Transfer Day!

One of the young elders is involved in transfers this go-round.  Plus the mission president asked that we come over with them - to tell me my assignments here, and so we can get a feel for the kitchen so we can do the cooking for next transfer.  In addition the sister in the couple doing the cooking this time around is the Mission Medical Advisor who is turning things over to Liz.  So we needed to go, too.

This is the other side of the building where our church is located.  It is magnificent, but deteriorating.

   So we all piled into our little car, with the elder's luggage, and headed for Zagreb.  First stop, the MUP (combo gov. and police station) so the elder can let them know he is leaving, which is a visa requirement.  Then we stopped at the church to finish the financial work started Sunday afternoon.  Then we had to stop at the toll booth to get the tolltag updated into my name.  Whew!  Finally we could get on the road.  We've only been here a week, but the countryside is noticeably greener than it was when we came.  And the farmers were out plowing and cutting and getting the farm year started.
  There are aspects of the drive that remind me of Fillmore.  I saw a couple of herds of deer.  Without their antlers, they look remarkably like whitetails, but of course they are European deer.  There are small hunting stands in the fields, just like you see in Texas when you drive around.  The other thing I enjoyed was seeing ringneck pheasants out in the fields.  When we came I saw them, but never close enough to confirm they were ringnecks.  But this time they were closer to the highway and it was obvious what they were.
   On the road to Zagreb we follow along a valley with farms and livestock.  There are villages at the bottom of the hills bordering the valley.

This is pretty typical of them.  The main road in town runs along the base of the hill, and people have built out from there.  Farms extend into the valley, which looks like it is approximately 10 miles wide.  Some of the houses are painted in bright colors, and some look as innocent of paint as a newborn babe.

This road is a tollway with restricted access.  There are rest stops at frequent intervals where you can get gas, food, and sometimes lodging, but those services are fenced inside the tollway.
   The rest stops are clean and very nice.  The actual restrooms are in a separate door from the food area (great idea!) and one we stopped at had a woman sitting there collecting a small coin for cleaning it.  At that same place a trucker walked over to a tree right in front of where we parked, unzipped, and watered a tree.  He didn't even turn his back.  I guess he couldn't afford 2 kuna.  (about 30 cents)

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This is a hotel at one of the rest stops.

We stopped at a member's house for a visit and lunch, and on the way into town we passed this brick yard:

They seem to use these standard bricks for construction everywhere.  They are finer than American bricks, not as porous, and with lots of air gaps for insulation and for running wires.  I'll try to find one where I can take a closer pic.  Someday.
 

I took this photo as we drove through the village.  The houses are better maintained here than in the city where we live, but even so, if you look closely at the taller building down the street a bit, you might notice that the end of the building has no facade and no glass in the attic window.  This too reminds me of Fillmore.

This is an abandoned building in a row of nice homes on the main road through this village.  I would guess maybe 500 people live here.

   So we drove to Zagreb and the Mission Home.  We let the elders take the car from there to the apartment of the elders with whom they are swapping, while we stayed on at the luxurious mission home.  We've now met several of the senior missionary couples and they are delightful - after all we've all made the choice to come here and serve.  All are missing chocolate chips, but I am thinking I will be happy with chopping up chocolate bars and using the chunks.
   At the mission home, we met three sisters who are going home.  We helped the other senior couple prepare their dinner so they could have a relaxing meal and chat with the mission president and his wife.  When they were done we cleared everything up and loaded the dishwasher.  Then the mission president invited us to join them and the sisters who are leaving us for a "what do we do NOW?" chat.  They asked the sisters what was their best experience, and would they bear their testimonies, and so forth.  The mission president gave them some good advice on how to go back to ordinary life and make the adjustment.
  Then one of them asked how they are supposed to find Mr. Right.  Well, that opened the floodgates.  The other senior couple had definite opinions, the mission President and his wife had definite opinions, and we had some, too.  We were all telling them how we made the grade with our marvelous insight and so forth, when it occurred to me that we were getting entirely outside left field.  So I asked if I could throw a monkey in the wrench.  I said that we'd all given good advice, but marriage is all about making a commitment.  So once you find someone you are willing to commit to for the rest of your life and beyond into eternity, and he is also willing to make that commitment, all the other things just kind of go away.  Nobody argued, and we moved on.  I was pleased with that.
   Next day, Liz got training on how be the medical person for the mission (gulp!).  I got training on how to be the techie guru for her.  And president Melonakos finally gave me my assignment in our branch.  I am in the branch and elders quorum presidencies.  Oh, and by the way, would we be in charge of planning the next all-mission senior missionary get-together - preferably to be held in Serbia (where we've never been), and of course we will make the announcement with ALL the details at a meeting in April.  We told him we are delighted to serve, which we really are.
   After that we packed up and drove back to our home city with a new (to us) elder.

