Hey what's up.
So this week was interesting, I experienced what I would call a migraine.... On top of the fire in my head my body ached and at times went numb. I didn't really say anything to let the others know. I was just kinda grumpy and weak. But the third day Elder Barney found out and forced me to sleep and Elder Eckersley gave me some Excedrin (I hope) and I feel great now. But that kinda messed up my fire for the week. It was still a blast but I'm still frustrated with a lot of things. But it's probably better not to focus on frustrations.
Highlight of the week was probably Wednesday when I went on exchange with Elder McCombs and Elder Casangiu. Elder Casangiu thinks that there is one way to do missionary work and that is contacting at the park. He hates doing anything else because it's very uncomfortable to him. He's fearless of most anything -- death included -- but he refuses to change up the way he works. We had a few lessons early on in the day and then later that night we had like an hour and a half window before another lesson. So we went into a block and Elder Casangiu was already angry because he hates block-knocking and there were three of us which is a little crowded. Even better Elder McCombs insisted that we sing hymns while we did it. Elder Casangiu was beside himself and kept trying to tell us how wrong it was to be singing but every time we stopped somebody would tell us to keep singing. We went out on the street and sang while Elder Casangiu contacted passerby.
On Saturday we had interviews. President Hill and Sora Hill came with the AP's and conducted a few interviews and a little training with our little district of five. After that we went and streetboarded at the busiest place in town. We set up a table and I played on a keyboard and the others contacted. Romanians already stare. They're pros at it. But they thought we were crazy this time. I loved it. A lot of people walk by and tell us to go home or that we're all wasting our time and then the sweet old ladies and men walk by spitting out ridiculous amounts of blessings and telling us we're doing a great thing and then the crazy gypsy guy insists he gets a picture with me and that I play a romanian traditional song by request. He proceeded to follow us for the next thirty minutes to our lesson, luckily we had to pay to take a maxi taxi to the lesson and that foiled his plans. But I love streetboarding because people enter into our space and give us a lot more respect and interest in that situation. We met a lot of awesome people and have some awesome ideas we'll be implementing in the future.
I've also figured out what this mission needs. Kevin Thomases. It would solve everything. I want that kid as my companion.
Elder Barney and I participated in a couple of blessings this week as well as did all the home teaching because a lot of people were sick and unable to do it. Alex Isupescu, the son of the Branch President, actually threw up during our lesson. But I've heard of some stranger lessons. So home teaching was great, I love visiting with the members here. The message this month is on the precious promises of the Book of Mormon and it's a fantastic article. The whole Liahona is a special on the Book of Mormon and I love it. We visited with the Filip's, a hungarian family that consists of the parents (60's) and their daughter who is probably in her 40's. Fratele Filip doesn't have teeth but I've never seen him without a piece of gum in his mouth. Sora Filip is the most mischievous punk I've ever met. She is constantly pulling pranks, even during lessons, and always teasing her daughter and husband. Silvi, the daughter, is the best. She helps us with a lot of member present lessons. She's kind of a kid sometimes but she gets that from her mom. And I like people who are constantly laughing and not all business all the time. If it's not too immature....
Mitchell wrote me! So I don't need his address anymore.... And I think I got garrett's e-mail so I should be good now just so you know.
Romania's an interesting culture. So open and so unwilling to change. Especially the older generations. They're a certain way because that's how their parents were, and even if they know that there's a better way, they'd rather leave it alone. That's the problem we're facing with most investigators, with finding investigators, and with growing the church here. For example, Emil. He believes it all. He understands what membership means. He even wants it. He feels good when he prays about it. He knows he'd be happier and have a greater interaction with the branch, some of his best friends. But he doesn't want to change jobs or his relaxed life. We talk with people who tell us they've already lived too much of life and that we need to take the truth to the younger generation. Or many who say if there's a truth they don't want to know, they want to keep things as they are. It's confusing to me but maybe I'm too narrow-minded.
This week I'm really focusing on trying to have the Spirit with me. On focusing on more spiritual and meaningful matters. It's been really hard for me here. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that cares about that. About using clean language, about not lounging around our apartments, about talking about our investigators -- not how cool we were in high school. It can be tough. But I know diligence is the key. Pushing forward this week I'm just going to hope God helps me. He already helps us a ridiculous amount each day: with Romanian, with what to say, with where to go, remembering things, being safe, meeting awesome people, etc. It's fun to look back on the day and see all the good things that happened. On what was accomplished. And then give thanks. But I'm working this week on being more dedicated and praying for Kevin to get transferred here. Not really... but really.
Thanks for the mail! Hope everyone's doing great. Happy Halloween!
love,
Elder Taylor
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