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!
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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.
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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.
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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 😉💛😏!
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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.
