Oct 06 2014 by bossman

Week 46 – București, România

Posted in București

This week has been an interesting one. We saw a piece of paper in our block that explained that we needed to be at our apartments for specific days. I didn’t really think anything of it, but I bumped into this guy who told me what they were doing. They were replacing the whole tap water piping in the entire block. That was kind of cool, but I didn’t think anything more of that. So on Tuesday we were going to go out and do our thing, when this guy told us that we had to be in our apartment all day. Meaning we literally could not leave our apartment…all day. They came in and busted a huge whole in our wall right behind our stove… Then we didn’t have drinking water for two days. It gets so much better. They then said that they were doing the whole thing to the bathroom water supply too. ugh. So we needed to stay in our apartment all day on Thursday as well. We stayed in our apartment all day on Thursday, and not a single person came to knock on our door, until six that evening. The guy in charge told us to be there all day on Friday too! We told him that we had things planned on that day. He told us that we would talk in the morning. I had no idea what was going on. I knew that we didn’t have water in our tub, toilet, or washing machine. I learned that we didn’t have water in the washing machine the hard way. Half way through one of my cycles they cut the water. So I finished doing my laundry by hand in the kitchen sink, which had water…ugh. That was an adventure, and It gave me a lot of Kudos for the women that did it by hand for centuries. It was neat though. No day is the same here. I showered by using large buckets of warm water from our kitchen tap, that were dumped on me while standing in the tub. It was actually very effective and worked very well. I had a good laugh every time. My companion wasn’t thrilled. That’s okay though.

I have read all of Alma, Helamen, and almost all of 3 Nephi in those three days. We were still able to get to District meeting (we were late, but we made it). I also read more of Jesus the Christ and am close to finishing that. It was a few very long days. I took some pictures so that’s good. Nothing really exciting happened, other than that. We had English, and we taught a few lessons.

General Conference was amazing though! I still haven’t watched the Sunday afternoon session, and I missed a good chunk of the Sunday morning one, because our connection went out for thirty…ish minutes. So frustrating. But at that moment we had already sat through two other General conferences. On Saturday we watched, live, the Saturday morning session. On Sunday we watched Priesthood, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning, live. It was a long spirit filled day of Conference. I made cinnamon rolls too, and shared with my District! I guess the tradition just rubbed off ;).  I really enjoyed making them, and everyone seemed to enjoy eating them, so it was worth it. They turned out really good too. I am grateful that I get to cook out here. It is really nice, and I enjoy it.

It is not too hot here, especially at night. It gets chilly. I am really grateful for that. I am sick of the immodesty here. I can deal with it fine, but sometimes it is just so frustrating that I want to flip out. Especially when the ones who are immodest are actually good looking. I just sing a little song or turn around. It all turns out okay. The cold means sweater and coat weather, my favorite. ;).
I am glad to hear that you guys have been having a lot of fun and happy moments. It is really good to have friends over, and spend time doing the things that really matter. I will tell you what, I am realizing more and more how little room I have to fit in idle time. Whenever I do have idle time, I am in trouble. That’s when temptation creeps in and doubt. It can be really frustrating. I am grateful though that I have the Atonement. I would be so lost right now without it.  I am also putting my Faith in it, which means that yesterday no longer matters, but right now and tomorrow do matter. I can change those, not the past. I should leave some things there. In fact I believe that we should all leave most of it back there. Take the good memories and cherish them, but the rest can go. Remember the lessons learned, but please just let the Atonement cleanse it. I am learning all about that.
Conference really helped me learn more of what I need to be doing. In fact I encourage you all to find your own testimonies again. I still think that something big is going to happen, I have felt that way ever since the MTC, but now it is here! Well maybe. Just prepare yourselves. Read the scriptures as a family. Please? I am really good at begging. I have had to really pry yes’s out of people (not true, just a joke 😉 ). It will forever bless your life. I promise you that you will never, NEVER, walk away from a scripture study going “what a waste of time.” In fact you will be blessed for putting in the time! I just hope that you guys will all, put your faith in the Lord, and then do something about that Faith. That is what matters, what you WILL do. I know that this church is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. He restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth. I have read the scriptures, I have taught the lessons (not all of them sadly…), and I have seen the gospel change lives. I am seeing it among the friends in our district (We don’t say investigators anymore, they are friends.). I know that it is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that we are made clean and we can be made clean right now. as we turn to Him, and accept Him. Then we can feel cleansed right now. We must forever follow Him. I know that to be true. I love you all very much.
Love, Varstnicul Nick Oldham
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