Quote of the Week:

"Be nice to yourself. It's hard to be happy when someone's mean to you all the time."

Happy St. Patty's

Shane with Branch Members in Pitesti, Romania

Hey everyone!! Thanks for all the fun stories and pictures! Don't worry about not being able to write something super profound or insightful. It's fun and refreshing to hear about the normal day-to-day stuff that still goes on back home. The picture of Ember drawing in that big green bowl thing made me laugh. And the stories dad shared about the guys trying to scam him made me laugh too. They reminded me of some similar experiences I've had out here....at the time they made me really frustrated and sad but looking back I just get a good laugh at them.

Before I go on I have a couple favors to ask. First of all, I've realized that if I want to sign up for any winter semesters of college, I probably only have a few months to do that. I was wondering If you could look up stuff on colleges for me. I've been thinking about going to BYU or somewhere in California and I want switch my major to songwriting or composition, something in that domain. Would you mind looking up BYU's music program and the possibility of my getting accepted there and maybe just look around and see what other options I would have in California for getting into a good music program? I've also thought of going out of state, but I figured anything besides BYU would be reallllly expensive. And a second thing, I sent a package to Heather almost a month ago, it had a scarf and a letter to her and I haven't heard back from her yet so I'm wondering If it even ever got to her? 

So about the baptisms and journal stuff. Getting the journal to D--- will be a little tricky because the place he lives right now doesn't have a postal address. What you could do is just send it to the mission office and then they can get it up to Pitesti. And actually it would be easiest probably to do that for D---and A---. Speaking of which, A--- was the one who was baptized the day before yesterday. His dad, the branch president, baptized him and then confirmed him yesterday at church. The baptismal ceremony was incredible! A--- had me and Elder Laherty give the talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost, and then President Bâldea's welcoming talk was the most powerful talk I've heard him give. And that's saying something. Remember, President Bâldea used to be really high up in the Pentacostal church, being in charge of over hundreds of congregations throughout Romania, and he has an incredible gift for public speaking. The talk he gave Saturday though was the most heartfelt sermon I've heard him give. That day was probably one of the most joyful and fulfilling experiences of his life, seeing his oldest son being baptized into the Church. The service was packed too! there were almost no empty seats in the sacrament room, and over half of the people were friends and family of members.

Sunday church services were really well attended too. The head count was 35! That's the highest I've seen it yet! Of course that did include the senior couple missionaries who were up to do some training with the branch leaders and a member of the district presidency who was speaking that day in sacrament meeting but still, there were a lot of people at church! 

         

So I remember one of you asked about transfers. Well, transfer day isn't until next Wednesday, but I got a call from the assistants Saturday and they told me I will be transfered out early to serve as zone leader in Arad. I will be taking a train to Buc on Wednesday morning where I will meet my new companion, Elder Nilsson, and then Wednesday night we will take a sleeper train over to Arad. We're getting white-washed in, which usually means a stressful first couple of weeks trying to figure everything out, but I'm really excited to be going back to the Western part of Romania, and to be serving with Elder Nilsson! He is in the group above me and was zone leader in the MTC, so I already know him a little, and he's an awesome missionary!

          

I'm really sad to be leaving Pitești, though. This place has become my home, and the branch my family. I never realized how close I had gotten to some of the members and investigators here until I found out I was leaving. Sunday President Bâldea had me say a few words at sacrament meeting before the talks and after church I took pictures and exchanged addresses with everyone. Although it's going to be hard leaving this city, I know that I have to move on and there is more work for me to do in other parts of this amazing country. It really is an amazing country with wonderful people. Romania may be poor and may have a lot of problems as a country, but however cliche it sounds, the saying is 100% true that wherever you find the worst of the worst, you find the best of the best. Romania is a perfect example of that. 

Well I'm running low on time, but I hope you have an awesome week every one, and next Monday I'll tell you all about Arad!! I love you all!

Elder Myers

Salut!

