Christmas Lights

P-day was cold and snowy so the missionaries came over to our apartment to play games for the afternoon.  We taught them how to play "dork" and "6 down" which are two of the games that our grandkids love to play with us.

On Monday, we had FHE with the Pavel family.  We did a couple of group activities that they all enjoyed and then to our surprise, they had prepared dinner for everyone.  The dinner was traditional Romanian food of a potato/vegetable dish and fried meat pate that they eat a lot of here. It was very good.

This was most of our home evening group. Some were off taking care of children. This is an exceptional family who all live together in a small house.  They all work so hard and are a close family. We hope they can all be sealed in the temple some day.

On Wednesday, we had to meet the missionaries in Brasov city center to inspect their apartment.  We went early so that we could walk around and see the Christmas lights.  It is so nice to be in a Christian country during Christmas.  The lights were beautiful.

They had traditional Romanian Christmas carols playing in the plaza. They were nothing like our Christmas carols however they do play our English carols in the stores and around town.

At the end of the plaza, there were rows of shops selling hot drinks, nuts and other Christmas gift items.  They also had a booth with the nativity.  It was very festive.

This street was blocked off to car traffic and they had strung lights across the street down several blocks.  It was very beautiful and we enjoyed walking down the street.  We were wishing our family could have been with us.

We stopped and ate dinner at a restaurant and had a nice evening together. It will be a wonderful memory for us.

This is the street where the Elders live.  It is so European and makes you feel like you have stepped back in time.

On Friday, we had Levi and Teo over to dinner. He is in the Brasov branch presidency and is the group leader for the Feldioara group. They are such good people and members of the church. Their English is somewhat limited and we speak no Romanian but we got along just fine. We showed them pictures of our family and taught them how to play dork.  It was a lot of fun.

Sunday is a long day for us and the missionaries. We attend the Brasov meeting block and then drive out to Feldioara for their meeting block. We are so lucky to have Sister Bray who plays the piano for all of our meetings.  In Feldioara, the keyboard is balancing on a chair and keeps sliding as she plays but she never misses a beat. She is playing a traditional Romanian Christmas song that is in the Romanian LDS hymn book. You probably won't recognize the melody but the Romanian people love this song.