Hey Everyone,
This last week was a great one. It was super busy, but things are looking really good for our little city of Orhei. I can't believe that the transfer is drawing close to a close. We only have two weeks. Time goes by so ridiculously fast for me now.
One big highlight is that our English sign-ups went really well. I told you last week that on Saturday we had 25 people come. On our Tuesday sign-ups, about 90 people came!! There was a big line at one point and being just the two of us, we were hustling to help everyone out and to explain the courses. Btw, we basically teach the classes however we want. We don't really have a schedule, though we have an English intructor book a mission in Russia made up at one point. So I'm really excited for the investigators that will come from the classes. We had our first Saturday of English already and after our 2nd class we had a branch activity. We invited the students and three of them stayed. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and one of the girls that came cried during it. I could tell she really felt the Spirit. Hopefully, we'll get to talk more with her next week.
On Wednesday, we went to Rezina and played some basketball with the girls. Afterwards we went to Matt's house for a house and after only a few minutes, practically all of their cell phones went off simultaneously and they had to leave. We had different lessons for each of the girls and different reading assignments which we gave them before they left. I love when the Spirit inspires us with those things. For example, I thought that it would be really cool for Stela to read 1 Nephi 8 and 11 and to draw the Tree of Life vision. Not knowing this beforehand, at the lesson she told us that she really loves to draw and was excited about that assignment. On exchange, I went back with Elder Rigdon on Friday and we had a really good(and longer, luckily) lesson with all of them. Stela's drawing was great, and Alina and Irina both did their reading and shared good parts that they liked. We talked to Alina about talking to her mom about baptism and it hasn't happened yet. We talked to Irina a lot about taking care of the her seed (we had given her Alma 32) and that she needs to come to church. She was pretty against that and I think mostly because she didn't want to have to talk to her parents about that. Well, God gave her a little extra help this time and she texted us later that day and told us her parents were going to be gone and that she will be coming to church. It was nothing short of a miracle. Alina also came to church. Stela and Mariana were in Chisinau for a conference or something. Mariana is the only one that isn't really progressing right now. She hadn't done any reading at all. We talked about that and since she is undecided about her life after high school, what she needs to do to get personal revelation from God. We'll see how all the girls do this next week. They are awesome and I really enjoy working with them.
Yeah, Elder Hale and I go to a pretty nice gym in Orhei. We also got some weight gainer/protein stuff. Working out is a lot of fun and it gives me a lot of energy throughout the day. He definitely likes working out, too. He's a smaller guy, but he's decently cut.
At church on Sunday, there were 19 of us. Pretty good, I don't have any complaints. Most everyone was there, except Ina, because she was feeling sick. The members did a good job of talking to and befriending Irina (they already know Alina pretty dang well). I really hope that she had a good time and felt the Spirit. We taught Sunday School again and I think it went pretty well. This was my first week when we had three full hours and it was really good. I enjoyed it.
I'm glad you ask questions, Mom, because I can't really think of more to write. No, we didn't meet with Igor. We were going to play basketball with him, but he only could in the morning. We'll see if he can this next weekend. Yeah, I think it is a pretty common Russian name.
Dolce Vita is a great place :) They serve pizza, calzones, soups, a lot of different sides, lasagna, etc. Usually I get a pizza and sometimes we just go in for a fruit tea. It usually costs about 50 lei, which is a little less then 5 dollars. Moldova would be a great place to retire, because the exchange rate serves you well. One waitress made me mad, though, when she told me when my Romanian was bad. I'm going to talk to her more about that, haha, and find out why she thinks that. Most people think I speak really well, of course I just have an accent. She is a waitress that loves talking to us so she serves us almost every time.
Ok, I think the office should have my travel plans soon. Sora Nelson from the office called me and checked up on my bishop's name and such so the plans should come soon.
That is about all I have to say. I'm excited for this next week. It should be awesome with some new investigators as well. I hope you guys have a great one, too, and don't forget I love you! Peace
Elder Ross
