I hope you know I have refrained from using sick in my e-mails so as to appear more dignified but this week really was a sick week.
So pretty much all of the investigators we had when I got here have either disappeared or told us off. The last was two days ago when Emil finally answered his phone and was very cold and right before hanging up just told me he didn't want to meet or be baptized. Now I don't know if I should take his dish back. That really bothered me all day. But in the course of a week and a half we have accumulated six families to teach with others to set up with. Six families!! That's crazy. Basically if they all baptized it would double the size of this branch. And they're all awesome. Teaching a family is a wonderful experience and I'm much more comfortable that way and happier I guess you could say. I can definitely relate better. And teaching in a home makes a huge difference. No matter how small the home is. I don't remember what I said last week about that first family, Ramona and Gabi but their house is exactly like the cinderblock "houses" we were around in Central America and yet they're way happier and more pleasant than all these other singles with their fancy clothes and cars. That right there says enough about family. But I'm so excited to be working with all these families. Two of them are just people I called in the Area Book and turned out to be very open and seemingly more ready now. Please pray for them all.
Sometimes the Lord blesses us when we don't really deserve it. That's how it seemed on Thursday when we'd had a long discouraging day and we hadn't accomplished much. I hadn't contacted hardly anyone and wasn't feeling too great but I saw this cute little family that looked too happy so all I said was, "We're missionaries with a message about families. Could we share this with you sometime?" The father smiled and said, "Sure! Not today though, come by Sunday at 2:00." and they are an awesome, happy, humble, pentecostal, gypsy family. They were very receptive of the message and want to meet more and learn more etc. Pentecostals can be difficult to work with because they'll believe that all we teach is true but not understand the need or importance of baptism through proper authority. But this family was able to understand that and sincerely are going to find out if the message we share is worthwhile.
This week, Elder Barney and I have realized how subtly our contacting transformed from giving people pass-along cards to setting up lessons with people on the spot. Also we are understanding better the reasons for early baptismal commitments (extended) and finding blessings from doing that -- even when they are not accepted. We have no idea how all these families fell on our laps and what we did to deserve them but we are very grateful for it.
I'm sorry to hear about Brother Stewart... He was very nice and genuine with me and I appreciated that.
One awesome Area Book family find is Mihaela with her husband Negris and their son Caron. I really misjudged them based of the teaching record and their appearances (something I'm trying to get over...) but they turned out to be fantastic. Even though it has been several years since contact, they remember a lot about the doctrines, specifically about the Plan of Salvation and Joseph Smith's accomplishments on Earth. She was sharing with us her experience from that morning when a friend asked her a couple questions about why God allows this and how He can expect this, etc. And she showed us the answers she gave her friend using the Book of Mormon. She's awesome. and her husband agrees with the majority of what we teach. Their kid is an incredibly bright, eleven year old and was very interested in the Book of Mormon. They already know the Branch Members pretty well and have good relations with them. I'm very excited to see them progress.
Elder Barney and I also have found some service opportunities which he insisted was impossible. We've chopped wood, moved furniture, picked up leaves, pushed cars, carried out old furniture out of blocks...., carried groceries. The simplest of things but it is possible and very rewarding.
Transfers are actually like next week or something crazy. Time's flying by but I'm really enjoying it. Elder Barney will most likely be transferred out and I'll stay but I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed. Elder Casangiu was released as a Mini-Missionary so that he can get a job and earn some money for his full-time mission. I'm gonna miss that kid as trying as he can be. He has more love in his little frame than the great Mother Teresa. He has no fear and contacted probably half this city.
I hope you all made big wishes on 11/11/11, that's not gonna happen for a while.
Romania is a beautiful place to serve. I'm still blown away that I can communicate with these people in their language. I'm amazed that this branch is all converts, they run this church with great efficiency and with so little. I love being in a city where I hear church bells all the time. They remind me of watching the Sound of Music, good movie. This place is rich with culture. Communism in a way preserved some things. I love the old ladies that tell us how beautiful we are, because we really are. Just kidding. Yesterday I was almost on the ground laughing because this one baba that usually stops us and tells us how much she loves us was hiding from us. She like ran to a van and ducked down and at first I thought, "maybe she's just getting something out of her bag..." but then as we walked past she peeked up and through one of the windows and we made eye contact and she ducked back down super fast. Definitely one of the weirdest mornings...
Well I hope you're all excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas to see friends and family. I'll actually probably get a sort of Thanksgiving here. Either with the Geambasus (best members ever) or with an awesome Evangelist friend we made who lives here but is from Pennsylvania. Him and his wife have devoted their LIVES to bringing people to Christ. Not just two years. They have been here for eight years now.
Tell Nico Reed to e-mail me, What's Corbin up to? and jace and tyler and jacob and zac and everyone?
I love you all!
Love,
Elder Taylor
p.s. Matthew, I found this awesome arrangement of O My Father for Cello and Piano and we will master it one day.
Elder Dan
Monday, November 14, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
11.7.11 "The little old lady was constantly thanking us and puping us."
Wow!!!! So I'm in Arad right now....... sorry the e-mail's late. We had a zone P-day today so we took a train down to Arad and saw some awesome churches and then went to these cool little ruins of a castle at Lipova. Really fun day until we got on the wrong train back to Oradea and caught a train back here and now here we are scrambling to put out an e-mail.
I'm not too happy about all these neighborhood changes but that's AWESOME that you have a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week has been pretty tough again but it had some wonderful moments as well. After I e-mailed you guys last monday, Elder Barney and I went to the Cetate which pretty much was the ruins of an old fort but it was really cool and due to all the trees and changing leaves it was sooooooooo beautiful. In the middle there are all these dorm-like buildings with all sorts of ivy and bushes and trees and it reminded me of Harvard but cooler. Down with Harvard. And then I convinced Elder Barney that the insides of theatre houses are something to see. So we went in and the security guard seemed annoyed that he had to take us around but within five minutes we got on his good side and he pulled us close and said, "come back later..." So, skeptically we came back later. Later meant that it was really closed but he had to be there 24/7 and was looking for some friends and he turned on all the lights and took us on a real tour -- a tour you can't normally get. It was awesome and it blew Elder Barney's mind that even in a little place like Oradea, Romania, some civilization still put loads of time and money (and continue to) into the little, underused theatre.
Does anyone know where Ryan Waite is or what he is doing? Also update me on Jace Chidester, Jacob Reinhold, Tyler Moser, Zac Deboer, everyone!
A couple days ago Elder Barney and I had a day that was relatively open. We had set a massive goal of people that we would contact. No we didn't reach the goal but it was an awesome day just constantly talking to everyone about the gospel and spreading something pleasant. I saw an older lady really struggling to make it up a sloped walk with some groceries so we offered to help and spent the next forty five minutes walking probably a block (really struggling) and then up way too many stairs to her apartment. The old ladies (babas) here are so nice (usually) and they just put you in way better moods. She was constantly thanking us and blessing us and puping us (the little kisses on the sides of the cheeks, often just vocally expressed, "I pup you!"). Once we got to her apartment she showed us a bunch of photos of her daughter, asked for all of our pliants (little informative booklets/brochures/whatever) and kissed our cheeks a million times and hugged us.
One Romanianism is blessings. When you part ways with someone or even mid-conversation people just spit out tons of blessings. Examples: health, luck, many more years, may the Lord help you, may the Lord bless you, may they live to you, a wonderful evening, etc. Another thing here, and sorry if I've already mentioned this, but fishing poles here are fifteen feet long and I saw one yesterday that I swear was over twenty. They're huge!!! And these old guys line the little river and fish all day. All they ever pull our are these tiny little fish and they just slip them into a giant water bottle and when they feel like goin' home or they run out of cigarettes/beer they pack up and bike on home. Retirement at its best. Also, I smelt chlorine the other day and I really enjoyed it. It's been a long time since I've smelt chlorine.
Wednesday I went on exchanges again, this time I was with Elder Eckersley and Elder Casangiu. We had a several lessons that day but they really are having some incredible investigators fall into their path. That night I was lucky to be present when their Indian investigator, Bridges, accepted the commitment to be baptized. I also take credit for that because I made Elder Casangiu go contact him a few weeks earlier (really because I was annoyed of Elder Casangiu). After English Classes, we share a spiritual thought and in theirs, a girl just stood up in the middle of it and promised she'd be at our church Sunday. They taught her on Friday and she now wants to be baptized as well.
On our big old day of contacting, I was really getting discouraged after about a million disinterested people. I contacted that "one last person" and he set up with me for the next day. When I asked if he'd like to meet and he said, "why not?" I almost started crying.... Not because I'm sensitive beyond my years but because I didn't believe it. It was too much for me too handle. I expressed major gratitude to God right then and there and throughout the day. It didn't even discourage me when the guy didn't show up the next day because I was still just so glad that God had helped me set up with him. Later that day, Elder Barney points to a family on the street and does his usual, "They want to know about the gospel" and so I went and contacted them. They were humble. And that is the key. In all my studies I am always brought back to humility. They were a poorer gypsy family and I don't have time to explain the gypsy class system but they were the perfect kind of gypsies to contact and hopefully teach. They set up with us for Sunday night. Elder Barney and I went over and had a wonderful experience. First off, it was my first time teaching a family and I absolutely loved it. Second off, the lesson went really well. The husband wasn't there unfortunately but part way through, her sister came over with her husband and child and they all listened so intently. They all accepted commitments to read, all set up for return appointments, all want to come to church, and all insisted that they have people they want to refer us to. After the lesson Elder Barney and I were talking all fast and excitedly about it and he made the statement, "The Spirit was there" and I felt the Spirit confirm that his statement was indeed truth. I don't feel it that strong often but what a great night that was. A lot of times when I can't turn to my companion, I just look towards the sky and really pour myself out to God (via heart). I can always turn to Him and it's the BEST!
I also am falling in love with the Area Book. Even though many of the records are impossible to decrypt and often don't have the best information, the phone numbers and addresses are priceless. I made several calls one day while Elder Barney ate or something and I set up with two people right then and there. One was an awesome lady, Nicoletta Marchis. She has an awesome son, Nicusor (Nicolas) who's eleven and reminds me a lot of Colby Selman. Colby Selman's awesome. Anyways we had a great time getting to know her and her religious and family background. She's divorced and reallly having a tough time enjoying life here in Romania. She expressed frustrations with many things and I know the message of the Restoration will be great for her to hear. We only had a little bit of time with her unfortunately due to stuff (pardon my vagueness) but pray for her and everyone in the world.
There are many times throughout the day when I believe I'm in those little towns/villages of Guatemala. This place is so awesome and has so much potential. But in a lot of senses it's primitive. I love it though.
Also, I can't send any pictures but you'll get lots next week I promise! I took a million today. and this last week. Romania is so beautiful in fall and this last week was definitely the prime for photos. Speaking of which, how are the Colliers?
Hope you're all doing fantastic I'm doin' well and hope to get on the correct train in the next half hour or so. I love you!
Love,
Elder Taylor
p.s. temperatures are perfect right now. Not sweating. Not sniffling. and yes I will get a conference edition ensign in the language of my fathers. No need to worry.
p.p.s. Kevin's still not here.
