A concert in Ljubljana!

We are excited at the news of Paul Cardall and David Archuleta performing in Slovenia on May 13th.    Paul Cardall visited the Adriatic North Mission last year in September of 2015, to share music, and raise awareness of congenital heart disease.  He had a heart transplant in 2009, and has performed numerous benefit concerts.  We are also fortunate to have David come and perform with him.  Everyone knows him from American Idol fame, but more importantly, the decision to put his career on hold to serve a mission for two years.  He served in Chile from 2012-2014.  We were happy to find out that he is willing to do a fireside in Zagreb. Which brings me to our "14 hour day".  This is not a common thing for us, but I know that other missionaries (senior and young) have many days such as these.  I will refer to EK's journal which is much more detailed than mine.  Last Thursday, we left the apartment early, to attend a planning meeting for "An Evening with David Archuleta Fireside" in Zagreb. The Grants were there along with two sister missionaries (media sisters), a recently returned missionary, the Bobić's, and us. The meeting was a success, and many ideas were shared.  President Grant conducted the meeting and afterwards turned the committee over to EK and said, "make it happen."  A little something else to keep us busy.  As I said before, the days are flying by.

Beautiful sky as we returned home

We then hopped in the Opel and drove to Varaždin for another meeting that EK had. Meanwhile Sister Porter and I went over to Metro (mini Costco) to price food for the upcoming Singles Conference in March.  We have met weekly to plan for it and the committee has worked very hard in providing interesting workshops and awesome speakers for the event.  This is the first one ever in the mission, and this one is the "kickoff".  Think of it... planning an event where people are coming from five different countries and speaking three different languages. It's a little different than planning an activity back home.  There are challenges, but we have amazing people on the committee.

We left Varaždin for home, and met the Ostergaards at church to talk about seminary.  We are trying to get one of the young men to join an online seminary class. We weren't able to meet with him, so Sister Ostergaard showed me the online presentation and hopefully I can show it to him another time.
Then it was time for English Class - full house again!  And at 7:30 it was time for Institute Class.  We got back to the apartment at 9:30 p.m. It was a full and productive day!

Sister Washburn, Sister Rusick and I did our weekly service for the Jak Kao Jakov Foundation.  We go on Wednesday nights for two hours and do a variety of things.  We make craft items for them to sell at bazaars with the proceeds benefiting families who have children with cancer.  The people are so nice and appreciative of us coming. We ended up going out to dinner beforehand at the restaurant down by the river.  Good food and good company.  It is another place where they make "big" hamburgers.  Sister Washburn ordered a sandwich that filled half of her plate.

My new slow cooker!

We had Branch Conference on Sunday, and later on went over to the Reich's house.  As we sat in the living room visiting, Julie said that someone gave her a SLOW COOKER (whaaat?) several years ago and she never used it. I spied it on top of her kitchen cupboard and tried to contain my excitement.   She wanted to give it to me, but I didn't want to take it, so after some haggling, we made a deal.  I will borrow it for a while, and then give it back to her.  She doesn't want it back, but I know some future senior missionaries will be thrilled to use it. I have looked all over this country for one.  I have no idea where this one came from, but it looks sweet on my kitchen counter!  Ahh, it's the little things
that make life good...

I have seen many street cleaners in the different cities.  I've never been quick enough to catch a shot of one until last week.  It has been rainy the last few days and on our way to church, we came across a diligent Karlovac street cleaner, being sheltered by his kišobran.  

 Street cleaner in the rain

The word of the week is: umoran (oo mor on) which means tired.  You can be sure that 14 hour days leave us umoran!

Tip in case you didn't know... click on any picture to enlarge...

A New District

Karlovac District

The announcement for transfers was this week and Sister Yardley has been transferred to Tuzla, Bosnia.  She will be training a new missionary, and we know she will be awesome.  Sister Washburn replaced Sister Hertz, and Sister Rusick replaces Sister Yardley.  Elder Poore and Elder Mangeris will stay in Karlovac.  It is a strong district and we are excited to serve with them.

