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| Giant bag of chocolate chips |
Elder and Sestra Loveridge were in Sarajevo on Tuesday to do some clerk training with the missionaries and branch clerk. After the training, she pulled out this huge bag of chocolate chips. I know it seems trivial but when there's nothing close to real chocolate chips available to you, it somehow becomes important! Sestra Loveridge's mother passed away so they made a quick trip home to Idaho. She knew we would love having chocolate chips. It was kind of her to remember us while she was taking care of much more important things. We went to dinner after the training and had a nice visit.
Elders McNeil and Christiansen took the car to Zagreb Tuesday and Wednesday for return and report. All the new missionaries go back to the mission home at six weeks and present a 5-minute lesson to be critiqued by the others. Elder Christiansen is awesome already and we don't have worries about him having a great mission. He does very well with the language and has a good spirit about him always. He's also pretty good at giving Elder Cooper some of his own medicine back - he teases and has a good sense of humor. I think his awesomeness has something to do with being from Montana! We hope these two Elders stick around for awhile - we really enjoy them.
The other set of Elders were being interviewed for a magazine article on Thursday morning. They had to get special permission from the President and do some training with the Public Affairs missionaries. We also had to be present. Not that we could monitor anything that was being said... We were sitting behind the Elders at the beginning and the reporter asked if he could talk to Elder Cooper for a minute. So John moved up to the table. A few minutes later, he asked why I was sitting in the back by myself. That prompted a discussion about women in the church and the priesthood. Another of his questions was about how we dress the dead for burial. So I guess he had heard some things about the church from somewhere. Also asked the usual questions about polygamy. Then he asked what one had to do to join the church. We let the Elders take over from there. We felt kind of bad taking over their interview but we all felt it went okay. We won't really know until the article is published.
On Saturday we did a follow up visit to one of our NGO partners to check on the progress of the project currently underway.
Elders McNeil and Christiansen took the car to Zagreb Tuesday and Wednesday for return and report. All the new missionaries go back to the mission home at six weeks and present a 5-minute lesson to be critiqued by the others. Elder Christiansen is awesome already and we don't have worries about him having a great mission. He does very well with the language and has a good spirit about him always. He's also pretty good at giving Elder Cooper some of his own medicine back - he teases and has a good sense of humor. I think his awesomeness has something to do with being from Montana! We hope these two Elders stick around for awhile - we really enjoy them.
The other set of Elders were being interviewed for a magazine article on Thursday morning. They had to get special permission from the President and do some training with the Public Affairs missionaries. We also had to be present. Not that we could monitor anything that was being said... We were sitting behind the Elders at the beginning and the reporter asked if he could talk to Elder Cooper for a minute. So John moved up to the table. A few minutes later, he asked why I was sitting in the back by myself. That prompted a discussion about women in the church and the priesthood. Another of his questions was about how we dress the dead for burial. So I guess he had heard some things about the church from somewhere. Also asked the usual questions about polygamy. Then he asked what one had to do to join the church. We let the Elders take over from there. We felt kind of bad taking over their interview but we all felt it went okay. We won't really know until the article is published.
On Saturday we did a follow up visit to one of our NGO partners to check on the progress of the project currently underway.
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| Project for mothers in Zenica |
I don't remember if I mentioned this project before. It started a few months ago. We are providing psychological help and coping skills training to mothers of severely disabled children. The first gathering was rather subdued and they weren't sure what would be happening. They have been having group therapy and will begin individual therapy in a few weeks. The gathering we attended on Saturday was like meeting a different group of women. They were happy and noisy and interacting with each other. They said they get together and eat cake. For many of them it is the only time they have away from their family and home by themselves.
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| Yummy pastries at the DLAN gathering |
We ate so much cake we thought we might go into a sugar coma. First they brought out the lovely cakes (the ones that look like muffins) filled with chocolate or jam. Then the pogača (po-gotcha) bread came out. Pogača is typical Balkan bread that can be leavened or unleavened. We see it mostly in unleavened, round loaves. This one was a little more savory with the egg wash and some herbs baked on the top. There was another rich, layered cake and cookies after the bread. They were all drinking the strong Turkish coffee but found us some bottled water.
They presented us with a big thank you card and some little figurines.
Zahvalnica means "thanksgiving." The typed words under LDS Charities say "for unselfish contribution and support to the association." We hope they understand it isn't just us - all of you who contribute to the humanitarian fund make projects like this possible. We just happen to be the faces in front of those projects at the present time.
They presented us with a big thank you card and some little figurines.
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| A thank you from DLAN mothers |
Zahvalnica means "thanksgiving." The typed words under LDS Charities say "for unselfish contribution and support to the association." We hope they understand it isn't just us - all of you who contribute to the humanitarian fund make projects like this possible. We just happen to be the faces in front of those projects at the present time.
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| Close up of figurines from DLAN |
We aren't quite sure what to think of the little figurines. They look like they should be atop a wedding cake. We think they were trying to portray marriage, or probably more likely family in a positive way, which is part of what we represent. LDS Charities logo does say "strengthening families" on it. It was a sweet gift that will bring smiles to our faces each time we think of it.
We are constantly overwhelmed at the gracious hospitality and kindness of the people here. They go out of their way to make us comfortable and always, always offer sweets and drinks. Even if we show up unexpected. That is not a big part of our culture but I think perhaps if we all started the custom, we might get along better with each other.
Today we drove to Tuzla for church. We took Elder Christiansen and Elder McNeil with us. They will ride to Zagreb tomorrow with the Tuzla elders for winter zone conference. We'll leave early and take the trio of elders with us. They have been warned about no staggered potty stops this trip!
We are constantly overwhelmed at the gracious hospitality and kindness of the people here. They go out of their way to make us comfortable and always, always offer sweets and drinks. Even if we show up unexpected. That is not a big part of our culture but I think perhaps if we all started the custom, we might get along better with each other.
Today we drove to Tuzla for church. We took Elder Christiansen and Elder McNeil with us. They will ride to Zagreb tomorrow with the Tuzla elders for winter zone conference. We'll leave early and take the trio of elders with us. They have been warned about no staggered potty stops this trip!
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| Elders Wimmer, McNeil, Christiansen and Lee |
Those are four pretty awesome Elders! Church was good - 2 members and 3 investigators came. Elder Lee gave a talk and we listened to Elder Christofferson's last conference talk.
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| The "men" at church in Tuzla |
The cute, short one is Stretan, one of the members. I've written about Stretan before - he has some mental challenges but is so faithful. He loves to bless the Sacrament (both prayers usually, but let Elder McNeil help him today). We should spend more time with the Tuzla elders and be at church there more often but it's difficult to get way from all the responsibilities here.
The drive was good today. The pine trees were all flocked with snow but the roads were clear both directions. We are grateful for the beauty of our world and always grateful when we arrive back home safely.
The drive was good today. The pine trees were all flocked with snow but the roads were clear both directions. We are grateful for the beauty of our world and always grateful when we arrive back home safely.
As always, I just love reading your posts. The people sound so wonderful and gracious. I know you are a blessing in their lives. Love and miss you.
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. Our goal was to get to Tuzla quarterly, but it didn't always happen.
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