Hey everyone! I'm sorry to hear about Terry Wyatt. I had forgotten he had been diagnosed with cancer, and it came as a little bit of a shock to me. I'm glad that everything went smoothly though with the funeral. Surprisingly enough, death has been something I've come to understand better since being a missionary. Not because I've experienced a lot of it out here, but because my understanding of the Gospel itself has increased so much. I was glad to here that Terry didn't have any fear or regret, but felt ready. That means that he has fulfilled is purpose here and God has a greater and better calling for him across the veil. I hope his family is doing well. Last week in President's weekly email he said that they had just lost a close family friend in the past week and he spent some time in the letter reflecting on how short life is and how important it is that we live up to our potential every day.


 I'm jealous of your music binging mom and dad! I thought it was cool that dad has taken to the Foo Fighters. Their music has always struck a chord with me that no other band has. Outside of their hard rock energy-crazy stuff their music carries profound meanings and messages. I just want to thank you, mom and dad for giving me the freedom to make my own choices in the music I listened to throughout high school, even though probably a lot of it wasn't the most Spirit-conducive kind of music. It really helped me broaden my horizons and see how God works in all people, regardless of their faith or ethnicity. Just like that quote you sent mom from Howard W. Hunter's talk. While it is true that Satan uses almost every human thing imaginable to work against God, the same is also true for Heavenly Father. The Light of Christ is in everyone and I know that even through all the darkness and confusion, there is always a sliver of the Light of the Gospel that shines through everything, you just have to look for it. I have been able to find it in all different kinds of music, and I feel like even the party-hardy-drug-abusing-immoral rock stars of today realize deep down inside that the inspiration they receive and the talents they have are a gift from a higher power. There is a sweetness to music when it express truths or yearning for truth that will touch anyone; no matter what kind of lifestyle they have.

Moving on, A--- had his interview on Saturday and passed!! He will be getting baptized at 6:00 on Saturday, March 17!! Also, this upcoming Sunday D--- should be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood; he just needs to have an interview with President Bâldea. As for everything else, the work is going really well in general. We just need to find new investigators! Once A---and then D--- get baptized, we will have a bunch of recent converts to teach, but hardly any investigators! We're hoping to start teaching their families though. A--- wife reads the Book of Mormon with him and every night they have family prayer. D---'s been saying that his wife is open to coming to church. He actually said that he would have us over sometime this week so we can meet her! Oh yeah, also last Thursday C--- baptized his mom V---!!!! It was a beautiful service, and afterwards there was a big "masă" (table or meal) for Ziua Femeilor, Women's Day! There were a lot of people there and the Spirit was so strong!!

This week has gone by pretty fast, and we're over halfway through the transfer! I'm pretty sure that this will be my last transfer here in Pitești. President doesn't keep people in the same area for more than 4 transfers.


 Man, all that hiking in Bidwell Park and on Table Mountain sounds sooo nice! That's cool that you've been talking to Heather a lot lately. I sent her a package 3 or 4 weeks ago with a letter in it.....hopefully it will get to her soon. I loved the quotes she had! The second one made me think of the scriptures that talk about how small children are alive in Christ, and how we all need to be the same way. Humble, meek and submissive to God's will and full of Christ's life-giving light. I'll be sure to look up that talk. I should be able to find it on lds.org. We have an hour everyweek outside of email time to get on the church sites and look up talks or watch the Mormon Messages and stuff. Thanks for the wonderful emais, I love you all and hope you have a more stress-free week!

Elder Myers

Marțișor Fericit!

Hey all! Marțișor is on March 8, and is the European version of Mother's Day, only it's a holiday for women in general. And this week the branch will be celebrating it by holding a baptism for V---, C---'s mom! C--- is the one who was baptized last transfer by the other elders. The day before yesterday was D---'s baptism!!!! It was a beautiful service, and D--- had such a happy, peaceful spirit emanating from him. I'll attach a couple pictures. If it looks like I'm stressed and worn out in the picture, that's because I was haha. That whole day was full of a bunch of drama including one of M---'s friends almost punching me because I was kicking him out of the church, to me forgetting my bag full of baptismal clothes at my apartment. Long story. But, the baptism itself went flawlessly and the Holy Ghost was strong. The next day at church D--- was confirmed, and also M---, one of the other elders' investigators who got baptised last transfer but couldn't make it to church the next day showed up and he was confirmed as well. 

