5 February 2018 - Week 44

The Elders and Sisters have "Cabin Fever".  They don't care what the weather is - they wanted to go to the Fortress in Lipova for P-day, so we went.  It was a cold, dewy morning, barely above freezing.  There was rain on Sunday and during the night so there were slickery, muddy places on the mountain that you climb to get to the fortress. 

The street in Lipova where we parked the car.

Now we will visit the Monastery.  

All decked out for Cracuin Ferecit - Christmas.

We were escorted to an upper floor in the monastery where the hall was decorated with paintings that depicted accidents and sickness.  The paintings show angels and St. Mary.

A photo of the man who showed the hall to us.  Notice he is sporting some cotton in his ears, very common in Romania, to keep the wind out of his ears.

We finished our P-day with a trip to McDonalds for a hamburger.  YUM.

This week we also finished our Family History assignment for a man in Germany.  The story is crazy good as the way has been strewn with really nice people who despite the language barrier, helped us find the documents we needed.  Our trip to Peregu Mare was no exception.  

We also had a bit of an adventure trying to get the oil changed in the mission car we are renting and driving. The office asked us to take the car to a Hyundai dealer, so we had to drive to Timisoara.  There is no Hyundai dealer in Arad.  Luckily, again, the way was opened and we found someone who could communicate in English and we were able to get the job done.  It only cost 990 Lei.  That's $320 US dollars. 

I loved the cool car mouse that one of the salesmen in the dealership was using.  I had to take a picture.  I felt like I was back in Rexburg at the BYU Idaho automotive office.  

Our mission boundaries are changing on the 1st of July.  We will be separated from Moldovia and combined with the Hungary mission.  Our mission president will be moving to the mission office in Budapest.