Zach Spends a Little Holiday Time with Santa and Friends

 

O' Christmas Tree

Transfer to Oradea, in North West Romania along the Border of Hungary

Our Apartment in Ploiesti

I've been pretty lucky to have somewhat descent apartments on my mission here in Romania. This one in Ploiesti was located right downtown on the square, so the night life and holiday celebrations gave us a few sleepless nights!

Ploiesti Missionaries and Members

Elder Jensen Serving Among the Gypsy People

Zach spoke of his fondness of serving among the Gypsy people of Ploiesti. He became a big brother figure to two very special little boys; Cozmin and Alex. They have had a lot of fun together! One of Zach's emails home even spoke of his concern for these boys and their future. But, he's so glad that they now have the Gospel in their lives, he's even mentioned that he wanted to somehow adopt them both!

Cozmin, My Little Buddie

Old Friends Re-Unite

Transfer to Ploiesti, Romania

The town of Ploiesti was established in 1596, during the reign of Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave). It rapidly flourished as a center for trade and handicraft manufacturing in the 17th and 18th centuries. The road connecting Ploieşti to Braşov was opened in 1864, and the railway arrived in 1882. Many schools and hospitals were built around this time. In the mid-19th century, the Ploieşti region was one of the world's leading oil extraction and refinery sites. The city is also remembered as the site of the self-styled Republic of Ploieşti, a short-lived 1870 revolt against the Romanian monarchy. Ploiesti is the 9th largest populated city in Romania with over 250,000 people. Ploiesti is located in Prahova County about 56km North of Bucharest in the historical region of Wallachia.

Laughter, The Best Medicine!

Sometimes, We Can Even Make People Glow!

Old Orhei Monastery

Sightseeing Old Orhei and The Raut River

  

Old Orhei is famous for the cave monasteries located there. This zone was ideal for the primary monasticism of early Christian community. It was isolated from the outer world. At the time when Christians came here there should have been smaller and bigger caves in the calcareous rocks cut by pre-historic tribes living on this territory. The Christians probably used existing caves and penetrated “inside the rocks” in order to “become a rock”. Christian life in the Old Orhei caves became eternal and saint. In the medieval period monastery life intensification made monks to deepen the caves. There also appeared new caves. Nowadays some caves are preserved well. Others were damaged, mainly by earthquakes which are frequent in this area. The researches show that tens of monasteries fell into waters of Raut River. However still many complexes are in good condition.

At the Old Orhei there are several monumental stone constructions which attract attention of both scientists and common people. The oldest fortified construction at the Old Orhei is the Gaetic fortress. It is situated on the Butuceni promontory. Its territory has oval prolonged form oriented from East to West. The fortress is connected to the surrounding area by narrow passage. It's easy to block if something happens. So, the place was ideal for building a fortress. The fortress was left at the end of III century BC.

More to Religion Than Just "The Cross"