New country adventures

We drove to Belgrade, Serbia after church last Sunday.  Serbia is much flatter than Bosnia and the landscape was pretty.  We saw field after field of corn and sunflowers from the border all the way into Belgrade.  Belgrade is a much larger city than Sarajevo; the population in 2015 was nearly 1.4 million.  All went well until we were getting close to our hotel and one of the major streets was blocked off for a giant beer fest.  It took us quite awhile to get the GPS rerouted without taking us back to the blocked street.  Then we unknowingly entered a section of a street only for buses and taxis and were stopped by the police.  We had no idea what was happening when they took John's passport and we waited a very long time.  We didn't feel too badly for not knowing about the street when many locals were also pulled over.  We never did see any signs or indication it was a restricted street.  The officer didn't speak much English and tried to communicate how much the fine was.  John said he had no money, no Serbian money anyway.  He finally asked John what he wanted him to do - John said he wanted his passport back and directions to the hotel.  The officer just laughed, gave him his passport and pointed the way to the hotel.  Tender mercy.

We checked into the hotel, gave the valet the car keys and didn't take the car out again until we left the city.  The had a fun two days with Elder and Sister Swendsen, who are humanitarian missionaries in Serbia.  They took us to see everything we could fit into two days.  It was miserably hot and humid both days.

Sister and Elder Swendsen standing at the spot where Elder Holland dedicated Serbia for missionary work

I have heard so much about the Danube River all my life and have always wanted to see it.  The Danube flows through the middle of Belgrade and is a beautiful river.

The Danube (left) and the Sava (right) rivers merge in Belgrade

We found a great bakery a couple blocks from the hotel.  We walked there both mornings to eat a pastry and juice or milk for our breakfast.  I had a pastry with an egg cooked on top - delish!

Breakfast at Lulu's Bakery the first morning

Breakfast at Lulu's Bakery on day 2

The second day I had a yummy raspberry filled crumbly pastry and John had a cream filled doughnut.  It was worth the drive to Belgrade just to eat Lulu's pastries!

John and Karen with the Danube River in the background

Prince Mihailo Monument in Republic Square

Republic Square was across the street from our hotel in the city center.  Prince Mihailo was the prince of Serbia from 1839 to 1842, then again from 1860 to 1868.  Apparently it was one of the first memorials in Serbia depicting a ruler on a horse.  If the horse's front left hoof is raised, that means the leader was victorious.

Skadarlija street in Belgrade

Skadarlija is a vintage street in old Belgrade.  It is one of the oldest and few remaining cobblestone streets in the city.  The neighborhood is quaint with lots of restaurants and shops.  It was kind of difficult to walk on for any distance.

The currency in Serbia is dinar.  We withdrew 5,000 dinar at the ATM the first day.  It sounds like such a large amount but it's only $50 US dollars.  It does make you pause when they tell you your hotel bill is 49,000.

Serbian dinar - looks like a lot but it's only $11.80 US dollars

We visited the House of Flowers, where Tito is buried.  Many of the people here still worship Tito and his years of dictatorship.

Tito's grave site at the House of Flowers

Saint Sava Temple in Beograd

The major religion in Serbia is Eastern Orthodox.  There are many churches and temples in the city.  We visited St Sava, that has been under construction for decades and still not completed inside the main chapel.

Crypt level of St Sava Temple

Looking at the "holy of holies" entrance in St Sava

On our last day in the city Swendsens took us to a restaurant right on the Danube.

View of the Danube River from the Toro Restoran in Belgrade

We had a surprise at transfer announcements on Thursday.  Elder Roberts and Sister Dunn go home tomorrow and the other two are being transferred.  We are losing all four at once and only getting two Elders back.  The reason is that 15 missionaries go home this transfer and we are only getting nine from the MTC.  A couple districts were closed until we get more missionaries in 9 weeks.  We are sad to only have two missionaries.  It will have an effect on the branch, on finding and teaching, on weekly FHE and English group the missionaries have been teaching twice a week.  We just have to trust that the mission president is inspired and knows what he is doing.

The Sarajevo District together one last day

The Rhees family has returned from the states.  Sommer is a beautiful baby and we are happy the family is all here again.  Camie's mom came with them and will stay three weeks.

