TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!! So I guess my beloved family is too pooped from the Christmas party at Grandpa Gary and Grandma Linea's to email me this week. :P I'm just kidding, no worries! Hey just so you all know, President Hill emailed us all about Christmas phone calls, and he said that we can call/Skype pretty much any day right around Christmas since Christmas day is on a Sunday and in Romania, practically EVERYTHING shuts down on Sunday. And holidays. So, I was thinking it would probably be easier if we did it on Monday. Let me know next week and we'll get the details figured out. I'm excited to see you all! Just so you know, there's also a possibility that I will only be able to call on the phone. Pitesti doesn't have very many internet service providers, and I don't know how late they'll be open. We might be able to use a member's computer though. Well, grandma Linea sent me an email with a bunch of photos from the Christmas party, it looked like a lot of fun! Next year I'll be back there with everyone! That's a pretty fun thought.
Well, what all happened this week? A lot, it seems like. We found out that the church will be moving buildings before Christmas. The new building is much bigger and in a better location, right on a main street that has a lot of traffic going by, it should be publicity for us. We're pretty much halfway through the transfer right now, and things are starting to pick up more for me and Elder Ekins. On Saturday we had an appointment scheduled with a less active family and we got their a good 30-40 minutes early. The weather wasn't too great, it was cold, cloudy and hardly anyone was outside, but we decided to take a circuit around the neighborhood to see if we could find anyone to talk to.
When we first got to the members block I noticed a guy sitting on a bench in front of the front door, and got the slightest feeling that it might be a good idea to talk to him but he was talking with a friend and I didn't want to bother him. So, we make our way around the neighborhood, gave out some pass along cards, but nothing too exciting. When we came back around to the member's block the guy was still sitting there and this time he was alone so we decided to go up and talk to him. We sat down on the benches by him and just struck up a conversation. His name is Cristian (kree - stee - on, Romanian equivilant of Christian), he's 30 years old, a really nice, polite and respectful person, and works at a kindergarden for kids with disabilities. Turns out that about 3 years ago missionaries had knocked on his door and givien him a brochure!! We talked with him for about 15 minutes and just got to know him a little better. After a few minutes three other guys, buddies of his came up and joined in the conversation. One them told us that he has a Book of Mormon, and they were all really nice, joking around with us, and at the least mildly interested in finding out more about what we believe in.
But Cristian told us that he was really interested in learning more, and wanted a Book of Mormon. We gave him a brochure about the Restoration told him that if he had time the next day we coud give him a copy of the Book of Mormon and talk about it some more. He more than willingly agreed and the next day we had a lesson with him about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. It was a really good lesson. He told us that he had never understood why there were so many different churches and religions and he always wanted to find an answer. He agreed that there should really only be one, if there's only one God. He said he was really excited to start reading the Book of Mormon and try praying about it. He said he had never really tried praying just with his own words, he's always recited the Orthodox prayers, but he said he would start trying. Not only that, he PROMISED that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. In Romanian culture, making a promise is a really big deal. If someone makes a promise then they really mean it. To them promising is in a lot of cases a bad thing because it is such a huge dishonor and pretty much one of the most rude and hurtful things you can do if you break your promise. The only downside is that he's going to be gone with his wife in Spain for two weeks, but he said that he would call us right when he gets back.
We also had a lesson with one of our English students, Iustin (Justin) about the restoration. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said that he's very interested in learning more about it. He's married and has a son in 8th grade, and he and his son came to Family Night on Saturday. It seemed like they enjoyed it! Iustin is a kind of quiet, but really nice and very respectful. He was brought up in the Baptist, but doesn't really consider himself "Baptist" and is interested in learning about other religions. We are really hoping that we will be able to start sharing the gospel more with him, and with his family!
On a more said note, we found out that, Dorin, the recent convert we've been meeting with, was in the hospital yesterday. We had a lesson scheduled with him for last evening, but his phone was off, and when we went to his apartment, no one answered. Finally later that night we were able to get a hold of his wife and she said that at 4:00 in the morning something went wrong with his heart. He takes high blood pressure medicine, and he had forgotten to take his pill and went into cardiac arrest or something like that. His wife had to call an ambulence and he was rushed to the emergency room. He seems to be doing ok now. We tried visiting him this morning but his wife said he was at some clinic for the morning. We'll probably go later this evening.
That's pretty much it, we haven't been able to meet with Cristina, she busies all our phone calls and we can't set up a time to go visit her. I don't know, she probably saw some anti-church stuff or someone told her crazy things about us. That happens a lot. Tomorrow we're going to stop by E----'s work place and see if we can smooth things over. Other than that, things just keep movin on!
Before I go I just want to say thank you for all those who have been sending me emails and letters, and I'm sorry that I haven't been writing back very much...It's hard to find time to write letters, but I'll get them out, no worries! Have a great week everyone!
Love, Elder Myers
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