sent those pants, because the kid who I was going to borrow from is actually transferring out of here.  The transfer calls this time around were definitely a surprise to everyone in the district. Everyone, including myself, predicted that Elder Gaykowski would be leaving and Elder Cash(who I have never mentioned) would be leaving. 

Man I was so bummed when I heard that Utah State lost to BYU!  Ahh man, I had full expectations in Utah State winning yet again this year.  I am extremely impressed with the way the football program has performed thus far.  I saw the play where USU lost to Auburn and what a fluke that was!  If you take away a few defensive mistakes, USU is 4-0,, with a win against a ranked opponent.  What a change that is from the past years, where two wins was something to talk about.   I am glad that everyone had fun.  I wish I could of been there!

I wouldn't mind having conference once a month or so!  Some of those talks were outstanding!  I haven't heard so many talks about JUST the Book of Mormon in awhile during a conference session.  I guess it goes to show the importance of that book is to our conversion. 

Well things are going great!  I am happier than a pig in a poke (quote from bill).  It is crazy to think about it will be a year since I have been out in the field in a short while.  I can't even what life is like not dressing up in a white shirt and tie every single morning.  I never would have guessed that I would of reached that point, that's for sure. 

Well I love you so much.  Thank you for everything!  Good luck at work!  You are always in my prayers.

Take no Thought What Ye Shall Eat or Drink

A family that is taking good care of Elder Novakovich texted us this picture, I assume to prove that Darren is not starving.

9/26 Letter from Elder Novakovich

So I find out transfers this coming Saturday, which happens to be General Conference!  Woot.  If I was any sort of fortune teller, I would guess that I am staying in Gardiner and Elder Gaykowski will be going somewhere else.  But I have no clue though, because President has developed the reputation of making transfer decisions no one saw coming!  I never would of expected to be leaving Somersworth after one transfer, but it happened nonetheless.  Hopefully I do get to stay though.  I really like Gardiner.  I have especially grown to love a guy who lives really close to us.  His wife is a member.  He has a golden heart, but he has been messed over by religion before so doesn't want any part of it.  He was actually the one who called home the day you had your surgery.  We were over at his house and I was talking about how you were going through the surgery that his wife went through just a little while back.  He asked me for my home phone number and he called to see how the surgery went.  Tyson picked up the phone, and from the sounds of it, he didn't have a clue what was going on.  Hopefully he relayed the message, but I imagine that he didn't.  He is an amazing guy.  I love that man to death! 

So the baptism for John was pushed back the 8th of October due to general conference. 

I don't know what I would really like for my year mark!  For the pizza, I think anything would be good!  I can't really remember what toppings the pie has, but I think something with some meat would be good!  As for other stuff, I really don't have any cravings.  Hard candies like blow-pops, lifesavers, and some others like that would be good.  I guess you can surprise me!  I haven't been disappointed with anything thus far!  :) 

That is so cool to hear about Camryn and the blessing.  That had to be an amazing thing to hear about how she knew the blessing was going to work.  It's amazing how much faith a child can have!  I guess that's why the savior repeats over and over again in his teachings "become as a little child."  Tell her I am so proud of her! 

Ahh I can't believe Taylor is almost in college too!  Man, it's going to be sweet being in the same school as Taylor!  That will be a really fun experience!  I bet she is way excited for college to start... 

Oh boy, I think Utah State might win it again this year.  BYU isn't doing so hot!  Hopefully the Aggies show up to play!  The game is at BYU this year, right?  That will be a fun game to go to.  Hopefully some crazy Aggie fans cause some raucous! 

Well things are going great here in Gardiner!  We have a combined district p-day today, which is going to be sweet!  Everyone in our district can play some basketball!  We are going to have some competitive games for sure!  I am really excited for that.

More from Elder Novakovich

The weather here has been perfect.  From what I checked out, Utah has been scorched!  The weather there has been hotttttt.  I am not jealous of that.  Not one bit.  You can tell though that fall is coming upon us here.  People are emptying there pools.  Just to go on a little tangent:  EVERYONE here has a pool in their backyard, which is ironic because they have MAYBE 3 months of weather that is good for swimming.  Anyways, people are emptying their pools and the trees are starting to show signs that they are going to change colors.  The only depressing thing about fall on its way is the fact that winter is that much closer.  I am not looking forward to experiencing a full blown, frigid winter in New England.  No sir, I am not looking forward to that at all.  But I will be sure to capture all of the beauty of fall for y'all!  I will include a lot of pictures to show you the best part of being in New England.  

