Happy Fathers' Day!! I hope you had a great day, dad!
And as the title suggests, I can indeed solve a Rubik's cube now. Elder D
is one of those guys who can just sit there and flick his fingers around a few
times and solve it in a few seconds. So he taught me and after like an hour of
training, my fastest time so far is 1:38!! So now I can actually use that
Rubik's cube I've had for however many years.
Anyway, some weird things have happened this week... This is a long email.
Anyway, some weird things have happened this week... This is a long email.
First of all, as of last wednesday, I have been in Romania
for a year. O_o
Second of all, on that day we had our last zone conference
with President H... He leaves in just over two weeks. That thought was
really weird and on my mind for the meetings but it was just a normal meeting
basically. But then the dying testimonies! They were all by people that were
not old when I got in! And one was Elder L, who was in my first few
districts and with whom I have become really good friends out here.
And
then there were a few other ones all of the same age and it's just so weird
that they're all going home. So many people who I've known for so long out here
are going home and it's the weirdest thing because with all these people going
home it's making me think of all the things that I will need/want to do when I
get home and so it almost feels like I'm going home too even though I still
have ten months left.
It's weird because I can officially say that I've reached
the point in my mission where it doesn't have that "wow this is all so new
and crazy" feeling. I've in large part gotten used to it. I'm feeling old
and I need some more of that spark, haha. But we'll see what happens with that.
Then the day after zone conference, me and Elder D
stayed in Bucuresti for an extra day to go on exchanges with the zone leaders.
I went with Elder L! It was a really good exchange. I spent the one year
anniversary of my first real day on an exchange with my first DL. We talked a
lot about his plans, he gave me some advice and talked about his experiences,
and we walked all around Bucuresti for like 4 hours straight. It was great. I'm
going to miss that guy. He was one of the most influential people to me out
here and it's going to be so weird when he's gone in two weeks.
Now for the bad part.
When I was on my exchange, I went to go visit Iancu!
Remember how a little while ago I said I felt like things were going to get
worse soon, before they got better? Brace yourselves.
I had heard some things about Iancu, and I wanted to go see
him and his family again anyway. There are two main points to hit on: he's now
married, and he's going to be excommunicated.
That's right.
The 12 year old gypsy boy with so much light in his eyes
that was my investigator in my first transfer that got baptized, the only
baptism of one of my investigators on my mission, is now 13 years old and
married, and is going to be excommunicated.
I walked in to their house with
him and saw his father and his little sisters and it was so great to see them
all! It was seriously like seeing family that I haven't seen in a long time.
His youngest sister, when I was serving in Bucuresti, was 5 years old and
missing her two front teeth, and basically the most adorable little gypsy girl
you'll ever see. Now she's just barely 7, has her grown up teeth, and is the
same amount of adorable, but in a more grown up way.
And his father is still
alive, a fact for which I am so grateful, as his health is VERY poor; he's
confined to his bed and is hooked up to a respirator machine. I discussed with
Iancu and his father the situation. His dad has been worried about Iancu
recently. He says that Iancu has been skipping school, and not reading his
scriptures or praying as much. He's also recently started going to church a
little less frequently. He says that Iancu hasn't been listening to him much
recently, and has been hitting his siblings and his wife (keep in mind that
he's 13 so he's not too violent, but it's the principle of the fact).
I talked
with Iancu about this and you could see in his eyes that same childlike,
christlike light shining there, and he had a look of shame and seemed to me to
know that he's not been doing too well with some things lately. I told him how
much I love him and care about him. I told him how important it is to keep our
priorities in the right places, and that if he stays in school and works hard,
he can get somewhere in life. I asked him what he wanted to get out of life,
where he wanted to go, and all he said was "vreau sa fiu un om bun,"
which means just "I want to be a good person." We discussed it and
talked about what that means: treating others kindly, following the lord and
the prophets, etc.
I told him also how much potential I see in him, and how I
consider him my brother. I don't know how much stuck, but I know now that he at
least knows that I know the situation and that I still care about him. He said
that he's talked with the branch president and that he's already had the
priesthood taken away from him, and that the BP (who really likes Iancu and
from what I've heard is so sad about the situation) said that he still wants
him to come to church and participate in as much as he can, and that he can be
rebaptized when he's 18 and can have a legal marriage.
So it's not just that he's renounced the church and done a whole bunch of
horrible things and therefore is getting excommunicated, it's that that is
simply what has to happen because of various reasons. He still knows the church
is true, and does want to get rebaptized, but it's a weird situation.
It's so
weird; when I was in Buc, he was a super cool little kid with the light of
Christ so bright in his eyes. He still has that light, but now he no longer
seems like a child; he seems like a teenager. And I think that that's part of
the main problem: he wants to grow up too fast. I still have faith and hope in
him. But I am so sad about what's happening. Please keep him in your prayers.
So that's about it!
Transfers are next week, so I'll let you know what happens
there!
Love you all!
Here's a picture: In Utah they do this with coke. Here they
do it with beer. Yeah Romania!
-Elder DeGraw
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