January 19, 2015

Well, the exciting news of this week is transfers.  Actually, I'll keep you suspended a bit and tell you a different story first.  You may proceed to the edge of your seat.  So on Friday, we held an activity at the church where we invited our english students because we haven't been having english classes this transfer due to the back to back holidays in December.  So at this activity, an english student brought over her xbox and kinect and we did some games on there.  We played this dancing game where you dance along with the songs they play and you get points for doing the moves correctly. Classic.  Anyway, we got to dance to "in the summertime" and "prince ali" (from alladin) and other classics.  There was an elder in the district who loves the song careless whisper by george michael and he just HAD to dance to it, but he couldn't do it alone so he got me and another elder and a super cool english student to do it with him.  Little did we know it would be a partner dance.  We just went with it anyway, and it we pretty funny, since we had to dance with dudes and we were all super uncoordinated and just really bad at dancing.  Well, near the end of the song there's a part where the girl character (me) had to do a twirl and then do one of those backward lean things that are so dramatic.  I decided that it wasn't dramatic enough though so I lept into the twirl and threw myself back, thinking Miroslav, the english student would be able to catch me easily.  Not so.  He tried, but the floor did a much better job.  Needless to say, we both ended up on the floor and then out of commision for the rest of the song.
Alright, so back to transfers.  We found out that I'll be...staying.  However, everyone else in the district is leaving.  I'm the only one staying.  It'll be weird, but change is good.  Also, since we had a missionary branch president and he got transferred unexpectedly, so we don't have a branch president.  We don't quite know what we're doing with that yet, so it'll be an interesting week figuring that out.

January 12, 2015

Okay well the week was pretty good.  We went up to Oradea about 4 hours away for an exchange with the zls.  It was pretty normal, I mean I got to see my best buddy Brown but you know.  Anyway, it was the return trip that was noteworthy.  So we get on the train, and then after about a half hour the conductor comes and checks the tickets.  He sees my companion's bag and starts talking about it.  He wasn't really paying attention so he thought the guy wanted him to open it up and show him what was inside.  So he starts doing so and then the conductor is like, noooo I'm looking for a bag to use in my work and I want one like that, how do you like it?  My companion chills a bit and talks a little and then the conductor is like, you're not romanian are you?  Nope.  He then goes, ohhhh you're mormons aren't you? grabbing my companion's jacket to reveal his nametag.  He just chuckled as he left the cabin.  Later, the train stops in the middle of nowhere and just stays there.  Conductor-bro then comes back and tells us the train is broken and they need to fix it and we'll be up and running soon.  An hour later, we start moving again.  So that's another hour on the already 4 hour long train ride.  After about half an hour, our train stops yet again.  By this time, night had fallen.  We were informed by conductor-bro that we broke down again and that a new train was coming to get us and he would tell us when to get off.  Soon another guy with an official looking uniform and a beefy stache to match told us to get off so we could get on the new train.  So everyone on the train got out into the freezing and snow.  Then, the conductor approaches us and says hey I told you guys not to get off until I told you!  We explained that some guy told us to get off, which in that moment sounded pretty lame, but then he was like, which one?  That guy there on the left?  We answered to the affirmative and then conductor-bro goes over and chews the guy out for making us get off the train early.  As we waited in the snow for about 20 minutes for the new train to come, conductor-bro walked by us, looked at us, paused, shook his head and moved on, as if to say "you were the chosen ones."  So then our new train comes up and it's straight out of the Soviet Union.  Imagine a super old and rickety train with plastic seats.  Yep, that's what it was.  So after we get going on there, it is announced that our train would only go to Arad, a city that is not Timisoara.  So after about another 2 hours of riding in the train, we make it there and had to get off, then get new tickets, which we refunded, and then wait for and get on the train back home.  It truly was an adventure.  The train ride only took about 3 hours longer than usual!
In other news, we found the college campus this week.  Not that we didn't know where it was before, but now we know WHAT is there.  Donuts.  Huge, nutella filled, donuts.  Needless to say, I'll be fat by the end of the week.
Have a good one!

