We have been transferred!

WE HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED!!

From the far west all the way across the country to the shores of the Black Sea in Constanta

With the following pictures we sum up our beautiful Timisoara which we will miss very much, both the city but especially the wonderful people we have grown to love.

CENTRU

THE ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL

• ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PARKS

ON THE STAIRS OF THE CHURCH

THE MEMBERS OF THE BRANCH SURPRISED US  AFTER CHURCH ON OUR LAST DAY  WITH THIS WONDERFUL LUNCHEON

WE SAY GOODBY TO OUR WONDERFUL YOUNG MISSIONARIES WITH A FAREWELL DINNER AT ONE OF OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS. 

AT EACH TRANSFER WE GREET THE NEW ARRIVALS WITH A GATHERING AT THIS SMALL SIDEWALK CAFE AND THE BEST HOT CHOCOLATE IN THE WORLD.  HERE WE ARE ENDING OUR TIME HERE IN TIMISOARA THE SAME WAY WE ARRIVED

WE BID GOOD BYE TO SOME OF THE MOST AWSOME MISSIONARIES EVER, OUR MISSIONARIES

THE BET IS ON,  CAN I GET ALL THIS IN OUR MISSION CAR

I AM OPTIMISTIC 

WHO DA MAN????

FRONT SEAT ROOM ONLY BUT  AS THE OLD SONG GOES

"OUR BAGS ARE PACKED WE'RE READY TO GO"

THIS WAS A ONE DAY 11 HOUR ROAD TRIP! SHOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN 9 HOURS BUT I CAN GET LOST ANYWHERE AND ROMANIA IS AN EASY PLACE TO GET LOST IN.  OUR GPS QUIT ALONG THE WAY.

THE TRIP WAS LONG BUT THE FALL COLORS AND SCENERY WERE AMAZING! HERE WE ARE FOLLOWING ALONG SIDE A RIVER IN THE MOUNTAINS.

COLORFUL ISLAND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAZY RIVER

TWO LANE ROAD THE WHOLE WAY.  SLOW, SLOW, SLOW.

WE WERE ASKED BY THE MISSION PRESIDENT TO STOP IN BUCHAREST ON OUR WAY TO CONSTANTA AND FLY WITH HIM AND HIS WIFE, ALONG WITH A MEMBER OF THE QUORUM OF THE SEVENTY TO IASI.  IASI IS ABOUT AN HOUR FLIGHT TO THE NORTH.  WE WILL BE ATTENDING  ZONE CONFERENCE THERE.  I TOOK THIS PICTURE BECAUSE THIS WAS WHAT THE CLOUD COVER LOOKS LIKE FROM ABOVE.  I THINK THIS TELLS THE STORY ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING DOWN BELOW. WE HAVE BEEN IN CONSTANTA FOR EXACTLY ONE MONTH TODAY AND WE HAVE SEEN THE SUN FOR ONLY THREE HOURS AND IT HAS RAINED OR SNOWED EVERY DAY THE SUN WAS NOT SHINING.  WAY DIFFERENT FROM TUCSON.  WE LOVE THE ADVENTURE IT PRESENTS.

HERE WE ARE IN IASI JUST BEFORE DEPARTING FOR OUR FLIGHT BACK TO BUCHAREST.  ROMANIA HAS SO MANY BEAUTIFUL SIGHTS TO SEE

ARRIVAL IN CONSTANTA, THREE DAYS AFTER LEAVING TIMISOARA.

HERE WE ARE FINDING OUR WAY AROUND THE CITY AND GETTING TO KNOW THE PEOPLE.

CELEBRATING, MISSIONARY STYLE.

LOTS OF HARD WORK, BIG PAY DAY.

HOW MUCH CUTER CAN YOU GET THAN THIS?

LEARNING THE ROPES.  HERE I AM WITH TWO ELDERS AT A LOCAL PIATA, INDOOR OUTDOOR MARKET PLACE

GINNY WITH SISTER MISSIONARIES AT THE PIATA.  THEY ARE ALL SO HELPFUL

MISSIONARIES GOOFING OFF WITH BRANCH MEMBERS AND A COUPLE OF YOUNG PE0PLE INVESTIGATING THE CHURCH. LOTS OF ENERGY AND GREAT FUN

PREPPING FOR THANKSGIVING DINNER AT OUR APARTMENT.  WE HAVE INVITED THE SIX MISSIONARIES TO JOIN US.  WE SEARCHED HIGH AND LOW UNTIL WE FOUND THIS PUMPKIN.  PUMPKIN PIE IN ROMANIA, NOW THAT TRULY IS A REAL TREAT

