Elder and Sister Leonard arrived from Germany on the 18th of April and we had until the 23rd to show them some of the projects and a few beauties of Moldova.
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| Sister and Brother Leonard are on the left with various members of the staff of the school in Cimislia. We are gathered in the kitchen looking at the new equipment. |
Leonards visited Cimislia, met Mihai and Constantine at the Society of the Disabled, visited Bulboaca and Piatra/Jeloboca which are all projects we have in one stage or another. Also, with the help of Doina Stepanenco we visited the monastary at Orehi Vechi, the oldest here in Moldova.
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Doina, Susan and John Leonard on the cliff outside of the monastary.
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They also attended Church with us in Balti, meeting the new Branch President there, Boris Reshetco.
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| President Boris Reshecto |
We had a wonderful visit and both of us went to the airport the morning of the 23rd, the Leonards going to Germany and us to Romania for a mission conference and a few days of working with Elder and Sister Wolsey.
The morning of the 23rd was filled with mis and partical communications but we eventually connected with the Wolsey's, the Elders and Lidia Constantinescu, the Romanian author which we had met earlier in the year.
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| Elder Biggs, Peter, Sister McGovern, Priest, Lidia, Elder Barney, Elder McGovern inside this beautifully decorated Chapel |
That Monday we visited her church, met her priest, visited the local cemetary and mayor's office and then were invited to lunch at Lidia's beautiful old home which once belonged to her grandparents.
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| Elder McGovern, Peter, Sister McGovern, Lidia Constantinescu, Elder Biggs, Vicky Wolsey and Elder Barney |
It was in this home where she experienced World War II and is it now where she writes her children's books. We had a wonderful day and delicious food.
Tues the 24th Wolseys took up to visit Motivation Romania and meet with Christian who head that organization. This is the organization through which wheelchairs for Romania are mainly distributed. We gained a lot of insite and this visit gave us some goals to shoot for in Moldova.
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| Christan at Camp Varatic |
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| workshop in Motavation Romania |
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| End to a great day of visiting Motavation Romania and the park with Elder Randy and Sister Vicky Wolsey of Canada. |
The following 4 days where spent in a Senior's Conference for the Romania/Moldova mission. We were joined by the Kitchen's from Moldova and 8 other couples which working Romania, many of whom we had not met before.
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| Top right is one of our missionaries here FROM Flower Mound, Texas, Elder McBride! Bottom left are the Howells who have since gone home to Scotland, the middle you can see Sister and Elder McFadden, the Howells and Sister Hill and ofcourse, President Hill. |
We did have to say good-bye to the Howell's as they were leaving the following Monday for their new home in Scotland. We are missing them and it is been one of our great pleasures of this mission as we have come to know them just a little! You can tell they are struggling as they 'hold back the tears'!
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| Dinner out just before attending a concert. |
The conference was well planned and one of our favorite parts was being able to meet or talk with 2 or the districts presidents from Romania. Much insite was gained from our visits with them.
We did a little touring to include the site of the dedication of the country of Romania for preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a village where some of the oldest homes and mills had been moved. Some of those homes and mills were built..
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| Living room of one of the underground homes built in the 1700s |
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| part of the mill |
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| another section of themill |
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| Instructions for the mill |
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| This house may have been built several hundred years ago but this red thing seems out of place! |
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| Elder David and Sister Rosie McFadden |
One of our greatest treasure here was becoming reaquointed with David McFadden, whom I knew as a teen and who knew and worked with my parents almost 50 years ago! It was wonderful to get to know him again and to meet his wife.
We returned to Moldova for just 4 days before packing the car and heading for Isai in Romania. We met the Wolseys there on the 2nd of May, had dinner, leaving the following morning early after picking up 6 missionaries and 3 branch member and headed to Varatic and the camp there.
Arriving about 9am we met the employees of Motivation Romania which included Christian and we all began to work!
We stripped, sealed and painted 7 of the 8 building of this camp in preparation for the wheelchair campers soon to arrive. It is at this camp both children and adult learn to handle their wheelchairs. EVERYONE worked so hard that 6 1/2 of the buildings were stripped, 6 of them were sealed and painting had begun on three of them. Meals were prepared there and that night they had a campfire for all. The following day all was finished by 2pm. It was a beautiful site and a great experience.
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| All of us worked very hard for two days, just over half were employees of Motivation Romania and the rest were missionaries and LDS Church members. |
Before we left Varatic we visited their monastry which houses 700 nuns. It was a beautiful facility. After we dropped off the missionaries and branch members, we said goodbye to the Wolsey's and headed back to Chisinau, arriving about 10pm.
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| Monastry at Varatic |
Currently we have 6 projects in various stages of completion and are working on a vision project, a wheelchair project, a computer project and getting an additional sewing machine for the Society of the Disabled. Stay tune for the deliverly of the 124 pairs of shoes which takes place tomorrow!
