Another busy week! Kids, Cows, Red Cross, Halloween Parties & a Baptism!


We spent a morning at Dom Porodica (Family Home), an orphanage in Bosnia that houses around 80 children ages 1 to 18. Since Bosnia has no foster care system, this home provides a loving, stable place for the kids. 





We also had a wonderful time visiting with the staff and sharing playtime and lunch with a lively group of five-year-olds.   


The kids are well fed, happy and so loved by all the staff. They made us gifts and sang us songs.

 

Our friends Maddie and Jonny joined us. We all fell in love with them all.


The Church recently donated new industrial kitchen appliances, so we stopped by to check that everything was installed and working. 


Besides cooking delicious meals for the children they also serve meals to about 500 people in the local community through its soup kitchen. 


After our visit to the orphanage, we joined a signing ceremony in Zenica where families in need received signed contracts and training for their pregnant heifers, yes, cows! We also joined a fun, hands-on class on how to care for the cows.



 City leaders and families expressed heartfelt thanks for the Church’s support. The Church covers 45% of the project, the city matches another 45%, and the families contribute 10%. We made sure they knew these blessings come from Church members around the world...so if you’ve ever donated to the humanitarian fund, the people of Zenica thank you! The cows arrive next week! 


The day before Halloween, we hosted a fun Halloween-themed party at the church. We dressed up as Queen Elizabeth and King Charles. One guess who our sister missionaries dressed up as. so cute!

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 A great crowd came including a family with three kids who got to carve pumpkins for the very first time! 
They had only ever seen it in movies, so it was so much fun watching their excitement. I think they did a great job too!

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We served the classic Halloween menu chili and cornbread with a lot of sweet treats. We played ping pong and a killer games of Uno









                             

 Everyone had a great time!

On Friday, we met with the local Red Cross leadership to talk about an exciting new idea, a nationwide 72-hour emergency kit project!

The meeting took place in their beautiful, historic building, originally built nearly 100 years ago just for the Red Cross. It was badly damaged during the war in the 1990s, but they’re slowly restoring it as funds allow and we’re exploring ways we might help.


After we left the Red Cross we ran into these two, so of course we treated them to lunch!



Then on Sunday, we wrapped up the week in the best possible way with another baptism for our dear friend from Zenica. 


A perfect ending to a perfect week! ❤️



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