Zlatko holding Sommer Rhees

Speaking of babies, I finished a quilt for one of our partner's daughters.  It isn't my finest work but it is the best I could do with what I had to work with.  I found a couple receiving blankets that were a stretchy kind of flannel fabric.  I removed the trim and put them together for the batting.

Baby quilt made with fabric bought in Bosnia

Our car left with the Sisters this afternoon so we are house-bound until Thursday.  Elder Roberts left for Zagreb on the bus at noon and Elder Evans is our companion until 5:00 am tomorrow when he will taxi to the bus station and go to Belgrade.  We love our missionary adventures!

Just another week

I am writing most of this Saturday evening.  We are leaving for Serbia right after church on Sunday and not sure when I'll be back at the computer tomorrow.

The mission auditor arrived on Tuesday to audit the branch finances.  They live in Maribor, Slovenia and wanted to see more of Bosnia before they return home to Bountiful in two weeks.  We spent the day touring Sarajevo with them.  We did the gondola ride again and walked far enough to see the bobsled track, then rode the gondola back down to the bottom.

Always an awesome view from the mountain top

We ate lunch at the bottom of the gondola trail.  The restaurant is called Spite House and has an interesting story.  The house was built in the mid 1800's and used to occupy the land where the magnificent city hall is now located.  The owner refused to sell his property, even when they offered much more than it was worth.  In 1895 the owner finally agreed to sell his property for an extravagant price and only under one condition: the authorities would have to move his Ottoman-era house, brick by brick, and rebuild it on the other side of the river.  The old man got his way and the popular story says he spent every day of the move sitting in the middle of a bridge smoking cigarettes and carefully watching workers transport each brick.  When the house was finally rebuilt, it was named Inat Kuća or the House of Spite.

Inat Kuća or the House of Spite

The branch finance clerk works at the embassy so the audit didn't take place until 4:30 pm.  After they finished, we all went to dinner at Mala Kuhina, one of our favorite restaurants near the chapel.

We had an appointment in Zavidovići on Wednesday so the Crnich's spent the day touring on their own.  Elder Crnich's grandfather is from Croatia - he left for America when he was 16.  The name was originally spelled Crnić (sir-nitch) and they have had fun finding his ancestors and doing some family history while they served here.

Elder Chris and Sister Melonie Crnich

After dinner on Wednesday we were strolling through Old Town and stopped for a gelato.  A cute young gal came to serve us and startled us all when she screamed and said "Oh my gosh, you're that old lady from Titanic!"  I think we all looked confused so she asked me - she was very obviously referring to me -if I had seen the movie Titanic.  I have never seen it and didn't have a clue what she was talking about.  She apologized for calling me an old lady and said I was beautiful, just like the lady in the movie.  That didn't work, but we all had a good chuckle over it.

We made another visit to the refugee safe house this week to deliver toilet paper, deodorant and baby food.  One of the women hugged and hugged me and patted my cheeks and skipped around me.  We've never seen anyone so happy about TP.  I'm sure her gratitude was for more than TP and she was expressing it the best way she could, not knowing how to speak to us in English.

A trunk full of toilet paper and deodorant

While we were at the house, we got to see more of the crafts the children have made with the supplies LDS Charities provided.  The house is much cheerier and brighter with all the decorations.

Crafts at House For All

Today we did a lovely hike to Waterfall Skakavac.  It is 12 km outside of Sarajevo in the mountains.  Rhett Rhees invited us to go with him.  He assured us it was an hour hike on mostly level trails.  He lied.  Big time.  We are tired and a little achy tonight but we hiked the whole trail.  We left at 7:30 am so we could hike in the cooler part of the day.

Above the clouds at the beginning of the trail

Beautiful nature to see along the trail

Rhett and John adjusting their shoelaces.  Or resting?

Level?  I don't think so

Cool cave along the trail

We made it

John and Rhett at Skakavac Waterfall

It was an hour and a half walk in and an hour and a half walk out.  We took a different trail each direction to see more of the scenery.  It was pretty spectacular.  The road leading to the trail was a little scary - one lane gravel.  We had to back up several times to let a car coming the other direction pass by.  It was okay unless we were the car on the outside, hanging over the edge of the cliff.

Plum lucky

The plums just keep coming.  More barrels have been added and on Saturday a couple wheelbarrows full of plums were dumped into the new barrels.  They built a fire in the corner and were stirring a dark liquid in a big pot for hours but no idea what that was.  They were at it again this morning as we were leaving for church.  It looks like they are making jam, maybe.

