Week 79 – Ploiești, România

Thank you so much for sending me the pictures! I wish I could tell you how much I appreciate them! I try to send you guys pictures too, but they can only come so often. ;). Our hike was amazing that day and the weather was perfect. Lucky for me I think that the guys in my district want to go again, so we are looking at different trails to take. (Less dangerous ones 😉 ). I think that that would be a lot of fun.

What’s nice about the area that I serve in, is that it is really close to a lot of really cool things to do. Lots of castles and hiking. I like that part about Romania. It is super cool! My old comp, is gone, and my new companion is really cool. He was just an office elder, which is different than an AP. The office guys do a lot of the visa work and translating for the office senior couples. It can be tough work, especially when it isn’t exactly what you can see as missionary work. However, I am hoping to bring him back up to speed in the world of missionary work and street contacting. It should be really good. I am looking forward to our transfer together.

Well…June is here, and I feel weird. I am almost 21 years old. I can hardly believe that. I feel like I am 18 or 19 still, and that I just got here. But when I think about all the things I have seen or done, I realized that I have been out here for a long time. It is also weird that my five month mark is almost here too. UGH. It is so bitter sweet. Part of me can’t see anything else past the mission, because it is here in Romania, as my second home. But there is a part of me that says that my home is 5000 miles away and that you haven’t seen your family in forever. ugh… I am not going to think about it. I am going to keep working and doing my best to be my best.

I have a few stories that I would like to share with you guys this week. Okay…So we decided to go and get some t-shirts made for english promotion. We bought some shirts, and we were going to get some stuff printed on them. So we went to the shop and told him what we wanted. When we returned to pick them up. I ended up having a normal conversation with the guy for forty minutes or so. It was all in Romanian, and I felt like a boss. I responded right away because I knew what he said, and the words just came out of me. It was super cool. I leaned over to my companion afterwards and told him that I felt like a million dollars right then. That was super cool! I felt really good, and I made a new friend. He seemed like a solid person too. He would make an excellent member! He has a good impression of us though, and that is a good start. I will try to go back and visit him more often.

Okay, so after that happened, we wore our t’s in the park and contacted for English. Of course the first people I talk to are from another religion that tell me that what I believe is wrong and that I shouldn’t believe that and that they feel so sorry for me. I told them to leave me alone, and that I was there for English contacting. It was really bothersome. Then in the same hour I got spit on by some little kid. That same little kid also started throw pine cones at us, with his friends. ugh…It gets better. We were walking home, laughing at the craziness of that kid, and all that had happened that day. There has been a holiday going on the past few days, and there has been a concert every day and night. That night there was a concert, and we decided to stop and watch some old guy play the drums. It was really cool. As we stood there a girl with her boyfriend, I assumed, walked out of the crowd and toward us. I thought I recognized her from somewhere but I couldn’t be sure. As she walked past me she grabbed my side. I turned and instantly knew that it was a girl that I had contacted a few weeks previous. We said hey, and then she went in for the cultural kisses on the cheeks. I freaked out! I had no idea what to do, and she was leaning in for what looked like a real kiss. She wasn’t turning to one side. AH! She even touched my face….I freaked out a little and stepped back. She looked bummed. I told her that we didn’t have permission to do that. It was really freaky. Her boyfriend looked pretty unhappy too. So she had me type in my facebook page, and now I have a friend request waiting for me when I get home…ugh. It was really funny though. That day was crazy. Now the other elders in the group can’t let me live that one down. “You should have just kissed her bro!” “She wanted more than just a little ‘pup'(the cheek kissing thing)” Ugh…It was embarrassing, but I feel like I handled it correctly. I think that that is it for this week. We are working hard and trying to do better. Like is really good and I am grateful to be out here.