Tuesday was apartment inspection day. We visited the elders' and sisters' apartments and found things in order. One apartment needed a copy of the lease and another needed some light bulbs changed out. Both were told how to defrost their freezers. The modern convenience of a frost free refrigerator does not exist here.
In the evening we went to dinner with the Babbels and Elder and Sister Seelos from Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia (how is that for a mouthful). The Seelos were in town waiting for their son and his wife to return from a quick visit across the Adriatic Sea to Italy. That is out of our mission, so the Seelos' could not go. We had a delightful evening visiting some sights in Rijeka.
Thursday morning we got up early so we could drive to Pula on the coast and see a few sights before this mission ends. Well it was raining and the GPS was sending us every which way but the right way, so we decided to just go to Karlovac for our appointment at noon. Of course we got there by 9:00am. Luckily the people we were meeting with were flexible. We were meeting with an organization that is coordinating a therapy center for disabled children. At this time we have been able to purchase the specialized floor mats for the center. We hope that we will be able to help them with more equipment for them as time goes on. We also discussed the results of Karlovac Branch's ongoing garden project. Over the last three years the members have been growing a branch garden. They have been able to save money and stretch their budgets so that several branch members have been able to attend the temple during the anual mission temple trip for members. After our meetings we continued on down the road to Tuzla arriving home close to 5pm.
Friday was another early morning excursion. Normally we leave for Zone Conference at 7am, but Susan needed additional pages in her passport so we left at 6am for an appointment at the American Embassy in Sarajevo at 9am. Everything went smoothly and she now has enough blank pages in her passport to complete our mission. Upon arrival at the church in Sarajevo Sister Matthews became ill and was taken to the Sarajevo sisters' apartment to rest. President Rowe felt impressed that the Sisters needed to hear the message he and Sister Rowe were presenting so we took the wonderful iPad to the Seniors apartment and did FaceTime with them. The majority of our meeting was given by President and Sister Rowe. Last week they went to the Mission Presidents Seminar in France. It was held in the same room where the Treaty of Versailles, ending World War I was signed. Several of the brethren were there but most of the comments he shared were from Elder M. Russell Ballard. It was a great meeting and everyone left ready to do more. There is a new couple in Sarajevo. They are Elder and Sister Shepherd from East Millcreek, Utah. There has not been a senior couple in Sarajevo since the Smartts went home in May. They may not stay long there as another couple will be coming in October, but apparently President Rowe felt that Sarajevo is where they are needed at this time. This was the last Zone Conference for Elder Compton and Elder Kroff (2nd row - 2nd and 3rd from the left) as they will be going home the 1st of October. We will miss them and wish these two former Tuzla elders the best!
That does it for this week. May we close this week with our testimony that the Lord is mindful of each of us and the details of our lives. We know that Tuzla is where the Lord wanted us to live. It was not a mistake that we were assigned to live here and that we were able to do the "first of it's kind" vision screening project for the young children of Bosnia. Because of regular vision screening done in elementary schools in the United States our grandson's vision was saved. We are thankful to be able to help the children of Bosnia in a similar way.
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