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.