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
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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
Monday, August 25, 2008
August takes its toll but able to meet with . . .
Hey Great Family and Friends!!
This week was good, though there were not a ton of exciting things. As you pointed out, Mom, it is still August and that takes its toll, but I'm just grateful we're still able to meet with most of our investigators, though they are coming and going. Outside of just the missionary work, I actually do feel really good. I don't say this in any way to brag and pump myself up, but I have a feeling of great growth and, I don't know, acceptance maybe, of course despite my many weaknesses and shortcomings. When I stop and think about my mission, I definitely have not been the perfect missionary, I haven't baptized tons of people, but I really have worked hard and I feel peace when I reflect like that. Of course I still have 4 months left and I will continue to work hard and to learn and to progress. I'm not quite perfect yet, lol.
Haha, thanks, Mom, for the trunky questions. [I had to ask him a few post-mission questions but hesitated for fear of encouraging trunkiness.] But I'm already trunky. I just use it to my advantage and push myself more. Yeah, I would love to live with J in Heritage Halls. Thanks for helping me to set that up. Off and on throughout my mission I've thought about working at the MTC and just now when you asked me that question, I stopped and prayed for a minute. And yeah, I think it would be a really good thing. I don't know exactly how applying works, but I don't think they have many teachers right now. Yeah, I would like you to try applying for me. Thanks!
So we spent a decent of time this week working on the street board, but unfortunately it's not quite done yet. We met with Doamna Mocean and her son was there, too. He listened to most of the lesson, but then left for a smoke. She's doing well, but not as well, because of her son being home. She needs to remember to read and pray everyday. We remind her everytime, I'm sure she'll get it. I mean she has before, in spurts, but actually really solidly doing those things hasn't quite come yet.
We met with Paul as well and that was a sweet lesson. I was actually with Elder Fromm, because we had an exchange and he must have just been so excited that he fell sleep for about 30 minutes, HAHA. Paul had a lot of great questions, sincere ones, and he promised to read the Book of Mormon every day. He said he'll be coming and going for the next two weeks, but that he'll take the Book of Mormon with him and he'll call us when he is home long enough for us to meet. Usually, that's sketchy and investigators never call you, but I believe Paul. He's way sincere. Oh, and super ripped. He had his shirt off when we first got there, lol.
On Saturday, we had a really cool lesson in the blocs. We knocked into this young mother named Ioana and she had a little girl(about 18 months old), Maria, who was sooo funny. At random times in the lesson she just busted out into hysterical laughing and it was super cute. Ioana was really cool and interested in our message and so we'll go back tomorrow or Wednesday. It was a really fun lesson and it was also a really rare lesson, because it's probably the third time I've had a family listen to me and be interested.
Sora Gorzo from Bucharest was here for a few days and also came to church. She is known for always hosting the missionaries and feeding them and she even managed to do it in Cluj. She invited Elder Patterson and I over to her brother's house and she fed us a pretty dang good meal. It was really cool to talk to her and see how she's doing.
Sora Gorzo came with Jeff Dickemore, a former missionary that served in Cluj. He's a way cool guy and I had a lot of fun talking to him. His interest in studies is a lot like mine. He has one more year left of International Studies and he likes languages, too. He learned French and wants to learn Arabic. He actually teaches Beginning French at BYU right now. It was sweet to talk to him about his plans and to share my own. He said that I could pick Spanish up and be fluent in a year, because it's a much simpler language and there are so many people to practice with. Also, he's maintained his Romanian really well and actually translates for General Conference. So I talked to him a little bit about ways to keep up the language.
This week coming up is the last one in the transfer and it's kind of crazy, because it's a big one for me. I'll probably go to my next area to "die" there. I really hope it's a good one, and that I'm district leader, and that I have sisters, too. Haha, those are my desires, but it will be whatever the Lord wants.
Church was amazing this week. There were 60 people there! It is the high since I've been here. And if we managed that in August, maybe it will get even better and keep growing and before you know it, we have a capela! We had 5 investigators there, the Militaru's and Ionut, which was cool, because I haven't seen that kid in like 3 months. The Militaru's are doing well, we had a sweet lesson with them last week. I was praying in my nightly prayer before I went to bed and the idea came to me(nightly prayers are one of my best times for revelation) to teach them about studies and to give them all study journals and colored pencils. So we did and committed them to do a topic study by this week. We're going there tonight with Francisc, Monica and Razvan Kiss for an FHE and one of the children will do the spiritual thought on their topic study. The Kiss' have the activity and Sora Militaru is doing the prajitura. So we will have a member present lesson, a really good one, in which we mostly watch and enjoy, haha. Our plan is actually to come up with a reason to leave early and to leave the Kiss' with the Militaru's so they can bond better, especially with the Militaru dad. It will be sweet.
I think that is most of my update. Next week, I should be telling you all about transfers. I hope you have an amazing one! I love you!!!
--Elder Ross
Monday, August 18, 2008
Working hard but everyone is on vacation
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for all of the awesome emails. I really enjoyed reading about what everyone has been up to and just hearing from all of you. You are a great support to me and I am grateful for it.
Of course it's ok if it takes a couple of weeks to send the package. I just to need to get with enough time before I go home that I can get the shirts tailored. I am SUPER excited to get that CD, too.
