Sunday April 28, 2019

Where to begin - we've had a very busy two weeks packed with family and fun.  I'll start with the week we missed posting last Sunday.

We are getting a new refugee project underway with our good partners Merhamet.  We dropped by their Sarajevo office to have the agreements signed.  They took several photos and their president dropped in to say hello.  Now we are in the news again:

https://www.merhamet.ba/2019/04/15/donacija-merhametovog-americkog-partnera-lds-charities-vrijedna-vise-od-20-000-km/

My sister Barbara and brother-in-law Dennis arrived on Wednesday April 17.  We allowed them time to unpack a few things and use the rest room before we started showing off Sarajevo.  We had to keep them awake until bedtime to help with the jet lag adjustment.  We drove downtown to see our chapel, the eternal flame, the Latin Bridge and a few other things before eating at our favorite restaurant.

Barbara and Dennis by the Eternal Flame

Thursday was Zone Conference for us.  We let Barbara and Dennis catch up on sleep until early afternoon.  John picked them up after lunch and they joined us for the last hour of ZC.  President Melonakos asked them to bear their testimony (we didn't know that was happening) and they did great.

Barbara and Dennis at Bosnia Zone Conference

Bosnia Zone Conference April 18, 2019

After ZC we walked through Old Town and ate at the best ćevapi place in Sarajevo.  Ćevapi is the Bosnian national food according to the missionaries and always a favorite for the young ones.

Ćevapi at Željo

Friday we did several museums and other sights around town.  Then dinner at our other favorite restaurant.  Saturday was a clear, sunny day to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain and walk the bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics.  A stop at the War Childhood Museum and a late lunch at the best burger joint in Sarajevo.  Dennis was happy that they bring ketchup to the table without having to ask for it.

On Trebević Mountain with Sarajevo in the background

Easter Sunday was a very strange experience for us at church.  It seems that the local members spend time with their families on Easter and do not come to church.  This year one local member came to Sacrament meeting and she is very fluent in English, so it was decided to conduct the meeting in English, with no translation.  We sang the hymns in English; the only Bosnian was the Sacrament prayers.  It was nice to be able to understand everything but it just didn't feel right.  I missed the Bosnian people and hearing the language.

We left for Zagreb right after church on Sunday.  We drove about 1150 miles over the next five days.  Some days were lots of hours in the car; we hope it was worth it for Barbara and Dennis to see how beautiful this part of the world is.

Monday - Zagreb Square and Market.  We were disappointed that the market was not open on Easter Monday, as it is a fun spot to see and wander through.  We did find some souvenirs shops open and enjoyed walking around the city.

Zagreb Cathedral from the market square

Roof tiles of St Mark's church

The colorful roof tiles were done in 1880.  The tiles are laid so that they represent the coat of arms of Zagreb on the right (a white castle on a red background) and the coat of arms of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia on the left.

We drove to Slovenia in the afternoon.  We stayed at Lake Bohinj, where we had the mission senior conference a year ago.  The lakes and mountains are spectacular.

Lake Bohinj

Tuesday - Lake Bled Castle and drive to Zadar.  It rained all night and Tuesday was a wet, cloudy day.  We toured the castle but the photos aren't very clear.

There is a church on an island in the middle of Lake Bled

Dennis and Barbara at the castle

John and Karen at the castle

Pletna boats to take you to the island

I didn't take time to read the complete history but apparently these boats are like the gondolas in Venice - they remain in the families for generations.  The special design is passed down from father to son.  The Pletna boats are still hand built according to the centuries old design.  There is no keel so the oarsmen have to work hard to steer the flat-bottomed boat.

We decided we'd had enough rain and started the drive to Zadar.  I think it was our longest day of driving.  Zadar is one of my favorite spots on the Croatian coast.  We had requested sea-view rooms at the front of the hotel.

