Hey Great People!
Yeah, this week was a lot better than last week, just because we had lots of great chances to work hard and to find some people that are interested. Also, this last week we had some fun things with Elder Smith's birthday, my companion's and my 18-month mark and the 4th of July. God bless America!
The big highlight of the week is gaining a sweet investigator. His name is Daniel and we went to him last Monday. We actually first found him two weeks before that but we weren't able to meet again until last week. Anyway, he blew us away with his openness to the Spirit and his willingness to do what it takes to draw closer to God. Daniel told us how he wants to work with us, haha. He said he'll read about 20 pages from the Book of Mormon in between visits(plus any chapter we might assign to him) and that he wants to meet at least once a week, preferably twice a week. He also said that soon he'll be in concediu(meaning he has like a month off from work) in which he'll still be at home and then he wants to meet 3 times a week if possible! No complaints from us. We went again Friday night and we took Mihai with us. We had such a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He is super smart and remembers stuff really well. He was impressed, too, that he can be with his wife in heaven. As many people believe, he thought everyone would just be single angels in heaven. Mihai was talking to us afterwards and he said he was really impressed with Daniel and thought that he was really open and smart. Mihai said he'd be happy to come again and just listen, haha. We're going back with him on Tuesday and we definitely won't let Mihai just listen. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't aware that he could bring his little girl to church and he was stuck baby-sitting. Well, at least now he knows and he should be there next week.
We had an exchange with the elders here in Cluj. My companion set up a sweet day with Elder Smith in which they had 4 lessons scattered throughout the day, a pretty sweet set-up. I went to Elder Divis' area and we had one lesson at 7pm....so we bloc-knocked for probably 5 hours and had virtually no success for almost all of it. At the very end we got one lesson, but in the end the guy was firm in his belief that no of the churches are true, it doesn't matter if you are part of one, you just need to read from the Bible and live it. The lesson they had set-up was a really cool new investigator, though. His name is Gabi and he was really excited when we gave him the Book of Mormon. He said he that by this next Sunday coming(a week and a half from when we met with him) he would be done with reading it, 100%! Pretty impressive. He said he couldn't make it to church this Sunday, but that he'll be there this next Sunday coming up. A way solid guy.
So I didn't end up burning my pants. They were still good enough and I couldn't imagine buying another pair. So Elder Bringhurst burned one leg of his pants and I burned the other. It was a pretty good compromise, because he was 5 pairs of pants(he has 2-pant suits) and some of them are pretty nasty actually. I'll send pictures sometimes.
I started putting subtitles in the rest of our missionary movie, but unfortunately, viruses started taking over the Hakes' computer again. They lost their connection to the internet and so Calin took it to his house to work on it. Because of that I wasn't able to finish and to send it. We have it backed on a CD, so it's just a matter of when. It will get done eventually.
For the 4th of July we had a big lunch at the Hakes'. We had barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and best of all, a cherry pie. I was a great meal and a good way to celebrate our great nation.
Sunday was pretty good, though only 4 investigators came to church: Alex and 3 of the Militaru's(the mom, Gabi and Maria. Cristi was on some kind of trip). The worst was when at the end of sacrament meeting(there were some great testimonies given) President Condurachi stood up and proceeded to give an anti-"every missionary a member" talk. I could believe it! He said that all the members need to do is to pray, come to church and activities and not worry when others don't come. And then the Lord will bless the missionaries to have success knocking on people's doors. I can't think of anything more the exact opposite of Elder David A. Bednar's talk, Ask in Faith. Apparently, during FHE he also said that God created demons and that resurrected people can put their bodies aside, both clearly false. We are going off with the Hakes this week and we'll translate for them as they talk to him.
The 28-year old girl, Valentina, went to the countryside again on Sunday. She's still really cool and open, it just hasn't become a priority yet. We also didn't really have a chance to meet with her, because she had things come up. I believe that they were legitimate but we haven't been able to give her to the sisters yet because of that.
This next week should be a good one. We are really striving to get a baptismal date and also to get a lot of investigators at church. It should be a good one. We have an exchange with the other elders in Oradea and I'll be with the boboc, Elder Despain. Man, I can still remember like
yesterday when I was the boboc going with the zone leaders! This Sunday Raluca will get baptized which will be sweet, especially that her boys will get to grow in the Church. Also, Cosmin and Lavinia are getting married this week. So I'll tell you all about the ceremonies and traditions next week. I'm excited for them.
Well, all of you have a great week. I love you tons!
