Mission life in Cluj, Romania

8-22-14

MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a very busy day you guys had this week with school starting and a lot of work. It’s good to hear all of you stories and everything that’s going on back at home. It sounds like everyone is going pretty good.

Well things are going great for me. I’m just livin the good life out here in Cluj-Napoca and I can’t be any happier. Its been an extremely long week but also filled with a lot of things. Elder Busche and I are loving each other and I haven’t been this busy in a long time.

So last Monday night we went to another Universitatea Cluj futbol game for P-day. I love watching soccer and even though its only college soccer they’re pretty good and it’s a lot of fun.

Tuesday we had English start up which I love. It’s fun to teach and meet new people. We don’t have a lot of students but we have a few new younger students so that makes it fun. We are teaching beginners this transfer too so that’s nice. The people going to beginner classes are always a lot nicer and more friendly.

Wednesday we had a long day all the way to Sibiu. Sibiu is a city about 3 hours away where we had Zone training meeting. So all the missionaries from Sibiu, Brasov, and Cluj were there. We talked about some new things we are going to be trying to do as well and talking about how everything has been going. It was a good meeting and a lot of good presentations. I realized when I was there that I was the oldest missionary in my zone!!! What the heck!!! I couldn’t believe it. It’s really weird to think about. I don’t feel old but I guess I’m getting there. Wednesday night we had a long drive back to Cluj. I was singing some random song before we got on the bus and this guy turned around and said what is that song. And I was like I don’t know just like a general popular song and he was like oh yeah?!? And you’re wearing a badge that says Jesus Christ on it? Then he started screaming at me to get out of his conutry and that I’m going to go to hell. ha Yeah it was a little crazy but I was just like ok...

Thursday we had district meeting. We also had a lesson planned with our man Daniel but he didn’t show up and then ignored our call. That kinda stank but he actually came to church this week. He was a little rude with some of the members but we are still trying to work with him and we’re not giving up yet. Also on Thursday we had a district fast because Cluj has been extremely slow recently. Well that fast definitely worked and we saw a little miracle. So that very same day we got a call referral from another missionary. So there was this Romanian man who had been living in England for the past few years. He ended up running into the missionaries over there and got baptized. Well just last week he moved back to Romania for the summer in a city called Turda which is about 20 minutes from here. Since he has been here his mom and a few of her friends are really interested in the church that her son joined!!! So long story short, We are going to have a very exciting lesson with his mom and some other friends this Wednesday!! I talked to him a few days ago and he was really excited to hear from us and is looking forward to us teaching his mom. So pray that she is receptive to the message because she has a lot of potential!! I’ll tell you how it goes next week!

Friday we did some service with some members and then that night we did a member visit at Familia Condurachis house. They are a great old couple in our branch and know a lot of things. We had a really good lesson with them about revelation and it was the first time I’ve been over to their house so it was nice to get to know them more. They like to talk very fast so my companian was a little lost. ha He’s learning though and is doing really good. I remember when I was in those awkward situations when I couldn’t say anything. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Saturday we had English class which went well. Well I’m getting kicked off the internet right now so I can’t write anymore. The Church is true and I love it so much. I love you all and I hope that everyone is going great!! I miss you all and have a fantastic week!! Love you guys!

Beautiful city of Cluj!!!

8-18-2014

Hey everyone!!!

You lost Chester!!!!!! Oh my gosh I was so scared when I was reading that story. I though it was going to end bad!!! I’m very happy that he is OK and spent a night in another house. haha Chester does whatever he wants!! Tell him I miss him sooo much. As you can see by the picture I sent today, I am meeting a lot of Chesters friends from Europe. I pet a lot of dogs every day but they are never as good as my Chester.

So this week was another GREAT week!!! I am loving it out here. Everything has just been perfect. I could stay here in Cluj for the rest of my mission and I would be happy! Also Elder Busche and I have been having so much fun together!!! He’s a great guy and I’m sure he’s loving it too. We’re super excited to be together and we have been having a lot of success too.

