The Jessee's

Our trip home to the USA...

2009-09-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

We are about to start our 22 + hour journey home to Chicago. We are in need of cars and Scott is going to hook us up so we will fly to Chicago first and then drive to NY. It was a long exhausting trip but the adrenalin was really high. It was so great to see family after 18 months. Here is our welcoming committee and we can't wait to see all our family. We have missed each of you so very much.

Our last day in Romania...

2009-09-15T10:10:00.000-07:00

The departing crew...Elder Horgmo, Elder Campbell and us. After arriving home from the park this morning Elder and Sora Ries had fixed us a huge breakfast and then later that evening a delicious dinner was prepared by the best cook in Romania. It was a feast for a king. What great memories. We then had a testimony meeting and each expressed our gratitude for the opportunity to serve the Lord. What a blessing this has been in my life and one I will cherish forever. We look forward to serving again.

Reading of the dedicatory prayer...

2009-09-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

One of the traditions of the mission President is on the day before the missionaries depart their mission, they are taken to the place where Romania was dedicated for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In February of 1990, months after the revolution that allowed Romania their freedom from Communist rule, Elder Holland came and stood on the very spot we are standing and dedicated this land. It was a peaceful experience at we too were taken to that sacred place and our Mission President read the dedicatory prayer to us departing missionaries. It was Elder Campbell, Elder Horgmo and us. We then each went to different parts of the park and had a long talk with our Savior and reported our mission to him. It was a very special moment as we expressed our gratitude to our Savior for the privilege it was to serve him. Oh how we hoped that it was satisfactory to Him whom we served. This mission has indeed been a life changing experience and something that will alter my life forever. As I witnessed the poverty of so many, the humble people who survived from our garbage when we have so much. My heart will always ache for the 65,000 abandoned children throughout Romania. How I wish I could take them all home with me. I am eternally grateful for an amazing companion that I am privileged to have served with. I marvel as he expresses his love of the Savior and gratitude for the gospel in his life. I'm ok with being #2 in his life as he puts the Lord first. I feel so blessed that my loving Father in Heaven found me worthy to wear this missionary badge.

Don't wait for your life to be perfect and your children's life to be perfect to serve. Sometimes you just have to jump in feet first and let the Lord bless your children's lives. My 3rd son Scott wrote a letter to us about 9 months left on our mission and said, "I don't know what you two are doing there in Romania, but whatever it is, keep it up. The Lord is blessing each one of our lives so much." Sometimes you just have to have the faith to let the Lord take over as you serve. How thankful we are to have Him bless our lives as he does.

Elder and Sora Jessee, Sora Lundberg and President Lundberg. Thanks for the example. What an honor it has been to serve with both President and Sora Ashby and President and Sora Lundberg. We will love you forever.

Our last meals in the mission home...

2009-09-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Monday night one of the new converts to the church in Bucharest told us he could get us tickets to the symphony. It was an amazing performance and we had an enjoyable evening with dinner and entertainment.

Here we are for dinner with Elder and Sora Ries, Sora Turner, and the rest of us. What a fun send off. Below is Sora Dillon from Canada.

Elder Betteridge...my cousin Merlene's son...

2009-09-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

My cousin Merlene's son Elder Betteridge got to Romania 6 weeks ago and I would have loved to have spoiled him for our last 6 weeks, but it was not to be. We did, however, get to meet up with him and his companion and take them out for breakfast. What a fine young man he is and what a great missionary he will be. (Just as an additional note, Elder Betteridge was transferred that week to Timisoara and lived for several transfers in the same apartment that Elder Burrows and Elder Davis were asphyxiated by the gas leak. We were in charge of inspecting that very apartment every 6 weeks and apparently their carbon monoxide detector had been unplugged. It was in use last we had inspected but with so few outlets in each room they must have unplugged it to use the outlet. So sad.) His trainer was one of our favorite missionaries and an excellent first companion. He had served in Iraq for 2 years before coming on his mission and was a real solid missionary. They were having a great transfer.

Wish we could have served with him for a time.

Our stay with the Mission President...

2009-09-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

When we arrived at President and Sora Lundbergs, we were greeted with a big happy birthday sign. I even had a delicious birthday cake.

Can you just feel the energy of Joshua. What a great missionary he will be one day. Each one of the missionaries needed to give Sora Lundberg a tie and she has a wall where she displays each departing missionaries tie and the Sora's scarves. If you look close you can see us.

Airport in Arad...

2009-09-13T13:04:00.000-07:00

We dashed Ani and her mother home and made it to the airport in plenty of time. To our surprise we had a send off crew and it was great to see them. Timi came to say good-bye. She will be off to England to be a nanny soon and we wish her the best. We will miss Fratela Petrescu and Ciprian. It was so nice of them to see us off.

Hmmmmmmm aren't they a cute couple. It was nice to see Gabriella and wish she could have embraced the gospel. She would join us for many of our YSA activities. Elder Jessee will always have a soft spot in his heart for Fratele Petrescu.

Good-bye to Arad and all are amazing friends. A piece of our heart will remain with these wonderful Saints.

Our last Sunday in Arad...

2009-09-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Our last Sunday in Arad saying good-bye to all our Arad members. Cristi and his mom, Cristina will be greatly missed as well as Florina. Stay strong....it is worth it.

Sora Florita and I.

Below with Cristina, Florita, Elder Jessee, Fratela Moldovan, Fratela Banatian, Sora Banatian, with grand daughter, myself and Elizabeta (who in May 2010 went to the temple to take out her endowments) We will miss you all so very much.
Same with a few additions. Mariana and Lotsi in the back and the Banatian's youngest son coming to say so long. We just heard (May 2010) that Mariana and Lotsi will be married in July and so she can be baptized. We are so excited for them. She faithfully comes with Lotsi each Sunday. Elder Sandberg and Elder Burrows. Andra, a very special young lady. (May 2010) Fratela Moldovan was made the new Arad Branch President. He will do a wonderful job of it. Below, we are with Elizabetha. How thrilled we are that she was able to attend the Frieberg Temple.
How fun it has been to see how the gospel has changed this young ladies life. Amelia, stay strong and know the Gospel is true. I have to tell you the story about this beautiful bouquet of flowers. It just so happens to be my birthday, September 13th our last Sunday in Arad. President Ursu found out in the beginning of church that it was indeed my special day and sent Fratela Moldovan to the Piata for an armful of flowers. During the meeting he came down and presented this glorious bouquet to me. I was sooooooooooo touched. Thanks you so much.

Here we are with our dear friend Sora Mogos. How we will miss the Mogos family and pray they will be healthy and blessed in their lives.
Ani and her mother had stayed overnight with us Saturday night, after her baptism, so she could be at church the next day to be confirmed. It was great to have them with us and someone who could take the last few items left in our home. We had just enough time to take them the 1 1/2 hour trip home and get back to the airport to catch our flight for Bucharest. It was indeed a full Sunday.

Ani's Baptism...

2009-09-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

One of our last Saturdays in Arad, my dear husband was able to baptize Ani. Ani had wanted to much to be baptized before she had her operation for cancer. She was very fearful that she would not make it through the surgery. There were a few things she needed to get in order so she could be baptized. What a thrill it was to her to have not only survived the surgery but things were right in her life that she could enter the waters of baptism and make those covenants with the Lord. What an honor it was for my husband to be able to perform such an ordinance. Ani lives 1 1/2 hours from Arad. In order to come to church on time, she must walk 2 miles to the train at 5 am, catch the 6 am train for Arad which arrives too early for church. She sits at the train station for 2 hours before she makes her way over to the church which takes 2 tram rides. In order to get home without another long delay, she must leave church after 2 hours to catch her train. I so hope she can be faithful. Her mother would love to be baptized also, but is in poor health and could not endure the travel. Her mother is sitting on the far right of this picture.

Our two Sora Slaeman and Sora Jones with Ani.
Elder Jessee, Ani, Elder Grimius and Elder Burrows. Let me share a sad story about our Elder Burrows. About 4 months after returning home to the USA we heard the shocking news that 2 of our Romanian Elders had been asphyxiated due to a gas leak in their apartment and had passed away. Our special Elder, Elder Burrows was one of the Elders in that accident. He was such a special young man and we enjoyed so much our 6 weeks with him as he had just come from the MTC. I know that the Lord must have a special mission for this young man on the other side. I'm not sure there are many Romanian speaking missionaries on the other side of the veil if any and someone must teach those brave people who gave their life for their freedom so the gospel could be preached throughout their land. We will miss you greatly, Elder Burrows.

Ani and her dear sweet mother. They were so excited and it was so nice to be able to share this moment with them.

Our Gypsy boys...

2009-09-11T16:09:00.000-07:00

While Laura was still with us our 2 Gypsy brothers came calling hoping to cash in on some more clothes leftover from the orphanage Christmas. I wonder if they just go sell the stuff we give them or if they really get to keep it. I'll bet they are really missing us and all the freebies. They would just light up when they saw "Elder Jessee" coming.

We will miss Laura...

2009-09-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

Laura is one of our very favorite friends. She used to be in our English class and we have really grown to love her. She is one of 9 children and have some pretty special parents. Laura will be leaving for college and studying in TimisaraWe had a very emotional goodbye to this very special your lady.

It was great to have her join us for lunch. We will miss you Laura.

Last evenening with Dana and Cornel ...

2009-09-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

One of our last evening in Arad, we got together with our good friends Dada and Cornel. We had a wonderful dinner and will miss them very much. Dana has been such a great example to me of how to lovingly care for a very ill brother and aging mother. We look forward to them visiting us someday in America. As we left we bumped into a new convert as we were taking a picture of the beautiful Catholic Cathedral in Arad. Arad is such a nice city and we have loved our time here.

YSA party...

2009-09-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

The Thursday before we left, Timi had arranged to have a surprise YSA party for us and had invited all the kids that haven't come for a long time. It was great to see everyone again and say our last goodbye's. They were so kind to give us a beautiful silver chain and a Romanian clock. Thanks Timi for all the great activities that made us feel so young. We will miss you all.

It's great to have Cristi back with us. He has been gone all summer long in the country with his father. We will miss you too, Andra and wish you the best.

With Timi leaving in a couple of weeks for England, Eni will be our new Institute leader and YSA leader. We are holding the balloons in the colors of the Romanian flag.

Last district meeting...

2009-09-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our last district meeting with these very special young missionaries. Elder Zemp and Sora Slaeman. As a matter of fact, since I am so far behind in finishing this missionary blog, right now I am in Cardston, Alberta and I just got off the phone with Elder Zemp's mother who is so excited to be going to Romania in 6 weeks to pick up her son.

Our last English class...

2009-09-05T15:37:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night we had our English class over for English class and I made a BIG lasagna dinner for them. We will really miss these gentlemen. We have Miki, Adalbert, the Orthodox Priest, Fratele Petrescu, Nicoli, Steven and Elder Jessee. It has been a wonderful 18 month these same men, with every now and then a few ladies join them but when the young missionaries would have breaks every 6 weeks, we just kept on meeting with them. They have been taught lessons from "Preach my Gospel", learned and studies all about the migration of the Saints into the SLC valley, on several occasions learning about Joseph Smith and then studying other explorers and inventors. We were ending our class with a book writen by an LDS author who was shot down over Germany and he tells of his experiences as a hostage in World War 2. They are loving the book and will continue when we are gone. As we said our final goodbye's it was almost like a testimony meeting as each expressed gratitude for us spending the last 18 months with them. The most touching was Steve when he said, "I don't know if our paths will ever cross again in this life, but they will in the next," as tears streamed down all our faces. It was very touching. We will truly miss each on these fine men. Though none of them joined the church, seeds were deeply planted.

