Return to Bosnia i Herzegovina Part III

Monday morning we went to the office of Crkveni Kriz TK (Tuzla Red Cross).  When we lived in Tuzla we partnered with the Red Cross to do many projects.  Tanja Bijedic speaks excellent English and and is a delightful and competent professional.  We followed Tanja and Nermin from Živinice Red Cross to visit the families and their gardens that LDS Charities and the Red Cross are assisting together.  Those selected to participate in the Red Cross Gardening Projects were carefully chosen.  They were all wonderful, hardworking people.    

 

 

We visited two gardens - at the second garden we discovered that the couple who owned the garden were deaf.  Their son was there to translate, but Sister Burns also knew sign language and they were able to communicate.  These people were so happy to have another person that understood and could "sign" with them.   

Showing us #1 and #2 Cukes

After Lunch with Tanja we walked across centar to visit another one of our old friends, Enisa Bratanovic.  LDS Charities also did several projects with Enisa and her organization, Lotosice.

Lotosice is no longer operating, but she now operates a new organization serving the disabled,  Naš Podstrek (Our Impetus) that LDS  Charities just finished a project with.  Naš Podstrek has a gift shop that sells souvenirs made of wood with characteristics and symbols of the city of Tuzla.  Everything for sale is handmade in the organisation's workshop by people with disabilities. 

Our return to Tuzla was incredible.  We were amazed at how much we remembered when it came to navigating our way around the city.  In fact, the new GPS quit working, so we had to rely on our memory for navigation.  We did quite well.

After our visit with Enisa, we also visited a project with the "Home for Children in Tuzla" and then began our trip back to Sarajevo. We stopped for dinner when we neared Sarajevo and had an enjoyable meal at a local restaurant.  After dinner, Elder and Sister Burns dropped us off at our hotel where we packed to return to Frankfurt the next morning.

Meeting at the Home for Children in Tuzla

"The reason charity never fails and the reason charity is greater than even the most significant acts of goodness is that charity, 'the pure love of Christ,' is not an act but a condition or state of being." Dallas H. Oaks,   

Return to Bosnia i Herzegovina Part !!

On Thursday and Friday (July 18-19, 2019) we spent the day training with Elder and Sister Burns.  We took several breaks and went out to dinner at night.  Learning and developing new technical skills is hard work.

Learning Finance

Sometimes Susan needs training

E;der Ron and Sister Cathy Burns

This is a restaurant we would go to during our mission in Bosnia

Saturday we went in search of a new GPS for the Burns.  After securing their new GPS we returned to their apartment to continue training.  A good GPS is essential as they have to cover all of Bosnia and Croatia in their humanitarian work.

Sunday morning we left Sarajevo at 7:00 AM and began a very familiar drive for us North 2.5 hours to Tuzla.  After arriving in Tuzla we called the Elders to get directions to the church.  They now meet in a bank building on the 7th floor.  We found the church and enjoyed our meetings  We were very impressed with Elder Shepherd and Elder O'Brien.  There were two members besides the missionaries in attendance.  Elder Shepherd and Elder O'Brien conducted the meeting, led and played the music, as well as blessed the sacrament.  Their parents would be proud of the way are serving.

New church building

Elder Burns, Sretan, Elder Shepherd, Elder O'Brien, Edina, Elder Winters, and Sister Winters

Elder Shepherd, Sretan, Edina, Elder O'Brien

After church we went back to our hotel and had a small lunch Sister Burns had packed for us.  After lunch we went to visit Mersiha Idrizovic and her family.  Mersiha was one of the translators we worked with when we lived in Bosnia.  The success of the vision screening projects that LDS Charities did in Bosnia was to a great extent because of her dedication to improving children's lives.  It was a wonderful coincidence that Sunday was her birthday. We had a happy visit and also had birthday cake with the family!

Emir, Mersiha, and Omar

After visiting Mersiha and her family we went for a walk in downtown Tuzla.  We walked to the town centre and enjoyed the familiar views.  There were so many memories that came flooding back.

