Hey Everyone!!
It was a pretty busy week. I spent a day and a half in Orhei with Elder Zemp, then came and spent a day in a threesome with both Elder Zemp and Elder Anderson. We did some service and then had a cool lesson with a investigator girl of the sisters(since they were in Bucharest for several days) that got baptized this last Sunday. Thursday all of our companions came in and, to be completely honest, I wasn't super excited. They're not the usual type of super cool missionaries they send to Moldova. I didn't know my companion before, so I asked everyone and they were all kind of hesitant in responding. I was kind of worried, but it has been pretty good actually.
The companion's name is Elder Woodard and he's from Medford, Oregon. He's in his 7th transfer so the same group as Elder Zemp. He's a smaller guy and not super outgoing, so that's a big change from Elder Hale. We're getting along pretty well so far. I don't think we'll be best friends, but we'll have a healthy, working companionship. :) I'm not sure what else to tell you about him. The others... Elder Zemp is with Elder Thompson(a companionship of Canadians), and Elder Anderson is with Elder Richey, the DL(two utahans). Sora Lovell is training and not enjoying it. Haha, I'm not sure why yet, I haven't really met her boboaca. It's definitely a completely different district.
Friday, we went to Rezina and met with all four of the girls there. One worry I had was that they wouldn't get along well with my new companion, but they did and it was all really good. He taught well, too, I was pretty impressed. Alina is doing so good!! All she wants to do now is be a missionary and bring all her friends to us to be taught. So we talked about that with her and hope it will be happening soon. She said she has even been thinking about two boys :) After the lesson, Irina made us all placinte( a cheese pastry type thing) which were super good.
Sunday was a pretty good day, though I was pretty nervous about it. I had to conduct, confirm Alina a member and give her the gift of the Holy Ghost(my 1st time doing that), bless the bread and water, and then teach Sunday School on the spot with zero preparation. It was great fun. It all went pretty well, though. And Stela came! That was super cool. She talked to her parents and they said she could come to church. She has been progressing super well and I could see her being the first to follow Alina. Irina is doing well, too, but her mom is pretty against us right now. And Mariana isn't doing super good with her commitments; reading or coming to church. We'll see.
As far as the waitresses...it's hard to tell how interested they really are. With Sveta, she works 3 days on, then 1 off, continuously, so she is really tired and has a lot to do on that free day, and she always forgets her phone at home(I talked to her sister, though, who was super nice). We didn't meet with her at all this last week. We met with Liuda(Elder Zemp and I) at Dolce Vita, so we weren't able to have a prayer, but we talked about the Church for over an hour. She said she would start reading the Book of Mormon. We were going to meet on Saturday, too, but she had a ton to do, even had to fill for someone at work for a while. Hopefully, Tuesday or Wednesday we'll meet with her again.
I liked what you were saying, Dad, about having the zone leaders over and having that lesson in the home. I've probably mentioned it before, but one of the greatest needs I've begun to feel since being a missionary, is how much member missionary work I should(and can) do after I get home. That's one reason I am even more interested in international relations. If I lived in a place like Moldova or Romania as a normal person, I feel I could do tons! And really help the Church grow in smaller places. I guess time will tell. The Lord will lead me. In any case, yes! Member missionary work is incredible. And it's so needed.
Great question about where to give my "homecoming" talk....I think I would love to give it in the (old) Ward, actually. That way, everyone that helped me throughout the years can be there.
Ok, well I am going to go now. I am always grateful to be able to write this email. Not only to tell you guys what's going on, but makes me more aware as I review things and pumps me up for the work. You guys are great. I love you tons! Have an awesome week! --Elder Ross
p.s.op! I almost forgot. Yes, I've started to have a suit be made for me and in total it will cost about 150$(this is the max, maybe less). Not bad for a suit tailored perfectly to my body! I'm going to the lady that is making it today and if it's done and I pay her, then I will need to pull money out. I still have about 100$ in romanian RON but the exchange rate is bad, so I will wait til I'm in Romania again to use it(Maybe get gifts for you all :) ) ok, just giving you a heads up.
Bye!
