Travel, Trains and Traditions

Testimony

We couldn't be happier for Ana Maria and Elisa.  They chose to be baptized and have become wonderful friends.  Elisa is now our second young women in our branch.  Surori Spencer and Baker and Vârstnicii Roberts and Anderson made it happen. We weren't able to attend in person, but we still felt their spirits as they shared testimony's.  As we left the YSA conference in Sibiu we were faced with a travel dilemma.  We could make the 7-hour return trip to Iasi for two days and then turn around and travel 7-hours in a similar direction to Baia Mare for our Senior Missionary conference or we could spend our P-Day plus a couple of days and make our way to the conference.  We decided on the latter and stayed on the west side of the country.  The following are some of the sights we experienced in this beautiful and diverse country of Romania.

Timisoara, with its heavy influence of Serbians, Hungarians, Germans and Romanians the city is amazing and diverse in so many ways.  The Romanian revolution started here in 1989 and is said to be the first city in Romania free from Communism.  It is truly a beautiful city.  It was decorated for the Easter holiday with bunnies and large eggs.  They were hand painted and sat on white pedestals and there were 36 on display.  The many parks and paths were in a full array of blossoming trees and flowers.  It was wonderful to have our own tour guides, Elder and Sister Groesbeck who are serving in Timisoara. 

Arad, was a quick stop as we drove through, just long enough to meet Vârstnicii Bonney and Oler for some gelato.  It was great to see them both.

Oradea, one of the more picturesque cities.  It sits about 15 kilometers from the Hungarian border and the architecture reflects this influence.  You've all seen a lot of architecture and for that we apologize.  It is just overwhelming that it is all so different and ornate and has survived time so well.  Most buildings are older that what we know as the United States of America.  Near the center of the city, you will find the Oradea Fortress.  It is considered the best-preserved Renaissance fortress in Central Europe.  Built in 11th century.

Baia Mare, where we met as missionaries in the northwestern part of Romania for our annual Senior Missionary conference.  It was a wonderful time getting together again and enjoying great company.  We enjoyed a wonderful spirit filled evening and a great meal.  These amazing missionaries have become dear friends and truly brothers and sisters in Christ.

On the drive from Baia Mare to Sighetu Marmației

Sighetu Marmației, the Elie Wiesel Memorial House, is the restored birthplace of the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor, now a museum dedicated to Jewish culture in Maramureș.

Sighetu Marmației is a historic town in northern Transylvania Romania, The Maramureșean Village is an open-air museum displaying authentic, traditional wooden houses, workshops and a church.

Sighetu Marmației prison, built in 1897 it became a Communist era penitentiary from May 1950 until July 1955, Sighet turned into a political prison exclusively, where an important part of the political, cultural and religious elite of interwar Romania was imprisoned. Officially called ”Danube Labour Colony”, the code name given by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prison was regarded as a special prison facility. The detention regime, defined by three main elements (hunger, cold and isolation), aimed at systematically wiping out prisoners.  During this period the Sighet prison housed: four Prime Ministers, presidents of the interwar democratic parties, five governors of the National Bank of Romania, dozens of ministers and secretaries of state, numerous academics and university professors, as well as 58 hierarchs of clerics. 53 of the 200 people detained here from 1950 to 1955 died while in custody. At first, the deceased were buried at night near the non-political inmates in the city’s cemetery or in the hospital's cemetery. The graves were not marked and remain unmarked to this day.  The statues in the courtyard represent the many prisoners, both men and women, stripped of all they had including their dignity, depicted as showing raw emotion.  We can learn much as we reach up to heaven in our time of need.  Hopefully it's never to this degree.   

The Săpânța-Peri Monastery Church is the tallest wooden church in the world.  It is 78 meters (255.9 ft) tall and a 7-meter cross.  It is visible from up to 5 kilometers away.  President took a moment to share some special thoughts about the Savior as we sat inside of the church.

This one is hilarious.  The translation is: Under this heavy cross lies my poor mother-in-law. If she lived yet three more days, I'd be lying here and she'd be (alive) reading (this). You who pass by here try not to wake her up 'cause if she comes home, she'll be at it again, nagging me. Yes, that's how I will act so she won't turn back. Those who read here may you not suffer as I did. May you find a good mother-in-law and live happily with her.

She lived 82 years. Died 1969

The Merry Cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureș County, Romania.  It is famous for its brightly colored tombstones with naive paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people who are buried there in addition to scenes from their lives.  It has been listed as one of the seven wonders of Romania.  The cemetery is right near the Ukraine border.  We stopped by to check out the crossing.

The next day we made the drive to the train which was both beautiful and adventurous.  We may have taken a rogue turn, but we were following what we thought was a reliable source. No problem!  We made it there just fine and surely would not have seen what we saw from the main road. Especially the horsedrawn cart, three times.  Once on our way by, once after the GPS said make a U-turn and once after we (our guide, to remain unnamed) stopped to ask if the road we were on would take us to where we were headed and made another U-turn and continued on our merry way.  Their last look and gesture of laughing at us was priceless.  They were kind and waved a final la revedere.

The Mocănița steam train in Vișeu de Sus, is a historic railway running on wood fuel through the scenic valley of the Carpathians Mountains.  Built in 1932 for transporting timber, it now offers rides through the forest.  We stopped at the top and had lunch and enjoyed traditional music and dancing, just watched.  We also met some wonderful friends that were very gracious as they explained many cultural things as we rode together for about 5 hours.

As we drove to Baia Mare we saw several roadside vendors selling baskets.  We remarked how cool that is but didn't put it all together until we saw people walking down the street Sunday morning with baskets in hand on their way to church.  For our Orthodox brothers and sisters, they were celebrating Palm Sunday and the Floriile baskets contained a number of items for the service, including a willow branch (representing a palm branch), flowers and a candle among other things and on Easter the Pascha basket contains red eggs, cheese, meat and sweet bread.  At the same time our Catholic brothers and sisters were celebrating Easter Sunday next door.  Colored eggs are everywhere, mostly wooden painted ones.  They have a cool tradition of taking their colored eggs, (boiled) mostly red and once everyone has one, they approach others and say Hristos a înviat! (Christ has risen!) and the response is Adverărat a înviat! (Truly He has risen!) and then you smack the eggs together.  Even without the eggs it is the greeting for the season.  People are still saying it.  Another cool tradition where they hang the tree branches on their fences and gates the week leading up to Palm Sunday.  The branches are taken to church to be sanctified and are used to ward off evil spirits, ensure fertility and to protect homes from natural disasters throughout the year.

We attended General Conference Sunday morning with the Baia Mare group.  They are amazing and faithful.  Started as just two families from Tonga the group has grown to nearly 20.

Returning to the white storks that I may have mentioned in the fall.  They are mostly seen in the Transylvania region.  They mate for life and can live up to 40 years.  They return to Romania in March to the same nest, often on rooftops and electric poles.  They stay for around six months before migrating to East or South Africa in late August or September, making the epic journey of roughly 7000-10,000+ kilometers (4300-6200+ miles).  During their migration they rely on the uplift of air thermals to make flying and soaring easier.  While the shortest route would take them directly over the Mediterranean Sea, the absence of air thermals over the water forces them to divert their flight paths following the land through strategic sea straits of Gibraltar and Bosporus.

And sometimes we just see some of the darndest things.  We stopped to take a picture of the kid goats, and the herder grabbed one and all but stuck it in the window.

The Bobă patrol was out in force this week.  This little Moș came walking by and started talking.  We understood almost nothing, but he was so friendly and agreed to a photo.  After the photo he said "Mama Mia!"