Jacob in Romania this week

10-14-2013

Before I write you guys, I’ll answer your questions.

So first off, living in another country, especially Romania, is so

different. I have come to realize that the Romania mission is very

different from other missions. Yes, we still have the same purpose of

sharing the Gospel, but even from reading Will and Ryans emails, its

really different. Because of such a low success rate, contacting 8

hours a day is kinda pointless now. We still contact a lot but

President has now told us to do other things. Things that don’t even

sound like missionary work but can provide us with different

opportunities to share a message. For example, this week we went to a

basketball court and played basketball and when ever people passed by

we would invite them to play with us. Then if they did we could tell

them who we were and it makes it a lot less threatening.

But to answer your question, yes it makes me appreciate home a lot

more but at the same time I love the culture over here. Everyone kinda

does what they want and minds their own business. It’s cool to see how

they communicate with each other. The hardest thing is that we can’t ask

anybody to do anything for us because they have no money to spend.

Even church activities that are put on around the country are too

expensive. The church gives them some money to help them but it’s still

not enough. My testimony has definitely changed in different ways. It

has made me realize that no matter who they are they deserve to hear

the gospel. It has given me the opportunity to love the people of Romania.

So to start off with some big news!!! Transfer boards came out last

Saturday and something is happening to me. I am now leaving the city

of Galati and going to Craiova. Craiova is more on the south west part

of the country. My new companion will be Elder Harris. I have never

heard of him and not too many people know him. He is younger than I am so I will now be the Senior companion. I don’t know what to expect because it’s a new city and a new companion but I’m excited and it should be great.

This week, Elder Whitehead and I have done a few things. We did a lot

of contacting and block knocking. While contacting on Friday, we had

two girls invite us to go to a club with them. They really wanted us

to go with them and we laughed and told them we can’t do that. Haha.  We

also got a few numbers and passed out a Book of Mormon. We have tried

to contact them but they will not answer us now. A little frustrating

but that’s the way it is. Block knocking was a no success, we only got

into one block this week, all the others the people wouldn't even let

us in.

Also, Elder Whitehead and I were walking back out of the block, on I think

Friday and a big car accident happened right next to us when we were

on the sidewalk. It was crazy because it was so close but we were

right there to help out. We pushed both of the cars from the middle of

the street to the curb. One of the guys had a bloody face but was ok.

That was our little service for the day.

Yesterday was my last Sunday in Galati. It was fast and testimony

meeting so I got up and gave what they call my dying testimony. It was

hard to say good by to the members because I have known them for quite

some time. They all said I need to come back to Galati in the future.

That’s about it for this week. I love you all so much and as you can

see I’m busy but doing great. I love being a missionary and serving the

Lord. I will update you on everything that happens next week.

Elder Mayans

P.S. That is awesome about Abuelo. 

. Tell him I love you for me.

Jacob this week!!!

Hello Family!!!

It has been a fabulous week here in Romania. So many things have
happened this week that i dont know where. First off i will start with
my new companian Elder Whitehead. This was our afficial first week
together and it was really fun. he is a really funny guy and is always
cracking jokes. Hes one of those people that you can never have
nothing to talk about with because he always has random questions up
his sleeve. He knows a lot about Romanian and is really good at
explaining things so I think im going to learn a lot from him when it
comes to the language. Also hes a great missionary and he has taught
me a lot of things already.

Zone Conference (Tuesday-Friday)
So, going to zone conference in Moldova, we headed up to Iaşi in
Tuesday. We took a maxi-taxi up there but the only one that was
available was a detour one so instead of it being 4 hours to Iasi it
was 6. I love maxi-taxi rides for some reason. It is something I will
probably never do  again in my life. Its just a little bus with a
crazy romanian driver and it feels like you are going to die every
time. haha its great. So we got to Iasi late on tuesday and then early
Wednesday morning we got on another maxi-taxi with our entire Iasi
Zone (which is all missionaries in Iasi, Galati, and Bacau: I think
its about 12 missionaries) up to Chişinau, Moldova!! The ride up there
was crazy as well and they searched us at the border. It felt really
weird to move countries just for a meeting. I dont think too many
missions do that. haha So All Wednesday we had zone conference. It is
a really long day because you are sitting down the whole time but it
was still amazing. A lot of things that were stated at zone conference
were said in General Conference about the work hastening. I also gave
another 15 minute presentation during the first meeting. I didnt have
very much timw to prepare but I think i did a pretty good job. i
talked about the Brother of jared in Ether. It was mostly on
excersizing our faith. The brother of Jared showed tremendous faith to
the lord and the veil was uncovered because the Lord could not hold
himself back. Thats one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon.
After conference we went to a hotel. I felt like i was living in a
communist grandmothers house. It just smelled like Russia. haha The
next day our maxi back down to Iasi didnt leave till 3 in the
afternoon so we went around and got some stuff up there. Everything is
dirt cheep so I got a really warm Russian Catchula fox fur Hat (as you
can see in the pictures), A Russian Doll, and a communist flask. (
just for water ofcourse. ha) Then we went beck to Iasi, spent the
night, and then headed home to Galati in  the morning. We were sll
dead tired once we finally made it back.