This week was kind of rough in a lot of ways. A lot of our investigators didn't set up to meet with us and so we spent a lot of time in the blocs. Sadly, it didn't go well at all. For example, on both friday and saturday we had about 4 hours in a row of bloc-knocking and each day we only got one lesson. It was rough and we both started to have the impression that there is something more effective with our time that we should be doing. I'm not sure yet what that will be. We have a couple of ideas. One is that we are going to finish making a street board this week and then go street contacting with that as the whole district. I'm really excited to try that, I've never done it before on my mission. Another thought we had was going to the parks and playing basketball with kids and then, after we beat because we surely will, teaching them the Gospel. I think it could be a great way to find youth who are normally hard to find. We'll see what happens, I'll let you know next week.
We tried contacting that referral that Laura gave us. Sunday before last we went there and no one was home. This last Thursday we went and same thing, but then we talked with one of the neighbors and she told us that they had moved. But all isn't lost...she told us the hospital that the dad works at so this week we are going to see if we can go and find him. Maybe the Lord will bless us, we'll do our part to be diligent.
We didn't meet with Doamna Mocean this whole week. Her son came home and she has been busy with him. Hopefully, we'll meet with both of them soon. She didn't come to church for the same reason. We are still taking hits, because this is the month that everyone goes on vacation. Paul was gone all week(hopefully we meet with him tonight, he's going to call us) and a few other people. The Militaru's are back, though. We met with them and they were at church, too. They were the only investigators we had there, though.
I am doing good. I wouldn't say I'm trunky, at least not in a bad way, but I've started to get excited for being home, seeing everyone, doing some normal things again, going to school, etc. For example, I've really started to miss reading for pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I love the scriptures and blasting my way through the Old Testament right now and even enjoying it, but it's not quite the same, lol. In no way, do I let such thoughts distract me or discourage me. On the contrary, they help push me even more. But I'm getting ready to come home. I'm not yet, but I'm getting there. By the way, I still don't know when I go home but I've been told it is the 20th or the 23rd, one of the two. It depends on what tickets they can get.
The temperature hasn't been too bad here at all. There were a couple of really hot days this last week, but I think it's passed. I've been super lucky, because I've been in Cluj the whole summer and it is more in the mountains and so is cooler than most areas. And the best thing, there is ALWAYS a breeze blowing, without fail. It's a beautiful thing.
Well, I hope you all have an amazing week, especially because it will be so busy. You guys are all so awesome and I love you!
Until next week...
Elder Ross
p.s. I don't think i told you last week, but I got your package week before last with my journal, wamu card, letters, etc. Thanks! It was very much enjoyed and appreciated!
Thanks for all of the awesome emails. I really enjoyed reading about what everyone has been up to and just hearing from all of you. You are a great support to me and I am grateful for it.
Of course it's ok if it takes a couple of weeks to send the package. I just to need to get with enough time before I go home that I can get the shirts tailored. I am SUPER excited to get that CD, too.
This week was kind of rough in a lot of ways. A lot of our investigators didn't set up to meet with us and so we spent a lot of time in the blocs. Sadly, it didn't go well at all. For example, on both friday and saturday we had about 4 hours in a row of bloc-knocking and each day we only got one lesson. It was rough and we both started to have the impression that there is something more effective with our time that we should be doing. I'm not sure yet what that will be. We have a couple of ideas. One is that we are going to finish making a street board this week and then go street contacting with that as the whole district. I'm really excited to try that, I've never done it before on my mission. Another thought we had was going to the parks and playing basketball with kids and then, after we beat because we surely will, teaching them the Gospel. I think it could be a great way to find youth who are normally hard to find. We'll see what happens, I'll let you know next week.
We tried contacting that referral that Laura gave us. Sunday before last we went there and no one was home. This last Thursday we went and same thing, but then we talked with one of the neighbors and she told us that they had moved. But all isn't lost...she told us the hospital that the dad works at so this week we are going to see if we can go and find him. Maybe the Lord will bless us, we'll do our part to be diligent.
We didn't meet with Doamna Mocean this whole week. Her son came home and she has been busy with him. Hopefully, we'll meet with both of them soon. She didn't come to church for the same reason. We are still taking hits, because this is the month that everyone goes on vacation. Paul was gone all week(hopefully we meet with him tonight, he's going to call us) and a few other people. The Militaru's are back, though. We met with them and they were at church, too. They were the only investigators we had there, though.
I am doing good. I wouldn't say I'm trunky, at least not in a bad way, but I've started to get excited for being home, seeing everyone, doing some normal things again, going to school, etc. For example, I've really started to miss reading for pleasure. Don't get me wrong, I love the scriptures and blasting my way through the Old Testament right now and even enjoying it, but it's not quite the same, lol. In no way, do I let such thoughts distract me or discourage me. On the contrary, they help push me even more. But I'm getting ready to come home. I'm not yet, but I'm getting there. By the way, I still don't know when I go home but I've been told it is the 20th or the 23rd, one of the two. It depends on what tickets they can get.
The temperature hasn't been too bad here at all. There were a couple of really hot days this last week, but I think it's passed. I've been super lucky, because I've been in Cluj the whole summer and it is more in the mountains and so is cooler than most areas. And the best thing, there is ALWAYS a breeze blowing, without fail. It's a beautiful thing.
Well, I hope you all have an amazing week, especially because it will be so busy. You guys are all so awesome and I love you!
