Visa Extension and Another Baptism

Monday we drove to Sarajevo with our translator to meet with the Federal Ministry of Health to talk about the potential vision screening project we would like to do there.  Sarajevo is a larger city than Tuzla so we will tweak the project a little to make it work.  All in all, it was a very positive meeting. 

Tuesday we met with the doctor at the University Clinical Center who has been doing all the training for the vision screeners in Tuzla.  The plan is to continue the screening throughout the rest of Tuzla Canton.  This requires training three people each from 65 more schools.  This is a big job for our doctor, but she is a "believer" in the project.  She is excited about the difference it has made in the lives of the children who have been referred to their clinic to help improve their vision.

Wednesday was district meeting with our missionaries and also making the necessary preparations to go out of town on Thursday.

On Thursday we had to leave town as our visa expired on October 10th.  We went to meet with the Maughans (humanitarian couple) in Novi Sad, Serbia.  The Maughans came with us across the pond last June and they will go home about the same time as we do.  Upon arriving in Novi Sad the Maughan's told us about a challenge that has arisen in one of their projects. We listened and discussed with them regarding the problem and hopefully it is getting resolved.
 

 

We returned to Tuzla on Saturday getting a new passport entry stamp so that we will be able to obtain an extension for our visa.  It was a peaceful and relaxing drive.  The leaves are beginning to change.

 

Saturday night we had another baptism.  This young lady is the daughter of one of the members who was baptized earlier this summer. It was truly a spiritual event.  She was confirmed today at church by Elder Winters, bringing our membership to 10. 

This is a bitter sweet time for us.  We are excited about going home, but we are going to have a hard time leaving.  We have made so many friends, both the missionaries and the local people. The members have become like family to us.  We will look forward to a reunion with many of our Tuzla returned missonaries at some future date and hope that it will be like Alma and the Sons of Mosiah when they met in Alma 17. 

Till next week . . .  Doviđenja (Goodbye)     

Stays from Frankfurt

On July 20th we drove to Sarajevo to pick up Elder Randy and Sister Rebecca Stay at the airport.  They are our Area Welfare Specialists in Frankfurt.  We had an uneventful (pleasant) return trip back to Tuzla.  We were able to have the Stays speak in church on Sunday and then spent an enjoyable afternoon together with the elders. 

Monday we drove to the mountain village of  Hrasno to show the Stays a clean water project which we have been working on there.  Phase 1 (one of our first projects) is just about done.  We are hopeful to get Phase 2 approved and on the books for next spring.
 

After our visit to Hrasno we headed to the town of Sapna in Eastern Bosnia.  On the way to Sapna we stopped in Kalesija to visit the greenhouse to see how the greenhouse garden was doing.  This is the same garden which the young elders helped to plant back in April.  It is also the one that the tomatoes came from (last week's post).  You can see how the garden "grows".  The crop is only tomatoes and paprika (bell peppers).

 

 

After the Kalesija sidetrack, we continued to Sapna to evaluate the restroom situation.  School is out for the summer and the smell is not nearly as strong as it was the last time we were there.  The plan is to get the corrections made before school starts the end of August. 

  

We called it a day and drove back to Tuzla, where we had a delightful dinner out by the lake.  Tuesday morning we packed into the car and drove to Ljubovija, Serbia across the Drina River separating Bosnia from Serbia, where we met Elder and Sister Maughan (humanitarian couple for Serbia).  We met with the deputy mayor of Ljubovija where the Maughans discussed a potential water project.  Ljubovija is a small town with a population of about 4,000.  The town loves the Maughans as they were able to help the school children with boots last winter.  After visiting with the city officials we drove up into the mountains to a Roma village where we viewed the potential water project and picked blackberries. 

About 6:00pm we started our trek to Novi Sad where the Maughans live.  On the way we passed several roadside markets with wagons loaded with cantaloupes and watermelons.  Agriculture is an extremely large business in Balkans.   As you can see, they grow their produce big.  This is a cantaloupe.

Wednesday we went to the market, did some sightseeing, and had lunch.  After we went to the Maughans apartment where we had some training from the Stays and discussed "words of wisdom" for the couples who will eventually follow ourselves and the Maughans on this mission.  The Maughans already have a couple called to replace them.  We do not yet.  We pray that a couple will be called and be able to overlap with us for some training before we go home in November.

 

 

 

 

The clock in the picture above was on the wall of the restuarant where we ate.  If you start at 4:00 you will understand how many people feel about time when they are eating or having a drink with friends. 

 

We left Novi Sad Wednesday about 5 PM and had a pleasant drive back to Tuzla.  The roadside is field upon field of sunflowers, corn, and hay.  We might also mention that the Serbian countryside is flat! You might think that you are in Kansas.