The President Has Arrived ~ România 🇷🇴Mission ~

FRIDAY

We were so excited that President Rucker was able to come visit us in Romania. He had to wait until he was out of quarantine in Hungary (where the mission home is located) and then wait for his Residence Visa to arrive.  The minute it did he hopped on the 20 hour train ride (crossing the border ~ which is huge) and arrived in Romania where he was greeted by our AP's, Elder Elstrom and Elder Beck.

SATURDAY

The next morning we and the Falslev's met him at the Marriott for a delicious breakfast and a wonderful visit.  We didn't talk too much "shop" but mostly laughed and carried on as if it was a reunion rather than our first time meeting! I cannot say enough good about President Rucker: he is a ray of sunshine, he exuberates love and he is just funny and fun to be around! The only bad thing was that Sora Rucker (who we have met through Zoom) and his adorable kids couldn't make it over; we were not sure if there was a chance of him having to be quarantined or stuck here for a longer amount of time and their 4 children are deep into figuring out life, school and their schedules with this new adventure that they are on!

That afternoon we all arrived at the church for a Branch Activity: movie and luncheon. All the Missionaries were so excited to meet President Rucker and since this was a quick, unannounced visit, the members were surprised and thrilled to see him as well.

Before the luncheon we had a movie, I think it was the "Saratov Approach" (where 2 missionaries were kidnapped in Russia). It's a great movie and one you should check out if you haven't already!

While everyone was watching the movie the Doru's were getting the food all prepared.  President Doru (the former Branch President) is the best Mititei griller in the world! Mititei or "Mici", meaning, little ones/small ones, is actually skinless sausage and consists of beef, lamb, pork and a bunch of spices.  It is a famous Romanian dish and goes a long way. It is scrumptious, greasy and about 3,000 calories per link.  While Pres Doru and his helpers are grilling, Sora Doru (in the back) is preparing all the side dishes and cooking up a storm. They are the greatest team and can always feed more than was anticipated  (much like the loaves and the fishes) 💙😇💙!

When the movie was over and the food ready we gathered outside; President Rucker offered a few sweet words, blessed the food and then we enjoyed the delicious food and sweet company (and a few games for the kids [{😏}] < really what would a gathering be without games???).

It was a beautiful afternoon and everyone hung around, talked and visited for hours.

We brought out a few games for the little ones and all those that had extra energy (or that had low attention spans😉)!

SUNDAY

We picked up Denise and then went to the 10am Panduri Sacrament meeting. Again, everyone was excited to see Pres Rucker but disappointed that he didn't speak (not sure why that didn't happen😕).  After Sacrament meeting I taught our fun Primary Class! This is a mixture of English speaking and Romanian speaking children so fortunately, the Primary President, Carmen, speaks both fluently!

Each Sunday after church we mill around and get a lot of good visiting in ~ such a fun thing to do! We had a baby blessing today so there were a few extra people here which is always a delight! We couldn't stay too long as we needed to rush over to the 1pm Sacrament Meeting at the Mihai Bravo chapel after dropping Denise off.  At this meeting President Rucker did speak and it was warm and heartfelt. I do love Sundays!

We couldn't mingle too long after our 2nd meeting as we had company, Tamara and Ovi, coming to our home for dinner that night.  Bill also invited Levu, George (little George) and Alaina over and Sora's Guest and Perry. Sora Guest and Perry knew Tamara from last year and since they are heading home to America soon it was sweet that they could tell her goodbye before they left. Tamara brought me this gorgeous bouquet of flowers - I took them to both Zone Conferences for my centerpiece so others could enjoy the beauty of them! A big week coming up! Stay tuned!

The President Has Arrived (2) ~ România 🇷🇴Mission ~

ZONE CONFERENCE'S

BUCHAREST ZONE ~ Monday

These meetings are remarkable in so many ways.  We've had to do the last few over Zoom which is great but there is nothing better than to be able to gather together and have the amazing spiritual uplift that having all these powerhouse missionaries together, in one place, bring!

They give the cutest presentations and what I would have given to have seen my own children in action on their missions! We are so blessed to have the technology that we do now so that parents can be a little bit more involved with their children's mission and see a glimpse of what they are doing and how they are feeling and growing through these missionary experiences.  To have been a fly on the wall so many years ago, when our kids were serving, would have been a dream come true!

