His great-grandfather came from the small town of Gospić in the mountainous and sparsely populated region of Lika, Croatia. His great-grandmother's home town was the nearby small village of Klanac. Sometime during his mission, he really wanted to visit this town but realized that he'd never serve near Gospić. We got permission from President Melonakos to take Elder Christensen to Gospić about 2 hours from Rijeka. Elder Christensen says that when he was in Gospić "I felt like I was home and that it was a very special place."
We received help from Sister Lidija Sambunjak, a local genealogist and she sent us the coordinates for 2 cemeteries in Gospić and one in a neighboring village of Klanac. When we first sent Elder Christensen's pedigree to Lidija she recognized the names. She had been doing research for his grandmother's cousin. Small world.
It was the hottest day of the summer, with no shade in the cemeteries and we were searching the cemeteries for Elder Christensen's surnames. Elder Christensen gave us a list of about 10 surnames to look for. Together we canvassed each cemetery taking photos of any headstone with the family names. All of us knew how much this meant to Elder Christensen and we had a great day together. We were so proud of the missionaries for working so hard under brutal heat conditions. It wasn't until about 6:00 pm that we arrived at the last cemetery in Klanac. It was beautifully taken care of and Elder Christensen even met a woman there who shared one of his family names. We found approximately 100 family names and headstones. Elder Christensen said "this is the happiest day of my life." So sweet.
