Taste of Romania - Part One

Since arriving in Romania 3 months ago, almost all of our time has been spent in Bucharest.  However, on our second full day here, we went to a Senior Couple's Conference in the town of Sibiu, an ancient walled city dating back almost a 1,000 years.    We met the other senior couples from Romania and Moldova while visiting a beautiful area rich in history after a drive through the snowcapped Transylvania Alps. 

We stayed in a beautiful old (about 200 years) hotel located on a walking street lined with ancient buildings.

That street led into the town plaza surrounded by buildings and churches dating back several hundred years.  We were fascinated by the "eyes of the city" which are the little windows in the roofs of the buildings.





A church that was built in the 1500's.

One evening we drove several hours to a bed & breakfast located on a isolated hilltop 

This is the view from the front yard of the "Casa Roger" B&B where we had a wonderful traditional Romanian meal.  Roger is a member of the Church from England who built this bed and breakfast near a little village where he has been doing humanitarian aid work for almost 20 years.  

These village girls, dressed in authentic Romanian costumes served our meal.

Along the way, we passed through beautiful countryside.

Throughout the drive, we saw flocks of sheep like this one.  Unfortunately, we are not the best picture takers, but the little tiny dark dot in the middle of the sheep is the shepherd.  Unlike American sheepherders who drive their flocks from behind, each flock had a shepherd carrying a staff and leading the flock. They look like they stepped out of the scriptures.

What a wonderful way to start our mission in Romania!

 



Missionary Life

Happy Anniversary to us!  We have been on our mission for three months.  We have learned many wonderful things from the young missionaries here.  Not only have they set a great example of dedication and love for the Romanian people, we have learned a new vocabulary.

1.  boboc (means "baby duck" in Romanian) - new missionary
2.  nas (put a little squiggly thing under the s and pronounce it like nosh. It means godfather in Romanian) - These are the missionaries that take the new missionaries home for their first night in Buc.
3.  Sheriff - this is the missionary that guards all the luggage at the gara (train station) on transfer day.
4.  white wash - when both missionaries in an area are changed on the same day.
5.  to die - when a missionary goes home on his last transfer, he is "dying." 
6.  All missionary time is measured in transfers, which is 6 weeks.

Wednesday we receive a whole new batch of missionaries from the MTC.  Which means a lot of missionaries will be going home.  Brent and I fixed breakfast for our district to reward them for a job well done on their apartment inspections and to say goodbye to the two Elders in our district who are "dying". 

I have relearned how to make hotcakes from scratch and syrup with maple flavoring.

Panduri District Picture

Almost!

Good effort!

Finally!

We will miss Elder's Betteridge and Layton.

Street Singing

The two Buc zones stood outside a buzy downtown metro stop and sang hymns for about an hour Saturday evening.  President and Sora Hill joined us. Brent had to spritz me with a spray bottle every few minutes but I made it!  Lots of people stopped, listened and accepted pamphlets about the Church.  It was a great experience but I'll be okay if we don't do it again until Fall!

Independence Day in Romania - Missionary Style

Today was the Fourth of July and all the Bucharest missionaries came together to celebrate.  We had a good old-fashioned BBQ and then played games.  As you can see from the pictures our participation did not include actually playing the games. We took pictures.  Some of you moms out there will be so proud!

Water balloon volleyball

The Elders giving instructions to the Soras

The Soras thanking them soooo much

The objective of the game is to put a water balloon in the towel and

sling the balloon over the net for the other side to catch in their towel.  They managed to get a few balloons back and forth over the net several times before they smashed on the ground or on someone, while some balloons died on the first toss.  It seemed like they went through about 100 balloons. 

Elder Horgmo and Elder Layton not quite in synch.

Elder Betteridge and Elder Farr slinging for the fences.

The whipping cream game

Elder Betteridge not waiting for the rules of the game.

So you squirt some whipping cream on the top of your hand then

hit your arm so the whipping cream flies off and hopefully lands

in someones mouth.

Elder Betteridge and Elder Farr poised to get the next shot of whipping cream.

Success!

Not so much for Sora Mudge.

Let's get that whipping cream over here!

The Party is Over!

Happy 4th of July!