As for our investigators, A--- is progressing really well, so is D---. We tried giving him a baptismal date, but he said he didn't feel ready. He said he sees himself getting baptized in May or June, April at the earliest. We told him that we want to establish a goal with him and he agreed to think and pray about a goal. Both him and A--- were at the baptism, as well as Elder Bateman's aunt, uncle, cousins and sisters. On Sunday, the chapel was the fullest I've seen it yet, and over half the people attending were non members! The testimonies that were shared were strong and powerful. 

So as to my secret to writing so much-- first of all, yes, sometimes it is hard to think of things to write, but there's always something new that happens, or something to share from what I learned in the past week. Missionary work is never boring, and if it ever gets boring, that means your doing something wrong. Also, President Hill has allowed us to have a maximum of 75-90 minutes for email, so that helps a lot. But even still, right now I'm running a little short on time because my email to President Hill was longer than usual. 

I'm not going to lie, it's a little refreshing to hear about the problems that have been coming up in the ward at home -- I guess there are challenges wherever you are. I'm glad to hear that Erik's doing good. I've been thinking about writing him lately. I feel kind of bad for not having written him a single time on my mission. I also haven't written Eli in a while...Sorry guys! And Kayla's due in April!! That's so exiting! Man, posting up weekly photos of her pregnant belly is totally something she would do, haha! I'm glad to here that everything is going well back home. It has been warming up a bit here, and almost all the snow is melted! Spring is starting!! Well that's it from me for now, Happy birthday Dad!! I love you all!

Elder Myers

Hello From Bucuresti

Today I'm writing you from a little internet cafe here in "the jungle" (out here that's what we call Bucuresti )! Last transfer our zone leaders left their car in a dealership in Pitesti to get some repairs done, and the office had us drive it back up to Bucuresti, which means we get to spend our P-day in Buc!! It was weird walking into the mission office - I barely even recognized it, I haden't been there since the day I came into the country! The office elders, assisants and President and Sora Hill were all there and gave us a warm greeting. Apparently Pitesti has been the talk of the mission lately!


 Elder Simmons was just called to be the new assistant, so it was really good to see him again! On average though, our P-days have been pretty much the same. We went to Curtea de Arges last transfer, my second time going there. Elder Bateman's uncle drove us out, and it was gorgeous seeing everything covered in snow. We also went out to see a Cathederal in Mioven which is a small town 20 minutes outside of Pitesti. Other than that, we'll mainly just relax at our apartment. It's kind of nice sometimes to have a p-day where you don't really do anything. Mission life is just a consant go go go go. 


By the way, I forgot to say this last week, but that story about the Moldovan police officer was incredible! That is such a miracle the way everything was timed just perfectly. Oh and I also remember mom asking me a couple weeks ago where I am in my Old Testament reading, and right now I'm over halfway through 1 Kings. It's been pretty interesting reading all the stories in there. I can't really say that it's always as spiritually fulfilling as reading the New Testament, or Book of Mormon, but it helps me get a better understanding of Jewish culture and also of all the symbolism that exists in Christianity. I've also been reading Jesus the Christ throughout my mission, and am getting close to finishing it. James E. Talmage was an incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable man, and reading that also helps me understand the Bible so much better. 


Well, there's bad news and good news. The bad news is that D--- wasn't baptised this Saturday. He didn't pass his batpismal interview. Our zone leader who conducted the interview said that there were a couple things that D--- wasn't totally sure on. We established a new baptismal date for March 3 with him. We feel a lot better about this date, and I think that everything has happened this way for the better. I think it has helped him really see how big and significant getting baptized is. I felt disappointed and frustrated with myself; feeling like I didn't do my part as a teacher as well as I should have, but like I always say hindsight is always 20/20. 


