May/June blog
Another “transfer” has come and gone and things appear to be
picking up. Unfortunately, because we
are at the end of the missionary bulge caused by the reduction in missionary
age, we are starting to lose the overall number of missionaries we have in our
mission (hopefully, the number will still be above the “pre-bulge” mission
levels). Hopefully we’ll still have more
young men than before and we know we’ll have more young women; they are
definitely picking up some slack.
We were asked to have the two new missionaries and their
companions over for dinner at our place during transfers (the Mission President
has the outgoing missionaries over for dinner).
Krisy said just invite whoever was in the office, too. OK, 11 missionaries.
We are teaching two sisters the temple preparation seminars,
3 part-member couples [2 Romanian couples, 1 Australian (here for the Rugby
season which goes through December) and a Romanian/Filipino combo]. Additionally, we are continuing to teach the
new-member lessons to the Malaysian couple.
In addition to our daily routine in the mission office we are quite busy
during many evenings of the week; it is tiring but satisfying because it is
some of the most important work we do. We
had all 7 evenings scheduled last week with things to do; we did have one
cancelation and rested.
Our Sunday School class is also exhilarating. We’ve had citizens from Nigeria, Malaysia, Italy,
USA, Korea, France, Romania, of course, Australia, Canada, Samoa and Tonga in
class. It is exciting to hear their
perspectives on the gospel based upon their traditions and life experiences;
the doctrine is the same but the influence of the doctrine differs as it
pertains to their particular situations.
Sister Nelson and I received revisions to our SS calling; we will now be
teaching the English speaking adults Gospel Doctrine; the youth will be taught
by another member. When she can’t get to
church we’ll split up and Krisy will teach the youth while I teach the adults. We are also counselors in our respective RS/PH organizations.
One of the local members is a marvelous musician; he
organizes a concert every year recognizing the Jewish community in Romania
(they were not treated well in WWII) and Romania’s most famous composer, Alfred
Mendelsohn. Google him and listen to
some of his music; you just might understand the Romanian psyche a little
better (much of his music is discordant).
One of our missionaries was asked to sing. She sang a poem written by another Romanian
that was written to be sung with one of this composer’s pieces. She also sang Israel, Israel God is Calling
in honor of the Jewish community. I
think it was the highlight of the entire performance.
Our branch recently had a sports-cookout Saturday
afternoon. Here are some pics. Krisy thought the large silver dumpster was
the barbeque pit; it’s really the dinky one in back (4 hours of cooking). Our District President thought that I should
be his wrestling guinea pig during the sports portion of the afternoon. He was “demoted” to Branch President shortly
thereafter; I told him not to mess with me, someone well over 10+ years his
age.
We had District Conference (like a stake conference) in late
May; our visiting authority was Elder Reina of the Seventy. It was exciting to listen to him and meet
with a great number of saints from our district; our chapel and cultural hall
were full. He spoke in English (1
session) and Spanish (2 sessions); it took me a while to get my Spanish “ears”
going but it was nice listening to his enthusiasm in his native tongue.
The movie, Meet the Mormons, was translated into 3 European
languages: French, German and Romanian; Romanian, can you believe
it? Once you meet and understand our
Mission President and some of the local leaders here you begin to
understand. Romania also has quite the
burgeoning movie scene. The voice overs,
including emotion, were very well done.
The Mission rented the biggest theatre in a large mall theatre complex
and we had about 250 + people come; we figure we had at least 100 non-members
and we think mom and I will have at least 1, hopefully two, couple(s) start
lessons as a result of the movie.
The 2 "Sora" Nelson's (office senior sisters at the movie night; no they did not coordinate their outfits)
Here are some additional pics:
One very traditional Romanian TV channel; many of the stations on cable have American "reality" shows; yuk. This one just has dancing and singing all day.
We get a Romanian language lesson from our friends in the store below our apartment every time we go there. They are so friendly and helpful.
Our Metro looks older than it is but it is clean and has some cool stuff; look at the advertisements on the coach windows.
Another cool house in one of our favorite neighborhoods.
One of the two water features at our apartment; check out the turtles (not shown: huge coy fish)
Two of our favorite restaurants; the first is Greek (on the way home from our office; we are the office official tasters) and the second is Turkish (hey; someone has to sacrifice).
No pics yet of our favorite BBQ (don't worry; it's not quite as good as Country Boy), Lebanese, etc. restaurants
On our way to a rugby match with a pic of the match (kinda reminds me of my wrestling match)
