Varazdin

It looks like we will not be in Varazdin long, so we better tell and show you the town. Varazdin was once the capital of Croatia, but now it is Zagreb which is about 50 miles away. There is a population of 48,000. The centar of town is located near the Drava River. The town is known for it baroque buildings, textile and food. There are several sites to see.

Varasdin Central Square

Most interesting is the cemetery. It has been around since 1773 but in 1905 it was designed to be a resting place for the visitor as well as the dead. Tradition in Croatia and Bosnia is that people visit the graves of their dead on the anniversary of their death.

In centar the streets are cobble stone.. No cars are allowed in centar.

Town Centar

Missionary in Town Centar

Bikes are the favorite mode of transportation.  Motorists must yield to pedestrians. 

Varazdin Castle

Varazdin is a lovely town and we have a terrific apartment, but the Lord wants us in Tuzla.  So to Tuzla we will go. 

June 17 - 23, 2012. Banja Luka/Varazdin

On Saturday we drove to Banja Luka, Bosnia. The Erickson's are a support to the group here. Not a branch, as there are not enough members. On Sunday we attended church which is held in the house that the Erickson's live in on the weekends. The young Elders live on the ground floor, the church is on the 2nd floor. And the Erickson's live on the top floor. There was 18 in attendance. The church is just taking off in Bosnia. They have a group in Banja Luka, Sarajevo, and "soon to be" in Tuzla. Tuzla is going to be opened up by the Winters. We are going to be going to Tuzla next week to look for housing and a place to hold church. We have heard rumors that there a two young boys who are members of the church living there, we shall see.

On Monday we visited the Red Cross in Banja Luka. We confirmed that we would be attending a closing for a clean water project that the Erickson's| developed. We also visited a rehabilitation hospital. There is a  difference between the hospitals in Croatia and Bosnia. We were also able to visit another great project. The church provided the materials to remodel the attic area of the New Generation children's shelter. The space provides a play area for the children in the shelter. The church also provided toys and hygiene kits with the help of some local church members.

On Tuesday we visited a Muslim soup kitchen. The church provided a new oven for the soup kitchen that provides daily meals to the needy in the Muslim population of Banja Luka. The oven will provide 3 1/2 times more than their current capacity. We also visited a hospital in Prijedor. The church recently had a NRT (Neonatal Resuscitation Training) there.  Another one is planned for November. Here we visited "The Baby Box" which is their nursery. It was interesting. They had 13 babies in the box at the time we visited. There were lots of empty bassinets, all 13 babies were in 4 carts. There were two who were brand new - they each weighed over 4 kilos (8.8 lbs). The mothers stay in the hospital 3 days and get one year off work with pay.

At the| "Baby Box"

Wednesday we attended the closing of a clean water/sanitation project for a local school in Banja Luka, Bosnia. The church purchased supplies so the school could be connected to the municipal sewer system which eliminated a unsanitary septic system.

Thursday we returned to Croatia (a 3 hour drive).

Friday we visited a garden project in Karlovac, Croatia. Here the church helped with materials and supplies for members to plant and care for their community garden. This provides fresh vegetables to needy families.



Us with the Žarko Sikirica (Branch President)

The garden is narrow and very long

Saturday the Erickson's |took the car and returned to Banja Luka for their last sacrament meeting there before returning home on the 2nd of July. This left us on foot in Varazdin. We were able to walk to the town center to get Gary a haircut and buy fresh vegetables. We returned home, cleaned the apartment, washed and ironed our clothes and basically got ready for Sunday.

Our first week in Croatia

Sunday morning we walked to the church with the Elders. There was a total 11 in attendance including us. The meeting was in Croatian, however, the Branch President's wife had written her talk in English so we would know what she was saying. She also taught the Sunday School lesson and again provided us an English translation. After church we walked home, only got lost once. We had the Elders over for dinner and set up our trip in the morning to the Police Station.
Monday we made our first trip to the Police Station to apply for our visa. You must apply for a visa every time you move from one city to another. We did not have the right forms, but we began the process. In the afternoon the couple we are replacing, the Erickson's returned from Banja Luka, Bosnia.

Our first trip to the "MUP"

Tuesday began our visits to humanitian project partners that the Erickson's have worked with in Croatia.  The main purpose of our visits was to introduce us to them.

CARTIAS (a part of Catholic Charities in Croatia). One of the projects was buying a stove and a industrial potato peeler for a soup kitchen in Varazdin. The soup kitchen feeds about 250 people a day.

RED CROSS in Varazdin.  This project is clean wells, many of which were damaged in the "homeland war" when Yugoslovia broke apart.

HIGH SCHOOL in Varazdin. This high school is more like a Tech Center. The school made some sheets, duvet covers, and cabinets for rehabilitation hospitals and care centers. The Church acted as the intermediary bringing both together.

VARAZDIN RESIDENTIAL REHABILITATION FACILITY Several projects have been done here. This is where the sheets and duvets were donated as well as cabinets and shelves.

