Absolutely Perfect Day

We had a very special day on Sunday.  A bus arrived outside the church and 15 of our friends from Feldioara walked into church.  They looked so beautiful and this was the first time they had been able to come into the city of Brasov for church in 8 years. They had a warm reunion with many members of the branch, several people they introduced to the gospel years ago.  My pictures are from a few days before and on Sunday.

And then we had our baptism service.  The members of the branch stayed for the baptism as well.

It was absolutely beautiful.

Elder Heninger baptised this little sweetie.  He also spoke the words in Romanian which made it so special for her.  The sisters did all the teaching for our sweetie.  Their pictures are from a few days before.

 

These are our two amazing missionaries Sora Lund and Sora Cottam.  Sora Lund is brand new and has learned her language wonderfully.  Sora Cottam's love sunk deep into the hearts of all our new friends.



Elder Bruner and Elder Swensen had a great day as well.  Elder Bruner baptised and confirmed while Elder Swensen spoke at the baptism and did an excellent job for a brand new missionary.

 

We also just had our Senior Conference which was very nice.

We had discussions and outings and wonderful music.

This is our Mission President and his wife at Prejmer a fortified church just outside Brasov.

I love it when the men sing and so we had them sing "Ye Elders of Israel" It was fantastic

We had a beautiful meal in a restaurant in Centru -downtown Brasov.

 We visited a professional Artisan who makes ceramics in classic Romania figures.

This is the nativity set that many Seniors purchased.  I did not purchase one as they are very heavy and very fragile.

His work is amazing.

And we had a special visit from Tevia from Fiddler on the Roof.  Our mission president has an amazing singing voice and we thoroughly enjoying him sing "If I were a Rich Man".

 

We had a special testimony meeting and it was a great uplift for all Senior Couples.
We have been greatly blessed by the Lord as the work moves forward in Romania.  We are so privileged to be here and contribute in whatever way we can.  Great things are happening and it is very exciting.

Two Amazing Finds

We have had some exciting things going on and I'm going to use this excuse why I haven't blogged in a while.  Elder Heninger and Elder Bruner went out to the country to look for some members of the branch and found something very exciting.  There was three individual families living side by side all related to each other.  These families moved to the country 9 years ago because they found work and left Brasov.  For 9 years they have been with out transportation to return to the city and lived and worked in their village.  They are members who have missed the association of the church and missed the sacrament for 9 yrs.  When the Elders met them and introduced themselves, the Mother and Grandmother of the family had tears running down her face.  She spoke of how she was one of the first members in Brasov in 1997 and how she had gone to the temple in 2000.  She was faithful and had kept the commandments all these years.  Her two sons lived in the other homes with there families and we met them and visited and spoke about getting permission to hold Sacrament meeting their in their home the next Sunday.

For our first Sacrament meeting we had 18 people, 6 missionaries and 12 family members.  It was incredible as individually people shared their testimonies and feelings of how they have struggled and built homes and raised their family and longed to have the church in their lives.  It was a special experience, I will never forget.

Since our first church service we have had another and are beginning to teach one son-in-law who has a baptism date and another young daughter who is 9 years old.  We are hoping that things will work out so that a "group" of the church can be organized for them to have their own meetings every Sunday.  A group is smaller than a branch but is fully organized to enjoy sacrament meeting.  The sisters are teaching the girls and the Elders the men and it has been wonderful for all.  This has been a very special experience and I feel priveleged to be in attendance when someone who has been taught to pray by the missionaries offers his very first prayer.  I love this family and look forward to many more visits to Feldioara.

On the back side of this little village is the ruins of a fortress built by the Teutonic knights in the 13th century. It stands on the top of a round hill with a path that circles the hill and enters the fortress on the west side. As you walk the path up to the entrance you can visualize knights riding their horses up and into the fortress while looking over the little village of Feldioara. Built by the Teutonic knights in 1211 to 1225 and stormed by the Saxons in the 1500's and later taken by the Hungarian King 1650. It had seen many battles and is amzing to walk around such a legacy of history. It stands alone with no park gate or any one to give any concern. It was inhabitted until the mid 1800s when an earth quake brought down the walls and it now stand in ruins.

I have added some pictures of our amazing missionaries for your added enjoyment.

 

 

 

We are greatful for the amazing find and know that it happened because the Lord answered the prayers of these wonderful people.  We know he answers ours and yours when we pray in faith.  We love you and hope this finds you all well and strong in the faith.

Singles Conference in Brasov

We had an exciting opportunity to assist the District President in putting on a Singles Conference for all the members over 30yrs. old.  I worked with a wonderful couple in doing the food for 3 days.  This is Elder and Sora McFabulous (McFadden) from St. George, Utah.

We had a good turn out, with 40 members coming from around the country.  They had introductions and games and great food and a dance.  It was wonderful to meet some of these members who travelled so far to be here.

 

Romanians have a favourite thing they like to do.  Right after Sacrament Meeting they love to take a picture of everyone that's there.  It's kinda fun.  You won't find me in the pictures because I have  6 cameras strapped to my arm taking all their photos

It was a great event where they attended classes and shared their testimonies and made friendships.  It was fun to be a part of it.  This is one of my friends from Iasi.

 

You won't find Elder Heninger there either.  He had to get in the car and travel 8 hours to Oradea where he participated in District Training and take care of Mission Business.  We had to split up and cover all the bases that weekend.  His work was important training on welfare, home teaching/visiting teaching, to Branch Presidents. 

It was great to see many people make connections.  I found my companion again and re-connected.

We also have the privilege to teach the temple preparation class to a couple in our branch.  Going to the temple is a great challenge here.  Romania is part of the European Union but Ukraine is not.  Our temple district is Kyiv Ukraine which requires a passport to attend.  Most Romanians do not have a passport and the cost is prohibitive.  Going to Germany is longer and more expensive but requires no passport.  So these are the things that must be taken into consideration.

This is our beautiful couple who are preparing to attend the temple.  Such faithful great people.

Very Exciting

We had a wonderful experience attending this baptism in our branch.  The shorter man was the one getting baptised and these two great missionaries did a super job teaching him.

We attended one of his discussions and met his two children.  It is wonderful to see how the gospel brings hope into peoples lives.

I found this flag that I thought was interesting.  At the close of communism the people simply cut the communist symbols out of the middle of the flag and they continue to use them.

We went to Galati where we did training and went to church.  I got a few pictures of this pretty city on the Danube River.

We are excited about teaching the temple preparation class and we are also beginning to teach Advanced English Leadership course.  This should be good.  The weather has cooled abit and that is good also.  Elder Heninger has mastered making banana bread and everyone in the branch loves it.

We are busy trying to make a difference and we have found that sadly many people are just not interested in our wonderful message. This does not discourage us, we have been called and set apart and continue to do our part to spread the gospel to all the world.  Those who will listen live with more light and peace and love in their lives and they are the pioneers of Romania.  I have come to love the members and appreciate their great sacrifices to move the church forward,

I love these people!!  They are my dear friends.

Open House

We had a wonderful Open House for the community of Ploiesti.  The sister missionaries organized it and put the program together.  The branch President knew a few of the TV stations and they were there.  Our Mission President and his wife spoke as well as others.  It was a fantastic event with about 150 people in attendance.

Pres. Hill

District Pres. Doru

This was a great musical number from members and missionaries.  Very special !!

Here's some of our super star missionaries

This event was really wonderful and many people asked to know more about the church

Here's a picture of our district having lunch together on P-day.  What a thrill to be able to associate with such fine missionaries.

I'm grateful for my companion-he takes good care of me

We send our love to our family and friends and hope the gospel light shines bright in your life.