Transfers

The first part of this week was spent in recovering from a terrible head cold.  Susan started coming down with it on Friday night and by Sunday she was down for the count.  Monday Gary started to get it.  Drinking lots of herb teas and taking the essential oils that our daughters have sent helped us to recover.  By Thursday we were both feeling much better. 

It was a good thing that we felt better on Thursday as we were scheduled to go to the town of Osijek, Croatia.  Once again it is about a 3 hour drive from Tuzla.  We arose early and arrived there close to 10:30am.  In Osijek Elder and Sister Preston have been helping us develop a project.  It is working with a home for psychologically ill adults.  The patients currently live in an institutional setting.  The government of Croatia has implemented a program that patients with the capability to become more self-reliant could be moved to live in an apartment or home setting with the hope of gaining more independence.  The residents will shop for their groceries, cook their own meals, care for their clothing and clean their apartment with staff supervision.  This has been a community effort.  The government has provided the apartments and has remodeled the interiors with new walls, ceilings, floors and windows.  They updated the plumping, electrical, heating and cooling systems.  The Church is providing the basic household appliances.  Other organizations are providing furniture, bedding, closets and dishes.  One the patients who will be moving into one of the three self-reliance apartments is a member of the church from the Osijek branch.  Our primary purpose in driving to Osijek was to pay for the refrigerators, washing machines and stoves for three independent living apartments.  We also enjoyed seeing the work that has been done and in visiting with the Prestons.

After going to the store to purchase the appliances and arranging delivery we had the opportunity to visit the three apartments.  Like our apartment, from the outside they do not look like much, but they have done an excellent job remodeling the interiors.  The pictures are not much, but you get the picture.  One apartment even had the furniture in it and is ready to be moved into once the appliances are installed.

 

We spent the rest of the week getting several projects ready to close as well as submitting a new clean water project for approval.  We also continue to make notes and get things ready for our replacements. 

 

Friday morning we got word on missionary transfers.  All the missionaries have been very anxious about this transfer.  Elder Sheridan will be training a new missionary here in Tuzla.  Elder Graham will be going to Banja Luka to work with Elder Fausnaught.  Elder Stuart who has been in Banja Luka will be going to Karlovac, Croatia to replace Elder Brown who is going to be working in the mission office. Elder Quinn will be staying in the office.  Elder Meline is going to Rijeka.  As a side note, Elder Merl will be training a new missionary as Elder Compton is going home on Tuesday along with Elder Kroff.   Our sisters will be staying her in Tuzla.  We hate to see Elder Graham leave.  He is a great young man and he is our pianist.  But we will live, and the Lord will provide.  We are delighted to be able to keep Elder Sheridan and Sister Matthews and Sister Orgill.  They have all done such a wonderful job with the work here.  As we left church today everyone was gathered around the keyboard singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives".  

 

 

 

With next week being conference, we look forward to being able to hear the messages that the Brethren have prepared.  Since we do not yet have the Internet in our church building, we will have Fast Sunday as always.  Then we will be able to download the talks and share the messages in the following weeks with our members.  Everyone is anxious to be spiritually fed and hear the word of the Lord.  

 

We also want to acknowledge birthdays this last week.  Rebecca and Jordan share their birthday on the 24th.  Landon is now our favorite 6 year old.  They all had a wonderful day. 

 



 

Wheelchair Training and Evaluations

Monday morning we went to the Banja Luka Rehabilitation Hospital where we conducted a 3 day wheelchair training program.  A wheelchair training consists of teaching the participants how to interview, measure and properly fit someone for a wheelchair.  Our specialists also taught how to prevent pressure sores, transfer patients into wheelchairs and how to negotiate stairs. This is the second training that the Church has done at this hospital.  Part of the previous training and wheelchair shipment had several chairs which required assembly.  We invited the young missionaries to come learn how to assemble the chairs.  First we had to learn how to assemble the chairs ourselves. The final day of the training the participants were able to have some hands on experience fitting people to new wheelchairs.  The training was very successful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we were in Banja Luka we took the missionaries to dinner.  We were also joined by Vicky Tadic who will be going on a mission to Gilbert, Arizona in December.  You might enjoy this article which was in the Church News yesterday.

