The Church in Sarajevo

Since we've been asked a few times, I thought I would explain how church works for us here in Bosnia. The LDS church hasn't been officially recognized here yet. That means there are no missionaries here, no LDS Church buildings, and most Church members are ex-pats like ourselves. Right now, this is our entire Sarajevo congregation:



We've had a few more and a few less, but this is about how it usually looks. Currently, we're all ex-pats, but there are a few native-Bosnian members, as well, who live preventatively far from our church meetings.

Church here is a condensed version of any typical LDS church meeting. We have an opening song and prayer and then discuss any church-related business. We then sing another hymn in preparation for the sacrament, and the sacrament is blessed and received by all members. We then have a Sunday School lesson (from either the LDS Gospel Principles or Old Testament Gospel Doctrine manuals) alternatively prepared by members. Even the teenagers in our congregation get a chance to teach. After the lesson is over, we sing a closing hymn and prayer, and that concludes our church services. Because we are such a small group, the meeting is less than two hours long and we frequently have Sunday dinner or dessert (or birthday cake) together after church.

You may have noticed that Kiddo is the only child younger than 13. Up until a month ago, there was another family here who had three small children; during Sunday School we took turns giving the kids nursery lessons. Now, however, we just try to keep Kiddo as busy and quiet as we can (in a church-y sort of way) and give him a nursery lesson on our own as a family. And, in the meantime, he's become the surrogate grandchild/nephew/little brother to the rest of the church members.

Religion is a complex topic here because of historical developments and ethnic ties. However, we're hopeful that we'll see the Church continue to grow in BiH as our time here progresses. Our congregation can only get bigger!

Birthday Celebrations, Part 2

We have a small collection of fellow church-members here in Sarajevo and they are all such wonderful people. After our church meeting today, everyone celebrated Kiddo's birthday with a cake made by one of our fellow ex-pats. Didn't she do an amazing job?



Of course, Kiddo was more impressed with the cars on top of the cake than the dessert itself, but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed it and Brandon and I were more than pleased to bring the leftovers home. Kiddo was also spoiled with a box of books from another church member. I think Kiddo now has more books in Bosnia than he does packed away in the States!

Tonight after dinner, Kiddo finally opened the rest of his presents--he just needed to be reminded after every gift that there were still more presents to be opened! He spent the rest of the evening happily playing with his new toys and went to sleep tonight holding both cars from his birthday cake. Undoubtedly, he had a great birthday!



We love you, Kiddo! Happy birthday!

Sarajevo Zoo and Birthday Celebrations, Part 1

How did we celebrate Kiddo's second birthday? The Sarajevo Zoo. Going to the zoo has become a kind of tradition for Kiddo's birthday. Hopefully we'll be able to keep it up at a different zoo every year. In any event, the Sarajevo Zoo is a very kid-friendly place. All of the animals died during the war, but they're slowly re-building the populations and, in the meantime, using the extra space for things like bumper cars and train rides. Kiddo loved the train ride and got a kick out of being so close to some of the animals.


(Kiddo doing some turtle calling)


Kiddo and the zebra


One of our favorites

Later, we had some pizza and corn (Kiddo's favorites) and a cake with toy trains on top. Of course, Kiddo didn't want any cake--he just wanted to play with the trains.



Then it was time to open presents! We only got through a few of them, however, before he was done opening and just wanted to play. More birthday fun tomorrow!

I Could Really Go For Some Bosnian Mexican Food Right About Now...

We had an impromptu night out last week and decided to visit one of the two Mexican restaurants in Sarajevo. The food was nothing close to authentic (my chicken enchiladas were more like chicken alfredo in tortillas), but it tasted good and, considering our distance from Mexico, showed a valiant effort.



Of course, within an hour of leaving the restaurant, I was relegated to the bathroom for an uncomfortable amount of time. But that's just the price you pay to get your Mexican food fix in Bosnia.

A Brewery, a Monastery, and a Mosque

On several occasions, we have heard the Sarajevo brewery used as a point of reference. Since we'd never been to that neck of the city, we took a walk yesterday to find it. We also discovered a beautiful Catholic church (attached to a monastery), and a large, new mosque we'd never noticed before. All in all, a very successful walk.

All Chocolate is Not Created Equal

We like our chocolate and we like to try new chocolate. It's a perk of moving around so much. During our first few days here in BiH, we happened to try a chocolate bar with crushed bits of short bread cookie in it which we both loved and, consequently, have continued to buy.

After living in country two months, I was perusing the chocolate section in our local grocery store (as usual) when I noticed three other brands of chocolate bars with crushed bits of short bread that we had never tried! And two of the three were less expensive than our go-to chocolate bar. Obviously, I bought all three chocolate bars, as well as our usual chocolate bar, for comparison's sake. That night, my husband and I had a rigorous round of chocolate taste-testing.

Verdict?

The least expensive of the four was gag-inducing.

The second least expensive was only slightly better. Think chocolate-flavored wax.

Of the remaining two, our regular chocolate bar beat out the challenger by a small margin.

So in the end we're continuing to buy the same old chocolate bar as before, but now we're doing so with the peace of mind that it really is the best of the bars available in Sarajevo.

National History Museum: It's Freezing on the Inside

It's cold today. Winter decided to slap us in the face with more snow earlier this week and the temperatures still haven't recovered. So instead of wandering around the city, like we might do on a typical Saturday, we decided to go to the History Museum.



The museum is essentially two rooms--one with the history of BiH before the 1990s conflict, and the other a compilation of graphic memorabilia from their recent war. I wish that we could have photographed some of their excellent exhibits, because it really gave a feel for what it was like for the everyday citizen during the war. But photography wasn't allowed.



And, apparently, neither are fire arms.*

We had been told that the History Museum is purposely left in a state of neglect. The floors are pock-marked with holes, the ceiling is exposed, and there is a large puddle in one room that Kiddo kept running towards. The symbolism behind the disrepair didn't escape us, but it really hit home when we realized that it included the heater. Or, rather, the lack of a heater. On our walk home, we discovered it was warmer outside (with a high of 29 degrees today) than it was inside the museum building. You can imagine our appreciation when we arrived back to our well-heated (albeit bullet-hole ridden) apartment.

* Signs saying "no guns allowed" are actually very common here.