Rijeka, Opatija and Sapna

We had the opportunity to go to Rijeka, Croatia this week.  Rijeka means river in Croatian.  Needless to say there is quite a bit of water in Rijeka.  It is located along the Adriatic Coast, or as some of you would better recognize "Dalmatian Coast".  Just so you know, yes it is beautiful.   There is a good reason we are in Tuzla and not Rijeka.  Not that Croatia does not need humanitarian aid, they do, but the need is much bigger in Bosnia.  We find it interesting that Bosnia only has 24 kilometers of coast line and the rest belongs to Croatia.  But that is not for us to understand,  The drive to Rijeka was quite pleasant.  It took about 6 hours from home to the Babbel's.  The Babbels are a senior couple from Twin Falls, Idaho.

Elder Babbel is a brother to Sister Ivins who is also in our mission.  Rumor has it that another sister to Elder Babbel and Sister Ivins might be coming to our mission as well. We want to issue an invitation to anyone contemplating a mission that there will be 10 openings for senior couples in our mission this fall.  Anyone interested, let us know and we will put you in touch with the people who can make it happen.  Most of the openings are in Croatia and Slovenia, but there will be one in Bosnia and one in Serbia. 

Back to Rijeka.  Rijeka is the 3rd largest city in Croatia.  It is a seaport.  We saw lots of container ships.  Apparently it used to be a place where they did quite a bit of ship building.  But not since the war.  As we said, it was absolutely gorgeous.  Driving to the Babbel's one morning we took a wrong turn.  After getting turned back around and headed into the city again, we drove along the coast.  It reminded us of the Pacific Coast Highway. 

  
We spent the night in an apartment of a couple who was called to be mission president in the Philippines.  This is the view from their balcony.  That is the Adriatic Sea in the background.

The next day we visited various potential projects.  After our visits we drove about 25 kilometers southwest and visited the town of Opatija.  Opatija is a tourist town.  We had lunch and enjoyed being in a "peaceful serene place" for the afternoon.

 

 

 

We returned to Rijeka and reality in the early afternoon.  We stopped by the church to check our emails before returning to the apartment we were staying in.  Upon returning to the parking lot the attendant motioned for us to come down to where he was.  Another car had hit the back bumper of the Babbel's car.  After we got in touch with the Babbels we returned to the apartment .  The next morning we got up and drove back to Tuzla.  The weather was delightful when we were in Rijeka/Opatija.  Thursday morning as we left it started to get cloudy and by the time we arrived in Tuzla it was pouring. 

Friday morning we went to the village of Sapna.  We were able to help with the tables, chairs, and a teacher desk for the Kindergarten here.  We visited the school, saw the completed project, and took some pictures.  After visiting the school we went to another school which is close by.  This school has a problem with the sewer.  They need to have the windows to the bathroom open at all times and still the smell is "terrible".  Best description - a pit toilet.  They have some ideas of how to fix the problem, but still need to get an experts opinion.

We have a baptism tonight at 7:45 so this is going to have to be it for now.  We will give you details and add pictures next week.  Hope you all have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. 

Felt Flowers, Elder Kearon and Piano Project

Last fall when we visited the elderly center we saw several of the ladies make flower pins and jewelry.  This sparked an idea for Susan.  She thought that she could go to the elderly center and teach them how to make felt flowers.  Problem #1:  No felt in Bosnia.  Problem #2:  No "big shot" (circle punch) to cut out the circles.  She started asking around and found that there really was no felt material to be found.  If she had found the felt, last resort was to could cut out the circles by hand.  About this time, Jenifer Johnson (a fellow crafter) from her home ward made a comment on the blog.  When Susan responded to her comment that she was having problems trying to make these flowers, Jenifer offered to send her some felt.  Problem solved.  Not only did Jenifer send some felt, she had the Activity Day girls (ages 8 - 12) in her ward cut out the felt with the "big shot" and assemble them into kits.  These young girls went the extra mile and made lots of kits.   Lizzy and Sara, our daughters, were good enough to mail all the supplies to us.

      
We took the young elders to help communicate the instructions.  Sign languages works, but sometimes you need more than that.  The elderly center is a place where the seniors can go during the day.  Making the flowers together was a big hit. 

We will be going back to another elderly center later in the month of June.  Again we want to thank the Activity Day girls and their leaders, Jenifer Johnson and Jennifer Naylor, for all their help.  Not to forget a huge thank you to Lizzy and Sara who never complain of their Mother's requests. 