Alexandra's visit...

2009-08-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

Monday night we had a visitor at our home all the way from Brasov. Alexandra came to visit us and it was great to get all caught up on her life. Her sister is on a mission now and she is looking forward to the time when she can also go on a mission. She spent 6 weeks on a mini-mission last summer in Timisora and really enjoyed it and would be such a great full time missionary.

Monastery with the Krista's

2009-08-31T15:12:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful time with Fratele and Sora Krista visiting a beautiful Monastery outside of Arad. The church was first constructed in the 1100's and has had many additions and revisions since then and is undergoing one now.

These women live at the monastery and cook for the priests and monks. This look is so peasant Romanian. Below, Fratele Krista is showing the different ages of stonework on the old church.

Last Sunday with Ana...

2009-08-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ana is off to Italy to work and live with a friend. She felt it was the only way to make the break with her long time "friend". We wish her the best and know she will bloom in the gospel wherever she goes. It is great to have the Pipers back for Italy. They left quite a few months ago to live with their daughter and it is wonderful to have them back with us. Here we are with Ciprian, President Bivald, Ana, Sora Piper, myself and Marian.

Ana & her son

2009-08-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

Sunday we rented a car and drove the 1 hour to Nadlac to get Ana and her son for church. She was finally feeling better from her operation and could come for the meetings. We had them to our home for dinner after church and found out that the man that had been living in her home to help her with the water was really more of a creep after she got home. He would drink all the time and spend not only his money but all hers and when he started beating her she kicked him out for GOOD. We were so excited since that was the only thing stopping her from being baptized months ago. She felt like she needed the help getting water into her house and she thought she would keep him around for at least that until she was on her feet. We had a amazing lesson with her and them asked her if she would like to be baptized on September 12. She didn't know how she would lay back in the water since she couldn't put any strain on her stomach. We called the President and he told us that we could just have her kneel and then sit and tuck her head under the water. With that solved she excitedly started making baptismal plans. She is so thrilled to be able to get baptized. I will never complain about having to drive any distance to church, the sacrifice she has to make to go to church 1 1/2 hours away by train, getting up at 4:30 and walking 2 kilometers to the train station, riding the train for 1/1/2 hours, sitting at the train station until it is time to go to church (another 2 hours) and then having to leave the last hour of church just to make it back for the 1:00 train. What a sacrifice.

Leadership training...

2009-08-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Leadership training in Arad...August 22nd

2009-08-22T09:50:00.000-07:00

One of the big events that kept us very busy was the leadership training that we had in Arad for the 5 branches in the district. We had a fabulous turnout with over 45 leaders attending. I was so glad to be able to see everyone again and say my goodbyes. This young lady (Cotutiu Biorica) is from Cluj and she speaks Polish and English, her husband speaks Romanian and English. They have the cutest little boy that will probably be learning all 3 languages.
I will sure miss Claudia from Deva. I have grown to love her and admire her strength. What an outstanding leader she is and so strong in the gospel. How wonderful it is to have a strong Romanian family who will be the foundation for the church here in Romania. Here are our two future Romanian missionaries that couldn't quite make it through the entire day without a little nap. Too cute!!!
Adella finally stopped long enough for me to sneak a little hug. It is weird to think that Elder and Sora Lameraux have 18 months left on their mission and we are just about finished. I do remember when that was us in their shoes and our mission has gone so very fast.

We will truly miss the Fotea's from Deva. What a blessing it has been to get to know them these past 18 months.
Our wonderful Oradea Sisters, Ilona Biro, myself, Angela Torge and Costea Eva.
Amalia with Sora Jones, Sora Slaeman, and a couple of Elder Worthland and Elder Boynton. Below is our Timisoara group who have been so kind to us over the past 18 months. Fratele Valcaneantu, Elder Jessee, Codruta, myself, Sora Bogdon, Sora Gabi, Sora Valcaneantu and Fratele Paniti.
Caudrita, myself, Sora Bogdan, Sora Gabi, and Sora Valcaneantu. What amazing women these are.

Claudia and her mother...

2009-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday we got a phone call that Claudia would be coming back from her 5 days vacation to finish up her final year in the Arad jail. Her mother came with her and she really took a liking to Vali. It was great to have them to our home for lunch and before leaving we dashed across the street to get her hair cut since it will a while until she will be able to do that. It was hard to see her go but a year does go fast. Talk about someone who doesn't belong. We found out that she can get permission to come out every Sunday and attend church with the Branch. We have sent the letter granting permission and hopefully it will be able to happen. These are two very sweet ladies.

Family home evening

2009-08-17T12:53:00.000-07:00

We have really enjoyed having our family home evening with Fratele Petrescu and Ana. Ana will be leaving for Italy this week and we wish her the best.

Sabin Birthday party...

2009-08-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

After the baptism, the YSA girls had made Sabine a cake for his birthday. We were so glad we were successful in getting him to come and let us sing to him and honor him on his special day. I love Emi!!!

The girls posing with the Sora missionaries and their mom after their baptism. They were so cute and very, very excited. Presidentile Bivald congratulating Juliana on her baptism and welcoming her into the Branch. I love this work!!!

Ana and Vali...need we say more. Elder Zemp, Elder Sandberg and Elder Burrows....fine young Elders.

Baptism....

2009-08-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

Anii's 2 daughters are being baptized tonight and Ciprian will be baptizing them. Her mother, Juliana, is also getting baptized by Presidentile Ursu. They came to church one Sunday with their mother and 2 weeks later were soooooo ready to take on this next big step in their lives and be baptized. How wonderful it has been to see these 3 embrace the gospel the way they have and they can't wait. Note Elder Sandberg jumping to make sure he too is in the picture.

The chapel was packed and the spirit was so strong. I love this branch and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

Making Sabine's birthday cake

2009-08-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Lunch with the Sora's

2009-08-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

Today we met the Sora missionaries for lunch while Simona and Vali were visiting us. Sora Slaeman worked in Cluj and it was fun for them to get together with the girls. We brought Simona and Vali back with us for a visit after our trip to the orphanage.

Oradea...

2009-08-11T13:03:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we had to be in Oradea (2 hours from Arad) for the audits and so Vali and Simona went with us. I knew it would not take long and we had to have the car back by 9:00 and I knew there was no way we would have a chance to stop and eat, so Vali and I went looking for a nice restaurant we could get some food to go. Wow...did we find a great place. It was this mid-evil restaurant complete with the mid-evil costumes and everything. The food was very very good to go along with the atmosphere. Too bad we couldn't have enjoyed eating there......

....instead....this was our atmosphere to enjoy our delicious meal. We came out of the meeting to go home and the sky had opened up. The streets were flooded everywhere we were not sure if we would make it out of the town. We had to take our shoes off to wade through the flood in the street to get in our car. The water was up over the tires in some areas. I have never seen it flood so fast.

Villa...

2009-08-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Chillin at the church and trying to find the perfect spot to take pictures for our Branch open house on the 5th of September. I think I found it. Won't that be special to have them take a picture of their family and have it centered in the "Proclamation of the Family" hand out and give to them as they leave. It is so nice to just sit and relax at the new Villa. I hope this Arad Branch will enjoy worshipping in such lovely building.

Our trip to the orphanage...

2009-08-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

The next few days will be very busy days for us. Sunday we attended church in Deva where we had a great time with their little Branch. We were very few in numbers, but the spirit was strong. After church my husband fulfilled his Audit assignment with President Fotea while Claudia and I took the children home and got dinner ready for the missionaries and our husbands. Ok...I watched and she got dinner ready. Claudia is such a great cook and the ciorba was fabulous. That evening we left for Cluj-Napoca en route on our Audit assignment. While in Cluj, we picked up Vali and Simona and headed for the orphanage (one of our very most favorite things to do). We had arranged to meet the director of the orphanage in Zalau and buy 9 much needed cribs for the orphanage. We were thrilled to get help on the project from a colleague of my husbands at Albany International who when he learned of our Christmas project, too late to participate, he asked if we did a similar charity, could he please donate to the cause. How wonderful it was to be able to provide these much needed cribs to this orphanage. We ended up going to a local woodsman who does a beautiful job of working with wood, and contracted with him for the cribs. On the way back to the orphanage we stopped for lunch with the director, her assistant (in the background) and the girls.

We had stopped to buy a little treat for each of the kids and I am not sure that was such a great idea. I have to admit it gets a lot "out of control".

This is our darling 3 little brothers, the oldest 2 are deaf and the youngest is hearing. If this country ever lifts it's ban on allowing Americans to adopt from Romania, these sweet angels might have a family that would love to adopt them. My brothers daughter Susan and her husband Randall are deaf, but read lips so well they function normal in a hearing world. They have adopted a beautiful little Chinese deaf daughter and would love to make a home for these 3 little abandoned boys. They announced on the news that the government will be lifting that ban and we have inquired at the orphanage and they have said the mother has never been to see the children and it would not be a problem. They have really been etched into our hearts, as well as many of the other children. Actually, the second son looks a lot like my brother David and some of his children and grandchildren. This is the part that just rips my heart out. The babies don't get handled very much at all and so there is a lot of rocking back and forth. They have learned that it does no good to cry and their stimulation is from the rocking motions. It is a very common sight to see an adult (street child) sitting rocking because it is all they know. It is their source of comfort. This little boy on the left is really out of control with it. He does it constantly....so sad to see.
This is when it started to get out of control. It is never enough candy and they act like they didn't get anything, although their pockets are bulging and they get to sad if they think someone else got more than them. I told my husband next time we go we must have little bags for everyone and they get them as we leave so there are no hard feelings. They are little survivors and will fight for their share.

I was able to dance with this sweetheart while the music played and played. She just loved it and giggled and giggled. She saw me a little later outside and came running up to me and wanted more, more. Oh how I love these children.
Remember this one from our Christmas project. She has not grown much at all, If any. She is still so smiley and cheerful as she just lays there hour after hour. These are the cribs that we are having made for them. Someone had donated 5, but they needed 9 more. We are so happy to be able to do this one last project with them.

This is my buddy that for 16 months I thought he was a girl he was so cute. Found out last time we visited that my cute little girl was a boy....still cute as can be. Last time we were here there were twins, a brother and a sister and they were missing and we learned that a family in Romania adopted both of them. We are so happy for them and hope they will have a wonderful life.

Look at the looks on those determined faces. They want their equal share for sure. Simona getting her share of hugs. Oh my, there is such a huge chunk of our heart that is going to stay here in Romania with these children. The precious girl I am hugging is the oldest of 5 sisters as well as the little girl next to my husband is the 3rd sister and all of them are living in a room together with a family of 3 boys and foster couple with their 2 sons. I would love to see all 5 of them get adopted and have an opportunity to come to America and be loved. They are the sweetest girls and just sit and snuggle as long as they can with us. They seem to be better adjusted than most and I am sure it is because they have each other. Next time I will try to get a picture of just them. Ken and Babata...you already have 3 girls...don't you want 5 more to top it off.
They hate to see us go and run beside the car as far as they can. The trip is never complete without being slowed up by a shepherd and his sheep or cows.

Our last and final transfer...

2009-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

These are the amazing missionaries that will be sending us home at the end of this transfer. We have Sora Slaeman, Sora Jones, Elder Grimmius, Elder Burrows, Elder Zemp and Elder Sandberg (who didn't make in in this picture). But he did make it in the other picture sitting next to my dear husband. We are looking forward to working with these wonderful young missionaries and our goal is to have many baptisms this transfer.

Mogos family...

