Monday, December 9, 2013

Elder Mayans Dec 9, 2013


12-9-2013

Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well hello again. So, like I explained last week I had a lot of things
go on this week. It felt like this week went by really fast so I don’t
really know what happened but I will try my best. First off in the
middle of this week I think Wednesday the  Zone leaders came up for
exchanges. I was pretty excited for this exchange and since we only
have sisters in our district, we can only go on one exchange each
transfer which would be with the Zone Leaders. So they came up Wednesday
night, and then had our exchange. Unfortunately is wasn’t the most
successful exchange because of time but we dealt with what we had. On
Thursday we had district meeting in the afternoon which went very well
I think. I feel like sometimes I’m the only one talking because there
is not too much participation but it’s going well. We have such a good
district. After that we had to grab lunch really fast and go down to
Bucuresti for Zone Conference/Christmas party!! Like I said the
exchange wasn’t amazing. Their main reason of coming up was to check up
on how Iwas doing because I’m new at being District Leader and see if I
had anything I needed help on.

Then we took the train that night with the ZL’s back to Bucuresti which
took a long time and we got there pretty late. I stayed in Elder
Barneys apartment with a few others from my MTC group. It was awesome
to see them and get to catch up with everything that has been going
on. Our whole mission is really, really close. I know almost every
person in my whole mission and we are all really good friends. That
night I had one of the worst nights of sleep I have ever had. There
were no more beds so I was on the ground and I probably got close to
an hour of sleep. That really messed me up for the next few days
because I was dead tired.

On Friday was when we had our Conference. A few big things that
happened there was first, we got to see a picture of the new mission
President and second, a lot of the older Elders that I served with in
Galiati had their dying testimony and are going home in a few weeks.
So yeah the new President sounds really cool and rich. haha he is
really young compared to President Hill so that will be different. You
can never replace President Hill though…. he’s amazing. and yeah, Elder
Ward, Elder Cunningham and Elder Knapp all gave their farewell
testimonies. It was really good. I love those guys. They have been a
huge influence on my mission and I’m going to have to stay in touch
with them and meet up after I get home. Also at the Christmas party we
watched a picture slideshow of a bunch of pictures from the entire
year. I will probably be sending that home because I have a CD copy
and I think you guys would enjoy it.

That night we stayed in Elder Ward and Cunningham's apartment and then
headed back in the morning. We got back in the afternoon which was
perfect because we arrived just in time for our Christmas party that
President and Sora Spooner planned this week. Everything turned out
perfect besides the fact that we were all dead tired. ha The train
rides really mess up your sleep. At the Christmas party we ate some
saremale which Sora Redelescu made for us and also frosted cookies.
Not too many people came but it was still really fun and had a good
time. We also watched The Christmas Orange. I don’t know if you have
seen that one… its an older movie and I liked it a lot.

Then on Sunday we had church. Right before church a tall American
young man walked in the villa. I was super confused and almost didn’t
know what to say because it caught me off guard so much. Turns out he’s
just a student from BYU who is on a business trip and some of his
clients are here in Craiova. ha kinda random but he found out where
the church was through the internet and came. It’s always nice to have
visitors because it is really uncommon. I also gave a talk during
Sacrament Meeting. I spoke on the importance of baptism. I talked a
lot about the same things that I talked about in Abuelos Talk. I
thought it went really well.

That was about all that happened this week. We are still English
contacting as much as we can. Our first class starts tomorrow so I’m
excited to see how it turns out.

I love you all and I miss you so much. Have a great week and happy
holidays. Bicerica lui Isus Hristos este adevarata! Eu marturisesc ca
Hristos Traieste si ne iubeste. Sunt foarte rescunoscator pentru
ocazie pe care o am sa fie o misionar aici in Romania si slujesc
fiecare zi.

The Romanian has been a big struggle but I am trying my best. I feel
like sometimes it is going really well and other times it is awful.
haha I’m having fun with it though.  Love you all!!

Elder Mayans



P.S. It hasn’t been really cold temperature wise but there is a really
bad wind chill here and it’s really humid. Honestly I would say it
already feels colder then it was in Idaho. I am freezing my butt off.







Monday, December 2, 2013

Elder Mayans 12-2-2013


12-2-2013

Hello, Hello, Hello!!!

It is so amazing to hear about all the things that have happened this
week and the pictures are amazing. So, the baptism was amazing?! That
is so good to hear! I have been thinking about it all week. I wish I
was there but it sounds like everything went perfect. Also, from the
pictures it looked like there were a lot of people at the house for
Thanksgiving! haha My thanksgiving was very interesting this year.

So about the week. This week went by very slow but now looking back it
was a really good and humbling week. It has been awesome serving with
Elder Degraw and the Sisters in Craiova. Elder Degraw and I are really
different but we get along well. I have been extremely lucky with my
companions so far. They have all been really good elders.

So, this week was transfers but since Elder Degraw and I were already
in Craiova we didn’t have to go down to Bucuresti which was nice. We
spent a lot of time Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday cleaning out the
other apartment and getting it ready for the sisters. That apartment
was so disgusting from 10 years of elders living there. It wasn’t very
fun cleaning but we made it look a lot better. So Wednesday night we
picked up the sisters from the train station and showed them
around/took them to their apartment. It’s a pretty big deal to have
sister here because Craiova is one of the only cities in the mission
that has never had sisters.

Thursday as you know was Thanksgiving!!! We didn’t have very much
planned except for contacting and advertising for English classes.
That night we were able to watch a movie and celebrate Thankgiving a
little bit!! But we lost a lot of time because the Sisters got locked
out of their apartment and we had to help them with that. It’s really
different being with sisters if you haven't noticed. They need help on
a LOT of things and you just need to have patience with them. haha but they are still awesome. Also on Thursday I had my first district meeting as
a district leader. It was really weird to lead it and to feel like
everyone is looking at me. haha It went really well though. I’m excited
for this transfer and it’s awesome because my whole district is pretty
young. Sora Ralls, Elder Degraw and I are in our fifth transfer and
Sora Smith is in her third.

Friday was another slow day but we had Friday night activity. For the
first half hour nobody showed up but they we had a lady come and she
brought two friends who were pretty young. We had a little spiritual
thought and then made Christmas snowflakes with plates. They loved it!
haha they were really nice people and we got both of their numbers. We
are going to try to meet up with them this week and talk to them more
about the church.

On Saturday we did a lot of english contacting and also we got invited
to the Spooners house for dinner!! It was the first time I have been
over there. Their apartment is amazing! It’s like America. They live in
the Ford Block so the whole thing is owned by FORD.  haha It was
really nice of them to have us over and Sora Spooner had ranch dip
from America!! I miss ranch.

Sunday was also a great day. We had a very lonely but spiritual fast
and testimony meeting. After we went block knocking which is always an
experience. We talked to a lot of people but nobody was really
interested. Some guy yelled at us for knocking on the door at this
hour of the day. It was 1 in the afternoon. haha He wasn’t very happy.

Other than that, that’s about it. I’m loving it out here and everyday is
another new experience or situation that I have to accomplish. I’m
exhausted by the end of the day but I love it. I love you all and I’ll
talk to you next week.

This coming week I will be going to Bucuresti on Thursday for zone
conference/Christmas party! Also I will be having an exchange with the
Zone leaders on Wednesday. Love you all! Have a great week.

Love, Elder Mayans


P.S. I got my Christmas package from the ward this week. Seriously
made me so happy. Thank you for all the stuff that you sent me. I
watched the video that Sister Neilson recorded and I was laughing so
hard the whole time. I love my Ward! Thanks again.