CENTAR FOR REHABILITATION VARAZDIN Here they have about 250 residents (ages ranging from 4 - 90). Again sheets and duvets have been donated. This facility really tugged at our heart strings.  The residents are very well taken care of here.  The place was immaculate and all the residents we meet were delighted to see us.  We liked how they made the decorations for the hospital. 

Making Decorations

Decorations hung

RED CROSS WELL PROJECT  We began the morning very early to visit a town called Daruvar.  We have partnered with the Red Cross to clean 1000 wells.  A two man crew comes in and cleans a well out.  They test for bacteria content and certify the well is safe for drinking.  The family helps with the labor in cleaning the well also. 

Members of family who well was being cleaned 

Another member of family

The red cross and cleaning crew

Upon returning to Varazdin about 5pm we received a call from President Rowe, our mission president.  He would like us to move to Tuzla, Bosnia.  This transfer will not take place immediately as there is not a place for us to live there yet.  However, in the not too far distance future, we will be moving to Bosnia.

THE PLANE RIDE

6AM Friday morning we left home to start our journey to Croatia.

Michael and Jerry Purles drove us to the airport. We checked our luggage at the counter. Each of our bags were under the limit (some closer to the 50 lbs. than others).

We breezed through security, boarded our flight, and made it to New York (JFK) without a problem. Upon arrival in New York we discovered that our next flight to Paris departed from Terminal 1. We had arrived in Terminal 3, which required us to exit Terminal 3 and re-enter Terminal 1. We had a two hour layover. The distance was not just a hop, skip, and jump either. Upon arriving in Terminal 1, we were told that we would have to go through security again. If you think the lines at the Salt Lake International Airport are long, you can't begin to imagine what the lines were like at JFK. Not to mention that we felt as if we were speaking a foreign language, and we were still in the United States. Luckily we were traveling with another couple (Elder and Sister Maughan). Elder Maughan recently had his hip replaced, so Gary got assertive and pulled the handicap card which got us through the long line. We boarded the flight without even having time to make a visit to the restroom.

Other than the fact that it is was a 6 hour flight, it was uneventful. They did feed us. We got into Paris at 6am. Our flight to Zagreb was scheduled to leave at 9:45am. After walking from one terminal to the next, which again was no small stroll (at least we didn't have to exit and go through security again) we arrived at the proper gate to go to Zagreb. Gary bought himself a $5.00 bottle of water, we freshen up a bit and then the next stop was Croatia.

Upon arriving in Zagreb at noon, we got off the plane (no jet bridge here -just stairs rolled up to the plane) and went through customs without a hitch. The Mission President and his wife (Edward and Brooke Rowe) picked us up at the airport, took us back to the mission home for a quick shower and a wonderful lunch.  All the time we were in a daze as we had now been up since 5am Friday and it was now 4am Saturday in Salt Lake City.   

Then the office couple (Elder and Sister Irwin) drove us from Zagreb to Varazdin. We arrived at our apartment about 7:15pm. By this time Susan had only nodded off in the car twice. We were greeted by the Elders (Elder Meline & Wade), who helped us bring in our luggage (we are on the 7th Floor). The Erickson's had graciously left us two meals and a gift basket.  This was very much appreciated as church was at 10am the next morning.

We unpacked some and went to bed at 9:30pm. It is good to have our trip OVER!  Tomorrow we go to church at the branch.

The MTC

  The Adventure Begins -

Monday morning, May 28th we reported to the Missionary Training Center  (MTC) in Provo, Utah.   We checked in, received our name tags, and got lots of papers and instructions.  We were in meetings all the rest of the day till 4:30pm.  Each morning our classes began at 8:00am and went till at least 4:30pm.  Some nights we also had language training so on those night we had classes till 8pm.  The first week we had training from the manual "Preach My Gospel".  There was instruction, role play, and more instruction.  What we got out of our week of learning was to "teach people, not lessons".

Friday night we checked out and returned home.  We felt we needed more time to pack and celebrate birthdays before we go. 

Monday morning bright and early (8am) we meet at Welfare Square for training on welfare.  I guess I should say that Susan got training on welfare as Gary knows most of what was taught as he worked for the Welfare Department for the last 33 years.  The highlight of Monday was lunch with Elder Glen Rudd.  Tuesday and Wednesday it was back to the MTC for more training on the computer so that we can know how to fill our the forms for projects that we find.

We are taking Thursday off to finish packing and take care of those last minute things before we fly out on Friday morning at 8:30am.  (Of course you know that means going to the airport at 6:00am.)  All this packing has been a good excuse to declutter.  You really gather a lot of things over the years.  Now we are to the point of just throwing things into bins so that we can just be done.  The reality of it all is really starting
to sink in. Stand by for our next post, it will be from Croatia!

Just a side note - the sign is no longer out front of the MTC.  They took it off when they changed how the young elders and sisters were dropped off.  We were told that everyone wanted to take their picture by it, causing problems with traffic.  The best you can do now, is to take a picture of the road sign that says "Missionary Training Center" with an arrow pointing to the buildings.