January 2021
~ Cluj ~
We got up this morning and got to the restaurant just in time to get these hungry boys some food! It has been forever since we've seen Elder Chandler so it was a delight to squeeze him and make sure he is doing ok. He is one of our missionaries that got a serious case of Covid a few months ago. We are happy to announce he is doing great and thriving up here in Cluj and training a bunch of newbies!
Cluj is located in the northwestern part of the country and is unofficially the capital of the historic province of Transylvania. It has a rich history (just like all of Romania) but this part of Romania has always been in a battle between Hungary and Romania for its ownership. There is way too much information for me to write about (and it hurts my head to study so hard 😉) but if you are interested or are a history buff the information online is worth the read.
This was my delicious lunch: I just can't understand why I am gaining so much weight; it's a real puzzle 😂😂😋. This dessert is called Papanasi; all you baker's back home should really try it! It is crazy delicious and the missionaries love it! https://sodelicious.recipes/recipe/romanian-cheese-doughnuts-papanasi/!?!
Elder Ryver is in the bottom left corner and he has lived all over the world; he wrote out Bill's and my name in Hebrew! Elder Patterson is from Ireland and has a waaaaaay cool accent, Elder Coleman is from Roseville, California and was here in Romania a little over 3 months and became a trainer and Elder Chandler has been with us from 'our' beginning (he's in other posts with us 😁)! We love and adore all of them and it was good to see how well they are doing. Once they leave our area in Bucharest, I can't help but worry about them!
We actually arrived the night before and since we didn't have a reservation we just drove around a bit. We saw the "Hotel Confort" and couldn't help but laugh ~ I showed my sister-in-law, Jan, and she told me to double check "yep" vs yelp reviews 😂😂😂 ! Fortunately, there was a nice hotel across the street so we were set! I liked how they did the toilet paper so I took a picture of it for future reference! There was also a cute little wooden play house out front that I was dying to go into it but it was locked for the winter!
Each city in Romania has a patron saint, for Cluj it is the Archangel Michael.: “A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patron_saint
There is a monastery, which during the 18th century, that is an important pilgrimage site in northern Transylvania. This monastery, Nicula Monastery, houses the renowned wonder-working Madonna of Nicula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluj-Napoca
Aren't these boys just the cutest! They work together well and they have so many YSA's to gather since Cluj hosts the country’s largest university (and the largest Romanian-owned commercial bank). It also has a small ski resort 30 minutes away and some beautiful castles in the surrounding countryside so it is a perfect place to live. These boys are in Heaven 💙😇💙!
We had a lot of miles to cover if we were to make it to Timisoara tonight, so off to,~ Oradea ~
We went through Oradea even though our missionaries were on an exchange today in another city. We got a snack and snapped a few pics and went on our way towards Arad. We passed this little girl riding on the bus; it must have been "take your child to work day"! Bill caught her attention once but then we had to turn. It might get boring over a few days but what a fun way to spend the day!
~ HaPPy BiRThDaY ELDER MATTHEWS ~
I love you more than life itself; you have always been a blessing to me 💞😇💞😍💞😇💞!