Things are going absolutely great out here in Gardiner!  The gym is still in full force and I have nothing to complain about!  This month is going to be a busy month!  Elder C. Scott Grow from the Seventy is coming down for our Zone Conference on September 19.  And to add more awesome to this transfer, we have interviews with President Wilkey on the 15th!  President Wilkey is going to be one busy man this month!  I am excited to be able to talk again with President!  They are much more enjoyable now that I am not talking about negative things!  I am grateful for all that he has done for me.  I was talking with him last Zone Conference and he mentioned to me how I was going to be his favorite story.  He talked about how happy he was that I am truly starting to plant myself in this mission soil.  He wrote a little letter to me and placed it in my BoM, which basically was complimenting me.  I was very happy to hear that he likes what I am becoming.

Well it’s good to hear that things are going well on the home front.  I miss everyone so much!  I love you so much and am extremely grateful for all you do!  

I love you!

Elder Novak 

8-28 Letter from Elder Novakovich

Haha yeah I did survive the hurricane!  Heck, our apartment didn't even lose power!  How anti-climatic is that?  We were preparing for something epic, but nothing really happened in our neck of the woods.  Our area didn't really do much to prepare for the hurricane, except for buying water and other nonperishable goods in case loss of power. I guess you can count that as a serious blessing, but it still would have been sick to be able to claim you went through a harsh storm like a hurricane.  All I can say is that I am glad I got out of Vermont!  While we were doing our laundry this morning, I saw that Vermont was experiencing some serious flooding.  And I know for a fact that the area I was in must have gotten it bad!  We had a pretty intense storm while I was there and it caused serious damage from falling tress (there are A LOT of trees in Vermont).  So it definitely was a bust where we were.  Some areas lost power due to a tree falling down on power lines, but that is the extent of the damage. 

The baptism on Friday went really well!  It was very well attended and it went extremely smooth.  Everything went to plan and fell right into place.  The only hiccup was one of the speakers showed up seconds before he was supposed to talk.  But he was forgiven when he explained during his talk that his best friend just died in the hospital and that he has been with him for the past few days before he passed away.  It was a touching talk and really brought a special spirit to the meeting.  Melissa was extremely happy to get baptized.  It was an experience that she won't be forgetting anytime soon!  After the baptism, we went over to her place to get our BBQ on!  We had burgers, dogs, and pasta salads.  For dessert, which I had multiple servings of :), we had a chocolate cool whip spread between graham crackers!  Holy cow, it was amazing.  What they did was take cool whip and add lots of chocolate into it.  Once completed, they took a tin tray and placed graham crackers on their sides and used the cool whip as mortar to keep the grahams together.  I don't know how long they sat in the fridge, but by the time we ate them the graham crackers were as soft as the cool whip, which made it amazing to eat!  Probably one of my new favorite desserts to eat!   It was sooo good.

New Apartment?

We're not sure if this is Darren's new apartment, but he sent this picture to us and was proud of his tent assembly skills.

Short Update from Elder Novakvich

Weather in Maine has been absolute heaven!  Holy cow, you couldn't ask for better weather... The way I see it, when Winter comes around, I think it is more than ok to ask for this kind of weather... Not looking forward to the -30 degree temps with tens of feet of snow.  Yikes.

The missionary work has boomed this week!  We had a record amount of lessons given, 19, investigators to come to church, 4(two of them being the first time ever), and new investigators.... We picked up three last week!  That is so cool.  I am excited to see how that goes.  Both my companion and I are getting along great. 

Again, sorry that this is such a short email. 

I love you so much

Elder Darren !

August 8 Letter from Elder Novakovich

Golf was fun!  Is was quite a downfall in the quality of my game, but what can you expect when you haven't swung a club in about 9 months!  The course we played was called Western View and it was a small, small course.  It was one of those that the front nine and back nine were the same holes.  They had about 5 holes that were approachable par 4s from the tee box.  If I had my old swing and set of clubs, I couldn't of even used my driver on some of the holes!  The average par 4 length was 260 or so yards.  I would of launched it past the green every single time.  For the round, we ended up just playing a 3 vs. 1 scramble against the kid who is amazing.  We beat him by a few strokes... But he still was pretty dang good.  We all shared a ladies version of the sasquatch driver... That was crazy to swing.  I could feel the shaft bend like nobody's business whenever I swung.  I still had a shot where I bombed it 280 or so, so that was cool. 

The teaching pool here is thin.  This area had an explosion of baptisms about 4 months ago and now it's pretty slow.  We are trying to find some new people to teach, but everyone here has talked to the missionaries about a thousand times.  I am hoping that the members will hook us up.  The baptism coming up has been through the hands for elders for the past 12 months.  I am lucky enough to be able to be there when she finally gets baptized.  It was pretty cool... Last time we visited her, I had the chance to play the guitar.  Her husband has been taking lessons for the guitar and he let me shred some riffs on it.  He has a pretty dang cool guitar/amp combo.  I miss my guitar!

