Week 49

Dear Family,

Oh my goodness, let me tell you how good it is to be back out in the field once more. This last week reminded me of every memory as an office elder. With the new transfer we had to bring in new missionaries and bring in missionaries for visas. My companion and myself went to the Gara at 8 to pick up 36 missionaries who needed to retrieve their visas. One problem was that the train from Cluj, which had 3 missionaries who needed visas (one of which couldn't get their abonament without it). The pressure starts to build!!! My companion promptly ditched me and went to hang out with the other missionaries haha! Its alright I had 33 companions left (the other three were sisters). 

We went through the retrieval process without too much hassle, only to wait on the last three. With only 15 minutes before closing they finally made it to the visa office. I can honestly say that I was sweating a bit. It would have been such a bummer if they had come all the way from Oradea and Cluj only to not receive their visas. After all that madness the new sisters showed up with the office elders. They were all hungry and we had 2 hours before their stuff opened so we went to Pizza Hut. One of those sisters was so out of it. She did not care what she ate,or if she ate, but she was sure a whole lot happier after she had a full stomach. 

We went back to the visa office only to find a huge line! I have never seen so many people at the visa office. As we were standing in line a man starts talking to us. He knew a little bit about who we were and about Joseph Smith. We talked for a second and then kinda broke it off. When the doors opened. Everyone surged forward trying to get in the line first. Usually we have a short line because our line only covers religious visas, business and students. The only problem for that day was the fact that they were all students. The students who are in Romania need to renew their visas before the new semester and that day happened to be the day when a lot of them went to the office. We were there for a good 3 hours. This turned out to be a great thing. That guy I previously talked about came up to us again and asked us about our free English course. He had heard about them and wanted to know if he could go, even if he wasn't a member. We gave him the info and talked a bit more about why he was in Romania. He walks away, only to come back 30 minutes later. So finally I pick up on the fact that the Lord wants me to talk to this guy (lasa-ma I've been in the office). I started to talk about who we are and why we were in Romania. Two of those new sisters were sitting next to me and so I asked them why they know the gospel is important and why they had chosen to come on a mission. They did such a good job. The guy was super patient. He is from Armenia or Albania, I couldn't tell which one, and knew how hard it was to learn Romanian. So the sisters bore testimony, doing a great job, and we were able to place a Book of Mormon. We are going to call him this week so we can talk to him more about the church.

 

Unfortunately that man with the Book of Mormon from 1977 isn't turning out so hot. He keeps telling us that he will call us when he has time to meet up. 

Good news! We had found an apartment that was small, but the Proprietar (landlord, I think that's the word) is super cool. We had to give up the apartment to the new Aviatiei Sisters, but we are going to meet up with the proprietar this week! He and his wife have come to church the last 2 weeks and have a copy of the Book of Mormon. They are so nice. They told the sisters that they could have anything that they wanted. They took us all to IKEA (ya we have that here...mmm meatballs) and they let the sisters buy whatever they wanted. They tried to get them to buy nicer more expensive stuff. Sora S was totally overwhelmed. She would pick out a nice looking chair and a desk and the propriatar would say "oh no, this one is much nicer, get this one." The problem was that the stuff was way more expensive. Remember, this guy is PAYING for ALL of this stuff OUT OF POCKET! You really don't get this kind of thing in Romania. He really loves the missionaries. When we found the apartment, he told our realtor (a member) that he really wanted us to live there because we were "faithful people". When I told him that we might not move in, and that the sisters might move in, he looked like I had told him that I kick puppies. Not angry, but so sad. He said something on the lines of "but I want you, I want you faithful people". I had to explain that the sisters were just like us, name tags and everything. He perked right up and was so happy. I can definitely see this man and his wife getting baptized. They are so prepared. We will have to work on a few things, but we will see where it goes.

Mom, I will pray for you to do well on your defense.

B is going to be Sister B!!! That is so cool, send me pictures and an update when she gets it!

I had no idea that P's dad died. He was so nice to me at C's homecoming. That is really sad. Its true though. Sometimes you feel that nothing should go wrong if you are doing all that you should. This is not actually what happens. I feel like the Lord is then ready to trust you with trials. You have made all the sacrifices so far to do what is right. You have learned so much from all those trials. He knows exactly how far you can go, and what you need from him.

I am so happy to hear that S has my email, I was about to write a letter. Actually I am still going to write a letter, and a few others beside that.

