Drive Elder Smith, drive!

This past week was a week of travel. On Monday, we traveled about 5 hours NE to Belgrade. We went to to Missionary Zone Conference with Sisters Gunson and McKinnon. This was our second trip to Belgrade and it's always easier and more familiar the second time around. Elder Smith is the 'great European driver' and I am the 'designated navigator and trip coordinator'. We found a new route to Belgrade, that utilized a newly constructed freeway. In fact, it was so new that Google maps kept telling us to exit the freeway and travel through the little towns - as it didn't recognize the finished road. We ignored the suggestion and just 'kept on a truckin'. The weather was good for traveling and we had a fine trip, both there and back. 

As with our first zone conference, there where many activities and much learning, both in large and small group.

We learned about using Family Search to do family History and enjoyed sacred music.

It was chilly in Belgrade the 2 days we were there, so coats were fitting for group pictures.

After a day back in Sarajevo to do laundry and repack, we were on the road again. We tease each other that it is about 5-6 hours to anywhere and so it is with the trip to Podgorica, Montenegro. It's only 230 km (about 140 miles) to the SE, but it take almost 6 hour. We drive through some beautiful scenery, just not very fast - lol

Cultural Learning: Burek is a flaky, philo-type dough filled that comes in a variety of shapes and fillings. It can take many shapes; spiral, half moon, cigar or sharp triangles. Fillings can be savory or sweet. 

We ate our first burek at at our friend, Ljubica's - it was made with love, meat filled and and it kind of spoiled us for the future - lol. Our first experience ordering burek was from a little shop on the corner near the church in Sarajevo.Burek is the only thing they sell and they sell a lot. We ate mid-afternoon and they were still cranking piping hot pans out of the ovens.It also was pretty tasty. (the spinach and cheese i ordered was tasty, but I do have to admit that I had order envy when I tasted Lot's meat filled). 

On previous trips through Jablanica we had seen the signs/hand painted advertisements on concrete walls, for Burek King. As we pulled into the parking area, we could see the giant bureks baking in outside traditional charcoal fired oven. On this day we bought one to share (we had just eaten breakfast), but from now on, we will not be sharing! - lol

The rest of our travel was uneventful and we arrived in Podgorica in time to join the sisters  for game night, at the church. Saturday was filled with a Zoom district meeting, cleaning the church with Sisters Auna and Crittenden and working on preparing our talks for Sacrament meeting the next day. The evening was beautiful and so we did a little exploring of Podgorica on foot.  

The Millennial Bridge  

Spiritual Thought - Make Known His Deeds Among the People

Psalm 105:1-3

   1 O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the people. 

   2 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him; talk ye of all his wondrous works.     

   3 Glory ye in his holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. 

My heart has "rejoiced" as I seek the Lord. I have found great joy in all of the things listed in this scripture; giving thanks, singing, talking of his wondrous works and glorying in His name. A mission can sometimes be challenging - spiritually, culturally and physically, BUT, I have been filled with much joy. 

I am grateful each day for the opportunity I have to "talk of His wondrous works" and "make known his deeds among the people". Each day I feel God's love for me and for His children in Bosnia and Montenegro and so I "give thanks unto the Lord".

 

New Friends and Great Food

 This week started out with us still in Podgorica, Montenegro. We enjoyed our Sunday meeting and met a couple of new people, we were also delighted to see our friend Vitaly who just returned from a visit to the Philippines. He was so excited to tell us about his trip and his new girlfriend he finally met in person after several months of online correspondence. On Sunday evening we had dinner at Elder and Sister Allan's with the young missionaries and a friend that drove 2 hours to meet with us. Poor guy got a speeding ticket on his way in. Dinner was great and we had a good discussion afterwards.

On Monday we went as a group to the ancient ruins of Medun, they were from around 400 BC that is about the time of Malachi in the Old Testament. It was extremely windy that day with gusts over 60 mph.

After our hike we went to the best Mexican restaurant I've ate at anywhere in Europe. Helen had a huge salad that she said was wonderful.

As the week progressed we met with a man from Cameroon, one from Turkey, one from China, one from the Philippines, and one from Serbia. It seemed like we were teaching from the four corners of the Earth. We spent some more time at the coast, it was calm and beautiful this time.

We finished the week off by driving back to Sarajevo, we left 60 degrees and sunshine for 20 degrees and smog but it is nice to be back to our apartment. On Saturday we cleaned the church, had a District Meeting and went out for dinner again. This place was so awesome and our waiter grew up in SLC because his family went there to escape the war here. He is the bald one taking the picture.

As nice as the traveling and food was, the best part of the week was testifying of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to tell these people from all over the world the Jesus loves us all the same. It's inspiring to see these people that leave their homes and family to seek for a better life. Christopher, from Cameroon, has such an amazing spirit about him. He was sharing his feelings about Christ to us and there was such a strong Spirit there. We are loving our experiences and feel blessed to be here.

Back to Podgorica

At the first of the week we paid Lot's first parking ticket in Bosnia (On SUN morning those places usually full of parked cars seemed like a perfectly good place to park. We didn't see the "parking with permit only" sign - yikes! In our defense, the sign was turned backwards towards the building - lol) It was only $10 and now we know how to pay a parking ticket at the post office). 

We had our regular District Council meeting with the young elders and sisters and Elder and Sister Stafford - coordinating efforts and schedules for the coming week. We also traded to a different car and prepared to leave for Podgorica for a week. Watering house plants, laundry and making sure the car was full of gas and had wiper fluid. We took a different route and saw a new-to-us hillside fortress and beautiful landscapes. 