I'm not too happy about all these neighborhood changes but that's AWESOME that you have a baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week has been pretty tough again but it had some wonderful moments as well. After I e-mailed you guys last monday, Elder Barney and I went to the Cetate which pretty much was the ruins of an old fort but it was really cool and due to all the trees and changing leaves it was sooooooooo beautiful. In the middle there are all these dorm-like buildings with all sorts of ivy and bushes and trees and it reminded me of Harvard but cooler. Down with Harvard. And then I convinced Elder Barney that the insides of theatre houses are something to see. So we went in and the security guard seemed annoyed that he had to take us around but within five minutes we got on his good side and he pulled us close and said, "come back later..." So, skeptically we came back later. Later meant that it was really closed but he had to be there 24/7 and was looking for some friends and he turned on all the lights and took us on a real tour -- a tour you can't normally get. It was awesome and it blew Elder Barney's mind that even in a little place like Oradea, Romania, some civilization still put loads of time and money (and continue to) into the little, underused theatre.
Does anyone know where Ryan Waite is or what he is doing? Also update me on Jace Chidester, Jacob Reinhold, Tyler Moser, Zac Deboer, everyone!
A couple days ago Elder Barney and I had a day that was relatively open. We had set a massive goal of people that we would contact. No we didn't reach the goal but it was an awesome day just constantly talking to everyone about the gospel and spreading something pleasant. I saw an older lady really struggling to make it up a sloped walk with some groceries so we offered to help and spent the next forty five minutes walking probably a block (really struggling) and then up way too many stairs to her apartment. The old ladies (babas) here are so nice (usually) and they just put you in way better moods. She was constantly thanking us and blessing us and puping us (the little kisses on the sides of the cheeks, often just vocally expressed, "I pup you!"). Once we got to her apartment she showed us a bunch of photos of her daughter, asked for all of our pliants (little informative booklets/brochures/whatever) and kissed our cheeks a million times and hugged us.
One Romanianism is blessings. When you part ways with someone or even mid-conversation people just spit out tons of blessings. Examples: health, luck, many more years, may the Lord help you, may the Lord bless you, may they live to you, a wonderful evening, etc. Another thing here, and sorry if I've already mentioned this, but fishing poles here are fifteen feet long and I saw one yesterday that I swear was over twenty. They're huge!!! And these old guys line the little river and fish all day. All they ever pull our are these tiny little fish and they just slip them into a giant water bottle and when they feel like goin' home or they run out of cigarettes/beer they pack up and bike on home. Retirement at its best. Also, I smelt chlorine the other day and I really enjoyed it. It's been a long time since I've smelt chlorine.
Wednesday I went on exchanges again, this time I was with Elder Eckersley and Elder Casangiu. We had a several lessons that day but they really are having some incredible investigators fall into their path. That night I was lucky to be present when their Indian investigator, Bridges, accepted the commitment to be baptized. I also take credit for that because I made Elder Casangiu go contact him a few weeks earlier (really because I was annoyed of Elder Casangiu). After English Classes, we share a spiritual thought and in theirs, a girl just stood up in the middle of it and promised she'd be at our church Sunday. They taught her on Friday and she now wants to be baptized as well.
On our big old day of contacting, I was really getting discouraged after about a million disinterested people. I contacted that "one last person" and he set up with me for the next day. When I asked if he'd like to meet and he said, "why not?" I almost started crying.... Not because I'm sensitive beyond my years but because I didn't believe it. It was too much for me too handle. I expressed major gratitude to God right then and there and throughout the day. It didn't even discourage me when the guy didn't show up the next day because I was still just so glad that God had helped me set up with him. Later that day, Elder Barney points to a family on the street and does his usual, "They want to know about the gospel" and so I went and contacted them. They were humble. And that is the key. In all my studies I am always brought back to humility. They were a poorer gypsy family and I don't have time to explain the gypsy class system but they were the perfect kind of gypsies to contact and hopefully teach. They set up with us for Sunday night. Elder Barney and I went over and had a wonderful experience. First off, it was my first time teaching a family and I absolutely loved it. Second off, the lesson went really well. The husband wasn't there unfortunately but part way through, her sister came over with her husband and child and they all listened so intently. They all accepted commitments to read, all set up for return appointments, all want to come to church, and all insisted that they have people they want to refer us to. After the lesson Elder Barney and I were talking all fast and excitedly about it and he made the statement, "The Spirit was there" and I felt the Spirit confirm that his statement was indeed truth. I don't feel it that strong often but what a great night that was. A lot of times when I can't turn to my companion, I just look towards the sky and really pour myself out to God (via heart). I can always turn to Him and it's the BEST!
I also am falling in love with the Area Book. Even though many of the records are impossible to decrypt and often don't have the best information, the phone numbers and addresses are priceless. I made several calls one day while Elder Barney ate or something and I set up with two people right then and there. One was an awesome lady, Nicoletta Marchis. She has an awesome son, Nicusor (Nicolas) who's eleven and reminds me a lot of Colby Selman. Colby Selman's awesome. Anyways we had a great time getting to know her and her religious and family background. She's divorced and reallly having a tough time enjoying life here in Romania. She expressed frustrations with many things and I know the message of the Restoration will be great for her to hear. We only had a little bit of time with her unfortunately due to stuff (pardon my vagueness) but pray for her and everyone in the world.
There are many times throughout the day when I believe I'm in those little towns/villages of Guatemala. This place is so awesome and has so much potential. But in a lot of senses it's primitive. I love it though.
Also, I can't send any pictures but you'll get lots next week I promise! I took a million today. and this last week. Romania is so beautiful in fall and this last week was definitely the prime for photos. Speaking of which, how are the Colliers?
Hope you're all doing fantastic I'm doin' well and hope to get on the correct train in the next half hour or so. I love you!
Love,
Elder Taylor
p.s. temperatures are perfect right now. Not sweating. Not sniffling. and yes I will get a conference edition ensign in the language of my fathers. No need to worry.
p.p.s. Kevin's still not here.
10.31.11 "We wbet and streetboarded the busiest part of town." Read on to find out what Streetboarding is.
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
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
10.24.11 We made a new friend, we call him "Mufasa". He is homeless and the coolest guy.
It's not even funny. I already had transfers! I thought you knew that! And I got a great coat don't worry. Dad the other $62 was for just random stuff that I can't remember anymore sorry. I said something about in a previous e-mail. I got mail and that awesome package!!! Thank you so much :) I wasn't expecting anything but I'm spoiled and I appreciate it. I totally thought I told you about Dylan ( I love that kid) He's in Florida for good and he's having a great time. So we really like this band named Mayday Parade, we've seen them live a few times, met them several times, etc. And I always said we were going to baptize them or at least contact them. And the music scene in Florida is awesome and Mayday Parade is based out of Florida. Well Dylan, who always manages to get in these kinds of situations, meets them at a CD signing and of course tells him why he's in a white shirt and tie. He's a lucky fruitcake. Anyways.
Speaking of musical artists, one of my favorites, Brandon Flowers, is on mormon.org now. He's the frontman for the Killers (band) and has a wonderful solo album. I love that man.... Other random stuff: A missionary here told me The Guess Who is from Romania, is that true? what else. Oh my watch band fell apart but the timepiece still works. Does my pocket watch in my room still work? Does my room still exist? whatever. What else.... oh yes mufasa. So I told you about that homeless guy who scares you and then is really nice to you. He's become our great friend and we call him mufasa and he likes that. We were coming back from shopping one day and gave him a little bag of chocolate cereal because he's cool. The next day we saw him and I expected him to want more food or something but once he saw his he approached us and pulled out an unopened back of Haribo candy and tried to give it to us.... made my day. Next we were inside a tramvai and he was on the outside miming to us to make a paper airplane with some money and throw it out the window, so naturally we gave him a pass along card. He smiled and made an offensive gesture... But then later that week we're on a tramvai and he recognizes the backs of our heads and knocks on the window. He points to himself and says, "un leu" and we were sure he was just trying to tell us he's a lion. Then he poked his head in and said what's up, asked for money, we said we can't and so he stood outside our window, gave us the warmest smile and just waved. We waved and then turned around again thinking the tramvai was leaving. It didn't and he knocked on the window and made us wave back at him until the tramvai left. That guy is the coolest.
There is an excess of crows here. Some days you'll see blocks of buildings with hundreds of crows just sitting on top. The Birds.
So I've been let down a little bit by missionary work here. That sounds pretty horrible but what I mean is that there are a lot of missionaries out here who are missing the picture and are wondering why they aren't having lessons and investigators and baptisms etc. And then they say, oh Romania's hard. I'm sick of that mindset. There's no reason for progress here to be the way it is. Thankfully we had this conference in Bucharest on Wednesday and Elder Teixeira of the Seventy lit us up. At first glance he appears to be a Portuguese teddy bear when in fact he is more like a Portuguese Kodiak (if such a thing exists). He told us all the things we need to change and improve. We had taken an online survey several weeks ago and he reviewed some of the results with us and they pretty much explain why this mission is the way it is. I hope things change. Elder Barney and I have a vision for this mission and this week is gonna be the week we implement all we learned and see how it works. We set some crazy goals, pray for us to succeed. I think we're gonna blow this week out of the water. We should have five investigators with baptismal dates this week and should get callings for two or three less-actives. And other stuff. Oh and I got my visa so I'm legal. Not sure I really ever need this thing but it's definitely a good souvenir. Except I look like a criminal in the picture.
Yesterday we had a district conference in Arad and we got Mary Anne and her daughter Monica to come. We've also got Mary Anne to accept the fact that we're going to help her quit smoking starting this week. At first I was so nervous... I was worried how the branch would treat her and how grumpy she'd be without all her smokes and what she would think (because it wasn't a normal meeting) etc. After the first meeting Elder Barney went upstairs with Monica to an investigator meeting and I had to face Mary Anne who was not happy.... There had been loud, loud children (understandable). But she was also annoyed by some comments made and really annoyed that we had missionaries translating (because our language skills are so limited) and she was a professor of Romanian so she's really picky about the language. Even in the Book of Mormon she gets annoyed with the mistakes. I told her to translate it then. No not really but maybe she should.... Whatever but I talked to her for like an hour and my Romanian was crazy good, it blew my mind and she calmed down and admitted she had felt good for parts of it. Then her and Monica went upstairs to a meeting for all the women and we just hoped the women in our branch would take care of them. Sora Carolina, the sister that just barely reactivated herself, connected with them soooooooo well and put Mary Anne in a great mood. Sora Carolina is the greatest, she is helping us with so much and she just barely came back. So then as we were walking back in Oradea, Mary Anne admitted she'd had a great time and Monica had already said many times how much she enjoyed it. She considers herself an investigator and is just wonderful. She had been really sick that morning and wasn't going to come and by the time we were in Oradea she was wonderful. So that was awesome.
