Osijek, Bucharest Conference, Skocjanske jame, Farewells

The first farewell we have been involved in. We had four Elders, two Sisters, one Senior Sister and one couple leave the mission field. We gathered together at the Mission Home for a wonderful dinner prepared by Sister Hill and then had a great testimony meeting.

President & Sister Hill

Dinner line

The Willfords stayed with us Sunday and Monday night. Monday we had the day to go see some of Slovenia. The Willfords served in Varazdin, Croatia and had only been to Slovenia a couple of times. We finally got them up to Bled. A beautiful lake with a very small island on it and a large castle built on the top of a ledge. It was a fairly cloudy day but still beautiful. This is a really big tourist attraction in Slovenia.

We also drove south west to Skocjanske jame which is one of 7000 caves in Slovenia. This was a beautiful cave, we could not take pictures inside. It was very warm compared to our last cave. The first part was called the silent cave and then it goes into the murmuring cave where there is a river which flows through and under the cave.

Our guide and small group of seven

This is the viewpoint from above and across the gorge with Elder & Sister Willford

We traveled to Bucharest, Romania for a week of training and faculty meeting with the East Europe faculty of S&I. It was wonderful being with these men and missionary couples again. We receive so much good training to take back to our missions. Bucharest is a city of 3 million people. One of the beautiful buildings outside our hotel is the Peoples Palace. Elder Lewis and I were able to take a tour through 4% of it on our last day.

This is the East Europe Faculty for S&I

Brother Marin Iachimov and his family. He is our leader

Brother Donaldson came early to train the mission couples. This is in front of Bucharest's beautiful chapel.

Bucharest Chapel

Tuesday morning we were fortunate to be in the city for the commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the dedication of Romania by Elder Nelson. The District met on the hill in the park where the prayer was offered. The District President had the dedicatory prayer read by four brethren, and then testimonies from four members. Elder & Sister Heywood had just arrived to the Czech Republic for their service. They have been in the country three weeks and were a little overwhelmed. It brought back memories for the rest of us. Elder Ireland is on the right.

This is a beautiful park

The gathering of the District

This is the Outreach center for the Bucharest Chapel. A very nice facility and also a nuclear bomb shelter required by the government.

Our arrival into Frankfurt, Germany where we changed planes.

We started this trip to Romania by driving to Osijek for a visit with their Branch. The weather was stormy and we received a call from Bro. Iachimov to not drive. We were already six hours from home and thought about flying out of Beograd (an hour away from us) but couldn't get a flight out. After Church we drove the Elders and Zoran out to visit a couple who live about 40 minutes away from the Church and do not get in often. Had a nice visit with them and then returned to Osijek where we headed back to Ljubljana. We arrived home about 9:30 pm. Got on line and purchased airline tickets with the help of Kory and Katie and took a flight out Monday morning at 7:55. It was a wonderful rewarding week. Coming back we missed our connecting flight in Munich and didn't get out until 8:45 that night.

Winter is still with us.

Sunday morning on our return to Ljubljana we took Sister Justus with us and went to Church in Maribor, about 1 1/2 hrs. east of us. Sister Justus gave a wonderful presentation on pioneers. We then returned to Ljubljana to prepare for the Willfords.

We leave our testimony that the Lord directs this great work. We are humbled to be a small part of sharing and strengthening His children. We can all do our part by having faith in Jesus Christ, repenting and being clean, letting the Holy Ghost be a part of our life every single day, and enduring happily to the end. What a great work, we are so blessed. We send our love and reminder to Choose the Right.

February Rijeka, Zadar, Varazdin, Ljubljana & Beograd

We were out preshopping for the outreach center here in Ljubljana. We have some startup funds so we were checking prices and trying to find items. At the Mercur they always have a great animal exhibit. Paul always wants his picture taken with them for the kids. So I hope you Grandchildren are checking this site out.

