Galati News

Hey guys!

Salt Lake Temple

So I gotta tell you. On my way over to emailing, I saw a lady with a purse. You're probably wondering why I told you that. Well it just so happens that that purse had the Salt Lake Temple on it. I mean it was the the main display! I saw Moroni and everything! And yes, I am like 100.23% sure that she is not a member. Here's another fun fact. I've also seen the Salt Lake Temple displayed in the background for a store at the mall, you know, where they put the manikins and stuff to show off the fancy clothing options of the season. Ironically, it's already sweaters and jeans and it's still like 100 degrees out here or 38 degrees as we like to say here in Europe, but I digress. So I think that Romanians just think that these are the cool American castles or something. Apparently, a missionary in the past had told one of the people working at the store that it was a temple for our church and the lady didn't believe him or something happened, I have a bad memory. But the point is, temples are an accessory here! They probably even want to go and visit them, I mean as well they should. Am I right? haha

So I met Romanian Scott this week. I say that because I don't necessarily consider this guy, his name is Marian, my dad away from home or anything but let me explain why he reminds me of my dad. So, we had met with Marian and his son Alin in the past for English and he wanted his son to have a good knowledge of a lot of different religions so we taught him a little about our church and hope to meet with him in the future too. But so back to the why, Marian is really into sports and his son is too. And we were teaching them the English words for slam dunk and point gaurd and all those sporty vocab in English. Sorry I keep getting off track, So there was this thing going on in Galati where you can sign up and play in this basketball streetball thing and some of our other English students invited us to come with them and check it out. So we went and guess who I ran into, Marian and his son. Marian had signed his son up to play in this streetball thing so we got to talking and he was telling me how he is always taking Alin to all these different tournaments and stuff and paying for tennis and basketball and, you know, always just trying to help him get better in his sports and stuff. It was funny cause we were speaking in Romanian and he was like "people call me as they say in English, Mr. Mom" haha.

Coach dad and Blair with one of his home run balls
Vista National Little League 2008
age 12

He goes on to explain that you gotta be there for your son and stuff, just can't go home and watch tv or whatever. And then he's like, oh so it's Alin's turn. So we go over there and watch him and he's giving him comments and stuff. "oh that guy needs to pass more, look at that shot" and all that good stuff. And then he goes over and talks to Alin and we left. And the next day, the event was on again and it's on our way home, so we stopped and watched it for a sec and there he is again. So I go over there and say hi and Alin is about to go shoot some 3's and stuff and we talked more. And then it hit me and I remembered all those good times in the past where I had a ton of tournaments and stuff and I would be waiting for my turn and I would see Dad over there talking it up with someone, like usual hahaha. Oh and this guy Marian, he could talk too, let me tell ya, he probably beats out Dad by a long shot. But anyway, you know, I just felt like, when I was watching Alin, I felt like I was watching myself and I was the guy that my dad was talking to. Because, you know, I would always wonder what my parents would be doing the whole time I'm playing a game and stuff. And you know, I could really just sit back and actually see from a 3rd persons view what my dad did for me and it really just helped me appreciate how much he did for me. And I remembered all those good times and stuff that we did together. So I just gotta say, love ya Dad and thanks. (Don't worry Mom, you have a story too, you just have to wait :) )

So with other news (just imagine a news announcer from SNL), here's the Galati weekly update with Elder Hooouuukkkkkk! Alright, so to start off with Cornel, he's back with a date. This time it's the 12th of September. I do believe that this will be the one. We are close to teaching him everything and the Branch president feels good about him being baptized. Everything seems to be in place and ready, set, go. We'll see what happens next week with him. So stay tuned. 

Alright, on the other hand we have Rainov. Things went... well not that good. He called us up and said, Hey I can get baptized by anyone right? And we said yes. He said, well I want the President to baptize me (meaning the Mission President. President Ivory.) So we were like Okayyyy... we'll give him a call. President says unfortunately, "I'm not going to be in Galati and it would be better for him to be baptized there, but here's what I'll do, he can come down for district conference and I'll confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood  and he can be a special guest here." We relayed that info to Rainov (this is all over the phone) and Rainov didn't take that very well. He kinda throws a grown up tantrum in a way and we talk to President more and we gave Rainov a verse and tried to explain the situation. We decided to give him a little space for a day or so and then on Sunday he told us he's going down to Buc (where President is) to find our President and talk to him, himself. We let President know what's up and he told us to just let it go and if he finds him he will gladly talk to him and explain the situation. So there's a little cliff hanger to keep you glued to next weeks Romania weekly update with...THE ROMANIAN HULK!

So there it is guys, love you all tons and hope you have a great week!

ELDER HOUK