Old knees and wobbly legs

The entire Bosnia missionary zone came into Sarajevo Sunday evening for a "Super P-Day" on Monday and Zone Conference on Tuesday.  President and Sister Melonakos were still here and Elder and Sister Swendsen decided to stay an extra day to play with us before returning to Serbia.  The only three Sisters now in Bosnia stayed at our apartment.

Sisters Heder, Melonakos, Smith, and Livingston

The girls are all cute and fun to be around.  We have twin beds in the spare room so one Sister had to sleep on the couch cushions on the floor.  Sister Smith is from Australia, the other two are from Utah.

We did have a great activity on Monday.  The Zone Leaders wanted to do an escape room, which is what they always do when they get together.  I suggested we ride the cable car up the mountain and hike down.  Sister Melonakos gently persuaded them to do the cable car.

Work on the original Trebević cable car (funicular) began in 1956 and was operational by May 3, 1959.  The 2100 meter-long-system (6,890 feet) connected the city to Mt Trebević and was the top excursion site in town.  The base was at 583 meters (1913 feet), the top at 1160 meters (3,806 feet).  The old system had 50 cars that held 4 or 5 people.  It took 12 minutes to reach the top.  800 passengers could be transported, both directions, over the course of an hour.

View on our way up.  The base building is in the middle of the picture.

By the time of the Siege of the 1990's, millions of passengers had ridden the cable car, making it one of the most recognizable symbols of BiH's capital.  One of the first victims of the war was Ramo Biber, who ran the top station and was killed by joint JNA forces on March 2, 1992.  The cable car was destroyed during the early days of the war and Mt Trebević was on the front lines.  When the war was over, the funicular was not a priority.  Mt Trebević was full of land mines and divided between two entities, the Federation of BiH and the Srpska Republic, and remains divided today.

Another view on the ride to the top

The Sarajevan people and government slowly came around to the idea of restoring the cable car and with the help of generous donations, it reopened on April 6, 2018.  And we are lucky enough to live here to enjoy it!  The new system has 33 gondolas, all black except for five, which are the colors of the Olympic rings (blue, red, yellow, green, black) and one with the colors of the Bosnian flag.  Every gondola can hold 10 passengers and the ride to the top takes about 8 minutes.  A total of 1200 passengers can be transported within an hour.  The top station was name after Ramo Biber.

At the top, watching the cable cars

The view at the top is spectacular.  We hiked around a bit, posing for groups photos.

Bosnia zone (John is taking the picture)

We walked to the bobsled track and started our hike down.  The luge run is next to the bobsled but it was all but destroyed during the war.  The bobsled was badly damaged but the entire track is walkable.  It is in a state of disrepair, as nothing has been done to maintain it since the war.

Missionaries posing on the luge - until President said it was too dangerous

President and Sister Melonakos, Elder Corona, Elder Armond walking down the track

Lots of graffiti along the track

And lots of damaged buildings along the path down

The excursion took about 2 1/2 hours for the slow ones (Coopers and Swendsens) but we enjoyed chatting and comparing our mission woes.  The downhill trek was very steep.  I had put on a new pair of socks that morning that rubbed on one heel, producing a huge blister.  Our knees and calves were pretty tender for several days.  It was an Aleve week for us!  After we all made it to the bottom, we went into Old Town for traditional ćevapi and flat bread.  Then we went home to put our feet up.

The Sisters had done their emailing at our apartment before the activity.  All the Elders were trying to use the one computer in the chapel.  Elders Hanks, Shaw and Woodhouse asked if they could proselyte their way to our apartment, then do their emails home.  They spent about an hour with us, then it was back to work.

Tuesday was Zone Conference, probably one of my least favorite things we do on this mission.  The young missionaries all love it and they get to spend some time together.  And it's good training for them and gives the president time to cover any issues the zone might be having.  We've had a lot of information on social media rules and safety, which is always needed in today's world.  We find it interesting because we are not a media mission - meaning they are not allowed to use tablets or computers of any kind except on P-Day when they email home.  They do not even have smart phones.  And while we're on the subject of social media, did you know that the Bosnia LDS Facebook page is one of the top two pages viewed of all the LDS Facebook sites?  We find that rather amazing, considering the low membership we have here.

