Hey Everyone!!
First off, I can actually sign up for my own college classes!!! I'm allowed to go to an internet place and sign up for classes. President Lundberg supports that and so I would love to pick them myself. When is my registration time? I will come to the internet place tomorrow and see what you respond :)
This week was a pretty good one, super busy again. One plus is that we got two new investigators, Viorica and Angela(Alina's mom) with a couple good potentials, too; Victorina(Alina's sister, 9 years old) and Elena, a girl that we had a super good lesson with after our Tuesday English class. Hopefully she can stay after again tomorrow and then she'll be a new investigator. I'm not so sure how interested Viorica actually is in the Gospel, she seems more drawn to me right now, unfortunately. We will start using member presents and that should help make a difference.
We went down to Bucharest right after English Tuesday night and got in to Buch at about 5 in the am. We slept a little, then had zone conference(well, a half mission conference), which was super good. I really enjoyed a lot of the things that President Oaks talked about and I think it was what our mission needed. He talked a lot about having faith for miracles and helping members out and being effective in the work. It was cool. I haven't gotten my package yet, at transfer meeting, I guess. Then I shopped a little, the Rezina asked for a souvenir from Romania, and found some really cool, scented candles. We then rode back to Orhei and got in at 3am. A very draining day and two nights! Btw, we had our own driver, Oleg, that took us(and Chisinau elders) both ways.
Our Rezina trip was really good. All of those girls are doing super well. They have vacation this week, so no school and I think we are going to do an excursion with them and the member girls from Orhei on Thursday. I think we'll go to Orhei Vechi, the others haven't been there and I don't mind going again. It's for them, anyway. All 4 of them were at church on Sunday!!! I was really happy to see Mariana, Stela and Irina (I knew Alina would be there). And something way impressive is that Stela and Irina bought skirts on Saturday so they could wear them on Sunday. I was really proud of them. All the girls fasted, too. They are doing super well!!
On Saturday we had two classes of English that went well and then the Halloween activity. I think it all went pretty well, but I was slightly stressed with running everything. It didn't help that my companion got in a weird, angry mood (I still don't know why) and he sat in the corner with his Rubiks cube for English, the whole Halloween activity and cleaning the villa afterwards. I was pretty angry at him, but after some praying later, I let it go.
With the Halloween activity, we had a bunch of competitions: bobbing for apples, eating donuts off a string, pumpkin carving, a pie eating contest and a competition with using toilet paper and wrapping someone up like a mummy. We had a really good turn-out, probably about 25, just that Moldovans are timid and most people did not participate. Our Rezina girls were there, too. They were at Institute as well, and then helped us with cleaning afterwards.
Sunday was interesting. There were 2 missionaries, 3 investigators and 6 members. A very small crowd. It made it hard being a fast and testimony meeting. We ended about 15 minutes before the hour. I think there were only 4 testimonies born, lol. Alina was called as a Sunday School teacher and actually taught, because President Carausenco forgot to tell the other teacher. She did a great job. We called the meeting after two hours.
Ok, I think that is the update of the week. It was a good one. I hope the next one isn't too long and that I get along with my companion. It's been hard, he doesn't do a lot. He wakes up late every day and doesn't really study. I try to plan with him, but he is too into his books(a lot of different fantasy books translated in Romanian). My two-man city feels very much like a one-man city. But if God and I work together, everything will be alright. I have gained a tremendous love for the people here and I really am thinking of living here(and starting businesses here). Elder Zemp and I have talked a lot about this. Anyway, so my biggest fear is what happens when I leave and these people are in my companion's hands. I pray that everything will be ok.
Well, I hope that all of you have a great week, I love you tons and I guess I will hear from you soon, Mom. I'm excited to sign up for classes!
Love Elder Ross
Monday, November 3, 2008
Oops - Forgot to post last week
Hey Great People!
This week was a pretty good one, and it was way busy, too. There was a lot of getting up early and travelling. I was in Chisinau twice, Rezina once and Iasi once! Time is flying by, and though the many trips wear me out sometimes, it is well worth it and I'm loving it here. It is my favorite area of my whole mission!
Wednesday morning my companion and I got up at 5:30am to get to Chisinau, so Elder Richey and I could get to Iasi by 11am. We had ZL/DL there which was super good. I really enjoyed it and one of the bigger things I took from it was to be careful not to put limits on God. To not say things like, I can't find and baptize someone in one transfer, or in this area it's impossible to get new investigators, and so on. I've really tried using a lot more faith and trying to not get in the Lord's way with His work :) It has really helped me in my prayers as well, to have this perspective. It gives Moroni 7:35-37(I hope I picked the right verses) more meaning.
After that, I was able to see Nicu, Diamanta and Raluca(still an eternal investigator). I sat down and talked to Nicu for almost an hour. I love that guy, he is doing super good. I talked to him a little bit about his son and helping him come to church, I would love to see that happen. I also talked to Diamanta a bit, she is still very cheeky, lol, it was good to talk to her. I didn't have much time to talk to Raluca, but I will probably be in Iasi again this transfer for an exchange.
I love that both of the zone leaders are my former juniors. It makes me realize that I'm pretty old, though. Anyway, the whole zone is doing pretty well except for Iasi so for exchanges everyone will be pulled into Iasi to help them out. I really like that idea.
