Our visit to Montenegro

We Flew into Podgorica, Montenegro on Saturday, May 5th in the late afternoon. Elder and Sister Brown picked us up and we went to the home of the Fowlers where we stayed. We were taken to dinner in a traditional Montenegrin restaurant. I had a lamb dish that I really enjoyed. Sunday, we attended church in the home of the Brown's. Attending were 6 Fowlers, 2 Browns, 2 Leonards, 2 fulltime missionaries and 1 investigator. I got to help with the children in Primary. It was delightful. There was a sweet feeling in the meetings. We had Sunday dinner at the Fowlers. Itwas great. Then we went to the site where the Brother Nelson dedicated the country of Montenegro. the site is an ancient Roman ruin dating back to about 300AD. We had a lesson on the churches history in Montenegro and then we read the dedicatory Prayer individually.
Here we are at the site. Us, Elder Craig and Sister Nancy Brown the missionaries and James and Michelle Fowler with Marlo, Teac,Ethand and Zoe behind her Dad. We were Grandparent for the few days were there and we had so much fun. We miss our Grandchildren terribly.
Here is a sample of the remains that are can be seen at the site. It is just so interesting to see History. We had a great experience. On monday morning we had an appointment with the Red Cross at a Roma Refugee Camp to see the results of a project done in December and January.
On Monday, May 7th we went to the monastery in one of the hills around the city. The monastery dates back to the 300AD time period. Here in the picture we see a structure of a building. As you enter the monastery you walk into a passageway hallowed out of rocks. Early Christians dug these passageways to hide from the Romans who were searching out and arresting the early Christians. We took no pictures inside out of respect. We had a personal tour of this place from Father Luka. He spoke perfect English and was so interesting to talk with. We spent 4 hours here in the afternoon. Father Luka is a Serb born in Croatia. He was educated at the University of Belgrade in Art History. He Played in a Rock Band in his College years. He became a Monk later in life.
Here we are in front of the entrance. The picture in the background is a tile mosaic. Fater Luka looks a lot like this
On Tuesday May 8th in the Afternoon we attended a Ceremony at the Red Cross in Podgorica to honor all those who helped with the Emergency Relief for the resident in the mountains who were trapped by the 4 meters of snow that feel in January and first part of February. The church was recognized as one of the major contributors to the Relief Effort. Here are the Browns and the Leonards with Susan Brown the US Ambassador to Montenegro.
Here are Elder and Sister Brown with the Certificate of Appreciation they recieved on behalf of L.D.S. Charities.
On the Left is the Apartment building that houses our Humanitarian Couple. In the center is the Montenegrin Orthodox church which has been under construction for years. It is a beautiful building. During Communism the people were not allowed to speak, think or do anything that was a religious nature. All the churches were closed and locked and left to deteriorate. They are warm good people who have deep spiritual feelings.
View of the Church from the Street.
This is the site of the First Baptism in Montenegro. Zoe Fowler was the first to be Baptized here in this beautiful river in the fall of 2011. Zoe, reported it was so cold and the current was strong but her Dad would not let her float away.Montenegro is a beautiful country. It now has its first missionaries and they are teaching 2 investigators. The Doors are opening for the Gospel.

A very busy 2 months

Dear All,
These past 2 months have been very busy with 10 to 11 hours days being the norm to include some Saturdays. So I have tried to pick a few high lights of what we have been doing.

In late March we held a conference for all the Humanitarianism Missionaries in the Europe area. We had 10 couples from 10 different countries attend. We were responsible for the everything in the conference from content to housing to food to transportation. It was a huge project, but very successful. The couples really enjoyed being together and they shared a lot with each other that they had learned. Each couple said the conference was helpful to them. We worked long and hard on this conference especially during the month of March, and its' success was greatly rewarding for us. It really was a good experience. for everyone, us included.

On one of our trips we returned home through Berchtesgaden, we happened to be there for Palm Sunday. This Sunday, Easter, and Christmas are the only Sundays that the churches are full, and they go to church in their native dress. They carry these beautifully decorated branches to church with colorful ribbons with them. I took this picture of a young couple as they were coming out of church. As you can see the tradition and the dress is very old, but the technology is new. We love Berchtesgaden and enjoy every time we can drive through it.

