Last Transfer!

Hey Guys,

Taken on the train

So this week, we went up to a city called Iasi and my comp and I conducted a Zone training. Which is essentially what it sounds like haha We trained the zone on some specific topics that President Ivory wanted us to include, as well as other missionaries participating doing other things such as teaching the Restoration in under 4 minutes, for example. It was a cool experience. Afterwards we went on exchanges with the Elders there.

Elder Houk & Elder Anderson
conducting a zone training

This last Saturday, Cornel was not baptised. There were some things that maybe just weren't right and it didn't seem like a good day to try and force it together, so once again we are waiting another week. 

Our other friend Rainov, ended up getting his package in the mail this week, so he was happy about that. We will see how things progress with him. 

All and all that was my week. My companion is going back home to Temecula, CA and I am on my last stretch of 6 weeks. I will be staying here in Galati and getting a new comp who's name is Elder Evans.

Sunrise from my Apt

Love you guys and hope you have a great week! Till next time...

ELDER HOUK   

Keep On Truckin'

Hey guys,

So this week, again, Cornel pushed his baptism to this week on Saturday. We are going to try and meet with him more this week and figure out if he is scared of something or what's up. But we surely hope that he will come to the waters this weekend. 

This week we just did some typical missionary stuff. Like teaching lessons and teaching English. We found some new friends though. One of our new investigators is a woman named Mihaiela. She was a referral from Sora Stancu, a member here in Galati. We taught her with Sora Stancu and Liviu (her newly baptised son) about the Book of Mormon and what it is. We are planning to go more in depth into the Resto, in the next lesson. She seems to be very promising and sincere at this moment. 

Exchange with Bacau 

(Elder Anderson, Elder Broberg, Elder Myers, and you know who)

Our other new investigator is with an English student named Vasillica. A while ago, we met with him for a personal English lesson and ended up talking about God and if he existed. We couldn't get a clear read on what he was after (English or the gospel or what) until the other day when Elder Paterson and I were on an exchange. We met with him and played some ping-pong and at the end I gave him a personalized copy of the BOM to replace his other one. He was glad that now it would be easier for him to study it. He even asked us if it was possible for him, in the future, to be baptised. We invited him to District conference on Sunday and he came. Unfortunately, he left he left after 15 minutes because he was bored. He's like 16 or 17, and I understand. But I think that's a good start for right now with him.

 

Sora Marcela

Unfortunately, one of the coolest members here in Galati, (the older lady that we would meet with and she called me Hitler cuz I looked German haha) She passed away this week. That was a really sad time for us because we were able to form such a good relationship with her. But we are going to see her again, and she's not suffering anymore.

Other than that we have got the Branch on a BOM program here as well and we are still trucking along as missionaries in Alma now. And honestly I'm understanding more than I've ever before and I just love the spirit that comes with it. 

Love you guys. Stay strong and have a good week!

ELDER HOUK

Is It Friday?

Read the Book of Mormon in 100 days

Hey Guys,

So this week Cornel did not decide to cut his cast off his leg. haha. Let's be honest that would have been pretty crazy. But he will get it off today and so we are hoping for this Friday. haha. We hope this is the actual date.

Things here have cooled down a little along with the weather. This week we focused on meeting with members and inviting them to read the Book of Mormon in a hundred days. I had the opportunity to make this chart for the branch to follow. Turned out pretty good.

Yeah, that about sums it up. Doing the regular missionary work and living! I hope you guys have a good week!

Elder Houk

Selfie with Elder Anderson

Exchanges with Elder Weaver and Elder Jardine who are in Constanta

The train from Buc to Galati

The sunset off the Danube River

Ready, Set....

Hey there guys,

So your probably wondering what happened with Rainov? So Cornel is doing pretty well. We taught him everything this week and we are going to be setting up his Baptism interview this week. On Monday last week, Cornel mentioned that his foot hurt. We were like, are you alright? He's like yeah I'm fine, just gonna take some days off of work. I'll be good. The next day we show up to his house and he's in a cast. We were like oh, hey! Are you alright? He's like, yeah gotta keep this on for a couple weeks, I'll be good. At the end of our lesson we saw him trooping out walking into town. Yesterday, we were talking about his baptism and what he wanted to do since he was in a cast. We could wait a week or... and he's like I'll just get them to cut it off, the date is going to stay on the 12th. hahaha We were like are you sure? I'm still not sure if that's the best idea, but he seemed pretty confident about it. So as far as this week goes, this Saturday, Cornel will be the newest member in the Galati branch! Good for him!

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation;
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! ~Isaiah 52:7

So Rainov, well we saw him at work the other day and gave us a wave. So he never went down to Bucharest. I also bought him a Bible and a triple for him on store.lds.org in July. But for some reason it hasn't arrived yet. He keeps asking about it, and I told him that I've tried to contact the store to see what's going on and that we are sorry that it hasn't come in yet, but he must think we have something to do with it because he was mad at us that it hasn't arrived and wants us to speak to our mission president about his package and stuff. Of course we explained that he won't be able to do anymore more than we can for him. But he told us that he has taken the package as a sign to him. Meaning, when it arrives, we can start to meet and continue again. So we're giving him some space right now. 

We had our monthly Mission Leadership Training meeting this week down in Buc. It was good. Learned a lot and definitely benefited from it. Our President is pretty awesome.

I haven't talked about food in a while. Something that I've been taking pride in these last few weeks are my special grilled cheese sandwiches. Mmmmm. Nothing like a good homemade meal. haha 

Have a great week!

ELder Houk