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.

Jacobs weekly e-mail

11-3-2013

Familia Mea! Ce faceti voi!? Am avut una suptamana foarte bine. Am

facut multe lucrurii si am vorbit cu multi oameni.

How is everyone!! I have had a really long but amazing week!

This week I really have learned that a lot of work pays off one way or

another. For the past three weeks it has been slowly moving here and

there but nothing very exciting has happened. Elder Harris and I have

been contacting like crazy and haven’t had too many people listen to us.

So this week on Tuesday we had our first English class. I was a little

nervous because it is a new city and I didn’t know what to expect but

it turned out to be absolutely amazing!!! We had over 50 people in the

church. We didn’t even have enough chairs so people just stood in the

back. We taught a really good English class and everyone was laughing

and having a good time. We are teaching beginners this transfer so it

is a little harder in that we have to explain things in Romanian more

and the students aren’t as comfortable doing activities. We mostly just

did an English review to see where they are at and what they want to

learn. We did a little game where they would draw something they like

to do on a piece of paper and then go in from of the class and say

what they like to do. It was really funny and most people either said

gardening or cooking. haha

After English we had a little spiritual thought where we briefly

explained who we were, why we are in Romania, the importance of the

Gospel and the Book of Mormon. We kept it simple because we didn’t want to scare anybody off but they all liked the message. Some of them even came up to us after and told us that it is a beautiful message. It was

awesome and we are continuing to talk and get to know them more. I was

really happy how well the class turned out and I think that will

be our best opportunity to get some investigators or at least some

people to church.

On Thursday we had a great time on Halloween contacting haha Nobody

celebrates it here but we went did! haha sort of.. We went to a

grocery store that evening and got a bunch of candy!! The lady at the

cash register looked at us funny because all we were getting was candy.

I asked here if she knew what today was? She said no and I told her

It’s Halloween and everyone in America eats a bunch of candy today!!

haha I dont think she got it but it was pretty funny.

On Friday we went contacting a lot at the park but then had a lesson

with a man named Valeriu. I guess I can call him an investigator. He

is a really cool guy but is really hard to teach. He loves the bible

and doesn’t like to talk about anything else so at times it is

hard. He likes the Book of Mormon but just says it says the same thing as

the Bible says but just not as good. The biggest problem is that he

doesn’t like to listen and loves to talk. haha we will see if we can

get him to progress in anyway and I think we are planning on meeting

with him again this week.

Saturday we had our second English class. It wasn’t as big as the first

class but it was still very big. Because English classes are doing so

well we are coming up with a lot of really fun activities we can do

during class to keep people coming. We know we aren’t the most amazing

teachers but as long as they are learning something and enjoy coming

then that’s all we want.

On Sunday we had fast and testimony meeting. Since there were about 8

members including missionaries there, all the missionaries bore their

testimonies. It was small but it was a really good meeting. That

night we went chalk contacting at the park. We drew out the Plan of

Salvation and talked to people about it as they walked by. It was

pretty fun and something different to do.

Today is P-Day. We went down to Pitesti this morning and went paint

balling with the other district down here. It was so much fun!!! I

have some pics I can send. Over all it was a really good week. We had

a lot of fun talking to people and testifing about different

principles of the gospel. Hope all is well. Love you all.

Elder Mayans

Jacob in Romania

Family!!!!                                                      10-28-2013

How is everyone doing!!?? It was a really good week this week. It went

by really slow but a lot of things happened.

Like I mentioned last week I had Zone training meeting last week. It

was a really good meeting and my new zone is different but really

strong and big. Well, big compared to other zones in the mission.

So, this week Craiova has been crazy. Every year on the last week of

October, Craiova does a huge festival. It is really cool so see the

culture of the people. There have been a lot of concerts going on as

well as a lot of people on the streets selling things. The city is a

lot more alive which has been really nice for us because there are

a lot more people around to talk to.

We made a sign for English class and have been walking around with it. It’s a little weird but it has been a huge success. We have had a

lot of people run up to us and talk to us about it. Sometimes it’s not

as good because they are drunk, but it’s ok. We talked to one guy for

about a half hour. He was a really big talker but it was really cool

to get to know him and talk about our church. It was a really good

opportunity to testify about Jesus Christ and the gospel. It was also

really cool because it was probably one of the first times when I

understood everything that someone said. Haha

On Saturday we had a Halloween party. It was so much fun and we had a

few old English students/ previous investigators. It was really fun

and just played games and carved pumpkins. I was able to meet a few

really awesome people and one of them said I could come and visit him

at his house anytime!! We are taking that up and we will try to visit

him this week. We also had a guy named Valrieu come. He knows a

lot of things about the bible and is smart but a little wild. haha we

set up an appointment with him this Thursday so we will see how that

goes.

Yesterday we had a great Sunday. We didn’t have many people show up but

the spirit was really strong and I learned a lot. I also gave a talk

in Sacrament meeting on service and charity. It went really well and I

said what I wanted to say. That night we went to Family Retelescu

house. They wanted us to come over and get to know us more. They

talked to us a lot and were so excited when I said I was half Cuban. They asked a lot of questions. We left them with a spiritual

thought which went really good.

Tomorrow we start English classes!! I’m so excited and I hope it goes

well. I am teaching the beginner class this week so it should be fun.

I love you all. Sounds like it was a fun week. That picture of Chester

is amazing. I laughed so hard. The church is true and the work is

moving forward. I love being a missionary. The crazy thing is I hit my

6th month mark this week. Its gone by so fast.

Elder Mayans

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