Our Rezina trip was on Thursday this week, because Stela had a birthday party on Friday. It went really well, all of the girls are doing well. We talked to Irina about coming to church, even though her mom is against it. We told her that it is the trial of her faith and if she does it, she will get her answer. Mariana said she would be at church(and she was), only Stela said she wouldn't be able to, because her brother came into town on Sunday. So even though we talked about church with Irina, I didn't really expect it to be this Sunday. However, I tried applying what I learned at ZL/DL and prayed a lot for her to be able to come, to have courage to talk to her mom, and to get an answer and so forth. And it worked! It was a miracle. Irina is incredible, she talked to her mom who still seems pretty against us and then she came to church anyway. That shows great faith, and she will come from now on. I am amazed by her. The hope is to get all four of the girls there this next Sunday. Alina also said that she would probably be able to bring a friend to the lesson on Friday, one of their group of 6. I really hope that works out, it'd be sooo sweet! Alina is really doing awesome. She's the best member ever!
Our English classes are going pretty well, as well, though we haven't gotten any new investigators yet. We have tons of potentials lined up, but it hasn't worked out yet. A lot of it because we are gone so much and our schedule doesn't line up with other peoples'. There were at least two lessons that we would have had last week if we had been Orhei at certain times. It's ok, though, it will happen. For the activity on Saturday, it was more spiritual, we watched a movie on the Book of Mormon. Almost our entire English class stayed for it, it was great and we gave out two more Books of Mormon. Hopefully, they become new investigators soon. Also this week at the gym, I gave the guy there a pamphlet on the Restoration. I think I will try to give him a Book of Mormon soon.
I got my suit done!! It looks way good. It's black with a kind of a pin stripe, more subtle. If this computer works for it, I will send a picture. If not, you will have to wait. I picked it up Friday and wore it to church on Sunday. I got a lot of good comments on it. The ladies especially loved it, lol. Elder Zemp found the lady that did it last transfer. I don't think anyone has told her much about the Gospel, that's a good idea and reminder, though. Thanks!
I never did talk to those guys on the maxi taxi again. I called the one, but he was busy then. Now that it's colder, we haven't really had much chance to play basketball. I'm not really sure what to have you tell the grandparents. Just that they are a great example to me and that I love them tons. I'm sure I will get to catch up with them in a couple of months. I keep Grandpa Johnson in my prayers. I think we will have a Halloween activity this Saturday. I'll tell you next week everything that we do. We also have zone conference in Bucharest this Wednesday. President Oaks of the Seventy will be there, so that should be pretty exciting. I hope all of you have an awesome week.
I love you tons.
Elder Ross
p.s. thanks for the words on my rich legacy!! It's very true.
************************************************
Re: Elder Ross' P.S., in my letter to him this week, I wrote the following "I Know . . . ":
This week was a pretty good one, and it was way busy, too. There was a lot of getting up early and travelling. I was in Chisinau twice, Rezina once and Iasi once! Time is flying by, and though the many trips wear me out sometimes, it is well worth it and I'm loving it here. It is my favorite area of my whole mission!
Wednesday morning my companion and I got up at 5:30am to get to Chisinau, so Elder Richey and I could get to Iasi by 11am. We had ZL/DL there which was super good. I really enjoyed it and one of the bigger things I took from it was to be careful not to put limits on God. To not say things like, I can't find and baptize someone in one transfer, or in this area it's impossible to get new investigators, and so on. I've really tried using a lot more faith and trying to not get in the Lord's way with His work :) It has really helped me in my prayers as well, to have this perspective. It gives Moroni 7:35-37(I hope I picked the right verses) more meaning.
After that, I was able to see Nicu, Diamanta and Raluca(still an eternal investigator). I sat down and talked to Nicu for almost an hour. I love that guy, he is doing super good. I talked to him a little bit about his son and helping him come to church, I would love to see that happen. I also talked to Diamanta a bit, she is still very cheeky, lol, it was good to talk to her. I didn't have much time to talk to Raluca, but I will probably be in Iasi again this transfer for an exchange.
I love that both of the zone leaders are my former juniors. It makes me realize that I'm pretty old, though. Anyway, the whole zone is doing pretty well except for Iasi so for exchanges everyone will be pulled into Iasi to help them out. I really like that idea.
Our Rezina trip was on Thursday this week, because Stela had a birthday party on Friday. It went really well, all of the girls are doing well. We talked to Irina about coming to church, even though her mom is against it. We told her that it is the trial of her faith and if she does it, she will get her answer. Mariana said she would be at church(and she was), only Stela said she wouldn't be able to, because her brother came into town on Sunday. So even though we talked about church with Irina, I didn't really expect it to be this Sunday. However, I tried applying what I learned at ZL/DL and prayed a lot for her to be able to come, to have courage to talk to her mom, and to get an answer and so forth. And it worked! It was a miracle. Irina is incredible, she talked to her mom who still seems pretty against us and then she came to church anyway. That shows great faith, and she will come from now on. I am amazed by her. The hope is to get all four of the girls there this next Sunday. Alina also said that she would probably be able to bring a friend to the lesson on Friday, one of their group of 6. I really hope that works out, it'd be sooo sweet! Alina is really doing awesome. She's the best member ever!
Our English classes are going pretty well, as well, though we haven't gotten any new investigators yet. We have tons of potentials lined up, but it hasn't worked out yet. A lot of it because we are gone so much and our schedule doesn't line up with other peoples'. There were at least two lessons that we would have had last week if we had been Orhei at certain times. It's ok, though, it will happen. For the activity on Saturday, it was more spiritual, we watched a movie on the Book of Mormon. Almost our entire English class stayed for it, it was great and we gave out two more Books of Mormon. Hopefully, they become new investigators soon. Also this week at the gym, I gave the guy there a pamphlet on the Restoration. I think I will try to give him a Book of Mormon soon.
