Hey everyone! So first of all..........Amanda Richins is getting married?!?!?! And in Idaho? I'm assuming that's where she's been going to school...which means that she's already graduated from high school and going to college.....my mind just blew. Sometimes I have moments when I realize that I've really been gone for almost two years. All of my memories of people from back home are stuck in my mind as being two years ago, so when I hear about stuff like Amanda getting married it sends my head for a spin.
Well. Thanks for editing all the essay questions! It will feel so good to have everything done with this application! Don't worry about posting up the responses on the application site, I'll do it.
I really liked the drawing for that book your making mom. Whatever happened to that one you were working on getting published? That's pretty cool dad that you get to travel around the country for work meetings and stuff, Dad. Coming out here has really made me want to travel a lot more. When I think about how I've never even been to the other side of America...and that's my homeland! Of course America is really big but still.
You asked about the schooling here and youth and stuff, and actually school doesn't start up here until the first or second week of September. As for youth in the branch, there's not any that are fully active, and there's not really a seminary program. P--- is one of the youth in the branch we've been working a lot with. He's the one we've been giving guitar lessons. It's really hard for the youth here because they don't have anyone else their age at church. We do have institute though. The branch has a several YSA aged members but again, right now only one of them is fully active.
This week went really well. I went on an exchange with Elder Tefft, who is serving in Oradea right now. I brought him back to Arad and Elder Harrison stayed in Oradea with Elder Tefft's companion Elder Sneed. Our exchange went really well! This is my first time really serving around Elder Tefft since the MTC and it was a super fun exchange! We had a lot of catching up to do, talking about people we've served with, experiences we've had and things we've learned. I learned a ton from Elder Tefft. He's a really well rounded missionary and the kind of person who is always himself no matter where he is or who he's talking to, and he's also very direct and honest when expressing his own opinions which is something I have a lot of respect for. It was also refreshing to be able to be with someone who has a more similar upbringing as me. He's from upstate New York and went to a branch that has about 70 or 80 active members. He said that New York is a pretty liberal state as far as politics go, and a lot of his closest friends were either non-members or inactive. Don't get me wrong, I've loved every single one of my companions who were from Utah, but there's something different about them than anything I'm used to. I don't know how to explain it, but there's a tangible difference between someone who has grown up completely surrounded by the church in every aspect, and someone who grew up with only a few other LDS kids in his entire high school.
As for investigators, we haven't been able to meet with R---, M---, or G---. Everybody's just super busy. R--'s been out of the country for the past week or so for work. However, we've started teaching an English student named Ciprian (cheep - ree - on), and the other day we were knocking on doors in our neighborhood when a very nice older couple let us in. This week we've got zone conference here in Arad, and it will be combined with the Cluj zone which includes Cluj, Sibiu, and Deva. Elder Harrison and I are in the process of preparing our presentation, and we also have to take care of all the food and getting everything ready, so this week will be pretty busy. We also have to go down to Timisoara tomorrow morning to attend their district meeting. One of our responsibilities as zone leaders is to attend a district meeting at each of the other districts in the zone to see how they're run.
Thanks for all the pictures, stories and love!
Love,
Elder Myers
Thanks for the entertaining letter! It was fun trying to pick out where Dad was quoting Mom and where Dad was just adding his little tidbits. Thanks for the corrections on the application stuff. I finished the rest of the essay questions this week, so I'll email them you today.
Lets see in answer to questions... At the branch party for the songs, I was playing the guitar, and me Elder Harrison and Edi (the branch mission leader) sang. Actually, if you go onto my Facebook profile, you should be able to find Edi or Eduard Morauszky (not 100% sure on the spelling there.) I'm playing on a guitar that we got from the office to use for our lessons and the songs are by this Romanian Christian artist that Edi really likes.
You asked about how big the branch is, there are about 20-30 people who come weekly. My first few weeks it was more 30-40 but there are several members gone because of summer vacations and stuff like that. That's crazy that school's already starting up this week! Here in Romania it doesn't start until September! Oh and also I remember from last week you asked me when I want to start the guitar lessons, I say as soon as possible! Also, I am not registered to vote, so we'll see what we can do about that. I really want to be able to vote when I get home. I don't really know what party I want to join though. I've honestly never thought about it that much. I've never been that much into politics.
