I think that's about all that happened this week. We played handball today and indoor soccer. Some of the other missionaries have an investigator that works at a gym or something, so we go play on the big court there. It was pretty fun.
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Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Using Family History Work in Contacting
This week was pretty standard (surprised? haha) We did have zone conference though. They are starting to try and emphasize using family history work in contacting. Which is really interesting, because there has been a proposal for the Church to digitize all the records of Romania from microfilm. It's going to be a big project, but the church has already contracted 6 million dollars in funding to support it. The early terms of the deal we know are that the archives will supply 10 linear meters of documents a day. That's basically a stack of papers 10 meters tall, lots of documents. The plan still has to be approved on several stages, but it's looking like it will be approved. From what I've heard, the records are very in depth, as the secret police kept so many generations back on every person during communism. And, there are many records in Romania that go back into the 1500s. Romania was actually one of the earliest countries to start issuing birth certificates, so that's a goldmine for people in their work.
I think that's about all that happened this week. We played handball today and indoor soccer. Some of the other missionaries have an investigator that works at a gym or something, so we go play on the big court there. It was pretty fun.
I think that's about all that happened this week. We played handball today and indoor soccer. Some of the other missionaries have an investigator that works at a gym or something, so we go play on the big court there. It was pretty fun.
Monday, 17 March 2014
I'm Learning to Play the Ukulele
Q: What's new in the Romanian mission office?
We were at the Mexican embassy with the sister from Mexico last week. They are helping her do some paperwork to send home to get her criminal record sent here. We went back today and finished it up and sent the documents to her dad. They'll arrive in Mexico city on Wednesday, and hopefully we'll be able to move forward with it all next week when we get the documents back. It's expensive to send documents around the world.
Q: What's the best thing that happened for you this past week?
Well we had something kind of cool happen this week. So there's this guy who's a member, and hasn't been to church for about a year . He has bought a few cars from us in the past, and he recently (over the last few weeks) has been going to lunch with us. He just calls us up, asks if we want to go with him. It's happened the last couple weeks and he just picks us up, and buys us lunch. Really nice guy. He owns a beauty salon and is a really prestigious hairdresser. Anyways, he came to church with is wife and son yesterday. First time in over a year. So that was cool. We've got to be pretty good friends, Now he just needs to keep coming to church too.
I'm learning how to play the ukulele a bit, it's kind of fun. I practice when I need a break from the office work. Elder baker knows how to play really well, so he teaches me a little here and there.
Well we had something kind of cool happen this week. So there's this guy who's a member, and hasn't been to church for about a year . He has bought a few cars from us in the past, and he recently (over the last few weeks) has been going to lunch with us. He just calls us up, asks if we want to go with him. It's happened the last couple weeks and he just picks us up, and buys us lunch. Really nice guy. He owns a beauty salon and is a really prestigious hairdresser. Anyways, he came to church with is wife and son yesterday. First time in over a year. So that was cool. We've got to be pretty good friends, Now he just needs to keep coming to church too.
I'm learning how to play the ukulele a bit, it's kind of fun. I practice when I need a break from the office work. Elder baker knows how to play really well, so he teaches me a little here and there.
Q: It's been a month or so since you've sent a photo. Do you have any new ones you could send?
And for the pictures, we haven't really done anything picture worthy, so I really haven't taken hardly any pictures for awhile. I'll try to find some stuff to shoot, maybe next week.
But that's all for this week!
But that's all for this week!
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Sometimes Translating Gives Me a Headache!
Nothing really new in the office. We got put in a threesome companionship again, which I'm not too excited about. But we found out today that he'll be leaving to go with someone else on Wednesday. And church was yesterday... haha. But it was long...... Sometimes they don't always stay on topic and they talk about stuff that doesn't necessarily apply. Sometimes I translate, but I dodged it this week. It gives me a headache haha.
I'm not sure when our clocks change here, sometime. We asked one of the members the other day, and he didn't know. We are thinking it's the last Sunday in March. We'll see though. It's real crazy that Carson is done. Seems like I watched him walk into the airport just yesterday. Weird how time works. I just have a touch over 3 months.
Nothing's really changed here in the office. I'm sure you've figured it out already, but it's pretty much the same drill here. Just taking care of the mail, visas, and whatever else could possibly go wrong. I did write a big chunk of something I could put in my homecoming talk during sacrament meeting this week, I felt pretty productive after that.. haha. We're still working on getting the Mexican sister's visa. There is lots of paperwork to gather, and when we have it all, we're putting her and her companion on a train to Budapest to apply at the Romanian Embassy there.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
The Joys of Office Life
Sounds like Austin has run into a snag or two this week working in the office. He is getting good practice with problem solving skills! Here's his update this week:
Not much is new. We have just barely got a sister here from Mexico a couple weeks ago, and us being the office elders, we have to do all her residence permit stuff. The initial thought was, based on what we found out, she just does everything the same as an American citizen would. We get to the immigration office, and turns out, it's pretty different. She has to have a special visa, that's an actual sticker in her passport in order to apply. And she can only get said sticker at a Romanian embassy. Yup, she has to go to Budapest to apply and then come back, then go back and pick it up. Nuts. And, she has to send documents home that allow her parents to obtain her criminal record for her and then have that sent to her here. It's a bit of a mess. We're slowly learning more and more though. Joys of the office life.
