tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31845839412092651242024-03-05T16:04:20.186-08:00My Belly Acresadseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-74622671728653291052014-06-23T05:25:00.000-07:002014-06-23T05:25:49.728-07:00Saying Goodbye to Sremska Mitrovica<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, It is time (the time we thought would never come) to finish this mission, say goodbye and come home. It is weird how we have looked forward to this time and now that it is really here, it is difficult to face. As I have said many times, we have come to love these people and they really are our Serbian Family. When church is so small, members really bond and care about one another.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our sweet branch minus a couple of people</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our newest investigator is Mira who became acquainted with our church when she started coming to English class. We have known her most of our mission and just recently she has shown an interest in the church. She is a wonderful woman and a good friend and we so hope she decides to join the church. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan, Sis. Sturtevent, Sis. Seelos, Mira, and Sis. Palmer (every beautician over here seems to think I need blond, blond hair--can't wait to come home)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our last District Meeting: (L to R) Radovanovic, Christensen, Sturtevent, Mourtison, Palmer & Dyer<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan had arranged with the Humanitarian missionaries for 25 trees to be presented to the Ecological group here in Sremska. Last week Dragan, who is a leader in that group, came to the church with his son, Ivan (to interpret), and presented Alan with a nice 'Thank You Certificate' and expressed their appreciation to the church. We have to hope that little gestures like this helps create a good image for the church. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan, Dragan, and Ivan</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I recently had a birthday here and birthdays and holidays here kind'a come and go without much fanfare. But the Vucenovic family brought me over a nice surprise that made this day very special. Duska made me one of her famous cakes and they sang Happy Birthday and presented me with a beautiful pair of earrings that she purchased in Malta.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan got to the cake before my camera did</span>.<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, and I am not sure if it was because of my Birthday or the fact that we are leaving but the city has had fireworks for two nights. Isn't that sweet of them :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have a perfect view from our balcony and really enjoyed the show.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We finally caught a picture, but they were much more spectacular than this picture shows.<br /><br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are fairly busy this week because Nemanja has been called on a Mini Mission to Belgrade and we will take him over on Tues. and meet with his parents for the last time. (that will be hard) We are so excited for him but not as excited as he is. He will be a great missionary. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the total of our YM/YW program--Nemanja, Ada, and Milecia. They will miss him.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wed. we have to clean this apartment (Ug) and visit with the Ivanovic family--it will be hard to tell them goodbye. I will take pictures and post them. We are going this afternoon to have lunch with the Vucenovic family. This is the hardest part, saying goodbye to the people here that mean so much to us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thurs. we are going with the Sisters to Zagreb so we can pick up the van 'Box' and bring it back to put all our luggage in plus Sister Palmer's luggage and transport her to Novi Sad Friday morning where we will pick up Sister Christensen who is going home because of illness. Then we will travel to Zagreb again and Sat. morning we are on our way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our 'Only in Serbia' moment: Since this is an old Roman city we wanted to take a picture of something Roman to represent the town. We looked all over for a statue of some Emperor or Chariot or something and the only statue we have found is this:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't think these were Emperors but we haven't been able to find out what they represent.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, Alan bought home what he says is a picture of him doing his hard work...Judge for yourself.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Should I believe him?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I may try and do one more post before we come home or soon after. We were nervous about coming on a mission and then when we found that we were coming to Serbia, we were really nervous. Such an unknown place with a history of wars. But we are so Thankful that we were assigned here and have met these wonderful people. They will always have a special place in our hearts. And we know that because we have been out here helping take care of our Heavenly Father's children, he has blessed our children and we will be eternally grateful for that. Our best to all of you and a special Thank You for your prayers on our behalf. We have felt and appreciated everyone of them. We can't wait to see and visit with each of you. See you very soon!</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-26705261584548128822014-06-09T01:29:00.000-07:002014-06-09T01:29:25.607-07:00Cheering and Limping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been an exciting, eventful, and painful two weeks....We recently delivered the hygiene and school humanitarian kits to the special needs school. They were so appreciative of our donation and it was fun to meet some of the children. They have two special needs schools in Sremska; one for older children (up to 26 years of age) and a younger school. Our neighbor (a teacher there), through whom we arranged this donation. has been so much more friendly towards us. Before she tended to avoid us fearful that all we would do was preach to her. It seems that being able to make these small donations has done much for improving relationships and opening doors for the church and missionaries here in Sremska. Our missionaries will also plant some of the trees we've ordered at this school in the fall.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our neighbor and teacher at the school (Snezana) and Alan</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some Children from the school, the blond woman is the principal...The man in the white shirt is gradually becoming Special Needs.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had a minor accident at the church when I went to move one of our 2 ton tables...it collapsed on my foot and broke my big toe and possibly my second toe. It hurt so bad, I just sat there and cried. We didn't get it x-rayed because I could feel that it was broken and for broken toes you just tape and limp until they get better. So I have stayed close to home trying to avoid limping (very slowly) up and down the stairs. But it is on the mend and doing better. The pictures are 'ugly rated' so look at your own risk. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-iCwrEj39Zf-ez9N78TG5xS-AeRJcEEhACDXyY6BEb1QaCUdSCDJctrc6JsQz5msfHk5vB-ykCD-cZA8ucLDxLJI1K3vhGZgW5vydGJEt0PD_x4nhMRyG7PnXNAwXxm4I5SPQUc9LnzM/s1600/IMG_2177.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR-iCwrEj39Zf-ez9N78TG5xS-AeRJcEEhACDXyY6BEb1QaCUdSCDJctrc6JsQz5msfHk5vB-ykCD-cZA8ucLDxLJI1K3vhGZgW5vydGJEt0PD_x4nhMRyG7PnXNAwXxm4I5SPQUc9LnzM/s1600/IMG_2177.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was taken immediately after...the toes and foot got blacker and more swollen.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No, that is not a green swollen toe...Ivan said to wrap it in cabbage to help healing so we did this for his benefit.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDVupAJGiov9IgYDTbKxCB51c54R5jd_UbHNy30HYLAu2aVcBU0jZNoiuzuS3JwTgMIXs7LuHcrlG8n6AimmNMAnDKM0TXrJVBBCJvZm-EnsD6QTlzHWzoC-ZxFMSWSYf650viIYJHWCq/s1600/IMG_2201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGDVupAJGiov9IgYDTbKxCB51c54R5jd_UbHNy30HYLAu2aVcBU0jZNoiuzuS3JwTgMIXs7LuHcrlG8n6AimmNMAnDKM0TXrJVBBCJvZm-EnsD6QTlzHWzoC-ZxFMSWSYf650viIYJHWCq/s1600/IMG_2201.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're almost done...(you can open your eyes soon) Splint and bandage</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Moving on to more cheerful things! June is the "month of invitation" for the mission and the missionaries have worked hard to encourage members to invite their friends and neighbors to church. Our emphasis was for the 8th of June (yesterday) and we prayed and fasted that we would have a good attendance of non-members at church. HURRAY, we did. We had 30 people attend church (15 non-members)...the most we have had since we arrived. We had the Kosovo family attend that had come to our activity because we had given them some Hygiene kits for their Kosovo Group. They are a great family...she is a lawyer; plus another member of the group came with them.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3LOAnQ5CJVUOucy8L19Ea34iFiMVsJ0aViySldpz-3wyl77fUYW2f8uqZc_AVPbeP5XxxNFApkmXlot0GqQOeMijoThzbNIFbDAV724svcaebTIUlsz3wPoOGTUDZorViE5LYdYmv0zI/s1600/IMG_2243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3LOAnQ5CJVUOucy8L19Ea34iFiMVsJ0aViySldpz-3wyl77fUYW2f8uqZc_AVPbeP5XxxNFApkmXlot0GqQOeMijoThzbNIFbDAV724svcaebTIUlsz3wPoOGTUDZorViE5LYdYmv0zI/s1600/IMG_2243.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Refugee family from Kosovo...The young boy Aleksander comes to our English class<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also had Mirko who is an English student that attends church now and then and his wife. We had never met his wife but she seemed to enjoy coming and we have hopes that she will come more often. Mirko rides his bike at least 10 miles each day and then goes to some hot springs for medicinal cleansing. He is a very healthy man for his age.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtVLXRiNlt7Yyp5lwULgm4_YTqCTDR0qqqqysnGKVXYa-MBB8jgw4vzYOyJ-GlIAnScwY6e47YmoZWz2kseM3e2KWfL8lSgNa7pX75FXxK00Hf9CeYeZTVWzyUDGMyZkKtNn8vpboydsoV/s1600/IMG_2248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtVLXRiNlt7Yyp5lwULgm4_YTqCTDR0qqqqysnGKVXYa-MBB8jgw4vzYOyJ-GlIAnScwY6e47YmoZWz2kseM3e2KWfL8lSgNa7pX75FXxK00Hf9CeYeZTVWzyUDGMyZkKtNn8vpboydsoV/s1600/IMG_2248.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mirko, his wife and our missionaries.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> We were really excited to see Grandma Ivanovic's husband there. He has always said that he would not become a member. Nada (Grandma) was one of the first members in Serbia and has always wanted her husband to become a member. This is only the second time he has been to church since we have been here. His daughter invited him. After church he told his wife, "I will come to church, but I can't be a Mormon". (At least not yet, line upon line) Our branch President's family lives with them. Unfortunately our branch pres. and his family did not come to church or we would have had 35 people.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7qNNCq6HI6I0YkB7PWfd14xR2RfZ1CPJEk5gYUuRAv7fWKITbRfPyCtLGEQ8ZsHfwopgnr4mzRcOgsVoN5fEilWNxHvcBc5uD1d7D-6vjqlZo-JH966aAdXh7nanMzfhR1cu6g5arlBX/s1600/IMG_2229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE7qNNCq6HI6I0YkB7PWfd14xR2RfZ1CPJEk5gYUuRAv7fWKITbRfPyCtLGEQ8ZsHfwopgnr4mzRcOgsVoN5fEilWNxHvcBc5uD1d7D-6vjqlZo-JH966aAdXh7nanMzfhR1cu6g5arlBX/s1600/IMG_2229.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Duska Vucenovic (daughter), Grandpa Ivanovic and Grandma Ivanovic</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had several others attend and we felt the spirit in attendance as well...we hope they too received a special feeling of peace and truth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next week, Alan and I are speaking and we know it will be so difficult. We will both have a difficult time expressing our love for everyone without dissolving into tears and probably the 'ugly' sobs. Oh dear, pray that we can hold it together. The following Sunday is our district conference in Belgrade and our exit interview with Pres. Rowe. He also leaves for home on July 1st just 3 days after us. The new mission Pres. arrives 8:00 am at the mission home, the two couples have 3-4 hours together and then Pres. Rowe and his family depart. The church does not allow them much time together. They like each new Pres. to have a fresh start. When we leave there will not be another couple arriving in the mission until Aug. (and then we are not sure they will come here) so the couple staying in Belgrade will cover both cities. They will live in our apartment 3-4 days a week. Elder and Sister Morgan arrived in May and are from Roy, Utah. They are coming to spend the day tomorrow to become oriented to Sremska, the apartment, and church items. They are going to be busy missionaries for a while.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK, so that is the last of the pictures because like many other times, I am having picture problems. Sorry, but I am "Blog slow and weary". And I had a great picture for 'Only in Serbia'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan and I are working to complete several projects before we leave. We are having the district missionaries here on Wed. and we will clean up our nine-mile member's home in Sasinci because he has to leave Sremska and move back. The house is in terrible condition and presently has no running water, electricity, or stove and refrigerator. His cousins are supposed to help with those items. We also are having branch FHE tonight, and Activity night on Friday, plus a big dinner on Sunday. And in the meantime we will pack, visit, clean, sort, and give away. We may need a long rest when we get home....No. We Will Need A Long Rest When We Get Home! So hard to believe that it is almost at an end...We love these people.</span></div>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-22678120102379914562014-05-26T05:13:00.001-07:002014-06-08T23:05:38.566-07:00Flooding and more<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As most of you know, the Balkans have had huge rains and rising rivers, especially Bosnia and Serbia. They say the rivers are at a 120 year high level. And although we saw the river rise last year, we are amazed this year how much more it rose. All cities that are adjacent to one of the large rivers have 16 foot earth dikes built along the river to stop flooding. However, some of the small towns along smaller waterways do not have dikes and it is those towns that really flooded and had mudslides. They were really worried about Sremska because the water level was coming up fast and near the top of the dike. So one night bus loads of men arrived, I mean over a thousand men, and they had sand and bags brought in and built a 5 mile sandbag addition to the top of the dike. And not just on this side of the river, but on both sides. It truly was amazing. Alan went down to help fill sandbags for our friend Ivan and his dad because their house backs the dike. Ivan told the workers he was from Sweden because he was worried that he would get harassed because he is American. (Many really do not like Americans) Woman were basically not allowed to help. (Heavens, this is man's work) People here were very nervous and they evacuated several blocks by the river on both sides. Nemanja and his family were sent to a school further inland. Our apartment building was in the evacuation area but since we are on the third floor, we stayed in and watched the city below. The Orthodox church and Catholic churches offered prayers and our whole mission fasted and prayed that God would temper the elements. And Sremska was blessed, the rains subsided and the water did not go over the banks. I know it must have been our missionaries prayers that made the difference :o).............</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXpg32EyENHM0YbypErw_lQWY0QKU07vQDM9-KkUDc48g6WuGhB1GSOouRKn8gcQeOwsgZQFxy_XaDsQ2IPT0998g_4etqkchXHQ22rCDLk2XVjIuGlk3TVn7qKSSFgQunuPH_n1hU0rEZ/s1600/IMG_2075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXpg32EyENHM0YbypErw_lQWY0QKU07vQDM9-KkUDc48g6WuGhB1GSOouRKn8gcQeOwsgZQFxy_XaDsQ2IPT0998g_4etqkchXHQ22rCDLk2XVjIuGlk3TVn7qKSSFgQunuPH_n1hU0rEZ/s1600/IMG_2075.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Everywhere you looked, there were men filling and placing sandbags</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS1vfSMqwwneyupA5N6pSVIKpo4pIC5unItWvY4rNKTzcvesjGEGT1yAQFdz-Uvsd_K-igwSII8pkK0InfoM3Yn45cJ8drrltEKnhvok4SLXMDd889aJTHB-PssgktjOA5Dce84UH_DM1/s1600/IMG_2118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS1vfSMqwwneyupA5N6pSVIKpo4pIC5unItWvY4rNKTzcvesjGEGT1yAQFdz-Uvsd_K-igwSII8pkK0InfoM3Yn45cJ8drrltEKnhvok4SLXMDd889aJTHB-PssgktjOA5Dce84UH_DM1/s1600/IMG_2118.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The wall of sandbags went on for 5 miles...no kidding!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3S_J72xi92tbISi8wfUXTSFjVip0o6tou6KsdGfv1cpJnE6VZ4dKzVgTUr44v-J_RwaNtZ1RR9D0qo87AtBkIEbd-4wjTrPfsxK41kkBReAJA9z_tnCArQD3UfiXehviJt0Wb2kjxH451/s1600/IMG_2120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3S_J72xi92tbISi8wfUXTSFjVip0o6tou6KsdGfv1cpJnE6VZ4dKzVgTUr44v-J_RwaNtZ1RR9D0qo87AtBkIEbd-4wjTrPfsxK41kkBReAJA9z_tnCArQD3UfiXehviJt0Wb2kjxH451/s1600/IMG_2120.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That is the tops of trees that you see.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnmOFxXtWo7tvLMGtd6v8PappT1aa1LQmolqFYM5XO_PibLfWmdNCVflF9tOV0kGctfElv_K4jLyYGK0tleNTjEVT5VlANcwSaPsJFRXc-yPteJIUu-GFlhJYwv8NalTxubexWXMOhfkU/s1600/IMG_2106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrnmOFxXtWo7tvLMGtd6v8PappT1aa1LQmolqFYM5XO_PibLfWmdNCVflF9tOV0kGctfElv_K4jLyYGK0tleNTjEVT5VlANcwSaPsJFRXc-yPteJIUu-GFlhJYwv8NalTxubexWXMOhfkU/s1600/IMG_2106.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The water is at the top of the 16 foot dike</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXcIYashpLG74Pov1jKjmTsaMKA39eHI1tonworKKc3KDFVuokoKmogQyHqNr-DI8HGSRRWPsXz6KXpT3WVp6JwgSy0E_w_9evMVaXEMshK4OubVgyOEgITqk0a4vomJskS8p3kE9_g7mS/s1600/IMG_2079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXcIYashpLG74Pov1jKjmTsaMKA39eHI1tonworKKc3KDFVuokoKmogQyHqNr-DI8HGSRRWPsXz6KXpT3WVp6JwgSy0E_w_9evMVaXEMshK4OubVgyOEgITqk0a4vomJskS8p3kE9_g7mS/s1600/IMG_2079.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Entrance to restaurant that is about 13 feet above river</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Because of the possible flooding, ofcourse they cancelled school but the interesting thing is that the next week the weather was good and the river waters were going down but they did not start school again. School will start tomorrow, about 10 days after any danger of flooding. Also they closed the big major grocery stores for 6 days....just in case.