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.        

Water, Water, Everywhere

Our week started with a trip to the border crossing between Serbia and Bosnia to a town called Zvornik.  Here we met Elder and Sister Maughan (the humanitarian couple in Serbia) and Elder and Sister Petersen (our water specialist) from Gilbert, Arizona.  The Petersen's arrived from Arizona the first of the month and have been traveling in Montenegro and Serbia visiting possible water projects in those locations.  The water specialists come to help missionary couples with the technical aspects of developing clean water projects.  Last week we were able to have them visit our potential projects.  After meeting at the border we went to the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.  Here we visited a memorial and cemetery dedicated to war victims. 

We all returned to Tuzla for a good night's rest and made plans to visit two potential projects the next day.  We had to rent a larger car to be able to fit the Petersen's, our translator and ourselves into the vehicle.  Tuesday morning we met early and traveled to the town of Kalesija.  We also took our young elders who helped with the planting of tomatoes and peppers in a greenhouse which the Church donated a few years ago to the Agricultural School in Kalesija.

 

 

 

   

We left our elders at the greenhouse and went to the mayor's office to meet with the city engineer. We are helping the village of Hrasno with phase 1 of a clean water project.  We met to discuss helping with phase 2 of the same project.   After our meeting at the Kalesija mayor's office we drove south to the town of Zavidovići (2 hours).  We again visited the mayor's office to talk about a possible project in the nearby town of Vocuza.

Then it was back to Tuzla.  Wednesday morning we drove about 1 1/2 hours northeast to town of Brćko.  Here we met with engineers and town officials to discuss the needs of a village called Brezovo Polje. 

 

After driving around, looking into wells, taking pictures of the insides of wells and discussing possibilities for clean water we returned again to Tuzla.

Thursday morning we again drove north 1 1/2 hours to the town of Orasje.  Both Orasje and Brćko are close to the Croatian border. The problem in Orasje is that they have 40 year old asbestos pipe lines which can cause serious health problems when they begin to break down.  We again met at the mayor's office and then visited a kindergarten which needs clean water for the children. While in Orasje, someone asked how the LDS Church was different from the Catholic or other churches.  We had a nice discussion centered around the Articles of Faith. After visiting the kindergarten we went back to Tuzla.

     Nap time at the kindergarten

 

Friday morning began bright and early as we drove to Vinkovci, Croatia.  We went to the local Red Cross in Vinkovci were we discussed renewing a well-cleaning project which the Church has been helping with the past three years.  We drove out to an area where the crew was waiting for us to clean out a well.  Some wells have not been used since the war as many of the people had to leave their homes during the war.  After returning they found their wells were contaminated.  The project involves cleaning and sanitizing wells to make them usable for families again.

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

 

 

 

After several trips up and down the well, debris was removed and chlorine was added.  The well was finally declared clean and we departed for Zagreb (3 hours) where we spent the night.  We took the Petersen's to the airport Saturday morning where they caught a flight to Frankfurt.  After reporting to the area office they will return home to Arizona.

 

We enjoyed having the Petersen's visit.  They brought us "hugs" from our granddaughter, Coco.  They also brought us a few other things from our daughter, Reachel.  There are not many adult members of the Church in Bosnia  so having someone to visit with is great.  The Petersen's lived in Maryland years ago and know many of the people we know from our days in Calvert County.  While we have been working on water projects the elders have also been busy helping with the vision screening in the Tuzla schools.  This week we will need to catch up on what we missed last week.

 

Our thoughts and prayers are with the many people affected by the events in Boston.  Till next week.