Here's what I will miss most....

...about Romania...

Mihaela
Marian

Ghirocel (aka "Bobo")

Claudia
and many others...It's been a blessing to come back to this wonderful country and spend time with these special children. Even though I will never see them again in this life, I will have them with me forever.

"And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation." Moroni 8:17

Our time here is winding down to a close. We have five days left to spend with our children at the orphanage and hospital. I can't believe we're already almost done. It seems like this semester has flown by, but then when I think about things that happened back at the beginning, they seem like a long time ago.
Over the last few weeks I have come to realize how much I love Romania. I love everything about it. I have gotten used to living here and it seems so normal now. It's going to be really hard to leave.
It's also weird to think that I will be going on a mission only 3 weeks after I get home!

The Retreat, Mission Call, etc...

I know it has been forever since the last time I've written anything here. Krystal says she checks my blog so I guess I'd better do an update!
A lot of stuff has happened since the last time I wrote. We went on our midsemester retreat to Bucuresti and Constanta.

Here's a picture of me in Bucuresti at Piata Revoloutiei (Revolution Square) which is where Nicolae Ceausescu gave his last speech. The statue is of Iuliu Maniu, one of the prime ministers of Romania before WWII:
Here's a couple of pictures of us in Constanta:
Outside the LDS church:

Us on a pier by the Black Sea:

Shortly after we got back from our midsemester retreat I got my mission call!! I'll be serving in the Baltic Mission, speaking Latvian. The mission covers all three of the Baltic States, but I'm thinking I'll only be in Latvia since I'll be Latvian-speaking.
So I wanted to find out how to say "Latvia" in Romanian so I can tell people where I'm going. The Baltic States is "Statele Baltice," Latvia is "Letonia", and Latvian language is "limba letona."

I'll be entering the MTC on May 6, which is exactly 3 weeks after I get home from Romania.

been a bit sick...

Hi all,
This is just a quick note to let you know everything is still in full swing over here. I've been sick this whole week, so I missed a few days at the hospital and orphanage, but today I was feeling much better.
It was a great day at the Dancu apartment. Marie and I got to take two of the kids (Claudia and Marian) outside for half an hour. We bundled them up and took them for a walk to the park. It was lots of fun. Hopefully we'll be allowed to do it again tomorrow!
Today it was sunny for the first time in weeks. It was great to see the sun again after the weather being cloudy for so long. It was warm enough that we didn't need to wear our big coats on the walk to the hospital! Just a light jacket. I hope it stays this way!

First few weeks in the orphanage and hospital

I realized it's high time I updated this thing so here it goes! (And I'm going to try to be better about updating it more often)

We have been going to both the orphanage and the children's hospital for a few weeks now. It is really great get back into the swing of things here. In some ways it feels like I never left.

I am working at one of the apartments rather than at the main orphanage, which is the same thing I did last time I was here, but it is a different apartment with different kids. The apartment is in Dancu, a sector at the south end of the city. Every Monday through Friday morning, I travel with one of my roommates, Marie, on the tram over to Dancu. It is about a 20
minute tram ride. We have four kids living at the apartment. Their names are Mihaela, Claudia, Marian, and Ghirocel. They can be a real challenge (especially Mihaela), but Marie and I love them anyway. Marian and I go way back because he was at the hospital all of last summer because of some kidney problems. It is fun to get to work with him again. We aren't allowed to take pictures of the kids at the orphanage or apartments right now, so I don't have any pictures to show.

But I do have pictures of the hospital! We go there every Monday through Friday afternoon. There are a few kids there that I knew from last summer.
All of these pictures are of me with kids I knew from last summer:

Me and Selin

Me and Florin

Me and Spencer with Andreea

Noi Am Mers la Moldova! (we went to Moldova)

Here's some of us at the church in Moldova:

This past Sunday, we traveled with our branch to a church conference in Moldova. It was fun to get to see the other side of the border, but I'm glad we live in Romania instead of Moldova. We had some problems getting through Moldovan customs, but after waiting for about an hour we were finally cleared to go through. We ended up being an hour late to the conference, but they held it for us, which was nice of them since we made up such a small portion of the congregation.

The conference itself was really great. Some of it was in Romanian and some in Russian. I couldn't understand any of the Russian talks, but I enjoyed trying to listen to and understand the Romanian talks. A member of the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy spoke (I can't remember his name). He was from Austria. He gave a really good talk about being pioneers in your own country.

Afterward, we ate dinner with a big group of important priesthood leaders (i.e. the Mission President, the member of the seventy that spoke, the new district president, etc.).
Here's a picture of everyone who went on the trip except for Pres. Popovici, who was in a meeting, and Spencer, who took the picture. I'm holding a Russian "resored gospel" pamphlet :)

We all had a great time. :)

Trip to Transylvania...and...We're in!

We've had an exciting week here! Six of us traveled to the city of Brasov in the Transylvania region of Romania and did some sight-seeing while we were waiting to get cleared to work in the orphanage and hospital. We took the Hogwarts Express (in other words, a train) there and back. We passed the time on the train rides by reading Bram Stoker's Dracula out loud to each other. While in Brasov we stayed in a hostel in the old section of town. We traveled to nearby towns to see Dracula's Castle (Castelul Bran) and Rasnov Fortress. Fun was had by all.

Here's a picture of the six of us who went at Biserica Sfantul Nicolae (St. Nicolae Church) in Brasov:And now for some even more exciting news....We've been approved to start at the orphanage and children's hospital! We went to the hospital on Thursday for the first time and then today (Friday) we started our normal routine of going to both the orphanage and hospital. It is great to be back with the kids, especially at the hospital, which was always my favorite part of each day. Exciting things are going to be happening from now on. Don't worry, I'll post them all here.

Also, this Sunday we are traveling with the LDS branch to a church conference in Chisinau, Moldova! I'm super excited about it! Another stamp for my passport! :) We'll be leaving Sunday morning and will get back in the evening. The thing that makes me most excited about it, though, is to spend some time with the branch.

Still waiting...

We're still waiting for clearance from the Romanian child protection services to start working at the orphanage and children's hospital.

We are all very bored and tired of sitting around in our apartments all day. We've been trying to do things to entertain ourselves, like going to the movies. We did that last night but it was a flop because it was a really bad movie and we had no idea because there are no ratings here. We ended up walking out about half way through after a lot of awkward moments and we finally just couldn't take it any more. Don't ever see "Sione's Wedding." I definitely don't recommend it.

Another thing I like to do is walk around and look at the pretty Christmas lights that are still up. Here's a view from our balcony (this is the least blurry picture my camera would take):

We are leaving on Monday morning to spend a couple of days in Braşov to go on some castle tours and see some sights. Hopefully we will be able to start in the orphanage and hospital as soon as we get back. I can't wait to get started!

I'm Here!

I got to Romania on Friday afternoon and have been slowly adjusting to the time change. I came with one other member of the group, Katie. Then Justin and Brittany (married) came on Saturday night followed by everyone else coming Sunday afternoon. It is great to finally have everyone here. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will soon. Right now I am out on my balcony because that is the only place we can get internet at our apartment, and it is freezing!! So I won't stay out here long. I'll post more soon. :)

I'm going back to Romania!

I will be back at the beginning of January 2009! I've decided to keep a blog this time while I'm in Romania. I'm just getting it set up. I will, of course, write a real entry when it gets closer to time to go. :)