I got my suit done!! It looks way good. It's black with a kind of a pin stripe, more subtle. If this computer works for it, I will send a picture. If not, you will have to wait. I picked it up Friday and wore it to church on Sunday. I got a lot of good comments on it. The ladies especially loved it, lol. Elder Zemp found the lady that did it last transfer. I don't think anyone has told her much about the Gospel, that's a good idea and reminder, though. Thanks!
I never did talk to those guys on the maxi taxi again. I called the one, but he was busy then. Now that it's colder, we haven't really had much chance to play basketball. I'm not really sure what to have you tell the grandparents. Just that they are a great example to me and that I love them tons. I'm sure I will get to catch up with them in a couple of months. I keep Grandpa Johnson in my prayers. I think we will have a Halloween activity this Saturday. I'll tell you next week everything that we do. We also have zone conference in Bucharest this Wednesday. President Oaks of the Seventy will be there, so that should be pretty exciting. I hope all of you have an awesome week.
I love you tons.
Elder Ross
p.s. thanks for the words on my rich legacy!! It's very true.
************************************************
Re: Elder Ross' P.S., in my letter to him this week, I wrote the following "I Know . . . ":
I Know . . . You have inherited a rich legacy.
During the week I went "home" to California, I was struck once again by the rich legacy my children have inherited. At the end of my first day at the hospital, Grandma and I were getting ready to say goodnight to Grandpa. Grandma said, "We have family prayer first." The two of us gathered around Grandpa's bed. Grandma looked Grandpa in the eyes and said, "Lloyd, who do you want to say prayer?" Grandpa selected Grandma that night. (She said that Grandpa had said the prayer the night previous.)
I was deeply touched by my parents that night, particularly my mother. I admired how she honored my dad's role as priesthood patriarch in our family. I admired how they continued in family prayer even when in strange circumstances. I was also reminded how the example of prayer's power was exemplified in my childhood home. As you listen to either of my parents pray, they speak directly to their Father in Heaven. As I participated in family prayer each night at the hospital (and the first night in the nursing home), I realized how much I still have to learn from my parents.
Last June, Grandpa and Grandma J came to J's graduation. One night, as we were getting ready for family prayer, Grandma commented on the impact Dad and I had made on the church and community here in Oregon. The compliment startled me. Our service pales in comparison to those of our parents'. As I have gone about serving others, I have used my parents' examples as markers to reach. So often, I feel I fall short in living up to their amazing ability to give selflessly to others.
In discussing your rich legacy, I cannot forget the great inheritance from the paternal side. Both Grandma and Grandpa L faithfully serve others. They, too, are always abounding in good works. They have faithfully served two full-time missions, enduring difficult and discouraging times but carrying on. Today, they continue to look for many opportunities to serve others, often going about it very quietly.
As a couple, they faced the hardest of all trials, losing a child. I cannot adequately comprehend the heartache such an experience brings. Yet, both grandparents endured and came through with increased faith in God and a greater testimony of eternal families.
That trial often shakes the foundation of marriages causing many to divorce. The time after Verlynn's death was very difficult for them. In today's world, many couples would give up on their marriage. But not your grandparents; they persevered.
Like almost all marriages, the marriages of both sets of grandparents have faced rocky times. Though sometimes divorce might have seemed easier, both couples have hung tight to temple covenants. One gift of going to California was watching my parents together. My dad anxiously awaited my mom's arrival each afternoon. His eyes lit up when she came into his room. I loved watching my mom's expression of love and devotion as she watched her husband of almost 46 years. At times she was worried as she contemplated the best course of rehab for him.
Oh - there is so much I could say about each of your grandparents - how each of the four has taught me a great deal and blessed my life, as well as so many others. What great wealth you have been given. I am so grateful my children have such "goodly grandparents who love the Lord."
What you do with this wealth is up to you.
Friday, October 24, 2008
New companion - from Oregon
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Flight Plans
Hi!
This am we received an email regarding Elder Ross' flight plans. He will arrive home just before Christmas! He might not be worth much for the first few days -- his flight is about 24 hours.
This am we received an email regarding Elder Ross' flight plans. He will arrive home just before Christmas! He might not be worth much for the first few days -- his flight is about 24 hours.
English classes, transfers . . . and a baptism!
Hey Everyone!
Well, this week was pretty crazy busy, but very worth it! We went to Chisinau twice, we went to Rezina twice, we had English classes and getting ready for transfers.....and a baptism!!! Alina got baptized yesterday and it all came together so quickly. The end of last week and the beginning of this week we were talking to her a lot about talking to her parents. She wasn't doing it. Then on Monday, Janyela was talking to her and decided she wanted to talk to Alina's mom, too. She talked to her and basically said the Church just wants to make people better and that Alina should be allowed to do what she feels is right. Alina's mom said....of course, why wouldn't I let her, it's her decision. When Elder Hale heard that he flipped out a little bit and threw his camera down and broke it. It was frustrating that all Alina had to do was to say, Mom I want to get baptized, and it would have been ok, but she wasn't doing it.
So Elder Hale came up with a plan(of course we both talked about it) that she was going to get baptized that week. We talked to her and told her we'd be up on Wednesday to talk about it and then on Friday we'd be up with Elder Rigdon and he'd do the interview. And that's exactly how it happened, she talked to both her parents and they accepted it. I also talked to her mom a little bit on the phone and she was really cool. President Carausenco did the baptism(her choice and a good one, I love it when the members are more involved), Tatiana and Janyela spoke and all three of the other girls were there, too, to support and encourage her. It was incredible!! Because we don't have a font in Orhei, we had sacrament meeting there and then we all took a maxitaxi up to Chisinau and had the baptism there, at about 2pm. It was super cool. I talked to the other girls from Rezina(Irina, Stela and Mariana) and they liked it a lot. I'm excited for all of them, because they are progressing really well. Next transfer will be great.
