We Got Let in a Door!! First Time in the Entire Mission!

First of all, I'm staying in Sibiu for another 6weeks. I will be transferred somewhere else on May 1st. Still district leader and one of the sisters is leaving to Lasi, and asister is coming up to Sibiu to replace her. She was in my MTC group and is coming to be in our district. I really thought I was going to leave, but that wasn't the case. I thought I was headed to Bucharest to work in the office, but instead I'll be staying here.
Hopefully we can get some things going. We are going to start teaching English again, see if we can get some investigators that way. We are having to get creative, because we have no investigators right now. We did talk to the town hall about the table, and they denied our application because we intend to distribute religious material. It is against the law, I mean them denying it, if I understand right. We are going to pursue it a little more, and see what we need to change in order to get approved.

The waterfalls were awesome. Google Search "Sapte Scari Brasov". I
am sending all the pictures, let me know if you get them. Super cool
place. I probably will go to Bran castle sometime in my mission.
I've heard it's really all not that cool. You just go to say you
went. I've heard from multiple people that Hunedoara is better, and
I've already been there.

No new contacts. We did get let in a door while we were block
knocking this last week. That was cool. First time in my entire
mission. We had a restoration lesson, and it went pretty well. We
explained everything, and then asked if they would read if we gave
them a book of Mormon, and they said no.. But they were super nice and
welcoming. Just not interested.

In regards to the remodeling of the kitchen project we've got going on at home, this was Austin's response:The project seems to be coming along. Did you guys figure out how to grow a money tree or something? Teach me if you did. Haha. (No money tree here, just a thing called a home equity loan!) Anyways,should look pretty good when it's all said and done. Is it gonna be
all just tile and hardwood or some carpet? and what's the plan for the
living room when it's done? Like another family room? or something.

Still busy being the counselor and finance guy for the branch along
with the other stuff. That's bascially it I think. We are going on a hike again today,
Should be fun.

1/3 Through the Mission--8 Months Out

Elder Phelps is doing OK---no pictures again this week, he promises to take some this week and get them sent next time. Here's what he has to say:

Today I'm writing from Brasov, we are here for P-Day going to see some
waterfalls with ladders right next to them and hike around and stuff.
Should be cool.

We got our first 18 year old missionary
last transfer. An elder from Austria. But now they will start
coming more and more often.

We have been knocking some doors this past week, handed out a few Book
of Mormons and some pamphlets, that's about it though. We had the
senior couple from the office come up to Sibiu for an end o year
financial audit. So we were busy with that on Saturday. It was kind
of long, they had a ton of questions about the finances from the last
year and they had to go through all the documents and the receipts.
So I had to be there too, because I'm the financial guy for the
branch. It went well though and we passed, I think.

Also, we had a companion exchange with the zone leaders from Cluj one
day. So we got to spend the day with a different companion. Oh, and
we tried to go to the government to get permission to go into downtown
and set up a table and hand out stuff and talk to people. But, after
3 consecutive days of going to the town hall office, the last day,
they told us that our applications were denied. So That kind of threw
a wrench in the gears as far as the rest of the week's plans went. We
had planned on getting permission, and then we didn't, so we ended up
bloc knocking instead. That's how it goes I suppose. We might try to
go back and talk to them about it, because they just said no, they
didn't give any reason.

It's a little short this week, but we are tight on time here in
Brasov, so I'll take some pictures and send them your way next week.
I really haven't taken any in awhile, that's why I haven't sent
any.... haha.

100 Missionaries in Romania!

We are remodeling some at home and Austin's response is:
You guys better finish that project before I get home.

What are some of the Easter traditions in Romania?
I have no idea of the traditions. Probably similar to Christmas, the
whole country takes a week off work and no stores are open. And they
have big ceremonies in the Orthodox cathedrals and churches, I assume.
I'm not entirely sure. I don't know a lot of things about the Orthodox
church, so maybe you could do some research about it. The only thing
I know is that everyone here is Orthodox and not too open about
religion.

How are the new sister missionaries doing?
There is actually only one new sister, the other one was here in Sibiu
2 transfers ago, then she went up to Chisinau and now she's back. So
she's awesome, actually almost done with her mission in a couple
transfers. Her companion, the new missionary, is awesome. She is not
afraid at all to speak the language. She bore here testimony in
church yesterday on her second Sunday in Romania. No way in heck I
would have done that. And she just speaks way more than I did in my
first transfer. They're doing great though.