So last Tuesday we had another lesson with Daniel our investigator. He’s a great guy and we have high hopes for him. He doesn’t like too much infomation at one time so our lessons have slowed down in pace and they are more broken down. He loves the missionaries and is really grateful for us so we are happy. He is progressing right now and reading the Book of Mormon.

This is the last week before English class starts so during our open hours we have been talking to a lot of people on the streets. Its been a lot of fun and we are thinking that our English class is going to be massive this transfer.

Also this week it was Domonics birthday so he invited us over to celebrate. We had a few members come with us and it was a lot of fun in his tiny apartment. It was good to support him though because I don’t think he has a lot of family and friends around. We also did some service at the church with the members by pulling weeds and cleaning up the building.

On Sunday yesterday we had a great Sacrament Meeting. We had a few families out of town so it was a little smaller. I had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting on a short notice which is always fun. I think I did a pretty good job. It was about 20 minutes long which I really don’t know how I did but its in the past now. haha I talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and how it can bring us close to Christ.

Tonight for P day we are going to a Cluj vs. Brasov soccer game!! We are super excited. Soccer is so big here it’s cool to see the whole city talk about it.  ha

Love you all. Hope everyone had a great week!! Stay safe. I miss you all!

Elder Mayans

Sorry I forgot to respond to the story about Abuela!!!! That’s crazy!! haha I can just imagine right now Tia driving and screaming out the window. haha I’m glad everything is ok and im sure that cop was a little confused with all the |Cubans screaming. haha

oh also this week we have zone training meeting in Sibiu!!! Sibiu is one the the prettiest cities and I haven’t been there yet so I’m really excited about it!! It should be a good trip. I’m also giving another little presentation so we will see how I do. haha They always pick on me to do things!

Well I love you MOM and Dad.

Elder Mayans

7-21-2014

Hello Family and friends!! It’s been a wild week with a lot going on so hopefully I remember everything in my e-mail today. I don’t know if I will though. We went on a really awesome but really long hike today so I’m pretty wiped out now. I’ll send some pictures of it don’t you worry. 

So to start of I’ll talk about the conference that I mentioned I was going to last week. The conference was held in Brasov which is another beautiful city with really tall mountains that surround it. Cluj, the city I’m serving in right now is about 7 hours away so it took a long time round trip. We left Tuesday and got back Thursday. On the way back we took a sleeper train through the night. My body does not do well with those sleeper trains because I woke up and could barely walk my back was hurting too bad.

At zone conference, a lot of changes were made in the mission because the new President has some new ideas and some things he wants to try. So before we were mostly doing contacting and trying to meet with as many investigators/people as possible. Now we are going to try something that they are calling the Balance which is that we focus 1/3 of our time with members and visiting them, 1/3 of our time meeting with less actives, and 1/3 of our time with investigators. It is a pretty big change but I think it is good for this mission. I think helping to strengthen the branches as they are right now will be really great and have a better relationship with members and less actives. The only thing that is a problem is that a lot of members and people we call are either too busy or don’t want to meet up with us. So we will see how everything turns out in the near future. 

This week we actually meet up with a less active, Vasile, who actually served a mission in France. He lives with a wife who isn’t a member in Cluj and is really busy with work. We went over there with a member and talked to him and shared with him a little lesson. He wasn’t too fond of going back to church but he liked us and was grateful for the visit. Other than that we have been calling soo many people and a lot of them are saying they can’t meet up. 

Church yesterday was really good. We had a full room of people and the branch is so funny with all of the little kids running around and screaming. It was also the first time I have seen a baby blessing out here. Familia Sas had a baby a few weeks ago so it was a big day for them. Then second hour, three minutes before the lesson started, someone walked up to me and said that I was teaching the lesson. haha Yeah so I didn’t have anything prepared. We go in order with the lessons so is was on Enduring to the end. It actually went pretty well I was proud of myself. 

