Hey fam!
Well another week in Bucharest accomplished. The sick bug finally caught up to me this weekend and put me out of commission yesterday, but more about that later!
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| Wandering the streets of a little village outside of Bucharest |
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| Romanian sunsets |
I can't believe that I have been in Bucharest for more than three months now. Time as a missionary is very weird. Dad was wanting to here about my role as a zone leader, so I thought I would talk a little bit about how this position has helped me learn and grow, as well as helped the zone of Bucharest!
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| Romanian construction... the slowest on earth |
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| Elder Ditto |
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| Homeless people napping in the park |
To start, when I first arrived in Bucharest, our zone was in a little rut, and the energy was very low. Bucharest has a million and something residents- you would think that each missionary would have a bushel of people to teach! Three months ago, that just wasn't the case! I remember feeling pretty overwhelmed and not sure how to help the zone. The first step was for Elder Bontempo and I to get organized and get to work.
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| Our boy Dani Firaru |
I am happy to say that Elder Bontempo and I have not slowed down our efforts over the course of these three months, but rather have worked even harder! I feel like each week we get more and more committed to finding those who are looking for the truth, and to following the spirit. I have learned so much! Amidst the success, we have had many difficult days, even weeks! The Lord is not forgetful of us- I have witnessed that as we stay faithful in doing the things we know are right, even when it is hard or not desirable, He rewards us for out efforts more than we could have imagined. I see this everyday! One day this week, we had a lesson with a family in our branch in the morning, and then nothing else planned the rest of the day. After a great lesson and an incredible homemade meal of ciorba de fasole (bean soup) , cartofi piure (mashed potatoes), si curcan (they had just butchered a turkey... probably the best turkey I have ever had), we set out to find new people. The Lord blessed us in finding a really awesome kid, and even we ran into a guy that I had met six months ago, and he is now an investigator!!
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| Fajitas!!! |
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| Don't worry...everything gonna be alright! |
So after getting ourselves committed, we brain stormed ways that we could get the other missionaries excited. We decided to do Zone Contacting every Sunday night. We have a nice big street board and a table, and all of the missionaries in Bucharest take over a park and talk to everyone! The energy that is created is incredible, and seeing everyone doing the Lord's work is really neat. I feel blessed to be in an area with many other missionaries, something that I had not experienced for the majority of my mission!
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| District contacting |
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| An Orthodox church |
We also created a sports night, where all the missionaries can invite their friends and investigators for a fun night of playing sports. The idea is to create a natural environment for inviting people to learn more about how the gospel can help them! This has turned out to be a huge success, last week we had about 50 people come out!
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| A nice stroll in a nice evening |
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| A ghetto dacia pick-up filled with Romania's favorite veggie... onions! |
Also, every first week of a new transfer, we have Missionary Leadership Council, where all of the leaders of the mission meet for a day to talk about how to improve the mission. We meet at the Hettinger's home and talk about the needs of our mission, what we can do to help our missionaries get more excited about the work, and how to do improve ourselves as leaders. We usually have a theme for the council, and this months was from chapter 9 of Preach my Gospel- Finding People! We had a lot of fun brainstorming ways to make finding more creative and fun. I really appreciate the Hettinger's love and committment to helping us as missionaries. Their love for the Savior and bringing God's children back to the fold is apparent.
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| Dani and I |
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| Reminded me of Brasil or something |
So amidst hard work, zone contacting, activities, councils, I stay pretty busy as a zone leader! I have really enjoyed working closely with the other missionaries and learning from them. Each missionary is unique and is called to Romania for a specific reason. I have learned that missionary work is truly a collective effort. We are all working towards one thing- Inviting others come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! I am grateful that I have been assigned to serve in Romania. I love this country and the people in it! Being here has helped me in so many ways, through the difficult times and doubts the Lord is refining me and turning me into a ROCK! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and that His gospel is the way to happiness in this life, and the next. My love for my family has increased 10 fold. I don't know why, but being gone has helped me realize how much I truly love and need them. Good thing we have got eternity!
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| Informing our students that we will not be having English class |
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| Right before he took a leak on the tree behind him... |
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| Sora Leavitt teaching the young adults how to paint! |
In other news, yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. It went really well! I talked about living with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The spirit was there, and the Lord blessed me with the gift of tongues. We are working with several people, praying that they can continue to do the things that will give them the power to change! Reading the Book of Mormon and praying is essential to anyone's continual conversion.
Life is awesome, even if yesterday I had a gnarly fever and had the chills! Come what may, and love it!
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| This was in the heat of having the chills.. |
Love you guys!
Elder Ditto
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| Another orthodox church next to communism |
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| Chilllin' with some Romanian dudes |
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| Another random man... |
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| Dinner at Borsalinos |
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| Ioana.... a nice old lady that always stands next to the Mega Image next to our block |
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The real Bucharest
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| The original Arad group back together |
Sorry to hear you were sick - I hope you're feeling better now. Love all your ideas you've implemented to put life into your Zone! Way to go!! There is one idea that Rachel Mickelson shared in her letter today that you might like and be able to use. Here is her direct quote: "In the conference that we had with Elder Teixeira, he challenged us to do "Book of Mormon" contacts, where we go up to people, don't even introduce ourselves, just ask "We have have a question for you: have you ever read the Book of Mormon?" and we show them our copy. And no matter if their answer is yes or no, we jump right in to testifying about it. Then we ask them if they would like to read it, and if we could stop by to give them a free copy. So Saturday and Sunday, Hna Starbuck and I had the personal goal of sharing 20 testimonies of the BoM. Yesterday we had very little time and we had to share 12 testimonies! That means we had to find 12 people that wouldn't reject us. So we went to a lesson, and then went right out into the street. Yesterday there was a little bit of a wind storm so there weren't a lot of people in the street, and at first everyone rejected us haha. And a lot of people were genuinely rude to us. But, we kept on going. We had to be home at 9:00 and it was 8:50 when we still had 4 more testimonies to go! Hna Starbuck saw a man walking by and was like, Him! And she started talking and testifying to him. And right when we finished talking to him, she turned around and started talking to another person that I didn't even see! She did it without my help at all. I was super proud of her. This was also a testimony to me of enduring to the end. We could've easily gone home when everyone was rejecting us, because we were cold, it was dark, and the streets were isolated...but when we made the decisión to keep on working, Heavenly Father blessed us with people who were willing to listen." And Rachel said that 50% of the people wanted their own copy! Hope you have a great week! love, Sis B
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of the sports thing, and the idea of having all the Missionaries gather in one spot. Eventually it's going to be a habit for the young people to come to both places just to see what's going on with the missionaries! Inspired idea! Love, Sister G
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