I have no clue what I would want for my next package.  As of right now, I am sitting solid with the amount of candy.  I just was able to finish off the jelly beans the other night.  I still haven't touched half of the other stuff in the package.  There's so much candy!

Nothing really new happened this week.  Just the same old stuff.  I miss you terrible and love you so much. 

July 25 Letter from Gardiner, ME

Hello madre!

Woo hoo!  I remembered my camera this time around.  I figure that deserves a self pat on the back.   The family in the pictures are the McInnis family.  He was the ward mission leader in that area.  He is a machine.

I can't wait to get the packages!  This is going to be a good gift, if it takes two packages to send out!  I can hardly wait to receive them.  Thank you so much in advance for sending those.  I appreciate it so much!  I will be sure to have that cheesecake in the freezer when it arrives.  Luckily packages here arrive around 10:00 AM, so I will be there to rapidly move it from the heat to the nice cold freezer..

Speaking of heat, things have been crazy hot here in Maine.  The temperature has been around 100 degrees, plus 70 to 80 percent humidity.  You literally walk outside for a few seconds and then get plastered with sweat.  Some of my shirts have gone through a bit this week, but thankfully they are still holding up.  I bet you could collect the amount of sweat between Elder Gaykowski and I in the gallons!  I hate humidity.  But thankfully we DO have A/C in our apartment.  I would literally cry if we didn't.  Glad I got out of Somersworth when I did, because the A/C unit doesn't work there.   Poor Elder Miller.

Right now we are teaching several people..  All of them are around the age of 30 or so.  From what I have put together from talking with them, I don't see any of them getting baptized any time soon.  But they are amazing people and I know eventually something will happen.  We do have a lady who is getting baptized on the 27th of August.  Her name is Melissa and she is really funny.  We had dinner over at her house with her Husband and kids the past week.  Her husband plays the guitar, so you know I brought up music into the conversations.  He let me play his electric guitar, which was ridiculously fun to play.  Their sons listen to the same kind of music I do, so it was awesome to talk with them about that sort of stuff... 

So Elder Gaykowski and I did talk to President about the Gym.. We talked with him during the zone training this past week and he told us that it was ultimately up to us, but he gave some words of caution.  Apparently gyms are common in our mission, so I think President is going to make an official ruling on whether gyms are OK or not.  I hope they are, because they truthfully and honestly make the day better.  I definitely have more energy throughout the day.  But I can also clearly see the real possibility of a gym being a bad thing.  So we are going to finish out our month membership and see what President has to say about gyms this upcoming transfer.  I hope they are OK to still attend!

Elder Gaykowski said a deep comment the other day in church, he said "I don't necessarily remember everything that my leaders in church have taught me, but I do remember the actions and the way they lived there lives."  I thought that was a great thought.  Action speak louder than words.

Things continue to go really well here in Gardiner.  I found out last week that our bishop owns the subways in this area, and he gives us free subs every Monday for lunch... Guess I am going to subway!!  The only thing better than a subway sub is a FREE subway sub!

I hope you have a great time in Lake Powell.  I figure your on the road right now, so I guess I can say that I am enjoying myself more than y'all..  I love you so much

Elder Novak 

Letter from Elder Novakovich

Things are going great. Even though I am writing this email while standing up, things are fantastic I was transferred, I believe I already mentioned it, to Gardiner, Maine. Yes there is a Walmart. Were about to head out right now in fact!

It's crazy how small of a world it is, but I am serving with a kid who was good friends with the companion I had in the MTC. His name is Elder Gaykowski and he is a legit kid. I served with him in the first district and he and his companion there were awesome. It was nice to once a week get the chance to actually talk with someone. WE both love golf, so I am super excited to go for my birthday.

The ward I am serving in is pretty cool. They have member meals for every night, so not paying for as much food is great. The only thing I will have to do is budget the meals we eat out. This district I am in loves to eat out every week, plus my companion I have now likes to eat out too. But I am not too worried about that. All we really have to buy in this area is milk, bread, and cleaning supplies, and the rest is taken care of. A member here gives the missionaries a couple dozen eggs each week, so that takes cares of a lot of lunches. Needless to say, we are doing good in regards to food..

As for missionary work, this area is as "gun-ho" as my last area and it's a great ward. I am excited to be in this area. Both my companion and I get along extremely well, so it's going to be a blast.

Gardiner Maine has a beautiful river that runs through the town, and I will be sure to take some pictures of it. I am going to have a lot of legit pictures to take. I will be sure to get the sundown on the river one night. I will be sure to send some next email.

I am happy to hear that all is going well back on the home front. It's good to hear that things are going great. Hopefully Tyson enjoys the obscene heat that is going around the country. It has been hot and sticky here! Holy cow, it has been nuts.

