Settling into the city of Iasi

Monday, Oct 19th

Our last breakfast at the Ramada North Hotel, Bucharest

Not sure we ever adjusted to the fair of poached egg, fish, and lots of

veggies.  The breads were amazingly delicious - our favorite.

We learned that Romanians don't know what homegrown grapefruit tastes like.

We only tried theirs once

Getting out of Bucharest Monday morning was tricky.  Glad when we finally reached the 

open road.  Luckily Elder Smith told us about the roads.  Each direction

of traffic gets 1 1/2 lanes.  You straddle the dotted line until you 

want to pass someone.  After Uganda, Elder Brown

simply sailed to our new town 6 hrs. away.

Do you see the example?  Kind of small

 When we got to Iasi (pronounced Yash) we called the Elders who had no idea how

to give directions of how to meet up.  They told us to ask anyone

where the Palace Mall was.  I guess we found all

the non English speakers cause it sure took

a while before we found the Palace.

Our residence is the 4th floor of the church marked on the map with the green dot

above the Silal (canal)  kind of left center. Palace mall is to the right.

Bedroom with views of the 5 cathedrals

 Living room with lots of stuff the elders left behind.  

Part of the living room, kitchen and bathroom are not easy to use as the beamed ceilings 

drop to low.  We put up barriers to remind ourselves not to use those areas.  

We've only banged our heads a few times.

 Two views of the living room above.

Below is stairway that leads 

from apartment to church.

Kitchen view A

 Kitchen view B.  Stove is really technical and we had to have the landlord 

show us how to turn it on.

 Dials on clothes washer reads like a foreign language.  

What?

I guess because it is a foreign language.  

Similar to the Ugandan washer we had we know that

once your clothes are in there they are held hostage

for at least 2 1/2 hours. 

Unless of course you know to use the Mini cycle which isn't so long.

Two of our favorite views from our bedroom windows.  First is 3 of the 5 cathedrals 

and the other is autumn leaves just below us

We had a couple days to overcome our jet lag that we hadn't gotten over since coming to Romania.

We did a lot of walking between organizing, shopping and sleeping.

These are some of our favorite pictures.

 Palace left below

 All hot water is piped from a central location along tops of walls.

This only works till it comes to a driveway in which it goes up, over 

and back down.  The main lines are much bigger and would

have been a better example.

Wonder if we will ever run out of water?

These cars were covered in 1/2 inch mosaic tiles.

Should have gotten a close up.

They were exquisite

Front side or entry side of palace.  It is being refurbished.

To the right is another long section of the palace with 

beautifully trimmed gardens.  We didn't have our

camera the day we discovered there

was another whole side to the palace.

This is the cathedral that is lit up at night. The tower is visible from many blocks away.  

The other cathedrals disappear till the sun comes up.

We were surprised the first morning at the view.

(see above photo of cathedrals)

 Yes another cathedral with right tower being remodeled

 Closer view of the palace

 Are any of our grandchildren going to be princess 

for Halloween?  This may be the princess

that once lived at the Palace.

 Looking for ice cream.  This shop was closed.  It's kind of cold here.

 Inside the Palace mall we found a yogurtini of sorts.

Our new favorite food, crinkly paprika potato chips

We won't need a garden this mission.  This lettuce is delicious

and very beautiful.  Carrots and other veggies are plentiful too.

Our first meetings with members and Sister missionaries, 

Sisters Weaver, Kitchen and Lunt. 

The missionaries conduct a FHE/Book of Mormon

reading class every Wed. eve.  The missionaries have an 

activity and refreshments along with the 

spiritual message from the members.

Elders Chatterton and Swafford's picture didn't turn out.

Will try again next week.

 Saturday we helped out with our first English class.

The community is invited to come learn english for free.  

There are three levels taught in 10 lessons.  

Afterward we provided a pancake breakfast of sorts and

the participants were invited to stay and socialize.  

The missionaries were happy that more stayed this time 

and an active game of pingpong 

kept everyone entertained.

Investigators often come from these classes.

 Kitchen duty

Went with Sisters Kitchen and Weaver to visit a member who had her teeth pulled.

She hadn't been to church as she was self conscious of her smile.

We'll take a picture of the sister when she gets her new teeth and is ready for it.

Wow, we don't have to park on the street.  So happy when we found the garage 

that belongs to our building.

 Romania has indoor baptismal fonts.  

This one sits between the garage and the back of the Chapel.

The second floor houses the bishops office, library and the Sunday school room.

Third floor is the Relief Society room and kitchen.

There is no primary children and only one YW who wasn't there today.

We do have a bunch of BYU students volunteering at an orphanage.

They often double the size of Sacrament meeting.  

Today in Sacrament meeting Elder Brown and I were asked to 

bear our testimonies,  first time since arriving.  

We had an interpreter which was a different experience.

After The block I was asked to be the second counselor in the RS 

and Rand was asked to be not only the second counselor of the Branch 

but to work with the Elders.  

Elders President works on Sunday and has not been attending.

This is Pres. Radu Stoica of the Bucharest Romania District.  He lives

in our Branch and is the main interpreter.  Next to him is his girlfriend who was

visiting this weekend from Poland.  She served a mission to Chicago.  

We'll have to find out how they met.

The lady in purple is Pres. Stoica's mother and speaks no English.