Is this what it's like in South America??

Hello from the țară of a million smells! I am in my last week of my second transfer! It's ridiculous how fast this transfer has gone. We just did mission reports wherein we said how we're doing and like what we want out of next transfer. I swear we just did that like two days ago!

Haha I'm probably going to be like that for my whole mission; like marveling at how long I've been here. It's nuts.

So some cool things happened this last week! Remember that really cool guy who contacted me last week? Yeah we met with him every day and he's like the coolest guy ever! His name is Nick. He's just awesome. He met missionaries in England and they recommended him to talk to us. He says he loves a lot of things about our church and he feels good when he reads, prays, and came to sacrament meeting! He loves the social aspect of the church out here.  So we'll see how he goes!

Also we have another investigator who accepted a baptismal date but because he's very understandably concerned about his physical welfare, as he's unemployed and doesn't know if he will live to that date. But he's basically ready to be there.

Haha I'm wondering if this is what it's like working in an area where the church is well established! We had a lesson almost every day and that's VERY rare out here. We didn't have time to go home and eat once because of a mix of how long it takes to get to our apartment (around 40 minutes) and that we were always there for lessons so we ate out for lunch every day!

 

But it's okay because we hardly spent any money on groceries because we are frugal! But haha don't worry I'm not starving! It's just that we buy the ingredients and they're super cheap so we save a lot of money! Like, I spent about half as much on groceries as I did my first transfer. We're frugal :)

Oh and I went soapboxing last week:) Yeah we went chalk contacting and me and Elder H and Elder R (ZLs) read from the pamphlets and also just soapboxed. It was super cool! We didn't really get anything out of it but it was a great experience.

Also there's a sister out here who's elementary school teacher was Grandma DeGraw! Her name is Sora Cook. Haha she told me that a few weeks ago but I just remembered. So. Yeah.

 

Anyway it's going great out here! I've seen lots of great things out here in this last week, as well as one really crazy lady. Haha but the good easily outweighs the bad.

I love and miss you all so I command you to have a fantastic week! Till I write again!

Love,

   Elder DeGraw

 

I'm a Pepper!

Sunset over Bucharest

Elder Swan

Elder Cat

 

I'm almost done with my second transfer...

Ce mai faceti from the land of adorable puppies and the cutest babies in the entire world. No. Seriously. This last week we saw like 5 puppies that I just wanted to steal and raise as my own. And don't even get me started on the babies.

So I'm more than halfway through my second transfer! And that's really weird. It still feels like I just got here yesterday, I can just speak a little better.

 

Oh some cool news, where we are they are starting a new group! Right now and for a while there have just been the two branches, and both are actually pretty close together, and also both are in the south. So, the District President decided to make a new group in the north, which will hopefully become a branch in a transfer or two. And it just so happens to be in the area I'm serving in! So if I'm still here next transfer I'll be able to help start up a new branch! How it will actually work is a lot of reactivation of inactives, as well as a few members from the existing branches will go there because they live up north. We're starting in on that this week.

 

Recently I've seen a lot of really cool things! I've been praying to become better at both contacting, and being approachable. Last night I realized as I was entering in my latest contacts into the area book, that like 5 in a row were people who contacted us! It hardly ever happened last transfer, but this transfer it's happened a lot! Just yesterday as we were walking into the metro after district contacting (where it also happened that we were contacted more than once), this young teenage guy walks up to me and tells me that his friend who lives in England told him about us and to talk to us. He had been to the church but he said it was at like 3:00 and everyone was gone by then. But he specifically told me, before I said anything, that he wanted to set up a time and meet! 

 

I don't know what it is, but people have been contacting me lately! We were on the tramvai the other day when this guy talked to us and asked if we could get him a Book of Mormon in Arabic. He came to english class the next day and we gave it to him and he read it very intently the whole class. 

 

We also have an Investigator who is really cool. I don't know what it is! But this transfer, I've been seeing more people being interested. Maybe it's just me. It's probably in large part just what I'm seeing myself. But it's really cool.