So the weather has gotten a lot colder so a lot less people are on the
streets. Elder Whitehead and I went block knocking for the first time
on Saturday. We went into a block and knocked on every door asking to
share a message about the gospel or give them a pass along card. Block
knocking isnt very effective but sometimes its the only thing we can
do. We didnt have any success but we talked to a few interesting
people. Saturday and Sunday we watched Conference. I saw a few of them
in Romanian but most in English so that was nice. I really enjoyed
conference. I think Elder Ballard quoted Clayton Christensen during
conference. Pretty cool.


Thats about it for this week. I love you all and thank you for all
your letters and support.

Elder Mayans

Rough week

Hello!!!!!!                                             9-30-2013

So this week has been absolutely insane!!! Literally everything has

changed. So, I don’t really know the best way of

saying this but here it goes. So my companion has been

home since Saturday. And when I say home I mean he went back to

America! Earlier this week something snapped in his brain and he just

wanted to leave. From what I got out of it, he had some personal

issues he never cleared up but also he just wanted to go home.

President is really nice and understanding and for most situations

he would let you clear up any issues all out here. But obviously there was more than that. So yeah crazy stuff. Honestly I knew that there was something up because all transfer something just didn't feel right. I couldn't figure it out but I guess I know now.

I now have a new companion. His name is Elder Whitehead and he is

sick (meaning awesome). I’m super excited to be with him and it should be a lot of fun.

Elder Mayans

addendum

 So we had district conference last week and then we

went back on Monday. Then because of the situation with my companion we

had to go right back down to Bucuresti on Thursday morning. Down

there, I mostly was with the assistants and my new companion. I just

spent a lot of time in the mission office and also helping Elder

Whitehead pack. Oh, also, the assistants and President and Sora Hill

went on a plane to Arad for zone conference and I drove them to the

airport!!! haha. It was so weird!!!! It was flipped around and I was

the one saying good-bye to President. It felt weird but it was

cool to spend some time with them.

So my new companion is awesome!!! He’s been on the mission for a little

less than a year. He is really tall….about 6'5 and he is from

Colorado. He likes a lot of the same stuff as I do and he is really

funny. I’m looking forward to everything and it should be much easier.

So this week we are going to Moldova for Zone conference!!!!!!!! I’m so

excited. Actually we are leaving tomorrow!!!! I am giving another

presentation. haha they keep picking me!! I have done something every

single conference! ha It’s ok though, it helps me learn more about

different things. Love you guys. Thanks for everything. Sorry this

week was kinda lame. I’ll talk to you next week. Love you all.

Elder Mayans

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

Jacob in Romania 9-16-2013

Hello!!!                                             9-16-2103

Hello again. Another week has passed by and things are going great.

This week has been filled with a lot of English contacting and Book of

Mormon contacting. It has been really slow lately because it has been

raining off and on over the week and nobody is out. Also, school

started up this week so most people were out of town before school

started. We have been doing most of our contacting as a district and

just trying to get the word out as much a possible.

Also, I mentioned last week that I was going up to Iasi for Zone

Training meeting. It went very well and our Zone leaders are a lot

better this transfer. We made a lot of great goals to help us work

hard this transfer. On top of that, President is changing the "Key

Indicators" so that we will now record the number of Book of Mormons we passed out and also our prosilyting hours. This mission is really hard in terms of numbers because most weeks, everything is a zero. S0, now nobody will have all zeros anymore and It will help us see how much we are doing.

On top of all the things we have been doing this transfer is a lot of

meetings. We have had  to travel somewhere once every week this transfer. We have District Conference next week and then Zone conference in Moldova the following week, and then watching General Conference which we don't know where we are going yet. It’s going to be hard trying to organize ourselves when we are doing so many different things but it should be fun.

