Quiet week

It was a pretty quiet week for us.  The Sisters had our car to attend a baptism in Novi Sad, Serbia Friday and Saturday, then took it again on Sunday afternoon to go to Zagreb for transfers.  They didn't return the car until Thursday morning.  So we didn't venture far from the apartment except for a walk.  The weather has been so bad that we haven't been doing much walking either.

We had district meeting on Thursday with our new DL, Elder Evans.  He's pretty sharp and we like him already.  We also have a new Sister, just out of the MTC.  She is from Germany and speaks perfect English, thank goodness for us!  I think she said Croatian is her 5th language.  Her name is Sister Icke, pronounced Ick-ah.  She said she didn't care how we pronounced it, as long as we didn't say Icky.  We meant to get some pictures but didn't take the camera with us.

I have a porcelain onlay on a back molar; should say had.  The front section broke off last week but managed to stay put until I could get to a dentist.  The U.S. Embassy was kind enough to refer me to two dentists they have used and like.  Both are women.  We have noticed that many of the medical professionals here are women.  Maybe the men are leaving the country after being trained.  We understand the medical and dental schools here are top notch but many leave the country for additional training and never return.  Anyway, back to my story.  We went to the dental clinic after district meeting.  I was very impressed with the facility and modern equipment.  There are three dentists in the group, all women.  I was there about two hours and now have a brand new onlay to replace the broken one.  Everything seems good so far.  The best news was the cost.  When I had the original onlay about 10 years ago, it cost around $1200.  This one was 470 km or $295 USD.  Can't wait to tell my dentist.

Here's another shopping story.  We stopped at the store on the way home from the dentist.  It was getting late and I wanted something quick when we got home.  One of my guilty fast food pleasures is onion rings so imagine how delighted I was to see this in the frozen food section (which is surprisingly quite large and has some good stuff).

Battered rings - literal translation panicked rolls

We arrived home, turned the oven on and started reading the instructions only to discover we don't have onions but squid rings.  Really???  Who has even heard of squid rings?  There aren't any squid swimming around on the package.  I was so disappointed.  We haven't had the courage to try them yet.

Saturday we did some baking to freeze and to take to the Elders serving in Tuzla.  Those two Elders are all by themselves and have to handle everything.  Elder Woodhouse is now John's second counselor in the Branch and Elder Lee just arrived from the MTC.

Elder Lee and Elder Woodhouse

We went to Tuzla today to attend church and lend a little moral support.  The chapel in Tuzla is on the 7th floor of an office building.  It is a pretty nice space - larger than what we have in Sarajevo.  The Elders brought snacks to have after church so we could mingle with the members a little.  I was sitting next to Elder Lee and at one point he looked at me and said "I have no idea what anyone is talking about."  I just had to laugh at him.  He's only been in the country five days.  He'll be fluent in no time!

It's a pretty small group in Tuzla. There are 17 on record but the Elders say they only have one attend some Sundays.  The block lasted about 1 1/2 hours today.  We sang, had the Sacrament and Elder Lee bore his testimony.  I offered a few remarks, translated by Elder Woodhouse so that lasted about 15 minutes.  Then we had a guest speaker via video.  We listened to one of Elder Holland's past conference talks.  Sunday School was about 30 minutes, then we had treats.

Tuzla group

There was also another investigator today but she left early.  And then me, the photographer.  I wish I could communicate better with everyone.  The sweet lady on the right  kept hugging me and wanted to talk but Elder Woodhouse has to translate everything for us, as she speaks no English.  The young woman between the Elders is the baptism we attended when we first arrived here.  It was great to see her attending church.

It has been snowing all week and the drive to Tuzla takes us through the mountains.  It was beautiful but a white-knuckle drive for John both ways.  It was pretty slow going early this morning, not as bad on the return trip.  Can't wait to see all the beauty in the summer.

Snowy road to Tuzla through our dirty windshield

We got home to Sarajevo and discovered the city had turned the water off all day.  They do that from time to time we hear.  It came back on about 6:00 pm.

Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death!  Love you all.  Until next week.

Returning home is always uphill

Another thing we have discovered here is that no matter where we go, returning home is always uphill.  That can be symbolic for gospel related discussions, but for now we mean it literally.  We live mid way up a hill and the way home is always uphill.  Friday was a sunny day so we walked up the hill behind us to where it met with the steep road we see at the bottom of the hill by our road.  We see folks trekking up that hill every day and say how glad we are that we don't live up there.  It's a nice view, though.

