Romania up-date

5-26-2014

Sorry you guys had a little bit of a rougher week. That’s cool that you

were able to spend some time with Scott and Liz, they’re great. Tell him

I’m still just livin the dream.

This week was a little slower than others. Nothing too big happened and

the people we had lessons for bailed on us. Just the way it is. We do

have a promising lesson this Tuesday which would be tomorrow! It’s

going to be with a less active member with 3 of his friends so if it

goes through then it will be great and we might be getting a few new

investigators. I’ll let you know

 what happens. I know I said that last week but I really do think

these people really want to meet with us so it should be great :)

So just a little recap on this week. It has been sooo, sooo hot!! I am

dying in church clothes! ha I thought I would be used to it by now but

nope, I’m not. haha It has also been raining every once in a while which

makes it really humid too. I always seem to have a beverage in my

hand. This week we continued to do a lot of English because we really

want a good turn out. Usually it’s a lot bigger near summer because

less people are in school and people have more free time. Instead of

parks we hit a lot of streets and different parts of Bucuresti.

Also on Friday after district meeting we had this 15 year old boy walk

into the church. Elder Poulsen and I attempted to walk up and talk to

him and then he just started talking about all the things he knows

about our church. It was so random and incredible. haha He talked

about the whole first vision and all of the doctrines in our church.

Then he blew my mind when he started talking to us about the Urim and

Thummim and baptism for the dead! haha This kid was 15! It was

actually really impressive and he didn’t really let us speak, he just

wanted to tell us everything he knows. After he was done we invited

him to come to our sports night and got his number so that we can

contact his parents. He also wanted a Book of Mormon so we talked

about that and gave him one of those. It was something that completely

took me by surprise and was unexpected but it was cool. I have noticed

that a lot of kids are more open and say that our church is not as bad

as everyone says it is. haha Maybe there is a big generation of a lot

of youth joining the church in Romania.

On Saturday we had a different experience as well. In the morning we

help out with a youth activity that was at the church. It was all the

youth in our district so it covered a big part of Romania. About 20

youth. It was mostly about the for strength principles and things like

that. It was really straight forward but really good and everyone was

really into it and learned from it. The Youth program here is small

but awesome and they are really strong members. I look up to them

because most of their family and friends abandon them and make fun of

them for being members. After that we played board games with all of

them and soccer.

Then the same day after the activity we went and did service at the

Church farm!!! Instead of a Bishops Warehouse, Romania has a farm here

for members who need help with food and things like that. I have never

been there before but its about a 45 minute drive outside of

Bucuresti. We went there and it was really hard work. There were a lot

of plants and weeds but we hacked at the dirt for a few hours and made

some rows to plant some vegetables. We planted some tomatoes and

peppers. I got blisters all over my hands. The best part was that we

found a few lost puppies out in the fields and played with them. ha

I’ll send some pictures of that.

Church was great on Sunday. We had to translate and also we taught the

Gospel Essentials class for the second hour. It was really good and

there were a lot of investigators there so we had a lot of really good

discussions. We talked about enduring to the end.

I’m loving it out here and having such a good time. If feels so good

and rewarding to serve the Lord 24/7. It’s a once in a life time

opportunity and it makes me so grateful for my Savior and His Gospel.

I couldn't do it without Him. Have a great week and I love you all!!!

oh and an old man called me a witch this week. haha I told him I wasn’t

Elder Mayans

Romania and a Turkish Festival

5-19-2014

Hello everyone!!!!! First off I want to give a shout out to my

family!!!! Sickest family ever and it was great to see them over skype

this week. You guys look great. My mom got all ready at 7 in the

morning just for here son. That’s dedication!! Love you guys.. And yeah

sorry I didn’t email you on Monday, I was on the computer a lot those

three days because my companion skyped home on Sunday so I just

decided to email a lot of people who I haven't been able to respond to

in a long time. But I’m still alive and I had another busy week. So it

was, as you know, transfer week this week so I got my new companion on

Wednesday. His name is Elder Poulsen and he’s super sick!!!! I served

around him a lot in Galati so I already know him pretty well but we

love each other and it should be a really successful transfer which I’m

really looking forward to!!!

