Service and such

April 25 2016  We just got home at the end of a very busy day. We began with going to the J Cooleys apartment as they were leaving today. We carried baggage into our old blue Opel, and they managed to squeeze 6 suitcases into the back of it, almost had to leave Sister Cooley behind. We have accumulated a lot of stuff-junk and we will have to dejunk, one of Debs favorite tasks. Then we went to the Church, we had unloaded a semi of charity donations from an organization in Holland, we had to take them all out, label and sort. About 400 boxes, + pillows, blankets, etc. A very generous people there, it will all be going to villages in the next 2 days. There was a considerable ammount of medical supplies as well. I got to be the expert labeller there. We worked about 3 hours, then went to lunch, then Deb and I returned to the Church building to teach a couple of classes. I will explain a bit more on this donation later. Family home evening at the church on Friday was a big success, over 30 people. We like to think it was the Edwards charm, but had more to do with banana splits. Anyway, we had a lot of fun. We have had a lot of rain, and the grass is green, rarely is it cut. Oh my, could I use a lawnmower around here. I talked to a man in the cemetery Saturday who was clipping the grass on his wifes grave with scissors. He certainly took excellent care. We have a new elder, Elder Brodskyy, born in the Ukraine, moved to Italy at age 5, USA at age 13, and now here, fluent in 7 languages. He came in on Wednesday a day late. He came on Turkish airways, we were looking for a flight from București, that was late, so we missed each other in a very small airport for 2 hours. Poor guy. I consoled his sorrows with fresh banana chocolate chip muffins and all was quickly forgiven. Quite an elder.

Our Friday night group, a few missionaries mixed in, but a very lively group.

We played a get to know you game. People sat across from one another, had 1.5 minutes to know names and ask 3 questions about the person. We then had a competition to see which team could remember best, with a prize.

Some knew each other, most did not, so it was  a good time, Elder Brodskyy is 2nd from the right. 

Something new, trying a short video. 

We had 3 teams, Elder Bekker in the middle was awe struck by the beauty of Sister Edwards. He has moved to Bălți this week, we will really miss him.

Okay, this is the group that helped us unload the trailer. It was parked south of the city as it was too big to come in. We unloaded 5  small truck loads of boxes and took them to the Church. From left, Elder Brown, Sparhawk, Bekker, Lundquist , with elder Paterson in the front.

Lots of medical equipment as well, you can see some older lifts here

Okay, now for the interesting part. We are unloading this trailer, near dusk, when a police car comes roaring up, lights flashing, sirens going. The police get out, and one is holding a machine gun, with his finger on the trigger. The other asks what we are doing and what is in the boxes. Ruslan, the member and guy in charge of it all, tells them and asks what they think they are doing , acting like we are criminals. They did leave, but they are truly unlike any police force we see at home. Nice touch, a machine gun.

The missionaries do a lot of good here, all behind the scenes. Today we had 5 again working very hard. A good group, dedicated to serve people in Moldova
Well, we have sent a couple home , the Cooleys, and we will greatly miss them. Our work load is sure to increase, but more importantly, their companionship will be missed, they did a great volunteer work here.