Romania, Bucharest Mission: Sept. 2010 - Sept. 2012

Monday, June 27, 2011

Goodbye to President & Sister Lundberg

   What up y'all. So it's time for another one of these email deals I guess. Elder Lee has been doing well in Bucharest Mihai Bravu. It's been a good week. It has been the hottest few days of my mission, but then it cooled off a bit and there was a random huge storm for a little bit. I hear it'll be rainy again. Dang. Well, the work has been alright here. Elder Martin and I are getting along nicely. As Sora Hansen says, "he's a kick in the pants". That he is. Sora Hansen and he served in Chisinau together when he started his mission there. We pretty much have the best district in the mission. Today, we just got done with go-kart action as a district at a fat mall. It was pretty dang fun. It's good to get some driving in too before I forget how to drive completely. I got 5th place.

    So this week was a lot of ordinary stuff. First off, Elder Martin and I have found and talked with some cool people. First, there's Daniel (the student from Targoviste). We haven't talked with him for a week or so because he's always busy or something. We invited him to english and he said he would come but he hasn't yet. We need to get talking to him again. There's also George, a nice 30's year old guy, married, finding a job here. He's been interested in the BOM and likes reading from it. We just last taught him Planul Salvarii, but it was a fast lesson as we had to be somewhere quick. He just needs to pray and know for sure about the BOM and Joseph Smith. We also met a cool new guy named Cornel at the park. By the end of our chat, he was really sincere and wanted to read and go to church. He promised us he would come. Well, he didn't show up at church. He said that some problems came up or something. I guess we need to get doing better on helping people come to church! We haven't had any investigators come for the past 3 weeks! It's tough when nobody decides to come. But, whatevs. We will keep doing our best to get people that are interested, to actually come. Finally, we have a cool new family that we are talking with. Lucian, Mariana, and Alexandra (their daughter). They are so nice and love to talk with us, even in the midst of having to find a new apartment to move into. We have had 2 lessons with them (resto and plan of salvation). Tonight, they're having us over for dinner, and we'll probably talk about the gospel of Christ. They said they've wanted to come to church, but haven't for the past 2 times. They also like to recite the Lord's Prayer as a family. It's a cool thing to see. We talked to them about how we pray, that it is just a simple conversation with God. I also even gave them a baptismal invitation, but they said "we've already been baptised...." so I kinda dropped it...for now. We'll need to actually talk on baptism and again on the restored priesthood authority before we ask them the big question again. It would be nice to have a new family in the branch here.

   Our english classes are fun, but no one comes. The soras have beginner (with like 12 people) and us 4 elders just combine medium and advanced (with only like 3-7 people). Elder Martin is hilarious and full of energy though, so it's fun. We always start with fun sayings and idioms, and Elder Martin gives them a saying that he always likes to say. The last time, he gave them all a commitment to say "you half a meatball!" to their friends and report back at the next class. Love him. Elder Schroedter and I had an exchange Tuesday night to Wednesday night. It was fun. I love Elder "Shredder". We had a park lesson and visited a couple less-actives. OH SNAP! Ok, so on the night we started, we were in the bus heading back home. We were standing next to 2 dudes sitting. We passed the chapel and the one guy saw it and started speaking prostii (unfavorable terms) about us and our church (cuz I guess he realized WE were missionaries for it and we were right there). So as the bus stops (it's weird because we wouldn't normally get off at this certain stop) we felt like we needed to get off. Elder Schroedter gave them a polite "o seara buna" and we walked off. Just then, the one guy SLAMS his hand into the back of my head. We are off at this point and then we turned around and he flips us off and spits at us through the window. Nice guy eh? The other elders happened to be right there for some reason and saw some of it. The bus drove off. I was like, "what???". We talked about what went down and we were all a bit mad at that guy. I was fine. I coulda thrown my BOM right at his face through the window when we got off (it's got some sharp edges...), but I'm a representative of Christ, so probably not a good thing. Also, I didn't really register what happened until the bus drove off. Good story eh? I'm glad it happened because it landed a headline right in my journal and in this email. I love Bucharest!

   Anyways, things are going well as DL. Same ol' same ol'. Elder Martin and I have no baptismal dates now. However, the Zone Leaders have a new one for a lady named Silvia. She's such a sweet spirit who wants to be a member of this church and wants to go on a mission. She also likes to talk for 3 hours nonstop. I think her date is on the 16th of July. We'll see what happens. The mission got 3 baptisms this last week, and I'm excited! Why? Because one was Larisa in Deva and the other was Anton in Deva (a family member of hers)! Finally! I wish I coulda seen them. It's been like 3 months since she should have been baptized. I guess she just never came to church? Whatevs. I'm happy that they are now members of the Deva branch! I really want to go back there some day and see them all. I miss Elder Newton too. Also, the Lundberg's leave this Wednesday morning. They had a special fireside last night where each of them spoke (even Josh). They all had great talks and afterward, I got some last pics with them. The Hill's come in tomorrow. We will have a zone conference/meet the new president on this Thursday. It'll be cool. I'm wondering how different the mission will be in just 3 weeks. Pretty different.

   It's good to hear how things are going back at the casa. Mom and dad, hope you have fun in St. George and Cedar City. That hike will be fun. I think all the priests did it a couple years ago, but I was gone (or was too old to go). Take cool pictures and send me some. Stay excited for your Euro trip too. I hope Chris finds a suitable job. Too much computer-sitting for him? Ward conference sounded nice. Sounds like Bishop Larson had a good talk that can apply to me. I am really missing out on Cafe Rio (mom, everytime you bring it up, I'm like "mmm....chicken salad with delicious green dressing stuff...mmm). It's all good though. I just had some Dominoes the other day. It's good here. Thanks mom for sending me a package. I'm still waiting for a fancy photo album with me and family memories in it. Also, I decided I want some Reeses Puffs or Captain Crunch some time. I don't know why. Sweetness. I'm done for today. I love you all. Ma bucur ca am putut sa vorbesc cu voi. See you laters. La revedere! Love Elder Lee.

1 comment:

  1. Great letter from Elder Lee! Kinda scary that he got whacked in the head and spit on. How sad. :( I'm glad they had chosen to get off at that stop. Thanks for sharing his letters with us! This will probably show up as Pleasant Palms, but you know who I am. It's not letting me change it to my personal account. Oh well. See you at Pleasant Palms soon! : )

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