Salut!

Elder Ekins, Elder Myers, Branch Mission Leader,Marius
Pitesti, Romania

Hey everyone!! Man, sounds like you all had a pretty exciting Thanksgiving! Carissa gets called to Brazil, and Dad gets his appendix taken out! Way to take it like a champ, dad. Surgery one day, turkey dinner the next. That's how we do it in the Myers family! Thanks for the new excerpt from your book mom, it's coming along really well! Oh yeah, I have to apologize for sending Heather the lyrics to my song before I sent them to you...... oops! I translated it for her and I had intended to send them to you the same week but I forgot to copy down the lyrics in English before I mailed the letter to Heather. And the card...I still have to send that too. I'm actually going to see if I can fit the video in an email so you can get it sooner. And yes, I will remember to start having more pictures taken of me. I never think to get pictures of me on my camera to send back to you. I guess it makes sense that you would want to see ME on MY mission.


Oh yeah and guess what, this week I started writing another song in Romanian! Like the first one, the idea for it just kind of popped in my head one day. I was thinking about the most recent convert here in Pitesti who was baptised the weekend before I got transfered here and the incredible changes he went through and miracles he experienced. When Elder Ekins and Elder James taught him he was a former investigator who was an extreme alcoholic.  Within two weeks of meeting with the missionaries he had stopped drinking and smoking, got baptized, recieved the Aaronic priesthood, and just gave his first talk yesterday in church! It was phenominal, he spoke as if he had been a member of the church and living the gospel for years! He comes to church every Sunday and we meet with him once a week to teach him the recent convert lessons and his understanding of the gospel is just so inceredible. He is without a doubt a future leader of the church here in Pitesti. It was his conversion story that inspired the song I'm writing right now.


So this has been a pretty good week, we had a second lesson with E---  on Friday. It wasn't as spiritually powerful as the first one we had, we actually didn't get much teaching in because she talked so much but it was good to here more from her. It gave us an opportunity to learn more about her beliefs, and she shared some incredible spiritual experiences she's had in her life. I've found that it's just as important to get to know the person as it is to teach them because if you don't know what kind of a person you are and what kind of beliefs you have, you won't really be able to know how the gospel will help them and how to teach according to their needs. From this last discussion we had with her I feel like we were able to get a good feeling for what direction we need to focus the next lesson. 

Also yesterday at church an inactive sister came to sacrament meeting and brought her non member hustband! Sora R---- had come to church the past couple weeks but since then she hadn't been in years I think. I was able to talk to her and her husband and she said that she's been going through some really hard times and whenever that happens she always feels a need to get closer to God, so she decided to start coming back to church.  The husband told me that he'd been to church here before and it left a really good impression on him so now he feels like it will be a big help to him and his wife. What a miracle!! It is so incredible to say the way the Lord works in people's lives. It's always been hard for me to see people who have convenented with their Heavenly Father by being baptized into His Church and then fall away, but I've been seeing more and more examples of how powereful the healing effect of Christ's atonement can have on people. It gives me hope for those people who have let go of the ''iron rod'' and started their way towards the ''great and spacious building'' that is the pride of the world. God knows His children perfectly and knows how to help them best.

Sunrise from  Shane's apartment,
Pitesti, Romania

One last thing that happened this weekend. A senior couple from Ploiesti (a city near Bucuresti), actually the Marcov's who were in Bacau when I served their came up for the weekend to meet with the branch president, attend sacrament meeting and see how the branch is doing in terms of function and organization. Of course, I had to do all the translating for them as he met with President Georgescu (the branch president of Pitesti) and asked him questions about the branch organization, its strengths and weaknesses, and things to improve on. It was really interesting to learn more about how the Church is organized. I don't know if I ever said this but I never expected to learn how the run a branch/ward while on my mission!! I feel like a big part of my mission experience has been church leadership training.

That's about it for now. Just so you know I got your first package on transfer day! Thank you so much for the seasonings, Christmas music, etc.,and tell Nana that the chocolate she sent was absolutely delicious! I love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week!

Love, Elder Myers

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snow in Pitesti, Romania

Well, this transfer is pretty much over! Transfer day is this Wednesday, and I'm heading into number nine! In less than a month I hit my year mark of being in the country. It's really weird going into winter now. I keep having all the memories of my last weeks in the MTC and my first weeks in Romania, and it's kind of hard not to get a little homesick for both Cluj-Napoca and Durham. 