2009-08-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Today we were all invited over to the Mogos family. Fratele Mogos has not been feeling well and his coloring is not right and he wanted to have a blessing. We had a wonderful visit with them and Elder Grimmius, Elder Burrow and my husband gave him a beautiful blessing. I love to see how the gospel blesses so many lives.

Busy monday...

2009-08-04T06:38:00.001-07:00

Monday morning started very early....about 4:45 am...with us having rented a car to go out to Nadlac and get Ana and drive her 2 hours for her appointment with the Dr. to get her stitches out. It took about 3 hours to get that done and then she was sent to another Dr. to get checked out. Of course, no one has appointments and you just wait until it is your turn after the Dr. shows up. Finally by 1:00 p.m. we were headed for home. The entire adventure took us about 10 hours and we were so grateful to be home. It was only the hottest day of the year and our car didn't have air conditioning. It was hard for us it must of been torture for Ana. We found out that the Sora's were a little confused and had told her that we would rent a car and be coming to get her and her mother for church on Sunday. What we had said is that when Ana was feeling better she would call us and we would bring her to church. She got up early and got all ready for church and we didn't come. She was in no way ready to come to church but was going to because she thought we were coming for her. We felt so bad she got ready for nothing. It was best we didn't come for her because she needs more time to heal.

Church at the new villa...

2009-08-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday was our first Sunday in the new villa although they had met there last Sunday but we were out of town. It is such a nice place and I think the members will really enjoy it. Just wanted to show you a few pictures of the place as we fix it up. Still lots to do but it feeling more and more like a Church every day. Our Young Women's room which they love very much.

Our YSA room.

The chapel area. I have now bought a beautiful plant for in front of the pulpit but I think it is too big. I think I need to tone it down just a bit. I will take a picture next time I go over and see what you think.
These two sweet girls are Anii's daughters and have been taking the missionary discussions with the sisters for a few weeks. It was great to have them both in church with their grandmother who they live with. The grandmother too is listening to the sisters explain about the gospel and is very touched. She has seen what the gospel has done for her daughter since she was baptized because she just glows. There we are with our goodbye's to Sora Poulsen and Elder Hardman. Great to have served with both of them.

Dinner at Elizebeta's

2009-08-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening, Sora Elizebeta invited all the missionaries over for Sarmale's. I love this spunky lady!!! She is next to impossible to understand with our little bit of Romanian because she mixes her Romanian and Hungarian words all the time and in one given sentence she uses both languages. It is kind of her own language, so even for the missionaries it can be difficult. She was baptized 3 or 4 months ago and LOVES the gospel. She was feeling almost dead in her life, not a lot to live for, very ill and one day was over at her daughters who was a member and the missionaries were teaching Mercen, Eli Blaj's husband and invited Elizebeta to join them. She loved everything she heard and asked if she could hear more. It didn't take her long to know of the truthfulness of the gospel and be baptized. She is so happy with her new extended family of members. We had a wonderful evening with her enjoying the beauty of this patio with a canopy of grapes. What a special spot to eat in the outdoors. Her garden was amazing and of course we enjoyed the chickens. My husband wants sooooooooo much to have a few chickens one day.

Eni joined us for dinner too. She just returned home from her mission to Romania about 3 months ago. I warned her I would blog this picture. We are so glad she is here in Arad going to school and working. She is such an amazing teacher. Elder Grimmius is showing the grapes in the canapy we were eating under.
She was so cute, when she snuggles in next to my husband to take the picture, she asked me, "Is this ok"? I assured her it was just fine, I would share with her she is so sweet. Her husband just up and left her with nothing but 4 small children many years ago. Some people have it so rough!

Look at this amazing garden.

Last district meeting...

2009-08-04T05:33:00.001-07:00

Thursday was the last District meeting with this district. We still had Calab and Alexa with us and it was nice that they could join us. We will really miss these fine young missionaries. We send Elder Hardman and Sora Poulsen home to the USA and Elder Smith will leave for another assignment. We wish them all the best as they move ahead with their lives. We found out that Alexa knows Elder Frandsen from Idaho Falls. If she had been here just a few weeks earlier she would have been having district lunch with him. Small world!!

Peles Castle...

2009-07-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

One cannot come to Romania without seeing the Peles Castle in Sinaia. It is one of the most beautiful castles we have ever seen and it was interesting to take Calab and Alexa there because they have been all over Europe touring many many castles and palaces and they said this was the most beautiful. I wish my camera had taken better pictures but I was not allowed to use my flash and many of the rooms were very dark. We had to pay extra that allowed me to take pictures inside. What a great day we had. There are actually 2 palaces there and we enjoyed both of them.

2009-07-31T04:26:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was Bran Castle near Brosov. They loved it with all the cool stairs and fun rooms. I especially love the roof lines of this castle.

I love this set of stairs. So medieval.

Calab & Alexa's visit...

2009-07-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

We love it when family come and visit. Calab has been doing a semester abroad in Spain and wanted to tour Europe when he was done. He couldn't find anyone to do it with him and the last week he asked Alexa if she would be interested. She too was part of the semester abroad from BYU. She has always wanted to do it and felt very comfortable doing it with a guy rather than a bunch of girls. They have been like brother and sister, although Uncle Barry tried to get something more going. We think he is crazy for not falling head over heals for her. We really enjoyed being with them for a couple of crazy fast fun filled days. We headed out first thing Tuesday morning to have lunch in Sibiu and see the town square. We then set off for Sigisoara to enjoy the medieval town and the birth place of Dracula.

How many times have you seen this same picture blogged? I love this building and the uniqueness of it. This time we took a stroll through the cemetery on the top of the hill in hopes of seeing some old old graves but found 1800-1900's tomb stones. It was really a neat setting though.

Ana home from the hospital...

2009-07-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

Monday morning we got the call that Ana would be able to go home from the hospital. We flew into action and within a few minutes had rented a car and were on our way to Timisoara. The only way for her to have gotten home was by train and with her operation, every bump she just cringes with pain. We were so glad we were able to take her home. Sora Smith and Sora Gibson went with us to the hospital to say their goodbye's. They have been so amazing with her and have visited her many times and really lifted her spirits.

It took us almost 2 hours to drive her home and all the way home we kept asking Ana if there was anything she needed. Did we need to stop and get her any food. She kept saying no, that she had everything she needed. She lives out in the country and it is not like she could go run to the corner and get a bag of groceries. She can't lift anything for months. As we went into her tiny 2 room humble home, there was nothing. Her tiny kitchen we could not see any food in the cupboards or even anything that looked like a fridge. Now I know what she meant when she said she needed help getting her water. We had in mind someone bringing her a glass of water, no, she has no running water in the house and someone needs to bring her buckets of water for her to drink and bath in. I will never be the same.

As we left her in that humble situation, we both had the same feeling. We just had to do something about it. We were late needing to pick up Calab and Alexa from the train station (Barry's nephew and a friend visiting us for a few day while they were touring Europe for the summer) so we had to dash home to get them. We decided to have a quick lunch with our guests and then do a Piata run and a grocery store stop and then head back to Nadloc and set Ana up for a while with food. It was sooooooooo much fun to do and we were glad we included Calab and Alexa on the project. They were able to experience a little bit of mission work. As we were leaving my husband asked Ana if she would like a blessing and she really wanted one. Calab and Elder Jessee gave her a beautiful blessing in English, but the spirit was really strong. After he was done her mother who was visiting her asked if she too could have a blessing. She told us that she too believed in God and she has been ill. What a wonderful opportunity it was for these 2 worthy priesthood holders to lay their hands on her head and give her a blessing. We were all touched. When Ana is well enough we want to rent a car and come out and get her and her mother and bring them in for church. When we told her mother that, she was just thrilled to be able to come in for church. It was her mother that told Ana how she just had to get baptized before her operation and was very supportive of her daughter joining our church. What sweet humble women. Below is a picture of Ana with her welcoming crew. They are family that live next door to her and the mother has 5 small children and her husband died a few years ago leaving her in very humble circumstances. They were such cute kids.

Busy weekend...

2009-07-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

Friday we were finished enough at the new villa to fit in a district meeting. We will really miss this district, they have been hard working, obedient missionaries and the Lord has really blessed Arad because of their faith and dedication. Proud of you all! We had to dash off before cleanup to Timisoara for a fireside with the members on Genealogy and Temple work. We had a handful of members there but the spirit was really strong and I think we all caught the spirit of the work. It really helped this week getting a sweet note from Anamarie that her and her father had found 81 Jessee names they were taking to the temple on Thursday to do baptisms and start the temple work for these members of our family. It makes us so anxious to go home and really dig into the work for these patient ancestors. Thanks Anamarie for working so hard on your vacation and a huge thanks to your dad. It really brought the work to life for us. I know it will be much more difficult for the Romanians to do their research on their families since many of the documents were destroyed during the Communist years. We were able to finish off the evening with our slide show on all 128 temples around the world. It is so fun to see how they light up when they see their temple in Frieberg, Germany. When we got home I must of had a fairy Elder and Sora do some magic on my house. It was all cleaned up from our meeting. Thanks!!Late Saturday night we heard from President Ursu that he would like Elder Jessee and I to once again visit Timisoara and help out since their President is still out of town. I caught Elder Horgmo saying..."you again"...if he wasn't saying it he was sure thinking it. Since his mother reads this blog I just had to put this picture in. It is always nice to meet with these saints, but we are missing a lot of our friends that seem to be taking the summer off from church. I didn't know there was such a thing!!! We were glad to be able to go over to the hospital after church to visit with Ana who has been there now 3 weeks. She thought she would be going home last Friday, but come to find out they had not stitched her stomach after her operation. They told her it was because she was too fat. I would not have believed it but I heard it from her mouth today. They came in her room 4 days after her operation and right there with no medication or numbing her, stitched her stomach. She was crying as she well telling of the experience and how much it hurt. They will check her stitched tomorrow and hopefully she will be able to go home. She really would like to stay another week to make sure she is healing because she still really hurts and I am afraid she might have an infection since she was running a fever yesterday. They told her she can't stay because they need her bed. They will come in tomorrow and take the stitches out but she is so afraid they have not healed all the way and will rip open. We all need to pray for her.

We heard from our Elders and Sora's that church in Arad went great!!! There were a lot of investigators there and everyone loved the new villa. Church service was awesome and the spirit was really strong. Arad is the best Branch in Romania...and that comes from not just me but all the missionaries that serve all over. They love Arad. There is so much love amongst the members and that makes such a world of difference. The Elders and members have been working with Fratele Bacanu who has been inactive for years. He was so afraid to come back to church because he thought no one cared. He came today and everyone just wrapped their arms around him and pooched him all day long. He was just thrilled. It was so wonderful to have President Bivald's wife with him at church today and they brought their friends who are non members. The work here in Arad is awesome!!

BIG WEEK...

