This afternoon we went for a walk in the neighborhood.         My directions have been completely turned around                  but today our South facing window is starting to feel             right.  For the last two weeks North was South                         and South was North.

Yes the flowers I brought from Iasi are doing well in the in the South window 

(not North)  

And we are told that this field to the North of us 

sometimes will have sheep grazing.  Can't wait 

to see that.  The reason Romania doesn't have 

much lamb we are told is that Turkey (the country

not the bird)  wants all they can get and do get 

most of it.

Rand hadn't been to the Piazza so on P-day we had some fun.  

Ran into the Sister missionaries and a friend.  She let me take a picture of her shoes.

Not sure what kind of fashion statement they make but she said they were comfortable.

We wondered how old the stones were in this multi designed cobblestoned walkway

Met up with a member who lives in this 600 year old residence.  A German who came to Romania and made a name for himself.  Forgot his name.  

It now houses 13 apartments.  

It will be nice in the summer when the plants are leafed out 

we're thinking 

Maryana, an English student invited us to her home.  Originally we thought it was to hear the missionary discussions.  In the end she through a party for us to experience their greek orthodox traditions.  We ate dinner at the man table with her son who speaks fluent English.  His wife, baby and Maryana ate int he kitchen with the women.

We sometimes don't catch the names of the people.  Here is Maryana with her mother and husband who is reading the Book of Mormon.  The sister missionaries were so anxious to have a religious discussion with them but guess that can wait.

What kind of Greek orthodox tradition did she present for us you may be asking?  It was the anniversary of her father's death 6 years ago.  A Priest was there to lead the guests of that faith through prayers and other things where they all crossed themselves in unison.  We just stood reverently.  Not knowing what this all meant, we found out from her son that whenever his mother wants to have a party she honors her dead father.  It was sweet but strange to us. We were honored to be given one of the beautiful loaves of bread to take home.  The son's attitude was to humor his mother who asked us right at the front what we thought of Hillary Clinton.  The family is aristocracy in Romania and have all the beliefs of Europeans that think the government is there to take care of you.  We don't talk politics but it was hard not to tell them that we were Americans and believed in the American way.  What that was to them was interesting but neither of us gained a convert nor did we aim to.

This month will be the third anniversary of my dear father's passing.
I guess in our own way we do similar things to reverence his memory.

Sister Trebas has a beautiful voice and has purchased a guitar.  She was asked to sing Amazing Grace at the end.  She did it in English, then she sang in Romanian "I am a Child of God".  That brought tears to our eyes.  The priest is the one with the hat on the right.  Rand gave him a "Proclamation on the Family".  He didn't speak English so not sure what he thought but he took it.

Wednesday did not go well for me.  Guess I sat by the wrong people or something but I had a bought with the flue that left me in bed for the next three days.  

By Sat. I felt better and attended the English sign up at the church.  

Pictured below is the Beginning class with 26 new students.  Medium English had only about 6 and Advanced 1.  They tell us that the students that have been attending will return so again Rand and I will take the new students.  Our Mission President has asked us to add a new dimension to our teaching.  Since this will be our third time with the same material it is just the challenge we need.

Our church is in the old section of Sibiu as opposed to where we live in the new section.  This is a pool of water where we go to the right to get to the church. 

Same fountain from a distance.  Love the building behind.  Many ornate buildings with not nearly so many ugly communist block buildings in Sibiu.
Went with the Sisters to get lunch.  It really helped me get my bearings for that area.  Now I found I can even walk to the fabric store.  This was a great find.

Sisters always have a good idea.  After English sign up they put together a bulletin board.  They meant to get pictures of branch activities but it was some holiday and everything was closed.  Romanians love to have holidays and we can't keep track of them all.

Young single adult activity with games.

 Refreshments by Sora Brown to celebrate Valentines which the Romanians also celebrate.

We had a craft to make Sister Trebas happy.  The men weren't sure they wanted to do it but finally got into making a valentine card. It was fun checking out each other's best efforts.  Even Elder Brown made me a valentine card as well as me making him.  Kind of fun for everyone.

No one can love perfectly.  However, when we do our best to show love as unto Christ, we may fall but we can get up.  The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that the successful ones keep trying to get it right.  When their loving kindness is unsuccessful they keep dealing with the issues and with God's help they can learn to love as he loved.

Happy Valentines from Romania!

First full week in Sibiu

There are outlying communities of members that the Bairs had been visiting once a month.  They took us first to see Roger Quinten.  On the way we passed this building that by the looks of it is a gypsy residence.

On the way you can see a freeway that is partially useable.  

This section is not useable.  Not sure why.

We had not seen freeways till coming to Sibiu

Not sure what they call this but we have seen several buildings with religious statues and pictures of Christ along roads and in Iasi.  We don't know if they worship as they pass or of if they are just reminders of their religious beliefs.

This is Roger Quinten, a British subject that has chosen to settle in Romania.  His home is up in the mountain above Sebes, a small town about an hour from Sibiu.  He wants so badly to grow the church where he lives.  So far that hasn't happened.  Even his wife is Catholic and lives most the year in England.
He built his home, a vacation home and a community center along with a church.
The fireplace we had never seen before.  It looks to be porcelain and very ornate.

 

 Never seen a three sided table before.  Roger made a delicious soup and salad.  He was quite the host.




















One side of this building is the community center and this side opens into his chapel.  He has obtained a sign from one of our abandoned  church buildings for the front of the building so it looks authentic.
Not sure what to think about that.

He does have permission to hold a sacrament meeting from the area leaders but so far not many attend his services.  We're suppose to come up every last Sunday of the month if we keep the tradition going.