After our visit to the elderly center we along with the elders departed Tuzla for Belgrade, Serbia.  The purpose of our adventure was for a Area Presidency Mission tour of Adriatic North Mission by Elder Patrick Kearon and his wife.  Elder Kearon is the first counselor in the Europe Area Presidency.  The plan was a fireside on Monday night and a Zone Meeting for Serbia and Bosnia on Tuesday.  We gathered at the church on Monday evening to learn that Elder Kearon's flight had been delayed.  Back in January Elder Kearon was going to come visit, but his trip was cancelled because of a heavy snowstorm.  On Monday night the meeting started at 6:30pm and Elder Kearon and his wife were not able to get there till nearly 9:00pm.  The chapel was filled to capacity with people standing in the back and out in the hall.  Everyone was delighted when they were finally able to arrive and enjoyed the spirit that was present in the meeting.  Elder Kearon spoke of 60 years ago when the first party climbed Mt. Everest.  He told that when they got 300 feet from the top, two were chosen to make the final ascent.  Of course they made it, but no one knows who reached the top first.  This was to make the point that we can do great good, if we do not care who gets the credit.  It will take everyone working together to make it through life, but our Savior will help us the last 300 feet.  The Atonement takes care of everything else.  He also spoke about this video.   (See the video clip below.)  He reminded us that we do not have to carry the pain.  We need to let it go.

    https://www.lds.org/youth/video/reclaimed?lang=eng

The meeting on Tuesday was great as well.  We left in the afternoon uplifted and recharged to be better missionaries.  We arrived back in Tuzla about 8:30 Tuesday evening.

On Thursday we were invited to visit one of the local schools, Brčanska Malta.  Earlier in the month we were able to submit a project to help the school with an electric piano.  We were able to purchase the piano as well as provide the students in the class with T-shirts which had the Latter Day Saints Charities logo and the school logo on the front.  They used these shirts when they performed in their school competitions.  Upon entering the classroom we were seated in chairs reserved for us.  The class then performed several songs for us.  Music is taught to all the students and we were impressed with the quality of their performance.  One of the songs, even though performed in Bosnian, was a song which we recognized from when we in high school.  (Sealed with a Kiss)

We have a trip planned to the Dalmatian Coast next week.  We will go to Rijeka to meet with another senior couple there to see about potential humanitarian projects in that part of Croatia.  Till then . . .  

Mother's Day 2013

Last week we had a fantastic Fast and Testimony Meeting.  We had 28 in attendance.  Of course we had ourselves, the two sets of elders, the Smartts, and Ike and Gloria Ferguson.  But 18 non-missionaries is still a good number.  There was a wonderful spirit.  After the meeting we went to our translator, Mersiha's parents weekend house for lunch.  That was unbelievably good.  They cooked the meal in a peka cooker that works like a dutch oven.  Mersiha's mother used no oil.  She cooked some turkey, veal, lamb and beef along with vegetables.  It was simply delicious.  Ike and Gloria liked the cooker so much that they bought one and took it home.  It actually made it home via the airlines.  The box was opened at all the securities, but they got it home and look forward to cooking with it. 

Monday we started early.  Our first meeting was with the Minister of Public Health.  We learned that they had not received any forms from the schools to input the information regarding the vision screening.  Next we went to visit some of the schools to see how the screening was going.  Each school does the screening just a little different, but more than half of the screening in the schools is complete.  We also stopped by the Tuzla Red Cross Cantonal office.  The Red Cross has been so helpful in making this project happen. We could not of done it without their help.  In the afternoon we visited with the UKC Hospital.  The Ferguson's brought several things for the optical clinic at the hospital.  Everyone was so excited as we opened this up.  It was like Christmas morning.

 

Tuesday we met with the Ministry of Education where we discussed how we will go about doing the screening for the rest of the municipality.  We also were able to discuss how the information from the screening will be given to Public Health for recording the data.  After our meeting we went to visit some more schools.  While we were at one school the principal came in to talk with us.  She told us about a friend of hers whose son had been screened and they discovered that he had amblyopia. She called the father and he came over to the school so we could talk with him.  He told us that his son was going to be meeting at the UKC the next day and gave us permission to come meet him. In the afternoon we went to the outpatient where the UKC doctors trained the outpatient clinic staff to do the preschool vision screening.

 

 

 

Wednesday morning we met again at the Public Health Department along with the doctors from the outpatient clinic and UKC Hospital.  We were able to decide on the direction we needed to go to finish out the screening here in Tuzla and the plan for the rest of the Canton (county) in the fall. 