2009-07-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

The day finally arrived...the BIG MOVE...we got word on Monday night that President Eni would arrive late that night with a crew to paint the old villa so we would be moving out starting Tuesday morning. We jumped into action and with our Elders and Sora's needing service hours this week and with the help of some members and their crew we were out of the villa within a few hours. We were so glad we had done so much in preparation for this day last week with removing all the carpets and getting them cleaned, moving boxes of things over to the new villa and getting rid of a ton of garbage and things we will never use. It made the move go that much quicker. We called our "rent a taxi truck by the hour" and 60 ron later ($20) we were done. Well worth the money and it only took us 4 trips rather than 20 in the van. Worth the money!! It has been wonderful to see how our new Branch President, President Bivald has jumped into action. He had a meeting with all the leaders on Tuesday night and told everyone they would each be responsible in cleaning and getting their room ready for Sunday. It has been fun to see the members take pride in their new villa and love getting it ready for service this Sunday. The tile floors were a mess, horrible stains that we cannot get off. President Eni even brought the BIG tile cleaner from Bucharest and at least we know the floor is clean enough to eat off of but there are still many stains and paint spills. When we complained to the propriatar about it he said, "don't worry about it, it's Romania". So I guess we won't worry about it. It will be an awesome villa for the members with great space for memorable activities and worship. We have spent days over there finishing up the last touches, but still have a long way to go to get it all done. We are waiting for the kitchen cabinets to come this Wednesday as well as the shelves in the library. Saturday was another full day with lots of members pitching in, washing windows, putting in the sound system, hanging pictures (love Presidents Bivald's method of hanging pictures with silicone glue), installing lights, finishing touches to YSA, Relief Society, Primary and YW rooms. Oh how I wish I had had the camera with me to take pictures of the 4 or 5 women it was taking to wash the windows in the chapel. All 5 of them were working on 1 window at a time. That showed real teamwork. It will be great to get it all complete. Thanks everyone for all your help.

It took riders in the back to make sure things didn't fall out along the way. My husband was glad to take his turn.
It was Elder Hardman's birthday on Saturday and we took this opportunity to celebrate with him. The Sora's made him a yummy cake and we all got to enjoy it with him. These are some very hard working missionaries and we really appreciated their service. The Sora's had already left before I thought to pull the camera out or I would of had a shot of all the crew. Thanks!!

Busy sunday in Timisoara...

2009-07-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Today we were off to Timisoara again bright and early on the train to support their Branch with their President out of town for a few more weeks. It is always nice to visit these wonderful saints. After church we went to the hospital with Sora Negru and the Sora missionaries to visit Ana, who just had her operation last week. It was amazing!!! She was in a room with 11 other beds...literally beds right next to each other with a small space between the two beds so you could get in and out of bed...barely. It was like sardines and soooooooooooo hot. It looked like most of them were cancer patients and Ana is in such high hopes she will be able to go home next week. She told us she was so lucky to be able to come to that hospital to have her operation because it is one of the best. We hope she has a speedy recovery so she can be baptized very very soon. Sora Smith and Sora Gibson were so kind to invite us over to their apartment for a terrific salad bar after our trip to the hospital. It was great to be able to sit and visit with them and get to know them a little more. We do have some real special missionaries here in Romania.

Arad Branch picnic...

2009-07-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday was another one of those days that you have so much going on that you don't know how it will possibly all work out, but it always seems to. We had the Branch Presidents and their clerks in from the entire district for a 3 hour training over at the villa. We served them lunch and since so many were coming from so far away we had invited them to stay for our Arad picnic. Deva had brought their Branch down since they were renting cars to come for the training, it wasn't must added cost to have their group join us for the picnic. We had tried to go down to Deva to have a social with them a few weeks earlier and over 40 people had signed up to go and the cost was going to be too much, so with Deva having 12 or 13 coming, it was more manageable. We had them all come over and hang out at our home while the men were in the training and then joined the branch at 4:00. We had a terrific turnout. We had over 71 people in attendance with 13 being from Deva. The activity was to be in the forest and with only 4 cars in the branch we needed to rent a BIG van to make a couple of trips to get everyone to and from the Villa. We had a wonderful time. Fratele Mogos was in charge of the activity and he recruited Fratele Krista and Sora Lidia's non member husband Costi to help him. It was a GREAT SUCCESS!!! The mici was the best I have tasted and it was cooked perfect. We had members bring salads and desserts and we had quite the spread. Here are just the last of the group in the van heading to the forest. So nice to have Anii and her 4 children and Korina and her 3 boys join us.

Here are the cooks hard at work and doing an amazing job of it. One thing is for sure...no one went home hungry. Here we have our chief chef Fratele Mogos with help from Sora Lidia's husband Costi (shown below). Above we have Sora Krista with her husband Fratele Krista, Ciprian, Sora Lidia, my husband acting like he was being helpful and Fratele Mogos. What a great job they did of the meat. I have to admit I will miss mici. It is a cross between hamburger and sausage with some spices added to it.
It was so great to see President Bivald's wife at the picnic as well as Simona's boy friend. Great to have Eni back from her mission and with our Branch again. She is such a help to the branch.

After the training, President Lundberg was still in town and so he was able to join us for a few hours before heading off to Oradea. It was so nice for him to be able spend time with the members and get to know them better. Here he is with our Elder Zemp.
So great to see Tomas again chatting with Jonni and nice to see our Deva sisters enjoying themselves. We had a rip roaring game volleyball and this is when you really know how old you are. It was so much fun playing with Fratele Kristi, Fratela Mogos, Amalia, Sora Slaeman, Tomas, Fratele Banatean's son and my husband. We had a great time and amazingly didn't twist an ankle on the uneven terrain.
Is that not the cutest face ever!!I am sure a lot of girl talk going on with those two.

Not the greatest picture of me, but I had just been playing volleyball for about an hour in missionary clothes in about 100 degree heat.

Above is Fratela Lotsi and Fratela Moldovan having a great time just chillin.

This young man has been investigating the church and has just set a baptismal date with with the Elders. He is 12 years old and very excited about learning all he can about the church. His parents are very supportive of him getting baptized if this is what he really wants to do. A picnic is not complete without a little guitar from our Elder Smith. Paul is our 11 year old that is sooooooo cool with the music chillin.

I guess we didn't get sweaty enough playing volleyball, Elder Jessee and Fratele Krista thought a little time with the frisbee might bring it on. I must say it was so nice to see Fratele Krista enjoy himself like he did. We really love him!Sora Poulsen and Sora Slaeman doing a little missionary work with a young lady Sora Decsy brought.
President Bivald, his wife and Sora Florita getting to know each other. Sora Florita has been cooking for hours and really put on quite a spread. She had the best stuffed tomato I have ever tasted with cheese and herbs as well as fried egg plant and fish etc. etc. These Romanian's sure do know how to cook.

Some of our Deva group, Claudia, President Fotea, David and LauradanaSora Mogos with Claudia Fotea and Lauradana. It was so nice having their Branch join us in Arad, I wish we lived closer so we could do this more often with them.
Elder Frandsen getting in on the action.

Zone Conference

2009-07-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Thursday was zone conference once again and it was great to have both President and Sora Lundberg with us this time. It seemed very strange to not have Josh with them. We had them over for a late dinner the night before and it was so nice to be able to sit and visit and get caught up on mission and family. We had a great zone conference and it seemed so strange to think we only have 1 more before our mission is over. Time is just flying by. It was a very uplifting spiritual conference and I hope it left the missionaries with a strong desire to dig in and work as hard as they can to convert all of Romania. They tend to be a real spiritual boost for these wonderful missionaries and a wake up call for how much there is to do.

It was great to see our Elder Frandsen, Elder Campbell and Elder Anderson at the conference. We miss them here in our district but knew they would make great assistants to the President.

President Lundberg with our Zone Leaders Elder Zemp and Elder Hardman. Great leaders and good job!
Ooops...someone has an ooowweeee. Minor surgery but he will be good as new in no time.
Some photo shots of some of the group.

Our Arad and Timisoara missionaries...Sora Slaeman, Sora Poulsen, Elder Burrows, Sora Gibson and Sora Smith.

Graduation Party...

2009-07-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday night we had a BIG GRADUATION PARTY for our grade 12 graduates. We had a great time on the patio of our new Villa. What a great place this will be for YSA and Branch activities. In the Branch we have 7 graduates, some inactive, some from our English class, some whose parents are members and they are not, and we told them to bring friends. We ended up having 6 graduates, 1 active member, 1 whose parents are members but he is not came with his friend that was also graduating, 2 non-members from our English classes and one of them brought a friend. It was a great turnout, we ordered pizza, did a little get to know you, and the missionaries were with us so Elder Smith and Elder Grimmis played the guitar and sang. It was a great evening but we still missed Maria and Bogdon. It was great to have our missionaries join us with so many non-members present. We have Elder Zemp, Sora Poulson, Sora Slaeman and Elder Grimmius. Here we have Sabin, Andra, Elder Smith, Elder Hardman, Elder Zemp, Laura from English class and her friend Adriana. Above we have a blurry son of Fratele and Sora Banatean, he had brought a friend with him, Timmi, Gabriela, Sabin and a girl from our English class (we can't remember her name).

Below we have Sabin, Andra, Elder Smith and Elder Hardman.

The best part of the evening are the two cakes Sora Elizebeta made for us for the graduates. These were the best cakes I have tasted. Wow...they were great and it was sooooooo nice of her to do that for us. I have to admit, I turned my back and a big cake fight broke out. At least not much of that great cake was wasted, but it did cause quite a stir. Elder Smith was a great sport but I guess it all started with Sora Slaeman. The biggest shock though was our shy, quiet Laura with a little nudge from Elder Jessee, was right in the thick of it.
oops...something got out of hand for a few minutes.

Even Elder Jessee got pay back. They all cleaned up pretty well, or at least some of them did.

Ana and the hospital...

2009-07-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

I just have to show you this picture. Every time we have a baptism, we have to drain the font outside on the driveway. This grumpy old lady has nothing better to do than to give us such a hard time about it each and every time. The rest of the neighbors love it the fact that so often they get their courtyard cleaned, but she is just beside herself every time. It will be a good day to not have to contend with her and to have the spirit leave after each and every baptism.

Below you will see Ana. She was going to get baptized last Saturday, but it had to be postponed. She hopes to get baptized really soon but on Monday she went into the hospital and on Thursday underwent surgery. She has cancer and has been undergoing radiation to shrink the tumors before the operation. We had the wonderful opportunity to go to Timisoara (1 hour away) to the hospital and my husband helped in giving her a blessing before she would be operated on. It was a wonderful experience. She is in a room with 8 other women and we sat around with 2 Sora missionaries, 2 Elders and Elder Jessee and myself and had a very spiritual discussion with her for about an hour on the importance of having the faith to be healed and how we have the same authority to bless the sick that Jesus gave to Peter, James and John and the other Apostles when he was on the earth. It was interesting to see how all 9 of those women stopped what they were doing for the hour and listened intently as we spoke. One of them was even following along in her Bible. After a beautiful discussion, they then gave her a very powerful blessing. Of course, there could not be any privacy and so they all listened. After, my husband asked if anyone else wanted a blessing. I could tell there were a couple that would have loved it, but were not quite bold enough to step forward. We then passed out a few pamphlets and left. We are so glad we were able to go.

It is a beautiful story how she met the missionaries. A few years ago she had a dream, a sort of vision she calls it, where she saw a book that was similar to the Bible that would change her life. She didn't know what this meant. A few months ago while she was in the hospital having her radiation, the missionaries in Timisoara came to the hospital to sing as they normally did. They had with them a book and she asked if she could look at it. It was the book in her vision and knew it was true and from God. She loves the gospel and can't wait to be baptized. Pray for her to heal quickly so she can have this wonderful blessing in her life. She is so afraid she will die before she has the opportunity. She is such an amazing woman, we just love her. She is the one that has to get up at 4:00 am to catch a train and ride 1 1/2 hours and sit at the train station for 2 hours to then have an hour meeting with the sisters and then has to leave after 2 hours of church to catch the train home. She loves to do it because she knows it is true. I will never complain again!!!

Saturday activity ...

2009-07-07T02:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a great activity at the new villa for the Branch members. They were so anxious to see the new building so we decided to get together for a fireside, play a games and just visit. We had a great turnout of about 26 of us and it was wonderful to see their response to their new Villa. The best comment for me to hear is that it is not that far of a walk for them and the building is much better than they ever imagined. It isn't even fixed up yet and is still empty but it has so much potential. We can't wait to move into it, which should be very soon. It was so nice to sit out on the patio and enjoy the beautiful evening. We can see many Branch activities being help there and enjoying their building. Sorry I forgot my camera that night, I will post pictures later.