We had a mission leadership council meeting on Thursday which was good

but really, really long. It was from 9 in the morning till 4! Yeah it

was hard to sit through but we got a lot of good important things

covered and a good plan for this transfer. This was actually President

and Sora Hills last MLC (Mission Leadership Council) so they got a little emotional and talked

about how great and important the things that we are doing out here

are.

Other than that we have been going to the Park Hedestrau and

contacting the whole world for English. Towards the end of last week

it started to get really hot so there have been thousands of people at

the park. It’s been fun and English contacting can always be really fun

if you have fun with it and be bold. Yesterday we were at the park and

there were so many people there that it was impossible to hand out

cards to all the people walking by so I walked right into the middle

of hundreds of people and started yelling.. Free English classes for

anyone!!!! It’s free!! No Price!!! We're Americans!!! And things like

that. I must have given out over 300 cards. It was so awesome! haha

Also there was a Turkish festival at the park for the past 3 days and

it has been really interesting to see the Turkish culture. They have

these huge markets everywhere and everyone is trying to sell you

something... one guy slapped a Turkish hat on Elder Poulsens head and

said HEY give me 15 Lei!! haha Hey it worked because he bought it.

haha We were actually able to contact a few people from Turkey and

they said they have heard of us!!! I was really surprised! They were

really nice and introduced us to all these traditional Turkish Peace

Makers!!! They were all dressed up in their traditional Turkish

dancing outfits and didn’t know English or Romanian. haha just Turkish.

They started talking to us and we were just like yeah I have no idea

what your saying. haha

Sunday was great and we had a great sacrament meeting. I had to

translate with the microphone in the back so I wasn’t able to get much

out of the speakers but it was still great. Translating is fun but

crazy because your mind is going a million miles per hour. And it

doesn’t help when they mumble or talk too fast. haha it’s definitely an

experience.

Well that’s about all the crazy things that have happened this week. I

have called all of our investigators and nobody wants to meet so I

guess we are back down to step one again. Hopefully we can find some

new people through english or just contacting on the street!! Love you

all and thanks for everything!! The Church is so true it’s not even

funny!! I love the Lord and I love being a missionary. I learn

something new everyday!!

Have a great week!!

Much love,

Elder Mayans

Short but sweet

5-5-2014

Hey guys. I’m going to keep this short because I will tell you

everything when we skype!! And this keyboard is broken so it takes a

long time.

So first off I still don’t know when I will be skyping you still :( it

could be any time. I will call sometime this week to let you know.

But I will try as hard as I can to do it on Saturday like you said.

So this week wasn't as good as last week but it still was good. The

only problem is that all the people that we are having sick lessons

with aren’t answering their phones or aren’t willing to meet again. I don’t

get it! ha anyways the main things that I did this week was going on

an exchange in Alexandria which is a tiny, tiny city about and hour and

a half outside of Bucuresti. I was with Elder Heyrand who is going

home in a week so it was cool to be with him one last time. He’s a

really cool, smart guy and I learned a lot from him throughout my

mission. That city is so small but we mostly just went to lunch to

celebrate my year mark and then contacted people around the city and

at the park.

The weather has been great here so there has been a lot of things

going on outside. We are doing a lot of family history contacting and

stuff like that. So the weather has been good until yesterday then we had a

huge storm!!! It rained so hard and there was really intense

lightening. All the streets were flooded and it was really chaotic.

And of course I didn’t have an umbrella so I was drenched. ha

On Sunday we went to Sora Gorzos house for dinner. She is a member who

LOVES the missionaries and loves it when we come over. I’ll send some

pictures. I also taught her how to say. "Whats up dogg?" ha

Well I’ll talk to all of you this week!! Love you all and thanks for everything!

The blog is up-dated

4-28-2014

Hello family!!!!

Well it’s been another week already! This week was sooo busy and a lot

of things happened. Actually looking back this might have been the

most productive week!! We had a total of 5 lessons and met a lot of

new people.

