Sunday February 17, 2019

We spent our Sunday traveling to Tuzla and attending church there.  There were a total of six in attendance - four missionaries, one member and one eternal investigator.  The Elders there always do great organizing and keeping the group going.  Elder Roper is the group leader and conducted the meeting, blessed/passed the Sacrament and offered the closing prayer.  Elder Wimmer played the piano, blessed/passed the Sacrament, and gave the talk.  For the second talk we watched Elder Christofferson's last conference address.  The investigator is at church almost every Sunday and she gave the opening prayer today.  The member left after Sacrament meeting so the five of us discussed the Come Follow Me lesson.  Well, three of them discussed it in Bosnian and we mostly listened.

We arrived back home mid-afternoon and enjoyed a quiet dinner with just the two of us.  No huge quantities of food prepared today.  It made cooking and clean up much faster.  The missionaries were on their own today but I'm sure they survived okay without us.

Sister Landon called us Friday afternoon to say she had been pick-pocketed and what should she do?  This was a first for us.  After making sure she was safe and asking where they were, we told her to call Emir, our local attorney, for advice.  Then to call the mission office to cancel her mission credit card.  Emir is our hero and we think he is the best thing that happened to the Church here in Bosnia.  He had the Sisters come directly to his office, where they went online to cancel Sister Landon's personal debit card.  Then he walked them to the police and helped her file a report.  She also had her driver's license and monthly tram pass in the wallet.  Apparently this is a common scam near the university campus.  Someone takes the wallet, removes the cash and passes it to a buddy to turn in for a reward.  About 2 hours later she received a call that her wallet had been turned in.  Everything was intact, minus the cash.  She lost 70 marks, or about $40.  They didn't even take the tram pass.  The office had not yet cancelled her card, so the only thing needing to be replaced is her personal card.

We had a Branch activity Friday night.  The missionaries planned and executed the evening.  The first 30 minutes was about Family History.  Rhett Rhees talked about why we do Family History and then told how he found stories about his ancestors on Family Search and compiled them for his siblings and children for Christmas gifts.  He related how he was touched by the Spirit while he was working on the project and encouraged us to participate in some aspect of Family History.

Rhett explaining Family History; Elder Lee translating

The Elders explained the pamphlet (the name escapes me) where we can record names and other information to gather four generations.  The Sisters talked about the Billion Graves app and how it could help Family History research in Bosnia.

Elder Thompson

Sister Fritch and Sister Landon explaining Billion Graves

We had a good turn out for the activity, mostly students from the English Conversation Groups.  We watched the movie Coco, which was the real draw.  It was in English with Croatian sub-titles.  It didn't do much for me but the kids seemed to enjoy it.  And he was looking for his family so it was kind of Family History related.

Sister Landon, Zoran, Ranka, Sister Fritch

We met Zoran and Ranka when we arrived a year ago.  He was baptized in the U.S. some time ago; she is not a member.  They have not been to church in a year until last Sunday.  We took the Sisters and dropped in on them a couple weeks ago.  The Sisters have been keeping in touch since then.  They came to the movie night and we are invited to dinner Monday evening (we hear she makes wonderful Sarma - I'm hoping that is what she feeds us).  It's interesting how Sisters can open some doors the rest of us aren't able to.

Wednesday we drove to Bihać to meet with an LDS Charities' global partner about a refugee project they have asked us to participate in.  Their person flew in from Brussels and met us there.  A new camp has opened in an old refrigerator factory building.  The building itself is in disrepair and could use a lot of work.  They have brought in some portable units for living quarters and showers and toilets but the majority of space contains huge tents filled with sleeping cots.

Refugee camp inside an old factory building

No dogs allowed but this puppy snuck in the morning we visited.  Most of the building is fairly dark and pretty depressing.

Portable units for sleeping

This is in the family area of the camp

The roof leaks when it rains or snows so that is part of the water on the floor.  The director of the camp told us that the women throw water on the floor when cooking or cleaning vegetables or doing laundry by hand.  They could empty the water into the sinks or shower areas but...

This tent is designated as the mosque

Part of the cafeteria area

The Red Cross prepares and serves the food.  They receive three meals a day.  The camp was approved for 1500 occupants, they are already at 2000 and over capacity.  We will report our findings and thoughts on the project to the area welfare manager, who will make the final decision about partnering on the project.

We always eat at the same restaurant in Bihać but got brave and tried another one this trip.  We walked from the hotel and got a little lost on the way.  We were the only customers on the restaurant side.  It was quite dark in room and we had trouble reading the menu.  I ordered a small calzone and was very surprised when it arrived.

Platter size calzone

The calzone filled a platter!  It looks burned but wasn't, it's just the very dark room.  It was tasty but I left most of the crust on the plate.

The big news this week is the change in the missionaries being allowed to contact family weekly if they want.  We have mixed emotions about it - we can see some positives and how it will help a few missionaries.  We also see negatives and the potential for privilege being abused.  Our missionaries won't be able to call or text, as they do not have smart phones or tablets.  Most of the missionaries we have talked to have the same feelings about it as we do.  They think it could become a distraction.  Most of them don't think they will do things any differently than they do now.  They do think it will be nice if they need parents to help with college applications or background checks.  And I won't be emailing parents so often, asking questions or communicating information to parents between P-day emails.