Dinner guests

East Zone Conference 






Of course, Zone Conference was awesome again and very inspiring.  It was coupled with a bit of fun competition, and the Iasi District did amazing.  They were all about eating something, fast.  Elder Taylor did the Oreo on the forehead so fast that I didn't even get a photo of him eating it.


We had to go into Bucharest the day before Zone Conference because of the distance and it gave us the opportunity to visit one of our favorite Romanian families, the Doru's.  Their story is incredible, which we will share at a later time.  Just know that the church is in good hands with families like these. 





Again, the trip to and from Bucharest didn't disappoint.  There are plenty of sites to see and we never get tired of the landscape, architecture and culture.


The Palace of the Parliament building in Bucharest is incredible.  It is the world's second-largest administrative building with a surface area of 360,000 square meters (3,930,000 sq ft).  It is 270 meters (886 ft) long, 245 meters (804 ft) wide and 84 meters (276 ft) tall with 8 levels underground, making it the heaviest building in the world.  They actually had the front lit with the colors of the national flag.  It was pretty cool and is MUCH larger than the pictures appear.










An evening stroll and dinner with our senior missionary friends was one of the highlights of the week.  We have come to love these true disciples and it's fun to be able to share experiences as we do our best to be examples of our Savior.



I have asked around about food and what screams Romania from the natives and I continue to hear "Sarmale", stuffed cabbage rolls filled with a mixture of ground meat, rice and spices and often served with "mămăligă", cornmeal porridge, (left).  One of the others is "ciorbră de fasole", bean soup, here served in a bread bowl (right).  They are both amazing.


Oh, and did I mention we had visitors at dinner?  Yes, this is inside the restaurant.  Cats are everywhere!  There is a large church right next door and the Orthodox "surori", (sisters) feed them.  It puts a bit of a spin on the lady and the tramp.



We returned to Iasi and our week culminated with a wonderful moment in time.  Cireșu was baptized.  He is a wonderful man with a huge heart and is always smiling.  Seeing the change that comes into others as they are baptized is truly the Joy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are so blessed to be a part of this great work. 


Have a great week!





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