That night we went to a nearby block to spread some good news of the Gospel and the first door yielded no response. The second door I said two greetings and then tried to say we're missionaries but the guy just invited us in. He had a gorgeously clean apartment and he served us some snacks. He listened to the message of the Restoration and accepted everything we said. He interrupted us to tell us he'd be at church sunday -- we hadn't even mentioned church. His wife came home and was super nice. She went into another room so we finished teaching him and he asked for more visits and longer visits and wow. Pray for that continue please. It was wonderful. And he doesn't smoke or drink....... And although he's Christian he's not really tied to any religion currently and acts like he wants to be. Crazy.
How is everyone? How is the McManus family? I was thinking about them the other day. Those boys would make fantastic missionaries. Um I'm pretty sure anyone can e-mail me but I can only e-mail back family and then write everyone else. I got the ward newsletter from Bishop Mckell, tell him thank you thank you, I loved it.
I think that's everything! I love you guys, I'll be sending a tiny Christmas Package home soon.... Don't open it til Christmas. I will know.
Love,
Elder Taylor
Speaking of musical artists, one of my favorites, Brandon Flowers, is on mormon.org now. He's the frontman for the Killers (band) and has a wonderful solo album. I love that man.... Other random stuff: A missionary here told me The Guess Who is from Romania, is that true? what else. Oh my watch band fell apart but the timepiece still works. Does my pocket watch in my room still work? Does my room still exist? whatever. What else.... oh yes mufasa. So I told you about that homeless guy who scares you and then is really nice to you. He's become our great friend and we call him mufasa and he likes that. We were coming back from shopping one day and gave him a little bag of chocolate cereal because he's cool. The next day we saw him and I expected him to want more food or something but once he saw his he approached us and pulled out an unopened back of Haribo candy and tried to give it to us.... made my day. Next we were inside a tramvai and he was on the outside miming to us to make a paper airplane with some money and throw it out the window, so naturally we gave him a pass along card. He smiled and made an offensive gesture... But then later that week we're on a tramvai and he recognizes the backs of our heads and knocks on the window. He points to himself and says, "un leu" and we were sure he was just trying to tell us he's a lion. Then he poked his head in and said what's up, asked for money, we said we can't and so he stood outside our window, gave us the warmest smile and just waved. We waved and then turned around again thinking the tramvai was leaving. It didn't and he knocked on the window and made us wave back at him until the tramvai left. That guy is the coolest.
There is an excess of crows here. Some days you'll see blocks of buildings with hundreds of crows just sitting on top. The Birds.
So I've been let down a little bit by missionary work here. That sounds pretty horrible but what I mean is that there are a lot of missionaries out here who are missing the picture and are wondering why they aren't having lessons and investigators and baptisms etc. And then they say, oh Romania's hard. I'm sick of that mindset. There's no reason for progress here to be the way it is. Thankfully we had this conference in Bucharest on Wednesday and Elder Teixeira of the Seventy lit us up. At first glance he appears to be a Portuguese teddy bear when in fact he is more like a Portuguese Kodiak (if such a thing exists). He told us all the things we need to change and improve. We had taken an online survey several weeks ago and he reviewed some of the results with us and they pretty much explain why this mission is the way it is. I hope things change. Elder Barney and I have a vision for this mission and this week is gonna be the week we implement all we learned and see how it works. We set some crazy goals, pray for us to succeed. I think we're gonna blow this week out of the water. We should have five investigators with baptismal dates this week and should get callings for two or three less-actives. And other stuff. Oh and I got my visa so I'm legal. Not sure I really ever need this thing but it's definitely a good souvenir. Except I look like a criminal in the picture.
Yesterday we had a district conference in Arad and we got Mary Anne and her daughter Monica to come. We've also got Mary Anne to accept the fact that we're going to help her quit smoking starting this week. At first I was so nervous... I was worried how the branch would treat her and how grumpy she'd be without all her smokes and what she would think (because it wasn't a normal meeting) etc. After the first meeting Elder Barney went upstairs with Monica to an investigator meeting and I had to face Mary Anne who was not happy.... There had been loud, loud children (understandable). But she was also annoyed by some comments made and really annoyed that we had missionaries translating (because our language skills are so limited) and she was a professor of Romanian so she's really picky about the language. Even in the Book of Mormon she gets annoyed with the mistakes. I told her to translate it then. No not really but maybe she should.... Whatever but I talked to her for like an hour and my Romanian was crazy good, it blew my mind and she calmed down and admitted she had felt good for parts of it. Then her and Monica went upstairs to a meeting for all the women and we just hoped the women in our branch would take care of them. Sora Carolina, the sister that just barely reactivated herself, connected with them soooooooo well and put Mary Anne in a great mood. Sora Carolina is the greatest, she is helping us with so much and she just barely came back. So then as we were walking back in Oradea, Mary Anne admitted she'd had a great time and Monica had already said many times how much she enjoyed it. She considers herself an investigator and is just wonderful. She had been really sick that morning and wasn't going to come and by the time we were in Oradea she was wonderful. So that was awesome.
That night we went to a nearby block to spread some good news of the Gospel and the first door yielded no response. The second door I said two greetings and then tried to say we're missionaries but the guy just invited us in. He had a gorgeously clean apartment and he served us some snacks. He listened to the message of the Restoration and accepted everything we said. He interrupted us to tell us he'd be at church sunday -- we hadn't even mentioned church. His wife came home and was super nice. She went into another room so we finished teaching him and he asked for more visits and longer visits and wow. Pray for that continue please. It was wonderful. And he doesn't smoke or drink....... And although he's Christian he's not really tied to any religion currently and acts like he wants to be. Crazy.
How is everyone? How is the McManus family? I was thinking about them the other day. Those boys would make fantastic missionaries. Um I'm pretty sure anyone can e-mail me but I can only e-mail back family and then write everyone else. I got the ward newsletter from Bishop Mckell, tell him thank you thank you, I loved it.
I think that's everything! I love you guys, I'll be sending a tiny Christmas Package home soon.... Don't open it til Christmas. I will know.
Love,
Elder Taylor
10.17.11 When we asked Mary Anne to stop smoking she said in 90% Romainian 10% Enlglish "Danny,I do what I want. But I'll do it."
So I'm going to buy a coat today and I checked my account, I'll have plenty. Sorry the exchange rate isn't as great right now. But I'll get that taken care of and hopefully not freeze before.
This week was a lot better. We're still recovering from the week before but we feel like we made some huge progress. Yesterday there were four less-actives at church. One is a nineteen year old hungaryian/turkish/romanian kid we've been working with for about a month, Andras. He came for the first time in a few years and participated like he'd never been gone. Hopefully he felt the spirit of the service and has a greater desire to be there weekly. Fratele Dejeu was another man there. If he doesn't work, he comes but yesterday was awesome because he was able to pass the sacrament and in Elder Barney's six plus months here he's never seen that. Elder Barney wasn't there unfortunately because he was sick. Another was Sora Carolina who came back a couple weeks ago on her own accord and this week brought another less-active sister with her AND referred us her son who she really wants to bring back. I love working with less-actives.
Since Elder Barney wasn't there I filled in at Branch Council and it was intense, but this branch is awesome. They want to know everything about each person we work with and how they can help or give suggestions regarding what we might do. When somebody comes to church, less-active or investigator, they treat them like gold. Everyone participates in meetings, gives talks, has callings, etc. We don't give talks because the branch, even though it is so small, wants to give everyone chances to learn and teach and speak and as missionaries we couldn't ask for it better. Yes most have several callings, we need more members to return and accept callings. But they are strong, hardworking members here. We just help out being everyone's friend, participating in Sunday School and Priesthood, and trying to offer service or anything. And I play the keyboard. Which funny enough is just as stressful as playing the organ. I have no idea why.
We finally got into contact with Mary Anne again, she called us out of the blue to apologize and explain their situation although it was a very vague explanation. They had been in their apartment one day and the next had moved across town to a smaller one and I'm sure it's for financial reasons but she didn't really want to say. So we were able to visit with her Friday. We had been toying with the idea of asking her not to smoke with us there but been afraid to be so bold. I don't like to ask people to change on my behalf, especially within the confines of their apartment/home. But as we sat there getting ready to begin I was just filled with something and had to ask her because it didn't really matter. If she got offended then it would show us that she isn't ready to change at all. And if it went well then cool! And she was hilarious about it. She said in 90% romanian 10% english, "Danny, I do what I want. But I'll do it." We promised her the Spirit could be there and would be if she took this really kind of big step to show to the Lord that she cared about this message. So when here kids came in with the ash trays, cigarettes and lighter she just put them away and her kids were really confused. She just told them, "No, no look the boys are here." So that was cool. It was by far our best lesson with her and the Spirit was there. She committed to begin reading in the Book of Mormon. They're having a lot of financial difficulties right now though so I hope they continue to be around us. We'll see.
Emil and Gabi have been ridiculously busy this week. We have been trying to find a job for Emil that would allow him to be active and committed. That is his biggest fear. And we've found one and we'll meet with him today or tomorrow and tell him about it. But we continue to hope that they can see how awesome baptism is. And how simple it is. We also began teaching the Branch President's son who will probably be baptized next month. It's great for me and Elder Barney to work on teaching simply and the true basics of this beautiful doctrine. I would normally say sick doctrine but I'm not sure if that would be received well. Speaking of this doctrine, I started reading in Our Search For Happiness. That book is small and it is for anybody and everybody. It's awesome and explains our basic doctrines and why we are the way we are. Why we do what we do.
Christmas Package! chocolate chocolate chocolate.... Just kidding I can get that here. Piano sheet music would be cool. Anything, church, classical, or other uplifting stuff. Also did Steve Jobs really die???? Sad.
Elder Barney and I have begun to find similarities in the scriptures to our work and lives and it's amazing. Alma taught to needs. He goes to all these different cities and even though he teaches the same principles, he focuses more on certain parts than others considering the city's needs. Ammon read from the scriptures with his investigators. Philip helped a man to understand the scriptures. Also he baptized a guy by immersion and then others came and gave the Holy Ghost. Interesting...
One thing I really like about Romania is it is a result of Christ's apostles. Jesus knew that there would be an apostasy but He still sent the apostles out to preach and baptize so that Christianity might spread. I can knock on almost any door here in Romania in 2011 and that person who answers will already have a faith in Christ. That's incredible. It's also cool to look at the other inspired men God worked through to prepare things for the Restoration. Go read Our Search For Happiness!
Anyways, I'm doing great and so grateful that I'm here doing the crazy things I'm doing. I love this work and Elder Barney and I are just wanted advice, we want to improve and see miracles here. Hope you're all wonderful, thanks for the e-mails and support!
Love,
Elder Taylor
This week was a lot better. We're still recovering from the week before but we feel like we made some huge progress. Yesterday there were four less-actives at church. One is a nineteen year old hungaryian/turkish/romanian kid we've been working with for about a month, Andras. He came for the first time in a few years and participated like he'd never been gone. Hopefully he felt the spirit of the service and has a greater desire to be there weekly. Fratele Dejeu was another man there. If he doesn't work, he comes but yesterday was awesome because he was able to pass the sacrament and in Elder Barney's six plus months here he's never seen that. Elder Barney wasn't there unfortunately because he was sick. Another was Sora Carolina who came back a couple weeks ago on her own accord and this week brought another less-active sister with her AND referred us her son who she really wants to bring back. I love working with less-actives.
