All Together Again

After many stops and stalls, Elder Ross arrived at the airport at 10:20 pm. The family had its own struggles traveling the snowy roads to the airport, at one point sliding off the road into a snowbank. Thanks to a couple of good Samaritians, we were able to get pulled out and own our way.

Here we are together!

A Mother's Note

For weeks, even months, our family has been waiting for this day . . .at least we hope its this day that Ross comes home. Its been a nail-biter wondering if the Portland weather will cooperate and allow his plane to fly in.

We have had a slam of snow and ice storms for the past 11 days. It was supposed to be warmer by now . . . I have monitored the Atlanta flight Ross is taking today. On Sunday night, it was diverted to Boise, then landed four hours late - in the early morning hours. Yesterday's flight was canceled. Many prayers have been said, not only for our missionary but for all the holiday travelers who are having their holiday plans altered.

Before I went to bed last night, I checked on his original flight out of Romania. I couldn't go to sleep until I knew he was in the air - the plane left 115 minutes late. Yikes! We think he made his Paris connection.

Now for the final leg of his journey, the flight has been delayed, first for 30, then 50 minutes. They should be lifting off momentarily - fingers crossed.

What a crazy adventure - and yet we are so grateful for Ross' service. We know it has blessed him as well as his family.

Snow Storm

What a week! A snow storm canceled church on Sunday giving us a wonderful family day. With the cold weather, the temperatures didn't allow any mealting so school were canceled due to icy roads on Monday and Tuesday. Once you hit the main roads you were okay; but the side streets, including ours, made it difficult driving.

I had appointments spread throughout the week, which have slowly been canceled. On Monday, I needed to get out of the neighborhood so I ran to the post office (to mail a packet to a client) and get copies for our Christmas letter.

The road conditions this morning are good. The little boys and I drove Clarissa to the airport at 5:30 am. However school was canceled once again because of a snow/ice storm due in by mid-day. So we are snuggled in the house today. In fact, when we got back from the airport, I went back to bed to read and sleep a little more. I have been busy juggling so many things, it feels like my body is in overdrive and needs to settle down.

We had been watching the weather reports and worrying about the predicted storm coming in at the time Jake and friend Adam were planning on driving home. Yesterday morning, Garn said, "I have a crazy idea. What do you think about my driving to get the boys?" (Its a good thing he likes to drive.) Garn would take our Honda Pilot which has After looking at the weather reports, I suggested he drive to Boise and meet the boys there.

Because of the storm coming in, Garn along with Serena and Autumn, left last night so they could beat the storm arriving today. Hopefully, it will be favorable conditions by the time they come.

Last email?

Hey Great People!

This is the LAST email of my entire mission!! Craziness! And I can see why you saved all those questions for last, Mom. Haha, they make me excited to be home. I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving the mission, but I am a lot more ready now than I was a month ago. Things aren't as pleasant here in Bucharest. The other day, two active members were talking about a member from Moldova and were saying things about she's ugly, gross(she's not either in the least), actually much worse language and then they started gossiping about her and her boyfriend. I was pretty infuriated, there are a lot of problems here with gossip and also pride. Of course, there are also super stellar members as well, just more rare.

The work here right now, sadly, isn't going all that great right now. We moved Iulian's date to next Sunday and had a couple of good lessons with him, talking about sacrifice and all the things required of members. We set as a qualifier for his baptism to come to church yesterday with a white shirt and tie. He didn't even come, so he no longer has a baptismal date. The girls, Ela and Daniela, don't seem too interested. It seems they like the social part of the lesson more than the actual Gospel. But probably the hardest thing, the one that makes me the most sad is that Vica in Orhei didn't get baptized. Her dad decided that she shouldn't do it and even though he really dislikes churches and priests, he expressed his pride that he inherited the Orthodox church from his ancestors. He actually succeeded in convincing her of the same and she no longer wants to be baptized either. It saddens me soo much that something so off is being chosen. I mean they know the Orthodox church is not true, but right now the tradition is more important than drawing closer to the Living God. If only she knew the blessings that will come when she's baptized. She's felt the Spirit and she can feel it even more if she follows the Savior's teachings. I think she will realize it eventually, I just hope it's soon. I wrote her, urging her to pray first before she makes a final decision.

