Happy Easter!

Dear family and friends:

    Good Monday! Hope you had a good week. I have had a pretty good week. Said my goodbyes to Elder Doloscan and said hello to Elder Rosenvall. We travelled back to Bacau Tuesday. So far, we are getting along well and have gotten to know each other well. He is from Layton, Utah. He's in his 7th transfer. He has served in Buc, Orhei, and Brasov before coming here. Some of his companions include Elder Simmons, Elder Johnsen, and Elder Mikolyski. He's a great guy. Bacau is the same as it usually is. The weather has been a bit cooler and rainy recently. We have no investigators to work with right now. It's pretty much just Ionela, but she went to the countryside to spend her spring break there. We've done some bloc-knocking and park-conacting. We've talked to a few cool people. Also, we spent some time seeing how members are doing and setting up an Easter party and inviting members to come. Only 5 members showed up to our party. It was ok. We had some good sarmale and salata de beouf. We spent some time buying all the food, and preparing it with Sora Dragomir and a friend of hers. It was the first time I rolled up sarmales! It was fun. We've also spent time reading the Book of Mormon in Romanian. A zone goal is to read the whole book of Mosiah through this transfer in Romanian. I'm on chapter 12 now. Elder Rosenvall is tearing through it and is at the last couple of chapters already! I've been lazy at reading the BOM in Romanian throughout my whole mission.

    The branch is still as usual. We had 4 members come to church yesterday. Alin and Sora Dragomir are the most active. Alin is a great guy. He's a little developmentally delayed and has had kidney problems in the past. He knows english and has a great testimony. He's the one who always calls me Bruce Lee and asks me to teach him some techniques, such as Tiger Style or Cobra Style. Love him. Sora Dragomir is a great lady, one of the first baptized here in Bacau. She loves singing hymns and has a strong testimony. Fratele  Iancu usually makes it every Sunday, and has a good testimony. He and his family just don't have much money and he tends to complain and talk forever about Communism and the Orthodox church. Daniel is doing well. He plays piano for the branch. He doesn't really like most members. He's trying to get into BYU. There are others too, but I don't have much time to explain about them all. The work is going here. On some days, it really feels like we're just trying to sustain the life of this branch. Other days are better. It's a tough assignment for any misisonary to work here, not just for me as a branch president. I feel like there's nothing else to do to help the branch. It just stays the same, always. There's been a lot of great missionaries that have worked here recently, but things just don't change. Sometimes, I feel tired of being here. But, I know I need to be patient and do my best, however small it may seem. I'd love to go to one more city (like Cluj or somewhere larger with more missionaries) for the next two transfers in order to experience more and be in a different place, before I finish my mission all too soon!

    Thanks dad, for all the information about travel and stuff. Don't worry, I'm not trunky. I only have 4 more months, but I want to try to work effectively and enjoy each day I have left. I will really miss my mission. It's kinda a bummer I'll miss out on 5 weeks of my last transfer, but at the same time, it's good to get back into school quick and avoid sitting around for a few months in Redlands not knowing what to do. I received the travel plans in an email from the office. I hope it will be a fun time when you guys come up here. Also, I'm excited for living with Zach and Briggs. I've heard of Liberty Square (I may have even been there once or twice) and I know it's pretty nice. I look forward to that. I think my schedule of classes should be good for me. BYU life is coming back all too soon! It's like my mission is a small dream that flies by, and then I wake up and realize that I'm just back to normal life and that not much has changed. Thanks mom for your package. I love all the candy (I'm getting out of shape though; I want to run again every day when I'm back in Provo). It's good that everything at home is well. Congrats to Elder Mann. Idaho! Why are all the missionaries in Redlands 2nd Ward staying in the states?? Anyways, I'm almost out of time. I love you all, and I hope to have another good week in Bacau. We'll talk again. Have a good week. Ciao!

Love, Elder Lee