Until next week...
Elder Ross
p.s. I don't think i told you last week, but I got your package week before last with my journal, wamu card, letters, etc. Thanks! It was very much enjoyed and appreciated!
Monday, August 11, 2008
A Sweet Find and A Blessing
Hey Everyone!
Ok, I may not have as much time today, because I have been trying to upload the movie that we made for zone conference(which was great, by the way). I think it turned out really well, but Snapfish isn't recognizing it and I'm pretty sure it's too big for an email.
Before I go on and forget, I have one little request. This will probably be the last time I ask for something before I go home and here it is. I want a bunch of new shirts(mine now are trashed) so that I can get them tailored here, because I love how they do that. If that's possible, I'd like 2 short-sleeve white shirts, and then one long-sleeve shirt of each of the following colors: black, red and a darker brown. That would be really awesome and I will then get them tailored to my body. :) Thanks!
Ok, yeah, this week was pretty good. We were pretty busy with getting the movie ready and also the rest of our presentation. But we were able to get some lessons and, though we didn't have as many as last week, we had more with a member present. On Sunday, we had two investigators at church, Doamna Mocean(yes! A little miracle with that, too, that I'll share) and Domnul Skabogeza, a 73-year old English student that came last week. I have no idea how to really say his name because it's Hungarian. He's come twice in a row, but he's kind of busy, so he didn't set up with us to meet with him. Hopefully, he'll make it out to English Tuesday night and then we'll talk more with him.
One of the sweet finds of the week actually came from the sisters. They bloc-knocked into this kid(probably my age) named Paul and then the next night the four of us all had a lesson with him and they handed him over to us. He's got the sweetest dreadlocks ever! Haha, and he was wearing a pretty manly skirt, like it was a skirt, but it was definitely a man skirt. I'm excited to work with him. He is really open and was really excited to get the Book of Mormon. We're going to meet with him later today and then, hopefully, he'll go play sports with us, because right after we're going to go play sports again with the American guy and all the Romanian youth that he invites. It will be fun.
Ok, so Sunday morning we went to meet Doamna Mocean at the bus stop near her place. We were supposed to meet her and a couple of other people at 9am, but 9:05 came and went and then the bus we needed pulled up so we hopped on it. I thought maybe she didn't come, because the night before we had a pretty intense lesson on baptism and it pushed her a little bit out of her comfort zone. So on the bus, I was feeling pretty discouraged and I was thinking about how all week we tried to get people to come to church and then no one did. Finally, I started praying and in my prayer I said, "Well, I've done everything I can. Now it's in your hands, Father. You take this load and do according to Your will." Not 10 seconds later, the sisters called me and said they were at that bus station and were with Doamna Mocean. The person they were supposed to meet didn't show up, but they were exactly where they needed to be, at exactly the right time, to help our investigator get to church. It was a cool experience for me.
Well, my hour is up in like one minute so I better go. I hope you all have a great week. I love you a ton!
--Elder Ross
Ok, I may not have as much time today, because I have been trying to upload the movie that we made for zone conference(which was great, by the way). I think it turned out really well, but Snapfish isn't recognizing it and I'm pretty sure it's too big for an email.
Before I go on and forget, I have one little request. This will probably be the last time I ask for something before I go home and here it is. I want a bunch of new shirts(mine now are trashed) so that I can get them tailored here, because I love how they do that. If that's possible, I'd like 2 short-sleeve white shirts, and then one long-sleeve shirt of each of the following colors: black, red and a darker brown. That would be really awesome and I will then get them tailored to my body. :) Thanks!
Ok, yeah, this week was pretty good. We were pretty busy with getting the movie ready and also the rest of our presentation. But we were able to get some lessons and, though we didn't have as many as last week, we had more with a member present. On Sunday, we had two investigators at church, Doamna Mocean(yes! A little miracle with that, too, that I'll share) and Domnul Skabogeza, a 73-year old English student that came last week. I have no idea how to really say his name because it's Hungarian. He's come twice in a row, but he's kind of busy, so he didn't set up with us to meet with him. Hopefully, he'll make it out to English Tuesday night and then we'll talk more with him.
One of the sweet finds of the week actually came from the sisters. They bloc-knocked into this kid(probably my age) named Paul and then the next night the four of us all had a lesson with him and they handed him over to us. He's got the sweetest dreadlocks ever! Haha, and he was wearing a pretty manly skirt, like it was a skirt, but it was definitely a man skirt. I'm excited to work with him. He is really open and was really excited to get the Book of Mormon. We're going to meet with him later today and then, hopefully, he'll go play sports with us, because right after we're going to go play sports again with the American guy and all the Romanian youth that he invites. It will be fun.
Ok, so Sunday morning we went to meet Doamna Mocean at the bus stop near her place. We were supposed to meet her and a couple of other people at 9am, but 9:05 came and went and then the bus we needed pulled up so we hopped on it. I thought maybe she didn't come, because the night before we had a pretty intense lesson on baptism and it pushed her a little bit out of her comfort zone. So on the bus, I was feeling pretty discouraged and I was thinking about how all week we tried to get people to come to church and then no one did. Finally, I started praying and in my prayer I said, "Well, I've done everything I can. Now it's in your hands, Father. You take this load and do according to Your will." Not 10 seconds later, the sisters called me and said they were at that bus station and were with Doamna Mocean. The person they were supposed to meet didn't show up, but they were exactly where they needed to be, at exactly the right time, to help our investigator get to church. It was a cool experience for me.