English classes have also been really good this week. This class is a lot more talkative than before so it make it a lot easier to teach. One lady got a little mad at us because she wanted up to teach her English a certain way. It got a little out of hard because then the whole class started arguing. I eventually had to raise my voice a little and tell everyone to calm down. then I told the lady that this is a conversational English class and this is how were going to do it. ha And I guess it worked because they started listening to us after that. haha They are a little needy sometimes. 

Today we went to Turda and then on a really crazy beautiful kike through a canyon. It took all day and was really long but it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of hikers and tourists there so it was a little odd. It’s always weird to hear some Americans talking because I’m not used to people talking like that. ha That’s the most for this week. I love you all. I’m so thankful to be a missionary and serve the Lord. I’ve got about 9 months left and I’m really trying to make the very best of everyday. Have a great week everyone and enjoy the summer!!!

Elder Mayans

Elder Mayans in Romania

7-14-2014

Family!!!!!

Well I’ll tell you a little bit about my week. First off it was crazy over here because of the World Cup! Everyone was watching the games and nothing else mattered at the time. We live right next to a few really big bars so we could hear everyone screaming every time a goal was scored.

Also, this week we were able to make a member visit with the Branch President and his family! They are such an amazing family. The husband is Romanian and the wife is Polish so their common language is English. They have two young boys who speak English, polish, and Romanian but they get confused a lot so they will speak all of them mixed together. Anyways, it was a really good visit. We had a little lesson with them and then had dinner. They are one of the strongest members I know here in Romania so they are really good to talk to about ideas on what we can do to help strengthen the branch. Their two boys are obsessed with me for some reason and whenever they see me they run up and jump on me.. haha they call me "Arctic Monkey"

because they think I’m the lead singer of the band Arctic Monkies. haha They are crazy.

Yesterday we had a really good Sunday. I met out new Mission President for the first time! He was a little intimidating at first but I had a little interview with him and got to know him a little more. He’s really excited to be here in Romanian and he is convinced that Romania will have a huge turning point very soon. He told us that there are going to be a ton of changes so get ready. ha It’s good to have someone that is not afraid of trying something new. We will see how everything turns out. We have a conference down in Brasov this Wednesday so we will know what the changes are then. Brasov is about 6 hours away so that will be a nice long train ride. It leaves at 10 at night and arrives at 4 in the morning.

Well, I love you guys and its good to hear from you again. The Church is true! The Lord really does guide us to the people we need to talk to. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone about the Gospel if you’re prompted to. Love you all! Have a great rest of the week!

Elder Mayans

Cluj-napoca Romania

6-30-2014

Hey everyone!!!! I don’t really know how to start. ha I feel like I have this problem every week. ha-ha So many things went on this week and I feel like my entire mission changed again. So I’ll start on transfer day which was on my birthday last Wednesday! It was crazy to have my birthday on transfer day because it’s always just a really wild day but I actually had a lot of fun. There were a few Elders that I’m really good friends with that were down in Bucuresti so we all went out and ate at Ruby Tuesdays. ha-ha There’s nothing like having a nice American burger on your birthday. Then I finished packing up all my things and that night I went on an 11 and a half hour train ride to Clij! The train ride was a lot more fun that I expected but I still didn’t get any sleep. The four Elders is my district shared a cabin on the train which has four tiny bunks to sleep on. It felt like they were made of plywood they were so hard and of course they didn’t have the air conditioning going so it was boiling!!! I barely got any sleep and my arms hung out the window of the train so that I would suffocate. ha

So now I’m in Clij and I love it so much!!! It doesn’t even feel like I’m in Romania anymore because it’s a lot different than what I’ve been use to. The city is beautiful with really old churches and theaters everywhere. I’ll send some pictures but make sure to google search Cluj-napoca cuz my camera isn’t good enough. One big difference is that there are a lot less blocks and more houses and villas. It’s great. The people are a lot more polite and they have there own way of living here.

