Christmas 2024

 Since we have a zone conference in Brasov the day after Christmas, we were on the road driving for Christmas. It was nice to drive through the Carpathian mountains and enjoy falling snow.

I spent an hour in the hotel gym watching Indiana Jones then spoke with Frazier about his Christmas. Holidays are always strange on the mission, but this one was uniquely quiet without food or presents.

The next day at conference we met this wonderful Orthodox priest. He loves the members and the missionaries and travels long distances to attend zone conferences. He travels with his own copy of Skull King and teaches everyone how to play. We dubbed him the Skull King of Romania. 

I swear we were in this photo in the back, but I can't find us. In any case, this was our group.

The Fowlers gave us this beautiful piece of art from the Spoonman's Shop in Sighisoara. It is exceptionally heavy for its size, which makes me think it is metal. It glows like gold.

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve at the mission home with the Fowlers and the local missionaries. The traditional dinner was fantastic and it was a chance to see the Gibbons who are leaving soon. There was a copy of Pride and Prejudice sheet music on the piano so I felt right at home.

We had a white elephant gift exchange and I won a shepherd set from Timisoara. This shepherd and haystack are surrounded by 6 sheep, all carved and fired into clay figurines. Absolute win. Paul won candles and potpourri, which to my shock, he began using immediately when we got home.

I love the excitement around Christmas and the love we feel so easily for each individual child of God.

Sister Fowler had this picture of the Seattle Temple hanging in the hallway. I have such wonderful memories here.

Conference in Sighișoara

 

We had the best opportunity to visit Sighișoara for a senior mission conference. These wonderful elders and sisters are just incredible. Two couples are going home soon so it was nice to have time with them.

Our first dinner was what we called "matahambre" which we had in Ecuador. Nothing "kills hunger" like a spread of this kind.

Here we are looking very hungry.

After dinner I distributed Christmas treats. Because.

One note: I chose a pan too small for making caramel. Even with a bit of corn syrup, the sugar crystallized. I didn't want to throw it out, so I added 1/2 cup of water and transferred it to a bigger pot. Success! It returned to the correct form and made great caramel popcorn.

The cold weather didn't throw us off too much as we walked around the city. We hiked up to the top of the hill and toured around the church and cemetery.

Here's Vlad the Impaler. Someone has added a nice ribbon to this statue.

The cemetery was full of German names, more than I expected. Since this is Transylvania, I expected more Hungarian names.

I finally was able to order goulash, which was absolutely fantastic.

We even ordered dessert to celebrate. The Gibbons, on my right are the mission office couple and are going home in a few weeks. The Wards are history missionaries who are compiling stories from the entire Central Europe Area for the history department.

Trip to Pitești

 We went on a trip to Pitești with Brother and Sister Doru. It was just an hour drive out of Bucharest. A group of men have organized and are trying to build a clinic nearby.

While having lunch with the Dorus, I couldn't ignore the beautiful medallions on the wall of the cafe.

P-Day Activities

 We took the bus back to our old neighborhood and enjoyed some shawarma for lunch. I caught a few interesting sights on the sunny afternoon. I wonder how old this bench is.

I love this symmetrical design.

I stopped in my tracks when I saw this bush, thinking these were fruits. I squeezed my phone between the bars of the school gate to take this shot and asked what they were.

I finished shaving this Parisian wool scarf I found at a Braila thrift store for $2. I know, right?

And I finished washing this Uniqlo cashmere sweater that was $10. I didn't buy one in Hong Kong because it was too hot most days. And because it's normally $100.

Trip to Brăila

 With a few project to finish in Brăila, we took off for the 3 hour trip on the 10th. We stayed at a night place called the Alma Health Spa and stopped for dinner in the local mall. It's a small town, but has some great historical markers.

Paul was fascinated with this statue and crossed a busy roundabout to get to it.

Across the road is a beautiful Orthodox church. It was super cold, but not rainy, which I appreciated.

We went to a gynecological hospital to check on some equipment that the church had donated a year ago. We didn't have an appointment and they still were happy to see us and show off their facility.

Our tour included visiting a dozen preemies of various ages. They are so fragile looking. I usually want to pickup babies, but these ones were so tiny that I just wanted to pat them gently. I had flashbacks to when by babies were in incubators. It's such a terrible time for moms and dads.

We then toured a group home where we had paid for a couple of bathroom remodels. How cute is this tile? I absolutely love it. The group home is for orphans who became adults without any support system. They now have love, support, and are all employed.

We were lucky to find An Affair to Remember on TV in English. The funny part is this translation wouldn't have worked in Sleepless in Seattle. "And all I could say was, 'Goodnight'" is not the line!

We wandered through some great thrift stores and then walked the promenade next to the Danube River. The city of Brăila grew 100 years ago as it was the last navigable location on the Danube. Now it extends past the city to the Black Sea. 

Last day in Vienna

 Friday morning Sister Burke and I performed O Holy Night for the group. It was so nice to be able to play a real piano. Sister Burke is an incredible musician; she plays both the violin and viola. She and her husband are serving as self reliance missionaries for the area from Frankfurt. They are from the Portland area.

There was some talk for having a conference for all the missionaries in the Europe Central Area, but having just a third of us together was really nice. I certainly prefer a smaller group. All of these missionaries had been serving longer than we have in humanitarian efforts. We had so much to learn from them.

I hope we can someday return here (perhaps in the summer) because it is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. We flew back to Bucharest and arrived at home by 7:30pm.

Second day in Vienna

 We woke up early to try to get hotel breakfast because it was reportedly delicious. We ran into a couple from Salt Lake City who were excited to see so many missionaries. They had two children serve missions in Guayaquil and Hong Kong. After breakfast we went to the Young Adult center which is like an Institute building. The managers and specialists all gave us training and we enjoyed some incredible pizza at Via Toledo, one of the best in the world.

After training we went to the Christmas Market and enjoyed listening to music and shopping at the little booths. We could rent ice skates and wander around this rink, but we weren't feeling that adventurous.

I loved seeing so many creches. It is a blessing to serve in a Christian country.

This is our fearless leader, Helmut Wondra. He asked us to all meet under the heart tree, and eventually we all arrived. It was like herding cats.

Helmut gave us a tour of the city and pointed out certain historical buildings and areas. So we left the Christmas Market and started into the downtown core.

Historically, Hitler stood on this platform to announce he had annexed Austria at the beginning of World War II.

Helmut pointed out the memorial against war and fascism. Here stood the Philipphof, a representative large residential building of the Gründerzeit, which was destroyed by a bomb attack on 12 March 1945. Hundreds of people who had sought shelter in the cellars were killed. Some of the buried could not be excavated; only 180 bodies were recovered. The exact number of victims could not be determined. The ruin was leveled in 1947, the property owned by the state was no longer developed.

At the front of the square stands the Gate of Violence. It is made of granite, as it was dragged by thousands of prisoners over the death stairs in the quarry of the Mauthausen concentration camp. 

We loved the area around St. Stephen's Cathedral. The weather was cold, but pleasant, and the area was full of happy Christmas revelers.

Erected after the Great Plague epidemic in 1679, this Baroque memorial is one of the best known and most prominent sculptural artworks in the city. Paul mentioned that the plague was represented as a woman.

We ate at Melker Stiftskeller for a couple hours and sampled all sorts of great Viennese food. I was grateful to finally get some sachertorte. It was another late night and we fell into bed.