 

  http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/63916/Ushering-in-a-new-era-Adriatic-North-Mission-prepares-young-adults-to-serve-.html#

 

 

We returned to Tuzla Wednesday night, unpacked, repacked and departed Thursday morning for Zagreb, Croatia.  We visited the mission office and walked around Zagreb.  The weather was beautiful.

 

 

 

The Croatia Red Cross picked us up early Friday morning at our hotel in Zagreb and took us to the city of Osijek, Croatia for a wheelchair distribution.  We invited the senior couple, the Prestons, and the young sisters.  The press and the TV stations were also invited.  Gary spoke in behalf of the Church.  After the ceremony the press also interviewed the sisters.  Following the distribution we visited with a few wheelchair recipients.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning we put the Schneblys on their plane and made the 5 hour trip back to Tuzla.  We look forward to being able to stay closer to home this week.   

 

   

Goodbye Elders, Hello Sisters

As we told you in our last post, this new round of transfers threw us for a loop.  We lost Elder Quinn to the mission office, Elder Kroff to the president's assistance duties, and Elder Stuart to Banja Luka.  Sunday night we literally "packed" everything Elders Kroff and Stuart owned into our car and drove them half-way to Banja Luka.  Elder and Sister Ivins met us at the half-way point.  We then packed them and their stuff into the Ivin's car which is a wee bit smaller than ours.  They had the back of the car totally full of suitcases (too bad we forgot to take a picture).  They also had more suitcases stacked in between them in the backseat.  Not to mention, they had things on the floor in between their feet and stuff on their laps.  The drive was only 1 1/2 hours to the half-way point, so it could have been worse. 

Monday morning we packed all of Elder Quinn's things into our car.  Elder Sheridan only had to take an overnight bag, so we did not have nearly as much in the car.  We drove to Zagreb where we dropped the elders off at the Mission Office.  We were able to see several other missionaries and pick up the mail for Tulsa.  All the missionaries who are going home meet at the misson office.  They usually all travel from the MTC to the mission together, so it is like a family reunion.  They spend their last night at the mission home.  It is interesting to see how they have grown from their service.  We have seen several go home and miss them and their influence for good in this mission.

We took care of our meetings regarding wheelchairs and water projects with the Croatia Red Cross in Zagreb on Tuesday morning and then returned to Tuzla.  Late Wednesday night the sisters arrived in Tuzla.  We met with them on Thursday and helped them get registered at the immigration office.  Thursday was also Gary birthday so we went out to lunch to celebrate.  Thursday night the elders arrived by bus.  We always try to pick them up at the bus station as they have lots of luggage.  This time they also had some of the sisters' luggage. 

Our new missionaries are Sister Matthews from Heber City, Utah, Sister Orgill from St Louis, Missouri and Elder Graham from Sandy, Utah.     

This week we also took care of things in the office as well as made a payment for supplies to rebuild a primary school restroom in an outlying village.   Friday we met with the Ministry of Education and the University Klinical Center Hospital to discuss the plan to continue the vision screening of all school age children (31,000) in Tuzla Canton (county) this fall.  We also worked on ideas for going to Sarajevo to see about implementing a potential vision screening program there as well. 

Summers are slow in Bosnia.  Everyone goes on vacation.  These vacations are anywhere from one week to six weeks long.  We have learned that Europeans are serious about their vacations.  Speaking of vacations, our own children recently gathered together in Utah.  Rebecca and her family came down from Canada.  Reachel and her family came from Arizona.  They had a great day at Snowbird.  They shared it with us via pictures on Instagram. We look forward to the time when we can once again vacation together.       

We always have the missionaries over for Sunday dinner.  Today we are having Hawaiian Haystacks.  Everyone has been fasting, so there will not be leftovers.  But there are never any leftovers - hungry missionaries.

