October – November 2015
Believe it or not we are actually starting to understand Rugby; we went to the match between the national teams of Romania and Tonga. Both are rated in the top twenty of the world and both are going to the World Cup. It was a great match; Tonga won by a little.
Here's our Tongan Rugby player and church member; we've had him and some of his teammates to dinner and they can eat.
Our Mission President schedules a senior missionary conference during General Conference. Since we are 9 hours ahead of the conference we watch some sessions live and others recorded. This year we went to the Danube Delta; it is a huge area of wilderness. Besides the two major arteries of the Danube that feed into the Black Sea there are numerous smaller canals and swampy areas interspersed with occasional very small farming villages. There are numerous areas of forest on the higher ground (a few meters above sea level) surrounded by 3 meter high reeds and grasses as far as one can see. I estimate the size of the area to be about 100 km x 100 km. We only saw a small part of it. We did travel out to the Black Sea. Near the entrance to the main channel, on each side of the channel, is a sunken ship; these two ships were sunk there by the Soviet Union to block the main channel to ships after the rebellion in Romania 25 + years ago. Another ship was sunk well up the river and blocked the channel for a few years before it was completely dismantled. We stayed two nights on a floating hotel. The accommodations were tight but very pleasant and the food was great; Krisy even ate and liked the fish. We all stayed up late to watch the first and second sessions of conference in order to learn and listen to the newly called apostles.
Our dining and conference area. This is where we watched a few sessions of conference. Watching it is great and it is even better when you can read/review the sessions after viewing the conference. I noticed what to me were several themes. The family was mentioned by several General Authorities. Krisy's favorite talk, I think, was from Elder Holland; it was about mothers. Her favorite quote was "you are doing better than you think you are". I liked several; one of my favorites was from Elder Lawrence: "What lack I yet?" That's a question I need to and have started asking. Elder Oaks gave us some wonderful insight into the atonement. I also learned a lot from Elder Anderson who told us that faith is a choice not a chance.
The passageway to our cabins.
Much of the Delta is covered with these reeds/grasses; we are well of the main channel.
One of the villages on the Delta.
The floating hotel.
There was another baptism of a man we helped teach. A few weeks after he was baptized he received a job offer in England; we hope he is doing well there and we hope to see him at Christmas when he comes home to visit his family (and maybe continue to teach his wife).
A recent convert was married in a civil ceremony a few weeks ago (a civil ceremony is a requirement in Romania). They were a little strapped for cash and had to pay for receptions for their family first and then their work “colleagues” (every person with whom they have some professional relationship is a “colleague”) so they went to two receptions for which they were financially responsible in the same day. We gave them a reception in our apartment for the branch family. They will go to the temple in June (a year after her baptism; since the civil ceremony is a law they don’t have to wait any time period after that for a temple marriage) and have a formal reception for everyone then (Romanian wedding receptions traditionally last all night; I’m hoping, since theirs won’t have alcohol, that an all-night affair won’t happen in June).
The civil ceremony (required by law)
The newlyweds
Our Branch President and the wife of another Branch President showing everyone how Romanians dance. The newly weds are visible in the background.
Some of the food Krisy prepared
The two office couple sisters have been cooking up storms recently; they’ve fed missionaries at least 5 times in the last few weeks. The number of missionaries have varied from about 20 to over 60 so they’ve been shopping – cooking and shopping – cooking. This hasn’t even included a baby shower which Krisy organized for a Romanian sister (Romanians had never heard of one) or the American Halloween celebration which Krisy organized; needless to say we are glad the October social month is over (I can only find so many places to hide and so much to clean before I actually have to be social and you all know how good I am at doing that).
Halloween cake walk.
Check this out; one of our missionaries, Carson McCallister, who helped teach a couple in our apartment, was just engaged to Whitney Carson of DWTS fame. The Youtube video of the engagement is out there (it kinda reminds me of the way I proposed to Krisy – not). Needless to say I’m hearing much more of “my” proposal to Krisy after this former Elder’s video surfaced.
You may have read of the night club disaster that occurred in Bucuresti a few weeks ago. This event brought about the fall of the national government and some local government officials. It appears the night club bribed some people to put in very flammable insulation and when the heavy metal band set off some fireworks the place went up rapidly. At least 3 members of the church that I know of had tickets for the concert but didn’t attend; one would have certainly been killed as he is hampered with physical disabilities and uses crutches. We’ve had several demonstrations; the prime minister of the country and his entire cabinet resigned [the prime minister was already under suspicion for corruption (he used to be the country’s president)]. The sector mayor of the area has been jailed under corruption charges for allowing the event to take place without a safety inspection by the fire department. The people are trying to organize a million man march for their national holiday 1 Dec; hopefully they will because this event could open a door for the church and more freedom for the people as they still suffer from the remnants of communism.
Elder Ballard, one of our 12 apostles from Salt Lake City, visited our mission last week. He first went to Moldova and then came to Bucuresti. All of our missionaries were able to meet him. Elder Ballard was accompanied by Elder Kearon (of the Seventy), the Europe Area President, and Sister Kearon. They all spoke to the church congregation and visitors as a whole Wednesday evening and then to a meeting of just the missionaries Thursday morning. I think our Mission President (and his dad) had a lot to do with arranging the visit. Elder Kearon told us to stretch even further and Elder Ballard told us that we’d have to be even better teachers as the world is moving further away from what we know to be the standards of God and distractions vie for the attention of everyone. Elder Ballard is a relatively short man with a giant spirit.
Krisy is shaking Elder Ballard's hand.
Thanksgiving is coming up followed by Christmas; we’ll cover these next time.