Oh, I also forgot to mention my new companion. I know I already said who my new companion is going to be but I didn’t really know him then. He’s a really good guy and a lot better than I was expecting. Not that I was expecting it to be bad but he’s a little interesting. The hardest thing is that I don’t understand one thing he says!! He mumbles soo much! ha It’s bad... A lot of times I just nod my head in agreement because I have no idea what he said and I’m tired of asking what every sentence is.

As for this week, I’ve been learning the city and doing a lot of English contacting. It’s been a lot of fun and Clij gets crazy at night. There have been public concerts playing in centru every night for the past 3 nights! Tonight Billy Idol is playing. ha-ha There are a lot of college students here so this city is filled with a lot of shops and bars and things like that.

And lastly, yesterday was the first time meeting the branch! It is one of the best branches I’ve been in so far. They are all really nice and have a lot of kids. ha The Branch President is really young and loves the missionaries. I’m really excited to get to know them more and work with them. During Sacrament meeting, all the new missionaries got up and introduced/bore their testimonies so I got to do that. Time really does help with the language. There is a Sister missionary in our district who has been out for 3 days so its weird to see the difference. I remember when I was in that same situation. I hated it. ha-ha Time fies though.

That’s about it for this week in summary. I love you all and thanks again for all the birthday letters and e-mails!!! Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Mayans

Dracula here I come!

6-23-14

HEYOOOO!!!

Thank you everyone for all the e-mails and for all the birthday shout outs!!!! It’s great to hear from everyone and I’m sorry if I don’t get to writing you back. I want to write all of you back but I only have so much time! I love and miss you all! Thanks for everything.

So yeah it’s my birthday this week. It’s really crazy for me because I was in Romania on my last birthday. Time really does fly fast and this past year has been one of the best years of my life! So many things have happened and it’s incredible that it was all just in one year.

It was a really good week and also the last week of the transfer. I only want to hit on a few things because they are the most important but in general a lot of things happened. So we went to Craiova this week for our last exchange of the transfer. I went on an exchange with an Elder that is only in his first transfer so it was really cool experience being with him. I also love the City of Craiova so much so it’s always good to visit. 

English classes ended this week and they were a success this transfer. The class was great and a lot of the people were interested in the gospel. I was able to talk to a lot about the church and give them the Book of Mormon. It always feels good to be able to have a good conversation with someone about the church. Most people on the streets aren’t very interested but that’s what’s so great about English class is that is shows them that we are good, normal people and it gives them time for them to be more comfortable with us. Then when we talk to them about the church they are much more open and interested in what we have to say. Hopefully those potentials will pass on to next transfer. 

Which leads perfectly into next transfer. I am now being transferred from the big city of Bucuresti to the city of Cluji!!!!!  I know you don’t know where that is but it is a great city and I am extremely lucky to serve there. Cluji is in Transylvania and is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It is one of the prettiest cities in all of Romania and there is a really strong branch there. I will be going there on Wednesday and it is about a 10 hour trip so I will be on a sleeper train for the first time. I will be serving with Elder Jarmen who I don’t know very well but it will be good to get to know him more. So yup I’m going up to where Dracula is!!! I’ll have to update you more when I get there but I heard it’s beautiful and the people are very nice. That means I will be back to a normal missionary!! Thank goodness! haha No it was fun being Zone Leader but there was just a lot of busy work that I had to do and that’s not really my style. ha Now I can just focus on talking to people and teaching our investigators the Gospel!  

The last huge thing that went on was that I participated for the first time in my entire mission three baptisms!!!! They were the investigators of the Elders in our district and it was a really good experience to see someone make the decision to be baptized. I actually went to their house (the people who got baptized) a few months ago and had dinner/a lesson with them. It was cool to see them progress and become part of the branch. They are really good people and you could tell that they were prepared and ready to make such a big step in their lives. 

