Dear Family,
As a previous branch president of Bacau said, "All is well in Zion."
I gave a round of interviews yesterday as President Hill will be doing his last round of interviews this week. Some of the members didn't really want to meet for a temple interview, but just wanted to tell me they want to meet with President Hill and say goodbye to him. I did have to have some real interviews, and let me tell you, I have no idea how Bishop Brown does/did it. He does have 300 people in the ward! We ended church around 12 and I left around 3 after only 3 real interviews...
Something that I have learned about the members and Romanians in general, is that God truly loves them. People here have some cool faith. I hear about "dreams" that people have all the time. Sometimes they tell them to do some really iffy things, but other times is absolutely straight from God. When one missionary asked President why we don't hear about this kind of stuff in the States, he said that people receive the guidance that they are both ready for and that they need. The people here expect inspiration to come through dreams, and they really do come through! For example, I had an investigator in Bucuresti. He told me of a dream that he had before he met us. He was walking through a cave with a lot of other people. They were driving the fish towards shore to eat it, as they had done for a long time. He then realizes that he doesn't want to herd fish anymore and sees a small passage off to the side. He described the way as "straight and narrow". He was looking down to keep his footing, when he was stopped by two halberds. Two bright guards were blocking the way. "I need to go through" says our friend. "I don't know if you are prepared just yet" says the first. The second looks up, then touches the other on the shoulder and says "He is ready to go through the gate." Then he woke up. He isn't baptized yet, but he felt he needed to tell us that story after he met us for the second time.
We have had a really hard time of getting out and about. Yesterday we went sing contacting at the park. There were so many people and we were so scared, so we found a slightly less busy area and started to sing. Ill send you the video (its pretty long, and you cant hear all that well, but its kinda cool), but in the beginning you'll see a guy walk by with some girls. He then stopped and listened to us for the whole time with his friends. He came up and talked to us for a sec when we were leaving. He appreciated the singing and loved that we devoted our time to God.
We also met another really cool guy when we were walking to Kaufland (Walmart...or maybe Smiths, yup Smiths) when he called us over. He talked with us and when he found out all the details of us being here, he was blown away. "You stay here for 2 years, away from your families, learning our language on the streets, talking about God, without pay? I really appreciate you guys. You come a long way and people don't realize that. The next time someone gets mad, just remember, your great!" That makes a missionaries day. We invited him to the activity, but he didn't show. We hope to see him around, he lives pretty close.
Poke Secondborn to write me about his prom dates, I haven't heard anything about them. He told me about who had asked him (I thought that was hilarious that a girl asked a guy to prom), but nothing else.
We have been hearing some extra planes outside, and apparently they sounded the alarm to test it the other day (I heard nothing), but I'm not worried about the border stuff. The church is monitoring the situation pretty well, so we'll get some notice. If not, everyone needs some good stories about their missions.
I still have most of my eyebrows, no need to worry about me looking like Elder P.
Love you all, and Ill see you face-webcam-face in two weeks!
Elder Ormsby
