Our assignment

We have been assigned to Sremka Mitrovica and will arrive there on Monday morning after staying a couple of night in Novi Sad.  We will report more when we finally get settled.

First day of our mission

Oh my goodness....we are in Europe; Zagreb, Croatia to be exact.  We boarded the plane at 8:30 am and off to New York, packed like sardines.  You like to act safisticated because you wear those important missionary badges, but after just sitting the 4 1/2 hours that it takes to get to New York you want to cry or scream--I'm not sure which.  After sitting another 4 hours, the plane takes off for Paris.  Paris, we're on our way to Paris!  As we go toward Paris, we gain time so we are served dinner because it's about 6:30 pm.  This flight we have our own two seats but again we're sitting so tightly together, forget getting the purse off the floor to get the IPad out, it is wedged tight.  So we try to sleep while we are sitting and shifting and stretching, and repositioning and still sitting.  It's been 6 hours of sitting and it's almost time to land but funny thing, it's now 7:00 am and time for a continental breakfast.  We look out our window, no Eiffel tower.  When the plane landed in Paris it must have taxied for two or more miles to the gate.  One little gentlement said "I think they are taking us on a tour of the city before they let us off".  We are only sitting here for 1 1/2 hours before they load the plane.  But to load the plane we must board a bus and ride about 3 miles out to a small commuter plane where we enjoy sitting while they fuel the plane.   As we fly for two more hours, we fly over the Swiss Alps (pretty and rugged), over Solvenia and into Croatia.  We have finally arrived!

We are being housed in Hotel Tina, a very Europeon small hotel.  It is nice, but not like the Hilton nice.  This first night, we had dinner in a restaurant across the street from the mission home.  Pres. Rowe and Sis. Rowe have five children, David 18, Connor 16, Colton 11, and twin girls Jessica and Anna 8.  Their home (AKA mission home) has four floors and is a lived in comfortable home.  The President had a facilities manager stop by so he could not interview us that night to tell us where we are going.  We will meet him Wed. morning and get our placement.

We are dead on our feet....Sister Rowe told us to try and stay awake until 8:00 but Alan and I crashed at 7:00.  We slept until 6:15 in the morning when we got called on our IPad.  This journey is an exciting time...we will tell you later our assignment.

MTC

Well, we are finally at the MTC.  What a busy place...but it is run like a well oiled machine.  When we first got here we were oriented and given a packet, agenda, maps, religious material,  and told to buy a "Preach my Gospel" if we didn't bring one.  There are about 30 couples and 10 sisters here this week.  They say that we are a small group.  It is amazing how they house and feed everyone here.  The MTC was built to house 3000 and they are now accommodating 4800 young missionaries.  We are housed at the Marriott in very nice rooms with TVs and we even have a King size bed.  The senior couples all have their classes in a Stake center that is adjacent to the MTC.  They feed us frequently and a lot.  Then we go sit all day, so you can imagine with we old people just where that all settles.  Although we aren't too physically active, we sure feel tired at the end of the day.

I have learned quickly to appreciate where we are called to serve in Serbia.  Some people are going to the West Indies, Kenya, Viet Nam, and some strange island I didn't recognize.  Maybe it just that old adage that we learn to "love the one we're with".  We learn to love the call we got, or maybe it feels familiar because it's our call.

The adventure goes on and we have another full day ahead of us....What a journey!

Today is the Saturday before going into the MTC...It's here, really here!!!  Yesterday, we had two deer nestle down in the back yard all day.  It was such a comforting sight and living in a city of 5 million it is a sight that we will probably not see for a while.  But I have learned through this process that change makes us grow and if we are open and willing, it can give us a renewed sense of confidence.  We can do things that we never thought we could do. It can be scary to be adventurous but after the adventure starts, the ride can be exciting and fun.....at least, that is what I keep telling myself.  We plan to enjoy the journey, we hope you are enjoying yours.

The Time is Passing Fast...even faster than that!

Just 17 days left until we leave on this new adventure to Serbia.  It seems as we try to get ready we find ourselves taking as many steps backwards as we take forward, at least that what it feels like somedays.  However, when I look around the house and in the cupboards, I realize that slowly and surely we are making progress.  Our family has been great to help us get ready for this mission and the move.   I know without a doubt that we will be ready even if we have to leave a few things undone and that's sometimes hard when we want everything to be perfect for our family.

We did talk with the other couple that is in Serbia, the Maughans, today via Skype.  They seem like a nice couple and they have been very helpful in  decreasing our fears.  They say that we will have a fairly nice apt. that has two bedrooms (all the better to have visitors).  They say we will even be provided with a TV.  We are located in the heart of Belgrade just 5 blocks from the church.  We may share a car with the 4 missionaries that are in Belgrade (one set of sisters, and one set of elders).  That leaves alot of work to accomplish in a city of 5 million people.  We also talked alot of  business about phones, utilities, etc.  Apparently the apartment building landload is an important job over there....they collect utility monies and serve as a go between you and the community...(that is if
I understood correctly and there's a great chance I didn't).

We went to our annual neighborhood party tonight and we quietly realized that it would be our last circle party.  We were one of the three couples that started these gatherings in 1969 and now of those three couples we are the only ones left in the circle.  We too will soon be gone and leave behind the legacy and tradition of the Sheridan Circle "get together".  Sheridan Circle is a great place to live, to raise a family, and a great place to call home.