On Wednesday morning, before we went to Rezina, we met with Sveta, one of our favorite waitresses. We went to the church and there we gave her some pictures from Orhei Vechi and then I gave her a Book of Mormon that I had written my testimony in. After that, she said she wanted to have a lesson then and to learn more about the Church. Alright, that's our cue :) So we had a really cool lesson with her and she was really attentive. She even prayed at the end. It was sweet. Later in the week, we were talking with Liuda and we found out that Sveta has two kids!! That one threw me off guard. She does not look like it. I don't know too much about the situation. She's not married (btw, she's 23), she might have a boyfriend but he's not the father. I don't know, but I want to meet her whole family. She lives with her mom and a sister. Let's teach them all. : ) I really want to teach her about the family proclamation. Today is her day off, so we'll try tonight. Fingers crossed.
Saturday night we talked to the other favorite waitress of ours, Liuda, but we didn't have a full lesson like we did with Sveta. We gave her pictures and Elder Hale gave her a Book of Mormon that he had written his testimony in. She had gifts for us, too. We each got a big, framed picture of her! Haha, it made me laugh pretty hard. Then she gave Elder Hale a mug, because he often gets a tea at Dolce Vita. It just happened to have a picture of a couple kissing on it, lol. She is a good girl. I think we'll try to meet with her tomorrow, her day off.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Transfers....well, super predictable, I am staying! Of course Elder Hale is out because his 90 days in the country run out soon. Same with Sora Jensen, and Elder Flanary, who is going home in two days. My companion for a couple of days is Elder Zemp. Tonight we'll go down to Orhei and then Wednesday morning we'll come back and we'll be in a threesome with Elder Anderson. Tuesday night we'll do English in Orhei, and Elder Anderson will be with a member doing the classes here in Chisinau. Thursday my new companion, whoever it is, will get here in Chisinau. It'll be a pretty crazy week, but then so is every week for the Orhei elders.
No, the sisters don't teach any of our girls. It would be way too hard for them to travel here all the time, especially because they have plenty of work in Chisinau. It's a good thing, too, because then I'd be left with no one. All of our investigators right now are girls, though we have a couple of potentials that are guys. I really enjoy teaching girls. I haven't really done it since Iasi, but they are more open a lot of times and I think just easier to teach. I guess I've always gotten along better with girls, though. Speaking of which, the sisters were doing life predictions and part of that includes how long it will take us to get our first kiss when we get back. For me, they said I will kiss a girl on Christmas!! Not bad, I say. Two days after I get home.
I don't know about travel plans. I just called the office, but Sora Nelson wasn't in and she usually knows about that. I will call her later today and make sure it is taken care of. Yeah, after this next transfer, for my last 4 weeks, I will be in Romania. That will be interesting. We'll see where I go and with who when I get there.
Well, I am really excited to have another great transfer here in Moldove and especially in Orhei. I have really fallen in love everyone here and I'm pretty sure it will be harder for me to leave Moldova than when I leave my mission 4 weeks later. Well, I should go. I love you all and hope you have an incredible week! You are in my prayers.
Elder Ross
Well, this week was pretty crazy busy, but very worth it! We went to Chisinau twice, we went to Rezina twice, we had English classes and getting ready for transfers.....and a baptism!!! Alina got baptized yesterday and it all came together so quickly. The end of last week and the beginning of this week we were talking to her a lot about talking to her parents. She wasn't doing it. Then on Monday, Janyela was talking to her and decided she wanted to talk to Alina's mom, too. She talked to her and basically said the Church just wants to make people better and that Alina should be allowed to do what she feels is right. Alina's mom said....of course, why wouldn't I let her, it's her decision. When Elder Hale heard that he flipped out a little bit and threw his camera down and broke it. It was frustrating that all Alina had to do was to say, Mom I want to get baptized, and it would have been ok, but she wasn't doing it.
So Elder Hale came up with a plan(of course we both talked about it) that she was going to get baptized that week. We talked to her and told her we'd be up on Wednesday to talk about it and then on Friday we'd be up with Elder Rigdon and he'd do the interview. And that's exactly how it happened, she talked to both her parents and they accepted it. I also talked to her mom a little bit on the phone and she was really cool. President Carausenco did the baptism(her choice and a good one, I love it when the members are more involved), Tatiana and Janyela spoke and all three of the other girls were there, too, to support and encourage her. It was incredible!! Because we don't have a font in Orhei, we had sacrament meeting there and then we all took a maxitaxi up to Chisinau and had the baptism there, at about 2pm. It was super cool. I talked to the other girls from Rezina(Irina, Stela and Mariana) and they liked it a lot. I'm excited for all of them, because they are progressing really well. Next transfer will be great.
On Wednesday morning, before we went to Rezina, we met with Sveta, one of our favorite waitresses. We went to the church and there we gave her some pictures from Orhei Vechi and then I gave her a Book of Mormon that I had written my testimony in. After that, she said she wanted to have a lesson then and to learn more about the Church. Alright, that's our cue :) So we had a really cool lesson with her and she was really attentive. She even prayed at the end. It was sweet. Later in the week, we were talking with Liuda and we found out that Sveta has two kids!! That one threw me off guard. She does not look like it. I don't know too much about the situation. She's not married (btw, she's 23), she might have a boyfriend but he's not the father. I don't know, but I want to meet her whole family. She lives with her mom and a sister. Let's teach them all. : ) I really want to teach her about the family proclamation. Today is her day off, so we'll try tonight. Fingers crossed.