Since Elder Barney wasn't there I filled in at Branch Council and it was intense, but this branch is awesome. They want to know everything about each person we work with and how they can help or give suggestions regarding what we might do. When somebody comes to church, less-active or investigator, they treat them like gold. Everyone participates in meetings, gives talks, has callings, etc. We don't give talks because the branch, even though it is so small, wants to give everyone chances to learn and teach and speak and as missionaries we couldn't ask for it better. Yes most have several callings, we need more members to return and accept callings. But they are strong, hardworking members here. We just help out being everyone's friend, participating in Sunday School and Priesthood, and trying to offer service or anything. And I play the keyboard. Which funny enough is just as stressful as playing the organ. I have no idea why.
We finally got into contact with Mary Anne again, she called us out of the blue to apologize and explain their situation although it was a very vague explanation. They had been in their apartment one day and the next had moved across town to a smaller one and I'm sure it's for financial reasons but she didn't really want to say. So we were able to visit with her Friday. We had been toying with the idea of asking her not to smoke with us there but been afraid to be so bold. I don't like to ask people to change on my behalf, especially within the confines of their apartment/home. But as we sat there getting ready to begin I was just filled with something and had to ask her because it didn't really matter. If she got offended then it would show us that she isn't ready to change at all. And if it went well then cool! And she was hilarious about it. She said in 90% romanian 10% english, "Danny, I do what I want. But I'll do it." We promised her the Spirit could be there and would be if she took this really kind of big step to show to the Lord that she cared about this message. So when here kids came in with the ash trays, cigarettes and lighter she just put them away and her kids were really confused. She just told them, "No, no look the boys are here." So that was cool. It was by far our best lesson with her and the Spirit was there. She committed to begin reading in the Book of Mormon. They're having a lot of financial difficulties right now though so I hope they continue to be around us. We'll see.
Emil and Gabi have been ridiculously busy this week. We have been trying to find a job for Emil that would allow him to be active and committed. That is his biggest fear. And we've found one and we'll meet with him today or tomorrow and tell him about it. But we continue to hope that they can see how awesome baptism is. And how simple it is. We also began teaching the Branch President's son who will probably be baptized next month. It's great for me and Elder Barney to work on teaching simply and the true basics of this beautiful doctrine. I would normally say sick doctrine but I'm not sure if that would be received well. Speaking of this doctrine, I started reading in Our Search For Happiness. That book is small and it is for anybody and everybody. It's awesome and explains our basic doctrines and why we are the way we are. Why we do what we do.
Christmas Package! chocolate chocolate chocolate.... Just kidding I can get that here. Piano sheet music would be cool. Anything, church, classical, or other uplifting stuff. Also did Steve Jobs really die???? Sad.
Elder Barney and I have begun to find similarities in the scriptures to our work and lives and it's amazing. Alma taught to needs. He goes to all these different cities and even though he teaches the same principles, he focuses more on certain parts than others considering the city's needs. Ammon read from the scriptures with his investigators. Philip helped a man to understand the scriptures. Also he baptized a guy by immersion and then others came and gave the Holy Ghost. Interesting...
One thing I really like about Romania is it is a result of Christ's apostles. Jesus knew that there would be an apostasy but He still sent the apostles out to preach and baptize so that Christianity might spread. I can knock on almost any door here in Romania in 2011 and that person who answers will already have a faith in Christ. That's incredible. It's also cool to look at the other inspired men God worked through to prepare things for the Restoration. Go read Our Search For Happiness!
Anyways, I'm doing great and so grateful that I'm here doing the crazy things I'm doing. I love this work and Elder Barney and I are just wanted advice, we want to improve and see miracles here. Hope you're all wonderful, thanks for the e-mails and support!
Love,
Elder Taylor
10.10.11 "So I am actually getting transfered to Bucharest to be Mission President.........Just Kidding"
So I'm actually getting transferred to Bucharest to be Mission President.................. Just kidding!! geez. I'm still in Oradea of course which I'm grateful for. What's crazy is that all of us are staying except for Elder Bennett. This will be Elder Barney's 5th transfer in Oradea! We didn't expect that. And he and I both know there will be hard times in this next transfer but at the same time I am SOOO excited to continue working with him here because of our relationships (especially his) with everyone and how close we are to achieving a couple important things. But it's gonna be awesome and Elder McCombs is coming here from Timisoara who I was friends with in the MTC. I'm excited for that. So there will still be five here in Oradea which is very unexpected as well. But it'll be awesome.
Couple things, Mom, are robbieirion@gmail.com and alex.jepsen@gmail.com on the mailing list? Because if so I don't want to keep giving them a second e-mail. Just let me know. Next.... I know what the church said about Garrett Robison's address but I need to know if anyone has his mission home address. Because I'm not going to send a letter to Salt Lake to go to Togo. Also, if you can find Mitchell Hill's address (real first name is Brett). What else. I did get to watch a few conference talks and all that I saw was fantastic! Except I'm really sad about Elder Hales's and President Packer's health. Jenny and Jordan, Matthew and Audrey, listen to Elder Anderson's talk.... Need I say more? I'd better be an uncle by the time I get home.
Alright so In all honesty this week was really, really hard. We got "bunged" or whatever you want to call it about five times a day. People would tell us somewhere to meet at a certain time and then change the time or just cancel. It happened a lot. And I think a lot of it was due to our efforts and so I can't blame anything/anyone. A few people just stopped accepting our phone calls all of the sudden when they were in the middle of substantial progression. There are all sorts of reason's too. People are incredibly busy, weirded out, scared, disinterested, or they hear crazy stuff about us and don't trust us anymore... That happens. But I still manage to meet the coolest people everyday. Like the other day I just met this guy on a bench and helped him to understand who we are. He had heard all these crazy things about us and wanted to know who we really are and it was an awesome opportunity to do so. I ended up explaining the history of the Book of Mormon and all sorts of stuff because he really wanted to know. They don't usually want to listen that long. But it was nice. I asked questions about his religion. That's one of my favorite things to do. Is to learn about all the awesome religions here and to show these people we aren't here to convince or be forceful/demanding calls to repentance. It blows their minds. A lot of people really respect that. We labor here and across the world that "perhaps we might bring a few to the knowledge of the truth."
One thing I try so hard to emphasize with people here is that we are here to serve. Like with anything. People just don't get it. There could be an elderly man lifting huge amounts of wood or something and although it's apparent he could use help and has a long day ahead, he'll refuse help. I've offered help to so many this last week and I'll ask them a minimum of three times to be sure.... Third time is not the charm. I've resolved that next time I'm just gonna start lifting or carrying or participating in whatever it is and hopefully they won't react negatively. Maybe they just think we're gonna steal all their stuff. It's possible, I am a pretty shady looking guy. Which is why I'm getting a haircut today, it's getting quite long.
We are working so hard with our less-actives....Yesterday we stopped by the Tutor's after church and Fratele Tutor explained the reasons he hasn't come back yet. He also showed us for about forty five minutes all the church records and documents he has. We saw maybe a tenth or less of all of the things he has. All from the callings he held and whatnot. He is the first person baptized here in Oradea that's still alive. It's hard for me to understand how he can have so much of God's work in front of him and not let that drive his desire for more through the roof. Anyways, right now we have an investigator, Emil, who is praying about a baptismal date. He doesn't have confidence in his strength, specifically his ability to live the covenants made at baptism. He is too humble. And yes that is possible. I love him so much, I love all the people here. It's a huge blessing. I love so much about Romania and I'm constantly grateful to be here. Even all the little things. The food, the suc, the birds, the architecture, the language, the colloquialisms, the traditions, the weather, etc.
Speaking of weather -- Friday, hot. Saturday, cold. And I don't think it's going to get warm again until spring. It just happened so fast. Anyways. I may be a little homesick but that's what happens when you've got the best family ever right? and everyone else I had back home. I love you all! But I'm doing great and having the time of my life (here on earth). Know that I love cheesy missionary jokes. What else. I love the hymns, they inspire me and literally warm me up. Literally... It's weird but they do. I just get filled with vigor. Study those lyrics sometime. They're scripture and really poetic scripture. How is everyone? Relatives? Friends? The Neighborhood? I love hearing about it all. Also tell me stories about your missions! and any advice. I'd love it.
Thank you for your long e-mails, I cherish them :)
It's also good to hear that Taylor finally got engaged.
I'm doing great, hope everyone else is too.
Love,
Elder Taylor
Couple things, Mom, are robbieirion@gmail.com and alex.jepsen@gmail.com on the mailing list? Because if so I don't want to keep giving them a second e-mail. Just let me know. Next.... I know what the church said about Garrett Robison's address but I need to know if anyone has his mission home address. Because I'm not going to send a letter to Salt Lake to go to Togo. Also, if you can find Mitchell Hill's address (real first name is Brett). What else. I did get to watch a few conference talks and all that I saw was fantastic! Except I'm really sad about Elder Hales's and President Packer's health. Jenny and Jordan, Matthew and Audrey, listen to Elder Anderson's talk.... Need I say more? I'd better be an uncle by the time I get home.
Alright so In all honesty this week was really, really hard. We got "bunged" or whatever you want to call it about five times a day. People would tell us somewhere to meet at a certain time and then change the time or just cancel. It happened a lot. And I think a lot of it was due to our efforts and so I can't blame anything/anyone. A few people just stopped accepting our phone calls all of the sudden when they were in the middle of substantial progression. There are all sorts of reason's too. People are incredibly busy, weirded out, scared, disinterested, or they hear crazy stuff about us and don't trust us anymore... That happens. But I still manage to meet the coolest people everyday. Like the other day I just met this guy on a bench and helped him to understand who we are. He had heard all these crazy things about us and wanted to know who we really are and it was an awesome opportunity to do so. I ended up explaining the history of the Book of Mormon and all sorts of stuff because he really wanted to know. They don't usually want to listen that long. But it was nice. I asked questions about his religion. That's one of my favorite things to do. Is to learn about all the awesome religions here and to show these people we aren't here to convince or be forceful/demanding calls to repentance. It blows their minds. A lot of people really respect that. We labor here and across the world that "perhaps we might bring a few to the knowledge of the truth."
One thing I try so hard to emphasize with people here is that we are here to serve. Like with anything. People just don't get it. There could be an elderly man lifting huge amounts of wood or something and although it's apparent he could use help and has a long day ahead, he'll refuse help. I've offered help to so many this last week and I'll ask them a minimum of three times to be sure.... Third time is not the charm. I've resolved that next time I'm just gonna start lifting or carrying or participating in whatever it is and hopefully they won't react negatively. Maybe they just think we're gonna steal all their stuff. It's possible, I am a pretty shady looking guy. Which is why I'm getting a haircut today, it's getting quite long.
