Arad has so many things if you can find them!

We are thinking that the all time question would be: Have you played pickleball in Romania yet! Okay we have some breaking news for you......ready? "Da" Not duh.... da in Romanian means yes. So we were out on a very long walk trying to familiarize ourselves with a part of the city we hadn't yet been in and just before a bridge to the river we look down and there it is... an old recreation area with a court for badmitten all marked closely to pickleball. We go over and sure enough it would work. Didn't know if it was public or not, so we just happen to see our branch pres. on the way and he said it was public. So on Monday which is P-day, we took the elders and sisters, strung a piece of plastic marking tape we found along the trench across and though a bit primitive, we had a ball. Should say P-ball of a time. We loved it. Felt so good to sweat a little and wear something besides a dress!

On to our YSA which we are getting to know will take a long time for them to have our trust as we understand it. They tell us they will be there, but mostly don't. It will come, as we try to get to know them. Such heart breaking stories of their lives, yet they are members and we need to nurture them. We walk for hours to the church and take food not knowing if one or two or more will be there. The area institute director from Hungary met with us and they want the institute lessons taught in Romanian. So that puts us out of the pic on that one. We will still be there with a meal for whoever comes.

We have beautiful Fall days and the bounty of the harvest is evident. Especially at the piata. Can't beleive all the local venders and how they come each day and stay all day at the tables selling their products. We have been searching and searching for product for this Zone Conf. dinner that Elder McFaddden is cooking. ( Funny thing, Dad can't remember to call me Sora McFadden and blurts out "Rosie" all the time! ) They wanted burritos. Well they don't do Mexican food here, nor do they have the spices, but he has been very creative and borrowed pots and pans and trays from anyone we know. You have no idea how tiny our kitchen is and what a challenge this is. Right now our frig is FULL of cooked beans and product and we haven't got it all yet.

Each hour of the day is a challenge..we love our Father in Heaven and have found that we need to grow in so many ways to serve here... just figuring out who and how to pay for our electricity, water and gas and internet is baffling. We are on it though..when they come around to read the water meter, we pracically have to stand on our heads under the sinks and get the numbers for them, hot and cold. Some days we don't have hot though!

One thing I love about Sunday is when the one who can play a little piano isn't there and I get to play as we can't understand a thing they say for 3 hours! But oh how they love to sing. For Sunday school and all.

Know that we love you and you are in our prayers and we feel yours. Thank you so much. Hope you enjoy the piata pics.

Tu iubim, Sora and Elder McFadden

What's New in Arad

This is a pic of the entrance into our flat which is gratefully on the ground floor. There is a grape arbor over the entrance and curtains in the entry which makes it quite nice. We walk everywhere and the grocery bags get rather heavy especially as we are feeding the 2 Elders and 2 Sisters often. Church is a 25 min. walk and grocery store is 20 min. We have learned how to use the TranVa and it is tricky....just walking and looking and familiarizing and searching for places and things.

We have been doing the activities and teaching for YSA and met with district councilor today. There are several in the leadership who speak English. We just hug and love the members as we don't know what they are saying to us unless someone intreprets for us. They all give a kiss on each side of the face..... We can understand words as they speak and give lessons but no enough to get it all together.

Shopping has been a revelation in how different things are...pounds, of course does not exist. We take a dictionary with us and search and search for things as items are not placed as we do in our stores. Everything we attempt to do takes 5 times longer than we are accustomed. The piata is close to us and has locally grown produce and lots of other things. I have to tell you that Dave stands out like a lightbulb in his clean white shirt and tie. Everyone looks at us and either doesn't want to make eye contact or their eyes go straight to our missionary badges which we wear all the time. Another thing we wear all the time is our "pouch". Dave has one that attaches to his belt and is worn inside just below the waist; mine is attached by a shoelace type drawstring which is worn around my waist and hangs between my hips and tummy. Makes the straight skirts look rather ridiculous, but these contain our passports, driver's license, leu, us dollars (for emergencies) and ATM cards. We were instructed to wear them at all times. A few days ago as we were walking to the church (which is called the Villa because it is one) we saw beside us a gypsy cart pulled by a horse and further down the street a herd of turkeys under an old truck. We nearly jumped to the moon as we were walking home almost dark the other night and a big dog attacked the screen that was just my head height with all his bark and might. We can get homemade pretzels which are quite good at the little markets and even soft serve ice cream cones that are delicious. We spend hours and hours each day studying the language; sometimes we think we have words and phrases down until we try them out on a Ramanian and they let us know better. They are very proud of their language and will not let you have a hair of pronounciation wrong or congujation for that matter. We are still trying to "hear" the language and are making progress. We have a neighbor who speaks a little English..and one who is so sweet, but just blabbers on in Romanian like we can understand her. She is nice as well. This is getting long, so we will catch us next week.

Ma bucur aici

Bucharest to Arad

Okay that took me by surprise! Went to post this blog and it was all in Romanian!!!! I have heard about computers adjusting to your location, but come on my Romanishte OR yours is not that good right now! Long 31 hour flight, we were so glad to see two elders who helped us lug 6 suitcases to the mission van. No rest, off to be processed for visas via walking in downtown Bucharest which is about 2 million. Next "physicals" for visa and to the park where Russell Nelson dedicated the land of Romania for missionary work in 1990. Read the didicatory prayer in beautiful setting; sweating. Back to mission home for instruction and then off to the train station for adventure to start. Just picture back about 50 years to the old and broken down everything. They did get us a sleeping car which took us 14 hours through the Carparthian Mountains which we did not see as we were listening to clackety clack of railroad and train whistles...kinda like out of the old movies you all have seen. Arriving in Arad 2 hours late once again the Elders were there, however no car. Had to get two taxis' to get us to the Elders flat as we had to meet with our proprietor. She agreed (can't imagine her doing that the way we looked after our overnight experience!) So we had to go back and get all those bags and drag them along the broken up "sidewalk" about a mile to our new Home. We were quite a spectacle. Dropped baggage off and tried to think of what we needed to have food and bedding purchased to live! Whoa ..what an adventure. Still very little sleep and jet lag sets in, no one speaks like us and we cannot communicate with anyone!

We unpacked and realized we need many things, but we are on foot and the store is far away so we just crashed. Now we have had a few days to get our feet on the ground....literally! Went to find a store yesterday and got the name wrong...walked for hours and finally got a cab. Interesting shopping when you do not know anything on the labels! Oh this is an adventure for sure, but our home is quite nice camparatively speaking. We are challenged every minute and out of comfort level most of the time, but we press on and know we are on the Lord's errand...oh he hears from us a lot!

Went to chrurch for first time today. Nice saints, very small; we found out we are now responsible for YSA in area as well as leadeship training in Branch. Back to entertaining and cooking and activities! Out of this "kitchen" !!!! We will make it work.

Thanks for all your love and support, we love you all and are spending hours each day working on this language that sounds so different as they have a dialect here near the Bulgarian border!