   Today we bought a new mattress for our bed (neither of us have been sleeping on the old, lumpy one), and a new sofa.  The current sofa is nice leather so old that all the stitching gives way if you touch it.  It's hard to sit on it without touching stitching, so the stuffing is on the move.
  This evening we had the delightful experience of attending the English class the junior elders are teaching.  Starting next week we will be leading the advance class in conversation.  We'll have some talking points, but mostly we will just talk with them.  There were seven people there who are studying English.  They know the elders are going to lead a religious discussion after the class, and all but one stayed for it, but they have no obligation to do so.  The church provides the study manuals and the students seemed very motivated to progress.

First day at church

We went to church early today so we could greet the members.  There were 15 members, plus we four missionaries, which is good for here.  Liz and I introduced ourselves and bore our testimonies at the beginning of Sacrament meeting, and then the junior missionaries gave the main talks.  Of course, our Croatian language skills were woefully, and obviously inadequate, but the Branch President translated for us. 
  In priesthood meeting we were discussing missionary work and the leader asked what we could do to help build up the membership.  It's hard to jump in with things when the translation lags so far behind the conversation flow, so afterwards I suggested to the Branch President that the front of the building could present a better image with a little repairing.  So a few of us walked out to take a look.

Liz took this photo as we left to go home.  The church has a couple of plates on the wall to my right so people know we're there.   As we stood there looking at the building with a view to repairs, I noticed the wall is pockmarked with holes.  Bullet holes as it turns out.  If you look above the plate with the name of the church there are some big ones, and one is at my left shoulder right on the corner of the doorway.  If you zoom  in on the wall to my left you see lots of smaller holes, which I suspect are shrapnel holes from grenades.  This is just a small view of a very large building a block long.  The whole thing is pocked.  Doorways were clearly targeted.    These are remains of the war of 20+ years ago.  The whole Yugoslavian army was headquartered in Serbia, so Croatia was pretty helpless when Yugoslavia broke apart and Serbia decided to make everybody into Serbians.  Some of the members told us they were trying to stop the tanks with hunting rifles, and some of the current members were wounded.  So, even though it all ended a long time ago, feelings are very sensitive.

  But back to the repair of the building.  The Branch Pres. said he'd like to see it repaired, but there are some issues.  The church just owns the one apartment (the one with yellow flowers on the window sills) so any repair has to be coordinated with the building supervisor.  And then there is the government, which sometimes designates buildings like this one as "cultural sites".  That's bad/good.  Good in that the government will help with costs.  Bad in that the red tape becomes stupendous.  Step one is that most of the tenants in the building have to want it done and agree to pay half the cost.  Usually you can't find tenants who can afford any repairs at all.

  BTW, the state of our building is very typical here.  As we drive around town we see a lot of repairs going on, but much, much more that still needs to be done.  Croatia has been depopulating as people go to other countries to get better jobs, leaving an increasingly bad situation at home.

  The name of the street is Krešimira, which refers to Krešimir Cosic, who played basketball for BYU back when Liz and I were there.  He became a big hero in all of Yugoslavia, before the war.

Saturday (P-day)