How many missionaries and areas are there in Romania?
There are about 100 missionaries in Romania with 16 more in Moldova.
Missionary areas include in Romania: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca,
Alexandria, Craiova, Galati, Constanta, Ploiesti, Pitesti, Brasov,
Iasi, Bacau, Oradea, Timisoara, Arad, Sibiu, Deva. And in Moldova:
Chisinau, Balti, Orhei. We have missionaries in all those cities.
There are also some smaller places that have church groups organized,
but no branches yet.

How was your week?
We had another training thing in Cluj-Napoca last week, so we hopped
on the early bus again. My companion and I presented about
obtaining and using member referrals. It was good. Our zone is super
cool. We are all friends. After the meeting, we wandered around the
mall, and had all you can eat pizza at Pizza Hut till the bus left in
the evening. Other than that, we haven't had much to do. We've been
out trying to talk to some people but haven't had much success. We
decided the people we have been teaching aren't progressing, and they
need some time to figure it out for themselves. So we aren't going
to meet with them this week. But we are working with the Town Hall
and the branch president on Wednesday to get permission to go set up a
table in downtown and contact that way. So hopefully we can get
something nailed down, and find some people to start teaching.

This transfer is almost halfway done already and it's crazy. We have the
transfer board next week. I kind of want to go work in the office in
Bucharest and drive around and do the visa paperwork and health
insurance stuff for missionaries. And one of the Elders there is done
after this transfer, so it's a possibility. If I do, I'll be headed to
Bucharest and stay for 6 months at least. We'll see though, I think
I'd be good at it and I could help out a lot there.

Is time going by fast for you?

Crazy we are all gonna be at our year marks here pretty
quick. Time is flying. And everyone is gonna be gone when I get home.

(I think he's talking about all of the friends that left on missions after he did)

O Zi Buna

Elder Phelps is doing well in Sibiu, Romania.  O Zi Buna means "Have a good day," I think. . . 
Here are my questions to him this week:

What will/do you do as a district leader? What do you do as the counselor in the Branch presidency? Do you tract in Sibiu or set up in the park like you did in Oradea? Do you do service like you did at Caritas? Where is your current companion from? How was the conference with Elder (Dr. ) Kent Richards? I used to work with him---nice guy.

Me looking out the tower window

Things are good. Our time here is spent mostly focusing on the few
investigators that we have even though they aren't really progressing.
We try to teach them as much as we can. Just trying to hold on to the people we have now. As a district leader, I plan and conduct a district meeting every week, report our goals and numbers each week, and make sure everyone is home and safe every night. That's basically
it, sometimes present things at zone training meetings. As a counselor, I do all the finances for the branch (well I'm the branch clerk as well) and we sit on the stand in sacrament meeting. Speak sometimes. I'm speaking again in 2 weeks. And along with that, we usually have to bless and pass the sacrament almost every week. We haven't really looked into setting up a table here, maybe we will though. We don't do service either. We need to find something like that.

The conference was good. Long train ride (6 hours each way). It was
an hour and a half leadership meeting then right after that it was a
FOUR HOUR main session. No breaks. Holy cow it was long. He
presented a ton of stuff. Mostly from the scriptures. That's what I
liked about him, he always taught from the scriptures. But the story
back to Sibiu was funny. We didn't have time to take the last bus
back on Thursday, so we planned to take the 10 am train. We stayed
the night in Bucharest and got all ready to go. We stayed across the
city from the gara and where the sisters stayed. So, one of the
office elders came and picked us up and took us to the station, but
the other office elder (he's new in the office and to driving in
Romania) took a wrong turn and got to the sisters' apartment at 10
am..... So we missed that train and went to lunch, then got on the
3:30 train back to Sibiu. We had luggage for 3 people and some
supplies and books of mormon. So much stuff. Everyone was getting
mad at us for having too much stuff on the train. But they were all
off by the time we got to Brasov. So we finally got to sit down for
the last 3 or 4 hours of the ride. We got into Sibiu, and had to take
almost 3 taxis because of all the bags. We first went to the sisters'
apartment and lugged all their bags up 4 floors of stairs and went
home after that. It was an expensive taxi ride, since he had to wait
while we helped them. Oh well.

My new companion is in his 15th transfer. So he's almost done. He is
from Layton, and graduated from Northridge High School. He's cool and
we're getting along just fine so far.

All in all, things are good, we are still searching for some success,
and we planned to have some this transfer, so it should be good.
We'll be going to Cluj-Napoca again on Thursday, for our zone training
meeting. Should be fun. My district is awesome. One of the sisters
is fresh from the MTC and she's super hyped about missionary work and
full of faith. Which is good. And her companion is cool too, she's
been in Sibiu before and they brought her back because both sisters
left last transfer. So I'm not the only one who knows the city and
things.