Well, my hour is up in like one minute so I better go. I hope you all have a great week. I love you a ton!
--Elder Ross
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Eight New Investigators
Hey Great People!
Hopefully, I can get enough written so that you have an enjoyable email to read. One of the rules that President Lundberg has emphasized is that we are at internet for no more than an hour. It's going to be hard sometimes, especially when I have pictures to put up, but I will keep the rule, because, frankly, I want a lot of success and blessings will come as I'm obedient. D&C 130:20-21 have become some of my favorite verses since I've been on my mission.
This week was really great. It was an absolutely normal week and so my companion and I were able to work really hard. A lot of our investigators weren't able to meet with us and so we went and found some more. For example, the Militaru's and Ionut are out of town. Anyway, even with the numbers being different, we managed to have 18 lessons on the week and the best part is that we gained 8 new investigators!! It's the most I've gained in one week, ever! So our goal of getting 20 by the end of the transfer will be greatly overshot, seeing as the countdown is down to 4 now. Not all of those new investigators are super promising, but some are. I'll tell you what happens next week as we see which ones really progress. Doamna Mocean is doing well. We had an amazing lesson with her, but unfortunately she was sick on Sunday and didn't come. Next week for sure. We also want to give her a baptismal date soon. We'll see, as the Spirit directs.
You're probably wondering why I'm writing you on Tuesday. Well, in the past it was usually because of zone conference or English fliers. Not this time, but because we were all too poor. Something happened with the office sending their file to Salt Lake and it wasn't received and so we didn't get any MSF until today. We were all very, very poor so we wouldn't have been able to shop and anything else that requires money, including internet. I used up all 400+ RON of personals left in loans to other people and myself just trying to survive(Don't worry, Mom, I'll get it back). It was nuts. Zone funds were also depleted so no one was getting paid back for that and only by borrowing 150 RON from Elder Smith were we able to get everyone from Bucuresti to Oradea and Cluj two weeks ago.It was pretty insane. It's all good now.
At church we had three investigators, all 70 years old or more, lol. All three of them are actually from our English classes and we told them about church, they took Liahona's and pamphlets and then they came to church! They seemed to really like it. I'm not sure how serious they are as real investigators. I've definitely never seen someone that old get baptized, but ....why not? If they are sincere and really investigate the truth and pray about it, then we will work with them. If not, it's ok. We'll just go and find someone that will keep their commitments.
So zone conference is this Saturday and I'm really excited for it. A big part of that is the movie that Elder Patterson and I are almost done making. We spent a good chunk of yesterday filming it and we just have one more little part tonight. It's on the Christlike attributes and we made a little clip on each one of the nine attributes, showing actually the lack thereof. I think it's way funny. So after we're done editing it(tomorrow probably) I'll see if I can email it to you. We're going to do it on Calin's computer and I think it's a good one so we'll see. Ok, to answer some questions...sarmole is like boiled cabbage rolls with meat, rice, onion, etc. inside. I think they are super good. They are pretty traditional, too, a very Romanian dish. Basically, I think I went into Buch on Wednesday because that is when Elder Smith needed to go down and President just thought it would be better for me to go with him, to travel in numbers I guess. Yeah, that Wednesday night, we had to help some greenies and their trainers catch trains back to their areas. Haha, yes, there is a very good mix of missionaries in this mission. A lot from Canada, a few from European countries and a lot of missionaries from states outside of Utah. I just get lucky, I guess. Only two of the six people in my district are from Utah. Elder Grimmius, Elder Smith's boy, is actually from Oregon, too, though Albany.
One last thing before I sign off. Last night we went to a big field and played softball with this American guy named John. He's here as a teacher and he's been here over 10 years. Anyway, he always organizes sports; basketball, softball, soccer. So I think we will play with him and a bunch of Romanian youth every P-day. It felt really good to play a sport again. It's been a while for me. I got warmed up, though. I think in the night I hit like 5 or 6 home runs. It was a ton of fun.
Well, I should sign off pretty quick. Thanks for everything you guys. I love you!
--Elder Ross
p.s. Good luck, Mom, with your presentation at the adoption conference. You'll do great!
Hopefully, I can get enough written so that you have an enjoyable email to read. One of the rules that President Lundberg has emphasized is that we are at internet for no more than an hour. It's going to be hard sometimes, especially when I have pictures to put up, but I will keep the rule, because, frankly, I want a lot of success and blessings will come as I'm obedient. D&C 130:20-21 have become some of my favorite verses since I've been on my mission.
This week was really great. It was an absolutely normal week and so my companion and I were able to work really hard. A lot of our investigators weren't able to meet with us and so we went and found some more. For example, the Militaru's and Ionut are out of town. Anyway, even with the numbers being different, we managed to have 18 lessons on the week and the best part is that we gained 8 new investigators!! It's the most I've gained in one week, ever! So our goal of getting 20 by the end of the transfer will be greatly overshot, seeing as the countdown is down to 4 now. Not all of those new investigators are super promising, but some are. I'll tell you what happens next week as we see which ones really progress. Doamna Mocean is doing well. We had an amazing lesson with her, but unfortunately she was sick on Sunday and didn't come. Next week for sure. We also want to give her a baptismal date soon. We'll see, as the Spirit directs.
