Dear Great People Back Home!
This week was a pretty full one, especially today. We did a lot and we had a super good P-day. The weather has turned a little bit warmer again, too, which is nice. The transfer is almost over and next week I'm sure I will just be telling you that my companion is transferred, I am staying and the rest of that stuff. Moldova is predictable like that with the transfers.
I'll tell you about today first since it is the freshest on my mind. Today the whole district went to Orhei Vechi, a monastery, a cool hike, some cool caves and a church. It was super fun. Elder Hale and I took our favorite two waitresses from Dolce Vita, Sveta and Liuda, lol. We were talking to Sveta Friday night and it came up somehow. We casually asked her about it, not really thinking she would be able to, but she was pretty excited about it and talked to Liuda, and they decided to come with us. So it was us 8 missionaries, Sveta and Liuda, and Janyela(the sisters' investigator that got baptized yesterday. It was a blast and I took a lot of pictures. Afterwards we went to Dolce Vita and Sveta was actually supposed to be working today so she started and was our waitress. She got someone to cover her until then just so she could come with us.
Later night there is a birthday party for Janyela and Elder Zemp so we came up to Chisinau and that's where we are right now. The party is pretty soon but hopefully I get a lot written to you guys.
Yesterday was a super good day, too. Even there there were only 16 of us at church in Orhei, it was ok, because Alina and Mariana were at church in Chisinau. They went there to see the baptism. Janyela had a really similar situation with her parents as does Alina and so she has talked to Alina a couple times and Alina was super excited to see the baptism. I think it has really pumped her up for her own, which will hopefully come soon. An actual date is still pending. Even Irina really wanted to go, but her mom forbid her. So the situation with her has changed. Now she really wants to learn more and to come to church, but her mom is against and is holding her back. We'll see what happens.
Elder Hale and I went up to Chisinau last night to watch a session of conference. They get it live there so I saw the Sunday morning session. I won't lie, some of the translators are horrible, something that I didn't really notice as much before. It was actually painful at times. But for President Monson at the end, a Romanian was translating and so I understood that one perfectly. It was a good session and I look forward to reading the rest of them.
Our Rezina trip to our 4 girls was good as always. This time, again, we didn't have anywhere to meet and so after playing basketball with the girls for a little bit, we talked on a bench. They are all doing well and are all progressing, all 4 of them. It's really cool to watch. We came up with a plan for Alina to talk to her parents. She was going to pray, read 2 Nephi 4(her favorite chapter), pray, call Janyela and get pumped up, pray and go talk to her parents about baptism. One flaw, she followed the steps but when she called Janyela, they talked on the phone too long and then it was too late for Alina to talk to her parents. .....Girls....Hopefully she talked to her mom last night. I need to call her later.
English is going well. We still have about 15-20 people in all of our classes. Every Saturday at 2pm we have an activity. It's right after one of our English classes and this Saturday, about 10 investigators stayed for the first part of it and the spirtual thought. After that, a lot of people had to leave, but two girls stayed and played more games with us and two member girls for probably almost 2 more hours. It was cool. Though one of the girls was super flirty and wanted us. Oh well, what can you do.
We don't really have any new investigators yet, but one guy that stayed a little bit for our activity, said he is really interested in religion and that he likes to learn more about what our purpose is in life and where we come from and so on. I think I know where he might be able to find some of those answers, lol. I gave him a Book of Mormon and a POS pamphlet but he didn't really have time to talk. We'll try calling him and meeting with him before class.
Well, that is the update from the beautiful Republic of Moldova. I will talk to you guys more next week and know that I love you. Have an incredibly awesome week!
--Elder Ross
PS Oh! And Liuda and I think Sveta, too, though for sure Liuda is interested in knowing about the Church. It is our goal this week to give both of them Books of Mormon. I am really excited. It will be super cool! Talk to you later. Ross
