Another Baptism and Wheelchair Training Specialists

On Tuesday we had another baptism.  That brings our membership to 9.  Sanja is a wonderful young woman and a terrific asset to our group. 

 

Her baptism was early Tuesday morning.  After the baptism our district returned to our apartment where we had district meeting with President Rowe.  After our meetings the young missionaries had interviews.        

On Wednesday we were invited to a meeting with the directors of the 65 other schools in Tuzla Canton (county).  The meeting was called by the Minister of Education.  The school directors were told about the success of the vision screening program in Tuzla Municipality.  They were then told that they would be selecting a team of 3 from their schools who would receive training from the doctors at the University Klinical Center.  They were given the vision screening sets and all appeared excited about the potential good this will be for their students - 31,000 students!

Thursday morning we departed for Zagreb bright and early.  After a quick stop at the mission office to pick up a care package from home we went to the Zagreb airport to meet out wheelchair training specialists.  Andy and Roylene Schnebly are from Bountiful, Utah.  They will be conducting  wheelchair training in Banja Luka on September 2nd through 4th.  The Schnebly's arrived about 1:00 pm, but their bags did not.  Their route to Croatia was Salt Lake to New York, New York to Paris, and Paris to Zagreb.  The flight to New York was late arriving due to weather so they missed the connection to Paris.  The bags were put on a later flight to Paris.  This flight got them to Paris in time to make their original flight to Zagreb.  We returned to Tuzla with only their carry-on bags.  When they reported their missing bags it was discovered that the bags were still in New York.  The bags were put on a flight to Paris, then to Zagreb, and then to Sarajevo.  They were then driven from Sarajevo to their hotel in Tuzla.  Thankfully the bags arrived Friday evening and the Schnebly's could change clothes. 

Friday morning we went to the Red Cross.  The Red Cross had scheduled some visits with wheelchair recipients.  The recipients were interviewed and pictures were taken.  Each recipient expressed their appreciation for the chair and told us the difference the chair has made in their life.

  

We spent Saturday getting ready for Sunday.  We will make the 2 1/2 hour drive to Banja Luka Sunday afternoon as our training will begin early Monday morning. --- More next week.

Where has the year gone?

On Tuesday we drove 5 1/2 hours to Rijeka ,Croatia.  That is such a pleasant drive.  Croatia has some fantastic roads.  They are toll roads, but you are able to drive at 120kmh (75 mph).  The roads are well maintained, not at all like the roads in Bosnia, which are all secondary roads.  Upon arrival in Rijeka we met up with Elder and Sister Babbel.  Together we went to a shopping center to pay for a washing machine which will be donated to a homeless shelter.  After paying for the washing machine we went back to the Babbels' where they fed us a wonderful lunch.  When lunch was over we drove 2 hours to Zagreb to prepare for meetings the following day. 

Wednesday morning we met with the Croatia Red Cross. For the last three years we have been working with the Croatia Red Cross cleaning wells which were polluted during the war in the 1990's.  The crews clean over 1,000 wells each year.  The church has decided to continue another year with a new project.  We were able to sign a contract with the Red Cross and move this important work forward. 

After our meeting with the Red Cross we stopped by the Mission Office for a lunch date with E/S Erwin, the office couple. There is a new restaurant in Zagreb called "California Burrito".  It is the closest thing to Cafe Rio/Costa Vida that you can get here.
 

Thursday morning we left Croatia and drove back to Bosnia.  We took the route through Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia as we needed to evaluate a clean-water project which was completed last June.  We took Vicky Tadić, a Banja Luka church member with us as we couldn't remember where the school which we had worked with was located.  Previously this school had a septic system.  Whenever it rained the children had to be sent home from school as the tank backed up and the "drain field" overflowed.  The Church was able to provide the materials and supplies so that the city could connect the school to the city sewer system.  This project was quite successful and still working very well.  After visiting this project we went with Vicky to our favorite restaurant in Banja Luka, "Mala Stanica".  They have great salads and a chocolate souffle that can't be beat.  Vicky was waiting for her mission call and the mission call letter was waiting for her in Croatia.  She went to Zagreb on Friday for a pre-missionary training conference.  She opened her call at the conference with all the other missionaries.  **Vicky has been called to the Gilbert, Arizona Mission.**  We know that she will have a wonderful experience serving 18 months there. We left Banja Luka and returned to Tuzla about 4PM. 

 

 

 

Friday we were able to go to the Tuzla children's outpatient clinic.  The Church was able to purchase a few items from their "wish list" to help them with their work.  The outpatient clinic has been doing the vision screening of kindergarten children as well as performing screening on preschool children who come to the clinic for immunizations.  Did we mention what a great job they have done? 

 

 

 

 

Thus ends another week in the lives of the Winters in Bosnia and Croatia.  Time has gone by so quickly.  We feel a great urgency for the many things we still want to do before we go home in November.        

Doing what we can do

We had a fairly slow week.  Monday we took care of odds and ends here in Tuzla.  Tuesday we drove the 3 hours to Banja Luka to meet with the Rehabilitation Hospital regarding the upcoming wheelchair training and distribution in September.  Wednesday Susan taught another session of flower pin making at the Tuzla Elderly Center.  This is always an interesting challenge because of the language barrier.  By the time we are done, they are all saying "Susan, Susan."  They want her to help them finish their flower.  Some get ahead of themselves and we have to undo, but a good time is had by all.  

Thursday we drove 3 hours to Osijek, Croatia, to visit a group home that we might be able to do a service project with. We try to work with the senior couples that are assigned to the various cities in the mission.  The couple in Osijek is the Preston's from Centerville, Utah.  They have been in Croatia one month now and are just starting to adjust to things.  The group home is establishing a few apartments to teach their clients independent living skills.  They are trying to relocate some of their higher functioning clients to these new apartments.  The clients are taught how to take care of themselves.  They learn how to ride the bus or tram, visit the library, do their laundry, and care for themselves.  There is always people checking in on them, but the clients are learning survival skills.  We are hopeful that the local branch will be able to help furnish and decorate one of their apartments.

Friday and Saturday was spent taking care of finances and entering information on the computer.  It would be great if we could just drive around doing good, but there is quite a lot of paper work involved.  We have to develop a project, then submit it to Germany for approval.  If it is a what we call a major initiative, it is then sent to Salt Lake for approval as well.  After it is approved we then go back and visit the organization and let them know that the project has been approved and begin working with the organization.  We then enter information about the project into an electronic project journal.  Depending upon the type of project this can be a few paragraphs or pages of information.  When we make payments to vendors for materials or services rendered, we must record all the expenses as well.  Then when everything is completed and all the payments have posted to the project we can begin to close the project.   Finally there is a report that needs to be submitted along with pictures.  This is done in English and the native language. 

Anyway, we did what we could do this week.  Tomorrow we will begin our day early with a drive to Sarajevo to meet with the County Coordinator of  Muslim Aid in Bosnia and Herzegovina.