Bapatisms in Rijeka and Celija

We attended two baptisms this weekend. Friday we took the Thompsons, an outreach couple here in Zagreb, with us and drove west to Karlovac, about an hour away, where we visited with the Schmoes, humanitarian missionaries. They took us to some old ruins of a castle in their area, then across the oldest bridge that still works in this part of the world. We had lunch on the rivers edge and considering we didn't know what the waiter was telling us we had a great lunch of soup, salad and grilled chicken with noodles. You're never quite sure what you are going to get. Then on to Rijeka, which is a shipbuilding city on the shores of the Adriatic Sea and is built on the hill side. We had a nice drive along the waters edge and found a beautiful ship, Cloud 9, just a month old and sailing around the world. The baptism was great. A young man Veljko, 22, whom the sisters found and taught. We got home about 10 pm.

Saturday we drove to Celja, Slovenia, northwest of us about 2 hrs. We started on the freeway and then you turn off and drive on this curvy road up through mountains and little villages for about an hour. Absolutely beautiful country, just like you would picture Europe. There the Sisters had found Boris, 50, a month and a half ago. They told us in that time he had read the Book of Mormon, True to the Faith, the conference talks and was on the Book of Mormon again. He will be a great asset to their little Branch. We met four more YSA who will be going to the conference from Slovania. We got home and made two batches of snicker doodles. The sisters had brought some and they were so good. It gave me courage to try cookies. Elder Call also made the best chocolate cake, both recipes out of the Mission cook book.


Our first castle is in Karlovac, about an hour west of us. It is called Nova Grad. As you can see it is very old and is slowly being restored. The Schmoes are living in Karlovac and are Humanitarian missionaries. They also travel into parts of Bosnia for projects. They have done wheelchair, water projects and several others. This castle is out of town about 15 minutes and the next one is in town and we are going to come back to see it. In the fall they have a big festival around it.

This is looking down from the castle to the oldest bridge in Croatia that is still useable. Off to the side of this are some stables where they use to have Lippenstein horses.

This is the castle in town where we will come back to later in the year.

Driving to Nova Grad this is what the countryside looks like. Little strip farming all along the way. And you can see everything is on the hillside.

This is a closeup of the bridge with Paul on it. A family with three children arrived about the same time and were in the river. It looked pretty yuky to us but in they went. Everything shuts down here in July and August. Everyone goes to the mountains or the sea. Most of their families have houses in these places that they have had for generations.

These are some of the wonderful couples we serve with. Elder & Sister Schmoe from Independence, Missouri area, Elder & Sister Thompson from Ontario, Orgeon.

This is a picture of Karlovac from the castle. This town was hit by the war. As you drive through the city you can see shells that have been fired into many of the buildings. They say it was a gentlemen's war. They started shelling at 8 am and quit at 6 pm.

After lunch we left for Rijeka for the baptism of Veljka Tomica. The Thompsons have not been to Rijeka before so we drove around the bay. We are on the Adriatic Sea. A little hazy today but very beautiful. This is a ship building city.

We found a place to park and saw this beautiful yatch. It was just built a month ago in Italy and is headed on a trip around the world. It's a small cruise ship. We thought we should hop on board and let you know that missions are great.

Elder & Sister Manley are serving in Rejika now and they have a wonderful Branch here. Veljka is about 22 and his mother did not want him to be baptized. He asked everyone to pray for her and she consented. The power of prayer can never be underestimated. Sister Manley had prepared a lovely luncheon and I brought Dragana's famous and tasty snicker Bajadera. We got home about 10:00 Friday night. The Sister missionaries taught this young man.

Saturday morning we left for Celija which is in Slovania and East of us about 2 hours. We got on the freeway and headed out. At the border we were glad we were headed in the direction we were going because coming the other way were cars galore trying to get across the border headed for the sea. We whizzed right through this time. We were off on a beautiful drive through the country and mountains to get to Celija. The whole trip was more of this beautiful scenery.

We arrived just in time for Boris Rebernak's baptism. The Sister missionaries found him one evening about 1 1/2 months ago. He has read the Book of Mormon, True to the Faith, and all the last conference talks and has started the Book of Mormon again. He is a wonderful man and will be a great asset to the Branch in Celija. The young man who baptismed him is Pres. Stompe, the Branch President. He is going to the Czech Republic with us on Tuesday. He was at BYU Idaho for a year and is not back and going to school here in electrical engineering. His mother is also a member.

You can see this is another great branch which is doing well. Boris is in the yellow shirt.

