Happy Leap Year!

Shane took this photo somewhere near his apartrment in Pitesti, Romania

Hey all!! Someone told me that this year is leap year, one more day in February! Thanks for the adorable pictures of Ember and Tristan! There's one from the pictures that dad sent me of both Ember and Tristan sitting in the grass that looks like it could be the album cover of some indi band! Nice photography, Jared! That's awesome they got to have a sleep over at grandma and grandpa's.


 Man, 60-70 degree weather sounds heavenly! It's pretty much snowed the whole week here in Pitesti, and temperatures have been as low as -24 F at night, and 14 F during the day. It kind of makes it difficult to find effective ways of using our time, but we've been doing alright I think. We've spent most of our evenings block knocking if we're not having any lessons with our investigators or meeting with members.


 On Saturday the baptism went through all according to plan. It was such a beautiful experience. Here in Romania if the branch doesn't have a chapel than they use basically a small upright swimming pool called a bazin for baptisms wich take a few hours to fill up, so us missionaries spent most of the day at the church preparing for the baptism. I remember sitting next to D--- in the sacrament meeting room about a half hour before the baptism, and I felt a shift in the atmosphere. All of a sudden I no longer felt like I was sitting in a meetinghouse for a dinky little struggling Romanian branch, but the whole building took on the same atmosphere as any chapel in America as the presence of the Holy Ghost saturated the air around me. It felt like a baptism. It felt like my baptism. Even though I was only eight years old at the time, as I sat in that chair of the meetinghouse for a split second I remembered just like it was yesterday coming up out of the water and being filled with one of the most extraordinary sensations I have ever experienced; and C--- was about to experience the same thing. The next day at church he was just absolutely glowing and full of the Spirit. His wife and his mom attended the baptism, and they really enjoyed seeing him make this big step. In fact the other Elders told us that C---'s mom had been talking to him more about the church, and told him that she wants to be baptized. Elder Bateman's biological family also attended the baptism, and came to church the next day!

 Out of our investigators only D--- was able to attend, but I thought of him and how he has made the same decision and in just a couple weeks will be making the same covenant with God. We still have a lot to teach him, but he will be ready. He already has an incredible understanding and knowlegde about the gospel. I think it is a gift of his. He has a good heart, and a strong desire to serve God and others, and really understands that the church is one big family. During one lesson he brought up tithing, saying that in the past he's been really disappointed with other churches when he's seen pastors or priests who use the money given from members to buy an expensive car or house, and feels like that money should be used for helping people who need it. 


This week we also invited R--- to be baptized on March 3, and he accepted! He's come to church two weeks in a row now, and loves meeting with us, and has been finding answers to many of his questions through the church's doctrine. The only thing is, his mom has been getting angry at him because he hasn't been getting home on time and he's been gone a lot. He hasn't told her that he's been meeting with us or coming to church. We're just praying that her heart will be softened. He wants to find a job in Pitesti in the next couple of months and hopefully move into the city. 

Shane and missionary buddies on their way to some p-day adventure!

We're really excited for D--- this week, because we will finally be able to meet with him!! He's been really really busy with work, and this weekend he went on a trip to the mountains with his wife. He's continuing to read the Book of Mormon, and a few days ago I had called him to check up on him and see how he was doing. He said he was almost done with 2 Nephi, and that up until then he felt like the Book of Mormon was just a lot recounting of history about Nephi's family and he didn't really see how it applied to him, but he said when he got to the last 20 or so pages of 2 Nephi, it really grabbed him, and made a big impression. He also said that he'd been talking to Baldea a lot about the church and about baptism, and he said that he for sure wants to be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!

O---, unfortunately, has pretty much fallen off the map. She didn't show up to our scheduled meeting with her this week, and she won't answer any of our phone calls. That was pretty disappointing, but unfortunately that's what happens  pretty often. If we didn't have as solid and promising investigators as we do know, it probably would have affected me a lot more. V--- is progressing very slowly, we had a lesson with him last night and talked about the after life and kingdoms of glory. He thought it was really interesting how we believe in our eternal reward as a thing of degrees, and how we believe that hell is more of a state of mind rather than a physical place. At the end of the lesson we told him more why he needs to pray about these things, and how he needs to start thinking more with his heart, and less with his head. 

We're continuing to work with the elders in the branch on picking up the pace on home teaching. Most of the members here are starting to realize more and more what they have to do to make this branch stronger. Once they get home teaching and visiting teaching organized and running than this branch will grow exponentially. Serving in all these struggling branches has really given me a profound and deep understanding and appreciation for home and visiting teaching, and what it really means to be a home teacher and to be an Elder's quorum member. The members of a branch or ward literally are a big family and just like any family, if the members of that family don't reach out to each other and serve and love each other, the family falls apart. 

That's pretty much all for me. This has been a pretty eventful week! This week is the last full week of the transfer, and on Saturday we will have transfer calls to find out who's staying and who's going. If you had asked me six weeks ago if would want to stay in Pitesti a fourth transfer I would have given a resounding "no," but now I really really hope I stay. I hope you all have another wonderfull warm weathered week!

Love, 
Elder Myers