It's been a week full of adventures. And now I'm too tired to write about all of it! We left Sarajevo at 6:00 am on Monday and drove to Zagreb for Winter Zone Conference. The triplets in the back seat did much better this trip and we only made one potty stop and one stop to fill the gas tank. The roads were clear and we made good time. Zone Conference started at the mission office with scripture trivia and other activity stations. We practiced singing the traditional Croatian Christmas songs that are in the hymn book, then went caroling in the city square. We never made it to the gazebo to sing with the group - one of the young sisters became quite ill and we drove her to the mission home and put her into bed. I stayed with her while John drove a few blocks up the street to check us into our hotel. The rest of the zone arrived at the mission home about 7:30 pm. A talent show filled the rest of the evening. We helped Elder Thompson write a poem on the way to Zagreb. He called it "The Night Before Transfers" and did a good job with it. Not to brag or anything, but the lines I suggested were the cleverest and got the biggest laughs.
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| Bosnia and Slovenia Winter Zone Conference |
We walked around for a couple hours and ate dinner on the square. We stayed at the mission home Tuesday night with some other senior couples. We stayed an additional night in Zagreb so we could close a project we have been working on since we arrived last January. LDS Charities renovated a space and installed 5 commercial washers and dryers at the Zagreb Refugee Reception Center. The space is managed by the Red Cross, who was our partner in this endeavor.
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| Tomislav (Red Cross) by the laundry space |
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| Equipment room behind the machines. Yellow boxes are detergent pumps. |
There are about 300 residents currently at the center; there is capacity for 500 and they have housed as many as 700 at this facility. The building is an old hotel. When we started the project they had one washing machine, like we would have in our homes. The Red Cross was trying to accommodate as much laundry as they could for the residents, but with only one machine, it was impossible. The new machines are operated with tokens; each resident is issued a certain number of tokens per week. If they lose the tokens or don't use them, their laundry privileges are taken away.
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| The first refugee to try a machine |
Once the tokens are inserted, you select the cycle, temperature, etc. The detergent is automatically pumped into the machine based on the cycle selection. Having the dryers should eliminate some of laundry hanging all over the building to dry.
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| Visual instructions for all languages to understand |
The refugee residents are from many countries. The instructions are written in only 3 languages but the visual instructions are meant for all to understand.
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| The official presentation picture |
After the ceremony at the center, we stopped for a short visit with another partner, then picked up our trio of Elders and headed to Sarajevo. We arrived home about 6:00 pm.
I had to stop last night and go to bed. Now my mind is a little clearer and I can go on...
Thursday all 5 Elders were back at our apartment for transfer announcements. They always predict what they think will happen, who will go where and what companion they will have. They are rarely correct.
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| Elder Daines and Elder McNeil - the anticipation is a killer |
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| Elders Thompson, Christiansen, Shepherd. They look happy. |
Elder Thompson and Elder Christiansen will stay in Sarajevo, but each with a new companion. The other three are leaving and we will have a set of Sisters back in the city. One is coming directly from the MTC. So we will have 6 missionaries with us, the 4 Elders all in one small apartment. On Saturday we bought a mattress and bed linens and extra pillows. We also bought comforters for all the beds. When we did apartment inspections on Saturday we were appalled at what the Elders were using for blankets and sheets. There is no room for four beds, so two will sleep on mattresses on the floor. We think this will be temporary for one transfer period, or we would be looking for another missionary apartment.
It started snowing Friday and didn't stop until Sunday. The roads were pretty treacherous for awhile - they aren't really good at plowing neighborhood streets and keeping sidewalks clear anywhere. The snow created a beautiful winter wonderland for us!
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| Looks like a white Christmas for us |
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| Vedad (downstairs neighbor) and John clearing the driveway |
We had to shovel four times to keep the driveway clear. It was perfect snowball and snowman making snow. Now it's just cold with more snow predicted. I made meatballs last night (preparation for Christmas day lunch) and put them on the deck table overnight. They were frozen this morning so I could bag them and put them in our tiny inside freezer. There is no room to lay them out to freeze individually so they aren't all stuck together. The freezing weather worked perfectly.
Elder Evans served in Sarajevo for several months. He completed his mission in October and his parents came from Australia to pick him up. They have been visiting family in England and traveling through Europe since October. They arrived in Sarajevo Friday afternoon and we met them for dinner. They are delightful people and we had a nice visit. They attended church on Sunday and were our speakers. We love when people visit and agree to speak (so we don't have to have so many turns at speaking).
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| Andrew, Kaylene and Benjamin Evans |
Our car left Sunday after church for transfer moves. We won't see it again until Thursday. We had only two Elders here for dinner last night. Elder Lee transferred from Tuzla to be our district leader and Elder Thomson's companion. It was pretty quiet with just the two of them.
So now we're stuck at home and will forced to be productive and hopefully get caught up on our paperwork.
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