Buna Ziua

Among other things, Shane is learning to cook. He made this beautiful lasagna himself.  

Hey everyone, here we are, the start of a new week! Already going into the 3rd week of the transfer. Raul's baptism is in two weeks, and I just found out yesterday from the zone leaders that zone conference will be on the 28th, and will be in Arad again. I'm definitely looking forward to that! I love zone conferences because of the spiritual boost it gives me; I always get answers to my prayers there. It's also really nice to be able to see everyone and get some time to catch up with them. President Hill just announced in his weekly email that the mission name was just changed from the Romania, Bucharest Mission to the Romania Moldova Mission. Kind of random, but I definitely think having Moldova included in the mission title is quite appropriate. One of the strongest branches in this mission is in the capital of Moldova, Chishinau. I'm glad to here that Uncle Chris is making progress. I still can't believe how intense his injuries are!

Thank you everyone for your emails this week, they all really helped me a lot. Thank you for your advice mom, focusing on more selective things rather than stressing out over everything as a whole is definitely something I should be doing more. In his email this week President Hill shared some things that Elder David A. Bednar shared in a mission president's conference recently about Peter showing his faith when he stepped out of the boat to walk on the water towards Jesus, and how even though Peter's faith faltered after a few steps, the Savior reached out his hands and saved him from the waters. President Hill encouraged us all to think about ways in which we could be "stepping out of our boats" and some of the things he mentioned were the exact things that I have been struggling with, and allways have struggled with. Mainly things about contacting. He talked about how we should be talking to people everywhere we go. On the bus, on the train, and on the streets in between appointments. This is definitely one of my weak areas, and lately I've been struggling with getting myself motivated to talk to more people, and President's email along with you words of wisdom, mom, have helped me realize how I can set some goals to improve in this area.

Dad, your email completely inspired me! I've actually been wondering whether or not President Hill might be thinking about doing something along these lines. A few weeks ago he said in his email that he's realized that this mission has a lot of different talents in it and he told us all to email him about talents we have so that maybe the mission may be able to use these talents together. Also, as a mission we are putting more focus on re-activation efforts. The inactivity rate in this country is off the charts, and we're putting a lot of focus right now on just strengthening the branch. That way activity will increase and hopefully member missionary work will also increase so that many of our investigators will be coming from the member's part.

Grandma and Grandpa Linea, thank you so much as well for your words of love, encouragement and support. Since in this mission and especially in this city right now we have very few people to teach and prepare for baptism, success has to be measured in another way and has to come from within. And I could not agree with you any more in that the best way to do that is by having Christ-like love, and showing that love to those around through our words and actions. I really appreciate all the ways you support me, and your openness to my personal religious beliefs. Even though we all take part in different faiths, there is always a common thread throughout all Christendom, and that is, obviously, Jesus Christ. I want you to know from myself that everything I do here in Romania and all the people I talk to, I do it all because of the Savior's love for me. I know you must know that already, but really, being out here and doing the Lord's work has made me understand so much more just how much He loves me, and everything that he did and still does for me. I also want to thank you for also being exceptional examples of people who are trying to live their lives the way the Savior would want them to, and showing the love and light that comes from that lifestyle.

This week has been a definite improvement from last week. I finished the lyrics to the song, I only have to have it checked over by a Romanian to make sure it's good. I've also been taking any small moments I can to dink around on the piano at the church to get the music down. It's coming along quite well! We've had many different miracles this week, I can't really explain them all. The Lord has been shedding his grace and light on us as we have continued working with members to track down in-active members and as we've been talking to people in the parks and blocks and houses. We've had some really cool contacts and have a lot of potential investigators. I'm really hoping that we will be able to meet with all of them this week! The zone leaders are also coming on Thursday for exchanges so we will have some extra helping hands with the work. Yesterday in church the branch president announced that a new branch mission leader was called!!!! This is such a big step towards working with the less active members, and also for forming support systems for the investigators we will begin to bring into the branch. A change of attitude seems to have started to creep over the members of the Brasov branch. They are all starting to realize more and more how crucial it is that they forget about the wounds of the past and focus on the present and the future. There is a sense of urgency that is being infused to several of the strong members of this branch as they begin to put the past behind them and work together. It's all coming in small baby steps, but that's how anything is really. "By small and simple means are great things come to pass" ....or something like that....I don't remember where exactly that verse is.

And so, now reflecting back on this week and the transfer so far, as well as the time that I have been in Brasov, I'm seeing more clearly the progress this branch is making. Line upon line upon line, precept upon precept upon precept. I knew there was a reason why Nephi liked quoting Isaiah so much. Until next week then, give a big hug to Ember and Tristan for me! I love you all!!

Elder Myers

Thanks Everyone!!!!

