Week 101

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for working so hard to make sure that I have a bed! It will be nice to have some place to call my own, without wondering if there are any bed bugs, cockroaches or other insects ;)

I would appreciate it if you kept a copy of those talks.

We are going to leave tomorrow morning to Deva (my old stomping grounds) and then down to Craiova until Thursday. We are actually meeting with the less actives who live to far away from the branches to be visited by missionaries. I am so excited, because it will be a great opportunity for  Elder C to grow a lot in a very short time. I really hope all the members meet up with us. We don't have phone numbers for everyone, so it will be a knock-and-pray couple of days. We are hoping to have sacrament in Deva on Wednesday, which will be such a great opportunity for all those members.

To tell you the truth, I had a pretty rough day this week. It was an accumulation of many things throughout the week, but Satan really hit hard on Saturday and Sunday. We had set up a lesson with J, just outside of where he worked. We talked about the Restoration and had a fantastic lesson! He even said the closing prayer and it truly was one of the best, most sincere prayers I have ever heard. Just as we finished up, a man walked up who seemed to know our investigator. He said hello to J, and seemed to know him. After they said a few remarks, I asked how his (the new man) day was going (in Romanian). He opened his mouth and began the down hill sermon straight from the devil. Honestly, I have never been more depressed, more disgusted or more angry than I was in those ten minutes (if it was even that long). He asked why we were there, then told us that no one wanted us here, that no one cared and that no one can be helped, because no one wants to be helped. He tried to say some other things before I told him that what he was saying was inappropriate and he needed to stop. We tried to talk to him about his life and faith, just to find out where he was coming from, but to no avail. To this day I still have no idea what his motives were. It just went on for a bit longer, until I couldn't listen any more and we left. I have been berated, yelled at, mocked and questioned, but i have never walked away with so much anger. Usually I am able to laugh about it, or brush it off, but not this time. After such a good lesson, you would think that we would be very upbeat, but it really killed me. It was hard. My comp really helped me out of the rut as we went throughout the rest of our day.  The positive to this story is the sermon I had afterwards. The next morning, as I was attempting to figure out exactly why I was still upset, a light blinked on. I realized that God will always win. I knew that before, but in that time I really knew it. God will always win. Every single time. Satan is fighting a losing battle, and he knows it. He wants us to be miserable, but he knows he will eventually lose. As I thought about all the things the sad man had said, I realized that I was so upset because I knew what he had said was so incorrect. Everything he said was meant to push us away from meeting with J. Satan had come into our path at such a critical time in our day, the time where we had just had our "spiritual boost" from a great lesson and he almost made us give up. I, however, have God, who has given me an arsenal against the adversary, my companion being one of them. As we were walking away, we walked up to J, who was working a little ways away. Elder C said "Hey Jude, do me a favor and don't listen to anything that guy says." I'm not sure why, but I feel as if that one sentence made the difference between us meeting with J. We have another lesson with J. We know he will be baptized and we know he will be a key player in God's army. God always wins and its up to us to decide which team we fight.

I love you all. I will see you soon!

Elder Ormsby

Week 87

Dear Family,

I haven't met President and Sora Ivory in person, but I have talked to Pres. Ivory on the phone a few times, and he seems like a very smart man. I was very impressed with his approach to less active finding, its something I have wanted to attempt (successfully) for a large part of my mission. I am excited to hear what he has to say more about the matter, and finding in general, this Friday when we meet him. 

I hope to hear all about Secondborn's trip to EFY! I remember my two trips, and they were both so amazing! Of course Secondborn got a lot of numbers, he is a good looking guy. It also helps that he has texting haha. 

I am so happy that  you were able to attend President and Sora Hill's homecoming talk. They were both so amazing, and I will love them forever. They have helped me through so much, and the things that I learned from both of them will help me into the eternities. I am also glad to hear that he talked about the difficulty of being in this mission. There are so many missionaries who sometimes feel like they are failures for not having any baptisms. The greatest missionary, I feel, that I have ever known was an incredibly hard working, obedient missionary. And yet, even after all that work, he never saw a baptism. Is he a successful missionary? Of course! One of the most powerful questions President Hill ever asked was "How many baptisms did Abinidi get?" 

I can't wait for The Love Magnet's birthday! I expect lots of pictures from that.

Speaking of pictures, I haven't really taken a lot of pictures of myself recently, but I will send you a funny video of me eating a pretzel without using my hands!

I love you all so much. I can't wait to see you again. Don't ever think that pictures or news will make me homesick. The only time I have ever felt homesick was Thanksgiving in the MTC and that was because I wasn't playing in the turkey bowl! I love you.

Love Elder Ormsby

Week 60

Dear Family,

Thank you for clarifying at the beginning of each paragraph what feeling I should expect haha! They fit each line perfectly. I am sorry to hear that the insurance is being a pain. I am glad I never had to deal too much with it while I was in the office. Sorry to hear that your favorite patient had to leave you. Hopefully you will be able to work with him in the near future, but the other story is really cool.  How long have you been working with her? It cant have been very long, so that is a really impressive accomplishment! 

