Back to Belgrade

Every six weeks, we have a zone conference where all the missionaries from Montenegro, Bosnia, and Serbia come together. It’s a two-day event in Belgrade. Our mission leaders, along with our junior missionary zone leaders, teach and inspire us.

We’ve only been here for six weeks and we love them like family ❤️ 

Group selfies work better when you have a 7-foot missionary to lift up the photographer. Charles is still learning how selfies work; he is only halfway in this photo, turning away from the camera

The sister missionaries. Beautiful inside and out

We’re fed both spiritually and physically with  lots of delicious food. It helps that we have achef  who is serving in  the Adriatic North  Mission who cooks for us 😁

                       Their smiles say it all.

          Serving a senior mission is really the best!

After the zone conference, we met up with one of Charles’s old missionary companions, Jamie Lyon. The Lamb and the Lyon! They served together in Split and Belgrade Yugoslavia. He now lives in Belgrade with his beautiful wife and 2 dogs.

     The Yugoslav Missionaries at a zone 

                conference in Austria back in 1981                       

He invited us to dinner and asked us to bring some missionaries along. That lucky group was treated to an amazing dinner, courtesy of James.

I’m not just talking about food, I’m talking         about a feast! Every missionary ended up with          a huge doggy bag that will probably feed them        for a few days. Jamie told us stories of when he and Charles served together. He told a few stories that I’ve never heard before.

Very happy and full Missionaries.

      

  After dinner, Jamie gave Charles and I a tour of the beautiful city of Belgrade 

           He is a little bit of an expert. He wrote this award winning book 😊

It was fun to step back and watch them interact

   Downtown Serbia, along Knez Mihailova Street,       It is beautiful. There was an entire block of walking streets with beautiful old buildings and churches.

Jamie was showing us where the Austrian 

gunboats  were coming down the river to 

attack Belgrade in the First World War.

We had to pause here for a photo. Charles and     Jamie had their bus pass photos taken at this           spot 44 years ago and we still have a copy of that photo packed away in  a box at home.

It’s about a 4 1/2 Hour Drive from Sarajevo to Belgrade. It’s always nice to see some distant relatives… The Lamb family of Bosnia 🐑

The drive is beautiful! It’s mostly two lane highways through the countryside and mountains. We need to drive very cautiously because Bosnians are pretty aggressive with passing slow trucks, where they drive on the wrong side of the road to pass them, even on curvy Mountain roads. One near miss kept me shaking in my seat for the rest of the drive.😬

Sarajevo  was hosting an international guitar festival this weekend. We attended with the Smiths on Friday night.

It was a free concert. We saw a performance by a Turkish guitarist named  Özberk Miraç He was amazing!

On Saturday morning, we visited one of our NGO partners, JRS (Jesuit Refugee Services). Although we’ve partnered with them for a while, this was our first time meeting in person. They gave us a tour of their facility here in Sarajevo.

They provide shelter for up to 20 refugee children, The organization offers therapy, Bosnian language lessons, and educational support, all in an effort to help the children feel safe and rebuild their lives. For those who’ve been displaced, they use social media to try and reconnect them with their families. It’s an incredible organization, and we feel so grateful to be able to support them.

We recently completed a few projects with them       to help improve the home. We provided a new      roof, installed a heater, and added insulation        along with a fresh exterior. We’re excited to   continue working with them on future projects. 

Spring has arrived in Sarajevo!!! It’s not the    weather that tells you it’s spring time, it’s that you can now buy Sladoled! Sladoked translates into ‘sweet ice’ It’s a cross between ice cream and gelato. It is so good! 

At just $1.25 a scoop, we treated all the missionaries to 2 scoops! They only sell it from April to October, because apparently, eating ice cream in the winter will make you sick. Who knew?

On Sunday, we had 25 people come to church! A new record I’m sure! Several members, a few friends, and even one joining on Zoom. It made me so happy, I couldn’t resist sneaking a photo after sacrament meeting to capture the moment.

I’d like you to meet our Primary. It consists of one sweet girl named Johanna. Back home, I used to bring fruit Mentos to church for my grandchildren (to help keep them quiet) In their honor, Johanna now gets a whole pack all to herself.

We’re often invited to our branch president’s home for Sunday dinner, the Casbeers. He works at the Embassy, and his wife Marta, who’s from Spain, is an incredible cook. This week, she hosted all 10 missionaries for dinner, with some neighbors. To our delight, she served Mexican food!! a rare treat in Bosnia. Her homemade chicken enchiladas were absolutely delicious.

I brought some brownies and brookies (a cookie-brownie combo), while Marta made apple pie and rice pudding. I thought it might be a bit much for dessert—but I was wrong. Almost everything was eaten!

You couldn’t have happier Missionaries

To show their appreciation, the missionaries gave Marta a little service in return. She was hosting a party the next day, so they pitched in by blowing up a bunch of balloons for her.