So another week of lessons being bunged....I mean, we did get a fair amount of lessons, just not as many as we were planning or hoping for. Promise has pretty much stopped progressing which is really disappointing and frustrating. We had a really good lesson with him on Saturday that was just focused on teaching to his needs, finding out what he's not understanding and what he needs help with. He told us that whenever we have a lesson with him he feels really good and feels a desire to change, to read the scriptures, to pray, to set things right in his life, and then once we leave all of that urgency is gone and he's overwhelmed by all the hustle and bustle of life. We both encouraged him a lot, sharing our own experiences with putting God first and seeing the blessings that come from it, and really trying to help him understand the importance of him reading the Book of Mormon and praying daily, and coming to church. But then Sunday he didn't show up, and when we called him he said he still hadn't read or prayed. Part of that is that he has exams today, and he had procrastinated a lot of the studying he had to do so I can understand where he's at, but it's still frustrating knowing that if he would just set aside 10 or 20 minutes of his day to read and pray, everything else would go a lot smoother. As I'm saying this I'm thinking of all the times that you or my sunday school teachers or priesthood leaders told me the exact same things and I still rarely did it. I wish that I did.
Yesterday we visited this family in the branch and taught the Plan of Salvation and read out of the For the Strength of Youth booklet. The there are two kids in that family, a brother and sister who are 13-14 years old and teaching them just totally took me through a time warp to when I was there age, and made me think think about what it will be like when I have my own family to raise.........kind of mind blowing. I have no idea how I made it this far! The thought of raising kids in todays world is kind of terrifying, I'm not going to lie. So thank you so much mom and dad, for being the outstanding parents that you are. I find that I gain more and more respect for everything you do for us kids each day I'm out here.
So this week we're hoping and praying for a miracle. Last thursday the Zone leaders came in to Brasov for exchanges and that was a huge boost for us. I went on exchange with Elder Vekony (pronounced vay-kwin), who is from Hungary! He's such an awesome guy and an amazing missionary. He speaks four languages, Hungarian, Romanian, English and Russian, so he can pretty much talk to anyone he wants here without any kind of language barrier. He was also a champion ballroom dancer, and was in a rock band, so we had a lot to talk about! I learned a lot from him about contacting, teaching, and just being a missionary in general. He helped me with some of the struggles I've been having and things that I've been thinking about lately. I've just been having a hard time putting me whole heart into these people because I don't know them or understand their culture and language very well at all, and it usually takes me a while to really open up to people as it is. I shared this with him, and he told me that he was in my same position at one point on his mission and he gave me some really good advice, sharing with me what he's learned about loving people and loving God. So that was pretty awesome. We taught this family that he had taught before (he served in Brasov when he was in his 4th transfer as well. Right now he's in his 15th transfer) and the lesson went really well. Elder Simmons are going to go back there as soon as we can, we feel really really good about this family.
Well, that's the highlights of this week. It went by really fast! Thanks for sharing that story of Grandpa Gary's! What a small world we live in! And those pictures of Boston are beautiful! The one of that narrow street with the houses looks a lot like Romania........only a lot nicer. Boston and Chicago are two cities in the US that I've really wanted to go see. Sounds like you're having an awesome time there Dad! And mom just paste a few blog entries into an email for me. I'm flattered that you did a special on my band! That's really cool. And that's so awesome that you're getting so much positive feedback from it all!
Thanks for all the amazingness that you are, I really appreciate that you fasted for me and my companion last week mom, that means a lot to me. Well, know that I love you all so much, and here's to another week ahead of us all!
Love, Elder Myers
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