View looking north from the hill behind us

Same hill view, looking a little more to the west

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day so we took about a 3-mile walk.  We wandered around some of the shops along the main road that we haven't been to yet.  We happened to be walking right by the large mosque when the call to prayer started.  And then it was up the hill and back home again.

Laundry day at the apartments

We see laundry hanging out windows and from balconies almost every day.  This is one of the high rise buildings and it was a sunny day so almost every apartment was taking advantage of the good weather.

Today it has been raining all day and snow is predicted this week.  The sisters have taken our car to Zagreb for transfers.  They make the Elders ride the train or bus and the sisters use our car.  Elder King is flying home to California on Tuesday.  We have only known him a month but adore him.  He was a good district leader and taught us much in our short time together.  He spent a year at Southern Virginia but will transfer to BYU and hopes to walk on the football team.  Transfer announcements came on Thursday and the missionaries like to be together when they get the news.  They all came to our apartment  at 11:00 am to await the email.

The anticipation: Sister Heder, Sister Russell, Elder Corona, Elder King

They all seem happy with the news

Sister Russell is going to Croatia; Elder Corona will stay in Sarajevo and his new companion is also an Aussie.  Not sure we can take two of them at once!  Sister Heder also stays in Sarajevo as the trainer for a sister fresh from the MTC.  She is from Germany and no one knows yet if she speaks any English.

After they settled down, we had district meeting then treated them to pizza.  We consumed three family size pizzas, plus birthday cake.  No ketchup.  On the pizza or cake.

Sister Russell wanted the chicken mushroom pizza then picked all the mushrooms off

Smart man - takes a pizza to the other end of the table and goes for it

Elder Corona blew the candles out before we got the picture taken

Elder Corona's birthday was February 12 so we celebrated a little late.  It was his 20th birthday.

Today was a good day at church.  Four local members attended, plus three investigators.  We also had a visitor from Las Vegas passing through.  He is touring several of the countries in this part of Europe and happened to be in Sarajevo today.  Plus we have another long-term visitor.  He is an American assigned to the Bosnian defense ministry here.  His assignment is at least 18 months, possible longer.  He is an active member from Virginia and will be a great asset to the Branch.  His wife isn't with him - she is too attached to the grandchildren - but will visit from time to time.

We are truly loving it here.  We have much to learn and only 16 more months to learn it!  We know that Heavenly Father doesn't need us; he could do all the work on his own and do it much better than we can.  He has extended us this opportunity to participate in his work for our own growth.  It is about what we can become and help others to become.

A week not to do again

There isn't much news to report this week; not even any good pictures to share.  Mostly because I have been sick all week.  Really sick.  Chills and fever, achy, constant chest cough that won't stop kind of really sick.  Now that you all feel sorry for me, I am on the mend.  I did stay home from church today so no one else would be exposed to a coughing fit.  Tomorrow I'll be forced to be more productive.

The area welfare couple from Frankfurt should have arrived early Monday afternoon to begin our training but they missed their flight and didn't get in until 10:00 PM.  They took a taxi to their hotel.  We had previously scheduled a trip to Mostar to visit a potential partner on Tuesday.  The local Red Cross partner here in Sarajevo volunteered to drive us to Mostar; we are so grateful he did.  It was a good trip getting to know him better and meeting his associate in Mostar.

We had training all the rest of the week, all day.  It was fairly tedious, especially since I didn't feel well.  But we did the best we could and even tried to show them a bit of Sarajevo when we went out for dinner in the evening.  We visited another local partner on Friday morning and then it was time for them to go to the airport.

I did get out of bed long enough yesterday to make cookies for Elder Corona's birthday on Monday.  John took the cookies to church with him this morning and Elder Corona promptly hid them away.  We'll make a cake and celebrate more with him at district meeting on Thursday.  That is also transfer announcement day so we'll find out who stays and who goes.  Elder King is going home so we know we'll have at least one new Elder here with us.

In spite of everything negative this week, we are glad to be here.  The gospel is true and we are happy to have a small part in building the kingdom here in this part of the vineyard.

Things we have learned this week

It's been a good week.  The area welfare specialists from Frankfurt had planned to be with us all week for training but he was ill so they postponed until next week.  So we still don't know much about our Humanitarian responsibilities and are bumbling through.  I am feeling better but now John has a bad cold.  Elder King and Brother Rhees gave him a blessing Saturday night.  We stopped at an apoteca (pharmacy) for some cold medicine - we can't read the instructions of course.