When we go to Celija we have to stop for a kabob which is just down the street from the Church.

Sunday on the way home from church we stopped at the Zagreb cemetary. It has this beautiful wall along one side of it. The graves are covered with flowers all the time.

This is a grape arbor where we live. The grapes are coming along really well and it won't be long until they are ready to eat or drink or whatever they do with them here.

Our thought for the week

"Live your life so that those who know you, but don't know Him will want to know Him because they know you."

Maribor, Celje, and Ljubljana

Monday for P-day we decided to go to the zoo at the bottom of our street. It is part of Maximar Park which was set aside as a park in the 1600's. We had to have a picture of the bear since everyone was looking for one in Island Park at the Ray & Verletta Anderson Reunion. We found one for you in case you missed it.

It was a nice little park, not too big and very pleasant. We had taken the car in to have it checked and were on foot. It has been pretty hot the last week so it was nice to be the shade. We hopped a tram after the zoo and went to the Church for FHE. It took us a good hour to get there. We stopped for dinner at a little place the Elders had shown Paul last week after he took them to Osijek.

Sunday on our way back home for visiting Slovania we stopped in Novo Mesta to visit the Elders there. It is a small beautiful town of about 15,000 people.

Sunday at Church they had 1 investigator and 4 Elders. On Sunday evenings they go to the city square and sing hymns and engage passerbys in conversation about the Book of Mormon. I was so proud of them. They gave a family a Book of Mormon and got a name and address of someone else. Elder Dixon, who came out with us, is on the keyboard, Elder Godfrey, Elder Jones, Elder & Sister Lewis. Elder Mathis was out on the sidewalk with the Book of Mormon.

Saturday in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovania and the mission home, we attended the baptism of Dragica Sabic. Elder Cluff baptized her. She was introduced to the church by a less active member and now they are both in church.

Tomislav, Ward Mission Leader, Sister Justus, Sister Ripley, Elder Lindorf, Elder Lewis and Sestra Lidija Vidic, also a new member of 3 months. This was the ward mission leader's first baptism Saturday and confirmation on Sunday.

We met the Vidra family at the baptism. They invited us over on Sunday for a visit. A great family. Radmila, the mother, joined the church first, then her son, Ram and then in 2005 her husband, Robert joined. In 2006 they went to the Freiberg temple to be sealed. We can't wait to go back for another visit. All the pictures you see are of the missionaries who have been in their home.

This is Radmila and me.



Elder Cluff and Sestra Sabic

Before going to Ljubljana we stopped in Maribor where we met Elders Smith and Cox. I was proud of them. As they came down the hill they stopped and engaged everyone on the path. Talk to everyone is our rule. In the bottom of the picture is an entrance into a bunker used during WW II. We are standing on a bridge waiting for them.

In Maribor we met President Tilan Fidler. He is 26, a return missionary from Santa Rosa, CA and a YSA. He will be going to the conference with us. He also teaches the Institute class. Elder Smith and Cox are with Paul.

We left Maribor and went to Celje about an hour away. Here we met the Sister Missionaries Okoren and Shorten who were teaching Juri a lesson on the temple. Juri is 21 and a counselor in the Branch Presidency. He is also going to the conference with us.

Sister Shorten, Okoren and MJ. Before leaving Celje we stopped for a kabab which is a sandwich with lots of vegetables, a hot sauce and shaved chicken in a great bread.

Thursday and Friday of last week we met Vladimir and his wife Marija. They are friends of Greg Amsden in Palmyra NY. What great people. He drove us to the top of the mountain behind our house so we could see the city of Zagreb and then had us over to his home to meet his wife Marija. We hope to get together a few more times.

A view of the back side of Zagreb. There are about 700,000 people in this capital city.

We suggest that you start teaching your FHE lessons from "Preach My Gospel" chapter 3. We need to each be able to teach others about the Restoration of the gospel and build firm testimonies within ourselves. Our calling is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.

Osijek, Beograd, Sremska

We are so blessed. We have the privilege of visiting many of the units in the mission to visit with the YSA and their institute teachers and Outreach Missionary couples.

Friday we left home for Osijek, about 3 1/2 hrs to the east of us. We have a nice highway all the way. We met Elder & Sister Herd, from Wyoming. They just got transferred to Osijek from Slovania for the last two months of their mission. They have made a tremendous difference in the Branch. They are training as fast as they can and reaching out to many less active members. Many of them live too far away from the church and do not have transportation in on Sunday.