 

Last week I decided to read my patriarchal blessing and compare it with the scriptures. I can't begin to express how amazing patriarchal blessings are. I have seen in mine evidences of the truth of the gospel time and time again. It brings me comfort all the time. I went in and studied about specific topics in it, and I had one of the best study sessions I've had for a while. It brought me peace and helped me feel the spirit. It helped me to know what I need to do, what I will need help with, and most importantly, who I am. I have a very strong testimony of patriarchal blessings.

 

Me and Elder E have been doing really good money wise this transfer. Last transfer me and Elder R would EACH spend about 100-150 Lei on groceries. This transfer, it's been about 50 lei per person. We cook most of our dinners, (usually the same 3 delicious dishes) and the ingredients are so cheap, and they last us for so long, that that's all we need to spend! Haha one of the best things I've noticed about being out here is being able to experience learning how to use money without just falling flat if I'm a little short. I've learned how to cook a couple very cheap, very tasty meals, and I can tell I'll use them after my mission. It's just really great not to have to worry that much about where the money is coming from, and learn how to use it effectively.

 

Anyway, I'm doing great, loving it, and missing you all. I'll talk to you in a few!

Love,

Elder DeGraw

2 Months down in Romania!

Buna Ziua from statistically the third saddest country in the world!

So yesterday marks 2 months of me being in this country. So that's weird. It still feels like yesterday we were hopping on the bus from the MTC to the airport. This whole transfer has gone by like a week did in the MTC, which at that point felt like nothing. I'm already almost halfway done with my second transfer. Time's weird, man.

 

So last week was pretty cool. Last P-Day we went paintballing!! It was so fun. Haha but on the way there the taxi driver played literally the filthiest song I've ever heard in my life. We had to have him turn it off. Haha the Romanian rap out here is really cool, we hear it all the time in stores and taxis and stuff, and it's usually always really appropriate and clean, at least from what I've heard. But the American music they play is just ridiculous. 

 

Anyway. Paintball. It was awesome. Oh and on wednesday we went and performed a puppet show at an elementary school. There were two shows, one about hygiene and one about smoking. They both went over great! Afterwards I saw the kids playing games and acting out things like trying to kill the evil germs and stuff. It was super cool.

 

And I've found myself not hating contacting as much. We do a lot of contacting out here, because we don't get a lot of lessons because nobody likes to talk to us. And last transfer I detested it. We'd leave in the morning, contact for a few hours, come back & eat, contact for a few more hours, come home and eat, and that would be our day. We have been able this transfer to figure out better ways to do it. We have district contacting a lot, and some other things. But the biggest part of it is just that now I've figured out a way to contact that is so much easier than what I did all of last transfer, and I've found myself wanting to get better, pushing myself to talk to that one more person, and almost, even... kind of... enjoying it! It would still be a stretch to say I like contacting. But it's now gotten to the point that I can do it with confidence and I'm starting to be less picky about who I feel comfortable talking to. 

 

Last week I had another experience like the week before with silent prayer and a guy coming up and talking to us, and I got his number, and it was a super legit contact! And I did almost all of it! I keep feeling my contacting walls coming down and it makes me so excited to be able to just talk to everyone.

 

So, I'm in the process of writing/sending some physical letters. I have some people who've written to me that I need to write back to and it's about time I sent my family something. But I'm still trying to figure out how it all works out here. So it might take a little while. But just so you know, I'm working on it!

 

I love you all, and I'm loving it out here!

I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

  Elder DeGraw

Hi

Howdy-ho, from the best-granola capital of the world!

Second transfer continues to go swimmingly. Elder E is a superbly awesome guy. Had kind of a generic week, but it was super cool. We had an investigator lesson, met with Iancu and his family, and did some stuffs.

