Homeless Gardens in Bratislava

We have been working on a humanitarian project since our first month in the country, for the homeless shelter in Bratislava. The project was approved at the middle of summer. And we were told the days were too hot for construction of the garden boxes. In the fall, the boxes were constructed. Then we waited for winter 

to pass so we could move and prepare the soil and just recently the project was complete.

LDS Charities provided resources to build five large garden boxes in a back lot. This included large timbers, hardware, hand tools, and water tanks.

In addition, three refrigerators were provided for the De Paul Homeless Shelter.

The shelter houses about thirty-five disabled persons which include mental or physical challenges that prevent them from functioning in society.

The homeless need physical activity as well as responsibility to improve their situations.

The garden boxes will provide hundreds of hours of labor including gardening and harvesting vegetables. The staff advised these vegetables will be used within the shelter for consumption.

During the construction, many homeless men were involved in building the large wooden boxes.

The wood was painted with water treatment and assembled with large bolts and nuts. One man in a wheelchair assisted with painting the wood and stated he felt grateful to be useful. Much physical labor was needed to dig up a compost pile and fill the boxes full of humus soil. All

of this work took months to complete and included several able bodied men from a second homeless shelter.

In Spring 2018, the boxes were completed and filled with dirt.

Vegetable seed packets were provided and the planting was ready to go. A few volunteers came together to lay down cement slabs providing access for those in wheelchairs to pull up close to the boxes.

The Director was very grateful for the garden boxes completed, and all the help by so many volunteers.

When It's Springtime in Slovakia

If we had no winter the spring would not have been so pleasant.

A photo blog of early spring in Eastern Slovakia. Enjoy!

dandelions gone wild

"I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over,

Dear Mother, all flowers remind me of you."

Have you heard of Billion Graves?

Have you heard of the Billion Graves projects? 

It is

a dream to record 1,000,000,000 graves in cemeteries throughout the world. Greg and I have become involved with this Billion Graves Project during our spare time. We simply set up an account on billiongraves.com and downloaded their app on our smart phone. We find a local cemetery, of which there are so many within an hour drive. Once at the cemetery, we open the app, click "take pictures" and aim our camera at a grave marker and presto, our photo is waiting for upload. We take one photo after another moving along the rows in the cemetery. It is so simple to do.

Yesterday, we took over 200 photos in two cemeteries. If all you want to do is take photos, you upload them into the Billion Graves database and your done. We chose to take it another step after returning home. We log on with our laptops and locate all our photos. We then transcribe or index the names, birth dates, and death dates. It takes very little time to help so many people researching their ancestors.

The information is stored and available for people throughout the world. Billion Graves is an expansive family history database of records and images from the world's cemeteries, all tagged with GPS locations. Volunteers capture headstone images and upload them to their site. Billion Graves is linked with FamilySearch.org 

Searching for our ancestors is one of greatest purposes of the internet worldwide. There are many tools to find our ancestors including Familysearch.org, Ancestry.com, and MyHeritage.com. So, BillionGraves.com is another source of information, especially in areas where no other records are available. We are living in Slovakia, which was ruled by the Communist Regime up until 1989 and not sure how available records may be. We notice hundreds of small villages dotted throughout the country side and everyone seems to have a small cemetery with some very old forgotten graves.

We recently heard a talk from a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, who stated "God, in His infinite capacity, seals and heals individuals and families despite tragedy, loss, and hardship." Family history is important to connect families to one another, and to understand who we are. When we die we will have the opportunity to meet our ancestors, not just our grandparents but way back. Every person who lived on earth is part of a giant family tree and we are all connected in the human family since Adam & Eve. 

Do you know what unique stories are part of your ancestors?

Historical General Conference

What a historical General Conference! New President and significant changes. 

General Conferences are worldwide semiannual gatherings for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Members gather to receive guidance and encouragement from Church leaders about gospel living based on the principles taught by Jesus Christ.

