Happy Pioneer Day!

Hey everyone, and also happy birthday to Eli!!!!!! La multi ani as they say here! Unfortunately I have to keep this really short cuz we got to internet late today. Thank you all so much for the advice and support, it's exactly what I needed.


So my new companion is Elder Cox from Colorado, and he's just full of boboc fire!!! I've been really impressed with him. Aside from giving him language tips here and there I hardly have to anything, he pretty much came pre-trained and pumped for the work! I'm just going to share with you a little miracle that happened this Sunday and then I'll have to go. 


So we were expecting Marcela to come to church but she never showed up. Instead, Ovidiu did. He's a non-member man in his 30's or or maybe 40's and was looking for a place to worship when somehow he found our church's website, got the time of service and the address and just showed up!!!!!! He even stayed for all 3 hours!!!! He's a really nice man, doesn't drink, doesn't smoke, and said he drinks coffee just every once in a while. Basically, he's totally prepared. Right now I'm just praying my guts out that this doesn't turn into another Mihaiel or Hans situation. He said that he wants to come to our church regularly and we gave him a Book of Mormon which he said he would read. The only down side is that he works all week except Sundays so it's going to be hard meeting up with him, but it will work out. The cool thing is yesterday I gave a talk about Faith, Works, and Grace, and how after we have done all that we can do, God steps in and does the rest. I know that to be true with all my heart. I love you all, gotta go!!!

Love, 
Elder Myers

WOOAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!

View from Shane's first apartment in Brasov

View from Shane's new apartment in Brasov

Oh my gosh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy smokes, so today we just got the new transfer boards and it is absolutely insane! Sooooo Here's everything that's going down. Sora Jay and Sora Bedebone are both staying in Brasov. I will also be staying here, becoming district leader and training a boboc!!!!!!! Pretty much everyone is getting moved around a ton. A couple cities have gone from 4 man disticts to 2 man districts, and both Bucharest districts (Buch is divided into two distrits) are getting new companionships moved in. Elder Simmons and his boboc will be one of the new companionships there!! Yep he's training too!! He's pretty much starting from complete scratch. He'll have to find a new apartment, the phone he will have is from a completely different city, he'll have no area book with previous records, he and his boboc will be starting with absolutely nothing! My MTC companion, Elder Bruner, is now the Branch President in Bacau! In total there are 15 missionaries going home, and 13 new ones coming in.




Also, in Craiova, which is probably the youngest city in the mission in terms of how long it's had missionaries serving there, used to be a Group, but this week they were just organized as a Branch! So basically this transfer is going to go down in the history of the Bucharest, Romania Mission. This  transfer will be absolutely insane. I have no idea what I'm going to do with a boboc! I feel like I'm still a boboc! I mean I know I've progressed a lot, and just since I've been in Brasov I've learned a ton and probably have made more progress than I've realized, but still, I feel like I got in the country yesterday. Well, either way, the Lord says I'm ready for this so I'm going to make the best of it, have a blast, and learn as much as I can from my new companion. I'm going to miss Elder Simmons a lot though. He's been an absolutely amazing companion, and he's going to do amazing things in Bucharest. 

This week has been really slow on missionary work as usual. We got stood up probably at least 20 times, but I've had some really unique and incredible experiences. Right now, one of the biggest highlights is yesterday on the bus, I saw Mihai!! I sat down and talked to him, asked how things were going. He told me about how things were going with the band which by the way I would not be surprised if they're not touring all over Europe and even in the States within the next few years. I also asked him if he'd been reading the Book of Mormon, and he has!!!!! He said he got about 30 pages into it, and actually wants to start it over because there were things he didn't really understand very well but wants to understand it. I told him that if he ever has any questions about it we can meet up, read it with him, talk about it, and answer his questions.

We've also had some cool finds in this gorgeous neighborhood (or villa) up above a park in centru. All the houses are situated on the hill side with cobblestone streets, breathtaking views of the city, and beautiful gardens. But a few days ago we had a lesson with a retired man named Adrian. He is one of the nicest, mild-mannered, most humble people I've ever met. He actually asked us questions about our lives, took an interest in what we had to say, listened to us teach the Restoration, and put in his opinions and beliefs where appropriate. He owns this huge 3 story house with this beautiful terraced hillside garden with stone steps leading up into a small orchard at the top of the hill, and a small fish pond in the side yard. And pretty much all of it he did himself. Anyways, he promised us that he would read the Book of Mormon. He PROMISED!!! Romanians never promise you anything because they're always afraid of breaking their promise and losing your respect. This man is absolutely stake president material. The only bummer is he said he works out of town a lot and wouldn't be able to meet again until September.... but, anywho that's a huge seed planted.

Villa in Brasov where Shane and his companion met Adrian

We also had the opportunity of giving a couple blessings to members who've been either going through a rough patch or have been sick. Actually, we've given someone a blessing pretty much every week I think. One of them I gave was the first time giving it in Romanian, that was a really cool experience. We also went over to Sora Miron's house again to help some more with her house....or at least what's left of it. 

This transfer has been another one really low on the number side but the more I look I find a lot of rich blessings and extraordinary spiritual experiences that have made a really big impact on me and have absolutely nothing to do with how many lessons I taught. I'm really looking forward to this next transfer and can only imagine everything that it has in store for me!

