The Adventures Never Stop!

Hello hello!

Another crazy week here in Romania. I have had the coolest opportunity this transfer to travel a little more than usual because of Elder Welling and my responsibilities. We conducted a new missionary training as well as an exchange with the elders in Oradea. 

Love these guys!

Oradea is beautiful

It was a blast from the past as almost two years ago I had barely been in the country when I made the journey to Oradea. It was there where I met Elder Trottier for the first time and got to experience the unique Hungarian-Romanian culture mix that is found in that city. Fast forward to now, and I returned as a changed man with a greater understanding of missionary work and increased love for the Romanian culture. I got to go on exchanges with the brand new missionary, Elder Seegmiller. 

Elder Seegmiller and me

Vulturul Negru

What a privilege that was! We did a lot of good work, and it was cool reminisce of the early days of my mission, and to see the excitement of a new missionary for being a representative of Jesus Christ. Wow! What a cool chance this is. Two years of pure awesomeness. Elder Welling and I grabbed a massive, 400g kebab for 11 lei (2 dollars) and then sped to the aeroport where we caught our plane and arrived home at around 10:10pm. 

The rest of the week was spent doing certain administrative stuff, counseling with the other assistants in Hungary about uniting our two countries as a mission, a talent show, driving to the aeroport, and most importantly teaching repentance! It has been a challenge to find enough time to do all of the proselyting and teaching that we would like, but we have been blessed to have opportunities to help people along their path as followers of Christ. 

Eating @ American Grill... best burger I have had in Romania

We had a lesson with a long-time friend of ours, we first taught him in April, and today we talked about tithing. He had told us earlier that he had some issues about this commandment. As we listened and used the scriptures, I saw a confused and uncertain man become peaceful and full of confidence about this commandment from God. It was an incredible experience to witness the Holy Ghost work on this man's heart, who has a desire to follow Christ and be baptized.

We had the opportunity to help Oana with her project. She is creating a place for helping handicapped adults to engage in work and activity... something that is much needed in Romania

We also had a few discussions over the phone with Alin... this guys continues to amaze me at his love and desire to come closer to Jesus Christ. He is eighteen years old and supports himself by working two jobs, and unfortunately he works ten hours each day on Saturday and Sunday, which doesn't let him always come to church. We had a cool lesson with him via phone about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath day holy. At one point Elder Welling asked him to read a certain passage of scripture, but he misunderstood and read Mosiah 3:18...  Alin then said, "guys, this is not a coincidence... God is speaking to me here!" What a tender mercy! Through the whispering of the spirit and Alin's pure intentions and desires to follow the Savior, he was able to come to a conclusion that it was best for him to quit his job now. He knows this is what God wants, but of course it is a difficult situation. We are fasting and praying for Alin. I have no doubt that he will be baptized soon. He is a force for good and will do so much to help the Lord's church grow here in Romania. 

Both of these experiences helped me understand better how the Spirit works in the conversion of a searching and willing soul... that is the key! You must be willing! Without pure intentions and sincere heart, it is very heart to come to know the truth of the message of the Restored gospel. Alin's favorite verses are found in the last chapter of Moroni...

Moroni 10:4And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

I have seen the Book of Mormon change lives here in Romania. It has also changed mine. Reading it with a sincere heart and real intent will cause the Spirit to help you feel the truthfulness of its' teachings. Read it! Experiment upon its' words!

Dancing with Radu...  

The Hora

Singing with Elder Kreiger in the branch talent show.

Here it goes. It's my last full week as a  full-time representative of Jesus Christ. 

Likeitaintwattinnuttin!

Love,

Varstnicul Ditto

Tidbits from Romania

Hey fam!

Man this week was a crazy and good one. Unfortunately I have zero time, but here is a list of some of the great things that happened this week.

Lovin' the sun

the classic comp pic

Exchange with Elder Krieger... 

Sorin, EK, and me

my last one with him. We have had heaps of fun and have done so much good together. Elder Krieger has really come a long way since last year when he came into the country. It has been a huge blessing to serve around each other for almost 1.5 years- truly a friendship that will last forever! I am proud of him!!!

Exchange with Elder Stevenson... 

Elder Stevenson and me... a tall gang

he came down from Cluj and had a very productive and great day. I was nervous the night before because none of my meetings that I had intended to have for the day were coming together. God had another thing planned for us that day and we were able to fulfill our missionary purpose in many ways. We spoke in Romanian all day and had some incredible conversations during our language study together... in Romanian. It is such a blessing to have had the opportunity to learn a new language and thus become so much more apart of the culture here. I will be forever grateful for that.

We visited Alin and Filip on Thursday... 

Alin si Filip

what an experience!!!! Filip has nine siblings and I was reminded again how great it is to have many brothers and sisters... you truly do learn how to be selfless and do your part. We had an incredible meal made by Filip (supa de pui, un gratar de ceafa de porc si carnati, mamaliga, sos de ustroi facut de acasa, porumb fiert, si inghetata). We were able to teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ with our great member Dani... it was amazing and truly a blessing to have a Romanian teach Romanians... this is the way to do it!!

The plate of crackers and salami... 

Finnish crackers and whatnot

Elder Welling has a ton of these healthy finnish crackers, and we eat this every Friday evening with chocolate milk after sports night... a good tradition! Elder Welling is awesome as usual... we are brothers! I have really enjoyed my time with him and are having fun and working hard.