View of the Adriatic from our hotel deck

Wednesday - We rode the bus into Zadar Old Town for a walk around Old Town, then back to the hotel and the drive to Dubrovnik.  This was our first time in Dubrovnik and what a treat!  Rick Steves describes it as a fairy tale that shouldn't be missed.  Its nickname is Pearl of the Adriatic.  The city was devastated during the recent war, but Dubrovnik was repaired with amazing speed.  The only physical reminders of the war are lots of bright-orange roof tiles.

Roof tiles in Dubrovnik

Our apartment was a bit difficult to find but it turned out to be a hidden gem.  The view of the sea and Old Town was spectacular.  We spent the warm evenings on the deck admiring the view.

View of Old Town fortress from our apartment deck

The only negative is that the apartment was located on a hill and the climb up was about 500 steps.  The landlord said 350 but John counted as he climbed and swears it was 500.  Perhaps he became delirious halfway up and lost count.  All I know is it wore me out and I was forced to take Aleve at night.

First set of steps from the street

Next section

Next

And next

Getting closer

Home is at the top

On the fortress wall

Looking back at where we just walked

Perfect spot for John

Barbara looks kind of happy to be locked in

Our apartment is up there somewhere

It took about two hours to walk the entire wall.  It was a hot day and jumping into the water sounded very appealing but we settled for gelato instead.  We made sure we did all we wanted to do in Old Town before climbing the stairs to the apartment again in the evening.

Friday - we were sad to leave the fairy tale of Dubrovnik but headed for Mostar Friday morning.  The drive seemed a little boring after all the beautiful scenery driving down the coast from Slovenia.  It was another warm day but Mostar wasn't too crowded so it was bearable.  We had lunch by the river and enjoyed wandering through the market looking for souvenirs.

Stari Most (old bridge)

We arrived back in Sarajevo around 5:00 pm very weary but happy with the week.  We are so blessed to be healthy and to have the means to visit many wonderful places in the world.  More bus station wisdom: "Bitno je putovanje, ne odredište."  The journey, not the arrival matters.

Barbara and Dennis left early Saturday morning for Thessaloniki Greece to visit where they served a mission 10 years ago.  We hate to see them go; it's been great spending time with family for a few days.  We only wish more of you had come to visit us here.

Our testimony grows each day as we serve.  We know the gospel has been restored in these latter days.  Our Heavenly Father is aware of each of His children and wants us to be happy.

Sunday April 14, 2019

Putovanje proširuje toleranciju.  Words of wisdom found on the wall of the bus terminal while we waited for the Elders.  It means "travel teaches tolerance."  There were a few others I will share in future posts.

We have been without water all day today.  One of the embassy families called last night to alert us of the outage, otherwise we never know until we turn on the faucet and nothing comes out.  It is city-wide today so they can change valves or something.  We were concerned about the church but we had water there until church was over.  Today was conference Sunday for us.  We watched the Saturday morning session with three members and two investigators.  The Elders watched in the office with Franz so he could listen in German; the rest of us in the chapel hearing Croatian.

Elder Gerulat and Elder Schmalz

I don't think I've written about our new missionaries since they arrived last month.  Elder Gerulat is from Hamburg Germany, speaks English very well and this is his first area.  Elder Schmalz is from Saratoga Springs Utah.  He also speaks English very well and his Bosnian is even more impressive.

Sister Scofield and Sister Fritch

Sister Scofield is from Queensland Australia and this is her first area.  Sister Fritch is from Pennsylvania and is the only missionary we got to keep from last transfer.  They are all awesome young people and work hard.

We were thrilled to hear the Budapest Temple announced in conference.  That is only a 7-hour drive from Sarajevo; much closer for other areas of the mission.  Now we go to Frankfurt or Bern - they are both a 14-hour drive from Zagreb.  Having a closer temple will be a blessing to the members here.

