More Road Trip(s) - lol

At the front of the week, Lot and I both drove a car with a set with the young missionaries to attend Zone Conference in Belgrade, Serbia.  

The agenda of Zone Conferences going forward has been modified, consisting of only 1 day (instead of 2). But the shortened schedule was filled with great instruction; from both President and Sister Cordray and the young missionary leaders, Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders. 

I am always delighted to see the young missionary's creativity in presenting principles and practices. Our Montenegro-Bosnia Zone leadership channeled their "March Maddness" energy to create a great presentation. 

I love these amazing ladies with whom I serve. 

At the end of the week, Sister Lamb and I took temporary possession of this bright blue Hyundai and headed northwest from Sarajevo, to Slovenia. About 3 hours into our trip, near Banja Luka, we stopped to pick-up Suzana, another sister from our branch.

The geographic footprint, of church members, under the pastoral care of President Cordray is the same for both the mission and the Adriatic District - 5 countries - Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia.  So, in order for members to fellowship and learn together, the locations of the activities moves from country to country. This time, the women's conference was in Maribor. 

We celebrated the 184th anniversary of the organization of Relief Society and had a fun weekend of strengthening our faith, hiking, learning a Slovenian folk song, sharing time together. 

This is where we were alll headed - to the top of the hill!

It was a little windy at the top of the hill! (as if you coudn't tell - lol)

A view of beautiful Maribor 

We spent one more night and after Sacrament Meeting on Sunday morning, we headed towards Sarajevo. My heart was tender, as i hugged some of those women I have come to love, ones I probably would not see for a long time. 

Trip to Frankfurt Germany

We so love Germany that we take every opportunity we can to visit there. In our assignment here we are allowed to travel to Germany once a quarter to visit and worship at our temple that is located just outside of Frankfurt. We love going back to Frankfurt to enjoy the area but the true reason we love best - is to worship in the temple.

Our members here in our five countries that are able travel there every three months, most go by bus or car. It takes about 15 hours to drive through four countries. Since Bosnia is toward the bottom of our Mission area it would add another six hours on top of that so we choose to fly. It is a short flight of 1 1/2 hours. We have been taking a dear friend of ours with us each time. Her name is Ljubica Blazevic, she is 88 years old but could out run me in a race.

We forget how clean and orderly everything is in Germany, they don't park in the middle of the street or on the sidewalks like they do here. I love that the autobahn has no speed limit unlike Bosnia whose speed limit is 60 km (36 MPH)  Rental cars in Germany are the most expensive of anywhere we have been but I don't care. We rent one just so I can enjoy a great drive.

We usually have 60-80 people attend for five days that we are there. 

It is a good time for them to socialize since they come from five different countries. One night we get together to eat palacinkes, Balkan crepes. It is so much fun and very delicious, they usually make way more than we can eat, although I try to do my civic duty and eat as many as I can. I always want to help out where I can.

Our friend Ljubica had never visited Heidelberg so we took her and another friend who hadn't been there before to visit our favorite city. 

It think I probably scared them with my speed, but I had a "need for speed". 

I think we all had a great time because Helen and Ljubica were out of it on the flight home - before and after  (I might be sleeping on the couch for this pic)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints now has 383 temple operating, announced or under construction worldwide. We receive such strength and insight by attending these temples. We feel it is a blessing from our Savior to have these houses of God to worship in.