We had a busy weekend. We met Brother & Sister Lotito, our area S&I Coordinator from Italy, here in Ljubljana and did some teacher training with our institute teachers here. We have been busy today bringing the attendance sheets up-to-date for the end of the semester.

Elder Lewis and I went on to Beograd for training with their teachers. We have just one seminary and one institute class here and Bro. Vasica teaches both so we invite the Branch members to come also. Our hope is that they go home with some new teaching skills.

We ordered pizza for everyone and then had institute afterwards. Some of the Branch had gone ice skating. Sunday we attended Church and Elder & Sister Densley invited us to dinner with the Elders and Nikola, their translator. We had a great visit and got home that night about 9:30. It's just about a six hour drive.

The week before we visited Varazdin on Saturday and Sunday. The Willfords had borrowed the car for two weeks so they could get around to all the members before they leave their mission. We spoke in Church on Sunday. The Elders translated for us. This is their Sunday School class. Sister Teresa is teaching and has been a member for several years. Then we both drove a car back to Ljubljana.

One night we went with Sisters Knudsen and Ripley to dinner at Anton's restaurant. He started working about a month ago and hasn't had a day off so if anyone wants to see him we go have dinner. He is an excellent cook. Sister Knudsen wrote vhala on our dessert plate for him.

Three brothers from Salt Lake, Germany & Sweden came into Ljubljana for a Family History presentation. Elder Lewis picked them up at the airport and then we were able to go to the presentation in Zagreb on Saturday on our way back from Rijeka. It was really great. I think I can find 30 minutes a day to do indexing.

While we were in Zagreb we went to Center, I wanted to get a table runner, and we stopped at Tony's for a kabob. You can see how good it is.

Sister Thompson, Elder Lewis, Brother Walker and Brother Rockwood from Family History.

Every day we have our scripture study. Here Elder Lewis is studying alone. We have been assigned to read the Book of Mormon the month of January marking a new copy with all the references to Christ. It is an amazing experience. I recommend it to all of you.

In Rijeka we visited Institute and here is our teacher and her husband, Dragana and Ivan Haci. A great couple we love serving with. She does some translation for us in Serbian and Croatian when we need it.

Elder & Sister Manley are always so good to us. We stay with them when we come and always have a wonderful visit. He is Branch President in Rijeka and they are from Eden, Utah.

After Institute we had an activity. We played "Do You Love Your Neighbor". It was great fun and then Sister Manley had some baked cookies for us. Do you like my new scarf? Everyone wears scarves here. In the winter you use them to keep your neck warm and then they have beautiful silk ones. Sister Justus found a place where they make them and we went down and got one.

This Sunday, February 7 Kelly and Rob will have Brody blessed. We know it will be a wonderful family affair. Thank you for all of you who are supporting them. Kaylee just had her 11th birthday on January 31st and won this great bike at school for something they were invited to participate in. Kelly and Courtney will celebrate their birthdays on Thursday, February 4th, then Gage turns 3 on the 27th of February and Mallorie 8 on the 28th. It's a busy month. We love you and send our love. Be faithful and true to the covenants you have made. The goal is not worth giving up on, give it your very best. Keep reading and praying.

We are so proud of Mallorie, she just finished reading the Book of Mormon Children's Book. Great job. We are excited about your baptism on March 6.

Zadar, Baptism, YSA Ljubljana

Today we had our monthly YSA lunch after Church. What a great group of YSA's. We are so blessed to be associated with them. Marita, Najmeh Mohammadi, second from end, her friend, , on the end, me and Monika Peterka. We have pretty much the same thing each month. I'm not too creative, mashed potatoes, baked chicken, soup, salad, bread & dessert.

Peter, Najmeh, Rebekah, Alina, Davor, Sasa, Monica, Emillie, Marita, Stanka

Davor, Stanka, & Peter at Baptism. Davor is our Ward Mission leader, Stanka, RS President, and Peter 1st Counselor in Branch Bishopric

Sister Knudsen and investigator, Jadranka, moving the piano for the baptism.