The end of March we returned to Budapest to represent the Church at a ceremony where the Church donated 500 wheelchairs to a non governmental organization for distribution to the people. The church is now the largest wheelchair distributor in the world. Since 2001 the Church has donated over 474,000 wheelchairs world wide, almost a 1000 in Hungary over the last 3 years. The Hungarian government is aware of all the humanitarian aid the church has provided their country, and has publicly expressed a very high opinion of the Church. They have commented on the family values of the Church, the Churches health code, the extended life expectancy of Church members, and the Church's moral stand and teachings.

This distribution of all these wheel chairs got the media's attention and they came to the ceremony. Here I am being interviewed by one of the 4 TV stations that came to the ceremony. They wanted to know why the Church was doing all this humanitarian aid for the people, I told them because the Church believes we should follow the teachings of Christ and help our fellow men. By the time the media was through they did an 8 minute program about the church, and interviewed some of the local leaders as well. The fellow by the interviewer is a member of the Church and my interpreter.

This is a picture taken at dusk (without a flash). It is called Hero Square, and the
have various kings between all these columns. Many of the leaders of the 1956 rebellion against the Soviets are buried here. This is in the beautiful city of Budapest, which was originally two cities separated by the Danube River.

This is King Stephan who is the patron saint of Hungary, Albania, Romania, Moldova, and probably other Balkan countries. He lived in the 11th century, and welded all these countries into 1 great empire. WW1 and WW2 both diminished the size of Hungary. This statue is in the castle compound in Budapest

In Moldova we visited a school and orphanage where the Church partnered with the US Army and another organization to remodel and upgrade the bathrooms in one of the dorms for the children. Children without parents or whose parents can not provide for them are put in an orphanage or a boarding school. The children are generally happy here because the have a roof over head and at least 1 good meal a day. Children with a learning disability or emotional difficulties are put in the back of the class if they do not disrupt. If disrupt they go into an institution,and that is where they spend the rest of their lives. This swan is made of small pieces of paper which have been folded and assembled together. There is no clue holding the swan together, it is how the small pieces are assembled that keeps it together. As you can imagine they are very time consuming and delicate to make.

This little guy has Leukemia and has been in the hospital for a while. The Church went into the hospital at the request of the social worker (one of the very few in the country) and refurbished an empty room with books and toys, murals on the wall, chairs and a table were provided for a play room for the children. Before the Church furnished this room the children would spend day after day with nothing to do but lay in their room. This little guy is stuck in his room because of his IV, but a coloring book has been brought in to him to make life a little easier. You can see they still use glass IV bottles.

I saw this ambulance at the hospital that we visited, and noticed that the gas cap is locked on with a paddle lock. The dishonesty in some of these east block countries makes living very difficult for the people, and you have to admire their efforts to be honest under very difficult circumstances. The general distrust of everybody and always expecting to be cheated was one of the side effects of 50 years of communist reign. In the USA if you want to be honest generally you can be that way with a minimum of effort.

We were in Albania with the Willis, and one of the projects they are working on is to help a Roma (gypsy) community to have employment and thereby to create a better life for themselves. This picture show 3 Roma men working at a recycling plant compressing and packaging old paper products. The Church purchased a commercial grade scale for them to weigh these big bales of paper so they will know the weigh and how much money to expect when they sell them.

Reingard and William Blacoe with us on Reingard's birthday.
Even though we have not written for a little while does not mean that we don't love you,we do!
Oma und Opa

