Hey Wonderful People!
I really can't believe how fast this week has gone by. Seriously, in every transfer the weeks go by faster and faster. The two marking points in every week are weekly planning meeting(Friday) and P-day and it feels like I have P-day,then planning meeting, then P-day, etc. I really can't believe that I have almost been in Romania for a whole year now. That's something that I have felt since being here in Buch. I'm not the young district leader anymore.....I'm a veteran. And that thought kind of blows me away. My companion has been one person that has really shown me that. He said he really looks up to the way that I speak the language and how I how I have a lot of faith in people and some other things. Haha, like it's scary in one way, that I have to live up to that, but in another way, it makes me really confident and want to do even better. Of course not solely a self confidence, because I know that the Lord has molded me so much. For some reason, I feel that I have matured so much in the past week, stepping into my new assignment and the situation here in Bucharest. Or maybe I've just been given a chance to recognize some of the growth that I have had.
On Tuesday, we had ZL/DL. It was super good. The theme was The Nord-Vest Side Story: We are writing it. It was really good and got me really pumped up for this transfer. My presentation was on leadership. I was super happy to get that topic, because it is something I have thought about a lot and really studied. I used D&C 121(of course) and also the example of King Benjamin from Mosiah 2. I also shared a ton of experiences and examples, good and bad, that I have seen on my mission. It's sad, but really true, that people, even missionaries, just like it says in D&C, will begin to have a little unrighteous dominion when they get a little power. Some missionaries change when they become a leader, thinking they need to conform to a mold or suck up to those above them. Each of us is different for a reason and there is no cookie cutter leader or missionary. Anyway, as you can see, I really like that topic and I could go on forever. :)
On Thursday, I had my first district meeting with my district and it went pretty well, I think. We talked all about getting pumped up for the transfer and then set some sweet goals for the transfer. We set solid and ultimate goals. Solid goals being the things we can control 100%, like SYLing, having great studies, having fun, etc. Ultimate goals are things like baptisms, gaining the branch president's trust and so on. We got a good list, mostly solid goals and we are determined to have the best transfer ever. We'll turn Bucharest around.
This week we found a really cool guy named Relu in the blocs. He is about 50 and is partially paralyzed on his right side, like he can't use his right hand very well. He is really cool and because he is has this disability he doesn't work or anything and he is always at home, so we can visit whenever really. We gave him the Book of Mormon and some reading and we've taught part of the plan of salvation already. We were really hoping he would come to church, but he didn't and he hasn't answered the last couple times we've called. I hope he's doing alright. So I'll be telling you a lot more about every single new investigator probably because we have so few investigators and we are trying so hard to have more people in our teaching pool. We set a goal to have 5 by the end of the transfer.
Another goal that my companion, Elder Mielke, and I have is to totally clean up our apartment and bling it out, make it our crib, if you catch my slang. We did a ton of cleaning this morning. I was mostly just working on the kitchen which was pretty sick. A lot of dust everywhere and a lot of dishes that needed to be cleaned. Not our dishes, but pots and pans that were dirty before I got there. And then with our living room we are going to totally rearrange everything. It will be sweet, I can't wait. It will be a big project, but it will be so worth it. I want to do this to every apartment I go to now, which might not be that many.
We had a big Valentine's activity on Friday(there was an activity at Mihai Bravu on Thursday and we didn't want to compete). It was nuts because somehow I ended up running it, even though it was our branch and the other branch in the Panduri Chapel. Btw, there are four branches total in Bucharest. There were about 20 people at our activity, not a lot, but it was good and I guess good compared to how they have been in the past, so it was a good start to turning this place around.
So this city doesn't even compare with Iasi. I pretty much miss everything about that place; the branch, the investigators, the sites, everything. But I am glad to be here, because it makes me stretch as a missionary and develop myself in different ways. It makes me speak faster and understand better, because the people here speak faster. Also, I like how there are a lot of missionaries in Buch(20-25) and we can see them and hang out on P-days. Oh, Buch has 6 sectors.
To help the branch, we are going to work really hard and show them we are serious and that we care about them. Elder Mielke and I helped Sora Pavel get to church on Sunday. She is a member that has been inactive for a while. But she knows everything and knows she needs to come back. She was baptized like when she was 12 and she's 29 now. She has two sons, one is like 10 and one is close to 8, I think, so we are hoping to start working with them and get them baptized. That would be so cool.
Victor is still doing good, he came to church and mostly enjoyed it. In priesthood, there were some fights. Not physical ones, but some shouting and arguing. It's pretty chaotic. But Relief Society was worse, I guess. People storming out, people yelling, crying, kind of a mess. Btw, there are all sorts of ages, a lot of old people, but some younger adults, too. Not a lot of youth, though. I still don't know who tons of people are. Anyway, I'm really going to try to get on the same page as President Iachimov and see how we can work together to change this, to have the Spirit be stronger in our meetings. He is a great guy, but has lost from missionaries in the past, so we have to show him that we are different. Hopefully, this week we can go over and have a visit with him and talk about all this.
Well, I am going to sign off now. I hope you guys have a great week. I love you! And I can't wait to get that Valentine's package! ;) Peace
--Elder Ross
P.S.Just send letters/cards to the office in Buch. Because it's in the same city, I get mail as soon as it goes there