Saturday night we had our first baptism of the year in Ljubljana, Najmeh Mohammadi.

Next to the Church bldg. in Rijeka is a Serv & Fry(a french fry) place which Paul loves.

Driving up from Zadar we stopped in a little village, Bakar, right on the Adriatic Sea.

We drove up the coast line from Zadar. We saw the sun for the first time in many a day when we came thru the tunnel from Zagreb. It was beautiful.

Elder Kempe and Eldere Hadley now serving in Zadar

Our wonderful Zadar Institute teacher, students and missionaries. Sis Carter, Elder Armstrong, Hadley, Kempe, Lewis, Babcock, Anka, Sis. Sammon, Branka, Sonja, & Ranka.

We were able to go to dinner with the Elders in Zadar, Elder Armstrong, Hadley, Kempe, & Babcock.

New Year's Eve YSA Party

It has been a busy end of the year. On the 4th Sunday we have a lunch after church with our YSA's. We had 14 this Sunday. They are such great people and we have such fun with them. Here we have Tomislav, Barbara, Ada, and Najmeh.

On Paul's birthday we decided to climb Mt. Smarto. It is right behind the mission home. There was snow on the ground and I was begging to go back the whole way but he made me persevere and we finally made it to the top. Everyone we met going up the hill and coming down had ski poles and hiking boots with chains on them. All I could see was myself falling and breaking something. Luckily that did not happen. This is the chapel at the top of the hill.

Paul half way up the mt.

I got to the bell and am ringing it.

On the 23rd we went to Varazdin for their Christmas program. The choir sang, they had some readings and a great dinner afterwards. It was very well attended.

On December 28th we went to the "Nutcracker" ballet. Our YSA president, Rebekeh, is in the ballet. We had such a great time and it was wonderful. We had over 19 members from the Branch there. We also found this wonderful mall with some really great shops in it.

Next came the New Year's Eve party hosted by the Ljubljana YSA's. We had 31 out-of-town guests from six countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Scotland & Albania). We had around 50 throughout the three days. This is our group from Serbia. They went down to Center to check out the castle and the square. Elder & Sister Densley brought them.

Our guests arrived for a 6 pm dinner of soups & salads. Sister Justus and I spent the day preparing for that. It turned out great. We had tortellini soup, corn chowder, chicken noodle, and pasta fagoli. After dinner they started with some mixers and get acquainted games and activities and then the dance started about 9:30 and went to 1. We, the Sr. left about 11.

Just a view of dinner

Ljubica, Sister and Elder Lewis, Sonja and Sister Densley

Sister Willford and me fixing lunch which consisted of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, sauce, salad, bread and Serbian dessert

New Year's Eve the Willfords and us spent the night at Silva's home in Domzale, about 20 minutes away. We gave our apartment to six young men so they would be within walking distance. The Serbian group stayed over two nights so we had them with us and watched a movie "The Ultimate Gift" before going to bed on the 1st.

New year's eve we stayed up until about 1 and visited with Silvja who has been a member since 97. She told us her great story of finding the Church. She worked in Ljubljana and would see these young men in center with name tags but no one ever talked to her. She was interested in religion and looking for something more than she had and she had checked out several other religions but did not find what she was looking for. One day the missionaries knocked on her door and her son said, Mom it's for you (because they knew she had been looking for a church). The missionaries said "We have a message for you from Jesus Christ" she immediately invited them in and it is history from there on. The amazing part of the story is that missionaries had been sent to her town Domzale for just three months, right after she was baptized they took them out of the city. Someone was looking out for her that is for sure, a miracle in our time.

This is Elders Grahavac, Jones, Velimir and Paul

Velimir is from Macedonia and found the church on LDS.org. He was put in contact with the only members in Macedonia, Bro & Sis. Junker who have been teaching him the gospel. President Hill had met him on one of his travels. The Junkers made it possible for him to come and while here he had several missionary lessons with the Elders. We had the privilege of taking him around and having him stay with us a night. Great young man.