Today is P-day for the junior missionaries.  Technically us too, but it's meaningless for us because we get to schedule all our days as needed.
  1.  We called our landlord and asked him to come over.  We had a list of items, some of which he gave us what we want and others that he basically told us to suck it up.  He is a young guy and he owns ten apartments in this building or nearby.   He was very nice and obliging in general.  No wonder we've heard such good things about him.  The big surprise is that he's a young guy.
  2.  The landlord meeting went longer than we'd hoped, so we were late for our 11:00 appointment to meet the elders for cleaning the church.  It is an apartment in an old building.   They build to last here, so most places we've seen have solid wood floors, tile window ledges, carvings, etc.  The walls are made of an interlocking brick with air spaces built in - sort of like concrete block, but solid so no air moves through like it does with concrete block.  It is sad that a lot of these beautiful old buildings are falling into serious disrepair.  Lots of concrete castings and fascia is falling off, and lots of buildings are abandoned or unused.
   So, back to cleaning the building.  We had some decoration arranging to do from a past list, so Liz tackled that.  I asked the elders what was left to do and they said to sweep the stairs coming into the apartment.  It is at the bottom of a stairway so I asked if the church owns the building or just the apartment.  The rumor is that we own it all ( the street is named after our most famous Croatian member) so I walked up the stairs to see if they needed sweeping.  Boy Howdy!  Do they ever!?  As I went up they got dirtier and dirtier, with increasingly large piles of junk on the landings and even pots of dead flowers on the stairs.  So I opted to sweep them all, but not haul out the junk.  I made clouds of dust and by the time I reached the bottom I had a big pile of sand and grit I was sweeping along with me.  Liz came out to tell me they were waiting for me, but she fetched a dust pan so we could throw it all into the garbage can.
  3.  We didn't have time for lunch so we all piled into our car and drove to our apartment.  We had an appointment to meet a member family with the junior missionaries and the family lives in easy walking distance of our apartment.  The first impression as we entered the house was the heat and the smell of wood smoke.  It's been cool each day and gets below freezing at night.  Wood fires are hard to control and I think it was hotter than they wanted.  They are an older couple, and another member who lives nearby joined us.  Very nice, but very little English, although more than we have Croatian.  After introductions (they thought we must be cowboys like John Wayne because we lived in Texas) the junior elders taught them the Sunday School lesson.  She offered us a soft drink which tasted a bit like Dr. Pepper, and as we rose to go she insisted we each take a bag of potato chips.  These came from a food donation they get, but they don't eat them.  This is a bit tricky:  they are getting financial and food help and are dirt poor, but they wanted to give us something to show hospitality.  We didn't really want the food, but you can't offend them, so in the end we each took one bag.
   The home where they live is a study in contrast.  They have nearly nothing.  But they have some cabinets in their home that would make any woodworker drool over the the fancy grain and french polish and carved accents.  They only own four glasses, so Liz and I had to share one.  The kitchen was so small they had the fridge in the living room and stored the dishes on top of it.  But they are nice old people.

Looking eye to eye

We thought today would be a good day for catching up  We only had "game night with members" on our calendar.  6:00 to 7:30 playing UNO with a bunch of folks who speak foreign - how hard can it be?  And it wasn't hard - it was good fun - but that's the end of the story.
  We started out deciding to go to the grocery store up the street within walking distance.  Google maps said it was an 8 minute walk.  So we did that.
  Walking along the street we met lots of people because most Croatians do not have cars.  So I did as I always do and said "Howdy!" or "How are you?" to each one.  The trouble is that I'm used to the open ways of Americans who look back at you and usually respond in some way.  Here they look at you from a distance, but won't make eye contact at all, and mostly look pointedly away except for a few who are curious of my badge.  When I say they don't make eye contact, it is an understatement.  STONY silence is more the thing.  When I say hello they do NOT respond at all.  It's the same if I greet them in Croatian,  "Bok" or "Dobro Jutro" brings the same response.  The poor souls HAVE lived under Nazi oppresion, followed by communistical rule for many years, after which they endured a horrible civil war, but that ended 20+ years ago.  But still they are suspicious of anybody they meet in the streets.  When you get them inside they loosen up.  I sat next to a jolly little guy at UNO who was a delightful, funny companion even though we had almost no words in common.
   OK, Mission goal Number 1:  Greet every Croatian in town with a big smile and friendly hello of some kind.  Objective:  Soften their hearts.
   While we were at the grocery store the Mission President's wife called Liz and arranged to meet us for lunch at 1:30.  Later it was moved to 2:30.  The junior missionaries were also there.  We ate at a local restaurant that specializes in fish and meat stew.  They brought it out in big kettles with ladles in them.  Stew and bread.  Yum!
  As we were leaving Liz and I waited while they boxed up the leftovers (which is going to the junior missionaries).  As we started out the group of four guys at the back asked us to join them.  They wanted to buy us a drink which we declined, but we did share a bit of their sausage and onions.  They were pretty drunk, but what they wanted to tell us was that Croatians don't have much, but they have a beautiful country and they really have everything.  And God bless America, which I happily seconded.  The group included an old, retired pro soccer player, a director of a big (for Croatia) oil company, and the owner of the restaurant.  We left them waving goodbye with big smiles on their faces.
  The young missionaries left early with the Mission President to go for interviews at the church, a short distance away.  But we had their food.   So we drove to the church (after getting lost and circling for a while).  We paid to park and took the food in, and by the time we got everything settled it was too late to go home.  We did a little arranging at the church and then met the members as they arrived for game night.
  So now the day is nearly done,  I'm pooped, and the dishes need to be done.