We spend a few hours setting up and preparing for the missionary's lunch and birthday celebrations. As most of you know I semi-retired from cooking once we became empty-nesters so we order most of our lunches from the local stores or restaurants.  Elder Matthews manages to get pretty good deals on the food! For the birthdays we don't do anything big; they each get a candy bar, we take pictures and sing to them! Just a little something to make them feel less homesick!

Because it has been so long since we have met in-person we had quite a few Birthdays to celebrate (twice)!

I love having this calling with Billy ~ we have pretty much figured out our different roles; he does about 75% of the hard work and I follow with my 25% of fun! Some days are harder than others but just having him to share it all with has truly been amazing!

This is our Bucaresti Zone: front row - Soras Gunn/Elmont, Elders Reese/Truscott. Seated: Soras Tobler/Bauco, Soras Pallo/Wilcock, Soras Weaver/Sorensen, Elders Beck/Ekstom, Elders Miller/Wilensen. Back row: Elders Sarkady/Chandler, Soras Guest/Perry, Soras McAfee/Bell, Elder/Sora Falslev, Elder/Sora Matthews and President Rucker!

EAST ZONE

These were some of our helpers getting set up the following day for our 2nd Zone Conference with the East Zone. We get to do the same thing as yesterday all over again with another sweet group of missionaries!

Singing and birthday wishes! Sora Falslev made the dessert for each birthday celebration ~ she is the best baker ever ! Delicious!

Great presentations by Elder Church, Alder and Christensen!

Apartment Inspections part II ~ România 🇷🇴Mission ~

We slept in (again) and had a scrumptious breakfast then started our journey down to Bacau. I wish I would have taken more pics here with these adorable Elders but since we had only ever met them through WhatsApp video I was more interested in visiting with them and forgot to take pics (makes you realize how interesting they are)!

Elder Gatherum is from Boise, ID and has been serving since December 2018. Elder Parker is from Nashville, TN and arrived the same time as us, January 2020😀!

These are our 2 wonderful missionaries in Bacau: Elder Gatherum and Elder Parker! Their little Branch consists of about 10 people. It is so vital to have missionaries in these little towns because there are not enough members to run a Branch.  That is one of our biggest concerns with the pandemic ~ even though we are getting new missionaries into Romania, by January we will have gone from 50 missionaries down to only 25! We are hoping and praying that our borders will open and we will continue getting new missionaries here in Romania 💙😇💙!

The next morning we woke up to a cascade of rain ~ this is Bill's very favorite kind of weather and mine, too (although, it is only my favorite when I am in Thailand or Cambodia where the rain is warm 😏)!  We did the apartment inspection and this apartment (although always spotless) has always had a disaster of problems inside.  Fortunately, the landlord has fixed 97% of the problems from the last inspection with only a few that still need fixing (see above)! The entrance leaves much to be desired as well 😉!  The Elders never complain and love being here! 

We went to a darling Italian Restaurant where we enjoyed lasagne, pizza and buscetta bread (my favorite).  It began raining again (as in pouring down sheets of rapidly falling buckets of water) and so we stayed a bit longer and visited.  It is so fun to get to know these missionaries as they have already had so many amazing and spiritual experiences in the short time that they have been out serving. It was getting a bit late and we still needed to travel to Brasov so we all ran to the car and took the Elders home.  I'm just glad we got a picture of them (in the 'Walking' Book of Mormon) before it started raining!

We went to Brasov that evening but the rain, traffic and being pulled over by the police delayed our arrival (Bill passed a truck just as the dotted line turned solid - no ticket, just a warning but they did take Bill's Utah license??? We were told he could pick it up at the American Embassy in 4-6 weeks - kind of strange). We rescheduled lunch and inspections with the missionaries for tomorrow afternoon. 

We arrived just as they were finishing their District meeting! It is so nice being able to have District meetings face to face.  Just being able to socialize, even if it's in a meeting, is so great especially after being confined to their apartment with no contact with others except through Zoom.