We first met with them to find out what was happening in Osijek. (I's are e's, j's are y's, e's are a's) (pronunced Oseak). We drove out to a family who lives in a neighboring town. All three of them are baptized. Gohod, the mother, was baptized in California. Here daughter Fani is 15 and her son Tony is 13. Their father is not a member and is working in Germany. He was home this weekend and we met him. A very nice family but have not been to church in some time. She plays the piano for another church in the city which meets at the same time. There is very little work here, so when you find a job it is a great blessing. We are trying to get her to drop the children off when she goes in. They were very excited for the visit. Paul left him with his message of "I am a child of God, I know He loves me and I love Him". We brought a few CTR gums and pencils and he challenged them to CTR.

While we were waiting for the Elders to open the building we took a little walk down to the river.

That evening the Branch had a Friday night activity which we attended and met some more of their members and several investigators from the English class which the Elders teach. This is Elder/President Champion with a couple. We now have two Elders who are Branch Presidents and one is a group leader. It is our goal to get the Branches run by native Croatians. Slovenia has now reached that goal. All their Branch an District leadership are native Slovanians. It's wonderful. We are trying to work outselves out of a calling.

Gorolana Vildman and I were playing a game of Sorry. She and her husband have been members for about two years.

Another view of Osijek

We spent the night with Elder & Sister Herd. They had their last Zone Conference Tuesday. We left Saturday morning and headed for Serbia. That was our first long wait at a border. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get through the border. Everyone was leaving the cities and going on vacation. I understand they need to travel through Serbia to get to Greece. Every car was filled to the hilt and many had car racks and some mini motor homes. It was a long wait. We didn't get into Beograd until about 3:30.

We checked into our hotel and went out to find the Church. It was just around the corner and up two blocks but we missed it. Walking down the sidewalk back to the hotel we saw in the distance two young men dressed in Olympic uniforms and it turned out to be Elders Knight and Christiansen.

Serbia has been hosting the University Olmypics for the last two weeks. All the Elders and Sr. Couple, The Densleys, have been volunteering and these two elders were on their way home. What a coincidence. We were hungry so off to dinner we went with them. They then took us out to visit Bro. Vasica our Institute and Seminary teacher in Beograd. They live in Pancevo about 40 minutes away.

Paul, Katarina, Lidija, Vileta (mother), Miso (father) Pres. Kovic (Branch President) Suzana, Elder Knight, Elder Christiansen

The girls and mother speak English very well. Bro. Vasica speaks just a little but speaks German and that is what he studies from. This is a great family. They have two more children who are not in the picture, Dusan (11, going to be the first deacon in the Branch) and Durja (7). A very strong family who live about 30 minutes from the Church. We are blessed to have him as our teacher.

These countries have been war torn for many years. This is a building in Beograd bombed by NATO (Americans in their mind). They have not fixed it, wanting to remind us who did this to them. The Elders have a very difficult time in Serbia and yet they know why they are there and they have courage and faith that the Lord will prepare the way. They are constantly reminded of their call "To invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." They are awesome missionaries!!

Elder Christiansen, UT and Elder Knight, Elko, NV

Sunday morning we were planning to attend Church in Sremska, about 45 min. from Beograd, headed back to Zagreb. It should have been easy with no trouble but when we got to the on ramp to cross back over the Danube River it was closed. That sent us off in a direction we did not want to go so by the time we found our way back across the river we were on our way to being late. We got to Sremska (Nelly did a great job), parked the car and started looking for the church. The Branches rent buildings and the name of the Church is usually a small plaque on the side of the building. We had been given #6 and that did not look like the Church plus all the doors were locked. We finally called one of the Elders in Beograd and found out it was now in a new building #2 and we were parked right in front of it all this time. We got there in time for SS.

Elder Gubler and Elder Jaspar were there to meet us. Elder Gubler is the grandson of our good friends Karl and Ramona Jones who served with us in the Palmyra Temple last summer. We were excited to be with him. There are eight missionaries in Serbia and last year they had to all be moved out because of unrest and then were able to come back in.

This Branch has two incredible families. The first is the Branch President Radomir Vucenovic and his wife Dusanka.

She joined the church in 1989 along with her sister-in-law and mother. Four months after her marriage to Pres. Vucenovic he was baptized along with her brother (the other great family) Djorge Ivanovic. Their two girls Milica (13) and Ada (11) sang for us. Actually when we entered the Church Ada was singing the closing hymn. After Sunday School we went back into the Chapel where the two of them sang "Have I Done any Good in the World Today" in English (my mom's favorite hymn) and "A Child's Prayer" in Serbian (one of my favorite). Beautiful clear voices. I asked if they sang for Elder Christofferson when he was here and they said yes.