I love you and thank you so much for everything you do for me! I truly appreciate it so much!

Transfered to Gardiner, ME

Elder Novakovich was transferred to Gardiner, ME.  His new address:

35 Neal Street Apt B
Gardiner, ME 04345

More from Somersworth

Holy crap.......  What an eventful Father's day.   I don't even know what to say.   I am so glad that things worked out.  I can't believe that happened.  I'm sorry.  You are in a surgery room wayyyy too often.  Is the post recovery ok?  I imagine you would get the day off for work?  I love you so much.   I am so happy that things worked out. 

Umm...from the sounds of it, things are much less "eventful" over here in New Hampshire.  It's hard to compare.  This week we had some solid referrals from members.  This Thursday we are teaching a family of seven who called our bishop and warned him that he should be expecting seven new members to the area.  So we have the opportunity to teach them.  I am really excited to be able to be part of that.   We also have another lady who we are going to teach that will be having dinner with us at a members home.  So lots of good things are going to happen this coming week. 

Things in my new area are going great.  We are seeing some miracles taking place that I can't believe are happening.  We stopped by a non-active member, who hasn't been to church or anything in 15 years on Saturday, and saw him playing basketball in his front yard.  So we said can we play some 21 and he agreed to play with us.  So we played with him, got to know him a little more, and then we went into his house to cool down and drink some soda pop (perfect treat for a post workout).  When we got done talking with him, he agreed that would come to church.  I really wasn't sure if he would, but he showed up as he said he was going to.  After sacrament meeting, Elder Miller and I introduced him to our bishop and during the conversation, he mentioned how his wife (non-member) was going to change up her Sunday work schedule if possible to start coming to church.  If that wasn't enough, he also said that his sons (non-members) and daughters (non-members) said they wanted to start coming to church.  I could hardly believe it.  A member inactive of 15 years shows up and starts saying all of this. Gotta love basketball.

  

I am glad Dad enjoyed the hat.  I didn't know if the hat was too "bling-bling."  But I am glad that he likes it though.  The maple syrup was from a member in Vermont.  Believe it or not, that little container of syrup runs around $20 or so.  It takes around 40 gallons of maple sap to make a single gallon of maple syrup.  Hence, the extreme prices for the maple syrup.  To be perfectly honest, I still like Mrs. Buttersworth more than the "real" stuff.  But I will never admit that to a New Englander.  They would lynch me for sure.  

  

Things are going well out here.  Besides what I asked for in my package, the important one already being fulfilled, I have nothing really to ask for.  The members take care of us pretty well.  Both of us are getting really comfortable with the area and seem to have a good grasp on our role in the work in this area.  The members have an amazing splits idea they set up every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday where they have a couple of members go on splits with us to visit in-actives.  I have never seen that in a ward before.  It's a great idea. 

Well hopefully everything will work out with Mom.  I will keep a special prayer in my heart for her and the family.  I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers.  I haven't said this, but I pray every single night that the family will be watched over.  I love you all so much. 

  

Elder Novakovich

First Letter from Somersworth

Sorry I wasn't able to email last week.  Since it was a holiday, the College was closed down and we were not able to answer emails at all.  But it was a good P-Day though. We had the chance to play basketball with the bishop and other youth members in the ward.  It was awesome. 

I really like this new area.  The members are unreal.  We have a ward that is wholly invested in missionary work.  We have member meals every night, and the ward mission leader has it set up that we go on splits with certain members every Tues, Wed, and Thurs night from 6-8.  It's nice not having to worry what to do in the evening.  The Ward mission leader here is quite great.   He was a life saver this week because both my companion and I were put into this area fresh.  They shot-gunned the area and without his help, we would of been running around blind for quite some time. 

My companions name is Elder Miller.  He is a good guy.  He plays basketball, which is very good news.  I plan on balling it hard this upcoming transfer. 

The area I live in is considered the older part of Somersworth. I might have been scared in this type of neighborhood before my mission, but it’s cool though, because the kids they all like the missionaries here.  They call us the "church boys" What a nice title.  We got invited by one of the families on our street to go to a big barbeque they were having right before the husband heads to San Diego for work.  They are a Catholic family, but they feed the missionaries and provide support for them whenever we need any.  I couldn't have asked for a better area.  Even non-members hook us up.

I have had to step up my workout intensity now.  We get fed every single night, with leftovers for the following day. I can't complain with that at all.  I bought a perfect pushup thingy and it has been kicking my butt.  Perfect pushups are hard!  I never would have imagined struggling to complete a series of pushups.  

Love,

Elder Novakovich

Zone Conference - Sharon Vermont

Talk about a cool place to hold Zone Conference.  A couple of weeks ago Elder Novakovich participated in Zone Conference which was held in Sharon, Vermont at the Joseph Smith Memorial.

