Romania Humanitarian, September 21- October 6, 2014

Another successful humanitarian adventure has been completed in Romania.  Finding and developing projects for a second-world country brings some interesting challenges, but we have seen the Lord's hand directing this important work in serving His children in Romania.  This project was not initially on the list of projects for 2014 but came about at the request of the Consul General of Romania after his visit to Salt Lake City.  He had been pleased with the 2013 project and asked if we would  do another one for his country.

Development built upon an understanding during the 2013 of a desire to have more cornea training in Romania.  We had helped facilitate a 3 month cornea observership at the Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah for a Romanian resident, Dr. Alexandra Zamosteanu.  She in turn met there a former Romanian missionary and cornea specialist practicing in Utah, Dr. Matthew Ward.  As we all met in SLC, the idea for the cornea training became obvious.  In addition, we provided some small, but very needed examination equipment for a large Newborn ICU in Bucharest and also an eye clinic providing care for the homeless Bucharest population.

Elder and Sister Dodge set up all the appointments, schedules, and provided the mission van for our transportation around Bucharest, and to three other cities.  Our NGO support, CRED, also helped as their employee, Nicu arranged for meeting places, refreshments, and contacted doctors who provided  publicity for the training meetings.  Dr. Paul Grecu continues to be another champion for charity eye care in his country of Romania.  

For the second time,  an LDS film crew followed this eye project in order to produce a documentary for the Mormon Channel on People who give back.  The Romanians who were interviewed and filmed seemed happy to participate.  

Dr. Ileana Vatavu recieves the hand-held slit lamp used for infants and small children eye exams.  The Dodges, the local Branch President and Counselor, Dr. Vatavu, Drs. Hunsaker and Ward participate in the hand-over ceremony.

A second project involved the Regina Maria Free Clinic which provides free or low cost medical and dental services.  Our hand-over ceremony went ahead as planned In spite of the Auto-refractor not being there due to a strike with Air France!  Our luggage had not arrived when we did.  The film crew still interviewed all of the doctors involved, both Romanian and American.  When we were finally able to set up the new auto-refractor five days later, the staff was elated. 

Dr. Paul Grecu has been very instumental in helping plan and implement our projects.  He is second on the left.

After the training on Saturday in Bucharest, seven of us including the Dodges, Wards, Alexandra and ourselves headed north for Brasov.  This was a former area of missionary service for Dr. Ward.

We first stopped at Peles Castle, built by a former Romanian King from Germany.  The wood work was exquisite.

Brasov is a beautiful city in the Translyvania mountains.  The LDS church was brand new when Dr. Ward served there.  Our Hotel faced the town plaza where all the locals gathered.

Jesse stands in the world's smallest city street.

The city of Sighisoara boasts of being one of the few fortified towns that are still inhabited in Europe.  Vlad the Impaler, or better known as Dracula, lived in Sighisoara.

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Cornea Presentations were also done in Cluj-Napoca and Sibiu.

Following Romania, we flew to Zagreb, Croatia to visit our dear friends, Jim and Laura Hobbs.  They are serving an 18 month mission in the Adriatic North mission, which covers 7 counntries.  Their assignment to assist the Mission President.  We all have on our missionary name tags.

We spent a day enjoying a drive to Slovenia to see the countryside. Perched boldly in a cavern below a cliff stands Predjama Castle.

Postojnska Jama Cave seemed immense with it's endless formations.

Scenes from Zagreb; The Cathedral, eating figs and strolling the main square.

The Kressimir Cosic memorial in Mirugoy Cemetary.
Below Jesse is watching a vendor in the market grate squash to sell.  Diane and Laura enjoyed reading a new book about the life of Kressimir Cosic who brought the LDS Church to the former Yugoslavia.

We will always cherish these memories made with our good friends, the Hobbs.  They are doing a great work for the Adriatic North Mission!

Hawaii November 2013

November, 2013

Paul and Gayle Neuenschwander, Seth and Rickie Neuenschwander, and Rhett and Brooke Neuenschwander traveled with us to Oahu for a week long vacation.

North shore Turtles delighted the grandkids.

