Happy Father's Day, Dad!!!
To be honest, I didn't realize that Father's Day was coming up until a few days ago. It doesn't exist here. The closest thing is Ziua Barbatului, literally Man's Day, lol. Anyway, it sounds like you had a great day, Dad. You are an incredible guy and I'm super grateful that you are my father and that you raised me and in such a caring and loving way. I'm sure I'll continue to look to you as my example for the rest of my life, especially when I have my own family. I love you.
I'm really glad to hear you guys loved the movie! Unfortunately, I don't know when we'll be able to send the 2nd half. The Hakes' computer got a nasty virus that Elder Bringhurst and I tried to help them bring down, but it hasn't been working. The computer is down and that's what we need to send it to you and also put subtitles on the 2nd half. Even if their computer loses all of the information, we have a copy on a DVD so eventually I will get it to you, I just don't know when. We are going to make another missionary movie this transfer. At least that is the hope.
Speaking of movies, I've been working on one that we are going to make today. This one isn't religious at all, but it should be funny. I guess the spark of movie-making desire came from Elder Bringhurst, because he's really into that. I don't know, I just wanted to spearhead my own little film. We'll see how it turns out. It'll take a few weeks for it to be all done, because of editing and the fact that I only have a little time one day a week. But then I'll send it to you.
We were just in Bucharest for 1 day. We took a train down Wednesday night and then one back Thursday night. Mission council was really good, but it was different than the other two I've had in that it seemed like we covered a lot less. A lot of good things still came out, but even more, I think Elder Bringhurst and I wrote more things from what the Spirit told us we could do for the upcoming transfer than from what people were saying. A huge chunk of it was spent trying to come with a standard of excellence. Most of the zone leaders(myself included) don't see the value in it, mostly because we've seen so many different ones come and go in our missions. After we discussed it a little bit, President Ashby said he was set on having one. At that point, I was ok with, like let's do it and then move on. But some others kept arguing against and the conversation was probably an hour and a half, two hours. At the end, there was a very impassionate throwing out of numbers and a standard was made, probably soon to be forgotten. It was kind of sad that President's last council was like that, but overall it was ok. At least we have some good direction to take to our district leaders( a lot of it like I said coming from the Spirit) and we'll get our zones pumped up for the transfer.
Our week was really rough at the start. Tuesday was one of the worst days in my whole mission. We bloc-kncoked for 7+ hours and we had one single lesson! It was really frustrating and I felt really tired. We got bunged a couple times, one of them when we took a member to a lesson. That's the worst! Towards the evening we went back home for a little bit, mostly because we just needed to prayer and find some strength. I started to pray and I was so exhausted I fell asleep, even though I was trying to pray really intently. When I woke up like 15 minutes later I was still in perfect prayer position, kneeling by the bed, lol. The 2nd half of our week was better, though.
Church on Sunday was so amazing!! Guess who spoke at church?? All three of the Militaru kids and Alex! Each one of them did such an amazing job. I was blown away and the Spirit was really strong. The Militaru's dad was there to watch them. I'm not sure what he thought or felt, but if that didn't touch him(each one of them bore testimony at the end) I don't know what will. We'll see. We're definitely praying a lot for them.
President Lundberg will be here on the 29th of this month. I probably will see him for the 1st time on the 16th of July when we have zone conference(which will be in Arad). Hmm, the Hakes will be here in Cluj for a while, at least as long as I would ever be here. So I'm happy for that. They are the best senior couple ever!
Yeah, summer is here, but it hasn't felt like it recently. It's been pretty rainy for the last couple weeks. The rain just picked up a few minutes ago.Maybe we're not going to make that movie today after all. I don't the work is really any harder at any time of the year than it is at another, with the exception of right around Christmas and Easter. In the summer, because it's lighter longer, we can be in the blocs longer, but in the winter people get mad if it's past 8, or even 7. I am excited for this transfer. We are striving for a lot of success. One of the things that we have started doing as a companionship is an obedience list. We're trying to find things that we aren't perfectly obedient at, then adding them to the list and obeying them. I'm really excited about it and feel that a lot of power and blessings will come from it(D&C 130: 21).
Well, I should probably head out. I hope you guys have a great week and get adjusted to your summer schedules. I love you!!
Elder Ross
p.s. we picked some cherries as part of a branch activity. There are cherry trees at the land where the future capela will be built. Anyway, I tried making cherry bread and it was soo good! Just thought I should brag about that. See ya!