It was the branch president's wife's birthday, and they invited us to have a bbg with them to celebrate. Romanians know how to COOK. My oh my! Let the pictures do the talking! I will miss Romanian gratare, I hope to bring a little bit of knowledge back to the states and show you guys how to really bbq! The Doru family is amazing and I am really impressed by their love that they have as a family, as well as their commitment to the gospel and the church. They are cornerstones to the church here!

Getting the grill ready

Pretty sweet setup

Grill masters

Husking the corn to get ready for boiling! This is big in Romania in the summer.

Elder Welling gnawed on this bad boy

Supa de pui

The Birthday clan

TONS of shishkebabs!

Dani te pup

Doamna Maria

And grilled mushrooms... nate would love this 😉

This is a special guy... God has been things planned for him. I know that he was led to us to find the truth!

Chillin' on the farm

Cu tovarasii mei din Romania

Copiii cuminti

Shnickies!!!

Wowsers!

Adore this couple!

They are funny people too!

For preparation day we hit up Busteni... my favorite place in Romania! We had a killer hike and it was so great to bond with the elders from Bucuresti. Feeling blessed!

Six Elders....representing four countries

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

Checkin' out the waterfall

Classic Elder Krieger

Enjoying the view

I am used to this... wow!

Elder Bowen and me

IUBESC ROMANIA!!!

Love these guys

Pretty lucky to know these guys... bros for life!

Elder Krylborn... amazing swede!

ME!

Unreal landscape... still can't get over it!

Love you all! Have a killer week, I am sprinting till the finish!

Elder Ditto

My long time friend... we have known each other for these two years!

View from the church... pretty communisty

About His Important Work

Almost two years ago, Uncle Geoff wrote me an email with a quote at the end that really left an imprint in my life, especially as I focus on missionary work. At the beginning of my mission I used to say this phrase in front of the mirror and give a good flex; you know, gotta get those confidence juices flowing somehow! Now, these words are engraven in my mind and have been brought to my remembrance many times. Ready for the phrase?

"I know that missionaries are called of God, and are about His important work, and that is a marvelous work and a wonder!"

Crazys

This week I felt especially the power of these words in the work that we did. Elder Welling and I had been feeling a little frustrated last week because a lot of other duties were taking away from the thing that we love the most- teaching Romanians about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! We had a super solid week planned and God just truly magnified our efforts. Where to even start...

The Bucharest Zone Elders

Elder Miller and me... he is doing work in Galati!

This week Elder Welling and I were able to participate in two zone conferences (the Bucharest Zone, and the East Zone). Both were very amazing and although the same principles were taught in both conferences, I was amazed by the things I learned and the way we were able to customize our teaching for the needs of the individual zones. I bore my "departing" testimony in the Bucharest zone conference, and I just had a sweet, peaceful feeling as I bore a simple testimony of the Savior and missionary work. These zone conferences start at 9:50 and end at 3:00, so a good chunk of two of our days were taken for this. Because of the planning that we did and the prayers offered, we were able to do so many grand things during the evenings. I have so many good stories to share from this week, but I will share two.

Sports Night July 20th... the biggest ever!

The first was with Mihai and Darius, two super great kids that we met in Piata Unirii in April, and had been coming to sport nights since. The stars finally aligned and we were able to meet up at the Mega Mall right after a zone conference. We taught these boys that the experiences they have already had in coming to know that God exists, is the starting point to having great faith in him. We showed them Ether 12:27, and explained how living the gospel of Jesus Christ can help us become strong. As we talked about the church of Jesus Christ being lost but then restored through a chosen prophet of God, they asked, "How come we didn't know about this earlier!?" 

As we left those two kids, I had the strongest affirmation that there is no where else God would want me to be at this time, than teaching two of his sons about the gospel. I was just overwhelmed with happiness!

The next one is a longer story, and I don't have time to share it all, but it is about two boys sent from heaven. We met them in Piata Victoriei while we had a free hour before our next appointment. For some reason there was just a flux of females everywhere, and I was looking for a guy to talk to. I saw a group of guys walking towards the cross walk, and decided to stop them. Only one of them stopped, but then later the other came over as he realized we were talking about God. To make a long story short, Alin lives la tara (the countryside) and has searched many churches to find the truth. A week ago, he prayed to be led to the truth, and that was when he met two missionaries in Piata Victoriei. 

A few days later we met up and taught him the Restoration with a member. He sucked it all up. He had already read much of the Book of Mormon and had learned even more on lds.org. On his way to Bucharest to meet with us, he ran into his cousin and shared with him the Book of Mormon. The cousin also became interested and came to sports night. Both of them were fellow-shipped by members, missionaries, and friends that night, and then come Sunday, he and his cousin came to church. They took a train and then a taxi in order to get to church on time. Alin just quit smoking, and both are so excited about the gospel. As we taught them the Plan of Salvation, they were spitting out the next part before we could even say it! Other parts, we shared scriptures from the Bible and Alin would say, "that is exactly what I figured it meant!" The Holy Spirit was oh so present, and all of us left more edified. 

Feeling the rhythm!

Please pray for these two truth-seeking friends! I am loving every second of my mission. I am so thankful to be serving at this time. My birthday was so great. 

Pancake Guru Welling

Our kitchen is the best

Dani invite us over to his house for burritos (our favorite and a tradition) the night before my birthday. Elder Welling made mean pancakes, everyone sang to me at sports night, and Sister Leavitt made me an INCREDIBLE painting of a shepherd in the Carpathian mountains.

Thank you Leavitts!! They have a special place in my heart.

I received so many warm wishes from many of you in the states, and a ton from over here. Truly feel the love! 

It has been a privilege to serve around these fine men

The Team!

I love all of you!!!!

Elder Ditto