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

Monday, August 6, 2012

I'll Never Forget My Experiences in Romania!





Farewell Romania - I'll Miss You!

Dear Loved Ones,

   Hey, it's Elder Lee! It's the last email of my mission! Today is the last P-day I have here in Mihai Bravu. This whole week is just a week of lasts for me. It's hard to believe that the time has just about come for me to go. I have loved my mission immensely. I will be forever grateful for it. I hope I don't get too sad when I'm back home, thinking back on all my mission memories. I guess it's a good thing to hop right back into school, right? I hope I survive writing papers and taking tests; that's all you do in college. I'm so looking forward to seeing family and old friends at home and at BYU! I've really had the time of my life serving in the Romania/Moldova Mission, escpecially the time I have had this summer in good old Mihai Bravu. It was a dream come true to serve with Elder Knapp too! I'll miss him. He's doing so well.

   This past week has been a little weird for me. I finally started to realize that my time is about out. It hit me a little bit that I'll be seeing you, mom and dad, in just a couple of days! Elder Nilsson and I have had a blast serving together. We really have done a good job together and have learned a lot together. We didn't have much happen this last week in terms of busy missionary work; our investigators dissapeared on us! However, it has been a great week. I have been cherishing every last day I have. Time goes too fast. It's not fair! We were able to hang out one more time with Elder Farr and Elder Kebker last Tuesday. They both left for home last Wednesday. We ate at a pretty good Mexican restaurant called El Torito (I don't know if it's the same as that one back at home). It was tasty, and spicy! The spiciness was a surprise. I got some tasty chicken enchiladas. We went to see a baptism at Panduri. It was really cool. Guess who showed up? Daniel from Bacau! He was hanging around in Constanta (he hung out with the missionaries there, including Elder Knapp!) and then he dropped by in Buc to say bye to Elder Fonnesbeck and me one last time. It was good to see him again. I enjoyed my last transfer day at the Gara. I actually didn't get my newly-bound scriptures yet, so maybe it would be cool to have Sara get them for me. They should be done by this point. The plan originally was to have Elder Nilsson bring them home with him in September. It would be really nice if Sara brought them back with her (if they are done by then). I hope she has enjoyed being in Cluj. I would have loved to see that city. At least my scriptures have been there!

   Elder Nilsson and I had ribs the other day for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. It's funny, because we both went there last year for our year-mark together. And we both got ribs there too. The ribs there are really good. We also enjoyed watching some of the Olympics on the t.v. while we were eating. We had a good last district meeting about sacrifice and consecration. The new district leader is Elder Schaub (who just got out of the office). He's with Elder Fonnesbeck for now, then he will go to Elder Nilsson when we leave. Elder Durand is in the office for his last four weeks with Elder Awerkamp. He is going to leave 2 weeks early to take the ACT test and to try to get into BYU-Idaho. Our sisters have been really fun these last two weeks. Sora Sam is with Sora Stark (who is from southern California somewhere). She got transferred from Galati. She's hilarious. I'll miss all of these fun missionaries that I've gotten to know so well. We made one last visit to the Bulgarasu's with the sisters. I love the Bulgarasu's. They have so much faith!

   My last Sunday in the branch was great. It was fast and testimony meeting. I bore my last testimony! So did Elder Fonnesbeck. Our recent convert, Flavian, came and bore a great testimony as well. He just got back from a young single adult confrence in Hungary! He said he loved it, and I was super happy that he was able to go and that he had great time. We ate Sora Gorzo's famous stuffed peppers for lunch after church. Then, on Sunday evening, we got to go to a fireside/farewell for the Radu's. They are the first Romanian senior couple missionaries ever! They just left today to go and serve 23 months as temple workers in the Bern, Switzerland temple. It was a great fireside. They are such great examples to all the members, even to all of us missionaries. It was cool to be able to see them for the last time and say bye. It was a historical event!

  Today is my last P-day. We're going to take a tour of Casa Poporului--my 2nd time. I need to start packing pretty soon! I hope to enjoy my last 3 days here in Buc. Mom and dad, I'm excited to see you guys and be with you here in Romania for a week. We'll have a great time. I'm glad that everyone is doing well at home. Chris is enjoying Dartmouth I hear. That's so cute that Kenadee wanted to talk to me. She doesn't even quite know who I am yet! Anyways, I will be happy to be back into the real world again. But, I'll miss being a full-time missionary in this beautiful country among these faithful Romanian saints so much. I have learned everything that I needed to learn and I am grateful for that. Now, I'll feel so much more ready to deal with life's challenges. I love you all. I'll see you all real soon. Have a great week. La revedere!

Love, Elder Lee