Our friend took this photo of plums on a tree in Tuzla

The gardens are still producing but not looking quite so pretty.  Potatoes, onions and beans have been harvested, leaving bare spots in the gardens.  Some corn is ready and tomatoes, cucumbers and squashes are plentiful.  And plums, plums, plums!

All the Bosnia zone came into Sarajevo Sunday evening.  The new senior couple in Banja Luka stayed at our apartment for 2 nights.  They are still figuring out what being a senior missionary is all about - we grin because we all go through that phase when we first arrive.  We're glad we're past that stage now!  This was their first road trip anywhere in Bosnia.

Sister Jennifer and Elder Everett Brewer from Taylor, AZ

A road trip to Mostar and area was the super P-day activity.  We have decided that one of these super P-days just might do us in.  It was a 2-hour drive.  Our first stop was Blagaj (Blah-guy).  There is an impressive cliff face with a scenic house that marks the source of the Buna River.  The building is named Tekija and is a former Turkish monastery.  Fun fact:  the order of the monastery was called the dervishes.  The order emphasized poverty and humility and were famous for the way they whirled in a worshipful trance.  Hence the whirling dervish.

Tekija and the Buna River

It is quite a beautiful setting.  The house was built in the 15th century and was recently restored.  We had to remove our shoes, the women had to cover our heads with scarves and anyone in shorts had to wear a wrap-around skirt, men included.  It reminded us of the cliff side monasteries in Meteora Greece but not nearly as impressive.

Window inside monastery looking out to the cliff

Us with Tekija in the background

We were supposed to take a boat ride through a cave and down the Buna River for a distance but the boat never came to pick us up so we finally gave up and moved on.  It was starting to get very warm and a ride on the river looked kind of refreshing.

Tunnel over the Buna River

We drove into Mostar to see the old bridge.  I've written about the bridge on previous blogs so won't repeat it, but it's always an awesome sight.  This time we walked over the bridge and then down below to the river bank.  By this time it was very hot - 99 F - and all I wanted to do was jump into the river and lie down.  Most of the young missionaries had never been to Mostar so we had to be patient while they explored everything and waited for the divers to go off the bridge.

Tourists on the bridge waiting for the divers to jump

About once an hour, a diver goes into the water.  They make a big deal of it and collect money from the tourists.  They tease and tease until they think they have collected enough, then jump into the river and swim to shore.

It's a long way down to the river

We finally left the bridge and found some lunch.  After lunch we took our Sisters with us to visit a branch member that lives in Mostar.  She wasn't home again this time so we have yet to meet her.  We drove back to Sarajevo and all four sisters in the zone came to our apartment to do their emailing.  They stayed from 5:00 until almost 9:00 when they should be in their apartment.  The Brewers were with us and we were all ready for them to be gone long before they actually left.  We finally went out on the deck and played Uno while they emailed.

Tuesday was zone conference - my least favorite missionary activity.  I'm sure I've mentioned that before.  I feel like I'm in Seminary for 8 hours at a stretch.  We went to dinner with Brewers and Swendsens, who were visiting our conference from Serbia.  They are humanitarian missionaries like us and Elder Swendsen is also a counselor in the mission presidency.  Brewers wanted to spend one night in a hotel while they were in the city so we dropped them off before going home.

Wednesday morning we showed Brewers around Old Town and had lunch together before they returned to Banja Luka.  We also went to one museum - Museum of Crimes Against Humanity.  It was pretty sobering.  I cannot comprehend how humans can be so unfeeling and cruel to other humans.  The sad thing today is that some of those same feelings of superiority and hate still exist in Bosnia.  We even had an episode at church last week.  Until his outburst I had no idea he was Serbian.  And that is the way it should be; we are all children of our Heavenly Father and he loves all of us the same.  I also think he expects us to love each other the same and treat each other kindly.

Set up your own café anywhere

I had to include this picture - it is so typical Bosnia.  This is the wall surrounding the big mosque in Old Town.  The guy just brought chairs and the little table over into the shade and set up his own little coffee café.  He though I was taking photos of the mosque.

Our week ended with an excellent event.  We had a baptism in Sarajevo!  And he asked John to baptize him.  I think the Elders were a little hurt, but what are you going to do?

