Oct. 12th was the red letter day for shipping out.  We had a leisurely morning

enjoying our last day in USA.

 Sister, Jane dropped us off at the airport. 

They were so good to us.  We could have stayed at the MTC for the

weekend but it was much nicer with family.  

We met a lady from their ward who served as one of the first missionaries in Romania.  Unter's had Kirsten Abel over for dinner Sat. night and we were able to pick her brain 

about our new country.

Neglected to take a picture.

Salt Lake International airport.

On board ready to take off

The mission had these business card made up for us

when we arrived.  Elder is a hard word to say but

Sora for Sister I can remember.

This is the back of the business card.  If you want

to call us just add a +4 to the number you see

there on the right.

 President Ivory had us go to a zone conference first thing Wed morning 

We actually skipped Oct 13th.

We were on the same flight with Sister Ivory's parents, Richard and Mary Cahoon.
 I was looking forward to hearing what they had to tell us

at the zone conference.  I'm afraid I slept through most

of it.  I managed to stay awake for President Ivory's talk at the

very end of the conference.  

 It was at Ploiesti Branch about an hour away from our hotel.

So relieved to find that almost every where we go someone can speak to us

in English.

Elders Boydston & Gunsay drove us to the zone conference.  

They reminded me of Bradley who is serving in Ecuador.

They think traffic here is terrible.  We don't say much but if you were to add

driving on the wrong side of the car and on the wrong side

of the road with motor cycles zooming all around 

and pot holes to dodge then

they would have a hair raising experience.

After the zone conference we road back to Bucharest on the train.
We had these Elders to help us.

We had to wait at the church 1 1/2 hrs then take

a taxi to train.  After the train we waited at McDonalds

for the office elders to come get us and return to the

Hotel.  What a long day

Next day we attended a district meeting with a couple elders and four sisters.  Elder & Sister Stratton

got us to the meeting.  They also had us over for lunch and visit.

The Elders Everton and Soberg have taken in their suit pants and tightened their 

shirts to look more Armenian.  Sisters Smullen,

Jerez, Routson and Elliot looked like well

dressed missionaries.

 Mihai Bravu branch building where zone conference was held.

Friday we were escorted by the K Nelson missionary couple.

They don't like to drive so we had a subway experience which

took us down town.  Large mall in the background which was

hard to navigate

Second largest building in the world in the background between us.

One day we'll get close enough to see the whole thing.

The only building larger is the Pentagon in the US

Subway took us to a wedding of a couple in one of the branches.

  All weddings much be performed by

the government.  A crowd waited in groups till their name was called. 

Samona is a new convert.  In a year they plan to go to the temple

Fancy building where marriages are performed 

After witnessing temple marriages this marriage

certainly was lacking in anything spiritual.

That didn't dampen the spirits of the couple.  Got 

kissed on both cheeks by the groom.

Down town Bucharest has some very lovely buildings and gardens 

not destroyed by the Communists.  Ate at a restaurant with string quartet.

Self Reliance workshop Saturday.

This picture is Matthew Mathias from France.  He

is the regional specialists.  The materials

we had been waiting for in Uganda are

finally available and they are excellent.

We have been asked to teach what Bro. Mathias

taught us when we get to Iasi.  We will

drive up there next week.

The Stratton with Mihai Bravu branch president 

and the main Romanian/English interpreter.  

He may be short in stature but tall in spirit.

I've yet to get all the names down though.

We sat by the Branch President of Iasi branch,  Pres Pitualan.  

Here we are discussing the assignment given us in Self Reliance 

with Mariana Bucavana a very sharp new member.

Wedding open house for Simona and Romulus Sat. night at the

Harris apartment.  They all live in one bedroom apartments

Built by the Communists.  They are ugly outside but they 

are pretty nice inside.

A bit of room for a dance and the Priesthood leadership of the 

district and branch entertained us.  The daughters

of the man on the right were dying of embarrassment.

We were all having a good laugh

Streets are lined with ugly apartment buildings in Bucharest.  Not even

the Mission President has a free standing home.  His is a very

nice townhome/condo

Another shot of streets in Bucharest.  

We took our first drive this morning getting ourselves and

a visiting PR couple from Germany to church.  We ran into each

other at breakfast.  They needed a ride to church so

we canceled the couple that was going to pick us up and

followed them instead.  Sunday morning traffic is

a good place to practice driving and easier to follow someone.

Our pretty green Opel.  Been a long time since we drove an Opel.  

 It had 44 kilometers on it when we got it.  It is going to

be interesting packing all our luggage in it tomorrow

for the 7 hour trip to Iasi.