Arriving in Zagreb, Croatia

Monday 13th March, 6:00 am, We left Bountiful headed to the airport.  Our son Andy and family dropped us off with a few tears and separation sadness.  We will all try to stay busy so that the time will be well spent.


We went through security where I lost a few items that I had forgotten were in my carryon but other than that it went well.  Heading down to our plane we came upon a group of missionaries headed to Texas and another one headed to Colorado.

Our MTC Croatia Seniors soon arrived and we shared excitement and concern about the long plane rides ahead.
Three and half hours to Chicago, change planes, 8 hours to Frankfurt, Germany and 1 1/2 hours to Zagreb.

Arriving in Zagreb we were met by our Mission President and his wife and the office staff.  Brother & Sister Grant and Brother and Sister Randall.  Loading up 6 people and all our luggage was no easy task.  The mission van was loaded and the president's car was bulging.  Off to the mission office and a tour of it and the city.  They wanted to keep us awake until 8pm so that the jet lag wouldn't be to difficult for us to adjust.  A fun tour of the city and a beautiful Catholic Church.

Visiting town center where we viewed monuments, more historic buildings and learned a brief history of Croatia and it's turbulent years.

 We visit a beautiful cemetery at the top of the hill and wandered around looking for Crnic headstones.  None found in this cemetery.  We will need to go to Mirkopalj...Common practice is to place all the families together under one headstone.  This is the cemetery where Kresimir Cosic, native of Croatia and famous BYU student is now buried. He joined the LDS Church while living in Utah and is credited for bringing it back to Croatia.
















 Finally we headed to the mission home and a wonderful dinner prepared by Sister Grant, and then bedtime.  We couldn't get there fast enough.
Next morning we were given a breakfast feast and prepared ourselves for training.  We received our assignments, cars, cell phones and words of encouragement.  Later that afternoon we all loaded into our
cars and headed to our different directions.  The Mayberry's heading to Osjik, Croatia, the Decker's to Serbia and Chris and I to Varazdin, Croatia.
At least we are driving on the right side of the road but everything else seems strange.  There is a toll road but we weren't sure which lane to go in and which button to push.  Everything is in the Croatian language.

We gave the Elders a call when we were nearly there and thankfully they met us at the front door of our apartment building.   It was a gated parking lot, locked front doors and hall ways that required you turning on the automatic lights to find you way down them.  We would never have found our apartment without the young missionaries guiding us.
The apartment seemed bleak but it's nice now we are in and our stuff is scattered about.  Small fridge, stove, washing machine (in the bathroom), and a tiny oven, which I have yet to figure out how to turn on.
The LDS Branch is very small with 7 active members here.  The Branch president has been a member for 18 years and works very hard trying to keep everything and everyone going with only one set of Elder's to help and do the proselyting. We will be pretty involved in helping the branch function and offer encouragement to the brothers and sisters who go there.
Shopping for food is another matter.  Since we don't speak much of the language, the labels on the foods are all foreign too.  Different brands and types of food....NO General Mills Honeynut Cereal!!! AND WORST of all NO CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!  We are learning but it's pretty intimidating.  Not every clerk is happy to wait on us and maybe it's because they can't speak English that they are not so happy to listen to us struggle with Croatian questions.
We've been told it will take us 3 months to adjust...Hope it isn't that long!!!


Until next time...