Missionary Marathon

Wooo dawgy that was a crazy week! There was never a dull moment. Here are some of the highlights from this week...

Elder Ditto

Arad and Mures River

Mures River

• It all started with me "dedicating" a Book of Mormon to our friend, Mihail... the one who we went to yoga with last week. Then we meditated and listened to a creepy recording of a voice that I had no clue what it was saying... needless to say we didn't go back! 

Gai Monastary for the Orthodox church

Gai Monastary with Elder Ditto

• After 3 attempts. finally got my visa paper work all filled out! 

I am feeling very Olympic today!

Jamaica loves me!!

Sanka...you dead?  (favorite lines from the movie "Cool Runnings)

• One day I talked to a gypsy and asked how much I could by a gypsy skirt for. (They are very colorful and beautiful) she said 3000 lei of course, and I used my Tarzan Romanian and bartered it to 1500! On my way to becoming a good salesman. Ha! 

Pigon Graffitti

• Dinner at the Elder and Sora Days' (senior missionary couple serving in Arad)... they made Candied Chicken. I was so surprised that they made it because mom said that I would die for it!!! Thanks mom!!

Recipe:

Candied Chicken

5 Chicken Breasts (sliced into 1.5 inch thickness)

2 cups dry Italian bread crumbs

Sauce:

1 ½ cups packed brown sugar

¼ cup prepared mustard

½ cup ketchup

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

¾ cup water

10 pineapple rings

1. Dip sliced chicken in bread crumbs. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat; dredge chicken in bread crumb mixture and brown in skillet, about 3 to 4 minutes each side.  Layer chicken on a greased 9x13 inch baking dishes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large saucepan over low heat, combine the brown sugar, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and water.  Bring to a boil, and pour over chicken.  Cover baking dishes with aluminum foil.
4. Bake in preheated over for about 25 min, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.  Top each piece with a pineapple ring, and serve.  (You can make this ahead and just wait to do the final cooking in the sauce to the day you are ready to eat.)

• We volunteered for a triathlon in Arad, and set up the course! Such a great way to find and talk to people.

Service - setting up for the course

• Speaking of Triathlon... Elder Giron and I RACED in a 2k Saturday. It was so much fun. We ran like a total of 5 miles that day, mostly in out proselyting clothes, running to the race because we were late, running to the church because no tram's came, etc. It was pouring rain but a great experience and we met many awesome people in which we shared our purpose with. 

Cross 2k with Paul

Finishers!

Gold Nuggets!!!

• I made a taco and danced while doing it for my talent at the talent show for the branch! Every one loved it. The theme was Mexican food and most of the people had never had Mexican food. They are all fans now!

Picture courtesy of Elder and Sora Day

Noaptea Talentelor

• We also got chased by a lion dog or something... I couldn't tell because we ran down 6 flights of stairs, with our lives on the line! There are so many dogs here, and when the owner says a command to the dog in an aggressive way... ya. You should run!

Old rowing shack thing

The FIVE rings!!

For p-day we tried to go to a fortress...turns out it is military base right now and we could not enter. 

The theme of this week was running. That's why I am calling this week a "missionary marathon!" In long distance races, there are times where you feel good, and more times where you feel exhausted and ready to give up. It requires a constant feeding of hope to the mind, reminding yourself that the race is worth it. Knowing from experience, when you give your all in a race, you can look back with satisfaction and gratitude for being able to endure the hard moments of the race, and see the rewards for doing your best.

Streets of Romania

This weeks marathon had its' fair share of hills! There were a couple days where we just didn't have much success. One day in particular, three of our appointments got cancelled. That day we hadn't really had any success in sharing the gospel, and all the cancellations for that night just made it harder. I have been really trying to live with greater hope. We all need hope in order to carry on through life. If not, what would be the point of our lives? Sometimes it is hard to have hope as a missionary, especially in an area that seems like everyone is stubborn in their ways. I think we can develop hope in many different ways, but the way I try to focus on is through my attitude. I am convinced that if we live our lives with a more positive and optimistic attitude, we will be happier, more successful, and overall better individuals. 

Keeping this in mind, I tried to race with hope. This required a conscious effort to endure and be happy, even when it got difficult. All of this hoping paid off, though! 

Streets of Romania

One day, we were walking to the park, when we ran into a member of the branch who said that he knows of a lady who might be interested in learning about the gospel. He said he was going over to her house right now, and that we could come! The meeting with Livia went awesome, we got to answer her questions through the first lesson of the restoration. We even got to help take apart a bed for her! Livia is now interested in learning more about the gospel-  a new investigator! 