Also, we went to apply for some more permits with the new senior couple today, only to find out that part of the process has changed on us. The deal is you have to have some sort of health insurance when you apply for your permit, then you get long term insurance after you receive the permit. When we got to the insurance office, they told us that they don't give it anymore. So that threw a wrench in our plans. So now we have to get private insurance in order to apply, then long term insurance after they receive the permits.
That's basically the fun for the week.
Not much is new. We have just barely got a sister here from Mexico a couple weeks ago, and us being the office elders, we have to do all her residence permit stuff. The initial thought was, based on what we found out, she just does everything the same as an American citizen would. We get to the immigration office, and turns out, it's pretty different. She has to have a special visa, that's an actual sticker in her passport in order to apply. And she can only get said sticker at a Romanian embassy. Yup, she has to go to Budapest to apply and then come back, then go back and pick it up. Nuts. And, she has to send documents home that allow her parents to obtain her criminal record for her and then have that sent to her here. It's a bit of a mess. We're slowly learning more and more though. Joys of the office life.
Also, we went to apply for some more permits with the new senior couple today, only to find out that part of the process has changed on us. The deal is you have to have some sort of health insurance when you apply for your permit, then you get long term insurance after you receive the permit. When we got to the insurance office, they told us that they don't give it anymore. So that threw a wrench in our plans. So now we have to get private insurance in order to apply, then long term insurance after they receive the permits.
That's basically the fun for the week.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Met a Member from Alabama at the Hard Rock Cafe
Feb. 20 Austin wrote:
On Monday we ate at the Hard Rock cafe with Pres and Elder B. for Elder B's going away. It was funny, while we were there, a guy just came over to our table and asked if he could crash our party. He was speaking English, so we said sure. President Hill started explaining who we were and stuff, then the guy kind of cuts in and says, "I'm a member." Turns out he's from Alabama and works for the missile defense agency (Department of Defense) and he's working on a project here. Really cool guy who travels 150 nights a year and has been all over. He ate with us and we all talked. He served in Brazil and has 3 kids.
I think I already told you, but Elder C. left to Cluj and I have Elder R. back. I trained him when he first got here and we're back together. I have 2 transfers with him and then one after that. There is also a possibility of coming home on June 11th instead of the 25th. It's still in the air though. I got accepted to the U, just waiting to see if I got in to the Honors college now.
Today, February 24 he says:
Q: How are things in your part of the world? Anything new going on? How is it going with Elder Reed--you guys got along well the last time, right? Do you get the opportunity to give talks or teach lessons in your Sunday meetings? We got a your U of U acceptance letter info. in the mail this week. Any word about the Honors program or scholarships etc.?
A: Howdy, Howdy! Sounds like the normal fun gig back home. I'm still waiting to hear about the honors college. Hopefully it'll be soon. Nothing really new going on. Elder R. is great. We got along great last time and we are getting along great this time too. Our humor is exactly the same, so we get all the jokes. It's great. I'm teaching him how to do everything in the office, because he will be here when the new mission president gets in. It's crazy, President Hill only has one day with him. He arrives on the 29th of June, and President Hill leaves on the 30th. Not much training time. But every mission president does things different, so it's a good time for that.
We don't really give talks and stuff at church, they try to have the members do as much of that as they can. We actually just got a new branch president too, him and his wife just got back from serving their mission in the Bern, Switzerland temple. He's got a lot of enthusiasm.
Sorry it's short again, but I don't have anything too exciting to say. Have a good week!
The week was very busy, as it was transfers. We had 9 new sisters come into the mission and only one elder leave. Now we have sisters in every city, when before, there were only sisters in about half the cities. We were up really early on Wednesday morning to take Elder B. to the airport and didn't get to sleep till really late. It's been a little slower today, we got to sleep a bit and relax.
On Monday we ate at the Hard Rock cafe with Pres and Elder B. for Elder B's going away. It was funny, while we were there, a guy just came over to our table and asked if he could crash our party. He was speaking English, so we said sure. President Hill started explaining who we were and stuff, then the guy kind of cuts in and says, "I'm a member." Turns out he's from Alabama and works for the missile defense agency (Department of Defense) and he's working on a project here. Really cool guy who travels 150 nights a year and has been all over. He ate with us and we all talked. He served in Brazil and has 3 kids.
I think I already told you, but Elder C. left to Cluj and I have Elder R. back. I trained him when he first got here and we're back together. I have 2 transfers with him and then one after that. There is also a possibility of coming home on June 11th instead of the 25th. It's still in the air though. I got accepted to the U, just waiting to see if I got in to the Honors college now.