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">People did not want to allow the missionaries to volunteer but finally the humanitarian missionaries were able to convince the Red Cross to allow the "male" missionaries from Belgrade to come. It has been helpful because they have answered many questions about the church and handed out several BOMs. The mission President hopes that there will be more opportunities to volunteer when they start clean up after clearing land mines that have been displaced. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well enough about the flood....on a Sat. in the middle of the flood preparations we had a scheduled morning to put humanitarian kits together. So we went ahead and poor Nemanja had been up all night filling sandbags but he came. We had only three members show up so we missionaries and the 3 members put together hygiene and school kits for the special needs school.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp209PSPUbLU4PRPL2O6k9bFfvBDmDQp4j6Qeqb8w0zzqgpFVCz7cU6EZFG5SKeGWhgzTPVRawf4lm1VjYjKKC44cUEoelrj39K7rar2rlsH7_gfafDGB7oeOtePgBybvfXn93m18BLV3/s1600/IMG_2098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimp209PSPUbLU4PRPL2O6k9bFfvBDmDQp4j6Qeqb8w0zzqgpFVCz7cU6EZFG5SKeGWhgzTPVRawf4lm1VjYjKKC44cUEoelrj39K7rar2rlsH7_gfafDGB7oeOtePgBybvfXn93m18BLV3/s1600/IMG_2098.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our sweet hardworking members...Drangan, Zivan and Nemanja.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had some extra hygiene kits and we gave them to a group that Dragan belongs too, which is the Kosovo Refugee organization and the leaders of this group came on Activity night to thank the church.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPqkLO0LuXK7YczArGlS7JhUre3eEsYUBw7u9AurWTPI1QAXZxR7hiR98lswaemZtB0SolVDC5x0nG90GAiJOyqGc3uPcLUu_UWMmuXPkSokAc5E4-3alzIB3w5HX-Ro4GEasQOII_4X1/s1600/IMG_2149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifPqkLO0LuXK7YczArGlS7JhUre3eEsYUBw7u9AurWTPI1QAXZxR7hiR98lswaemZtB0SolVDC5x0nG90GAiJOyqGc3uPcLUu_UWMmuXPkSokAc5E4-3alzIB3w5HX-Ro4GEasQOII_4X1/s1600/IMG_2149.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nemanja, Dragan and Sladjana are some of the leaders because they are refugees from Kosovo</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know this blog is going on forever...but it is our journal, so bear with me....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">cause of the floods and evacuation, we had to cancel church on Sunday May 18th. But it was heartwarming yesterday when we had 27 to church. We had several visitors (people who have not yet allowed missionaries to teach them the lessons...usually English students or curious friends of members) and two investigators. We also have a new Sister from California who took our Sister Matthews place who had knee problems and is now serving in the mission office.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrht4Dnd5tgA7IELjgoCuXcGvOyqOC3B69mGp5PdOtghp6FuvgMLtQM83wtm8k6-RCQ-ndDwjO-2SR2y6zpkKQC-HaraXz15RogUrS_BygazPgwmpPDSK1GTRd4wkYjVa1elQUu5VM7ZWb/s1600/IMG_2157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrht4Dnd5tgA7IELjgoCuXcGvOyqOC3B69mGp5PdOtghp6FuvgMLtQM83wtm8k6-RCQ-ndDwjO-2SR2y6zpkKQC-HaraXz15RogUrS_BygazPgwmpPDSK1GTRd4wkYjVa1elQUu5VM7ZWb/s1600/IMG_2157.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sister Palmer and Sister Sturtevent...Sister Palmer (after 10 months) will be transferred...probably this week.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will finish with our "Only in Serbia" moment! In Belgrade there are several buildings that were bombed during the war. The Serbians have kept these buildings "as is" as a monument and reminder of what the Americans did to them. They are truly eye sores. They forget that our government called and warned them about the bombing and then bombed at night when the buildings were hopefully empty. (oops, I didn't mean to make it sound like bombing are OK)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJbWjTII_ngTlc5d7Sq_R3pZ0wXHHxBSCLEdoiJhbz44PhP6W-1l-UP9ZZTNeZkY588xQgvusaGT6r7v0CFWyAGY57Cj7uxjHIWTPgR9qVltcfInZEQBZZWaSjJKZVESGlKxxpasN2dVj/s1600/IMG_1933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDJbWjTII_ngTlc5d7Sq_R3pZ0wXHHxBSCLEdoiJhbz44PhP6W-1l-UP9ZZTNeZkY588xQgvusaGT6r7v0CFWyAGY57Cj7uxjHIWTPgR9qVltcfInZEQBZZWaSjJKZVESGlKxxpasN2dVj/s1600/IMG_1933.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Government building in the middle of downtown Belgrade.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well enough for this week...we are starting to try and think ahead to cleaning, sorting, packing as we get ready to come home. But it is difficult. I find myself crying whenever I think about it. These sweet people have become our Serbian family and we can't imagine leaving them. It will be soooo hard!</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-84317261791715784732014-05-15T05:18:00.000-07:002014-05-15T05:18:25.195-07:0046 years continued!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will try again to finish the blog that I started yesterday....</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This picture was taken at the Castle entrance and we laugh because it could be a before and after picture, "I used to be a man of steel and now I am a man of much less steel."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Alan gave me flowers for our anniversary picked and arranged by his own hand. Isn't he creative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just before we left for Slovenia, we stopped by a village that had an old abandoned church. You don't often see churches that aren't taken care of and this is the only abandoned church that we have seen...but it was still so interesting in its dilapidated state of disrepair. We stopped to take a few pictures (many pictures really) and ended up meeting a woman who has planted flowers and a garden on one side of this abandoned church. When we ask if we could take pictures, she invited us into her garden. (It is amazing what can be conveyed without the benefit of the same language). She and her husband were working on this garden which made this church even more beautiful. She gave us a rose and some other flowers to take with us. We had a delightful 'gesturing' visit and were reminded that people everywhere are the same and appreciate being recognized for their hard work.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking through the church to the other side</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another view through the church</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_9WC-7xGTLkqg0j104iXvBxMjtoMB5QNwZrCWBf93eSZLgFiiX69mrr3Ox2Uz0jqQWCqK7PEOSDP9GM_6Jvr-ma5v2xJ5zULdOtAxWo4DZXifV-rPq8AZPJ1xid36Q-wL3yrwejK8SKw/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh_9WC-7xGTLkqg0j104iXvBxMjtoMB5QNwZrCWBf93eSZLgFiiX69mrr3Ox2Uz0jqQWCqK7PEOSDP9GM_6Jvr-ma5v2xJ5zULdOtAxWo4DZXifV-rPq8AZPJ1xid36Q-wL3yrwejK8SKw/s1600/IMG_1959.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhKvQ4eXThIGFcpFxHOuQAjVSFDltucwi2-vF5MLAGlk9HukLuIG5zgKhZpjdRIL-QJOFDswcnByzWMqEZ1LIK-GNOEfDhNfkV5MJUO_dggkmEcD3ICK2eDfJbYOjQX7gsiiLr8i6UNCg/s1600/IMG_1961.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNhKvQ4eXThIGFcpFxHOuQAjVSFDltucwi2-vF5MLAGlk9HukLuIG5zgKhZpjdRIL-QJOFDswcnByzWMqEZ1LIK-GNOEfDhNfkV5MJUO_dggkmEcD3ICK2eDfJbYOjQX7gsiiLr8i6UNCg/s1600/IMG_1961.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not as pretty as a whole, but individual parts are great.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmftQRCw60-CAPHRiK7Iz_z0RJ-hgiREhGgV1PERdhTwWVmDULklEhAWuI0DSuYBvxo3XILwt_4hyagU6Ro3COVlF5DRDnkmHgOJ7xmFr2cCFnqIZLadVh25G36wH3Ftx7m2Wg6P0Lk-n/s1600/IMG_1974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihmftQRCw60-CAPHRiK7Iz_z0RJ-hgiREhGgV1PERdhTwWVmDULklEhAWuI0DSuYBvxo3XILwt_4hyagU6Ro3COVlF5DRDnkmHgOJ7xmFr2cCFnqIZLadVh25G36wH3Ftx7m2Wg6P0Lk-n/s1600/IMG_1974.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our sweet lady and her Garden</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This blog is </span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">brief and mostly pictures, but when I'm old and senile it will jog my mind and memories. Our "Only in Serbia" moment this time is two pictures.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHeIOaoElq5ZplWkrNrxPtEVZ4irzljzi4H4DWlngpgSAi9j1DaU_r0BA37sdodgXwNnKy4vNgDi5yoRuEltfKDW4IJXfDyf47nHPdw8iYK7hqFaM-RHDPlsvTRF8wE1Wcb20O_qG2mIw/s1600/IMG_1940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiHeIOaoElq5ZplWkrNrxPtEVZ4irzljzi4H4DWlngpgSAi9j1DaU_r0BA37sdodgXwNnKy4vNgDi5yoRuEltfKDW4IJXfDyf47nHPdw8iYK7hqFaM-RHDPlsvTRF8wE1Wcb20O_qG2mIw/s1600/IMG_1940.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a Serbian 7-11...A quick stop store where you can buy snacks and minutes for your phone.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU64t6j1Pc2X8IuMrGsCm5kmNSqdkfVQpCDv7zusrWJ4NkEYYUT1LI_ZvBJxlHGhFj-G_0-p47gaQ4GzoIRGa5vAPwcDqDBItkU_fQ1BfiqEsOzdPkUdAEoPt-yxSU6II5pvx0HCw1ALDM/s1600/IMG_2067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU64t6j1Pc2X8IuMrGsCm5kmNSqdkfVQpCDv7zusrWJ4NkEYYUT1LI_ZvBJxlHGhFj-G_0-p47gaQ4GzoIRGa5vAPwcDqDBItkU_fQ1BfiqEsOzdPkUdAEoPt-yxSU6II5pvx0HCw1ALDM/s1600/IMG_2067.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This beautiful sunrise greeted us the very next morning after arriving home.</span></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-20010424065222129622014-05-14T03:26:00.002-07:002014-05-14T03:32:37.519-07:0046 years and only 30 to go!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, although we don't look old enough, Alan and I celebrated our 46th year Anniversary on May 10th. Last year we were still relatively new to the mission and didn't dare leave our assigned area. We have since learned that the Mission Pres. encourages travel within the mission, so this year we took an anniversary trip. It will be our last trip until we trip home. We traveled to see our favorite part of the mission, Slovenia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We went back to our favorite castle (and there are many many castles in Slovenia) the Predjama Castle and then 9 miles up the road we went to the Postojna Cave. This cave is one of the largest in the world with huge interior rooms inside...rooms like ballrooms. A train takes you into the cave for about 8 kilometers after which you walk quit a bit. It was a nice walk except at the beginning there was a lot of climbing (During the climb, I didn't see anything around me for concentrating on breathing). There were some amazing stalagmites and stalactites. The cave was well lite and touristy but amazing to see.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxKLKtDeuUdMCcYvYxHFvBvrACyUP0jGor8R-ddrBltgo2ZURe6XJa93enSaXXLoWX-V96oNA1jYpe_I2t0rCfI6-uBGZUXzvrDj8Bq8Q45F6JTxYNI8LRxytxLO7naL-EltV2CdG09Ad/s1600/IMG_2042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxKLKtDeuUdMCcYvYxHFvBvrACyUP0jGor8R-ddrBltgo2ZURe6XJa93enSaXXLoWX-V96oNA1jYpe_I2t0rCfI6-uBGZUXzvrDj8Bq8Q45F6JTxYNI8LRxytxLO7naL-EltV2CdG09Ad/s1600/IMG_2042.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What they call a train...but more like a Disneyland ride.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sdObAc0RbXHOr41q9V66s7B2oIgU0StjUO32L_5UkYwu-J_zwUD7GE3S_P0e6AcxJNHrSfXpc0AGrGz3bSjVH4vCu5gh3r0S6yWKv_KqxW6mmnAYi8X052_XJOCIm6xLiMrcYl34o6nc/s1600/IMG_2045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9sdObAc0RbXHOr41q9V66s7B2oIgU0StjUO32L_5UkYwu-J_zwUD7GE3S_P0e6AcxJNHrSfXpc0AGrGz3bSjVH4vCu5gh3r0S6yWKv_KqxW6mmnAYi8X052_XJOCIm6xLiMrcYl34o6nc/s1600/IMG_2045.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A huge white Stalagmite that is really pretty</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2Rlg7XxSMc6wAKM84F53tZ4diga1W9EYEu8jUpYd7AMelq50I-xYhyK0UzQCvykwMjwBsjy6AZ6ME0P_2vrX87OlLt3Md37CQ2u8wIpczfu8rfEzm5ZTHUiEm4XP5hbYEgNbx83LoWD-/s1600/IMG_2047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA2Rlg7XxSMc6wAKM84F53tZ4diga1W9EYEu8jUpYd7AMelq50I-xYhyK0UzQCvykwMjwBsjy6AZ6ME0P_2vrX87OlLt3Md37CQ2u8wIpczfu8rfEzm5ZTHUiEm4XP5hbYEgNbx83LoWD-/s1600/IMG_2047.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The yellow coloring is from the lighting.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The Predjama Castle is wonderful but I have talked about it in past blogs but will include this picture to remind you of it's beauty.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWpGh4BpI__MIguPM-Zh6qPcp6LMlNaP6iSuUOzps5fU-FMD4_F0rotW_NSkiVlsh4W3BR2aDdH-bRog-POJII2KxpG88HMJTHv26UQU7cChFNV1PGeO4qd4YbRstap5FRgGsRmLGLM9A/s1600/IMG_2024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyWpGh4BpI__MIguPM-Zh6qPcp6LMlNaP6iSuUOzps5fU-FMD4_F0rotW_NSkiVlsh4W3BR2aDdH-bRog-POJII2KxpG88HMJTHv26UQU7cChFNV1PGeO4qd4YbRstap5FRgGsRmLGLM9A/s1600/IMG_2024.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can go through the castle back into the cave which extends for several miles.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan, being the geologist that he is, says that Slovenia is known for the many caves and has some of the largest in the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also traveled to Lake Bled, but this time continued on to a lake situated above Lake Bled that was just as beautiful. The country side is indescribable as to it's beauty and greenness.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQbEWJKL-G6xiaoKdgUsCqN09iPwhuC1fGqq6hTw2XlThyOuJu3BqfHAYi4dLIpVvATRVVgtMhvO1aEJ5h7AABzOdOP4fzLljRv03PbZJNYQMmifpfExHBedqcHnGRdO1sDRQj5FOEcu5y/s1600/IMG_2019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQbEWJKL-G6xiaoKdgUsCqN09iPwhuC1fGqq6hTw2XlThyOuJu3BqfHAYi4dLIpVvATRVVgtMhvO1aEJ5h7AABzOdOP4fzLljRv03PbZJNYQMmifpfExHBedqcHnGRdO1sDRQj5FOEcu5y/s1600/IMG_2019.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can see from the area around the lake that there are lush forests</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also drove to where the Sava River, that is so huge here, originates as just a stream and back to Lake Bled. It was so busy with tourists on this Sat. that we didn't stop but continued back to Ljublijana to spend some time in the Center.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slovenia is much more modernized and clean compared to Serbia. We saw several castles and wish that we had more time to poke around. We did stop as a castle that is truly picturesque from the auto-put. It turned out that it is now Hotel Grad Morrice.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiF_GIgCoENj6TQm03seX6dIJxJW7rO5kSiZ-t0su9mgF0srksppboThnhXfMMAuftT5Y4e1B0Y2NUR0zhCfsHWkJXCpvIZAFH7jFxqRPlMg_uXXpnsYvfoLmvu3aZx1VObFO6NxhZWRBr/s1600/IMG_2053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiF_GIgCoENj6TQm03seX6dIJxJW7rO5kSiZ-t0su9mgF0srksppboThnhXfMMAuftT5Y4e1B0Y2NUR0zhCfsHWkJXCpvIZAFH7jFxqRPlMg_uXXpnsYvfoLmvu3aZx1VObFO6NxhZWRBr/s1600/IMG_2053.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Auto-put</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bkg2z4Nl-jil1fw02Ur-IX5KAX8tXB-rVnARVV9xo98xWvP8wa2h6bN_Yo7jSWt-0DtuBCA1LLqc9bWQSt5kbrtvy0EgmFJvDb8CluBgniRCK54q-YR4EozaOrabfJ7TrMS4Ei4PE1fl/s1600/IMG_2065.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bkg2z4Nl-jil1fw02Ur-IX5KAX8tXB-rVnARVV9xo98xWvP8wa2h6bN_Yo7jSWt-0DtuBCA1LLqc9bWQSt5kbrtvy0EgmFJvDb8CluBgniRCK54q-YR4EozaOrabfJ7TrMS4Ei4PE1fl/s1600/IMG_2065.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I always thought entrances to castles were bigger...there is a large inner courtyard.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a relaxing adventure and will always treasure the beautiful country that is here in the Balkans. Very seldom to you hear about people wanting to take a trip to the Balkans, and yet it is truly a beautiful place. I am so thankful that we have had this opportunity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our little branch is doing well except we lost Sister Matthews who was transferred to the mission office in Zagreb because of reoccurring knee pain and swelling. They have not been able to find the cause yet but think that it is a result of over-use. She goes home the end of July, so will probably finish her mission in the mission office. This has been hard on her because she is a hard working devoted Sister. But I told her not to feel bad because she has already worked as hard as two missionaries while being here. We got a Sister Sturtevant from California and Sister Palmer is still here for at least another 3 weeks. She is a trooper!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As usual I am having problems getting more pictures to upload and so I will finish this Blog and do another one soon with more continued pictures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We hope everyone had a delightful Mother's Day. No matter the country, Mother's are important and special. They not only shape our lives but they shape our countries. We may not all teach the same things, but generally, we love our children and families the same way. May God's love be with all the woman of the world.</span></div>
adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-91621512391371672662014-04-28T04:45:00.000-07:002014-04-28T04:45:08.752-07:00The weeks are zipping by...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The weeks are passing so quickly now...it seems we just turn around and it is Sunday again. Sunday is always an interesting day because church is certainly an experience. Alan and I sit in church and as I have said before, it is all in Serbian and I keep waiting for the "gift of tongues or ears" to work but sadly it doesn't. Just imagine what it would be like to sit in church and not understand, it is worse than the driest speaker (I almost said high counselmen) you have ever heard. Sometimes our branch president will translate a copy of his talk into English and we can see they give wonderful talks. But we have been here so long now that even in Relief Society the teacher forgets to have it translated for me and then turns to me and says in English, "Sister Seelos, what do you think about that"? Dah! We all just have a good laugh and move on. I just have to remember that these are choice times that I will never forget. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had one investigator at church. He smokes as do many of the investigators. He says that he needs to smoke about every 20 minutes but he said that when he is in our church he does not have the urge to smoke. Smoking is one of the obstacles that people have to overcome when they decide to join the church<br />(I can only identify when I think of giving up Chocolate, FOREVER!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week was Easter and many people brought us decorated boiled eggs. It is their tradition and many people color their eggs using onion skin. The children here go house to house with their Easter baskets and it is kind'a like Trick or Treating...they get boiled eggs or treats. Even our English students brought us eggs the following Tuesday. I took them home and put them all in the fridge and took a picture. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftbFOLHexOy6Z79fChCvXbQUSixbELX4PXzCIxhN_1jQGPo0rGQ-yWqakmNdRH6fbm-tbWbpWZfgACCLrwtAai2KvTGTSim6dpqQ_Zuf_Oy2j1uXGuN7PIKU0U59KdvBSUNv2Jg3NipQo/s1600/IMG_1904.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftbFOLHexOy6Z79fChCvXbQUSixbELX4PXzCIxhN_1jQGPo0rGQ-yWqakmNdRH6fbm-tbWbpWZfgACCLrwtAai2KvTGTSim6dpqQ_Zuf_Oy2j1uXGuN7PIKU0U59KdvBSUNv2Jg3NipQo/s1600/IMG_1904.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The leaves on the eggs were attached with nylon net before dying.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week Alan, I, and Nemanja went to visit our sweet member who initially walked 9 miles to church (our 9 mile man, as we call him). If you remember, he used to live in another town in a house with no water, heat, electricity. It was a bare shell of a house. Anyway, we moved him into a small apt. in town that some of his distant relatives are paying for. He is so proud of his new place that is basically two small rooms and a bathroom. But after what he came from, it is luxury. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcQJUYlSfBffzZYZxirs4Fr02GCySPSppxPjJZ2BJ7KxhWQTNkHzR3ZYCbjTedcJjDbKUcwuJMrhxO323BppmdHzQ5DNgIbtWlvPkf-Z72HKz-ld9aHepiv00a6ySfaZK3VtYdi3z2rgE/s1600/IMG_1910.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcQJUYlSfBffzZYZxirs4Fr02GCySPSppxPjJZ2BJ7KxhWQTNkHzR3ZYCbjTedcJjDbKUcwuJMrhxO323BppmdHzQ5DNgIbtWlvPkf-Z72HKz-ld9aHepiv00a6ySfaZK3VtYdi3z2rgE/s1600/IMG_1910.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan, Zivan, and Nemanja</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAu0w6Fx0r7Cbmz6YwnfbkXSG6S5lb5mNBlWFBvaTs2GPKxDo2RNhCDoVHF1hcWu_kT9wqrncceZrrH-rmaitZabqbqucHixwlm-ing_Y9N3c0_-w8XRK2Cd8qpI5m2cdV6O6QUJ54pGq/s1600/IMG_1911.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXAu0w6Fx0r7Cbmz6YwnfbkXSG6S5lb5mNBlWFBvaTs2GPKxDo2RNhCDoVHF1hcWu_kT9wqrncceZrrH-rmaitZabqbqucHixwlm-ing_Y9N3c0_-w8XRK2Cd8qpI5m2cdV6O6QUJ54pGq/s1600/IMG_1911.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zivan in his living room/bedroom</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVV5Q4x4ewul2yCess8wG7MSI1LDF3F-E3ruDo7573eCkgPg1ZvZ0I-tz9hfM9iU0p2llOb111t4cSrBYgkehhYswdB6M7VvevWO-GXaB3LIlzV4C7suLeYflGxn6Mwb0vL-ycmNGzAfID/s1600/IMG_1912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVV5Q4x4ewul2yCess8wG7MSI1LDF3F-E3ruDo7573eCkgPg1ZvZ0I-tz9hfM9iU0p2llOb111t4cSrBYgkehhYswdB6M7VvevWO-GXaB3LIlzV4C7suLeYflGxn6Mwb0vL-ycmNGzAfID/s1600/IMG_1912.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Outside the small apartment<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have another couple here in Belgrade who are from Washington DC, the Goodsells, that have become good friends and confidants. They will leave to pick up their missionary son in Germany May 5th and then travel home together. We will miss them and their support. Duska, our Relief Society Pres., had them and us to dinner on Friday night. She is a wonderful cook and when people ask me what I will miss from Serbia besides the people, it is Duska's cooking. She cooked a very traditional meal of stuffed peppers, sarma (stuffed cabbage leaves), and tomatoes and peppers with her wonderful bread. She also had one of her cakes for dessert (her cakes could rival the Beehive house cakes).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNFvUbT3cIKhMZRHMoHZZ106MVaHs4QqsFIttMbcGRqWLYmnMbGuZEJsFuADu7MrXs58m04oTlZ9l0xTO4FMXJhITGYMf1KQvtpeKgp-Zlt84PBRjYijB1g3r3JnSRKQeYp_z7GqNhak_L/s1600/IMG_1915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNFvUbT3cIKhMZRHMoHZZ106MVaHs4QqsFIttMbcGRqWLYmnMbGuZEJsFuADu7MrXs58m04oTlZ9l0xTO4FMXJhITGYMf1KQvtpeKgp-Zlt84PBRjYijB1g3r3JnSRKQeYp_z7GqNhak_L/s1600/IMG_1915.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yum!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sJQwpGHNdn5z95CDkJDNeC3mJLf5w8uRv-fFqauwF505AvnM9keLcmRVSsoPL6brEx5-WVjyHDlt-LecFf1eJGlTMLuls5W2QH3b3Ois8gRL7FbIYygftTQC46HkTiJdi8L9IDYziYjT/s1600/IMG_1916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sJQwpGHNdn5z95CDkJDNeC3mJLf5w8uRv-fFqauwF505AvnM9keLcmRVSsoPL6brEx5-WVjyHDlt-LecFf1eJGlTMLuls5W2QH3b3Ois8gRL7FbIYygftTQC46HkTiJdi8L9IDYziYjT/s1600/IMG_1916.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Duska...she would hate this picture</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXhYg20tTSS7QSpv9_iqQ4raBPl3gelahVbE4tp1G_OjdNZH0YXGacKNVmNhUJ2xQx4oh2SsuK-PlAOK26pVD2hNhhB_e0T5hhy-keSd-YH9IkcePL8lOir5AzjOJ92tbvpQXVnUMvHoV/s1600/IMG_1917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwXhYg20tTSS7QSpv9_iqQ4raBPl3gelahVbE4tp1G_OjdNZH0YXGacKNVmNhUJ2xQx4oh2SsuK-PlAOK26pVD2hNhhB_e0T5hhy-keSd-YH9IkcePL8lOir5AzjOJ92tbvpQXVnUMvHoV/s1600/IMG_1917.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ada, her great daughter.....</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think that we have mentioned in the past that Alan has been talking with an Orthodox Priest about coping his church records. So many of the records in Serbia were destroyed during the war which can make it difficult to do genealogy work here. We are hoping that the Priest will be willing to have them copied to preserve them from ever being destroyed. Alan and our Branch President are meeting with the Priest on Tues. night. If he agrees, church headquarters sends a team out to copy the records. So that is our prayer this week (among others)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK...for our "Only in Serbia" moment:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have a family member or friend who is a lawyer, you may want to make sure they do not see this segment because they will be very envious and may end up moving to Serbia just for this perk!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We have a prominent Sremska Mitrovica Lawyer who has his office down stairs in our apartment building and we thought you might like to see the office of an important lawyer in Sremska. (Daniel, whatever you do, don't let Zac view these pictures)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEoHs_OGlhZX20zHzWiiO5sRpcSG4tmFMOwxZ1bbSwJFOK4gTimY1n65ItFbzkn-f6-NlLGLjUXkP71tAJvzapEvKqqCmOjxUSQ2yT1gzz4AvRCGLXRC0m97h1uZyS0MyhLcxHLQcjnOsi/s1600/IMG_1907.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEoHs_OGlhZX20zHzWiiO5sRpcSG4tmFMOwxZ1bbSwJFOK4gTimY1n65ItFbzkn-f6-NlLGLjUXkP71tAJvzapEvKqqCmOjxUSQ2yT1gzz4AvRCGLXRC0m97h1uZyS0MyhLcxHLQcjnOsi/s1600/IMG_1907.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Attractive entrance!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEMIy2FrAUStBHRXAWTKb7OukSoJFXJiPQv_uQIIeUSCeznYaGtVb6CI8BwTYhePzvZXwlbtIx66a9Kju041s-C0ul8tUiiYSmwKjbzXmjbSINc3GhWCZ0DRDfdzZxnwKHw_Gifr4Bkby/s1600/IMG_1905.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAEMIy2FrAUStBHRXAWTKb7OukSoJFXJiPQv_uQIIeUSCeznYaGtVb6CI8BwTYhePzvZXwlbtIx66a9Kju041s-C0ul8tUiiYSmwKjbzXmjbSINc3GhWCZ0DRDfdzZxnwKHw_Gifr4Bkby/s1600/IMG_1905.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Spacious desk area</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0LrY_m1N5UZOLRpUyFMdLI5U5kLdQhEzd30IxlG0n9ngD6niLgAN9qvVXjfs_wrJUiwcPoqLhVSOeO7EhRuOOBaMFrD5RA7uF_s2Iw00NtlurhOTy3G6hCG0Lh5UxrNnm2wfZRAujj82c/s1600/IMG_1906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0LrY_m1N5UZOLRpUyFMdLI5U5kLdQhEzd30IxlG0n9ngD6niLgAN9qvVXjfs_wrJUiwcPoqLhVSOeO7EhRuOOBaMFrD5RA7uF_s2Iw00NtlurhOTy3G6hCG0Lh5UxrNnm2wfZRAujj82c/s1600/IMG_1906.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inviting waiting room!</span></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-39197033619623044332014-04-17T06:45:00.000-07:002014-04-17T06:45:40.933-07:00Never a dull moment (AKA Restful moment)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This has been a hectic week...(Sorry, I am writing this down more to help me remember than for your un-enjoyment) On Sunday we had Branch Conference with a dinner following which I got to make the bulk of the meal except for dessert. We had sweet and sour chicken nuggets and one of our older sisters said that she might learn to like that funny tasting chicken that Sister Seelos made. (you just have to smile). Monday we had the Senior couple from Osijek here to visit for the day. They took us out to lunch for Alan's birthday which was very nice. Tuesday we had a District Auxillary women's meeting here in Sremska which included all the women leaders in Serbia. We hosted and prepared refreshments. Wed. was District meeting here and I prepared a huge relish plate with dip for their treat. Today is Thursday and we are having the Easter Party tonight which we had to plan. We will have an Easter Egg hunt (they loved that last year) followed by the Sister Missionaries talking about Easter and then showing a video. Following, we will have another dinner...which I prepared the main course and salad. (People here are poor and when they bring something, it is usually a bread of some kind). Friday we trek to Novi Sad to take the baptismal font and then turn around and travel south to Sebac to pay for trees Sremska will plant (after we leave) for a humanitarian project. Saturday I will prepare lunch for the sisters and Aleksander to say goodbye since he is leaving for Montenegro. (more on him later)...Sunday of course is Easter and I will prepare Easter Dinner for the missionaries. And in the mean time Alan is running around doing the Priesthood stuff..Whew! Enough said...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you remember Aleksander left the church and wanted his name removed from the records...but he has now calmed down and says that the truth is that he has a testimony of the gospel and believes it spiritually, but he can't live it physically. He is a bartender by trade and he smokes and drinks. We love him and hope that some day he will be able to embrace the whole of the gospel. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now for the "Only in Serbia" moment...we are calling it "Only in Sremska Mitrovica" this time. There is a artist living in Sremska Mitrovica that paints murals on many of the buildings and they are all representing Roman culture because of the Roman history here. (Seven of the Roman Emperors come from Sremska)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The artist's name is Dragan Martinovic and his work is very impressive. Daniel and Anna loved these pictures when they visited (so this is for you both).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Only in Sremska, but impressive, hum!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During this Easter weekend may we all remember Christ's Sacrifice for each of us. "And this is life eternal, they they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> John 17:3</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> If you know that, you are blessed because many do not have a testimony of this. Be Thankful!</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-28743923441422216642014-04-07T03:10:00.000-07:002014-04-07T03:10:08.472-07:00Still here, just in case you were wondering!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As for the coast, the ocean is beautiful and the little villages nestled into coves are truly picturesque.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was even prettier than the poor photographer was able to capture!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many of these fences went straight up...and there is no mortar holding them in place. </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our balcony! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It doesn't look like much, but it sounded great. The sound comes up through the little holes you can see in the cement.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zadar is a very old city (just like all cities in Europe) and as we walked into the center we saw many old remains.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Centuries old church</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZiT1LfcN51il9QKMksshm-a5OE4-TsMkf2iF-20VbD9dNm9iZf347v2LOe7n3rpMi9gaubbqmgWDVwIVYi42MWCGFiNeWKggZ2hIvF1adeHWxsykP1ppTUs3t9JtA8S8WDMU8NbfSm8Cw/s1600/IMG_1793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZiT1LfcN51il9QKMksshm-a5OE4-TsMkf2iF-20VbD9dNm9iZf347v2LOe7n3rpMi9gaubbqmgWDVwIVYi42MWCGFiNeWKggZ2hIvF1adeHWxsykP1ppTUs3t9JtA8S8WDMU8NbfSm8Cw/s1600/IMG_1793.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Protection for an old shrine</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remains of an old wall...they use those rock for everything.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Over half a century relic, but still functioning :o)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 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.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Rijeka, Alan said goodbye to our favorite Hotel Jadran on the sea with its beautiful surroundings.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the last time we will probably ever stay there...but we will always remember it.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The home across the street from the hotel...each floor is it's own apartment.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alan hugging our old car goodbye...he loved the stick shift.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this is our new car...or old beat-up car...resulting from Elders driving.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Travel log over...kind'a like seeing someone's boring travel slides, hum!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An old couple from Centerville</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Serbian Zone...the Preston's standing just to the side of Alan are also from Centerville.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCkkPiujmza5ER5FnmNMqlVv678vNcc2LCWOkMMO9Pvw4Lqt5L-cCFP1HGow9sKTM-oOJB13xyEqxF2I6WXUBBIwxlYeO6UGQZukwijcq__U61IXaMC9gHLicSv70J16e5H2Y4oJ0zuoA/s1600/BeoZnLunchline.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGCkkPiujmza5ER5FnmNMqlVv678vNcc2LCWOkMMO9Pvw4Lqt5L-cCFP1HGow9sKTM-oOJB13xyEqxF2I6WXUBBIwxlYeO6UGQZukwijcq__U61IXaMC9gHLicSv70J16e5H2Y4oJ0zuoA/s1600/BeoZnLunchline.JPG" height="380" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Typical spaghetti (boy scout banquet) dinner...but they loved it. The Elder with glasses is Elder Fisher, also from Centerville.<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">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.</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-87954800686981662992014-03-22T04:36:00.000-07:002014-03-22T04:36:08.142-07:00A Baptism and a quick return<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a very special day on March 13th as Slaganja got baptized. We decided to stay here in Sremska and do the baptism in the church. Now this is no easy task...Alan and Nemanja had to move the foyer furniture into the chapel and then set up the deep vinyl swimming pool that we used last summer in the foyer. He then had to run a hose from the upstairs out the window and back in the foyer window to the font to fill it. He fills it 3/4 full with warm water the day before and them fills it the rest of the day on the baptishmal day with hot water. That makes the water a little better than room temp. Then after the baptism, everything must be done in reverse. But, of course, everything doesn't go that smooth and the pool collapsed when it got 3/4 empty and distributed the rest of the water through out the foyer. That foyer is now well mopped! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slaganja was always reluctant to get baptized, but the Lord works in mysterious ways (as we know) and she had a dream. (Shortened version) She dreamt that she met Duska (R.S. Pres.) on the street who told her to come with her because she needed help and they had to hurry to the church. Slaganja ask why and Duska said, "Because Christ is there". Slaganja did not believe her and ask if He had been there before and Duska said, "Oh yes, several times". They hurried to the church and she did see Christ. After that dream she said she knew that what the missionaries had been teaching her was true and and she needed to be baptized. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She was baptized by her son Nemanja and a happier boy you could not find.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sister Palmer, Nemanja, Slaganja, and Sister Zander</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Ibraimovic family are now all members and our trusty baptismal font</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That was our wonderful news for this week....and on the other side our newest missionary, Radoslav, who had been in England for a month came home due to anxiety. But, this is not uncommon because our Sister missionary, Sister Zander, went home with depression. Missions can be difficult with hard work. It seems even more hard for members who maybe grow up in the church where it is less structured. We don't know the reason always but we pray for these young people who have returned that they will find purpose in their lives and stay active.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Living within the structure of the church is also what causes a lot of converts over here to go inactive. Although, church structure over here is less structured (1-2 hour church, no weekly YM/YW, sometimes no home teaching--you get the idea) it is so much more than they are used to. Both the Orthodox and Catholic church members attend basically on Easter and Christmas and maybe on their Saint Day. Not much obligation there. So just having members remain faithful, pay tithing, and attend church is a big thing over here. Then when they go on a mission and it is much more regimented it can be overwhelming. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We did have transfers and now have a new missionary, Sister Matthews from Heber City. She is wonderful and has been in the mission for over a year. When we first got here she was in Novi Sad. She and Sister Palmer are Sister Trainers which is like the counter part to Zone Leaders. But this also means that they will taking our car often to visit other sisters and has caused a problem. We have the only stick shift car in the mission and neither of them drive stick shift. So now next week we will travel to Croatia and pick up a different car. We worry with it having Croatian license plates that we will get stopped more and may receive more tickets. The Serbs and the Croatians tolerate each other but still don't like each other.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We still teach English class two times each week and have made some wonderful friends and these friends sometimes come to church and many of them came for Slaganja's baptism. It seems once we get them through the church doors and they start to feel comfortable it becomes less threatening. The missionaries are teaching one man who just started to come to English class and we have a baptismal date for him in April. Our English class also comes to our Friday night activities. So English class is a great finding tool.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Svetlana and Mirco...Lupco is the man to right and we are teaching him the gospel.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Egor and Aleksander-- Egor just got this haircut and he is Nemanja's friend</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our "Only in Serbia" moment: We watch several new stores and businesses start up and then within one month or six weeks we watch as they pack up and close. We are sure that people are hoping to somehow make a better living and it doesn't often work out. