2/25-26/20
It's time for Zone Conference and we have 2 Zones in Bucharest that we will host: Bucarest Zone and the East Zone. We will attend and serve lunch for both!
The *'s indicate our District "Panduri"Since our own kids grew up and moved away from home I am not much into cooking. We've been very fortunate to have had previous callings down at BYU where we cooked dinners or desserts for large groups (wait, I'm sorry, did I say, "cook"? I totally meant to say 'gather' food for large groups and serve up delicious meals and/or scrumptious desserts)! Being here in Romania is no different and right up our alley. I somehow didn't take a picture of the table and all the fixin's but it was a site for these missionaries as they gobbled it all up! We always have an ample amount of food so that no one ever goes wanting.
We decided to have IKEA meatballs, mashed potatoes, gravy, lingonberry, fresh rolls, lots of fruit and delicious desserts! Bill and I went to IKEA a number of times and then Bill had to run out to the grocery store about 3 more times while I was setting up. Thank goodness the Christensens were our co-partners; it was fun having them preparing it with me while Bill was our gatherer! We used crockpots but ended up just using the oven which was faster and easier! I could not have done any of this without the help from the Christensens - they are fabulous (and it was so fun to do it together)!
The Conference lasts about 6 hours (with a 30 minute lunch break) and is filled with inspirational lessons, talks and music. Needless to say ~ it is a blast. There were about 25 of us both days and it was so great to meet two thirds of the Missionaries here in Romania!
Since this was Bill and my first Zone Conference we were asked to introduce ourselves, I mostly talked about our family and, of course, Billy had so many good things to say. That guy just has a way with words. He shared some story that had them all mesmerized ~ he is such a great speaker even within a short 5 minute span.
Sister Teuscher, along with some other newbies shared a few minutes with us as well. "Dr" Sora Fillerup(er) ~ I am not sure why but I thought I heard her name with the "er" at the end so in my mind that is what stuck 😂😂😂. Of course, I no longer say it outloud 😉.
President and Sora Hettinger spoke and gave some great insight about the Gathering of Israel. They had the missionaries write down the new friends that they have visited with, those that were taking the discussions, all the Baptism dates scheduled and those that were safely gathered in through Baptism. I love visual aids and she had some amazing ones. They are both so positive and uplifting and a joy to listen to!
As you will notice I accidently post some of the same pictures in the collages - my bad. I sometimes don't pay enough attention but when I see my mistakes I am just too lazy to fix them 😯. I'm sure you probably don't notice as a collage is just something you might glance at and don't inspect too much, but just in case . . .! The top pic is of 2 of our talented Sora's - Sora Kartchner and Sora Weaver doing the music, then the amazing Elder Matthews, our cute Mission Pres and wife, the sweet Christensens ~ who are our partners at these Zone Confs, Sora Hansen who has since finished her mission and gone home, our fabulous doctor, Sora Fillerup who is totally incredible and we all put our complete trust in her, and last but not least is me with Sora Weaver who is the granddaughter of one of my friends friend in Draper; not sure if that made sense but just saying it is such a small world!! Sister Weaver is one of the most enthusiastic Missionary's ~ we first met her on a random street and she had just invited an elderly man to come to church and he came and came again and was one of the 5 that was baptized a week ago Saturday!
We celebrate Birthdays at Zone Conference. Once Bill and I get the hang of things I think I will spruce up the birthday celebration (Big Time 😉)!
The Elders and Sora's have a little time to visit and catch up with each other at these meetings ~ it is so sweet to watch such a fine group of kids enjoying each other's company!
This is the East Zone but I didn't get any good pics of them 😥. We did meet 2 more of the Senior couples; The Petersens (Isai) and the Tibbets (Brasov) ~ they are the best and it was so fun visiting with them and getting to know them!
These are 2 pics of the Hungarian Missionaries (both on the left) and the Romanian Missionaries (both on the right). I'm missing pictures of the Missionary's in different Districts in both Country's. "Oh, What a Day"!