Disaster Dinner

Well, needless to say, tonight was the disaster dinner.  I decided to make something simple, yes I said simple.  Pancakes, sliced bacon, and homemade syrup (of course without the maple flavoring)...How hard could it be, right!  Made the syrup and it calls for buttermilk, easy enough, just add vinegar to the milk.  Ok, it poured a little faster than expected; but it should be fine.  There's enough sugar in it to cover the vinegar, or so I thought.  New invention... sweet and sour syrup.   OK make the pancake batter.  I got a good recipe from one of the Elders.  My goodness, these look more like thick crepes.   The bacon got a little over done and smoking but we lucked out, it didn't set off the smoke detecter.  So now for the "interesting" pancakes; after some investigation, what I thought was baking powder is actually corn starch.  But bless Alan's heart, he is eating it with a smile on his face.

There are alot of cooking items from America that I miss.  Things we take for granted until we don't have them.  Maple syrup or even the flavoring; Peppermint flavoring; vanilla in a container bigger than a mini bottle; canned soups; chocolate chips; marshmallows, Idaho potatoes, cheese that melts; Caffeine free diet Coke; Milk in containers larger than one quart; celery; unwilted produce; Sugar and Flour in bigger than 3-5 lb. bags; etc, and still counting.  But, there are a few things I do like: great bread, good chocolate; and very good people.

Anyone want to come to dinner tomorrow night? :o}

"Praise to the Man"

My sweet giant of a husband...Being on a mission can be difficult at best, but when we are older and not as technology savvy, it can even more difficult.  Thus, is the case for us!  And although we share this responsibility, we end up having different tasks.  Alan has had to learn to drive in the crazy traffic over here and get to where we need to go in strange new big cities.  He has had to learn to navigate boarder crossings and toll booths with ease, which he has done.    He climbs these three flights of stairs many times a day carrying heavy groceries or apartment items.  I try to help, but just can't carry what he does.  He's my sweet man!  But then there is the technology part and the majority of that has fallen to the priesthood holder.  He is to learn to do MLS which he is presently over at the church getting instruction by phone from a leader in Germany.  He had to get a new iphone (which to many is old hat, but to us, not so) and learn how to use it.  We are having to learn how to run a computer program and hook it to the TV so people can watch it.  My grandsons would say "no big deal", but when it's not our talent, we have to learn.  In the next few weeks, we are to set up an English language class, a family history class, and offer stop smoking classes plus have an up to date MLS list of all members, active and non active in the branch.  Start visiting non active members and prepare talks and lessons.  I have to learn how to make recipes with out many of our connivence items such as canned soups and  make them edible (poor Alan is my guinea pig).We have only been here two weeks and sometimes it feels more like months.  We just need to take a deep breath and realize that all good things will come with time....won't they!

View from our new home away from home, such as it is!

Well here are some pictures of what the view is from our balcony.  You will see really old parts and some not so clean parts.

Our Church view from our balcony--our is not the one with the steeple--see below

Shops and offices across the street

Also across the street--very old and not clean

The Church is the two curtained windows and double doors.

Missionary Force

I can not believe the quality of the young missionaries that out preaching all over the world today.  Such fine mature young men!  We met as a district today in Novi Sad with the district leaders and zone leaders.  These young men were prepared and gave such good comments.  One young man stated that when he looks for contacts, if he believes he will find them he will.  If he believes he will find people to baptize, he will.  If he believes that he will activate members, he will.   BUT when he get down on himself and thinks that the contacts won't listen, or no one wants to be baptized, and members don't really want to be reactivated, then what happens is just what he thought.  Another lesson that we are more successful when we stay positive....and part of that is then the spirit can better reach us.  But, I can not say enough about the caliber of young men out here serving The Lord with all their heart.  Always remember them in your prayers.... 

District or Zone Conference (like our Stake Conf.)

Yesterday was a full day...It was the semi-annual District Conference in Belgrade.  We loaded our small car with the two missionaries and an investigator from Vienna and headed to Belgrade.  Sister V. , her two daughters, and a niece went in a Taxi...(A Taxi is really cheap here, that is by our standards, but people are really poor here.  So the church paid for the Taxi with fast offerings) Their husband and father have the Flu and is very ill...but the family is poor (he teaches English in the Schools and they don't get paid very much..6-800 per month) so they couldn't afford gas to go otherwise).

Belgrade is a huge and not so clean...high rise apartments everywhere.  The church is in the same area as the American and British Embassy.  A three story very old building with the Chapel on the second floor.  The District Pres. (Stake Pres.) conducted and talked about how he used to be an atheist...and now is a Christian church leader.  We had a two hour meeting with about 60 people there.  The church over here is truly in it's infancy stage.  They gave three men the Melchizedek priesthood with one of them being our young man with no country.  He is so proud to be an Elder.
They served a lunch of sandwiches and cakes after which we had Relief Society and Priesthood.  We also had to stay after to set apart a new Branch Pres. for Belgrade and the new Elders.  They are really pushing to have young men and women from here go on missions so they can better learn how the church works and then come back and help the branches here.  Needless to say, it was a long, yet fulfilling day.

All this makes me realize what the church must have been like when it first started with Joseph Smith.  Some truly faithful members and yet so many that thought the gospel strange or evil.  It is like that here, but a senior couple leaving soon summed it up when he said what a privilege it has been to be here and be part of the Lord's final gathering.