In Slovakia, our General Conference is delayed a week for translation purposes. We watched conference with other branch members and stood to sustained our new prophet Russell M. Nelson as the 17th president of the Church during the solemn assembly Saturday morning.

In the Sunday morning session, his first general conference as prophet, Nelson talked about receiving personal revelation. "The privilege of receiving revelation is one of the greatest gifts of God to His children." said Nelson. When we pray to our Heavenly Father we receive answers for us. "Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true." And told us in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the influence of the Holy Ghost.

President Nelson combined the Melchizedek priesthoods quorums into one elders quorum. "Tonight we announce a significant restructuring of our Melchizedek priesthood quorums to accomplish the work of the Lord more effectively. In each ward, the high priests and the elders will now be combined into one elders quorum. This adjustment will greatly enhance the capacity and ability of men who bear the priesthood to serve others."

President Nelson announced Sunday afternoon, new and improved changes to the home and visiting teaching program as "opening a new chapter in the history of the church" when he said, "We have made the decision to retire home teaching and visiting teaching as we have known them. Instead, we will implement a newer, holier approach to caring and ministering to others. We will refer to those efforts simply as ministering." As members, we are encouraged to minister to each other as Jesus Christ did when he was upon the earth.

At the closing of conference, President Nelson announced plans for seven new temples: Argentina, India, Nicaragua, Philippines, Layton Utah, Richmond Virginia, and Russia. Wow! Did he say Russia? India? Awesome! He added, "construction of these temples may not change your life, but your time in the temple surely will." 

To watch General Conference and learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ go to lds.org.

Surely this general conference will go down in history as memorable for more than one reason. 

Ladies Watch Out! It's Easter Monday!

Source: investujeme.sk

Have you ever heard of the crazy traditions of Easter which include guys pouring water over young women? 

I have never heard of these traditions until I was talking to a few of the local ladies in Slovakia. In Slovakia, they celebrate Easter for five days, from Thursday to Monday.

Prior to Easter they have 40 days of fasting that ends on Big Friday or Good Friday. During these days Slovaks avoid eating meat. The most important days of Easter are Big Friday and Easter Sunday.

Green Thursday. Roman Catholics attend an evening mass to recall the Last Supper of Jesus and how he washed the feet of his apostles.  

Big Friday. A national holiday, the Friday before Easter, known in the United States as Good Friday.

The day commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus whose life and ministry is the foundation of Christianity. It's a day of mourning. In Prešov, we attended the Way of the Cross.

An emotional re-enactment when Jesus was sentenced and brought to Calvary. Retelling biblical references of the mocking, crucifixion, and laying the body in the tomb. Thousands attended this live event.

Holy Saturday. Slovaks everywhere will bring wicker food baskets loaded with ethic holiday food to church for a traditional blessing. The neatly arranged contents will be butter, round loaf of sweetened yeast bread, horseradish, hard-boiled colored eggs, sausage, ham, smoked bacon, salt, and cheese.

Some will include a bottle of wine or candy. A candle is placed in the basket so it can be lit during the blessing. The basket is topped with a white embroidered cloth which represents the burial shroud of Jesus and covers the basket.

Easter Sunday. Easter begins at the cross. The day to celebrate the miracle resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The joyous news that He has risen. 

In Luke 24:5-6: "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen." 

Church bells ring long and loud calling Christians to morning Easter mass. Families looking their Sunday best attend mass together. After the traditional Easter dinner family meets other family members and young adults go to parties or discos to celebrate the end of the forty-day fast.

Easter Monday. The young men come to single ladies houses and whip them and pour water over them. This may seem cruel, but the young females are honored to have guys visit them. This treatment is always held on Easter Monday and is guaranteed to bring health and beauty for a whole year to young women. The men come in traditional clothes carrying braided willow whips tied with colorful ribbons (korbáče). 

The girls are brought out of the house spanked and doused with cold water. Okay, perhaps some girls will disagree with me, but this tradition of switching and watering is all in good sport. 

(Source: imgur.com)