That is Sora L! She is the happiest person on the planet. He first name is _______ (or something close), literally means Sunny! That is so cool that she is in Gs ward. I cant believe that all these people are going home. It is so sad, but life moves on. I think it will be the hardest when my sisters go home. We shall see what we shall see.

Yes! Remind Secondborn to write me, and Thirdborn. I don't remember ever saying that they could stop haha. No pictures for this week. I will tell you why in just a bit. Good for Secondborn for doing the math tutoring. Tell him that his grades are important (say its from me). It probably wont do anything, but eh who knows. 

I am so excited to play bball in the spring. It is so much fun when you are a little bit better haha. Ive been trying to be a more obedient missionary with morning work outs. I am going work on my vertical before summer. 

So, it looks as if my turn here in Iasi has come to an end. I am being transferred to Bacau. It is the weirdest feeling to leave someone you are training, especially since I thought I would have another one with him. I am going to be companions with the missionary branch president. President says that he is "testing the waters". We shall see what that means next transfer. If I stay another one, it means I will be the next BP in Bacau. I am both excited and nervous. It will be like nothing I have ever done before, except when I was working with President F. The other weird thing is that I am going to be traveling by myself on Tuesday down to Bacau. It is a 3ish hour maxi taxi ride, but I will be all alone. It will be the longest time I have been by myself in the last year. Nervous? A little. I might stop a few times to "stretch". Just kidding Mom, no eye rolls now (i hear it now "oh, you little stinker"). 

We met this couple while English contacting that was very good for myself and Elder A. They were a bit hesitant at first, but then opened up. My favorite part was when the wife asked me where I learned to speak such good Romanian. The husband immediately turned to me with a wink and said "From his girlfriend of course!" I had a good laugh and then explained a bit of what we do here as missionaries and who we were.  They were really polite and reminded me why I like missionary work and gave Elder A a taste of acceptance. I really hope that they come to class on the 21st. They would be great investigators. 

With working hard this last week, we were given a great opportunity. On Saturday, R (a member, who is legit) texted us and asked us what our schedule was like. He then forwarded a message from one of his friends. "Anywhere, it doesn't matter. I need to meet with them. I received an answer and I want to be baptized." We met with him that day and he is very prepared. He used to be an investigator 3 years ago and went so far as to pass the baptismal interview. I don't know exactly why he wasn't baptized, but he is ready now. He was very guided during our lesson, even when I almost messed up a part! There are at least 4 potential baptisms here in Iasi for the next few transfers. I am very excited for Elder A and Elder F.

Love you all,

Elder Ormsby

Week 44

(No email on Monday....)

(On Tuesday...)  sorry, it was real busy yesterday. I will try and write you tonight or tomorrow.

(Later Tuesday...)  One of our skype investigators was baptised last Saturday. These are the pictures. We are very grateful for the Czech sisters who helped a lot with C.

Vârstnicul Ormsby

(Today...) That is so weird to think that we have missionaries in the ward now. I know that we had some that traveled from ward to ward, but now they stay in that ward...in Idaho, where there are a lot of wards...wait, maybe i understood that wrong. That would be a ton of missionaries. I would love to be in the class with P and B. P has a ton of great stories! Glad that Sora B got her martisor. Who is Sister M? I have forgot many of the people in our ward, unfortunately. Last week was great. We haven't found an apartment yet, but we are still looking. Office Elder stuff is going fine. You should have received some pictures already from one of our skype lessons. I am surprised that you haven't sent an email in all caps ahah.

Hey Dad, 

That would be way cool if you started your own company. Whatever happened to that brake design? When is the next time you will have that retreat for your company?  

I really loved going to the games with you. It was a great way to see a small part of what you do (watching the game from the roof wink wink, nudge nudge). Mostly though, it was a chance to hang out with my dad, which is something that I really miss right now. Hindsight 20/20.

Tell Thirdborn and Secondborn to write me!

Elder Ormsby

 The district

Week 40

Dear Family,

Oh goodness, this week has been/is/will be soooo busy. We had to take part of our P-day on Saturday due to all the work that needed to be done on Monday. We were still able to have a bit of fun at the Mihai Bravu chapel, but only after a lot of waiting at the Minister of Justice building, along with a bunch of other stuff. That night we had a total of eight people sleeping at our apartment. Later that night (from 1000-0030) we had to finish all the paper work for everyones visas. The next day we made our way over to the visa office and had 11 people in the office applying for visas, such a crazy day. Thankfully all went well minus one little hiccup and that is a very simple hiccup to fix. Now we get to do round two tomorrow morning. 

Hopefully everything  goes as smoothly as it did for the other group. Its a little more stressful this time though because they are coming from the farther cities (the first groups were all from buc or the surrounding cities). It will give us all a really big headache if something goes wrong and they either have to stay or return at a later date. Man, its not even transfers yet! 

Oh that is so funny that S is going to be a Iasi girl. Well, Ive heard its a beautiful city so it will be a great experience for her.

 I am so happy that M is going on a mission, that will be so cool!