Sora Smith is from Woodbury, Minnesota; serving since Nov 2019,  Sora Pearse is from Melbourne, Australia; serving since May 2019,  Elder Church is from Parowan, UT; serving since Nov 2018 and Elder Lee is from Ogden, UT; serving since Aug 2019!

Brasov and Sinaia (a town and mountain resort close to Brasov) are my favorite towns in Romania.  Brasov is so cute and has a big square plaza where different activities are held.  It has quaint shops and food of every kind. It is charming and picturesque.

We almost didn't get into this restaurant because of our large number;  usually they never let more than 4 people sit at any table together during the pandemic and never inside (but I guess since it was raining and we bumped into the manager he made an exception for us)!

The Sora's apartment looked great with only a few concerns and the picture of the broken handle is from the Elder's apartment and they've glued it back together 😉!  I must admit that there was probably a little more 'visiting' than 'inspecting' on our trip but we can honestly say the Missionaries all did a fantastic job with cleaning their apartments and having them orderly where the spirit can dwell 👼!

Leaving the beautiful town of Brasov!  "If" we were ever transferred  this is where we would love to go 💕😉💕!

Here are a few cute pics of the Saturday Activity they held in Brasov with the RS and primary kids ~ so sweet 💙😇💙!

Apartment Inspections part I ~ România 🇷🇴Mission ~

We were able to take an exciting road trip to the eastern part of Romania this week to do apartment inspections!  Up until now we have been checking the Missionaries apartments by WhatsApp video calls; not quite as effective but works all the same. This week we actually got to travel and meet with 12 of our Missionaries!

Romania is bounded by Ukraine to the north, Moldova to the northeast, the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Serbia to the southwest, and Hungary to the west.

We began our road trip traveling 3 hours to Galati from Bucaresti. We left around 1pm, had a few errands to run (church item 'pick-ups' and car dealership 'drop-offs'). Our first stop was Galati; it is a port town on the Danube River, has a naval shipyard and the largest steel mill in Romania. 

Elder Kutchinsky is from Queens, AZ and Elder Valentine is from Cheyenne, WY.
They have both been on their mission since January 30, 2019 😀!

When we arrived were greeted by Elders' Kutchinsky and Valentine (far right)! These Elders are the cutest and are here in Galati in a Branch of only 11 members.  Elder Valentine is the Branch President (this happens frequently when there are not enough Priesthood leaders to support the Branch). The members love the missionaries and are so appreciative of them.

We haven't been to a Mexican Restaurant in forever so the Elders took us to AZTEQ del SOL ~ it was wonderful and I got a tostada and all the men got burritos; yummy 😋!

We brought the "Walking" Book of Mormon with us this trip as the Relief Society President in Brasov wanted to borrow it for an activity this Saturday.  Bill had made it when we first arrived in Romania and it has been a fun item of interest to many.  We took a few videos and snapshots with them in the book! Did I already say how adorable they are! We did a quick inspection of their apartment and it looked great.  The worst is that I forgot to bring their water filters (which they told me they needed about 6 weeks ago).

This is a Vlog that the Elders made - it is amazing and only took about 3 hours to make 😆! It is these types of Media activities that they are now encouraged to make and post on Facebook ~ I just love these boys!

We left Galiti around 7pm then drove another 3 hours up to Iasi, checked into our hotel and fell fast asleep! I'm so glad that Elder Matthews is such a good sport in driving all over the country and letting me sleep in the car! He's a keeper 😇!

It was kind of funny because had you asked either one of us if we had been to Iasi before we would have both said an emphatic, "No".  But when I started thinking about it at the last transfer we dropped off Elder Alder in Isai and picked up Elder Sarkady and brought him to Bucaresti so I knew we had been here before.  Then I looked on my camera and sure enough we had visited before (although Bill was still pretty adamant that we hadn't been here because we both thought for sure we would have remembered this long drive up north).  We checked into the same hotel (but even then Bill didn't think we had been here before). The lady at the reception desk even said, "Welcome back", but he told her this was our first time here 😄😂😅! It really wasn't until he parked the car in the parking garage that things started looking familiar.  It was a strange feeling!

