We attended the Croatia District Conference in Zagreb. Our missionaries worked hard to invite all of our members to come to the 2 day conference. The Elders took the bus with six of our members and friends. Three of our members drove to Zagreb with family and three members caught a 6:45 am bus on Sunday morning. All of our members seemed to enjoy the conference. We were happy they could be strengthened and meet members from all over Croatia. Below, is a photo of our Rijeka Branch members and friends.
Elder Michael Cziesla, an area church leader from Germany shared a story of his grandparents that began in 1924 and concluded in 1955.
Elder Cziesla shares, “My grandmother was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1924 in a small village in Poland. In 1930 she married someone not of her faith and moved 4 hours away to live on a farm. She was not able to go to church. Her only contact with the Church was a hymn book and a copy of the Book of Mormon. The only way she could teach her children was to read the Book of Mormon to them and sing them church hymns. Fast forward to 1955, twenty five years later when she had lost contact with the Church. My father was then a 17 year old and didn’t consider himself a member of the church. He saw a sign on a church building and thought “this is mother’s church.” He told his mother,” I have found your church.” There was finally a church building much closer to her. The one thing she wanted to do was to come to church. Sunday morning they rode their bikes 20 km to church. When they arrived they met an older sister who said “ you’ve missed Sunday School, but you can stay until the Sacrament service this evening.” She convinced her family to stay. When the sacrament meeting began something special started. When the congregation began to sing, the young man heard the songs from his childhood. He heard the scriptures that he had heard from his childhood. He instantly knew that the church was true and was baptized three weeks later. What a touching story of a mother staying true to her faith and blessing her family.
