The Harvest

 Ripening Souls

The harvest is on.  These stands are everywhere.  We've seen them often since being here and they continue to grow in offerings as the year of the harvest comes to a close.  Probably the most prevalent are the watermelon.  They are amazing, just like the old days at home.  We laugh that in the US we have bred out the seeds, and the flavor went with them.  Not here!  I just wish I had an irrigation ditch to drop it in for a few hours.  

The harvest we are engaged in is about more than produce.  This is a labor of love as we reap in the field which is "white already to harvest".  This quote from President Nelson about Eastern Europe is so applicable to us here in this part of the world.  Our call to serve is also from the Prophet.  "I had spent much of my professional life opening hearts to perform lifesaving operations, but I had no experience that would lead me to believe I could open countries for the preaching of the gospel, and yet, a Prophet had given me an assignment, so I set out to do what seemed utterly impossible".











We took a little ride to learn the area better and just outside of Iasi we found this cool village and of course another old church.  It's pretty old but we couldn't find a ton of information, just older than the U.S., pretty sure.  The short drive took us through a beautiful hardwood forest.  Hopefully more on this later as the leaves start to change.  A view of the village, another wooden church in the same village and there were two other churches there as well.  Wooden sculptures at the entrance to the village.





Walked down by the palace and caught a few more sights and sounds, some were the same and some were a bit different.  Oh, and another church.  This one in the middle to the city and was dated back to the 1300's even though it has been restored, the front stones, darker brown, are supposedly original.  Not sure about the door but it's dang old too.


The Elders were out of town on exchanges, so we took advantage of that and took the sisters to lunch.  Not really, but it was two of their birthdays and the elders chose to be gone.  We had some amazing Greek food celebrating Sister Harris and Sister Turcsanski.  They were born only hours apart.  Sister Harris is a twin so technically they are triplets.






We found ourselves back out in the country helping to harvest more grapes.  This time it was in the Stoica's field, and we went with some of the branch members.  Genoveva (Relief Society President) and Costi (Branch President).  They are amazing saints, and it was fun to get to know better.  We were also joined by some local friends offering a helping hand.  The juice produced is called "must" (pronounced moost) and is amazing.  It is a MUST for sure.  It's fairly concentrated so its best with a little water, even better with carbonated water.  Can't describe it, you'll just have to take my word for it.  Best grape drink ever!


Some of our favorites here in Iasi.  Geani Abdulan, Dorin and Maria Stoica.  We shared an awesome afternoon, complete with a meal and great conversation with them.  It's just heartwarming how close you can feel to others after knowing them for a very short time.  It's as if we have known them before...wait a minute...we have.

te iubim















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Inter-Mission

Image
It is with heavy hearts we say good-bye to our beloved Mongolia and the many friends we have made in such a short time.  These memories will forever be with us as we depart to begin a new adventure.  Our untimely departure was based upon a couple of situations, namely the tax implications for senior couples with the requirement to register to pay worldwide taxes and the fact that Carrie injured her knee just prior to our time limit with the taxes.  We received an MRI which showed a torn meniscus which would require surgery.  Three doctors reviewed the results and all concurred that it looked like surgery was imminent.  So, with that news we returned home, at least to Utah, to have the expected surgery.  We were able to get an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon the week after returning.  At the initial appointment he took a look at the MRI, twisted the leg a bit and then told us that he didn't think it would require surgery and that we should be abl...
Read more

Welcome to Romania (week 1.5)

Image
Welcome to Romania We met up with the Elders and Sisters coming from the MTC in Minneapolis and arrived in Bucharest Romania on the afternoon of July 9th.  We were greeted by President and Sister Fowler and office staff.  Happy to be on the ground again. In order to keep everyone, awake as long as possible, we took a stroll around the city and caught a few sights.  I couldn't resist, taking up the rear, and following a small but powerful army of God. We first went to the "Square" where the revolution took place in December of 1989.  Many lost their lives but ultimately democracy won out.  The cross is a monument to the miners who lost their lives that came to help in the cause. There is no shortage of old structures, especially churches that have remained for centuries.  They are gorgeous and many are still in use today. The ultimate goal of the evening was to get some traditional food, and it did not disappoint.  Sarmale, pork and rice rolled in sauer...
Read more

Week 28 More schools and solemn goodbyes

Image
  Tsagaan Sar (White Moon) We met with four new schools in the countryside and again met some wonderful people.  The thing that continues to stand out to us is the fact that they are so appreciative of us being there, and for choosing their school. We said goodbye to Grace this week as she is returning home to the US before her next adventure in Australia.  She will be playing there for the next few months.  She has been a pleasure to get to know and we are grateful that our paths crossed.  We had an opportunity to visit one of the many monasteries in Ulaanbaatar.  This is supposedly one of the largest Budda's in the world.  It's pretty dated and very important to many of the faithful. An evening learning to make Khuushuur.  It was filled with lamb and deep fried.  It some of the very best we have had.  What a wonderful family.  Munkhtuya (her) and Munkhjargal (him).  The four kids were busy.  The 6-year-old was working on...
Read more