He also obtained some old chairs and hymn books from the extras from Sibiu branch.

 Hanging on the wall is his line of Priesthood authority and his Aaronic and Melchezdick priesthood ordinations.  Never seen that before and pretty sure no one else does that in our churches.



















This is his vacation home that he rents to people who really want to get away.  It has beds for 10.  Reminded me of our "Vacation Home" days when we did the same thing in Phoenix/Glendale area.

The main floor has a large living room with all the amenities, the far end is a dining area.  In front is a master bedroom, kitchen and the one bathroom.

Above is a walkway to the three bedrooms and eight single beds.

He really wants to attract some Americans to come to his hideaway.  

Anyone interested?

 

Looking down at the TV-sitting area.

                                         Roger was so pleased that we took lots of pictures.

So glad that Sister Bair wanted her husband to stop so we could get this picture of a stork nest.  That is what we were seeing on our way to Bacau.  They go South to Africa for the winter but they tell us will be back to 

raise their young in the summer.  

Some we know stay in Africa because we observed the nests with young in them in Jinja Uganda.

Wednesday was my fifth Relief Society Activity making satin layered flower pins.  We had 100% of the Relief Society (3) there, 100% of the sister missionaries (3) and 7 investigators many of whom started out in the English classes.

Sora Doncu brought her grand son.  She is the Relief Society Counselor to Alexandra.

 Elena on the right was so pleased that we taught her how to make the flowers and praised her for their uniqueness that she gave them both to me.  I immediately gave her one of my examples that I thought was the prettiest.  She has been taking the missionary discussions and was at church Sunday with her grandson.  We were all thrilled

Sister Treslor's with a hair clip looks especially stunning.

Black on black, what can I say.

This lady has been attending English for a long time but as I understand has not had the lessons.  We keep trying to find ways to involve these wonderful people hoping they will at some point be willing to take the discussions.

Rand took this picture to show that I really was there.

Alexandra is the Relief Society President.  She and her husband are the heart of the branch.  She was so happy to have an activity and didn't want any men there.  They had never heard that the Priesthood in Arizona always come for protection.  Her flower was the most unique I had seen yet.  It had three different colors combined in a very unique way

This is the other member of the branch who had not been to church for a long time.  She had fun mixing and matching colors with her flower too.

Thursday the Bairs were loaded up and left to go sight seeing in Romania 

before leaving for home next week.  

It was sad to see our source of all Sibiu knowledge leave.

If you look close you can see the word "Bosch" on this huge building.  It is 

 in a remote village name Blaj about an hour from Sibiu.

That is where we found more investigators that had contacted the church about joining.  They had originally learned about the church in Italy.  Last time the elders came up several in their neighborhood sat in on the discussions.  This week we had 5 their for the discussion.

 The sister with her son that wants to join the church but can't afford to attend church in Sibiu.  After sitting through the discussion with the missionaries we came to realize how difficult the missionaries sometimes have understanding the investigators questions.  Elder Hellewell has been out a year but Elder Hubbard came out about when we did.

Rand had fun talking to this salesman about Herbalife.
Didn't know that company still existed.




















Mannequins throughout Carrefour were naked with discount signs.  A unique way to get people's attention

We didn't get to meet Johnny but he is the branch's only missionary serving in England.

His parents aren't members so the missionaries serving here have made

special effort to go visit them.

We drove the missionaries out and this time his parents agreed to hear the missionary discussions 

 next time we come.  They live about 10 miles from Sibiu on a lovely

spread with chickens, an orchard with gardens and the river flowing at the back where they fish.

 They heat their home with the same porcelain fireplace as Roger.

Rand can't help himself.  He had to stop and talk to these men about their horse.  The Sisters were pretty afraid but in the end a good time was had by all.

Saturday night was the Singles activity.  Last week was the Joseph Smith movie which was so inspiring.  This week they played "Hide and Seek".  We also had quite a few different people from last week.  The missionaries are in charge of the activities.

They didn't ask our opinion.

This young lady brought her sister who is visiting from the country.  They follow what is being posted on face book so I'll have to put their picture their.

Below are two that claim to only be friends but don't act like it.

Styles in hair for men is short on the side and long on top.  Many of the missionaries follow this style. The pants are very tight for men and women.  Many of the missionaries have 

had their suit pants taken in to match the European style.

 We were surprised to see Roger at our services this morning. 

 I guess he comes to Sibiu branch at least once a month.

This Sabbath was a beautiful day and we finally got a picture of our home.  

We live on the main floor and get the carport on the left.  

The owners live on the second floor. and park on the right with no covering.

The kitchen has some unique features.  We had never seen a two level dish drainer.  Cupboard space is pretty limited so this works great.

In my testimony this morning I talked about the importance of reading the conference talks.  We are so blessed to have the words of the Prophet and the Apostles.  My goal for the last 5 years has been to read at least one talk every day in my scripture studies.  It has made such a difference in my life and  they are often what I quote in this section of the blog.  Today's quote comes from Rosemary M. Wixom from April 2015 general conference.
I was thinking of Rand and I in our new assignment when I underlined this.
Please pray specially for me (us) that I (we) may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself.  
Sister Wixom then goes on to tell about a woman whose testimony "had become like a pile of ashes.  It had all burned down.  All that remained was Jesus Christ".
She learned that when she came up against a statement that caused her to doubt, she "could stop, look at the whole picture, and make the gospel personal."  She said, "I would ask, 'Is this the right path for me and my family?'  Sometimes I would ask myself, 'What do I want for my children?'  I realized I want them to have temple marriages.  That's when belief came back to my heart.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland has said, "Humility, faith, and the influence of the Holy Spirit (will) always be elements of every quest for truth."