Monday, September 30, 2013

It's getting cold!


So it's getting really cold here, as hinted by the title. It's also raining really badly today. And has been since yesterday afternoon. It's also windy. Very windy.  So that's fun.
Anyway, this week has been an interesting week. We met with Nick a few times, and the meetings went well, but he sent us a text the other day telling us that he still would like to meet up, but that he doesn't want to talk about religion anymore. So we're going to follow up with that.
 
Other than that, we met with a friend of Elder G, whereat we were served some really good food and invited them to come back to church after several years of inactivity, which he did, by having us pick him up in the morning. So we were at his house two hours before church to bring him there.
 
By the way, Elder G was really sick while we did this. He was apparently up all night vomiting, and he said he woke me up to help him or something, and I replied (in Romanian) "Leave me alone, I want to dream, let me sleep." But here's the kicker -- I didn't do that! I never woke up that night at all. That means I was sleep talking! And it's actually not the first time he's told me I sleep talk! Although the last few times it was in English, but this time I answered in Romanian, in my sleep! So that was weird. 
 
And other than that, this week has been kind of bland. I've been refamiliarizing myself with my guitar, and I actually feel like I play better now than I did before! Haha something about absence makes the heart grow fonder maybe?

And now some sad news, we just found out that someone from our MTC group has gone home! We're all really sad about that. Our group was really close and we all miss him. No one saw it coming either. Nor does anyone know why! He was always one of the most upbeat out of all of us. It's weird that he's not out here anymore.
 
It's been making me think about why I'm here, what I'm doing, and why I'm staying out here. And I realized that ever since I entered the MTC, I haven't had the thought to go home. Sure, homesickness has been there, I miss all of my family very much, and my friends and possessions and all that jazz, but I realized that since I've had the title of "Elder," my perspectives and focuses have changed.
 
I was worried before the MTC that it would be really hard for me to be away from the lifestyle that I was used to; going to school, working, goofing around on technology, wasting time one the internet and tv, but from day one, I haven't had a single problem with that. The first few days of nonstop study and work were a change, for sure, but I was never hindered by a desire to be anywhere else. It's hard for me to even think back to my life before the MTC. My mind is out here, and that's where it needs to be. I've been learning so much about being proactive and making things happen instead of just wasting my time. I still have a ridiculously long way to go to get where I want to be, but progress has been and is still being made.
The Gospel changes people. I've seen that happen out here. Even though a lot of people out here aren't interested at all, there are those who are, and when they apply the gospel principles in their lives, they change so much for the better. But here's the important part: for those who don't want to change, who don't want to be better, they never will. I've had companions, seen members, and even seen myself in this position of being too comfortable in the position I was in. But when I say "I want to be better," find a way to do so, and act on it, I better myself.
 
I've learned that you need to never, EVER, be satisfied with the kind of person you currently are. Even the greatest people on the planet still have room for improvement. And I've been learning that if I want to touch the hearts of the people in this country, I need to be the best me that I can. It's hard.
 
Right now I'm with a companion who, whether he knows it or not, is helping me in a few ways. I'm learning with him that if I want to see change, I need to address my problems head on, rather than being content with the way things are, and letting people walk over me. I'm still trying to apply these principles, but I'm progressing.
 
I guess that's the thing I've recognized most since being out here, is that although the main and really single purpose of missionary work is to bring souls unto Christ, I can't do that if I'm not the best that I can be, because I need to be a representative of the perfect person. So every day I try to improve myself a little more. It's hard. I'm only starting to come to this realization and it's hard to push past my comfort zone. But it needs to be done if I want to be the best missionary, and by extension the best person I can be. And it's not just something having to do with missionary work.The principles I'm trying to apply to myself are such that I always want to keep in my mind and work on, because we are always representatives of Christ, so we should always try to push ourselves to be better.
 
Haha I guess this letter has turned more into a self help seminar, but I've just been thinking on this subject a lot lately. But I just feel so strongly about this, that we need to keep pushing ourselves past what we feel is comfortable, to better ourselves.
Okay well now that my incoherent ramblings are over, here's a weird factoid about where I'm serving: Adult rollerblading is a huge thing out here. Every time we go to a park, we see dozens of them. There are some who take it really, really seriously and go really fast and do tricks and stuff and I feel like I'm living in the 90s.
Okay well that's about it for me!
Now here's some proof that I'm not starving myself:


I made nutella cookies with homemade frosting to make homemade nutella oreosand they were so good that I ate them all at once...
 
 
Also, poorly lit picture of my new guitar and me


Okay bafta!
-Elder DeGraw
(p.s. I printed off all of your letters and I'll try to respond to them all next week! Love you all!)

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