Preparation Day in Kronberg

This is Friedrichshof Castle built in the years 1889-1894 as a memorial to her late husband Emperor Friedrich of Prussia by Empress Victoria the first child of Queen Victoria of England.
Empress Victoria was known to her family as Vickie, and like her parents was intelligent,liberal in her thinking and inherited an artistic talent from her mother .
We have been assigned to organize a monthly outing for the senior missionaries and this month we organized a brunch at which we showed the movie "The young Victoria" and then took the missionaries to this castle built by Queen Victoria's oldest daughter as a memorial to her late husband Emperor Friedrich of Prussia. Vickie had an ideal childhood and was very influenced by her parents in her social thinking and desires to help the common man. She died after living in this castle for 7 years of breast cancer which had metastasized to her back. The following pictures are an attempt to give you a little taste of the beauty of Europe and it's history. This was our P-day activity.
Friedrichshof was built as a memorial to the Late Emperor Freidrch who was Vickie's husband. They were happily married for 30 years before he died. They were both very intelligent and liberal in their views. Both were interested in improving the lot of the common man and instituted some social reform to that end. They had 8 children,6 lived to adulthood. The castle (now a very exclusive hotel) is now owned by their youngest daughter.
This close up gives you some perspective of the size of the castle.
Part of the front of Friedrichshof Castle. This shows the main entrance into the castle.
This is a typical hall in the castle. All the furnishing and paintings are original.
This is a painting by Vickie of one of her children. She painted a picture of all 8 of her children. They had 4 boys and 4 girls, 2 of the boys died in early childhood.
Susan sitting in the throne chair that was kept for Queen Victoria to sit in when she visited he daughter Vickie here is the castle. Notice the beautiful ceramic tile wall behind Susan, the entire hall is tiled this way.
Enjoying music and the written word. This is the library. Empress Victoria (Vickie) was a very smart and well read lady. She spoke 5 languages and was a very talented painter. This is her library we are in.
I am listening to some beautiful classical music being played by sister Boone on the piano while others listen and take pictures.
This is the back of part of the castle. If you look to either side of the red and white awning you will see the initials F & V, and V & F standing for Friedrich and Victoria
Susan and E/S Wells with the beautiful woodcarving above their heads.

The left side of this house must have been built without a level, yet the house has stood for 100's of years.
Susan standing by one of the streets that comes into the little village market square. The writing on the wall above Susan's head says "To the green forest" which is the name of the restaurant in that building. The restaurant is 100's of years old.
This is a typical old street in the beautiful old village of Kronberg. Notice the cobble stones and the narrowness of the street. Germany has many little villages like this, however the cities were all destroyed in the war.

The past several weeks we have been working on preparing for a conference for our Humanitarian Missionary couples living in 10 of the east European countries. Particularly busy was last week and the next week we'll be likewise. Susan and I are responsible for the whole conference form the conference topics to be presented during the conference, to arranging for speakers and assignments of each couple to make a presentation on an aspect of humanitarian service, to all meals and all catering, plus a P-Day activity. We have arranged with Elder Teixiera of the Area Presidency to open the conference, and also for the Temple President to speak to the missionaries in the temple. We have arranged housing for these couples in the temple hostile housing and will be able to do a temple session together. Last week we were busy making a welcome bag with goodies etc, for each couple when they arrive, and we are trying to organize a trip for 2 couples who arrive early to visit the Gutenberg museum in Mainz which is about the printing press and it's development. Any way to say the least this has been a very busy time because all that needs to be done to prepare for the conference must be done in addition to our normal duties and responsibilities. We will enjoy seeing all the couples and being with them again, but it will also be a relief in a way to have all this work behind us.
Then we'll start preparing for 5 new couples to arrive this summer, and scheduling time to visit each one of them to train and answer questions that inevitably occur.
We hope that the past week has been good for you, and that life is full, but not stressfully so. We love you all,
Oma und Opa

The Story of the Traveling Coat

Here we are in Varazdin, Croatia. I want you you to look closely at the coat I am wearing. This is a very special coat. When I was preparing for this mission, I made a visit to Ellen Smith, a very dear friend in Cheyenne. She and her husband have served several Missions and I went to her with lots of questions and seeking her good council. She gave me good counsel that I have drawn on so many times in the 9 months we have been serving. As our visit was coming to a close we began to talk about clothing and Ellen asked me if I had a good full length raincoat with a lining. I had been searching for one but had not found one as of the week before entering into the MTC. I had just been so busy and it was not my highest priority. There was a pause in our conversation and she excused herself to go to another room. As I was walking to the door to leave. Ellen went to the coat closet and pulled out this beautiful purple coat with a black collar and a hood. She asked me to try it on. It was a perfect fit. She said,"I want you to take my coat and use it on your mission." Would you like it? I was overwhelmed. No One has ever done this kind of thing for me before. I accepted her beautiful gift. It has been a gift that gives each time I put it on Each time I put it on I think of Ellen. I feel her love for me and for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I strive harder to be better, like Ellen Ellen, said, when you return you can return the coat which will have traveled all over Eastern Europe doing humanitarian work. This coat has traveled to Bosnia, Croatia, Moldova, Kosovo, Macedonia, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovakia. It has kept me warm on some very very cold days. It has been at wheelchair closing, helping at soup kitchens, orphanges, hospitals, pediatric wards, Roma kindergartens, water projects, NRT programs and many more. All places where Ellen would have loved to visit and provide help and council. I think she has been there with me on many occasions. I am so blessed with good friends.
When the coat and I went to Bosnia( John Came as well), we met the Tadic family. They are Serbs who joined the church in May of 2011. Here we are with Sister and Brother Erickson at their home in Banja Luka. Also seated at the Table is the Grandmother, Nada and the six children, Vickie, Victoria, Vedren, Vedrena, Vaunja, and Katia The Parents were unable to attend church that day. There is also an investigator who will be baptised soon. and the interpretor. We had the opportunity to enjoy church with them. Vedren prepared and passed the sacrament. then Vickie and Vedren spoke. We so enjoyed feeling their testimonies and hearing what they had been taught by the Ericksons over the past months. They are the first Bosnians to join the church. They are hungry to learn and will be going to the temple this summer. What a joy to see the gospel going forth amoung all nations and people. How grateful we are to be serving at this time in this place.

