Because Of Him

Hey guys,

This last week I ordered some shoes, made homemade by a cobbler here that will fit the shoes exactly to your foot with whatever style you want. The price comes out to be about 30 dollars American! Pretty crazy right! They take only 10 days to make. Pictures to come.

We've been working with some people and one person that we found out contacting came to church this week. We were surprised when we invited him that he already knew where the church was. We then found out that he has been to church and knew about it for 3 years! A lot of the people there knew him. We were so confused because he hadn't metioned to us that he knew who we were or anything before Sunday. Pretty cool.

We received these things called video cards that have 3 videos loaded into this square thing with a screen. The first video that we are showing people is a video called "Because of Him". It's only two minutes long and we use this to share our message. It's pretty cool! It's not an ipad but its the next best thing.

It was also the Relief Society's birthday last week or something. We celebrated it this week. Happy birthday! haha

We had a great fast this last Sunday as we all fasted together as a district and a mission for the work to progress.

Great week and love you guys!

Elder Houk

The Work Is Good

Hey Guys,

This week our English classes started up. On our first English class, President and Sora Ivory came to visit and dropped in on our classes. It went pretty well! 

The next day we had Zone Training, and then two more hours of English classes. 

We found the absolute worst place to eat in Chisinau this week! Needless to say it was terrible. We also played some Fotbal (soccer) on sat. We had 8 new people come and play from our English classes and they were super good and a little intense. It was still really fun though. We also went Hacky sack contacting and found a couple people, as well as passed a volleyball around with this one guy. He seemed pretty interested to come to English. 

It was a good week this week. I realized how many spiritual things we do without even noticing it. Like praying a ton, giving a lot of spiritual thoughts, teaching people, studying, etc. It's just become normal life now. I just have to say that I'm happy to be a missionary and that the work is good! :) Hope you have a great week!

Elder Houk

Solar moon eclipse

It's Weird Speaking English

Hey Guys,

This week was fun. We went with the other Elders and their investigator to a classical radio concert. It was really cool and I got a lot of video from it. The conductor dude really freaks out and its pretty funny to watch. haha 

The ambassador of Moldova!

We were also invited to the American Embassy for a formal gathering of all the 'mericans in Moldova. It was....weird. We all felt like it was weird to talk to people in....English. We thought we would all be great at making conversation now with random people, but in Romanian its just so much more natural for some reason haha. I did get a picture, however, with the ambassador and Elder Bateman got him to meet with him at a later date to talk about what we do. Pretty cool! 

I'm thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us and for me individually. I am just thankful for this opportunity that I have to be his simple instrument here in Moldova and Romania. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Houk

This video shows a portion of the concert where the conductor gets into it!

at the radio place

new bus and commie bus right after it

communist style.

Does your computer not work? Lol

In a New Country

Sighisoara, Romania - a city they stopped in that is between Brasov and Cluj on their way to Bucharest before Moldova

Hey Guys,

This week was crazy. On Tuesday, It was a beautiful sunny, warm day all day and then just randomly decided to change and start snowing. 

Fresh off the train from Bucharest to Chisinau.

I visited people and packed up and got ready to leave and we left at 10 o'clock that night to ride down to Bucharest. We arrived in Bucharest at about 8 am. Then I stayed in Bucharest until 7 pm that night and took a train to Chisinau. After being woken up twice in the middle of the night to have our passports checked and some of our baggage gone through, and once more woken up for the train to change it's tracks from Romania to Moldova (which by the way is actually a different country than Romania) we arrived in Chisinau at about 930 am. So a good amount of traveling. 

Then that day we taught a class of Fire Fighters English and ate some Ravioli stuff called pelmeni. Pretty interesting stuff, good though. 

I'm already starting to get my visa to stay here. I got my blood work done and stuff. We are also having to search for another apt now, so we are living with 2 other Elders, the Zone Leaders. We don't even have our own phone yet, we are using the senior couple's. 

The members here are awesome. (note to mom: the pictures that I took with members are from Cluj) Things are happenen' here and I am stoked for sure! 

I hope you guys have a great week! And I apologize if I haven't responded to your emails. Don't worry, I've seen them and I'm not ignoring them, I just don't have too much time anymore to respond. But I'm going to try and respond to everyone as quick as possible! Love you all!

Elder Houk

English class in Cluj

Less active member that we brought back

Elders from Cluj with investigator Doru

Costel, the other Elder's investigator. Cool dude. He is from Chisinau. Said he's coming in 6 weeks and we'll meet up.

Just chillin' in Sighisoara

No words...  :)

No trumpets ALOUD!!!!!.....hahahahaha

The district from Cluj in Sighisoara

I'm in the middle of Piata 14 Iulie!  July 14 Street

That's my birthdate

Chisinau! Russian soap!

My books. The one on the left says Stick of Juda(Bible) The one on the right says Stick of Ephraim(BOM)

Elder Houk on the back

A large quad

A 7th Day Adventist concert we attended with the other Elder's investigator. It was really good!

Where the concert took place

Last chance to go to America!

You're Tall, You Can Adapt

Hey guys, 

Had a sweet week. I'll start with the crazy news first. I'm getting transferred to Moldova Chisinau. I bore my testimony in Church and started off by saying that I'm leaving Cluj to go to Chisinau. Everyone in the branch was like a low moan, like they are sorry for me. Haha Many people were like "prepare yourself". "Oh, you're tall, you can adapt to things." Haha. But I've heard so many good things about Chisinau from missionaries that I'm sure it's gonna be fun. Haha

This week we had a zone conference in Cluj with President Ivory. It went really well and was very inspiring. The less active member that we met with came to Church as well. 

Today we are going to Sighisoara. It's the city where Dracula was born and apparently one off the oldest cities in Romania. Look for more info on the internet. 

I'm excited and a little nervous at the same time, but it's going to be great because that's where the Lord called me to go!

Love you guys,

Elder Houk

Chișinău is the most economically prosperous locality in Moldova and its largest transportation hub. As the most economically and socially important municipality in Moldova, the city has a broad range of educational facilities.