Yesterday at church not too many people showed up. There were maybe 20 members and then like 13 missionaries. President Lundberg and his family, with the assistants, visited our branch. There were some incredible talks, though. Sora Fotea spoke about the Sabbath Day and as she bore her testimony after some great teaching, the Spirit was super strong and it made me a little teary. Don't worry, though, I didn't cry :)

Today we have a Christmas party for our zone and one other. It starts at 2 and goes until 9. We'll have a tie exchange and then musical skits later. We are singing, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" with an added verse of our own, during which we'll have a slideshow going of all the people that were baptized in the last year. Simple, but hopefully good. I'm going to show up, along with my companion, in a black shirt and a white tie. I'll have my black suit and he has his Mafia-looking one. Haha, it will be sweet, we'll take pics. We're also bring extra shirts in case President wants us to change. :P

Then tomorrow we have zone conference from about 9 to 3. It should be good, I'm excited. I always get lots of ideas on how I can be better and how I can draw closer to my Savior. There will be many things, I'm sure, that apply to life back home.

Ok, about plans for when I get back. Yeah, that would be super cool if a few friends came over to say hi. The annual bash, I'll think about more when I get home. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to do the fireside :) Though of course I'll be happy to do it...if I have to.

At the airport, it doesn't matter to much who is there. Just the family is great with me. If there were others that wanted to, it would be fine, but I imagine you guys want me to yourself first :). Sounds good to me. Should I wear my most worn out suit or my most beautiful one? The blinger look or the hard worker one? Haha.

There is a chance I'll be at internet next week for a little bit, but I honestly have no idea. Monday morning we are at Cismigiu Park and after that we're pretty much released from missionary work. I don't know who I'll be with or what they'll want to do, so we'll see.

Ok, I want you all to know that I'm SUPER excited to come home. There are a lot of people to see and to give great, big HUGS to. Ok, beautiful people, I love you all and SEE you soon!!!

---Elder Ross

Going well in Bucharesti but its hard to sit down and write

Hey Everyone!

Everything is going well here in bucuresti. I don't know what all to say about life. It's going and pretty well at that. I don't think you understand how little desire I have to sit down and write an email(when I know I'll be talking to you in about 2 weeks), but because I love you so much I'll do it anyways.

First of all, I should clear up that I am not in a threesome. I'm not sure where the confusion came from on Sister McKinlay's end, maybe because there are 3 elders going home in two weeks or when he was talking about his most recent companion, who is now in a three-man companionship(with Elders Rigby and Bringhurst). They are in Sector 2, which is the other side, they meet at the Mihai Bravu chapel. Sector 1, the one I'm in, is the richest sector in Buch. It has the least amount of blocs and is nicer than other sectors. Though that is still not saying a whole lot, it's still crowed, dirty and ugly. . Our big investigators right now are three; Daniela, Ela and Iulian. We had a couple of lessons with Daniela and Ela and they are doing pretty well. They still have a lot to learn, but they are quality investigators. Daniela is the more serious one, she feels the Spirit really strongly and was crying during the fast and testimony meeting. She has expressed a desire to get baptized soon, though she doesn't have a date yet.

Someone that does have a date is Iulian. He was talking to the zone leaders after church. To explain a little, our church is at 9am, the others are at 11am, including the zone leaders. Iulian showed up late so he went to their branch. So they talked to him afterwards, we had already left, and they were talking about baptism, asked him when he wanted to do it and he said Sunday. It sounds good to us, he's not 100% prepared right now, but I think if we can meet with him 3-4 times this week it will be ok. So we'll see, we may have a baptism on Sunday. That'd be pretty exciting!

There are a lot of Christmas activities being planned, but none of them have taken place yet. I'm not sure exactly what, but I'll tell you as they happen. Next Monday we have a missionary Christmas party. It will consist of two zones and then the next day we'll have zone conference. I'm pretty sure I'll still be able to write you like normal that Monday, though. The one after that, probably not. Weird to think that I write probably one more email.

Oh, something exciting I did this week was that I met with President Lundberg and I got my temple recommend renewed! I am really anxious to go back again and feel the great Spirit that is there. Yeah, the 26th sounds great. As soon as possible.

Ok, I don't have much to say. Things are going good here, hopefully have some baptisms and/or people lined up for baptism. I'm always so happy for people that make this step, because it means so many blessings and good changes in their lives. It's also great to say amazing members that live the Gospel how they are supposed to. We have a lot of those in this branch(along with a lot of less strong members but I'm sure they're growing). The branch president is a cool guy, the branch mission leader is incredible and a couple others.

I almost forgot to say!...Yesterday and the day before was a Single Adult conference. It was awesome, because I got to see members from Timisoara, Iasi and Moldova. It made my day. I was super happy to meet them and to talk to them a little. They came to our branch yesterday and it was inspiring to me to hear their testimonies. Things like that make a mission very rewarding.

For real now, I'm saying goodbye. I hope you have a great week. Much love to all!
--Elder Ross

Back in Bucharest

Hey Beautiful People!!

I am doing super well and am getting adjusted to my new area. I definitely miss Moldova A LOT, though, and often think of the people there. It was cool to be able to leave with a miracle.

