New Friends

This week, we attended a Senior Missionary Conference, which takes place twice a year in different cities where missionaries are serving. This time, we were fortunate to host it in our beautiful city of Sarajevo. The conference lasted 3 days. We had  presentations, training, game night, sight seeing and good food. It was wonderful to meet the other senior missionaries who are serving across the Adriatic North Mission. Each of them are amazing, and we are so happy to have made so many wonderful new friends.

There are 22 couples, 2 single women, a single man and our mission president and his wife, Kevin and Angelika Cordray. 

All of us have assignments. Among us are 5 humanitarian couples (including us) serving in different countries. A few of our office missionaries manage logistical tasks—visas, housing, cars, finances, and more—while most work on member and leader support missions, assisting the small congregations throughout the five countries. In addition, many of us hold other roles, such as planning our amazing conference, overseeing youth and young adult programs, teaching online at Seminary and Institute, and more. Serving on a senior mission means there’s never a dull moment—there’s always plenty to do!

Introducing the very first Single man to serve a mission. Paul  Newton. You can read about him in the church news. In the past, it has only been single women. He will be working in the mission office helping with helping all the missionaries with getting their visa’s. That is a full time job with the young missionaries moving every 3 months to 5 different countries. 

On the first night, we were joined by our Bosnia advocate, Emir Kaknjašević, a lawyer who assists all the missionaries in Bosnia with obtaining visas—a process that involves extensive paperwork. Emir has been a loyal friend of the church since we first established it in Bosnia back in 2011; he even remembered our son, Nathan from when he served his mission in Sarajevo in 2013! Emir gave a great presentation covering the history and culture of Bosnia, and he also shared with us his Muslim faith and its practices. 

Game night was men against the women. We played a family feud type game. The women were winning up until the end and the men pulled ahead . We also had to match the old pictures to the missionary. Charles and I didn’t even try to guess because we had just met most of them that day. 

Can you spot our wedding picture. We were just babies! But Charles looks the same to me. 

We enjoyed being tour guides in Old Town Sarajevo 

The rain didn’t slow us down. 

These pictures were taken at the dividing line between two sections of the old town. One part was built during the Ottoman Empire between the 1400s and the mid-1800s, it feels like you are walking through the historic streets of Istanbul. The other section was constructed from the 1800s into the early 1900s during the Austrian Empire, a newer Austrian architectural style. I love them both. 

The infamous Latin Bridge where World War 1 started after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie. 

We had a delicious dinner at a Turkish restaurant. Check out the platter of food on the table! This is me taking a picture of our Mission President—while he’s taking one of me. Believe it or not, he takes at least twenty times more photos than I do. He is amazing and is doing incredible work in the Adriatic North Mission. We are so happy to be serving with him and his wife 

 President Cordray concluded the conference with a wonderful presentation. One of the main reasons senior couples hesitate to serve missions is the thought of missing their grandchildren. I won’t lie—it’s the hardest part. But I know this quote is true, and it was comforting to be reminded of it, especially since I’ve been feeling a little homesick for my babies. 

Playing with ChatGPT turning photos in Ghibli anime style cartoon. You can tell it is Charles but my character could be anyone. I love how Charles looks my dad with his grey hair. 😂

Our new Sarajevo district minus the Smiths, the other senior couple who spend two weeks in Sarajevo and two weeks in Montenegro. 

I love our Sunday dinners together.This Sunday I 

made Mexican food. A taco bar with Spanish rice. 

Not an easy thing to do in Bosnia. I brought taco seasonings from home so that helped. Plus I made brownies from scratch No Costco brownie mix here  

On Mondays our missionaries have free time.

We went to old town for lunch at restaurant that serves the best lasagna. We treated them to our favorite warm drink called Salep. It’s a sweet drink made from an orchid from Turkey and topped with cinnamon. So good on a cold wet day. 

We ended the day with a Cantan tournament. I made it to the playoffs! Nathan would be proud 

One of the things I love most about serving a mission is spending time with these incredible young missionaries. I’m so grateful to have four elders and two sisters here in Sarajevo!