Trip to Sibiu - Dentist

On the weekend we drove to Sibiu to visit the Branch. When we arrived we noticed the "eyes" in many of the roofs. We were told that they were of German origin and represented being watched. We are not sure if that is the real meaning of the "eyes" in the roofs but they are very interesting.

This is the Sibiu chapel with Elder Hollist and Elder Slemboski who are serving there.  We attended church there on Sunday and there was only 1 member and 1 investigator present when we started the meeting.  Three more members came late. One of the missionaries was giving a talk and Elder Powell was sitting on the stand. The missionary was speaking in Romanian and Elder Powell thought he had closed his talk and so Elder Powell said "Amen". Everyone started smiling because everyone else knew the missionary was just pausing after a quote. Opps!

This man was doing his laundry in the fountain outside the church.

Saturday night we took the missionaries and the branch president out to dinner. The two sisters are Sora Lund, Sora Fletcher and the Elders are Elder Hollist and Elder Slemboski.  The branch president is Pres. Sandu Craciun. He recently went to the Freiberg temple in Germany and is not married yet.

Back in Brasov. Some of the streets are so European that you feel like you are driving through Germany.

Our biggest challenge this week was a trip to the dentist for Elder Powell. He has had an infected molar for some time and so we went to a dentist recommended by the previous senior couple.

 

 

The graffiti on the tooth sign says "tooth fairy" in Romanian.

 



 



Long story, but we knew the molar needed to be extracted. Everyone we talked to thought it should be a simple procedure but it was not. The root had imbedded itself into the bottom jaw bone and it turned out to be a nightmare. We are still dealing with infection and pain but seem to be making progress. Hindsight is 20-20. We probably would have flown to Germany to have it taken care of.
 

On Thursday we had to drive to Bucharest for a presidency meeting. We took a picture of people selling honey along the road. This is really common and when the sun shines on the bottles they are very colorful.

We stopped at the Piata (like a farmers market) where they sell fresh fruits and vegetables. They are local and in season and are very good.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays the missionaries teach English at the church. They have had several investigators stay after for missionary lessons.

Yesterday, we went with the Sisters to an investigators home at the end of this dirt road.

It was a one room house.  She had 3 small children under the age of 6 yrs.

We are not sure how they keep the wind and rain out. You can see light between the boards. Winters are very cold and snowy.

There are two beds.  The children all sleep in one bed and the parents in the other.

She had prepared a dinner for us.  They do all of their cooking outside in the open.  It's like camping year round.  They work so hard just to survive.

This is the little family with Sister Merrill and Sister Drotar. The husband works construction and they are getting married in September. The mother said she would like to get baptized after her wedding.