Monday, June 24, 2013

Week 32

OH man, that punk. Whenever anyone asks what I would eat if I could have anything from back home (that isn't mom's cooking) is Arby's and pizza rolls.

I didn't get the chance to see the broadcast, but I will be sure to watch it sometime this week. It is so interesting that when we prepare a talk, it is us more than anyone else who progresses from the words that are spoken. I have found that writing a talk always helps me to understand something better, answers a prayer or is something that I needed to know. It is also a good way to learn a new language ;).

The past week has been ridiculously crazy. Last Monday we had the chance to take the President and his wife to go and renew their visas. We waited in line and then had to wait a little longer for one last piece to the packet. As we start to give the visa stuff over, the man behind the window states that "a receipt is not a good enough proof of purchase"...whodasay what? After we fixed the matter the next day, our President took us to the Hard Rock Cafe as a little thank you. He expressed his appreciation, as did his wife, on all the work and trials that we go through here in the office. They had no idea what went on behind the "office scene". 

Highlight of the week. I had the chance to go on a road-trip  to Brasov. The "apes" (still cant get over that one haha) decided to go on exchanges with us office elders, and then go on exchanges with trainers and trainees. Elder Preece went to Constanta with Elder Speth and the Mihai Bravu sisters (who were also going on an exchange in Constanta), and I went with Elder Lasater to Brasov (Ya his name is really Elder Lasater...like Psych!!!).

 It was great to drive in the mountains, so pretty on the way there. Big cliffs, lots of green and the great conversation. Elder Lasater is a riot. We reached Brasov just as a massive storm rolled in and soaked everything. Luckily we were still in the car driving when it stopped.  We needed to grab something from a store so we hiked over to the nearest one, grabbed what we needed and then made our way back to the car to grab our stuff. On the way back lightning started to strike really close...as in flash BOOM, no second count. We get back to the car just as is starts to pour. The Elders lived a good half mile away, with no streets we could drive on. So we grabbed our overnight stuff, plus an air mattress for me, my pillow and a bag full of packages and letters for the sisters. I decided to put all my stuff over the bag, towel then bed on top, to keep the water off of the letters and what not. Who wants a wet letter. It was raining so hard, I have never been that wet outside of swimming and showering. Instantly all of our cloths were soaked. We didn't bring any coats, so it must have been a sight seeing 2 nicely dressed guys walking down the street with the heavens opened. People were giving us the weirdest looks, it was so funny. We would say "good evening" to people as they huddled beneath their umbrellas that the cafes have. We got a few good laughs from that. As we were nearing the Brasov elders apartment we passed another cafe full of people under the umbrellas. They gave us a round of applause for walking through water. You couldn't help but laugh at everything. When we finally go to their house/apartment we tried to lay out all our stuff so it could dry. I literally had to pour out my shoes (they were still wet the next day and I had to walk around with wet feet). So much fun! 

Brasov really is beautiful, the mountains make it all. I feel that if I had a P-day in Brasov, I would have found it even more beautiful, but we didn't have a whole lot of time for sightseeing.  I had the chance to have an exchange with one of the new elders. It was so crazy and fun to be with someone who was younger in the mission than you and to know that if someone asked you a question in Romanian, you were all on your lonesome. Did you know that if I wasn't pulled into the office, I probably would have been a trainer. Crazy! Now I have till November/December before that could potentially happen again. 

Well, that has been my week. We were going to take a picture of us totally soaked, but my camera took a little dip too, so I thought it best if we didnt turn it on...and I forgot. Hard to remember stuff when there is a swimming pool in your shoe.
Love you Lots and have a great week,

Elder Ormsby

 On splits in Brasov.

 Getting a little goofy on the drive to Brasov.

Elder Ormsby's MTC teacher came to visit.

Showing his sister that he did indeed get her letter.  She misses him SO MUCH!

Monday, June 17, 2013

Week 31

This week has been so ridiculously crazy. Ok, so that other elder left to another city, just as all the excitement/headaches started to happen. 

We took the old missionaries to the airport to leave, only to find out that we needed a paper with our presidents stamp and signature to use the card to pay for all the missionaries luggage. My comp is a champ and worked all the angles to get them out of Romania. Then we had a flight bag guy, who decided that you couldn't have a carry on or be just a little overweight in your luggage. So he  TOOK their boarding passes till the missionaries payed, which they couldn't do until we had the card thing figured out. He wouldn't even take their bags, so there was a chance that they wouldn't get their bags on the flight as the conveyor belt line would take 20 minutes to get to the plane and the plane was leaving in 25 minutes. 

Finally after all that was done we went back to the office to prepare for the day. One thing I forgot to mention, we needed to be up at 3 am to do all of this so they could leave by 6. Elder P and I decided that it would be better if we stayed up the whole night to get stuff done, because we would be more tired if we went to sleep for a little while and woke up really really early. Isn't the mind of an elder great? 