We are working so hard with our less-actives....Yesterday we stopped by the Tutor's after church and Fratele Tutor explained the reasons he hasn't come back yet. He also showed us for about forty five minutes all the church records and documents he has. We saw maybe a tenth or less of all of the things he has. All from the callings he held and whatnot. He is the first person baptized here in Oradea that's still alive. It's hard for me to understand how he can have so much of God's work in front of him and not let that drive his desire for more through the roof. Anyways, right now we have an investigator, Emil, who is praying about a baptismal date. He doesn't have confidence in his strength, specifically his ability to live the covenants made at baptism. He is too humble. And yes that is possible. I love him so much, I love all the people here. It's a huge blessing. I love so much about Romania and I'm constantly grateful to be here. Even all the little things. The food, the suc, the birds, the architecture, the language, the colloquialisms, the traditions, the weather, etc.
Speaking of weather -- Friday, hot. Saturday, cold. And I don't think it's going to get warm again until spring. It just happened so fast. Anyways. I may be a little homesick but that's what happens when you've got the best family ever right? and everyone else I had back home. I love you all! But I'm doing great and having the time of my life (here on earth). Know that I love cheesy missionary jokes. What else. I love the hymns, they inspire me and literally warm me up. Literally... It's weird but they do. I just get filled with vigor. Study those lyrics sometime. They're scripture and really poetic scripture. How is everyone? Relatives? Friends? The Neighborhood? I love hearing about it all. Also tell me stories about your missions! and any advice. I'd love it.
Thank you for your long e-mails, I cherish them :)
It's also good to hear that Taylor finally got engaged.
I'm doing great, hope everyone else is too.
Love,
Elder Taylor
10.4.11 "We caught a train and saw some of the more beautiful agricultural/untamed parts of Romania."
Hey everybody!
This week was a rollercoaster of good and bad things but great things happened. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any conference. I don't know why they don't have internet in the villas here. Because then we could show our investigators once it's up. None of ours currently have internet... So we wait forever to get the DVD's. And there hasn't been a consistent amount of time to judge when we might get those. But I heard about the temples which is fantastic! The Provo surprised me too but I think it's an awesome call on their part and will be well used. And beautiful no doubt. Paris=awesome. The Church is really making great efforts with France. 2 in Africa is awesome! I wonder what those will look like...
It's alright I got mail! Don't worry. Ammon sent me the funniest letter along with a couple Pokemon cards?? He's a character. And I got some DearElders from you/friends/relatives. It was great. Your package should be fine, the lady I was talking to about them was kind of crazy. A lot of times we'll put saint stickers on the side/corner/ or wherever so that if they open it they'll rip the stickers and a lot of the people here would refuse to rip the sticker of a saint. So that's cool. Don't worry about sending things that they'll be old and/or outdated by the time they get here. I'll love anything! Pictures, words, news, chocolate, gold, chocolate gold, you name it. And if you want something here by Christmas I have no idea. I think if you use Air Mail it's like ten days.... If you go by barge it takes like two months. I'd be appreciative of anything at anytime though so don't worry. I think Christmas here will be pretty awesome and much more focused on religion, I hope.
We had zone conference on Wednesday in Arad so we took a maxi taxi there and had a great couple of sessions. President Hill and Sora Hill are the best. Really bright and really loving. I'm so glad to be working with them. The AP's are awesome too, great examples of how to work and to work with energy and love. For lunch, the McFadden's (Senior couple in Arad) made the most amazing mexican food ever.... Everyone had their own burrito... He owns a bunch of Marie Calendar's-like restaurants and some Cafe Rio-like restaurants so he knows recipes for everything and it was probably the best I've eaten here yet. We caught a train back and saw more of the beautiful agricultural/untamed parts of Romania.
We're making a lot of long-term investments here. Working intensely with members and less-actives. Instituting programs with the members and with the government here. As well as organizing and thinning out the Area Book. It's hard to see any immediate success. But I know it will pay off. Already we have received several fantastic referrals from the branch. And one thing I believe to be most fruitful here is to work with less-actives and part-member families.
Sunday was amazing. Sora Tutor unexpectedly showed up at church with her cane. She can't sit down and so she stood in the back for all of sacrament meeting, in pain as usual. She bore beautiful testimony during the meeting. Then the Branch President walked her home and she slept due to exhaustion. Thank you for your prayers. She is going to be key in bringing that family back. She has so much faith and would be there every week if she could. Also, a lady I didn't know showed up and sat down and was instantly welcomed by the branch members. She got up to bear her testimony and I found out that she was an inactive who had felt that God wanted her back at church and she listened. That blew me away. We had tried calling her a few weeks ago but she wasn't very friendly and hung up on us and we were worried we had just made her angry. But amazingly she is back. Also the other Elders had an investigator show up with her boyfriend and it was obvious that they both enjoyed the meeting. The best part about this all is how welcoming our branch is. With each person that showed up yesterday they all welcomed them and got to know them or caught up and sat by them etc. This branch helps us so much with our work.
Emil was very busy at work this week and was unable to meet with us, Raluca didn't answer her phone, but our newest investigator, Mary Anne, met with us three times and had two of her twenty year old kids there each time. She reads what we give her and asks great questions and feeds us way too much... She always sends us home with like a meal. or two. Last time it was a large pot of Sarmale... She's awesome. But she and her kids smoke more than the ratpack... And it's hard to invite the Spirit in with us with nimbus clouds filling the room. It's tough to know what to do. We're going to bring it up next time... Pray that she doesn't get offended. But she's awesome.
We're also working with a member's little brother and he's such an awesome kid. He's my age and really nice. He knows he needs to change, he wants to. But he has been offended and has very strong feelings against somebody in the Branch. It's hard to work past. But pray for Andreas too please, Thanks :)
Another awesome thing that happened yesterday was we met with Attila Tutor and his wife Angie. Attila is the son of Sora Tutor and he lives just down the street from us but we met with them in their parents house. His wife is not a member but wanted to be there. They are just a cute, young couple and were married only a year or so ago. We taught the restoration and it went wonderful. Attila wants to meet more and openly talks about how he knows these things and believes them. He's very honest. He said it's just hard to return after being gone for three years. It makes it so much easier to connect with people when they're honest like that. It really would be hard. But hopefully we can help him to overcome that because I know him and his wife would be blessed like crazy. The Tutor Family is different, you can tell they've had the gospel in their lives. And it's already made a huge difference in the way the treat people and love. They are a great family and I know the Lord's just waiting to bless them If they come home.
Anyways, things are going pretty good. I'm learning way too much about how to get along with other people. The hard part is accepting and applying it. You've got to compromise with people.... No matter how right you think you are. And you need patience. Truckloads. It's a good thing I can just be quiet.
Miscellaneous:
I am now allergic to mint like Dad. Every time I eat anything with mint I sneeze. I like it.
Lex D Azevedo's CD that's all variations and impromptu's is amazing. And it reminds me of Sundays when I was younger.
Yes we currently have a CD player and I'll buy one if need be.
Also I took a little out of my debit last week (like sixty/seventy bucks) for random stuff like a Bible, stamps, etc.
Dad, I don't think I ever understood the priesthood well enough, or at least how sacred it is and now that I understand (better) the role of revelation and what it means to hold the priesthood I'm beyond grateful for it and for opportunities to exercise it. Also, I have a strong belief that we are pretty pathetic without God. But with God we can be more than just human. Mosiah says it best, we're nothing. But the fact that God entrusts us with that blows my mind, that needs to be emphasized.
Anyways I'm going great, pray for our investigators and less-actives.... Share the gospel with your friends and relatives.... Enjoy everything you're doing or change it. Oh and for some reason lately everybody keeps talking about the story of Peter walking on the water and I've learned a great deal from it. So go read the account of Matthew and ponder What does it mean to get out of the boat? What does it mean to notice the winds/waves and to begin to sink? And realize that the Lord will always pull us up. Especially when we cry, "Lord, save me!" Of course you have to make your own efforts. But ya it's a great story of working on faith and having a purpose/focus.
Love, Elder Taylor
This week was a rollercoaster of good and bad things but great things happened. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any conference. I don't know why they don't have internet in the villas here. Because then we could show our investigators once it's up. None of ours currently have internet... So we wait forever to get the DVD's. And there hasn't been a consistent amount of time to judge when we might get those. But I heard about the temples which is fantastic! The Provo surprised me too but I think it's an awesome call on their part and will be well used. And beautiful no doubt. Paris=awesome. The Church is really making great efforts with France. 2 in Africa is awesome! I wonder what those will look like...
It's alright I got mail! Don't worry. Ammon sent me the funniest letter along with a couple Pokemon cards?? He's a character. And I got some DearElders from you/friends/relatives. It was great. Your package should be fine, the lady I was talking to about them was kind of crazy. A lot of times we'll put saint stickers on the side/corner/ or wherever so that if they open it they'll rip the stickers and a lot of the people here would refuse to rip the sticker of a saint. So that's cool. Don't worry about sending things that they'll be old and/or outdated by the time they get here. I'll love anything! Pictures, words, news, chocolate, gold, chocolate gold, you name it. And if you want something here by Christmas I have no idea. I think if you use Air Mail it's like ten days.... If you go by barge it takes like two months. I'd be appreciative of anything at anytime though so don't worry. I think Christmas here will be pretty awesome and much more focused on religion, I hope.
We had zone conference on Wednesday in Arad so we took a maxi taxi there and had a great couple of sessions. President Hill and Sora Hill are the best. Really bright and really loving. I'm so glad to be working with them. The AP's are awesome too, great examples of how to work and to work with energy and love. For lunch, the McFadden's (Senior couple in Arad) made the most amazing mexican food ever.... Everyone had their own burrito... He owns a bunch of Marie Calendar's-like restaurants and some Cafe Rio-like restaurants so he knows recipes for everything and it was probably the best I've eaten here yet. We caught a train back and saw more of the beautiful agricultural/untamed parts of Romania.
We're making a lot of long-term investments here. Working intensely with members and less-actives. Instituting programs with the members and with the government here. As well as organizing and thinning out the Area Book. It's hard to see any immediate success. But I know it will pay off. Already we have received several fantastic referrals from the branch. And one thing I believe to be most fruitful here is to work with less-actives and part-member families.
Sunday was amazing. Sora Tutor unexpectedly showed up at church with her cane. She can't sit down and so she stood in the back for all of sacrament meeting, in pain as usual. She bore beautiful testimony during the meeting. Then the Branch President walked her home and she slept due to exhaustion. Thank you for your prayers. She is going to be key in bringing that family back. She has so much faith and would be there every week if she could. Also, a lady I didn't know showed up and sat down and was instantly welcomed by the branch members. She got up to bear her testimony and I found out that she was an inactive who had felt that God wanted her back at church and she listened. That blew me away. We had tried calling her a few weeks ago but she wasn't very friendly and hung up on us and we were worried we had just made her angry. But amazingly she is back. Also the other Elders had an investigator show up with her boyfriend and it was obvious that they both enjoyed the meeting. The best part about this all is how welcoming our branch is. With each person that showed up yesterday they all welcomed them and got to know them or caught up and sat by them etc. This branch helps us so much with our work.
