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.