Happy Monday! Life has been going well lately for me here in the big city. I am really enjoying Bucharest. Again. Elder Durand and I have had a good week. We're trying to find new investigators, but it has been tough because of nonstop rain for the past week! I'm getting tired of the wetness everywhere! I think today or in a couple days it will clear up. It has also been cooler too, which has kinda been nice at least. I've been loving being around Elder Knapp and Elder Fonnesbeck too. I've gotten to know the other missionaries in my district too, and we all get along and have a great time. I have enjoyed district meetings here too. Last district meeting, we talked about obedience and what we want to become as missionaries--especially when we return home. Elder Fonnesbeck is a fun district leader. We've been handing out english cards lately, as the classes start this week. I haven't done a lot of english contacting in a long time. It's kinda weird to stand at a busy corner and just hand cards out to random people, but I got used to it quickly. We gave out tons of cards! However, on Saturday (the day of sign-ups) it was rainy! So nobody came! Everyone's scared of the rain. Only about 4 or 5 people showed up, and I think they all signed up for medium level. So, we'll see if we even have a class to teach (Elder Durand and I are planning to teach advanced class).
We were able to meet Ana, a recent convert, and Flavian, another recent convert, this week. Ana is the lady Elder Jones and I found in a park when I was last here, then I left. She was taught by Elder Jones and Elder Awerkamp, who had replaced me. She got baptized last November or so, and so we decided to meet her and see how she is doing. She still remembers me! She's a nice lady. We met with her and decided to review the Restoration. She has a hard time retaining information, but as soon as we got talking about Joseph Smith and the BOM, she began to remember everything. She just needs a lot of review often. She hasn't come to church the past two Sundays. Flavian, another recent convert, is doing well. He was baptized just before I got here. He came to church just yesterday. He is actually from Craiova and is working here near the mission office. We had a lesson with him last night. We talked about how he can strengthen his relationship with God by keeping the Sabbath Day holy, reading the scriptures each night, praying often, and simply enduring to the end (see 2 Nephi 31:18-20). He is a great guy, and after our meeting with him, he felt super good and now wants to make it a goal to read the BOM every night for twenty minutes. We need to also prepare him to receive the Priesthood soon. We made a visit to a member, Fratele Paun. He's a good friend who we would make visits to last year. He's got a 13 or 14 year old daughter, Denisa. We talked about how things have been going, and had a spiritual thought about how we gain testimonies. He's a great guy.
Church was great yesterday. We heard talks about fasting, the temple, and faith. Fratele Radu and his wife just got back from a temple trip to Kiev, and he spoke about the temple and his experience there in Sacrament meeting. He's a strong member, and he gave a great talk. He encouraged other members who hadn't yet been to the temple to go, and to do all the things necessary to obtain a temple recommend. Elder Durand and I taught the investigator Sunday School class. Elena (who usually teaches it) had to do something after Sacrament meeting and couldn't be there to teach. It was fun. We decided to talk about the importance of the BOM and covered three points: it's another witness of Christ, it confirms and clarifies Biblical truths, and it shows that God still works today. We used Elder Tad R. Callister's BOM talk from last October conference, and concluded the lesson with how we obtain a testimony of the BOM (we read Moroni 10:4-7). It was a good church, even if it was rainy. We went over to eat at Sora Gorzo's after. She made us a good spinach-rice ciorba and ardei umpluti. Yummy! Also, the Saturday before church, we had a branch activity. We all met at the chapel and watched the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration film! Ioana translated (because it was only in english). It was a great time. It's a very cool movie. It was so cool to watch it with a lot of Romanian members who have testimonies of Joseph Smith! Now, they have even stronger testimonies of him because of the film. On a sadder note, last P-day, Elder Peterson injured his knee playing basketball. It turns out that he tore his ACL. He had to go home for emergency surgery on his knee. He left on Friday or Saturday. He has a family doctor who will hopefully fix everything up. He may come back into the mission after 3 months or so, but it's not for sure. It's a bummer. I'll miss him. He's a great missionary.
Well, that's about everything that's been going on in this neck of the woods. Things are going well here. I just hope it clears up soon. It's nice to hear that things at home are going well. Mom and dad, I hope you enjoyed Tyler and Chelsey's visit. I hope they have a great honeymoon. It will be exciting to see them soon. I also hear that work on Chris and Liz's house finally started! Chris sent me the picture of the foundation. That's good news for them. Kenadee looks cute with her new hairstyle. It'll be exciting to come home soon and see all my favorite people again. It will be busy too I guess! Anyways, I'm basically out of things to say for now. Have a good week folks, and don't forget to pray! La revedere.
Love, Elder Lee
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