Jacob Mayans this week.

9-23-13

Hello again!!! 

This week was amazing. It was a very hard week but I feel like I have done so much. So, we had our first English classes on Tuesday and Saturday. A little less people showed up compared to last transfer but it’s ok. On Tuesday, instead of teaching something I asked everyone what they would want to do and learn in the next 7 classes. I thought that would be a good idea because I don’t want to teach them things they already know and it involves them more. They had a bunch of great ideas like learning double negatives, conversation, how to use the words there, their, they're. etc. and stuff like that. So,then on Saturday I taught them about double negatives. It was really hard to do because Romanian is opposite of English grammar so everything that is negative is a double negative in Romanian. They understood a lot of it though and they say I teach well, so I guess I'm doing ok. Also, this week we went on an exchange with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Ward and we got so many things done on the exchange it was awesome. We got a few numbers from people as well as contacted a few others and talked to them about the Book of Mormon. It's been a challenge to work with Elder Anderson but everything is going ok. Yesterday, we had district conference which is basically all the members in Romania except for the northern cities. It was funny because there was about 100 members there and about 60 missionaries. Ha-ha The actual district conference was great. We had a few members from the mission district speak, as well as President Hill and the Kiev Ukraine Temple President. A lot of it was based on the importance of members doing their part. They were very straight forward but the spirit was there and I felt like it really motivated the members, and the missionaries, the importance of sharing the gospel. Unfortunately, going to the conference was absolutely miserable. Galati is the farthest city that goes to this conference and since it started at 10 In the morning in Bucuresti, we had to get on a tram at 4:30 in the morning. We got there around 9:30 and then we left on a train back to Galati at 6 and got back at 11. Also, I have had a sore throat and congestion for the past 3 days so that didn’t make it easier. I am now back and safe in Galati and doing great.

 Our apartment got a new door lock for the front door without us knowing so we got locked out of our house. Ha-ha for the past few days we have been calling random people to have them open the door. It was a big hassle but we finally found the guy today who has our key so we have one now. Ha-ha it was just a little typical thing that would happen in Romania.

 Other than that, that’s about it for this week. We did some service at a few of the members houses and we are planning on going to the orphanage again this week. I love serving the Lord out here and looking for more ways in which I can help spread the gospel. It is going extremely slow but all is well. This week we are also going to try something new. Instead of just contacting we are going to do a survey where we ask them simple questions like... What does the family mean to you? What makes you happy? And do you believe in God? Stuff like that where it’s a harmless way to talk to people and we can continue to give a good image of the church to the people. Also, Romanians love taking surveys and talking about family so hopefully we will have some success. I am so happy and grateful to be on a mission. Thank you for all the prayers and support. I love you guys and for all that you have done.

Elder Mayans