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lTp6E0bcvmIXr449zo87LJ3l2-6m1GVF6hYy4wm5Tp35LzGc1U62iIhNl1LRVh-E7YrOIuWzL7XLlusI6I_4Pxxur5ihHKsTIFMAUlPeU9PI531J9izO1WhaFLMSwfOTuSHuKNowphm0/s1600/IMG_1759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6lTp6E0bcvmIXr449zo87LJ3l2-6m1GVF6hYy4wm5Tp35LzGc1U62iIhNl1LRVh-E7YrOIuWzL7XLlusI6I_4Pxxur5ihHKsTIFMAUlPeU9PI531J9izO1WhaFLMSwfOTuSHuKNowphm0/s1600/IMG_1759.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was a store across the street selling material. It was open for one month and<br />yesterday the horse and wagon showed up, hauled the material away, and then<br />closed the store. These horse and wagons are used by many and seen often.</span></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-64902888174146502802014-03-11T06:39:00.000-07:002014-03-11T23:33:17.194-07:00Sad and Happy Times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last time I wrote, we were so excited because Aleksander had been called on a mini mission. How quickly things can change. He is now not going on a mission and has asked to have his membership removed from church records. There are a combination of many things that probably contributed to this decision, one of them being a friend who didn't want to see Aleksander leave and he spread a few lies plus Aleksander, did not have much confidence in himself and the reality of it may have scared him. Testimonies, especially new testimonies, over here are very fragile and Serbian trust (both on his part and the members part) is not a common attribute. He is a great young man and we hope someday he comes back. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our good news is that Slagana is getting baptized Thursday, March 13th. She is a great woman and will be a super addition to this branch. President Rowe is on a very tight schedule, especially as he is trying to accomplish so much before he leaves July 1...but Slagana made him promise to come to her baptism and he is driving several hours to Serbia and told her that he wouldn't miss it.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaZML6oaed8hX-j9xDJ8IVGbfDKhUhd3BgWNJAZ7W7h7SWBAl33cYrpcymTHL0vc5M_xjJboN0HSW3K80DPz7SKvBtMuiu9r7tkk4zxezmOyA6ygVJqRBvi93zhvbM95c8CvJtSORsVdU/s1600/IMG_1694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNaZML6oaed8hX-j9xDJ8IVGbfDKhUhd3BgWNJAZ7W7h7SWBAl33cYrpcymTHL0vc5M_xjJboN0HSW3K80DPz7SKvBtMuiu9r7tkk4zxezmOyA6ygVJqRBvi93zhvbM95c8CvJtSORsVdU/s1600/IMG_1694.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slagana & Dragon with Pres. and Sister Rowe</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan and I were discouraged for a while, but we remembered our motto to "Go Forward in Faith" and that is what we are doing. Our little branch has one more man scheduled for baptism in April....and our sweet Sisters work hard to find those who will listen. This is not always easy...as I mentioned earlier, there is not a lot of trust here and a great reluctance to change. They want something better in their lives but really don't believe that there is anything better out there. But slowly the 'mission' membership is growing. The five countries had 422 members out to church last Sunday and the goal (before the Pres. leaves) is to have 500 (inactive or new members) who attend church regularly. It is perplexing to try and understand why other countries, such as Russia, Africa, and Philippines, have such an influx of people joining the church and here in the Balkans, it is such a struggle. We hope their time is coming soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Friday we had a leadership training meeting with the other senior couples in our District. We went to Belgrade and after our meeting we walked (2 miles each way, yes I am proud) to the Belgrade fortress. Belgrade is an extremely busy city with many people going here and there. Many people are on the streets walking because parking is awful and people take buses or walk. It is probably much like the city of New York.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg804mlm4UgxJ7bbcwLZF6qAL7eA_eMZ879AKXERH75Ll1LAiZF-f1H5l3E0ryzPz11RJqjeav60Km7FWqeOx2QswT8wI89SPU2RXGLob_e7HIzrH9GtYYur14fgyKlFRZtTjsqxl2ZZWgj/s1600/IMG_1710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg804mlm4UgxJ7bbcwLZF6qAL7eA_eMZ879AKXERH75Ll1LAiZF-f1H5l3E0ryzPz11RJqjeav60Km7FWqeOx2QswT8wI89SPU2RXGLob_e7HIzrH9GtYYur14fgyKlFRZtTjsqxl2ZZWgj/s1600/IMG_1710.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister and Elder Goodsell, Elder Seelos, Elder and Sister Preston (from Centerville)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This Fortress is huge and these few pictures do not do it justice...it overlooks where the<br />Danube and the Sava rivers come together. The best placement for protection.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This part of the park surrounding the Fortress is where Elder Nelson stood when he<br />dedicated Serbia to the preaching of the gospel.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another part of the Fortress...notice the line of tanks and they are from many countries.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtgYO2Z27VaALuduKf5AJ8FP8M7FB78vftis7x7PPxvMnmR-rOyEtAU7jLynWQEaLht_4gIb3VUMp3gtAUOK1oWJv14M_inCqzs8sRB2uDpoaBs71q9TmrtcC7c-XTZSmiHa3n3rBJr4u/s1600/IMG_1721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDtgYO2Z27VaALuduKf5AJ8FP8M7FB78vftis7x7PPxvMnmR-rOyEtAU7jLynWQEaLht_4gIb3VUMp3gtAUOK1oWJv14M_inCqzs8sRB2uDpoaBs71q9TmrtcC7c-XTZSmiHa3n3rBJr4u/s1600/IMG_1721.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It would take a little effort to load this cannon.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lookout tower on the corner of the Fortress and as you look past<br />you can see where the two rivers come together.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">History reports that this Belgrade Fortress has been taken over and occupied by more countries than any other place on earth. Anyway, that is what they tell us. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-mtyqPkbqsjkGD0vfpU55FAzd_y5Si0BkPw6emIZjdkSxKxRIq0_zlmTkpdyFGTBmAm6-KANFoGD1HAVNLxl1lGW4OmoQ2fzZ_JBF-06VfUyV2tNaNsSFmn31aUcd0Q-r56NypR0K3q_/s1600/IMG_1737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA-mtyqPkbqsjkGD0vfpU55FAzd_y5Si0BkPw6emIZjdkSxKxRIq0_zlmTkpdyFGTBmAm6-KANFoGD1HAVNLxl1lGW4OmoQ2fzZ_JBF-06VfUyV2tNaNsSFmn31aUcd0Q-r56NypR0K3q_/s1600/IMG_1737.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a government building coming back from the Fortress...the government buildings are<br />usually the most beautiful and the best taken care of.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our only in Serbia moment is a sweet one...This rather elderly man who happens to be a missionary was caught sleeping on the job, which is something that he very seldom gets to do.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Doesn't he look weary...and yes, that is the true color of the walls in that room.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We feel so blessed to be here in Serbia and although it can be difficult at times, it can also be exciting and wonderful at times. We have such a short time left and feel such an urgency to get more work done. We can't wait to see our family but can't imagine leaving our Serbian family behind.</span></div>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-27740124467045915832014-02-24T09:22:00.000-08:002014-02-24T09:22:12.352-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well we only have 18 weeks left on our mission...time is really flying now. We have had a wonderful February and we feel that attitudes are changing here in Sremska Mitrovica. Our Mission President said that he feels that a wave of baptisms are about to sweep over our mission and we feel that we are just starting to feel the ripples of that wave. Much of the credit goes to our hard working Sister missionaries; they are so obedient and dedicated. Our of the three cities with missionaries in Serbia, we are the only city that had recently had baptisms and we have two more scheduled in the upcoming month. We feel it helps that Sremska is a smaller town because the other two cities are large and busy and people won't take the time to listen to the missionaries. But it isn't always easy here either...we have been having over 20 people to church weekly and yesterday we only had 14. I taught the Relief Society Lesson and there was 4 of us and three of us were missionaries. Our little man who walked 9 miles to church (we have helped him move into town now) spoke and gave a beautiful talk (so we are told) that was simple and heart felt and he quoted scriptures and never used a note. It is so great to see how some of the new members have grown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As I shared with our ward newsletter, other good news from the month of February is that Radoslav left for Birmingham England on Feb. 20th. Because members here are not always familiar with how the church functions, it can make things complicated. Just as example; he wondered why he had to fly out so early and then with a lay-over. Couldn't the church just get a later flight direct to England for him. But he's there and his family is so proud of him.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSGr9iSR3Xc4PCHatACK2MOBGpXPVff5pyTzheLpf2PO7xnBzNaRJxhM93KYkoWHhgDleuQYnf9i52UlQQErWwMxEbMDMiBQ2uHA0h4vSuSphuxgI1J_1sUQlOupX159qtGMTOS_DpWmP/s1600/IMG_1636.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSGr9iSR3Xc4PCHatACK2MOBGpXPVff5pyTzheLpf2PO7xnBzNaRJxhM93KYkoWHhgDleuQYnf9i52UlQQErWwMxEbMDMiBQ2uHA0h4vSuSphuxgI1J_1sUQlOupX159qtGMTOS_DpWmP/s1600/IMG_1636.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our newest missionary, Radoslav.<br /> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, Serbia had a visit from a member of the European area presidency, Elder Charles and his wife. They had to interview our "lost sheep" young man, Aleksander, to see if he would be allowed to go on a mission. We are so happy to report that he, as of March 15th, will start a mini mission in the Adriatic North Mission in preparation for a full time mission. We are Thrilled! Theses two young men will come back and help the church grow in Serbia forever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One other thing we were able to accomplish this month was to visit some of the monasteries. We have been wanting to do this for a long time. There are 16 monasteries just along the Fruska Gora National Forest, which is only about 20 miles long. We able to go to one of the oldest, Novo Hopovo, that dates back to 1555. The old Church and monestary has had living quarters built around the structure to protect it. Much of it was destroyed during WWII and has since been rebuilt and restored.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Outside the Monastery...the church is tucked inside the U-shaped area.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Church</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Inside the Church</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This was one of the few chairs inside the church..but beautiful!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Priest let me take his picture...he said that only 7 people live at the Monastery and take care of it. He said they are<br />more modern that we would think and told us they have TV and he showed us his cell phone.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our one day we get to wear casual clothes...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another view of the church</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The other monastery that we went to was in Vurdnik..and more ornate inside</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lot of idol and Saint worship--They all kiss the cross where the little boy is standing.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Vrdnik Monastery </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The missionary, Elder OBrien, who lived with us for a few months last summer wrote us and talked about being in the Ukraine during the recent conflict. He said the missionaries were confined to their apartments and were only allowed to go out in plain clothes on one day to buy food. They had to buy food for the Sisters because they were not allowed to go out at all. He said for a while the police where shooting at anyone who approached the government buildings. He said that at church all anyone wanted to talk about was the "war" and so many were sad because of family and friends who had been hurt. He will come to America soon to have knee surgery and will stay with a family in California.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our "Only in Serbia" moment this time reflects how the culture here is truly a patriarchal society: Alan was mopping up some water in the entry court to the church and our young member Nemanja came out and said, "Elder Seelos, you shouldn't be doing that, I'll go get my mother and she can do it". There are still a few things beside doctrine that need to be taught here. :o) </span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-91790193587239699492014-02-12T06:04:00.000-08:002014-02-12T06:04:26.715-08:00The Riviera of Europe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were privileged this last week to have our Senior Missionary Conference on the coast of Croatia. Traveling from Serbia to the coast takes about 6 hours and from Zagreb to the coast there are 22 tunnels and some go through some very large mountains. The longest was about one mile long. We were stopped at the entrance to one tunnel because of falling ice. The tunnel was in the mountains and they had just experienced a huge ice storm that had broken the tops out of many of the trees.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlnaJEI26lzHobInlPnaiKBmWnZoBI04lIO4vPOXwmWPfSCuFKmkdcmxhMfQLaiSyumkJkbTjHPxI_5wo5NVfztR1kRdiWGKPGdLZySGdScP846TPAnHkhbe5fGyboZdepTQ37C9hF_UJr/s1600/IMG_1560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlnaJEI26lzHobInlPnaiKBmWnZoBI04lIO4vPOXwmWPfSCuFKmkdcmxhMfQLaiSyumkJkbTjHPxI_5wo5NVfztR1kRdiWGKPGdLZySGdScP846TPAnHkhbe5fGyboZdepTQ37C9hF_UJr/s1600/IMG_1560.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We waited about 40 minutes for them to bring a snow plow to clear the road.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjpUF52XHdt2uGAquN1c2EdbYrCdRAZRpdNrPS5PsM_7cNMhOXu-5HXkLZuqprDbpbxnygIEI3R28IMt6oViMaPKCQwAUj0YaXly7ISW6L69I6urIUqonn2mFz07NuQGlFr_GJ68VK_og/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjpUF52XHdt2uGAquN1c2EdbYrCdRAZRpdNrPS5PsM_7cNMhOXu-5HXkLZuqprDbpbxnygIEI3R28IMt6oViMaPKCQwAUj0YaXly7ISW6L69I6urIUqonn2mFz07NuQGlFr_GJ68VK_og/s1600/IMG_1623.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not a very good picture of the inside of a tunnel, but we were moving fast.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then as we come down out of the mountains, we discover a warmer climate and the amazing coastline. What a beautiful country Croatia is...it is said to be the Riviera of Europe and we can see why; the coast is spectacular. We had our senior missionary conference in Opatija which is an old city just above Reijka. (Now you know exactly where it is, right?) We stayed in a hotel located on the ocean just above a boat dock.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Evening View from our balcony--I know, just beautiful!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Day time view from a different angle<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had 13 couples there, which is amazing. The church is really investing senior couples in this mission in hopes of helping the work progress. The new couples are smart and amazing...Alan and I just looked at each other and wondered how we ended up here. That will always be a mystery. The conference recharged our batteries...and we needed it. Sometimes we get bogged down in the work and everyday life of the mission and it is nice to be reminded of the spiritual side and that there truly is a bigger picture. Our mission presidency are very spiritual people. The second counselor and his wife are the Ostarcevic's. They are from Serbia and were converted by Kresimr Cosic and have lived in Kaysville, Utah until recently when they moved back to Serbia to serve in the mission presidency. Elder Ostarcevic was a NBA Scout for 20+ years. They were some of the first members in Serbia and it was great to hear their stories of conversion. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(L-R) Elder and Sister Goodsell (from VA.), Pres. Rowe and Sister Rowe (from VA.) and <br />Elder and Sister Ostarcevic. (Yes, our Pres. is only in his 40s.)<br /></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Opatija is a very old city...it reminded me of a southern town because of the old estate looking homes. It is a typical European coastal port town in that it rests on the coast but being built into the curve of the mountains, it is very hilly. It has a very impressive park that was in walking distance that we enjoyed.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-7uvHy4ewoiP6mpJIUh5kLZftM9GrUEWqEVsdezhN-rAftrLm2qATsXu03Ev0kFrwXLKNalhb-FFyWGbFs2jCl7raXQxRq_QDkVgfhP9r8v-btVuJmZXyky13-5d9YlwhbFgYyn2uIRB/s1600/IMG_1591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji-7uvHy4ewoiP6mpJIUh5kLZftM9GrUEWqEVsdezhN-rAftrLm2qATsXu03Ev0kFrwXLKNalhb-FFyWGbFs2jCl7raXQxRq_QDkVgfhP9r8v-btVuJmZXyky13-5d9YlwhbFgYyn2uIRB/s1600/IMG_1591.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">An example of the care taken and the beauty.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhox3Faud0BOTFHGAUNATJAFvb5Sd8SvLjQUFw_t0qgWDtLEsQLwopqdx8CRF4TcEqvxOqtAo5MTegyiHvh6VnSZSs0BAoxmm25Z3-Ujfhu32UW9pb8jIcnAUGOktF2gU7zoucYlfCffP/s1600/IMG_1592.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjhox3Faud0BOTFHGAUNATJAFvb5Sd8SvLjQUFw_t0qgWDtLEsQLwopqdx8CRF4TcEqvxOqtAo5MTegyiHvh6VnSZSs0BAoxmm25Z3-Ujfhu32UW9pb8jIcnAUGOktF2gU7zoucYlfCffP/s1600/IMG_1592.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The park was very green and had several palm trees as well<br />as bamboo.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOS8iM-8ESElzybyO1Jnq81CgTceLT31He-riO1dAo1y-WlKn9R32uOmE9npIyRiZY8IHCKH8vqodRXWvys8YZkazNDXMRNiVEpNm_l3pqzN2xgw7obKTuZhg7kJLWhXxfaMF-EHBzeU8n/s1600/IMG_1584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOS8iM-8ESElzybyO1Jnq81CgTceLT31He-riO1dAo1y-WlKn9R32uOmE9npIyRiZY8IHCKH8vqodRXWvys8YZkazNDXMRNiVEpNm_l3pqzN2xgw7obKTuZhg7kJLWhXxfaMF-EHBzeU8n/s1600/IMG_1584.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She stands off the corner of the park on a<br />rock outcropping.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmXPq-5rq_fkRPd7bmwwVFMQ1P3Ey9KgHKbgySvhV0FiiPx0jg4MiRgwiD74CUAAyKTYAT8sN82TySDneEX3-h78rX7IfndWAD6qyeF9w6r1RpKN2PiSN30oEbPzJiN-LysjPZnze0CzE/s1600/IMG_1574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglmXPq-5rq_fkRPd7bmwwVFMQ1P3Ey9KgHKbgySvhV0FiiPx0jg4MiRgwiD74CUAAyKTYAT8sN82TySDneEX3-h78rX7IfndWAD6qyeF9w6r1RpKN2PiSN30oEbPzJiN-LysjPZnze0CzE/s1600/IMG_1574.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These two statues need to go on a diet.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After leaving Opatija we traveled down the coast to Riejka and stayed the night in the Jadran hotel (we had stayed there when Daniel and Anna were here and it is one of our favorites.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzXiLckA6R5xb6ydI8K1ohFk8zJtvIVo6uLHlBaQ3ctf-L8eGHY5IZEor5Fb1VGwOMB0QV4fKdUTDZXIdoFanpvOCRcvMmS-5JY9volvVJH8KqCXVITs3-8XxMcxx8TjX2SZA2UE4GsVje/s1600/IMG_1617.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzXiLckA6R5xb6ydI8K1ohFk8zJtvIVo6uLHlBaQ3ctf-L8eGHY5IZEor5Fb1VGwOMB0QV4fKdUTDZXIdoFanpvOCRcvMmS-5JY9volvVJH8KqCXVITs3-8XxMcxx8TjX2SZA2UE4GsVje/s1600/IMG_1617.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another amazing view...our balcony hung over the ocean</span>.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoDdgvMViSQ2DXGpsMKHSsnjyzbStYdsJFsk3DGYUYk14YG6gJvRIRKPZ5x080TEpCK9TcuyLi-nNIlz9nSqdg0yWJGlXapZq15dvyXStbJObKXC213719q-wMMe_UxLS6x5d61ew8N6/s1600/IMG_1619.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoDdgvMViSQ2DXGpsMKHSsnjyzbStYdsJFsk3DGYUYk14YG6gJvRIRKPZ5x080TEpCK9TcuyLi-nNIlz9nSqdg0yWJGlXapZq15dvyXStbJObKXC213719q-wMMe_UxLS6x5d61ew8N6/s1600/IMG_1619.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A loading boat pier was just down from the hotel and we watched them load and then watched it sail away.<br />You can see the size of the ship was noticing the size of the man on the dock.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a relaxing, refreshing, and spiritual uplifting time. We are so blessed to have this opportunity and are thankful for the friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.</span></div>
adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-83830140852095229892014-02-03T11:18:00.000-08:002014-02-03T11:18:13.486-08:00One year!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well we have officially been in Serbia for one full year. When we first got here and looked ahead, it seemed like it would be forever...but looking back makes us realize just how fast time has passed and how many people we have come to love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan is still working hard to get a Visa for Radoslav so he can leave on his designated date of Feb. 20th. It looks like it will happen after much hard work by Alan. Also, Elder OBrien that lived with us and went to the Ukraine on his mission is being moved to the USA to have knee surgery and maybe shoulder surgery again to repair the surgery he had here. He will be released from his mission and get a refuge Visa. The family of a past missionary who came to Serbia from California will be providing him a home in America.</span><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3184583941209265124" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3184583941209265124" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3184583941209265124" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lately our branch has reminded us of a very small town where members are resistant to incoming new members. They are wonderful people, but some of them seem threatened and some even have more of a superior attitude. Whatever it is, they are hindering the missionary work because of their failure to fellowship. We hope as time goes on they will relax and become more excepting...we pray about this all the time. I'm a little too old to be saying this (I knew, but not completely) how important it is to make the new people attending church feel welcomed and cared about (not just for one week, but on an ongoing basis).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A friend recently shared a post with me that I found interesting...I hope you will too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">"Just a note about winters
in Serbia - as far north as we are latitudinal and as
close as we are to the eastern edge of our time zone we spend a lot of time in
the dark! We are as far north as Bangor,
Maine, and only about 40 miles from the eastern edge of the time zone. On December 21<sup>st</sup> it was dark by
4:30pm. Therefore what? When it’s cold and dark outside people sometimes tend to behave like the
weather and that can take a toll on missionary morale." </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjE7eonwSNROkOCfXEimPWdl610sAP2sRxl_kk6Q75nvdQV7pJK48Q7Zcz6ghNynk3Eh8sAm9dupy2i5od8iWbnr5oBJPuXdY8dAzwjKxb59IbRRhWjm7zclzYKEuU7Roc8qXj2jX0BJT/s1600/IMG_1502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjE7eonwSNROkOCfXEimPWdl610sAP2sRxl_kk6Q75nvdQV7pJK48Q7Zcz6ghNynk3Eh8sAm9dupy2i5od8iWbnr5oBJPuXdY8dAzwjKxb59IbRRhWjm7zclzYKEuU7Roc8qXj2jX0BJT/s1600/IMG_1502.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is our young Mission Pres. and his wife with Nemanja<br />our new young man that joined the church in Nov.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">This is a short blog...we are leaving for Croatia coast on Wed. and I hope to have some great pictures for the next blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our "</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Only in Serbia" this time is a picture of a super man who can only be found in Serbia...but only for the next 5 months.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoKMHrkSek5QPuUDJyppngdwFc-tDDh4pkrfRG3NALPqgzYHSyjlB3hFpYZXD7Zr1nDGeyMDX5eKjdczq-ox-vyZtvRmApEYDhk5DVJaQKhbWwca2NQsQ-Ezhy4XTUvFZu_gE8vKE9A1u/s1600/IMG_1480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLoKMHrkSek5QPuUDJyppngdwFc-tDDh4pkrfRG3NALPqgzYHSyjlB3hFpYZXD7Zr1nDGeyMDX5eKjdczq-ox-vyZtvRmApEYDhk5DVJaQKhbWwca2NQsQ-Ezhy4XTUvFZu_gE8vKE9A1u/s1600/IMG_1480.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Working hard and having a great time..</span>.</td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-6687470872750904572014-01-21T02:20:00.001-08:002014-01-21T02:20:28.087-08:00The Everyday Life Of Missionary Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After being here a year, we have gotten into a routine of missionary work. It is almost like we have lived here much longer and this is our life. I am sure that return missionaries can identify with this. We now know where to buy groceries and we even have our favorite grocery store because we know where everything is located. We have our favorite butcher shop and the butcher (who doesn't speak English) knows what we like and takes good care of us. Our office supply shop girls automatically speak English to us now when we walk in the door. At church, everyone stays after to visit and you can hear both conversations in Serbian and English. And many of our neighbors in surrounding shops and apartments greet us easily. This is becoming comfortable, but that doesn't mean we don't miss home (all the time).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being in the trenches of a mission can be so rewarding and yet exhausting! Take yesterday for example (Monday our Pday)...we drove to Belgrade needing to go to the UK embassy to check on Visa applications for Radoslav for his upcoming mission. The embassy could not give us a hard copy for Radoslav to complete but then we get a call from Germany that he may not be able to leave by Feb. 20th because the Visa process will take longer. So now we are waiting to see if he can start his mission here in the Adriatic North mission and when the Visa comes, go to England. But that would mean starting without attending an MTC (is that allowed). There are always little details that have to be worked out to accomplish the bigger goal. (Such if life, right). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also had to go to the American Embassy to see what can be done to facilitate getting our medications from America over here. The missionary dept. states that it is illegal to ship medication internationally. We do have a church member who works at the Embassy and we will now ship it to him which will come in a pouch to the Embassy and we will pick it up. (That's a tender mercy)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We came home and had scheduled FHE with our newest family in the branch (Dragon, Nemanja, Slagenja). We also had Aleksander and the Sisters. I made stew and rolls, but they didn't eat too much. If figure that they feel about American food like I feel about Serbian food (it's not our favorite :o), and that's OK) We taught them about the Articles of Faith. We find that we often use Primary lessons found on LDS.com to teach new concepts (line up line, precept upon precept).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlH0giwjsLIHnz07EGvX50sNqksONIAfg-mmX75y1krNMR3i_mJKfthZApvDslHJGFhdIU6gM-_OUcnKVleZEdUD4_JXEZNsp7ii6CjraYS7_C6O5s0iw2kMPQtOvAwat3OMQ3Rurvx7M9/s1600/IMG_1272.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlH0giwjsLIHnz07EGvX50sNqksONIAfg-mmX75y1krNMR3i_mJKfthZApvDslHJGFhdIU6gM-_OUcnKVleZEdUD4_JXEZNsp7ii6CjraYS7_C6O5s0iw2kMPQtOvAwat3OMQ3Rurvx7M9/s1600/IMG_1272.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Slagenja, Nemanja, and Dragon</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7haCDoDBNh8WkT3TwEsArUChn5SCAZtkLdBfS3qANcBcCHouf6pDA5PGQWERJbMx1oM1DDWnKS9F1mZKbSnh7W1FU5BvYaqTXU-eZxte-CjaFJRQ8_NbDEj3K0AZZ7ELcxw0LR7mqe-jQ/s1600/IMG_1375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7haCDoDBNh8WkT3TwEsArUChn5SCAZtkLdBfS3qANcBcCHouf6pDA5PGQWERJbMx1oM1DDWnKS9F1mZKbSnh7W1FU5BvYaqTXU-eZxte-CjaFJRQ8_NbDEj3K0AZZ7ELcxw0LR7mqe-jQ/s1600/IMG_1375.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We found at the Christmas Party that Dragon plays the<br />drums like an expert.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1unuOGYwEZUsGzAIvUey0hIeY_JIVbGiX5JNPPJDDaHwWzPnFlfRWET-T_ovKSkNe02u0SbWO_n49eGd9z0tNAbUCmZjaLmhddJKAuUV5bqOclaDSf2sI7QYSHBM7xfuBssJx0qsb9IR/s1600/IMG_1376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha1unuOGYwEZUsGzAIvUey0hIeY_JIVbGiX5JNPPJDDaHwWzPnFlfRWET-T_ovKSkNe02u0SbWO_n49eGd9z0tNAbUCmZjaLmhddJKAuUV5bqOclaDSf2sI7QYSHBM7xfuBssJx0qsb9IR/s1600/IMG_1376.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nemanja also is learning the drums but also has a black belt in karate.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After FHE Aleksander and the Sister stayed for the activity of playing UNO. Aleksander is now our branch mission leader and he is doing amazing work. We are anxious to find out if he will be allowed to go on a mission soon. He will make an amazing missionary.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUTTZjTtjn385XE-HswDuIXY_0hKW8Cc4JW2fcKy-zE7LwhsfrMZNK4xriizWhoR5xHVxGikadWblNh7F3BYHJ4cDb_0cpd3LU06zpmkXvLmZDw18WogS6vBzoDnUW5z5-xc7GWndMAi6/s1600/IMG_1541.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjUTTZjTtjn385XE-HswDuIXY_0hKW8Cc4JW2fcKy-zE7LwhsfrMZNK4xriizWhoR5xHVxGikadWblNh7F3BYHJ4cDb_0cpd3LU06zpmkXvLmZDw18WogS6vBzoDnUW5z5-xc7GWndMAi6/s1600/IMG_1541.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aleksander...He and Alan have a special bond.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last Sunday, Alan and I were invited to our landlord's for a special party they were having because it was St. John's Day. (Everyone over here that is Orthodox has a family saint and they celebrate elaborately on their saint's day) Our landlord has a family restaurant and they invited friends and family to come, eat dinner, and I might add drink and dance. Because we have turned them down for other invites, we felt obligated to go. (we really do like them). Well, it was quit a contrast, especially after just attending church. A lot of smoking, drinking, and loud music. But the other side of the coin is that the people were very nice to us and we only stayed for dinner and made excuses and left. Our landlord made sure that a man, wife, and two daughters sat by us. The man spoke very good English. They were kind and I think they found out that we weren't so bad. Never the less, I am sure that everyone probably said as we walked out the door, "the missionaries are finally gone, now let the party begin". I commented to Alan that it helped me remember what they tell us about heaven...we will want to be in the degree of glory with people we feel the most comfortable with. We felt out of place and they felt uncomfortable with us. We are so thankful for the gospel and the attending Spirit. There is nothing that can compare with the 'light' that it brings to our lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our 'Only in Serbia' this time: </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSubp1TB79JQ1n3iGVr8DFq5yMTqbeGINzmkJ_ceRwC4uwr2nZL0sBfXv8LEpodDd2mNy86Vh3BxaSSS6xOqGTJ3eR0M8dTzcdiDPZwYYQ_QMLATvpXKeLwAUUR0rntGogZbMpqp6pPvr/s1600/IMG_1533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOSubp1TB79JQ1n3iGVr8DFq5yMTqbeGINzmkJ_ceRwC4uwr2nZL0sBfXv8LEpodDd2mNy86Vh3BxaSSS6xOqGTJ3eR0M8dTzcdiDPZwYYQ_QMLATvpXKeLwAUUR0rntGogZbMpqp6pPvr/s1600/IMG_1533.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan was getting a haircut and watched a man park his wagon and horse<br />on the sidewalk to come in for a haircut.</span></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-74920659628957619662014-01-08T04:17:00.001-08:002014-01-08T04:17:13.509-08:00Merry 2nd Christmas!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, yesterday was Serbian Christmas. Much like America, people stay home to be with family. The Serbian missionaries were told not to go tracking or contacting so we planned a Zone Day at the Novi Sad church. The Senior Missionaries provided a lunch of soups and breads and the Elders and Sister brought desserts. The missionaries love being together and they played games, talked, and laughed a lot. Our Sisters even chose to stay longer and ride the bus home. It was a scary trip home because the fog was like a wall and we had to travel (crawl) over the FruskaGora mountains. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our many missionaries</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeSaXkr5vR4AjDp97zsr-gSo3UICmzrK8D72Bza7ziXG9ul8RyPtV0fKv2iu-3dGleuW7saVE_H0gwD-MIlkF1nFMqjhISPgULgMzdXC0ZOP3Xqn6ctFDsZi5p6La3WvQRAmdOi-_GRZV/s1600/IMG_1504.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoeSaXkr5vR4AjDp97zsr-gSo3UICmzrK8D72Bza7ziXG9ul8RyPtV0fKv2iu-3dGleuW7saVE_H0gwD-MIlkF1nFMqjhISPgULgMzdXC0ZOP3Xqn6ctFDsZi5p6La3WvQRAmdOi-_GRZV/s1600/IMG_1504.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A full table</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This has truly been the longest Christmas Season we have ever been a part of. On Jan. 4th (Sat) we had a District program and party. I have included a picture of their Santa and just like home, the kids were excited and some nervous.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTB3qXZ8rDiLUKjNajgN83QhHSG-en14zgwhF9CrqFajmir55ljIzY6PTh7psbWPw_9TUVucNuI5NoW5SUVchRVIinUZSRQ9X683vSjvxBaDEDxbvqK-8brtlZg4H0z9tBKXjy5n1Qx7q/s1600/IMG_1499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqTB3qXZ8rDiLUKjNajgN83QhHSG-en14zgwhF9CrqFajmir55ljIzY6PTh7psbWPw_9TUVucNuI5NoW5SUVchRVIinUZSRQ9X683vSjvxBaDEDxbvqK-8brtlZg4H0z9tBKXjy5n1Qx7q/s1600/IMG_1499.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their Santa's costume was a little different in that it was more like</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a hooded bathrobe. But we have seen Santa's here who wear the</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">traditional Santa Suit.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1ghiOJ2R_OnjCQvLJLcOAY2UZktlo16-P4Y5xiGJ2eUTnIV29DhyphenhyphenNyiW1PmVVj7WjWJo-IsH7mb8yg3s296OILbpuZk2qLxmbPBMP2yz6J7g8C4qsu3SzH9ihqSEi9T-XXoIr7T-jem0/s1600/2013-09-16+12.10.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1ghiOJ2R_OnjCQvLJLcOAY2UZktlo16-P4Y5xiGJ2eUTnIV29DhyphenhyphenNyiW1PmVVj7WjWJo-IsH7mb8yg3s296OILbpuZk2qLxmbPBMP2yz6J7g8C4qsu3SzH9ihqSEi9T-XXoIr7T-jem0/s1600/2013-09-16+12.10.51.jpg" height="476" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just to remind you how beautiful Slovenia is...This was taken on our trip in Sept. with </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Daniel & Anna.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Prior to all these activities we had gone to Slovenia for a youth conference from Dec. 28th to Jan 1. Slovenia is a beautiful country. The missionaries refer to it as the land of "Unicorns and Rainbows" and almost rightly so. It is very clean and green, plus the air quality there seems much better. We had about 32 young people there and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. However, we Senior missionaries worked like slaves to make sure they did enjoy it. The young have endless energy and the days of fun were 14-15 hours long and on New Years Eve we spend a 19 hour day with the youth. I think they could have kept going but we were dead on our feet. :o) The joys of being OLD. But we saw the rewards of this hard work because when they had their testimony meeting they expressed their appreciation and love for each other for being strong in this church. They know that each of them understand how hard it is to be a member of this church here in the Balkans. They shared their love of the gospel and their desires to stay strong and many expressed the desire to go on missions. Sometimes hard work pays off with the sweetest rewards.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wQUcdZl1JD414sy6wxW4tET4MLLXPb5CeQYNdWzOuslG2aXIuVK2QL2hjFSAQ58EWKmIOtq5U4jLhFBSjTAS8Ksmeumvsk2sITo7heoW6v25KbzO3boLOTHa0pKHjyL8JDukWflQI8fA/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wQUcdZl1JD414sy6wxW4tET4MLLXPb5CeQYNdWzOuslG2aXIuVK2QL2hjFSAQ58EWKmIOtq5U4jLhFBSjTAS8Ksmeumvsk2sITo7heoW6v25KbzO3boLOTHa0pKHjyL8JDukWflQI8fA/s1600/IMG_1386.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our group (minus one) from Sremska...They rode the train for 11 hours.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The boy on the left is not a member and the first day (Sunday) he was over-whelmed</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">with all the church events but warmed up as the week progressed with funner activities.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhntBHfEzCOqTEnAWOqTFR52dtl6sGnQ6t3fEfT0Vie01Il97lasl5pu3LYMGl7sCSIKIK_3dihL8tysZ-3_5qVk_lK4mm9VakpS9T8f2yEjJ9MQh0xg5FbB2lJkb6K1jgSIXu0iRRNpU/s1600/IMG_1479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxhntBHfEzCOqTEnAWOqTFR52dtl6sGnQ6t3fEfT0Vie01Il97lasl5pu3LYMGl7sCSIKIK_3dihL8tysZ-3_5qVk_lK4mm9VakpS9T8f2yEjJ9MQh0xg5FbB2lJkb6K1jgSIXu0iRRNpU/s1600/IMG_1479.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the group at mid-night New Years Eve. There were fireworks every where</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">which was like a massive 4th of July. (all fireworks are legal over here)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The youth conference was in Ljubljana which is known for great Christmas decorations...They celebrate on Dec. 25th. We took a tour down town and it was crowded just like Temple Square...Not as spectacular as Temple Square but very nice.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpXVMYRtzapVT5QlVxeW8E-0pV8yV14t4zUtmWTC2DEA4vFv4aFcQaP9BpB5bO5C2FPulAFQ92pObQAND9bvnFipUYh88Sp71zymEG1mmfK96Jxn8EggsOFgypbFefifMG_6-dcSziMeR/s1600/IMG_1455.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpXVMYRtzapVT5QlVxeW8E-0pV8yV14t4zUtmWTC2DEA4vFv4aFcQaP9BpB5bO5C2FPulAFQ92pObQAND9bvnFipUYh88Sp71zymEG1mmfK96Jxn8EggsOFgypbFefifMG_6-dcSziMeR/s1600/IMG_1455.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alan and Elder Goodsell (1st counselor to the Mission Pres.)