 Bottom pics: Elder Church, Elder Lee, Elder Alder and Elder Stark.  Sora Teuscher and Sora Elmont.  We slept in then went and did the Elders inspection while the Sora's taught a lesson.  Then we went to "Salsa", another Mexican restaurant!  It was a delicious meal and so fun to be with the missionaries. Elder Church and Elder Lee actually live in Brasov but were down here on exchanges with the Isai Elder's: Stark and Alder. Sora Teuscher and Elder Church were in our Panduri District so it is always a sweet reunion to be with them! 

After dinner we went to the famous Palace of Culture (backside); it has a beautiful park with many fountains, benches and places to eat (yummy gelato). It is large but very cozy. A perfect place to spend a quiet (or not so quiet) evening! 

All the missionaries are great at "photo bombing" but Sora Teuscher, I believe, is the BEST! 

It was a great evening with the missionaries and nice to be 'back' in Iasi 😉💛😏!

Sora Teuscher is from Star, ID and started her mission Nov 2019, Sora Elmont is from Mapleton, UT and started her mission June 2019, Elder Alder is from Herriman, UT and started his mission March 2019 and Elder Stark is from American Fork, UT and started his mission Dec 2019.

😇 We love to get pics of everyone in the Book of Mormon 😇! Such a fun trip and so exciting to visit with the missionaries.

Transfer Week ~ România 🇷🇴Mission ~

 Monday, September 14, 2020

Transfers are this week so there are a lot of excited missionaries coming and going!  Fortunately, we live close to the train station so even when they are just doing exchanges, oftentimes they will call us up in case we have a moment to go and say, "Hi" or bring or pick up something from a past companion. 

Top, left, corner picture: Far left top row: Elder Falslev.  Middle row: Sora Falslev, Sora Haji, 

Sora Teuscher,  Sora Matthews, Elder Matthews. Front row: Sora Pallo, Sora Pearse and Teodora!

We started our day at a luncheon! Because transfers were this week Sora Teuscher came down from Iasi, Sora Haji came down from Sibiu, Sora Pearse came down from Brasov and Sora Pallo came from across town to all have lunch with Teodora! Teodora is a friend that we met last month; she lives here în București.  She has been going up north (close to Iasi) to help her parents with their garden for the last few weeks. Since she happened to be in town this weekend we were all able to get together for lunch on P-Day.  Sora Tuescher and Sora Phillips (< not pictured) first met Teodora and began giving her English lessons (although she already speaks english very well).  Teodora is the sweetest, kindest and gentlest woman you will ever meet. Once Sora Teucher moved, Sora Phillips and Sora Pallo continued teaching her.  It is always so great when the Sora's can get together with old friends and catch up on their lives! We had lunch at "La Maria si Ion" ~ it was fabulous!

Top Photo: Elder Ekstrom, far left, then front row: Sora Elmont, Sora Bauco and Sora Gunn (new), Elder Beck. Next row: Sora Tobler (new), Sora Mcafee (new), Sora Workman (new), Sora Pearse, Sora Sorensen (new). Back row: Sora Wilcock (new) and Sora Pallo!

At 10pm the AP's called and asked if we could help with pick-ups at the train station at 1:15am.  Of course we said, "Absolutely"! We had 9 missionaries from the USA that made it to Hungary 2 1/2 weeks ago (6 Sisters and 3 Elders).  They were quarantined in Hungary but even after their quarantine the borders were still closed so they were stuck in Hungary in a small Airbnb until they could come to Romania. Sora Sorenson had actually been in the Provo MTC (Missionary Training Center) when the pandemic hit and she ended up being sent to AZ for 6+ months; she only has less than a year left ~ crazy (we are so glad she is here now)! The rest of the missionaries vary with the amount of time they have been out; most of them had their MTC experience at home. Last week during Fast and Testimony Sunday we, as a whole mission, fasted and prayed that the missionaries from America, that were assigned to come to Romania, would be able to get across the border from Hungary.  As miracles happen this one was a most exciting one and we were thrilled when the plan became reality for them to pack up, board the train and come across the Romanian border!  We all held our breath and continued praying that they would not have any difficulties with the border patrol.  All went pretty smooth with only a snag here and there but they finally arrived safe and sound and now are official Romanian Missionaries!

