Things We WON'T Miss

As we continue our free-fall to the end of our mission, we have days when we "well-up" with the thought of leaving Romania and this mission that we have loved so much. To deactivate those emotions, we sometimes mutter about the things we WON'T miss. For our blog followers who have experience living in a foreign country, you realize "It's not Kansas, Dorothy"! Lest you think we're being negative, think again. We call it 'therapy'!

In no particular order, these are some of the things we won't miss in 49 days:

Living in a city.

Stepping off a bus into six inches of slush containing whoknowswhat!

Our "Easy Bake" oven. If it weren't for Denny, we would call it our "Easy Burn" oven!

No-dryer laundry day.

Carrying groceries home.

Mystery meals.

Not being able to help everybody.

Water problems. Sometimes it's hot, sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's brown, sometimes it's off!

Working out in our classy attire...

...with the classy gym equipment!

Just look at the muscles!

Honey-do Hair-do's.

Tripping impediments everywhere!

Look down, Denny!

Duck, Denny!

Romanian overnight trains

I only LOOK grouchy!

Making each other laugh!

My companion lights up my life but I'm pretty sure I'll be ready for a transfer soon!

(To balance out, there will be a 'Things We WILL Miss' entry soon.)

January Blahs Brightened

Being from the Northwest, we thought we knew grey! Now that we are seasoned Bucharestites, we are sure there can be nothing grey-er than Bucharest in winter. The sooty block buildings, the greasy streets, the grimy cars, the mucky sidewalks, not to mention the cloudy sky, all combine together to produce a colorless view out our window. There's a newborn baby in the apartment just below ours and when we hear the wailing cry, we are reminded that life is good and there's no time for melancholy. Our work continues and in the past week we met with two NGO's to officially sign donation agreements that will bring another 650 wheelchairs into Romania this spring. We also did something we have wanted to do our entire mission...attend a concert in the beautiful Athenium. We gathered all the senior couples together and had a wonderful time forgetting all there is to do!

This lady didn't get the memo about spring being right around the corner! Romanians have a hard time smiling, even when you ask them to! Sometimes when I see these faces, I hum to myself the song, "Smile through your heart is breaking, smile even though you're aching, while there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by...." It makes me smile, anyway!

This is the Athenium. It was built in 1888 and it is a European masterpiece.

We snapped this picture right inside the gorgeous lobby.

L to R: President and Sora Lundberg (SLC), Elder and Sora Linerud (Spokane), Elder and Sora Van Orman (Provo), Elder and Sora Dummar (Heber).

The Athenium underwent a total restoration immediately after the revolution.

A fun time was had by all.

The program was performed by the philharmonic orchestra and included the works of

Williams, Bernstein and Gershwin.

Later in the week we traveled to a wheelchair partner, Motivation Romania to inspect the shipment of 370 wheelchairs that had just arrived.

Each wheelchair has some assembly involved and we watched while these employees masterfully worked to assemble them.

15 down, 355 to go!

And now for the highlight of the week! If you ask a missionary a fast food they miss most from home, the first answer is always, "Subway"! We have McDonalds, KFC, and BurgerKing but we don't have a Subway!

For our District meeting lunch, we made hats (I downloaded the logo and just printed it!) and reconstructed a Subway shop right in our kitchen! As you can see, we covered every detail, right down to the gloves, wrapping in paper and stuffing the footlong into a plastic bag. The missionaries loved our idea and we had a blast pulling it off! We are going to have to work on a soda pop dispenser with free refills but we have to leave some ideas for the new couple replacing us in 57 days (but who's counting?)!

Spreading Christmas

Last year on Christmas Eve we decided to give cash to unsuspecting Romanians who appeared to us as needy. Our only rule was that the receivers could not be beggars. Our beneficiaries would be ordinary people we came upon while walking down the streets of our neighborhood. The unbelieving smiles and thanks we got warmed our hearts.

This year, we wanted to expand our giving so we came up with a brilliant idea. We would buy the meager goods from one street vendor and give to other people we met who looked like they could use some Christmas cheer. I snapped pictures along the way.

The Romanian elderly have been hit hard by the economy and, in a recent decision by the government, their pensions were cut by 25%. Many have taken to the streets, selling fruits and vegetables they raise themselves. This little man stood by his meager bag of apples, hoping someone would buy one or two.

Elder Linerud asked him to put some apples in the bag we provided and then the little man would look up to get the sign to stop. Elder Linerud motioned for all of them!

