World Bee Day!

                       Did you know that May 20th was World Bee Day?

                  We celebrated Bee day by going with Muslim Aid to an orphanage in Zenica. 

The children were taught about bees and why the are so important.

They kids seemed really interested. But they were more interested in the honey treats 

and spoonfuls of delicious honey that they were served after their lesson!

                                        

We took a tour of their kitchen because we are helping pay for new kitchen appliances.  

This kitchen feeds the 85 children who live there plus 400 needy families in the community. 

 

To keep the momentum of 'Bee Week' going, two days later we rose early to 

deliver five beehives to ten families in the charming rural town of Zenica. 

We had to get it done before the day warmed up too much, so the bees would stay calm.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Muslim Aid working together to bless the lives of others. These beehives will help these 10 families start small homey business. 

Charles mentioned that some of the beehives were quite heavy. We guessed it 

might be because the bees had already started producing honey.

Meet our friend Admir, the 'Bee Master.' By the end of our mission, we’re hoping 

he’ll pass all his knowledge on to Charles. Once we’re back home, we plan to get 

some beehives of our own. My daughter Vanessa, who lives on a quarter-acre, has 

kindly offered to let us keep them at her place.

If you look closely at the picture with the screen, you can spot the bees. 

I'm helping out by loading the lids that go on top of the beehives. 

These lids stay in place until it's time to harvest the honey or to check on the bees.

We helped a single woman set up her beehives. She lived up in the hillsoutside of town on a beautiful piece of land, complete with a garden and an orchard of fruit trees.

This was the view just around the corner from her home. The rustic barn is where she kept her two cows.

These young missionaries are all smiles because I treated them to lunch! Elder McLeod (on the right) is heading home in just two weeks, while Elder Albright is a brand new missionary who arrived only a few weeks ago. They serve for two years, a truly life-changing experience.

And this for dessert! It is similar to crepes but even better! It is called palačinke I call it pala-chucky to remind what will happen if I eat too many. The good Bosnian food is still causing me problems. 

We had some free time on Saturday morning so we played tourists and took a tour of old Sarajevo. We learned a few new things about this amazing city.

This yellow and orange striped building next to the river in Sarajevo is the Sarajevo City Hall.

It was built in 1892 and was the National and University Library of Bosnia. During the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992, the building was heavily damaged by artillery fire, leading to the loss of a vast collection of books and manuscripts. It was restored and open in 2014

This a museum near the infamous Latin Bridge where World War 1 began. It all started when  

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie were assassinated

 

In the park in the old town there is a large chess set. You can usually find some old men playing a serious game of chess.

The Husrev Beg mosque in old town is so beautiful and has the prettiest door. This historic tower has the world's only public clock that keeps lunar time,

We ended the tour with some Sladoled (Bosnian Ice cream) It is so good. It is probably a good thing they only sell it in the warmer months or I would be eating way too much!

On Sunday we had a group of BYU exchange students join us for church. 

With a few other tourist visiting, we broke our attendance record with 64 people.

 It was so awesome for our members and friends to see what a ward feels like,  . 

Most Sundays we eat dinner with the Casbeers. Marta, the beautiful women in the red dress cooks for all 10 missionaries and also invites a few friends to join us. She also makes a plate and takes it to her neighbors. She will be missed by so many when she moves to Africa in a few weeks. 

This great-looking young man has the unique honor of being the only young man in our branch. We don’t have any young women right now, so he’s flying solo. The sweet girl in the shorts is our entire Primary, and her wonderful mom, Marta, serves as our Primary President. We’re really going to miss this amazing family, they’ve been such a special part of our branch.

These smiling faces say it all! We enjoyed a delicious meal featuring pasta with red sauce, creamy carbonara, potato soup and warm garlic toast with brownies and ice cream. I brought a fresh green salad and some cookies to round out the feast.

                                 

It was a great week!