A little over a week after the EQ/RS HT/VT event Krisy and I hosted in our branch (reported in the previous blog) the entire mission (- 2 couples) went on a retreat in the mountains of central Romania (Transylvania). One couple was leaving in a few days and was trying to finish a lot of humanitarian work and couldn’t leave their post and the other couple has a son in our mission and couldn’t be at the same place as their son so they watched the mission office (the mother is Romanian and all of them speak Romanian). It’s a tap dance for the president to keep them apart with assignments, etc. There were about 120 of us total. The object of the conference was to learn of and accept the President’s challenges for the next 2 transfer cycles (84 days - before Thanksgiving for us). He asked us to read the Book of Mormon in 84 days and challenge our families and friends to read it by Christmas; consider yourselves challenged. So I’m still trying to read my page a day in Romanian [1/2 hour to 1 hour a day depending on who wrote it (Helaman = ½ hour, Captain Moroni = 1 hour so far) plus the 6 plus pages a day for the challenge plus two Sunday lessons, office and home work, evening discussions, etc.]. It is tiring for this old man but worth it.
This is what our marked Book of Mormon should look like before we give one away.
It was a tremendous 2-day event mostly sponsored by the donations of the Mission President and his wife. Krisy and I were responsible for a bus load of 50 young missionaries. Because they were missionaries they didn’t take a lot of supervision (although it did remind me of 20 years as a coach supervising teams on a sport’s bus) so we spent much of the time “friendshipping” a sponsor from the tour company; we hope to start teaching her and her husband in the near future as she was very impressed with the doctrine she heard during the retreat and the behavior of the missionaries.
OK; there are a few goofy looking missionaries here but they are really nice looking and good missionaries.
We are climbing; the road didn't last very long; much of the "climb" was along a path with a lot of washouts from recent storms. It rained that day but this old Seattle boy enjoyed the cool damp weather.
Par of the program (about 2/3 of the way up)
The waterfall; that's as far up as we had time to climb; earlier, one of the busses was very late so we had to compromise.
Yes; we are at a castle and we're going to eat there.
Shortly after arriving in Romania I read an article in the news; it stated that Romania is the best kept secret in Europe. Hopefully, you can see why. This is view from the castle.
The wall of the ballroom.
The restaurant with the performance of the Office Elders and Assistants; I just realized we didn't take a picture of the outside of the castle other than the entrance. It was big and beautiful.
As you may have surmised from my previous blog posts Sister Nelson and I occasionally go out to restaurants; a recent date took us to a return visit to one of our favorite restaurants. This one is situated on the top of a hill within the city near one of the major city parks. We walked through the park and enjoyed the atmosphere of the locale and, most specifically, the people. Romanians spend a lot of time outside during the summer; they enjoy the outdoors and I’m sure they are escaping the stifling heat of the concrete block houses (most without A/C). They stay out until way past 10 PM. Our restaurant has a veranda on the 4th floor so it overlooks much of this area; the view was beautiful and it was particularly interesting because 1000’s of birds were coming to roost in the trees of the park for the evening. A couple at a nearby table must have been celebrating a birthday or anniversary with a lot of friends; in the states something like this may invoke feelings of dread as the participants get drunk but we saw none of this. They were just enjoying each other, their friends and the wonderful atmosphere of the restaurant. The food (Lebanese) was great!
Two weeks ago Krisy and I went to the home of an acquaintance of hers to deliver a “Meet the Mormon’s” movie (in Romanian); we took the Metro a ways and walked a ways. Unfortunately work was being done on a major road nearby so our walking route (which would normally be placid) was full of cars. We delivered the movie and had a delightful meeting with the very nice, well-educated brand new mother (we also delivered Carey-made gifts to the newborn and her older sister) and promised to return the following Sunday to see how things went with the movie and deliver a BOM. We didn’t want to walk back via the busy road so we decided to walk a different way; we ended up walking about 10 miles that day. With each taxi we saw one of us would say “are you OK?” and the other would say “I’m OK if you’re OK” so we’d continue walking. Needless to say neither of us was OK by the time we reached home; it was 2 aspirin and bed for me; that bed felt oh so good. We took a car the next Sunday to collect the movie and deliver the BOM to this wonderful Romanian woman.