Zajko and John

John practiced the baptismal prayer in Bosnian all day.  He was very nervous and struggled with the pronunciation a little, but he did a good job and Zajko was baptized.

Sarajevo district missionaries with Zajko

Baptismal service program

Rhett Rhees is back from America and joined us for dinner this evening.  Their baby girl was born July 17 and is doing well.  The rest of the Rhees family will return to Bosnia in two weeks, just in time for the kids to go back to school.

Be good to each other this week.

Catching up

We have spent most of the week at home, catching up on paper work from our travels and submitting some new projects for approval.  In spite of all the fun we are having, sometimes being a missionary is just hard work.

I can't believe I forgot to write about my highlight of our trip to Bihać last week.  After our dinner at the restaurant on the river, we walked across the bridge to find a gelato.  We were looking in store windows as we strolled down the sidewalk.  One store had fabric draped around the mannequins to resemble clothing.  One of the "skirts" was a really pretty fabric so I stopped for a closer look.  I looked past the mannequin and thought I saw bolts of fabric inside.  I have been looking for fabric everywhere I go and have not been able to find any plain cotton fabric.  Lots of blends and drapery and upholstery type fabrics, but no cotton.  We stepped inside and I thought I was dreaming.

A real fabric store in Bihać

The woman did not speak English but she understood "cotton" and "baby" as I rocked a pretend baby in my arms.  She didn't have a large selection but I did buy a few meters of fabric.  I was so excited, I practically skipped back to the hotel with my bundle of fabric.  Unfortunately the store is 5 hours from Sarajevo so I won't be shopping there often.  One of our partners is having a baby in September and I thought it would be fun to make a quilt for her.  What to use for batting will be my next challenge.

Speaking of shopping, we thought you might be interested in how we shop here.  We do have lovely outdoor markets where we usually buy our produce, year round.  There are some nice, modern grocery stores here.  The biggest and nicest one we use is called Mercator.  The parking area is on the street level - we have to take a ticket to enter and if we shop longer than 2 hours, we will have to pay to get out.  The store is up one level, via a moving walkway like at the airports.

Escalator, only it is an uphill, flat moving walkway

When we enter the store, the shopping carts are all locked together.  You must insert a coin (a 1 or 2 mark denomination fits) to unlock one cart.  When you complete your shopping, you return the cart, insert the locking key and your coin is returned to you.

Shopping carts locked together

Closer look at the cart lock and coin slot

If you purchase produce in the store, you must weigh it and tag it yourself.  If you get to the check stand and haven't weighed anything, they are not very happy with you!  Or if you selected the incorrect code because you aren't sure what the item is called in Bosnian, we are scolded for that.  Of course, we're never really sure what they are saying so our feelings don't get too hurt.  We also take our own bags to the store or we pay about 5¢ per plastic shopping bag.

We ate the first tomatoes from our deck garden this week.  A few more are starting to turn but we wouldn't call it a bumper crop.

Fresh tomatoes from our deck garden

We have the most interesting neighbors.  We looked out the window one day last week to see the older gentleman (the one who offers us whiskey at 10 in the morning) lining 50-gallon drums with garbage bags, then filling them with plumbs from his trees.  We saw water go in but aren't sure if there was anything else added.

Barrels filled with whole plumbs and water

Every few days, he stirs the contents of the barrels.  Yesterday we noticed other people at the barrels and another container, probably 200-gallon size, was being lined with a large plastic tarp.  There have been several cars and people coming by to dump buckets of plumbs into the new barrel.

More plumbs into the barrels

Room for still more in there!

It must be a community effort now.  The Elders tell us they are making plumb brandy.  Not sure how they know that... But it makes sense I guess.  The barrels are tightly covered and secured with rocks and boards on top.

On Friday we looked out the kitchen window to see that neighbor building a fire in his back yard.  He has a metal trough looking thing filled with wood and creating lots of smoke.  The next thing we see is this:

Roasting meat next door

Not sure if they are roasting goat or lamb over the fire.  You can see a steering wheel contraption on the one end of the rod holding the meat.  They appear to be relaxed and enjoying themselves but do you want to be the one assigned to rotate that thing for the next six hours?

Dinner is served - shaving the meat off the spit

They had a nice crowd for dinner in the back yard.  We weren't invited.

Our zone is gathering in Sarajevo tonight for a super P-Day tomorrow and zone conference on Tuesday.  I'm sure we'll have stories to tell next week.