Adunare in the Hungary/România Mission

Another week, more walking in the forest.  It has been interesting to observe the many wildflowers blooming along the roadways.  This time we found some pretty little wild  swe et peas. Our sweet sister Krista passed through the veil into the spirit world on Tuesday.  She died in her sleep at home.  The missionaries have visited her in her home for more than a year, bringing her the sacrament when the Elders were here.  She loved visiting with the missionaries and often cried when she spoke about the church.  She loved the temple and the gospel.  We are sad to have her leave us, but happy that she is in a better place, free from the pain and sickness she was suffering.  Saturday we made a trip to Oradea for Brent to help with a branch financial audit.  As part of the District Presidency, he will visit 2 branches to perform the church semi-annual audit.  It went well and he was done in an hour which gave us an opportunity to meet with Preside

We visited one of our members, Simona, this week.  She has two darling children.  The sisters are helping the oldest, a little boy, learn some English.  They enjoy the time they spend with this family.  This week we went along because Simona wanted to feed us some Sarmale, a Romanian dish usually saved for special occasions.  Sarmale are little rolls of ground pork mixed with rice and rolled in boiled cabbage leaves.  Once the rolls are made, they are placed in a pot and cooked for several hours.  The sarmale she fed us was very good.  Once you get them on your plate, they are often eaten with something like sour cream spread on the top.   She said her mother-in-law made them. Romanian meals are accompanied with a basket of bread, which is used to sop up the juices on your plate.  This week was a good week for getting pictures of gypsies.  We were able to take a few drive by photos. It was also zone conference this week.  First one since we joined

Along with our regular duties helping the missionaries this week, we also got the car we are renting from the church repaired.  One day in May when we were picking up the sisters at their apartment, we had a little encounter with some wicked rebar.  The streets are so narrow here and there is hardly any parking, so people just stop whereever they want.  They will turn on their flashers and run into a building leaving the car right in the middle of the road.  Additionally, many Romanian drivers are very aggressive, bully drivers.  They expect you to get out of their way.   Brent pulled to the side of the road that was never meant for two cars.  He was trying to  get out of the way of an oncoming car. When he pulled back into the traffic, our front bumper caught on the rebar, which he did not see, and popped off a slice by the wheel, sending it flying high into the air.  The sisters couldn't believe it.  We were amazed.  He just kept driving, telling them "Well, th

The transfer board came out on Saturday. We had made some guesses what would happen or who would be moving. . . . . what actually happened was the last thing we expected.  Sora Broadbear was transferred to Cluj.  Sora Pitcher, who used to be in Oradea, will be coming to Arad.  They were scheduled to leave on a train at 2:55.  We arrived only a few minutes early and were afraid that they had missed it, but luckily we were there in time.  We didn't really want to drive to Cluj and back today.   BYE BYE      . . . Drum Bun Thursday morning Sora Nemelka returned with Sora Pitcher.  They said they were able to sleep a bit on the overnight train and felt pretty good. A visit and lesson at the home of  Sora Muscan on Monday gave us a preview of her bountiful grape crop growing in her yard.  She said her husband wants her to get rid of them, but she loves the shade and obviously they doing well.  We really enjoy going to visit her.  She loves the gospel

We have less than a week until we get transfer assignments again.  So just in case one of the sisters are leaving, we need to go to Hunedoara.  Sora Nemelka needs to make an exchange on some T-shirts and Sora Broadbear has not been there.  The day was slightly rainy, but not much.  It was hard to tell if we needed coats or not.  We have been here so many times I looked for some different places to take photos.  The most beautiful bush covered with blossoms on the opposite side of the road from the houses.  A cute little handmade sign says "no breaking"