 

TRANSFERS!

We received word about transfers on Thursday.  There had been many rumors and much speculation so everyone was anxious for the final word.

Elder Quinn will be going to Zagreb to work in the Mission Office.  Elder and Sister Erwin had to go home unexpectedly as Elder Erwin was having some health problems.  Since Elder Quinn is quite good with computers, he will be working with Elder Meline in the Mission Office.

Elder Kroff will be going to Zagreb where he will be an Assistant to the President.  His companion will be Elder Mecham.

Elder Stuart will be going to Banja Luka.  His companion will be Elder Fausnaught. Both Elder Stuart and Elder Fausnaught have been in country since the first week of June.  They will be challenged with the language, but the Lord will help them work miracles.

Elder Sheridan will remain in Tuzla.  He will be training a new missionary who will arrive in country on Tuesday. 

Tuzla will be getting sister missionaries this transfer.  We know that we will be getting Sister Matthews who came in April along with Elder Sheridan.  She will be training a new missionary as well.  Rumors had it that maybe we would have a local sister serving a mini-mission, but no word as of yet.  Rumors are rumors.

We had a wonderful meeting today.  Elder Kroff and Elder Quinn gave talks.  Elder Stuart shared his testimony.  The closing song, "Families Can Be Together Forever" was sung in Bosnian by the Elders.

We drove Elder Stuart and Elder Kroff to the half way mark to Banja Luka this evening.  Tomorrow morning we will take Elder Sheridan and Elder Quinn to Zagreb.  Tuzla is in some big changes and we are excited to see where it will all take the future of the church here.

 

  

    

Elders' New Apartment, Canada Day and The Fourth of July

We decided that the families of Elder Kroff and Elder Stuart would probably love to see their new apartment as well.  Of course it is always a better picture with a person in it - the elders were happy to obliged.  Be sure to check out the materials in the china cabinet.  They were very proud of their decorating.

 Studying

 

 Front Room

 

 Church Materials

 

Kitchen

Another Kitchen View

 

Elder Kroff's Half of Room

Elder Stuart's Half

 

We asked Elders Quinn and Sheridan if we needed to put pictures of their apartment on the blog and they said "No, we have already sent pictures home". 

 

Most of our week was spent getting organized in our new apartment.  We also had to get the original copy of leases for our apartments (ours and the elders) so that we could turn in a change of address with our visa.  Since the lease is signed by the branch president in Sarajevo, we took the opportunity to drive there, meet with our lawyer and pick up the copies of the leases.  We stopped on the way home to get some gas and the owner of the coffee shop approached Gary and asked "in English" if we were missionaries.  He and his wife lived in Salt Lake City for 12 years.  Both he and his wife had worked at the Marriott Hotel on West Temple Street in SLC.  They have a daughter that was born in LDS Hospital.  They have been back in Bosnia for about a year.  You can be sure that when in Sarajevo we will be stopping there for our gas. 

 

Our daughters returned from their adventure to Canada.  But not before they helped celebrate Canada Day on July 1st.  They were able to ride on the float that Jordan Court's (Northern Stone Design, Ltd.) company entered.  A great time was had by all.  When Dallin (age 2 below) found out they were going home to Utah, he cried "I want to go to my Canada house!" 

 

Dallin thinks the ice cream is Yummy! 

Dallin, Landon and Taylor

Waterton Park

Face Time with Grandma and Papa 

  

The Float

Taylor, Mason, and Dallin

      

The Courts and Winters at Waterton Park



Today our mission president, President Rowe and his mother (she has been serving a mission here) came to attend church with us.  It was a great meeting.  Sister Rowe will be going home on the 19th of July.  We will miss her. 

Elder Kroff, Sister Rowe, Ferid, and Elder Stuart



We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July.  Holidays are always hard, but we enjoy the pictures and messages we receive from friends and family. July holidays at home are wonderful celebrations; out of the country they are also wonderful, but still just ordinary working days. All the best till next week.