Week 14!!

Mom and Dad!

Dang I'm sad I didn't get to see Aunt Amanda and her kids.. you told I love 'em, right?? Do Jonah and Evie remember when I visited them? That sounds like a nice service. I don't think it'll feel real until I'm home and see the void. I think I know what cemetery you're talking about, it's really heavily wooded and lovely? I've seen some AWesome ones out here. like, cemeteries that are thousands of years old and really beautiful. But apparently I'm creepy for liking that kinda thing so I haven't been able to explore any. 

That's way cool about the missionary announcement! I think Romania could benefit the most from that kinda thing, but we're seriously like the most forgotten mission in the world, so it's probably not going to happen here. haha, but everything they announced is what I've been saying since i got in the field. I'm kinda surprised but I think it's such a good plan!

Thank you so much! I really liked those quotes, and I really liked those insights about Christ dad. I learned some really cool things this week, actually specifically from the Romanian translations of the book of mormon, that shed better light on some subjects than what english can do. But I think I'll make you wait for those.. ;)

One of the Romanian Dishes I cook the most is mamaliga. because it's dirt cheap. it's seriously just boiled cornmeal, but I can make a really good dish with it, just by adding eggs sugar and a little bit of cocoa.

Tastes like brownie batter, it's actually really good for you, and it costs a couple cents! my favorite Romanian dish is probably saramali. it's just pork seasoned really uniquely wrapped in cabbage or grape leaves. it's reAlly good and i've got a recipe! I think I'm a bigger fan of turkish food though. Constanta was part of the ottaman empire for a long time so there are a lot of turks here, and they make the best danishes, sandwiches and wraps- that kind of thing.

Elder Cobabe and I are getting along pretty good. to be honest- I think we'll be really good friends later on in the mission, but things are a tad shaky right now just because of the whole training thing. I want a good teacher and a patient person, he wants a perfect missionary fluent in the language to keep him motivated. So it's a little weird, but he's a good person and I really like the guy. And yes, I've been able to cook him meals, and do the dishes and serve him in different ways. I'm trying! 

This week I've seen some big changes in my desires. Like, I kinda decided to just drop everything and try to love contacting. I'm actually really starting to like english contacting. It's a good time to practice the language, and I've met a lot of cool people from it. there's also a lot less pressure than gospel contacting and this is were we find all our investigators. our next english session starts tomorrow, and we've got some pretty good expectations. we've perfected the recipe for a perfect english class here and Cobabe and i have had to present at the last two zone training meetings because of that. But it's getting easier, that's all i'm trying to say. last week was kind of a down email, but as I'm really putting an effort in to overcome my fears I'm really wanting to be on a mission, weird- right?

I got to speak in church yesterday! That was fun.. I taught about how the book of mormon answers questions to the soul and it was a lot of fun to study up on. I got up there and talked for 15 minutes in a language I didn't know existed 5 months ago. pretty cool, right? I was even told that my Romanian was understandable! haha. but it's cool to hit marks like that and see how far I've come. I'm almost done with the book of jacob now (I also read mosiah before starting 1 nephi) so, I've been reading a lot of that aloud and that's really been helping.

Right now I'm at the place I skyped yall at! There's some holiday or something today, Isaac's birthday i guess. So the libraries closed so I find myself again surrounded by romanian gamers. different than american gamers.

 Love ya both so much! have fun at camp dad! have fun with the girls mom! 

Week 12!!

Here ends my first transfer! Transfer boards just came out on Friday, and I get to stay another transfer in Constanța! So far it's been a "dating district with parental supervision", meaning we've had a set of elders, a set of sisters, and a senior couple. We just found out that the Powels are moving to Brașov :'( , and we're getting another set of Elders here. It's now a 6 man city! Elder Cobabe and I are still companions, so he gets to finish training me. ooh.. I don't really know what else to report.. It's been a really good week though! 

I've got to give a talk in church this month. 10 minutes in Romanian! The thing is, I only know 5 minutes worth of words, so I'm planning on just spouting off every word I know and then I'll start over.  

We don't really have much planned for this next week. Tomorrow we're heading up to București to pick up my visa, get back Wednesday night, and then the rest of the week will be devoted to getting the new elders situated and Contacting for English. They're living with us until they can find a place so let's hope they're cool!

Love you all!

"This is the coast I run on. We live just past that farthest ridge, and it is a beautiful run" 

"That's overlooking a small part of Centru"

Week 11!!!!

This is the last week of my first transfer! I'm just barely starting and I've already completed 1/8th of my mission! This last week has been really chill. A lot of it was spent just getting the Vilă all sorted and cleaned out and getting it ready to be used for church. The closets are packed with clothes and weird things missionaries bought and have left behind over the years.

It has been raining almost every day for the last week! I have no Idea how long my shoes are going to last, wading through puddles everywhere I go. I'm loving it though. I love the thunderstorms, and it definitely feels like home- and I can picture running around the grass after a day of gardening.

ooh.. funny stories of the week.. welp. I was contacting in the park with a member, we were just walking around trying to talk to people. No one wanted to stop, so I just decided to hand out some English cards to people already sitting (a little less weird than trying to preach in a place that's almost strictly orthodox) So I walked up to two girls just sitting on a bridge, trying to be smooth, and in very broken romanian, basically said "Yo! what's up? I can teach you a thing or two about Romanian, if you want" They had me repeat myself several times before I realized that they were being invited to a Romanian class that didn't exist, by a person who very obviously spoke near no Romanian. Kinda funny, I can make people laugh without even trying! ...

We had a lot of fun last night. Missionaries here aren't fed by members very often, but there's a Sora Mihaela here that has already made us three meals! We went there last night to kinda show them how to run an FHE, and she makes tHe best traditional Romanian food. we had Mamăligă cu Brânză de oaia. (Sheep cheese) mamaliga is a staple here. it's just cornmeal boiled in water and either salted or sugared, usually eaten with cheese. It's really similar to cream of wheat and I have it almost every day. Then we just had cucumbers and potatoes seasoned with dill, (EvErything is seasoned with dill here). Then for dessert we had Clitită, basically like a corn based pancake with jelly or honey in the middle, then we passed around a jar of honey and ate it with spoons. I am going to make you all so much Romanian food when I come home, it's good stuff.

Not much else to report! It's been a really laid back week, and by my next email I'll have all the transfer updates! Constanța is getting another set of elders and we're getting 13 new missionaries this transfer (That's a big deal here, I think we have less than 70 missionaries right now.) The language is coming along! I still don't understand most of what's being said yet, but I'm improving fast enough to be able to recognize my increase. I've been reading out of Cartea lui Mormon every free moment I have. I'm determined to at least have decent pronunciation and reading skills, that way if I never become fluent, I'll at least be able to pretend every once in a while.

I think that's it for this week! Love you all!

Peace.

This is me and my mink. bein' gangster (cause that's what minks do!) at sora mihaela's house. gotta go! love ya.