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zbQo463o0b8gZBmzPp4Zb9tRD1t9a0AKJh6B_XbgTWQEXu6IlwATFbqDETHvGq68KnQduyXqFI0svqcq4LI-n_n7q0y0BybPLw1Dorvj9mb-VXm66SLP18PvDV02ai775r154ipoZvjq/s1600/IMG_1458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zbQo463o0b8gZBmzPp4Zb9tRD1t9a0AKJh6B_XbgTWQEXu6IlwATFbqDETHvGq68KnQduyXqFI0svqcq4LI-n_n7q0y0BybPLw1Dorvj9mb-VXm66SLP18PvDV02ai775r154ipoZvjq/s1600/IMG_1458.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just a few of the lights of Ljubljana</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This 'Only in Serbia' moment this time is a very happy one...our young man going on a mission received his call (via electronics) on Serbian Christmas Day (yesterday). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqRI_ImJGQ-WsJt-7G4w0iaMRNVUp7mc4w4fvYbwJM_A9QanRpV6ZadOQADOE5ncj3AsKT4srUyKIAuAZ_Fl6veXUmVB1tgNaqhPHVQCQVXTZKftsSf_T-cZssqXaiuJCfSqTqn5pMq5N/s1600/1497527_701320623234646_511222341_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqRI_ImJGQ-WsJt-7G4w0iaMRNVUp7mc4w4fvYbwJM_A9QanRpV6ZadOQADOE5ncj3AsKT4srUyKIAuAZ_Fl6veXUmVB1tgNaqhPHVQCQVXTZKftsSf_T-cZssqXaiuJCfSqTqn5pMq5N/s1600/1497527_701320623234646_511222341_n.jpg" height="330" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He will be the first missionary ever in their family. They are so happy.<br />He is going to Burningham, England!</span></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-48442238945696957752013-12-27T03:52:00.001-08:002013-12-27T03:52:06.459-08:00Christmas Past and Christmas Future<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Traditional Christmas is past but here in Serbia we are now looking forward to Christmas future on Jan. 7th. But as we drive around, you don't see decorated houses with lights or 20 blow up toys in the yard. You don't see Christmas trees lite up in windows or people carrying wrapped packages. It's very sedate. The Traditional Christmas here was very different because people were doing their usual bustling around and all the stores were business as usual. It does make you reflect more on the true meaning of Christmas and the Spirit of Christ, but the secret ingredient to a wonderful Christmas is truly family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a quiet reflective time in the morning and visited with several of our family. Then in the afternoon the Sisters came over to call their families after which we had dinner and just visited and enjoyed the evening. A very different Christmas...one that makes us so appreciate the hustle and bustle of home. We were invited to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve but Alan and I both knew that we were too tired to stay awake for that. We did have a lot of Serbian friends text us Christmas Greetings which was so appreciated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Sunday before Christmas we had a Seminary Dinner here for the youth. I had made some homemade Ranch Dressing and they had never tasted Ranch dressing before. They loved it and besides using it on their salad they were even spreading on bread. I thought I might have to provide glasses for them to drink it. They had also never ever played the 'right/left' gift exchange game. We all laughed a lot and enjoyed just visiting. We were surprised they stayed all afternoon and finally left around 6:00 pm.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHRRbQeN8YeoAFm0eyAZsA1tIuh2Yw6kU77dheywuEPyuIDQLE076-wjE9TtIwY0NUNKitzDX3eepvimVEldHElCE1Pd9TXZx_OrYqbJ2NbvBLPWI-rhDG0adCxLVgtDUHgtRVBiWiq6S/s1600/IMG_1350.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglHRRbQeN8YeoAFm0eyAZsA1tIuh2Yw6kU77dheywuEPyuIDQLE076-wjE9TtIwY0NUNKitzDX3eepvimVEldHElCE1Pd9TXZx_OrYqbJ2NbvBLPWI-rhDG0adCxLVgtDUHgtRVBiWiq6S/s640/IMG_1350.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The two on the left side are the sister missionaries and Aleksander isn't in this picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Right and Left Game (Elder and Sister Goodsell also came<br />for dinner...He is first counselor to the mission Pres.)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a busy week because we also traveled to Zargreb for the mission Christmas party. The Zone leaders had the big van and came from Belgrade to pick us up on the way. We had traveled 45 min. from Sremska when one of the zone leaders realized he didn't have his passport so we had to turn around and travel clear back to Belgrade which was 1 1/2 hours back to get his passport and then return. We were about 2 1/2 hrs. late for the party. The Elder driving was driving so fast that another Elder leaned over to me and said "Thank goodness the Church is true or we would have wrecked by now". It made for a long day.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Missionaries from five countries makes for a transportation nightmare to get everyone there. .. but fun was had by all.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Christmas Eve Alan, I, and the Sisters went caroling with a plate of treats for families and investigators in our little branch..10 homes in all. We sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in English (it doesn't translate into Serbian)<br /> but people understood.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We hoped it was the thought that counted.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are leaving for Slovenia tomorrow for four days of youth conference ..."never a dull moment".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We may be in Serbia but we did have all the comforts of home on Christmas ...even if it was "Only in Serbia". We not only had warm hearts, but warm hands as well. :o)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our own Fireplace...It just made the place feel warmer.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy New to Everyone...May the year 2014 be one of the best, rich with blessings and love.</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-10066932695095354092013-12-17T05:06:00.000-08:002013-12-17T05:06:58.253-08:00Christmas lights of Sremska Mitrovica<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Christmas Season has finally arrived in our little town of Sremska Mitrovica. I guess it is close enough to January 7th for people to start getting in the Christmas spirit. We are surprised at how many decorations have been put up and we have enjoyed the beauty.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK9sfpOzii7Hn2vt1qqT_YuNfAMxo1svkaPui4zTaDkUXYY_6npuK0Buev11Yq3zdo-sxpJBwv-UXSSuPBc5HUPRsbUSWj_HTZzNrN2ZEXHjYkgz4edSsfFBbxMJgu-uuxIgAX777vndq/s1600/IMG_1301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEK9sfpOzii7Hn2vt1qqT_YuNfAMxo1svkaPui4zTaDkUXYY_6npuK0Buev11Yq3zdo-sxpJBwv-UXSSuPBc5HUPRsbUSWj_HTZzNrN2ZEXHjYkgz4edSsfFBbxMJgu-uuxIgAX777vndq/s640/IMG_1301.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking back down through Center</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Light hanging over main street</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lights in the park...our own mini Temple Square.<br />
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Other Beautiful lights of Sremska Mitrovica<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had transfers this week and we are loosing our sweet Sister Christensen. We will miss her, but she is just moving to Novi Sad which is still in our district. She has been a ball of energy and she has a beautiful singing voice.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Christensen (dark hair) and Sister Palmer<br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are getting a Sister from Germany which is interesting because Sister Christensen will also have have a Sister companion from Germany. We only have four sisters in all of Serbia and two of them will be from Germany. Change is good, right? We love these girls and are so proud of the good work they have accomplished as companions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We are planning for our branch Christmas party which is Dec. 27th---after our Christmas and before theirs. Many Orthodox people have a month fast before their Christmas where they don't eat meat products...but we have found out that none of our branch observe this belief so it won't affect our Christmas party food. It sounds as if we will have a musical talent show followed by the Birth of Christ video from the church. One of our missionaries recently put Serbian sub-titles on the video for us. We, Alan, I, and our two sisters have decided to go Christmas caroling to each member on Christmas Eve and give a plate of treats. It sounds like a lot but will only be about 10 places. We are also having a Seminary Christmas Dinner at our apartment for the seminary students. When we started seminary we had 3 girls...we now have 6-7 who attend the class. So just as at home, this is a very busy time. And as I said in past blogs, right after Christmas we will travel with the youth to Slovenia for a youth conference and News Years dance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we have told you in the past, "Only In Serbia" there are many stray dogs that must fend for themselves kind'a like 'Lady and the Tramp'...well we found one of those dogs hiding in our back closet and decided to draft it into duty. Rover is now our offical 'under door air keeper out' guard dog. Great dog, doesn't eat much and never barks. We're becoming very attached.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rover to the rescue!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With Christmas quickly approaching, we wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year..(Srecan Bozic i Novu Godinu). I have always loved Pres. Monson's statement when he said, "At this Christmas Season, it is time to love the Lord our God with all our heart--and our neighbors as ourselves. It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all." And may God's spirit guide you in the year ahead.</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-41387693952612571462013-12-05T03:53:00.001-08:002013-12-05T03:53:20.289-08:00Thanksgiving gift<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just as if the Lord gave us a special Thanksgiving gift, our Sunday fast and testimony meeting was wonderful. Usually Alan and I have to get up to help fill the time, but Sunday one member after another stood to share their testimony. Even though I can't understand the language, the spirit was very strong. I have realized that not being able to speak the language is like loosing one of our senses, like vision, and another sense becomes stronger. And that, I feel, is what has happened; by not being able to speak the language the ability to feel the spirit has increased. Maybe I just have learned how to listen better without the distraction of language. Anyway the meeting was so full of the spirit that even some of our investigators cried. We had 23 people there (anything over 20 is great) and 4 of them were investigators</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Monday morning Alan had to get up at 2 am to take our two newest members, Dragon and Nemanja, to the town of NIS. It is three hours from here. (They needed to be first in line to ensure that they would be served and get what they needed) They are refugees from Kosovo and records for refugees are kept in NIS. We are trying to get them ID cards; first so Dragon can get financial help and second so Nemanja can leave the country at the end of Dec. to go to a youth New Years Eve dance in Slovenia. (our youth would grumble if they had to travel that far to have a dance with other LDS youth)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, the Christmas music (app from internet) is playing 24/7 and our tree is decorated. Not really a tree but a rather large house plant who doesn't understand what has happened to it. But at night (and even in the day) looks quite pretty.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamgkh7wfBr5wUYdfne4cx8cnS2OKGH2WDgY6KoXgZ2jdjp9yeRGWDfQmCUNiRhp1webbCJCQyvlu4AoTorVpq4rRLAuzAHlgSdyKGqSk-WVIxtQCYbmSqIn4aFGqlB7QseF-lNbryxKcZ/s1600/IMG_1278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgamgkh7wfBr5wUYdfne4cx8cnS2OKGH2WDgY6KoXgZ2jdjp9yeRGWDfQmCUNiRhp1webbCJCQyvlu4AoTorVpq4rRLAuzAHlgSdyKGqSk-WVIxtQCYbmSqIn4aFGqlB7QseF-lNbryxKcZ/s640/IMG_1278.JPG" width="476" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sorta Christmas Tree like...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH84bVAumuWGnVanuiq_JjmZIDYBwxd-MpSKUP9-zhXSt6wQ_p56DHO75qWzzWr40GofYWhYcJzziAmU9-kk-nw75aKLK26kANIryv57t0NohDE0nFY7NmsIhMQYf_EtMQJVJpy-2mbPd-/s1600/IMG_1281.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="477" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH84bVAumuWGnVanuiq_JjmZIDYBwxd-MpSKUP9-zhXSt6wQ_p56DHO75qWzzWr40GofYWhYcJzziAmU9-kk-nw75aKLK26kANIryv57t0NohDE0nFY7NmsIhMQYf_EtMQJVJpy-2mbPd-/s640/IMG_1281.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Daniel loaned me this sweet nativity to bring on our mission and<br />it's a good thing because we don't see nativities in the stores.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Desperate people do desperate things.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christmas house plant all aglow!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">And now for our last item our 'Only in Serbia' moment. We took this picture Saturday... Cabbages are as plentiful this time of year as watermelons were in the summer. They are a huge part of their diets. We saw them planting cabbages in late Sept and early Oct. There is a dish here that is called Sarva that is stuffed cabbage and everyone loves it.</span><br />
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">And you know what cabbage does to some people, so you can imagine what it smells like around here sometimes..enough said!</span></span></div>
adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-88429846030565574852013-12-05T03:06:00.000-08:002013-12-05T03:06:02.822-08:00Thanksgiving<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, we survived Thanksgiving. It actually was fun to see our district missionaries relaxed and enjoying each others company. We wish they had been allowed to stay longer but the mission president had only allowed them 5 hours to celebrate. Some of them had to travel one hour each way by bus or car to get here so they really only had 3 hours. As I said in a previous blog, we had a fairly traditional dinner and I even baked rolls that turned out better than expected. (I will type another attachment to this blog...because as you know, me and this blog sometimes fight with each other) continued....</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3vdOwEd6F0SakGdCH7RPExUuLl1A7rcf7hRz3h1PQDZ8jrh-BBH7FBYE3rfD0w7lv1vuL9A1bqZmsmjEdrOgG1EndXDdQTCNCTHwyOEPtFND1YFqQLfRVWHnTG5_V73FsUzAG7iolOgs/s1600/IMG_1242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja3vdOwEd6F0SakGdCH7RPExUuLl1A7rcf7hRz3h1PQDZ8jrh-BBH7FBYE3rfD0w7lv1vuL9A1bqZmsmjEdrOgG1EndXDdQTCNCTHwyOEPtFND1YFqQLfRVWHnTG5_V73FsUzAG7iolOgs/s400/IMG_1242.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">The missionary table plus Aleksander.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxwR5clbWS9MRWpmlIz13jeB_ByA-iyBcDHlvhqadutqz0t8eLb4KTR5o-4KY6-Xct8PnyG-tOE90S3IDyLmYPjRenS5bGq8U0p_rGdFGLrNhwYuBkbJB7YQk5p5kbuOngTvJdGnqf5-6/s1600/IMG_1243.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggxwR5clbWS9MRWpmlIz13jeB_ByA-iyBcDHlvhqadutqz0t8eLb4KTR5o-4KY6-Xct8PnyG-tOE90S3IDyLmYPjRenS5bGq8U0p_rGdFGLrNhwYuBkbJB7YQk5p5kbuOngTvJdGnqf5-6/s400/IMG_1243.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">Alan sitting with the couple from Spain.</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1RBQejIxjhI6I-7O7AoojE_atU1OSI-HGvi8qvPyoAPlmzvhoiMjpKY6MoVcIcI129GniYacC4khus4r6qHEhnZZlr14lNkmi_XiJVh1lyOM8UHPnS0hTtsEmbpybfdao696CqUMUyAU/s1600/IMG_1245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1RBQejIxjhI6I-7O7AoojE_atU1OSI-HGvi8qvPyoAPlmzvhoiMjpKY6MoVcIcI129GniYacC4khus4r6qHEhnZZlr14lNkmi_XiJVh1lyOM8UHPnS0hTtsEmbpybfdao696CqUMUyAU/s400/IMG_1245.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">Our two great Sisters...they are the best!</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uwX7lCUhkV17wwqf9T524MlsKppzFXPpteQRma4D7oPnGFblxbod27_wNMO-0KaxylUxd2NbeKVvs1atSdNSSVg8L8TTqVybwLI3y8VQfGw2ytik-jAdyHCMgQWm4mWJ6CYUy1Tp-kVr/s1600/IMG_1248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uwX7lCUhkV17wwqf9T524MlsKppzFXPpteQRma4D7oPnGFblxbod27_wNMO-0KaxylUxd2NbeKVvs1atSdNSSVg8L8TTqVybwLI3y8VQfGw2ytik-jAdyHCMgQWm4mWJ6CYUy1Tp-kVr/s400/IMG_1248.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">Our district leader and a young return missionary who is from Spain<br />who lives in Novi Sad.<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9McYehBXg9T0NdIR18t-DlKx6IqDRSm6YWGFYfnrDXaCtR2JMZSqyedK_tlZSyudbb9rsFwPLtq3kLdOcTqzErdHaa84yBeMfQDabjPLfzi6kMCsLn71vtxmOkHSi3cHVTIUia4dsdGX/s1600/IMG_1249.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy9McYehBXg9T0NdIR18t-DlKx6IqDRSm6YWGFYfnrDXaCtR2JMZSqyedK_tlZSyudbb9rsFwPLtq3kLdOcTqzErdHaa84yBeMfQDabjPLfzi6kMCsLn71vtxmOkHSi3cHVTIUia4dsdGX/s400/IMG_1249.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">This Sister goes home at next transfer...Dec. 17th</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHbM7gsENWUwK_3IXTgf4oRakGZNGQZ8HxTdbpBigBvhyphenhyphenYC_XN6UXhwj3KNlwLbBaHMvNIc6Q4UeKfN62jopW_vjXU0ZUxiBNN5nEKf8Ag1geolq1FRKWtt1AHyXBACB1437cM6MzUSgq/s1600/IMG_1251.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGHbM7gsENWUwK_3IXTgf4oRakGZNGQZ8HxTdbpBigBvhyphenhyphenYC_XN6UXhwj3KNlwLbBaHMvNIc6Q4UeKfN62jopW_vjXU0ZUxiBNN5nEKf8Ag1geolq1FRKWtt1AHyXBACB1437cM6MzUSgq/s400/IMG_1251.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333015441895px;">Aleksander loved Christmas Ribbon jello Salad and ate<br />about 5 pieces...one way to make the cook<br />feel good :o)<br /></td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-31664449598686860762013-11-27T01:12:00.001-08:002013-11-27T01:17:39.531-08:00SNOW, snow, SNOW!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Winter has finally arrived...we had snow last night and it feels somewhat like November now, maybe not Thanksgiving, but November. There is a belief here that when the crows gather it is going to snow. And sure enough the crows were gathering.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlooGsZC5PtPLECnwONRyWWJXtN6-NHvqm_vMQZxG4Vu2kMo_8c7nZrZw6xap6-4vP5_HbZi9CZ_Jxl0OIxX5R4uPGtLoFUT0fb1h7jW-opM5Eg4l5vcBDSgfCswnsuMhyrm9gJlD2tQ-q/s1600/IMG_1240.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlooGsZC5PtPLECnwONRyWWJXtN6-NHvqm_vMQZxG4Vu2kMo_8c7nZrZw6xap6-4vP5_HbZi9CZ_Jxl0OIxX5R4uPGtLoFUT0fb1h7jW-opM5Eg4l5vcBDSgfCswnsuMhyrm9gJlD2tQ-q/s640/IMG_1240.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">About 4 inches</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Snow is not the only thing that is white, this week we also had another baptism. What a blessing. We thought because Dragon is such a large man (previous police commander) and bad knees that it might take two people to baptize him but his recently baptized son did it all by himself (and on the first try).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Dragon and his son will always remember that moment that they shared.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3fV4C4iCDIEgDf-GlVjS5Nx6XTphBG_vv3MtZ7BmjQNmf9EDFo_ZGPF1wCiHIF4i9AqlYTijexjX4WX1zU754cToTgxgV27cAeSWCv6dYjN-7rvqv9NWEbd2oIppG4sd1dxKC8K0WZw0/s1600/IMG_1235.