Wow, I feel like I just stepped into the twighlight zone.....seeing those pictures of all my old high school friends was a very strange experience. Taylor would grow a beard wouldn't he, haha! That's so awesome to hear about the Mckeevers, to see them all, man it literally feels like a lifetime since I saw them. It felt like looking backwards in time seeing those photos. It's so weird to see how everything's changing so much. I never really knew what to expect with what would happen after high school, but right now I feel such a distinct separation between me and the people who were closest to me just a few years ago. A separation that comes from something more than beeing thousands of miles apart. It really made me see how right now I am in a very spiritually and socially isolated bubble. 


I feel like my whole life I had an immediate support system of my family, friends, and church members  to whom I could turn for the help and advice I needed. Now I feel like it's just me, the Lord, and my companion. Not to say that I don't get a lot of help and support from you all, these weekly emails are allways a huge spiritual boost for me, and I do get help and support from my other fellow missionaries. I just feel like right now I'm going through a one on one exchange with the Lord that lasts for two years. The type of friendships that I've formed here have such a different flavor than most of those that I made growing up and its kind of a strange thing for me to process right now.

But anyhow, life goes on and you just gotta roll with the waves. That was sooo awesome reading all those messages from Missy, Lyndsay, Erica, and Whitney. I'm so gratefull for the amazing cousins I have!! And unfortunately, I'm not allowed to email them all, so I guess this weekly email will have to suffice. If they want to send me their mailing address I can find some time and send them a letter! But I just want them to know that their words were a big strength to me, and that I love them all very much! I'm glad to hear that Uncle Cris is on the way to getting better. That sounds like a grizzly accident! I just want him to know that I will be keeping him in my prayers.

I'm sorry, I keep forgetting to ask Raul about the journal thing, but I'll be sure to talk to him about it this week. Things are still going well with him, but his grandma Elena said that her husband is against her getting baptized so unfortunately we won't be able to keep teaching her. She still sits in on Raul's lessons though. She's continuing to study the scriptures and the brochures we bring over. Raul is also continuing to progress well, and should be all ready for his baptism on the 24th. He still hasn't been to church, but we're going to keep encouraging Elena to bring him if he's at her house, and also talking to his mom, Cristina, about it. She's been out of the country for the past few weeks so she hasn't been able to take him.

This week's been pretty hard to be honest. This transfer we're putting a lot of focus on working with members and less actives to strengthen the branches and also to encourage members to be more involved in the missionary work. What that means for us here in Brasov though, is that we spend hours every day hunting down people that have been inactive for years trying to find out where they live, who they are, and hopefully to bring them back into activity. This branch is continuing to make slow progress though. I just have to keep telling myself that. It's almost indescernible, but it is progressing. But also with all this less active work means that we have to do a lot of contacting on the go, which is hard for me to do. I'm usually in all out contacting mode or not, and it's hard for me to find a middle ground and that's something I've been working on for a while. Probably it will be something I will be working on my whole mission.


 I remember what you said dad a couple weeks ago about how one of the most important things I could teach my boboc is how to pace yourself as a missionary and not burn yourself out. That's something I've been thinking a lot about and It's been kind of hard not to get discouraged when we read all these teaching records that are all about how people have fallen away from the church and no one really knows what's happened to them. Tender mercies get me through each day, and I'm doing my best to keep my head up and have a positive outlook on everything. I know that this city will be even stronger than it once was, and I know that I am in the really important stages of growth that will probably determine a large part of the branch's future and that helps me stay positive and motivated. 


Also, this last week I've started writing my first song in Romanian! It just started coming to me during language study several days ago, and I've been using my language study time to work on it. It's slow going partly because I'm trying to write poetry in a foreign language and also because I have do all the music in my head since I have no instrument to play it out on, but this has been an answer to my prayers. I've been thinking and praying a lot to come up with different ways I can use my musical talents for missionary work.


 At interviews last transfer I asked President Hill if it would be possible for me to get a guitar, and he said that he would think about it and if I could come up with ways that I could use it as a missionary tool than he would probably allow me to have one. After that, the more I thought about it the more I thought that having a guitar would be more of a distraction than anything else, so I abandoned the idea. But the thought still lingered. I have this God-given gift, there must be some way I can use it to spread His gospel. 


Then a couple weeks ago I was on another exchange with Elder Vekony and something he suggested was that I write songs for members and investigators. I had never really thought of that before. I had thought of writing songs in general but I never really could come up with a specific application. On top of that, every time I would try to come up with any kind of song lyrics I would immediately hit this block that told me I needed to be concentrating on other things. Then just this past week, this song just started coming out of me and I knew that it was inspiration. So I'm going to finish it and talk to President Hill about all this and hopefully something will work out. 

So, that's probably the most exciting news for now. I'll let you all know what the outcome is in the next couple of weeks! Thanks again everyone for all your beautiful words. Every week I feast on them. I love you!

Elder Myers