Greetings from the Semlimbar country.  Last Sunday evening's walk took us to where this family was weeding their family garden with the help of a horse pulled cultivator.  Grandpa teaching the grandkids how to guide the horse.

 Only tree we've seen like this.  Hard to tell though from this photo.

Monday early, Elder Brown got the Elders to the train station in time to then run Sora Yost to the same train station.  Sora Dj hung out with us for the day as our companion.  We spent the afternoon cleaning some in the elders apartment and part of that was defrosting the Soras freezer because the door had to be tapped shut.  That was because the frost was so heavy it was forcing the door from closing.  Keeping the freezer defrosted must not be part of their missionary chores we decided.  Let the senior couple do it.  The top drawer was broken from frozen ice.  Took this picture to see if we could get a replacement once we got the frost melted.

Had to cancel FHE Monday night as our new missionary from Mihi Bravo in Bucharest arrived.  Sora Savoie is one of the sisters we took a picture of at the MTC with two other soras.  They were ahead of us at the MTC but behind us in coming to Romania.  The mission will be blessed with her here.

 Mihi is back from visiting his family and wanting us to come out to the garden for lettuce.  His attire is a little skimpy but he was happy to also share a few of the onions I planted a few weeks ago.

 Doing welfare visits we got a picture of the grapevine covered court yard of the Brukenthal residence.  Can't wait to see the grapes hanging there.

 Same picture only from above.

 Rand spends a lot of time in his Branch President's office taking care of branch business.  I do quite a bit of puttering around in my garden.  I guess you can tell that without saying it.

 The flower boxes are just getting fuller and fuller.

Bought a bag of these little blossoms last week to decorate our Hawaiian Luau dinner table.  While waiting for the gentleman to get my change a young man that spoke english told me that this is the salcam flower.  Salcam is a kind of acacia that the Romanians use to make a drink.  We went out and found these blossoms, took them home, washed, added water, honey and a little lemon.

 Now it will sit in the sun for a few days.  Will try it out the end of next week.

 Here is a commercial drink of lemon, suc and carbonated water.  We had bought it before for games night but hadn't noticed the acacia flower along with the lemon on the picture.

Rand found a dentist around the corner from the church.  We got our teeth cleaned by Dr. Teodora I. Marcu.  I took a picture of Rand in the chair but he had his eyes closed so left it off.  I seem to get that look from him often.  Bad timing on my part.  So nice to have clean teeth again.

Friday was our greatly anticipated Relief Society activity.  We kept putting it off in hopes of Cami being there.  In the end she was only able to join us for drinks when it was over.  We started out at the ground floor of the tower in Piazza mare talking about the requirements for the telestial kingdom.    Each was also given a small cookie.  

This tower is directly opposite the road that goes under "Liars bridge" that we have talked about before.  This is Piazza Mica and the other side is Piazza Mare.

In attendance were three missionaries, two branch members and one investigator.  Simona is a very sweet lady who has had a few lessons and open to our message but so far we haven't seen a lot of commitment on her part.  Half way up we talked about the requirements for the Terrestrial Kingdom and received a bigger chocolate covered cookie.

We love it when we run into our English lesson students  This is Stephon and his daughter.  Stephen graduated from beginner to intermediate and is a regular attender.

At the top of the 238 step tower we had a lot more light and a wonderful view of the city.  Here everyone received several yummy Belgian chocolates and heard how wonderful it will be in that kingdom.

Sora Craciun did a very good job explaining why we all want to be in the celestial.  At least that is what I was told.  Of course everything was in Romanian.  Luckily almost everyone spoke pretty good English so between times I didn't feel left out.   So glad Cami was able to join us for a lemonade afterward.  She got to know Simona and made friends.  That is the goal for all Releif Society activities.

Walking home after the activity Cami, Simone and I got in on a surprise festival.  Everyone else had gone their separate ways but we really enjoyed the activities.

First was some sort of tumbling performers that incorporated stilts, scary costumes, fire and confetti.  One was good at a front flip and every time he went over confetti shot out of him from somewhere.  Never got close enough to see where.  Glad we don't have to clean up the tiny bits of paper everywhere.

 Next were these dancers and a band to follow.  I was told that the performers are from all over Europe, not just Romania.

The next night Rand and I went back to enjoy the activities.  This mime fellow really drew the crowds.  Kids and parents lined up for photos with him.

 These two women were dressed in the most flamboyant costumes and they were choosing folks from the audience to have a makeover.  None of the makeovers were normal.  Outrageous is what Rand called them.  Didn't get a picture of the final product however.

Here is the snow tree covered with cherries from the backyard of the church.

 We think the cherries are not the red variety.  

 Some are pretty tasty and they are only orange.

Been watching this lily for many weeks in front of our place.  This week it finally bloomed.  So lovely.

I picked this bud over a week ago.  I can't believe it is still so beautiful.  Really cheers up our kitchen.  Natalie, does this remind you of "fire and Ice"?

