Thursday, December 26, 2013

 Cleaning the car off from the first snow accumulation in Chisinau, December 2013
 Christmas lights over a plaza in downtown Chisinau
 Statue of Stefan cel Mare in downtown Chisinau
 Elder Kneib in  downtown Chisinau on a cold night.
 Christmas lights over a plaza in downtown Chisinau.

 Elder and Sister Kneib's Christmas tree in their apartment on Christmas Eve.
 On Christmas morning, a kindergarten presents a program to the parents and guests "from America".
 No program would be complete on Christmas Day without the appearance of good ol' St. Nick--even in Moldova.  He noticed us in the audience!
 St. Nick gives each of the children a sack of candy and goodies.
 A group picture of all of the Christmas program's participants.
 Christmas dinner before the bell rang and everybody dished up.  This was at the Schwartz's apartment in Chisinau.  Arlana made the potatoes and the deserts.  The Schwartz's did the cooked ham and rolls and vegetables.
 Thsi is just some of the Christmas dinner eaters.  The Schwartz's gave each a hat full of goodies.  Eighteen enjoyed dinner together.
The Schwartz Christmas tree.

Monday, December 16, 2013

 Arlana's new custom-made wool-lined leather boots made by Constantin in Chisinau.
 With her new Moldovan winter coat and custom-made boots, Arlana can't feel any wind and cold except for her cheeks and nose.
 At zone conference in December the packages from the States are waiting distribution to the missionaries.
 President Ned Hill of the Romania/Moldova Mission sits with Arlana at the December zone conference.
 As a part of the zone conference, a dinner of pork roast and salads is being consumed by the missionaries who come from the Iasi and the Chisinau zones.
 The first snow accumulation of the season came to Chisinau on December 12.  It was a couple of inches of wet snow and lasted for three days before it all melted.  Shown is the entrance to our building.  Our apartment is on the first floor.  The first three windows to the right of the door is to our apartment.
 At the Philharmonic in Chisinau, a folk dance show is presented on December 15.  A member of the branch is the director of the show and the folk dance group in the show.
 All of the dancers are dressed in native costumes.  The music and the dancers were both fast.





 We sat at the Philharmonic with Sister and Elder Schwartz, the other senior couple in Moldova.  Their home is Rexburg, Idaho.  They are in the last 9 months of a two-year mission.  He has also been the mission president in the Ukraine on a previous mission.  He speaks German and Russian as well as English.  They both taught at BYU-Idaho.