We went to Zagreb last week.  EK had a Leadership Training Meeting and a bunch of us ladies went to IKEA. We didn't have much time, but were able to find some frames for our upcoming Singles Conference.  We buzzed through the store in 45 minutes, which is probably a record.

We took the hygiene kits we put together a few months ago, to the Red Cross on Thursday.  It took two trips in our little Opel, to deliver a total of 450 kits.  They were very happy to receive them.
They included kits for men, women, and children.

Helping hands

Elder Mangeris and Elder Poore taught grammar at English Class on Thursday evening.  It was a full house, and their lessons are always good.  It's amazing how we take the English language for granted. We use these rules everyday,  but we tend to forget why.  After English, we taught Institute Class and our regular two students attended.  The lessons center on Jesus Christ and this week it was entitled, "Come Follow Me".  It was a good lesson, and we had participation from both students.  One of our students, T, is normally quiet, but through the weeks has opened up.  When the question was asked, "When are we disciples of Christ?",  he took a moment to think about it and then replied, "When we take upon us His name and live as He lived."  A profoundly simple statement from a humble young man.  I felt the Spirit so strongly, and knew in my heart that T was loved by not only us, but by our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, as we all are.  I love teaching these lessons that confirm that to me time and time again.

We had three baptisms to go to on Saturday!  One was in Varaždin, and the other two were in Zagreb.

Zoran's special day

President Grant told us that there were four baptisms in the mission that day.  There were three in Croatia, and one in Serbia.  It was a Spirit filled day!

Zoran, with Elders Osborne and Burnett

Serving a mission allows us to concentrate on things that matter most. We are privileged to serve with other remarkable missionaries, young and not so young, who are united in the same purpose,  "to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. " (Preach My Gospel)  We are to invite, teach, and serve.  It is a mission of love, and we love this mission.

The word of the week is:  vjera (vee-ye-ra) which means faith.   A tip for our unuci:  when pronouncing the r, let the tip of your tongue, touch the roof of your mouth.  Good job!

Crossing the border

Well, we tried to cross the border.  We attended Sacrament Meeting in Rijeka last weekend.  We ended up staying over an extra day for our P-day to explore.  There is so much to see in this beautiful city.  We stayed at the Hotel Jadran, which is now our favorite place.  On Monday we drove to Slovenia to see the Postojna Caves, a network of  passages  where you can see stalactites, and stalagmites in a variety of colors and shapes.  We also saw Predjama Castle which is built under a natural rocky arch in the side of a mountain, built in the 12th century.  Amazing and magnificient!  On our way home, we decided to take a different route in the mountains.  That should give you an indication of trouble to come.  It was dark, we were tired, and were ready to be home.  When we approached the border we noticed it only had one gate.  Two guards (not knowing English) came out and waved their hands to stop.  One of them told us that we could not cross because it was a small crossing.  We needed to turn back and go to a different border crossing.  It took a while to understand what they were saying, because we thought you could cross at any border, small or otherwise.  I'm sure there was a reason, we just didn't understand what they were trying to tell us.  We finally caught on and with much disappointment, turned around.  We drove about 10 miles and were able to cross at the next border and get home.

View from our balcony in Rijeka

All is well in Croatia.  We had a whopping twelve people in our English class on Thursday night.  That is a record!  We always end with a spiritual thought for those who want to stay.  Everyone  usually does.  It is a good time to answer any questions that may pop up.   We have made new friends in English class.  Nenad is one of them.  
I sometimes get the impression he thinks we will move here after our mission.  I asked him, “what about our family?”  He said we could go back and visit them every year.  On Thursday he invited us to a restaurant where they serve good hamburgers.  We met him and walked over to  the GP Grill.  The hamburgers were enormous, big enough for us to share.  Next time EK and I will make sure to split one.

We went to Zadar and stopped to visit a church member who lives two hours from Karlovac. 