This week has been especially busy as we are preparing for the Humanitarian conference to be held in Fredricksdorf on March 22-25th. Friday, March 2, we spent the afternoon and evening in and around Frericksdorf getting information to help our couples. Saturday, March 3rd ,we drove to Braunfels to be sure we had a good handle on the driving directions and to make arrangements for an English Speaking tour of the Castle. This Castle was begun in 1370. It is now privately owned by the family descendants from generations of occupants. Here is Dad consulting with our tour guide, He made a lot of noise but we didn't understand much. We will be taking the missionary couples here for an excursion on Saturday after the conference.
Here is the Castle looking up from the little village which surrounds it. We had a nice drive and enjoyed visiting with the office person who arranged our tour We have has a busy but good week. It seems the days go by so very fast. We are so grateful we can serve a mission. We are having such a wonderful experience seeing the church move forward in the Balkan. We love the couple missionaries we work with as they are such an inspiration to us. I completed the newsletter for the month of March. I wish I could send it to you all so you could see the love and service the church is giving to so many. But it is not allowed. The pictures cannot go out without written permission from each one photographed.
We love all of you and think of you often. Please take good care of yourselves.
Love,
Oma and Opa

Croatia/norther Bosnia, and Emergency Relief in the Balkans

This is E/S Erickson They have been humanitarian missionaries for Croatia and northern Bosnia for almost 18 months and have done much to help the people of these 2 countries. We visited with them from the 16th -20th of Feb. and were able to meet many of the people they have worked with. They are a wonderful couple and have touched many lives. They were featured in a national news spot featuring people that have helped and made a difference in Croatia. They have been on TV several times and people on the streets are beginning to recognize them. They have left their mark on Croatia, and this humanitarian mission and Croatia and Bosnia have left a mark on them. You can not serve a humanitarian mission without being changed, we have seen it in every couple that we've met in these various countries.

This is a symbol of the city of Varazdin, Croatia which is found in many of the the streest of the city and is the city where the Erickson's live. It is a beautiful town of maybe 200,000.

This is Dr. Golubovic, She is the national Secretary general or head of all the the Red Cross in northern Bosnia. I presented her with a certificate of appreciation from the Church for all the time we have worked together to help the people of Bosnia. This was at a ceremony were together we presented newborn kits to new mothers, and hygiene kits to others in the community with needs, and also wheelchairs. The event was covered by 2 TV stations, newspapers and 2 radio talk show host. One of the tlak show host has the largest audience in Croatia, so it was quite a big deal for the local couple and the red Cross.

These two ovens were purchased to help to help a Catholic Charity running a soup kitchen. They feed over 430 people daily who need help. It was very touching to see the response of the volunteer staff when the Erickson's walked into the kitchen, they were greeted with a lot of hugs and kisses and broad smiles. The people receiving the daily soup meal are unaware of good this great couple do, but they are very grateful for the meal. For many it is the only meal of the day. Unemployment is high and the pay for the jobs that are there is low. That is why these people are so used to black market dealing, it has meant survival.

One of the projects that was done in by the Erickson's in Croatia this years was to help fund this play/therapy room for disabled children in a rehabilitation hospital (primarily the only one) in northern Croatia. It is now a bright cherry room with a lot of toys and games for the children where before it was just a grey cement floored room. This little girl is unable to walk and spends most of her day on the floor leaning against something. She can't sit up by herself so life has some definite challenges, but look at that smile anyway. I couldn't read the Croatian words so I read the pictures to her. She didn't seem to mind my inabilities and was appreciative and sweet anyway.

