Bits and Pieces

Dear family and friends,

I thought today I would just share bits and pieces of some of our most recent adventures along with some random pictures that are mostly self explanatory. And an insight or two of my own as we go along the way.

First, an observation.  I don’t  know how Ginny has done it all these years.  I mean tolerate me.  She has lived with and patiently trained me, which I quite honestly thought was a pretty easy task.  I mean I have always thought of myself as a pretty easy person to get along with and to be around.  I have been living with me for only two months now and I can hardly stand me. I have concluded that I am just not quite the guy I always thought myself to be. I can just see all my children laughing and agreeing with this statement.  The good news  is that Ginny signed a lifelong, and beyond,  contract so she will just have to take the training to the next level. Thank heavens for her patient and forgiving manner and the concept of Eternal Marriage, it gives her hope that in time she can and will accomplish the task.

Random picture number one.  This is a picture off our balcony to the north.  It is of this beautiful garden carefully attended  almost continuously by an elderly , probably about my age, woman.   I just love the huge rose bush growing up the side of the house.  Very prettyl

We have been traveling a little over the past two weeks. Mostly on mission business which we will discuss in a minute but first we want to share with you a really fun P day.  For those who do not know, P day stands for preparation day, and is every monday. It is typically the day the missionaries have to do their grocery shopping, clean their apartments, get haircuts, email their families, and attend to other personal needs. The rest of the week they spend working and teaching.   Once in a while, with the mission presidents permission we can use this day for some recreation.  Our young missionaries have been working very hard for many weeks and just needed a day off. So with said permission we went to Deva, a town about two hours by bus where we took a maxi taxi for about a half an hour followed by a nice brisk two mile walk to the Corvin Castle in Hunedoara where we spent the day sight seeing.  The day was well spent and we had a great time with four of the missionaries in our district. We returned tired but refreshed and ready to go back to work. Here are some random shots of our day.

Big old dude/Big old castle.  Perfect for each other

Very fun time with some really fun young (and sometimes silly) missionaries.

They brag that this was one of the largest fireplaces built at the time in this area.

This was really fun.  This fellow was a character and I mean a character.  His job was to explain what the weapons of war were and how they were used.  The missionaries talked him into this reenactment of an assault on the castle.  After a scenario presentation we all took our places, showed our most ferocious? faces and yelled as we defended the castle from would be intruders.  There were many people in the audience, and had a grand time watching.

We also went to zone conference in Arad, a town about 45 minutes to the north.  For those who may not know, zone conference is a training session for missionaries in a large geographic area.  There were 34 missionaries in attendance.  The training goes from 9am to 5pm and is a great time for all of us.  The Mission President and his wife were there and did a great  job.  This is their last few weeks of their mission, they have been here for 3 years. They have done such a wonderful job and both are dearly loved by all the young missionaries.  The new President and his wife are reporting in early July and as I understand it are bringing 3 children with them.  These Mission Presidents and their families give 3 years of their lives, with no pay, and incredibly long hours.  They truly are remarkable individuals and totally committed to the work.  It is always a pleasure to be associated with people of this caliber.  Very uplifting and inspiring.  Below are some of the sights along the way.  This is a wonderfully interesting country.

 This is a frequent sight along the way.  I am told this is a gypsy cart.  This is such a good photo because you can see it all,  the driver, his wife and the dog. very typical.

 Here we are crossing a sizable river on a narrow bridge.  As you can see from the tracks, the cars and the train travel the same path.  Here we are following the train across the bridge.  This train is not the large cross country trains like the one we rode from Buc. but rather one of the local modes of transportation around the city.

 Just a cute little house along the way.  Typical of what we see in the country.

This is a hay field.  I found it interesting because of the way they store their hay.  They stick a long pole in the ground and wrap the cut hay around it  These are several feet tall and you see them everywhere. You can see the rows of hay in the background.  Being from a little farm town I found this interesting.  We also saw some baled hay as well.  I don't know why some are done this way and others are baled.  My guess is cost. This is a very agricultural country and once out in the country you see farms for as far as the eye can see.  Quite a beautiful sight to behold.

Comings and Goings

This has been, as most weeks are, very eventful.  We are so very busy with our missionary work and the running of our little branch. We were so disappointed to find out that our one and only family with small children is  leaving.  The father got a better job in Italy and so they are moving.  It is a wonderful opportunity for the family so we are so excited for them, this job is an answer to their prayers and they are so excited.  One of the problems Romania faces is that since becoming a part of the European Union they can move about from country to country like we do from state to state in the United States.  They can also get work easier in other more developed and economically sound countries, like Italy.  The overall result has been the mass migration from Romania.  Their population has consistently  declined for the past few years.  Good for some families but overall bad for Romania. The real tragedy is that it often splits families as one or both parents seek work in other parts of Europe leaving behind children with relatives or sometimes on their own at a very young age. 

We have had so many requests from people reading the blog to post more pictures so  they can get a better feel for what we experience daily.  So here we go with our version of a picture packed blog with some explanations as we go.

Ginny and I were invited to participate in a medical course that was sponsored  by the humanitarian arm of our church.  The physicians  were from Utah and travel around the world giving badly needed training in neonatal resuscitation.  There are so many babies lost early on due to inadequate training in this  fairly easy to perform yet technique sensitive procedure.  The response from local doctors and critical care medical support staff was just outstanding.  The training was much appreciated  and the turnout larger than expected. We were so happy to be invited to attend.  Below is a picture of the farewell dinner attended by the local physicians and the training doctors from the U.S.  It was really fun for us and a break from our routines.  It was so good to meet these wonderful people who give so freely of their time.  They volunteer their time and are paid absolutely nothing for all they do.  We are so amazed that there are so many people who volunteer and give so much and expect nothing in return. anyway here is the conclusion of several days of hard work and training. As you can see from the photo and interesting to note that many if not most of the physicians are  female. Very dedicated and talented health professionals.

Now, as requested, some everyday things we see as we go about our day, random but part of our lives here in this wonderful part of the world.  Our observation, people are people where ever you are, delightful and almost always helpful.

This is a very popular form of transportation in the city. This track is just down the road a ways from where we live and we cross over these tracks several times a day.  Cars also drive on the road/train track. The other day I was leisurely driving down the track when I heard a loud noise behind me, it was an impatient train driver letting me know I needed to get going.  Kinda scary looking in the rear view mirror and seeing a train on your bumper.  I made the next right turn.

This is a picture of the sidewalk between our house and the train track above.  We have to keep our heads down and watch all the time because if you don't, you can easily sprain an ankle or literally fall into a hole.  there are actually potholes in some sidewalks here.  No one seems to mind - just an everyday stroll about town.

Springtime here is quite spectacular.  This is a typical sight almost anywhere in town.  It seems everyone plants flowers everywhere and they grow prolifically. This one caught my eye because of the bright purple color.  Quite different than prickly pear at home.

Ginny and I try to walk 2 to 3 miles a day several days a week.  This is the view we have as we walk to Centru, the town center.  As we walk we cross a bridge over this river.  The boat in the foreground is actually a restaurant and the structure in the distance is a beautiful Orthodox Cathedral.  We are sure we will never tire of this view on our daily walks.

The above two pictures are pictures of the end of the line when we return from our traipsing about town on our various errands. Home sweet home.  The top picture is of our approach from our trips to the center of town or from our return from the church building.  The second picture is from the side of the building showing our garage on the bottom, yes we have a car though we prefer walking, and our apartment on the top.  If you look closely you can see Ginny waving from our balcony window on the 4th floor.  There is no elevator so we get additional exercise climbing the stairs.  We love where we live.