We finished our work at the MTC right on time.

Do you have any idea what it takes to graduate from the MTC?  As it turns out, you just have to show up.  We did our final teaching session with a volunteer from the community who got some free therapy.  It was easier than we'd feared, because we just talked to our volunteer and she told us what we needed to know to prepare a lesson.  In the end we had a very spiritual experience with her.
We said goodbye to our friends, the Ashtons.  We took lots of photos of our group, our "other" group, our morning teachers, our afternoon teachers.  Then we turned in our MTC passes as we left the building.
   We spent the weekend with Mark, our great-granddaughter, and with Angela and family.  Great times.
  Monday morning, we got up early, did our last minute packing and had a quick breakfast before heading for Salt Lake airport.  First leg:  a 3-hour jump to Minneapolis where we were dreading a short layover to catch our overseas flight.  We were sitting in the back of the plane, so we were sweating it.   As it turns out we made good time and arrived early.  Even so, as we got off the plane I saw a guy with a little passenger cart.  I told him where we were going and he took us straight there in time to join our boarding group.  The advice we'd been given was to sleep on the overnight, overseas leg of our journey.  We both tried.  Tried and failed.  I napped for a bit less than an hour, and then watched movies.  The plane was having problems with certain seat screens.  I was one of the lucky ones.  So Liz let me use her seat to watch a little film about a woman who lived with her mother in Macedonia, supporting them both by harvesting honey she raised in home built hives in the rocks.  It was interesting to an old beekeeper, but sad.
When we landed in Amsterdam, it was still dark in the early morning.  We had a 5-hour wait, so we window shopped, bought a delicious Dutch breakfast, and had a good long nap.  Finally we boarded our little "City Hopper" 737 operated by KLM for the last leg to Croatia.  We don't know if the service was good, because we were both asleep before the plane took off.  We woke up as the jet decelerated and dropped down for the landing.  We got to see Zagreb from the air, and then we were on the ground,
IN CROATIA!
  President and Sister M. met us at the airport as promised.  Customs was a breeze, and we drove to the Mission Office where we met the office staff and got a tour.  Look at the tile fireplace in the office!

We met the couple we are replacing and were introduced to our car.  Then we headed to the Mission Home in a nice part of town.  The building used to be the British Ambassador's residence.

 

It's the house on the left.  I couldn't believe the stairs, which are made of 1.5" solid wood and they don't squeak, don't move at all, and are solid is rocks.  There is a swimming pool in the basement (which is empty and used for sleeping extra elders on transfer days.)  There is a clay tennis court in the back yard.  We were in bed by 8:00 and slept like the dead until morning. 
  We got some breakfast, some instruction, and tried to get back to the office by 9:00.  We got semi-lost and took the long way there, and parked in the wrong area.  What fun!
  The office staff each took a turn instructing us.  Driving rules, visa forms, new mission phone, etc., etc.  Then we fired up the GPS and headed for home.
  Driving in the cities here is very fast!  Not that people drive fast, but the roads are very narrow, so things happen with little warning.  You come to an intersection, it's clear, and before you enter somebody is already there.  So it was nerve wracking until we got out of the city.  Fortunately, Croatia has a great road system and we drove almost the whole way on freeways.  It was a sweet ride through gentle-sloped farm land.
  The young elders we'll be supporting met us at our apartment building and helped us get in.  We unpacked our cases that night and got another good night's rest - almost.  The bed is horrible.  Liz slept on a couch.  We'll be talking to the landlord about it.
  This morning the Elders came back and we all went to the police station to get registered.  We asked for (and got) a 90-day visa, which is apparently unusual.  They usually cut it back some.  I guess we look like wholesome grandparently types.  Later we'll go back and ask for a 1-year visa, then a year later another one but we have to leave at 23 months.  
  Today was transfer announcement day and we all joined a ZOOM conference call to hear who is going where.  One of our elders is going to Zagreb.  Then we bought some food with expert guidance by the elders.  And then we bought lunch for them.
  On the way in we walked by this old church.  It's not the big main church, but it is cool.

