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 33

It was such a treat to receive those pictures from The Love Magnet and an even bigger treat to get those video clips. 

Sorry that you had to drive back to Idaho without any AC, we have heard about the record heat waves that have been hitting the west. We have had nothing but rain here. Its a little ridiculous. I didn't think I would ever see so much rain at one time, but it has been raining non-stop for the past 2-ish days. It is clearing up now, so that is good. The drainage system here isn't the best, so we have rivers, literally, in the streets when it rains really hard.

I cant believe that A is going to be in the MTC soon! It is so good to hear that more and more people are going on missions. President just told us that we will be receiving 18 additional new sister missionaries over the next 3-9 months! This is some really good news because it means that basically ALL the cities in Romania will have a set of sister missionaries and we might even get multiple sets in every district. Now that would be crazy! 

Good to know about D, I will be sure to add him to my fast. Fasting is such a great gift that we have. I have such a strong testimony about fasting. It is such a simple thing, go without food or water for 24 hours, having a desire(s) in your heart and having faith that, because you are making a sacrifice, God will bless you for your efforts. Before the exchange that I had in Brasov I started a fast the day before. I have had a really hard time understanding people here in Romania. Its mostly because I focus on all the words that I don't know instead of all the words that I do know. But I went into that fast praying that I would know how to help the elder I would be with (who was only a week old in the mission field) and also to have the gift of understanding. Although both of our lessons fell through, I feel that we prepared ourselves for both of them. When we were on our way to one of them we took a taxi instead of the bus...we were a little late. It was one of the best conversations that I have had in Romania. Although he didn't want to hear about the Church at the beginning of the ride, he eventually got curious and then confused on why we would come to Romania, without pay and talk to people. So I told him what we did, why we were here and a little bit about what we did. Although it wasn't a perfect contact, it helped to give me the boost of confidence that said "yes, I do know this language and yes, I can understand them." I know that extra help came from fasting. So many people don't understand how/why we fast. If they did, it would no longer be a chore, but a pleasure.

Office work will be office work. Not much to say except we have done all the visa work, minus the healthcare stuff. We will figure it out as we go. As it is, we wont be able to do anything until we have a few guinea pigs. We need to get a move on it though. 

Thanks for sending that transcript to BYU, I just need a few more things and it will be off for review. I am taking my time (cause I have a lot of it). We will see what happens there.

Love you all and I hope that all is well. Make sure Secondborn and Thirdborn write me!

Love Elder Ormsby

 The rainstorms are huge in Bucharest.  This was taken from the office window.

The streets become rivers.

Elder Ormsby showing he still has the wherewithall to brave the elements.

Week 8 - Get ready to leave for Romania

Well its been a while everyone, almost 2 months to be exact and the time has come to say goodbye to the MTC. We are heading to ROMANIA!!! So apparently the new group of Romanians that came in about 3 weeks ago said that they googled Romania when they received their call. Would you like to know what popped up? Yup it was the Youtube video of me opening my call and this blog...so if you happen to have just received your call and don't really know what to expect when you hit the MTC let me just give you a little heads up. You have the coolest teachers ever! There is no comparison, there aren't any substitution, I'm sorry if you think that I'm wrong, but I'm not. 

You have Fratele B who is amazing at relating to the missionaries and great at making sure you understand the things that are being taught. He makes sure that everyone is happy and there aren't any contentions in the group and helps to smooth it over if there are any. He would also be the reigning champion at charades if we played that here at the MTC. He makes every single story from his mission incredibly funny through all of his gestures and facial features. 

Then you have Fratele V who is from Romania. His humor is out of this world. If you think he is laughing at you, just know that he is actually showing how much he loves you, and he probably is laughing at something you said. Such as Porcent instead of Procent. One has pig in the word and one means percent and only one of those has meaning to the Law of Tithing hahaha. He has a lot of great ideas on how to teach and wont beat around the bush when telling you of something that you shouldn't do on your mission. 

Then you have Sora W who cares about you very much. We were one time learning how we say we wake up or go to sleep and the times and we (sisters and elders) told her that we weren't exactly on the ball. She sat there, quite and thinking and then pulled out the white handbook. She made us promise to get to bed on time and/or wake up on time, and at the time it made me slightly angry. But then I realized exactly what she was doing, she didn't yell at us or berate us, just simply told us that we would be blessed. She knew of the promises of exact obedience and loved us enough to correct us in our behavior. 

Then there is Fratele F, that brother is so excited and happy when he teaches, you can only be excited and happy about learning and going out to learn. It is so much fun listening to him talk about all of the things that we can do and how cool it is that we have the power and authority to do it.  He has made me want to be a better missionary and gives plenty of great reasons to be here on a mission. 

You also have Sora W and Fratele S. Unfortunately I wasn't taught by Fratele Sandberg, but Sora Whiting would occasionally come into a lesson. She is very patient and good at asking questions that make you think about what you just learned about. That's all the Romanian teachers and I want  you to know that I didn't give them justice in this blog. I guess you'll just have to come and learn from them yourself here at the MTC. I know that I have had such a good time here at the MTC and I cant wait to go out and experience it.

In only 3 days 12 hours and 13 minutes I will be on the bus heading for the airport, and only 23 hours later I will be in Romania. I cant wait to email/write you all from Romania and I hope and pray you are having a great Thursday.