Service Project

May 24th. Seka. a member of this Varazdin Branch gave us an opportunity to serve this week. Her family had received 1.5 cords of wood, dropped off in a big pile in front of her house. The Elders, Zoran (Our faithful member), and us showed up with gloves in hand to assist moving it into her back yard and storage area. She met us at the gate and immediately ushered us into the house where she had "palacinkes" waiting for us. These are like crepes, which you spread either Nutella or jam and roll up. She had homemade juice to compliment the snack, which I'm not sure what it was made of! Now too full to bend over, we began to move the wood from the front pile, into wheelbarrows, through the tight gate, around the first shed, through a narrow walkway, around the 2nd shed across the back yard, and into the wood shed where we dumped it and Zoran began stacking it. Quite a process of sharp turns and tight corners without premature delivery happening! She wanted to feed us again once the job was over, but a tight schedule didn't allow us time to experience the next Croatian treat. "Next time", we told her!

Adventure in Lobor, Croata

May 25th. Arising early, we picked up two of our Branch members, Zoran & Stanko to begin a day's adventure to the little mountain town of Lobor. Stanko and I have been working on his family history and he had reached a stalmate with his grandparents birth.

He knew that they had lived in Lobor because his father was born there. Lobor is about an hours drive from Varazdin where he has lived his whole life. His family does not have a car and so it would not be possible for them to drive to Lobor and look for any kind of records. His parents also thought he was strange that he was even interested in dead people. Stanko doesn't speak much English and Zoran only a little but we had the same goal in common, to find Stanko's grandparents records. The little village was indeed in the mountains and what a beautiful sight it was. We had an appointment to meet with the local Catholic priest, but he was not very interested in helping us. Upon learning our desire for records from the late 1800's, he slowing got up from his desk and going to the shelf pulled out a register book and flipped carelessly through the worn and tattered pages. I cringed, wanting so badly to photo every page! He finally found a few entries that he was willing to share and gave Stanko the information to copy down. He snapped the book closed and stood up to shake our hands and send us out the door.

We were not satisfied with our information and walking back to the car we asked a passerby where the local registry office was. Keeping in mind that is a very small village, I was surprised to learn that a few more feet into the posta office, was exactly the office we needed.

The office was closed for lunch when we reached it, but after a short wait a worker arrived who was surprisingly pleasant and most anxious to help us find the exact information we needed. After about 30 minutes for computer work and note taking, we had his grandparents information and all eleven of their children as well. Stanko was nearly dancing with excitement.

To celebrate we walked "uphill both ways" to the local cemetery. It was truly on the top of the steep hill going out of town but the reward for the walk was a view of the whole countryside. Amazingly beautiful country and Stanko said yes he would have loved to have grown up here.

We climbed around the cemetery for a short bit talking about local burial traditions and found several of his family names buried there.

Taking our pictures, hunger and time brought our adventure to a close and we returned to the car and a few villages down the road, stopped for pizza and refreshment. Successful Day!!

Trip to Vukovar, Croatia

May 19th.

Traveling to Osijek, Croatia, near the Serbian border we received some training for our assignments as mission assistant auditors.  While we were there, we visited the port city of Vukovar on the Danube River.  Vukovar was heavily damaged during the Croatian War of Independence. Approximately 2,000 self-organized defenders defended the city for 87 days against approximately 36,000 Yugoslavian troops supplemented with 110 vehicles and tanks and dozens of planes. The city suffered heavy damage during the siege and was eventually overrun. It is estimated that 2,000 defenders of Vukovar and civilians were killed, 800 went missing and 22,000 civilians were forced into exile.

The city's water tower, was riddled with bullets and bombshells.  Under dangerous conditions, two young men climbed the tower at night repeatedly, to make sure the Croatian flag continued to fly.  They are considered Heros!  The water tower in it's damaged condition has been retained by city planners to serve as a testimony to the events of the early 1990s.

Our First Trip to Mrkopalj!

May 15th...We left early and drove, amid dark clouds, heavy rain, and blustery winds, two and one half hours to the small mountain Croatian village where the Crnich family have lived for at least 300 years.  Emotion and excitement continued to grow as we turned off the interstate and drove up into the mountains along a windy, one and a half lane road that became narrower at several locations.  We had thought all along that Mrkopalj was relatively flat as we had viewed it on Google Earth maps...not so.  It is nestled in a small scooped out valley surrounded by steep mountains covered in trees sloping into grassy pastures and I am sure a lot of snow in the winter time.  Along the road, trees and foliage were richly decorated in multiple hues of greens and browns.  We drove through several small villages each one filled with character and traditionally built homes.  We noticed, however, that the roofs were quite a bit steeper here than in Varazdin and Zagreb.  The roofs were also covered in red metal sheeting strips instead of the common red tiles seen in most of the other parts of Croatia,  suggesting it is probably a very snowy region of Croatia.







Across the small valley ascending up the mountain side to a tiny building on top, were two rows of distinctively tall

pine trees that outlined the local ski lift.  There were sheep flocks grazing on several area pastures as we drove along.  The rains had somewhat subsided as we rounded the final bends and viewed the ancestral valley.   It was almost magical. 







We stopped on the steep grade of a road descending into the valley by the 'Welcome to Mrkopalj' to take a selfie picture with the sign in the background.  The actual task was much more difficult that it appeared as the slope off the roadway was a sheer drop-off and what appeared as a semi-flat area in front of the sign was only a normal 10% grade off the hill.  We both almost kept going down the hill but somehow recovered to snap a couple pictures.
The large wooden sign had a crest of the city painted on it with a picture of sheep and timber in the upper right had portion.  Gotta love it! 

