Approved!

All of our humanitarian projects were approved. The one project (water project) was a major initiative so that one has been sent on to Salt Lake for headquarters approval. The other four were area initiatives and so now we will meet with the different local partners and will have them get bids for the equipment and material costs and then we will continue to move forward for these projects to come to fruition. The four projects mentioned were school supplies for needy children in Tuzla and Sarajevo, the purchasing of seeds and fruit trees in villages which suffered from the drought this summer, and the one to help the sheltered workshop with equipment to train people here in Tuzla. It is overwhelming the many hoops that need to be jumped through for all these to happen, but the end result will be worth it. All these hoops are necessary and have been set in place so that the people benefit from this help and no money is wasted on managing the project.

We marvel at the support we have from home. We have been delighted to have some of the parents of our young missionaries acknowledge that they too are following our blog. We do so love the young missionaries. Whenever we have a problem with our computers, they are great to help us correct it. What would we do without them?  Remember it was the elders which brought down our computer equipment from Croatia and set it up. Just this last week we were trying to print out business cards and could not get them to line up. Well between Elder West and Elder DeFreitas the problem was solved in no time. The paper we use here is not 8 1/2 x 11, it is called A4 which is just a little longer and a little narrower than the paper we are used to.  In just minutes the problem was resolved and our cards look great. The young missionaries are a great blessing in our lives. We would certainly be in big trouble without them.

We are starting to feel comfortable with our location. We have been looking with the young elders to find a place to hold church and use for their |English classes. We have identified a few locations and will check them out this next week. We have discovered a hair salon just across the street from our apartment building that two of the people speak some English. Each week when I get my hair done, we work on a phrase-they tell me how to say it in Bosnian and I tell them in English. We do the same thing with some of the women who work in the grocery store which is in the bottom of our apartment building. There is one girl who speaks pretty good English and so when we can't find something we can go to her and we usually can figure out if it is something we can find here or not. We are finding that lots of people are just like us. They know some English, but they are not any more comfortable speaking English that we are Bosnian. But we have made some great friends. There are people at the grocery store, the fruit stand, the appliance store as well as the hair salon. We have a neighbor, who doesn't speak English, but he and his wife are good grandparents to their two grandsons and so we feel we have a common bond.

The young elders continue to try and find people to teach, with limited success. The work is challenging, but we all feel strongly that this is where we are supposed to be.

We had some great news this week. On Wednesday we went to check on our car and discovered that it was all done with the exception of the roof liner and air bags being in this week. We went back on Friday and the car was not at the auto repair shop, but was over at the dealership where they were programing the software needed to make things function. This is great news. It will be two months on the 6th of October since the accident and will be nice to get our car back.

We look forward to being able to watch conference over the internet this next weekend.  We had great hopes to watch the General Relief Society Meeting, but it did not seem to want to stream live.  But isn't modern technology wonderful? 

We learned that our Bishopric was released today and a new one sustained.  We will miss Bishop Howes and wish him well ont his new chapter in his life and are delighted to hear that we now have Bishop Pingree to work with.   

Projects Submitted to Germany

We have submitted five new humanitarian projects to the Area Office in Frankfurt, Germany for their review and approval.  One is a Major Initiative (there are six Major Initiatives) a clean water project for Bosnia.  If they approve it in Germany then it will go to Salt Lake for their approval.  This is one of the water projects that we told you about last week. 

The other four projects are called Area Initiatives.  Area Initiatives are reviewed in Germany and sent back to us if approved.  Two of the initiatives are for school supplies for children in Sarajevo and Tuzla, Bosnia.  The school supplies project entails purchasing backpacks, notebooks, paper, pencils, sketch pads, and pencil bags for children locally. If the families can not afford to purchase the materials, they just don't send their children to school. The cost of the supplies is only about $20.00 a child, so we are hopeful that these projects get approved.  We feel this is a small price to pay to help a child get an education.

Another one is for seeds and fruit trees for poor agricultural families in Bosnia.  This past summer we had three months without rain.  This caused a severe drought and many families lost their crops.  That affected them having no seeds for next years planting as well as they lost trees.  Many of these families have to survice on what they grow.

The last one is some training equipment for a sheltered workshop in Tuzla.  Lotosice has requested equipment to help them improve their vocational training opportunities for program participants.  All of the participants have disabilities on one form or another. They have a woodworking program where they make and sell furniture.  It a humble program with limited resources.  They have a great staff and do good work.



Susan and Merisha at workshop

Enisa and Susan by saw

Susan and Merisha in front of workshop
 

Enisa (Lotosice director), Susan and Gary

 

We are hoping these projects get approved and we can get started helping the people in Tuzla.

We also have a Wheelchair Distribution that has been approved and the wheelchairs have been shipped.  We can hardly wait for the shipment to receive customs clearance and to arrive.  This wil give us, the young elders and the Red Cross some exciting work to do.

Two other things happened this week...

First, we went to the auto repair shop where our car is being repaired.  It is more than half completed.  We might have our car back by the end of this next week!

The second was we bought a new "Bosnian made" coat for Susan.  We get snow in Tuzla and this new coat will be just what is needed.  The sleeves need to be shortened, but there are lots of tailors who can do an excellent job.

New Bosnian made coat

Thus ends another week in Bosnia/Croatia.  We would change the name of our blog if we knew how, but this works for us and as the saying goes "if it isn't broken, don't fix it". We feel truly blessed and appreciate all the prayers in our behalf.  Thank you so much.  As we enjoy the conveniences of modern technology we are truly thankful for all that we have.  We look forward to the General Relief Society meeting next Saturday as well as General Conference the following week.   