R--- is doing well. Friday was his birthday and us and the sisters met up with him at the church, ordered some pizza and had cake and ice cream with him! Then right after that we had a lesson on him that was really good and Spirit-filled. He didn't make it to church yesterday though, which is a bummer. He owns his own agricultural company or something like that and is always really busy with work. We actually haven't had any lessons with M--- or G--- because of their work schedules as well. A little frustrating, but not much we can do about it. I forgot to tell you though, do you remember Gigi, the mom of the twin brother and sister I taught with Elder Vogelsberg in Cluj? SHE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! It happened a week ago from last Saturday. I was so excited when I read about it in President's weekly email!
Last week we had our exchange with the Timisoara DL companionship, and this week we'll be doing an exchange with Oradea. Elder Tefft got transfered there as the district leader last transfer so I'm super excited to do an exchange with him!
You asked about what we've been doing to help people SYL more, and I can't really say that we've done anything that special. One of our zone goals is for every week of the transfer to focus on a smaller rule that people easily tend to forget or break and do our best to keep it and strengthen our testimony of it and the first week of the transfer we focused on speaking Romanian. Other than that, We've just been making sure that we're speaking Romanian outside the apartment all the time and especially on exchanges. It's definitely improving a lot though across the zone and the whole mission.
That's about it for now. I thought it was cool how you mentioned the relief society lesson on the Sabath, because the lesson was the same here for priesthood and RS! I'm amazed at how the church is organized and united across the entire world! The lesson made me realize how lazy I was on Sundays and how much more productive I could have been, and how awesome it would have been to dedicate the whole day to serving others. Something to look forward to when I get home.
I love you all and have a wonderful week!
Love,
Elder Myers
That's literally what I said probably close to 20 times while reading your emails! Thanks for the pictures of the nieces and nephews and everyone at Aunt Crissy's. Sounds like you all had a really good time! You can tell Heather that I got her package and have been thoroughly enjoying the delicious snacks she sent me! Also, I will be sending her package today. Quick update on college stuff, today I started with the extra curricular activities questions and I will type up two for you to proofread, mom. Also, on the Work Experience section, I marked the first box (working for the worm farm, Billy Woodward, and also my ROP jobs). And then in the Church Leadership and Awards section, I'm pretty sure I served on the Stake trek planning committee when dad used to be on the High Council. Right Dad? Ok that's it for now.
Thanks for everything you shared about your missionary experiences Dad. A lot of the things you mentioned we're trying to impliment. Competitions, games, stuff like that. It's just hard to find what motivates people. I have also noticed that the more I speak Romanian, the easier it comes and the more efficiently I speak it. I also really liked your sailing analogy. By the way that's so awesome you've got the Lido back up! I remember Brother Burner working on it I think the summer before I left, but not much progress had been made from what I saw.
This week has been really good, really short too. We had to travel to Timisoara on Tuesday and Oradea on Thursday to hold these new "zone meetings" that are being implemented by the Area 70 Presidency. They are seperate from zone conference and happen right after the zone leader council that his held the day after transfers at the mission home. Their purpose is to convey the information gathered from the zone leader council to the individual districts in each zone and to have more training opportunities for the missionaries. It's basically like a mini zone conference, only the mission president and assistants are not required to attend.
We have a new investigator this week!! His name is R---, and he has a baptismal date for September 29! He was found by the sisters a couple weeks ago, and after they had a couple lessons with him they referred him to us. So in two weeks, he has started reading the Book of Mormon and praying daily, and he came to church last week! In our last discussion, he basically bore his testimony the whole time of how God has shown him that this church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is true. He's so eager and ready to make the changes necessary in his life to be prepared to covenant with God through baptism. It was one of the most spiritually powerful discussions I have ever had.
M--- finally got back from working in the countryside and we are scheduled to see him this evening. We're also hoping to catch G--- and his family at home tonight after our lesson with M---.
Things are going really well in general. The branch has its problems, but things are looking good for the future of the church in Arad. This Wednesday the branch is having a picnic/BBQ in the forest just outside the city, and Elder Harrison, me and Brother Edi the branch mission leader are performing some Romanian Christian-rock songs. I don't have a ton of time since I need to type up the question responses, but I love you all!!!