December 15, 2014

Well, I was technically transferred to Timisoara on Wednesday, but in an incredible turn of events I was allowed to stay in Buc until Saturday so that I could play for the Christmas concert.  It was suuuuuuuuuuuper cool.  Despite all the headache and dealing with people, it was really great.  We had a couple famous people show up and perform at it, including Antonia Iacobescu (Romanian pop singer) and Fang Shuang (Chinese (?) opera tenor who also speaks Romanian).  My buddy accompanied Antonia, but I got to accompany Fang Shuang on his piece.  It was a really cool experience and I'm super glad I got to stay for it.  I also had 4 English students as well as my piano student show up, so that was great and I got to chat with them for a bit.  Right after the concert, we had to leave and to catch a train to Timisoara.  We had about a gagillion packages for everyone as well as all my own stuff to take with us.  We enlisted a couple other guys to help us out, but in a fury of miscommunication, they got tickets for a train before ours so they couldn't help us get our stuff on the train, and to top it off, they also left one of their own bags with us.  We had to call in backup and they got there just in time to get all of our stuff on the train.  Once we finally got all settled on the train, the guys we were sharin a cabin with showed up.  They turned out to be professional soccer players and pretty much the coolest guys ever.  We talked with them a lot about what we're doing here in Romania and what we believe and whatnot.  We had some really good conversations and became such bros that I thought I'd offer them some good n' plenty that I got at the embassy the other day.  They were a little stale, so they were pretty tough to eat due to the fact that they're already pretty rough on the teeth to begin with.  i don't think they liked them at all hahahha.  They kept calling them rocks afterward and laughing at me for eating rocks.  Well, I made it safely back to Timi, so things are all good.  It's pretty weird coming back to a city you've already been in, but it'll be great.  I liked it the first time, so I'm sure I'll like it again.  Hope you guys have a great week!

December 8, 2014

Well, we just finished up the performance at the embassy, and it went pretty well.  First of all, they had a Steinway baby grand.  Oh man it was so nice, especially compared to the electric pianos at the church.  They're fine and all, but the action and responsiveness of a real piano just can't be beat, even if it's a little out of tune like that one was.  So the concert itself was good.  I definitely learned more pieces in such a short period of time than I ever have.  Elder Christensen and I's I Saw Three Ships went much better than expected, so that was a plus.  One thing that was really cool was that I was asked to do so many pieces for many different events that I lost track of them all and in the confusion didn't even get to look at one of them until I was reminded of it at the dress rehearsal last night.  Well, luckily, one of my previous companions who also plays piano had been working on that exact piece for about a month now, so he was able to play for that one.  Inspiration.  It was a great time though going to the Embassy and being able to play that great piano.

Have a great week!

December 1, 2014

We celebrated Thanksgiving the proper American way.  We had a huge feast put on by the senior couples here in Bucuresti and the people from satellite cities also came out for it.  It was prety monstrous.  Like I carved 4 of the 8 turkeys monstrous.  But most importantly, we were able to set up a HUGE turkey bowl football game with all the missionaries that came out for it.  We had enough people for 2 full football teams, and we all got decked out in nasty old second hand grandma sweaters.  Sadly, I don't have pictures yet, but we'll get those soon.

In other news, today is Romanian Independence Day, so they had a huge military parade that we got to watch.  The actual parade wasn't too exciting, because you couldn't see anything, but before it you could go up and see the tanks and whatnot while they were waiting for the parade to start.  Super cool.  You'll have to see the pictures.

Another elder in my district and I are going to be performing (with everyone else, we're not that special) at the United States Embassy this coming Monday.  We're going to do a sweet version of I Saw Three Ships by Jenny Oaks Baker and it's going to be awesome.  We're really excited for it and we've been practicing like crazy for it. Hopefully it works out well.

