A great week

May 14. Well we came home to a beautiful rainbow tonight, it was a good summation of our week, which was busy and eventful. When last we wrote, we were just waiting to skype Brendan, first talk with him in almost 5 months. It was very pleasant to see him and talk to him. The boy has certainly made us proud, working hard, growing up and doing the Lords work in New Mexico. My word, he even rides a bike, a thought that was anathema to him 6 months ago. So we were glad to see and talk to him. What did we do this week? We fed missionaries, helped with discussions, went to a village with elders to deliver a Book of Mormon, went to Bălți for a double baptism, and had a baptism here as well. It was just a spiritual feast, as well as some events too sacred to write of. Oh, and sister Edwards said she would rather dye than be old, so she has a new hair color this week, and looks great. So I will try to explain thru pictures again what happened. We have also had lots of thunderstorms as well, one night of very heavy rain. We also taught a couple of institute classes, the one in Orhei was in a flower shop again, we just love it there.

On Wednesday we had the chance to go to Miloștii Mici, a village south of Chișinău, with Elder Paterson and Allphin to deliver a Book of Mormon to a nice guy called Petru. As we got in his yard , he had a huge garden, well, chickens, dogs, rabbits and multiple trees. He was just going to have us sit down, but I said, actually in Romanian, Can I please see your garden? His face lit up, seeing a fellow gardener and we had a marvelous tour. Here grape vines are all over the entrance.

He had flowers, plum and apple trees, had over a hundred tomatoes (roșii), every type of vegetable you could think of and multiple grape vines and types. It was just so interesting to see and visit. 

We had some fruit compot, a drink from a bottle with fruit in the bottom of the bottle. We made sure it was not wine and then had some delicious juice. Petru was a real gentleman.  Once we were friends, he made sure it was me to explain the Book of Mormon to him. I did have to speak English, his request. He also invited us back, and we are sure to go. More on this later.

 A side note, we have begun to see these enormous snails all over. They are pretty, but exquisitely slimy.

This was from Bălți on Thursday. We went thru Orhei, and picked up Mariana, and went up to the baptisms. In the picture are from left, Elder Morgan, Olga, Roma, and Elder Kohler. It was a wonderful service, all in Russian of course. It was a spiritual feast for us. We had met Roma previously, but not Olga. They are both Young Adults and we will have much association with them. We love Bălți and the members there, the missionaries are superb. I just loved the background of this picture.

This may be the treat of my mission. I had the opportunity to baptize Adriana Josan, a fantastic young woman 19 years old. We helped a little in teaching and she asked me to do her baptism. So I was able to conduct the service and then do the baptism, all in Romanian this day . This is a lady who is raising her 8 year old brother,  gets some support from a sister in Germany, goes to school and works. Her father was killed 2 years ago. She has inner strength most of us only dream of. What a blessing to be involved with her, we were so blessed to meet and help with this day. 

Sister Nicol, Adriana, and Sister Brinkman. They were all great . Adrianas baptism was in place of our regular home evening of Friday night, so we had lots of visitors. Need I say that much food was consumed?

This may be one of my favorite pictures to date. Elder Allphin is teaching Petru from our Book of Mormon, Elder Paterson just had his tie bitten by a puppy. He was looking down for protection. Petru is a genuine farmer, has a little plot of land of 1.5 hectares that he makes a living from. What a nice guy he is.
So we have had a very good week, and feel good about all that has happened. There are still many challenges, but we feel good about what is happening here and are glad to be here helping.