You're probably wondering why I'm writing you on Tuesday. Well, in the past it was usually because of zone conference or English fliers. Not this time, but because we were all too poor. Something happened with the office sending their file to Salt Lake and it wasn't received and so we didn't get any MSF until today. We were all very, very poor so we wouldn't have been able to shop and anything else that requires money, including internet. I used up all 400+ RON of personals left in loans to other people and myself just trying to survive(Don't worry, Mom, I'll get it back). It was nuts. Zone funds were also depleted so no one was getting paid back for that and only by borrowing 150 RON from Elder Smith were we able to get everyone from Bucuresti to Oradea and Cluj two weeks ago.It was pretty insane. It's all good now.
At church we had three investigators, all 70 years old or more, lol. All three of them are actually from our English classes and we told them about church, they took Liahona's and pamphlets and then they came to church! They seemed to really like it. I'm not sure how serious they are as real investigators. I've definitely never seen someone that old get baptized, but ....why not? If they are sincere and really investigate the truth and pray about it, then we will work with them. If not, it's ok. We'll just go and find someone that will keep their commitments.
So zone conference is this Saturday and I'm really excited for it. A big part of that is the movie that Elder Patterson and I are almost done making. We spent a good chunk of yesterday filming it and we just have one more little part tonight. It's on the Christlike attributes and we made a little clip on each one of the nine attributes, showing actually the lack thereof. I think it's way funny. So after we're done editing it(tomorrow probably) I'll see if I can email it to you. We're going to do it on Calin's computer and I think it's a good one so we'll see. Ok, to answer some questions...sarmole is like boiled cabbage rolls with meat, rice, onion, etc. inside. I think they are super good. They are pretty traditional, too, a very Romanian dish. Basically, I think I went into Buch on Wednesday because that is when Elder Smith needed to go down and President just thought it would be better for me to go with him, to travel in numbers I guess. Yeah, that Wednesday night, we had to help some greenies and their trainers catch trains back to their areas. Haha, yes, there is a very good mix of missionaries in this mission. A lot from Canada, a few from European countries and a lot of missionaries from states outside of Utah. I just get lucky, I guess. Only two of the six people in my district are from Utah. Elder Grimmius, Elder Smith's boy, is actually from Oregon, too, though Albany.
One last thing before I sign off. Last night we went to a big field and played softball with this American guy named John. He's here as a teacher and he's been here over 10 years. Anyway, he always organizes sports; basketball, softball, soccer. So I think we will play with him and a bunch of Romanian youth every P-day. It felt really good to play a sport again. It's been a while for me. I got warmed up, though. I think in the night I hit like 5 or 6 home runs. It was a ton of fun.
Well, I should sign off pretty quick. Thanks for everything you guys. I love you!
--Elder Ross
p.s. Good luck, Mom, with your presentation at the adoption conference. You'll do great!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
An Interesting Week
Hey Everyone!
This last week was definitely an interesting one. It was so busy and full, that we had very little time to actually do missionary work. As a matter of fact, I think I got the worst numbers of my entire mission. I'll go on to talk about all the things that happened, but, needless to say, Elder Patterson and I are anxious to work super hard this week and get the transfer going right.
Monday and Tuesday I was here in Cluj with Elder Smith on exchange until we went down to Buch Tuesday night. I didn't get to do a lot of "my own" missionary work, because we were covering both his investigators and mine. It didn't help that our zones are very far apart. It was good, though, and on Monday night we took a wrong bus and ended up running into Adriana. I don't know if you remember, but she is one the girls that Elder Rigby and I met passing out fliers a few months back. She's the one that pretty much asked me out, lol. Anyway, she was happy to see me and was interested in English. Also, I invited her to an activity we had on Saturday and she and her sister, Alina, came. It was sweet. Oh, haha, and they brought me some sarmole which was way good! We were definitely led to find her. And now she'll be going to the sisters' English class and they can work with her, because we FOR SURE can't.
I was dying in Buch on Wednesday because I had no reason to be there that day. I walked around a little bit with Elder Patterson and went to the boboci meeting and that was pretty cool, because Elder Hardman has made me a grandpa. His boy's name is Elder Herrick and he seems really cool. Then we helped some missionaries get to the gara and catch trains back to their respective cities.
Mission council on Thursday was really good. I really like President Lundberg and the more I learn about him, the more I realize that he is exactly what Romania needs. He changed the whole way we count numbers, which really is just the way PMG teaches. It will change the way we work. Before we counted any discussion in which we taught a Gospel principle as a lesson. But now, we have to start and close with a prayer. So for example, you can never have a lesson street-contacting now. Instead it will more of an investment, collecting phone numbers and potential investigators. We'll see how it all works out. He also said that to go to the gym we have to get his permission. So Saturday night I called him up and talked to him. He said I was "the first brave soul" to ask. After explaining how we schedule it to still have full studies and telling him how much it's helped, he was ok with it. Today I went again and it felt really good. My companion is a big guy and he definitely loves working out, too. He has a lot of ideas that are helping me as well. For example, he has Nike bands that we do some exercises with at night and then before going to bed we do 30 push-ups. We'll see if I can't get more cut.