Wait! When did T get married? Why did I not receive any pictures on his new wife? Oh my goodness, there are so many things that are happening outside of my little sphere haha. Mission life is so funny.

Sorry to hear about work, dad. I have been praying for you and mom to have guidance when it comes to the family. I will continue to keep you all in my prayers.

I love you all. I cant wait to talk to you in December (which is NEXT TRANSFER). Keep up on your family prayer and study, it makes all the difference.

Love,

Elder Ormsby

Week 48

So I was going to stay and extra transfer, which means I wouldn't have left the office till January. President and I had a talk, however, and after a few questions he decided that it would be better for me to leave the office a transfer early. I just wasn't a happy camper in there. The first day that I got out was the best/worst. I was sad to leave the office, but so happy to leave. I am starting up the Aviatiei district in North Buc as the District Leader. I was/am with Elder E, but he will be leaving for Iasi and I will be with Elder P until October 31, then Elder P will become the new office elder and I wont have a companion...I'm thinking about getting a solo tag, like in the MTC. President said a virtual companion would do haha.

The first few days were rough, trying to get back in the missionary mood. But I have loved it so much! It feels good to be talking to people, even if they reject you. Those first few times trying to stop people and having the finger wiggle or being straight up ignored, LOVE IT! Seriously. I am so happy to be out. We still live with the office elders, and I am training them this transfer, so we will see what happens next. We went out chalk contacting with the Panduri sisters, my first time, and it was so strange to be talking to people I didn't have to once again. Eventually I met this really cool couple who knew quite a bit about the LDS church and what we stood for. They told us it was a beautiful religion and they had high respect from it. Due to my gresit I didn't get their number, but they have a card. Hopefully we can run into them again.

We were on the metro and had our CLM (Cartea lui Mormon) out where people could see them (President made a big push for all the missionaries to do this). We were speaking in English and a guy across the metro says "they speak in English, but carry a Romanian book...why?" I turned and said "Cause we speak Romanian...sort of." haha his friends ribbed him a bit before I asked him where he was from and why he was in Buc. We didn't get to anything about religion, but it was cool to see that people really do see us. Sometimes it seems like they go out of their way to ignore us. 

Finally, we were out last night trying to place a few CLMs. We knocked into this guy and he showed us a copy of the Book of Mormon that he received in 1977. It has sat on his shelf for a long time. We gave him a new one and then he surprised us by telling us some of the things that he knows about us. He has a ton of respect for the way that the church does things. He loves how service oriented we are. He is going to come to church this Sunday and we are going to try and meet up with him beforehand.

The beach house sounds great! I am super jealous seeing all the fun stuff that you did. It would be really fun to go to the beach with the whole B family.

Love you all,

Elder Ormsby

P.S. I am so happy, 10/10 easily!

Week 47

Hey family!

I agree, this conference was fantastic!! I really loved the talks that were given by Elder Christofferson and Elder Holland. Elder Christofferson gave a really good talk about how we need to treat  women, how they are important to society in every aspect. Elder Holland gave a great talk about stress. Being a missionary has been one of the most stressing things I have ever done, especially being in the office. My other favorite talk was by Elder Ulisses Soares about patience. He asked "How do you feel when someone messes up? When something doesnt go your way?" He went on to describe a few different scenarios  and how we handle them, how we react to that change or stress. This General Conference was an all around really good conference. I cant wait to be able to read them again and highlight. One of the missionaries described General Conference as the Super Bowl for missionaries. 

We have been preparing for the new missionaries who will be coming into Romania in a few weeks. It will be much nicer this time because there are only going to be three, the only problem is that there will be 30 some odd missionaries coming back into Bucuresti to receive their visas. Now that is going to be crazy. Hopefully they will actually go and get it, we have had a few times where they "forgot" to go and then later had to come down. That creates a little bit of a mess for the office, as well as for the missionary.

So funny story. A few weeks ago we forgot to pick someone up at the airport. The only reason this is funny is because it happened a few weeks ago. We accidentally forgot the Kyiv Temple President at the airport. He flew in to Bucuresti to talk at the District Conference and we were asked to pick him up. So this was also the week that we were in an accident, so the week wasnt going all that great, but we had just finished a bearable day. The next morning I was watching Elder M do his gymnast work-out while also talking to Elder L (we live with the assistants), when I had the worst feeling. We had forgotten the temple president. So we tried to call the hotel where he was supposed to be staying. The lady on the other end said that no one had come in the night before by his last name. SO we hopped in the car and sped off to the hotel. We found out that the hotel we called was under the same company, but was in a different area. So we were on our way there hoping that "Taken"-the romanian version wasnt playing out in front of us. Turns out he was there, fine and dandy with his wife. President wasnt too happy that we forgot him, but it was a lesson learned I guess haha.

