Hey Everyone!!
This last week was a super good one and I enjoyed it a lot. The work really seems to have moved forward as well. We traveled a lot, of course, but not quite as much as the last two weeks, which was nice. I think I'll move through the week chronologically so as not to forget too many good details.
Tuesday in our first English class, only three girls showed up. It was Elena and two of her friends, both named Tatiana(we'll call them Tatiana and Tanya). So instead of a spiritual thought I asked them if they had a little time and if we could have a lesson. We did and it went super well, Elena already had a Book of Mormon, but we gave the other two girls one, and then we set up with them for the next day.Only Elena and Tanya came the second day, but Tatiana was busy and would have been otherwise. The girls had done their reading and are looking to be really good investigators. They wanted to come to church, but with Saturday being Orhei Day, there were too many festivities and such going on. Probably this next week! Also Wednesday night, after we met with the two girls, we had a lesson with Ghenadie, that super cool guy I gave a Book of Mormon to like a month ago. We have our first male investigator!!! It went well, he's a really good guy and I think he will be open to the Spirit. He would be the next branch president, I have no doubt.
On Thursday we organized a branch activity for the youth. Eight of us went to Orhei Vechi and we had a way good time. It was my companion and me, Matt, Stela, Irina(from Rezina), Irina(from Orhei), Tatiana and Diana. We were up there for most of the day and I was able to see a couple spots I didn't see the first time. Mostly, it was super good for the member girls to get to know Stela and Irina better.
Ok, I don't remember if I've told you much about Tatiana's back problems. She has a super bad spine and for quite a while has been trying to get an operation funded. There's even a website, though I think it might be a little outdated. You can look, it's www.agiftfortatiana.com Anyway, everything came together and she is going to be getting her operation towards the end of this month. The hospital and the doctors are doing everything for free. It's been pretty exciting and we have been spending a lot of time helping her translate and communicate with people in the States. I think within a week or two, she will be gone.
We had our normal friday Rezina trip which went really well. We first had a lesson with the girls; Stela, Irina and Mariana. It went well, we talked about the Sabbath day, the Word of Wisdom and also what they think about baptism. No definite conclusions there, but we had a really good discussion on it. Then we had a lesson with Victorina, Alina's little sister. It was a lot of fun, she's a super cool little girl and she said an awesome closing prayer at the end(we helped her write out a prayer outline). She's going to be reading from the children's Book of Mormon with Alina. Then we had a lesson with Alina's mom, Angela and it also was super good. She's been reading a lot out of the Book of Mormon. We started the Plan of Salvation with her. Neither she of Victorina came to church on Sunday, but when they do I think it will be a really big step. It was a good day. We missed our bus back to Orhei, but then out of the blue, Ghenadie pulled up and gave us a ride!! He had been doing some business in Rezina and stopped when he saw us. That was definitely heaven sent!
Saturday was busy with English, then cleaning, then a lot of eating, haha. We went to Dolce Vita, ordered and then Tatiana called us and invited us over to eat(being Orhei Day, everyone prepares tons of food). We were disappointed, because we couldn't just leave the restaurant, but we didn't want to miss free food. So, we ate quickly, then walked nice and slowly home, stretched a little, got warmer clothes on(it's starting to get way cold) and went and pigged out at Tatiana's. It was super good. Then that evening we met Elena, Tanya and Tatiana in centru where there was a concert going on. Concerts are way different here, a lot cleaner and family friendly to be honest, and I liked it a lot. The girls taught me how to do a traditional Moldovan dance, it's called a hora. It was a blast. After that, we met with the member Tatiana and helped her with some translating again. I was outside a little bit, while my companion helped her and Stela came over and I talked to her a little bit. She was in Orhei for the celebration, because she has cousins here. On Friday we had talked to her about coming to church and she said she would try, but she didn't think she'd be able to. We talked about how it was important and it's kind of a trial of her faith, and her priorities. Well, she had texted us later and said she and her mom were going to Chisinau, so she wouldn't make it. The next day, Saturday, she texted me again and said, "what? are you some kind of magician?" Somehow those plans didn't work out and she stayed in Orhei and came to church. There was a lot of praying that week and I guess that was the Lord's will for her. I was glad to see her there.
Speaking of church, Irina is going through a rough time with that right now . She texted us Saturday night and said she had good news and bad news. She was going to come to church, good news, but it was going to be her last time, very bad news. So I actually felt I should fast for her and I did and we talked to her a bit, Saturday, Sunday at church and also later Sunday evening. She's gone back and forth on whether she wants to keep fighting for coming to church, because it's really hard with her mom. But I really felt inspired when I was talking to her and it led to setting up a special lesson with her for this Thursday. Also, Stela is doing really well and is going strong and wants to help Irina so we are going to have her help us teach. It should be super good for both of them. I'm excited.
Church was good, there were 19 people. We had 3 investigators, Stela, Irina and Vica, an English student that we haven't even had a lesson with yet. She liked church a lot, said she'll come again next week and we're meeting with her after English tuesday evening. The Telfords came from Chisinau and spoke and I translated for Elder Telford. When we went up to the front, he started talking in Romanian(he's learned just a little bit) and I decided to be a wise guy and I translated into English. Everyone was laughing, it was super funny, I didn't expect such a good reaction :) I need it, too, I was nervous and it was a nice icebreaker. The translating went really well. The Lord helped me and it was almost flawless.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do for that application. I definitely do not have any time to make a video of a teaching situation and I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with the language evaluation. Maybe in two weeks when I'm back in Romania I could do it. Could you give a little more information by then?
Thanks!! Well, I should bounce. I hope you all have an incredible week. I love you tons!! --Elder Ross
