Mon 3/13/06 12:03 AM

Dear Family,
Last night we arrived back home after a quick trip to Belgrade, Serbia. It takes about six hours of driving each way. That is if all goes well at the boarders. We stopped on the way and I interviewed the Elders in Sremska Mitrovica. I then met briefly with the District President as he lives there. We then continued to Belgrade( they spell it Beograd over here ). I met with Dragomir Savic. He is the former District President that took care of everything during the nineties wars. He has been called for a time to be a third counselor to me. He will deal with only Serbia and not travel elsewhere. We then had a dinner meeting with a local dignitary. This was lined up by Elder Fife and his interpretor. Elder Fife and his wife are Humanitarian Missionaries. I did not want this meeting. It cancelled missionary interviews for that evening. It also became apparent immediately that all he wanted was financial aid. His name is Prof. dr. Vojislav V. Mitic. He is involved with Rotary International as well as a professor of Microelectronics at the University of Nis and a scientific adviser, Materials Science Department Institute of Techical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Is that a mouth full or what. The conversation he led was a lot about politics. He even advised Milosovic on certain matters. I kept my mouth shut until I could talk about the church and the missionaries. I was upset at this meeting even being scheduled. The next morning I interviewed missionaries before branch conference and after I had two more to do. I held a short session with the Branch President and his two counselors which are missionaries newly sustained at the conference. The branch president does not speak english. My talk in sacrament meeting was about obedience. I had alot of positive comments after. One non member older man even kissed me on the cheek as he was so emotional after the meeting. In broken english he kept telling me that he knew that I knew God. I love bearing testimony and teaching basic truths to the people. It is easy to get attached to Heavenly Fathers children. They have been in bondage for so long and Satan, Ole Scratch, has ruled this part of the world for thousands of years. But things are a changing. We love all of you and appreciate your prayers. Miracles happen everyday so keep praying and keep them happening. Love Dad