2009-07-07T02:12:00.000-07:00

Sunday we were asked to go to Timisoara and support their Branch with their Branch President being out of town. We were excited to use this time to visit with Sora Gabriela and have another one of her "Best in Romania" meals. We were joined by Sora Smith, Vali and Sora Gibbson. It has been great to have Vali with us this weekend, we had a lot of missionary things to do, but she was such a great sport and just went with the flow. It was great to have our own personal translator with us 24/7.

Our visit with Raul...

2009-07-07T01:32:00.000-07:00

We joined the branch for their Wednesday evening gospel discussion and it was great to see the Fotea's, Sylvia, Claudia and have Lauradana teach the class. It seems like just yesterday she was baptized. It is fun to see them step up and take on teaching assignments to help out this tiny branch. After the lesson we went to visit Felicia's brother and family. Lavinia and the two boy joined the church a couple of years ago and shortly after, went inactive. About a year ago we went with the missionaries to visit them and the reception was quite cold, but after our visit seemed to be very warm and friendly to us. Last week we learned of Raul's bout with cancer. Raul is the older son and is the nicest young man. After he was baptized he received the priesthood and became a deacon and after our first visit, I could tell their was something very special about this young man. We were so sad to hear that he had Lymphoma and it has now spread to his lungs. He goes to Cluj-Napoca every 2 weeks for chemo hoping to shrink the tumor. It is very costly for the parents as well as very expensive the food he now has to eat. I hope they set up a fund so those that would like to donate can contribute. The Deva branch collected some money to help the family out.

As we got ready to go, my husband asked Lavinia how we could help and she asked if he would give her son a blessing. He was honored to do so. He had a beautiful discussion with them explaining how when Jesus Christ was on the earth he ordained his apostles with the Priesthood so when he was no longer on the earth, they too could have the authority to bless and heal the sick. In the 1800's those same 3 apostles, Peter, James and John appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry and gave them that same Priesthood authority that Jesus Christ had given them, so once again the same Priesthood was on the earth. That same priesthood was given to my husband by Merril Andrus in 1972. He then asked Raul if he would like him to give him a blessing and he said "YES". It was such a beautiful blessing and one that will require faith on our part to be healed. The spirit was so strong and I want more than anything for this young man to have the faith necessary to be healed. He has such a bright future and has so much more to do on the earth. Once again I find myself counting my many blessings, and one of the greatest blessings in my life is a worthy companion who blesses the lives of so many, especially mine.

I took a picture of Raul (below) and his little brother needed one taken of him too.

It was good to have Emily, Felecia and Claudia join us for our visit. I can't imagine what it must be like to have a young son like this facing such a challenge in his life. Keep him in your prayers.

Our trip to Deva...

2009-07-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was a pretty busy day. We were going to rent a car to drive to Deva to visit the members there and while we had the car, we used it to haul 27 chairs, baptismal font and pulpit over to our new villa for an upcoming baptism. It took quite a few trip but we were finally on our way to Deva and had been invited over to Fratele Seminesco's home for Sarmale's. We just call him Mr. Sarmale he makes such good sarmale's. We were joined by Emily, Lauradana and her beautiful daughter. The food was great and we loved rubbing shoulders with the members.

Lauradana and myself both with our matching reds on.
We were then able to go and have a nice visit with another member, Felecia and met her daughter once again. She will go with us this evening as we visit her brother and his wife and their sons, another sad story.

Our new district...

2009-07-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

Our new district!!! We get sooooo blessed with the missionaries that get sent to our district. We now have...going around the table... Sora Slaeman from Saskatchewan, born in Iraq and in a refuge camp in Syria for 9 years of her life. They escaped their country sneaking across the borders and she remembers having to be very very quiet so they would not get shot. They lived in a tent for the first 5 years and then built their home out of clay and straw. They then were finally sent to Canada. We then have Elder Hardman, Elder Zemp...who I found out his Grandmother is my Aunt Carol's sister, Sora Poulsen, Elder Smith, Elder Grimmius and my dear companion Elder Jessee. I am sure glad I don't have to get a new companion every 6 weeks or so. I feel really good about this transfer and we know the Lord will bless Arad.

Sora Bingham's visit...

2009-07-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

Sora Bingham (Emily) is in town for a few weeks and we had such a nice visit with her getting caught up on her life and her upcoming marriage to Tyler whom we will meet next week. Emily found and taught Florina the gospel and it was great to have them both for dinner. She will actually be staying with her off and on while she will be in Romania.

Dinner with Elizebeta...

2009-06-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday after church we had Elizebeta, Elder Wilde and Elder Zemp for dinner. She was baptized a few months ago and is such a special lady. We just love her. She just has to think about Elder Wilde going home and the tears start flowing. The missionaries that bring you the gospel have such a warm spot in your heart. She was so cute to bring me this beautiful figurine as well as a little ceramic dog for my husband and the most delicious cherry cake.

Saying goodbye...

2009-06-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

Our last gathering as a district...Sora Poulson, Sora Karina, Elder Smith, Elder Davis, us, Elder Wilde and Elder Zemp. We will say our good-bye's to Sora Karina, Elder Davis and Elder Wilde...as a matter of fact as I am typing this Elder Davis and Elder Wilde are half way home.

Amalia's baptism...

2009-06-24T11:33:00.000-07:00

Saturday was such a special day with Amalia's baptism. Fratele Banatean baptized her and it was so meaningful to him to have been asked. Amalia was just glowing. She is a real awesome girl and so excited to be a member of the church. The spirit was really strong as Cipean gave his talk on baptism and our newest convert Anii gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Andra and Elder Smith sang a beautiful hymn accompanied by Elder Smith on the guitar. They sounded great!!

Sora Karina, Sora Poulson, Amalia, Sora Mogos and Sora Florita at the baptism. These are two awesome sister missionaries that work so hard and have such faith and the Lord is really blessing their efforts. We will sure miss them when they leave.
Amalia with Ana.

Sora Karina, Amalia, Sora Poulson and Ana (soon to be another baptism). Ana lives 1 1/2 hour train ride away from Arad, the closest branch. She met the missionaries in Timisoara while she was in the hospital and has such a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She knows the Book of Mormon is from God and that Joseph Smith restored the church to the earth. Even though she lives far away, and can't afford the train ride in every week, she wants so much to be baptized and is planning on it in the next few weeks. Since she came in for the baptism Saturday night, we had her stay overnight with us so she could go to church the next day. She leaves on the 5:00 a.m. train and arrives at 6:30...sits at the train station until she meets with the Sora's for a lesson, goes to church from 10:00-12:00 and has to leave early to catch the train back at 1:00. I will never complain about my 15 minute car ride to church ever again. We had given her 10 ron to take a taxi to the train station and she said..."No, I won't take a taxi, I will save it to take the train next Sunday for Church. What sacrifice.
Elder Davis confirmed her on Sunday. She was just glowing!!!

The Moldovan's for dinner..

2009-06-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Friday evening we had a wonderful evening with the Moldovan's. It had been so long since we had gotten together and it was great to get all caught up. We had so many things to talk about and we have so much in common with them. We will sure miss them when we go home, but I do hope they come and visit along with all our other friends we have made here in Romania. Time is flying by sooooooo fast I can't believe we now have our travel arrangements to come home. Didn't we just leave???

2009-06-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a FULL day to say the least. We rented a car first thing in the morning and drove to Jena (3 hours away) to pick up these adorable children and take them to see their mother back in Arad. When we first came to Arad, I told you about this wonderful family that we would go visit in Timisoara that had all these darling children and the Mother was the sweetest lady ever. They lived in such humble surroundings, all in a 1 room house but she always gave us things to eat, and would never eat with us. She joined the church 12 years ago and shortly after joining moved far away where there was no Branch. She had started coming back to church with her children and was doing great...and then we didn't see her for a long while. She had to go to jail to finish out her sentence that she had started back in 2005 while she was pregnant with her son. They let her out to give birth and then she had another son and when he was 1 year had to go back to complete her time. Talk about someone that doesn't belong there, it is her. She had written a bad check while working for a company some 6 years ago and must serve about 2 years. It will be shortened because she works. It has been so hard on her to be away from her little ones and her mother is such a saint to take them at her home in the country. She had not seen her children for a year, so we decided to go the (we thought 2 hour trip) to get her children, bring them back to Arad and then home again. Ended up with road construction taking us 3 hours each way....1 1/2 hours visiting mom....and another 3 hours back. On the way home we commented that we basically drove from Albany to Chicago today. It was so worth it to see the joy on mom's face and to see how the kids loved being with her. The little one didn't really even know her, that was sad to see, but she will make up for it when she gets out in January. She is such a great mom. We go see her almost every week and are going to arrange for the church to go in and have church service with her and her inmates that she has been sharing the gospel with. As hard as this is for her, there is purpose in all our trials. She is so positive about the whole thing, works hard cooking for another jail they bus her to each day, and is making the best of a difficult situation. It was so cute to see them one by one falling asleep on our long trip. They are such angel's and so well behaved. Grandma is such a sweet lady, we just loved her. She lives on so little pension, grows a huge garden so they can eat and yet has soooo much love for those adorable children. We were very impressed.

We had a great picnic in the car on the way back with yummy vanilla rolls that Fratele Petrescu bought for us to share with the children. It was so nice of him to do that for us. They loved them. After we had dropped them off back at their home, Grandma came out with 2 huge bags of vegetables from their garden...peas, beans, potatoes, beets, raspberries, zucchini etc. etc. It was so nice of her. As we were leaving my husband went to shake her hand and left some money in her hand and she kept saying no...no....but was so grateful she started to cry. We couldn't help but shed a few tears ourselves. It was so worth it if nothing more than to see the look on her face. It felt so good to bring such joy to their lives.

Lipova

2009-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

On our way back from Moneasa, we went by way of Lipova and Sora Bryson really wanted to go exploring, so we hiked the BIG hill up to the ruins. It is such a beautiful view of the valley and a fun place to see. We were so sad to see how much garbage there has accumulated over time up there and my husband has a great idea. We decided to organize a work project and invite the community to join with us and clean up the grounds. We will have to work it for a P day to have the missionaries join us on this, what could be, a great missionary experience. We will work on that next transfer.

I love seeing this old shepherd each time we go up here. This time he was whittling a walking cane, tending his flock.

Elder and Sora Bryson's visit...

2009-06-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

After our dinner with the missionaries Elder and Sora Bryson came for a visit. They are another Sr. Couple that will be going home on Wednesday and since they have not seen much of Romania, they decided to pay this West part of Romania a visit. We enjoyed a nice stroll in the park and then first thing Monday morning we headed for the country. We had wanted to see an area we had heard a lot about, Moneasa. It is a cute resort town in the mountains and it was a beautiful drive. I so enjoy seeing the horse and carts, the farmers mowing down their hay fields with a sickle and the horse and plow working the land. It is such a simple way of life, but such hard work. We went to the end of the road and found a beautiful spot near the stream to have our picnic and then headed back by way of Lipova.

Dinner with missionaries...

2009-06-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

OK...not the best picture of Elder Campbell but we sure do miss him. He was so looking forward to being AP knowing that when they come in town for Zone Conferences and interviews, they usually have dinner at the Jessee's. Both times he has come in, President Lundberg has been too busy to come over to have a home cooked meal, and knowing that Elder Campbell was in town, we just had to have them over. We had just arrived home at 10:00 am that Sunday morning, headed over to church, but if it was pot luck, I could pull it off. We had a great pasta feast with the Sora's making a big pasta salad and the Elders a big chicken pasta dish and you know me, always having a batch of chocolate chip cookies in the wings. This is such a great group of young people. I will really miss them.