Elder Myers
Hey all! I really enjoyed today's emails. They were very simple, expressive and just what I needed to here (as always). I am really impressed with the progress Dad has made with the garage, it looks really good! I must say though, I'm a little confused as to the purpose of the little structure he's building behind it. Did you just get bored Dad? Or did you decide that since the boats get sheds, why shouldn't the tractor too? Either way I'm impressed. You do realize that you have personally designed and constructed everything on our property, except for the original mobile home part of our house, right? The significance of that never really hit me until just now!
I'm glad you enjoyed the sunflower pictures so much mom. That was the fulfillment of a dream both me and Elder Harrison have had for our mission, funny enough. When we take train rides during the summer to get to other cities we pass feilds and feilds that go for acres and acres of sunflowers. Romania is one of the worlds biggest producers of sunflowers. I never even thought about the symbolic nature of the photos until you mentioned it. That just makes me appriciate them even more!
So Janelle is leaveing in November for her mission? I didn't even realize she was planning on serving one. That's awesome! And congratulations to Haley! Also, happy birthday to Nana! Your little high tea getaway sounds awesome!
This week has gone by really fast. Wednesday night until Friday morning we were traveling to and from Bucuresti for the zone leader council which was Thursday. It was really good; very instructive and gave Elder Harrison a lot of direction for our zone goals. How was it being a zone leader for you Dad? Did you have to plan out the zone conferences and set zone goals and stuff like that? Also, just a random question, how much would you speak Italian with your companions? What would you do on P-days? Just curious. "SYL" (Speak Your Language) is something that this mission has been trying to improve on lately, and I was wondering if you had any suggestions.
So a little clarification on some of the things that have been going on here. The sisters unfortunately haven't had any baptisms. They had an investigator who had a baptismal date, but he recently told them that he doesn't want to meet with them or come to church any more. That was a bit of a tough blow for them. However, this week they randomly decided to call up M---, and met up with him in the park for a lesson. They said that he reads from the Book of Mormon regularly, and believes everything the church teaches! He wants to be baptized but he's a little unsure right now about why we have so many commandments that don't allow us to smoke or drink at all and he's a little concerned about being able to give those things up. He's not any kind of a heavy smoker or drinker, but he told them that it's something that he's used in the past to deal with stress. But, he said that whenever he's in the country (he travels a lot for work) his first priority is meeting with the missoinaries.
On our side, we have some good news and some not as good news. C---decided to take the casino job in Oradea and just moved there last week. He said he's not really sure how long they will keep him there though, and that it's possible for him to come back to Arad after about a month or so, depending on how things go with the casino. I was a little disappointed in his choice to continue working at a casino rather than taking the watchguard job offer here in Arad, but he did what he felt was best I guess. Until he moves back into Arad, we'll be referring him to the Oradea missionaries. With C---, the professor, we haven't been able to meet in a while.
I don't know if you've heard anything about the political movements going on over here right now, but basically the whole Romanian government is really unstable right now. This last week there was a referandum vote to impeach the Romanian president. Basically, the prime minister has been firing parliament workers of the Presidnent's political party and hiring new ones in his own, trying to create a political monopoly in the parliament, and now he's been campaining against the President to get him impeached. Like I said, the vote was held last Sunday I think, and even now after the vote it's not clear wether the President will be staying in office or not. Romanian constitution states that there must be a majority vote of all the Romanian citizens to impeach the president. The vote that just recently went through was a majority vote to impeach him, but statistics show that only 48% of Romanian citizens actually voted. It's pretty insane. So anyways, C--- has been really busy with all the Referandum stuff, and he's also got this big project he's working on as well so he hasn't had time to meet. We also haven't been able to meet with M--- because he's been working at a friends in the country side all week. However, we had a really good lesson with G--- and F---! ....unless that was also last week. I honestly can't remember! But we've also started teaching guitar lessons to P---! He's picking it up really fast. It's been a really good oportunity for us to talk to him one on one and get to know him better. We hold a little 10 minute spiritual thought and then after that teach him guitar for about 50 minutes or so. It's so awesome!
That's pretty much it! Thanks for all the photos and glad tidings! I look forward to more next week. Love you all!
Elder Myers
I normally proofread Shane's letters before posting them here. He makes some pretty fun spelling errors that I know are caused by having two languages bouncing around in his head. From now until the end of his mission I'm going to leave the spelling errors in because they show something about how immersed he is in the Romanian language. I don't mean to embarrass him, I just think it's fun.