I had to wait for people to get out of the way before I took the photo because European privacy rules are very strict and you can't post people faces without their permission.

So now we are back at our apartment, getting it organized and set up like we want it.  Tommorrow will be a big day!

Days 3 & 4 at MTC

Yesterday was a hard day for us.  It's a pride thing, mostly.  Liz and I have been teaching in the church for decades and now we have 20-something people trying to tell us how to prepare a lesson.  And they were doing it backwards!  So we were not feeling so good about it.  In the afternoon, we were planning the lesson we were giving to our "others" and we had a disagreement about a certain scripture.  In the middle of our heated discussion in walks one of the young teachers to offer to help.  We told her we were in the middle of a discussion, but she didn't leave until we got on her case.  So, she left thin-lipped.  We felt bad about it and apologized to her later.
  In actual fact, we are learning a lot and the training is very good.  Today it went much better and the young teacher even smiled at us.  We prepared our lessons the way they want, and it was OK.

This is our MTC "Group".  Husbands standing behind wives (mostly).  L-R: the Mecham's, the Cox's, The Ashurst's, the teachers - Sisters Donaldson (front) and Jensen, and Elder Hansen, whose wife was feeling poorly and didn't attend today.

  We got to visit the new MTC classroom building.  Among other things, they've designed it to be more relaxing and comfortable than the old ones.  One of the features are some huge murals.

This one is the Brother of Jared smolting stone into glass-like stones (aka, glass)

Here we are with our friends, the Ashtons.  They have been a wonderful help to Liz as she prepares to become the Mission Medical Advisor

This evening was a red-letter day.  We went out to dinner with the couple who will be the next mission president, come July.  They are a very fun couple, a bit younger than us (by about 15 years, I'd guess).  We got along famously and had some good talks about our histories and what is happening in the mission as far as we know now.  He served his mission in Yugoslavia, back in the olden days when there was a Yugoslavia.  He told me that he has no intention of changing anything until he's had a chance to observe things for a while and I like that!  So, we feel very good about what will happen at the changing of the guard in July.

MTC Days 1 & 2

We are rebels to some extent.  While other senior couples were getting dropped off we drove our rented car into the parking lot and walked in with no luggage to manhandle.  We waited in line for a while.  First we met a nice lady who checked our names off her list.  Then she pointed to a table 10 feet away and said the next lady would help us.  We took photos as she pinned our tags on our clothes.  That lady had our name tags and an envelope with four copies of our travel documents for next Monday.  Four?  I don't know.    Then she pointed us to the desk nearby where two young elders asked us something we don't remember - maybe if we needed a ride to the airport next week.  (We don't.)  Then they pointed us down four stairs to another lady who pointed us down the hall to where two ladies directed us into a big conference room.  All these people helping us HAS to have a reason!  I figure some doddering old senior missionaries must have gotten lost some time in the past.
  In the conference room we were introduced to our MTC presidency and heard from each of them.  They had some administrivia for us, and then we were herded to the dorm building where everybody but us will be staying.  We had two young missionary guides for this trip from  the room to the exit, then another pair to the next building, then another pair in the door to take us to our training room for the morning.  We got class schedules and some good direction.  We were assigned to a "group" of four couples.  One elder was assigned as group leader and we're supposed to report any problems to him, although he's just as clueless as the rest of us.
  For lunch we entered the big cafeteria where hundreds of young missionaries were doing what 18 and 19 year olds do with food.  Mass quantities.  For this meal we sat with other senior missionaries, even though we were advised that it's more fun to sit with the young missionaries.  The food was edible, good quantity, and unlimited ice cream.

This is lunch time.  The couple next to us are going to Hawaii to the temple, PCC and BYU-H.  She is going to be a wood carver!