Have a great week!

November 24, 2014

Our week was pretty good.  We started it off by doing a visit with a member of the district presidency to this guy who used to be branch president here but now he's less active.  He lives kind of outside the city and his wife isn't a member.  We went over there and had a really great lesson with them.  We were supposed to go again today, but their schedules changed so we're going to have to try again later this week.  We'll see what happens with that from here.

In other news, we started a new streetboarding campaign because we have this event coming up where one of our mission president's friends, who is a manager of temple construction or something like that is coming down to give a fireside.  Right now he's in charge of the construction of the Rome, Italy temple.  We were supposed to contact for it, and it really didn't do any good to just stop people on the street for it, so we got some corkboard and 2x2's and built an easel and now we go out and just have a board with pictures of the temple on it and the event poster and people come talk to us!  Much very good.  However, we had a slight issue with the wind the other day and now we are needing to repair the frame of the board, but we'll be back up and running in no time.  This streetboarding thing is actually working pretty well because people see it, are interested, and come talk to us.  Much less frightening than a couple dudes approaching you for no reason to talk to you about something you've never heard before.  We even had a cop come up and ask us about it.  Usually, they just kick us out, but this guy was nice.  Hopefully we don't get fined later or something.

Anyway, we're celebrating thanksgiving with all the missionaries in Bucuresti and the outlying cities and then staying for the fireside with that guy that I just talked about.  Should be a good time.

November 17, 2014

So for this week, we had a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Kearon come and tour the mission, so we had a huge tripe-zone conference and then an MLC.  It was really great and he was probably one of the most quotable people I've ever heard.  My favorite quote by far was: "Be happy, but for goodness' sake do not be satisfied."  I really liked that because a lot of people are content with their situation and just blindly let their life and goals and dreams and visions pass them by.  They just survive life without living it.  On the other hand, there are also those who are never satisfied with anything and are never happy.  They just complain and complain for the sake of complaining.  Nothing will ever make them happy with their situation.  To me, this quote means to take the good parts of both scenarios.  You see what's good in every situation so that you don't get bogged down with being unhappy.  You choose to be happy instead of happiness being thrust upon you.  However, you are always striving for something more.  You are not content with your current state, which might be fine, but you know it isn't enough.  You are always craving, starving, and stretching for more.  This is what leads to growth.  One situation without the other is just stagnation, but when put together, they become growth.  It's like those find-happiness-in-the-journey stories.  You realize along the way to some great destination that the real happiness came from the journey and not the end.  However, you cannot find happiness on your journey if there is no journey.  Aimlessly wandering around pretending you're happy is no way to live life.  You need to have a reason to be striving and searching for more, but at the same time being able to enjoy and feel happiness in the moment.
In other news, there was this guy who came to church this past week, so my companion and I started talking to him.  Turns out, he's friends with a member in our branch and that he was actually contacted by missionaries over a year ago and was about to be baptized, but then he left the city to go work and lost contact.  Now he's back and wants to pick up where he left off.  We were just super stoked by that and now we have another great guy to teach!
Have a great week!

Story of the week.  We were standing at a bus stop going home one night, and there were these two drunk guys arguing in the middle of the street, which happened to be one of the busiest streets in the city.  Normal.  So they're just arguing about nothing and getting really worked up about it, then this guy pulls up in his car and starts to park on the side of the road.  The one drunk dude starts waving his hand like he's parking him or something, like that would help at all anyway.  Then out of nowhere the other drunk dude sprints over and tackles him to the ground and they start wrestling each other in the middle of the street.  They eventually both get up and start running around after each other.  One of them picks up a paving tile from a nearby construction site and chases the other one with it, eventually hurling it out into the street.  Our bus finally showed up and we got on.  The last thing we saw was these two guys throwing paving tiles around at each other as we pulled away.