The Elders of Bosnia: Crapo (AP), Leach, Armond, Cooper, Melonakos, Roberts, Sharp (AP), Snell;
kneeling: Woodhouse, Evans, Shaw, Hanks

The Sarajevo District: Elders Shaw and Hanks, Elder and Sister Cooper, Elders Evans and Roberts

On Thursday we went to Vraća Memorial Park, where then Elder Nelson dedicate Bosnia for missionary work.  It is a WWII memorial park on a hillside above the city, now in ruins.  It must have been an awesome park at one time but suffered damage in the recent war and now sits uncared for and full of litter and graffiti.

WWII memorial fountain in Vraća Park

Steps leading to fountain in Vraća Memorial Park

A sad memorial

Today we visited Tuzla for church.  When we started at 10:00, only one faithful member was there.  Two more came in late so we had the Sacrament again at the end of the meeting so the late ones could partake.  Tuzla is an audience participation congregation - there is often help with the language and other comments offered during the meeting.  We love going there and being entertained.  When we have such small groups, we adapt and do whatever it takes to make it work.

Our district is having a special fast today for help with the work.  The Elders get pretty discouraged when there is so little success for all their hard work.  We decided to set a date for a baptism or other positive results to happen and we are all fasting with faith that it will happen.  And of course the Elders decided we should all break our fast together at guess whose house for dinner?  They requested lasagna.  We took a pan to Tuzla for those Elders and they plan to break their fast at 5:00 PM with us.

We're off on another traveling adventure next week.  Have a good week!

We passed the four month mark

We realized on May 16 that we have been in Bosnia for four months now.  Some days we wonder if we will last 18 months and other days we panic because we know we won't be here long enough to accomplish everything we want to do.

Ramadan started on May 15.  We weren't sure what to expect but haven't noticed anything different yet.  It seems to be business as usual except for individuals who mention that they are observing Ramadan.  Every evening about 8:15 we hear a loud boom prior to the call to prayer.  We guess that signals it is sunset and okay to break your fast of that day.

A member of our branch lives in Mostar, which is about a 2-hour drive from Sarajevo.  We have never met the sister and felt like we needed to make a contact.  We had a humanitarian assignment in Mostar so got permission to take the Elders out of the city to try to find this sister.  The phone number we had was not working and we don't know if she speaks any English so we knew we needed the Elder's language skills.  We found the address and neighbors confirmed that she still lives there but she was not home.  Neighbors thought she had taken a bus to visit her daughter somewhere.  We left a note with all our numbers and asked her to call.  We're praying she will respond so that she will have some contact with the church.

It is a beautiful drive to Mostar and the Elders were good company.  We visited a school/center for the disabled to follow up on previous LDS Charities projects there.  We provided a new kitchen for the center so they can feed the residents; also provide training and cooking skills to disabled adults so that they can prepare meals or obtain employment.  We also did training for the teachers and therapists and provided tablets for the classrooms.  When I say we, I mean LDS Charities, not us personally.

Elder Shaw and Elder Hanks at Los Rosales

One of the most famous sites in Mostar is the Old Bridge or Stari Most.  The iconic bridge has spanned the Neretva River for more than four centuries.  Mostarians of all faiths love the bridge and speak of "him" as an old friend.  Traditionally considered the point where east meets west, the Old Bridge is as symbolic as it is beautiful.

Old Bridge in Mostar

Stari Most has a long history I won't share here but it was destroyed during the war in 1993 and crumbled into the river.  After the war city leaders decided to restore the bridge.  Chunks of the original bridge were dredged up from the river but the limestone had been compromised by soaking in the water for so long.  Having pledged to rebuild the bridge authentically, restorers cut new stone from the original quarry and each block was hand carved.  They assembled the stones with the same technology used by the Ottomans 450 years ago.  The project was overseen by UNESCO and cost over $13 million, funded mostly by international donors.  It took longer to rebuild the bridge in the 21st century than it did in the 16th century.

View from the top of Stari Most

View of opposite side of Stari Most

Elder Hanks and Elder Shaw on the Old Bridge

We had lunch in a restaurant situated on a woody terrace overlooking a rushing stream and small falls.

Beautiful stream by our restaurant in Mostar

Standing on the bridge by the restaurant in Mostar

Saturday afternoon we had a branch activity - Pizza in the Park.  The Elders brought several investigators and we invited some of our partners to come.  We had a pretty good turnout, just wish more of the local branch members were there.  President and Sister Melonakos and Elder and Sister Swendsen also came.  Swendsens live in Belgrade, Serbia and are also humanitarian missionaries.  He is a counselor in the mission presidency.  They were all in Sarajevo for Branch Conference on Sunday.