The Burns with Mesa Selimovic and Islet Mujezinovic

"Good people influence your life and help in holding your own personality and character and help you to mingle out in society and live the way that you should live.  They help you carry on worthwhile enterprises, and they live you onto a higher plane."  David B. Haight, General Conference October 2002

Return to Bosnia i Herzegoviina

On Wednesday, July 17th we boarded a plane to go back to Bosnia to train a new humanitarian missionary couple, Elder Ron and Sister Cathy Burns.  They are assigned to live and work in the city of Sarajevo.  We left Tuzla, Bosnia in November 2013.  We left behind so many wonderful people and memories.  The opportunity to return was something we never thought would happen, but return we did.  It was wonderful!

Arriving in Sarajevo

Ready to go to work

By the time we got to Sarajevo in was late Wednesday afternoon.  After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we went to the Burns' apartment to develop a plan for Thursday.

Thursday we went with Edina and Admir, representatives from Muslim Aid, a non-government organization (NGO) to visit the beneficiaries of a food production project - using greenhouses to grow food for nutrition and sale.  These greenhouses are part of the Benson Food Initiative, a project to help people develop skills and learn food production for nutrition and income.  Twice a year applications are accepted and beneficiaries are selected based upon need.   The beneficiaries are then given a "Greenhouse Kit" along with training so that they will be successful.  The partnership with LDS Charities, local municipalities and Muslim Aid has been going since we left Bosnia in 2013.  It has been a very successful partnership. 

First on our list was a visit to the offices of the municipality 0f Kananj.  Here we talked about the greenhouse project and how pleased everyone was with the success.  Then we went to visit some of the participants.

Meeting at Kankaj Municipality

Showing Sister Burns her records

The joy and pride that each of these beneficiaries showed was heartwarming.  After visiting the greenhouses, we went for a late lunch and then back to the Burns apartment for some training.

Stay tuned day 3 - 7 yet to come. 

 "The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible."  Russell M. Nelson

Burg Eltz

Saturday our weekend adventure took us on a 2 hour drive to Burg Eltz.  Burg Eltz is a medieval castle in Germany located in the hills above the Moselle River. It is one of the most beautiful castles in all of Europe.  The castle has been owned by the same family from the time it was built until today (33 generations).  This castle has been here for more than 850 years and remains unscathed by the many European wars. Its architecture is quite unique and many of the original furnishings of the past eight centuries still remain in place. They have a treasury and armoury with dishes and many other lovely items of gold and silver. The armoury of course has numerous weapons used to defend the castle and also a showcase of 18th century guns.  

The castle is built on a large rock which shows it's prominence, but is located in a beautiful green valley. There is a footpath through the Eltz Forest leading down to the castle.  The views are very picturesque. 

As you can see from a couple of the pictures below, the people in the early days of the castle were not very tall.  Proof of this is shown by the size of the beds, doors, and armour.  We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle itself - only in the treasury and armoury.

In Germany there are so many castles to see, we know we will not see them all - but we can cross a few including this one off our list.

"The word of God, as found in the scriptures, in the words of living prophets, and in personal revelations, has the power to fortify the Saints and arm them with the Spirit so they can resist evil, hold fast to the good, and find joy in this life."  Ezra Taft Benson "The Power of the Word" April General Conference 1986

Dresden and Freiberg

On Friday, July 5th we left work early and drove north to Dresden, Germany where we spent the night.  We had a delicious dinner and walked around the town.  We enjoyed Dresden, but the primary purpose of our trip was to visit the Freiberg Temple.  Early Saturday morning we drove 45 minutes to Freiberg and attended a temple session.  After the temple we went into the town of Freiberg, had a nice lunch and then drove about 4 hours back to Frankfurt.  It was a very nice way to spend the weekend.

"My dear brothers and sister, the joy that we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives."Russell M. Nelson, Teachings of Russell M. Nelson