Senior Missionary Conference

We spent three days at Senior Conference, being instructed and uplifted by our mission president and office staff, and travel to and from the conference made up the rest of the trip (with a couple of over night stop overs along the way!) We had opportunity to visit several historical sites, which I will try to briefly share some information about. This is truly an amazing part of the world, one which you too can see if you come to visit or better yet, volunteer for a mission here!!!

We had so much fun sharing the gospel with all the hotel clerks, waiters, shop owners, and other tourists along the way.  Growing up in Idaho and Utah, I don't think I've ever met anyone who had NEVER heard of the Mormon Church and here, hardly anyone has.  It's great to be asked, what church do you belong too....and tell me more about it.

We traveled with our friends the Mayberry's, another senior couple, and they are great fun.  One of our favorite experiences came the 2nd day of travel.  We had stopped over night at Split, a city along the coast, and were taking a walking tour of the 616 AD Stone Palace.  There were only the four of us and one single girl in the group. She had been born in Germany to a US military father and Germany mother. We walked around listening to the tour guide and of course talking a little to the girl.  

After the tour ended we decided it was time to get some lunch and she asked if she might tag along.  We stopped at a cafe within the Palace and began sharing with her.  I asked if she had ever seen the elder's walking around with their white shirts and clean look.  She said, she wasn't sure but maybe.  We laughed a lot and talked about our church and why we were on a mission.  At one point another missionary couple also traveling to our conference stopped at the table and began to converse with her as well.  It was one happy loud group.  She ended up spending the whole afternoon into the evening with us and we all shared facebook contact with each other. (She was on a tour of several countries by herself and staying in hostels.  She had been bitten by bedbugs the night before, so Amanda, I shared my lavender oils with her and she was so grateful that it took the itch out of them.  When we got back to our apartment, I I/M her how much fun it was to spend the day with her and hoped the rest of her trip went well.  She sent back a request and here are her words:

"Had a wonderful time with you guys! I really like your energy.  I've been thinking a lot about religion in general lately. I could tell how close you guys are.  I've been feeling really lost on my trip, and I think I could use the kind of connection to God you all have cultivated. I was wondering (and I understand if you don't have the time, but I would seriously appreciate it) if you could give me an introduction of what your religion is all about?"

Wow!  we were sooooo happy and excited.  Sadly, we didn't see the message until it was too late to do anything about it that night and she left on an 8am tour the next morning.  We have since contacted her and will be sending her information and the missionaries as soon as possible.  It was a great start to the trip.


We took a ferry ride to Lupod, Island to visit one of the members from Osijek Branch, where the Mayberry's serve.  

Visiting with Mirko was pure pleasure.  
We learned that he was basically an orphan who the missionaries found at age 16 on the streets of Osijek and offered him the gospel.  He eventually served a mission of his own in England and was working "at the sea" for the summer to earn enough money for college.  He will be applying for the Church's Perpetual Education program. 

He happily gave us a quick tour of his part of the quaint island, offering us free limes, lemons and pomegranates off the trees.  

Another missionary opportunity was in Kotor, Montenegro.  We were spending a lot of time in one store trying to decide on whether to buy a hand carved Christmas Santa or not and became good friends with the clerk.  We learned all about her history and where she went to school, and her religion.  We shared that we were missionaries and she was so interested to know what we do.  She asked a lot of questions and we told her where to find the Montenegro branch.  We felt like she was a sweet new friend.  Montenegro is the farthest east part of our Adriatic North Mission.

We ran into three or four different sets of people who yell..."Missionaries!!"  They knew who we were and were so excited to find us in these odd places in the world.  Two from Utah, One from Florida, one from Idaho.  It's been a fun dream come true to have someone recognize your name tag when you are so far from home.  

The family from Idaho were a young man and woman, with two small children and mom 6 months pregnant.  They had been to Germany to visit their father who was ending his senior mission, and were bicycling across Italy and Croatia....we couldn't believe it...bicycling????  6 months pregnant and riding with kids in bike car seats???  Were they crazy....we'll they were from Idaho!  haha.  I can say that can't I?  They manage the outdoor theater in Driggs.  Mons I think were their names.

Historical Information of the places we stopped:

Split is a town on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast, and is known for its beaches and the fortress-like complex at its center. The Diocletian's Palace, erected by the Roman emperor in the 4th century. It was once home to thousands, its sprawling remains include more than 200 buildings. 




















Within its white stone walls and under its courtyards are a cathedral and numerous shops, bars, cafes, hotels and houses.  The Palace is surrounded by tall ancient walls with four different gates, Bronze, Silver, Iron, and Gold.  Only the Emperor was allowed to enter by the Gold Gate!