Today, February 24 he says:
Q: How are things in your part of the world? Anything new going on? How is it going with Elder Reed--you guys got along well the last time, right? Do you get the opportunity to give talks or teach lessons in your Sunday meetings? We got a your U of U acceptance letter info. in the mail this week. Any word about the Honors program or scholarships etc.?
A: Howdy, Howdy! Sounds like the normal fun gig back home. I'm still waiting to hear about the honors college. Hopefully it'll be soon. Nothing really new going on. Elder R. is great. We got along great last time and we are getting along great this time too. Our humor is exactly the same, so we get all the jokes. It's great. I'm teaching him how to do everything in the office, because he will be here when the new mission president gets in. It's crazy, President Hill only has one day with him. He arrives on the 29th of June, and President Hill leaves on the 30th. Not much training time. But every mission president does things different, so it's a good time for that.
We don't really give talks and stuff at church, they try to have the members do as much of that as they can. We actually just got a new branch president too, him and his wife just got back from serving their mission in the Bern, Switzerland temple. He's got a lot of enthusiasm.
Sorry it's short again, but I don't have anything too exciting to say. Have a good week!
Thursday, 13 February 2014
Nothing's Really New Here at the Office
Nothing's really new here in the office. The threesome companionship is getting really old, one companion is usually enough to get along with, let alone two. I'm very glad that will change next week. Elder B. goes home and Elder C. is out of the office. I do know who will most likely be my new companion though. Remember my son? Elder R. from Idaho? Yup, he's the man for the new office elder job that just about opened up. It'll be fun. I'll have 2 transfers with him, then one more and I'm done! Crazy to think about.
Speaking of college, all my stuff is sent to the U. They have all my transcripts and my ACT scores. The ACT robbed me 33 dollars to send that. Ridiculous. Carson got his acceptance letter already, maybe they'll be quick and send me mine fast too. I've been doing some research and talking to Elder B., I'm pretty sure I'll major in Civil Engineering with a minor in computer science. That's what I'm leaning towards. Maybe minors in physics or mathematics, or Spanish. I want to learn that when I get home. Then go somewhere (don't know where) and get a masters degree. I've been told by many in the mission that BYU has a good MBA program, but there are a lot of BYU alumni here as well. We'll see. It would definitely be a cheaper route for graduate school.
My mission dad (trainer) is getting married too. He's marrying a girl who served here. Kinda weird. I dunno if you remember, but about a year ago, we had a sister missionary come to Sibiu with her family and we tour guided them around for the day. I'm pretty sure I told you about that. Anyways, he's marrying her, and the wedding is on June 21st, 4 days before I get home.
Speaking of college, all my stuff is sent to the U. They have all my transcripts and my ACT scores. The ACT robbed me 33 dollars to send that. Ridiculous. Carson got his acceptance letter already, maybe they'll be quick and send me mine fast too. I've been doing some research and talking to Elder B., I'm pretty sure I'll major in Civil Engineering with a minor in computer science. That's what I'm leaning towards. Maybe minors in physics or mathematics, or Spanish. I want to learn that when I get home. Then go somewhere (don't know where) and get a masters degree. I've been told by many in the mission that BYU has a good MBA program, but there are a lot of BYU alumni here as well. We'll see. It would definitely be a cheaper route for graduate school.
My mission dad (trainer) is getting married too. He's marrying a girl who served here. Kinda weird. I dunno if you remember, but about a year ago, we had a sister missionary come to Sibiu with her family and we tour guided them around for the day. I'm pretty sure I told you about that. Anyways, he's marrying her, and the wedding is on June 21st, 4 days before I get home.
But yeah, that's about it for the week. I'm almost out of peanut butter, and honey. I've been eating lots of peanut butter and honey lately.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
The Week Was Just Like Normal
Q: How was your week? Did the guard come to church again?
A: No more word on the guard, he goes to the other branch, not the same one as us. So I'm not sure if he went or not.
A: No more word on the guard, he goes to the other branch, not the same one as us. So I'm not sure if he went or not.
But the week was just like normal. Nothing really interesting happened. They are still trying to dig out the city from the snow. There aren't any places to put all the snow, so they have been slowly loading it up in dump trucks and driving it away. Huge piles of snow, size of our house in some parking lots. But consistent sizes of cars. kind of a mess. But it's warmed up a bit today, and the temperature is above freezing, so things are melting a bit. We're just getting ready for the new missionaries to arrive. 9 sisters coming in on the 18th, with no elders. Weird. Then after that, we have just 2, one sister and one elder coming in April. Also, on the same day I go home, 16 people go home! crazy.
It's crazy that Carson gets home in 4 weeks! Blows my mind. It's almost time to decide what to do with life.. haha.
Sorry I don't have a lot to say this week, just a run of the mill week!
It's crazy that Carson gets home in 4 weeks! Blows my mind. It's almost time to decide what to do with life.. haha.
Sorry I don't have a lot to say this week, just a run of the mill week!
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