Emil was very busy at work this week and was unable to meet with us, Raluca didn't answer her phone, but our newest investigator, Mary Anne, met with us three times and had two of her twenty year old kids there each time. She reads what we give her and asks great questions and feeds us way too much... She always sends us home with like a meal. or two. Last time it was a large pot of Sarmale... She's awesome. But she and her kids smoke more than the ratpack... And it's hard to invite the Spirit in with us with nimbus clouds filling the room. It's tough to know what to do. We're going to bring it up next time... Pray that she doesn't get offended. But she's awesome.
We're also working with a member's little brother and he's such an awesome kid. He's my age and really nice. He knows he needs to change, he wants to. But he has been offended and has very strong feelings against somebody in the Branch. It's hard to work past. But pray for Andreas too please, Thanks :)
Another awesome thing that happened yesterday was we met with Attila Tutor and his wife Angie. Attila is the son of Sora Tutor and he lives just down the street from us but we met with them in their parents house. His wife is not a member but wanted to be there. They are just a cute, young couple and were married only a year or so ago. We taught the restoration and it went wonderful. Attila wants to meet more and openly talks about how he knows these things and believes them. He's very honest. He said it's just hard to return after being gone for three years. It makes it so much easier to connect with people when they're honest like that. It really would be hard. But hopefully we can help him to overcome that because I know him and his wife would be blessed like crazy. The Tutor Family is different, you can tell they've had the gospel in their lives. And it's already made a huge difference in the way the treat people and love. They are a great family and I know the Lord's just waiting to bless them If they come home.
Anyways, things are going pretty good. I'm learning way too much about how to get along with other people. The hard part is accepting and applying it. You've got to compromise with people.... No matter how right you think you are. And you need patience. Truckloads. It's a good thing I can just be quiet.
Miscellaneous:
I am now allergic to mint like Dad. Every time I eat anything with mint I sneeze. I like it.
Lex D Azevedo's CD that's all variations and impromptu's is amazing. And it reminds me of Sundays when I was younger.
Yes we currently have a CD player and I'll buy one if need be.
Also I took a little out of my debit last week (like sixty/seventy bucks) for random stuff like a Bible, stamps, etc.
Dad, I don't think I ever understood the priesthood well enough, or at least how sacred it is and now that I understand (better) the role of revelation and what it means to hold the priesthood I'm beyond grateful for it and for opportunities to exercise it. Also, I have a strong belief that we are pretty pathetic without God. But with God we can be more than just human. Mosiah says it best, we're nothing. But the fact that God entrusts us with that blows my mind, that needs to be emphasized.
Anyways I'm going great, pray for our investigators and less-actives.... Share the gospel with your friends and relatives.... Enjoy everything you're doing or change it. Oh and for some reason lately everybody keeps talking about the story of Peter walking on the water and I've learned a great deal from it. So go read the account of Matthew and ponder What does it mean to get out of the boat? What does it mean to notice the winds/waves and to begin to sink? And realize that the Lord will always pull us up. Especially when we cry, "Lord, save me!" Of course you have to make your own efforts. But ya it's a great story of working on faith and having a purpose/focus.
Love, Elder Taylor
9.20.11 Florin let us know he relies on the Holy Ghost every day as he drives on the chaotic roads here.
Mom -- No I don't need a raincoat! Promise! I don't need anything! And I could give you direct addresses but by the time the mail gets there I could be transferred, etc. You just never know so it's better if you just send it to the mission home and I get mail about once every half-transfer. Which isn't bad at all. Have you gotten a letter from me yet??? Also what is the recipe you use for the banana bread you always made for me... It's unsurpassible...
Anyways things are going great here in Oradea but the fact is that missionary work in Romania is just hard. But it's fun, it's a blessing to be a part of this work. The people are open and willing to talk about God and doctrine but even when they love the things we teach and often even believe them, they often lack the will to make changes and are sometimes scared to commit to things. But we're working with amazing people. I love Romanian people in general. They are so funny?? I don't know. For example, we always see this one elderly man walking all over and every time he sees us he grabs my hand and holds it the whole time he's talking to us (the elderly people always hold my hand) but he kept trying to take off my CTR as though I wouldn't notice and finally when he saw it was futile he just wished us a good day and left.
Last night I had a loaf of banana bread and nobody was answering or able to meet so we just decided to stop by a past investigators apartment. A young man, Raul, lives their with his grandma. She was the only one home when we went and we just wanted to drop it off and leave but she pulled us in and told us how beautiful we were and how she needs to stop trusting the american boys. She took the foil off the banana bread and filled it with a cake she had made and then gave it back to us.
A couple days ago we were at the park and an old man just sat down next to Elder Casangiu and I and first asked us about our ethnicity, proceeded to tell us how he enjoyed communism, and then asked us if we prefer blondes or brunettes. He also held my hand. People are much better here about relaxing in the parks and walking. I wish America would catch on. Those are just a few examples of the people. There are many others but we'll save them for next time.
We are always invited to branch activities here and usually we only go if we have investigators. Saturday, we were to invited to a little excursion the branch had planned out to the countryside. It was only like an hour and a half bus ride away but such a huge change from the city. Incredibly thick, green forests and rolling hills with fields and fields and haystacks and little villages and whatnot. We first went into a huge cave (with a guide) and had a blast. Coolest cave I've been in yet and definitely the closest I've ever been to bats (within a foot). After we found a little spot by some haystacks and the members cooked mici which is like super flavorful sausage/hamburger. Really good. Especially since I hadn't had meat for a while. We just relaxed and interacted and thankfully two of the members brought non-member children and I was able to speak with the bus driver for a while who was an incredibly nice man. His name is Florin and he is Romanian Orthodox and loves to drive. He drives crazy fast and it can get intense but as we were discussing about the Holy Ghost he let me know that he relies on the Holy Ghost in every day while he drives on the chaotic roads here. So I wasn't as worried... But he was very nice. It's just fun to talk with people. Especially in a new language. It's somewhat of an out-of-body experience being in a country like Romania and speaking this language and with a totally different people. It's often confusing. But very rewarding.
On Thursday we made a member visit to an awesome brother in the branch, Fratele Dejeu. He is a gypsy man and loves the members of the branch here. He isn't able to get to church a lot because it is financially necessary for him to work Sundays as it is for many here. But he comes whenever he doesn't work and he was able to be at the excursion with us. Elder Barney asked him about the rest of the family and he told us something like they're in the kitchen (bucaturie?) and I thought that word meant bakery (brutarie) and so I stopped him and was like, "You have a kitchen?!" (I was ecstatic) and he looked at me strange and said, "yes, this apartment is three rooms and the room at the end is a kitchen." I realized really quickly that either he had a bakery out the third floor of his apartment or he meant kitchen. I tried really hard not to laugh because my companion looked so confused. Anyways, awesome man, awesome visit. At the excursion I explained to Fratele Dejeu why I had asked such a strange question and he just slapped my back and laughed saying how he'd be excited too about a bakery. But for the most part I can get by with the Romanian I know.
We recently picked up some other past investigators. They're two brothers, Emil and Ghabi. Emil at one point had a baptismal date but the commitment scared him. They are two of the nicest, funniest guys ever. We just stopped by one night and they invited us in and made us eat and drink and just chatted. So we came back this week with banana bread and shared a thought on talents and Emil pulled a little keyboard out of nowhere and expected me to do something because he new I had made music before my mission... But I hate those situations and luckily he wanted to show me the things he'd learned by ear so he did. He's actually very talented and he has no Idea that he is. He picked up some complicated classical melodies just from listening to a cd. But I'm elated to be able to work with them now.
Anyways, I'm doing great. It's really hot but pretty soon it will be really cold so I'm just enjoying it. If I could ask one thing it would be to get to know the missionaries and trust them with a referral. Also, if you could pray for Sora Tutor, she has some serious health problems that I don't know can be solved. The tutors are a very poor, very humble, very beautiful family. I get emotional just writing about them because of their circumstances. We stopped by yesterday and weren't very familiar with them but Brother Tutor loves the missionaries and we ducked inside to their little "house" and had a wonderful visit with them. They were once very active members and still have great love and feelings for the branch and gospel but for certain reasons don't make it to church. They were so nice the whole time I was there and I'm sure sora Tutor was in pain the whole time we were there but I never would've known except that she can't really move. They just have great love, especially for missionaries. I know they know Fratele Miles, one of the teachers at the MTC. They talked well of him. I said, "Oh you know him? The one with the biggest smile?" and they nodded and laughed.
But yes I'm going fantastic. I miss you all and love you all.
Love,
Elder Taylor
Anyways things are going great here in Oradea but the fact is that missionary work in Romania is just hard. But it's fun, it's a blessing to be a part of this work. The people are open and willing to talk about God and doctrine but even when they love the things we teach and often even believe them, they often lack the will to make changes and are sometimes scared to commit to things. But we're working with amazing people. I love Romanian people in general. They are so funny?? I don't know. For example, we always see this one elderly man walking all over and every time he sees us he grabs my hand and holds it the whole time he's talking to us (the elderly people always hold my hand) but he kept trying to take off my CTR as though I wouldn't notice and finally when he saw it was futile he just wished us a good day and left.
Last night I had a loaf of banana bread and nobody was answering or able to meet so we just decided to stop by a past investigators apartment. A young man, Raul, lives their with his grandma. She was the only one home when we went and we just wanted to drop it off and leave but she pulled us in and told us how beautiful we were and how she needs to stop trusting the american boys. She took the foil off the banana bread and filled it with a cake she had made and then gave it back to us.
A couple days ago we were at the park and an old man just sat down next to Elder Casangiu and I and first asked us about our ethnicity, proceeded to tell us how he enjoyed communism, and then asked us if we prefer blondes or brunettes. He also held my hand. People are much better here about relaxing in the parks and walking. I wish America would catch on. Those are just a few examples of the people. There are many others but we'll save them for next time.
We are always invited to branch activities here and usually we only go if we have investigators. Saturday, we were to invited to a little excursion the branch had planned out to the countryside. It was only like an hour and a half bus ride away but such a huge change from the city. Incredibly thick, green forests and rolling hills with fields and fields and haystacks and little villages and whatnot. We first went into a huge cave (with a guide) and had a blast. Coolest cave I've been in yet and definitely the closest I've ever been to bats (within a foot). After we found a little spot by some haystacks and the members cooked mici which is like super flavorful sausage/hamburger. Really good. Especially since I hadn't had meat for a while. We just relaxed and interacted and thankfully two of the members brought non-member children and I was able to speak with the bus driver for a while who was an incredibly nice man. His name is Florin and he is Romanian Orthodox and loves to drive. He drives crazy fast and it can get intense but as we were discussing about the Holy Ghost he let me know that he relies on the Holy Ghost in every day while he drives on the chaotic roads here. So I wasn't as worried... But he was very nice. It's just fun to talk with people. Especially in a new language. It's somewhat of an out-of-body experience being in a country like Romania and speaking this language and with a totally different people. It's often confusing. But very rewarding.