Saturday night we talked to the other favorite waitress of ours, Liuda, but we didn't have a full lesson like we did with Sveta. We gave her pictures and Elder Hale gave her a Book of Mormon that he had written his testimony in. She had gifts for us, too. We each got a big, framed picture of her! Haha, it made me laugh pretty hard. Then she gave Elder Hale a mug, because he often gets a tea at Dolce Vita. It just happened to have a picture of a couple kissing on it, lol. She is a good girl. I think we'll try to meet with her tomorrow, her day off.
Oh, I forgot to tell you. Transfers....well, super predictable, I am staying! Of course Elder Hale is out because his 90 days in the country run out soon. Same with Sora Jensen, and Elder Flanary, who is going home in two days. My companion for a couple of days is Elder Zemp. Tonight we'll go down to Orhei and then Wednesday morning we'll come back and we'll be in a threesome with Elder Anderson. Tuesday night we'll do English in Orhei, and Elder Anderson will be with a member doing the classes here in Chisinau. Thursday my new companion, whoever it is, will get here in Chisinau. It'll be a pretty crazy week, but then so is every week for the Orhei elders.
No, the sisters don't teach any of our girls. It would be way too hard for them to travel here all the time, especially because they have plenty of work in Chisinau. It's a good thing, too, because then I'd be left with no one. All of our investigators right now are girls, though we have a couple of potentials that are guys. I really enjoy teaching girls. I haven't really done it since Iasi, but they are more open a lot of times and I think just easier to teach. I guess I've always gotten along better with girls, though. Speaking of which, the sisters were doing life predictions and part of that includes how long it will take us to get our first kiss when we get back. For me, they said I will kiss a girl on Christmas!! Not bad, I say. Two days after I get home.
I don't know about travel plans. I just called the office, but Sora Nelson wasn't in and she usually knows about that. I will call her later today and make sure it is taken care of. Yeah, after this next transfer, for my last 4 weeks, I will be in Romania. That will be interesting. We'll see where I go and with who when I get there.
Well, I am really excited to have another great transfer here in Moldove and especially in Orhei. I have really fallen in love everyone here and I'm pretty sure it will be harder for me to leave Moldova than when I leave my mission 4 weeks later. Well, I should go. I love you all and hope you have an incredible week! You are in my prayers.
Elder Ross
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
A Super P-Day . . . and interested investigators
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
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
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Looking good for Orhei
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
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
Monday, September 22, 2008
All over Moldova in the Maxi Taxis
Hey Everyone!
It was a really busy week, but a really good one as well. We have definitely been all over the country again, but I felt like it was a great week and though really busy, has set us up to really have a great rest of the transfer.
Yeah, the travel gets a little bit old sometimes. It takes from 45-60 minutes to get to Chisinau and we are there a lot. In my interview with President Lundberg, he said that if we can, we should try to go to Rezina twice a week. This week we'll try to do that. On wednesday, we're going to go to teach them to play basketball(they asked this of us) and to have a lesson, and then like usual we'll try to go on friday.
We're in Chisinau right now and it was cool, because on the way up I was sitting between two guys and I started talking to one and I said something about how we're getting a basketball in Chisinau today, then the guy on my other side was way interested and said he plays basketball and soccer(my two favorite sports) with some guys and we should play together. Igor is his name and he's a college student in Chisinau but he lives in Orhei. I also told him about our English courses and he is learning English at college, too, so I think he will come to practice more and learn the accent. So will his girlfriend, I hope, who lives and goes to school in Orhei. It was really cool. We exchanged numbers and everything and it was a cool, random missionary moment. In the meantime, my companion, on the other side of the first guy, started talking to him. That guy, I don't know his name, said he'd talked a little bit with missionaries before and he sees us all the time in Orhei. We didn't get his number but we will, because he is always in our area, I guess he lives there. He has a wife and a young child.
We had our first English sign-ups on Saturday. Not a ton of people came(25), but they are all pretty much in one of two classes, so those two classes are looking really good. Tuesday we should get a lot more, it usually is the bigger day of sign-ups. I'm excited for them. We are getting as many people to come as possible. For example, we have a favorite restaurant in Orhei, Dolce Vita it's called, and pretty much all the waitresses are young girls our age. We eat there a lot not only for that reason, but because the food is really good and pretty cheap. I have a favorite waitress there and I invited her to classes and she is way excited about them and is going to sign up tomorrow. We could use some new investigators, especially guys, so hopefully we will be able to use English to its fullest.
We had a lady that came with and signed up her 12-year old granddaughter and she was really interested in the Church. I gave her a pamphlet and on Sunday she came! She was our only investigator at church. Alina was sick and Mariana, who promised she would come, slept in. This lady, Alexandra, was really cool and really interested. The members who were there did a good job of talking to her and she loved it despite the fact that were a total of 10 of us! Good thing the Spirit is the same no matter how many we are. She said this week she can't meet because she will be in the countryside, but that for sure she will be here on Sunday and that after that she wants to meet with us more often! Sweet.
To answer some questions. A car would an incredible help here in Moldova, at least for our traveling companionship. The only missionaries that have a car are the assistants and the office elders. Who knows, maybe in the future. We are going to travelling a bit this week, too. To Rezina Wednesday and Friday, in Chisinau today and Thursday. I think that is it for now. We need to meet with some people we have met in Orhei.