The mission just changed the way we find out about transfers, now the Zone Leaders will call us the Saturday before transfer week and tell us where we're all going, that way we have time to say good bye to members and investigators. I think that's how they do it in Adam's mission as well. So the day before yesterday I got a call from Elder Johnson and found out that our district is staying the same. No one is getting transferred out! I'm both excited and a little wary. This past transfer has been really challenging for me dealing with everything in the district and trying to understand my companion and fellow district members so that we can all be on the same track. I'm glad that I'm everyone is staying because I feel like I've made a lot of progress, getting to know everyone better, and I feel like we as a district have made improvement. Going on exchanges with Elder Martin and Elder Staheli really helped a lot. It gave me a chance to get some one on one time with them and talk to them about how they feel about things, and a lot of light has been shed for me on the whole situation.

This week didn't have too much going on....We're teacing English to a member who needs to learn it for a job he's applying for in January. He has a pretty hard living situation. He's a taxi driver and lives a good 40 minute maxi taxi ride outside of Pitesti and barely makes enough to provide for his family. His work hours are not the greatest, and he hardly has any time to be with his family or to come to church. He's a good man with a big heart and a lot of faith. 


The biggest highlight we had this week was the only lesson we had with an investigator. Her name is E--- and she's a friend of one of the other Elders' investigators, V---. We had the lesson at V---'s house, and it went sooooo well! The Spirit was really strong. Before we started, E--- offered to say the opening prayer, saying she had a prayer she had written before that she wanted to recite. We tried explaining to her that it would be better if she prayed using her own words, not something pre-prepared but she insisted and I didn't feel like pushing it would be a good thing. So she started reciting her prayer/poem, and after a while she took a long pause, and when she started back up again the prayer had a different feel to it. The Spirit was there instantly and I was pretty sure that she was now praying from her heart. When she finished she told something just happened that had never happened to her before. She had recited that very same poem many many times before and had never forgotten a word; but for some reason this time halfway through she completely forgot the words. She said it was as if she had been reading it off a piece of paper, and then the paper just cut off and there were no more words so she had decided to continue using her own words.


She started crying as she told this to us and we proceeded to teach her about the Holy Ghost and how it can place thoughts and feelings into our hearts and minds. For the rest of the lesson the Spirit was there so strong, and she was really receptive. She committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true, and after we read in 1 Neph about Lehi's vision and explained to her what it meant,  we asked her if she found the Book of Mormon to be true would she be baptized. She said no, but that actually made me feel relieved. She said that she's always felt like she's been on God's path, that he's been there holding her hand and so she doesn't feel like she needs to join any church. We then explained that the Book of Mormon was written for us specifically in these days, and that even if she sees no reason to be baptized now, reading from the Book of Mormon and praying to know of it's truthfulness will only enrich the spirituality she already has in her life. She agreed to reading it, and to continue meeting with us. I feel confident that if she reads and prays with an open and sincere heart, then she will come to understand the importance of the Restoration and will see a need to be baptized by one holding God's authority. That was a huge spiritual boost for me and I'm excited to meet with her again! 

I have a feeling this next transfer will go by pretty fast, what with Christmas and New Years just around the corner. I also now know almost 99% positive that I will be here in Pitesti for at least 3 transfers, because this is Elder Ekin's 4th transfer here, and missionaries rarely stay in one area for more than that so once he leaves, I will have to be here to get a new companion because they won't want to whitewash my area. We'll see! 

Icy Pond in Pitesti, Romania

Well, that's pretty much all for now. This week's gotten pretty cold. It was -4 C Sunday morning and lightly snowing on our way to church. There is a pond in one of the parks here that is already freezing over! I've attached some pictures of it for you to see. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! (No. Romanian's don't celebrate Thanksgiving :(  ) Say hi to everyone for me! Oh and about the whole Skype stuff, there's a member here who has a computer with a camera, so as long as we can get internet access at the church, we'll be able to Skype on Christmas!! 

Love, Elder Myers

Doamne Ajuta

"Doamne ajuta" is a salutation that Romanians use a lot. It means "the
Lord helps" or "May the Lord help you." I've always liked the fact that
however lightly and nonchalantly it is taken, faith in God and Jesus
Christ are very much a central part of Romanian culture. Even if most of the
people don't really go to church or live their religion, the idea that
there is a God who created us and that there is a Savior who suffered for
our sins is still a big part of the Romanian world. I feel like it really
is such a unique culture, and there are many things that I love about it.
There are many things about it that drive me crazy, but I've always been
one to try to focus more on the positive side of things.