Elder Patterson is, of course, from Utah. He's about 6 foot maybe a little more, but he weighs a good 30+ pounds more than me and a lot of it is muscle. He has a build kind of like Jake. We get along really well and he is ready to work hard and tear it up this transfer.
We've set some really good goals for this transfer. In mission council, President mentioned how it usually takes 20 investigators to get a baptism and I told you last week that my big goal is to not leave Cluj without a baptism. So we started a countdown. We have 8 investigators now and so we're going to find at least 12 more throughout the transfer. If we get one and then he drops it still counts, because he was an investigator and that's how the statistic was formed. I'm really excited. We are also going to work hard again for weekly member exchanges and taking members to all our lessons with investigators.
The activity we had on Saturday was on becoming more like the Savior. My companion and I had a little presentation with it. We shared Matt. 12:48. Be perfect, easy, right? Then Ether 12:27, how we can become stronger. We shared the example of Peter and I think I rememer the verses right: Matt. 26: 69-75 he denies Christ three times, but then later in Acts 4 and 5 he stands in front of the Sanhedrin and boldly defends the Lord. What made the difference that a man who feared in front of a servant woman became one who defied courageously a full council of those most likely to kill him for what he had to say? It was good, I think, and those two sisters were there and also a man from one of our English classes.
Church was kind of lame, because yet again not a single investigator came to church. It's frustrating, because for almost 3 full transfers we always had at least one person, usually a lot more. But the last three weeks have been 0, 1, and 0. We set a goal, though, to never have that happen again. If none of our investigators come, we'll go on the street and invite people to come in until someone accepts.
Well, I am really excited for this next week and for working really hard. We have an incredible district, and zone, too. Sora Shepard is way cool and in her 3rd transfer she speaks well, but is super timid and reserved(mostly just in Romanian). I feel for her, though, because I still get way nervous everytime I stand up in front of people. I did at the activity.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be home before Christmas, though exactly when I haven't been told yet. It'll probably be in the middle of a transfer and so maybe I'll be put somewhere different for that if it's easier on the mission. In any case, I think after this transfer I'll become a district leader again and be somewhere for two or two and a half transfers. I would LOVE to train again, but we'll see.
About the film, the Hakes' computer still has problems. I have all the footage, though. I'm not sure you'll get to see it before I go home. I'll check it out again and see if I can do anything.
Well, you all have a great week. I love you!
Elder Ross
This last week was definitely an interesting one. It was so busy and full, that we had very little time to actually do missionary work. As a matter of fact, I think I got the worst numbers of my entire mission. I'll go on to talk about all the things that happened, but, needless to say, Elder Patterson and I are anxious to work super hard this week and get the transfer going right.
Monday and Tuesday I was here in Cluj with Elder Smith on exchange until we went down to Buch Tuesday night. I didn't get to do a lot of "my own" missionary work, because we were covering both his investigators and mine. It didn't help that our zones are very far apart. It was good, though, and on Monday night we took a wrong bus and ended up running into Adriana. I don't know if you remember, but she is one the girls that Elder Rigby and I met passing out fliers a few months back. She's the one that pretty much asked me out, lol. Anyway, she was happy to see me and was interested in English. Also, I invited her to an activity we had on Saturday and she and her sister, Alina, came. It was sweet. Oh, haha, and they brought me some sarmole which was way good! We were definitely led to find her. And now she'll be going to the sisters' English class and they can work with her, because we FOR SURE can't.
I was dying in Buch on Wednesday because I had no reason to be there that day. I walked around a little bit with Elder Patterson and went to the boboci meeting and that was pretty cool, because Elder Hardman has made me a grandpa. His boy's name is Elder Herrick and he seems really cool. Then we helped some missionaries get to the gara and catch trains back to their respective cities.
Mission council on Thursday was really good. I really like President Lundberg and the more I learn about him, the more I realize that he is exactly what Romania needs. He changed the whole way we count numbers, which really is just the way PMG teaches. It will change the way we work. Before we counted any discussion in which we taught a Gospel principle as a lesson. But now, we have to start and close with a prayer. So for example, you can never have a lesson street-contacting now. Instead it will more of an investment, collecting phone numbers and potential investigators. We'll see how it all works out. He also said that to go to the gym we have to get his permission. So Saturday night I called him up and talked to him. He said I was "the first brave soul" to ask. After explaining how we schedule it to still have full studies and telling him how much it's helped, he was ok with it. Today I went again and it felt really good. My companion is a big guy and he definitely loves working out, too. He has a lot of ideas that are helping me as well. For example, he has Nike bands that we do some exercises with at night and then before going to bed we do 30 push-ups. We'll see if I can't get more cut.
Elder Patterson is, of course, from Utah. He's about 6 foot maybe a little more, but he weighs a good 30+ pounds more than me and a lot of it is muscle. He has a build kind of like Jake. We get along really well and he is ready to work hard and tear it up this transfer.
We've set some really good goals for this transfer. In mission council, President mentioned how it usually takes 20 investigators to get a baptism and I told you last week that my big goal is to not leave Cluj without a baptism. So we started a countdown. We have 8 investigators now and so we're going to find at least 12 more throughout the transfer. If we get one and then he drops it still counts, because he was an investigator and that's how the statistic was formed. I'm really excited. We are also going to work hard again for weekly member exchanges and taking members to all our lessons with investigators.