We were able to meet up with our investigator D--- on Saturday, and he came to church for like the 5th time yesterday! He's progressing really well. He's been absolutely eating up everything the church has to offer. He's still reading the Book of Mormon, and he's also been reading the Gospel Principles manual and loves it. He's a really inteligent man and humble enough to be taught by the Spirit. In our lesson with him we covered the first half of the Plan of Salvation and he understood everything perfectly. Everything we share with him he really takes it to heart and ponders and meditates over it. Yesterday I sat next to him during church and all throughout the service he was either fixated on the talks being given and lessons being shared, or he was reading from the scriptures. At one point during Sunday School he turned to me, looked me in the eyes and sais "Myers, ce mici suntem. Nu stiim ce se intampla peste o ora." "Myers, we are so small. We don't know what happens in even an hour." The way he said it really hit me. At that point I knew that the Spirit was working deep within him. He was beginning to truly understand the nature of God and the gospel, and I knew that he was experiencing a change within himself. I could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, and feel the Holy Ghost close to us. 


We also met up twice with C--- and unfortunately he's not progressing very well and dropped his baptismal date for the 3rd. He's going through a tough time, getting a lot of pressure from his family to find a job and to start picking up his life and going somewhere. The problem is, he never graduated high school and has no work experience and no money to go back to school. He's feeling pretty lost and looking for a way to have a stable family life and financial situation. We've been trying to help him see that the thing that will help him the most is putting God first in his life, and seeking His will. Once you do that, then everythying else starts to slowly piece itself together. He told us that he prays every night, but he hasn't been reading from the Book of Mormon or the Bible for that matter and he's just confused. We asked him if he ever prayed to have God show him what He wants him to do, and he said no because he's afraid that what God wants him to do won't line up with what he wants to do.


 Hopefully he will start putting more trust in God and relying on Him for help with his family and for finding a job. It was a good reminder to me of how important it is that no matter what, we need to put God first, above everything else in our lives, and how living the gospel really does bless you in every aspect of life. I feel so blessed to have grown up in the gospel and to have these things taught to me since I was a little kid. They have become ingrained in the person that I am today and I know that everything that I have has come to me because of my commitment to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 


I know there's probably more to say, but I can't really think of what.....the weather's been warming up a tiny little bit here. At least, it's stopped snowing and the sun has been coming out during the day. I can't wait for spring! Thanks for the pictures of the cats, they looked warm and cozy! Whenever I read Miranda's name it always makes me think of a type of soda that's here called Mirinda. Random thought. I'm glad you've been enjoying so much warm weather. Hopefully it will rain and snow some more though so that summer doesn't turn into a drought. I remember the one winter where it would be up in the 80's in the middle of December and January!


 That's awesome that Eli was able to brave out the snowy cold campout. Those were always some of my favorite campouts. I always loved sleeping out in the snow, even if I did freeze half to death most of the time, it just had a sense of adventure that I loved. It's been fun beeing surrounded by snow out here although sometimes it gets pretty old having to trudge through loose slush and slippery ice all day. Thanks for the great emails, hope you have a wonderful week! 


Love,
Elder Myers

Let It Snow!!!

Hey everyone! Sorry about the whole email mix up from last week. I think I either just forgot to hit the send button, or it just didn't go through. I was surprised when I got a call from President Hill telling me to go email my family! 


As for the weather, it is snowing pretty hard as week speek, and its been snowing since Saturday! Last week it snowed for a good several days straight, and then there was about 5 or 6 days of freezing temperatures, as low as -11-12 C during the day, and down in the -20s C at night!!! Don't worry about me though, that huge blue scarf Ally made me for Christmas has been keeping me nice and warm! Here in Pitesti there's probably a good 2 or 3 feet of snow. It makes doing missionary work pretty exciting, we've been instructed not to be outside for very long if temperatures get much lower than -10 C. Luckily we have investigators we've been meeting with! That's crazy that the Danube and the Black Sea are freezing over! I hadn't heard about that until just now. I had heard about how in parts of Romania people's houses have been completely covered in snow however. From what I heard, that's only happening in the northern part of the country, close to Moldova. 


