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."