Today was our Branch Conference.  The Tuzla group joined us via Skype  We had a good meeting; again, we wish more of our local members would come out.  After our meetings all the missionaries, including Melonakos and Swendsens came to our house for dinner.

Missionary meal after Branch Conference

It's not a great picture but we had 10 people for dinner.  Too many to sit around our broken table!  We had a nice afternoon but President made the Elders stick to their 60-minutes for dinner rule so they weren't with us long.  The entire Bosnia area is in Sarajevo tonight, plus the AP's.  We have Zone Conference on Tuesday and will have a "Super P-Day" with everyone tomorrow.  The three Sisters from Banja Luka are bunking with us for three nights.

It's past bedtime here - I usually have this written before now but it has been a long busy day for us.  President talked about the mission goals in Branch Conference:  1. Every day read from the Book of Mormon , 2. Every week attend Sacrament Meeting, 3. Every year prepare a name for the temple (and do the work if possible).  Seems pretty simple just reading it but we know it is difficult for many of the members here.  We know we will receive (and have received) blessings from following these goals.

Mother's Day 2018

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful women in my life who have been an influence for good over the years.  We celebrate International Women's Day in Bosnia but not Mother's Day.  It was acknowledged in church but no gifts were given.  The Primary children made cards for all the women who were at church today and that was a perfect gift.

Elder Evans made his Mother's Day call home early this morning, as Australia is 6 or 7 hours ahead of us.  He went to the chapel to call.  The rest are from the U.S. and waited until later in the day to call.  They were at our apartment most of the afternoon and evening.  They weren't so excited to call home, they just wanted someone to make dinner for them.  Not really, but they did ask if we could have dinner together today.  We made chicken fajitas for 20 and have about 4 servings left.  Also Spanish rice and beans and chocolate cake.  They left a few minutes ago; the kitchen is put back together and the dishwasher is going.

Elder Cooper, Elder Evans, Elder Hanks, Elder Roberts

Elder Shaw was on the deck talking to his family.  I forgot to take a picture of the four of them before they left tonight.  We miss having the sisters in Sarajevo but are really enjoying these four young Elders.  The dynamics are totally different with 4 Elders than with 2 Sisters and 2 Elders.  The Sisters seem to be more independent and keep busy on their own.  The Elders like hanging out with us more now (I suspect food has something to do with it).

On Tuesday we drove to Kalesija to check on a water project that should be completed by now but is barely underway.  We met with our Red Cross partner and two officials from the municipality, who is contributing part of the money.  The poor town has been without clean drinking water for nearly 4 years now.  On the way home we stopped at a roadside café for a drink - and no one tried to get us to drink alcohol!  The community is called Olovo.  We have driven past it many times but never stopped.

View of Olovo from roadside café

Farm on Olovo hillside

Elder Hanks and Elder Shaw took the car to Zagreb on Friday for a baptism.  It was a young boy Elder Hanks had been teaching before he was transferred to Sarajevo and he was asked to do the baptism.  Since we couldn't go far, we spent most of the time doing some spring cleaning.  The landlord gave us a little space in the basement to store our large luggage and some boxes that were taking up space in the second bedroom.  We also washed windows inside and out and moved some shelving to clean behind.  I don't think they had been moved in some time and it was pretty disgusting.

Our landlord works for Coca Cola and had some promotional glasses made for us.  He sees our name tags all the time and we thought it was pretty clever of him.  And very thoughtful.

Brat and Sestra / Brother and Sister

Je za tebe means it's for you.  John has been helping with the yard work; mows the lawn on occasion and helps with the weeds.  The landlord's brother planted several rose bushes for me on the side of the parking area.

Our garden on the deck

We planted our garden, too.  Four tomato plants and a geranium on the deck outside the living room.  We have four more pots to fill, probably with flowers.  The fresh fruits and vegetables here are plentiful all year long.  We like walking to the outdoor markets for produce.

Sometimes on our walks we take a route that includes a set of stairs.  It looks rather daunting at the bottom but it's only 123 steps to the top and it's getting a little easier each time.

123 steps to the top

The steps are in what I call the projects - one high rise apartment building after another.  It's like a self-contained city inside, with stores and markets.  You would never know it's in there just driving the roads surrounding the apartments.