These two women are incredible mothers. They sacrifice so much for their children to have and enjoy the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are very precious.

This is the Ivanovic Family. Djorge, (father) Nanda (mother), Ljubia (18) David and Luka. Ljubia is going to the Czech Republic with us for the YSA conference along with her brother.

We are excited to return to this wonderful Branch the end of August. The Elders took us to visit with their landlady. She is great to the missionaries. Keeps track of them like their mother. She has had missionaries for over four years in her rented home behind hers. They have a very nice place to live. They then walked us around town. Sremska is an old Roman capitol. During the Roman Empire time they had four major capitols and this was one of them. In the middle of town they have uncovered ruins from that time. It also produced about three of their emporers.

City center: every town or village has a center and one or more churches

We then returned to Osijek to pick up the Herds and take them home with us. Tuesday is Zone Conference and they would have to take the train. They had never been to Zagreb, they came from Slovania after serving their for 16 months and are spending their last two months in Croatia. Quite a surprise but they were needed here and are making a tremendous difference in their branch.

This Church has twin towers they are restoring.

We called the Thompsons and met them in Upper Town, Zagreb where we spent 2 1/2 hours walking around in and out of beautiful catherdrals and little shops. This is in front of the Bishop's gate which dates back to the 3rd century. Bishops would go in and out of the upper city from here. We stopped and had a Kebap which is a sandwich kind of like a pita bread but grilled and filled with shaved meat and vegetables. Very good.

We then went home and rested before going back to meet the Thompsons again for dinner at the Mex Cantina. A very good place and pretty authentic. The fijitas are great. We then finished our shopping for food for Zone Conference and came back to the Church for FHE. We saw the Parley P. Pratt finds the Book of Mormon DVD and then bore testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday morning we headed to the Church for Zone Conference. A highlight of the month. President & Sister Hill have three of these each month. They do a tremendous amount of traveling. In between they are interviewing the missionaries so they are always on the road. They brought their son, Brett, with them. He leaves for the US in August to go to school and then on a mission. They said it would be three years before they saw each other again.

Zone conference started with Elders Freeman and Champion telling of some miracles. One was the baptism of Ivana Korajac in Osijek. Her brother, Zoran, had joined the church four years ago. Very strong and he tried to get her interested but she had no interest. The Manleys came and started visiting with her. She was ready and we attended her baptism last month. Sunday she was sustained as a counselor in the RS. She is a great person and will be very strong and an asset to the Branch.

The other miracle was Marko Butorac who joined the Church three months ago. The sister missionaries found him one day standing in the rain. At first he was not interested in what they had to teach him but that night he prayed and had it confirmed that this was the truth. He is a very spiritual young man and is progressing beautifully. He is going to the Czech Republic conference with us.

Our focus again was on obedience and purity. Constantly improve, be as the stripling warriors. Read the Handbook daily. Preach My Gospel is our handbook, read it daily. Finding means talking to everyone, be sincere, follow the Spirit. Pres. Hill reminded us D&C 100 thoughts into your mind, Holy Ghost will bear witness, make it better than you found it. Pres. Hill is over seven countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and then four countries where we do not have missionaries yet Kosovo, Bosnia, Monegro, Masedonia. Treasure your time here, your time is precious to Heavenly Father, cherish this time with Heavenly Father where you are doing His work 24/7. It will never be like this again in your life.

Three missionaries (Elders Freeman. Jensen, Ferrin) and a Sr. Couple (Herds) are going home next month. This is their last Zone Conference and they bear their testimonies. "I'll be a missionary forever" "If you don't like missionary work, you are in the wrong Church". "It has been an honor to serve with each of you". "Mission is a refiner fire" "Pray for faith, prayer focus on others, this is a work of happiness"

President Hill left us with: Never underestimate the power of personal testimony. We have heard and felt it today. My prayer for each of you each day is in Alma 31:33-35 "O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me--yea (all my Elders & Sisters by name) O Lord, Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt thou grant unto them that they have have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people. O Lord wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power an wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.

Let us go and do likewise.

Have a wonderful Ray & Verletta Anderson Reunion in Island Park. We will thinking about you and our wonderful heritage and posterity!!!