Front right hand corner: Sora Workman (new) & Sora Pearse (Brasov), Sora Weaver, Sora Wilcock (new) & Sora Pallo (Panduri-Bucaresti),  Sora Sorenson (new) w/ Sora Weaver in Ploiesti, Sora Mcafee (new) & Sora Bell (Ploiesti). In the left hand corner we have Sora Gunn (new) & Sora Elmont (coming in at 4'10") serving in Mihai Bravu (Bucaresti)!

We had Sora Sorensen and Sora Mcafee stay with us last night. We dropped them off at our apartment around 2am then went back to the train station and picked up 3 sisters and took them to the apartments they would be staying at until they left Bucaresti tomorrow.  We arrived home a little after 3am.  Usually in the past we would drive some of the missionaries to their new place of residence but now most all of them are able to take the trains (with their masks and distancing).  We are excited to do whatever we can to help (and it was especially nice meeting all the new Sora missionaries)!  This morning I got to visit with Sora's Sorenson and Mcafee; such beautiful, amazing young women.  It was fun to hear their adventures as missionaries thus far.  We took off to the train station around 9am and they met their new companions, Sora's Weaver and Bell, serving in Ploiești! Shortly before all their trains took them to their different destinations, Sora's Workman, Pearse, Wilcock and Pallo joined us!

Wednesday and Thursday we had an amazing Hungarian/Romanian Mission Conference with Elder Massimo De Feo.  He was born in Taranto, Italy and served a 2 year mission in the Italy Rome Mission.  He was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 2, 2016.  It was such a pleasure being able to hear him through this Zoom Conference; I bet these Zoom Conferences will become the "norm" now that everyone is so computer savvy! Elder De Feo words were so profound as he spoke of the miracle of us being able to stay out in the mission field during the pandemic; he is so kind, thought provoking and truly an inspiration.  It was a wonderful two days (6 hours) of learning and pondering. 

We get to see these adorable Senior Couples every Wednesday at 5pm!  These are all the Young Single Adult Senior Couples serving in the European Countries that were able to remain here during the pandemic.  Top left are the Womacks serving in Poland, then me/Romania (Bill was at a YSA meeting which is at 6pm the same night ~ most times I will go with him to the church and we will zoom from there but not tonight for some reason 😏). Next are the Meservy's who are the YSA specialists stationed in Germany. At the beginning of the pandemic they were sent home to Utah but were able to come back to Germany this last week.  We are so excited to have them back with us!  Next are the Johnson's also serving in Poland, then the Knowltons serving in Hungary, next are the Millits who do double duty in Hungary as the Mission Office Asst's. Bottom row are the Johnsons serving in Hungary, her husband was also in a separate meeting tonight and last but not least are the Austins serving in Serbia and taking in a total of 5 countries; Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia (they are both professional dance instructors and taught at BYU)!  It is such a joy to hear about their successes and share each other's ideas. We learn what works and what doesn't work from everyone's experiences!   It has been great being able to visit with them especially during the beginning of the pandemic.  I look forward to this meeting each week and it is one of the highlights of my week! 

Thursday we had a Service Project for a group that collects clothes, shoes and toys.  It was perfect timing as they needed to load the truck up with all the boxes and bags that were already ready to go out to some shelters.  Having all 6 of our missionaries there was a true blessing.  We mostly sorted womens and baby clothes but whenever we cleared a spot new donations were brought in.  This little group just started up 4 months ago and would like to start the process of becoming a NGO.  It was a great activity and we'll be helping them out on Tues and Thurs whenever we're available!

Friday we had our last District meeting with this group ~ most of the time it is a big shake-up with many missionaries being moved from our district but this time the only one leaving is Sora Phillips.  Although we are so sad to see her go we are super excited for her because she will be going to Brasov (the most beautiful place to serve) AND she will be companions with Sora Peterscak our sweet Hungarian missionary who has been in Sibiu for the last 2 transfers!  They will make an adorable pair and do amazing work together!

Well, that was our week! Tomorrow we will have (Young) Single Adult "game night" at the Mihai Bravu Building with a sweet spiritual thought and some yummy dessert!