Hey Great People!
Hopefully, I can get enough written so that you have an enjoyable email to read. One of the rules that President Lundberg has emphasized is that we are at internet for no more than an hour. It's going to be hard sometimes, especially when I have pictures to put up, but I will keep the rule, because, frankly, I want a lot of success and blessings will come as I'm obedient. D&C 130:20-21 have become some of my favorite verses since I've been on my mission.
This week was really great. It was an absolutely normal week and so my companion and I were able to work really hard. A lot of our investigators weren't able to meet with us and so we went and found some more. For example, the Militaru's and Ionut are out of town. Anyway, even with the numbers being different, we managed to have 18 lessons on the week and the best part is that we gained 8 new investigators!! It's the most I've gained in one week, ever! So our goal of getting 20 by the end of the transfer will be greatly overshot, seeing as the countdown is down to 4 now. Not all of those new investigators are super promising, but some are. I'll tell you what happens next week as we see which ones really progress. Doamna Mocean is doing well. We had an amazing lesson with her, but unfortunately she was sick on Sunday and didn't come. Next week for sure. We also want to give her a baptismal date soon. We'll see, as the Spirit directs.
You're probably wondering why I'm writing you on Tuesday. Well, in the past it was usually because of zone conference or English fliers. Not this time, but because we were all too poor. Something happened with the office sending their file to Salt Lake and it wasn't received and so we didn't get any MSF until today. We were all very, very poor so we wouldn't have been able to shop and anything else that requires money, including internet. I used up all 400+ RON of personals left in loans to other people and myself just trying to survive(Don't worry, Mom, I'll get it back). It was nuts. Zone funds were also depleted so no one was getting paid back for that and only by borrowing 150 RON from Elder Smith were we able to get everyone from Bucuresti to Oradea and Cluj two weeks ago.It was pretty insane. It's all good now.
At church we had three investigators, all 70 years old or more, lol. All three of them are actually from our English classes and we told them about church, they took Liahona's and pamphlets and then they came to church! They seemed to really like it. I'm not sure how serious they are as real investigators. I've definitely never seen someone that old get baptized, but ....why not? If they are sincere and really investigate the truth and pray about it, then we will work with them. If not, it's ok. We'll just go and find someone that will keep their commitments.
So zone conference is this Saturday and I'm really excited for it. A big part of that is the movie that Elder Patterson and I are almost done making. We spent a good chunk of yesterday filming it and we just have one more little part tonight. It's on the Christlike attributes and we made a little clip on each one of the nine attributes, showing actually the lack thereof. I think it's way funny. So after we're done editing it(tomorrow probably) I'll see if I can email it to you. We're going to do it on Calin's computer and I think it's a good one so we'll see. Ok, to answer some questions...sarmole is like boiled cabbage rolls with meat, rice, onion, etc. inside. I think they are super good. They are pretty traditional, too, a very Romanian dish. Basically, I think I went into Buch on Wednesday because that is when Elder Smith needed to go down and President just thought it would be better for me to go with him, to travel in numbers I guess. Yeah, that Wednesday night, we had to help some greenies and their trainers catch trains back to their areas. Haha, yes, there is a very good mix of missionaries in this mission. A lot from Canada, a few from European countries and a lot of missionaries from states outside of Utah. I just get lucky, I guess. Only two of the six people in my district are from Utah. Elder Grimmius, Elder Smith's boy, is actually from Oregon, too, though Albany.
One last thing before I sign off. Last night we went to a big field and played softball with this American guy named John. He's here as a teacher and he's been here over 10 years. Anyway, he always organizes sports; basketball, softball, soccer. So I think we will play with him and a bunch of Romanian youth every P-day. It felt really good to play a sport again. It's been a while for me. I got warmed up, though. I think in the night I hit like 5 or 6 home runs. It was a ton of fun.
Well, I should sign off pretty quick. Thanks for everything you guys. I love you!
--Elder Ross
p.s. Good luck, Mom, with your presentation at the adoption conference. You'll do great!
