Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

Shane standing on pond near his apartment in Pitesti, Romania

That's right, mom's birthday is the 29th of January. I know I've had 20 years to get everyone's birthday down, but I still don't quite have it. Numbers have never been my forte.......Sorry! I remember asking mom before I left on my mission everbyody's birthdays and I have them all written down in my address book but obviously it hasn't helped that much, sadly. La mulți ani!!! You're 50!! That's half a century!

Sounds like you all had a good time down in the bay area helping Nana and Papa Graham with their house. I thought that was interesting what dad shared about working in synergy. I've definitely noticed big differences between some companions and others and how well we worked together.


We only have 2 weeks left in the transfer!! This Saturday one of the other elders' investigators, C--- is getting baptized! He has been doing so well, and changing so much. He's come to church every Sunday, and he's quit smoking in just a couple weeks and over the course of the past couple weeks there has been a visible change in his countenance. It's been something really special to see. As for our investigators, this past week we have found 4, and 3 of them came to church yesterday! So here's who we have:


D---. He is 34, in the military, married, and is friends with someone in the ward. He's been really busy with work the past couple weeks so we haven't been able to meet up with him very much, but his member friend keeps in close contact with him and thinks that he is ready to set a baptismal date. He's been studying from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, and yesterday was his second time coming to church. He seemed to really enjoy it.


H--- This is the guy who called me last week while I was writing my email to you! We had a lessons with him on Wednesday and Friday. Fratele Negrici sat in on both the lessons and was a huge help. H---is a really humble guy, humbled it seems mainly due to his life up until now. He works construction and doesn't make very much money. He has 3 kids and is really searching for a way to help unify his family. He wants that way to be faith in God and Jesus Christ, and he told us he felt like God led him to find us. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is true and he has been receiving answers! He told us that he feels God's love and peace whenever he reads from it and whenever he talks with us, and he thinks this is the path that he needs to take. In our second lesson with him, he accepted a baptismal date of February 18 which is the first Saturday of next transfer. Yesterday was his first time at church, and he enjoyed it a lot.


T---. He is my age and has been coming to our English classes for the past couple transfers. He's a really nice guy, kind of quiet but a really spiritually in tune person. Last transfer he took a Book of Mormon and he told me that he reads from it and form a Liahona he has when he feels down or upset. We had a lesson with him about the restoration, and invited him to read from the Book of Mormon every day, to pray to know if it is true, and to come to church, and he's done all three of those things! We also asked him that if he receives an answer that it is true if he will be baptized and he said yes. It was a really good lesson, and the Spirit was strong. He told us he had a question, and asked us why does God let bad things happen. We read out of 2 Nephi 2 about the fall of Adam and opposition in all things, and he immediately understood. It was incredible!


W---. He is an older man we block knocked into one night. Very very intelligent, knew some English, said that he had studied theology in college. At the door we asked him if he believed in Christ, and he said that he wants to believe, but hasn't gotten to that point yet. We told him that what we have to share will help him develop faith in Christ and he let us in. He told us that he had a question that for his entire life he has never found the answer too. His question was essentially the same as T---'s, but his reaction was completely different. He presented the question in a much more complicated way, saying that if God is all powerful, why does he let Satan take control? He used examples of a drunk violent parent beating a child to death, or natural dissasters killing thousands of people - good and bad. We talked about how man has the freedom to make his own choices and how without opposition in all things life would have no purpose, but he wouldn't accept anything we said. In the end we assigned him some chapters from the Book of Mormon to study and to pray specifically about and he accepted. He is a very calculating and logical man which seems to hinder him from being open to the Spirit, but has a true desire to develop faith in Jesus Christ.


K---. She is 18 and a senior in high school. We contacted her two weeks ago, and our first lesson with her went really really well! We talked about the Restoration, and she just ate it all up. She understood all of it, from the need for priesthood authority to praying to find the truth. She said she would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and come to church as often as she could. She wasn't able to come yesterday though, because she was out in the countryside taking care of her Grandma. We think she would get along really well with Ani, and want to have her at the next lessons.


So that was pretty much my week in a nutshell. Add in some really cold weather and snow, and you've got it. This morning we went to Curtea de Argeș with Elder Bateman's biological uncle. Oh yeah, I don't think I ever told you. Elder Bateman is Romanian, born in Pitești! He was adopted just after his birth by an Americal couple who are members of the church from Utah. He grew up knowing that he was Romanian, but knew nothing about his family. Since he's been on his mission he found his biological family here in Pitești! They're all really really nice, and a bunch of them actually came to church yesterday, and all want personal copies of the Book of Mormon!!! It has been an incredible experience for Elder Bateman serving here.

Oh yeah, also, on Wednesday, we went to the wedding of an investigator of the other elders!! My first Romanian wedding!!!!

Well that's my time, wish I could right some more, but here's some more pictures. Love you all!!


Elder Myers