Visits to Rijeka, Pula & Karlovac

We headed out Friday for Rijeka to visit with the Manleys who were moved here one week ago from Osijek. We met them at their apartment which is on the 8th floor of the apartment building and has a beautiful view of the bay. Rijeka is on the Adriatic Sea but in a bay. It is very hilly here and lots of rock. We first went to the Church where we met with Dragana our institute teacher. She is from Serbia and served a mini mission is Rijeka where she met her husband who joined the church. Great family. His two sisters are also members. We then went with the Sister missionaries, Sis. Hillem and Fitsimmons to visit Igo and less active young man.

First we waited at the bus stop for the Elders to come, they did not and so we finally left and said we would meet them. Then up the hill we went in the bus, it was a very humid day. We got off and then walked on up this steep hill and up some stairs to his apartment, which was very small. I was so hot and wet. I really appreicate these wonderful missionaries for all they do. It is not easy. We had a nice visit with Igo. He had his Book of Mormon out and Paul had a nice discussion with him. The Elders arrived and we left and met the Manleys. They took us on a drive around the island and we found a nice place for dinner. We sat right on the edge of the sea.

A view of Rijeka from across the bay.

We had a great visit with them that evening and spent the night in their apartment. They have a wonderful story which I hope I don't forget. Great people. He was pilot and they now live in Eden, Utah up by Huntsville in a beautiful valley.

Sunday morning we got up early and headed for Pula which is about an hour away if you go through the tunnel right thru the mountain. We were headed for the Church and ended up at the colliseum which is right next to it. This was built by the Romans, many many years ago. They now hold concerts and things there. It is very authentic.

We met the Petterssens here in Pula. They were wonderful hosts. We spent the day and night with them. Their little group is small but full of the spirit. At Church we had 12 people and six were missionaries. The Petterssens are going home on Tuesday so we wanted to get down there before they left. We met Bojan who has been a member for 8 years and served a mission in DC and Miro, a new convert since November. He and his wife joined, she joined first. She was sick that day. We also had the Summerlands, a couple from Germany who have a home in Pula and come six months of the year and then an investigator, an older gentlemen who is a musician. The Elders did a great job. We also had Marko from Zadar who stayed until after the Sacrament and bore his testimony. He is also a new convert of 3 months. He had come up to say goodbye to the Petterssens. He is so neat. He is a lawyer and works for a law firm but they do not pay him. Very strange here. People work and no one pays them. I guess there are others to take their place and they just hope they will get paid.

Monday we took a drive to Rovinj which is right on the Adriatic Sea. It is very old and has an old part of town which was built back in the 16th century. This is the Church of St. Eupkemior rebuilt in 1840 and took 11 years to build. That's the Church in the background.

Look at these wonderful streets, cobblestone, narrow. No one has dryers here and you hang the clothes out on racks or you might have a clothes line.

We got the car registered and licensed while we were in Pula. Bojan's brother does it so it was much easier than it would have been in Zagreb. We left that afternoon with four snow tires to take the the Schmoes in Karlovac. They will be getting the Petterssens car next week but they did not have room for their luggage and the tires. It was a great opportunity for us to visit Karlovac. They do not have an institute class there but they were having FHE so we stayed for that and met our first young family in the Church. The Branch President's daughter and her husband and their 3 year old boy. They are converts of less than a year and are going to the Freiburg Temple in August.

Vlaiko Sarapa, Milena and Mihael

We stayed for the lesson and then picked the Elders up from the grocery store and gave them a ride home before stopping at Elder and Sister Schmoe, who are humanitarian missionaries and travel to Bosnia and Kosovo. Elder Schmoe gave Paul a much needed massage on his back and neck. We got home about 11 pm.

Tuesday we spent our day trying to get to the train station to meet Ivana and find out about our transportation to the Czech Republic conference. We dropped the car off to be serviced and were going to catch the tram. The trams were not running because of an electrical problem so we went back to get the car which they were not going to be able to work on until afternoon and found it on the rack. We went home and said lets try again at 1 which we did. We were very late for District meeting. Wednesday and Thursday we spent working on the computer here at home. We got through the rest of the papers we needed to sort through and got a lot of work done. We need to finish up some certificates for the different institutes.

Tomorrow morning we take off for Osijek, Beograd Serbia and will go to Church Sunday in Sremska Serbia where we will meet Elder Gubler. He is the grandson of the Karl and Ramona Jones who we served with in Palmyra.

The Church is true, wonderful and warm wherever you are. Help the missionaries, find someone for them to teach.