   

Hawaiian shaved ice at Matsumotos

Sea urchins in the pond at Ko'Olina

Liam the star fish

Anders

Sadie

Ava at the Laie Temple, her first time to do Baptisms for the dead.  

Jesse and Diane 40th Wedding Anniversary, August 22, 2014

We started planning our 40th Anniversary a year in advance. Jesse asked me where I wanted to go and I said, "Glacier National Park!"  We have always wanted to go and now seemed like the perfect opportunity.  My "plan ahead" husband got right on it and made the reservations a year in advance.

We flew to Kalispell, Mt. on August 22,2014 and then rented a car for the trip.  Our first stop was MacDonald Lodge inside Glaicer National Park.  This Lodge just celebrated it's 100th Anniversary this summer. The construction consisted of Red Cedar from the surrounding area.  

For two days the tops of the mountains were pretty socked in with clouds.  We still managed to see some beautiful scenery, waterfalls, peaks, glaciers, bears, mountain goats, wild flowers and gorgeous blue water from the flowing glaciers.  These views from Many Glaciers area reminded us of being in the Swiss Alps.  

We loved the hike to Iceberg lake which was ten miles round trip.  Wild flowers covered every meadow.

The Glaciers of GNP are disappearing quickly due to climate change.  This was very apparent in the pictures displayed inside of each lodge we stayed in.  

Waterton National Park in Canada blew us away with its splendor.  The Prince of Wales hotel charmed us with its breathtaking location on the brow of a hill overlooking Waterton Lakes.  This 100 year old hotel surrounds the guests in English atmosphere, tea time, and royal decor.

We attended the Cardston, Alberta Canada temple which is reminiscent of the earlier temples built by the Church.

Our next stop took us to Lake Louise where Jesse really spoiled his wife of 40 years!  The Chateau Lake Louise was gorgeous and so were the glaciers, flowers, hikes and food.  We couldn't believe it had taken us so long to visit these world-famous places so close to our home.  

Lake Moraine is smaller and a darker blue than Lake Louise.  Hidden glaciers lie beneath the rocks and gravel moving down the Mountains.  The Canadian Rockies are heavily wooded due to lower temperatures and a short summer season.

Mother Bear and her two cubs foraging for berries!

                                                                                                          Mountain Goats

Hoary Marmot

Many Glaciers Lodge

                                                                                                                                                                   

         

Glaciers above Lake Moraine

Lake Louise

We definitely want to return to this breathtaking part of the world.

Ghana and Ivory Coast Humanitarian Trip July 20-28, 2014

July 20-21, 2014  Flight to Ghana

    Ghana welcomed us with cooler, rainy temperatures.  We left SLC at 2:00 pm and arrived in Accra at 1:30 the following day for a total travel time of 18 hours.  Elder and Sister Panter picked us up and took us to the Bullocks apartment as they were in meetings.  The Panters are new Humanitarian missionaries assigned to Nigeria, but based in Accra due to unrest in Nigeria.  They help the Bullocks with projects also.  We went to Save the Nations' Sight to set up the new equipment for Dr. Baah, which is a YAG Laser and slit lamp.  This is the third project we have done at his clinic. Each one has built on the previous one.

     A treat was instore for us for dinner as we were able to attend the monthly Family Home Evening held for all the couples in the Accra area.  Dinner was a pioneer theme of Stew, baked beans, corn bread, and peach cobbler, our only 24th of July celebration.  Sleep overcame us on the way back to the apartment.

July 22, 2014    

     Jesse trained three Doctors on the Yag Laser and treated 15 patients.  It is always exciting to see the immediate results from the treatments.  Dr. Baah provided lunch for us of Cninese takeout, he knows what we like!  Our next stop took us to Ga West hospital which unfortunately was not prepared for our visit for some reason, so we headed on to Lekma Hospital in Teshie where we have done two previous projects.  We just wanted to say hi to the Doctors there and get an update on how the equipment is working.  They were happy to see us and we feel like we are greeting old friends when we visit with them.  Elder and Sister Cosgrave drove down from their city of Ho to have dinner with us and get the bag of clothing and international drivers licenses we had brought for them from their children in Highland.  They had sent some clothes for youth in the branch in Ho who needed something to wear to Youth Conference.  They are loving their mission in Ghana and it was good to see them again.  We ate at Pinnochios restaurant in Accra which had excellent Gelato!

