Thursday, June 7, 2012

My Romanian Visiting Teaching Route

I have been a Relief Society visiting teacher for almost 50 years.  When we were students in Provo, I only had to walk around the block to get all my visits done.  In all the other cities we lived, most of the sisters I visited lived within a short drive.  But we live in Romania now and visiting teaching is more of a challenge.  The young sister missionaries and I were assigned to visit Sora Cranaci who lives almost an hour away close to the Hungarian border.  Sora Cranaci is a single sister who lives alone in a 200 year old house.

Usually she is at the gate waiting to greet us but if not we just knock on the window and she comes and lets us in.  This is a very typical group of homes.  When you drive down the streets, only the back of the houses can be seen.  The "front" of the houses are inside the gates.

Her home does not have plumbing but she does have electricity.

She raises pigs and chickens and has a dog and several cats.

Every inch of ground has something growing on it.  Her cash crop this year is garlic but she also has tomatoes, potatoes, peas, dill, lettuce, beans, radishes and squash growing for her own use.  The other crops form borders or are scattered in among the garlic.  There are also little fruit trees here and there, including in front of the house.

When she comes to Church she must ride her bike about 5 miles to the train station, take the train to Arad and then ride the tram for several miles.  She is very faithful about coming even when the weather is bad.

She has a treadle sewing machine and does embroidery work when she has thread.  She also likes to paint landscapes.  She loves to read the scriptures and other church books. 

Her home is very small with only two rooms.  This is the kitchen.  She always has a little treat for us. 

Sora Cranaci with Soras Wahlquist, Schuld and Remsberg

She always wants to share her crops with us.  Here she is digging up garlic.

Sora Cranaci and Sora Remsberg

Soras Schuld and Remsberg, Soras Cranaci and Wahlquist

Visiting Sora Cranaci is a faith building experience for me.  She carries many burdens but her testimony is strong.  We always exchange the two-cheek kisses both coming and going.













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