People we love

Nov 20 2016. We are having a bit of a sober week, as several people we know well are either moving or being transferred. One of the great blessings of a mission is all the wonderful people you meet and get to know well. One of the tougher parts is saying goodbye to so many whom you may never see again. We do not live near the Church center and may not see many of the missionaries again. This week, Elder Bekker gets transferred to the office for his last 2 transfers, he is from Israel and is an absolute gem. We love him dearly, Elder Paterson has been here for ages , I think at least 6 transfers, and we will miss him. He is a humble and effective missionary, who for some reason, did not think highly of himself. We told him we thought he was great, which he was. Even though from Mesa, he was a small town boy who always chipped in to serve and help. I will mention others thru pictures. We went to a baptism in Bălți yesterday, it is a long drive that we have made a lot, we do not understand Russian, which the service was in, but the Saints there are genuine people, whom we love. Some are a little quirky, but have some life experiences. One man had to recover after a grenade accident, some one found an old one and threw it in his house. Lost his home and health, and was on the streets for a long time. Quite the group. We are lucky in that the Russian speaking elders just go between 2 cities, and we still always see them. As we get older, we appreciate relationships more and more. There are a lot of good people in this world, and we are lucky to meet a few of them.

These 3 are students from U of Utah, here on business internships, Hannah Gibson, Alessandro Baeilli, and Taylor Shippen. Hannah and Alessandro served missions here, Hannah was in Moldova. We got to know all 3 very well and have really grown to love them. All go home this week.

The Bălți branch at the baptism.

From L, Elder Soloviov, Elder Morgan, Elder Huntsman, Zarian, Elder Bekker. Zarian has come a long way, he used to show up to discussions drunk, people really change.

Our favorite Israeli elder , Bekker, also the only Israeli elder. Fluent in English, Hebrew and Russian

Elder Paterson, a great elder

He tried a new hair color, it will not last.

Mihai Zgarbor. our member in our neighborhood and a great new member. We really love Mihai, he is a very dedicated young man.
So today in Chișinău were protests again. The Pro-Russian candidate, Dodon, won, 52-48%. so the country is very divided which is not good. We hope any change can be peaceful, but it is a bit worrisome. We are safe, but a bit worried. So we do our thing, try to help others and keep busy.