Hey Everyone!
So the big news is in.....and I am transferred. After staying four transfers in Timisoara and then another four in Iasi, it is weird to only spend one transfer here in the Cotroceni branch. I am excited to see what happens, because for now, I have no idea where I will go or who I will be with, if I will be DL or ZL. We'll see. In the district, Elder Valentine is transferred(he only has one transfer left) and Elder Divis is also transferred. So a lot more updates will be coming next week.
I can't believe it is Easter already! Well, actually, for us Easter is not until the middle of April so I probably actually will get my package in time. No, they don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day here. Yeah, Elder Mielke found out that his uncle will be mission president about 3 weeks ago. Elder Mielke is going into his sixth transfer now so he has been out on his mission about 9 months. I wonder if he will go senior this transfer. He speaks well enough and is a hard worker as well.
The activity was a good one that we had a little over a week ago. The sisters (mostly Sora Larsen, her mom's a caterer) made doughnuts for the push-up part. About 20 members/investigators came. No, President Ashby doesn't usually go to activities in Buch, but he can and is willing to sometimes to be a speaker and help out in that way.
The branch seems to be doing better and better every week. I am sad to leave it. Yesterday, everything went pretty smoothly and Victor and Doamna Petrescu(Elder Divis and Elder Fitzgerald baptized her) got confirmed. After church we had branch council. As district leader I'm supposed to be part of that. It was really cool, because the first thing that President Iachimov did was that he and everyone else made a list of all the people that were missing at church yesterday and then he made assignments for each of them to be contacted. Elder Hardman was talking to me yesterday and he said that from his outside point of view he can see that our branch has grown so much this last transfer and has gotten better. He told me that a lot of it is because of me, but I definitely do not buy into that, haha. My district has been so tight and they have made this happen. It just made me feel really happy to hear him comment on the positive changes in the branch. I love these people. I had an exchange this week that was super fun. I was with Elder Fitzgerald and we were in my area. It was pretty rough as far as the missionary work goes. Tuesday night we got bunged twice. Then on Wednesday morning we were going to visit a member and I got us lost, lol, took the bus in the wrong direction. I have definitely learned on my mission that one of my talents is not a sense of direction. We had a lot of fun and I love that kid.
Right after that exchange, we had another exchange. There was another exchange. We went to President's house to pick up Elder Roundy and Elder Letham who had a special missionary training. Selected missionaries from all over the country came into Buch for this two day training. So we picked those boys up and went bloc-knocking with them. I went with Elder Roundy and we had so much fun. We had some people say some crazy stuff and we just laughed way hard. We had a couple cool lessons, too.
So on Saturday was the baptism for Mariana Petrescu. It was a really cool event. No one from the branch presidency showed up so it fell on me to conduct the meeting. I was a little nervous, but I really enjoyed it so much. I also gave the warm welcome on behalf of the branch and it was tight. She is a really solid lady. Elder Divis got to do the baptism. It was cool for him, because it was his first one.
Well, I don't have a lot more to say. I am really excited for this next transfer and I can't wait to see what happens. It will be good times, I'm sure. Have a great week, all. I love you.
Elder Ross