On Thursday we made a member visit to an awesome brother in the branch, Fratele Dejeu. He is a gypsy man and loves the members of the branch here. He isn't able to get to church a lot because it is financially necessary for him to work Sundays as it is for many here. But he comes whenever he doesn't work and he was able to be at the excursion with us. Elder Barney asked him about the rest of the family and he told us something like they're in the kitchen (bucaturie?) and I thought that word meant bakery (brutarie) and so I stopped him and was like, "You have a kitchen?!" (I was ecstatic) and he looked at me strange and said, "yes, this apartment is three rooms and the room at the end is a kitchen." I realized really quickly that either he had a bakery out the third floor of his apartment or he meant kitchen. I tried really hard not to laugh because my companion looked so confused. Anyways, awesome man, awesome visit. At the excursion I explained to Fratele Dejeu why I had asked such a strange question and he just slapped my back and laughed saying how he'd be excited too about a bakery. But for the most part I can get by with the Romanian I know.
We recently picked up some other past investigators. They're two brothers, Emil and Ghabi. Emil at one point had a baptismal date but the commitment scared him. They are two of the nicest, funniest guys ever. We just stopped by one night and they invited us in and made us eat and drink and just chatted. So we came back this week with banana bread and shared a thought on talents and Emil pulled a little keyboard out of nowhere and expected me to do something because he new I had made music before my mission... But I hate those situations and luckily he wanted to show me the things he'd learned by ear so he did. He's actually very talented and he has no Idea that he is. He picked up some complicated classical melodies just from listening to a cd. But I'm elated to be able to work with them now.
Anyways, I'm doing great. It's really hot but pretty soon it will be really cold so I'm just enjoying it. If I could ask one thing it would be to get to know the missionaries and trust them with a referral. Also, if you could pray for Sora Tutor, she has some serious health problems that I don't know can be solved. The tutors are a very poor, very humble, very beautiful family. I get emotional just writing about them because of their circumstances. We stopped by yesterday and weren't very familiar with them but Brother Tutor loves the missionaries and we ducked inside to their little "house" and had a wonderful visit with them. They were once very active members and still have great love and feelings for the branch and gospel but for certain reasons don't make it to church. They were so nice the whole time I was there and I'm sure sora Tutor was in pain the whole time we were there but I never would've known except that she can't really move. They just have great love, especially for missionaries. I know they know Fratele Miles, one of the teachers at the MTC. They talked well of him. I said, "Oh you know him? The one with the biggest smile?" and they nodded and laughed.
But yes I'm going fantastic. I miss you all and love you all.
Love,
Elder Taylor
9.12.11. "So is it possible that the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a pigeon?"
Alright so a week has gone by and I'm still doing great. My Companion is awesome. Elder Barney is from Lehi, Utah except his family now lives in Idaho.. We get along really well, both as friends and as missionaries. We work a lot with the other missionaries in the district as well. Elder Eckersley and Elder Bennett both from Draper/Sandy and then Elder Casangiu the mini-missionary from Bucuresti.
We're working with a fantastic branch, especially for its size. They know how things are supposed to work and they work hard. We meet with members several times a week to teach them how to use Preach My Gospel and to see if they have any referals----Go refer somebody to the missionaries right now-------Also go read the talk from President Hinckley in like 1999 called Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep or something like that. It's mind-blowing. Anyways so we meet with the members a lot and they love us. On thursday we were on exchanges so I was with Elder Eckersley and Elder Bennett and we went and visited an older sister, Sister Stoian. She was baptized in like 2005 and was previously a member of the Romanian Orthodox church. She was so nice. In her tiny little apartment the light bulb had burned out but was too high up for her to change and so she was just going to wait until somebody showed up who could. It had been like a week and it's pretty dark without it. No matter how many times we ask or offer, she refuses help or service. But since we were there we changed the bulb and she just loved us. I showed her a picture of the family and she proceeded to do the same things all older Romanian women seem to do, looking at my whole album and asking me who everyone is and telling me how beautiful everyone is. She told us she's our "Grandmama" while we're here in Romania so I'm set.
On Saturday we met with the Branch President, President Isupescu. He lives a little bit out of the city and every time he has to go to the church, he rides his bike really, really far. And it's either really hot or really cold here. I don't know how he does it. Anyway he is the nicest, most humble and loving man. We're just two young american boys and he let us into his home gave us tons of food, forced us to eat it pretty much, and then listened super intently as we taught him about preach my gospel. I can honestly say I've never felt like someone was listening to me as well as this man. Even when it took me forever to speak. He's so enthusiastic about the gospel and missionary work it's awesome. He asked tons of questions and we definitely overstayed but it was great. And then he hopped on his bike and rode off to the church to clean while we took a maxi taxi and a tramvai and walked a while to get to our place.
I've been making a lot of Banana bread lately because Romanians don't really know what it is and a lot of them think it's amazing. Bela is a member in the ward, a returned missionary and he insists that only the american boys can make it. The other day after a member visit he asked me to make it for him and his "date" the next night. He speaks really broken english and he told us that they'd had it once before and when she ate it she said, "This is good" and then he said, "ok." I guess there was more emotion involved but those were his words so I made it for him and we're going to make it for the members when we go visit with him. We're working with his little brother who has gone inactive and it's hard because he would rather watch tv than read in the Book of Mormon.
Our one investigator, Raluca, is very bright. She reads like crazy. Her tiny apartment is full of books and she's probably only in her early twenties. She is reading into Alma now and when we teach her she asks very thoughtful, developed questions (usually really hard to answer) but she accepts our answers. For the moment though she won't come to church but hopefully we'll be able to get her there next week or at the least the next week.
Last night Elder Eckersley was sick and so my companion, Elder Barney stayed with him while I went out with Elder Bennett and Elder Casangiu. We had a member visit and then we thought we were going to meet with a new investigator but he decided he was too busy so we contacted the entire park. It was easily the most contacting I've done so far. We're usually making our way all over to appointments and whatever but nothing had really worked out so we split up in the park and did work. I love to contact families. There are promises in Preach My Gospel about the benefits of doing so and I trust them. Elder Casangiu is great because he speaks Romanian fluent and he's very charismatic. Sometimes his energy is unbearable but those he contacts are always in a pleasant mood after he leaves. Elder Bennett is just working with me to overcome the nerves and learn the language and try to share our testimonies.
Random stuff:
I did buy some shoes mom so no worries. Things are pretty cheap here if you keep converting the prices but if you do that then you run out of money super fast. They have the best food in the world here. I just eat whatever people give me and it tastes so good. Chocolate here is really good too.... So I'm happy. There are tailors everywhere here and they're cheap. Fashion is a big deal here, very different than the U.S.
There's this "homeless" guy Elder Barney and I always run into. He's got a huge head of hair and a huge beard that appear from afar to be a lion's mane. Further more this guy, when he's walking, is walking with great purpose. He's practically jogging. We're convinced that secretly he is very rich because Elder Barney has seen him walking into a bank and I have seen him pulling money out of an ATM. But I can promise you he hasn't showered in many, many days. The first day I was here he walked past us and made an offensive gesture. Some days he does that, others he's really nice. It's very confusing. Yesterday I got on a tramvai right next to him and first he told me to go to the back of the tramvai because I drink a lot and he doesn't like that. Then he asked me if I'd like his seat. Then when I left he nodded politely and muttered goodbye.
Romanians stare at us and I love it. Especially older people. They stare at the name tag and try to be sneaky about it but are incredibly obvious. Yesterday I was waiting for a tramvai and this old man would keep turning to try and read it but I'd look at him and he'd quickly turn around and pretend to be intently reading a poster. Usually I just say Good Day or another greeting and then they look even more confused. But they are ultimately a really friendly people. Sometimes you have to pry a little bit to get them to trust you. That sentence doesn't really make sense but whatever.
They younger generation stare and give us dirty looks, especially the males. They'll stare, smirk, make gestures and/or use prostii but as soon as you approach them or ask them what they said they're all ears and sometimes a little scared. So are all the dogs here. They'll bark at you and snarl as long as there is a gate in between you and them but as soon as that gate opens they just stand there or wander off.
Pigeons are everywhere and they're somewhat holy because the word for pigeon and dove in Romanian is porumbel. So it's possible that the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a pigeon...
I'm having a great time and I'd love to hear from how everything is back there. But Romania is awesome and I love these people.
Love,
Elder Taylor
We're working with a fantastic branch, especially for its size. They know how things are supposed to work and they work hard. We meet with members several times a week to teach them how to use Preach My Gospel and to see if they have any referals----Go refer somebody to the missionaries right now-------Also go read the talk from President Hinckley in like 1999 called Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep or something like that. It's mind-blowing. Anyways so we meet with the members a lot and they love us. On thursday we were on exchanges so I was with Elder Eckersley and Elder Bennett and we went and visited an older sister, Sister Stoian. She was baptized in like 2005 and was previously a member of the Romanian Orthodox church. She was so nice. In her tiny little apartment the light bulb had burned out but was too high up for her to change and so she was just going to wait until somebody showed up who could. It had been like a week and it's pretty dark without it. No matter how many times we ask or offer, she refuses help or service. But since we were there we changed the bulb and she just loved us. I showed her a picture of the family and she proceeded to do the same things all older Romanian women seem to do, looking at my whole album and asking me who everyone is and telling me how beautiful everyone is. She told us she's our "Grandmama" while we're here in Romania so I'm set.
On Saturday we met with the Branch President, President Isupescu. He lives a little bit out of the city and every time he has to go to the church, he rides his bike really, really far. And it's either really hot or really cold here. I don't know how he does it. Anyway he is the nicest, most humble and loving man. We're just two young american boys and he let us into his home gave us tons of food, forced us to eat it pretty much, and then listened super intently as we taught him about preach my gospel. I can honestly say I've never felt like someone was listening to me as well as this man. Even when it took me forever to speak. He's so enthusiastic about the gospel and missionary work it's awesome. He asked tons of questions and we definitely overstayed but it was great. And then he hopped on his bike and rode off to the church to clean while we took a maxi taxi and a tramvai and walked a while to get to our place.
I've been making a lot of Banana bread lately because Romanians don't really know what it is and a lot of them think it's amazing. Bela is a member in the ward, a returned missionary and he insists that only the american boys can make it. The other day after a member visit he asked me to make it for him and his "date" the next night. He speaks really broken english and he told us that they'd had it once before and when she ate it she said, "This is good" and then he said, "ok." I guess there was more emotion involved but those were his words so I made it for him and we're going to make it for the members when we go visit with him. We're working with his little brother who has gone inactive and it's hard because he would rather watch tv than read in the Book of Mormon.
Our one investigator, Raluca, is very bright. She reads like crazy. Her tiny apartment is full of books and she's probably only in her early twenties. She is reading into Alma now and when we teach her she asks very thoughtful, developed questions (usually really hard to answer) but she accepts our answers. For the moment though she won't come to church but hopefully we'll be able to get her there next week or at the least the next week.
Last night Elder Eckersley was sick and so my companion, Elder Barney stayed with him while I went out with Elder Bennett and Elder Casangiu. We had a member visit and then we thought we were going to meet with a new investigator but he decided he was too busy so we contacted the entire park. It was easily the most contacting I've done so far. We're usually making our way all over to appointments and whatever but nothing had really worked out so we split up in the park and did work. I love to contact families. There are promises in Preach My Gospel about the benefits of doing so and I trust them. Elder Casangiu is great because he speaks Romanian fluent and he's very charismatic. Sometimes his energy is unbearable but those he contacts are always in a pleasant mood after he leaves. Elder Bennett is just working with me to overcome the nerves and learn the language and try to share our testimonies.