In district meeting we were talking about what it means to have an understanding heart.  We decided two of the criteria were knowledge and wisdom.  Someone asked what the difference was.  Elder Shaw said "knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put tomato in a fruit salad."  As I was thinking what a clever young man he was, he said he heard it somewhere and was quoting "anonymous."

Until next week - we love you and we love being here.

What a wonderful world

Where to begin.  We have had a delightful week exploring parts of the Adriatic coast on our way to the Adriatic North Mission Seniors Conference.  We left Sarajevo after church on Sunday and drove as far as Split.  It is about a 4 hour drive but we lost our way getting into the city (compliments of GPS) so it took us nearly 5 hours.

Neretva River on the way to Split

Driving through the mountains to Split

Small lake on the way to Split - we stopped to stretch our legs

Split is a city of almost 200,000 and is said to be the jewel of the Adriatic coast.  It is a modern, ship building city with ancient history all the way back to the Roman Empire.  In the fourth century A.D., the Roman emperor Diocletian wanted to retire to his native Dalmatia, so he built a huge palace there.  Eventually the palace was abandoned, so the locals moved in and made themselves at home.  A medieval town sprouted from the rubble of the old palace.  In the 15th century, the Venetians took over the Dalmatian coast.  They developed and fortified Split with new architecture but the nucleus remained the ruins of the palace.  Today, 2,000 people live or work inside the former palace walls.

Bell tower inside Old Town Split

Old Town Split

Part of tower wall in Old Town Split

Our hotel was steps away from the palace, inside Old Town.  It was a cute, clean room but fairly noisy with all the night life happening until early morning hours.

Looking at the windows of our hotel room in Old Town Split

The attraction for me is always the water but it wasn't very accessible from Old Town and we didn't have enough time to explore other areas of the city.

Parking area in front of Old Town walls

Split promenade on the water front

The Split harbor

We left Split mid-morning on Monday and drove to Zadar.  We stayed at a charming hotel right on the water in the Diklo area of town.  We fell in love with it right away.  We always like to put our feet in new bodies of water we visit and Zadar gave us the place to do it.

Cooper feet in the Adriatic Sea

We ate lunch in the hotel restaurant, with the windows wide open, enjoying the sea breeze and view.

View of the Adriatic from the restaurant window

The name of our hotel was The Blue Delfin (dolphin).  Dolphins swimming along with a boat is considered a sign of good luck.  The hotel suggested we take a bus into Zadar Old Town rather than driving, so we did.  The bus stop is right outside the hotel.  We rode a little too far past Old Town and had to walk about a mile back but we didn't get lost!

Old Town Zadar

Bell Tower in Zadar

Walking bridge across the inlet to catch the bus back to the hotel

We enjoyed lunch so much, we decided to eat dinner at the hotel as well.  I love shrimp but John's dinner selection was a bit scary for me.

John's shrimp pasta dish at the Blue Delfin restaurant

We sat on a bench on the pier and waited for the sunset.  It was a little overcast so we didn't get the spectacular sunset we hoped for, but it was still beautiful.

Waiting for sunset on the Adriatic Sea in Zadar

Still waiting...

More waiting...

Patience...

At last, patience rewarded

Morning view from our balcony

We were sad to leave Zadar and decided we would be jealous of the senior couple coming to live there May 15th.  Tuesday morning we drove to Piran (pee-rawn) Slovenia.  It is only 6k from the Italian border and we were tempted... but decided to be obedient missionaries and not leave our mission boundaries.

Croatia's 3,600-mile-long coast gets all the acclaim but Slovenia has 29 miles of Adriatic coast.  We found Piran to be very pleasant and just as beautiful.  We were a bit disappointed when we realized our hotel wasn't close to the water but it had an awesome view.

View of the Adriatic from our hotel balcony

Our hotel was really an apartment, which is fairly common to rent here instead of a formal hotel room.  This one was new and beautifully furnished and very comfortable.

Our lovely apartment in Piran

The apartment also had a large bathroom and a separate bedroom, and a large balcony.  It was a 15-minute walk down the hill into Old Town.  We wandered through town and had dinner at a nice restaurant by the water.  We had olives for an appetizer.