I'll start with the highlight of the week - another baptism!  This man has been trying to be baptized for some time.  He was scheduled before Christmas but he lost a good friend in a car accident and had to be away for that.  Two days ago he slipped on the ice and thought he broke his leg.  Fortunately, his ankle is only badly sprained and no broken bones so the baptism proceeded.  Elder Leach came from Banja Luka to do the baptism, as he was the first missionary to teach him.  He's been through a few; there were 8 elders and 2 sisters at the baptism.  It is great that the mission president gives them permission to travel to the baptisms and share in the success.

Sister Heder, Zlatko and Sister Russell

Elder Leach and Zlatko made quite a big splash in the small font.  When he came up out of the water, Zlatko started to laugh such a sweet, warm laugh then hugged and hugged Elder Leach.  It was very evident that he was touched by the spirit.

The portable font in Sarajevo

The Elders have to "build" the font and fill it with a hose from the sink.  It takes most of the day to fill it.  It almost fills the entire Primary room with just enough room for people to stand against the walls to view the baptism.

Emptying the font after a baptism

There is a pump attached to the end of the hose.  They drop it into the font to empty it.  It takes almost as long to drain it as to fill it.  Then it has to be taken apart and stored so the room is ready to use on Sunday.

Draining the water into the street outside the chapel

The hose goes from the Primary room, through the foyer and out into the street.  We forget how spoiled we are with our large chapels and fonts.  What a privilege it is to witness a baptism here in Sarajevo.  The joy of the gospel and being touched by the spirit are the same regardless of the circumstances.

Last week we had a "physical" for our visa.  They took a blood sample to test for HIV and three other transmittable diseases that I can't read on the results.  No surprise that we tested negative on all four.  Then they took our blood pressure, weighed us and measured our height.  That cost 135km (about $86) for each of us.  But you don't pay anyone directly.  Everything is paid at a bank or the Post Office first and you take your receipt with you to prove the fees have been paid.  Then we had to have passport photos taken because they don't like the ones we use in the U.S.  We had a file about an inch thick when we were ready to actually file the visa paperwork.  On Monday the church attorney took us to immigration to file our visa requests.  Now we wait 8 weeks to see if we will be granted a visa.

On Tuesday we took our first tram ride.  I'll have photos and more about trams in a later blog.  It was very crowded and we probably won't be doing it often but thought we should at least give it a try.  We walk down the hill from our apartment to get on the tram.  It runs the entire length of the main street through Sarajevo.  We rode to the Institute of Fine Art building to pick up some iPads that had been ordered for one of the education projects.

Before district meeting on Wednesday, John got his first haircut in Bosnia.  The Elders showed us where they get their hair cut, which is close to their apartment and the church.  It cost 10km (convertible mark) or $6.30 USD.

John getting his first haircut in Bosnia

Now for the interesting things we learned this week:

1.  Not all milk is created equal - or learn the local language better.  I'm not a milk drinker so this is all on John.  He was quite proud of himself for finding skim milk (our milk choice at home).  He commented several times the milk didn't taste like it normally does; it was almost like evaporated milk.  So we translated the label "Bez laktoze" or without lactose.  No wonder.

2.  Having trash collection is a luxury.  We bag our trash and walk it down the hill to the bins.  You may use any bins you want, anywhere in the city.  It is about a half mile round-trip so it won't kill us.

Attractive dumpsters at the bottom of the hill

3.  Orange juice isn't orange.  The oranges we buy in the store taste and look the same as oranges at home, why is the juice so anemic?

Pale orange juice but it tastes good

4.  In no way does paprika flavor taste like BBQ chips.  The missionaries tried to convince us they were BBQ (my personal favorite), they look like BBQ and may even smell a bit like BBQ.  Not even close.

Paprika chips are very popular in Sarajevo

5.  I bought Peanut Butter to make cookies.  We were warned that it is pretty nasty, and it is.  Very grainy and oily but for cookies, we can make do.  We thought the label translation was great: maslac kikiriki sprjecava oboljenja krvnih sudova – peanut butter prevents blood vessel diseases.

6.  Ketchup is for pizza, not meat or potatoes.  We are served fries or other potatoes with meals but we would be deported if we requested ketchup.  We see people eating pizza everywhere and squirting ketchup on it.

7.  Literal translation is sometimes a blessing in disguise.  In the Croatian hymnbook page 50 is titled "I Cannot Without You."  Any guesses what familiar hymn that is?  Page 98 "I Need Thee Every Hour."  The title helped us to think a little differently about the Savior and how we are so dependent on him.  We literally cannot without him.

We love you; we'd love to hear from you once in awhile!