After enduring and having hope, Heavenly Father placed in our path someone who needed the gospel. This was such a testimony builder for me! I KNOW that God will bless us when we have hope and trust in His timing. I hope we can all live with more hope this week.

This reminds me of a scripture in Alma 26:27:

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

... the Sons of Mosiah were about to turn back, when the Lord comforted them and told them to be patient in their afflictions, and they will be made instruments in His hands! I felt like I experienced a little of that this week.

Companion selfie

I would write so much more, but I don't have anymore time! I will try to be more efficient next week!  

Corn, Egg, Bacon pizza - SO GOOD!

The Book of Mormon is true. God is real and hears and answers our prayers! 

I love you all, thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Missionary work is the best!

See ya'll next week!

Love, Elder Ditto

Elder Giron

Question/Answer:

Are you eating at home or eating out more? 

• 50/50 it seems like. I am trying to do more at home

How is your cooking?  Is Elder Giron a good cook?

• He is a great cook. We usually do a pasta together maybe twice a week. I do a lot of sandwiches and fruit/veggies with granola bars.  Elder Giron is going to try and be vegetarian for a while so this week we did our grocery shopping separately.

What is your money allowance for the month?

• I have 1000 lei... about $250 USD a month. It is definitely enough! I usually get a little pastry every other day or so too.  I use my own personal money mainly for clothing and souvenir type things are what I need to spend my own money on. I am planning on buying some shoes today and getting my pants tailored! 

What is your daily schedule like?

• So we wake up at 6:30 am and are ready by 8 am. Personal and Companion study till 10 am, and then we are out of the house. Most days we don't come home for lunch. Back to the apartment by 8 pm for language study and wind down for the day. We have "mission prayers" where everyone in the mission prays at the same time (10am and 10pm). Kinda cool! We proselyte from 6pm to 9 on p-days but we switched it to 3 hours during the day this pday so we could actually be out when there are people. All about creativity!

You mentioned getting your pants tailored - are you getting them taken in or out?

• My pants are fitting just fine! I got all of them tailored... each were like $5 dollars to get done. Such a good deal!  They are more European now - the legs are narrow at the ankle.

What the weather like?

• It actually snowed a little bit today! I am staying warm though... my two jackets that I bought are incredible!

Real-Life Missionary Week

Where has the time gone!? The days just keep getting faster and faster! I am so happy to hear that all is well in YakTown with you guys. Keep excelling in all you do!! 

On top of the world! 

This week was what I would like to call a "Real-life Missionary Week". This week was probably one of the most difficult weeks of the mission so far! Now the interesting thing about saying that this week was the most difficult, doesn't mean that it was not awesome... Because EVERY moment spent on the Lord's errand is truly a blessing and a miracle. I am trying to remember that as I go about my days here in Romania. 

Romanian flag

I'll start off with why this week was, as the bros and I like to say, gnarcrop! (brother vocabulary for awesome; dope; crazy sweet, rad, etc.) This week was spent meeting with many cool people, and getting to know their "stories," as everyone has a story.

On Halloween night, we met with a couple of families who were possible investigators for a Halloween party! We even had pumpkin pie. Which turned out to be ACTUAL PUMPKIN and a croissant pic crust. The most healthiest pie I have had, but it actually made it on  the list for most delicious too! The question that they all had was, What is the meaning of Halloween? Man... I had to think about that one!

Halloween 2016

Most Romanians love Americans and want to learn all they can about our culture. It was cool to compare cultures and come to the conclusion that we are all similar in our wants and our needs, regardless of where you live! That is one reason why I love being in a foreign country, you get to see how other cultures work, and why they do what they do! 

Thirsty for knowledge

We have one potential investigator who invited us to go to Yoga with him one day. We were prepared for stretching and being sweaty and whatever the women do in America, but turns out yoga in Romania is way different, or I am just naive about yoga in general! It turned out to be an hour of meditation and learning about different "archangels"... Actually very interesting and relaxing- ambient music played for a lot of the time- and we learned about the values of other people! It got a little weird at the end when they showed a little video about seeing extra terrestrials in space claiming that they were angels... but besides that it was a super cool experience and our relationship with this potential investigator was really strengthened, and we are going to meet with him tonight to talk about the Book of Mormon that I gave him! 

Testimony that I wrote inside a Book of Mormon to give away to some lucky person.

This is the great thing about being a missionary... Just seeing what other people in the world value, and how they live their lives! I love meeting new people, and I feel like my communication skills are being refined... in English and Romanian!