Sadly Elder P will be leaving the office this transfer. It will be such a hard change, not only because Elder P is a great missionary, but also because of all the new things that we have to do, most of which neither of us have done. Hopefully his replacement will be able to keep up with things. I feel like the office is about to get a whole lot crazier. 

Transfers will be on the 4th of September...whoa its almost September! How did you hear that the office elders go on splits with the aps? 

Sorry this letter is short, I am so tired and it is a bit hard to concentrate right now. I will try and write you a longer one on Monday, but no promises.

Love ya, 

Elder Ormsby

Week 18

Hey family!!

Unfortunately the baptism fell through because of her not wanting to cause a tear in her family. But we have faith that she will eventually come back. But I probably wont be there as I am being transferred to Deva, a little two man city with one family in the whole city. It has been a roller coaster preparing to lose 3 friends, 2 of which are ending their missions, and now it is a much longer list. I am so grateful for the time that I have had to be in this amazing city with these amazing people. I am so excited to see  the difference when I come back (and I will come back) and I am almost excited to see my new comp and new city. Another white wash.  In a one comp city.

 I am actually sending you a package as well with a little something for The Love Magnet from that family that I was talking about. There will also be a hand written, yes hand written letter for all of you. I don't know when I will be able to get it out, but it will be there within the next 18-21 months...you asked for a nice long letter, but I really don't know what to write about. 

How about the ability that God has to help us through trials and helping us to change ourselves for the better. Ya that will be good. Ok so a few weeks ago I had a really hard time with missionary work. I had lost the will/desire entirely to do missionary work, which made me mad. I knew that there was no way that I could continue on in this way and be a missionary, so I took my own advice that I gave Dad last week and asked my companion for a blessing. Then I focused on only the good things during the entire week. Any time that I was feeling upset, or angry I would stop myself and then think of only the best thoughts about that person, or about what I was doing. It didn't happen right away, but by the end of the week, with a lot of prayers, I had changed my attitude for the better and have since then learned about how to master my emotions. I'm not saying that I can stop any emotion in its tracks, but I have since learned to rely more on the Lord and also the steps of mastering my emotions. It was a really cool experience for me as I had never really tried to change something that big or intense in my life. Try it out sometime. It will be a really hard experience, but I can promise you that you will be blessed for your work and that you will be able to see a difference in the end. As for pictures, here are some of my favorite people in the whole world and some other stuff.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Elder Ormsby

P.S. thank you for the picture

Singing in a quartet

in the maxi-taxi

one of the investigators

Elder H and Elder O.  Elder O said he will miss his comp very much.

Making stuffed mushrooms.  His mama is so proud!

 Goodbye to Elder E.  He is heading home!

Last photos with Elder H, Sora S, Sora ?, and the senior missionaries.  (Thank you senior missionaries for loving our son.)

Week 17

SO COOL TO SEE HIM GOING ON A MISSION! I have no idea who the other two are...thing 1 and thing 2? I love that family.  That is so stinking funny about the teenagers, you probably should have called the cops, but oh well.  t was funny to hear cause I could totally see it happening. 

Thanks for answering the questions, it will help with a family we are teaching (i hope). 

This Friday  I will be baptizing an investigator (not ours) and I am really excited and feel incredibly honored to have been asked. The branch is coming along great and we hope to get things moving really soon here. That is really funny to hear about A and S (what language(s) is she speaking?)

 Love you and you will get something from me soon (I hope).

-Elder Ormsby

Again, thanks to the senior missionaries, we have pictures!

 Sora H took this pic of Elder H, Senior Elder H, and Elder Ormsby from her apartment window as they were leaving for an appointment.  I love the normalness of it all.  

 At institute playing a game.  They were instructed to try to get the cookie from their foreheads to their mouths by wrinkling their faces to make the cookie movie.  No hands allowed!

 Elder Ormsby makes it look cool.

Taking a "maxi-taxi" to get to a district conference three hours away.  Some of the branch members were able to catch a ride with the missionaries.

 From Sora H's blog about this picture:

"The tiny little lady to the far right, was one of the speakers.  She tells about how lucky she was when her neighbor was not home and the missionaries that had come by to visit the neighbor ended up knocking on her door.  She was so excited with their message and the joy that came with it.  She is thoroughly delighted with the gospel - and with her life. She just beamed as she spoke.  This little lady was abandoned by her mother at 3 months.  She was left with various people and had a very hard life.  But that part is over and she now has a wonderful family and she has her church family as well.  It was the first time she had spoken to such a large group but she was very happy to have the chance.  It was delightful just to listen.  One thing about district conference is that they have translators - for the benefit of the mission president and his wife and the area representative - and us!  Many wonderful thoughts throughout the conference.  They are quite direct when they give counsel.  Kind of like Elder Uchdorf when he tells folks if they are doing things wrong - Stop it.  Or if something needs to be done - Do it. "

First baptism

On 11/10/2012, Michael baptized his sister.  The Love Magnet was so thrilled to be baptized.  It was a tender experience for everyone there.