The Latest Buzz

Hey Guys,

This week was a great week. I will start with my haircut. I just got it cut by the other missionaries about an hour ago and they buzzed my hair, haha. It's the shortest it's ever been, but the experience was priceless. 

Before

After

Also we have been making great food such as the banana boats. 

Our power, hot water and washing machine went out this week. So we've been having some cold showers for the past couple of days, but on the bright side I've been really awake in the morning, so it's been pretty good, haha.

We have also been trying this week to talk to a lot of people and we seemed to find some interested, but it's tough when we call them and they want to meet and they don't show up or they say they don't have time. But we're trying not to get down about it and we just keep doing what we are suppose to be doing and we know everything will all work out. It's important to just keep pressing on in whatever you're doing, as long as you know that the thing you are doing is the right thing. And even if you don't see the results you want or in your time, they will come eventually and I believe that.

I hope you guys have a great week and keep doing your thing!

-Elder Houk

My backyard

My crazy companion

Cel mai scurt parul l-am avut vreodata!
(The shortest hair I've ever had!)

Good Morning Brasov!

Hey Guys,

So half of the week was with my last companion and half with my new son! His name is Elder Bateman. He is fired up and ready to go! After picking him up from Bucharest on Thursday we headed back to good ol' Brasov. I hope I will be able to relate to him. I remember sitting at the same desk that I am now, doing the same stuff that we are doing, except this time I am the missionary who has been here a little longer. I guess I can also say that I know this city better than the back of my hand, haha, so we won't have a problem getting around. 

Varstnicul Bateman & Varstnicul Hauc

Elder Bateman is already talking to people in Romanian and even though I may have to tell him what they say to him, he can already respond back and have a conversation. I'm so proud! :') haha He's already a great missionary!

Elder Bateman's P-day nap, He's got his shoes on

and everything! Doesn't want to waste time

after nap time is over! haha

We had a lesson with the man who is of the Baptist faith. We made an agreement that he could teach us what he believes if we could teach him what we believe. He agreed. He took us to his church and showed us two videos of Baptist Sermons preaching. After, we discussed them and then it was our turn. We tried to teach him about the apostasy and prophets, but he was more interested in proving us wrong than really listening to what we had to say. We did however give him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read Moroni 10 and that if he wanted to know if it is true, that he should pray to God asking if it is.

I'm excited for the future and I hope you guys are too! Have a great week!

-Elder Houk

"Expecting" Changes This Transfer

Hey Guys,

So this week was pretty crazy. First of all this last week we found out where we are going and who our new companion is...and.....I'm staying in Brasov...Again! anddddddd I'M PREGNANT! With a child of my own! haha. I will be training a new missionary that is coming in! So this is pretty exciting and nerve-racking news. Of course the question, "Am I ready for this?" comes to mind. So I will have to be relying on the Lord to help me teach this new missionary right and be able to survive in the process haha. 

This week we also met with a man who is of the Seventh Day Adventist faith. He was interested in what we believe, but he also seemed to have another purpose to meet with us also, if you know what I mean. But he was very nice about it. 

Later that week, we were walking on the street and a man stopped us and was asking a lot of questions to try to "disprove" us or our religion. We were able to explain what we believe and understand each other a little better. He said that he wants to meet again and that he wants to send me a video of a sermon that we can talk about later. We gave him our number and he actually called us and wanted to meet over lunch and get to know each other. He even knew English for me and Italian for my companion. haha I looked at my companion after the phone call and was like,"This guy is speaking each of our languages and wants to meet and discuss religion, he is US!" haha 

So at the beginning of this transfer I made some guacamole for my companion and he loved it and told me "I want to make a pasta sauce out of this!" So here we are, last week of the transfer and WE DID IT!!! GUACAMOLE PASTA! and guess what, IT was GOOOD! haha will definitely be a recipe to remember! 

So that pretty much wraps up this week! I hope you guys have a great one and I'll talk to you later!

-Elder Houk (Bucătarul)(chef)

What a nice surprise to get an email from a Utah woman who was bringing her 16 year old son to visit Romania to meet his birth parents. She saw the missionaries and the Senior Couple, took a picture and emailed all of the families. Looks like a yummy place to eat!

Pressing Forward

Hey Guys,

 This week was a week alright. haha. So we have been trying to find people that have stopped coming to church (less actives) and see if they want to start coming again. We have been trying to see if we could find anybody that is on this list that we got and either they weren't home, didn't answer the phone, or didn't want to see us, unfortunately. But  the other day, this man who was smoking and drinking stopped us and said that he was baptized in England and wanted us to baptize his wife. Unfortunately, he works all week and didn't come to church on Sunday, but we still have hope. 

On exchanges this week, my companion and the other missionary met with Gabi, who we haven't been able to get in touch with for a while, and he set a baptismal date! He said that he knew it is true, but his family still doesn't know. Unfortunately, he also didn't come to church and canceled an appointment we had with him twice. 

Today, I got a haircut and the lady who cut my hair was interested in why we were here and what we are doing as missionaries and all that jazz and I was able to pretty much explain the Restoration to her simply. She wanted me to speak in English because she knew English and she knew it was easier for me, but before she asked if I wanted to speak in English to her I said, in Romanian, that I wanted to learn so I just tried to speak Romanian. We exchanged numbers and she seemed really cool, so I hope she becomes interested.