You will have to give me a play by play of you defending your thesis. It will be so good to have it done! I know that we all have been praying for you to be successful in your schooling. You've prepared yourself, so you will do great. 

I never did go to the  coast with you all. You will need to send me a lot of pictures so that I can see what it looks like. You will have so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa there. They will really enjoy the time with the family. Will you tell them that a letter should be getting to them soon, as well as say hello from the P's. They are in charge of the water projects in Eastern Europe. They remembered Grandma and Grandpa and told me I need to say hello.

It has been really cold here. Everyone is saying that this winter will be the coldest winter in 100 years. Dont put that fact on the mission-moms blog, or you will scare a lot of moms haha. Considering that 2 years ago was the coldest in 57 years and people died, this could be an intense year. 2 years ago, President put a limit on how long you could be outside. Not like contacting outside would have been very successful in that kind of weather. Sounds like good weather for a caciula though.

Sorry about the video, I wasnt in the best of moods and I really wanted to watch conference. I didnt know/understand that they were sending this video to you, until they asked me for your email. Oh well, you saw the awkward Elder Ormsby at his best!

Love you,

Elder Ormsby

(from the senior missionaries' blog)

 (from Elder Ormsby -  visit to Peles Castle)

(the next three are from the senior missionaries' blog)

 (

(the rest sent from Elder Ormsby)

 Kicking up heels with Sora P

so tired on a P-day ride home.

Week 46

Wow that is so crazy to think that M...Sora...Seestra...Hermana? B is already in the MTC! It was so cool to see all those people. Glad to know that everyone is still alive haha.

(Concerning pictures Mom sent from another senior missionary blog) I was actually the one to take those photos at the mission home with all those senior couples. We picked up the food for them and were just in time to hear the final testimonies. When you walked in, you could feel the Spirit, almost like a blanket. President Hill bore his testimony as well. He talked about the hard work of the senior  couples and then about the missionaries. He didnt know that me and my companion were there, so what he said about the missionaries was very special for me. He said that the Romania Moldova mission has some of the greatest missionaries he has ever met. Now, if he had said that to a room full of missionaries, some would state that he only said it to boost their spirits. The fact that he said it without knowing that we were there, and with the Spirit in the room, there was confirmation of the love that President Hill has for all the missionaries. It made me want to work harder and to be a better missionary in general. 

(The picture Elder Ormsby took of the senior missionaries.  He thinks so highly of these people.  God bless the senior missionaries - their service is beyond price.)

The statue in Piata Revolutiei is such a strange thing. No one can really say what it is or what it means, but there are some people who say that it represents a "piercing of the conscience". There were a lot of people killed during the Revolutionary war. They wanted to remind the people of the horror of it all. The red stuff, we think, is an "after touch". 

(from the senior missionaries' blog)

I am very jealous that you were able to go to the temple. What a blessing! So cool that the E's were sealed in the temple. It makes you think about the eternal family, how we can be together forever. What a blessing it is to know that. Not even death can pull you away from your family as long as you follow God's plan.

I will be talking to President on Tuesday to find out what the plan will be for the upcoming transfers. I can't think of any other reasonable solution than to stay an extra transfer. 

Elder G is a great missionary. He is very close to being done with his mission (31 days) and he has had some health problems, but is still working!

I havent gotten any of those pictures from Sora L (she took all the pictures, it cost 35 lei per camera), but I will get those to you ASAP.

Love Elder Ormsby

P.S. Will you please ask E to write me.

Quick note and pictures

So Elder W is being ET'ed out of the office. An elder decided to go home so because we are in a 3 some, Elder W is the one to go. This means I might spend another transfer in the office. I think I will request it. There are a lot of things to learn and a whole lot more to figure out, having only one transfer to train the new guy would be both stressing and next to impossible. The Lord knows, and all will be well.