Pictures from Johnson, VT

Somersworth, NH

Camryn anxiously looked over my shoulder as we put Elder Novakovich's new address into google earth - her reaction when the image appeared - "At least now Darren lives in a neighborhood".

Transfer

We received a letter from Elder Novakovich today and found out that he received a transfer to a new area, Somersworth, NH.  We haven't had a chance to learn much about his new area but he tells us it is on the southern border of Maine and New Hampshire.  They have a Walmart and a Target - life can't get any better. 

His new address is:

Elder Novakovich
43 Franklin Street
Somersworth, NH 03878

May 17 Letter

Yesterday all of the Zones (Montpelier and Concord) gathered together at the Joseph Smith Memorial for Zone Conference. Oh yeah, it was way cool. We were lucky to have the chance to "sneak peak" the NASA Exhibit at the Memorial. The exhibit had a bunch of pictures that were taken from a Hubble telescope. The pictures were absolutely jaw dropping. And yes, I did take pictures of the exhibit. Some of the pictures capture galaxies that are thousands of light years apart. It's incredible how technology has advanced.

The Zone Conference itself was great. It was about eight hours long. It's really hard to sit down for such long periods of time, but it was a great Zone Conference. We talked about the upcoming bug season; which is supposed to be quite extreme this year. We learned the proper procedure for removing a tick from your skin:-) Besides frightening us about bugs, they had some messages about how to improve our areas. Apparently President Wilkey is quite the fisherman. And that was the general message of the Zone Conference.

I believe I said this in my e-mail, but church this Sunday was great. I am about to finish wit the Old Testament. I skipped over Psalms and Proverbs though. I don't really care about those. I just wanted the rest of it so I can know what's exactly in the Old Testament. I have found that helpful when trying to have a doctrinal discussion with someone who knows nothing about the Book of Mormon. It also helps when someone starts telling a story from the Bible which is false. I've had that a few times now. It's funny to hear a so called "devout" member of another church speak with such little knowledge about the on book they read. There are so many passages in the Bible that support the Book of Mormon. But I agree with Ezra T. Benson when he said that the Book of Mormon can bring a man closer to God than any other book. You can sense a stronger spirit when reading the Book of Mormon. It's such a strong witness that Jesus is the Christ. Especially in 3 Nephi when Christ comes to the Americas. The love he has for everyone is amazing. One part that strikes me was when he was offering a prayer to Heavenly Father and weeps. Afterwards he gathers all of the children and blesses them. He as such a pure love for his brothers and sisters.

Love,

Elder Novakovich

May 16 - Letter

zdravo!

Things are pretty much the same here in Ol' Johnson, Vermont.  The weather has been showers for the past three days.  You would think that after such a long, harsh winter that mother nature would bless this land with some descent weather.  I guess that would be asking too much. 

No transfer yet.  Transfers are in 2 weeks, so it won't be until the end of May.  And Zone Conference is actually tomorrow.  And I am pretty excited for it.  I think its going to be an interesting conference, considering we were told to read the talks from the 2011 April Conference, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" and "What men and woman ought ye to be"..... I can hardly wait to see what President has for us.  And from an email we got from Sister Wilkey, sounds like a apostle will be coming to our Zone Conference.

I had the chance to go on exchanges ALL week, so it was nice to see another area.  It was refreshing to get to know a couple of other Elders better and learn from them.  I learned a cool faith exercise from an Elder in Colebrook, New Hampshire, so that was really cool. 

I did receive the name tag you sent back!  And as requested, I have worn it since.  It looks boring, but it makes sense to wear it.  I will have to wear my Serbian name tag in Essex, Vermont, however.  There are a lot of Bosnian families that live there, and seeing the name tag will spark some interest.  Bosnian is pretty much the same language as Serbian, so it's a great opportunity to open a door that is not there otherwise. 

So how was St. George??  From what Mom told me, it sounded absolutely awesome.  I can only imagine what 80 degree weather feels like.  I must say that I am starting my summer tan pretty nice.  My face has a good start, as well as my hands and forearms.  The sweet tan line where my neck collar is coming in just fine!  It's a curse to tan so easily when your forced to wear a white shirt all day, every day.  But I did have the chance to do some service for a member, so I was able to wear that under armour shirt you sent me.  That helped a little with the tan line around my arms. 

  

Brother Stubbs must love me, because on Friday night, he asked me to give a 15 minute talk during sacrament yesterday.  And being the good little missionary, I accepted.  I talked about following your leaders and the importance of heading to their messages.  Next week is Stake Conference, so it was fitting that's what I talked about.  I think the talk went really well.  It was the first talk I have given, in English, that was just me going by what I felt and thought of.  So I am glad that it went well. 

