Bicycle Contacting

Our newest neighbor is a stray dog with 3 new pups. The pups are really cute but the mother is very protective and territorial.  Unfortunately, for one of our neighbors the mother dog decided to claim his car as her territory. We watched him try most of one day to get to his car but he never made it. Eventually the mother dog moved her litter into the field by our apartment building. They really have a problem with stray dogs here  - they are everywhere.

This is our new district. Elder Cobabe on the left is our district leader and he has a new companion Elder Collison who just arrived in Romania last week. He is from Michigan and is one of the first 18 yr old missionaries. Sister Caruso who was not transferred has a new companion, Sister Rivera (far right)  who is from England and has been in Romania for about 6 months. We will probably be getting an additional pair of Elders to serve here in Constanta next month. We spent a few days last week finding a new apartment for Elder Cobabe and Elder Collison. They are no longer going to live above the church.


On Friday we had a branch missionary activity. The branch members met down by the docks where there are usually a lot of people walking around and set up a table with pamphlets. We contacted everyone that walked by, inviting them to attend our church. It was a lot of fun and the members are very willing to do missionary work. Several people agreed to come to church.




We also had a group of members and missionaries singing church hymns. People would stop and listen to the hymns. In a couple of weeks we will do the same activity in one of the city parks.
Left to right: Flori, Sora Caruso, Sora Rivera, Vlad, Sora Powell, Tibi

Last weekend the mission president gave the missionaries permission to attend the mid-night mass at one of the orthodox churches in connection with Easter. We went as a district to the "Black Church" in our neighborhood. Hundreds of people were gathered outside the church and it was nice to see so many people who were thinking of Christ. The Priests sing/chant scriptures from the Bible and light candles that are used to light the candles of the people. They take their candles home and keep them burning through Easter Sunday.



One day, we went to the City Park and rented bicycles to ride around the lake. We had so much fun and really enjoyed it. While riding our bikes, we met one of the ladies who has been attending our English classes.






Her name is Iona. We invited her to church and she showed up today for church! - although she came in at the end of the meeting block. We invited her using our best Romanian --  don't know how she could have gotten the times wrong?  We are now carrying some pass along cards with the written address of the church and meeting times. Hopefully that will help with the communication. The city parks are great places to meet and talk to people.




The parks are real gathering places over here for people of all ages. Elder Powell thought he might fit into this group if he had a hat.

The older men often gather in groups and "discuss" things. Lots of loud voices and hand/arm gestures but they usually seem to leave happy and still friends.

Service project on Thursday - one of the members needed help painting their home. We got together and it only took a few hours. The paint was very thin (like whitewash) and didn't cover very well but it looked better than it did before we painted.

 

 

Branch Frisbee Football game on Friday. They love to get together.

 

We have a gypsy family that lives behind us. There are a lot of gypsy families in Romania. They dress in bright colors and seem to find ways of surviving.







The kids love riding their cart around.









Today is Mother's Day.  Happy Mother's Day to all our daughters !!!  You are great mothers to our grandchildren and we are proud of each of you. Sister Vitel asked us at church why her son was allowed to called her today. He is serving a mission in Switzerland. Guess it's not Mother's Day here.