  In our afternoon class we were assigned to trainers.  These are return missionaries, mostly women, who are paid teachers working part-time while attending BYU.  We have a group for mornings, and another for afternoons.  We met with our group.  Then each couple was assigned an "other" couple.  Other is from a scriptures indicating that we teach others.  Our others were couples in the group in the next classroom, which makes it easier to get together.  The reason for having an other couple is that we get to practice our missionary teaching skills on them, and vice versa.  We were assigned to Bro. and Sister Ashton.  My first impression was not great.  She is an incessant talker, while he is a clam.  But we chatted away for a while.  They did do one awesome thing.  The had us open up Family Tree and showed us how to let our apple phones talk to each other and show us how closely we are related.   Turns out Bro. Ashton is my 9th cousin via Mom's line, and Sister Ashton is my 10th cousin via Dad's line.  That was fun.
  We thought we'd be free to go back to the hotel for some alone time after our last class of the day, but we learned that the FHE that evening would be a film of Elder Bednar discussing attributes of the Savior.  A film recorded on a Sunday, Christmas Day, a few years ago,  A film that is only shown at the MTC.  We decided to stay for it, so we had more missionary food and then watched the film.  I'm glad we stayed.  It was a  very, very good talk with some great missionary insights. 
In the end, we got home late, exhausted.

Tuesday
  We stopped at the famous map of the World to get our photo.  It's not official, but EVERYBODY does it.

Today we had lessons from the Preach My Gospel bookl and learned how to talk to people and challenge them to do things that will lead to repentence.  Not "you did bad things" repentence", but "here's how we can do better" repentence.  This will lead up to us challenging the Ashtons to do something in that line.  Meanwhile, we learned the Brother cousin Ashton is a doctor who has served a previous mission as the Mission Doctor.  At the same time he learned that Liz has been assigned to be the Mission Nurse and has NO training.  He was appalled.  Next thing we know we were off in an office talking to a Service Director who coordinates mission medical people.  He showed Liz the computer program and files for Mission nurses and explained some of the basics.  She'll be getting some fast training as a result of it.  We had no idea how much trouble she'd have been in if Dr. cousin Ashton hadn't stepped in and helped.  We're having lunch with them tommorrow.
  In the evening we lost another free evening for a fireside that was rumored to have an apostle speaking.  Turns out it was Sister Sharon Eubank, 1st council in the General Relief Society Presidency.  Not an apostle, but she is an amazing person and gave a great talk.   Afterwards we went to dinner at Red Lobster with the Ashtons.  We are starting to be great friends.  We've pretty much agreed to go out of program from here on out and we'll just talk while ignoring the teachers when we get to engage our "others".  Oh, we are evil devils!

Last Steps

This last week was more relaxing than I thought it would be.  Liz started packing her suitcases a week before I wanted to even think about it.  Consequently she found that she needed more space than the 2 suitcases we had allocated ourselves,  So when I finally started packing I put most of my clothes in a suitcase and remarked that my clothes would easily fit in one suitcase.  I still had a lot of incidentals to go, but it meant that Liz used three suitcases.  As I gathered all my things I found that I had no room to spare.  We were both overflowing.  We had to jettison some things we wanted to take with us.  Example:  chocolate is available in Croatia but chocolate chips are not,  So I had three 5# bags from Sam's Club that I really wanted to take.  Nope - they all had to go.  I left my new-ish hoodie.  I left half my suspenders.  And so forth.  It took two days to get down to four suitcases weighing less than 50# each.  But due to Liz starting so soon, we were all packed and ready to go a full day early.
  We called Marti and Keith and went to dinner with them one final time, shedding some tears at parting.  We watched the rest of the Hill Street Blues (1980s TV series) episodes I'd bought.  And we had a relaxing day.  We sold our car to a nice young man from Phoenix and walked home.  Then Ruth came and got us to go to Nancy's house for dinner.
   Friday night:  Our Stake President came to Nancy's at 7:00 pm.  He set us each apart as full-time Missionaries, and gave each of us thorough, personal blessings.  He was awesome!  And then he interviewed us again for new temple recommends.
  Next morning our faithful Ruth got us and our dunnage to take us to the airport.  After all our sweating about getting our suitcases to just the correct weight, the guy who checked us in hefted each one and said they were good.  No scales, no mess, no bother.
  So now we are in our hotel room in Provo with our granddaughter.  We held our great-granddaughter last night and hugged her parents.  We;ll see them more this week because they had the good sense to live almost across the street from the Missionary Training Center where we will be in classes all the coming week before traveling to Croatia.

