Finding Our Way

Our dear family and friends,

We have had a great week.  We went to the town of Oradea which is about 75 miles away for a district training session.  It was our first good look at the countryside. It is very flat and all agriculture.  Im not sure what all they grow but the fields go on forever and since it is spring and so rainy all is lush and green. The photo is typical of the countryside if you can imagine that as far as the eye can see in any direction.  Quite beautiful.

The people here continue to amaze me with their kindness and generosity.  We visited a wonderful  sister yesterday.  She made this incredible dinner of chicken breasts that were breaded with spices that would make colonel sanders want to reevaluate.  There was also a delicious rice dish with mushrooms.  Lucky for me she made a lot and I was there with two young sister missionaries and Ginny.  So she kept suggesting that I eat more so what could I say I DID. She is known to be a good cook and she sure proved it to us. She lives on the fifth floor and the building had no elevator.  She has to climb those stairs several times a day. Makes us grateful for our puny 47 stairs to our third floor apartment.   This sweet sister has a small balcony full of beautiful flowers of all kinds, she gave Ginny the lovely orchid in the picture below.  We hesitated to take it but she insisted.  We will see how long it lasts in our incapable hands.  Very, very, very thoughtful though..

I  thought I would include a few pictures of our everyday life.  First a picture of Ginny with the sister missionaries.  They live close to us and on the same road so we get to walk home with them sometimes from the church.  This is the most scenic spot on our walk home.  We often just walk to church.  I am guessing the round trip from home to church is about one and a half miles, maybe two, but pleasant and a real easy walk.  The walking and the stairs help keep us in shape.  Only very tall apartments here have elevators and the elderly really have a struggle. They have minimal provisions for the disabled here.

Next our clothes dryer.  This is the way almost everyone dries their clothes.  It means you have to do laundry often or you overwhelm the capabilities of the dryer.  We often think of Brandons laundromat and those huge 50 pound machines he has.

And last but not least another domestic goddess picture.  I insisted Ginny take this picture for posterity.  It will forever prove that I do indeed know what to do with the clothing that comes off our drying rack.  Its a hoot if you want to know the truth. 

Well its late and we have many new adventures planned for tomorrow so we  will turn on the heater (can you imagine) and get some rest.  
Post you later.  
Elder Alston