Little Miracles Continued

President Hill gave us permission to finish our email time today, so I'll be able to update you on what happened.

I'll start back where I left off though. The girl we met was left under the impression that our church services were in English, and that we would be there on Sunday. In reality, we would be in Bucharest at District Conference. That day, she was really on our minds, and we prayed for a second chance, somehow. It turns out that God does give second chances when we are really trying. We ran into her again that afternoon and cleared everything up. And she speaks Romanian just fine, so church should be okay. We haven't seen her again yet, but we hope she will come to church next week when we will actually be there.

English that night was a little smaller than I hoped, with less than 20 people, and several of them former students. There were very few younger people, even though we focused our advertising on them. Still, the class went well and we got a couple potential investigators.

Wednesday was another miracle day, probably the biggest one that week. I felt sick that morning, with a headache and chills and just no energy. I probably had a fever. I barely made it through personal and companionship studies. Before language study, I said a prayer, asking direction for what to do, and if I should still go out proselyting that day. I decided to wait to see how I felt after language study. During that hour, my condition improved a lot, and by 11:00, I felt I could do it, and go out Book of Mormon contacting. We had been focusing on English so much that I was a little nervous about the change in approach.

So off we went, down to our new favourite street, Mamaia. The first man we talked to was very friendly and happy to chat with us. He is a professional cook, and even offered us food! We potentially will be meeting with him this Wednesday.

I contacted the next man, and he seemed sincerely interested in the Book of Mormon. We were able to briefly teach him about it, and share our testimony of it. He accepted the copy.

By this point, my mental and spiritual energy were back to full capacity. I felt healed in all respects, and ready to take on the rest of the day. We got a couple more phone numbers that morning, which was great. Potential investigators are typically very hard to get.

On Thursday, we traveled a little ways south of the city to another town, to visit a less active member. We were there for at least an hour.  On Sunday we were happy he came with us on the early morning bus to București to District conference, even with his health problems.

Saturday was another interesting day. We had English class again, and though we had remembered to make our cake the night before, we forgot until the last minute to prepare our actual English lesson! We were focused instead on our plans for our lesson with an investigator after English. The English class went fine, but the potential investigator never turned up. That was disappointing, because it was to be my first investigator lesson. Hence the title, Bunged for the first time.

Later that afternoon, we did district contacting in the park. We drew out a diagram on the plan of Salvation in chalk, and tried to teach people about it. It did catch a few people's attention, though I had some trouble finding anyone interested. Most people just avoided us. Eventually, the other companionships left, and just Elder B and me were hanging around. Elder B started teaching a couple of people, and I noticed another guy eyeing the diagram, so I went up and asked if he wanted to learn about it. He did, and I explained the plan of salvation in Romanian all by myself! I think he even understood! I tried to move over to the Book of Mormon at the end, but that didn't really fit, and he only took a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. Still, I feel that when God needs me to speak, I can do it. It seems a lot easier in the actual moment.

District Conference on Sunday was great. The bus allowed for relaxation time, I got to see Elder C (from my MTC district) again and we had a great chat, and the conference was good. The Kiev Temple president and President Hill both spoke in English, in both the priesthood and general sessions, with an interpreter. That made it much easier on my brain, since trying to understand Romanian speakers is still quite a feat for me right now.

Okay, now I can explain about yesterday. We finally got in for our internet time, and I was writing away, when Elder B got called by the sisters that one of our investigators was at the church waiting for a lesson. We grabbed a taxi to go as fast as we could to the church.
This man was one of our other potential investigators from Wednesday. It turns out that Elder B had suggested a lesson for Monday evening in a phone call on Friday, but that needed to be confirmed. When we were doing all the phone calls Monday morning, his number could not be reached, and we put it out of our minds.

Once we got to the church, however, we had a great lesson with him. He seems to have a real desire to learn, and wants to come to church. We have set up another lesson for Thursday. Even though he has a Muslim background, he really listened to us and seems sincere. That was really unexpected, but, the Lord gives second chances when we are trying our best and when His children need something. We were very grateful that night.

Now, we have lessons with two more men planned for today, and hope to be up to 3 investigators. That sure came out of nowhere. We really worked hard contacting, and now we are seeing the fruits.  I am really excited for what experiences these next two years will bring.

That isn't the only thing that has been improving. My sleep is totally back to normal now. I can stay awake to journal until 10:30, and I have started having dreams again, all since Wednesday when all my other problems were cured as well. I am feeling very grateful and amazed by what the Lord can do. Being on a mission really is incredible.

Thank you so much for your love and support. It means a lot to me.

Vă iubesc!

Elder Lybbert