Yeah, I am still planning on getting a suit. I think it will actually be better in Moldova, because it's cheaper. I still have about 300 RON from when I pulled out all that money on accident and I've kind of marked that for the suit. I just called the office about my travel plans. Most of the missionaries from my group have them, but they said they aren't sure. I'm not positive what that means, hopefully they didn't forget about me. I'm pretty sure though that my date is the 23rd of December.
Yeah, we write President Lundberg weekly. Basically a little update on our area and how we're doing. I don't usually have a whole lot to say. Here in Orhei, we have a villa we use like in most branches, though it's a little smaller. We just changed the hours and we are going to start meeting at 11am instead of 10am. We usually have an activity on Saturday for the youth, but there isn't anything else besides that.
NO, I didn't go by Andrew in college, that was just for the class, I guess. And can you hang on to those papers for me? I loved that class and would love to review those notes when I get back.
Umm... I think the economy in Orhei is mostly agricultural. In any case, it's pretty poor. Well, this next week should be a good one with more time in Orhei and hopefully a lot of new investigators. Not a lot of update with the ones we have now, except that Irina is starting to read a lot from the Book of Mormon and is loving it.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you tons! --Elder Ross
It was a really busy week, but a really good one as well. We have definitely been all over the country again, but I felt like it was a great week and though really busy, has set us up to really have a great rest of the transfer.
Yeah, the travel gets a little bit old sometimes. It takes from 45-60 minutes to get to Chisinau and we are there a lot. In my interview with President Lundberg, he said that if we can, we should try to go to Rezina twice a week. This week we'll try to do that. On wednesday, we're going to go to teach them to play basketball(they asked this of us) and to have a lesson, and then like usual we'll try to go on friday.
We're in Chisinau right now and it was cool, because on the way up I was sitting between two guys and I started talking to one and I said something about how we're getting a basketball in Chisinau today, then the guy on my other side was way interested and said he plays basketball and soccer(my two favorite sports) with some guys and we should play together. Igor is his name and he's a college student in Chisinau but he lives in Orhei. I also told him about our English courses and he is learning English at college, too, so I think he will come to practice more and learn the accent. So will his girlfriend, I hope, who lives and goes to school in Orhei. It was really cool. We exchanged numbers and everything and it was a cool, random missionary moment. In the meantime, my companion, on the other side of the first guy, started talking to him. That guy, I don't know his name, said he'd talked a little bit with missionaries before and he sees us all the time in Orhei. We didn't get his number but we will, because he is always in our area, I guess he lives there. He has a wife and a young child.
We had our first English sign-ups on Saturday. Not a ton of people came(25), but they are all pretty much in one of two classes, so those two classes are looking really good. Tuesday we should get a lot more, it usually is the bigger day of sign-ups. I'm excited for them. We are getting as many people to come as possible. For example, we have a favorite restaurant in Orhei, Dolce Vita it's called, and pretty much all the waitresses are young girls our age. We eat there a lot not only for that reason, but because the food is really good and pretty cheap. I have a favorite waitress there and I invited her to classes and she is way excited about them and is going to sign up tomorrow. We could use some new investigators, especially guys, so hopefully we will be able to use English to its fullest.
We had a lady that came with and signed up her 12-year old granddaughter and she was really interested in the Church. I gave her a pamphlet and on Sunday she came! She was our only investigator at church. Alina was sick and Mariana, who promised she would come, slept in. This lady, Alexandra, was really cool and really interested. The members who were there did a good job of talking to her and she loved it despite the fact that were a total of 10 of us! Good thing the Spirit is the same no matter how many we are. She said this week she can't meet because she will be in the countryside, but that for sure she will be here on Sunday and that after that she wants to meet with us more often! Sweet.
To answer some questions. A car would an incredible help here in Moldova, at least for our traveling companionship. The only missionaries that have a car are the assistants and the office elders. Who knows, maybe in the future. We are going to travelling a bit this week, too. To Rezina Wednesday and Friday, in Chisinau today and Thursday. I think that is it for now. We need to meet with some people we have met in Orhei.
Yeah, I am still planning on getting a suit. I think it will actually be better in Moldova, because it's cheaper. I still have about 300 RON from when I pulled out all that money on accident and I've kind of marked that for the suit. I just called the office about my travel plans. Most of the missionaries from my group have them, but they said they aren't sure. I'm not positive what that means, hopefully they didn't forget about me. I'm pretty sure though that my date is the 23rd of December.
Yeah, we write President Lundberg weekly. Basically a little update on our area and how we're doing. I don't usually have a whole lot to say. Here in Orhei, we have a villa we use like in most branches, though it's a little smaller. We just changed the hours and we are going to start meeting at 11am instead of 10am. We usually have an activity on Saturday for the youth, but there isn't anything else besides that.
NO, I didn't go by Andrew in college, that was just for the class, I guess. And can you hang on to those papers for me? I loved that class and would love to review those notes when I get back.
Umm... I think the economy in Orhei is mostly agricultural. In any case, it's pretty poor. Well, this next week should be a good one with more time in Orhei and hopefully a lot of new investigators. Not a lot of update with the ones we have now, except that Irina is starting to read a lot from the Book of Mormon and is loving it.
I hope you all have a great week. I love you tons! --Elder Ross
Monday, September 8, 2008
No longer in Romania -
Hey Wonderful People!
