July 10--I never got this blog posted last week, but I thought I'd go ahead and include what I did get written. Mostly I would really appreciate any good ideas for Y.W. that I could adapt for here in Bosnia.
We had our closing ceremony up in Prijador this Friday. They had invited the press and again we felt like we were famous or something! The press decided it wasn't good enough to just see the machine sitting on a table; they wanted to photo and video it being used on a real patient. So before we knew it, we were trooping up to the pediatric department and a young 13 year old boy was pinpointed to be the victim. He was so cute! You could tell he was absolutely scared to death with all the camera's and attention being thrown his way. But the doctor calmly hooked him up to the machine, demonstrating all the way, how it worked and how wonderful it was. It was a computerized machine, aren't all the new one's?, and because they really aren't that computer literate, the company we bought it from had to do a training for them. It was included in the cost and I believe they really liked it. Now on the EKG print out it has the victims, ohhh, I mean patients name, age, weight and Doctors name. Not sure how they kept all that data straight before, but now it should simplify things for them.
Our cute doctor and the poor little 13 year old they talked into getting an EKG in front of cameras. |
He was really scared, after ward he told our translator that he'd rather have a shot needle! |
Closing Ceremony for EKG machine in Bosnia. |
Sister Rowe and the twins, Anna and Jesica. |
President and Sister Rowe with Vedran, we hosted a dinner the night before they left with the Tadic family and us. It was fun to see how loved they are by our little family. |
Tuesday the 5th of July we spent the day at a mission wide zone conference and got to spend time with all the missionaries from Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. We also have had a proselyting couple that has come into Southern Bosnia, the Sarajevo area. To break up their drive from Sarajevo we had them come spend the night here and then follow us to Zagreb. So we got to meet them and really enjoyed getting to know them.
Just a few of the Elders. |
Some of our cute new Elders that came in just a few days befor the President. Sister Matson this one is for you! He looks GREAT! |
After the Conference the Senior Couples were invited to go see the new mission home and then go out to eat with the President and Sister Rowe. It was a busy day by the time we got back to Varazdin, but we were spiritually fed and felt so excited to go out and do the Lords work!
Also that first week in July our Humanitarian Senior Couple that have been our file leaders over us went home. Wow, we shed more than a few tears saying good-bye to them! We have so learned to love and appreciate their wisdom, their kind hearts and their interest in seeing that everything gets done the way the Lord would have it done. The amount of paperwork, financial record keeping and trying to keep track of all these rouge senior couples over here must have been exhausting! But they did it well and we will miss them tremendously. We have not met their replacements yet. Their names are Elder and Sister Leonard. I talked to Sister Leonard on the phone one afternoon; it was the day they told us that there would be no more money for area projects in Bosnia. It wasn't a good phone call! I'm ashamed to say that I think they are afraid to contact us again! I hang my head and admit that I used my, "Home Depot" voice with her. WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON'T HAVE ANY MORE MONEY TO SPEND IN BOSNIA!!!!!!! We are still reeling from that announcement. I guess that until some hearts are changed in Germany, until some of bureaucracy is cut through or until I repent, we have no more money for area projects. We can still continue with our major initiatives, wheelchairs and water projects are what we are currently working on, but the little ones like the EKG machine, the stove for the soup kitchen, library books for a devastated village or toys for the rehabilitation hospital. Those kind of projects won't happen till we get a new budget. We will continue with the ones that we have already submitted and that have been approved. See what I mean about up's and down's?
Okay, maybe some of you don't know this, but there are times when Home Depot just doesn’t have very good customer service, especially the ones in Las Vegas. So I have been known to lose my loving tone of voice on occasion and so "my home depot voice" is legendary among some of my dear friends in Vegas! My lesson for that one is to either not go into Home Depot, or learn to control myself. Hummmm..I thought I was safe; there are no Home Depot stores in Bosnia or Croatia.
Well, again this is turning into a reading project. True confessions are over, I will call Sister Leonard, beg her forgiveness, it really isn't her fault, and try to keep myself together. With no money for Bosnia we will be spending a lot more time in Croatia. It's Home anyway.
6 comments:
Sister Erickson,
I found your blog about 2 months ago searching for some news about the new mission president. I love reading all about your adventures as missionaries. We just dropped our 2nd son off at the MTC on Wednesday, bound for Croatia. Our oldest is serving in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission and has about 9 months left. At the end of this last post you mentioned Las Vegas. We're from Las Vegas! Small world. Just wanted to finally say hello and thank you for your blog posts, they're wonderful. I am in my Stake's YW and wish I had some ideas for activities off the top of my head, I'll have to do some brainstorming. :)
~Michelle Harris
I love reading your posts and hearing about all of your mission experiences. I think of you guys often (usually when it's early morning and I'm out pulling weeds :)). Keep us posted.
Michelle,
It is a small world! We lived in Henderson for about 3 1/2 years. Our son lives in Philly. He is leaving at the end of this month. Just graduated with his Phd in Bio Medical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been involved in the Philly LDS Youth organization. You might want to check out that blog. I wonder if our two sons have met? His name is Isaac Erickson. We love being here in Croatia and Bosnia, rubbing shoulders with the missionaries is one of the best things about our mission. We will look forward to seeing your son when he comes. What is your last name? Thanks for commenting, it was wonderful to hear from you!
Mom, you're humanitarian missionaries! You can find service projects for the Young Women through which they can offer their time and develop talents. It's a win-win situation... they learn new skills AND help their community at the same time. Maybe you can ask the bishop if the Young Women can use some of their budget to buy the materials needed for making dolls, file folder games, or backpacks. Those are some of the Humanitarian Services needs right now, and they have patterns for them here:
http://lds.org/service/humanitarian/help/patterns?lang=eng
You can also see about taking them to the soup kitchen or the rehab hospital to volunteer. I'm sure there is no lack of service projects for them! :)
Oh! I have heard the "home depot" voice and it is really funny! Customer service at the home depot in Henderson NV. is more like customer "no service"! Sister Erickson put them in their place!! Sorry that you don't have "cashes" anymore, for Bosnia, I'm sure with your prayers and perseverance, it will work out! I miss you and will Skype you as soon as Mike gets a job! It might be awhile :-) Keep up the great work!
Our last name is Harris. The LDS Youth organization looks wonderful! Since my oldest son's mission covers so many states he hasn't served in the city of Philadelphia yet, he's hoping to soon. His favorite area so far has been in Camden NJ, in the inner city. Right now, though, he is so far north in PA that he frequently volunteers at the Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Site and has really loved having that opportunity too.
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