Landing in Bucharest close to Easter was quite a treat as it is celebrated for weeks with decorations, traditional eggs, spring flowers and vendor stands from all parts of the country.  As we ventured out about the city familarizing ourselves with the Metro (underground sub), bus systems and Tranvai tracks, we found that this is a city of great architectual beauty both old and modern and massive parks full of beautiful flowers, trees, grass and water.  Our eyes and senses have had a feast of spring flowers not only in the parks but often on street corner stands abundant with flowers of all types.

We are also ticking off cultural places of interest as time will allow.  This past week we had a Senior Missionary Conference here ( conveniently across the street in OUR branch building), and as a last event we went to the very beautiful Athenual Concert Hall where two of our vocally talented elders performed in concert singing LDS church  hymns.  Also featured was a famous cellist and violinist. The Romanians were smiling and clapping and really loving the Elders numbers. Outstanding!  So was the food Elder McFadden prepared for one dinner and a lunch for  this group.  Our kitchen is a very busy place. 

We live on a busy street with the the normal sounds of sirens, road rage honking wars, and traffic noise.  With the windows open the other day we heard a familiar clippety-clop, clippety clop sound.  Sure enough as we looked down onto the street below there was a gypsy cart and horse traveling down Panduri Strata!   Only in Romania!

Back to Easter.   Our FHE  with  Young Single Adults (YSA) was a lesson on the resurrection tying it into eggs ending with a silk tie egg dying activity. They had so much fun.  Although they were wonderfully beautiful, nothing can compare with the age-old tradition of painted Easter Eggs in  Romania and Moldova.  No where in the world does this art reach the fine craftsmanship as in Bukovina, Romania.  The craft operates with symbols of nature, folk textures and a full repertory of sacred signs.  The symbolic register of the Bukovina eggs encompasses 291 signs.  The eggs are first emptied, then plugged.  The pattern is then intricately drawn in wax, immerged in dye and then the wax is removed by heating.  Some are decorated with glass beads driven into a wax layer with a tiny stick.  Most of the artisans are women and after seeing many eggs on stands and in museums we have come to recognize the most famous designers from Bukovina.

Very red and bright purple died hair is so popular among many Romanian  women----finally got my pic with one so you could see.

"Taste of Buc"  pictures include the "People's Palace" which is quite an impressive structure and the Triumphant Arch from France  standing guard one of the round abouts.  Couldn't resist taking a pic of the Kokopelli women's apparel store!  What a standout! 
 We spend a great deal of time "across the street" in our church.  Many YSA activities and meetings with elders, investigators and members.  The Elders here in our zone are outstanding and sit around our table at home often.  This weekend we had District Conference with an area authority from England.  Very good meetings and well attended. 

Our prayers are being answered in so many ways as we made contact with Jeffery Franks who is the International Monetary Fund Director for Romania and Tom Holt who is Chevron's European Oil Director.  We had them both here for dinner today and they are willing to provide names of government officials and ministry officials that we can perhaps meet with in a Public Affairs Meeting that we will organize.  Both are LDS and fine men with much recognition in this country. 

Can't wait to "share" again as there is so much happening here...we are grateful for this opportunity to serve and inspired by the help of our Heavenly Father who we know wants this great work to move forward in this country.

Know that we think of you often and send our love to you.

Va iubim si ladevedere
Elder and Sora McFadden

Hello from Bucharest. After getting affairs tied up and belongings packed and cleaning done, we helped the Walquists move into our apt in Arad and we loaded up "big blue" the office van and took off for yet another adventure. We had a long drive to Sibiu as we were stopped along the way for over an hour due to an accident on the road. What a beautiful drive, everything is spring greening up and the Carparthian Mountains were magnificent with the rivers and lakes along the way. Many villages where the people were busy planting crops and gardens. It seems that every house has a grape arbor and garden and animals. We get such a kick out of seeing the gypsy wagons with the ponies always having red tassels on their halters as they prance along the roads pulling the wagon and it's contents and drivers. There is a freeway between Poieste and Buch that has two lanes both ways and the gypsy wagons were even traveling on that in a few places.

We arrived at the church parking lot which is across from our apt. Soooo glad to get out of that van and have arrived safely, yes, Elder Mc drove right to it with the now expert navigator, Sora Mc. This is a beautiful two story church building that we can see everytime we look out our windows. We love it. The Elders came and helped us move in and our apt is very nice. We feel like we are starting a new mission as everything is so new and different and we have no idea how to get around on the metro and bus systems yet. It may take a day or two, but we have many challenges before us.

Elder Mc went to priesthood session of conf. with the elders which is broadcast in the other church building way across the city. The sisters are coming to pick me up and will go with me to join them for more sessions as they come to Romania. We got to view the first two sessions on our computer last night.

We send our love and hope all is well with you and your families.

