Still here, just in case you were wondering!

It's been so long since I have written that you probably thought that we had dropped off the face of the earth....no, we're still here.  But like I have said in the past, after being here for over a year, everything seems just ordinary because we are used to it and we wonder what to write about.  But we did travel to the south end of Croatia and so I will give you a little travel log.

We traveled down to Zadar which is about 5 hours from here and is where the southern most church branch is located.  They have about 30 that come to church but 6 of them are missionaries.  Since Zadar is on the coast I think I expected it to be a little more lush.  It very much reminds me of California's ...more dry with palm trees and scrub brush on the mountains which are about 30 minutes east of the coast. The mountains are very high...maybe even higher than Utah's and they are also snow capped.  As for the coast, the ocean is beautiful and the little villages nestled into coves are truly picturesque.

This was even prettier than the poor photographer was able to capture!

Also all over the country side were hundreds (honestly, hundreds) of stone fences.  The area and mountains are almost pure rock.  We did not know what the fences were for, but when we checked the internet, it indicated that they were just to define property lines and keep their sheep in and that they are centuries old.  I guess when you have some much rock...you use it.

Many of these fences went straight up...and there is no mortar holding them in place. 

We stayed two night in Zadar in a 'full board' hotel call the Falkenakuser.  Full board here means the same as 'all inclusive' with breakfast, lunch and dinner provided.  This is quit common over here.  It was nice to just go down stairs and eat (too much).  They upgraded us and we had a nice ocean view with a living room.

View from our balcony!  

In Zadar we wanted to see the 'sea organ'...it is a man made set of pipes under the walk way that plays certain cords when the sea hits the pipes.  

It doesn't look like much, but it sounded great.  The sound comes up through the little holes you can see in the cement.

They also have a huge circular solar panel just behind this that collects solar energy during the day and then send a giant light ray into the sky at night.  (Sorry no picture)

Zadar is a very old city (just like all cities in Europe) and as we walked into the center we saw many old remains.

Centuries old church

Protection for an old shrine

Remains of an old wall...they use those rock for everything.

Over half a century relic, but still functioning :o)

 As we drove North back towards Rijeka where we stayed one more night, we were reminded that there are more castles in Croatia than all of England, Scotland and Ireland.  So if you want to see castles, come to Croatia.  Just a couple of the several we saw.

In Rijeka, Alan said goodbye to our favorite Hotel Jadran on the sea with its beautiful surroundings.

This was the last time we will probably ever stay there...but we will always remember it.

The home across the street from the hotel...each floor is it's own apartment.

We went from Rijeka to Zagreb and the mission home to pick up our missionaries who had attended a training meeting and also to pick up a automatic shifting car that the sisters can drive to do exchanges.

Alan hugging our old car goodbye...he loved the stick shift.

And this is our new car...or old beat-up car...resulting from Elders driving.

Travel log over...kind'a like seeing someone's boring travel slides, hum!
When we got back, I was in charge of the dinner for Zone Conference and had to prepare for that.  I may change my middle name from Ann to Cook(ing).  Anyway, I have included a few pictures from Zone meeting.

An old couple from Centerville

Our Serbian Zone...the Preston's standing just to the side of Alan are also from Centerville.

Typical spaghetti (boy scout banquet) dinner...but they loved it.  The Elder with glasses is Elder Fisher, also from Centerville.

Well, this has been a long blog and it's time to give you a rest, so I won't bore you with an "Only in Serbia" moment this time.  Maybe next time you will get two. Just know that we are doing well and are starting to feel rushed knowing that we have such a short time left here.  I promise, I will write again sooner than this last time.