This Picture does not mean much until you realize in was taken from a 3rd story window. Once you know this it gives you a greater appreciation for the depth of the snow. For many communities there was no school for 2 weeks because of the snow, which sent 5 countries into a state of emergency.

Consequently we have been very busy these past two weeks with emergency projects in the Balkan countries. Winter storms with severe cold temperatures hit the Balkans the beginning of Feb. dropping record amounts of snow in the mountain villages. In Romania for example some villages reported between 12-15 feet of snow. All roads and rail lines were closed the only way to access these villages was with snow cats and snowmobiles, where these could not go the military took food in with helicopters. Many villages were stranded with inadequate amounts of food and firewood for heating. The Church combined with the Red Cross in 4 countries to bring emergency food, blankets, and firewood to thousands of trapped villagers. Thousands of dollars were sent to help these people, and because of the Church's organization we were able to respond immediately to the urgent calls for help. During the course of years the Church has developed a very good working relationship with many local and national relief organizations in the Balkan countries and has quietly done a significant amount of good. In 2011 over a $100,000 in aid and services were provided to Croatia and northern Bosnia alone, but you'll never hear about it. All this money is donated by members throughout the world to help others, none comes from the tithes of the Church.

This blog I've written about the good of this couple and the Church have done in helping other, and I haven't even touched on the spiritual blessing of being a member of the Church. These blessing are the greatest of all because they don't as a rule deal with "things", but with happiness and relationships and with peace.
We hope you have a good week, we love you all Oma and Opa

A week of Many Emergencies

Saturday, the 11th, a group of couple missionaries who serve in the the Frankfurt area went to the Tutankhamen Exhibit in Frankfurt. There were 27 of us. We had a great time. The Exhibit was well organized. It began with a History of Egypt and how the interest in Egyptian antiquities was initiated in the the early 1900's. We learned about Howard Carter, the man who spent his whole life looking for King Tut's tomb. He was the first one to open this tomb. We viewed two video presentations and then entered the exhibit which showed the exact replica of the four chambers found. Then we were able to examine the numerous items with detailed explanations . Here is a picture of the containers that the Sarcophagus was put in. These were amazing. There was so much we saw and learned. We had a lovely time which culminated in Dinner at a Chinese Restaurant directly across from the Bahnhof.

Now here is a brief accounting of Monday thru Friday of February 6-10,2012

• Monday: We began with continued cold temperatures. We worked steady as many calls poured in to the office concerning the emergency conditions in Bosnia. At lunch time a walk (We are trying to walk 30 minutes everyday) to PennyMart to purchase a few items we needed then back to work until about 7pm. We got home and fixed Left overs.
• Tuesday: We worked until 10:30AM. Checked out a car from the churches motor pool and drove to Wiesbaden to the Military Facility to go to the post office, pick up a prescription and get a dental exam. We waited over 2 hours to be seen. Dad had a better report than I. I have a cavity under one of my crowns and the military dental doesn't provide treatment for crowns to anyone but the enlisted personnel. So that means I must go to a German Dentist. I am praying that the Lord will intervene before I must make an appointment. We then drove to the commissary. It is always great fun to go to the commissary. We purchased our treasures that we cannot get anywhere else as quickly as we could so we could get back to Frankfurt to drive to a dinner appointment. By this time in the late afternoon it had begun to snow. The drive to the Francois's took us two hours. We were late but brother Francois got home just 30 minutes ahead of us so we were not the only ones late. They were so lovely and gracious. Brother Francois is from France. He met his lovely wife Larissa at BYU who was studying for an advanced degree. She is Russian. They have three darling boys. We had Raucklett for dinner. We melted cheese under a little broiler at the table and put it over potatoes, ham, chicken and corn. It was served with coleslaw. It was fun and we enjoyed it. We had a great Apple crisp for dessert. The family home evening lesson was given by us. I downloaded a story from the friends website-lds.org. The boys loved the Ipads animated story about Heber J Grant. What a great evening!!!!!!
• Wednesday: We worked in the morning until about 10:30. We then drove to the airport to pick up the Smiths. They are wheelchair specialists from the Vancouver area who had been helping the Stiles in Slovakia and the Pages in the Czech Republic with identifying a Good NGO and training them on the new procedures for Wheelchair distributions. We took them to lunch where they spent a good portion of the afternoon explaining the New Wheelchair distribution program to us. We enjoyed them very much and learned a lot. We took them to their hotel and headed for home. We got home after 5:30 because we made a stop at the Media Mart for a TV cable and then on to the Car wash so we could turn the car back into the Motor pool. So we stayed home and prepared Banana Bread to take into the Office for Dad"s Birthday.
• Thursday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR DAD. Those working on our floor sang Happy Birthday and we passed out the treat to all who wanted a piece. This is the tradition in the office. We were taken to lunch by Elfie Herrman, an 83 yr old lady in our building who we have befriended. She took us to a very nice German restaurant in the Taunus Montains. It was very beautiful and the food was good. We returned to the office as we were working diligently to get the Emergency relief projects up and going. Getting the money to them is not any easy process. So we worked until almost dark. Went for a walk, which we really enjoyed together. Upon our return home we felt to full to eat a big meal so we had left overs to include some Jewish Apple Cake I had made for John on Saturday. We worked some more and went to bed.
• Friday: We worked like crazy on the Emergency Relief projects which now included, Northern and Southern Bosnia, Kosovo, Romania, possibly Serbia and Montenegro. The snow is 9 feet deep in most areas. We took our walk at lunch and when we finally finished work at about 6:00pm. we invited our friends the Wells for a dinner of Left overs. Dinner was great and we had a great visit. We watched a movie "Lost In Austin" as in Jane Austin. Very interesting.
• As Dad would say,"There you have it sports fans, a brief review of a week in the life of Elder and Sister Leonard" Have a wonderful week. We love you.
  