Out of order but here are some of the Seniors folding napkins. The fan ones a girl got to sit there and the plain, a guy. That got them to mingle. Sis. Lewis, Elder Thompson, Elder Willford, Sis. Justus

All the Senior Couples and Sister Justus who made it possible for the ysa's to come and be together. Willfords, Thompsons, Lewis', Justus, and Densleys

This is our wonderful group of Young Single Adults in these countries in which we are privileged to serve. We are so blessed.

January 2nd was our 39th anniversary. We went to Bled, Slovenia and drove around the beautiful lake, had dinner at our favorite restaurant, a Chinese restaurant, here in Ljubljana. Again we have been so blessed that our love continues to grow and we appreciate each other more with each passing year.

I'm just adding a little information at the bottom here for my journal. Just a little more detail so you needn't read on since this is pretty long already.

Well it is Sunday and it has been quite a week. It started Wednesday when Paul and I went shopping for food and met up with Rebekah, our YSA president and ballerina here in Ljubljana and from Scotland, to help us pick out the snacks. We got that done and delivered to the Church. Thursday we met got a few more things and headed to the Church to start cooking. Sister Jusust, a sr. sister missionary who serves here with us, came over to help me out. I could not have done it without her. She made a tortellini soup and I made a chicken noodle, corn chowder and frijoli soup, the one from Olive Garden. The YSA started arriving around 3 and Paul took them to get settled, some went to eat, and some went to check out center. By 6 they were all reassembling and everyone had arrived. We had 45 for dinner. After dinner they had activities that looked really fun and helped them get acquainted. About 9 they started the dance with some really fun mixers.

By this time we had the kitchen cleaned up. We had the help of all the sr. couples so that was not a big chore. We started putting out more snacks for the evening. About 11 we all left and headed home. We had six young men stay in our apartment and we and the Willfords went out to an adjoining town and spent the night with a member. It was about 20 minutes out. It was very foggy so we didn't get to see many fireworks. I guess it is really something here, everyone can get them and they go off all the time during the holiday. We stayed up until about 1 and visited with Silvja who has been a member since 97. She told us her great story of finding the Church. She worked in Ljubljana and would see these young men in center with name tags but no one ever talked to her. She was interested in religion and looking for something more than she had and she had checked out several other religions but did not find what she was looking for. One day the missionaries knocked on her door and her son said, Mom it's for you (because they knew she had been looking for a church). The missionaries said "We have a message for you from Jesus Christ" she immediately invited them in and it is history from there on. The amazing part of the story is that missionaries had been sent to her town Domzale for just three months, right after she was baptized they took them out of the city. Someone was looking out for her that is for sure, a miracle in our time.

We got up and left early about 8 so we could start cooking lunch for the group who were going to meet at 11:30. The sr. couples came back to help and we had mashed potatoes, baked chicken, a sauce to put on the potatoes, a green salad, bread and a dessert. After lunch they watched some pictures taken the night before and then they had a wonderful fireside with President and Sister Hill. Everyone went away happy and recharged for the year.

We had a young man come from Macedonia who is investigating the church. He found it on LDS.org and the church put him in contact with an American couple who work in Macedonia and they have been teaching him the gospel. A wonderful young man. He has had several lessons here with the missionaries and met with Pres. Hill. Paul took him to Celje last night so he could spend the night with a couple of our ysa's who live there and he attended church there this morning. We drove up and attended also and then brought him back where he is getting one more lesson and Paul will get him on the bus at 4pm.

It's been quite a week filled with wonderful things. You can see the Lord's hand in all this work.

We celebrated our 39th anniversary Saturday. We drove to Bled, Slovenia with our young friend then dropped him off with the missionaries and went to lunch at the Chinese place, picked up Emillie from the airport. She brought us back a great package from our kids so it was a wonderful day.