Random stuff:
I did buy some shoes mom so no worries. Things are pretty cheap here if you keep converting the prices but if you do that then you run out of money super fast. They have the best food in the world here. I just eat whatever people give me and it tastes so good. Chocolate here is really good too.... So I'm happy. There are tailors everywhere here and they're cheap. Fashion is a big deal here, very different than the U.S.
There's this "homeless" guy Elder Barney and I always run into. He's got a huge head of hair and a huge beard that appear from afar to be a lion's mane. Further more this guy, when he's walking, is walking with great purpose. He's practically jogging. We're convinced that secretly he is very rich because Elder Barney has seen him walking into a bank and I have seen him pulling money out of an ATM. But I can promise you he hasn't showered in many, many days. The first day I was here he walked past us and made an offensive gesture. Some days he does that, others he's really nice. It's very confusing. Yesterday I got on a tramvai right next to him and first he told me to go to the back of the tramvai because I drink a lot and he doesn't like that. Then he asked me if I'd like his seat. Then when I left he nodded politely and muttered goodbye.
Romanians stare at us and I love it. Especially older people. They stare at the name tag and try to be sneaky about it but are incredibly obvious. Yesterday I was waiting for a tramvai and this old man would keep turning to try and read it but I'd look at him and he'd quickly turn around and pretend to be intently reading a poster. Usually I just say Good Day or another greeting and then they look even more confused. But they are ultimately a really friendly people. Sometimes you have to pry a little bit to get them to trust you. That sentence doesn't really make sense but whatever.
They younger generation stare and give us dirty looks, especially the males. They'll stare, smirk, make gestures and/or use prostii but as soon as you approach them or ask them what they said they're all ears and sometimes a little scared. So are all the dogs here. They'll bark at you and snarl as long as there is a gate in between you and them but as soon as that gate opens they just stand there or wander off.
Pigeons are everywhere and they're somewhat holy because the word for pigeon and dove in Romanian is porumbel. So it's possible that the Holy Ghost descended in the form of a pigeon...
I'm having a great time and I'd love to hear from how everything is back there. But Romania is awesome and I love these people.
Love,
Elder Taylor
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Week 7: A little out of order but still here. "The ultimate secret to life is: PRAY TO GOD"
To: Kelly Taylor , crystal.noel@mac.com, steve@6taylors.com
Well another week has flown by and it is just about time to be leaving to Romania. I'm definitely ready to leave although not fully prepared. But they don't expect us to be. Much of the learning takes place right in the thick of it. I'm really enjoying the MTC. It is incomprehensible how much learning goes on in such a short period of time. The best part is being able to watch yourself grow. You don't have to look back ten years and say wow I've learned so much, You can look at your notes from last week and say wow, I have learned sooooooo much. They've changed the curriculum quite a bit, even since I first arrived. My district was in the middle of the change and so we've been using a lot of the new curriculum and a little of the old. I love how they do things here though, I can't imagine going into the field without the experience that I've gained here, however small that may be.
I'm not sure if I already mentioned this but we got a new district that was just five sisters. That hasn't happened before as far as my teachers know and for the moment I'm acting as their district leader. The district is doing great. It's been nice to have such friendly and supportive Elders and Sisters with me as I've been here.
One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately and offering a lot of is prayer. One of my teachers, Fratele Miles, was in a coaching study with Elder Peterson and I one day (coaching study is just the teacher giving you some guidance or ideas for you study) and he said, "Do you Elders wanna know what the ultimate secret to life is? You might want to sit up for this..." He simply said, "Pray to God." That's what the scriptures tell us to do over and over in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and I'm sure in other scripture. It is how we repent, receive answers, help, guidance, strength, give thanks, and express literally anything to God. It is a way to talk to God. Knowing what I do now I would be lonely without prayer. It is readily accessible at anytime and can help with anything. My prayers are much more sincere now and it's helped tremendously. I learn a lot when I pray. One characteristic of the way I pray is gratitude. I give thanks and usually I end up realizing there's too much and I need to eat or go to bed or get ready for the day etc. But it's the best. My advice, pray.
I'm excited to be involved in a new culture. Romania has so many interesting things to offer. I find it sad that the younger generation cares about english and the American culture. English is great and useful and all and America has history but there is nothing as rich or fascinating to me as the cultures of Europe and most anywhere else on the globe. I love the language. It's not a language that can be used too much once I return but I know that I will be able to use it once I return whether that be for translating, teaching, or just speaking with random Romanians I may find someday. In case you were wondering there are very few native missionaries from Romania serving in Romania. If they choose to serve they are often called to England, learn English and see a country in better circumstances and then they return to Romania and use the language and insight to help improve their homeland. There are a couple natives serving there though. One of our teachers who shows up every once in a while is a native although she has lived here for about eight years. She's awesome though. She talks so fast I want to cry but she told me, "Oh don't worry they [Romanians] speak faster." So I'm not worried. The advice I've received is smile and when you realize they're complaining about something nod your head like you can empathize and when they laugh, laugh. Etc. Most of the returned-missionaries have said don't even worry about the language, it will just come from be immersed in it. I'm not worried really, I'm very excited.
We had a Fireside on Sunday night from one of the Administrative brethren here at the MTC. He focused his message on missionary success and gave a fantastic talk. Many missionaries worry about baptisms. They want to have them. He spoke on how that part of missionary work is a gift from God. We may do all we can and still not have those baptisms but that doesn't make us unsuccessful. People have their agency and even God respects that. I just thought that was really interesting. For me, I would love to baptize but if I don't and I just get to interact with the Romanians and share my beliefs and passions and the Gospel and serve people and show them that they can change for better, for more happiness, for me that's all I want. I had a friend serving in Germany write me the other day and after he joked with me for about a page he said, "Isn't it crazy how we're just doing the same work Jesus did?" It is and it's awesome. I'm glad I can be a part of it.
So I got brownies yesterday, a lot of them...
There aren't that many left. And I feel somewhat sick.
My weight is representative of politicians and weathermen/women -- inconsistent.
Thank you everyone for all of the letters and goodies and support, it means a lot to me. Again please ask me questions so I know what to write!
Hey Marcellus.
Please pray for Dylan (Elder Swarts). He had an MRI today to see if he either needs a surgery along with a four-week recovery or a surgery with like a four-month recovery.
Another quick thought. I watched this video on LDS.org with some scientist talking about his beliefs in God and the universe and he quoted Sir Arthur Eddington who said, "The more we learn about the Universe, the less it looks like a great Maching and the more it looks like a Great Thought [A great thought of God]." Just a thought.
I'm happy! always tired but happy. Hope everyone is well. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Taylor
Well another week has flown by and it is just about time to be leaving to Romania. I'm definitely ready to leave although not fully prepared. But they don't expect us to be. Much of the learning takes place right in the thick of it. I'm really enjoying the MTC. It is incomprehensible how much learning goes on in such a short period of time. The best part is being able to watch yourself grow. You don't have to look back ten years and say wow I've learned so much, You can look at your notes from last week and say wow, I have learned sooooooo much. They've changed the curriculum quite a bit, even since I first arrived. My district was in the middle of the change and so we've been using a lot of the new curriculum and a little of the old. I love how they do things here though, I can't imagine going into the field without the experience that I've gained here, however small that may be.
I'm not sure if I already mentioned this but we got a new district that was just five sisters. That hasn't happened before as far as my teachers know and for the moment I'm acting as their district leader. The district is doing great. It's been nice to have such friendly and supportive Elders and Sisters with me as I've been here.
One thing I've been thinking about a lot lately and offering a lot of is prayer. One of my teachers, Fratele Miles, was in a coaching study with Elder Peterson and I one day (coaching study is just the teacher giving you some guidance or ideas for you study) and he said, "Do you Elders wanna know what the ultimate secret to life is? You might want to sit up for this..." He simply said, "Pray to God." That's what the scriptures tell us to do over and over in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and I'm sure in other scripture. It is how we repent, receive answers, help, guidance, strength, give thanks, and express literally anything to God. It is a way to talk to God. Knowing what I do now I would be lonely without prayer. It is readily accessible at anytime and can help with anything. My prayers are much more sincere now and it's helped tremendously. I learn a lot when I pray. One characteristic of the way I pray is gratitude. I give thanks and usually I end up realizing there's too much and I need to eat or go to bed or get ready for the day etc. But it's the best. My advice, pray.
I'm excited to be involved in a new culture. Romania has so many interesting things to offer. I find it sad that the younger generation cares about english and the American culture. English is great and useful and all and America has history but there is nothing as rich or fascinating to me as the cultures of Europe and most anywhere else on the globe. I love the language. It's not a language that can be used too much once I return but I know that I will be able to use it once I return whether that be for translating, teaching, or just speaking with random Romanians I may find someday. In case you were wondering there are very few native missionaries from Romania serving in Romania. If they choose to serve they are often called to England, learn English and see a country in better circumstances and then they return to Romania and use the language and insight to help improve their homeland. There are a couple natives serving there though. One of our teachers who shows up every once in a while is a native although she has lived here for about eight years. She's awesome though. She talks so fast I want to cry but she told me, "Oh don't worry they [Romanians] speak faster." So I'm not worried. The advice I've received is smile and when you realize they're complaining about something nod your head like you can empathize and when they laugh, laugh. Etc. Most of the returned-missionaries have said don't even worry about the language, it will just come from be immersed in it. I'm not worried really, I'm very excited.
We had a Fireside on Sunday night from one of the Administrative brethren here at the MTC. He focused his message on missionary success and gave a fantastic talk. Many missionaries worry about baptisms. They want to have them. He spoke on how that part of missionary work is a gift from God. We may do all we can and still not have those baptisms but that doesn't make us unsuccessful. People have their agency and even God respects that. I just thought that was really interesting. For me, I would love to baptize but if I don't and I just get to interact with the Romanians and share my beliefs and passions and the Gospel and serve people and show them that they can change for better, for more happiness, for me that's all I want. I had a friend serving in Germany write me the other day and after he joked with me for about a page he said, "Isn't it crazy how we're just doing the same work Jesus did?" It is and it's awesome. I'm glad I can be a part of it.
So I got brownies yesterday, a lot of them...
There aren't that many left. And I feel somewhat sick.
My weight is representative of politicians and weathermen/women -- inconsistent.
Thank you everyone for all of the letters and goodies and support, it means a lot to me. Again please ask me questions so I know what to write!
Hey Marcellus.
Please pray for Dylan (Elder Swarts). He had an MRI today to see if he either needs a surgery along with a four-week recovery or a surgery with like a four-month recovery.
Another quick thought. I watched this video on LDS.org with some scientist talking about his beliefs in God and the universe and he quoted Sir Arthur Eddington who said, "The more we learn about the Universe, the less it looks like a great Maching and the more it looks like a Great Thought [A great thought of God]." Just a thought.
I'm happy! always tired but happy. Hope everyone is well. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Taylor
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