Transfer Week (Again!)

 

Here it is again! August 22, 2007 was Transfer day and it is hard to believe how fast these transfers come around. This time we lost three Elders, (Bybee, Baker and Cloward) and Soras Wertman and Valcaneatu. . We also lost our sweet senior sister, Maureen Pulman who is from Wales.
Included in this picture of our new missionaries is Elder Covali from Moldova. He was called to serve in Italy but the Italian Embassy is giving him a hard time about his Visa. So, he was set apart as a full time missionary and will be doing his first transfer in Romania....lucky us! This new group is big and we had to make some of our older missionaries take leadership positions a little earlier than they thought they should! There were some surprises but everyone ended up happy and pleased. These are wonderful new boboci and we love them all ready! They are: Soras Jensen, Runyan and Peterson. Elders McKinley, Fitzgerald, Wilde, Thompson, Burch, Eyre, Miles, Letham, Mielke, Davis and Johnson. (not in order in the photo!) We also got a new senior sister from Iasi. Her name is Sora Hirghiligiu and she is Sora Paeamoelotu's new companion. It will be interesting....one of them speaks English and the other Romanian! They claim they are both good at sign language! We'll see!

 

Eagle Scout Project

This past week was Transfer week again! Elder Bybee was one of our "Graduating" missionaries and his family came to pick him up. His little brother, Branden, brought us a wonderful gift. For his Eagle Scout project he made 21, deluxe First Aid kits for us to put in each of our Branch buildings. The family stuffed them into all their luggage and the kits all made it safely here! The plastic boxes you see them holding are each an individual First Aid kit. We can't thank Braden enough for his generosity and willingness to serve our members in Romania! And yes, we will miss Elder Bybee!
Another fun thing that happened was that two of our past Elders, Young and Kidd, came to visit! They brought us some much needed chocolate chip cookie ingredients! Thanks guys! Interview days just wouldn't be the same without those yummy cookies. By the way, for those of you who don't know, Elder Kidd was one of our missionaries who were involved in the "Closing of Moldova" for over two years! He and Chris Young had a wonderful week visiting members and, the cities they served in. They looked like missionaries on Sundays and everyone really enjoyed their visit.

The Assistants

 

 

 

Our Assistants, Elders Boardman and Banu are preaching the gospel to the mountains! Their enthusiasm is boundless!

Romania

 

 

 

 

Every now and then I have to show you Romania. We spend about half of every transfer traveling and the beauty of this country is as great as any in the world. These are a few pictures we took on our way to Sibiu last week.

May Outgoing and Incoming Missionaries

This is a little out of order but I have had a request for a photo of the missionaries who left us in May and the new missionaries who replaced them. This group "graduated" on May 30, 2007. They were our very first group to come in when we became Mission President in Romania. We watched them grow and become fine missionaries. We will truly miss them!---Sora King, Sora Brandstaetter, and Elders Adams, Goodell, Bell, McKie, Sperry, Frahm, McKeeth and Jerome. After losing that big group, Elders Harwood, Hruska and Divis came to fill their shoes! These elders are working hard and learning the language. We are really thrilled to have them in our mission!

Sister's Conference in Bucharest

August 1st was a fun day for all of the sisters in our mission. We had the opportunity to be together, to socialize snd more importantly, learn specific missionary skills for the women in this important work. Our group photo shows all of our sister missionaries except Sora Reed and Sora Lofgreen. These are our two senior sisters assigned to Moldova. Because of Visa problems they could not attend and join us. We really missed them!  Sora Paeamoelotu (from New Zealand) started the day off with a cute skit about the demands put on the LDS woman. From there we were taught by Sora and President Ashby, the Assistants and two of our Senior sisters, Sister Boyle and Sister Pulman. Sora Boyle talked about how the sisters could help teach and train the auxillary leaders in their Branches and Sora Pulman taught the sisters how to deal with stress on their missions. Sora Harrison sang a beautiful song for us and was accompanied by Sora Beck. Elder Dabling got us all moving with his interesting, informative and fun Self-defense course. The sisters learned that their talents are unique from the elders and that they have many ways of touching hearts that only they can do. We also had many of our past sisters send us letters on the talents they developed during their missions here. They gave our sisters advice on how to use their talents. To top it off, we had a wonderful lunch catered by Rosie. Everyone left feeling spiritually uplifted and spoiled! It was a real blessing for all of us and we were grateful for this opportunity. Watch the two short videos and you will see some of the fun we had!  

July "Graduating" and Incoming Missionaries

I'm a little behind as it is the middle of August but wanted to still post the photos of our departing and incoming missionaries for July! Leaving us was Sora Durfee and Elders Jackson, Sens, Despain, Curtis, Harward, Jaynes, Nicholson, Bellows and Shawver. A wonderful group of missionaries--dedicated and hardworking! We really miss them! Of course, we always get a wonderful bunch of new missionaries who are full of excitement and enthusiasm. This group consists of Elders Ward, Anderson, Bird, Roundy, Cantlon, and Platt. Also, Soras Larsen and Lovell. We extemd a hearty welcome to all of them!
Sora Loveall arrived a few days after her group due to an injury at the MTC.