By law, we must have winter tires on the car by October 15 and summer tires on by April 15.  We had our tires changed last Monday.  After the tires, we met our friend Elvis from Baptist Aid for "coffee".  Elvis is from Sarajevo but lives in Zagreb now.  He was passing through town and asked to meet with us.  Such a nice man; fairly young and smart and compassionate about his work.  His friend owns the café where we met and came in to meet us.  He is president of the local Anglican society and also does much good in the city.  He asked us how we were finding Bosnia, the people, etc.  Then he said "and spiritual?"  We have not had anyone outside our church ask us about spiritual experiences.  We said that we have had many spiritual experiences while here and he said "Not me.  This is a dark, dark place."  That made us feel bad for him and we didn't know what to say.  We have great hope for the people here.

Tuesday morning we drove to Serbia for our Senior Conference.  Hard to believe we hosted the one 6 months ago and it is time for another one.  On our way we stopped at a service station for a potty break.  We had been following this trailer for a short distance and he pulled over, too.

Utility contraption / trailer

We see a lot of this kind of contraption on the roads.  We also see the wagons being pulled by horses but haven't been able to get a picture of that yet.

Hotel for Senior Conference

Etno Vrdnik Spa Resort

The conference was held at the Etno Vrdnička kula resort bordering the Fruška Gora National Park.  Mt Fruška Gora is only 1768 feet high so that isn't really the attraction to the area.  There is supposedly a lot of wildlife (we didn't see any), 15 working monasteries in the area, and a lot of grape growing and wineries.  It is a very pretty area but was a little rainy and cool while we were there.

ANM Senior Missionaries

One afternoon we toured three of the Serbian Orthodox monasteries.  Most of the descriptions are words taken from their websites, as they can explain it much better than I can.

Entrance to Ravanica

The monastery Ravanica, with its church of the Ascension of the Lord was built by Prince Lazar between the 70's and 80's of the 14th century.  It holds special importance in Serbian medieval history, both because of their historical role and because of their importance for the development of Serbian architecture, ornamental sculpting and painting.

The church exterior

One of the nuns tending the small gift shop inside the church

Plum tree on the grounds

While we waited for the group to finish, we sat on an old wooden bench under a plum tree.  You can't see in the photo but there were dozens of bees working their way through the blossoms.

I love it - what is it?

We see a lot of these trees in the area - can anyone tell me what it is?  If it will grow in Bosnia we should be able to grow it in Utah.  I would love to have one in our yard.

Krušedol Monastery, eternal home of the Serbian greats

For centuries ancient forests of the southern slopes of Mt Fruška Gora have been hiding the Krušedol monastery, a sanctuary where the remains of Serbians despots, patriarchs and a king still lie.  Today it is a female monastery, dedicated to the Christian holiday Annunciation Day, commemorating the announcement of the Incarnation by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.

Front entrance

Wall surrounding the monastery

Monastery Grgeteg

The legend says that the monastery Grgeteg with the Church of St Nicholas was founded by Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk for his blind father back in the 15th century.  At one time this monastery was well-off, with four mills, nine watermills and 200 acres of land under arable land, vineyards and meadows.  In the second world war the monastery was badly damaged; a belfry was broken down and a large part of the monastic quarters was destroyed.  Today the monastery complex is made up of a church, shelters on four sides and economic buildings.

Front entrance

The conference ended at noon on Thursday.  A group of us went into Novi Sad and toured the fortress.

Petrovaradin Fortress is nick-named "Gibraltar of/on the Danube."  It was a significant military fort of the Austrian rulers who, at the time of Napoleon's conquests, hid their treasures here.  Today it is the city's art center and home to festivals.  It is the second largest fortress in Europe.  There are four floors underground with 16km of tunnels.

Fortress clock tower

The unusual clock tower was constructed so that people, mainly the boatmen, could see the time from far away.  There is a clock face on all four sides of the tower.  The clock is peculiar for its clock-hands: a little hand indicates minutes, the big hand represents the hour.

Rooftops of Novi Sad from the fortress

We find love locks everywhere we go

All that remains of a bridge destroyed in the 1999 NATO bombings of Serbia

A river cruise ship on the Danube

The beautiful Blue Danube River

I never thought I'd see the Danube River and here it is again!  How blessed we are to be living in this part of the world for awhile.

No blog next week.  We will be traveling with my sister and having too much fun to write!