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!