We also went to Sapte Scari today, for my second time. It was really fun and got a lot of pictures! Okay, hope you guys have a great week!

-Elder Houk

The Seven Ladders Canyon (Romanian: Canionul Șapte Scări) is a mountainous canyon carved by the Șapte Scări Brook in Romania in the county of Brașov, south of Timișu de Jos village. It is considered to be one of the main tourist attractions from the Piatra Mare massif.^[1]

The canyon has been carved in limestone and is composed by seven waterfalls, the tallest having 35 metres (115 ft) high. The trail within the canyon is arranged with metal stairs and platforms.^[1]

To see more pics from this hike go to top of blog and click tab labeled Sapte Scari Hike Pictures.

Holy Guacamole!

Hey guys,

This week was good! We had a zone conference with the new president this week and there are going to be a lot of changes in this mission. Mostly how things are going to run. I would go in depth but, you know, it's just missionary stuff and I'm excited but you guys might be bored. haha

This week for English [class], I made guacamole for the class and everyone who stayed after for the activity. No one from Romania even knew what it was, but they loved it!! One of the members even made it for her mom and she loved it and ate the whole bowl. haha 

This week I decided to buy new shoes (pic to come) and it ended up that my comp liked the same ones that I picked out so we got comp shoes! hahaha. They are really cool European ones. haha

I also went on an exchange with an elder who just came into the field. This was the first time when I was older in the mission then another missionary. It's weird to think that I have actually been out from home for 8 months now! Weird!

Thank you again for all the Birthday wishes and I hope you have a great week.

-Elder Houk

ps Sorry for the short letter, I didn't have much time this week.

Blue birthday cake

Missionary volleyball

Full moon

Beautiful hike 

Get away from the edge! Love, mom

My Missionary Birthday

Hey guys,

Took the picture in the morning.

      Thanks so much for all the Birthday wishes! It means a lot! Got sung the "La multi ani" song from my companion. I ate at a pizza place and opened some of the members presents to me and played game of bowling! (I think they let me win haha) I'm planning on making a blue cake that my parents sent me, today. And now that I'm 19, does that make me officially a real missionary? haha

The sister's present to me. A birthday tie that Sora Ralls got for her birthday.
And it just keeps passing from one persons birthday to another.
Some cherries, chocolate and a caramel filled croissant haha.

     This past week we had an interesting encounter with a man while we were eating in the park. He roller bladed over to us while we were eating sharma and asked if we were Mormons. We said yes and then he said, "Well I'm a pirate!" (He had an open button up shirt exposing his hairy chest, haha, had a fake earring on and two plastic swords) He had a good American accent, so for a second I thought he might have been a past Elder that was here or something, it turned out that he wasn't. He said, "What do you do when you see a pirate? You run like h***!, trying to scare us in the process with his swords. haha We both just looked at him plainly and replied, "Nope, we just keep eating." He then expressed his feelings on how he dislikes religion wars and that no religion was above the law and then before we could say anything else he skated away. We both looked at each other and shrugged and kept eating. haha. We're used to these kind of things happening way too often now.

This week I had to give my first talk in Romanian about Baptism at a Baptism on Saturday. It was pretty nerve racking, but I got through it. Later that same day we actually had someone threaten to burn the church down. Sorry that was random, but he didn't so it's all okay, haha.

It's also fun when people compliment you to their friends and they think you don't understand and then you speak Romanian to them. haha Those times are always great.

Well, that just about raps up this week. I'm still here and trying to love it everyday. I miss you guys, but I'll see you soon. Have a great week!

-Elder Houk

Marius, The mission branch leader, made this for me from his name tag!

A gift from Emma, a member in Brasov.

On the journey to the bowling alley.

Happy 4th of July!

Hey guys,

So I am still here in Brasov, haha. It really hit me this week how long I've actually been here. In my first transfer I bought a dictionary at this book store. In the time that I have been here I saw the book store go out of business and close down, get worked on by workers and such and then just the other day it was reopened as a restaurant called "Pandamania" with the theme being Kung Fu Panda, haha. I was like whoa! I saw that whole entire process happen, because we usually pass that place almost everyday. Weird.

It has finally gotten hot here, but it still rained this week. So the weather is just being really weird. Apparently, it was suppose to be the coldest winter this year when I came to Romania; it was one of the warmest. And now it is supposed to be one of the hottest summers and it's still raining, haha.

This week for the 4th of July, we went over to the senior couple's apartment for lunch and they fed us potato salad, watermelon, KFC, and Coke. Can't get more 'Merican than that! haha. I brought a little California here by making some guacamole.  My companion is Italian and one of the sisters is Australian, so they were just along for the ride. 

On the 4th we had dinner in Centru, and we met some Belgian people that knew a little bit of English. They were telling us that they need to use our family genealogy because it is the best. But when I asked for their information, one of the men wrote the name of a Mormon man he knew in Belgium and they said that they will get it with people over there. haha We were confused, but I thought it was funny anyway. 

That was my week, I hope that you had a great week and have a great this week! :)

-Elder Houk

Graffiti that looks like it says HOUK

Stuffed peppers made by Blair himself