City photos

These are photos are of some of the beautiful buildings in Bucharest. A great deal of 

of the city has buildings built during the communist occupation.  They are old and in poor repair.

I had the opportunity to visit with a women who was probably in her forties. She told me how it was to live under communist rule.  The people could not talk about God or even talk about Santa Claus.  I knew that it happened, but, it was even more touching to speak with a person who lived through it.  She said that her parents taught her about God.  She is coming to the LDS church with her fourteen year old daughter.  She doesn't know if she will join, but, she will attend with her daughter if that is what her daughter chooses to do.  She wants her daughter to have choices.  

I am grateful for the opportunity to have the freedom to follow my heart.

Bucharest city photos

This is a photo taken from our office window.  The building with the forest on the roof if our apartment building.  President Ivory is looking for a new office.  There was a fire in our building before we arrived in the mission.  Three floors were burned and although the building is made of concrete the heat from the fire can weaken the concrete.  The building owner is making no attempt to make repairs.  I believe we the only occupants of the building.  We would love to have better accomadations.

We love our missionaries, members, and many people we meet.

The APs (assistants to the President), often entertain us in the mission office.

Life in Bucharest

We have been here for a month on the 14th of July.  It has been quite a challenge to move to a country where you don't understand the language and you are being introduced to a new culture.  The first few weeks we suffered from jet lag and working 8-12 hours in the office.

We have a very nice apartment which has become our retreat from the crazy world around us.  We have two bedrooms, two baths, kitchen, living room and a small dining room.  We have a washer and no dryer.  We hang our clean clothing on a drying rack.  It really works quite well.

We love working with the missionaries.  They are so brave and strong.  I admire them and their amazing testimonies.  They are always trying to help us.  In church they translate the meeting for us, which really helps when everything including the hymns are in Romanian.

Our new life as missionaries in Romania.

We arrived in Bucharest on the fourteenth of June, 2014.  It is one thing to visit a location on vacation, but, living in a foreign country is a very overwhelming experience.

We live in a very nice apartment in Sector One of Bucharest.  The town is divided almost like a pie is cut, each Sector's starting point is in the center and moves out.  We have a small car, which we were sure we would upgrade when we arrived, however, we are grateful it is small because we drive on very crowded streets with cars parked on sidewalks or in one of the lanes, making two lane streets into one lane.  We have not noticed a great deal of traffic enforcement and therefore drivers make the rules.  It takes two people to drive, one behind the wheel and the other to navigate the obstacles like people stepping from behind parked cars.

Grocery shopping is much like driving.  People use their shopping carts as weapons.  It is very crowded and it doesn't help to not understand the language enough to know what you are looking for.  Often I have wondered if it was worth having food in the apartment.

Our mission is experiencing a major transition. President and Sister Hills have just left and President and Sister Ivory arrived on the 1st of July. The Hills are wonderful, kind, people.  They were very loved by the missionaries and the members.  Their style was kind and gentle.  President Ivory is much younger and he has a powerful desire to make Romania the best mission in the church.  He works hard and has great ideas.  It is a new pace for everyone.  

Jerry and I work in the office.  He does all the financial affairs of the mission, which he was only trained for a few brief days.  It is an overwhelming task to just understand the system let alone keeping up with it.  I am the office secretary and fortunately I have two office elders who are willing to train me. It is an adjustment being back at work ten hours a day.

Our favorite part of the experience is the missionaries.  The office often has four to eight visitors at a time.  The office is quite small and it can get intense at times, but, we really love the youth and their serious commitment to sharing the gospel.  They are very loving and thoughtful of us.  

It is the middle of the night in Romania.  I woke up to very loud motorcycle drag races on the street next to our building.  If not that, two dogs across the street bark most of the night.  Usually we are so tired we sleep through it all.

We miss our family, friends and puppies back home, but, we are grateful to have the opportunity to serve the Lord and the people of Romania.

MTC Training

On the 2nd of June we enter the MTC for Preach My Gospel and office training.  Two weeks later we fly to

Romania.  We will work to make the transition in the office for the new mission president who will arrive the 1st of July.  Sunday we spoke in church so now it feels like we are really going on a mission.  We appreciate all the people who supported us by attending the meeting.

Called to serve in the Romania Moldova Mission

We have been called to serve in the Romania Moldova Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

For more information on this area, please check these official church resources:

• Mormon Newsroom Romania
• Mormon Newsroom Moldova
• Romania Mission celebrates 20th anniversary