We have Sora Karina, Sora Poulson, Elder Wilde and Elder Cambell. Below is Elder Smith, Elder David and us. For some reason Elder Hartman didn't get in the pictures.

2009-06-20T02:42:00.001-07:00

On Thursday night we boarded an 8:00 p.m. train bound for Bucharest and then onto Galati. We traveled all night and had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Bucharest and then met up with the Rees's and continued 4 more hours to Galati for our training with the Branches. It was good to finally arrive and got settled into our hotel and then headed for the Danue River. What a beautiful walk it was and we visited with many along the way. Elder and Sora Rees don't get out of the office much and used every opportunity to talk about the gospel. We were asking about the Mulberry tree the kids were climbing on and eating from and we got into quite a lengthy conversation about the gospel with this nice young gentlemen. He is a music professor at the college and had at sometime in his life had contact with missionaries. After quite an uplifting conversation he said he would join us on Sunday for our church service...only problem is we won't be there, we will be back in Arad, but hopefully he will come and the missionaries can follow up with him.

As we walked along the river we saw this cute group of students doing a Romanian dance and song. They were quite entertaining and loved that we filmed them. We told them is would be put on the blog and people in America would see them. They were so thrilled. Just a boat made into a restaurant and a barge in the river.
Elder Jessee and Elder Rees enjoying the conversation. We enjoyed visiting the old old church up on the hill. Inside they were preparing for a wedding.
We enjoyed a nice stroll along the river and then a dinner out with the Rees's on the river boat. We realized that Elder Rees had decided to cut his hair as short as Elder Jessee's. The thing we have discovered about living in Romania that is quite challenging is this business of getting our hair cut. With the language situation it is very difficult to get the hair cut you really want. He goes to his barber and tells her he wants his hair cut "putin"...just a little and show with his fingers that he wants just a little cut off. Next thing he knows she puts down the scissors and grabs the clippers and takes the first swipe before he knew what hit him. The hair was GONE and he would have to wait for time to grow more. We laughed so hard because he LOVES his hair and rightfully so....he has/had a nice head of it. We love Romania!!!!Saturday morning we went for a walk in the park down to the pizza shop to order lunch for the leadership training our husband were doing. On the way we walked past their chess boards that quite often you see the men gathered round having a game of chess or other activities they occupy themselves with. After lunch was served and we were finished with our obligations, I had a few hours to go for a walk with Tanza and meet Arabella and take them out for a nice lunch. Tanza was a mini missionary in Arad last summer and Arabella has quite a story. She is a gypsy and last year met the missionaries and really embraced the gospel. She wanted so much to get baptized. She had a full ride scholarship to a university in Cluj-Napoca and had even started. While visiting her parents one weekend, she told them of her plan to become a member of our church and her parents were adamant that she not join, to the point that they locked her in the house for 2 months and wouldn't let her go back to school. They have caused quite a lot of commotion at the church as they barge in accusing us of holding their daughter. She wants more than anything to go to BYU and join the church, but needs a sponsor in the US to be able to do it. She would like us to help her....her and about 10 others....but we have told her we will not go against her fathers will. If we can call him and have a conversation with him about it we would be happy to help her, but we cannot go behind his back. In having our brief conversation with her I could tell this young lady had boys, boys, boys on her mind and I have to admit, these sharp young missionaries we have out here look pretty good to these young ladies. We do wish her the best, but when her bishop won't even sign her BYU application because he is afraid of her father, I think we need to think really hard about going against his wishes. I love the Rees's...this poor young lady had the privilege of riding in our compartment from Galati to Bucharest...4 hours. About half way there Elder Rees started the 20 questions with her that soon turned into at least 100 questions for her to answer. She was a really quiet, shy girl and she got the interrogation of her life. I think towards the end she was really getting the hang of it and quite enjoying it. Really, Elder Rees, you do need to get out of the office more. You are bold! The worst part is Elder Rees has this thing he wears around his neck that he puts his passport, credit cards, train tickets etc. in. He took it off and thought he had given it to his wife, I thought he had put it in his suitcase, anyway, it was nowhere to be found after we had gotten off the train. He called us quick before our next train and asked if we knew anything of the item and could he have the stub from the trip, since they were not in their compartment of the train, but had joined us in our section of the train and the train had already pulled out so he needed to be able to tell the conductor where to look for the lost item. So we go to board our next train, an all nighter, and the conductor asked where the other half of the ticket was. I knew nothing of my husband giving the portion of the ticket away, and he tells him it is gone, but you can see very clearly that there was a portion there and it is just ripped off. We have the 2nd whole ticket with the sleeper and obviously my husband would not have bought himself a sleeper and not one for me, but the guy wouldn't budge. He was going to charge us 169 ron even thought originally we only paid 149. We asked for his name and number, we were going to report him....and suddenly the ticket would only cost us 105 ron, still we should not have to pay a dime since he knew we had paid for the ticket. Many times they just keep the money and it never gets reported. It was a painful lesson to learn and one we hopefully will not repeat.

The cherry story...

2009-06-20T02:30:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you this great story about the cherries. Nicoli, from our English class was so excited to bring us this HUGE bag of cherries that he had picked from their cherry tree in the back year. Maria, is such a sweet friend and wanted so much to share their harvest with us. They were delicious and we ate and ate and loved every cherry. Well, Vali and Simona came last weekend and I thought, since Elder Jessee and I had eaten about 100 of them, perhaps we could share a few with the girls, so I made this great looking fruit salad and added the cherries. Vali starts eating and opens each cherry before she eats it...and to our surprise finds a little white worm in every single cherry she opened. Our stomachs started to turn the thought of how many of those little fellers were in our stomachs. I just hope they are not the type of worm that like to linger longer. I am having a hard time thinking of eating another cherry this season although they look incredible at the Piata these days. It makes us look forward to the de-worming we returning missionaries get as we board the plane for home.

June 8, Family home evening

2009-06-19T04:18:00.000-07:00

Vali and Simona left this evening and we had Laura and her family over for dinner and family home evening. We had been trying to have them for months and it finally all came together last minute. We had a wonderful time with them and after dinner had a family home evening with them. Elder Davis and Elder Smith talked about how important family is and how important it is to have charity for everyone. They were very receptive to the lesson and shared their feelings on the subject and at the end we sang a couple on hymns and prayed with them. The spirit was really strong and we would love to have an opportunity to teach them about the restored gospel. They are extremely religious and very devout Nazarene and they need to know the truth.

Vali and Simona's visit...

2009-06-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

Vali and Simona came to visit with us and we had a great time with them. Simona will be serving in a couple of week on a mini mission for 6 weeks and so we took a little time and did some shopping to get her a skirt and top she can wear. We were able to go to YSA and have a great lesson by Timmi and then went bowling again. Actually, Barry and I did really well, so I think we might go home and join the pro bowling league. At least we thought that way until the next game when we both stunk it up again.

Andra and Edi doing a little 1 on 1 with the guitar. She has such a beautiful voice I could listen to her all day.
Great to have Gabi, Cristi and Emi with us.
This was Cristi's first time bowling and he did a great job, the form may need a little work but we sure had fun.

Here we are, Emi, Gabi, Timmi, Cristi, Elder Jessee, Simona and Vali and I are not pictured. It is such fun when we have a big group.

Old church..

2009-06-10T01:52:00.000-07:00

On the way home from Timisoara we have always noticed this beautiful old catholic church in one of the little towns and since we had time and a car we decided to go check it out. What a beautiful church for this little community. The town was started in the 1300's and the church was built in the 1500's. I wonder how full it is on a Sunday...

May 21st Bodon's baptism...

2009-06-10T01:23:00.000-07:00

Bodon was baptized on May 21st and what a special young man this is. We have had the privilege of sitting in on quite a few of his discussion with the Sora missionaries and we have been so impressed with his knowledge of the Savior and his absolute love of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He decided he was going to be a Priest for the Orthodox faith and has done a lot to prepare for it but when his mother joined the church about a year ago, he started coming with her on Sundays about 4 months ago. As he studied and learned more about the restoration of Christs church, he knew the Book of Mormon was true and couldn't wait to become a member. He is 19 years old and a real gem. We were so disappointed to have missed it since we were in Chisinau at the time. This will be a great leader in the church one day!!!

President Ursu baptized him and Sora Thompson (gone home) and Sora Karina did most of the teaching and Sora Poulsen was transferred in towards the end. Always a treat the mop up after the baptism, never complete without a yelling session with this little old lady that panics that water is on the driveway for a few minutes as we empty the font. We just pray that the members have gone before she sets in on us. The other neighbors seem to like the fact that the area gets a good washing every so often. Oh how I can't wait to move into our new villa and have a built in font.

My Brother Paul & Tanya's visit...

2009-06-03T11:35:00.001-07:00

We got home from Chisinau on Monday night and on Wednesday my brother Paul and his wife from Edmonton, Alberta came to visit us. They were our first and probably only family guests to come visit us. We felt so special having them come all this way. He combined it with a visit to his old mission in France to visit a family he baptized some 40 years ago. It was wonderful for him to hear how their entire family is doing, all the missionaries that have come out of their family and leaders of the church they have become. What an incredible feeling that must be to see the lives that have been effected by baptizing this special family. They then went on to Bulgaria to visit with their good friends who happen to be the mission President in that neighboring country. President Blair Bennet and his wife will be leaving to go home from their mission in July so it was a good time to see us all. They wanted to experience what missionary life is as a Sr. Couple and wanted to share in some of the experiences we have been having. We thought the best experience is to share our love of the orphanage with them. It is always a highlight of our mission when we can spend a few hours with these special little ones and bring a giggle to their lives. We have so much fun with them and always leave feeling so uplifted.

Here is a picture of 3 nurses and a dentist that would have a hay day if he had his tools with him. We stopped in to see Aurelia in Zalou before going to the orphanage since she would not be there. It was so good to see her again and give her a big hug. We were so glad to have Vali come with us and be with the little ones. She is such a hero to all the kids. We absolutely love this family of 5 little sisters that live in this house with 3 brothers (not there brothers) and they live with a foster family that have 2 children of their own. They are the cutest girls ever and I would love to bring them all home with us. My husband can get them giggling and they carry on the entire 3 hours we are there. We were able to bring them little hygiene kits this time with shampoo, toothpaste, soap, hairbrushes and tooth brushes with Dr. Cahoon's name on it. The kids loved it but the chocolate bars were the favorites. Whenever we get ready to go we always have a few that want to sneak in our car and pretend they are going home with us. How I wish we could take them....We missed seeing our two little deaf boys. They go to school in Cluj during the year and are just at the orphanage on holidays. Perhaps when we go back in June we will see them again. I wish you could come and experience the love of these beautiful children. They love hugs and kisses and just can't let go. We can't get enough of it each time we go.
It was sad to see them go but we must get back to our missionary work. Thanks for coming...it sure meant a lot to us. I am sure they will go right home and put their papers in to serve as soon as they can....or maybe we scared them too much. Thanks bro...love you.

Trip to Chisinau, Moldova

2009-06-03T07:58:00.001-07:00

Thursday, bright and early, we boarded the train to Iasi which was a 14 hour trip on a very hot train. These wonderful people of Romania don't like current (wind) in their ears and so won't let you open windows no matter how hot it gets. They have been taught their entire lives that it will make you sick...so we spent a lot of time in the hallway of the train by an open window and I got some great pictures of this beautiful country. I was really excited to see this area since we had not been up north and it was just breath taking.

