Halfway Through Summer

Sora Bedebone, Elder Myers, Sora Jay
Rashnov, Romania

Hello there my beloved family and everybody who happens to read these things after my mom posts them up on the blog!! Oh my gosh those pictures you sent me of Ember and Tristan are soooooo cuuttee!!!!!!! The one of Ember holding the cat actually made me do a double take because at first I thought it was Phelps! It looks just like him. Give both of those two little monsters a big hug and kiss for me!

In answer to the question about groceries, I've actually been meaning to take pictures of stuff like that for a long time but always forget to. Romania has a few different big CostCo like grocery stores, the one I usually go to is called Kaufland and is a German supermarket. As far as what we buy, an average grocery list is just stuff like chicken or ground beef/pork, eggs, cheese, milk, bell peppers, onions, apples, maybe some carrots and cucumbers, tomato sauce, salami, bread, snacks, etc....I'll be sure to take pictures of their salami and sausage aisles. They're huge. It's weird because I'm sure there are things that would seem really foreign to you about the produce that I'm totally used to now, so it's kind of hard to say what's different haha... Last week we got some green olives too, which were a big treat! Elder Cox is the first companion  I've had who has really liked olives.

Thank you for the suggestion about holding a special fast and then having the main members meet together. We haven't had branch council all transfer long because no one shows up. But, this Saturday we're having a branch activity that will be called Pionerii Brasovului (Pioneers of Brashov). We will have members share stories about their conversions and stories about Mormon pioneers crossing the plains. Then after that we will play some unity/trust building games. I really hope that it helps the members become more bonded in the Spirit and more trusting of each other.

This week had it's ups and downs, but on the whole I felt satisfied going to sleep last night. The guy, Antonius, that showed up at church last week told us that he didn't want to join the church because he felt like he would be betraying himself. I didn't really understand why and he couldn't explain it to me, but that's how it was. We also have not been able to get a hold of Ovidiu for about two weeks now.

On the upside, we set up a baptismal date with Raul! He's the son of a member who's turning eight on Sept. 21, and we set a bapt date for Sept 24. He's totally ready for it! He's such a smart kid. Also, hopefully we will have baptismal dates established with his grandparents as well!!!! About a year ago they investigated the church, met with sister missionaries, and had baptismal dates! The grandma, Elena was interviewed and everything was good to go, but then some misunderstandings occurred, and  she stopped coming to church. So, this week Elder Cox and I talked to her after our lesson with Raul (he stays at his grandparent's house during the week) and she basically told us that she wants to want to be baptized, she just feels like things never got resolved. We told her that we could give her a priesthood blessing to help her be at peace, and she said that she would read more from True to the Faith, pray about it, and then tell us how she feels, whether she wants a blessing or not.

She actually told us about an experience her husband had where he was deathly ill and had to have some kind of crazy operation, and the doctors didn't expect him to live. She actually knew someone who had the same operation and they died 3 days after. But her husband received a priesthood blessing of healing and was completely fine! The operation went smoothly, and afterwards the doctors found nothing wrong with him at all!! That was pretty much a testimony to her that the church is true, and she loves reading from the Book of Mormon, and she loves the church services. So, with the Lords help we're hoping that she and her husband will be baptized on the 24th with Raul!!!!

That was probably the biggest miracle of the week. Other than that we haven't been able to find any new investigators, but we've met and talked with a lot of really cool people. Yesterday we talked to these 3 Penticostal teenager guys, and they are really really good guys!! One of them Daniel, wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said that he was glad he talked to me about it because before he thought it was just some weird book  that we read out of, didn't know who Mormon was etc...I told him that Mormon was a prophet in ancient America, and that the Book of Mormon teaches us the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just like the Bible. I read some verses to him from it, and he said that it was really similar to the Bible. He was super interested and said that for sure he would take it home and read it. These guys are soo cool, they don't drink, smoke, gamble, and Daniel was talking to me about how hard it is to be a true Christian in today's world. He talked about how everybody lives really immoral lives, all the girls dress really immodestly, and its hard to maintain high standards.

Then today, something really random happened. On our way to internet, Elder Cox and I ran into an investigator from BacauBrashov!! So that was super crazy! He's such a good kid and his parents are really nice people to. He's been an investigator for a long time and has a testimony of the church and the Book of Mormon and everything He's just put off baptism for a really long time.

Shane's photo from the fortress ruins in Rashnov, Romania

fortress ruins, Rashnov, Romania

more fortress ruins

Soooo, that's pretty much it for the news. Going into week 5 of the transfer, it has just blown by! I'm sending you some pictures of last weeks p-day. We went to this town called Rashnov and saw some old fortress ruins, that was really fun! In my opinion it was better than Castle Bran because it was way more midevil (oh my gosh I can't spell any more--last Sat during English class I spelled winging whinging and totally thought it was right) and old and crumbling. I love you all, have a beautiful week!! I hope Allyson and Jared's AC gets fixed soon!

Love,

Elder Myers