7-1-13 Jacob in Romania
Ok to start off I wanted to just say that something crazy happened about 20 minutes after I emailed you guys last week. So we were just sitting in the up-stairs office in the meeting house and like I said there was a pretty big storm. Well it turned into a thunderstorm and we were all just sitting there in the room talking. Then all the sudden the air conditioning unit in this tiny room literally blew up with the loudest sound and all the electricity went out. We all started screaming like little girls. We had no idea what happened. After we settled down we called President Hill and then the proprietor. They came the next morning to fix it and they told us all the cords and wires we burned and that it definitely got struck by lightening. It was so intense but nobody was killed so everything is ok.
So this week was a slow week but still amazing. We have been contacting like crazy and just trying to talk to as many people as possible. We still have no investigators, which is kinda frustrating because Preach My Gospel says if you have no investigators no work can be done. Haha It’s a little harsh but it is true. We really need to get some people to teach. I have come to love that book already so much. Whenever I have a question or need help on what I am doing, I feel like I can always find the answer in that book. So with contacting we have been able to get about 10 numbers and three copies of the Book Of Mormon. The only bad thing is that every time we call them to set up an appointment they either don't answer or hang up on us. Haha Patience is very important because I think I would go crazy if I didn't have any. I think the person who has the most patience is Elder Rasmussen. He leaves in about four weeks and he has had zero baptisms and only a handful of lessons throughout his entire mission. Now obviously numbers really don't count but I know that no matter what happens, even the small messages that we share about Jesus Christ or the Gospel on the street are changing their hearts. It might be very small and slow but it’s doing something. We have about 20 copies of the Book of Mormon in our apartment and want to get all of them into peoples homes by the end of this transfer. We figured that even if they don't read it, it is better to have it sitting in their apartment than ours. The Book of Mormon holds such a strong spirit that i'm sure over time, someone will pick it up and read it and feel something special about it.
I have an interesting story about an experience we had a few days ago. We were actually trying to find a shoe shop because Elder Rasmussen needed to get something but we couldn't find it so we ended up going to an Orthodox book store so ask for directions. We asked a lady there for directions and as we were walking out this teenager with perfect english said to us, “do you know where you are right now?” We were a little confused especially since he had perfect english. To make a very long story short he stated talking to us about the Orthodox religion. He was a really smart kid and actually knew a lot of things about his religion which is surprising because most people say they are Orthodox but don't really know anything about it. Anyways he actually knew a lot about Mormons which was also surprising. We ended talking to him for a pretty long time right in the middle of the store and it was really neat. Every once in a while he would ask us about some Orthodox tradition and he would be shocked when we said we have never heard of that. Haha is was pretty funny but then towards the end some other people came up to us and started bashing on us it was nuts. That’s when we decided that we should probably leave the store.
So, mom you wanted to know a little bit more about our branch. Just like I said we have about 10 active members in our branch which makes it very quiet at times. Our branch president is Elder Ward. Galaţi use to have a member be the branch President but then they changed it back to a missionary because things we getting out of hand. Elder Ward is a really good leader and tries his best. He’s a good man and I have been able to get to know him a lot. I have not given a talk in sacrament meeting yet but I have given several prayers and I bore my testimony the first Sunday. I don’t have much to say but the Romanians say I have a pretty good accent so that’s good to know. But who knows, maybe they were just saying that to get my hopes up. Today we went to the only family, in our branches, house today because it was their six year old sons birthday. I have some pictures of that which I will attach to this email. A little side note. So Romanians for some reason love to but rum on their cakes and pasteries. They even put it in the ice cream. I really don’t know why because it is sooo nasty. So today at the party they cut the cake and it looked sooo good. Then we took our first bite and looked at each other. Haha Its just a really strong punch in the face. It was funny to see Leviu (the birthday boy) just pound the cake like there was nothing wrong. Elder Cunningham is the only one who likes the rum ha
So as I said this week has been mostly just contacting. I am really trying to expound my vocabulary on contacting because that is what I use the most. I am having so much fun and I love talking to people even if it’s intimidating sometimes. For practice, Elder Rasmussen and I go down to the filaza (which is like the cliffs). That’s where all the crazy people like to go and sit down. Elder Rasmussen and I will go and sit down next to a crazy and he will pretend to fall asleep and I will start talking to whoever we sat next to. It’s great practice because no matter what they say you can just keep on talking. So I will start talking about Jesus Christ and then he will start talking for a few minutes and then I’ll start talking about the Book of Mormon or families. It’s lots of fun. The only down side is that none of them have teeth so even if I could understand Romanian, I probably wouldn’t be able to understand them.
That's about it. The Church is true even in Romania. I look around and see so many people that need the gospel. I love missionary work and for the opportunity I have to walk around and share a message that most people have never and will never hear in their lifetime. I love the Savior so much. He is my third companion and I would be able to do any of this without Him. I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all. Stay safe and share the gospel. Haha that’s about the only thing I can tell you because that’s all I do.
Some interesting things about this week were... lets see
I think I have bed bugs because I’m still getting bites. So I finally got around to spraying my entire bed.
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• We were making some food and we found a dead cockroach in the flour. We ended up still using that flour because we were starving.
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• I saw a spider Gypsy. It is the most disgusting thing I have seen. There people who walk around. They’re people but honestly they look like some sort of animal. Their legs are broken and forced the other way as babies so their knee actually bends the opposite direction. That was probably too much information but in case you were wondering, that’s what a spider Gypsy is.
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• I saw a two year old boy buy a pack of cigarettes.
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• If you want to feel good, eat the cake.
So about these pictures...
The one with the family if from the party today.
The one of me sleeping if when we went on a five hour train ride to Iaşi. I was seriously so tired.
And I’ll send another email with more pictures.
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