Week 95

Dear Family,

The house looks great! I am excited to see it. Do you think my room will be done by the time I get home? Oh, I miss that dog. Seeing her wag her tail was awesome! The Love Magnet is still a favorite for the sisters. I told one of them that I miss her more than almost everyone else (she is the love magnet, after all). 

Sounds like the ward is really cool, I can't wait to meet them. 

There isnt a whole lot that has changed, here in Bacau. I am still the BP. I still have some interesting members and very interesting Sundays. We don't have any investigators, but we have fun. We have a really good friend here who we meet a few times a week (English, FHE etc.). I used to think that it would be frowned upon, meeting with someone but not having lessons, until I read something President Ivory said. Here is an excerpt from Pres. Ivory's email to me. "Strive to have meaningful gospel conversations with people every day. You should not bring up the church until either they ask or you are prompted to. Just get to know people. Contacting needs to be fun. Try some unique approaches but the key is to discover the uniqueness of each individual and for them to understand the human side of missionaries. Once rapport is established, then a meaningful gospel conversation can happen." I was very surprised to read this, but I am glad that he said it. I believe it is the best thing he could ever say. I really hate the monotonous routine of "Buna ziua....ma numesc Elder Ormsby" Instead, he wants us to be people!!! I always thought I was a rebel for doing that anyways haha. We used to play bball everyday with these guys. It was great! We would get our exercise, and at the same time be ourselves. They never knew we were LDS until one day they asked us why we were there (in Bacau). They were surprised to find out that we were missionaries, but didn't hate us for it. Why? Cause they knew we were regular people! They were surprised because they thought that missionaries wer these really weird people who never did anything fun and never got married (the last one was their main point lol). Sometimes you don't need to give someone the lessons. You always need to be someones friend.

Speaking of friends, I am so glad that I went on a mission. You really do experience 40 years during your time. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is meeting so many amazing friends. I am not usually the person to go out of my way to meet new people and befriend them. Being a missionary hasn't necessarily changed that, but it has helped me to find people that I will be friends with for the eternities. I love them, all of them. I miss some of them every day that I am not with them, but I know that I will see them again. Missions are amazing. You won't miss out on anything if you come, but you will miss so much if you don't. 

See you soon,

Elder Ormsby