 I probably didn't mention that it is still raining a lot.  We're trying to ignore that.  We did hear though that this spring has been unusually rainy and cold.  I finally got a picture that turned out of the "raindrops on roses".

My favorite conference talk from this past week was given by Sterling W. Sill in 1971.  He stated, "The religion of Christ itself is not so much a set of ideas as it is a set of activities.  The purpose of the Church is to help us translate the principles of the gospel of Christ into constructive, meaningful human experience.  And everyone should work toward this end by a daily practice of thinking of some uplifting thoughts, listening to some fine music, reading some stimulating literature, doing some good deeds, and having some great experiences every day.

End of an era, Elder Hellewell will be moving on.  We have served with him for most of our mission.  He followed us from Iasi to Sibiu.  Now he will be in Oradia which is in the same zone but he will not be here to help Rand Translate when he gives a talk or conduct Sacrament meetings.

Elder Hellewell is from Orem.  His parents are in my cousin, Gary Broderick's stake.  We learned that fact on Mother's day when the missionaries were allowed to Skype their parents

Missionaries in our mission are down with 13 going home this transfer and only three coming in.  We will no longer have elders in Sibiu.  Elder Jardine is going to Pitesti and Sora Yost to Bucharest.  Sora Djabanhani is the only one that is staying with us.  She will get a new companion Monday.  Feeling sad

This is the view from our dining room/kitchen window.  We have been waiting for the sheep we heard would be brought in to keep the grass down.  Instead they cut and bailed it.  So disappointed not to have sheep brazing in our back yard.

 We were surprised when they brought in a horse and wagon to gather up the bails.

 Sibiu is a center for gypsies.  You can always tell a gypsy by their clothing. These ladies were conversing in the parking lot of the mall where we shop.

 In preparation for our Hawaiian Luau Sunday after the European area conference broadcast we went looking for slivered almonds.  I know we've seen them but could not find any this week.  Rand helped me soak, slice and roast a cup of yummy slivered almonds.

 One of Rand's jobs is mowing all the lawns at the church.  Finding a dry day gets tricky.  We pretty much do outdoor work when it finally quits raining,  good exercise.

The dutch iris are blooming this week at the church.  Reminders of home.

Bought this hat a couple months ago when it warmed up.  I wanted to be prepared to protect my nose from the sun.  Rand said my buying it caused the weather to turn cold again.  

 P-day activity was to go to the Brukenthal Museum.  Samuel Brukenthal was governor of Transylvania.  He died in 1803 so it was some time ago.  We were curious what was in the museum.  I guess you could say we were surprised it was an art museum.  That's what you get for not being able to read in Romanian.

 The sign on the side said Rembrandt.  Is it a portrait or painted by that great artist.  Samuel was very wealthy and bought many pieces of art from the 15-1600's.

 Painting of Sibiu in the 1800s.

Of course I wanted my picture by the flowers that were beautiful in the courtyard.

 Without knowing each other's plans we ran into the sisters at the museum.

 One room had stone coat of arms like the one below.  This one was more complete than others.

 Girl statue

 Boy statue both at entrance to the museum.

 Rand's favorite restaurant because it has good beaf.  Never seen kabobs served like this.

Friday instead of a waffle dinner after district meeting we had a practice Hawaiian Luau at our house that night.  I had found a web site with lovely Hawaiian music and pictures that we project onto the wall.  Elder Jardine seems to have caught some of the scene on his face.

Sat. Felicia attended 6 of our 7 English classes so was awarded a certificate.  She and her daughter Gaby and friend, Ana came to the European Area Conference the next day.  Such lovely women.

Is this what it is like when you get transferred?  

No more going out for a sandwich together

 No more translating for branch member interviews with the Branch President.

 No more Saturday Sports nights together.

We had 16 at our Branch Hawaiian Luau after the European area broadcast Sunday.  Everyone wanted to know what a Hawaiian Luau was.  Even Roger, our friend that we visit and hold firesides and sacrament meetings from UK didn't know.  They liked the food though so now they know something new.

We're slowly getting the missionary lingo down.  Good bye to our son Elder Hellewell.

 Sunday last time together as a district.

 Trip home from the church.  This row of flowers reminds me of fire.  Each rose starts out yellow but turns red in the sun.  Roses are just breath taking but I think I said that last week.

I really loved Elder Causse's talk in our area conference.  His talk was on the importance of the temple.  Originally it took him two days from France, his home to visit the temple in Switzerland.  Now, he lives where he can see the Draper temple from his home.  What great memories we have of going to the temple built in my Grandparents home town.  We have missed going to the temple these last eight months.  Elder Causse' reminded us that after baptism all those who want to endure to the end now work towards being able to make more covenants in the temple both for themselves and to do the work for our ancestors.   So glad the blessings of the temple have been restored in our day.