Tu iubim,

Elder and Sora McFadden

March Moments in Arad, Romania

March 1 - First Day of Spring  -----ha ha ha it is still cold although we see the sun! 

March 2 - Hosted a dinner for 22 inviting 14 from Hungary to join the YSA's here for institute and activity.

March 3 - We got our "Marching" orders to be transferred to Bucharest.
                    Assignment:  Public Affairs Directors for Romania

Marach 5 - Sora McFadden outscored Elder McFadden and the Elders in bowling!!

March 8 - Mother's Day (turned into women's day)  EVERYONE buys flowers for the women.  There are stands all along the streets and at the piata selling beautiful flowers and potted plants  ----it is BIG here.

March 29 - We will pack up our belongings and Move to Bucharest and start the daunting task of letting the public know what the church is all about.

Maybe we will take you on a little tour of the famous old Water Tower in Arad.  We went there for P-Day and it was quite an adventure.  The inside is now an art gallery and museum but the massive water recepticle at the top is still in place and we climbed right through it to get to the very top and perched ourselves precariously on a little ledge to get a few pics looking down.  Now you can see the interior of the "blocs" which are like mini yards.

Marching along as a missionary team we love working with the Elders and Sisters and they love Elder McFadden's cooking.  The sisters called and we invited them for dinner.  They told us when they got here that they had prayed we would invite them for food tonight! 

We have been blessed each day with answers to our prayers and we feel yours in our behalf.  The church will move on and the world will hear this great and important message. 

Our prayers today are for you all and your families.  We think of you often and, of course, love hearing from you.  Thank you all for taking care of our family while we are here, we miss ALL of you immensly.

Our new address for all mail and packages is as follows:

Dave and Rosemary McFadden
Romania Moldova Mission
Sos. Pipera Nr. 41 Et. 7, Sector 2
Bucharest, Romania  014254

Ledeverdere, tu iubesc
Elder and Sora McFadden  AKA  Dave and Rosemary

February Surprises in Arad

The Romanians told us that Arad is a temperate zone and rarely gets much snow and isn't that cold. BINGO! We hit the "rare" which started with our 3 days and nights of snow then the deep freezer kicked in and ICE IT IS ----pretty much everywhere. We found you can make the distance between standing and being down close and personal with the icy snow in a split second and that when snow doesn't melt it just gets moved around as you walk through it. We also found the "radiant heaters" reached their max warm a long time before our deep freeze. My best friend right now is a black down coat! We just got in and it is snowing again.......

On the warmer side are the saints here that we have come to know and love. We have visited in their homes and found that behind the "BIG" doors is a neighborhood of sorts. Most of the buildings in the Centru area are ornate and were the created when the Austrains were building in the 1800's. Some people still call Arad "Little Vienna". It was influenced by the privacy required when war was such a common thing along with communism, spys, informants and mistrust of nearly everyone. Many countries have controlled and influenced Romania. Walking along the walkways we are going to show/tell you how we get to their places. So-----starting at the big door we have to know which button to press to alert them we want "in" then wait for the UNLOCKING sound. Onward through sorta tunnel like until you reach the stairs you want; past their "posta" boxes; up more stairs and we are there being greeted and asked to come in. The family you see with the Elders has most likely the nicest place around. Roomy and lovely antique furnishings. The husband is a member along with 2 kids, but wife was not friendly with the church at all. We have finally broken the ice with her and she sat in on one FHE we prepared for them even had a Priesthood blessing. A milestone; for six months now we have been building trust with these people.

Some of the Gypsy houses we pass on our way to church are very colorful. They are single dwellings, but stuffed with many individuals. A Gypsy couple let us take their picture along the way.

Thanks for the birthday wishes, Sora McFadden had a very fun day of food, SUNSHINE, movie and a birthday party complete with beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers. You see people on the street carrying fresh flowers from the Piata. They carry them with their "heads" down for some reason we haven't figured out yet. However, to keep the flowers from freezing they put a heavy plastic covering over their "stall" and have a little heater inside. You just have to figure out how to get them home without freezing them! Just outside town there is a large area of green houses which provide fresh flowers for funerals and bouquets. Beautiful flowers!

One of our YSA is Hungarian and wanted to make Hungarian Goulash for the group. We took her shopping and bought all the ingredients then came to our place and started cooking. We had 8 here for evening of food and instutite lesson. Elder McFadden is still cooking up good things for our group and the Elders and Sister Missionaries.

We have a new baby that we are aching to hold and love! Porter was born to Jamie and Tyler Hansen on January 29. The Sisters brought over a cake with the announcement written on it and the Elders stopped by to join in the grandparent celebration and brought a "sparkling cider" type drink that when uncorking it Elder Mc hit Sister Cottam smack in the middle of the forehead from the far end of the table!!

We are grateful for your emails, letters and skype which helps us to know what is going on in your lives. Thank you so very much.

Tu iubim,

Elder and Sora McFadden