Elder Ross
Yeah, this week was a lot better than last week, just because we had lots of great chances to work hard and to find some people that are interested. Also, this last week we had some fun things with Elder Smith's birthday, my companion's and my 18-month mark and the 4th of July. God bless America!
The big highlight of the week is gaining a sweet investigator. His name is Daniel and we went to him last Monday. We actually first found him two weeks before that but we weren't able to meet again until last week. Anyway, he blew us away with his openness to the Spirit and his willingness to do what it takes to draw closer to God. Daniel told us how he wants to work with us, haha. He said he'll read about 20 pages from the Book of Mormon in between visits(plus any chapter we might assign to him) and that he wants to meet at least once a week, preferably twice a week. He also said that soon he'll be in concediu(meaning he has like a month off from work) in which he'll still be at home and then he wants to meet 3 times a week if possible! No complaints from us. We went again Friday night and we took Mihai with us. We had such a good lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He is super smart and remembers stuff really well. He was impressed, too, that he can be with his wife in heaven. As many people believe, he thought everyone would just be single angels in heaven. Mihai was talking to us afterwards and he said he was really impressed with Daniel and thought that he was really open and smart. Mihai said he'd be happy to come again and just listen, haha. We're going back with him on Tuesday and we definitely won't let Mihai just listen. Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't aware that he could bring his little girl to church and he was stuck baby-sitting. Well, at least now he knows and he should be there next week.
We had an exchange with the elders here in Cluj. My companion set up a sweet day with Elder Smith in which they had 4 lessons scattered throughout the day, a pretty sweet set-up. I went to Elder Divis' area and we had one lesson at 7pm....so we bloc-knocked for probably 5 hours and had virtually no success for almost all of it. At the very end we got one lesson, but in the end the guy was firm in his belief that no of the churches are true, it doesn't matter if you are part of one, you just need to read from the Bible and live it. The lesson they had set-up was a really cool new investigator, though. His name is Gabi and he was really excited when we gave him the Book of Mormon. He said he that by this next Sunday coming(a week and a half from when we met with him) he would be done with reading it, 100%! Pretty impressive. He said he couldn't make it to church this Sunday, but that he'll be there this next Sunday coming up. A way solid guy.
So I didn't end up burning my pants. They were still good enough and I couldn't imagine buying another pair. So Elder Bringhurst burned one leg of his pants and I burned the other. It was a pretty good compromise, because he was 5 pairs of pants(he has 2-pant suits) and some of them are pretty nasty actually. I'll send pictures sometimes.
I started putting subtitles in the rest of our missionary movie, but unfortunately, viruses started taking over the Hakes' computer again. They lost their connection to the internet and so Calin took it to his house to work on it. Because of that I wasn't able to finish and to send it. We have it backed on a CD, so it's just a matter of when. It will get done eventually.
For the 4th of July we had a big lunch at the Hakes'. We had barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and best of all, a cherry pie. I was a great meal and a good way to celebrate our great nation.
Sunday was pretty good, though only 4 investigators came to church: Alex and 3 of the Militaru's(the mom, Gabi and Maria. Cristi was on some kind of trip). The worst was when at the end of sacrament meeting(there were some great testimonies given) President Condurachi stood up and proceeded to give an anti-"every missionary a member" talk. I could believe it! He said that all the members need to do is to pray, come to church and activities and not worry when others don't come. And then the Lord will bless the missionaries to have success knocking on people's doors. I can't think of anything more the exact opposite of Elder David A. Bednar's talk, Ask in Faith. Apparently, during FHE he also said that God created demons and that resurrected people can put their bodies aside, both clearly false. We are going off with the Hakes this week and we'll translate for them as they talk to him.
The 28-year old girl, Valentina, went to the countryside again on Sunday. She's still really cool and open, it just hasn't become a priority yet. We also didn't really have a chance to meet with her, because she had things come up. I believe that they were legitimate but we haven't been able to give her to the sisters yet because of that.
This next week should be a good one. We are really striving to get a baptismal date and also to get a lot of investigators at church. It should be a good one. We have an exchange with the other elders in Oradea and I'll be with the boboc, Elder Despain. Man, I can still remember like
yesterday when I was the boboc going with the zone leaders! This Sunday Raluca will get baptized which will be sweet, especially that her boys will get to grow in the Church. Also, Cosmin and Lavinia are getting married this week. So I'll tell you all about the ceremonies and traditions next week. I'm excited for them.
Well, all of you have a great week. I love you tons!
Elder Ross