Yummy appetizer at the Piran restaurant

The waiter spoke English fairly well.  He brought us bread and instructed us how to mix olive oil, sea salt and pepper to dip our bread into.  "No butter served here."  It was good but then he insisted we have wine to compliment it.  We seem to have a thing lately with people insisting we drink alcohol.  Maybe we just look like we could use a strong drink.  He passed by several times and offered wine.  When we said we don't drink alcohol, he told us wine isn't alcohol, it is food.  He wouldn't take no for an answer and brought a small carafe of wine and two glasses to the table.  We said again that we would not drink it, no matter what.  There was a man at the next table with his baby, waiting for his wife to arrive.  He said he would take the wine.  We thanked him and started talking to him.  He is from Krakow, Poland.  John explained we are missionaries for our church and we don't drink alcohol.  The man said he understood, he is Catholic as well (as well?) and Jesus drank wine.  Yes, well, you drink to our good health and enjoy it.  Where is our niece Whitney, who served a mission in Poland, when we need her??

Piran bell tower

Piran harbor view from our restaurant

We had to leave beautiful Piran Wednesday morning.  We have almost forgotten we are on a mission by now.  We drove two and a half hours to Lake Bohinj (bow-heen), Slovenia.  Driving in reminded us a lot of Glacier and Waterton areas.

Lake Bohinj

Lunch with E/S Mayberry and E/S Monson

We ate lunch with two couples at a cute lakeside café.  Elder and Sister Mayberry are serving in Osijek (oh-see-yek), Croatia and Elder and Sister Monson serve in Celje (cell-yeah), Slovenia.  When the four new couples arrive, there will be 16 senior couples in our mission.  We need about 10 more couples.

Adriatic North Mission Senior Couples with President and Sister Melonakos

We had another photo taken in our "missionary attire" but I haven't been able to download it.  The theme of the conference was tender mercies and what works in our branches.  We heard some very touching tender mercies and shared a few of our own.  Strengthened our testimony that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us.  We also gleaned a few good ideas to use in our branch.

Thursday afternoon was "free" time.  Most of us chose to take the boat ride on the lake to the tram and ride up the mountain side.  It was pretty spectacular.

A few of the couples on the boat ride

Elder and Sister Swendsen serve in Beograd, Serbia and are also humanitarian missionaries like us.  Elder and Sister Christensen are the only couple newer in the mission than we are.  They serve in Rijeka (ree-eck-ah), Croatia; Elder and Sister Decker are in Stremska, Serbia as MLS; Elder and Sister Draxler are in Varazdin, Croatia and are the YSA couple.

View on the way up the mountain

View from the top

Ski area at the top, closed for the season

We stayed at the hotel one extra night and planned to hike around the lake Friday afternoon but it poured rain all day long.  We really couldn't complain, as we enjoyed nice, warm weather all week.  President and Sister Melonakos and Elder and Sister Swendsen also stayed so the six of us played Phase 10 in the hotel dining room Friday evening.  We had only met one or two of the other couples prior to the conference.  It was nice getting to know everyone and to learn what life is like in their cities and towns.

St John the Baptist church, the most photographed church in Slovenia

The church of St John the Baptist, framed by the bridge and the famous view of Lake Bohinj is the most famous image of Bohinj.  Experts say it was built in the mid 11th century or late 10th century.

Altar inside St John the Baptist church

View of chapel from the altar

View of church from across the river

There were beautiful tulip beds all over town

Welcome to Bohinj

The four brave men of Triglav

Triglav (2,864m), the highest mountain in Slovenia, is the pride and symbol of the nation.  The inhabitants of Bohinj have always been very closely connected with the mountains, so it wasn't surprising that the natives of Bohinj were the first to stand atop Triglav August 26, 1778.

Morning mist on Lake Bohinj

Morning on the lake

We were truly sad to leave and come home.  We drove 8 and a half hours on Saturday and arrived in Sarajevo about 5:00 pm.  We are so blessed to be in this amazing part of the world and thrilled that we have the opportunity to travel and see it.  We invite all of you to come visit us, just don't all come at once!  We are in the perfect spot for history, beautiful scenery, and good food!  It's hard being a young missionary here; they work so hard and don't see much success for their efforts.  Sometimes I want to jump up and down and shout so people will pay attention.  I want for the good people here to know the same joy and peace we have and understand why the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring them such joy.  I realize it is all in the Lord's time and one day Bosnia will have thriving wards and stakes.  It won't happen while we are serving here and may not be in my lifetime, but I know it will happen one day.