Change, but still on the Lord's errand

Hello all!!

Well I have reached the end of my emailing allotted time once again... too many great and exciting things happening all at once [deciding on BYU-Provo housing for the fall]! I am currently emailing with my fellow Romanian Elders in Chisinau, but without Elder Quist. 

Saying goodbye to Elder Quist... He is going to do great in Constanta!

He has left to Constanta on a special assignment to be with an Elder who's companion had to go home due to medical reasons. It was sad to see him go, but as I watched him walk to customs through the airport, I couldn't help but smile, knowing how much he has grown, and thinking about the wild times we had together getting thrown into a foreign country and expected to swim!

Life is full of changes!! Starting July 1st, Romania will join with the current Hungary mission forming it's own mission (Romania/Hungary Mission), and Moldova will join with Kiev, Ukraine mission! Craziness!!! 

Pday Tennis Sesh!

President Hettinger asked us to share a story of faith in Jesus Christ from this past week to him, and I thought this was such a cool story that I want to share it with you all as well!

It was late and Elder Quist and I were wiped after teaching our weekly English class. Although tired, we were both excited to finish the night by visiting a family that we had found while block knocking a few weeks ago. They had received the message of the restoration really well, but we struggled to keep in contact with them. We decided to just visit them and when we knocked on the door, no one came. Elder Quist said that he was sure there were people in the apartment, however.  Saddened, we did not give up!

We set out to knock doors on one more block before calling it a night. We got to the 10th floor and as we walked up the extra flight of stairs after the 10th floor, (for some reason that is how the buildings work here), a scrap of paper caught my eye. I picked it up, to find that it was a 200 lei note! That is a lot of money! I showed it to Elder Quist and we came to the conclusion that it must belong to someone that lived on that 11th floor. We knocked on all the doors, but no one answered the doors. Elder Quist gave one more knock and then finally a man opened. We told him the situation and he said, "I have never seen two guys so honest! No one is like this!" He then told us that the money was not his, but would ask the little old lady next door. She opened the door after several attempts of ringing the doorbell, and the man inquired of the lady if the 200 lei was hers. She (also) honestly said "no," but she was hoping that we had found her keys that she had lost that day. Inspired by the Holy Ghost, I am sure, I decided to give that little old lady the money. 

The man returned and thanked us and had almost closed the door when I stopped and asked if he would be interested in a message of Jesus Christ. He stopped, and reluctantly opened the door. That led to a discussion (interrupted by the little old lady giving us homemade cabbage placinte) about the Book of Mormon and ultimately the message of the restoration. He had many questions referring to the Bible and was concerned that there could not be another testament, and it was then when the gift of tongues came in! Bible references, my best teaching skills, and pure Romaneste flew out of my mouth, followed by the purest testimony of the Book of Mormon uttered by Elder Quist. The spirit was burning, I felt like we were Nephi and Lehi from the book of Helaman, "behold, he saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he beheld that they did lift their eyes to heaven."

The heavens were with us, and this confused man was able to receive some answers to his important questions, by the power of the spirit. Denis is going back to the Czech Republic and I pray that God will guide him to the missionaries, or the missionaries to him. It was our faith in Christ that caused us to act and then make a difference!

Andrei, our good friend who was also in the Czech at one point, is at a period of difficulty right now. the piata where his little clothing store was, was just bought by the supermarket, Kaufland. Everyone had to evacuate, and we were able to help him move to another location. 

Andrei's old spot for selling clothing

Getting the job done.

No more piata... just junk

The new location isn't as good but he has faith that the Lord will help him provide for his family. We found out that his wife is not very supportive of his religious choice to be Mormon, but Andrei wants to help her see that Mormons really aren't that scary! We are getting him a church produced New Testament kids' edition so that they will read to their little boy!

I love being a missionary, and I love seeing the results and trials of my faith, as well as others'.

I would love to write more, but you will have to wait six more months to get all the stories!!!

Love you all!

Elder Ditto