You can feel his delight!

The little scale said we owed 12 lei--$4. Elder Linerud tipped him another 10 lei.

He shook Denny's hand and kissed mine and said "Multimesc!" (I thank you!) about ten times!

He then gathered up his empty bag and went home for Christmas.

Onward. We found this man, gathering "things" from the street. He was dumbfounded that he would get something from a stranger.

We gave three or four apples at a time and everyone returned our gift with a smile.

These people are waiting for a handout from the other people who are waiting in line to buy pastries. As the "rich" people exit the pastry shop, the "poor" ask for some of their goods. This is a common sight at the doors of a grocery store, as well. As you can see, Elder Linerud was very popular! We hope the people in line took note and reacted with some "giving" of their own. We are trying to be good examples in a dog-eat-dog culture. There are generous Romanians but too few of them.

This man is our neighborhood schizophrenic. We have named him "Skirt Man" as he always dresses like this, carrying a purse and a doll. He appreciated the apples.

When the apples were gone, we did the same thing with a load of carrots. We had a blast!

This "look" made our Christmas giving complete.

Next year on Christmas Eve, our challenge is to come up with something as meaningful to do for the down-hearted people of Spokane. Our mission has changed us and we will not be found buying last-minute Christmas gifts!

Missionary Christmas 2010

Christmas in the mission field is oddly incredible. Missionaries are well aware that their commitment to serve will take them from home and family for two Christmases yet, they are fine with it! They teach harder, sing carols louder, eat heartier, and in the end, say it was their best Christmas ever! It's a Christmas Miracle!

This is our District on Christmas morning. We ate a traditional American breakfast of Grandpa's hotcakes, ham souffle, hot chocolate and fresh oranges.

Always searching for a creative pose for the classic District picture, these Elders opted for the pyramid. (top: Elder Johnson; middle: Elders Schanck & Frandsen; bottom: Elders James, Simmons, Betteridge.

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About a week before Christmas, Sora Lundberg asked us if we could arrange for all the Bucharest missionaries to visit an orphanage on Christmas Day. You would think a simple phone call to the orphanage would be all it would take but we soon learned that every visit needs the approval of each Sector's mayor. Emails went out to all six Sectors and after 4 days, we received no responses. Why wouldn't they want us??? We promised small gifts for the children and entertainment for their dull lives provided by 25 smiling missionaries!!! Finally the break came as one of our wonderful members helped us gain permission.

Traian was raised from the age of 2 in this orphanage. He was educated in Bucharest and attended a university here, obtaining a Masters degree in music. He is an absolute genius at the piano. A little over two years ago, he noticed two missionaries on the street and stopped them to ask why they were so happy. When he heard their answer, it rang true to him and he wanted what they had. He is one of our favorites and one reason we will find it hard to leave in March.

Traian and missionaries getting ready to spread Christmas.

This is Sora Lundberg, our Mission President's wife. She is telling the children (through Traian's interpretation) that "No matter what, your Heavenly Father loves you. Never forget that". She told the children that we wanted to have fun with them and invited them to share their talents with us. Without prodding, some jumped up and sang and danced and played instruments. It was a wonderful experience to watch them perform.

This couple did a ballroom dance number.

This boy sang an opera piece.

Missionaries performed as well. Elder James is holding his rugby ball which he gave to one of the little children.

We're pretty sure the little children had never seen anything like this! Elders Simmons and Frandsen did a Beat Boxing routine, complete with crazy dance moves!

Sora Lundberg roped me into a skit where we pantomimed going to the movies. It was a huge hit! (What's a "movie"?)

This little girl won our hearts as she wore the scarf and hat we gave her and played with her new Barbie doll.

She held her "treasures" with such care and ate everything in her baggie.

The missionaries were remarkable. Wherever I pointed my camera, I saw missionaries loving the children and giving them small gifts.

Elders Mathis and Boehme were super heros to these little boys.

Soras Olson, Mullen, and Fraser shared their joy.

You can't buy this excitement!

Our "good sport" President Lundberg speaks into a toy cell phone, to the delight of this little boy.

This is a picture of jubilation. Our missionaries will never forget visiting an orphanage in Romania on Christmas Day. We hope the children will never forget that they were showered with love by the missionaries and that their Heavenly Father will never forget them.

On a more frivolous note... This is the gift I gave Elder Linerud for Christmas. As luck would have it, it can't be shipped to America. A boat that can't be shipped?? Think about that!