It is only 150 miles from Sarajevo to Podgorica, but it takes about 6 hours to drive, as the average speed is 35 mph on this route. 

When we arrived in town we went to dinner with Elder and Sister Allan (Humanitarian) and then over to the Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. It is a beautiful building with the walls and ceilings filled with frescos of gold and bright colors. The frescos depicts many orthodox saints and events in the life of Jesus Christ. The cathedral is open for visitng, but I was uncomfortable taking pictures in a house of worship. My favorite part of the cathedral was an inlayed floor tile depiction of "Noah's Ark. (You can view the mosaic by searching - "floor mosaic, cathedral of the resurrection of christ, podgorica" - image)

In the cathedral court yard, the had about a dozen wooden huts set - some selling treats, handmade items, or orthodox goods. We found a young man, David, who was selling local sweet, nutty confections handmade by his mother. My favorite was the Rosen Torte (the square on in the middle, topped with white chocolate). 

Https://heavytable.com/rozen-torta-serbian-pink-cookies/

We have enjoyed the cultural learning that we are experiencing. Montenegro's population is predominately Orthodox Christian. They observe the Greek calendar, rather than and Gregorian calendar used in the United States. Based on this calendar, orthodox christians observe Christmas on January 7th, with New Years the following week. So when we arrived, it was the day after orthodox Christmas and many businesses and offices were still closed. 

The next few days we spend the day with the young sisters, Sister Auna (from HI) and Sister Robinson (from WA) teaching friends of the church and visiting congregation members. On Friday, we drove 60 KM west, to the coastal town of Budva. The weather was quite overcast and we were in the fog and clouds as we traveled over the mountains towards the coast. About half way down the grade, we broke out of the clouds and saw the ocean and city. 

We found a parking space (which is sometimes tricky) and walked to our first two lessons. 

After our lessons with friends of the church, we met the Nikitin family in the "old walled city", who graciously gave us a tour. Within the walls of the old city, we saw ruins of a Roman bath (2nd-1st century B.C.), St. John Baptist Church/7th-12th Century and the Budva Citadel, a medieval fortress. The Citadel now houses a museum and library, but we saved that adventure for another day. 

The Nikitin's were such lovely hosts and we had such a joyful visit with them.

On Saturday, we helped clean the church and had 3 meetings in the evening; a planning meeting with the local leadership, a Balkan history lesson by one of our fellow senior missionaries and a Senior Missionary council meeting (the last two meetings were via Zoom, attended by senior missionaries from the 5 countries of the mission - Slovenia on the north to Montenegro in the south).

Our week ended on Sunday with great worship service at church and a lovely meal hosted by Elder and Sister Allan. We were joined by a friend, who came from Budva to share a meal and have a lesson with the sisters. 

Spiritual Thought - Our acknowledgment of God's grace and miracles

Matthew 7:7-8

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find' knock and it shall be opened unto you:

8 For everyone that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. 

The day we drove to Budva with the sisters, we came to a place in our day and plans when we were undecided on how best to solve a problem. Based on the knowledge that was available to us (using our physical senses and logic) we could not know how best to proceed. We and the sisters verbally discussed our possible options. 

Sister Robinson said, "I think we need to say a prayer." She offered a prayer and asked that Heavenly Father would enlighten our minds and we would know how best to proceed. We got done with the prayer and I said, "I think we should...."

There was no voice, vision or flash of light, but we moved forward in faith. Our day was a good day and we accomplished the tasks for which we had hoped. 

As we look back, we know that we made the best decision. In hindsight, there were crucial factors that we did not know, but God knew.

I know that God hears and answers prayers. When we look to Him, willing to act in faith, He will bless and help us. 

New Years and second New Years

We stayed pretty close to home in Sarajevo this week. People in Bosnia take their holidays very serious. We thought when they had Christmas on Dec. 25 and then a second one on Dec.26 that we were done with double holidays. Not so, they take a half day off on New Years Eve to get ready for News Years. Then they enjoy New Year's Day. We went out to do some shopping on Jan. 2 and everything was closed again.  Helen looked it up both days are official holidays. Since the next day was Friday, why not just take it off too and start up on Monday - lol.

Helen tried to do some sewing for a friend of the Church. She downloaded a pattern from online. She used 30 pieces of paper to make the pattern. After taping them all together she tried the sewing machine that another couple gave to us. Wouldn't you know it, it was broken, drats. 

It has gotten pretty cold here and it has inversions for several days at a time. We received another 6" of snow on top of the 16" we got last week. The city does a decent job of keeping the roads usable. When it's cold and the air is bad, like today the air quality index was 255. But sadly people here consider that number as normal. We have the young missionaries over to the Staffords, who now live right above us (which is sweet) for dinner and they helped finish a hard puzzle. Sister MeKinnon is a master puzzler.

Yesterday we had a major Church cleaning to kick off the new year. All eight of us helped out to knock it out in good time. Then we all went for a nice Bosnian lunch.  It's great, all eight of us eat for $30. I didn't even mind paying when it's that inexpensive. haha

As you can see, every job needs a Supervisor, Elder Stafford volunteered for that job. Actually, he just finished his job faster than the rest of us.

This next week we head back to Montenegro with hopes of warmer weather and cleaner air.

Really though, we are loving our mission more every day. We have been going with the young sisters to teach a couple and have helped with other friends of the Church.