The final few bends in the road allowed us to see the village ahead of us.  Yes, as we had suspected, a simple one lane road straight through the valley with homes hugging the narrow strip of asphalt like they might be swallowed up by all the green pastures surrounding them on each side of the community.

Of course there were a variety of ages of structures, all constructed with the usual brick and mortar materials seen through-out the region.  Some were gorgeous wooden structures, very uncommon to the eye and obviously built recently with lots of affluence abounding.  Others were old and a bit saggy, with character flowing in abundance.  We looked carefully at each one as we snail paced down into town.  We passed one turn in the middle of town. 





It was very quiet.  I think we only saw one person walking along in the middle of the road as we worked our way to our ultimate destination which was clearly seen from the top of the hill..... the church and its adjoining cemetery.  A tiny driveway lead to the cemetery, just prior to our reaching the church.  A car was just pulling out as we desired to make our turn into the parking area, leaving us as the only ones in this sacred place.  The rain had stopped.  A cool breezed was caressing the mountain slopes and made for a chilly walk to the lines of graves.








It was very humbling to see all the family names on numerous headstones that we had heretofore only seen in the record books.  We each took one half of the cemetery as the path to the church on the top of a slight hill was dissecting the many headstone in approximately half.  With cameras in hand we started our ultimate goal .... finding ancestors place of final rest.  The graves were most ornate and uniform in their display.  They were for the most part all a dark polished granite. Beautiful and very well organized. 

The breeze was gusty.  Occasionally some large dew drops from heaven would trickle down on us, but nothing to worry about.  It was almost refreshing.  We finished up all our family names and the sun was almost thinking about popping out.  We walked around the church, enjoyed the beautiful views, went into the chapel to see the ornate decorations, and walked about the street in front of the church for the overall look of the place.  It was just an awesome day.

As we were driving out of town, we did a tour of the sleepy village.  There was a tourist office in the middle of town.  We stopped in and visited a cute resident girl named "Anna".  She was very helpful and amiable.  The office as about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.  We were glad to get out into the mountain breeze coming off the mountains.  The trip home was rather somber as we reflected on our wonderful day in the village.  The rains started again as we climbed out of the valley.  Heavy wind and rain pelted our vehicle as we worked our way back to the big city and stopped at Burger King for a greasy stomach bomb.  It was a very peaceful, special day and we look forward to returning for some local resident interactions and to search out the family home.

                                            We will be returning!!!

Parking in Maribor Mall

May 8th We visited the LDS Branch in Maribor, Slovenia (about an hours drive away) and I just had to post this fantastic invention.  There is a shopping mall there that has the most amazing parking system.

There are strings of red and green lights across every aisle, one light for each parking spot.  If there is a car parked in it, it's red, if it is an open spot, the light is green.  When you first pull into the parking level you can see clear across the whole level...quickly identifying which rows have an "open" spot to park.  No more driving around and around looking for a parking spot.  I thought it was a fantastic idea!!!

Labor Day Festival in Varazdin

May 2, 2017 - Croatian Labor Day  I think the Croats have it right. Today was labor day here and they celebrated with the government giving them a party.  Free beans and bread for everyone with games and free entertainment at the park near our apartment.  People celebrated with their friends and family, watching the kids play on the carnival rides and listening to the traditional dancing and musical instruments.  If I can get the blog video link to work, I'll post a video fo the dancing.    We loved the entertainment!!

Varazđin Castle

     Finally we had a quick minute to visit the castle here in town.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The whole town is centered around this 14th Century manor house complete with moat and drawbridge. Thiscastle was used to run the feudal administration for the local area and was owned for centuries by the Counts of Eroddy Family.  It has been preserved in excellent Renaissance condition and today houses the city museum. 

This ariel Map of Varazđin will give you a visual of the entire town.  Love all the red roofs!

May 3rd....  Arising very early today we drove to Celje, Slovenia to meet up with Elder & Sister Porter.  A drive through the Croatian countryside first thing in the morning is beautiful and so refreshing with acres and acres of newly planted farmland.  Passing aging red roofed houses, nestled in little villages along the way, created an impression of driving through time.  A surprisingly quick stop at the border crossing allowed us to arrive in Celje right on time. We dropped off our suitcases for an overnight stay and hopped in their car for a drive to Ljubiana, about an hour away.  


The castle found in Ljubiana overlooks the whole city.  A beautifully restored historical landmark, which  reflects the life of ages past.

That afternoon the Porter's had made reservations for us at the Krizna Cave. This is a particularly unique experience.

This cave is only open to the public on limited tours.  Only one tour a day for 4 people is allowed.  So only 1,000 people a year get this experience.  The tour begins with donning of three layers of socks, two coats, outer overalls, mud boots and a safety hat with headlight.  


Unlocking the cave, we descended about 40 feet into the large cavern tunnel.  Following a worn trail we learned about prehistoric cave bears, some weighing at least 1500 pounds, who once hibernated in this cave, leaving behind large piles of animal bones.  Modern bears continued to use this cave for a period of time.  Large rocks were worn smooth by time, as the bears slid over them in their journey farther into the cave where they found warmth from the cold winter months.






The tunnel continued down until we reached the water level where we boarded small rubber rafts and the guide paddled our way farther into the cave.  Several times, we had to get out of the boat while he lifted it into another small lake, being careful not to disturb or destroy the natural formation of the bottom of the lake being formed.  Water partially covered the stalactites and stalagmites which gave a strange feeling that they are growing out of the water.

No other cave experience has ever allowed us to actually touch the stalactites and stalagmites, let alone get out of the boat, walk around them, touch them, and tap on them to play the organ-like music they make.  It was definitely a once in a life time experience.