So first off on Tuesday we had English class as always. Pretty

normal. Like I said before half of the class is really old and the

other half is really awesome young students. ha It’s funny to watch

them react together and try to learn English. Oh but I forgot, so

Monday morning we went to a less active members house and it was

awesome. His name is Francis and I actually visited him with Elder

Rassmussen my 2nd day in this country. Anyways, he is the coolest guy ever

and the best way to describe him is he is a MAN! haha He has the

craziest background and has turned his life all the way around. He used

to be in a gang and was in jail in Austria for a long time. He has

scars all over his body and is really scary but is one of the nicest

people I know. ha We gave him a visit and shared a little message. He’s

going through a rough time because his mom just passed away a few

weeks ago.

Then on Wednesday we went less active finding again. We are tryng to

visit as many as we can to see if they are still living in Bucuresti

and the reason for why they aren’t going to church. Most of the time,

nobody lives at the address we have but it’s fun because we get to ask

the neighbors which usually strikes up a conversation. That evening we

had a 30/30 lesson with Levent, this guy who knows all of the

missionaries, goes to every activity, and has been around for  about 4

years. The missionaries have met with him so many times that instead

of teaching him a lesson, we basically had a discussion on why he is

not getting baptized. We were really straight forward with him and it

went well so we hope that made him think more and realize the

importance of getting baptized.

Thursday we went on another exchange, this time in Pitesti. Just like

last exchange, it poured all day. I was with Elder Witiker who is in

his 3rd transfer. It was fun to be with someone really young in the

mission for a little bit and work with him. We mostly did some family

history contacting which works pretty well.

Friday we traveled back to Bucharesti in the morning and went straight to

District meeting. I was dead tired because the trains destroy me but

the meeting was great! Our district is getting better and better and

we are working very well as a group. That evening we had a first

lesson with a guy named Romus which went so well. He’s probably about

45 years old and is really interested. He took a Book of Mormon and

said he would read the whole thing and pray about it. We can’t meet

with him for a few weeks because he’s going out of town but we are

excited for him.

Saturday we had a lesson with a guy named Marius. Get this, we got

him as a referral straight from President Hill himself. haha He met him

at a Mongolian restaurant an got his number. ha so legit. And this guy

is amazing. He’s super smart, super nice and want to ask a lot of

questions. It was great and the lesson was perfect. After the lesson

we had English.  Elder Hokkanen and I did a watered down version of

the restoration for our spiritual thought. It went ok, we think it

might have been a little too much for a spiritual though but it wasn't

bad. People definitely had questions. haha We contacted the rest of

the day and then had to do some busy work for the zone.

Sunday was district conference!!!!That meant that all the members who

could came down. It was awesome and really cool so see so many members

together. I actually missed half of the meeting because I had to be

one of the guards at the church gate. There was some rumor going on

that a group was going to " crash the mormon party that they are going

to have on Sunday". Yeah nothing happened. I was ready though. There

was a kid on his bike who stopped and took a picture of the church.

Elder Mcallister and I we ready to fight. ha  The second half was good

and and an area seventy came and talked. It was overall a really good

conference.

That’s it for this week. Love you all and miss you tons. Don’t have to

much fun without me! ha Have a great week!

Elder Mayans

Mom- hey! I don’t know exactly when I’m calling but its not for another

few weeks. I know that I’m allowed to skype or call and it doesn’t have

to be exactly on mothers day. Could be any time around it. Love you!

Easter in Romania

4-21-2014

Hey Family!!! I wanted to send you a lot of pictures but now I don’t

have that much time to write. But the pictures say a lot and it was a

very, very fun, productive week.

So first off, Happy Easter!!!! Sounds like you all got together again

and had a lot of fun. It was quite fun over here too. President Hill

gave us permission for us to go to an orthodox Easter service. The

service started at midnight and it was really interesting! ha If I can

put it like that. The picture I sent you is Patriarch Dannel who is

one of the most important people in Eastern Orthodox. We thought it

was going to be a lot different but it was just a lot of talking and

praying and people crossing themselves. They also got a candle and

from this one candle people passed is around and by the end of the

night it was all over Bucuresti. It was awesome.