Visit to Eisenach Castle

The couple in the center wanted to come to this castle and so we brought them and the Wells. The middle couple (VorWallers) are here on a special 4 month assignment. She is 80 and he is in his late 70's. They stared the Family Services program and wrote the manual for the church years ago when they were in Germany on a mission.
Elder Wells and I standing at the entrance to the castle. He just retired as the dept.chairman of psychology at BYU. We are associating with some amazingly accomplished people.
This is looking out a window at another section of the castle. It is in this section that the Martin Luther room is located. As you can see the day we were there it was cloudy and cold with some snow.

This is the room and the desk where Martin Luther translated much of the Old Testament. At this time the Catholic church was trying to find him and execute him for translating the original Greek text into German for the common man to read (those that could read). The ceramic green thing is the heater that was stoked in the back from another room. Common form of heating in those days.
This is the Great Hall of the castle, here great balls and concerts were held. The famed pianist Franz Josef Liszt designed the the shape of the ceiling which has excellent acoustics. The flag you see was one of the first flags of Germany. In the early 1800's a group of university students met her to try and form a country form the more that 3000 little kingdoms that comprised Germany and that time. The flag had the German colors of Red Yellow and black (still used today). The colors represented: royalty,the protestants and the catholics.
This is a picture of the woman's hall. The upper walls and the ceiling portray the life of St. Elizabeth who lived here until her husband died in Italy on his way to the Holy Land. This whole room is done in mosaic tiles.
This mosaic shows St. Elizabeth engaged at age 4, her espoused was 6. Marriage in those days among the nobility were political or economically based. St. Elizabeth was married at 14, had 3 children, and widow at 21. After she was widowed she took her children to a convent to be raised and when to serve the poor. She died at age 24 of exhaustion and was cannonized shortly thereafter.
This picture shows her husband (the king) going off to fight in the crusades at the age of 23. He died in Italy of Typhoid on the march to the Holy Land. Again this picture is done all in small mosaic tiles
In the castle were displayed many precious items to include this ornate, festive suit of armor. Such a fancy suit would never be worn into battle. However it gives you an idea of the armor that was worn and how cumbersome it must have been. This suit would weigh about 150 lbs.

This week has been busy as usual, but we are learning and feeling like we know our duty much better, so although we are still very busy we are not as stressed. Tomorrow we will be dealing with an emergency project to aid the people of Bosnia. The national head of the Red Cross contacted our couple who oversees projects in southern Bosnia today with an emergency request for food and water. They called us for help, we talked with our boss, and authorized the missionary couple to proceed an immediate expenditure of $15,000 with more to follow once we see that the food and water acutally get to the intended stranded villagers. You will probably never hear about any of this, and if you do it will be a very scaled down version. The church goes about doing good all over the world in a very quiet way
We love you all,
Oma and Opa