 

Yesterday after church we went back to Herastrau park and district contacted, and I kind of did a little mini-exchange with our new zone leader, Elder H. He gave me a lot of great advice about contacting, which made me feel a lot better at it, and he helped me to lower that barrier a little bit. And I want to say a thing about something that happened while we were there. I was walking down the path, saying a little prayer in my head. I was praying that the Lord would send us to, or send someone to us, who wanted to hear what we had to say, because most Romanians don't. Well, I didn't even finish thinking the words before I heard someone yelling "Hey, misters!", and this guy called us over to talk, because he wanted to hear what we had to say. He was a little defensive, kind of wanting to bible bash (to which my companion responded simply by answering his questions and destroying his arguments), but it was amazing. I don't care who you are, that's an answered prayer right there.

So this transfer we pretty much have the best district in the world. There I said it. They're all good, hard workers, but they're also all super fun and happy and nice and funny and awesome. Our ZLs are insanely fantastic (and in our district), and fulfill the ideal required of them of being good examples to the zone, and very well I might add.

We had our interviews with the president last week, which went awesomely. Haha he told me he's never seen anyone pick up the language as fast as he saw me, which made me feel really good! And then we had some training by the APs on using scriptures more and better in lessons. It was a great week.

Also, I've been asked a bunch if I get all of the family letters, and I'm pretty sure I do. It's just that our P-day schedule is kind of tight so It's hard to answer them all and then write my general letter. But I appreciate every single thing I receive. Oh and also I heard my friend Nicole got a mission call! So congrats on that! Mexico seems like a fantastic mission.

Alrighty then, gotta go, but here are some cool pictures!

University Facade

Pretty Graffiti

Elder E's Transfer of Awesomeness

Greetings from the odd smell capital of the world!

My second transfer has so far been one of the best weeks of my mission. Haha just because my new companion is pretty much the best guy ever. Elder E just came back to Romania after being home for three months because of surgery on his shoulder. He had been dying to come back, and now he's back home! Haha but he's seriously one of the funniest guys ever. And ridiculously smart. He knows the bible inside and out. He can find pretty much any scripture he needs and have the reference memorized. And he has/had similar interests as me so we get along great.

This last week has been great! Transfers was fantastic, got to see all but one of my MTC pals, met my new companion, said my fond farewells to my former, it was an interesting day. Oh and really cool news! I got to Nas (pronounced Nosh)! Meaning I got to be a "godfather" to an incoming missionary!

It was super cool. And also pretty surreal knowing that I'm not among the youngest in the mission anymore. We took the new boboci (our word for greenie, which means basically baby ducks) out and contacted at Herastrau park, took them for some Shaorma, and took them home.

Oh and there's a sort of tradition here where Nases will give their godsons ties. I found a really cool one in a piata for 10 Lei (that's like $3). I got complemented on the tie I gave him for days after. Just call me the king of the Nas tie.

Our district this transfer is full of some straight up amazing elders and sisters. Also they are all really funny. I'm excited for this transfer.

Sorry I'm kind of short on time today but I am doing well, still progressing with the language and learning more new things every day. I love you all, miss you all, and am loving Romania!

Love,

Elder DeGraw

Rainbow over Bucharest

New Companion - Elder McAwesome

Ce a facut, mă?? 1 transfer deja? (What the heck?? First transfer already??!)

Greetings from the cheap bread capital of the world! (seriously we get like super good quality European style bread for the equivalent of about $0.30 US. Anyway.

We just found out transfer results! I'm staying here in sector 1! But Elder R is off to the city of Orhei, Moldova! So I'm going to get a new companion here. His name is Elder E, and he'll be coming straight from America because he had to go get some surgery done. Had he not gone home though, he's still one of the "older" missionaries.

Cool week! Iancu got the priesthood on Sunday, so he'll probably be passing the sacrament next Sunday. He's really excited. The awesome thing about him is that he just loves the gospel so much. His testimony is getting stronger every day. We gave him one of those picture-Book of Mormons, you know where it has the Book of Mormon laid out like a comic strip kind of with pictures and simple captions. He loved it, and he's shared it with his siblings and his parents, who can't read.