O Zi Buna,

Elder Phelps

Wedding on the Bridge of Lies, viewed from the tower between Piata
mare and piata mica

Elder Phelps, aka. New District Leader and First Talk Given in Romanian

Austin didn't send any new photos this week, but here's the latest!

Things are good this week. We didn't teach very many lessons. Just
one. We had a lesson with our investigator and the senior couple from
Brasov. It was good, she's heard all the lessons, knows it's true,
but doesn't want to be baptized yet. It's kinda frustrating. That's
just how it is I guess.

We are going to Bucharest again on Wednesday for a Mission Conference
on Thursday. Elder Kent Richards is coming to talk to us. He's a
counselor in the Area Presidency. So also, transfers are going to
happen at that time. The next transfer is only 4 weeks because of the
changed MTC schedule. So I'll be in Sibiu for 4 more weeks. My current 

companion is headed to Ploiesti to be a new zone leader. I will be the
district leader in Sibiu.   My new companion is the same age in the mission as
my first companion. And also we are getting 2 new sisters, one who was here

before, and a new missionary from the MTC. So it should be fun.

Cool thing of the week. I gave my first talk in sacrament meeting
yesterday. I took about 15 minutes about prophets. it wasn't as bad
as I thought it would be. Way easier than my farewell talk, but there
were only 10 people at sacrament meeting that day, so that's probably
why. But it was good. I'm getting more and more confident in my
language ability. Finally. Takes forever to learn another language.
But it's coming along nicely.

A Visit to Hunedoara Castle

We have a zone conference in Bucharest next week, and Elder Kent F. Richards is going to be speaking to us.  You probably know him, he was director of Surgery at LDS Hospital or something like that.  Should be cool, we are leaving on Tuesday to go down for that. And yes, there is a mission area in Brasov.  We have a senior couple there, 2 sisters, and 2 Elders. 


Hunedoara Castle

Our castle visit was pretty cool.  We got on the bus in Sibiu at 5:30 in the morning and rode for about 3 hours to Deva, where we met the rest of the missionaries in our Zone from Cluj and Deva.  We rode another bus for about 20 minutes out to Hunedoara where the castle is. It is way cool, I'll get some pictures sent of it.  We hungout there for awhile, ate some pizza for lunch then we headed back to Deva and played cards and ping pong at the church for a bit.  Then some of us went to the old fortress on top of a mountain in the middle of Deva. It's pretty small, but it has an awesome view of Deva.  And it's mostly destroyed, apparently an ammunition explosion blew up most of it like a bazillion years ago.  It's mostly ruins now, but it was still cool.  We rode this tram car thing to the top instead of hiking. We went back to the church, then caught the bus back to Sibiu.  It was a super long day, but it was fun.  Hunedoara is way pretty.  Google Seach "Deva Sign on the mountain" they have a sign like the
Hollywood sign on the mountain, but it says Deva.


The Fortress (Cetate in Romanian) at Deva

If you want to look up the real Hotel Transylvania, it exists. It's in a town called Sighişoara.  A few hours north-east of Sibiu.  I haven't been there, but I want to, and my companion was there last transfer, and said it was awesome.  Check it out. http://www.hoteltransilvaniasighisoara.com/ro/.

It was kind of a weird week, since we changed p-day and such.  So we
didn't teach very many lessons, only 2 I  think, but it was good.  We
are back on track for this week. That's about everything exciting that
happened.

Keep Calm and Visit Romania

Picture I took in downtown of a sticker on a pole and the walking
part of downtown in the background

Not much more to report for this week.  We have been busy teaching
some lessons this week.  Pretty good week.  But we still haven't heard
from the guy that was supposed to be baptized.  Hopefully we can get
in touch with him this week to touch base and get a date set for him.
We have another investigator, who we are helping to quit smoking.  He
has a date set, and we are working with him towards that.  Other than
that we have one more.  She is  the sister of a member here, and we
have been working with her.  She isn't progressing all that quickly,
but we are just doing a little at a time.  The senior couple from
Brasov come to Sibiu and we have lessons with them and her once a
week.  We are getting closer to a date with her, and she has expresed
that she wants to be baptized so that's exciting.

We have just been busy teaching, going to the gym, ice baths in our
bathroom.  Also, we are eating pretty healthy.  We bought a ton of
vegetables and fruit and we do smoothies, because Elder McBride has a
blender, so those are good.  We are going to Huneodoara on Wednesday,
and Deva, to see some castles, so that should be fun.  Not much
besides that,

I know it's not a lot, but my mind is blank.  We didn't really do
anything super exciting this week.  I'll report on the castles and
stuff next week.


Podul Minciunilor.  The Bridge of Lies.  In Piata Mica. One of the
oldest cast iron bridges in Europe