The day before we had picked up all the new missionaries at the airport. That was such a cool experience. They were so bewildered and sooo sleep deprived. But we got them all into the country safely. 

The next problem happened on Thursday. Usually we get new missionaries into a health appointment the day they get in (Tuesday, they will then go to the visa office on Wednesday and leave that evening), but we couldn't schedule 13 missionaries into one evening. So Thursday (they had to stay all Wednesday) they all come in and get their checkups done and we book it over to the visa office cause it closes in 2 hours. The first sister gets up and fills it out with only a few problems. I took half the group to KFC (ya we got those) to get some food while Elder P stayed behind with the other group and to help them. Once they were done, we were supposed to switch. Shortly after getting food I got a call from Elder P saying that they were done for the day...after 15 minutes. There was no way we went through 7 missionaries in 15 minutes. Come to find out that the  way has been changed and the application for visas now got super complicated. I have no idea how to do it now or when or the why or anything. So we wasted the time of 26 missionaries,  but it will be a fun adventure finding out how to do this whole visa thing all over again (not that I ever figured out the first way...). From the sound of it new missionaries will have to be interrogated ..in Romanian. 

So I just got back from the visa office, trying to get the H's new visas for the rest of their time here in the country. We found out that a receipt is not a proof of purchase...forehead smack. So we need to figure that out in 8 days before the H's need to leave the country and then come back on a temporary visa thingy...Double forehead smack. But hopefully all goes well, after that we will start the health care for all missionaries. 

Elder Ormsby




Monday, June 10, 2013

Week 30

That is a really cool story mom. It is always so interesting to me to see the different ways that God shows us that he cares. Sometimes it is in ways that we cant understand in the moment and others we can definitely tell. Other times it is not always the way that we were expecting/wanting, but it is always the best for us in the long run. 

Unfortunately I will not be picking them [the new missionaries] up from the airport (that will be tomorrow), but I will deal with all their paperwork for visas and health appointments. 

This transfer is going to be crazy. There will be 13 new missionaries coming in on Tuesday. Usually we would have them go to the doctor that evening during or after interviews and then send them off to meet their trainers. But this time we have some trouble. The doctor's office couldn't handle 13 people at once and so we have to wait till Thursday. This is a big headache for everyone because transfers are Wednesday. This means 26 additional missionaries that need to stay in buc (minus 8 cause they will serve in buc) that don't need to be here. We also have a small window of time. The visa office is open from 830-2. Our appointments start at 10. The offices aren't close to each other. Its gonna cause a big headache, but I think most of them will live through it. 

Mostly my life is that of an office worker. Lots of little things to get done, but those little things are what make the mission run a little smoother. It will be a lot of good experience. I will be here for the next six months, so I better learn something from all of that.

Elder Ormsby


(Note from Mom:  We've read from other missionaries blogs that the sweet sister on the left feeds the missionaries in this district every Sunday.  I've never seen a picture of her dinners with this many attendees, so this might be a special occassion/  Huge thanks to this kind woman for hosting my son.  Finding Elder Ormsby in this picture is a bit like finding Where's Waldo.  Thanks to Sora P from whose blog I copied this pic.)




Sunday, June 2, 2013

Week 29

FINALLY!! School is over...phew, now we can all take a break haha! That is really cool that your manager's daughter is doing that. Are you paying her? It kinda sounds like what I used to do. Why hasn't Thirdborn been doing our Companionship Study? I hope he has a great time at Camp M. I don't know if I remember the P's, but that is really cool. 

I can't believe that {your friend] found Sora Ormsby! It is so crazy how we are put into each others paths.

{Love Magnet] I cant wait for that letter. It will make me really happy.  Did you save me some frozen yogurt?

Not a lot of chance to get out and contact people. Even though there isn't a lot to do, we usually need to be in the office "just in case". But we do teach a family in Austria and another guy in the Czech. Hopefully they continue to progress and work towards baptism. The Czech guy says that he is willing to be baptized, but will wait till winter when he comes back to Romania for something or other. That will be cool, but at the same time it is time that he could be progressing further. 

It doesn't surprise me that Thirdborn would play in 40 degree water. I remember when you came back from Oregon and they played in the water there. Who is L dating? Is it that girl H or something. Well good for him anyhow. Although, people just need to stop their lives for the next little while. They can continue in November...of next year.

Transfers are coming up and I am ecstatic. It sounds like it will be a lot of work (praise) and a lot of craziness. I learned how to drive stick the other day. I can get from point A to point B without stalling (only stalled once) and no lurches (haha remember when I used to gel my hair down and mom said I looked like Lurch, ah good times). So it will be super fun picking up all the boboci.

Sorry, I will have to get you your pictures tomorrow. We will be at the church tonight for some P-day activities, but until then no pics. Our apartment is basically our car and the office. We only use the apartment for sleeping and holding our clothes (which there is no room for mine at the moment so they are still in the suitcases).

Love you all,

Elder Ormsby