The activity we had on Saturday was on becoming more like the Savior. My companion and I had a little presentation with it. We shared Matt. 12:48. Be perfect, easy, right? Then Ether 12:27, how we can become stronger. We shared the example of Peter and I think I rememer the verses right: Matt. 26: 69-75 he denies Christ three times, but then later in Acts 4 and 5 he stands in front of the Sanhedrin and boldly defends the Lord. What made the difference that a man who feared in front of a servant woman became one who defied courageously a full council of those most likely to kill him for what he had to say? It was good, I think, and those two sisters were there and also a man from one of our English classes.
Church was kind of lame, because yet again not a single investigator came to church. It's frustrating, because for almost 3 full transfers we always had at least one person, usually a lot more. But the last three weeks have been 0, 1, and 0. We set a goal, though, to never have that happen again. If none of our investigators come, we'll go on the street and invite people to come in until someone accepts.
Well, I am really excited for this next week and for working really hard. We have an incredible district, and zone, too. Sora Shepard is way cool and in her 3rd transfer she speaks well, but is super timid and reserved(mostly just in Romanian). I feel for her, though, because I still get way nervous everytime I stand up in front of people. I did at the activity.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be home before Christmas, though exactly when I haven't been told yet. It'll probably be in the middle of a transfer and so maybe I'll be put somewhere different for that if it's easier on the mission. In any case, I think after this transfer I'll become a district leader again and be somewhere for two or two and a half transfers. I would LOVE to train again, but we'll see.
About the film, the Hakes' computer still has problems. I have all the footage, though. I'm not sure you'll get to see it before I go home. I'll check it out again and see if I can do anything.
Well, you all have a great week. I love you!
Elder Ross
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Transfers and Close Calls
Hey Beautiful People!
This week was super busy and insane. We only got 5 lessons the whole week and it was all because we were so busy with tons of stuff: English fliers and sign-ups, zone conference and getting transfer calls.
So, big news first....I'm staying in Cluj!! I'm super excited. I'm going to be with Elder Patterson. He was with us in the MTC, he's one group behind me. Ok, now I have to tell you guys a secret. All this last transfer, the AP's and most everyone else said that either Elder Bringhurst and I are going to be assistant. At the beginning of the transfer, when I had an exchange with Elder Rigby, he went through all the people that I thought could be AP and told me why they wouldn't be, because they're forgetful or don't speak Romanian well enough, etc. Then he promised me that either Elder Bringhurst and I will be assistant. I was in the better position being senior, but it definitely was not something I wanted. I really wanted to keep doing normal missionary work and having investigators. Well, it so happened that neither of us are, Elder Bringhurst is going to Brasov to be a senior zone leader there. But the scary thing is that Elder Jepsen told me that when they finished the transfer board for the 1st time, I was placed as AP!! Later, they had the impression that they were trying to force it so that Elder Jepsen could get out(he wanted to super badly), but it just wasn't right and so our assistants remain Elder Jepsen and Rigby. Whew, close one...
Ok, I saw J's video and it was way good. Thanks a ton, J! I'm super stoked for being at college together and maybe even spending the summer together, making the big bucks. Really, I'm psyched to hear that! Do you think you will work at all when you're at college? I'm pretty sure I will need to, so maybe you'll keep an eye open for me when you're over there. Anyway, thanks a ton for the video! It was awesome.
So, in our district, Elder Smith went from junior to senior, district leader and trainer! He is a way big stud, though, so it will be great. Sora Runyan will be with Sora Shepard. It's kind of weird right now, because Elder Smith and I are the only missionaries in Cluj right now(and the Hakes). Elder Divis left this morning to go to Oradea (so he's still in my zone) and Elder Bringhurst took off to Brasov as well. We found out transfers Saturday morning so that everyone could pack and travel quickly.
In Oradea, Elder Roundy and Elder Manzione and got white-washed out and Elder Wilde is getting white-washed in with a boboc. Oh, and Elder Roundy is a zone leader now in Buch, Sec. 5. Elder Eyre is now district leader in Arad and Elder Divis is taking his place. Sora Peterson is leaving Oradea and Sora Poulsen is coming.
Man, I can't believe it. I'm going into my 13th transfer, very possibly my last one as zone leader and also my MTC sisters are going home in 2 days! I'm quickly becoming very aged in this mission. I have less than 5 months now. President Lundberg sure sounded like he will be sending us (or most of us from my group) home before Christmas.
Speaking of President, he is a really great guy! I like him a lot. He seems to really know what he wants to do. He has a lot of faith in us and expects a lot from us. I'm really excited to go to mission council and to see what kind of direction and ideas he will bring out. His wife is great, too. She gave a great presentation on their history with Romania. She started a foundation here called Bridge of Love, helping out orphans to find homes. Their son, Joshua, is 9 and he is ADHD, no joke. During the conference he did well, but after he went nuts and he never stopped moving and jumping around and having pretend fights with missionaries. He is a kid that would definitely require a lot of patience.
