A very exciting Sabbath day

Let me back up a little.  Yesterday was Saturday and I woke up thinking about how our plan had been to come to Zagreb for just a couple of days, and now we've been here for a week, and the end is uncertain.  Friday evening President M. mentioned to me that Croatia may stop city-to-city traffic like Italy did.  Not that he knows anything, but he's suspicious they might.

Saturday morning I woke up and was laying in bed thinking about how all our things are in Osijek, so maybe I should drive over there and get a few things so we'd be prepared for a longer stay.  Among other things, I'm missing my Immodium, and we left our cash in the apartment.
  When I came down to breakfast, Sister M. was there and she said that things are getting shut down by the government and maybe I should make a mad dash to Osijek to get our things.  She meant all of them!  Then President M. came in and told us we should go get our things and move into the Mission Home until things settle down.  He also said we should take the big van the mission has, because we should bring our food supplies, and we might also be bringing the young elders from Osijek.
  I talked it over with Liz and we decided to make the mad dash together.  Meanwhile President M. confirmed that we should bring the young elders back with us.

The mission van has a bad rep here, because it is big.  OTOH, it has adaptive cruise control, a good back up camera, great side mirrors, and a diesel engine that purrs like a kitten.  To my surprise, Liz wanted to drive it, and she ended driving all the way to Osijek.  I told her in no uncertain terms that it would be MY turn to drive it back.  Later she admitted that she insisted on driving because I was too tense.  I was a bit stressed over the sudden decision to dash to Osijek, moving semi-permanently to Zagreb, and the thought that we'd have to hunker down for an extended time.
  The drive went well enough.  Traffic is very light because people are trying to isolate.  We have to drive across half of Zagreb before we can get on the tollway that zooms all the way to Osijek, but to our surprise police had blocked the entrance to it!  We had no choice other than wait because it is already a restricted access road leading up to it.  Meanwhile a line of trucks was passing, and passing, and passing.  Hundreds of semis going along in a row.  Finally the police got in their car, and as the last truck passed they fell in alongside the last semi.  So we drove along at 80 kmh, which is not very fast.  We couldn't figure out why the police were blocking the passing lane.
  Finally we got to the toll booth and all the trucks went through a special lane and didn't have to stop.  There were a bunch of police cars there, making the sure the trucks all went through the special lane and only through the special lane.  But the good news is that they let us pass as we went through the toll station.  An hour or so later we stopped for some more diesel fuel and to buy a luke-cold refreshing beverage, and a guy in the station told us the trucks were driving through Croatia and didn't have any business to stop here.  With the travel restrictions at the border, they get a police escort from border to border.  Later we saw lots of police cars guarding exits, and then a rest stop that was entirely closed to ordinary humans, but allowed the convoy trucks.  So, they are serious about the decision to close Croatia's borders.

By the way, trucks here have strict speed limits.  Here is a closeup of the back of one of the trucks:

Notice in the dark under above the bumper there are two white circles with numbers in them:  70 and 80.  That means its speed limit is 70 kmh, but it can go up to 80 kmh when passing another truck.  This being Europe, they are not allowed to block the passing lane, so mostly they don't pass each other.  I like it.  It must be cruel for the drivers to have to drag along, but for driving a car it is wonderful.

We got to Osijek, where we threw all our stuff into suitcases and bags and loaded the van.  The young elders walked over and helped us load it, which was very helpful, because we weren't packing nicely and we had a couple of big suitcases that weighed a ton!  Then we went to the elders' apartment and loaded their stuff, and headed for home.
  Driving the van was pleasant, but it does feel more like a truck than a car.  I drove all the way to the Mission Home, our new home, where a herd of young elders were waiting to help us unload and to take our elders to a missionary apartment down in town.  I was a little stressed about it because the young elders have not self-isolated until a couple of days ago, so they were out meeting, greeting, and exposing themselves to virii.  But I was glad of the help getting the suitcases up the stairs.
  We now have a bedroom on the 3rd floor of the Mission Home, next to President and Sister M., and a storage bedroom and office on the top floor.

An Unexpected Surprise:
  This morning it was just getting light and Liz and I were both awake.  We were laying snuggled together side by side having a nice relaxing chat.  Suddenly a tremendously loud roaring hit us and the whole room started whipping back and forth.  It lasted about 30 seconds, but seemed ever so much longer.  We recognized the earthquake - we've seen them before.  We held each other tight and just hoped the house would hold up.  There was a loud bang somewhere in the middle of it.  We got up and threw on some clothes and went out.  Our bedroom was a mess from stuff that had been neatly stacked around the edges and was now thrown all over in piles, but it was intact.  As we went out into the hall we saw plaster all over the floor, and various things that had fallen.  Downstairs it was even worse.  Kitchen stuff was all over the floor.  Lamps had fallen over and broken.  The piano fell over, so that was the bang we heard during the quake.  It bent up the stool on the way down, but I think it's repairable.
  The worst place in all the house is the 18" thick bearing wall that runs across the center of the house.  It is brick, of course.

It is interesting how it broke in diamond shapes.  I think the bricks broke loose so they could tilt back and forth, but the rocking motion of the bricks separated the plaster in diamonds.  The big triangle crack by the door goes right through the entire wall, so I think it will need some serious reconstruction.  I looked at it and just prayed we wouldn't get another really big shake.
   A bit later we did get another serious shake, but it wasn't as strong as that first one.  We've had aftershocks all day, but nothing as strong as those first two.  Lots of them we hear, but can only feel if it is quiet and we are sitting.  It's strange that we hear them before we feel them.
  When I went outside people in the neighborhood were going outside to look around.  One woman came over crying that it was just too much to have the C-virus and have an earthquake too.  I tried to calm her down, and told her to expect aftershocks all day, but they'd probably be smaller.  I wondered how she'd take that, but it actually seemed to calm her down.
   This is what most of the houses showed from the outside:

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The chimneys fell over and slid down the roof, often taking tiles with them.  The guy next door had bricks in his front yard from his chimney, but ours appears to be more or less intact.  Relatively.  It's like the house is intact.

This corner of the house rained little bits of stucco all day.   But it is intact enough that we are staying in it again.   Right after I took this photo, it started to snow.

We actually got off very easy.  Downtown Osijek is full of 19th Century buildings built in the ornate Austro-Hungarian style, and not so well maintained since Croatia was severely tried during the civil war 20+ years ago.

I don't actually know where this was - somewhere in Zagreb.  Bad day for the owner of that car.

This cathedral lost the tip of its spire, which puts them on an equal footing with us, since the Angel Moroni lost his trumpet in the Salt Lake City earthquake a few days ago.
  A gargoyle fell off a building downtown and fell on another car, and I hear a 15 year old boy was killed by falling bricks.

So, today we have been very lucky, although it was a stressful day with aftershocks coming randomly all day long.  It is strange because the waves of the earthquakes are slow rolling, and they move slower than the speed of sound.  For example, this afternoon we were all relaxing in the sun room.  We heard a bang, the windows rattled, and then we felt the earthquake.  All in quick succesion, but definitely in that order.
  Well, we are ready for the day to end.  Tomorrow will bring new challenges, and we have work to do.