What NOT to do!

This is Elder Banu....a wonderful example of a clean-cut, well-dressed, keep-the-rules missionary! As most of you know, elders must have their hair short, neatly combed and with a side part. YIKES! SO, WHAT HAPPENED HERE?
Yes, this is Elder Banu again! Just so you don't think he blatantly went on a rule-breaking binge, I have to assure this was an "accident"! Elder Banu is serving in Moldova. One day he and his companion were helping the Sister missionaries move and he found this bottle of hair stuff. At first he thought it was hair conditioner and he asked the sisters if he could have it. They said yes, but they didn't think it was conditioner---the language on the bottle was Russian or Hungarian and none of them could understand it. However, the sisters thought it was a product similar to NAIR, which is a hair removal cream. "Great!" he said, "can I have it? I want to put some on my part line in my hair and make the part permanent so I don't have to try to comb it in every day. Well, as you can see, he did a little more than make a thin part in his hair! Needless to say, he learned a hard lesson! The NAIR burned his scalp and after jumping around and trying to wash it out, this was the end result!
Elder Banu had no choice but to get a "bald" hair cut....not missionary approved, but necessary in this emergency! He is still a fine looking elder but one who has learned a big lesson and claims he will never try anything again without knowing exactly what it is and what it will do to him! (He allowed us to share his story in case it might help some other "innocent and unspecting" good elder!)

Out with the old...in with the new!

It's always hard to say good-bye and on March 19th another set of fabulous missionaries went home....where does the time go?? Elders McFarlane, Carroll, Wirthlin and Haddow left us and made it safely back to the states by midnight on Wednesday. We will miss these fine young men and the service they gave in Romania!

However, at the same time we welcome a wonderful new group of excited new missionaries straight out of the MTC! New to our mission is Elders Collier, Foote, Hale, Rakozy, Anderson, and Smith. (This gives us three "Smith's" and three "Anderson's"!) Also, we welcome Sora Ertel, Sora Cannon and Sora Poulsen. They came tired but ready to go to work.

The next morning after the missionaries arrive we meet them at Cismigiu Park, read the dedicatory prayer and welcome them to Romania. We then take them to our home where we do an orientation meeting and President Ashby does interviews to determine where the Lord wants each of the missionaries sent. Of course we feed them a good lunch and then its on to Transfer meeting and the beginning of their Service. In this photo, Elder Anderson and Elder Collier go over their incoming-packet. They can't wait to begin!

Elder Rakozy plays the piano on the day he and these new missionaries arrive. We loved his compositions!

Mother's Day!

No, it's not May yet but Mother's Day, or more commonly called Women's Day, is March 8th (today) in Romania! The Bucharest District held a Relief Society activity this afternoon for all the sisters in the District. We had three sisters speak about women and their roles and how we can be instruments in God's hands to do his work. They also cited the many women in the scriptures who have followed God's commandments with faith and courage and did much to bring about our father in heaven's work. After the speakers, each branch performed a talent or gave a reading or poem by one of their members. Seated at the piano in the red jacket is Sora Alexandra. She is a talented writer and gave a reading about her mother that she wrote. Afterwards Sora Mika Crasimena (not sure about the spelling!) played the piano and sang with three young people. At the end she sang a Russian folk song called "Calinka" (again, spelling is wrong!). This sister was born in Russia, raised in Bulgaria and then moved to Romania in 1976. Her name means "Sweet Peace" and she is very happy about that. The word "Calinka" is a flower in Russia and this song is about a young man comparing his girl friend with this flower. I only got a few minutes of the song but wanted to share a little with you so you could see the joy these sisters have in their music!

By the way, Women's Day lasts all month and everyone gives each other little flower pins. The friends, husbands and boyfriends all bring beautiful bouquets to their loved ones. I have to tell you that I got three bouquets today! What an honor! I feel so spoiled!

The "Donut" Fireside

Friday night, March 7th, our missionaries in the Panduri building held a fireside on the Atonement. They first held three rotating classes to teach about the importance of Service and then about the Savior's great atoning sacrifice.

To make their point on the atonement, they brought everyone into a room and held up a pan of hot, freshly made donuts by Sora Larsen, Sora Betham and Elder Valentine. They then asked everyone if they would like to have a donut and as the member took a donut they told them that a price had to be paid. The person taking the donut then told Elder Mielke he had to do 10 push-ups to pay that price so the person could have his donut. By the time everyone had a donut Elder Mielke had struggled through 200 push-ups! (By the way, he is buff! He made it!) The point of the exercise was the willingness of the Savior to sacrifice and pay for our sins that we might have eternal life. It was a great evening and the spirit was very strong.

Our three chef's, in their cute little aprons, did a great job! However, I'm not sure if they ate more than they gave away! They were pretty darn good!

Sora Iulita opens wide for another chocolate donut....Yum!

Finding old members

During the summer of 2004 when Moldova was closed to our missionaries we had two sisters serving in Balti. The sisters had to leave fast. They couldn't even pack their bags. Elders later went there, packed up for them and sent their things to Romania. Since that time no one has served in Balti and we do have some members there. This past week we sent our assistants on a little journey to check out the city and find our "lost" members. This is a little bit or their report:
BALTI

Hello Sora Ashby! Here's our description of Balti. . Elder Selck & Linsenmeyer

(This photo is of the city center)
Balti is the second-largest city in the Republic of Moldova, although it seems smaller than Deva and Alexandria, our smallest cities in Romania! The name of the city is pronounced with a strong Moldovan accent and sounds just like “belts” in English. The drive to the city is very scenic; we drove on country roads and up and around big hills.

Everyone in Balti was happy to help us with directions, and one man even bought us a snickers and a soda because we were new to the city. It was a special experience to meet with members who had not seen missionaries in their city for years. The only barrier was the language—Russian is by far the prominent language. Fortunately, many of the youth speak some Romanian and were able to help translate for their parents. One of the coolest experiences was walking into an older member’s house and catching her with an open copy of the Book of Mormon and Liahona on her table.