   

 

 

At noon we went to the UKC where we meet the Kalfic family.  We do not feel that this was just a chance meeting.  Armin is 8 years old.  Because of Taylor having the amblyopia in the same eye we were able to offer hope to Armin and his parents.  We showed him a picture of our grandson, Taylor.  We told them what his vision was when he was first diagnosed and what it is now.  We were able to let them know that doing the exercises to strengthen his eye and getting glasses will help him.  At least he will not go blind as he would have if had not gone unchecked.  The fact that the screening was able to help even one child has made it worth the effort, but while we were there others came as well.  The doctors at the UKC ophthalmology clinic have seen over 100 children that have been identified by the initial vision screening in the schools.  

Today is Mother's Day and all the elders are are calling their mothers.  We don't know who is more excited the elders or their families.  .

 

 

The elders are in the apartment downstairs making Susan a special dinner for Mother's Day.  It smells wonderful.  We have some of the finest young men in our mission and know that the Lord is mindful of the work that is happening here.  It is an honor and privilege to be a part of the beginnings of the church in Tuzla, Bosnia.

 

 

   

 

 

 

May Day

With the arrival of pleasant weather we have taken to walking in the mornings.  We live close to the local football (soccer) stadium so we usually go there for our walk.  Even at 6:30 am in the morning it is warm (60's to 70's).  Lately if we wait till later in the day it has been in the 80's to 90's with 70% to 80% humidity.  We love how everything has turned green and the trees and bushes have come alive after the long dormant winter. 

 

 

This was a pretty slow week due to May 1st being in the middle of the week.  May 1st is a big holiday here.  As we went out for our walk early Wednesday morning. we decided that it felt like the 4th of July in our little community of Granite, Utah.  Even early in the morning people were making preparations for their May Day celebration with their family.  Government offices were closed and most stores closed as well.  Tradition seems to be that it is a day you spend with family and friends having a BBQ and enjoying each other's company.  There were a few Pekaras (bakeries) open early in the day so that people could buy fresh bread but by noon everything was closed down.  We went to the weekend house of Emir (our attorney) .  He invited several of his friends, the Smartts from Sarajevo, and ourselves.  We met and followed Emir out of town about 8:45 am for a 30 minute drive to the weekend house where we cooked meat and had salads.  We actually cooked meat 3 times - maybe more after we left at 6pm.  Bosnians are wonderful hosts.  They feel their job is to make sure everyone relaxes and has enough to eat and they do a excellent job of it.   The typical fare is Cevapi.  Cevapi is little sausages.  They also have grilled chicken.  The cevapi is served in a flat bread called lepinje.  Lepinje reminds us of pita bread.  The cevapi is grilled and then you put the meat in the lepinje along with onions, kajmak, peppers and ajvar (minced red bell peppers and eggplant). 

Ema, Emir, and Dijana

 

Ajvar, Cevapi, and Onions

 

Susan, Melina, Elder and Sister Smart

 

Needless to say we had plenty to eat and totally enjoyed ourselves.  We left early to come home for a interview with a couple in Salt Lake.  They are writing the history of the Humanitarian Department of the church and wanted to talk to Gary about the beginning of the wheelchair program. As we drove up the street to our apartment there were no cars in the parking lots of all the apartment buildings as everyone was spending May Day with someone.  May Day celebration continued into Thursday and Friday.  On Thursday some of the businesses were open .  Friday was the same.  But many people had a 5 day weekend.  Hence why we had a slower work week.

 

On Monday we were able to purchase an electronic keyboard for a primary school.  All children learn music in school.  They have a "music competition" which takes place next week.  We were also able to obtain some t-shirts for the orchestra that has their school logo as well as the Latter Day Saints Charities logo.  Pictures will follow as the keyboard and the shirts will be delivered after the holidays. 

 

Friday we drove 5 hours to Karlovac, Croatia as the local Church branch has a project there.  They have rented some land and have a community garden.  We visited the garden last June when we first arrived.  This has been a 3 year project.  They are in the third year.  Hopefully they will have an abundant harvest and be able to provide for themselves.      

 

Karlovac garden June 2012

 

Karlovac is close to Zagreb so we spent the night in Zagreb.  The town has come alive with the pleasant weather.  There are many vendors along the sides of the roads and on the street corners.   There is also an abundance of outdoor seating for their restaurants. 

 

Saturday we picked up the Ferguson's at the Zagreb airport and returned to Tuzla where we will have a week of meetings and work with the various partners in our vision screening project. 

 

Today we had 28 people at church.  It was a wonderful Fast and Testimony meeting.  Our little group is growing.  It looks as if there are some baptisms on the horizon.