Vârstnicul Ormsby

 Elder Ormsby and Elder W

 Elder H

 Peles Castle

 Peles Castle

 Peles Castle

From Wikipedia:  The first three design plans submitted for Peleș were copies of other palaces in Western Europe, and King Carol I rejected them all as lacking originality and being too costly. German architect Johannes Schultz (1876–1883) won the project by presenting a more original plan, something that appealed to the King's taste: a grand palatial alpine villa combining different features of classic European styles, mostly following Italian elegance and German aesthetics along Renaissance lines. Works were also lead by architect Carol Benesch.^[1] Later additions were made between 1893 and 1914 by the Czech architect Karel Liman, who designed the towers, including the main central tower, which is 66 metres (217 ft) in height. The Sipot Villa, which served as Liman's headquarters during the construction, was built later on. Liman would supervise the building of the nearby Pelişor Chateau (1889–1903, the future residence of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania), as well as of King Ferdinand's villa in the Royal Sheepfold Meadow.

The cost of the work on the castle undertaken between 1875 and 1914 was estimated to be 16,000,000 Romanian lei in gold (approx. US$ 120 million today). Between three and four hundred men worked on the construction. Queen Elisabeth of the Romanians, during the construction phase, wrote in her journal:

Italians were masons, Romanians were building terraces, the Gypsies were coolies. Albanians and Greeks worked in stone, Germans and Hungarians were carpenters. Turks were burning brick. Engineers were Polish and the stone carvers were Czech. The Frenchmen were drawing, the Englishmen were measuring, and so was then when you could see hundreds of national costumes and fourteen languages in which they spoke, sang, cursed and quarreled in all dialects and tones, a joyful mix of men, horses, cart oxen and domestic buffaloes.

Elder W looking pretty tired.

Week 45

Dear Family, 

Alright here goes all the adventures that I have been having in the past few weeks. I will include a "story" that I wrote to one of my friends out in Hawaii, which may or may not be true. I wont tell which until I get home haha.

I totally forgot that M was entering the MTC soon. It is crazy to think that she will be in South America in a little less than 2 months. The members there will greatly appreciate the fact that she can play piano. 

Ok, I am about to say something that will make Mom laugh. I regret not keeping up with piano. There I said it, I wish I had continued piano. There are only a few missionaries that can play the piano and when there isn't one in the branch with you, there is either the stereo or acapella. 

 Continuing. 

I am so happy that the E's were able to go to the temple, that is such a cool experience. How cool is it that they invited you to the sealing as well. Please say hello for me. 

Mom, I am very proud of the fact that you have completed your thesis. It is such a great accomplishment that will bring blessings into our lives, your life and the lives of the people you work with.

I laughed so hard reading that first two sentences. He ran into a mailbox. Running backwards. Talking on his phone. Man, I bet the person on the other side of the phone was like "wait, what just happened?" hahaha.

Ok, so what I didn't tell you was the story of a trip to Galati.

Dun dun DUN!!!!!

So the story goes that on a day like today 2 missionaries, an assistant and an office elder, decided that they wanted to have an exchange in Galati. They opened their hearts and allowed the elders who resided in this river city to travel with them, as they were in the same location as the a fore mentioned 2 missionaries. As the story goes the 2 missionaries weren't able to finish their chores until 6 o'clock pm, after which the assistant was famished. Together they met up with the river-city dwelling missionaries where they ate Subway, all but the office elder for he was neglecting food in exchange for bounteous blessings. As their meal settled into their stomachs all the missionaries realized it was getting late. 

With out further a do, they went off on their adventure, not stopping for directions (men don't need directions). As they began to drive around the monstrous city of Bucuresti they realized they were almost lost, and as such, needed almost directions.  Locating the nearest drunk, our valiant office elder asked in his Moldavian tongue the quickest way to Constanta, for that was the route by which they needed to travel to arrive at the river city. Drunk as he was, our intoxicated fellow gave the best directions he could, after scratching his plump belly of course. Noble and full of valor our missionaries sped off, but as the time to turn arrived the assistant stated that this was not the road that he wanted, so they continued on. After cruising for a league or so the missionaries were befuddled. Why had they not reached the well constructed road. The road on which one could travel as fast as his small 4 stroke engine could take him? Fast as lightning, or as some say, in a quick manner they turned around. 

Flying the way they originally came, with comments from the river dwellers whose  tempers were a flare, they returned to the city of many gypsies. Asking for a route to Constanta once more, for that was the route by which one went on the way to Galati, our missionaries proceeded to a different road. This incredibly straight and smelly shortcut eventually met with the way which is free (but not really there was a toll). After the many kilometers which had passed it was beginning to be late, nearly 8 o'clock as the sun stands. Tearing down the freeway, passing Dacia, Audi and Opel alike, these missionaries were finally advancing towards Constanta, for that was the route by which one took on the way to Galati. Nearing almost 10 o'clock, as the car timer stands, they arrived.

