Monday, July 29, 2013

Jaobs weekly letter!!!!


Hey Family and friends,                                    7-29-2013

This week was a crazy week and sort of just flew by really fast. First off I gave my first official talk last week during sacrament. I’ve shared my testimony a few times but this was my first talk. I talked about charity, love and humility and even though it was a little choppy I felt like I did a pretty good job and got my point across. This week we have had a few things happen. A lot of the members wanted us to come over to say good-bye to Elder Rasmussen before he leaves so we actually got fed a few times by members. Actually we ate and talked with them at the church because they all said their kitchens are too small and it would be easier. Ha-ha we had a bunch of really great Romanian food. I really can’t explain it because I don’t even know what it was but it tasted good so that’s all that matters. Sora Marania, one of our members made stuffed peppers filled with mystery meat and vegetables. It was really good but I can’t believe I haven't gotten food poisoning yet. Whenever they cook they never cook with filtered water so it is always a risk. We also went to the Stancu families apartment this week. We taught them a little lesson and talked to them for a while. They are going through a rough time right now because of work and money so they really appreciated us coming over and talking with them.

As for getting new investigators this week we got nothing. We were really hoping for someone in the last week of the transfer to show up but it never happened. There was this Pentecostal man named Trian who we meet and actually called us back and said he wanted to meet with us. We have been trying to set up a time to meet him and I don’t know if he is trying to avoid us or he’s scared but every time we go to his office he’s not there. As a matter of fact, last Friday we went to his office. One side note, where people live here is a little different. Usually there is a door that goes out to the street and then inside there are a few apartments so we usually never know who is going to answer the door. Anyways that is where Trians office is so we went on Friday and this Gypsy women answered the door and was super nice. She said Trian isn't home but she invited us to come in. That was already a surprise because most people never let you in. It’s hard to explain but they led us back to the back apartment and I'm not going to lie it was pretty scary and I started thinking of the movie Taken. Ha-ha that didn't help. So we ended up going into a little shack apartment and we walk in and the inside is super nice. Like they have a huge Mac and a plasma screen T.V. Elder Rasmussen and I were just like what the heck is happening. I seriously thought I was going to die or they were going to do something to us but nothing really happened. I don’t know where they get so much money but it was surprising to see, especially because I wasn’t expecting it. We talked with the mom for about 15 minutes about our church and she actually knew a little bit about it already. Over all it was a different experience and we might go back to check how they are doing.

So this week is transfers so I have to travel a bunch. I’m actually sending this letter from Piteşti. Since Elder Rasmussen is dying (going home) I have to go down for transfers early so I'm stuck here with two elders. Ill be going don’t to Bucharest tomorrow and then staying there for a day, getting my new companion, and they going back up to Galaţi. I already know who my new companion is going to be. Its elder Cunningham, he has been my district leader in Galaţi so I already know him very well.

-Continued-


Hello again I'm continuing from last week because I couldn't write very much. So this is my first week of the new transfer with Elder Cunningham. I little bit about him. He is 20 and has been out for 18 months. He is from Parker, Colorado and is a really funny guy. I like him a lot and I feel I can tell him anything, which is great. Like I mentioned before he is a lot different from Elder Rasmussen. Elder Cunningham is a lot more laid back and sometimes likes to waste a lot of time. At first I was a little worried about this because I know it’s going to be a big change but now I'm really excited to work with him this transfer. We have already set some pretty good/reachable goals that we are going to accomplish this transfer. Elder Cunningham, just like everyone else is not amazing at the language so it makes it even harder because sometimes we both have no idea what people are saying. Ha-ha it makes it interesting but it really gives us the opportunity to learn a lot. Yesterday we were English contacting and I started talking to this man in Romanian about our English classes. He then answered and said that he speaks English and doesn't know Romanian. We were both like neither do we. Ha-ha we had a really good conversation with him and even though he was just on vacation for a few weeks here, we gave him our information and a Book of Mormon pamphlet.

One big change on our focus for this transfer is that we are going to be working with the branch and less active members more. We are still going to continue to contact and get new investigators but at the moment the branch need a lot of help. During transfers, President Hill told us that because our active member number is so low, in the near future they might have to close the church building here and rent out a building each Sunday for church. That is the last thing we want to happen because one of our most successful things that we are doing is having activities at the church building. It’s really important that we help the branch because as of right now, we are not even comfortable bringing new investigators to church because we don't know what will happen.

As much as is sounds like I have been traveling, we are actually going up to Iaşi again either today or tomorrow for Zone Training Meeting. Should be fun and I'm giving a presentation on finding with faith. That's about it for this week. The church is true. Everyday I am so grateful to be a missionary and enjoy all of my many blessings. Love you all so much.

Elder Mayans



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