Cool and Interesting Experiences

 

Elder Bateman, Elder Oldham, & Elder Houk at Mission Leadership Council

This week we had a Zone Conference in Bucharest so I didn't get to write till today (Wednesday). This past week we had some cool and some interesting experiences. To start off, just for your info, I was sick this week with a fever I think and some stomach stuff, but I'm feeling better now.

    Early last week, we called a member to ask if we could come over and visit her. She said yes, and then a little later called us back and asked if we could give Hector a health blessing. Of course we said yes and later on we went over there to visit her. When we knocked on the door she answered and looked at us and said "nu face bine" meaning he's not doing well. So we came in and asked where her grandson was because I knew that her grandson was usually over at her house. She gave me a weird look and said "who? Mihai?" Then she continued to say Mihai doesn't need the blessing but Hector. At that point she pointed down...to her dog. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt by asking a "higher authority" if it could be done, even though I already knew the answer. I called the AP's [Assistant to the President] and he told me that he was going to write this in his journal :) Then I called President and he simply said, "No, but you can have a special prayer for him." I said the prayer and we comforted her for a while and read from the scriptures. Her dog is her support since her husband had died and it was a really big deal for her. We sympathized with her and explained the plan, that Jesus knows exactly hows she's feeling, and that he is there to carry her though this. Later that week we made some brownies and surprised her at her door. She seemed happy to receive our dulcuri and the dog seemed to be doing better. I saw her today at FHE [Family Home Evening]. She seems to be perfectly happy again. So that was cool to see.

    We also picked up a baptismal date this week from one of our investigators. He picked the 14th of August because that was the age when Joseph Smith had the first vision. We hope to work with him throughout these next few weeks pretty closely. He apparently has known about the church for 11 years and I think he said that he has been taking lessons for 2-3 years. His name is Cornel. He's also a security guard.

    A while ago, my comp and I sat in the front seat of a Maxi Taxi (its like a shuttle, for the city) and we talked to the driver about English classes, and he knew English and seemed pretty interested about us being Americans and volunteers and speaking English and stuff. We gave him a card and told him to call us if he had any q's and to come to the course. After that didn't think much of it but thought it was a cool, but normal experience. Fast forward a week and something to last week and we are walking to visit a member on the road. This guy sees us and pulls off the road and yells at us to come over. He explains that he lost the card, but wants another one. So, of course, we give him one, and a little later he starts texting us. We talk and eventually established to meet up yesterday.

We ate at this place today...really expensive, cool view though

He was working, but he wanted us to come along for a ride and for us to be a "surprise" for his girlfriend. (We weren't exactly sure what that entailed, but we went for the offer none-the-less). We got on the maxi taxi and went in the back and then eventually his gf got on. We went to the last stop and everyone got off. So he gets out of the van with his gf and opens up the sliding door and like, stretches forth his hand and says here you go! The gf, you know, screams of excitement, not too loud but like a girl who just received her very own pair of owl earrings from H&M. We come out of the van and shook hands and we find that she also knows English. We talk about stuff, like she's a history teacher and other normal things. We got back into the van and then continued to talk with her and her boyfriend while he worked his shuttle routes. It ended up being very normal and cool, and honestly they are really cool people that are curious, it seems, about religion. We spent most of our P-Day with them today. They drove us around to lunch and then came back to get beaten in Ping Pong at the church. We'll see what happens in da future. 

So things are going good. Its really weird that my time as a missionary is coming to an end. I honestly don't want to leave, but at the same time I wouldn't want to live here forever. I am trying to enjoy and savor every moment I have with these people because it's time well spent and great memories made! Thanks guys for everything and I hope you all have a great week!

-ELDER HOUK-