Tuesday night was when we left from Chisinau to Bucuresti, but that afternoon I started getting a headache. It got worse and worse until I was feeling pretty sick and I had no idea how I was going to make it through that trip. Thanks to the prayers of some special people, I got the impression that I should ask for a blessing from the other missionaries. The second I thought of that I felt really good and for a moment, I thought, ok I guess I don't need the blessing now. Haha. Even though the pain came back, I really felt that the blessing would make everything better. Up to this point I had been laying in bed, groaning and crying to my Heavenly Father... I really felt horrible. But the elders laid their hands on me, first anointing me and then sealing it and giving me a blessing. The Spirit came into that room and I was moved so that a few tears escaped from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. After that, I felt great and though I could still sense the headache back there somewhere, it was almost completely gone and I had no problems the entire trip(even though I only slept about 2-3 hours). It was a miracle. And the Holy Priesthood is real.

I am serving in Sector 1 right now. My companion is Elder McKinley and he is a champ. He's a good, hard-working missionary and we get along well. We have a few investigators as I've been told, but I've only had the chance to have a lesson with one of them. Iulian is about 40 and he is a former Jew(converted from Orthodoxism and then back, I think). Anyway, he got the Book of Mormon about two weeks ago and he already finished it. He's a cool guy, doesn't know a lot of the Gospel yet, but he could be a great member if he continues to let the Spirit shape him. We also have Daniela and Ela, two girls from English. They're in their late 20's, but they have been coming to church and to activities and hopefully they get baptized soon. I haven't had a lesson yet with them, hopefully soon.

Transfer meeting wasn't as exciting as it was looking to be. Either that or it just didn't affect me as much...To answer Dad's question, Bucharest is divided into 4 branches. And in each branch there are about 4-6 elders and then a companionship of sisters for two branches(they are very busy because of that). In our district there are 6 elders, though two of them are the office elders. The other two missionaries actually live with us right now, because they got white-washed in to this sector which hasn't had that extra companionship for a long time. They are hoping to find an apartment soon. They being Elder Divis(in my district my 1st time in Buch and then 2 transfers in Cluj) and Elder Jeffrey(from my MTC group). The sisters are in our district as well, Sora Poulsen and her boboaca, Sora Kimball. They're pretty cool.

For Thanksgiving, we actually went to an American family that is in our branch. The Le Barges are here, because he works for the Embassy, State Department, something like that. They fed us a great meal, all the normal, fantastic foods that you expect with Thanksgiving dinner. I definitely enjoyed myself. I also had fun playing with Brandon, their little boy, he's about 7 or 8.
Hmm, I don't think I will need to pull out more money, I mean I'd rather not if I don't need to. But it's good to know what I can pull out if for some reason I am short. We'll see what happens.

Today is the National Day of Romania. We went out this morning and saw a big parade. It was cool, because a lot of members went, too, and some investigators. It was mostly military and afterwards we were allowed to climb on and in some of the tanks and jeeps. I'll show you pictures when I get home, I think you can wait that long.

Oh! I got the package, thanks a ton! It turns out there is a really good tailor here and it's also really cheap. I listened to the CD and I liked it a lot. Tell J that and that I shared it with the others in my apartment. And tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe J is 19! It doesn't seem that long ago when I turned 19, I actually remember it like it was yesterday. I hope you had a great one, J.

Well, I don't know what else to write. I'm going to look up what flights cost to Moldova. I hope you all have a good week and I'll talk to you more next week.

I love you! --Elder Ross

Happy Birthday from G'ma and G'pa J

This is an email Ross' Grandma sent this week. We thought it deserved posting.

Dear Elder RossHappy,

Happy belated birthday! I was think about you last Monday--could you feel it?

I remember talking to your Mom in the labor room a few times as she prepared to bring forth my first grandchild! I remember feeling very poignant as I empathized with the daughter who made me a mom for the first time as she got ready to deliver the first child that would make her a mom! I saw you just a few days later and you were delightful, and charming, of course. What else could a grandchild of mine be??

We bonded when she would bring you to me in the middle of the night to hold you while she tried to get some needed rest. You really were a good baby!

And so the years have flown by--what a great missionary you are--I read you letters to your Granddad every week--he too rejoices in your experiences and spiritual growth. He often gets all choked up with you recounting some of the special experiences you have had. I can believe you are less than a month from returning home. We had originally planned for Granddad at least be be there for your "welcome back" talk--we'll have to hear about it at another time. How about coming down here and giving it to us in person??

Anyway--we sure love you and are proud of you and the work you have accomplished in Romania. I understand that you are in Bucharest for the remainder of your mission. Hope you will be ready to recount all the experiences you have there and relay them to us.

Your "belated" card and gift will be in Oregon waiting for you--I think you will be able to use it.

Keep the faith and do some good every day.

Love Grandma and Grandad J.