Motivation Romania Camp

 North of Piatra Neamt is the little village of Negrești where there is a popular monastery. We travelled there to see a wheelchair camp created by Motivation Romania.

The unique idea is to bring new wheelchair users to camp to learn how to use their new tool. Family members even come along. The delightful setting is perfect to spend time learning and growing.

The Church help construct a building for physical training like moving up ramps, negotiating turns and backing up. This is hard work, but the staff of Motivation Romania is patient and encouraging.

Trip to Piatra Neamț

Piatra Neamt is one of the most beautiful cities we have visited in Romania. Our purpose is to check up some equipment the Church donated to the main hospital. This means we get to see babies! 

From below you can see the potential views from the maternity rooms. Sure enough, they had the best views of the city (unless you took a ride on the cable car). 

Near to the hospital is the historic plaza.

The Princely Court of Piatra Neamț is mentioned for the first time in a document dated 20 April 1491, to have been founded between 1468 and 1475, under Stephen the Great, the Cathedral being built in 1497–1498, and the 65.62' tall Bell Tower in 1499.

Collecting the Goods

 We started purchasing for a project at the local Metro. The Ronald McDonald House is going to receive hundreds of welcome kits, but we need to put them together. 

The office missionaries were kind enough to drive us in the van to collect the goods. Metro is a Costco-type of store, mostly for resale. We had three crates of goods and still didn't have everything.

On Saturday we went to Selgros to purchase the remaining items and them setup everything in the mission office.

Speaking of goods, where did these come from? I feel like I'm missing out.

Travelling to Arad

We have been in Romania for nearly a year and finally made it out west. The cities to visit are Oradea, Arad, and Timisoara. These were all Hungarian cities for many years until the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after WWI. After 1918, Transylvania was all given to Romania.

The Church has rented space in Arad and Timisoara. At only 45 minutes between them, it is easy to drive back and forth between the two branches. We have 6 missionaries serving in the two cities.

We stayed right down the street from Reconciliation Park. This monument park contains two notable statues. In the center, the Liberty Monument was erected in 1890 to honor 13 Hungarian generals executed after the 1849 Hungarian uprising. Nearby, an even more impressive Triumphal Arch was built in 2004 to remember the Romanian fighters killed in the same insurrection.

The Hungarian Statue of Liberty was installed in 1890, but was dismantled in 1925 by the Romanian government. After the fall of communism it was reinstalled in this new park to celebrate understanding between the two countries.

In 1924 Hungarian composer Béla Bartók performed in Arad. This week they are celebrating "Arad Days" with rides, food, and games. 

Like Sibiu, Arad is mostly untouched by war. The architecture is beautiful and often decorated in Hungarian.

We attended Church on Sunday in Arad and when we left at noon it was raining cats and dogs. We anticipated a 7-hour drive home, but it took us 10. The zoom meeting we had scheduled for 9pm had to be done in the car!

Around town in the Summer

 In the past week we have seen some impressive heat. As the sun begins to set, we head out to do some walking, but we wait until the last minute. Sometimes it's dark when we get back. 

This little kitty reminded me of Smidgen McSmudge, the cat of my youth. On Saturday we went down to Cismagu Park and had dinner with the Wards and the new office couple, the Robinsons. They know Amber's family from Anchorage.

The moon was full this week.

I made a loaf of banana bread with blueberries. For fun I added a muffin top crumble which took it to the next level.

We went to the Ward's apartment to be interviewed on Wednesday. They are serving a church history mission and interviewed us on camera about being humanitarian missionaries. This is the view from the restaurant at their complex.

Help from Frankfurt

 Christian Ottiker, the director of humanitarian aid for Europe Central, came into town to meet with some government officials. We accompanied him to meet the deputy mayor and discuss humanitarian needs in Bucharest.

We also visited with Monica Boseff, who is a force for good in helping young women overcome the tragedy of being trafficked.

We enjoyed lunch together and then whisked Christian back to the airport. He is one of the busiest men we know!

Mihai and Nadia

 Mihai serves as a branch missionary in our Mihai Bravu Branch. On Sunday he showed us a picture of himself when he was 17 years old. He bragged that he was a boyfriend of Nadia Comăneci at this age. Recently when Nadia's father died, he was able to attend the service with the family, which included a ride in a helicopter. We see commercials with Nadia selling Loreal products when we watch Romanian TV.

Transfăgărășan Highway

On our way home we decided to drive The Transfăgărășan, scenic paved mountain road in Romania. Considered one of the world's most beautiful highways, it crosses the southern Carpathian Mountains via the Făgăraș Mountains. Built in the 1970s for strategic military access but now a popular tourist attraction, it features breathtaking panoramas, sharp hairpin turns, and glacial lakes like Bâlea Lake. 

This way took an additional 2 hours, but it was incredibly beautiful.

Happy Days!

The month before we came through, a motorcyclist was killed while feeding a bear. Signs are everywhere telling drivers not to feed the bears.

Visiting Maria Beatrice

 While we were in Sibiu, we traveled to Alba Iulia to see a new building built by Maria Beatrice. They work with special needs children to help them gain independence.

The Church donated this equipment to help with physical rehabilitation. 

This fantastic building will open in September to help children all over Romania.

How about this carpet in our hotel? I've quilted that pattern for years! We heard quite the disturbance outside. There was some kind of march, but we don't know what it was about.