Dubrovnik: 
Dubrovnik is a city in southern Croatia fronting the Adriatic Sea. It's known for its distinctive Old Town, encircled with massive stone walls completed in the 16th century. Its well-preserved buildings range from baroque St. Blaise Church to Renaissance Sponza Palace and Gothic Rector’s Palace, now a history museum. 

Paved with limestone, the pedestrianized Stradun (or Placa) is lined with shops and restaurants.

Dubrovnik defensive walls encircle the entire old town of Dubrovnik. Two kilometers long, and consisting of 17 towers, 5 bastions, two corner fortifications, and the St. John Fortress, they are Dubrovnik’s main attraction. 






















City dates back to the 13th century, although the walls were also constantly reinforced in later years.  Dubrovnik old town is located within the city walls. 

And the city walls, although the most popular site to visit in Dubrovnik, are just one of many of attractions in Dubrovnik old city. Built entirely of the white stones, polished with ages, the old town abounds in Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque palaces, churches, and monasteries.

Lupod Island
Lopud is a small island 4.63 square kilometres off the coast of Dalmatia, southern Croatia. Lopud is economically the most developed of the Elaphiti Islands, and can be reached by boat from Dubrovnik. 

Lopud is an island of true Adriatic summer feel, full of Mediterranean and subtropical vegetation, amazing cypress and pine parks and citrus gardens form the landscape of this magnificent island. It is no wonder then that in the time of the Dubrovnik Republic this island was a preferred spot of the patrician families to build a summer residence. 

Throughout history Lopud has been known as an island of sea-captains providing the Dubrovnik Republic with many highly reputed seamen. In 16th century, Lopud had 30 churches, a vast number of Dubrovnik aristocracy summer manors, several monasteries and greater population. Today on Lopud you can see numerous remains of early-medieval churches, summer manors and fortifications.

Kotor, Montenegro

Kotor is a fortified town on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, in a bay near the limestone cliffs of Mt. Lovćen. Characterized by winding streets and squares, its medieval old town has several Romanesque churches, including Kotor Cathedral. It's also home to the Maritime Museum, which explores local seafaring history. 

The old town – that is the most famous part of Kotor, where the Kotor history, culture, and tradition are being preserved. The old town of Kotor has a great number of monuments of the medieval architecture: churches, cathedrals, palaces, and museums. Its beauty is complemented with the multitude of narrow streets, squares, and markets. The old town of Kotor stands out also by the great number of stylishly made gates, palaces of the wealthy families, and a great number of stairs. 

The old nucleus of Kotor today is considered to be the best preserved medieval urban entity in the Mediterranean. The largest and the most impressive are, by all means, city bulwarks which surround the town. They are about 5 km long, 20, high, and about 10 m wide. Bring completely preserved, they are a unique sample of the fortification architecture in Europe. 

Island of Hvar

Hvar, a Croatian island, is best known as a summer resort. Highlights of the port town Hvar include its 13th-century walls, a hilltop fortress and a main square anchored by the Renaissance-era Hvar Cathedral. The island also features beaches such as Dubovica and inland lavender fields. 

     The Franciscan monastery was founded in 1461. Within the calm and silence of the

      Monastery you can enjoy in monastery’s rich museum, among which the collection of old masters is exceptional.

Plitvica Lakes

The trip wouldn't be complete without a quick stop off at Plitvica lakes.  In the summer time these paths around the lakes accommodate 15,000 people a day.  

Walking around the lakes

this time of year was beautiful.  
                  The leaves had changed and the colors most spectacular.  (I must say, not near as beautiful as the mountains in Utah, but then I might be a bit prejudice!) Not crowded at all!

Plitviče Lakes National Park is a 295-sq.-km forest reserve in central Croatia. It's known for a chain of 16 terraced lakes, joined by waterfalls, that extend into a limestone canyon.

      








     Walkways and hiking trails wind around and across the water, and an electric boat links the 12 upper and 4 lower lakes. 

 



It was a beautiful fall day, spent with friends and enjoying the beauties of nature.

Chris took nearly 1000 digital photos over the days we were on this trip.  It has taken me another two months to sort through them and to slim them down to a manageable size.

                                                                                
A fantastic Senior Conference and wonders of this part of the world, but the most

memorable sites will be the people we met and enjoyed along the way.  Being a missionary

for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is the happiest time of the year!

Julian Alps Sep 22 & 23

We met Elder & Sister Randall, (Senior Couple from the Mission Office staff), early one morning in the church parking lot of Zagreb. We jumped into their car and traveled west, passing through the border into Slovenia heading towards our ultimate goal ...The Julian Alps.

