Finishing Up

 We began the day with a lovely solo from Elder Muehlmann "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go." I loved playing with other musicians. After lunch Paul Hansen came down to chat with us. We hadn't seen him for 3 years, when he was the DTA in Hong Kong. Helmut was so funny when we asked him where the office of the DTA was. "Why do you want to see the DTA?" Just a friend of ours.

Me (Romania), Sister Lamb (Cypress), Sister Bailey (Bulgaria), Lorena Cruz (Frankfurt), Sister Muehlmann (Germany), Sister McLaws (Czechia), Sister Burke (Germany), Sister Ford (Moldova), Sister Jarvis (Poland), and Sister Anderson (Slavakia)

Florian Titze (Frankfurt), Elder Lamb, Elder Bailey, Matthew Mathias (France), Elder Burke, Elder Muehlmann, Paul, 2nd row Elder Mathias (France), Elder Anderson, Elder Ford, Helmut Wondra (Vienna), Elder McLaws, and Elder Jarvis

They were definitely trying to fatten us up. It was smart to bring the resistance bands for exercise because man, do I love chocolate. I don't think I shared very many of these with Paul.

The artwork at the Phoenix Haus is so inspiring. After we finished with training, we went with the Burkes to a local mall to do some shopping. I found a Daim bar which Kim Harper told me years ago to buy if I ever saw one. It was delicious!

After having some time in the massage chair at the area office, we made our way to the airport and picked up dinner. Then we were surprised by being asked to sit in first class. I'd never had that opportunity before.

There were only two other people in first class with us: a doctor and his patient. We still have no idea why we were plucked from the main cabin, but we really enjoyed it. The attendants kept asking us if we wanted things, but we were just happy to sit there. After waiting for our bags, we got home at 12:15am. We had a quick sleep and then got in the car to head to Brasov for District Training.

Attending the Temple

 We spent a day working through humanitarian projects, self-reliance materials, and lots of snacks. The Phoenix Haus is huge and has the most incredible gym which I would have loved to use. After all the great training, we headed to the temple. 

The twenty of us enjoyed an endowment session together and then posed for a photo outside. We teased the Burkes that it looks like we're at their wedding.

Around the corner is Cafe Klatsch where we ate in November. I think this is one of Helmut's favorite places to eat. While we were chatting, we found out that Elder Muehlmann was baptized in the same font as Paul in the Meandering Way chapel in Richardson, Texas.

Here are the Muehlmanns and Burkes who share duties with German-speaking stakes in Europe. Three of them served in Germany as young adults. I did chat with the Muehlmanns about serving with the Condies who were mission leaders in the Alpine Mission.

Trip to Frankfurt

It's time to visit Frankfurt and get more training! We haven't been here since November and the weather is fantastic. We flew in on Wednesday and immediately went to work. Well, we went with the Andersons (Slavakia) to do a little pharmacy shopping.

While we were walking through a grocery store when I caught site of these. I thought America was the land of Franken-food. This is pretty horrible.

Tara Burke sent me two pieces to practice before arriving, but I had a hard time getting access to a piano, so I was prepared to apologize and do my best. Tara sheepishly asked if she could switch to two new songs. Of course! It couldn't be any worse. 

When Ether joined us for the performance it was our first time through, and it was wonderful.

After a few hours of training we went to play some German bowling. Rather than trying to get a strike every time, we had to avoid double scores like 11, 22, etc. We got all the way to 99 and had to start all over.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner of schnitzel and fries and a tiny bit of ice cream. I love the missionaries we serve with. They are the best of the best.

Baptism

 We attended the most wonderful baptism on Saturday. Francois is from Guinea and speaks French so one of the members of branch was asked to perform the ordinance. Br. Gamble previously lived with his family in Paris. Their 10-year-old son gave a talk about baptism entirely in French! I told him he was so amazing, I would bring him chocolate chips cookies on Sunday, which I did.

These quarter sheet programs are so cute. I need to find out which missionaries are making them.

My favorite part of the well-attended baptism was when Francois bore his testimony. Both the Branch President and Br. Gamble translated: once into English and then into Romanian.

Afterwards we all gathered for a picture. What a special time.

