Week 79

Dear Family,

Moving to a new house won't be any different from moving to a new apartment here in Romania. Haha, I just thought about it. I wont be able to fully unpack, and i get to speak in my new "area" haha. Just like home!

Nothing much is new since the last week. We have 2 new missionaries in Bacau, Elder M and Sora A (straight from the MTC). This is going to be a pretty full transfer since we have Zone Training in Iasi and then Zone Conference in Chisinau. I cant believe that it will be the last time President Hill will talk during his time as a Mission President! Time is moving so fast. Just the other day Elder Morby said something about Christmas. It was only then that I realized that was almost 6 months ago!!!! Time moves so quickly.

Its gotten pretty hot here in the last few days. We went and played Basketball (finally, Sora P would always pray for rain, so we never got the chance to go when she was here ;)). It was hot, the court was full of holes and there were a lot of people watching. I was so off...always to the left, always left haha.

The site is called wetransfer.com Its a very reliable site (at least i havent had any problems yet), so feel free to use it to send large files or videos. 

This week has been something of a challenge for me. I am not sure what it is (actually i know what it is), but I learned a new lesson. It came in the form of my own advice, something I hadnt thought of until I said it. There should be no such thing as "goodbye". There will always be another time for us to see each other, so my new farewell is "see you soon". Here I am, a missionary and a member of the church for 21 years, still learning about the Plan of Salvation. Whether it be in this life or the next. On the mission or off, I will always "see you soon". I hope this actually makes sense to other people, but if not...at least I got something from it :)

So I will see you soon! Much love!

Elder Ormsby

Week 78 - Mother's Day Skype!

Dear Family,

It was so good to talk to you yesterday! I loved having the chance to talk with you face to almost face haha. We had the chance to meet each others families, and I cant wait for you to meet everyone face to face (for real) and to meet the other families face to face. We loved singing that song, but by the end of the day, we were pretty hoarse.

There isn't a lot to say, I mean, we just talked about it all. Ill send some nice pics tomorrow, I don't have my hard drive.​

My soras go home this week, that's pretty sad, but we will see each other at some point in the future. Im going to school with two of them :)

Love you all!

Elder Ormsby

p.s. I once saw an elder who wrote this much every week to his family...I feel like I do a pretty good job :)

The District

Mother's Day Skype

Sora S found a LOTR car!

Sing-Contacting in the park

Ready to head out for P-Day adventures.

Elder Ormsby was very proud to make his district copcat Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad.  (At home we call it Costa Vida Sweet Pork Salad).

Elder O's first attempt at cheesecake:  Peanutbutter Chocolate.  Mom says "Yum on the cheesecake and chocolate, YUCK on the peanutbutter".

Elder L will be going home soon.  He wanted to shop for a new suit for the occasion.  This baby blue number just screams STYLE!

The electric lawn mower is so tiny.  It is as big as Elder O's two feet.  But it does get the job done.

Week 71

Dear Family!

We have had so much happen this last week! I was really excited to go on an exchange with Elder Montoya and get some work done, kinda "rekindle" the fire. You know, go out and just work as hard as we could. Someone else had some other plans in mind, however. We received a call from Sora M's daughter to meet up at the church with Pres. H. We thought it had something to do with financial support. When we arrived, we found out that Sora M had passed away and that her funeral would be tomorrow. Pres. H had to drive to Hungary to pick up his wife and that meant Elder M and I were in charge. Working out all the details, calling members and then preparing for the actual funeral was a very interesting experience. I believe the most stressing part of the whole process was finding out if Sora M had all the required clothes for her burial. We ended up not being able to work that out, but I believe that the Lord understands we tried our hardest.

The next day being her funeral, we finished preparations, translations and what not, and went over to the funeral. It was received quite well by her friends and family (there were so many!) and the Spirit was with us the whole way. Many people thanked us for the service and we were able to show them a part of what we believed of the Plan of Salvation. We might even be doing the No Smoking Program with one of her relatives. 