Iancu sat in on a little mini "lesson" we had with a member who has some small mental issues. Basically the equivalent of a savant. He's really smart, but has some autistic-type tendencies. Anyway, he's very active, and missionaries will have lessons with him occasionally and he's always interested and loves to learn. In our lesson with him, out of nowhere Iancu just turned into one of us. He was asking him gospel questions, being his same old normal self but also acting really missionary-like. Me and Elder R got him a shirt and tie, and when he was trying it on he grabbed my tag and put it on and he looked just like a missionary. Don't worry I got a picture:).

Oh mom, you'll be so proud of me. I played the piano for the church service last week. Kind of. I used the thing where you just push any key and it plays the song. But still! Oh and yesterday we sang in church, and I had a solo! So that was cool. And later in the day, we went to Sora Gorzo's:) She's a member in the other Bucharest branch who always has missionaries over at her house and feeds them/us. She makes really good food, and we sang some hymns, talked about cool things, it was a blast.

Haha so I got a bit of an ego boost the other day, we were in a contact and a lady told me I spoke better Romanian than my companion! He was just talking really fast, whereas I talk more normal, so that's probably all she meant. But it made me feel cool.  I've made it a transfer, seen the fruits of missionary success, and am excited to see more. I've improved my language ability to the point where, weirdly enough as it is to say, I am basically functionally fluent. Meaning I understand about 90% of what is said, and I can respond pretty well about 75-80% of the time. That should not be possible. The gift of tongues is real, guys. Super excited for next transfer, and more to come, I'm going to do my best to be the best missionary I can be. I love all a y'all, my prayers are with you.


Elder DeGraw

"Elder" Iancu

Orthodox church - either being built or remodeled

Iancu's family

Transfers - Elder S., Me, and Elder R.

Zone Conference

Last week of first transfer!

Greetings from the stray dog capital of the world! Bucharest continues to be Bucharest haha. But it's great! Another companionship in our branch had a baptism last week, of an investigator who has been taught for several months, who had been in some tough circumstances and finally found a way out. Just like with Iancu's baptism, the spirit was there so strong. I love being able to see people take that first step in their eternal progression.

I just want to say something weird about Romania real quick. The rain. It's so weird. It'll be a nice sunny day, hardly any clouds in the sky, then, BAM, cloudburst, no warning, it's raining. In like 5 minutes it goes from sunny to thunderstorm, windy, hail, torrential downpour, wind blowing so fast the rain flies sideways, and then, it just stops. So we'll be coming home from somewhere, and we're like a block away when it's sunny, then the freak random storm happens, and we're drenched by the  time we get home, and by the time we get up the elevator into the apartment, we look out and see no rain anymore. I'm telling you, God has a sense of humor.

Anyway, so on saturday we celebrated the 20 year anniversary of the Romania mission. We had a big party in the Mihai Bravu chapel, and people came from all over to celebrate it. One of our english class students came and brought a friend, lots of investigators came, quite a few less active members came, I saw some really cool people, like some members from Sibiu, I saw one of my MTC teacher's father, and probably coolest of all, one of the original group to serve in Romania. One of the first 6 people to serve here. He helped open this country, before it was even its own mission. It was really weird because he wasn't even 40 I don't think. Our mission is so young. Also, I found out that only around 1,100 missionaries have ever served in Romania! It's really cool to think on just how young this mission actually is, how far it's come, and how much further it can go.

 

Our mission president was looking at some statistics of our mission, and found that if the church continues to grow here at the same rate it is now, in another 20 years, there will be around 2-3 stakes, which would qualify Romania for a Temple!  0_O I can assure you, when Romania gets a temple, I'm gonna flip out. It's so exciting seeing all of the good things the gospel brings, and when they get to have a temple in their own country, I can't even imagine the joy the members here will feel. I'm adjusting, can talk more and more by the day, and I've already lost like 20 pounds. So I'm happy:) I'll talk to you guys again next week!

- Elder Josh DeGraw

P.S. I've attached a picture of a watermelon-o-lantern because Romanian watermelon is fantastic and on an exchange my awesome DL Elder Lybbert decided to carve this bad boy. It was delicious. He didn't last the night (the watermelon).