Cobblestone walkway with Romanian flags on either side in the distance is the center of Iasi.  Traffic is diverted so you can meander among the shops and listen to the music.  Unless it is raining musicians range from guitar, clarinet, flute etc.  It is very nostalgic and we love to take our walks there.  Also many churches are reached from this walkway.  Picture taken from in front of the Palas. (Palace)

Elder Brown standing by king statue in front of palas.  

We haven't found anyone to tell us about the palas

or who the king is.  Hope to find out before leaving.

Monday was transfer day.  We were up at 4 AM to get Elder Chatterton to the air port.  There is an airport in Iasi?  Finding it at 4:30 was a bit tricky but we only made minor turning errors and didn't end up in the lake that Pres. Pitelon warmed us of.  With Elder Chatterton gone Elder Swafford had to hang out with us.  We took full advantage of his knowledge of the language and went to the German store that is similar to Home Depot and the French store that is similar to Walmart.

European Bosch

Good-by dinner with the Sisters and their investigator Claudia in

our attic kitchen.  Our kitchen is only about 2/3 usable.

Unless of course you don't mind banging your head.

10:30 that night we drove Sister Weaver and Kitchen with all

their luggage to the train station.  They had a bunk 

and traveled the night to Bucharest.  We'll miss them so much

Tuesday afternoon was spent with the Smiths, the couple from Bacau.

They brought girls up to go together to their new areas.

Sister Wyatt and Sister Roulston are the Bacau missionaries 

that we will work with when we go down there.

Sora Lunt has her new companion, Sora Cutler from Draper.

She knows Relation Street.

The Smiths will leave next month.

When they are gone we'll travel 130 kilometers

every couple weeks to be with their branch.

Other two girls were just passing through from Moldova.

Posing for pictures.  

When we go walking we wear Brooks tennys.

You're right, not very stylish but oh so comfortable.

Us with the new sister missionaries in Iasi

Elder Brown bought a pomegranate.  

Nice reminder of home but not sure where the store got them in cold Romania

Mission President said we could replace our fridge.  

So happy as it only had one shelf and two makeshift shelves

New fridge before getting the old one out.  Wait we still don't have the old

one out.  Rand is looking to remove it with a hand truck.

Where to get one he has has no idea.  The Elders

suggested we just toss it out the balcony window

The delivery man showed up with fridge and no hand truck.  

Rand couldn't believe it.  Lucky for us he came during

District mission and the elders helped get it up to the fourth floor.

Rand rewarded them with pizza for lunch.

Our bedroom window

The tiny one to the right is the kitchen window. 

The Balcony is on the other side

We were pretty cold and needed hats.  I finally found one 

I like then it warmed up.  Good reason to buy a hat.

Pres Pitelon was having a hard time getting members to clean

the building so Rand and I secretly did it for him.

We didn't get to the first floor but the second and third 

look much better.

Our grey bathroom is so cheery now with the new rugs from Carrefore

I think it is my favorite room

It has a skylight which usually shows white, seldom blue sky

This room is also only 2/3 usable unless you are very short.

Our first trip to Bacau where a new branch president was

sustained.  That will give Elder Smith who has been the branch president 

a month to train him before he & Sister Smith go home.

New members to become friends with.  

There were eight members,  six missionaries  

and the District President, Alin Constantines

Lady on left is a Romanian translator for the church.

She translated my testimony that I was asked to give.

Will have to fill in names as we learn them.

Sister Smith with Sister Roulston & Wyatt 

in front of 100 year old Church in Bacau

Sunday dinner at the Smith's apartment with Pres. Constantines, sister missionaries and us

Same picture with Sora Wyatt trading places with me.

Every where we look are very beautiful churches.

It was a beautiful fall drive home to Iasi which is about 1 hr 50 min. away

Would like to end with my favorite quote from this past general conference.  

Sister Marriott said, "I have struggled to banish the mortal desire to have things my way, 

eventually realizing that my way is oh so lacking, limited, and inferior to the way of 

Jesus Christ.  'His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.'  

Can we love Jesus Christ and His way more than we love ourselves and our own agenda?

Elder Brown and I are happy we are serving this mission.  I remember last year at this time as we were getting our mission papers filled out wondering where we would be in a year.  Well here we are and nothing about this mission is something we would have chosen but we see why the Lord sent us here almost every day.  It is my testimony that his way does lead to happiness.