Happy May Day!

May 1, 2014


It has been rainy here the last couple of weeks, we expected it because of the annual rainfall of 63 inches!  This is still amazing to me! Especially when Mesquite only gets between 4-5 inches.

The river Moraca's level raises about 12-15 feet when there is a few days of rain.  This river is only 1 block from our apartment.  Here is a picture with it flooding the Kayak Camp.

 Below is a picture of it several days later.

 

The patio you see here is more like a wading pool in the top picture.

They tell me that the Kayak Club has found a new place that is better situated.  I hope so because this would get old fast!

Today I went out for my walk up Gorcia Hill.  Pod means below or under...therefore Podgorica means below Gorcia Hill.  It is pronounced Pod-go-reech-cha and it is the capital of Montenegro.

There are no cars allowed so it is a quiet and lovely walk.  But sometimes I veer off the path and take a short cut.  Pretty rocky.

This is view on the way up.  Some of the trees were in a fire a year ago, but the overall view is wonderful.

The picture below is at the top.  Several picnic tables and a sports court of sorts.  Many people walk their dogs here and they have not heard of "picking up" after their dog...but luckily there is a lot of places for them to "do their business" in the "woods".

This is going down on the other side.  Wonderful view of all the mountains.

Just down the path I took a picture of the "futbol" (think soccer) stadium.  We have wanted to go to a game, but people say it is not safe and that there are a bunch of hoodlums out and about.  Some people come up on the hill, if they can't afford admission, and watch it from here.

On the way home, I go through a park.  One must always watch your feet because the path is not level an you could easily fall.

This is our apartment building, we are on the 6th (top) floor.

Well enough about our daily life and more about the work.  This month we met with the women who run the "safe" house for battered and abused women and children.  This house is not "hidden" and is on a main street.  We are going to submit a project to provide them with a security system so the women and children feel more secure.  Here is a picture of the front porch of the house and the awning we provided last summer.

This month Russ conducted a 14 hour Self-Employment Workshop.  The workshop was open to anyone and there was no charge.  There is so much unemployment here, he thought that this class might inspire some of them to think about starting a small business. The instructional materials were provided through LDS Employment Services in Frankfurt.  Yes, he had a translator!

 On April 13th and 14th President and Sister Rowe  and their children came from Croatia to visit us.  President Rowe is the President of the Adriatic North Mission of which we are a part. We were able to spend a relaxing P-day with the Rowe’s on the coast in Budva, Montenegro.

The kids actually went swimming but I was content to relax on the beach.

April 22nd we held the closing ceremony for the project with the Institute for Adult Rehabilitation and Placement.  They took delivery of supplies and equipment the will aid them in the vocational training for Beekeeping and Carpentry.  Part of the project provided them with lumber (they call it timber) so that the clients learning woodworking can build the beehives.  The Director arranged a press conference with 3 newspapers and a radio station.  He was very liberal with his praise for LDS Charities and the work we are doing here.  The articles were in the newspapers the next day. :) But of course we couldn't read them without a translator and to make matters worse, they were in Cyrillic!
ЛДС Чаритиеш пружа помоћ за локални центар дроге рехабилитацију.   
This is an example of Cyrillic print.

 Listening to the professional beekeeper explaining how the “duplicator” works, which is very important in the process when you have many hives.  The lumber provided will be enough to build 20 more hives (they have 10 at the present time)


On April 28th we traveled to Bar, Montenegro (also on the coast) to sign the agreement to provide them with a new delivery bed for their OB/GYN department.  

 Look at the food! Wonderful.  Those pictures on the back wall are all mosaics.

Will post again in June.....7 months left here to do several more important projects!  Miss you all!