Dušan and his wife Slacica  are Serbian refugees.  Dušan has been a member for 10 years.  He was thrilled to get visitors from the church.  We visited for about 1 1/2 hours.  He speaks very little English, but we were able to communicate quite well.  We felt the Spirit in his home and we were all sad when we had to leave.  He  will be traveling  to Karlovac in a few weeks  and will stay with us, since we are fortunate to have an extra bedroom.

Sister Hertz's mission is coming to an end and she is heading home on Thursday.  She has served well and we will miss her.  We took everyone out for a farewell lunch, and then had  District Meeting.  We were able to take a last picture of all of us, along with our two visiting missionaries serving a mini mission.

The word of the week is: doviđenja (doe vee jen ya) which means goodbye.  It is always difficult to say goodbye to our missionaries.  Love you, Sister Hertz!

On the road again...

Sea Organ

On Friday we packed our overnight bag, hopped in the little blue Opel, and headed out to Zadar.  We planned on meeting up with the Devers and going out to dinner, staying overnight at the Hotel Bastion, and attending church on Sunday.  Zadar is a beautiful city on  Croatia's coast on the Adriatic Sea.  Our hotel room overlooked the Zadar harbor and two marinas. My sailor companion loved to look at the boats. We walked a short way to see the the Greeting to the Sun which is a huge circular array of solar collectors situated on the main promenade facing the ocean and next door to the unique Sea Organ.  The energy collected in Sea Organ plays music by way of sea waves and tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps overlooking the sea. It is amazing to hear.  You can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeGDjvCCkfk

View from our room

We walked into Old Town from the lovely waterfront promenade and found ourselves in the remains of an ancient Roman forum.  It was fascinating to see something so old.  It made me want to go back in time.  I would love to walk the streets, mingle with the people, and experience what life was like so long ago.  Wouldn't that be amazing?  Then I would come back to the present and enjoy all the conveniences I love and be back with my family.

We attended church and met the  members of the Zadar Branch.  It was good to see a large number of youth attending. It reminded us of how much we love the young adults.  Afterwards, we went over to the Devers for tacos and then headed back home to Karlovac.  It's always good to come home after a road trip. 

Church of Donata amid ruins

We had Nenad over for dinner this week.  He is one of our English Language students, and he is the greatest guy.  I made Italian Spaghetti and salad and we had a good discussion over dinner.  He is a smart and thoughtful young man.  He asked us questions about our Church and we discussed many things from Word of Wisdom to the Restoration of the Gospel.  We have a common interest in good movies and he promised us that he will select a good one for us to see the next time we meet.  

We had English class on Tuesday and we had a full house!  We have a family with a mother and her three children who come, along with four other people.  It makes for a fun class.  We usually start with a grammar lesson.  Then we do a reading or writing project, and if time, a game of some sort.  The missionaries always end it with a spiritual thought for those who want to stay.  There are two additional missionaries in Karlovoc for two weeks, serving a "mini" mission.  Elder Mangeris is paired with Nenad Rašović, and Elder Poore is paired with Elder Andrewsen.  We had everyone over for a dinner of taco's and fudge cake.  I think they liked it!  They are working hard and deserve a good dinner. 

We had the most beautiful snowfall last week in Karlovac. We took a stroll down by the river to take  some pictures of the snow on the trees, and of the river.  It was a winter wonderland.  It reminded us of Wisconsin, but without the below zero temperature.  The snow would gently fall off the branches, and glisten in the sunlight.  As the week progressed, the sun and warm temperature melted most of the snow, including  the snowman that the neighborhood children had made.  It was perfect because I love snow, but not the cold that sometimes comes with it. 

The word of the week is: sunce (soon-say), which means sun.  We have had many beautiful sunny days.

A Loud New Year's Eve

Never trust your GPS

People in Croatia love their fireworks.  They have been setting them off since Christmas.  But New Year's Eve was the night of all nights.  As we stood on our balcony, there were fireworks all around us.  During the day, kids will set off what appear to sound like M-80's.  They are not your typical firecrackers.  I'm surprised I haven't seen more missing fingers.