So this week was full with a lot of stuff. I think it’s better if I

just go day by day and it’s easier for me

So Tuesday we had to go to an apartment that is closing down in

Bucuresti so we had to go clean it which took a long time. After that

we had a lesson with Marian. It was our second lesson with him and

went really good. He wasn't really sure about the Book of Mormon last

time so we decided to really talk about that and explain more. He asks

a lot of questions and the lesson went really well. He accepted the

Book of Mormon and said he would read it. Hopefully he really does

read it and recognizes the spirit that comes from that book. Right

after the lesson we had our first English class of the transfer! It

went really weak. Elder Hokkanen and I are teaching medium level. We

expected more people to show up but that is the way it is. Our class is

pretty much half a bunch of old grandmas and half awesome young

students. We got a few potential investigators from a few of them so

hopefully they will agree to take some lessons.

Tuesday night we headed up back to Craiova to do an exchange with the

Elders over there. So on Wednesday we had the exchange. I was with

Elder Brundage and it poured rain all day. It sucked but we went into

a few blocks and contacted. We focused on Jesus Christ and the true

meaning of Easter. We also picked out a few scriptures to read from

the Book of Mormon when we contacted them at their doors. That was

pretty cool and it is something that I haven't tried before.

Thursday we were back in Bucuresti and had interviews with President

Hill and the Assistants. That went well and I feel like everything is

going really well this transfer. That night we had an Easter Activity

open for the public. We most just sang songs and showed video clips. A

good amount of people showed up and I thought it went well.

Friday we had District meeting which was amazing like always. It’s

always good to be in a good, close district. After that we went less

active contacting for a long time. We have about 600 less active

members here in Bucuresti. haha yeah it’s a lot so we are really trying

to see if we can find them and get them back to church. Most of the

time we don’t have all their information to find them so it’s an

adventure.

Saturday we had english class again. Not many people showed up because

of Easter so we just played Apples to Apples. Great game and they all

loved it. We did less active finding again on Saturday but didn’t find

anyone. That night we went to the Orthodox Slujba which was a lot of

fun.

Yesterday for Sunday we only had one hour of church. Then we went

contacting a bunch at 3 different parks but nobody was interested.

That’s mostly it. Today for p- day we played soccer and I am so tired

right now so sorry if this email isn't the best. Love you all and the

Church is true!!! Don’t be afraid to write me. I can never get too many.

Have a great week!!!!

Elder Mayans

Elder Mayans blog

4-14-2014

 Hello everyone!!! It has been the longest week of my life. It

has gone by really slowly but I can’t complain because we got a lot of

things done. So to start off..........

Tuesday we had Zone Training meeting which was pretty good. We had the

entire zone come down and we talked about all the goals and activities

we are going to be doing this transfer. Elder Hokkanen is great but I

have noticed he likes to lead and do everything himself. It’s a little

hard to deal with but I’m still doing a lot and we had a great meeting.

On Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of the AP's, Elder

Rodenberg. It was a really fun exchange and we got to talk and try out a

lot of different things. We went to Hedestrou Park which is so

beautiful and contacted for a bit. Then we had to drive a pair of

Sisters to a lesson outside of Bucuresti and sat in on that. They were

really poor a begged a lot but the sisters taught a really good lesson

and I think it helped them a lot.

Thursday is was pouring rain all day so it was really hard to contact.

We got together as a district and played a little game of Block Knock

English contacting. It wasn't really a game, it was more who contacted

more people wins. And we lost because nobody opened up their door.

haha That night we went over to a members house. Elder Hokkanen

teaches her the piano while I sit there and talk to the husband. It

sounds a little weird but the husband isn't a member but is so cool.

We just talk about life for a long time and the church is always

brought up. I heard he really likes me which makes me happy. The

member is actually Philippine and he is Romanian. We mostly talk about

family and I guess just life in general. We went by there twice this

week which was really good.

