Our blog entries are getting further and further apart. Too busy with other things I guess.  We'll be home on the 14th of April and invite any who want to hear our mission report April 23rd at the Country Gables building.  11 pm is the time. 

Arad branch building has two entries.  Neither have a bulletin board that is easy to see.  This easel was missing the board supports so Rand made new ones and we fixed a broken bulletin board and dressed it up similar to the one Sora Yost and Trebas designed in Sibiu.  The next activity will be an Easter party after we leave.

Weather is getting a little nicer so walking is the in thing.  The bus/train station is within walking distance and we like the train engine on display out front.  Time changed this morning and we almost missed getting Sora Roberts to the train station for her transfer to Bucharest.  We will miss her but she is being replace by Sora Anderson from Sibiu.  We told Sora Anderson not to keep following us or she'd end up back home sooner than expected.

Our view from the office window.  There is a flag that is hard to see in this sunrise but it keeps us posted on the wind.  Arad has a lot and when it's windy we dress much warmer than the temperature would lead you to believe

Translating equipment finally arrived.  Wouldn't you know since we are leaving soon.  The equipment doesn't actually do the translating.  There needs to be a translator behind the mike.  These are the receivers that we carry with a nifty ear piece.  The translator can whisper ever so softly and we can hear them.

 We have the Articles of Faith hanging on our dining room wall.  Rand had these made up as a gift to our two branch members.  We hope they will find a place in their homes to hang them and remember what Joseph Smith was inspired to write as our basic beliefs.  I  memorized them in Primary many years ago and can still remember most of them.

 The temperature last week was in the 70's.  Sora Mogos and Alexandra let us tag along with them on a walk at the park.  We sure loved being outdoors.

 Two days later Rand and I found our way back to the same park.  We just can't get enough of the great outdoors.

The foot/bike path also leads to a bridge that crosses the river to a water park and restaurant.  No swimming this time of year however.

 For our last day together as a district a week ago we went out to eat instead of us fixing waffles.  Sora Alger and Roberts standing by the lion stuck on the wall of this building.

 Elder Winder, Branch Pres. of Timisoara, Elder Fawcett our district leader who comes to Arad on Fri or skypes with us from Timi.  Elders Wilstead and Meek with Soras Roberts and Alger.

 We wanted the experience of riding the tram so found someone to show us how to buy a ticket then road down town to talk to folks and buy a papanos.  Romanians were very helpful and we ran into one of our investigators going the other way on the tram.

 We were looking for tram 3 or 6 which takes you down town.  This is a very nice tram.  Some are a little old and scary looking.

 As a senior couple we are assigned every 3 months to do apartment checks.  Oradea was our assignment and after doing the checking we went to a Hungarian restaurant with two of our previous soras, Djahanbani and Gubar plus made new friends of Elders Bird and Boud.  Hungarian food was so very delicious.  I need that recipe.

 The district had a Relief Society activity the following day in Oradea so stayed to attend.  Several of our Timi members and Sora Mogos were also there.  It was a fun Relief Society Birthday

 Sora Gleason sat by me and translated as the program went along.

 A group of the soras with Soras Negriu, Mogos, Jureschi, Nedelcu and a lady I don't know and the district Pres, Eva Costea. The last lady was funny in a skit.   She had to take cues from the others and we were all laughing.  I don't know her name either.

Our last Sunday in Timisoara was March 19th.  Sora Gyene gave me this lovely plate as a good-by gift.  She didn't know it was our last day but she was going to visit her daughter in Germany for the next couple weeks and wasn't going to be in town, so thoughtful.

 Rand's last day as Branch President of the Arad Branch.  

 Sora Cristina Marin translated our talks and was getting a little advice from Sora Mogos.  They both speak English well.

March 26th, last Sunday in the Branch
Front: Sora Ana Krancs and Cristina Marin, Alexandra and Ana Mogos, Sora Piper, Cristina and Adreana Dechi.     Back row: Elder Meek and Sora & Bro. Istrate, Sora Alger (Sora Roberts left this morning for Bucharest so Sora Alger is our companion for the next 24 hours), Elders Maldovan, Piper, Wilstead, Brown and Giti.

 After the block everyone met upstairs where we hosted a taco salad dinner with our famous healthy raspberry cherry jello for desert.  Of course they had no idea how to put a taco salad together so Sora Alger showed them how and they really liked it.  Pres. Brown told me to be sure to also have bread.   They always eat bread and is required when you have soup even if it is Mexican hamburger bean soup with lots of taco seasoning.

 It was so much fun that the Elders are hoping to do a dinner again soon.  Such loving people.  We will miss them a lot.

 There wasn't much food left.

 Elder Meek volunteered to take the extras home.  He is from Mesa and really misses this kind of food.

 We went with sour cream instead of cheese.  Everyone here eats a lot of sour cream but yellow cheddar cheese we seldom find.

Elders Wilstead and Meek will be staying here for the next 6 weeks.  Happy days.

Elder Browns Sacrament talk:  One thing he talked about was the Relief Society/Priesthood lesson manual, The Teachings of the Presidents.  Just like the letters from such as Paul in the New Testament, these lessons are the words/letters to us in our day.  How blessed we are to have and be able to read their words.  That was not the case in other dispensations.  Are we taking advantage of this great opportunity?

