4 September 2017 - Week 22

We had a great Sunday yesterday.  Brent felt he needed to be ready to teach the Sunday School lesson.  So he prepared and it turned out to be a good thing.  An investigator came to church and she brought a friend with her, who was looking for answers to some questions about Adam and Eve.  Tender mercy . . . that was the lesson Brent had planned.   We felt that hand of the Lord in it.  We know there are no coincidences.  The friend of the investigator thanked Brent for the lesson and was so impressed with what he had heard and seen. 

The Elders took him to a classroom right after our meetings to teach him more.  They are continuing to meet with him.   

Our pictures this week are a hodge-podge of stuff. First, we have a fellow who struck a pose for Brent when he asked if he could take a picture.  I have been trying for weeks to get a picture like this. All the working men wear these coveralls. They come in many colors. It seems like they just put them on with a T-shirt. 

A large company called Astra, and builds train cars, owns a large part of the city.  When they tear out the old stuff to rebuild they leave the fronts of the old building in place and collapse the inside building.  They leave the facade in place to act as a fence to keep people out of the construction area.  Here you can see how the building has been dropped and the windows were broken. 

Astra's switch engine reminds me of the Blue Goose but it is better maintained.  Bruce and Don will remember the Blue Goose. 

The train flat bed looking car is one that they build.  I haven't figured out what that type car is used for but it looks well built.  It maybe just a chassis.

Interesting things from our walk at the forest this week.  

We think this guy lives near in or near the forest.  We see him frequently and on this day, he offered us a ride on the wagon.  We wished we had the Elders with us because Elder Gore wants to drive one of these Romanian wagon setups before he goes home.  He said it would be worth 200 lei!

We saw him again on a different morning.  This time he is looking for wood to cut. Note his excellent choice of chain saw.  STIHL is the best.  Flash back to our wood getting days. 

There were three guys working on this wood getting project, but when they saw that I had my camera out, a couple of them disappeared out of the picture. 

The logs they are cutting are hardwood.  We think the main one is oak, but there are others.  The whole forest is hardwood, very few evergreens.  The trees they are cutting down are about 2 feet in diameter and about 30 feet tall. 

This little picnic area is right along the side of the road. Usually, there is lots of litter around, as it is very well used.  

More photos of transporting things.  

It is a bit hard to see, but this lady has a big rug rolled up on her stroller, along with lots of other things.

This guy is preparing to transport things.  These are the dumpsters outside our apartment building.  He is patiently sorting for treasures he can sell. 

Games night this week involved water and little balloons.  Rather than meeting at the volleyball courts again, the Elders and Sisters decided to have it at our branch building.  We have a good sized covered courtyard surfaced with pavers. 

This is an interesting activity to have here in Romania.  The people don't have experience with water fights.  They don't understand water balloons. Although, judging by how wet everyone was when we dropped by to see how things were going, they had a good time. 

Game night happens every week on Friday, so Saturday morning as we were preparing to go to the church for our weekly cleaning session, we received a call from the Elders saying not to worry about the MESS we would find there.  They would be there soon to clean it up. We were happy they called us because the entire yard was littered with little balloon specks like this.  They had them cleaned up quickly with the help of some push brooms.  You could hardly tell there had been such craziness going on.