This week has been pretty good for us, but Sunday was pretty disappointing for the other Elders. They had two investigators who were supposed to come to church who never showed up. One of them, M---  was baptized Wednesday in Timișoara was supposed to get comfirmed, but lives about 50 minutes away from Pitești and missed his bus to come in. The other investigator was A---, who needed to come to church for her second time so that she could be baptized on Tuesday. 


Oh yeah, just so you know, transfer results are..............everyone is staying except Elder Staheli who is going Craiova. Elder Bateman's new companion will be Elder Abbott, who is in Elder Cox and Ekins' MTC group. I'm really glad I'm going to be staying here. This will be my 4th transfer in Pitesti!! All in all I will have stayed here for six months by the end of next transfer. 


So here's everything new for our investigators:


D--- is still completely on for his baptism this Saturday! In our last lesson he told me that I had been like a guiding angel for him and that he wants me to be the one who baptizes him. I was really humbled by that. D--- has been changing so much. He's a lot more open, and really happy and full of hope! It's so amazing to see how prepared he was to receive the gospel. He's already living every single one of the commadments. Basically lessons go like this: we tell him that Christ taught us so and so or such and such and that in the church we do this and this or we can't do that or that, and he ends up teaching us why its not good to drink alcohol or smoke, or to look at pornography, or why it's important to pay tithing. We only have a few more things to go over with him just to officially check it off on his teaching record and then he is 100% ready. He's even started sharing the gospel with his family! He gets rides to and from work from his older brother and so a couple times he's had them come by the church while we have a lesson with him. The last time he came he brought his two brothers, and we ended up teaching M---, one of the brothers, the gospel and giving him a Book of Mormon while D--- played ping pong with his other brother! They both said that they want to come to church this week as well! 


D--- is doing really well also, we had a lesson with him on Thursday and he came to church yesterday. He's still reading from the Book of Mormon, but he hasn't prayed about it yet. Being a member of the military since he was in high school he didn't get very much of a religious education and has never really prayed before. We've been helping and encouraging him to start praying and helping him understand why it's so important to pray every day so that we can develop a personal relationship with God. He hasn't commited to a baptismal date yet, but he knows that he wants to be baptized. I think the main thing holding him back is his family. He really wants his wife to be involved, so we told him to have her come to our next lesson with him. He said he would talk to her about it, and thinks that she would probably be interested in coming. 


C--- is still struggling with family problems. He told us that he had talked to his mom about getting baptised and she told him that he was baptized when he was a baby, and doesn't need to be baptised again. He asked me before English on Saturday if it matters whether you were already baptised once or not and I told him the next time we meet up we'll talk about it. He still can't come to church because his mom won't let him. We're just praying that he will be able to find a way to come. We still has a baptismal date for March 3, and we're still working towards making that date a reality, but he's got a long way to go. 


We're still meeting with V--- once a week. We testified that we know that the Book of Mormon is true by the power and witness of the Holy Ghost, and the only way he will get his answers is by listening to what God's trying to tell him, not what all the latest scientific and psycological theories say. He had read the Plan of Salvation brochure and in there it references to the Restoration, and he asked us what it meant by restoration, so we gave him a Restoration of the Gospel brochure and told him that we would talk about it next time. 


Those are all our current investigators. We're working really hard on trying to find new investigators so that we're always sharing the gospel with someone new, and bringning new people into the church. Something that I'm seeing more and more about missionary work is that it's not necessarily all about how HARD you work, but it's also about how SMART you work, and how COMMITED you are. God always places people in your path, and most of the time it's through people that you already know and work with. 


Hope you all are staying cozy and warm over there in good ol' Cali. I look forward to hearing back.


I love you all!


Elder Myers

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