But to say thank you, or so I like to think, Brother Stubbs invited us over to eat with his family following Sacrament meeting.  We ate so well yesterday night! His wife grew up in the South, so you know that she can cook!  We had fried chicken(of course), Mac & Cheese, broccoli casserole, rice, and her famous homemade rolls.  Oh, what a feast we had.  It was awesome.  For dessert we had this tasty thing that I will make when I get home.  It was so good.  Basically its asphalt pie.  You lay a cooking pan with a layer of Oreo's and then spread butter over the top of it to weigh it down.  Then you top the pan with vanilla ice cream.  You let it melt a bit, then spread the ice cream evenly over the oreo's.  Then you refreeze, then pull out later.  Then you add whatever kind of chocolate topping you want.  I had heath pieces and chocolate syrup on top.  Its was delicious, but in no way nutritious.  Needless to say, I helped myself to a double portion of it. 

I have some good news: I have lost 15 pounds.  And it has nothing to do with exercise.  I think all the stress and anxiety that I am feeling made my body flush itself out.  I can hardly eat food without feeling sick to my stomach.  I eat to survive, and that's about all I can handle.  But I was able to eat well last night at Brother Stubbs house.  He had us over and we ate so well! His wife grew up in the South, so you know that she can cook!  For dessert we had this tasty thing that I will make when I get home.  It was so  good. 

Mother's Day Call

It was so wonderful to be able to speak with Elder Novakovich today.  We are so proud of him for his service to the Lord and are impressed with his growth. We couldn't have asked to be blessed with a better son.  Some of what he shared with us:

• The teaching pool is shallow, but they have great members and are working with many of them to find investigators.
• They do a lot of door to door contacting.  He appreciates that the harsh Vermont winters are over - it was cold and there was a lot of snow.
• He loves the members - they treat and feed the missionaries very well.  He particularly likes Bro. Stubbs and his family.  [Our thanks to Bro. Stubbs!] 
• He is busy reading the Old Testament and wants to finish the entire standard works this year.
• The Vermont area is rural and very green; lots of trees and very beautiful.
• They meet every Wednesday for district meeting.  He's met many of the missionaries and is looking forward to meeting more of them at an upcoming Zone Conference.
• He loves mail - keep the letters coming.
• The church in Johnson has a basketball court, but there it's carpeted and you can't shoot from more than 15 feet away as the ceiling gets in the way.
• His clothes still fit - thank goodness for all of the walking.

Letter - Week of April 25 (six month mark of his mission)

My Easter was fantastic!  After church, we had a member invite us over to dinner.  The cool part was that he was bringing us along to a non-members house to have dinner.  Apparently the nonmember is coworkers with the member and she heard that he would have us for dinner all the time on Sunday's at his house.  So she thought it would nice if we came along as well to dinner.  It was great to be able to go over to their house.  They had quite the feast for us.  I haven't eaten that much food in one sitting in awhile.  I was wobbling out of the house after it was all said it done.  We didn't talk about the gospel at all, but from what the member said, just our presence will make a huge impact with her.  The fact she let us in, according to the member, was huge! 

Well my talk got changed to our Ward Easter dinner we had.  I spoke at that instead of sacrament. 

I believe President Wilkey called you a few days ago.  He said he was going to, so I assume he did.  I love that man.  President WIlkey is such a good guy.  I like him so much more than President Hill. I look back on how things went down in Serbia, and I can't believe how things turned out.  We are all human, even mission presidents. 

I got the healthy package... That was an impressive amount of items you were able to cram into that package.  I definitely am set with goodies.  I have so many lying around our apartment.  

I heard from Alex Porter today... Apparently he broke his ankle pretty bad in Mexico and is now back home in SLC recovering from it. 

I love you so much... Thank you for everything.

Letter - Week of April 18

So yeah, transfers happened this week.  We didn't get a phone call.  So it looks like another 6 weeks in Vermont.  Zone conference is in five weeks.  The only missionaries I have met are the ones who are in my district.  At this point I have been on companionship exchanges with all of them.  My companion is the district leader, so we go on companionship exchanges every week.  

We have a pretty yummy Chinese place here in Johnson that we go to twice a week or so.  Once on P-Day and once with a member who takes us every Wednesday before our scripture study class.  That member was actually a member of the seventy back in the day. 

As I told mom, our ward has been pretty crazy these past few weeks.  We had two members die, an older lady and a two year old.  I don't know if the two year old made news over what's going on nowadays, but he was accidentally shot by one of his siblings when they were playing with a gun.  So these past weeks have been very emotional for everyone in the ward where I am serving.  

