First Humanitarian Trip : Bosnia and Serbia, Part 1

First some history, possibly wrong but how I remember it. (This is Randy)

When I was a boy there was a large country named Yugoslavia; partisans there fought against the Germans and Austrians during WWII, and were helped by the West and the Russians [this typeface is Rebecca].  
In 1963 it became a communist country with Marshall Tito (famous leader of the WWII partisans) as President for life.  He was unique because he resisted Soviet communism without ever being invaded by the Soviets as was Czechoslovakia etc.  

When Tito died the country eventually split into half a dozen smaller countries. (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Serbia [controlling Kosovo and Vojvodina], Montenegro, and Macedonia.  Generally speaking, three religions and nationalities were intermixed throughout all these separate countries : Serbs, who are Orthodox, Croats who are Catholic, and Bosnians who are Muslim).  

Serbia was one of those countries.  It wanted to expand like Germany had during WWII and so started fighting with Bosnia, its next door neighbor.  Remember, this is how I remember it, not necessarily how anyone else remembers it.  The Serbs bombed,  raped and pillaged their way through Bosnia and committed genocide on several occasions killing 8000 in one town.  The US finally said for Serbia to stop.  They didn't, so the UN (US) bombed all the bridges in Serbia and several buildings.  That ended the war.

Austrian Air, partner of Lufthansa

We were technically in Vienna, Austria and I got a stamp in my passport, 
but we never actually touched the ground.

Fast forward to 2013.  We flew to Austria and then to Sarajevo, Bosnia. 

Sarajevo,  a valley surrounded by mountains: looks familiar

 Elder Gary and Sister Susan Winters were there to meet us.   We drove thru the streets of town, passed the old Olympics stadium, some bombed out buildings, mosques and ancient-looking hay stacks.

Sarajevo in the rain

New government offices

Bombed out building

The old Olympic bobsled run

Remnants of the Olympic Stadium, ski runs and village

During the 2 ½ hour drive to Tuzla, we passed old houses with gardens, crossed some mountains and stopped at a cafe run by - surprise - some Bosnians who had been refugees after the war and lived in SALT LAKE CITY!!  We stopped and bought some delicious local fruit. Perfect time of year to be here.

There are fruit trees everywhere

Cool old haystacks : these are EVERYWHERE, even in cities in people's yards

Every home has a garden

New friends: the Winters are from Sandy and Admir and Amela are Bosnians who lived in West Valley!
It is a small world.

Delicious fruit, just picked a few hours ago