On Friday we had District Meeting which was great as always. Elder

McAllister is a really funny guy and come up with a lot of great ideas

for our district. Our district made a lot of really big goals and it’s

going to take a lot to accomplish them. Then we walked around downtown

Bucuresti and put up posters everywhere for English. We had some girl

from Moldova follow us around for about 3 hours. She was nice and

loved to talk but it was a long time. ha

On Saturday I went on another Exchange with Elder Mcallister. We had

so much fun together and really worked hard. We get along really well

so it’s easy to do missionary work with him. We went to the park again

and just talked to a lot of people. Nothing crazy happened but people

were interested and said they would come to English class.

Yesterday was Sunday and it was soooo AMAZING!! It was the first time

meeting the branch because last week was conference. It is really

different to see a lot of members and a branch that functions on its

own. The members are great and really faithful. It was fast and

testimony meeting which was super good. I was going to get up because

it was my first Sunday but we ran out of time. I got to get use to

having 3 hours of church again. haha

SO that's my week, we are actually meeting with a guy today so we will

see how that goes. I am so busy and always exhausted but its so worth

it and a lot of fun. My sleeping time is so precious to me. I never

knew how important is was until I wasn't able to do it all the time.

ha Well I love you all. Thanks for all the love. The Church is so true

and I have a strong testimony that if you really live the gospel of

Jesus Christ, your life will be filled with joy and His love. Easter

is this week and it is a great time to really think about the Savior.

Elder Mayans

Bucharest

4-7-2014

Familia Mea!!!

It has been one off those..... crazy weeks again and I don’t know where

to start. haha I feel like my whole mission has kinda changed in the

past week and its has been awesome but a little overwhelming.

First off, I am now in the big city of Bucuresti. Its so weird to

actually live here and there are so many people. Unlike Galati and

Craiova, we actually have to use public transportation because

everything is too far. We are now taking buses and metros everywhere

which is fun. It gets really interesting when 100 people are at the

bus stop and everyone fights and pushes to get on. ha So many

different smells are on those buses I don’t want to go there. ha Our

apartment is horrible. ha not going to lie, it’s really small but I will

live. It does have a great location right next to the church which is

super convenient. Right next to the chapel which is weird to say but we

have an actual church buildings here. Its been really nice though. I am

still really lost around the city but luckily I have Elder Hokkanen

who knows where to go. For now I’m trying to memorize all the bus

numbers and routes. Elder Hokkanen is a really good guy and a hard

worker. He is Finnish which is awesome and we have a lot of

interesting conversation. I think we will get a lot done this

transfer. We have already had 2 lessons this week which is a lot more

than I usually have. haha We had a first lesson with a guy today which

was awesome. He really liked our message and wants to learn more.

Always a good sign. :)

So For this week, After traveling to Bucuresti on transfer day, I

pretty much just had to do a bunch of busy work and unpack which took a

long time.

Thursday we had a long leadership meeting at President Hills house for

about 7 hours. It was really good but I was mentally exhausted

afterwards. It was a meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister

Training Leadership and we just talked about all the things that are

going to be happening this transfer.

On Friday we went to out first district meeting with my new district.

We have 8 missionaries in our district which is double from what I had

in the past. 4 elders and 4 sisters. We have really good group and are

planning a lot of really good goals to achieve as a district. Also, we

have a zone training meeting this Tuesday which we are in charge of

for the whole zone so we have been planning a lot for that. The main

focus this transfer for the mission is The Book of Mormon, building

unity with your companion and members, and family history contacting.

On Saturday, we had really bad weather so it was hard to go contacting

but we English contacted as much as we could. Just like before we are

trying to get as many people to those english classes as we can. The

mission gets so much success form the classes that it’s really

important to take the time and advertise them. Saturday night we were

able to go to the chapel and watch a session of conference.

Yesterday, on Sunday, we were able to go to the church and watch all

the conference sessions all day. I saw most of it in Romanian but they

were so good. Those men have such a strong spirit with them and they

speak with power. I learned a lot and it was really nice to get to watch

it. I wasn’t able to watch last conference.

So yeah that’s the majority of my week. We had a lesson with the guy I

mentioned earlier today on the restoration. It went really well. Well, I

love you all and I hope everyone is doing well and had a great week.

much love- Elder Mayans