Our stove will hopefully get fixed this week.  We called the members who are renting out the apartment to us, and they told us they would contact the gas company or whoever to fix the problem.  We have been forced to cook in the church building this past week.... OH I HAVE A GOOD STORY!! So last week I was cooking Dad's garlic pasta.  It was about done: the pasta was minutes from being cooked and the garlic was completely browned in the oil.  So I took off the pan with the olive and garlic and placed it onto a stove that did not have any heat on it.  After 10 seconds, I noticed that the oil was starting to boil for some strange reason.  I went over to grab it and it started to boil even more.  So I put the pan down and as I did so, a few droplets of oil jumped into the air. And I still don't know how to this day, but those oil droplets ignited into a fire ball that reached the ceiling.  I thought I was going to burn the church down.  I have never screamed so loud in my life.  Right before my face was this huge ball of fire.  Oh man, it was awesome.  The smoke that came from it was pretty impressive.  I had to close the room door because it was thick enough to set off the fire alarm, which would have been bad news.  But the good news is nothing caught on fire.  So I am safe.    I don't know if that ever happened to you, but it’s scary stuff.

I get to have pizza for lunch today!  We are going to Lydon to play some basketball with everyone in our district.  Haha, it’s time to put my game face on.  Unfortunately, Vermont doesn't believe in having wood floors to play on.  They believe carpet is far better. Oh well.  At least we can still play. 

April 11 Update

Now need recipes that require no heat…

I haven't had the chance to try any of the recipes that dad sent.  Our stove died on us, so we have no way of preparing the meals.  I have stuck to anything that is microwavable this past week. 

Things are still going the same in where I am at.  Nothing to report.  The snow has almost melted.  We have had a few solid days of rain here and it has helped with that. 

Please send referrals, does this sound familiar to you former missionaries…

This week was pretty much the same.  Tract, tract, tract.  That's all we really do.  We have a pair of investigators who we teach regularly, but that's about it.  It’s really wearing me down just knocking, knocking, and knocking on endless amount of doors.  Tracting has to be the least effective way to do missionary.  I always think what it must be like to have a pair of 20 year old kids knocking on your door saying that they have the knowledge about the restored church of Jesus Christ.... I just wish there was a different way out here, but we don't have any other option.  It doesn't help that we have a small amount of miles to use each month, which really restricts are abilities to get around at all.  Only this far into the month, we have used half of the miles allotted to us.  Oh well.

Call for Help in the Kitchen

Elder Novakovich needs your help cooking on a missionary budget and time schedule - see below.  

Elder Nyman and I are in desperate need of some good recipes. If you recall any other, cheap delicious meals, don't hesitate in sending them my way.  I wan't to be known for being the kid who can cook well.  I have also collected some delicious recipes from members.  When all is said and done, I am hoping to have a nice collection for when I go back to college.  It's amazing how cheap one can live when you have too. We spend about fourty dollars a week on food for our apartment.  We have found this amazing breakfast thingy that keeps you full for hours upon hours, all the while being cheap and insanely tasty.  If you want a amazing thing to help you with your weight loss, I would give this a shot:

The Breakfast of Wisdom!:

1 Cup of Old Fashioned Oats

1 or 2 Tablespoons Wheat Germ

1 or 2 Tablespoons Flax Seed

1 or 2 Tablespoons Wheat Bran

Almond Milk, for creamy texture

4 to 5 spoonfulls of Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt

Cup of Frozen Blueberries

1 Bannana.

Mix all the Dry ingredients into bowl and then add in 4 to 5 spoonfulls of Vanilla Yogurt.  Add Almond Milk until creamy enough.  Add the Frozen Blueberries and diced up bannanas to bowl.  Enjoy. 

This meal is perfect for keeping you full, as well as being healthy. I have had this at 7:00 in the morning and had it last till 4:00  in the afternoon multiple times. 

Rural Vermont

Elder Novakovich has commented in all of his letters that the area where he serves is very rural.  They have a truck vs. a car.  The roads are dirt road, muddied and rutted during bad weather.  Houses are far apart - they walk a lot.  I had to see it for myself.  Thanks again google earth.

Week #2 in Vermont

Things are going fine.  Elder Nyman and I had two dinner appointments with members last week.  I absolutely love dinner appointments.  I love the opportunity to get to know members out here.  The ones I have visited through dinner appointments are the ones that know me the best.  It’s always fun to get to know families, all the while enjoying a free meal!  You can never complain about getting a free meal.  

I have had the chance to teach a non-member.  In fact, we meet twice a week with a man and his fiancé every week.  They are getting married in June, and are planning on being baptized a month or so before that.  From what I have heard, this man was converted awhile back and then left the church two years or so later.  So it’s cool to talk with him and see the repentance process that he has gone through.  He is a good guy and has made some life choices that hopefully reflect that he is willing to make the change to become a member of the Church. 