We have seen a lot of storks in their nests but I was excited to get a closeup of this one in flight. Keep in mind I am on a train traveling about 50 MPH so I was surprised to get it so clear. I am fascinated by their nests and it is always a thrill to watch the storks care for their babies.

Finally at 9:00 p.m. we arrived at our hotel in Iasi to spend the night and then board the "maxi taxi" to continue our trip across the border into Moldova. That was quite an experience, once again on a very, very hot bus stopping for about 2 hours just to clear customs and then continuing our 3 more hour journey into Chisinau. We will be doing some training with the Branches and then will be back on the maxi taxi and train for our 18+ hour trip home. The good part of the trip was being able to spend sometime with Elder and Sora Rees and do a little Russian shopping.
This is our beautiful hotel in Iasi that was really a great hotel and very reasonable. I was so proud of myself for getting such a great deal on our hotel in Chisinau. Oh my...was it a dump. I didn't even get a picture of it because it was soooooooo bad. It was right from the Communist era, very dark, drab and very dirty. The brown carpet I am sure that was installed when it was built in the 1960's had never been cleaned. We just had a good laugh and when we closed our eyes at night when the lights were out we couldn't see the carpet anyway. Next time Sora Rees can choose the hotel...I don't want to be responsible.
I love how they do their haystacks. Many of them cut the hay by hand and gather it together with rakes and load on their horse drawn wagon and store like this for the winter. I love the simple way of life.

If you look to the left those tiny shacks which happen to be a community of people living in such humble conditions. Compare with the huge homes of the Gypsy's. So many of them are half finished and never with people living in them, even when they are done.

We enjoyed our time with Elder and Sora Rees and were thrilled to find this wonderful restaurant just around the corner from where we were staying and watched as these great chief's made our dinner.
The highlight to our trip was being able to see Tatiana and give her a BIG HUG. It was so good to see her standing a couple of inches taller than the last time we saw her having just arrived home from America where she underwent 2 operations to correct her double scoliosis on her spine. She is one lucky girl to be alive and have her entire life ahead of her. She is such a beautiful young lady with so much potential. We wish her the best.

Our new district...

2009-06-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

Here is our new district once again with Elder Wilde, Sora Paulson and Elder Davis who we will be sending home this transfer and Sora Paulson next transfer. We have Elder Smith, Sora Kirena and Elder Zemp. It is a great group of young missionaries and they are really hitting Arad running. I found out that Elder Zemp's parents are best friends with my cousin Dale Cahoon from Cardston. Small world. We have some wonderful investigators that need to get baptized this transfer and this army of missionaries just might be able to get it done.

Visit with the Fotea's..

2009-06-03T02:46:00.001-07:00

Since Hunidoara was so close to the Fotea's in Deva, we gave them a call and were able to reach them just before we left town and were able to stop in for a little kid fix. I can't believe this big boy David is the same little fellow I came and helped out when we first got to Romania. Here he is almost 1 and just about ready to take of running. He is so cute and Adella is looking pretty snazzy in her new hair style. We had a great visit with them and were off for home. I miss not being able to go visit and spend time in Deva.

Hunedoara castle...

2009-06-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

Monday morning was preparation day and we wanted to check out the Hundedoara castle since we had heard so much about it. We rented a car and grabbed Fratele Petrescu and took off for the day. We are trying to decide what to do with my brother Paul and Tanya who will be coming to visit next week and we wanted to make sure it would be worth the trip. We had heard it was very impressive and on the outside it was. It is in the process of being renovated at a very slow pace and much of the inside we could not get in to see with the fire damage and the renovation going on. They had a fire in the castle many many years ago and much of the inside was destroyed but the outside was worth the trip.

Single Adult Conference...

2009-05-17T08:06:00.001-07:00

May 17th & 18th we had a single adult conference of those 30 and older from our District and Cluj- Napoca. We didn't have many come, but those that came had a great time. We had Sora Gabriela from Timisoara come and was in charge of the event and did a wonderful job. This is one organized person. Sylvia and Angela came from Oradea and spent the night with us, and from Arad we had Sora Descy, Tomas and Micki came. The first 2 hours were a workshop from us on Temple work and doing our Genealogy and the second hour was a terrific workshop on Faith and Hope taught by a awesome District President Ursu. We then has an American style lasagna lunch and then off to the park for a nice stroll and visit the museum.

Yes...that is Elder Davis back in our district once again translating for my husband. Sora Gabriela from being in charge and she did such a great job of organizing and things ran so smooth. What a great leader she is.
The group outside the museum we were going to visit but because of special activities in town that night it closed early.
We enjoyed a nice stroll in the park on such a beautiful day.

Elder Jessee and Tomos just chillin... One of the activities after we got back from the park was making book marks, or at least learning this fancy weaving with our fingers. Angela was really getting into it and doing a great job.
One of the highlights of the day was going over to Micki's mothers home and singing to her and having a short lesson on Love and the love the Savior has for us. She was thrilled to have the company and then after Sora Descy, who happens to be a nurse, stayed and looked at her bed sores and helped me change her. It was good to know we have been doing it correctly.
Wish you could hear us...we actually sounded GREAT!!! Check out Micki's mom's hair cut. Sora Mogos and I tried our hand at being a beautician. She hasn't complained about it, mind you, she can't get up to see in a mirror and perhaps that is best.

Here we all are just leaving the art gallery across from the Church. It was really quite interesting and it was good to have Micki join up with us and spend the rest of the day and evening. After visiting his mother, we went back to the church and had a wonderful dinner and then watched movies well into the evening. We enjoyed having the two Oradea sisters spend the night and go to church with us the next day. Wish we could have had more attend, but those who came really did enjoy themselves.

Elder Sumbot's visit...

2009-05-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

What a pleasant surprise to get a phone call from Elder Sumbot telling us that he had brought his family to tour his mission and they would be right over. He was a very special missionary and was released from his mission in December. It was great to meet his family and hear all about his "after mission" life.

We happened to have Sora Mogos over when he came and he brought with him Lara Dana and her daughter with them from Deva. Elder Sumbot worked in Deva for quite a while and taught Lara Dana and her mother the gospel. Elder Sumbots little brother and Lara Dana's daughter. She sure does look like her mother!!

Elder Richey leaves us...

2009-05-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

We were only able to serve with Elder Richey for 1 transfer and out he goes and we will really miss him. He is a great missionary, but it looks like Elder Wilde will "die" in Arad. I don't like that sentiment but it is the way it is. When an Elder or Sora will be leaving to go home from your area they call it "to die" in Arad. We seem to have a lot of them leave from here which we quite enjoy. There is a lot of excitement around leaving and doing a lot of "this is the last time I will....".

Anii's and Lica's baptism...

2009-05-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday was such a special day. My husband did 4 hours of leadership training with all the Branch Presidencies from Timisoara, Deva, Oradea, Cluj-Napoca and Arad. It was well attended and the leaders went away with a lot more tools in which to lead their branches. We had a few minutes break before the baptism of Anii and Lica and what a spiritual evening it was. There is something "extra special" when a family gets baptized. Sora Thompson helped as we dumped a huge tub of boiling water in hopes of warming it up just a bit. They were so excited for their wedding, but what they were most anxious for is their baptism. President Ursu was asked to baptize both of them. Sora Karina and Sora Thompson have been so instrumental in leading this family to the waters of baptism. We will miss you very much Sora Thompson, but wish you the best on the next chapter of your life. We love you!!
Ralphi wanted to be part of the program too. After the baptism as I was directing the singing waiting for their parents to get dressed, the two little guys wanted so much to have their turn at speaking. Church will take on a whole new level with these active little fellows. This is what is missing in the Romania Branches...very few children if any. It will be exciting to see how this family grows in the gospel and next year go to the temple and be sealed as a family.

Wedding reception...

2009-05-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

We put together a little American reception for the two of them and they LOVED IT!! I could tell that Lica wanted so much to dance, he just couldn't sit still so I told my husband we better get this party going and that is all it took. We danced for hours and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Elder Wilde and Sora Karina lovin the food that looks like home.

Gabbi had his sister, who we have never even met, make the most beautiful wedding cake. She does it for a living and made the cake for free. All the Sora's had to do is buy the ingredients. It was so nice of her to do it for them. Anii took one look at it and burst into tears, she was so touched. I love Ani's shoes and she didn't sit all night. She just danced and danced. It was great to have Nicoli and Maria join in on the celebration. We want so much to teach them the gospel, they come to everything and love it.

The wedding...

2009-05-11T04:47:00.000-07:00

Everyone must get married in front of a judge at the Primaria. The ceremony lasts minutes and then the next bride enters. The boys were really full of it and cute as a button. It was so nice to see Anii's friend there with her 3 boys.

The bride and groom with the Jessee's, Elder Horgmo, Elder Smith, Sora Karina, Sora Thompson, Anni and Lica and Ralfie...not sure where Edi went to...The wedding party...They do have have one more son that was in school today and not able to attend. He was really getting into it and we were loving being photographers. They were like a couple of school kids, so excited to be getting married and cute as can be. The babysitter were Sora Mogos and my husband. During the pictures, Ralphi took off for the park so they decided someone needed to tend the children and they were the best choice. The boys had a great time at the park and cried and cried when it was time to go. Even Sora Thompson was getting into it. I don't think this wedding would have ever happened if it were not for this wonderful Sora missionary. Her boldness and charming personality really made a big difference in reaching Lica. We will miss you very much!!! She will be leaving and going home on Wednesday and we wish her the best.

Getting the bride and groom ready...

2009-05-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

Getting the bride and groom ready was a joint effort. Even my husband did what he does best...trimming the back of Anii's neck and giving it a quick shave. They all had come over to our place to get ready to go since we only live walking distance from the Primaria where they will be getting married. They don't have running water in their house so I thought how fun it might be for them to come and shower and get ready here. They loved it!She got her nails and toes done the day before, eye brows plucked, makeup on and hair all fixed up. She looked like a princess by the time we were all done playing around. Sora Thompson insisted on plucking Lica's eye brow too. Poor guy being put through such torture. He has not worn a tie in his life and Elder Jessee gave him a tie lesson 101 and got him looking like a million bucks. He has never owned a suit and was going to get married in his blue jeans until we found out and we were able to pick up this great suit for around $10 at a second hand store. He was so pleased!!

My horse and wagon experience...

2009-05-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

On the way home we saw a horse and wagon and I wanted to take a picture. All you have to say is you want to do something and Gabbi jumps into action. He stops the bus and goes over and talks with the gentleman in the wagon and suddenly I am in the drivers seat driving a team of horses, or at least pretending.

One of the many gaudy gypsy homes that are in this cute mountain town. There are sooo many of them, unfinished, not lived in and tacky. This town must have had a sale on silver because many of their roofs are shinny silver, each trying to outdo the other.

The cave exploration...

2009-05-11T00:43:00.000-07:00

We had the biggest adventure of our lives...by far. This was no guided tour in a well marked cave with lighted paths, this was a hole in the mountain that we crawled in on our bellies down an icy slope that dropped into a huge cavern and we were able to explore for hours. It was AMAZING!!! Thanks Gabbi for hooking us up and a special thanks to his cousin who is the forest ranger in this area that was able to allow and guide us on this huge adventure, closed to the public. You would have to know the cave was there or you would never be able to see it. It was just a hole in the mountain with vegetation growing all around it. Come and explore the cave with us....and you won't even get dirty.

