Celebrating Halloween in Romania

Our Halloween Activity was packed with fun, our district got together with some of the English Students to carve pumpkins, bobbed for apples, and a very messy whip cream eating contest. We, of course, were at our "goofey" best! The Halloween costumes were the best this year, we all came dressed as LDS Missionaries! LOL!

Trip to Arad with Zone Leaders

Arad is a small town just North of Timisoara.
I was invited by the Zone Leaders to go with
them on a transfer here. Arad is a city of impressive buildings and architecture, with many of the main sights located along the principal thoroughfare, the broad, tree-lined, Bulevardul Revolutiei with trams running along it. These include the impressive white City Hall Palace (1875), the Palace of Culture (1911-1916) and the neo-classical State Theatre (1874).

Arad is an important industrial center and transportation hub, as well as home to two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training school for teachers, and a music conservatory. Churches and cathedrals in the city span over four centuries, and architectural styles ranging from baroque to neoclassic. My favorite kind of stuff!

Missionary Work in Timisoara

I am really coming to understand how hard of a thing we are asking people to do. It is not just a simple change in their religion, it is a change of life for them. We are not asking an easy thing from them, it is a very difficult change. That's why it is so improtant that the investigator feels the Spitit and gains a real testimony of it, so they can make a clear decision of what they are doing, and where they are going with their lives.

This week we have met with a bunch of less active members trying to get them back to Church. We found a couple of new investigators, hopefully everything will go fine with them. The Timisoara Branch is doing better, they still struggle. The members still depend way too much on the Missionaries to run things. If we were not here, the Branches would fall apart. So, that's the goal we have, to get them to function as members on their own. Giving them the confidence they need without any help from the missionaries. They definitely are not there yet, but with more and more time, they will learn, and they will really start to magnify their callings, then they'll be to that point.

Peles Castle and Sight's Surrounding Sinia

The tour through Peles Castle was so sweet! The King at the time wanted to bring the culture of many Countries of the World into the castle. So, each room inside the castle is decorated from a different part of the world. There are Turkish, French, German, and a Chinese room. The outside of the castle is very German with it's architecture. It was built in the 1800's and has electricity throughout. Way Cool!

Sinia is a cute little city settled up in the Carpathian Mountains, near Peles Castle. There are tons of little shops and things to see. We saw a Orthodox Monastery and a Memorial Cemetery for the Revolution of Romania. We then went to a restaurant for lunch and had some traditional Romanian food. Loved it!