Go Packers!

We went to Varaždin during the day and decided to take a different route through the back woods, which took us up a mountain.  We had our GPS set with our destination and we ended up having to stop because the road appeared to have fallen off the edge of the mountain.  We were able to take a detour and avoid a serious accident. We met up with the Porter's at the church and EK helped them with their computer.  Afterwards we tried to find a place to eat, but everything seemed to be closed.  That surprised us, as New Year's Eve is usually a big night for restaurants back home.

A sweet reindeer sleigh

We did find one place open, and we had a nice dinner with the missionaries, the Porters, and President Bahin and his daughter.  Afterwards, we walked around  and found a sleigh with reindeer made out of white birch logs.  We also saw the cutest window display, with a snowman made out of paper cups.  Then as we left town, the Elders told us to drive by the soccer stadium and check out a little cafe/bar nearby.  We drove that way out of town and came across a Green Bay (Packers?) cafe.  We never expected that!

The grandkids will love this!

We are continuing to teach Institute (adult religion class) every week, and are learning so much ourselves.  We love all the opportunities we have to study and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We meet with our missionaries weekly for district meetings and they continue to amaze us with their ability (at 18, 19, and 20 years old) to plan, set goals, motivate, teach, and speak this challenging language so well.  It is a another confirmation to us that this is the Lord's work and He is in charge.  We are grateful to be a part of it.

And now they are four!

On December 29th, our eighth grandchild was born.  We welcomed Oliver William David Krehbiel into the world, and we are so grateful for his safe arrival.  We are also grateful for our healthy unici, and know that although we miss them very much, we will have plenty of memory making moments when we get home. We are grateful for the technology that allows us to keep in close contact with them. Thanks to Face Time and Skype, we can almost reach out and touch them!  We've even had them "kiss and hug" us on the screen.  They are so sweet, and we appreciate the support we receive from them.

And lastly, we got hit with 6" snow last night.  We woke up to this winter wonderland which made us feel right at home.  We haven't seen a snowblower anywhere,  just a lot of people shoveling.  We may be stuck for a while, as it is supposed to snow for three more days.

Speaking of unuci, it's time for the word of the week, which is:
snjegović  (snay-go-veech) which means snowman.

First Christmas in Croatia

We had a very special Zone Conference this week at the Mission Home.  Croatia Zone gathered together on Wednesday for training, some caroling in downtown Zagreb,  a fun talent show, a phone
visit with Elder Williams (yippee!), good food, and spending time with some

Nativity Performance

amazing missionaries!  While we were downtown, we walked over to the Cathedral where there was a live Nativity.  We timed it perfectly. The program was starting when we got there. The music was beautiful, and the costumes and set were spectacular!  It was a touching performance and a wonderful way to celebrate this Christmas season, and the Savior's birth.

Elder Poore and Elder Mangeris 

Elder Mangeris

We left on Thursday to head
back to Karlovac and prepare for Christmas Eve.  We met up with Elders Poole & Mangeris, and Sisters Hertz and Yardley at 11:00 p.m. to attend Midnight Mass at the Catholic church in downtown Karlovac.  We went early because we heard it fills up fast. We found a place to sit, but  it wasn't long before it was full with standing room only.  It was a beautiful church with painted murals throughout and magnificent chandeliers and two enormous Christmas trees in the front by the altar.  The organ was loud enough to feel the vibration as we sat on the pew.  We got home at 1:30 and unlike the sisters, remembered to turn off our alarm!

Christmas morning came and at about 10:00 a.m. the doorbell rang.