July 23, 2014

     Dr. Baah presented another over-the-top hand-over ceremony, complete with banners, tents, VIP's, Ghanaian dancers, and many press members.  The local Stake President did the official handing over of the equipment, and a ministry of health woman gave a speech, along with Dad, and Dr. Baah.  All three humanitarian couples were given Kenta Cloth clothing as gifts, which are very special in their culture.  The seamstress measured us on Monday, and she had them ready by Wednesday morning!  Lunch was provided for everyone in attendance.  These people are amazing!

     That afternoon, we visited another clinic for a possible project in 2015.  This clinic sees about 150 patients a day and seemed like a grave yard for out dated, non-functioning equipment. It seems like nothing is thrown away in Africa even though there are no spare parts or repair technicians.  There could be a very good project done here in 2015. 

     

July 24, 2014

     Another adventure awaited us in The Ivory Coast or (Cote l'dvoire in French) today.  The flight was less than 1 hour and four men greeted us at the airport to take us to the Centre de Sainte Humanitaire in a 7 passenger vehicle;  the NGO official, Patrick, our translator, Pierre, and the driver who was fasting for Ramadan.  The director of temporal affaires for the church greeted us but did not travel with us.  

     Forty five minutes later we were touring the medical clinic which was very small and sparsely equipped.  A very basic project can be done there.  Only one optician serves the clinic with an eye chart taped to the wall and one set of trial lenses.  They also have dental and general health care. The room was bare but clean.  The saying, "If you build it, they will come," has a lot of meaning here. In fact it looked to me like they had actually done some planting of decorative bushes to spruce things up for our visit.  Our hotel accomodations were very nice in Abidjan.   This city has its modern buildings being constructed in many places, then a block later you run into the same shanties, piles of rubbish and extreme poverty.  

New paint and landscaping along the path helped the appearance of this clinic.

July 25. 2014

     All seven of us left for Soubre in northern Ivory Coast today. Surprisingly, the road was a four lane divided highway for the first hour and a half, we thought it was great until the road narrowed and turned into huge potholes.  Oh well, back to reality in Africa!  Six hours later we arrived in Soubre at another very sparse clinic which serves maternity and children, no ophthalmology.  Our purpose in going was to help the Bullocks determine if they should take on an area project for this clinic.  The drive was very scenic with Lush green vegatation, rubber tree and coco fields, and typical African village markets crowding the road.  Rain has been intermittent with overcast skies, but cooler 

temperatures.

 The children are always wanting their picture taken so they can look at it.  Mosques are very apparent, especially the farther north you travel.

July 26,2014

     On the way back to Abidjan, we learned about cocoa trees, rubber trees, and palm trees.  The rubber trees drip a white substance into a small bucket attached to the tree trunk.  This is the rubber that gets solid and is dumped out into piles to transfer to a plant.  The cocoa pod is husked, the beans dried, and then exported all over the world to be made into delicious, expensive chocolate.  Palm oil is extracted from the type of Palm trees they grow here for use in cooking.

Use of water consumes a huge part of each woman and child's day.  This village had four different pumps.  We didn't ask to taste what was cooking in the pots.

Elder Bullock wanted to stop at this village to check out their wells.  Sister Bullock and I found a fabric vendor and couldn't resist. Actually, Patrick and Pierre bought each of us a piece of fabric to take home.  These two men made our excursion as comfortable as possible, booking our stay in the best zero star hotel Soubre had to offer!   Both men were interested in why we do Humanitarian work.  Our answer is because we follow Jesus Christ and His example in trying to help all of God's children all over the world.  The funds for our humanitarian work come from the donations of church members and our time is all voluntary.  

Attending church is always a highlight of our trips.  These young women exemplify the heart of the growth of the church in Africa.  Many were wearing their young women medallion necklaces. They could sing with enthusiasm!  Ivory Coast is growing rapidly in membership as are the other West Africa countries.

We look forward to a project development in 2015 for Cote l'dvoire.  Hopefully we can speak a little French by then!