The 4th of July

We are having more fun than a missionary should be allowed to have, but please don't spread that around or everybody would want to take our job away.  

We have what are called transfers every six weeks.  It is the time when some missionaries are transferred from one location in Romania/Moldova to another.  Some stay in one place for several transfers and others are moved in one transfer, it all depends on the needs of the mission which is determined by the mission president. It is always an exciting time for the missionaries as they anticipate where their next assignment might be.  Below is a picture of our district ( group of 8) missionaries the day before some were transferred. We always hate to see the transfers go but we are so excited to meet the new missionaries assigned to our district. Two in this group were transferred and another went home after two years of faithful service.  He was an Arizona young man so I am sure he has already been out to eat mexican food, something that is sorely missed here by missionaries from the southwest.

                                Picture with all the missionaries along with our wonderful
                                friend and relief society president.

Same group this time with our entire district.  Absolutely amazing young people.

We celebrated the 4th of July with all the Amereicans we could find in Timisoara. And we even had a Romanian guest who wanted to join us for the evening just to practice her english and see how we celebrated our independence.  We had a great evening cookout in the back yard of the Church. Below are some of the scenes from our celebration.  Oh by the way the guest was totally confused by the english she heard because one of our missionaries is from Australia and another from Texas.  She said she understood the Australian ok but did not do well with Texican. Too many ya alls I think. She was lots of fun.

This is with all the new missionaries after transfers taken at our 4th of July celebration. There are three new missionaries, one is on his last transfer before he goes home and he is also from Arizona, and you guessed it, he says his first stop will be for mexican food.  The other two are brand new, this is their  first assignment.  They are both quite delightful, very accomplished and bright and are doing very well. Notice all the red, white and blue in these photos.

This is one of our family traditions at home, an american flag cake.  We did the best we could with what was available here. A little sloppy looking but you get the picture and the cake was yummy.

The missionaries always love it when Ginny cooks.

Yup! you are seeing it correctly. Bottled hot dogs.  We just could not resist trying these.  I cooked them but when it was time for me to get mine they were all gone, I guess they tasted ok because they went in a hurry.  Of course Elders eat great quantities of almost anything.

We had a church meeting in Oradea, a city about three hours away.  The soras  (sister missionaries) drove with us in our little car and the Elders made arrangements with a maxi taxi (large, crowded, van). The temps are in the low 80’s and today, for example the humidity was 94%, so you can only imagine the various olfactory stimulations available in such a van on the long ride to and from.

Below are some of the scenes we saw along our way and what we found in the beautiful city we visited.

One of the many, many crops grown here is sunflowers.  As we drive along for miles and miles there are sunflower fields as far as the eye can see.  There are also wheat fields and many corn fields.

In every city we have been in there has always been an area near the center of town that has a beautiful plaza, and Oradea is no different.  This is just one of the many beautiful scenes in the city.

The local Elders told us about a great place in Oradea to eat.  It is called the American Grill.  We had lunch there and as you can see our server was more than happy to pose for a photo in front of this small cafe.  They specialized in hamburgers and hot dogs, american style.  The food was surprisingly good, if you are like me and like big, juicy, runny burgers with total disregard for calories or nutrition.

This little equation says it all.  We really had an enjoyable time in this little place.

Know that we are both healthy, happy and excited about our time here in Romania.  It is such a pleasure for us to represent our Savior Jesus Christ and The Church  of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints  in this far off place.