Arad bridge

Amongst all the gnarcrop memories that were made this week also include, meeting some cool skateboarder dudes, a rad graffiti artist, playing basketball against a kid in my church clothes, helping install the stove that we transported last week, continuing to eat amazing Romanian food, having good conversations with Elder Giron, meeting with amazing members of the branch, GETTING A NEW INVESTIGATOR!, and just missionary work in general! 

Flock of sheep on the Hungarian border on the way to finish installing Sora Krnacs' stove

Concrete slab that we had to take out in order to install Sora Krnacs' stove

Humbled to have served this wonderful lady - Sora Krnacs

Sora Krnacs' bedroom

600 lb stove we carried and installed

Goats outside Sora Krnacs' home

Sora Krnacs' backyard

Super loud and annoying geese in Sora Krnacs' backyard

There was one morning, where I made myself a "sunny-side up," some cereal, a banana, and yogurt, and I was just thinking about life in general. I was comparing eating breakfast before my mission, and what I would think about, be excited for, etc, and how that has changed since being on my mission. 

A balanced breakfast

At that moment, I realized that I now have a sense of joy and happiness that I don't think I have ever experienced in my life! Before my mission I was excited to go on hikes, do fun stuff with the siblings, make money, etc and now, I look forward to meeting people, making new friends, and serving others while sharing the gospel! The joy that missionaries feel in their calling is just indescribable. I feel so privileged to be helping the Lord with His important work. And I have this privilege for 2 years!!! So rad! 

Really quick I will tell the story of Florin, our new investigator. We met Florin my first week in Romania. We were walking separate ways, but right before we crossed paths, Florin and I made eye contact and we kind of both stopped. We made casual conversation, and I learned that his is a Mountain bike racer, and is also going to school. So cool!!! After talking for a while, somehow the Book of Mormon was brought up and he excepted the book, we got his phone number, and then we didn't see each other for 2.5 weeks. Fast forward to this week, we finally scheduled a time to meet up and get to know each other better. We had a nice visit in front of Primeria, and found out that Florin had read from the introduction of the Book of Mormon to chapter 12 in 1 Nephi. WHAT!?? Incredible!! He said that he really enjoyed reading it, we bore testimony, invited him to take the lessons, and bam. We are going to meet with him again tonight! There is just a special spirit about Florin, and I feel confident that he has been prepared for the gospel and will receive it with open arms. During our lesson with Florin, we talked for quite a long time, and somehow I understood 80% of what he was saying. After reflecting on the lesson I realized that I had been blessed with the gift of tongues! I was so humbled by this and gave my thanks to God, for blessing me with the ability to understand and speak to Florin. 

Dinner with Ioana

Yes, mom!  That is a whole HEAP of MAYO - Romanian mayo is way better, though.

These times where I get to teach an honest seeker of truth are the most joyful moments. I am truly grateful for this opportunity to help Florin come closer to the Savior!

I don't have much more time, but I am glad I started with the good things and not the bad! It is clear that the good experiences totally out way that bad.

To be brief, there were some days where we had like 0 success in terms of teaching. We would knock on 150 doors in a communist block, and have 10 people open up the door, with the majority saying that we won't have any success teaching Romanians, and that the Orthodox church should be sending missionaries to America instead of vice versa. That actually made me chuckle! Then we would go to the next block and have the same result. See why I might be a little discouraged sometimes?

It is just so frustrating at times when seemingly no one wants to hear our message! 

A lot of mental stress has come as a result, but I am slowly learning how to overcome the discouragement that comes from this mission. I have always been able to release my feelings to my parents, youth leader, friends, etc. and now everything kind of just builds up inside. I do have one friend that is always always there for me, Jesus Christ. I am learning how to whole heartily trust in his wisdom, and let him succor me in times of despair. 

I testify that He knows our fears, our sadness, our discouragement, our trials, and everything else that we go through in this life. Because of his infinite atonement, he can and will and DOES give us the comfort and peace that no one else can give. Even in the times where we feel like no one understands what we are going through. The great hope and truth in this life is that there is one who does know. And when we turn to him through prayer and scripture study and following His commandments, we WILL have happiness in this life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know this because I have experienced this many times, and many times this week. I love the Savior. He is my best friend. 

That is my message that I am sharing with the Romanians. That is the great message of hope. THAT is the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I love all of you, and am so grateful to be apart of a wonderful family. Let's go have a rockin' week together!

Love, 

Elder Ditto aka Alex :)

Tour of my apartment:

Bathroom

I got the full-size bed!

Kitchen

Living Room

My desk

Walk-in Closet

Sunset out my window