Happy Father's Day

We want to wish all the men in our lives a "Happy Father's Day".  We miss our fathers and are thankful for all they did for us so that we could have the wonderful lives that we enjoy now.  Gary received several calls on the computer.  Here are our grandchildren singing a song to him.  Many of you know the song; the words and hand actions that go to the song say. . .

Clap my hands and shout for joy.

  

Hug him tight like this.

 

Give him what? A great big kiss!

 

This has been a week of birthdays for our family.  My sister, Mary Beth Williams had a birthday on Tuesday.  Wednesday our grandson, Taylor Osborne, turned 10.  On Saturday our son, Jesse, turned the big "40".   Where did the time go?  Wasn't it just yesterday that they were little boys?  

 

Monday we drove to Sarajevo to visit with a group called Muslim Aid to discuss potential projects we may be able to do with them. 

Tuesday we took care of little things around Tuzla.  On Wednesday we drove to Novi Sad, Serbia, to meet with our counterparts, (Elder and Sister) Dave and Anne Maughan.  Dave and Anne are from Richland, Washington.  We were in the MTC together and made that long trip over here last June together as well.  We still can not believe that we have been here for a year.  The Maughans are the humanitarian couple in Serbia.  They have humanitarian projects like we do, but they have a challenge to donate wheelchairs, as the government won't allow them to be shipped in.  They government requires them to buy the chairs in country, which is much more costly.  We guess it just goes to show that we have to be creative and let the Lord guide us as we do his work.  Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia.  It is a fairly new city.  We visited the Petrovardin Fortress there which was quite unique.  The road has tunnels that you drive through.  The basement of the fortress had cannons in it and they had built ventilation to let the smoke out.  The fortress overlooks the Danube River, which has been rising with the potential of flooding.  There is quite a bit of history surrounding the fortress.   Construction of the fortress was in the late 1600's.  We had a beautiful day to tour the grounds and relax as we discussed our work. 

Dave and Anne Maughan, Susan and Gary

 View of the Danube

 

Royal Gate

 

Close up of Royal Gate

Discussing humanitarian work

 

 Cannons

More discussion

Notice the water level on the house

Thursday we returned to Tuzla in the evening.  The days are getting longer so we can get more travel in with it being light so late. 

Friday we had an appreciation lunch for the volunteers who helped with the vision screening project.  All the children in the primary schools in Tuzla have had their eyes checked.  The outpatient clinic also visited the kindergartens and completed the screening there.  Kindergarten is not part of the primary schools in Bosnia and not all children go to kindergarten.   Primary school is grade 1 through 9.   We can not say enough about how delighted we have been with the success of this project.  In the fall we will be doing the other 12 municipalities (18,000 students) in Tuzla Canton (county).   The other municipalities are smaller, but we are confident that the screening will be as successful as it has been in Tuzla.  As we meet with the various partners the common thread is that they are glad that we did project as it has helped them to think more of what they can do to protect and improve the vision of children.  Everyone would like to see childhood vision screening become mandatory.

 

Handing our certificates of appreciation

That's it for our week.  We are so thankful for your support.  Your comments really do lift our spirits and give us that extra boost to keep going.  We know that many of you who are remembering us in your prayers and we appreciate it. 

 

Till next week.  Doviđenja(goodbye)