So about Edward. Edward is doing great but it has slowed down a little

bit because it’s a lot harder to contact him. This last Sunday was

pouring rain so only about 10 people showed up to church. Edward showed up for the last hour. That was great to see and after church I talked to him and told him that we would really like to teach him a little bit

more about our church because he come to church all the time and seems to enjoy being there. So I asked if we could meet with him and he said

that school is really in the way now and he will try to come to

english classes. So, I’m hoping that maybe we will be able to have a

little lesson with him after english this week. I think he needs it

all laid out on the table and if it goes well we might even extend a

baptismal commitment.

Speaking of church, church has been crazy lately!! It is really hard

with all new leaders but we manage. I am now officially the branch

clerk and take care of most of the paper work. This transfer has

tested me a lot on my Romanian because a lot of the members have

questions and you have to say something back to them. haha Also, Elder

Poulsen who is the new Branch President has only been out for a little

less than a year so the language is still hard. But we are trying the

best we can and I would say it’s going pretty well.

I love being a missionary. I am so happy out here and I love my Savior

so much. I love being a member of this Church and the happiness it

gives me. I would be so confused and lost in the world if I didn't

have the guidance and direction it gives me. I love you all so much. I

miss you and hope all is well.

P.S- On a side note I haven't been mentioning anything funny or

interesting about Romania, soooo...

-Everyone loves to ride around town on roller blades.

-There was a bush on fire last week at night and nobody was around

it... we put it out but it was really weird because it was right next

to a bunch of bushes and trees.. that could have been bad.

-This drunk man on the street walked up to me and started talking to

me. I couldn't understand most of things he was saying but he tried to

trade ties with me and steal my pen.. haha

- There have been a lot of concerts going on in the streets because

everyone is partying before schools starts up again.

Another installment in the Life of a Romanian Missionary

Hello my beautiful Family!!!

Before I start on what I did this past week I want to write back to everything that you guys have been telling me.. Well, I guess that’sjust mom. But anyways it sounds like it was a really busy week with the summer ending and school starting. I can’t believe Sarah is now going to Travis Ranch! Still remember when I went there and it doesn't feel like that long ago. And it was Sarah’s Birthday!!!

SARAHS SPECIAL BIRTHDAY PARAGRAPH!!!!

SARAH!!! I can’t believe you are 11 years old!! That is crazy. When I come you will be almost be 13 and probably taller than me! I hope you had a great birthday and got all the things you wanted. And if you didn’t there is always Christmas. I heard you went to Sea World and also had ribs and potatoes! Good choice. I want to know that you are the best sister ever. I love you so much and I miss you. Sorry I didn’t send you a birthday present. I tried but it is really hard to send things. I hope you have fun going to Travis ranch and being a big Junior High Student! Love you, bye

As for this week it has been filled with some crazy stuff. President wrote me this week and said that he put me with a young missionary because he thinks I can handle it and says I will learn a lot from struggling. Ha-ha President Hill is amazing and I feel like he is trying to help me as much as possible but I thought it was funny that he said I would struggle for sure this transfer. Elder Anderson came in last Wednesday night so we have been with each other for about 5 days. The first few days, no matter what, always take a little getting use to. Elder Anderson is a funny guy from somewhere in Utah. He’s really energetic and loves to stay busy. This week I have gotten the vibe that he is still in a back home state of mind and isn't always focused on what is important. It makes it a little hard sometimes but I really am excited to work with him and learn from each other. We have also been making great food together. 

So this week Anderson and I have done a lot of walking around the streets to show him the city while talking to people/giving out English cards. English classes start on the 17 so we need to get as many as we can out there as possible. Last night we went to a park a little outside of where we usually are on the main roads to pass out some English cards. I passed out a card to this one guy with his daughter and then all of the sudden 7 gypsy kids started running up to me and asking for money or what ever I was giving out. They were super annoying so I gave one of them one which was a huge mistake. Then they all wanted one so we started to walk away. Most of them didn’t follow us out but a few of them kept crying, screaming, begging and punching us for about a quarter of a mile. I had enough of them so I told them all to leave and stop following us. It worked and it actually surprised me that I could get mad at someone while speaking Romanian. Through all of it, Elder Anderson just stood there and did nothing. Ha-ha Yeah, that was a little out of the ordinary thing that happened. 