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO3fV4C4iCDIEgDf-GlVjS5Nx6XTphBG_vv3MtZ7BmjQNmf9EDFo_ZGPF1wCiHIF4i9AqlYTijexjX4WX1zU754cToTgxgV27cAeSWCv6dYjN-7rvqv9NWEbd2oIppG4sd1dxKC8K0WZw0/s640/IMG_1235.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dragon and his son, Nemanja</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We hope within the next few months we can convert Slogenja, wife and mother, to the church. We told her that she only has 7 months because we want to be here when she is baptized. I so wish I could speak the language because she and I would so enjoy talking with each other.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZMvPPx0sN4VuZqaIVmwmff9-ZZHeWEbWm4I46DD5NMT7i6MaGwG4tPhYop6zPGiX9spwk5jFA-VO8Vl-1O9YfNDRNca3ZdKhOA4MDsoJDM_lKDTnHllw7-Vtlx4ZPoX0NvmPEu3tqdY_/s1600/IMG_1230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLZMvPPx0sN4VuZqaIVmwmff9-ZZHeWEbWm4I46DD5NMT7i6MaGwG4tPhYop6zPGiX9spwk5jFA-VO8Vl-1O9YfNDRNca3ZdKhOA4MDsoJDM_lKDTnHllw7-Vtlx4ZPoX0NvmPEu3tqdY_/s640/IMG_1230.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;">Slogenja and sweet Sisters.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We are preparing for Thanksgiving tomorrow and our family this year will be the missionaries from NoviSad (one set Elders and one set of Sisters) and a young couple that live in NoviSad that are from Spain as well as our Sisters. Ten of us in all. We have a small turkey and chicken breasts but once you carve them and you think 'Turkey' in your mind...it may all taste like turkey. As for cranberry sauce...as I said I found a recipe to make cranberry sauce from craisins. It said once you make this, you will never go back. So I made it and it amazingly tastes like craisins in a craisin sauce. If only we could go back..but no real cranberry sauce is to be had. Our oven is very small so we may be baking rolls at the church. But we have to remember this truly is a Thanksgiving we will remember forever. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Of course there are no Thanksgiving decorations in Serbia, so I scrambled and made our very own from an overgrown squash that we used as a pumpkin. Only in Serbia do turkeys look like this:</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gobble, Gobble, Gobble--I thought I would be safe in Serbia!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Thanksgiving and love to everyone...After spending time in a country that struggles it is easy to see how blessed we truly are. Count your blessing that you live in America, have the gospel in your life, and can have an eternal family. </span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-27894564708781852012013-11-18T12:07:00.001-08:002013-11-18T12:09:54.429-08:00Bah Humbug!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas, right? No such luck here...there are no holidays here until January. I never thought that I would miss seeing Christmas decorations this early, but I do. I told a friend that I realize as a society our lives really revolve around the holidays. We have them scattered through out the year and it gives us something to look forward to and something to gather together as families and even wards. Serbia is the only country in our North Adriatic mission that doesn't celebrate Christmas in December but rather on Jan. 7th. They do have a St. Nicholas day Dec. 19th where the children receive candy and treats. Everyone says that their Christmas on Jan 7th is basically a food day but some members have told us that they give family gifts also on that date. They don't have Christmas trees but rather they bring in an Oak branch to burn and have a yule log. Maybe they are the same thing...I will report after Jan. 7th. As for Thanksgiving...there is none. We will have our own day of Thanksgiving with our District missionaries which will include the young missionaries from Novi Sad (two Elders & two Sisters) plus our own Sisters. We have been told you can order a Turkey but it is super expensive so I think we will cook two portly chickens. And as for cranberry sauce, I found a recipe for making it from crasins. I'll let you know if it works. No pumpkin (so no pumpkin pie), no yams, etc. etc. But what's life without a few adventures and as it turns out, in this country there is an adventure every day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have grumbled enough...because this is really a very good week. We have submitted another missionary's papers and will await his call.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_ioecJ4WC31wFedafl0DPBO04UooQDaP5dqGprzHfIkPkgDFVh7v4POcb3jxMEKkysD2WLvw8I4Y8EFw-MMOXFmB2Q4VlT3lB7pamnjItBlR_mdTuhyphenhyphen-evvneEg_GANtDT79gzuE11wn/s1600/IMG_1211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb_ioecJ4WC31wFedafl0DPBO04UooQDaP5dqGprzHfIkPkgDFVh7v4POcb3jxMEKkysD2WLvw8I4Y8EFw-MMOXFmB2Q4VlT3lB7pamnjItBlR_mdTuhyphenhyphen-evvneEg_GANtDT79gzuE11wn/s400/IMG_1211.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radoslav is our branch pres. son and turns 26 this month so<br />
we have had to hustle to get his papers in before the deadline.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also this week we are having a baptism on Saturday. Nemanja the young man who just got baptized, it is his father, Dragon, being baptized. He had to quite smoking which was not easy and is now ready and eager to be baptized. They are a good family. Dragon was a police commander in Kosovo during the war, but became a refugee when the new government took over. They had to leave the country and moved to Serbia. He now can not find work. Nemanja was bullied at school for reading his BOM. What the boys didn't know when they started to pick on him was that Nemanja has a black belt and is quite renown for his fighting skills. They kept picking at him and as he said, he took care of business. He is our Serbian Moroni. I will give more information and pictures of Dragon's baptism in the next blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Since I mentioned that Alan and I are learning the language, I thought you might like to see our badges. As I have said before..they have two alphabets here, Latin and also Cyrillic (name tag example), which is the most respected and in their minds purest of the two. Alan understands the Cyrillic much better than me because he has to work in the church records (MLS) in this language. (Can you imagine)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9HpVDob7zxR3zeN44sCcCf9MLyALAFmyoCXxi0e4V1XPEtpBgeTDj6kq0aVgo_Q-otTuSc3DqI2PpOjg6_R7u-p2Txh4xYFMVSlvQpudCBOEnzeAfpAGhN6SNV9Uq-1G4g2PDE9yZgAj/s1600/IMG_1092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV9HpVDob7zxR3zeN44sCcCf9MLyALAFmyoCXxi0e4V1XPEtpBgeTDj6kq0aVgo_Q-otTuSc3DqI2PpOjg6_R7u-p2Txh4xYFMVSlvQpudCBOEnzeAfpAGhN6SNV9Uq-1G4g2PDE9yZgAj/s400/IMG_1092.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Seelos' badge--Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of Latter Days</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> The other day I wished so badly that my eyes had a built in camera. We were walking the half block from the church to our apt. when down the road here comes a tractor with a big cage attached to the back and in the cage was a big fat pig sow. Just out for a ride or going to the market, we'll never know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have included a few other pictures that show the culture of Serbia.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ss4XRh5h8GLJQmnZcSgQxBJeAThTI1iW_WeNDlVeCPvhA0EdUNgRHOTyJRJFSi8mcFWYIV84UphX6P-0WOd20BBD3oQxq-e3ToBwH9kWX_xu-OP5ix5Zi9rj1mCNF-EbzQJIa4zkoOFM/s1600/IMG_1184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ss4XRh5h8GLJQmnZcSgQxBJeAThTI1iW_WeNDlVeCPvhA0EdUNgRHOTyJRJFSi8mcFWYIV84UphX6P-0WOd20BBD3oQxq-e3ToBwH9kWX_xu-OP5ix5Zi9rj1mCNF-EbzQJIa4zkoOFM/s400/IMG_1184.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Several houses in town look like this one... Often they fix them up and<br />
replaster them and move in. This is a really old house and looks<br />
too far gone to survive.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtqqBEha5b4ESDOeV8ethmFhT-gHAXATThTWC-e9JULjgbLfAD_QXfzm0JQMPiZRllT79k6GG_3lctA1XUzFmL5InFtIUygMPH2cWXnMbjOEm5zuAkB-wOxrDpAG1uVSvstHztjTtXeW-/s1600/IMG_1185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHtqqBEha5b4ESDOeV8ethmFhT-gHAXATThTWC-e9JULjgbLfAD_QXfzm0JQMPiZRllT79k6GG_3lctA1XUzFmL5InFtIUygMPH2cWXnMbjOEm5zuAkB-wOxrDpAG1uVSvstHztjTtXeW-/s400/IMG_1185.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corn is a big farm product here and we see many corn cribs full of ears<br />
of corn like this one. That's a lot of ears of corn. (kind'a like jelly beans<br />
in a jar--how many are there)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31_UURELPXWP7oCAJWTe0SXi-nh7PcAbvOeBTWuDGhlesXuDCky8hOi2WkmxQfLAZIRaCyVFH8XwHSWW_ou2xDPvDS8naNJH4K7tFOX7Wf8OXDLE4hbO-0DOd4IkLzIskWx6NGJwQAueF/s1600/IMG_1197.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi31_UURELPXWP7oCAJWTe0SXi-nh7PcAbvOeBTWuDGhlesXuDCky8hOi2WkmxQfLAZIRaCyVFH8XwHSWW_ou2xDPvDS8naNJH4K7tFOX7Wf8OXDLE4hbO-0DOd4IkLzIskWx6NGJwQAueF/s400/IMG_1197.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is a lot of water in Serbia and this is just some of the quiet<br />
beauty that we see here and there when we take time to look.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXn6XheVSe9hfzNXVWfir2creSEDKvTQ6fz8p_0J5JXEhqg7EjDtynV4RVZ3MpoB4RMX4DdP839r6hiZGwrdFHdbGm5DE_muN-pwdbStXFdV9zhW3nQo1nQlG6yrVN4oOSNtbDrG59Aiuo/s1600/IMG_1180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXn6XheVSe9hfzNXVWfir2creSEDKvTQ6fz8p_0J5JXEhqg7EjDtynV4RVZ3MpoB4RMX4DdP839r6hiZGwrdFHdbGm5DE_muN-pwdbStXFdV9zhW3nQo1nQlG6yrVN4oOSNtbDrG59Aiuo/s400/IMG_1180.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the prettiest picture, but just to prove Alan has a knack for finding<br />
narrow, obscure, bumpy roads. He found this trail (aka road) going up<br />
over the highest mountain in this part of Serbia, the Fruska Gora. <br />
P.S. We made it...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Our only in Serbia moment is a duck, yes a duck!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3koGlFkXZql7wH-OtSRHOcj7bZ6PuaHvqKG46to78XcP6jbNzL6PmvgB00NgqBgKBeurUU3nqWew_ig-yNcGbq729KMQxOqgiddPkfWR0aplRhh3ehyphenhyphentETYeiN2LXDD1hFKe3cL0dOFF/s1600/IMG_1102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3koGlFkXZql7wH-OtSRHOcj7bZ6PuaHvqKG46to78XcP6jbNzL6PmvgB00NgqBgKBeurUU3nqWew_ig-yNcGbq729KMQxOqgiddPkfWR0aplRhh3ehyphenhyphentETYeiN2LXDD1hFKe3cL0dOFF/s400/IMG_1102.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In Serbia drivers are very impatient..if you don't leap as soon as the<br />
light changes to green, they honk. Or if you are even going too<br />
slow, they honk. BUT if a little duck is walking down the<br />
road and backs up traffic, everyone will sit patiently<br />
while she makes her way. Hard to explain, I guess they like<br />
animals better than people.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Have a good week everyone...and remember if you have the gospel in your life, you are truly blessed and have so much to be thankful for.</span></div>
adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-6650046717575151932013-11-11T04:53:00.001-08:002013-11-11T05:28:01.600-08:00A Variety Week<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This has certainly been a week of variety. As I stated last blog, last Sunday we had District Conference. I found out after I wrote the blog exactly what a small church this truly is. After conference, one of our Sisters from Alpine was approached by a man who said, "I didn't know you were in this mission" and she replied, "Do I know you?"... He said, "I am from Alpine Utah and you played basketball with my daughter... my brother and I are over here Boar hunting and wanted to attend a church". You just never know! (Some of the speakers at the Conference were boring..just a joke :o)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I don't remember if I mentioned, but Alan and I are taking Serbian lessons two times a week...I'm not sure why cause it's not a language we will use daily when we get home. But a lady judge we know who had come to our English class for a while is out of work and struggling and we thought it would be a great opportunity to learn at least some minor phrases. She speaks English very well and it has been helpful. We are slowing gathering short sentences, much like Molly, our one year old granddaughter. :o}</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week we also traveled to Tuzla, Bosnia to visit and kind'a orient a new Senior couple. Tuzla has not been open to missionaries for very long and there are about 8 members and are considered a "group" not a "branch". For now, their church is one room in a store front. Bosnia is a more mountainous country while Serbia is more like Nebraska. It did our heart good to travel in the mountains...just like home. It is truly a very pretty country and it is dotted with Mosques because they are mainly Muslim.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_SFNAe8rBngF3j543Huv8X4FTV2zvEOW0kLc3inOBE6USc8F_F0JO8IWw75wSuyF4vx5uig2wRqoHVfokQUfbw1Ieh9_MerFJORS29ymzFo2A-Y5Znnz6utpJXZoPkGgCXJPe5JuWLyR/s1600/IMG_1204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_SFNAe8rBngF3j543Huv8X4FTV2zvEOW0kLc3inOBE6USc8F_F0JO8IWw75wSuyF4vx5uig2wRqoHVfokQUfbw1Ieh9_MerFJORS29ymzFo2A-Y5Znnz6utpJXZoPkGgCXJPe5JuWLyR/s400/IMG_1204.JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is one of the many mosques..they all have the<br />
minaret from which the Muezzin calls the members<br />
to prayer five times a day.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkNSft74UEjfdZYbdSA9odRQcMIp9khfCbCizls_BDZYwBZeEUOrAkT9DBx7Yek4RrsamVOHhNcDcG9zy6fPiOAUcmmn6kwMkjnrbuG6O9g7gyoQmTbyEav1_7qg1Sc0G8NMqw-bJgYaT/s1600/IMG_1190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifkNSft74UEjfdZYbdSA9odRQcMIp9khfCbCizls_BDZYwBZeEUOrAkT9DBx7Yek4RrsamVOHhNcDcG9zy6fPiOAUcmmn6kwMkjnrbuG6O9g7gyoQmTbyEav1_7qg1Sc0G8NMqw-bJgYaT/s400/IMG_1190.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is an Orthodox monastery just over the boarder from Serbia in Bosnia.<br />
The domes are gold like our angle Moroni. </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLh48fztqMhc0yDdK4h8Zqy-cTFcHHS4bDVm_xFzL7tFG1-o0t5xShGj-scgmSXabsOuqr4IRV_gwzV-Jk_ckHgjBUC5csUl9N9d2tEzIupIOeidNG1A4vMeh9Dh8NqbyhelqMvzMd3Z7/s1600/IMG_1191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTLh48fztqMhc0yDdK4h8Zqy-cTFcHHS4bDVm_xFzL7tFG1-o0t5xShGj-scgmSXabsOuqr4IRV_gwzV-Jk_ckHgjBUC5csUl9N9d2tEzIupIOeidNG1A4vMeh9Dh8NqbyhelqMvzMd3Z7/s400/IMG_1191.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A side view...there are stately dorms built behind to house Monks or Nuns<br />
or Priests...we don't know.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvxbGc4wkc3-GgSCo0Z7zWfbEXsu47hjkOmlGVkOJGUFuKu24HxkGq89mSP7FFxXZE2Jeol2dPdPt5SBpTEKIvm3zdey0in_GuQG15ewbd87MFGRLFVdgXXGn5Hm5vHbgLCD2rYFLWxO3/s1600/IMG_1199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvxbGc4wkc3-GgSCo0Z7zWfbEXsu47hjkOmlGVkOJGUFuKu24HxkGq89mSP7FFxXZE2Jeol2dPdPt5SBpTEKIvm3zdey0in_GuQG15ewbd87MFGRLFVdgXXGn5Hm5vHbgLCD2rYFLWxO3/s400/IMG_1199.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This type of haystacks are all over Bosnia. They all have a pole up<br />the middle.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">We rushed home on Thursday from Tuzla because a Senior couple was coming to help with a church audit. They are from Bountiful and leave for home this Tues. They were also making a "goodbye" trip. That will be us one day and some days we can't wait and other days it makes us very sad. They stayed with us overnight and that always creates a little pressure for me, but it was good to have a last visit. Watch for the Ivins return missionary's post in the Clipper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Saturday was a great day... We baptized our 17 year old Nemanja. The Lord had prepared him for the missionaries. He had become friends with Aleksander (our lost sheep boy) and ask him to baptize him. So it was a wonderful day for both of them. It was Aleksander's first time and it took him three times to get the words right so Nemanja is sufficiently baptized. In the winter, we have to go to Belgrade to baptize because our rubber font can only be used outside. We had 11 people who attended from Sremska that we had to send on the bus. Seven (+ 3 children) were investigators with our missionaries. Well when they went to catch the last bus, there was no bus and we are already on our way home with Nemanja's parents. Luckily, one of our investigators called a friend and arranged for a van to come and pick everyone up...of course for a good price, but we did get them all home finally. Always an adventure. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsS4vMBtADhUhyphenhypheniHJRjyjKSaWcGGeYxsd2KmNaWK-yucC0k_rLRQ9qvGpjHufkCzV7YKlIRaINeCzLZ0gaLM5wRD272ay-0w2ocHozpL61olRg6IJnPVnubyo2qPl777oX1-_DH2Qpi967/s1600/IMG_1207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsS4vMBtADhUhyphenhypheniHJRjyjKSaWcGGeYxsd2KmNaWK-yucC0k_rLRQ9qvGpjHufkCzV7YKlIRaINeCzLZ0gaLM5wRD272ay-0w2ocHozpL61olRg6IJnPVnubyo2qPl777oX1-_DH2Qpi967/s400/IMG_1207.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nemanja on the right and Aleksander on the left...some old<br />Senior Missionary in the middle.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqt_KEaQG8imU_LATgDLfShOPfMlIstN02qCy0cQ2wtOx0a2ce6kGRhGVKFO3tlxe4CNKiRgUL7eThW2WvR4gnqg01L0MzzaQAq31UNPP8yT-jiw7gBJzR_cLP-HvDBzYBZ6ocLFYjdjZ/s1600/IMG_1208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWqt_KEaQG8imU_LATgDLfShOPfMlIstN02qCy0cQ2wtOx0a2ce6kGRhGVKFO3tlxe4CNKiRgUL7eThW2WvR4gnqg01L0MzzaQAq31UNPP8yT-jiw7gBJzR_cLP-HvDBzYBZ6ocLFYjdjZ/s400/IMG_1208.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our two proud Sister Missionaries </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: large;">Then we had Sunday and it too was an interesting day...our branch Pres. has a broken car and he didn't attend church. In the middle of church we got a call that he had been hit in his town of Sasinci while on his bike by a drunk driver. Everyone was so upset, so we put church on hold and several went to the hospital. He is a stubborn man and checked himself out of the hospital and went home....but he is fine. Thank goodness. His Niece said.."Well if he had been in church, it wouldn't have happened". Only in Serbia sympathy moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our only in Serbia Moment: <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Hi2q8m_fAA3L__-5eWIDbcaitWXe2aZUHDij7FeSDkVZw8VBfGvhRzGSIfof_JK31hOEfvwak9TPexP2W9geMNAgpRJ_hyg6499f0EL1_VdWx2bwhe-ww4Q8-derWZ-Mmq-49HUW_ClJ/s1600/IMG_1172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Hi2q8m_fAA3L__-5eWIDbcaitWXe2aZUHDij7FeSDkVZw8VBfGvhRzGSIfof_JK31hOEfvwak9TPexP2W9geMNAgpRJ_hyg6499f0EL1_VdWx2bwhe-ww4Q8-derWZ-Mmq-49HUW_ClJ/s400/IMG_1172.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everywhere you look people are gathering wood<br />for the winter.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-45616057811130148252013-11-03T10:34:00.002-08:002013-11-03T10:46:58.341-08:00Halloween in Serbian (whether they want it or not)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been an extremely busy week here in Sremska Mitrovica...Besides the normal week of language lessons and various teaching lessons, the rest of the school kits were delivered, we had Zone Conference, a district Priesthood meeting, and District Conference today. We had Elder Herbertson of the 70s here from England.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I will start with our Halloween party. They, as I have mentioned, do not have Halloween over here and many were not even familiar with it. So our Sisters decided it was time to share with our English classes, our investigators, and our branch the true spirit of Halloween. We made masks, bobbed for apples, hunted through whip cream for gum balls, and played a game with dice doubles and unwrapping candy (to hard to explain that game). Our investigators and our English class came but none of our branch...sometimes we think they are too sophisticated or they think it is too American. But even without the Branch, we had about 15 people there and we all had a great time.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqb8JFiZNlRFnAzCkUkFouBQkQT8liEhlzMQSgu8lSsFRnIH3pF26C8bUUtmWpNe6u9jOU65Y1FIlYQRk37B7mSqxitXiK-x6muP_4Q0Ma9N-AjjasTv8psQgZB2bnkceDiznh2ybNsYvt/s1600/IMG_1135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqb8JFiZNlRFnAzCkUkFouBQkQT8liEhlzMQSgu8lSsFRnIH3pF26C8bUUtmWpNe6u9jOU65Y1FIlYQRk37B7mSqxitXiK-x6muP_4Q0Ma9N-AjjasTv8psQgZB2bnkceDiznh2ybNsYvt/s400/IMG_1135.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nemanja..an investigator who will be baptized Nov. 9th<br />