GINNY MAKING LIKE A MILLION ROLLS, AS USUAL

THATS NOT A LOAF OF BREAD, THIS IS A LOAF OF BREAD

AND YES THIS IS NOT A GAG THE ELDERS WENT TO THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET AND PULLED THIS OFF THE SHELF.  ROMANIANS LOVE THEIR BREAD

POPPING THE CORKS ON THE SPARKLING CIDER.  THIS PHOTO IS ON OUR BALCONY WITH THE CITY ACROSS THE LAKE IN THE BACKGROUND

THE FEAST, COMPLETE WITH ROAST BEAST.

TWO SCRAWNY SIX POUND TURKEYS.  THE LARGEST TWO TURKEYS WE COULD FIND

WE WERE ALL HAPPY WITH THE MEAL AND GINNY WENT WAY ABOVE AND BEYOND PREPARING THIS WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING FEAST.  I TELL YOU I HAVE THE BEST COMPANION EVER.

Busy Mission Life / Busy Family Life

We begin with a photo of our new district taken in front of our church building.  These are our amazing missionaries.  They  are the people we serve with on a regular basis.

 Our new mission president and his wife.  They are really finding their way around their new mission.  They are nothing short of remarkable.

This is a photo of all the senior missionaries who currently serve  in our mission, in both Romania and Moldova. We all went on a senior missionary couples conference, which is an official way of saying we went on a tour of the central portion of Romania.  It was a combined sight seeing tour/seminar.  It was great to meet all the other senior couples. We have so much in common. It was such an enjoyable trip.

We had a birthday party for a young lady who, along with her best friend, is investigating our church. Her mother brought them and we met her for the first time.  I thought this was such a good picture because it shows the type of missionary and person Sora Alston is.  This mother had never met Ginny before but after just a short time developed this relationship.  When it was time for this photos to be taken she insisted on standing close to Ginny and the photo tells the rest. Whats even more remarkable, they really hit it off and neither speaks the others language. I have the most awesome companion in all our mission.

 Here I am with this young ladies younger brother.  We discovered that their whole family is moving to Arizona.  They are just waiting for one more visa and they are off to live in the Phoenix area.  We will definitely look them up when we get home.

Ginny took a grandmothers, three week leave of absence to return to the United States.  She left me all alone and this, among other things, is what I discovered.  The easiest way to dry clothes is with a hair dryer.  Heavens knows I have no other use for it.  Laugh if you want but this really works, on small stuff of course.  We have no clothes dryer here and it takes for ever this time of year on the drying rack.

Our district center (stake center) is a three hour drive away.  Here we all are in a maxi taxi (large minibus) on our way to a fireside in Oradea.  From the time we left Timisoara, attended the fireside, went to dinner and returned, it was twelve hours.  Long but fun.

We are so fortunate to be able to volunteer in a "children's center." We typically go there once or twice a week and help with whatever the directer wants us to do.  We usually help with homework, play games, make paper airplanes, or whatever.  It is a lot of work and fun, and the kids at the center really look forward to our visits. We were asked to co sponsor a halloween party, which of course we were happy to do. Here are the missionaries ready to go party with these cute kids.

This picture and the one below go together.  The room was not big enough to get everyone in one shot so the person taking the picture took two and between them both you can get the picture.  This was a huge night for all these kids who really enjoyed themselves.

AND NOW FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

 THE REASON FOR SORA ALSTON TAKING THE THREE WEEKS IN THE U.S.

SHE WENT TO WELCOME  FIVE NEW GRAND CHILDREN TO OUR FAMILY.

BELOW WE SEE AND WELCOME OUR QUADRUPLETS  BORN TO OUR SON AND HIS WIFE AND OUR LATEST ARRIVAL BORN TO OUR YOUNGEST DAUGHTER AND HER HUSBAND

Mom and son holding brother and sister

Grandma duty, as all four of the babies enjoy being held by mom, dad, aunt and grandma

BELOW WE HAVE A PEEK AT EACH ONE

SHORTLY AFTER BIRTH

my 1st photo shoot

This mortality stuff can be exhausting.

