Deva is still Divine!

Buna ziua! Ce faceti? I'm doing well. I had a great week. Why are they going so fast? Elder Newton and I are doing awesome together. He's a way cool missionary. Some more about him: he is from Holiday, Salt Lake City. He lives close to President Monson (he's in his stake). He did a year at U of U and started his mission last May. He's in a smaller group with 2 other elders and 2 sisters (Elder Cooper, Bateman, Sora Ausen, Wilson) He started out in Craiova, then went to Chisinau, then to Alexandria, and now here. He gets down to business as a missionary. He is a good example for me. I could do a little better to be as diligent and awesome as he is. We did a lot of work this last week. We got 19 lessons (3 with a member present, which is IMPORTANT! We need even more member presents). We talked to tons of people on the streets and now have a few new progressing investigators-- Andreea, Larisa, and some others. We hope to get some baptismal dates this week with at least some of these new people and 2 girls both named Roxana that are SO close to baptism. The work is moving. The other elders here are doing well too. We make a great team of the Lord's servants in Deva! Our zone is trying to meet goals so that we can take a zone trip to a castle called Lipova next P-day! It's between Arad and Deva. I hope we can reach our goals and go!

   Deva is still super cool. I really like it. The weather is getting warmer and stuff is getting a bit greener. It's April! We had the opportunity to watch 3 sessions of general conference at the home of the Fotea family. It was so nice. We had 2 investigators over with us, had some lunch, and watched conference on their computer. I took some good notes! I enjoyed the talks I have heard so far. We still have to finish priesthood session and Sunday afternoon session. How'd you like conference Mom and Dad? Did you watch it with Jamers and the gang? I really appreciate general conference now more than ever. I've taken it for granted so much in my life, until now. The Fotea family is so fun! They have a 7 year old daughter, a younger son and a 5 month old son. They are loud and crazy most of the time. I'm grateful they let us watch conference and fed us. They are probably the coolest family I've seen in Romania so far! (P.S dad, Brother Fotea served a mission here in Romania, but went to the Preston, England MTC first)

   I went on an exchange with a zone leader last week. Elder Bateman came here with Elder Newton, and I went to Arad again with Elder Betteridge. It was a 2-day thing (wed and thurs), and I enjoyed being in Arad again and working there with Elder Betteridge. He's from Tacoma, WA and went to BYU for his freshman year. He is in his 15th transfer, and he extended to stay another transfer with some in his group. We had a good time working and getting to know each other better. Some other eventful days of last week: Tuesday was Elder Newton's 20th birthday. We surprised him with cake at the villa and some members came and we had a good time. Friday was April Fool's Day, but I neither fooled nor got fooled. And of course, general conference weekend. A good week all in all. Yesterday on Sunday, we still had church. It was fast and testimony meeting. We had 4 investigators come and the other elders had 1. It was a very nice meeting. This morning, Elder Newton and I did studies at the cetate again. It's a good P-day morning tradition. I didn't take any pictures today or last week really, except of the inside of the church villa. Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead. I swear I charged it just a few days ago. Dumb. I'll take some new pictures this week though. Thank you dad for those pics at San Diego. Looks like it was a nice day. Hope you had fun with Kenadee at the zoo and stuff. I hope Kenadee gets feeling better too. She's big now! I also hope it'll be fun when Tom and Kim come and stay.

  I hope things are going well at home. Sounds like all the family is doing well. I haven't heard from any friends lately, so I assume they're too busy having fun wherever they are. Well, I hit 7 months in a few days. It's getting warmer. We get to not wear suits anymore everyday because it's getting warmer. Then on next October conference day, we wear our suits again for another 6 months. The language is going well for me. I am loving it. I forgot the mission total of baptisms as of now, maybe 135 or 140 range. On March, the whole mission only had 5 baptisms, making it the lowest amount of baptisms in a month since 15 months ago! We need more baptisms! President Lundberg wants April to be the best month ever in terms of baptisms. He's gonna be gone real soon. He only has 3 more months, and then we get a new president. We'll have interviews with president on Friday I think. Anyways, that's about all I can think of saying for now. (When is Easter and Mother's day mom?...just wondering) Well, enjoy the week y'all. I'll do the same. I hope I said everything I wanted to. If not, whatevs. I'll talk next week! Lurve yah all. Peace and blessins. La revedere! Cu drag, Varstnicul Lee.