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.

So Much To Say, So Little Time

Panarama of cool sunset in Marasti

Hey Guys,

Thank you for all the awesome emails I have received from you, I love you all very much. This week I don't have much time to write, but here are some highlights of this week.

We visited a former investigator this week. We established a day to meet and we went over to his house. It didn't turn out quite as we were expecting as he told us that as we are standing now, we are teaching the wrong gospel and we are going to Hell. 

Made a poster. It says Words of God

But we did find a less active member this week who was happy to see us and thanked us and asked us to come back. 

We also visited with the family we found in the block and taught them about the Plan of Salvation. We also helped their daughter and handicap son learn English. Someone asked me what my favorite Romanian food was and I confessed that it was Sarmale. So, the Mom told us that she will make it for us! So yesterday, Sunday, they invited us over again to eat! 

This week President Ivory will be coming to our city to have a Zone Conference with the missionaries in Cluj and 4 other cities. 

Thank you for everything and have a great week!

Elder Houk

Elder Allen and I

Elder McAllister and I

First thing I see when I walk out of the house

Second thing I see. The road to the left.

Sunset in Marasti

Cool Happens

Hey Guys,

A cool experience happened this week. At about 10 in the morning on Saturday, I get a call from the Branch President. He says, Hey Elder Houk I was wondering if you could or maybe not, do me a favor, and give a talk tomorrow in Sacrament meeting. Could you do it? Trust me I really wanted to say, I don't know, I'm sure my companion would just LOVE to do it much more than me! haha. But for some reason I said yeah, no problem, I can help you out. After that call, I went and grabbed my patriarchal blessing, personal study journal and said a prayer. And I started reading and it started coming to me slowly but surely. We left to teach English. After, we came home for lunch I spent a little time on it then left again to go to an activity. We had some fun and I met the Branch President there. He wondered if I could still do it and of course said yes. We cleaned up the church for the following day and headed home for the night. I decided that I was going to do this talk with only notes and not write out everything word for word. I had always wanted to do that, but I always thought my first time doing it would be my homecoming talk, in English. haha. 

There were points of the night where I was stressed and felt that I would not be able to do it. But I kept praying for help. I realized what I needed was faith. The faith to know that if I did my part the Lord will make up the rest. So I went to bed and woke up. My morning prayer was praying for the faith and the gift of tongues. I said my talk once fully in Romanian while getting ready and I felt strangely comfortable and confident. We traveled to the church and did all the normal things, talking to people, setting up the sacrament and everything and wasn't feeling too nervous, it was weird. When I was called up to give my talk I went up with my notes and scriptures and went for it. I can usually tell if something goes good or not by the way I feel at the end. I knew that it wasn't perfect, I messed up here and there, but I knew, without a doubt, that the Lord helped me deliver that talk. And I felt good about it. An investigator told me forte bine (very well). A sister told me she cried. A member referenced something she liked in my talk relating to the lesson, and the beauty of it all was that I KNEW that it wasn't me. It wasn't my talk at all, but the Lord's. Because it was the Spirit and I was just grateful enough to be His instrument. I didn't think I could do it and I couldn't. It took me to realize that I needed the Lord and his Spirit. All I needed to do was trust Him enough to accept and humble myself enough to ask Him to help me. It was a great experience for me and a spiritual step to learning the ways of the Spirit. 

I hope you guys have a great week and I love you all!

Elder Houk

More cool news!
Published on February 10, 2015
Apostle Russell M. Nelson, who 25 years ago blessed Romania, sent a video message inspiring members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all the people of Romania, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the this historic moment. We invite you to listen to the message!

Published on Feb 10, 2015

Apostolul Russell M. Nelson, cel care în urmă cu 25 de ani a binecuvântat România, a trimis un mesaj video înălţător membrilor Bisericii lui Isus Hristos a Sfinţilor din Zilele din Urmă şi tuturor oamenilor din România, cu ocazia sărbătoririi a 25 de ani de la acest moment istoric. Vă invităm să-i ascultaţi mesajul!