We hope you have had a good week, and those of you that are at Snowbird have a safe and fun week. We returned last Mon. night from a few days in Slovakia training the Coopers who just arrived in country the end of June. In the office we have been very busy trying to catch up on all the administrative stuff we have to do. To top it off our boss John Mulligan will be gone the next two weeks on vacation and marrying off his youngest son. So we have been really busy with long days.
Lynn and Gorden Cooper just arrived in Slovakia replacing Carol and John Stiles. They come form Boise Idaho both were teachers, she has a music focus, and he is math. They are wonderful down to earth people. We flew to Slovakia to train them, and it went very well. They were very receptive to suggestion and correction, and will carry on the work in Slovakia in a great manner.
This is us with Robert and Ria Van Dallem Ria is Slovakian, but lived 19 years in California. She and Robert married after his 1st wife died of cancer. Ria and Robert's first wife were very good firends, but she didn't know him particularly. Several years after her death Robert's 2 daughters got Robert and Ria together. He is Dutch by birth, but has lived in Slovakia for a long time. 5 months after he was baptized he was called to be branch president. They are a wonderful couple.
In the picture are Susan, Ria (a contraction for Maria), Sister and Elder Cooper, Stephan, Katka, and Maria. Stephan and Maria are married and Katka is their only child. Katka is disabled and can only walk while holding on to something. Some 13 years ago Maria started an organization to help handicapped children because there was nothing in her area to help her daughter. Today she is one of the best if not the best know NGO in eastern Slovakia. Everybody knows and respects her for what she has done to help others. Our Humanitarian couples stated working with her some5-6 years ago, and during that time she has come to really accept the Church for doing good without an alternative motive. She is quite vocal in giving the Church credit for the help it is giving the people, and it bothers her when the people don't acknowledge the Church as the source of help. Both She and Katka have had a priesthood blessing to help them. Last Sat. we had lunch with them, and I was asked to say a blessing on the food. I in turn asked Ria our interpreter to say the blessing because she could say it in Slovak and Maria and her family could understand what was being said. Maria called Ria Sat. night crying she said that Stephan was really touched by the blessing and that they were drawing closer together as a couple because of the Church. We are convinced that if there were a church unit closer to them they would attened church. Maria and possibly also Stephan instinctively knows that there is a God, but living in a communistic country they were never taught anything about God, but I think there is a longing for a relationship with God.
We were also in Sobrance, Slovakia talking with the director and his staff of a hospital (the only hospital in the region) that services 25000 people. We are here in the ICU talking with him and the head nurse (in blue) they are asking the Church to provide funds to buy a special bed with monitors that they need to help stabilize a patient so they can be transported to a larger city with tertiary care hospital. Of all their needs they rank this bed as the most important. Maria also strongly supporting this request ahead of her own request. These people are very grateful for what the Church has already done for the people in their region of Slovakia. The hard point for them to grasp and to accept is that someone is willing to help someone else without expecting something in return. To give as the Savior gave is something they have neither seen nor known. When there are enough missionaries that they can be assigned to this area, they will be warmly welcomed by the people because of all the good the humanitarian missionaries have done. 
Here ie a picture of Helene with an 86 year old patient in one of the new beds the Church provided to a nursing home. This bed is quite adjustable and very helpful to prevent bed sores. The good side rails prevent the patients, those that can move, from rolling out of bed, . Helene has been the director of this nursing home for four years now and is very dedicated to helping these older peolple and trying to improve their quality of life. She has a staff of 12 which provides 24/7 coverage for the 12 patients. As you would expect there is a waiting list to get into here, some die before their number comes up. Helene is a mortal angel.
This is an example of the old beds that the patients have been using for the last 40 years. The are not adjustable and moving or rotating a patient is very difficult for both the patient and the staff.
The Church is doing a lot of work to help the Roma (gypsy) communities throughout eastern Europe. Many communities are build up on the outskirts of town on land where the Roma just squat and the city lets them live there. This is typical Roma housing, packed close together and made of anything that can be carried off and used to make a wall or roof. In the summer when it is very hot, it is not so bad, but in the winter when it is very cold it can be terrible. We are working to try and get them into better housing, but one of the problems is the Gypies don't take care of anything,and thus it deteriants quickly. Therefore nobody is willing to rent to a gypsy. Amother problem is that the government pays money for each child you have and for a certain period after the baby is born,. They call this maternity leave money, and you get it whether you had a job or not. Thus there is a high birthrate among the gypies. It is quite typical for a gypsy girl to start having babies in her early or mid teens. Thus you have babies having babies which affects the bodies of both mother and child. On the plane home I read the story of a 74 yr. old lady with a great great grand child. This lady is typical of the gypies of her day, they can neither read or write.
This building (a four plex) is definitely on the higher end of living accomodations. These are 2 girls of a family doing the wash. The washing machine is in front of them and is very small. This building is a four plex with one window in each unit, you can see the doors of both units on this side of the building. These girls belong to a family of 9 children all living and sleeping in 1 room. They rotate who sleeps on a bed and who sleeps on the floor. The mother of all these children is in her early 30's, but looks mid to late 40's. We are partnering with agencies that are trying to bring about changes with the youth. Many want to work, but there is such a social stigma against Rome (gypsies) that it is hard to get someone to hire them and give them a chance. In the larger cities it is easier to get a job, but still it is difficult. WE are working to give the young people a chance to learn marketable skills, rather that just begging or going through the trash looking for plastic bottles to recycle.
This is a statue that show the development of the city coat of arms for the city of Kosice. However the city is several 100 years older than when this coat of arms was created. The first was designed in 1369. You can see it as the small plague on the far left. There were 2 other additions , the last being in 1453 almost a 100 years later. Slovaks are proud of their national heritage.
Kosice is an old city and at one time a very important trade city being on the intersection of two important trade routes. This lovely little church is in the town city at the end of one of the town parks. Behind it you can see the steeple of the cathedral, which I believe is the farthest eastern Catholic cathedral in Europe. Unlike most Balkan countries Slovakia is predominately Catholic -about 90% or more. Most of the other countries are Orthodox and Muslim
We took our bigger suitcase this trip so that we could take a crock pot to sister Cooper. She needs one for some of the young adult and branch functions in Kosice, and in a suitcase was the best way to get it there. The branch is quite small, but is very loving, and the feeling of love is very evident. Small units are typically very close, and we were certainly welcomed back with open arms. to Kosice.We hope you have had a good week, and a successful week.
Love Oma und Opa
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