First stop was at Lake Bled which is famous for it's castle resting on a high rocky ledge.







Also in the middle of the lake is the Bled Island which has several buildings.  The main one being the pilgrimage church built in the 17th century.
We didn't have time to stop for long here so we will hopefully be back to visit the castle and the island (Stay tuned!)

Next along our route came Lake Bohinj.  It has the most majestic and beautiful view I think we have seen yet.  We are hoping our next year's Senior Conference will be held here.

Outside of Bohinj we ate our picnic lunch and waited for the car-train to arrive.




We visited with people from Seattle and Israel, who were also waiting and took the opportunity to share with them why we were living in Croatia and a short spiritual message.





Watching the train pull into the station, we counted about five auto carrier cars.  You can all image Elder Crnich's excitement as we drove the car up the ramp and onto the car for our 30 minute ride "through the mountains".  The first section included a 6 minute ride through a dark tunnel.  We had to turn the lights on just to see how big the tunnel was....not very big...as the engine took up all the space of the opening.





We weren't in it long enough to hyperventilate but were still glad to come out on the other side and view the beautiful valley along the river.  This tunnel road is used to shave off nearly a two and half hour drive over the mountain to reach this side of Slovenia.  Many bicycle riders also hopped on as well as people working in Italy.













Yes the water really is this color!

Arriving on the other side we continued our road trip up the northwest side of Slovenia arriving at a town called Kobaird which houses a World War I Museum.  The Museum is dedicated to the events of the First World War. During the war, the whole area was the theatre of the "Battles of the Isonzo", fought between the Kingdom of Italy and Austria-Hungary.  At the outset of World War I, the area saw one of the first victims of the conflict: Countess Lucy Christainigg, killed during a mission for the Red Cross. The town was almost completely destroyed between 1915 and 1917.  Of note:  Ernest Heminway in his novel A Farewell to Arms, documented the Italian retreat from "The Battle of Caporetto" in 1917.  Nearly 11 million people lost their lives during this war, in the mountains surrounding Kobaird.



Leaving the sadness of the museum we traveled through the beautiful Julian Alps, totally in awe of their grandeur and scale, which pictures cannot capture.  We followed the road through the valley where archaeological sites have remains of 5th century Roman buildings and roads.

We drove through an ancient fortress which was built on the pass of Predril, where in 1806 a battle was fought between Napoleon French forces and Austrians.







































The Austrians lost the battle and were buried in a mass grave near the fortress.

 Our day ended at the Italian border with a room in a delightful B&B operated by a Slovene family with two small children.














That evening we were treated to fantastic meal of pumpkin soup, freshly picked mushroom pasta, fresh bread, and delicious greens all served next to a wonderfully warm wood burning stove. Food never tasted so good!

Breakfast the next morning was equally wonderful.  Mountain eggs, fresh bread, creamy yogurt, fresh fruit and traditional "palatschenken" started our day off with pleasure.










Before leaving we walked about 50 feet to the Italy border...an NO we did not cross over the line.  Our mission area ends in Slovenia!

Elder Crnich again found his favorite sight...sheep along the road, keeping the mountain pastures neat and trim.


















Our journey towards home today found us traveling through the mountains of the Triglavski Narodni Park on a road built by 10,000 Russian prisoners of WW1.  The road was built to haul supplies through the steep mountains to armies near Kobaird.  At one point there was a huge cable system which transported goods down the mountain when the weather was too harsh to travel on the roads.

There were 50 switch backs which made driving fun and exciting as we often met other cars, large trucks, and bicyclists on the narrow windy road.











We met many motorcyclists, each leaning into the corners at many of the turns.  One particularly exciting event was watching two motorcycles meet a large tour bus on the corner switchback.  Yes...they came to a complete stop!













Reaching the Vršič Pass summit, 1783m (5883 feet) we stopped to admire the miles of mountain vistas and valleys below.























Following the often cobblestoned road, we stopped at a Russian Orthodox Chapel tucked away in the forest.










In 1916, while building the Russian road, a landslide hit the POW camp, killing 110 Russians and their 7 guards.  The chapel was built by Russian workers as a monument to their nearly 380 countrymen who were killed during the building of the road across the Vršič Pass.

Truly one of the side blessings of serving a mission is living and appreciating the country in which you serve.  The history of these short day trips into the countryside give us a much better appreciation and love for the people we serve and learn to love.  The history of their ancestors and the sacrifices and costs to live in this part of the world only add to their rich heritage.

We ended our travels with a quick stop at the river park at Mojstrana and admired the beautiful color of the river flowing from the Julian Alps.