Visit to Sannicolau Mare, Romania 

End of February                        

Rand really wanted to visit this city about an hour West of us near Hungary.  Pres. Ivory notified us that a Muller family had written him hoping he would find someone to do a little family history investigation for them.  We asked a member Cristina Marin if she would be willing to go with us and she thought it sounded fun.  Here we are at the German cemetery where the caretaker in blue knew of one gravestone with a name they were looking for.  The man in brown coat directed us to the cemetery on this rainy, muddy day.  Cristina kept trying to stay out of the pictures we took.

At the City building we found out that all records older than 100 years had been transferred to the County seat - Timisoara.  

it would have been impossible to get that info without Cristina's help

We were told that there was one person who still lived in town by the name we were looking for.  At the gate we knocked and knocked.  When we finally gave up and started to leave two people came and told us that the 80 year old was in Germany and wouldn't be back till after the 18th of March.

 The German cemetery was just down the street.  

We sent the pictures to the Mullers and they said that these would be cousins.







Quite a few names in one
                                            burial plot.
 

 

 Rand's exploring finally lead him to the local farmers market.  The hubard squash we bought was the best we'd ever had.  Went back to buy another.

This outdoor hardware store would be hard to work in during the winter.  My sense of organization was highly offended but Rand loved it.

  My idea of a store to visit.

 A visit with Sora Olga who missed our craft day at the church because of knee problems.  I took the craft to her and she had a great time.  Their grandson, Mano has not been at church.  Rand would love to get some things going for that age.  We have a couple other boys that might be enticed to come if it was the right activity.  We spend a lot of time brain storming.  They do come to games night on Fridays with the Elders but the boys don't necessarily enjoy the same kinds of activities.

Our monthly activity in Arad for March was a family history activity.  

 We were hoping to attract English students as well as branch members to the activity.  

We did get one English student, Ioan and Lidia who is a friend of the other Lidia but is not an english student.  Bro. Ghiti brought his non member wife, Maria and their two grandchildren; Denisa & Mano.

 Sora Mogos coordinated the refreshments.  I brought sliced apples and carmel dip made from sweet and condensed milk.  It was a hit especially with Sora Pepier.

She also loved the Soras snickerdoodles.

 Bro. Ghiti would like to go to the temple but his wife hasn't progressed towards baptism.  They are raising their grandchildren, parents are often too busy to attend to their own children.

 Glad Sora Roberts took over the baby picture activity.  We feel so frustrated that the language barrier keeps us from doing what we want to.

 Not everyone brought a picture but that's ok, it was the highlight of the evening.

In my picture I may have been 7 or 8.  We just happened to have some old slides on our computer that my Dad took many years ago.

Sunday, March 5th we had two visitors and a reactivated member at the Timi branch.  The ladies on the far right and far left are nurses from Utah exploring Romania, quite adventuresome we thought.  The gentleman in the back is Petru.  He has a strong testimony but goes inactive when he falls into deep depressions.  So sad cause they sure need him.

Took the wrong exit home from Timisoara on Sunday.  How did we get here?  We sure don't know our way around town and roadways don't make sense anyway.  Looking forward to the logical systems back home.  

Went with the Soras to visit Sora Krista.  She had two strokes but seems to be overcoming the last one that left her paralyzed three years ago.  She told us she hopes to get to church this summer.  She showed us how she is able to walk without her walker.  Her husband wanted to know if we brought our bible.  He has lost his testimony of the restored gospel and as the missionaries said,  just wants to Bible bash.  We all know that doesn't accomplish anything. We really admire his wife for staying true to her covenants and no we didn't have our bible with us.  Book of Mormons, we always have.

A member who has been ill died in Timisoara.  Petru was in charge of the flowers.

 After church ten of us drove out to the home about 8 miles from the church.  We were surprised how well the flowers did zipping through on top of the car in the rain.

 The black flag denotes a death at the home.  Out of courtesy to the family I didn't get the camera out in the house, but want to describe the "wake".  The body sits in the casket in the living room with mourners sitting around.  The casket has attached (at the head end of the casket) a portable refrigerator system to keep the body cool.  A glass top so you can view the body keeps the cool in.  We all stood in the middle of the room and sang a couple hymns.

If I don't sound like I'm in mourning it's because we didn't know the lady.  Few in the branch knew her.  Sora Jureschi seemed to be the only one in mourning as the woman worked most of the time in Greece.  She only visited the branch for a month in a year but always paid her tithing when she came.

Besides the missionaries, Sora Jureschi & Petru, Sora Gyene and Sora Negriu also went to the wake.  The graveside service will be today, Monday.  The members were going to go back and sing several hymns as part of the program.

John 16:33

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.  In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"

This is true for each one of us.  Take a minute to ponder on this scripture and decide how you can apply it to your life - to find peace knowing that Jesus Christ has died that we may live again.  That wasn't the case for people who lived before his atonement.  How blessed we are to have the sure knowledge that Christ has overcome the world.  

Don't be so caught up in the world that you don't look for that peace he has promised us.