He is the best young man...The Spirit had prepared him for<br />
the Gospel.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOC93LOkuvRoUHQnBYhK2lNuLf408wJqKOYgyixpKLvmByi5nOSU68NkG4oNNAeJfHsq_v65URll24wP8w2X9yWhPdlHnj_ctnrd85N_6fpXYfvSsWOU1JdEGVeyPVuTR5zF9hDe4hvTN/s1600/IMG_1129.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOC93LOkuvRoUHQnBYhK2lNuLf408wJqKOYgyixpKLvmByi5nOSU68NkG4oNNAeJfHsq_v65URll24wP8w2X9yWhPdlHnj_ctnrd85N_6fpXYfvSsWOU1JdEGVeyPVuTR5zF9hDe4hvTN/s400/IMG_1129.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mira is such a good heart...she is an English student but has<br />
come to church a couple of times.</td></tr>
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Two of our other English students...no interest in </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ivan (E-von) is a 27 year old investigator and such a<br />
great young man. He is becoming very special to us.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whip Cream pie with gum balls</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aftermath of the whip cream...after they found the gum<br />
they had to blow a bubble...Nemanja won<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKOZaLFhdzK-M2D5YXQVhpVnea31wMEJfFeKGhBUHoKl9iMuA07s1odxl752-UC47_uKAczVviKO7dYPSoELfh3ImrW5xJVK2RWr0q5jGlyMzVU2QvwBydMWhMatc7hE_F6keTqmIgCcY/s1600/IMG_1115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKOZaLFhdzK-M2D5YXQVhpVnea31wMEJfFeKGhBUHoKl9iMuA07s1odxl752-UC47_uKAczVviKO7dYPSoELfh3ImrW5xJVK2RWr0q5jGlyMzVU2QvwBydMWhMatc7hE_F6keTqmIgCcY/s400/IMG_1115.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I forgot to mention that we also gave out two wheelchairs<br />
this week</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This poor man had bone cancer...he was so<br />
appreciative ... he was using crutches<br />
and his poor hands looked terrible.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only in Serbia moment this week was when three missionary Sisters dressed alike for Zone Conference without even consulting each other...we got a lot of flak from the other missionaries...We just said that only the important ones must have got the memo.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGdvWW2yGi5Rtn7I2D3Wi055_OCliWzOj5wzfKEEodYY98zyZT75qlGJJzlLfn-tYihU7L6FpJEF7brg9GhYLD4jgXDwyGA7rTZ8dYyAYfkcQchyphenhyphenu0BIqSp1ZP1zkIr3Ma_WmBfSpXsar/s1600/IMG_1166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsGdvWW2yGi5Rtn7I2D3Wi055_OCliWzOj5wzfKEEodYY98zyZT75qlGJJzlLfn-tYihU7L6FpJEF7brg9GhYLD4jgXDwyGA7rTZ8dYyAYfkcQchyphenhyphenu0BIqSp1ZP1zkIr3Ma_WmBfSpXsar/s400/IMG_1166.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Roma man begs on the street corner by asking to wash<br />
your windshield. He can not speak (just makes noises), but he<br />
likes us and we like him.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">District Conference was great...It was for all of Serbia branches and we had over 100 people there. That doesn't sound great for how long the church has been established here but attendance is growing. No one has ever been able to guess why the church has not grown here as quickly as in other parts of the world. As I have said before...Satan really has a foot hold here and is hanging on tight.</span><br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-43791850614235363682013-10-25T02:49:00.001-07:002013-10-25T02:50:37.857-07:00Our apartment explosion!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I can tell that the time must be starting to pass more quickly because it seems like I type the blog and then it's blog time again. There are days that I am happy that time is passing quickly but as our time grows shorter, I find that it makes me sad. I look at the people we have met and learned to love and I think that I will probably never see them again, at least here on Earth. I now know what my sons meant when they said that it was harder to leave the mission than leave home. It's kind'a like birth and death....you are born, leaving heaven and the ones you love to come to Earth to ones you learn to love and then you die and leave Earth to go back to ones that you love. We will deal with it once, but the people over here deal with missionaries coming and going all the time....sometimes they really struggle with knowing that they won't see them again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We finally have the church transformation completed. The members, and even our English class people (non-members), are excited. We have new paint, new furniture, and large nice pictures. They even gave us some money to stock the kitchen that only had pans and sacrament cups. Now we have a few dishes, silverware, utensils, and real water pitchers. We look like a real church instead of sterile building. We find that people gather in the foyer to talk and they linger longer because it is comfortable. It has given the missionaries an inviting place to have lessons with investigators. And it has given members a place they are proud of.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWPqfQ9YqtUvYIN0LrobtUzpdsJQVpZXT8QAKtYmT3S6PLkD1YTEeh7siFOI1YrWF_S8iiU0buRj_uVZ4czLR-m02tlAOFuqNURKSLv0d1xMPO94JZ2ejDVGMuxnl59Ru-Gen9kd_7QpW/s1600/2012-07-18+08.49.06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIWPqfQ9YqtUvYIN0LrobtUzpdsJQVpZXT8QAKtYmT3S6PLkD1YTEeh7siFOI1YrWF_S8iiU0buRj_uVZ4czLR-m02tlAOFuqNURKSLv0d1xMPO94JZ2ejDVGMuxnl59Ru-Gen9kd_7QpW/s320/2012-07-18+08.49.06.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance coming into our church (Before)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkW_gc5lcWbRuXe9stPY6VEiOnCafMDu62b8TggOth64kK417CDd-2qL1E2JNtJGsP9h4YcwCbW5zZn5qkmYUBVQoafNqmOYGuGvP-HYamea-30_AnJ-1yDsu1RslRAn-nzapnA5BI4Xc7/s1600/IMG_1093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkW_gc5lcWbRuXe9stPY6VEiOnCafMDu62b8TggOth64kK417CDd-2qL1E2JNtJGsP9h4YcwCbW5zZn5qkmYUBVQoafNqmOYGuGvP-HYamea-30_AnJ-1yDsu1RslRAn-nzapnA5BI4Xc7/s320/IMG_1093.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Entrance now coming into our church...we still need to get<br />
a table cloth for the table. The line by the loveseat is<br />
a copper pipe for water. They don't hide water lines.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hallway to Branch Pres. office and kitchen (Before)<br />
The kitchen is a very small galley kitchen.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjeIimvdXcC9sXUA0yNWjaIh1vZfujqF6jthelBaxQQxhId0xaBxXVJUGVJvJWS8yPHT8CkMnZbX2Lr7VcnT0Di-hrlg_iRJ5vEggpyKs3fzpl-dAIIkiMjQZrbRxXmfeKdIVfYsDeWrF/s1600/IMG_1095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgjeIimvdXcC9sXUA0yNWjaIh1vZfujqF6jthelBaxQQxhId0xaBxXVJUGVJvJWS8yPHT8CkMnZbX2Lr7VcnT0Di-hrlg_iRJ5vEggpyKs3fzpl-dAIIkiMjQZrbRxXmfeKdIVfYsDeWrF/s320/IMG_1095.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up the stairs to the hallway<br />
(After)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8ETxKEHP5N7lPnN1qcmxpeHLgAmAb5inC3V4pfB7tktveblPSlBnSe6NCmE-enBOlqPofeLCseM3DL48fzjyqb-lNn37FEJCXG1PYN641m80USzHHM3Fy8X7NUWFul1q_PNJzM0imHKO/s1600/IMG_1096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY8ETxKEHP5N7lPnN1qcmxpeHLgAmAb5inC3V4pfB7tktveblPSlBnSe6NCmE-enBOlqPofeLCseM3DL48fzjyqb-lNn37FEJCXG1PYN641m80USzHHM3Fy8X7NUWFul1q_PNJzM0imHKO/s320/IMG_1096.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking back down the hall--the door below goes into the<br />
chapel. (After)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For many many years the church here in Sremska has been perceived as a cult church and there has been negativity attached to it. Mainly because some people joined for money reasons and when they didn't get the money, they talked badly about our church. We are trying hard to move past this image and doing the humanitarian hygiene and school kits has helped greatly. Recognizing mostly Alan, because of his white shirt, people are beginning to say "Dobro Dana" (Dough-bro-don) and smile at us more because their children have come home from school and told their parents what our church donated. Even our branch President has said the feeling is changing and we hope this opens up more opportunities for our missionaries. Alan just arranged for two more wheelchairs for two community people and we hope that to will help more people realize that we are a caring, Christ centered church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "Only in Serbia" moment is kind'a odd this time. When we were in Rijeka with Daniel and Anna we stayed at a hotel that had a beautiful pine tree outside and on this pine tree were some unusual pine cones that I had never seen and I loved the look of them. Alan was looking around the base to see if any had fallen and a man from the hotel started talking to him. And you know Alan, before we knew it the man had pulled over a chair and was retrieving off the tree some of those pine cones for me. We bought them back to our apt and have enjoyed them for weeks, but one day we heard a 'pop' and looked over and one had exploded....then two days later the other one exploded. :o{ I guess we won't bring them home as a keepsake.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPnmjO781gK7Qv0-qL3vBou9VWx91OrV6qUhPuPymUa4LVEY-We-8rd5sM6s-UTzB2zGSyJPSNCl0DPkccrXuiICncJUZU11a9vAw92dx2I6hvX7sMN5StJ8x4QWjVQunaLcwHrB1qLL-/s1600/IMG_1085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIPnmjO781gK7Qv0-qL3vBou9VWx91OrV6qUhPuPymUa4LVEY-We-8rd5sM6s-UTzB2zGSyJPSNCl0DPkccrXuiICncJUZU11a9vAw92dx2I6hvX7sMN5StJ8x4QWjVQunaLcwHrB1qLL-/s400/IMG_1085.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A before explosion and after explosion.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That little spike ran through the middle of the cone</td></tr>
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3184583941209265124.post-75389090649261772072013-10-16T05:38:00.000-07:002013-10-16T05:41:58.061-07:00Who turned the tap on?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Well, the humidity is 89% and I feel like I could shampoo my hair just standing in the open. For those of you who have lived with humidity, you know that it changes everything; makes the air heavy to breath, makes it cooler or hotter, ruins hairstyles, crackers are never crisp and cookies are soggy; clothes and bedding feel damp, etc. etc. Anyway all moisture aside, things are going well here.<br />
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Saturday we put our humanitarian kits together. We put 200 hygiene kits together and 70 school kits for the Roma children who attend school. We had a great turn out of investigators...now a great turn out over here is different from what might happen at home. We had 6 investigators and 6 members there to help us. And sadly, the Masons organization we invited did not come.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNLiYfFt_oVmix5xSqgAh7ejuJdDoxk0JJxKdAGEOGMk9qYILNz-LNaRWbpQHsr1kMjjxbdPeOVNdq8DNrJ0Az3ACal4SIhBFZPQuLRawmzUfvkayUMryfI54m1WpAG6sE2pngRy3TJxD/s1600/IMG_1068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBNLiYfFt_oVmix5xSqgAh7ejuJdDoxk0JJxKdAGEOGMk9qYILNz-LNaRWbpQHsr1kMjjxbdPeOVNdq8DNrJ0Az3ACal4SIhBFZPQuLRawmzUfvkayUMryfI54m1WpAG6sE2pngRy3TJxD/s320/IMG_1068.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;">We had fun doing this...we did just like the Humanitarian<br />
Center and just passed the kits along. We laughed a lot.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbzlLOQm-NNOYH3g7YD4KJKW20ccv82VCDXJhHiKYxDzLhgCUyPlfJ6lJAPzr43yj1u8xVQR7s4maNq006edQzpSoko6eDK3N6DR0EwX_jIXISwGFLLa37hdzh9U9awnozmaWScASQu5e/s1600/IMG_1067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcbzlLOQm-NNOYH3g7YD4KJKW20ccv82VCDXJhHiKYxDzLhgCUyPlfJ6lJAPzr43yj1u8xVQR7s4maNq006edQzpSoko6eDK3N6DR0EwX_jIXISwGFLLa37hdzh9U9awnozmaWScASQu5e/s320/IMG_1067.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13.333333969116211px; text-align: center;">Having Breakfast and talking. You can see some of the new<br />
furniture that makes everything more inviting.</td></tr>
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We also gave the School 10 white boards, 20 lab chairs, 35 desk chairs and 15 double desks. They were so appreciative. Some of the chairs and desks they were using were by our standards "throw aways"... It has been a great experience and one that the branch really enjoyed.<br />
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Our sister missionaries are doing great work. They are teaching about 10 people and have committed one family of parents and a 16 year old boy, Nimahnja, to baptism on Nov. 23. For Nimahnja, it is like his spirit has always known the gospel...he is reading the BOM and loves and understands it. He has started coming to our Seminary class. But the best is that he has ask Aleksander (our lost sheep young man) to baptize him. Aleksander is so scared and yet so honored. This is a great growing step for him. (Aleksander is the young man in the picture above laughing) Nimahnja's father smokes and is a very nice man, but he said it may take a little longer than Nov. 23rd before he is ready. His mom we are not quite sure of yet. <br />
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We are getting another missionary ready to go on a mission. He is almost 26 so we have to hurry. He and Alan are at the dentist and doctor as I write this. He speaks English very well and has been going to the University in Novi Sad. But school is different here. They do not give release time where you can miss two years of school and then come back and pick up where you left off. They would make you start all over....unless they can see merit in what you are doing. We hope that the fact he will travel to another country and learn a new language will make them guarantee that he can come back. But also, they make you pay tuition to hold your place. The church pays out a lot of money to ensure that kids in these countries can go on missions...but then "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all else will be added unto it". Hopefully that will be the foundation that is needed here to help the gospel grow. (Speaking of the word gospel, very often here people say, "what means gospel"? It is such a common word for us and yet most people haven't heard of it and if they have, they think it is the Bible books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).<br />
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We did take the Sisters to the Belgrade Zoo on Monday for their P-Day. Belgrade Zoo has 20 white lions and tigers. The most in all the world at one Zoo. We didn't see them all and not even the new baby white lion that was reported on Utah News, but I have included a picture of a white tiger. It is a very old Zoo that was built in part of an old fortress and on a hill so there is a lot of stairs and up and down walking. (Just what I love) It is an OK Zoo and had some different things like bulls and cows....but if you come from such a large city, you may never get the chance to see farm animals. They had one lonely Elephant, one lonely giraffe, and one Hippo, but there seemed to be multiples of the other animals.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6slzKrZXHvlYwfqSqd9E0DboTnoUWV0jbXEpwO_pm7ZaPcAbAlRd_TX6zCEx55R7o4ibmuq1w9OGrHZHzvHM83KsejaRYeEb1Lbsgk824pBp0OBbcu1f4zDnVMYOaV0gihtcHjJWq7oHm/s1600/IMG_1079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6slzKrZXHvlYwfqSqd9E0DboTnoUWV0jbXEpwO_pm7ZaPcAbAlRd_TX6zCEx55R7o4ibmuq1w9OGrHZHzvHM83KsejaRYeEb1Lbsgk824pBp0OBbcu1f4zDnVMYOaV0gihtcHjJWq7oHm/s320/IMG_1079.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White tiger</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4KWf4c9PHkWupNSUJPws6TjJCkr51Nkp5htl4HgNbC7hc_eqXPO7Z_qBwqORfHm6EAGfkPVMeVfv6RJ-lHG1uBSLj1wJhJwb1HPD0ux7NhkLIhI6r35e9lIWZLMCldedMrdFWluxj0GKz/s1600/2013-10-14+12.46.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4KWf4c9PHkWupNSUJPws6TjJCkr51Nkp5htl4HgNbC7hc_eqXPO7Z_qBwqORfHm6EAGfkPVMeVfv6RJ-lHG1uBSLj1wJhJwb1HPD0ux7NhkLIhI6r35e9lIWZLMCldedMrdFWluxj0GKz/s320/2013-10-14+12.46.33.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This shows how old and the stairs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgXkKvaD-Lr1t-Hm4LPzDuc1IbiV351tTL3244yRoU8Q0e8uTnCCXNCMQl8Lta_MsibZZfq7RZbpwFYwdcwgDTS9Um_zm98fkD7QrwqMfUWAftfdV86gROn28u-kXmaZJ03WVm233ZFae/s1600/2013-10-14+12.46.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgXkKvaD-Lr1t-Hm4LPzDuc1IbiV351tTL3244yRoU8Q0e8uTnCCXNCMQl8Lta_MsibZZfq7RZbpwFYwdcwgDTS9Um_zm98fkD7QrwqMfUWAftfdV86gROn28u-kXmaZJ03WVm233ZFae/s320/2013-10-14+12.46.10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Part of the Fortress wall</td></tr>
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After the Zoo, we took the Sisters to the Delta City Mall so Sis. Palmer could get a new camera....and low & behold the Belgrade Elders came walking by.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Vnn-mZn_TD_nDg8RpTOwwGGIVHWhEVkmESPAbuKb_xwGoFMXdlyWmZ1g8pQMwz5kvZ9T7RVKz6BnMfShT8VG78e7uU-be0wMLBYAZS4kAU1pk8i0wCxyEeIGV6Du3yzI_jQSX7k0SCF6/s1600/2013-10-14+15.17.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Vnn-mZn_TD_nDg8RpTOwwGGIVHWhEVkmESPAbuKb_xwGoFMXdlyWmZ1g8pQMwz5kvZ9T7RVKz6BnMfShT8VG78e7uU-be0wMLBYAZS4kAU1pk8i0wCxyEeIGV6Du3yzI_jQSX7k0SCF6/s320/2013-10-14+15.17.15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A great bunch of young people! The Elder in the crazy shorts<br />
is from Tasmania, island off Australia. The taller Elder is from<br />
here in Serbia, others from US.</td></tr>
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"Only in Serbia": There's a lot of kissing in public in Serbia and to prove it, here's of photo of Alan and I kissing in public. He's always been a great kisser!<br />
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adseeloshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15060536839149844345noreply@blogger.com0