Like I said, we had transfers and Sora
Gerhartz and I (along with Elder Conover and Lake) are staying here in
Oradea. I think it's a good thing because we only were just able to get
started by the end of the first transfer, now we can actually get to
work with what we've set up!
Here is a picture of a fortress in Oradea that's shaped like a star from birds-eye view.
We were going to tour it, but it was closed. The second picture is of us standing in the fortress doorway.
On transfer day we had to go down to Bucharest to
get my visa (I'm legal now!). We went on a first-class sleeper train,
but the driver was extremely slow so what was supposed to be a 12-hour
train ride turned into 16 hours. Here is a picture of Elder Lake (left) and Elder Conover (right) on the train ride to Bucharesti for getting our visas.
Anyway, I missed seeing my whole district
from the MTC! Apparently, they were all together at the visa station
EXCEPT me because I was still hours away :( I still ran into Elder
Sookhoo, Elder Brown, and Elder Lybbert, and I even got to chat with Sora
Newell for five minutes. The others I missed seeing. Oh well, I have
many more chances to see them. Apparently, the missionaries in this mission all know each other
and are really close. I like that.
Every new missionary group on their first day in Romania goes to a hill to where Romania was dedicated as a mission and reads the dedicatory prayer. But, since my group was in a tough circumstance with losing luggage and rain and everything, our group didn't get to do that. BUT! This last transfer day, three of us were able to get together and read the dedicatory prayer. Here are Elder Lybbert, Elder Brown, and I on the place where the Romanian Mission was dedicated 20 years ago.
A lot of cool things happened this week. We've been
meeting with one woman, Mihaela, who is accepting our lessons very well.
At the end of our third lesson with her, we asked her to come to church
and she seemed a little dodgy about it. Initially we thought it was
because she was afraid of her husband finding out she was meeting with
us. She said he is "împotriva", meaning against religion. However, we
found out the real reason she is hesitant to come to church is because
she's just scared. And really, it is a scary thing going somewhere so
unfamiliar with a different culture and language. I should know, I'm in
Romania. So we asked her and she gave us a "I'll come if... if the
weather's nice," and we prayed that she'd come.
As far as Maria goes (the lady we went to
church with), we haven't talked to her since we went to church with her
and so we were wondering if she would come with us to ours or not, since she
is so attached to her church. We're thinking it's just not time for her
yet but the time we spent with her was not wasted. So, Sora Gerhartz and I prayed Saturday
evening as to what we should do about Maria.
We had decided it's close to time for dropping her as an investigator. However, I got a response from
Heavenly Father that told me if Maria were to come to church this week,
He would pour out His spirit on her and in the future she will recognize
that, that is what she's missing in her own church and want to come
back.
So guess what?
Yesterday (Sunday),
Maria, Gabriella, AND Mihaela came to church for the first time. I was
so happy to see all of them there! Not only that, but an investigator of
the Elders' came as well. Four investigators at church this Sunday,
it was so great! It was the first time in a LONG time that any
investigators came to the Oradea branch, proof that
something good is happening here!
So we have three progressing investigators now, four
other investigators, and three potentials. Our work the first transfer
has been paying off!
The other four
investigators are Kevin, the 8-year old boy we're teaching English to,
and his family. We had another lesson with them, and though we haven't
had one of the "official" lessons with them yet, they're getting more
and more interested in us. Kevin has a lot of energy and likes us a lot.
His 17-year old brother Eric knows English pretty well and seems to
have his head on straight, which isn't common in Romanian 17-year olds.
Their mom asks a lot of sincere questions, and she may be more open to
the gospel than the grandma who we initially had the lessons with, so
we'll see.
I have really been learning a lot of things about
Romania while living here that you really can't look up on the web,
either because it's hard to explain or because no one wants to. They're a
very interesting people. All of them are so faithful and are really
open about their religion. It's interesting, though, because they don't
really understand completely what faith means. It's kind of like, they
believe they know everything already, and what they believe is correct, but
incomplete and they just need the fullness of the gospel and they'll be
happy!
No one's really that happy here. It makes sense,
having just come out of communism only 20 years ago. The really sad
thing, though, is that a lot of people are content about feeling sorry
for themselves and not doing much to make the country better. We ask to
help people all of the time, but they always reject our offers. It's
like, they don't want help, they just want our pity.
We talked to a Romanian man a few weeks ago who was
moving to Florida and he spoke about these things. He mentioned how
Romanians are all about their outward appearance - which is so true.
You'll see Romanians wearing fancy clothes driving expensive cars, and
they are left with not enough money to even put bread on the table. It's
so sad, and it makes me want to work even harder to bring light into
this country!
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a lot of
really great people here, too. We waited for forty minutes one day for
the tram because it was broken, and the old woman we were talking to
left us with her departing message, "Deci, în sfârşitul, tramvai a
venit." (Well, in the end, the tram came). So that's my message for this week. No matter how long it may take, in the end the tramvai will come and you can be on your way.
I
can't wait to see how the gospel will heal this country. It's only just
beginning to pick up here, but when it gets rolling, I'm excited to see
how it will change the people. I can see already the seeds we're
planting every day.
Enough with serious things. I have a funny story.
So
normally when we leave our apartment, there are some gypsies outside.
Some days we hand them a piece of fruit or something, but we didn't have
anything today. As we were walking past, a young gypsy girl approaches
us and Sora Gerhartz (thinking the girl is going to beg,) says to me
"It's your turn." So, the girl says something to me I didn't understand
at first, and I gave the usual response "Nu pot" (I can't), because we
can't hand money directly to beggars, it turns us into a target, (which
is why we have tithing and fast offerings). Two strides later, it
registers in my head what the girl said. "Cât e ceasul?" (What time is
it?) and I felt so bad! She just asked me for the time and I said "I
can't!" hahaha... so I turned and gave her the time. We've given her
some old shirts and things before, so she's turned into a little friend.
Anyway, that's about it for this week. Things are coming along! I'm working really hard. I sleep really good every night, because I'm so tired at the end of the day! I've worn through my boots already...
I miss Pepper. I hope things are going well with
everybody. I'd love to get recipes if there is any time! (Like zuccini
bread, fox brownies, Becky cookies, stuffed peppers, some yummy and
simple things!) But I still have things to cook, so really it's only if
you have time.
Don't forget to have fun while you're working so hard! Go golfing. See a movie. Start a puzzle, I dunno.
And I'll write again next week!
Cu Drag,
Sora Smith
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