Meeting the members

The church is a half mile from our apartment, and the only place we have to park our car is in the same building as the church.  The lack of parking is the down-side of having such a marvelous location for our apartment.  The up-side is that the walk to the church is mostly along the river where the flock of swans hangs out.

This swan is laying on three huge eggs.   Swans are several times as large as geese, which we also see from time to time.  They dwarf the ducks which are also common here.  The swans are protected, especially along the river bank.  There is a fence around this nesting site, even though it is on the very edge of the sidewalk.  People have to walk out into the street to get around it, but there are no complaints.  People bring the swan corn, bread, lettuce and so forth and the hamburger container on the ground was full of whole  corn an hour before I took this photo.  The fence isn't there to protect the swan, though.  It is there to protect people from approaching too closely and provoking a defensive attack, which can be a very painful thing to experience.  The swans are quite accustomed to people here and attacks are not common, except for nesting.
   The branch in Maribor is quite small.  Our first Sunday, we met the branch President and his wife and three small children.  In addition there was a single sister and two single brothers.  That makes eight total members.  With Elders Christiansen and Kunzler and us, that made a total of twelve.  It was fast Sunday, so Liz and I took the opportunity to bear our testimonies, along with everybody else.
    The sad thing is that it is very painful for people to join the church here.  The Catholic religion isn't just their religion, it is part of their national identity.  When somebody joins the church, they often loose their families, and their jobs.  In Texas, the Southern Baptists don't like Mormons, but we work and live side-by-side.  It isn't an active dislike - usually.  But here the people tolerate us and even admire the church.  They are always pleasant and happy to meet us, but they don't want to be associated with us.
    When Kresimir Cosic, the famous BYU Croatian basketball player was still alive, people joined the church because his fame took a lot of the sting out of it.  But now that he has passed away, we mostly have old, single people in the church.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has helped a lot.  While we were quarantined, the missionaries used social media to find people to teach and had very good success.  The people were at home, in isolation, and spending a lot of time on social media.  They were more receptive, because they weren't so worried about the opinions of others.  We had many commitments to baptism during that time.  Those people are required to attend church with us for at least a couple of times before their baptism so we will see how it works out, but it was a very hopeful sign.
  As we walked back from church to our apartment, a man on a bicycle stopped and began to excitedly talk to us.  He is a member of the church, though not attending at this time.  His name is Ifar and he is from Kosovo, originally.  He was very happy to see us and learn our names.  He already knew where we live and that the earlier senior couple had returned to the USA,  He declined our invitation to join us at church on Sundays, but it was a great contact.
    Yesterday, the elders called us and asked if they could bring a member to our apartment to give a lesson to him.  Of course we agreed.  His name is Jean and he is physically challenged by a crooked spine.  He lives quite a way north of Maribor, along the Austrian border, and was in town for an evaluation to see if he could get a job.  He was very depressed that he was not able to do what they needed, because of his physical limitations.  He is also not getting the support from his family that he wants.  Sister Ashurst and I talked to him about finding something he likes to do and focusing on that.  The elders gave him their lesson, which they later told us was something they hadn't been able to do before.  We ended by telling him that the Savior loves him and is concerned for him.  That he needs to keep praying and his prayers WILL bear fruit.
    We also accepted an invitation from Branch President Fidler to go to his farm for dinner.  They live almost 30 minutes our of town in a very remote area with many beautiful farms in hilly country.  They have 1.5 hectares - almost 3 acres.  We had a delightful evening and a delicious roast chicken with them.  Their younger son was upset when President gave me a leg and thigh, so I cut the leg off and gave it to him.  He didn't say a word, but he tucked right in and made it disappear.  He ate quite a bit of other meat from the chicken, too, so it turned out fine.  We had a nice visit the Brother and Sister Fidler after the kids went to bed.  He is interested in getting some honey bees for his farm, so I agreed to advise him on setting them up.