Puzzled

 While cleaning out the mission storage room, I found a puzzle. It reminded me of being in Hong Kong during covid lockdowns. The legal office had collected a bunch of puzzles that we would check out and take home to keep up busy.

I couldn't believe all the pieces were there. And it fit on my table without a quarter inch to spare.

The park next to the Press Building is full of Golden Rain trees. The variety is from Asia and were naturalized in 1200 in Japan. I'm so grateful I'm not allergic to these.

We walked to a Korean restaurant to celebrate our halfway point. The bibimbap was okay, but not great enough to come back again. Paul's chicken was plentiful and the staff was very nice. And hey, chopsticks!

As rough as this thistle is, ladybugs still love it.

Tunari Finely Finished

 When we arrived in September of 2024, the primary school in Tunari was scheduled to begin a project to remodel a classroom. We met with many volunteers and worked on a storage room by painting and priming it. We arrived to find the class learning about the ph scale.

Remembering how it used to look is quite a ride.

Since we arrived early in Tunari we walked over to a little park and enjoyed the beautiful plantings.

One of the best gardening rules to follow is hiding the ball. Seeing the entirety of the garden in one glance is unsatisfying. Threading a trail or walkway out of sight leads one down the path and pulls them forward to experience more.

The Neighborhood Cemetery

Most of the cemeteries here are very showy. Tombstones are tall and wide. Sometimes the bed of the grave is planted with flowers and plants, where I would expect a solid cover. I was just walking to get a haircut when this neighborhood plot caught my eye.

I was surprised by the height of this rose. When I explored the site, I saw that it was for a young woman who had died.

Donating Hospital Equipment

 The Church has donated many pieces of equipment for hospitals around Romania. Our job is to check to make sure they are up and running. This means we get to see lots of babies. I wish we could hold some.

These are invaluable for new infants. Most rural hospitals have seen a decreased in the number of births in the last few years, but are still at about 800 births.

How would you like to do laundry in the grocery store parking lot? Isn't there a saying about doing your dirty laundry in public?

Various and Sundry

 When we arrived in country we found lots of bagged clothes in the mission office storage area. We thought it would be easy to donate them, but they just continued to multiply. Last week we were asked to pick up more bags from the sister missionaries because they were moving.

After reaching out to a few NGOs, we found a psychiatric hospital that would take them. We were surprised that no thrift store wanted anything. It was very nice of them to help us out.

I took a few pictures around town that surprised me. This tree is a walnut, which I have never seen before. It's quite a bit of work to get at that walnut.

Down the street was a hero monument that we stopped and enjoyed.

Around the corner was parked a nice Aston Martin with the hood taped shut.

And I laughed when I saw this Snickers maracuya flavor. My friend Marlene Sparks gave me my first maracuya while we were serving in the Guayaquil Temple. She would love it!

When I brought home a package of strawberries from the store, I didn't have a plan. Paul mentioned strawberry shortcake and said, "Say no more."

Welcome to Peter

 Jackson called with the wonderful news that Peter arrived on Friday, the 13th. Being that he is our 13th grandchild, he is super lucky! He is the fourth child of two fourth children. Wow!

Everyone is excited to see him, including us! Already the family is planning their first camping trip. That's how sturdy Alaskans are.

Meanwhile all the cousins got together in Utah for a fun time at a splash pad. Don't you love all those beautiful faces?

Being Thanked

 We were invited to an event at the Marriott Hotel in Bucharest by World Vision to thank us for the Church's help. It is nice to be thanked. We were surprised at the number of donors at the appreciation event.

They even gave us a little trophy. World Vision's budget is currently twice the Church's, sitting at $3.4B.

The group added a little camera setup with a screen so we could have our picture taken.

Slobozia and Calarasi

One of our humanitarian projects is to help train nurses in the country to revive newborn infants. We traveled to Slobozia and Călărași (Kull-er-ahsh) with Dr. Toma and then attended the nurses' training.

We spent two days in training and then explored the city on foot. It is definitely my kind of town. Beautiful, walkable streets, about 40,000 people, and lots of thrift stores. I found a nice Mango shirt on our afternoon walk.

Lunches were healthy chicken and pork with lots of vegetables and homemade bread. And the desserts were to die for.

In Călărași we visited the ICU and some products the Church had donated. This little guy was brand new and swaddled like a nice tight burrito.