So the news from the Romanian mission is that I'm actually no longer in Romania! I'm serving in the beautiful communist country of Moldova, in the city of Orhei. There are some nice pluses to being out here. For one, the Church is actually recognized as a real church here and also there must be some law against pornography, because it's not all over the magazine stands like it was in Romania. A slight downside is that toilets here don't flush toilet paper and so there is conveniently a little basket next to every toilet. Fun, huh? Also, the city is pretty small, so there aren't any big stores to go shopping at. We basically buy the food every night for the following day.
Ok, before I move on with more details on the new area, let's give the update on the old one. I definitely am going to miss the branch there. It was so big and functioned so well. With so many young families and youth, the future is bright there. On Monday night, we met with Zafir. He is a champ. He's really open to the message and he can feel the Spirit. He said he really wants to come to church and see what it's like. Unfortunately, he hadn't read from the Book of Mormon yet, but we talked about that and he said he would read every single day. Then we had a lesson with Valentina, who hasn't met with us in a while. We talked a lot about the three important things for every investigator and member, to read the scriptures every day, to pray every day and to go to church every week. She also promised she would read every day, so we'll see. I promised both of them that I would call them once from my new area and tell them where I went. It will also be a good chance to follow-up on them. As we were leaving Valentina's she caught me off guard and puped me(kissed on both cheeks). It's a very normal thing that all friends do with each other and has zero romantic implications, but that close contact maybe, possibly, might have made me a little trunky for girls.
Missionary update: Sora Runyan just hopped over to Oradea and Sora Peterson, who was in Oradea my first 2 transfers in Cluj, took her place. Elder Patterson is senior zone leader now and you probably wouldn't know his companion, Elder Cantlon.
So my companion is Elder Hale and guess what!? He's not from Utah! He's not even from America, he's a Canook, from Canada. He's a cool guy, Elder Grant's(I was with him in Timisoara) boboc. He seems to be a pretty chill guy and speaks Romanian with a lot of flow, though the grammar is pretty off. It's understandable here, though, because grammar doesn't matter here where Russian is the main language. All that matters is that your point gets across. I have found that I am probably one of the better Romanian speakers in this whole country, haha. It's kind of hard not knowing Russian. I'd love to learn it and I'll try to learn some simple stuff, but it's just not possible in 3 months. We're kind of useless sometimes not knowing Russian, because everyone knows it, but only more educated people know Romanian with any kind of fluency.
As missionaries in Orhei, a lot of our missionary work is actually outside of Orhei. For example, I've already gone to two other cities for lessons. On Thursday Elder Rigdon(from my MTC group) and I got into Chisinau and met Elder Flanary and Elder Hale and then we helped man their English sign-ups. The other missionaries had visa stuff and came up Friday morning when Elder Hale and I went to Orhei. Later on Friday, we went to Rezina, a city where we have four 18-year old female investigators. One is golden and will be baptized soon, I'm sure. Her name is Alina. Another, Mariana, is really cool and is looking for direction in life. The other two aren't as interested and one of them was a little bratty even. Their names are Stela and Irina. It was hard teaching them all at once, because they are all on different levels. We're going to try to break it up this week, Alina and Mariana, and then Stela and Irina, and see if that works better. Rezina is about an hour and a half away. We travel in Maxi taxis, this big white vans, everywhere and it's rough when there isn't a place to sit down. If there is, I have to be on the aisle, because my legs definitely don't fit otherwise.
Later that night, back in Orhei we met with Ina, a 20-year old member that has a disciplinary council coming up. She's pregnant, but is coming out of 4 years of inactivity and wants to do what's right. Ina's a cool girl and we had a good lesson on making it through and getting strength from God. We will have 1-3 disciplinary councils this transfer, but I'm not exactly sure what the other two are. It will a unique experience, definitely something I've never done before.
On Saturday morning, we met with Ina and went with her and a guy friend of hers to a cornfield and picked corn. It was actually a lot of fun, even though my arms got pretty scratched up and got all itchy. We went straight from there to Balti, a little farther even than Rezina. We had a lesson with a member there, her daughter and her daughter's three kids. It was really cool.The daughter and her kids aren't members, but I think if Balti got missionaries, they would be. Tanya, the daughter, asked if we would give them blessings, like blessings of comfort. So we did for her and two of her kids. The youngest is 3 and didn't want one. I got to do voice on two of them and it is always such a cool feeling, especially getting to do two in a row like that. At the end, I felt like I was floating. The Spirit was really strong.
Sunday at church was a lot different than it has ever been my whole mission. There were 11 members and one investigator, which was Alina. We made it 14 and we were the only priesthood there. President Carasenko, the branch president, goes to Balti every other week to hold meetings with members there and so he was there yesterday. My companion conducted the service here in Orhei and we both blessed and passed. Four people bore their testimonies and three of them were in Russian. Sunday School was also taught in Russian and I fell asleep in it, haha. I tried really hard to pay attention and to pick out the different sounds and separate the words, but it wore me out and I was done and dozed off. We ended after 2 hours, because no one prepared the Relief Society lesson.
I think that is most of the update. Oh, in Rezina, there is an American Peace Corps guy that's a member. Alina is his student actually, so it's because of him, she is our investigator. And the other girls are her friends, she is a great missionary already and she's not even baptized yet. Anyway, Matt, the American, is a cool guy, but he doesn't help out at church, because he is currently disfellowshipped. He's doing really well now, though, as far as I can tell. Has a testimony and comes to church every week. I think that is most of the update for me and my new area.
Well, everyone, you guys are great. Thanks for all of the emails. I'd love to hear from you, J, and hear what's going on with you up at BYU. I hope everyone has a great week!I love you!
--- Elder Ross
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Transferred to ???
