MAY-A MONTH OF BEAUTY

We marvel at the beauty of the season. It reminds me so much of Utah with the brown drab colors of winter and the naked trees everywhere. Then when spring awakens nature, you have a never ending showcase of color. The people live off what they had produced from their land for the whole winter. They plant the crops early so in some cases they have the opportunity to produce more than one crop on the same part of the land. The gardens and farms are beautiful.
                                  

A private garden

On the 4th of May our Romanian District took a P day trip to Orhei Vechi. There were historical buildings dating from the 10th century BC to the 14th Century AD. One of the Christian monasteries are among the most unusual sights in all of Eastern Europe. This cave Monastery was dug by Orthodox monks in the 13th century. It was used until the 18th Century. During the Soviet era it was shut down.
                                   

   The Monastery (or the cave church) entrance where you go down stairs into the church. Only the bell tower is above ground.

This view is out the back door where you could walk along the side but in order to get inside the chapel you had to crawl through a window.

This was the living area for the monks. Each space was about 4ft. by 5ft.

Just outside the back entrance there are hundreds of little cracks where people put a coin. We looked at some of the coins and they were from all over the world, and of course we added some American coins.

The main chapel in the Cave church.

     

This book is from the early 16th century.

The stone Monastery was dug by Orthodox monks in the 13th century. It was used until the 18th Century. In 1905 they built a church above ground.

This Pigeon is on his way to mass.

What would a P day trip without a surprise. We arrived at the Piata at 10:00am where the 14 of us hopped on a Maxi Taxi that would take us to Oheiul Vechi. It took us over an hour, to finally get everyone together and on our way.
We exit the Maxi Taxi and ask the driver what time he would be back at this location. His reply was not a pleasant one-"oh about 16:30". What!!!! why hadn't anyone found out this schedule. What were we going to do for 5 more hours, we could almost walk home by then.

We said, "OK" thinking we would just catch a different one. We climbed up the hill to the Monastery and checked everything out in about an hour and a half. What are we going to do for three and a half hours? The sisters took off for the bathroom down the road and the Elders decided to eat. We sat and talked until about three when a different MaxiTaxi came and said he would take us back to Chisinau. We all climbed in, paid the driver and off we went. Surprise! He takes us up to the main road and turns right instead of left. He proceeds to take us into the village and pulls up to a little store and turns off the motor. We sit there for quite some ,because he is early for his route so he has to wait until it is time to leave so he doesn't miss any passengers. After about 30 minutes sitting in a hot Maxi Taxi he leaves. We arrive home about the same time the other taxi would have had us in Chisinau, because our would pick up and drop passengers along the way.

The Sisters were missing.

Our Maxi Taxi

The adventures never end for us because in May we also got our first dent in our new car. I can just tell you it wasn't me, but I'm not pointing a finger at anyone!

PICTURE OF THE MONTH

A limo anyone?

APRIL

We spent the month of April praying for an end to winter and praying even harder that Spring would come with all its warmth and beauty. Finally, like on the last day of April, our prayers were partially answered. Yes, the sun is out most days and the trees are as green as an emerald, but the rain does continue to fall.  I figure if we are lucky we will get 6 months of nice weather our of our 18 month mission. Wow how can this be!?!

We were able to get Conference on the internet and show it on the big screen in our little chapel. We however never had an English broadcast at our chapel so we watched on the computer in our apartment. What a blessing it is to have the ability to watch conference on the same day that it is taking place in America.

 We watched the morning session in the late afternoon, it was still wonderful and very inspiring. I hope the non members that were present felt the spirit like all of us did. It was especially inspiring to have our beloved PROPHET Thomas S. Monson speak to us in the different sessions. I have always loved his personal stories and the manner in which he tells them. His sweet spirit is so strong that everyone can feel it when he speaks. He just radiates LOVE. 

We had the pleasure of witnessing the baptism of Trifon into the Russian Branch. He a wonderful down to earth young man. We love to be around him, he is always happy and always smiling.       

      

                                            Trifon's Baptism with Elder's Bekker and Feil

Also Ecatarina is being baptized into the Romanian Branch. Ecatarina is so eager to learn all about the church through the materials the missionaries provide for her and the lessons they teach her.She is also a great missionary. She is already bringing her friend to church with her.                                         

Sora Barrera (left) Ecaterina (Center) and Sora Lee

We are in awe of seeing the Lord's hand in the missionary work going forth in Chisinau. This is the fourth baptism for Sora Barrera and Sora Lee. We love to see this pair of sisters working with the Lord in bringing to pass miracles.

PICTURE OF THE MONTH
This is how we roll!

Left to Right
Elder Harper, Elder Bateman, Elder Harris and Elder Weaver
   

This is how we get to church some Sundays. We leave the house about 8:30 for church and before we get to the main street (Strada) LUPU, we see two handsome young men in white shirts and suits. Hum, should we stop and pick them up? Of course, we don't want them late because of us, but look what do we see just around the corner? Yes it is two more handsome young men dressed in suits heading to the bus stop. Well, would you stop and add two more missionaries to the back seat? 

We love being around these faithful Elders. Sometimes we even fit more into the back seat!