Elder Poore

Sister Yardley

The missionaries had arrived!  They made German pancakes and fruit salad for brunch.  Sister Yardley shared her caramels with us to make caramel apples. We played games, opened presents, and had a great time.  They were so excited to talk to their families and I can imagine the excitement on the other end as well.  We had two places set up for their afternoon Skype and Face Time sessions which went off without a hitch.  We had roast beef for dinner, with mashed potatoes, spinach salad, and cherry pie. After finishing our riveting Phase 10 game, with Sister Yardley the big winner,  they left about 8:00 p.m.  We were grateful for them as they made our Christmas away from home, a little less painful. We were able to talk with Adam and his family on Christmas Eve, and we talked to Kate's family on Christmas Day.

Sister Hertz

Our unuci showed us all the presents they received,  and thanked us for the gifts we sent them.  Thank you Amazon Prime!  We spent the next day relaxing, because we were two tired old missionaries.  We didn't leave the apartment, and watched A Christmas Carol.  I think the 1951 version is the best one, don't you?  

Our word of the week for our unuci is:  dar which means gift.

Let us not forget the greatest dar of all which is our Savior Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for all mankind. 
Merry CHRISTmas!

Making Sarma!

I was out of commission for the first part of the week with a bad cold.  I rested up and was grateful it wasn't Christmas week.  On Thursday, we had to go back to the MUP (police station), and work on getting our visa's.  It's been a long and complicated process, but I think it is all taken care of now.   Good thing because we only have ten days before our application for visa's expire.  What happens then?  I don't know, and luckily we won't find out...

Mira, the master chef!

The sarma is finished!

On Thursday we met Mira at Kaufland's to buy the ingredients to make sarma for our Christmas party on Friday.  Sarma is a traditional dish using pickled cabbage leaves and stuffing them with a seasoned beef/pork mixture.  It is delicious and Mira promised me that she would show me how to make it.  We bought all the goods, and walked back to the apartment,  where we met the sister missionaries at the door. We put on our aprons and got to work.  It was fun listening to Christmas music and spending time with my new prijatelji.  Then came the hard part.  Wrapping the meat mixture in the cabbage leaves was tricky.  Mira had to show us (repeatedly) how to wrap them so the meat wouldn't fall out.  I finally caught on and proudly showed her my finished product.  She looked at it and said, "Bravo".  Ah, success!  We ended up having enough sarma to feed an army.

Karlovac Christmas Party

We had our Christmas party on Saturday night.  There was good food, good company, a wonderful spiritual presentation by the Elders, and fun games provided by the Sister missionaries.  As we sat in the chapel singing Christmas hymns in Hrvatski, I felt an intense love for the people in this little Branch so far away from my home.  We think of our family and friends back home, but know that
this is where we need to be right now.  We love interacting with the people of Karlovac and they appreciate our efforts in speaking their language.  We continue to struggle with casing, gendering, conjugating, pronunciation, and proper accent... but we are making progress...

There are ice rinks all over Croatia.  It's not cold enough to freeze ice, so they have cooling coils set up under the rink, to freeze the water.  We have one here in Karlovac, and there is a sweet one in Zagreb.  There were quite a few people skating today in Zagreb.  It made me think of when I was younger and every neighborhood had a rink.  Kids went skating every day after school, no matter how cold it was.

Ice rink in Zagreb

We had to take the car in to Zagreb for an oil change.  EK dropped me off at Metro to do some Christmas shopping.  The car appt. was at 10:00 a.m. and we thought it would take about an hour or so.  At about 1:00,  I began to wonder what was going on.  EK has a phone, but I do not.  There is no way for us to communicate when we are separate.  It got to be 2:00, and finally I went to the front desk and asked to use the phone.  She didn't speak much English, but she understood what I meant.  EK said they were finishing up and that he would come soon.  He came to pick me up at 2:30.  That's a four hour oil change.  I don't think their definition of an appointment is the same as ours.  We had a good laugh over that one.  We ended up going over to the Arena Mall and we came across some awesome Lego models.  I decided to sit with them a while..

Taking a break with some friends!

We have two new missionaries in Karlovac.  They are Sister Yardley, and Elder Poore.  We are happy that they here in time to spend Christmas with us!

The word of the week for our unici:  Stretan Božić, which means Merry Christmas!