It was such an incredible experience dropping into this open cavern that you could see different fingers, but I really thought this was it and it was wonderful. This was only the start and off we went for over an hour exploring deep into this mountain, the only light our own flashlights. At one point in the cave we all turned off our lights and we experienced what TOTAL DARKNESS was. I got a small glimpse into what it must have been like when the Savior was crucified and the earth was in total darkness. There were huge ice formations everywhere which will probably be melted within the next month. It was interesting to see how they form both from the top and from the bottom caused from the dripping water.

Deep into the cave we heard this strange sound and discovered bats everywhere. Huge clusters in spots. It is interesting how they hang upside down and are blind. I was in big hopes they would just stay calm and not get frightened by sudden visitors. This was their home and we were very mindful of that. I had just hoped that this was not the home of a mama bear and her cubs.Gabbi loving to freak me out on our way out of the cave. Below is a small pond deep in the cave. This was as far as we went although I could see splinters off in other directions but we didn't go further. What an wonderful experience.We were a mess by the time we were done, but it was well worth it. We loved our BIG adventure and we want to thank Gabbi and his cousin for showing us such a great time. Our bus driver even experience it with us who is in the front as we descend off the mountain.

Our AWESOME YSA camping trip...

2009-05-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

On May 1st and 2nd we took the YSA from Timisoara, Arad, Oradea and Cluj-Napoca to the mountains near Cluj. It was awesome!!! We rented a small bus that fit 20 people and a driver for the 2 days. We were suppose to have YSA conference in Moldova this weekend but with the unrest with the communist government and the need for Romanians to get visa's even to enter their country, we had to cancel our conference, but since part of the trip was us camping overnight, since it would be about an 18 hour car ride, we decided to go camping anyway. We camped in the mountains near a cave that we were able to go in and explore...more on that later. I don't think a lot of these kids have ever been camping especially where there is still snow. It did get quite cold at night, but we had so much fun. Their is something cool about cooking over an open fire and having a HUGE bon fire...the only thing missing were the marshmallows and smores, but with my brother Paul and Tanya coming to visit at the end of the month, they will bring some graham crackers and marshmallows for everyone to try. The spot we camped at was nestled near the top of the mountains near a little town called Rachitele which happens to be where Gabbi's mother lives. It was the perfect spot for such an adventure.

Vali and Tabata from Cluj.

Putting together our delicious fruit salad to feed the gang. I think we are 24 in total to feed and sleep counting our bus driver.

After we got the gang settled and fed we took off to meet Gabbi's mother who lives in the mountains near by. This is the view from her front porch. What a breath taking site.

Kind of looks like one of the homeless that digs in our garbage...but no....it is my darling companion.

Gabbi and his cousins car.

His mother is a hoot. She lives alone on this beautiful mountain, has a cow she milks both morning and night and yet can hardly walk her knees are so bad. I even had the thrill of milking for a short while. Her Dr. said not to get rid of the cow because it gives her purpose to get out of bed in the morning. She doesn't have running water in the house but has a well outside. No indoor bathroom and cooks on a wood burning stove. In the winter she just stays inside and does beautiful needle work and knitting etc. etc. She has stacks and stacks of things she has made. She gave me a beautiful wool sweater she had knit years ago. I just loved her!

We got back from visiting his mother to the biggest bon fire ever. I don't know what it is with fire, but I can sit and watch a fire all night. Andra played her guitar and sang and Timmi gave a spiritual thought and we had a few testimonies and then just enjoyed the fire and visiting way into the night...for some. It was a great time!

The next morning we went for a hike up the mountain and once again were awed by the beauty of this place.

On our way back our neighbor from camp loaded us in his truck and it was great to get the weight off our sore fee.

We got back from our hike and Vlad from Oradea had been cooking french fries since the wee hours of the morning and they were delicious.

Zone Conference

2009-05-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

Monday night we had one of our very favorite "mini" missionaries visit who was in town to have her final interview with President Lundberg to PUT HER PAPERS IN TO GO ON A MISSION!!!
We are sooooooo very proud of her and know she will make the best missionary ever. She has such a great personality and has such a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and can't wait to tell the whole world. She just spent one night with us and then was back to Galati to finish her schooling. We can't wait to see where she goes.

She left just in time for our next set of guests...cuz Lameraux to be exact. As we were visiting we have discovered that we both come out of Dudley Leavitt back a few generations. It is such a small world. They are our wonderful new couple serving in Cluj-Napoca and have such a great positive outlook on their next 18 months. They have left behind 14 children and 48 grandchildren (she birthed them all) to come the serve the Lord. They are really enjoying their first experience of "empty nesters". We are having another Zone Conference with President Lundberg and are really missing Sora Lundberg and Josh.

It was great to see some of our missionaries we have worked with here in Arad and get to meet many of the new Elders and Sisters. What a great group of missionaries.

Our new Sora missionaries working hard in the kitchen.

It was great to see Sora Ertel again and get caught up.

He even saws he can see the Leavitt resemblance in me....I can too. The older I get I am seeing my mother more and more in me.

Music Fireside...

2009-05-06T07:05:00.001-07:00

Sunday night, after a short trip to Timisoara for our monthly visits, we had a musical fireside for the members presented by the missionaries. We have a really musical groups with Sora Karena a music major, Sora Thompson on the flute as well as a great singing voice, Elder Smith plays an awesome guitar as well as sings, and all the other have great voices and we did sound good, I have to admit. It was all songs of the savior with 3 members bearing their testimony in between the songs. During a couple of the songs I had put together a slide show of 84 pictures of the Savior that we played. The spirit was really strong and it really strengthen their testimonies and deepened their love of the Lord. I love this missionary work...where are all you older couples. Their is such need for Sr. Couples and fewer and fewer are putting in their papers.

Anna and her daughter Jessica.

Our fabulous musical district...Sora Thompson, Elder Smith, Sora Karina, Elder Wilde, Elder Richie, Elder Horgmo in the back and 1/2 of Elder Jessee.

Lica and Anii's...

2009-05-06T06:39:00.001-07:00

We had the awesome opportunity to go to a lesson with Sora Thompson and Sora Kirena at Luka and Anii's home. It went great and Lica is trying so hard to quit smoking so he can get baptized. I have to tell you this story about this couple. The missionaries contacted into Anii and have been teaching her for about 9 months. She has known right from the start that the church was true and wanted so much to be baptized but there was one BIG problem...they were not married and he had said no...he would not marry her just so she could get baptized. She has been heart broken and for a while he didn't want her to go to church. Then comes Sora Thompson who told him one day..." Lica, you need to get in here and listen to these discussion too." ....and he did and finally opened up to them that he was baptized into our church when he was 15 years old, but he never received the Holy Ghost and so it was never recorded and they have no record of it in Germany where he was baptized. He knew what joining the church again would mean and what he would have to give up and didn't want to. The spirit got ahold of him and he is now on fire. He is willing to be re-baptized. While we were in the lesson, we asked..."What is stopping you from getting married now"...and we found out it was only a matter of money...and not that much money, but a lot for them. Magically the money appeared and we are planning a wedding fast and furious. I am so far behind in this journal that the wedding is tomorrow. The sisters have been over all morning and the 4 of us have been cooking up a storm, rolls, chicken salad, chicken wings, cheese ball etc. etc. Gabbi's sister is making a wedding cake and it will be a grand event. They get married at 1:30 at the Primaria and then we will have a BIG celebration from 6:00-? with food and dancing. Should be a great time....but the best of all is Anii is being baptized on Saturday and we have all been fasting that Luka could stop smoking and ever since our fast his heart hurts every time he smoked. He has not smoked now for over a week or so and is begging to be baptized with his wife this Saturday. The Lord is really blessing Arad and it is because these dear Sora's are working 120% and having such faith and 100% obedience that the Lord is really blessing their efforts. Sora Thompson will go home next week and she is going out with blast.

They have 3 little boys and I captured the 2 of them hiding from us. They are such busy boys and full of it....it doesn't help that my husband has a way of getting kids all wound up and doesn't know when to stop. Sometimes I wish I was a kid so he would play with me like that...he is so much fun!

The 911...

2009-05-06T05:58:00.000-07:00

This is the famous 911 train we take to go see Micki's mother in Santana at the hospital. I just wish you could all experience this train. It has absolutely no shocks and is the roughest ride I have ever been on, loud, and just hilarious. The conductor sits on a big pile of blankets, I am sure to absorb the bounce. It happened to stop right in the middle of no where and the 2 conductors scurried around and had a half dozen bottles of water they opened up this trap door and put them in. I didn't even see them pour them, and eventually the train started up again. It was rather concerning in hopes an other train would not come and need our track. We had a nice visit with her but we noticed she is developing a lot of bed soars on her heals. I can only imagine what her back side looks like. She just lays in bed, no form of therapy or exercise except what she does and she doesn't!!! We brought her our exercise rubber band they gave us in the MTC for her to lay there and work her good leg in hopes of getting some muscle back. She has atrophied so bad that now she can't support her own weight. It is sad. I so want to get her up and try to work with her but she has no desire...it hurts so she doesn't want to do it. The problem is she is quite healthy now that she has been eating, but she can't get out of bed.

Vali and Aurelia's visit

2009-05-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

We found out it was Micki's birthday last week and we were celebrating Aurelia's 23rd birthday next week. La Multi ani!!

After dinner...or was it during, I can't remember, our neighborhood friend Paula and her little sister came for a visit. We often have them visiting, or at least Paula coming to see us sometimes daily. I think her mother sends her to the store for eggs or rice or a loaf of bread and she thinks our house is the grocery store, or at least it is a lot cheaper. Sometimes she comes for rent. Around Christmas time she came over telling us her family was kicked out of their apartment because the couldn't pay the rent and they had been sleeping at the train station. She had come crying to us at the same moment my husband had found out that we had finally made back a little on our stocks and we felt we couldn't let this family stay in the cold. We personally handed the money to her landlord...who she lives with. As we went in their humble small apartment and saw all the families that live under one roof and share the bathroom and kitchen, we felt so blessed. It was great though....the next month she showed up at the door with the landlord asking for the rent again. We let her know that was a one time Christmas present.

We enjoyed a nice walk in the park and posing for pictures.

Lookin cool with the shades, my dear!

I love this picture...as we were walking along, Aurelia saw this sweet little old lady sitting all by herself and stopped and visited with her for quite a while. I am sure she doesn't have many people stop to talk with her and it just really brightened her day as it did mine to see such love.

Gabbi had invited us over for Easter dinner later that evening and it was such a nice time. He is a 28 year old friend of everyone that has ever served in Arad. He does so much for so many people and has a way to work magic and get things done that no one else can do. He is not a member...yet...but comes to church all the time and is always helping the Elders out. He will one day make a great Stake President here in Romania.

Fun weekend with Vali and Aurelia...

2009-05-03T13:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great weekend with Vali and Aurelia and for Easter Sunday (Romanian Ester) we had the girls, Elder Wilde and Elder Richie and Micki join us.

Here is our sweet Aurelia. What a wonderful time we had having this girl with us for the weekend. We are soooooo very proud of her. She has 1 more year to go before she graduates from college in nursing and then she will be out in the big world making it on her own. She has it pretty good living in the orphanage on the weekends and going to college about 1/2 hour during the week and living with either the nuns or a group of girls in an apartment. So many of the orphans end up on the street when they leave but she has made something of herself and will not have to worry about that.

Oh my....there was quite a competition going on here. I wish you could feel the tension. These are quite the competitive girls I must say. We had a great institute class with Timmi and the other YSA youth from Arad and then had a ping pong tournament. I can proudly say I came in last. I must practice more so I don't embarrassed myself next time. Vali loved the fact that she beat Dad a few times.