Last few weeks in Romania and Moldova

Our lives became quite hectic as we moved into December of 2009. I have not written since that time but, I will now try to recreate some of the events leading up to our current situation in Arizona. There were a lot of office details to complete before we left our mission in Romania. We were very pleased that a new office couple had been called to replace us. We were able to spend several days training them in our duties before we departed the country. It was difficult to leave our mission and the many people with whom we had become acquainted while living in Romania. We will mostly miss the church members who demonstrate such devotion to the church and are true pioneers in the gospel in this land. We also loved the Romanian people as a whole and our hearts go out to them in their many struggles and challenges. We can only hope that they will continue to strive for freedom in their government and for the betterment of the people through the development of their nation. We have faith that the church will continue to make great strides in Romania but, it will take an ongoing effort on the part of missionaries and members in order to continue the growth that started just twenty years ago. There will be many in the coming generations who will be blessed by the gospel in their lives. We shall never forget our experiences in this great land.

Pictures: (1)We were able to get in a last minute trip to Moldova. These are Russian speaking Elders who had developed a conversation with a really sweet man sitting next to them on the bench. He though Mom was beautiful and kissed her hand when we were introduced. We expect much growth among the Russian speaking people in Moldova. A temple will open in the Ukraine, which is adjacent to Moldova, sometime in 2010. This will be a great blessing to the people in this area. (2) It was tough but, your Mom got in some last minute shopping before we left our mission. I gave up a suitcase of clothes to get everything packed. It seemed like we brought back very little after distributing everything among all the family members. (3) Your Mom on the street in Moldova, such a history and beautiful old buildings but, now so poor. But, the Saints there are beautiful people. (4) The top photo is taken the day before our final departure in a park in which the dedicatory prayer to open the preaching of the gospel in Romania was given by Elder Russel M. Nelson. We had a heavy snow the week before and it remained cold the entire week. Last winter was fairly mild and although most people told us that Romania would be very cold in the winter, we compared the weather to that of St Louis . It was hot and slightly humid in the summer and the winter was somewhat cold but we did not get a lot of snow. After we left it continued to snow most of the winter with record accumulations.