Senior Conference in Sarajevo

We had a wonderful Senior Conference with all of the senior missionaries and President and Sister Melonakos in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Oct 9-11th. We took a scenic route from Rijeka stopping on the way at the city of Mostar and met up with another senior couple Reed and Valerie Elder. It took a little while to find the bed and breakfast located on a narrow residential street. The best thing about it was meeting the young man who ran it and talking with him about life in Mostar over breakfast. The next morning we had an interesting 2 hour walking tour of Mostar and learned a little about the culture and history of Mostar.  We visited a small mosque and gained new insights.
     The Mostar bridge is just beautiful. Since it was first built in the 1500's it has 4" deep ridges that kept the dirt in place as wagons went over the bridge. Also, the river level has always fluctuated a great deal and so the bridge's core was hollow and filled with a special sand that allowed the moisture to escape.
     Here's some information about this unique bridge from Wikkipedia.

     "The Mostar Bridge is on of the country's most recognizable landmarks and was originally built in the 16th century by Mimar Hayruddin, an apprentice of the famous architect Mimar Sinan who built many of the key Sultan's buildings in Istanbul. The Old Bridge stood for 427 years until it was destroyed in 1993 in the War. In October 1998, UNESCO established an international committee of experts to oversee the design and reconstruction. It was decided to build a bridge as similar as possible to the original, using the same technology and materials.The bridge was rebuilt with local materials and Ottoman construction techniques by the Turkish company Er-Bu. The funding of the reconstruction came from the World Bank, the UN, UNESCO and several countries."

After the tour we drove to Sarajevo getting in just in time for the senior conference.  The drive from Mostar to Sarajevo reminded us of the Wasatch mountains in Utah--they were beautiful!
    The theme of our conference was "Can you Imagine?" and each senior missionary had time to tell about themselves and about what they envisioned for their mission in their unique responsibilities. Many did powerpoint presentations showing their family.
        The next day we had free time to discover the city. Some took the gondola up to the top of the mountain overlooking the city. We walked around the shops for a bit.  We went out to dinner together that evening in old town Sarajevo.
         Our last morning we boarded a bus at 6:30 am to travel to the park where Elder Russell M Nelson dedicated Bosnia and Herzegovina for the preaching of the gospel on September 9th 2010. President Melonakos found the exact spot using a GPS. We sang a song and said a prayer and he read the beautiful dedicatory prayer. I loved the words "bringing the light of the gospel to light the people of this country" and "please continue to bless this land and this people." He mentioned all groups and "blessed them to work together.""He said many of the people of this land are yearning for the gospel."

After the conference ended at noon, Perry had scheduled a 4 hour tour of Sarajevo with a guide recommended by Rick Steves. Seven of the senior couples went on the tour with us including President and Sister Melonakos. We were driven to the entry of the tunnel that was used to get supplies in and out of Sarajevo during the 1990's war.  Our guide was in her teens or 20's during the war and could share personal experiences of it. We were then driven to the top of Mount Trebević and took photos of the beautiful view and walked a little ways down the 1984 Olympic Bobsled run. Then we ended the tour walking in the old town. At the end we stood at the intersection where Archduke Ferdinand was killed in June 1914, starting WWl.
   
Afterwards, we went out to dinner at a delicious Asian Fusion restaurant. The next morning we and our friends the Elders drove home by way of Dubrovnik the beautiful Croatian seaside city. We got there just in time for our 3:30 pm walking tour of the wall surrounding the city. We learned of the history of the city along with seeing the beautiful views overlooking the Adriatic Sea. We had dinner and then by chance met three different groups of 8 total church members from the US who saw our badges and stopped to talk. It was fun talking with them.