Training New Couples in Novi sad, Serbia and Skopje, Macedonia

Dear ones,
We have had a busy two weeks in Serbia, Macedonia and at the office. We have had a wonderful time meeting our new couples and training and learning from them. We left on July 16th and returned on July 23rd. then spent the remainder of this week catching up at the Office. Saturday we took a Senior Sister Missionary to Schweinfurt to see the post her husband (now deceased) had been stationed at as a young GI.. We had a delightful day with her seeing the p0st and walking around the city of Schweinfurt. The pictures that follow are from our recent trip to Serbia and Macedonia.

We traveled to Novi Sad, Serbia on July 16, 2012. We flew into Beograd (Belgrade) rented a car to travel the 1 1/2hours north to the city. We stayed at the Best Western, President Hotel. We had 2 and a half days to train the Maughans. A great couple. We had dinner the first night in downtown Novi Sad at a Doner Kabob restaurant. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday working. With a little break here and there.
Here we are at the open market with the Maughans carrying our treasure of fruits and vegetables for our lunch and dinner. The couples were so good to prepare meals at home. We had wonderful fresh watermelon, raspberries, peaches and tomatoes and cucumbers to name but a few.


Here is the Plate of Raspeberries we ate for a snack as we trained in the afternoon. 2.2 pounds of Raspberries cost about $3.50. Oh, they were yummy!!!!! It has been said that the Balkan countries were the bread basket of eastern Europe. The ground is so fertile and the produce so good and prolific. We left Novi Sad on thursday morning. It took us about seven hours to drive to Macedonia. We enjoyed the beautiful country side. We arrived in Skopje about 5 pm. I had really worried about crossing the borders but all went well. We stayed at the Karpos Hotel. Named for a Macedonian Military leader. We were picked up by Elder and
Sister Anderson for dinner and our training began on Friday. The Andersons are a great couple. We can see that the Lord is directing this church. You can see how these missionaries talents and abilities are just what is needed. On Saturday afternoon we had the time to do a little sight seeing. Here is a little of what we experienced.


Here is the Site where Elder Russell M. Nelson gave dedicator prayer to open the country of Macedonia for Missionary work in 2010. Elder and Sister Wondra attended along with several other Senior Missionaries.
Here are the Andersons and us at the site of the Dedicatory pray for Macedonia. The First missionaries were Humanitarian. Elder and Sister Juncker. There are now two proselyting Elders and Elder and Sister Anderson are the second Humanitarian Missionaries to serve in this country. Elder Adams was sent to Macedonia from Serbia. He had no knowledge of the Macedonian Language. He could not actively proselyte. He walked the streets learning the language which in a 4 month period he could speak quite fluently. This young man has a gift for languages as he also speaks, Russian and Serbian. His companian came from Albania. Two great young men. Just this past two weeks the opportunity to teach an investigator has come and in another week they will be able to proselyte officially. A miracle in itself. The Junckers worked 23 months loving and serving the people, the Anderson,s in their short time in Macedonia have also been instrumental in the process of gaining official recognition for the Church in Macedonia and to obtain a visa from the government.Here is downtown Skopje. The statue is of Alexander the Great who was a Macedonian. The people call this statue "the man on the horse". On the Hill you see The largest Cross in the world. At night it is lite. The orthodox church of Macedonia erected this to let the Muslim poplutation know that the Christians had an important presence. There is a large Albanian presence in Macedonia also.




Here we are in downtown Skopje on Saturday afternoon. We went to the museum of Military History. Learned a lot about Macedonia. The republic of Macedonia was created in 1991 so it is about 20 years old. It has been part of Greece, Albania,Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria. And of course it was part of the old Yugoslavia.
Sunday we attended Church at home of our Humanitarian couple. There were 17 people who attended church and out of these 17 there were 8 different languages represented. We had two investigators and a family of 6 from the Embassy who are leaving to go to Ottawa. Elder Anderson did a great job conducting the meetings as the new branch President. There was a wonderful spirit in the meeting. Beautiful testimonies were expressed.
After eating dinner with the Anderson's , we drove back to Serbia to Beograd this time to Stay the night at the Zira Hotel before flying home to Frankfurt on Monday.
We loved being with these great couples. We are so grateful to see the Hand of the Lord as these countries are being opened up for the gospel to be taught. There are many waiting for the news of the Gospel. What great sacrifices these pioneers are and will make to accept the truth and be baptized. Then to go forth. Many will lose family and friends and even jobs. But the blessings that await them will be worth every sacrifice.
We love you. We want you to know how blessed we are for the great sacrifices that were made by our ancestors so that we can enjoy the great blessings of this gospel. What a privilege it is to be a Missionary. Each one of you are so special to us. Please take care of yourselves and each other.
Love,
Oma and Opa