Week 41

All the visa work for the past two groups have been taken care of and we are on track for the next group (although it will be a mad rush for 3 days, no sleep on transfer week).

It seems that each new incoming office elder, Elder P is leaving, has to have some kind of crisis. We are receiving 4 new cars next week and the new office elder will have to do all the paper work and then sell all the old cars...its gonna be crazy! We also havent even tried to do health insurance, so it will be a total adventure with the new guy in town. 

Glad to hear that stake conference was so good. I was trying to think a few months back on if we even had missionaries in our ward specifically. It is going to be a crazy time for all the new missionaries and also the President of the Mission. 

Our President requested 18 more sisters and it was approved. Over the next 6 months they will be arriving, already we have 14 coming in the next 5 with only 6 leaving in that time period.

 It is so cool to hear about all the work that is happening in the ward. Good members for member present lessons are hard to come by, anywhere I am assuming. It will be great to have a class that tells you what you should do and what you should in no way shape or form even think about doing...cause its wrong haha. Bless the hearts of all the Romanian members. 

Dont worry too much about going to over to the [neighbors], but if you see them, give them a nice wave or say hello. Let The Love Magnet run over to them, stuff like that. All things start small. If you feel inspired to do something, ask God if this is what He wants you to do. If you get a good feeling, go for it. If not, ask Him what He does want you to do.  

It is so crazy that school is already starting, the mission/summer/winter/spring/basically everything has gone by so fast. Soon I will hit my year mark and then what? I dont know what President would do with 250 missionaries, thats almost double what we have now. Over such a large mission it would be crazy!  Love you lots!

Elder Ormsby

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

Missionary Work

For more information check out the article here.

Week 39

Sounds like you have been visiting Utah a lot this summer, have to say I am a bit jealous. I am surprised Dad didnt try and get you to fish in the rain, thats good stuff right there. Is Secondborn going to be doing basketball as well? I am glad that he is going to be swimming again, I really miss it and I would like to do the masters program when I get back, or maybe just swim laps...nah, I miss the competition of it all. What do you mean about battle wounds? I am sure that Secondborn had a blast at Jackson Hole and its cool that L's ward let him go with them on the youth retreat. B's family is really special. They show a lot of Christ-like attributes. I am sure that it would be a challenge up at girls camp, but if anyone could do it, E would be the one.

The pictures didnt make me homesick, but it did make me want to go to the cabin. Just another thing to add to the list when I get home. Some of the cousins sent up a letter while they were up there, and that was really cool. Lagoon would be another cool place to go! Its going to be a long list, hope you can keep up when I get back. I will have to tell Secondborn to hurry it up on his email so I can hear about this conference. It is so cool that he was called as a ward missionary. It will be so good for him and for all the other youth that have been called upon by the Lord and by Bishop B. It will be a really rough few weeks for him, seeing as how he hasnt swam in forever, but I know he will get through it and then do well. I had heard rumors that there was a new temple video. If there is one thing I miss that is very high on the list is the temple. I never thought I would miss something so much. It was always there and I never used it to the extent that I could have. I wont make that mistake anytime soon. If I only go once a month it had better have been a ridiculously busy month. I will make sure to keep grandpa in my prayers. How is grandma mildred doing? You also havent sent me any info on Sister Hinds, have you found anything out?

Romania is one of the best places on earth. Its crazy and hectic and I will probably never live in a big city with a family, but it is the best. 

What can I say about Romania? It is very much greener than it is in Idaho or Utah.

The people here speak romaneste. I love speaking Romanian, but its pretty hard for me to listen and understand them.

KFC has a garlic sauce that is amazing and should be brought back to the States.

The drivers here are way crazier than anywhere else, but are much better drivers as well.

Police officers will go to intersections that have the lights working just to do something.

When lights aren't working its a mess and no officials are to be seen.

Romanians have the perfect way of thanking people on the road, they blink their hazards a few times to say "thank you" or    "I am sorry for being so dumb".

Ciorba is much better than soupa which is better than soup.

McDonald's is truly in every country on earth, even Moldova has one.

Casa Poporului is a massive building and shows a bit of the power of a dictator.

Everyone is Orthodox or Pocaiti, which means everyone who is not Orthodox.

The senior couples in the office are awesome (as are all the senior missionaries that I have met).

The Bakers work with us everyday.

Elder Baker was a professor at BYU and has given a speech and written many books.

Sora Baker doesn't eat sugar, but will make treats for you. She is also a voice of reason to some of my more "out there" plans.

Sora Oroz is a native and is one of the funniest Romanians I have ever met. One of her favorite things to do is drop a little water on the carpet around you and then say "why did you do that, do you need the bathroom?"

Romanian-Orthodoxism is Romanian culture.

Sora Gorzo, the sweet member who feeds us, loves the missionaries. She also knows every piece of gossip/rumor in the mission field. She charges us 10 lei to eat at her house. Its usually worth it.

I dont really have any pictures from this week, sorry. I will try and do something really exciting/picture worthy this next week. We will be bringing a bunch of missionaries down so that they can get visas so wish me luck and pray for me (more on the prayer side, luck is imaginary).

Love you lots and lots and your all in my prayers.

Elder Ormsby

 (From Google Images:  the Romania Arc de Triomphe)

 (from Google Images Casa Poporului.  Click here to learn about it.)

(Picture and explanation from Elder P's blog:  "A little shrine the guards of our building made out of pictures they cut out of some our pamphlets. It was hilarious the first time I saw it. I looked into the guard room and thought, wow, that doesn't look like an Orthodox picture of the Savior... Then I looked closer and saw that they had taken a few of our proselytizing pamphlets and cut out all of the pictures of Christ to make a little shrine-lookin thing. I barely made it to the elevator before I just cracked up laughing. At least we know they love Christ now. The senior couple in the office, the Bakers, always talk to them about the gospel whenever they get the chance. Missionary work can happen in the most unusual ways!"

Week 38

That's really cool that you all got to go down to Utah. Its no wonder why The Love Magnet thinks that every day in July and for 3 weeks after is her birthday, seeing as how she had another one at Grandpa's house! Sora K agrees that she should just have a birthday month, it just seems logical. 

It looked like W and H were at Grandpas, what were they doing in Utah? Family vacation? Is he still at Mayo? 

Ah, good old uncle N. They have been great writing me at least once a transfer. I always look forward to hearing about their lives and what is going on around them. It must have been a great spiritual boost to talk with all of those families. 

The F family will hopefully have that in their new city. They moved to Ploiesti. I am so grateful that they will be in one of the strongest branches in the mission, but I am also sad that they had to leave. Deva is now being closed seeing as how we don't have any tithe-payers there. I love that little city and hope to  be able to go there again some day. 

The skype lessons are going. It is definitely different from a "regular" lesson. But I do love the feeling of teaching. I was able to teach during the last zone conference. I love it! I get pretty nervous, but at the same time, it feels so good to be able to talk about something that you are goodish at, and know that there is someone who is listening. Is Secondborn going to try out for the swim team? I hear that Mrs. L is a great teacher and wont take any excuse. He'll get worked really hard if he does. I thought he was going to try out for the basketball team? 

Make sure Thirdborn is still reading the Book of Mormon, he will be so grateful later on in life. 

Love you all and I am so grateful for the support that you have given me. 

Elder Ormsby

P.S. You can send the email anytime you want all Sunday evening long. :)

(Sora B caught Elder Ormsby "pondering" during morning scripture studies at the office).