Our English sign-ups were ok, we got about 75 signed up. Yeah, we usually do that many fliers or moer. We got them all out, but it took up a lot of our week. 75 people signed-up isn't a lot, but it should be good. I'm really pumped for really trying to use English to get great investigators and baptisms. I'll be teaching beginners Tuesday at 7pm and Saturday at 11am. It'll be good. For example, in one of my classes there is a family of two parents and three kids and they were asking questions about the Church at sign-ups and also about the Book of Mormon. Let's see if I can't baptize a family this transfer. I've decided, by the way, that I'm not leaving Cluj after 4 transfers without a baptism. I'll get at least one, who knows if more. Doamna Mocean is doing great and so I'll start with her. She was our only investigator at church yesterday, but she is keeping her commitments and she feels the Spirit in every lesson. She's a very sweet lady.
Well, I better go so I can put the pictures up. I hope you all have an amazing week. I'm going to have one here! I love you
-- Elder Ross
p.s. it will be ok with music rules for me to have a CD. I can't wait to hear it! Btw, when did you send my journal? I haven't gotten it yet and I filled up my old one about 10 days ago and am getting behind. If I don't get it at mission council, I'll probably just buy one to use for a while. Thanks!
This week was super busy and insane. We only got 5 lessons the whole week and it was all because we were so busy with tons of stuff: English fliers and sign-ups, zone conference and getting transfer calls.
So, big news first....I'm staying in Cluj!! I'm super excited. I'm going to be with Elder Patterson. He was with us in the MTC, he's one group behind me. Ok, now I have to tell you guys a secret. All this last transfer, the AP's and most everyone else said that either Elder Bringhurst and I are going to be assistant. At the beginning of the transfer, when I had an exchange with Elder Rigby, he went through all the people that I thought could be AP and told me why they wouldn't be, because they're forgetful or don't speak Romanian well enough, etc. Then he promised me that either Elder Bringhurst and I will be assistant. I was in the better position being senior, but it definitely was not something I wanted. I really wanted to keep doing normal missionary work and having investigators. Well, it so happened that neither of us are, Elder Bringhurst is going to Brasov to be a senior zone leader there. But the scary thing is that Elder Jepsen told me that when they finished the transfer board for the 1st time, I was placed as AP!! Later, they had the impression that they were trying to force it so that Elder Jepsen could get out(he wanted to super badly), but it just wasn't right and so our assistants remain Elder Jepsen and Rigby. Whew, close one...
Ok, I saw J's video and it was way good. Thanks a ton, J! I'm super stoked for being at college together and maybe even spending the summer together, making the big bucks. Really, I'm psyched to hear that! Do you think you will work at all when you're at college? I'm pretty sure I will need to, so maybe you'll keep an eye open for me when you're over there. Anyway, thanks a ton for the video! It was awesome.
So, in our district, Elder Smith went from junior to senior, district leader and trainer! He is a way big stud, though, so it will be great. Sora Runyan will be with Sora Shepard. It's kind of weird right now, because Elder Smith and I are the only missionaries in Cluj right now(and the Hakes). Elder Divis left this morning to go to Oradea (so he's still in my zone) and Elder Bringhurst took off to Brasov as well. We found out transfers Saturday morning so that everyone could pack and travel quickly.
In Oradea, Elder Roundy and Elder Manzione and got white-washed out and Elder Wilde is getting white-washed in with a boboc. Oh, and Elder Roundy is a zone leader now in Buch, Sec. 5. Elder Eyre is now district leader in Arad and Elder Divis is taking his place. Sora Peterson is leaving Oradea and Sora Poulsen is coming.
Man, I can't believe it. I'm going into my 13th transfer, very possibly my last one as zone leader and also my MTC sisters are going home in 2 days! I'm quickly becoming very aged in this mission. I have less than 5 months now. President Lundberg sure sounded like he will be sending us (or most of us from my group) home before Christmas.
Speaking of President, he is a really great guy! I like him a lot. He seems to really know what he wants to do. He has a lot of faith in us and expects a lot from us. I'm really excited to go to mission council and to see what kind of direction and ideas he will bring out. His wife is great, too. She gave a great presentation on their history with Romania. She started a foundation here called Bridge of Love, helping out orphans to find homes. Their son, Joshua, is 9 and he is ADHD, no joke. During the conference he did well, but after he went nuts and he never stopped moving and jumping around and having pretend fights with missionaries. He is a kid that would definitely require a lot of patience.
Our English sign-ups were ok, we got about 75 signed up. Yeah, we usually do that many fliers or moer. We got them all out, but it took up a lot of our week. 75 people signed-up isn't a lot, but it should be good. I'm really pumped for really trying to use English to get great investigators and baptisms. I'll be teaching beginners Tuesday at 7pm and Saturday at 11am. It'll be good. For example, in one of my classes there is a family of two parents and three kids and they were asking questions about the Church at sign-ups and also about the Book of Mormon. Let's see if I can't baptize a family this transfer. I've decided, by the way, that I'm not leaving Cluj after 4 transfers without a baptism. I'll get at least one, who knows if more. Doamna Mocean is doing great and so I'll start with her. She was our only investigator at church yesterday, but she is keeping her commitments and she feels the Spirit in every lesson. She's a very sweet lady.
Well, I better go so I can put the pictures up. I hope you all have an amazing week. I'm going to have one here! I love you
-- Elder Ross
p.s. it will be ok with music rules for me to have a CD. I can't wait to hear it! Btw, when did you send my journal? I haven't gotten it yet and I filled up my old one about 10 days ago and am getting behind. If I don't get it at mission council, I'll probably just buy one to use for a while. Thanks!
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