I put in this photo of our luggage at the airport.  Liz is at the counter getting our car for us while we are in Provo.  Four BIG suitcases, two small ones, two computer bags, and coats.

Last things

The time is fast approaching when we will head out for our mission.  One week to go.  We are beginning to do some things for the last time - some only for the last time before we leave for two years  - and some for the actual last time.
   Yesterday, Keith (my brother-in-law-in-law) and I went out to the ranch where we have hunted pigs for the past 15 or so years.  We took rifles, but it was more a nostalgia trip than hunting.  We saw some deer and wished them well.  We walked through the woods along the bank of Baker Creek down to where Moss Creek joins it.  Then we turned up Moss Creek and followed the woods along its bank to the edge of the property, where we turned back towards the truck. 
   As we walked I said something about having a lot of adventures out there.  Keith said his strongest memory is the day we were trimming tree branches out of a shooting lane and his appendix burst.  We didn't know why he was feeling so bad so suddenly, but we dropped our tools and I persuaded him to go home.  There I suggested he go straight to the hospital.  He wasn't feeling any pain - only sick.  Later his doctor said that I saved his life by getting him back straight away.
   So then I reminded him of the day he tagged along as I harvested honey from my beehives in the heat of summer.  With Africanized bees in the area now I had to wear a full, canvas suit, and the heat got me.  When Keith came back to where I was working I was sitting down and had no strength to get the final 30 feet to the truck and water.  He got me water and got me home.
   So, Yes, we've had some adventures.  But more than that we have many pleasant memories of seeing riotous wild flowers, turtles, butterflies, foxes, bobcats, skunks, armadilloes, black panthers, raccoons, opossoms, beaver, snakes, lizards, salamanders, road runners, owls of all sizes, buzzards, hawks, crows, cardinals, huge Texas millipedes,and many, many other creatures.  We've removed a lot of feral hogs, which is why the owner wants us there, but we've mostly just enjoyed being out there.
  As we walked, I found that Keith was lagging behind.  In the past, he is almost always in front of me, because he wants to cover ground while I want to look at everything as we go.  But this time he had tired.  I doubt we walked as much as 2 miles.  Many times we have walked five or ten times that far and loved it.  The fact is that both of us are getting old enough to find a hobby more sedentary than hunting feral hogs.  So this visit to the ranch was truly the last time.
  In the past two weeks, Liz had the ward sisters come help her pack up all her china and serving pieces into boxes.  We packed clothes we want to keep but not take to Croatia into boxes, too, and I shrink-wrapped furniture we want to store.  Then I had the brothers come help me put it all away.  The things that aren't affected by heat went into the attic, and everything else went into a big pile in the garage.  When Josh comes, he'll be able to park a car on one side, but his other car will have to go out on the street.  So, now the only chairs we have in our living room are folding chairs.
  Liz has her suitcases packed, but I am holding out for the last day.  Our taxes are done except for a couple of 1099's that will come after we leave. 
This final week before we leave will be filled with many other "last things", and we are very happy about it.

Talk to Frisco 5th Ward - January 26, 2020 - Missionary Farewell.

This is the talk I gave in church last Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020

Dobre Dan!  This means “Good afternoon,” in Croatian.   I can't say the R's properly.  My old tongue and brain just can't do it, although I have tried and tried.  Fortunately, we are not REQUIRED to learn Croatian.

  Sister Ashurst and I have been assigned to the Adriatic North Mission as Assistant Area Auditors , and as Member and Leader Support Missionaries.

A couple of weeks ago we were in Utah and were invited to the Church Office Building to meet with the church auditors and receive council and training.  One of the first things they told us was, “Bro. and Sis. Ashurst, you have been called as Assistant Area Auditors.   You have equal authority and responsibility to conduct and manage the audits of the church units in the Adriatic North Mission.”  This answered a question I had had.  Whether it was a priesthood calling, or a calling under direction of the priesthood.  We will both function under the direction of our priesthood leaders.

  Auditing is not so much about catching wrong-doers.  Many of the branch presidents and branch financial clerks are 19 and 20 year-old missionaries.  Our auditing function will be about discovering opportunities for teaching, supporting, and strengthening the branch leaders, whatever their age.  In a few cases we might have to report serious problems to our priesthood leaders, but it is not our job to confront, or address, or solve those problems.