The Long and Winding Road to Sarajevo

On Tuesday Elder and Sister Maughan from Serbia, along with Nermin (our translator) and Elder and Sister Petersen from Gilbert, AZ (water specialists) picked us up for our adventure to begin.  Our first stop was the town of Kalesija.  We met with the Mayor, Red Cross official, and a lot water people.  After visiting with the mayor and talking about a potential water project we all piled into the van and off we went to see the water project.  One thing we need to explain about when you visit a water project; it is usually out in the middle of nowhere.  This particular one was not too far out, however it did have some hiking up a creek bed to get there.

Viewing the project on paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After our hike we got back in the van and began the 2 1/2 hour ride (if you don't get behind any logging trucks) to Sarajevo.  The drive is a long winding road with lots of switchbacks.  We needed to be in Sarajevo by 5:30 - 6:00pm because there was a meeting at the church with Elder Rasband and Elder Richards.  About half way there Gary turned to Susan and said "where is my suit coat"?  Well the suit coat was in Tuzla hanging in the closet.  We felt an impression to call the young elders in Sarajevo to see if anyone had an extra jacket that Gary could wear.  As it turned out Elder Mecham from Huntington, Utah, had an extra suit which he brought to the hotel when we got there at 6:15pm.  We had just enough time to change and go to the meeting at 7:00pm.  The suit worked great and Gary did not have to feel out of place without a suit coat.
 

        
The meeting we attended was a fireside for missionaries, members, and non-members.  It was very well attended.  A building has recently been rented and converted into a wonderful place to hold church.  The press was there as well.  There was an article in a weekly paper called Slobodna Bosna with a very nice article on Mormon Church in Bosnia and some pictures (the back of our heads are in the picture).  The following morning was another meeting, this time just for missionaries.  There was a special feeling in the meeting that day and it was wonderful to be taught by both Elder Rasband and Elder Richards and their wives as well as President and Sister Rowe. 

After the meeting ended we got back in the van and went to visit another water project.  This one took nearly 3 hours to get there. 

     
Both these projects consist of building a v shaped cement wall to capture water that comes from a spring up in the mountains.  From there it is piped to a holding tank. From the holding tank it is piped to the villages which can be over 3,000 meters.  This has been a particularly dry year (no rain for 3 months) so some of these villages are really in need,  After much discussion about the project, we got back in the van and drove the 3 hours back to Sarajevo.  The next morning we drove back to Tuzla.  When we got home we booted up the computer and started putting together the projects.  We feel that we will be ready to submit the projects by the end of next week for approval.

As you drive along the road to and from Sarajevo there are lots of signs like this.  A reminder of the terrible war which took place here.

We received word that Elder Chandler, one of our missionaries in Tuzla is going to be transferred on Tuesday and we will be getting a new missionary, Elder DeFreitas from Virginia.  It will be hard to see Elder Chandler go.  He has an excellent command of the language .  He will be going to Zagreb, Croatia, so we hope to see him again before he leaves for home in December.

Gary got a haircut before the meetings in Sarajevo.  A Bosnian haircut is not just a little trim.  He didn't have much hair to begin with.  Now he has less.  At least it will grow back.

.Red Cross International First Aid Day

Saturday, September 8, 2012 was Red Cross International First Aid Day in Bosnia.  The Red Cross is celebrating 100 years.  The young Elders were invited to help set up tents which the Church had donated to the Red Cross.

Two of the tents and several cots were given to the Tuzla Red Cross this past year by Latter Day Saint Charities.  Latter Day Saint Charities is the name that the church uses when the church is not registered in a country.  Since the church has just been registered and will not be up and functioning for at least a year, the name Latter Day Saint Charities is used here in Bosnia. The tents are used when the volunteers and employees of the Red Cross travel to disaster sites.  




Elder Chandler and Elder West

 

Elder Winters

 

 Later we went back for the event.  The event was very impressive.  They had emergency re-enactments.  They had a mock fire and the Tuzla order of volunteers demonstrated how they would function in such a situation.  It was a great day for all.

 

This next week we will be going to various potential water projects throughout Bosnia.  We have water specialists coming from the states who will help determine the possible projects.  We are also planning to go to Sarajevo.  Elder Rasband will be visiting and we look forward to forward to hear his message. 

What we CAN DO

This week we focused on what "we can do" here in Tuzla. We are preparing for the upcoming visit of our water specialists from the States. They will be flying in the Belgrade and then traveling to Bosnia where we will take them to visit some potential water projects.

We went to one of the local hotels to schedule renting it next Saturday night for a baptism planned for September 8.

 

It is starting to cool off at nights now so we purchased some chairs for our deck. The chairs will allow us to go outside and relax after a day of work.

 

 

We have been trying to establish a schedule. We begin our day by going over to the soccer stadium and walking around the track for our exercise. After returning home and having breakfast we study our scriptures and preach my gospel both separately and together. Then we study our language. Are we getting better? It does not seem like it, but we are learning to recognize a few words in conversation and getting enough courage to use some of our language skills. The problem is we ask a question in Bosnian and they rattle off a quick answer thinking that we can understand them.  We can pretend like we do. 

 

On a positive note, we received notice that the insurance company has approved the repair of our car.  We contacted the body shop and they said that it would take about 3 weeks to complete the repairs.  We are just glad to be able to get moving on the repairs.  Things here take a little longer than they do at home.

 

Not much else has happened this week, but we have been busy making arrangements for the upcomig visits of Water, Vision, and Neonatal Resuscitation Specialists.  If all goes according to plan, we'll travel with the water specialists in September, the vision people in October and NRT doctors in November.  As mentioned, each day we try to do what we can do.