A Great Week Exploring Iasi

Here are a couple of pictures of Dan standing in front of our church.  It is 4 stories high, main floor is chapel, next floor up is branch Pres. office and library and class room.  Next floor is RS room and small classroom and kitchen.  Top floor is apt. where the missionaries live.  See that little gold sign on balcony-it says Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints.

Our branch is great and we are so happy to be able to meet these wonderful members.  Many of the members are the only member of their family so there are lots of singles.  We only have two children who don't attend regularly so we don't have Primary.  There is no YW/YM .  Our attendance at Sacrament meeting is about 30 people.  The missionaries work so hard and usually have several investigators each week.  RS is great and is taught in Romanian and translated in English by the

missionaries. 

Here are some pictures of our apartment.  We love it and it is roomy with his and hers bathrooms.  I have a washing machine which works great but no dryer.  All wash is dried on a clothes line.

It is so fun to walk the streets of Iasi and buy fresh hot pretzels every day.  I wish I could speak the language to talk to the people, but thats for the missionaries.  We teach English two days a week and Family home evening and Institute.  We are also getting to know the members and visiting them as well.  They treat us so well.  We love teaching the gospel and look for every opportunity.

Our First week in Iasi (Yash)

Here are some pictures of the Roman Catholic Church here in Isai.  This is the compound of the Convent, Catherdral,& Biserica.  We walk past these everyday going to the church.  By the way I've never walked so much in all my life.

This palace was built was built by Stefan cel Mare in the 1400's, he was the king. Notice the street and sidewalk. Walking is difficult at times on the poor conrete.  The weather is beautiful and the sun shines everyday. I love it.

Here is another plaza we walk by on our way each day, we can get dry cleaning done or eat a delicious pastry that is to die for.  Just to be sure we are trying all of them. 
And This is my new apartment building!! I hope to move in very soon.  We got all the approvals today from the office so maybe in two more days we can move out of the hotel.  I.m very excited.  Iasi is a college town with 6 universities so we are excited to hopefully get Institute and activites going.  The language is a problem.......We have maybe 3 girls in the branch that would attend and 5 BYU girls who live here for 4 months working in the orphanages.

We are happy to be here and pray daily to learn the language and to help the people.

Our Arrival in Romania

Airport in Seattle

Airport in Paris -I wanted to go sight seeing

Sleeper car from Bucharest to Iasi, it was at least 100 degrees.

Safe arrival and exhausted-slept one night in four days

So glad to be here!!!!

Missionary Training Center

It has been an amazing week here at the MTC.  With 2800 missionaries, the place is alive with energy, in every different language.  We really enjoyed our classes on Preach my Gospel, and practise teaching and learning our language.  We had two great (famous) speakers Elder Jay Jensen of the seventy and Barbra Thompson of the Relief Society general board, and many other not so famous speakers full of the spirit and enthusiasm for missionary work.

The art work in the MTC is inspiring, and I loved it all but these two pictures in the cafeteria drew my attention everyday.

We are excited to fly out in the morning and meet our mission president and begin inviting others to come unto Christ.

Called and Set Apart

We were set apart Thursday night before flying out Friday.  It was a beautiful evening and the blessings were wonderful.  It reminded Dan of the same experience 37 years ago going to Indiana, and for me it was exciting to hear the words" full time missionary. "

No looking back now, just full speed ahead

Top Ten Reasons I know its time to go on a Mission

10. Capsized my brand new hull on my Hunter 17 the first time out
9. Really smashed the tailgate of the 2010 truck with 9000 kms

8. Could never get the lights on the trailor of the MacGregor 26 to work on each side at the same time
7. Narrowly missed backing into someone in the Shoppers Drug Mart parking lot - car angels were present
6. Locked the only set of keys in the truck on the way to deliver the MacGregor 26
5. Blew a wheel barring on the trailor of the Bayliner on the highway heading out of town for Shuswap

4. Bayliner boat died in Chestermere and had to be towed in and manually loaded

3. We lose our keys and cell phone everytime we put them down
2. We are watching our posessions walk out the front door and there is nothing to eat in the pantry
1. We have a call to serve in Romania and they need us.

The Pictures

Cant find the words

It has been a whirl wind going by the last couple of weeks. I cant really find the words to describe the emotion, the work, the love, the support that we have been going through. When you get your life down to two suitecases, most of the fluff is gone.

We had so much fun with our friends!! What a wonderful band party with live music and dancing and food. What a wonderful Romanian open house with fabulous food and the official flag to boot. We felt really spoiled and love our friends so much.

Our family worked so hard in so many ways to help us, we are grateful to them for all the things along the way and beyond. Buying the car, selling the phone, storing the stuff ............. We love you all so much.

We received a special going away gift as a homade quilt and treasure it so much. Our daughter made it with love and it represents many generations!

Im having trouble uploading pictures, i need techincal help. I'll work on that

Stand by for some great pictures