It's been a real challenge being a missionary for God's Restored Church and not becoming
negative or cynical. How blessed am I that I have such amazing parents
and an amazing mission president who are inspired to always know just how
to help me. In today's weekly email, President Hill talked about measuring
success and how it is not measured just by how many baptisms you have or
investigators you have. He referred to the parable of the sower in Matt. 13
which I have studied and thought a lot about on my mission and encouraged
us to see how it doesn't matter whether or not the people accept our
message, what matters is whether or not we are conveying that message
clearly and powerfully through the Holy Ghost. Which ties back perfectly
into the things that both of you said about being a part of setting the
foundation, and preaching the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit
of Promise. 


The fact that one of the Holy Ghost's names is the Spirit
of Promise, has a very big importance, especially in missionary work.
Through sacred covenants made at baptism and in the temple we are making
promises to God, and God is making promises to us. And those promises are
sealed by the Holy Ghost who bears record of all truth and of the Father
and the Son. The Spirit is essential in what we do as missionaries. Through the promptings of
the Spirit we make promises to those that we teach that they will recieve
an answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true, and that they will
receive blessings for keeping the commandments.


 There have been times when
people have told me that I can't promise them that God will answer their
prayers. Who am I to say what God will or won't do? That is when I 
wish I could make them understand the calling that I have, and the
truth that has been witnessed to me by the Holy Spirit of Promise -- that I
am representing the Saviour in a very literal way. Not to boast of myself
or of my calling. I will be the first to confess that I am not a perfect
missionary or the perfect example of the Savior by a long shot. I'm just 
like everyone else, I have weaknesses and I have strengths,
sometimes I make good decisions, often times I make bad decisions. I have
always felt, and always will feel like I will never be able to fill the
shoes I have been called to wear, but that's the whole point isn't it? 



In Heather's last email to me she talked about Paul confessing his own
weaknesses and saying that the Lord's grace is sufficient for all of us. As
long as we do our part, of course. In Ether 12 (one of my favorite chapters
in the BoM) Moroni teaches us how God gives us weaknesses so that we can be
humble. Humility, is really such a great gift. It allows us to become more
like the Savior because when we see our weaknesses, we can then understand
other people's weaknesses and we have an opportunity to put
ourselves in their shoes.


 So yes here am, brick by brick, contributing
to the foundation of God's Church in Romania. Ever since I came here I
realized that there is a good chance I will not see many results from my
labor for a long time, but I take comfort in the promises that were made to
me in my patriarchal blessing, and I continue to do my best every day. I'm just so incredibly grateful
that Heavenly Father is a merciful God, and understands when I fall and
make mistakes, because let me tell you, I fall a lot, and I make a lot of
mistakes, but I always do my best in any situation.

Well I wish I had more time to tell you more details about what actually
happened this week, but the clock is ticking and I have to go. I love you
all so much, and wow I can't believe that Aunt Eva wants to make that
contribution to me! Tell her that I am so incredibly grateful for her
selflessness and charity. I hope you have a wonderful week, good luck with
the writing mom! Even if you don't make the quotas don't stop writing, your
going to write a really, really good novel. 


Love,
Elder Myers

Happy November!

Curtea de Arges, Pitesti, Romania

Thanks a ton for all the adorable pictures of Ember and Tristan! And those first few paragraphs of your novel were captivating mom. I'm not just saying that! I don't think that not reading any fiction for a year has dulled my sense of literature, if anything I'd say it has sharpened it. I loved the analogy you carried through with the spider, and just from those few paragraphs you learn a lot about your writing capabilities, as well about the character's personality. I never thought that a discription of a college student going to class could be filled with so much detail. Keep it up, it's going to be a really good novel! To be truthful, it was really refreshing reading the product of someone else's creativity. I miss so much not having hours in each day filled with creating something. Sometimes during the day I'll have a song idea or just random tunes running through my mind that kind of make up the soundtrack to my day but I never have any time or the capability of taking it any further. Oh well, I guess I'll have the rest of my life to do that right? 

These past few weeks have been fairly cold. In the mornings it will get as low as 2 or 3 degrees Celcius, and throughout the day it's usually between 8-10 degrees. Sooo I guess respectively that would be mid-low thirties in the morning, and then mid-high 40's during the day? I love seeing all the fall colors around. There are a lot of trees in Pitesti for a Romanian city. Last week we never ended up carving pumpkins -- we couldn't find any! So we ended up playing pool for a while and just staying in the apartment. Today, however we went to this place called Curtea de Arges where there is a famous monestary, actually it is depicted on the back of the 1 leu note. That was pretty cool, we met two Americal girls, Rachel and Justeen, who were teaching English in Istanbol that were spending a few vacation days in Romania! That was super random, but it was cool to talk to them and hear about what Turkey is like. One of them lived in Ukraine for a while too. They told us that they were in Brasov the other day and ran into missionaries there too! 