Yeah, I got the package!  Dear Elder sure does load up the packing peanuts!  I was impressed at the quantity they were able to squeeze into the box. It’s perfect though, because I need packing peanuts for my package that I am sending home.

Thank you for the fast on my behalf.  It's such a comforting feeling that my family cares that deeply for me.  I really do appreciate it.  It makes a huge difference.  I love you much! Thank you.

Elder Novakovich

First Letter from Elder Novakovich

The language is coming along great!  Its like I have been speaking the language my entire life.  I understand every word that is being said.  Its truly the gift of tongues, haha.  I miss Serbian though, I really love that language a lot.  I enjoyed learning it and only wish I could of become much more fluent before I had to leave.  But such is life I guess. 

Yeah the area I am serving is very, very rural.  There are houses every quarter mile and thick, forest along the way.  For finding, we park our truck, which is actually pretty nice, and go contacting along a long strip of road.  Unfortunately, we only 1,500 miles each month with driving our truck.  So we don't have the pleasure of driving up to peoples houses and go contacting that way.  We walk a ton.  Not as much as in Novi Sad, but more than you would think having a vehicle. 

For transportation, we ride in a truck and bike or walk the rest of the time.  And from what I saw on the deck of our apartment, there are two bikes sitting there.  So I guess I will not have to purchase a bike at all.  I imagine that every apartment has a pair of bicycles for the missionaries that live their. 

Out here, we have a ward of about 70-100 members.  But we meet at a normal chapel building.  Its a very nice building.  It feels good to have a normal, functioning ward to come to.  The members were very nice in welcoming me to their ward.  The bishop asked me to introduce myself as well as give a small talk the moment I arrived.  So everyone now knows who I am. 

Thank you for everything.  This week has been the worst, and I am so grateful that I have such great parents.  You have made the greatest difference.

Love you!

First Pictures of Darren from New Hampshire

Big Change for Elder Novakovich

As Elder Novakovich commented in his last e-mail, there have been some big changes over the past couple of weeks.  With much sadness, he found out that he and three older elders who were serving in Serbia would be re-assigned to new missions, leaving only two missionaries in the country (Belgrade).  While the work was challenging and success minimal, he loved the people and language and will miss both greatly.  He has been re-assigned to the New Hampshire mission and arrived there on Friday.  He was assigned to serve in Johnson, VT which is a small town about 50 miles north of Sharon, VT where the Prophet Joseph Smith was born.  We've spoken to his new mission president who seems to be a wonderful man who loves and supports his missionaries.

His new address is:

Elder Darren Novakovich                                               

1754 Plot Road, Apt. 3

Johnson VT 05656-9512

I'm sure he'd love to hear from you.

Letter from Elder Novakovich - March 7

Well this week has been very, very interesting.  So I guess I will start off by saying that I am now in Croatia.  I have no clue why, but they moved me here to Zagreb for this transfer, and possibly next transfer.  I still have no idea what is going on, but I assume I will find out shortly.  Im not going to lie though, it’s really hard being here.  I finally got used to the Serbia, and all of a sudden I get moved to Croatia.  I feel kind of cheated in ways.  I don't even know what to think about it.  When President told us on Thursday, I left for Croatia that night.  Without any warning, it happened.  Anyways, what else have I done......  I believe I said my final goodbye to Elder Porter.  Its incredibly sad to say, but I might not see him as a missionary again, that is unless we have Zone Conference here in Croatia in the next while.  Speaking of Elder Porter, he is now one of 4 elders in Serbia. 

President Hill told me that I would return to Serbia either this next transfer or the one after that.  We will find out I guess tonight. The AP's are picking me up here in Zagreb in about an hour and we will be driving to Serbia to have another meeting with all the Serbian Elders.  I have a lot of questions and I hope I will be able get answers to them tonight. 

With that all said, I absolute love it here in Europe.  I still am a bit reluctant to be here in Zagreb, understandably given the circumstances.  I finally got into a groove in Serbia, and in a flash, I start all over anew in a completely different country.  I must say, Croatia is much prettier than Serbia.  However, I would never want to stay here over Serbia.  I love Serbia.  But I should be back soon enough.  I'm just trying not to count the days.  I hope everyone is having a good ol time.  I will be sure to report back when things get situated here in Eastern Europe!

Will all of this chaos, the language is really progressing for me.  I feel really comfortable know talking to members.  The other day, I gave a full 7 minute testimony slash introduction about myself during fast and testimony meeting.  By the end of the meeting, I had real conversation with most of the members.  I am to the point now I can understand pretty much everything people say to me in basic conversation situations.  It’s amazing how these things happen over the course of a week period.  I went from struggling beyond comprehension to being able to speak.  It feels so good to have no fear of being alone with a native and being able to communicate with them.  It’s an awesome thing. 

Love

Elder Novaković