Tue 8/23/05 1:26 PM

It has been awhile, but you can be sure that we are not idle. We spent last week end in Varazdin and attended church there. We both spoke in sacrament. I gave my usual 30 lines of Croatian, but I can only understand some words when others speak.. My vocabulary is so limited. Yesterday we had our release meeting with two sisters that completed their missions. One of them had a baptism the day before. She is really a successful and dedicated missionary. Her name is Diane Olsen and her mother is a member of the Tabernacle Choir. Today we received an Elder Brunner from Las Vegas and a Sister Hudson from Canada and a Sister Harper from Idaho. They will be trained by us tomorrow morning. They arrived 7 hours late because their flight out of Salt Lake was late and missed the connecting flight out of Washington DC. I also set apart a Croatian Elder that I called on a six month mission. He is 27 years old and a wonerfull man. He will help more than one Elder to really learn the language. Today I visited a Fire Station close to the mission office and our home. Since the missionaries were late I went to check on helping them pay for their new fire truck.. I am trying to get $25,000 from the churches Humanitarian fund . It is a long shot but when I ask the fire station President for his permission he started to cry. I jumped off my chair and ran to the other side of the table and gave him a hug.. He was really touched. We told him that it had to be approved, but that we would try. Sunday we fly at 5:50 am to Copenhagen for an Area Meeting. So it may be a few days before you hear from us again. We love all of you and really enjoy your letters. Love Doug