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.

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.

Our newest missionary, Radoslav.
 

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.


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.

Outside the Monastery...the church is tucked inside the U-shaped area.

The Church

Inside the Church

This was one of the few chairs inside the church..but beautiful!

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
more modern that we would think and told us they have TV and he showed us his cell phone.

Our one day we get to wear casual clothes...

Another view of the church

 The other monastery that we went to was in Vurdnik..and more ornate inside

A lot of idol and Saint worship--They all kiss the cross where the little boy is standing.

Vrdnik Monastery 

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.

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) 

The Riviera of Europe

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.

We waited about 40 minutes for them to bring a snow plow to clear the road.

Not a very good picture of the inside of a tunnel, but we were moving fast.

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.

Evening View from our balcony--I know, just beautiful!

Day time view from a different angle

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. 

(L-R) Elder and Sister Goodsell (from VA.), Pres. Rowe and Sister Rowe (from VA.) and
Elder and Sister Ostarcevic.  (Yes, our Pres. is only in his 40s.)

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.

An example of the care taken and the beauty.

The park was very green and had several palm trees as well
as bamboo.

She stands off the corner of the park on a
rock outcropping.

These two statues need to go on a diet.

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.)

Another amazing view...our balcony hung over the ocean.

A loading boat pier was just down from the hotel and we watched them load and then watched it sail away.
You can see the size of the ship was noticing the size of the man on the dock.

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.

One year!

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.

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.
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).

A friend recently shared a post with me that I found interesting...I hope you will too.

"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^st 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."  

This is our young Mission Pres. and his wife with Nemanja
our new young man that joined the church in Nov.

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.

Our "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.

Working hard and having a great time...

The Everyday Life Of Missionary Work

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).

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).

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)

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).

Slagenja, Nemanja, and Dragon

We found at the Christmas Party that Dragon plays the
drums like an expert.

Nemanja also is learning the drums but also has a black belt in karate.

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.

Aleksander...He and Alan have a special bond.

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.

Our 'Only in Serbia' this time: 

Alan was getting a haircut and watched a man park his wagon and horse
on the sidewalk to come in for a haircut.

Merry 2nd Christmas!

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.

Our many missionaries

A full table

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.

Their Santa's costume was a little different in that it was more like
a hooded bathrobe.  But we have seen Santa's here who wear the
traditional Santa Suit.

Just to remind you how beautiful Slovenia is...This was taken on our trip in Sept. with 
Daniel & Anna.

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.

Our group (minus one) from Sremska...They rode the train for 11 hours.
The boy on the left is not a member and the first day (Sunday) he was over-whelmed
with all the church events but warmed up as the week progressed with funner activities.

Some of the group at mid-night New Years Eve.  There were fireworks every where
which was like a massive 4th of July. (all fireworks are legal over here)

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.

Alan and Elder Goodsell (1st counselor to the Mission Pres.)

Just a few of the lights of Ljubljana

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).  

He will be the first missionary ever in their family.  They are so happy.
He is going to Burningham, England!