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We requested to be assigned to the Adriatic North Mission.  Liz’s father was born in Croatia, and our family has many Croatian traditions that we follow.  I personally, have been greatly influenced by her father in the way he approached his church and family responsibilities.   

He was determined that his children and grandchildren would remain close to each other, so that we would be formed as an eternal family here, as well as in eternity.  We follow his example in holding week-long reunions of our entire family every three years.  We make sure everybody attends, and participates.  We cook and eat meals together.  We have fun activities, but we leave time for visiting and bonding with each other, too.  One of the highlights of every reunion is the day we roast a lamb over a charcoal fire in the Croatian style, which takes almost all day.  The men cook the lamb.  Everybody else prepares the traditional foods, such as pogacha, Orignacha, Pedrobit, and Italian-style potato salad.  But we pass on the sarma that her father loved.

People ask us if it is safe to be in the Adriatic area.  The State Department says it is as safe to live in Croatia as it is to live here, in spite of the civil war of 25 years ago.  But really, why should we worry about that?  When Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah wanted to go to the Lamanites, was their safety the issue?  Well, yes, it was.  But it was not the big issue.  In Mosiah 28, we read about their request to King Mosiah. 

They asked,  QUOTE   “that they might impart the word of God to their brethren, the Lamanites—

2 ^aThat perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers; and that perhaps they might cure them of their ^bhatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them.”  UNQUOTE

In the December 1991 Ensign, Elder Russell M.  Nelson reported on his service in Europe, including a section about Yugoslavia.  Please note that the former Yugoslavia is now six, separate countries, five of which are the countries which comprise the Adriatic North Mission.  The civil strife that led to the dissolving of Yugoslavia was about to become a civil war as he gave this report:

QUOTE: “President Monson dedicated this land on 31 October 1985, just prior to his call to the First Presidency. My first visit to that country as a Church leader was in April 1987. Elder Ringger and I met with governmental directors of religious affairs for Serbia and Croatia, as well as for Yugoslavia. Our interpreter was Kresimir Cosic, once a star basketball player for Brigham Young University. Brother Cosic had become a national sports hero in Yugoslavia.  Governmental officials confessed that they weren’t particularly eager to meet with leaders of the “Mormon” Church, but they were excited to meet Brother Cosic, whom they admired and watched regularly on television.

We now have a legally recognized chapel in Zagreb, and congregations in other major cities….. Earnestly we pray for peaceful resolution of the civil discord that besets this nation at the present time. So many choice souls reside in this beautiful land.”       UNQUOTE

Yes, many choice souls do reside in that land.  The church is still small in the Adriatic North Mission, but it is growing and we want to help it grow more.  The church now owns two chapels in the Mission and there are almost 20 organized units, most of which meet in rented buildings, and there are about 1400 members.  There are 64 proselyting missionaries in the mission and last year’s mission goal for convert baptisms was 64.  They exceeded that goal.

We have been assigned to support a branch in Croatia.  But Sister Ashurst and I feel very blessed to have our 2^nd missionary assignment that will allow us to travel throughout the mission as we perform the branch and district audits.  We will always have translators with us as we perform our duties, and we are thrilled to be able to meet and visit with member leaders in all five countries in the mission.  The missionary department instructed us to get a “large” passport book, because we will be getting stamps in our books as we cross each border.  I hope we can fill up those large books.

Returning to Alma and the Sons of Mosiah, 

QUOTE “And king Mosiah went and ^ainquired of the Lord if he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word.

7 And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will ^adeliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites.

8 And it came to pass that Mosiah granted that they might go and do according to their request.”  UNQUOTE

We too, will go,       and do.

This last week we spoke with President Melonakos and his wife about our mission, what we needed to bring, and some extra assignments they want us to accept.  We asked them if there was anything we could bring for them.  Their answer was, “More senior couples”.   We said we would try.

We ask all of you to visit churchofjesuschrist.org/seniormissionaries and look at the list of opportunities.  No matter your age, it is an eye-opening list.  If you are a senior, please consider applying.

And finally:  I ask that all of you will join us  in praying for the people of the Adriatic North Mission.    That they can forgive their fellow men of past offenses, that they can love one another, and that they may feel the spirit whispering the truths of the gospel to them.

And I say this…