 Thanks for the pictures of Ember and Tristan, and all the fun stories. That's awesome they're both starting to talk a little bit! Once Ember starts really talking I'll bet she'll never stop! Thanks again also to all those who wrote me birthday notes. 

 I'm so grateful that I have a family that is so loving. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Myers

Shane's Photos of Bran Castle (also know as Dracula's Castle)

Here are the photos Shane took two weeks ago on P-day: 

Bran Castle courtyard, Brasov, Romania

Bran Castle, Brasov, Romania
I think this castle and it's views could inspire a thousand stories!

Shane's companion, Elder Simmons in front of steps to Dracula's Castle

Quote of the Week:

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

                                                        ---Thomas Alva Edison

God Bless America!!!!!!!

Bran Castle, Romania

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!! Today the Brasov district celebrated America's Independence by going to Dracula's Castle!!!!!!! It was basically the fulfillment of one of my childhood dreams, walking around in a castle hundreds and hundreds of years old. It's actually called Bran Castle, but it is where the 15th or 16 (don't remember exactly) century prince Vlad Tepes (Tseh - pesh) lived that the fictional character Count Dracula is based on. The author of Dracula got the idea for the character from this prince because Vlad was known as a brutal, violent and bloodthirsty man who would impale the corpses of his enemies on pikes outside his castle. Anyways, aside from the gruesome dark history, the castle was awesome!!! I took a ton of pictures and will attach a few along with pictures from last week. It was really good hearing about all the things going on back home. 


The story about ______'s friend is absolutely incredible!! I would call that a little more than a small miracle! I can personally attest to the 15 step stop smoking program - I've seen it work miraculously on an investigator I had back in Cluj. I don't know if you remember Mihaiela but she was able to stop smoking through the program. The best part about it is that the whole thing is based on the principle of faith; the person trying to quit is committed to pray daily and to read the scriptures daily to receive help and strength from above.


 I was also so excited to hear of Eli's success at Scout Camp, I'm so proud of you Eli!!!! I'm sure that took a lot of courage to go through with the whole 5 days of the camp. And that's so cool that one of the merit badges you got was horsemanship! I didn't even know that one existed! 

Well, some new news on my end, President Hill is know officially our new mission president, and tonight my district is going to Arad for another combined zone conference - the Arad and Sibiu zones (Sibiu zone includes Cluj, Sibiu and Brasov) - where we will meet President and Sora Hill! From his email he sent out today he sounds like a really cool guy with a lot of energy and fire for the work. Also, Elder Simmons and I are moving out to a different apartment on Wednesday because one, the one we live in right now has a really bad mold problem and two, the contract terminates on the 14th. So as of this week we will be living right in the middle of Centru!!! I'll send some pictures of the apartment next week. 

As for missionary work we've had some successes here and there. Our investigator Simina the Adventist girl is progressing amazingly well!! She's read up to 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon, we gave her the most recent General Conference Liahona issue, we watched General Conference with her in our last lesson which she really liked, and she came to church yesterday!!! She's so awesome, she totally picks apart and really studies everything she reads and says she feels really good when reading the Book of Mormon. She also really liked Sunday School and has a lot of respect for the Sunday school teacher Iuliana who has sat in on a couple of her lessons with us. Elder Simmons and I both feel like as long as she keeps her heart open there will be nothing stopping her from getting baptized. She's going to make an amazing missionary! We're just hoping that her family and friends will be open to her eventually changing religions. It would mean leaving behind the traditions of her family and everything she grew up with.


 We also had another investigator at church, an older lady named Marcela who came for her second time yesterday! She's the sweetest lady ever and has begun to make casual friends with the relief society members already, and she's actually been reading in the Book of Mormon! So as long as she keeps it up she'll definitely continue to progress really well. On a more sad note, we had to drop Hans and the three rocker kids, Gabi, Mihai and Razvan. We'd been trying to set up with them all week, and on Saturday when we were supposed to meet at the church, Mihai called us and said that none of his friends believe in the Book of Mormon. However, he said that he's going to read it because he wants to find out the truth, and that he'd call us after he does. Honestly I don't really know if he'll ever call us, but I feel like I've made a difference in at least one person's life for the better and I have full confidence that after time, the seed that Elder Simmons and I planted will eventually grow into a thriving tree. I don't know when that will happen, maybe it will be years down the road after Mihai has experienced more of life and realizes that he's still searching for truth, but I know that one day he will remember Elder Simmons and me and will remember that he felt something different around us - something good - and he will find himself needing something to hold on to and that thing will be the restored gospel - the true and everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. I know in my heart that he will eventually find his way back to the truth.

Well that's pretty much all for this week. There's a journal entry I wrote a couple nights ago that I wanted to share with you all but I forgot to bring it with me to internet so it will have to wait for next week. Here are the pictures as promised! The first two are from Ploiana: the first is from inside the restaurant where we ate Bear stake, the second is a little wooden Orthodox church and a glimpse of the beautiful green mountainside scenery. The other ones are of Bran Castle, enjoy! Hope everyone has an awesome 4th of July we are all so blessed to live in a country that truly is God's promised land. I've never appreciated all the amazing blessings we have in America more than now from living in Romania. I love you all!

Love, Elder Myers



For some reason, the photos Shane mentioned were not attached. I will have him try again next week. In the mean time, enjoy the photo from the public domain.