ITS SO NICE TO HAVE GINNY BACK SAFE AND SOUND

FUN, FACTS, AND PHOTOS

Buna ziua, to all our friends and family.  We have been so busy. We have been looking for a Humanitarian service project where our 8 missionaries can provide some meaningful service. There is no lack of need here but like almost everywhere in the world the bureaucracy is a real maze and not speaking the language is a real drawback.  We have a wonderful member of the branch who has been able to help lately, he speaks and understands english and really knows the system. He has been a real life saver.
 We have some new missionaries, and our daughter Christi and her husband Jeff came. We had a wonderful time showing them our beautiful Timisoara and traveled to a few other towns in Romania. The time with them was great and it was so good for Ginny and me to step back a bit and enjoy our family.  This was our first time in 6 months taking a trip to relax and sight see. It was good to take a little break, and we came back refreshed and excited to continue the work we were sent here to do. This is really a beautiful country, and we are so fortunate to be here.
Here are some photos and brief comments.

These are two of the students at our weekly english classes.  They have been attending for a long time and speak english very well.  They took us shopping after class and showed us this great place to shop, if there really is such a place. Those who know me know shopping has never been high on my priority list, in fact it doesn't even appear on my priority list.  So shopping is something I have had to adjust to.  As you can see my job as designated mule has not changed.  They are really great people and are examples of how gracious Romanian people can be.  We really enjoy them.

Another view of this place.  It is huge and they have everything imaginable.  Most of what Ginny bought was wearable and most of what I bought was eatable.  Hers has already outlasted mine.

OUR ROAD TRIP AND SIGHT SEEING TOUR OF ROMANIA WITH CHRISTI AND JEFF

One of the most wonderful experiences we have had here in Romania was the visit of our daughter Christi and her husband Jeff.  We enjoyed our time together and just had lots of fun.


Our tour of the country with Jeff and Christi began with a trip to Oradea where we attended a Saturday night cultural event and District Conference on Sunday.  District conference is equivalent to our Stake Conferences at home, the difference is our Stake Center is 7 minutes from our house.  We travel three hours by car or 4 hours by train, one way,  to go to District Conference here.  We usually stay over night in Oradea when we have meetings there.  So far we have traveled there four times. Below are some photos of the Cultural event that the District put on the night before our conference.  The members and many missionaries performed song, dance and stories representing their varied backgrounds.  Way cool.

Our Australian missionary and his companion doing a traditional Australian song.  Australian english is so fun to listen to.

Some of our missionaries singing and dancing to Cotton Eye Joe a well known traditional american country folk song from pre 1861.  The audience loved it.

The grand finale showing our performers and to the far right is the person responsible for the activity. She is the most vivacious, organized, optimistic and all around wonderful Hungarian you will ever meet.  She served a mission in the U.S. at Temple Square.  She speaks three languages fluently and who knows how many others.  She is a true inspiration of how one can fill a life with accomplishment and happiness.

Our little group of missionaries leaving the cultural event.  They travel by train to and from the events and they walk almost everywhere they go in the cities.  Quite remarkable young people to say the least.

Christi, Jeff and Ginny in our beautiful city of Timisoara.  We spent a day and a half here before we took our country tour.

We left Timisoara and the following photos are of some of the sights we saw as we traveled around this beautiful country.  Our travels took us to Oradea, Sighisoara, Brasov and back home again.  There were many small towns in between, but these were the major cities and our tourist destinations. There are no freeways that cross the country so the roads are all two way roads and they go through every little village along the way.  Frustrating if you are in a hurry but we loved it.  We saw so much of the country lifestyle here as compared to the larger city we live in.

A common scene as you travel through the countryside.  We snapped this picture while enjoying lunch in a sidewalk cafe along our way.

Fall is near and the hay stacks are tall and full.  Again a typical scene in the country.

This is a picture I just had to have.  It is a picture of a house with its roof completely covered with moss.  Do you think there is any humidity in this place?  This is fascinating to a boy born and raised in Arizona where Moss is usually someones last name not something growing on a roof top.

Up close picture of the moss roof described above.  So cool.  Did I mention I love this country

Lunch in a small village.  We really enjoyed our time together.

Here we are in Sighisoara a midevil town on top of a hill.  The city has grown up all around it in the valley below, but the old city still stands and is a wonderful tourist attraction, which is perfect for us because we are ace tourists.

The watch tower at the entrance of Sighisoara.

Colorful street in the old town.

Our hotel in Sigisoara.  I found out it is a recently renovated building.  Interestingly enough a joint venture between a Romanian and some Americans.  Very popular.  It was very nice.

We took a tram to the top of a mountain and took this picture of Brasov.  It is a beautiful town in the central part of the country.


Below are two pictures of the four of us.  We had to take the photo this way because we couldn't find  anyone available to do it for us.  I call this type of a photo a youie its the same as a selfie but different.  I'll take a picture of youie and youie do the same.