Thanksgiving Weekend

This is our "Christmas tree" - a Christmas Cactus!  Glade has grown many of these and his mother always had one or two in his home growing up.  Diane has never seen one.  It's missing the evergreen smell but we love them.  We put a few decorations on our windows.  We're getting into the Christmas Spirit.  Glade downloaded some Christmas music that we can listen to in the car.

This weekend was the district training in Chisinau.  There was a huge snow storm forecast for this week and we didn't think we would be going but the Lord must have really needed us to do this training because Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, a window opened up between storms so we took it!

We stopped in Bacau and met with the missionaries there.  Elder Lybbert is the branch president and is doing such a great job.  We went to dinner and had a shawarma (Romanian open burrito with French fries inside).

We were able to attend the branch activity with the Bacau branch.  They had a spiritual thought and then "bobbed" for apples.  The kids loved it.

Here's Elder Lybbert setting the example.

This is one of the little girls who didn't want to get wet so she wouldn't try.  Elder Lybbert gave her his apple.

We got up the next morning very early and drove to Chisinau.  We had to cross the border into Moldova and it is always a little stressful but we made it through.  As we came into the city, we saw them decorating this big tree in Centru for Christmas.

They were setting up for a big concert right in the middle of the street.  We heard cannons going off all night.

It was cold and it started snowing a little but the roads were good.  This is the "Arc de Triomphe" replica located in the center of the city.

Here is our hotel room.....not a lot of "extras" in the room.  We had a 9" box TV and an internet connection that was constantly going in and out.  At least the heater worked most of the night but the water was only lukewarm.

This was a treat!!!!!  For some reason, they installed the toilet one inch from the tile wall.  Even if you were careful, your body would touch the cold tile for a real thrill, especially at night.

The district training was for all the priesthood leaders in the Chisinau district.  The attendance was good with each branch being represented.  Elder Powell did a great job and a lot of questions were answered.  He is such a good teacher and has a lot of wisdom.

After the conference, Elder and Sister Schwartz invited us to their new apartment for dinner.  They had just moved to this new apartment and it was fun to see it.  We had leftovers from their Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious.  They told us many stories about their experiences in this part of the country. 

Then it was time to drive home.  There was snow on the ground through the mountains but luckily the roads were not slippery.  This should be the last long trip we have to make this winter.

It's nice to be home safe and sound.  We had a great experience and love doing the Lord's work.  We thought of each of you on Thanksgiving day and want you to know that we count you as our greatest blessing.  Thank you for your love and support.