Hey Everyone!
So this morning we got transfer calls and all that they told us was who was transferred and who was staying. All I know is that I'm transferred and I have no idea where I'm going. I was pretty disappointed about that, I liked it a lot more when we found out all at once. I'm not a big fan of the suspense game that transfer meeting is all about. So Wednesday I will find out; I guess you will just have to wait until next week.
This last week was a pretty good one. We had a lot of good lessons and we got 6 new investigators. Not all of them will be progressing investigators, though. I guess I won't really be able to give you the update on them, seeing as I won't be here.
I definitely am going to miss Cluj. It has a very special place in my heart(cliche, I know) and I'm going to miss the awesomeness of the branch. There are so many incredible members here. I got pictures with everyone so I can tell you all about each of them when I get back. This has been the best branch I've served in. If it has one flaw, it would be the branch president's strong inclination to false doctrine. During the 3rd hour, he taught us all about how God's main purpose is to create order out of chaos. One of the worst things that absolutely blew me away is that he doesn't believe in the premortal life!! Mihai said something about it and and President Condurachi paused for a second and said, "Possibly," and then moved on. It was hard to take. Mihai Iepure is a stallion and corrected the vast majority of it, but the Spirit was not in that meeting, you could feel its absence. It was sad....
We had one investigator at church, Ionut. He is doing really well. We had a lesson with him all about testimonies and he shared his conversion story with us. It was really cool and he has a way strong conviction and belief in the Church. The Militaru's weren't there and I'm not really sure where they were. I'll talk to them tonight to tell them that I'm transferred.
That young family, mother and daughter, dropped hard. I don't know how stuff like that happens. My companion called her on exchange and she said "not now" and hung up. I'm not sure if he just caught her at a bad time and she was saying she's not interested. We'll try again. She was super cool, but people get really weird sometimes. I guess it's just that Satan gets in somehow and freaks them out, through friends or false doctrine or something.
Before I forget, happy birthday W!!! Man, you are a BIG 8 years old. That is pretty crazy. I probably won't recognize you when I get home, you'll have grown so much. Thanks for a being an awesome buddy. I miss you and I can't wait to see you again and to hang out with you! I hope you have an incredible birthday and get everything you want. I love you, W.
Yeah, the Kiss' are really strong members. They are some of my favorites. Francisc is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency and Monica is an RM(from France) and just super solid. They have a little boy, about 1 year old, named Razvan. He is super cute. We didn't do a whole lot with the street board. All of the pictures are done, they just need to do the words. I think Cosmin will help the others finish it up. There weren't quite as many members at church, about 50 this week. Still really good, though. I am super happy with how the branch is doing right now. Well, I can't think of a lot to write. I really just want to know what my future holds for me, but I have to wait a couple of days. You guys are all great. I love you!
--Elder Ross
So this morning we got transfer calls and all that they told us was who was transferred and who was staying. All I know is that I'm transferred and I have no idea where I'm going. I was pretty disappointed about that, I liked it a lot more when we found out all at once. I'm not a big fan of the suspense game that transfer meeting is all about. So Wednesday I will find out; I guess you will just have to wait until next week.
This last week was a pretty good one. We had a lot of good lessons and we got 6 new investigators. Not all of them will be progressing investigators, though. I guess I won't really be able to give you the update on them, seeing as I won't be here.
I definitely am going to miss Cluj. It has a very special place in my heart(cliche, I know) and I'm going to miss the awesomeness of the branch. There are so many incredible members here. I got pictures with everyone so I can tell you all about each of them when I get back. This has been the best branch I've served in. If it has one flaw, it would be the branch president's strong inclination to false doctrine. During the 3rd hour, he taught us all about how God's main purpose is to create order out of chaos. One of the worst things that absolutely blew me away is that he doesn't believe in the premortal life!! Mihai said something about it and and President Condurachi paused for a second and said, "Possibly," and then moved on. It was hard to take. Mihai Iepure is a stallion and corrected the vast majority of it, but the Spirit was not in that meeting, you could feel its absence. It was sad....
We had one investigator at church, Ionut. He is doing really well. We had a lesson with him all about testimonies and he shared his conversion story with us. It was really cool and he has a way strong conviction and belief in the Church. The Militaru's weren't there and I'm not really sure where they were. I'll talk to them tonight to tell them that I'm transferred.
That young family, mother and daughter, dropped hard. I don't know how stuff like that happens. My companion called her on exchange and she said "not now" and hung up. I'm not sure if he just caught her at a bad time and she was saying she's not interested. We'll try again. She was super cool, but people get really weird sometimes. I guess it's just that Satan gets in somehow and freaks them out, through friends or false doctrine or something.
Before I forget, happy birthday W!!! Man, you are a BIG 8 years old. That is pretty crazy. I probably won't recognize you when I get home, you'll have grown so much. Thanks for a being an awesome buddy. I miss you and I can't wait to see you again and to hang out with you! I hope you have an incredible birthday and get everything you want. I love you, W.
Yeah, the Kiss' are really strong members. They are some of my favorites. Francisc is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency and Monica is an RM(from France) and just super solid. They have a little boy, about 1 year old, named Razvan. He is super cute. We didn't do a whole lot with the street board. All of the pictures are done, they just need to do the words. I think Cosmin will help the others finish it up. There weren't quite as many members at church, about 50 this week. Still really good, though. I am super happy with how the branch is doing right now. Well, I can't think of a lot to write. I really just want to know what my future holds for me, but I have to wait a couple of days. You guys are all great. I love you!
--Elder Ross
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