Our valiant yet tired missionaries halted for fuel, both for machine and man. Deciding that the hour was past for which to hold pride, they chose to ask for advice upon which road to take to Galati, after which they found that they had passed the turn off and needed to proceed 50 some odd kilometers back towards Bucuresti. Once again the assistant stated that this was not so, that he had passed through Constanta on his way to Galati. There was a way, and he would find it.

From the helpful river-dwelling messengers, the 2 missionaries found that if they traveled by way of Talcea, they would eventually arrive at the city where the river lies. Now remember, it is far past late and none of the missionaries had slept much in the days which had passed. Twisting and curving down dark roads, maneuvering around potholes and large cracks, they managed to finally reach Talcea. After circling the same passage multiple times they finally found the path towards Galati.

Winding through small towns and past large windmills our missionaries received a message. Wondering who would attempt to communicate with anyone at this unfortunate hour, our office elder opened the text. Tired and having a slight headache it took him a moment to read, and then translate the message. Esti in Ukraina. You are in Ukraine. The hour of midnight having already past, a road which hadn't had a sign in many kilometers and a text message stating that they were in the Ukraine, our missionaries became very excited. Nervous, intrigued and almost giddy. Why had they not passed a border? Had they somehow gone through a city into a strange land? Where guard dogs, helicopters, tanks and swearing Ukrainians surrounding them as they chattered in a hushed whisper?

After much speculation our office elder suggested that they must have had a Ukrainian cell tower bounce a signal off their phone, which still meant they were very close to the border. With a little more energy they finally reached a sign which stated that they were a mere 30 kilometers from their final destination. At last they began to see the lights along the river. With only 2 kilometers to go, they turned down a road, only to find that it led to the river. A dead end, a blank alley, a ferry crossing. They were on the wrong side of the river at two hours in the new day.  

Hearts heavy with disappointment, these missionaries turned to the next large city hoping to find a large bridge, a hotel, or a shallow area in the river. After traveling another 45 minutes they began to see hope. Again each sign stated that their new city was only a stones throw away, but just before they reached it they ran into a ferry crossing. Our assistant was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Switching seats, our office elder began to drive down a narrow foot-path which led to a ferry crossing. This crossing was different however do to the fact that it had an actual ferry docked. After talking to the captain, or one of his underlings, the missionaries drove up onto their new mode of transportation. It was almost half past the hour of 2, and the ferry was not to leave until 3.

Tick tock went the clock. Minutes passed while our office elder fought off exhaustion. He knew that he needed to stay conscious or they would never reach that city on the river. As the hour hit 3, they began to move. Water rushing past many thousands of gallons per second, they traversed this massive river. Reaching the other side, they trudged over to the apartment of the river-dwellers and crashed, only to wake up to 5 1/2 hours of service

THE END!!!!

What a great story! I should write children stories haha.

So the other story that I told Secondborn, but didn't want to tell you because I wanted to have something cool to share with Secondborn was...we wrecked another car. This time it was one of the brand spankin' new Opels (gutless cars that they are) and we were hit in the same place, although a little farther up. We were turning left when a taxi driver tried to beat the light and shoot the gap between us and the car in front of us. Well, he lost and so did we as it hit the back right wheel (pretty lucky cause it took most of the impact and then distributed it by spinning us). Airbags deployed in the front (me sitting passenger, I wasn't driving) and we all got out to inspect. Well the car is broken, that's easy enough to see. We spent the next 5 hours at the police station where the missionary who was driving finally stated that it was his fault (so not his fault, the taxi driver was speeding and probably blew the red) mostly because he was tired and it was 11 pm. We will find out soon enough if the car is totaled or if we will get it repaired. Other than that, there hasn't been a lot of fun stuff in our lives. 

That's about it. Life has been super stressing as of late. After the wreck we were asked to pick up a temple president who would be speaking at the district conference. We woke up the next morning in a very good mood (I forgot to say this was 3 days after the wreck) when all of a sudden I remembered that we had forgotten to go to the airport. After freaking out, we had called the hotel only to find out he wasn't there and had never arrived, we found him in the hotel he was really staying at. He had a good attitude about the whole thing and said that it was easy enough to forget with everything that goes on in a missionary's life.

That's my life!

Elder Ormsby

P.S. We are going to Peles castle on Wednesday. If you would like to have some pictures, I request some pictures from all of you :)

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