Well that’s about it everyone. The next time I talk to you I will have a new mission President, President Ivory. I’m a little nervous but it will be great. I’m sure there will be a lot of new changes coming up in the near future. Thanks again for all the love and support. Much love to you coming all the way from Romania.!!!

Elder Mayans

Romanians...honestly

6-16-2014

First off Mom that’s so cool to hear about your experience with Ednas

granddaughters and also her neighbor!!!! You’ll have to tell me how it

goes!!!

I don’t have a lot of stories to tell for this week. It still was a

really good week but we also had a lot of busy work to do because we

had Zone Conference here in Bucuresti and since we are the Zone Leaders in this city we had a lot of things we had to do. We still had a lot of fun with it though and had some good experiences.

Sooooo, let’s start on Tuesday.

Tuesday we had a lot of things to do... so Elder Pouslen and I were in

charge of getting the food for Zone Conference on Wednesday. This was

the last Zone Conference that we would have with President Hill before

he goes home so of course we had to go all out. We ordered food for

about 60 people at a place called Passion which was on the edge of

Bucuresti. The President from our branch told us that he likes that

place a lot so we decided to try it out. It was amazing!!!!! Everyone

was so happy and it was by far the best meal we have had at Zone

Conference! haha President Hills a great guy so it feels good to make

him happy. haha Also at Zone Conference about 6 missionaries gave

their good bye testimonies because they go home next week. It’s always

cool to see other missionaries talk about how much they have changed

on their mission and how fast it went by. It seams like most of them

at that moment truly realize what they have been doing the past few

years and that they are actually going home.

On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Daland. We went to Sora

Gorzos house again to do some service for her. She told us that she

would call other missionaries but she doesn’t like them as much as us.

haha I love how she’s so straight forward. If people don’t like someone,

they will tell you who they don’t like. haha So yeah we were there for

a pretty good amount of time. We mostly beat her rugs outside on the

rug racks... They were so disgusting!!!!! So much hair and dirt!!!

After that she fed us some food. The meal was I would say ok but my

stomach didn’t agree so I had the runs for the next three days. I’ll be

straight farward with you just like the Romanians are with me. haha

yeah maybe its a good thing that we don’t have very many food

appointments.

Friday was filled with district meeting and sports night with the

branch. At district meeting we talked a little bit with the branch

President and we came up with a few new ideas to have the members involved in missionary work more. We are going to give them some old names from our area book to some of the members and they are going to try to contact and visit them. Elder Poulsen and I a little later had to

write up some reports for President Hill on every ones status in the zone and what would be good for next transfer.

Saturday we had a really good English class. We have a lot of fun moms

in our class that make it much more alive instead of it always being

quiet and awkward. Romanian are such funny people and we get to

experience a lot of it when we teach English because most of them open

up. Then we had a lesson with a guy named Marian. We haven’t been able

to meet up with him in over 5 weeks but he finally answered his phone

so we got to meet. We talked to him a little bit about what’s been

going on and if he was able to ever read the Book of Mormon. He

clearly said no and that he is not very interested. So we told him

that if he has any questions or wants to know more in the future to

call us. But yeah we dropped him. It’s ok, it happens.

Sunday!!! Really good Sacrament Meeting!!!! I had to translate for

Sacrament and then teach the Sunday school class. There were a lot of

people in Sunday school class so I was a little nervous. We had a lot

of solid investigators in it too. It turned out to be really good. We

talked about keeping the Sabbath day holy and a lot of the

investigators participated and had a lot of questions. Good stuff!! We

even had this one lady we never saw before raise her hand and say that

she is very happy she came to this church today and I would like to be

a member of this church if I can in the future! All of the

missionaries faces in the room were in shock. haha it was awesome and

it was funny because President and Sora Hill were in the room but had no

idea what was going on because they don’t understand Romanian. haha

That’s the week!!! I love you all and hope your getting ready for

summer!!!!! It going to start getting really hot here so I got to get

ready. haha I miss you and you’re in my prayers!

Love, Elder Mayans