May/June Blog

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)