On Sunday, church ran fairly smoothly. It was the first Sunday with a new branch President (Elder Poulsen) and new missionaries so we tried to function everything as best as we could. One of our members, Fratele Dumitrescu, told us in Priesthood that he saw Jesus Christ outside his window. We still aren't to sure about a few of the members but when he said that, Poulsen and I looked at each other and where like what?  I also gave another talk during Sacrament meeting. I spoke on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and on the blessings that come from using the Atonement in our lives. It was a pretty straightforward talk but I felt like I did a good job. I have really seen my language skills improve from first transfer. 

So this next week we are going up to Iasi for zone training meeting again. I have to give another presentation about contacting with the Book of Mormon/different approaches. It should be good and we will also be making new goals that we can strive to accomplish this transfer. Edward and Bianca went to the Black Sea for about 5 days so we will see if we can meet up with them some more when they get back. We have stayed in contact with them and I am feeling good about their progression. 

Well, I love you all. Thank you for all that you do. I can never stop saying that I love to be a missionary. It’s a lot of fun and I feel like I am getting closer and closer to my Heavenly Father every single day. Have a great week and stay safe. 

Elder Mayans

P.S.- There is a pretty big riot over here right now. In Russia they are doing a lot of strip mining which basically means that they are destroying mountains and because the Romanian government doesn’t really care, they are planning on going into Romania and doing the same thing. A lot of people are protesting and it gets crazy at times. I’ll send some pictures. 

Family

Mom- yes I got the package and it is wonderful!!!!! 

Sarah- Happy Birthday again!!! Ha-ha

Dad- I haven't heard from you in a while. How’s work going? And Louie? 

  So in Romanian a very common way a word ends is with "lui" which is pronounced "louie" so when people speak it sounds they are always talking about a guy named Louie! Ha-ha 

Chester- Love you boy. Hang in there!

Another awesome week in Romania!!!

Hey family!!!!                                    9-2-2013

It was just another great week out here in Romania. It’s starting to cool down a little and turning into fall so I'm loving it. First off, this week was transfers week and as a result I'm staying in Galati. I am getting a new companion. His name is Elder Anderson and get this, he was in my district in the MTC! So it’s just going to be 2 pretty new elders in Galati. I’m really excited and we are going to learn a lot from each other. Since we are still pretty young, we are going to have to learn because there is no senior companion. I talked to him on the phone the other day and he sounds a little worried. Ha-ha He’s a super chill guy and I'm not worried about us at all. As for the rest of my district, Elder Ward is going to Iaşi and Elder Cunningham is going to Bucharest. Elder Ward will now be my Zone Leader so I I'm looking forward to that.

So a few things happened this week. First off, we had our last English class on Saturday. Everyone decided they wanted to watch Hotel Transylvania in English with Romanian subtitles. That movie is so funny and everyone in the class got a kick out of it. Unlike last transfer with only one English student, it was a lot harder to say goodbye to them because it was a really good class and they all liked us. I feel like we really helped them understand who we are and what we represent. Hopefully some of them will come back in the near future and want to learn more.

Also this week we visited the Prada Family. They served us dinner ( Ardei îm Pluţi), which is basically stuffed peppers filled with meat and other things. They were super good. The Prada's are pretty funny people. They are old Romanians who just sit in their house all day. Brother Prada is obsessed with reading all the Ensigns so he is always quoting things from different prophets. They are really down to earth and we had a good conversation with them. 

This week for FHE We had two members show up. We ended up just eating ice-cream and talking. 

As for missionary work, Edward and Bianca are still improving. They went to church yesterday, which makes that 2 weeks in a row. They are one of the reasons I am super excited to stay so that I can still stay in contact with them. I really feel like they will be baptized in the near future. They are still pretty young so we will have to contact their parents and see if it will be ok. 

 Also this week we met a guy on the street named George. He is Australian so he always speaks English. I wouldn't say he’s an investigator because our first encounter with him was him making fun of us. Ha-ha But we actually met up with him a few days ago and talked a lot about the gospel. His whole family is atheist and he has never really looked into any type of religion so he was surprised about a lot of the things we told him. If nothing comes out of it, at least we set him straight about what we believe. He thinks we are cool guys so hopefully he sees that we are normal people and what we are saying is true. Also George is always inviting us to hang out with girls or go out and get a beer. We have told him many times but it is just not clicking with him that we don’t do that stuff. Ha-ha 

Like I said before it felt like a good week. I feel like we did less contacting and had more success. It’s slow but there is progress. I love serving in Galati and doing all that I can to help the people here. There is no other place I’d rather be. I love this Gospel with all my heart and I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. 

Sorry I am sending this letter so late. We just had the biggest branch BBQ party show up. It was great. I will post pictures.

Love you all. 

Elder Mayans