Brasov - Transylvania

The last 5 days were spent traveling and attending a Senior Missionary conference in Brasov.

We took the train from Constanta to Bucharest (4 hr) and then rode with President Sister Hill in their car another 3 hours to Brasov.  Along the railroad are piles of cement railroad ties, not sure if they are for repairs or new construction.



Brasov is a beautiful city in the Transylvania region of the Southern Carpathian Mountains and is full of historic sites - several castles from the 14th century, museums, etc. There is a strong German influence in the city and it is very European.







The Church is doing well in Brasov and has one of the 4 chapels the Church has built in Romania.









We had a great conference and got to meet the other 10 couples serving in Romania and Moldova. The couples serve in cities all over the country and are quite isolated. The only time they see the other couples is during these conferences which are held once or twice each year. Most of the couples have served more than one mission and are very experienced. We made friends with some great people. We found out that 87% of the population in Romania is Romanian Orthodox (form of Catholicism), 5% Protestant, 5% Roman Catholic, LDS is 0.016%. Unless your membership is at least 1% of the total population, your church is considered a cult. We will apply for our visas at "The Ministry of Cults".




A brief choir number from the Senior Elders. 










Each afternoon after the conference session we would go see some of the sights around the area.


This is one of the many fortified churches.






They were very interesting and made us feel grateful that we didn't live during that era.









Friday afternoon we drove to the city of Bran and toured the Bran Castle which was one of the castles of Count Vlad Dracula. He was the person that the fictional book "Dracula the Vampire" was written about.

The actual Vlad Dracula was much more ruthless and violent that the fictional Dracula. 

He was know as the "impaler" - if you are interested, we watched a documentary about him on the History Channel. You can google it and watch it as U-tube video.

It troubles me that people can be so cruel to others





We see these horse carts when ever we get out of the cities.


The climate and soil is good for growing crops and there are fields of grain, etc. every where you go.

Almost all of the homes have gardens.



We hope we can spend this next week in Constanta trying to settle into our apartment and become acquainted with the members. Romania is a beautiful country.