The day before the funeral, when we were at the cemetery, we saw an orthodox funeral for a young woman. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. They had next to no hope of seeing her again. Sora M's funeral was sad, yes, but it was also really happy. Sora L said something that shows the hope that we as members of the church have for those who have left us. "Think about how beautiful she is right now. No more pain. No more hospitals." C, her grandson, said something that stuck out to me as well. When asked how he was doing he simply replied "Grandma is with God in heaven." As if he were saying she is home, or at the store. He knows whats up. I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and all that it teaches us.  What a difference it makes in our life, having that kind of knowledge.

I am doing really well. Nothing major to complain about, and a lot to be thankful for. We went over to one of the sisters' investigators' home and had a lesson with the sisters and Elder H. It was such a great lesson and they are such a great family. We shared the Plan of Salvation and I talked about my excitement to see The Love Magnet in heaven, as an exalted and perfected person. Romanians always do the same thing when I tell them TLM has Down syndrome, but by the end of my story, they see disabilities in a different light. This family loves the way we think. It was a long lesson, but I haven't had a better one in my entire mission.

Good job Secondborn on achieving his Eagle award. He will be so grateful that he was able to do that. Now, if he could only write his only big brother who is almost exactly on the opposite side of the world lol.

It is so crazy to think that before the end of this next transfer, we will be skyping again and it will be my last one. Life moves so fast!

Elder Ormsby

Sora M one year ago.  She was a wonderful person.

Helping out in Primary.

Investigator and good friend.

Romanian babies are the cutest!

Drawing "Whalvis".

Elder H tasting some of the pickle brine.

My old stomping grounds and apartment.

Leave your camera around, and you are sure to find a lot of these the next time you check your pictures lol (she is going to kill me, but put it up).  ;)

I'm a good student. 

Our district.

Creepy painting in the hotel room .

Elder M's new companion.

We carried this 100 kg behemoth

up these stairs

 for service.

Week 69

Dear Family,
I am so sorry, I have no idea how, but I totally forgot to write you. Yesterday we were paintballing in Arad and didn't get back until a little later. I read your email, but I thought that I had written something back....my bad lol. Everything is good right now. I haven't had such a fun district in a really long time, and I have never had a district that all get along basically 100% of the time. It has seriously been a blessing for me to be in this district, back in my old stomping grounds. God knew that He would have to do something special when He took me out of Bacau.

I have kept in touch with my other family, they are so funny. One of the new sisters there was asked by an elder what kind of cake she was eating. "Lemon" "No, in Romanian" (he had just taught her not to say it the wrong way). Here is where the story splits. The Bs say that she said it with an "u" sound...lol....the sisters there say that before she had a chance to finish the word, the Bs said the "u". Honestly, they are both probable, almost even. Those 3 are so funny! (Side note, saying some words in Romanian only a little off can make a huge difference(. I miss them a lot, but I have been having a lot of fun with my district. No one thinks themselves higher than anyone else. No one thinks they are below anyone else, and I have been 100% myself!!! No need to wonder if I have offended someone, no need to worry that someone is going to think that I am weird (who cares) and yup, its been great! 

Today we went paintballing in Arad, it was super weird to be with a lot of the same people (P, H, R) doing the same thing we were doing a little over a year ago. I feel like time has been moving forward so fast, and yet so slow. I haven't been angry ONCE this transfer!!! Annoyed, not so much (today was one of those days when I was losing lol), but not angry. You have no idea, it has been such a long time. 

So cool story, they said that they were never coming back. Guess who came on Sunday AND taught Sunday School? Yup, those guys! It was good to see them.

Talk to you next week!

Elder Ormsby

Week 58

Dear Mom,

Haha, no I meant 5pm your time, sorry for the mix up. Would Dad be home by then? IF this doesnt work for you, then you need to email Sora or President Hill so they can call me and we can figure it out.

You will do such a great job as a nursery teacher! Just keep up the good work.

There isnt a whole lot to share this last week. Not a lot happened. We were able to get out and contact more than we have been able to do in the past weeks, which is good. Hopefully we can have a bit of success.

Talk to ya SOON!!!!!

Elder Ormsby

District Christmas Feast

 Romanian and Moldovan money

 Found the shirt and shorts.  Bought the hat.

 Elder A made french toast!

 Sick, so Elder Ormsby bundled up and the comps turned up the heat.

 Caroling with the members.

 More of the district feast.

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.)