We are currently trying to juggle about 12 different “entities” (singles or couples) that we hope to teach. Each “entity” is in a different stage of development (aren’t we all?) from an old-time member needing some strengthening and fellowship to new members to investigators. These people are wonderful and are searching for the truth. It is exciting, fulfilling and sometimes frustrating as these potential leaders in Romania make their choices and decisions. One of these teaching opportunities involved introducing the concept of Family Home Evening with some new members. We ate dinner, had the event (the sister missionaries did the short lesson) and we played a dumb game called Rump-di-Dump (sp?) involving cups that get passed along. We had great fun and I think everyone learned simple things that kids do can be fun for adults, too.
"Rump-di-Dump (ask Krisy how to play it; I was one of the first to be eliminated).
We now have been on our mission a year; sometimes the days in the office drag but the evenings teaching and the experiences with the young missionaries and the Romanian people (non-member and member alike) make the time pass quickly. I am now done (almost) with counting time that has passed and will not count the time remaining. Yes, we will so love to see our children again and our grandchildren and hope to see them much more often in the future as a retired couple that can drive to Utah or Montana on a whim and fly to New York whenever; who knows we may even become pains to them (turnabout is fair play after all).
Krisy and I were assigned by our Branch President to conduct the 5th Sunday of the month joint Relief Society - Priesthood meeting and talk about tithing; here is the what I wrote as an introduction:
Do we believe we have a Father in Heaven who loves us and has a plan for each of us with His Son, Jesus Christ our Redeemer, as the center of that plan?
Do we believe that his Son Jesus Christ, under the direction of our Father in Heaven, created this world, was the God of the Old and New Testaments, lived a sinless life, atoned for our sins, was crucified, died and returned again as a resurrected/perfected being to continue directing the course of His church?
Do we believe that we are literal spiritual offspring of our Father in Heaven and He and His Son Jesus Christ, our Brother, want to bless us as we are obedient to the commandments but will not deny our agency?
Do we believe that Jesus Christ restored His church through the Prophet Joseph Smith who, through inspiration, translated the Book of Mormon and explained/brought forth much true doctrine lost over the last 2,000 years?
Do we believe that we are guided by a Prophet today who continues to instruct us in how to live the most abundant, happy life?
Do we believe the promises of the Lord contained in the scriptures and given us by the Prophets (old and new) that will come to us if we are obedient to the commandments? Do we believe the commandments in the scriptures from our Father in Heaven through His Son and the Prophets are given to us as a way of life (not just 3 hours every Sunday) to best achieve the joy that is promised?
Do we believe enough that we have had a “change in heart” as recorded in Mosiah 5:2 and can “cry with one voice, saying: Yea we believe all the words … and we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually”. Does this mighty change direct us to the service of our fellow beings or, as the scriptures attest, in “the service of our God”?
If we don’t truly believe all of this can we say that we have a desire to believe and will try the experiments as recorded in Alma 32 and many other scriptures and that we are crying for help for our unbelief as described in Mark 9:24?
What would we do if Jesus Christ was standing here today in this chapel as He appeared to the New Testament members after his resurrection or at the temple in Bountiful in the new world? Would we worship Him as they did? Would we bath his feet in our tears of joy to be with Him and tears of sorrow for our weaknesses? Would we pray to Him without ceasing? Do we love Him as Peter? Can we say as Peter said “yea Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee”. Do our actions prove that love? If we love Him do we keep His commandments? If we love Him do we feed His sheep as recorded in John? Or, do we think we are the sheep who need to be fed or beings to be served?
Later that day Krisy was off to a birthday party for one of the most cheerful, humble members of the branch; see the pics
This is one of my favorite presentations from one of my favorite speakers; Elder Holland. It is one of the most powerful testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and the Church I have ever had the privilege to hear; I hope it inspires you: https://www.lds.org/general-
Yes; we are still going to Rugby matches; here is how one team celebrates:
Here is the reason we go to the games (a note from a humble returned missionary rugby player from Tonga):
I would like to take this moment to thank you for the good time we have together yesterday i enjoyed being at your house and the good meals i appreciated everything no word can explain how i feel and thanks you again for your care and love for me from the day we first met at church up to now you care for me like one of your real son i appreciated how happy my families when they see the pics yesterday and they said as a member of the church where ever we go if i keep the commandment of the Lord he will prepare someone to help me while im away from them i was feel im still at home while im met with you guys thanks for that and hope you like the gift i gave you it not much but i appreciate your love for me ..ofa atu (love)
Here is a picture of our current AP's and OE's; we love them:
and that's about it for now.
I love reading your updates - always inspiring and uplifting!
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have a way with words.
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