My Mission So Far...

March 17, 2014

Hey guys,

    
   Have you gone out to your garage and seen your dusty roller blades sitting in a box, and thought to yourself, "Maybe I could go for a little bladin' today." But then you think, "No, I can't. Everyone would make fun of me. Rollerblading is so, like, out of style and I would just look like a dork." Well, if this has happened to you, then come on down to Romania! Its only a 16 hour plane flight and everyone here still thinks rollerblading is cool! 

    Okay, so yes, haha, rollerblading is pretty big over here, I mean they have a store that's like Walmart and their employees skate around on roller blades with merchandise and stuff in their hands. It's actually really cool.

    So this week, for the first time, I actually started to feel normal here. I woke up one day and got out the shower and read the scriptures and studied Romanian and I thought to myself, this isn't weird. So, I'm glad that its starting to finally sink in.

   

   This week I did some more service for a member. I got to carry some wood and then chop it into pieces and herd some chickens into their home. 

   We were contacted this week, by Jehovah Witnesses. When we were walking to the bus, they came up to us and handed us a brochure and asked us a question. Us, knowing exactly how it feels to be contacting, answered the question and had a nice conversation with these two older ladies. We ended up leaving them with an Articles of Faith card. It wasn't a bible bash or anything and was just really nice to just have a conversation about what each of us believe.

    I have really realized this week how important it is for me to try my best and to "leave it all in Romania." I could just get by and do the minimum if I wanted, it would be a heck of a lot easier, but I am finding more joy when I strive my best to live by the rules and try to lose myself in the work. This mission is definitely a marathon rather than a sprint and I can see myself growing and changing little by little. It's not easy, in fact, this is the hardest thing I have done in my life so far. I'm not even close to being done and I can already see the blessings that it has provided for my life. Being on a mission and being "set-apart" from this world and having mostly all the distractions of the world taken away, is like having a big mirror of my life in front of me and I can see everything that I need to improve on in my life and my mission. Missionary work isn't the funnest thing to be doing all the time, but the opportunity to dedicate these two years of my life completely to the Lord, is driving me to try my best everyday to bring the blessing of this Gospel to others.

I love you guys and have a great week.

-Elder Houk