Curtea de Arges, Pitesti, Romania

This week week has been pretty challenging, and in the end we still don't have any investigators. We had a miracle lesson on Tuesday in the blocks. The four of us were doing group block knocking, where we will both knock blocks next to each other and see who will get a lesson first. We would switch companions every other block and while Elder Staheli (Elder Martin's companion) and I were together, the second door we rang on the intercom opened up the door to the block, and when we knocked on the apartment door they immediately let us in. We taught the Restoration to a family of four, the parents in their early 40's, a 14 year old son, and a 10 or 11 year old daughter. This was the first time someone had let me in their apartment in I don't know how long. The lesson went really well, the Spirit was really strong and they were such nice and open people. We brought up things like why we don't drink or smoke, and talked a lot about how the gospel has blessed our families. The father did most of the talking, and at one point he asked us "ok, so really, why are you here? You want me to change my religion right?"  He then talked about how his family has been Orthodox for over a hundred years and that we had some nerve asking them to change their religion.  I asked him if God told him that the Book of Mormon was true, and that this church was His true church if he would change religions, and he said yes. So we left the Book of Mormon with them asking them to read from it and pray about it. They said they would. We then set up a return appointment for Friday at 7:30 pm. 

Then at the end of the lesson, we find out that the little daughter plays the guitar! So she brings it out and I played my Romanian song for them, which they loved. I went home that night feeling more happy, excited and satisfied than ever before! And all throughout the week I kept just thinking about that family, and actually getting pretty nervous about what would happen. I was convinced that I had finally found someone that was truly prepared to recieve the gospel at that time and I felt like it was such a huge answer to my prayers.


Then, on Friday about an hour before the scheduled appointment the dad called us and told us that he had talked with his family and they decided that they would not change religions and we didn't need to come over that night. The higher the climb, the greater the fall, and after that phone call I was crushed. I didn't know what to think, what to feel, anything. I just layed on our couch for a good 20 minutes processing everything. Then I went into another room and offered up one of the most sincere, heartfelt and pleading prayers I have ever given. Saturday I did my best to pull myself together, to make myself have the desire to do any kind of missionary work at all.

We ended up playing soccor for a couple hours with some kids, and then that evening one of the members, Marius, who is the Branch mission leader, planned a family night so we went to that as well. The excerise mixed with the games and laughter at the family night porved to be exactly what I needed to help me put myself back together. Sunday went by, pretty much just an average day, we were able to visit a less active member with Marius. She reminded me a lot of the Nuti girls from Brasov, if you remember when Elder Simmons and I taught them. And today, today was nice. Right now I'm just trying to figure out how to balance everything. Being a District Leader, a companion, a friend, a branch member.


 I really liked what you shared from Steve Young's talk dad, and from reading that I kind of feel like a lot of my inner struggle and failures have been because I've been putting too much focus on my own performance and haven't been reaching out to my companion or the other Elders or the members as much. So far my whole time here in Pitesti I've felt distanced from the branch and the district, and I think a good portion of that is my own fault. 

Thanks for the perspective-broadener, as always. It also really helps me to know that you went through similar experiences on your mission, dad. And what you said about being a parent and having to watch your kids go through struggles helped me understand why I feel like my prayers haven't been answered, and I why I've been feeling like I haven't been receiving much guidance from on high. I'm starting to understand what it means when Heavenly Father steps back for a while and lets you do more of the work. It also gives me just the slightest glimpse of what it must have felt like for the Savior, when he was suffering on the cross and for those last seconds of the Savior's mortal life the Father drew His Spirit away. Christ spent the last moments of His life completely and utterly alone. I can't even imagine what that would have been like. Even Christ Himself cried out in anguish, "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" I guess the fact that God is in a sense "leaving me alone" is a good sign that I am doing my best, and that I am doing enough because he trusts me enough to make it through my trials with as little help as possible. Right now I can't really say that realizing all this makes it any easier, but at least I'm understanding a little more why I'm going through these challenges. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week, and here's some pictures of the monestary we visited!

Love, Elder Myers