Christmas and New Year's Celebrations

Let us start with Monday Dec 23 and the Christmas Skype call!

Monday Dec 23rd, 2013

Sarbatori fericite!

I'm excited for the skype call today, and I sure hope everything works alright. We are just using the branch computer for a bit right now for internet time, but there are webcams at the library and we will skype there. 8:00 your time I believe.

We are very busy right now, mostly with the service project we are doing, making blankets. It is taking a lot longer than we planned! In some ways it is kind of nice that we have an excuse to do more inside activities when it is cold out and I am sick, but it's too bad we can't get out to use the Christmas spirit in finding people.

We have some other errands to run today. Talk to you more when we skype!

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The SKYPE call! (as described by his mom)

Elder Lybbert did skype us from the library at 8:00 AM Calgary time.  It was so exciting to see him and then we realized we could not hear him.  He could hear and see us, but the library computer did not have a microphone.  We were only able to type through the message box and wait while they asked the librarian if there was a computer with a microphone... but no... he would have to say goodbye and try to find another computer, maybe an internet cafe, from which to call us again.

About 30 minutes later he called again!  Yay!  This time he had camera and working microphone at an internet cafe not too far from the library.  The reason they did not use the branch computer at the church is because it does not have a webcam.  Anyway, this time he was able to talk with us for an hour.  It was so great to hear from him and see him and learn about his mission.  

We asked him if he had seen any vampires yet, being in Transylvania.  No, he has not, but he has seen the actual Hotel Transylvania! 

The weather was about 2 degrees Celsius and they have not had much snow.  He is having a nice mild winter.

He told us that he has a great washing machine for laundry, but no dryer. The washing machine has about 14 settings!  Then they have to lay the clothes out to dry.

He had a great time performing with the branch choir.  Here is the stage they performed on:

It was a great call and he sounded very good and happy to be on his mission.  He told us about the activities he had planned for Christmas Eve and Christmas day etc. and he reported back on them when he wrote his email the next week, so I will just go ahead and post that so you can hear how his Christmas was.

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December 30, 2013

Bună Ziua!

Well, it's been an incredibly busy week. It just flew by! we had so many different activities to do, and I am glad that we will be back to normal soon. Just new years left, then transfers, then I'll be able to really get into the work and push myself hard. I'm hoping right now to stay with Elder C, since we get along really well, but we were too busy to meet the goals we set for this transfer. It would be nice to have a second try. But if not, then I just hope I stay in Cluj. Now that I am just getting to know this place, I would hate to pack up and leave.

Now, let's get started with all I was up to this week. On Tuesday, our district went and saw The Hobbit 2 (Hobbitul 2). It was great! I really enjoyed it. It was in English with Romanian subtitles, as I think they might do for most movies here. I don't know how many get fully dubbed into Romanian.

That evening, our neighbours had us over for dinner. That was fun. We had a Romanian meal of ckicken and sausage, mămăligă, castrăveți, and cozonac to finish it off. And we shared a Christmas message at the end too. It was fun. They don't have too much, and come from a gypsy background, but they are really friendly and good people.

On Christmas, we got up at 6:30, and did our studies as usual. But I did open my package from you, so that made it a little more special.  Thanks so much.

We went to the branch president's family for lunch, and that was great. I made a banana bread and Elder C brought a potato and broccoli dish, but the meal they served us was a polish dish. I don't know what it was called. There was a potato salad type deal and another dish I can't really remember and don't know how to describe. I've been eating too many different kinds of food this week to remember them all.

We also did a gift exchange between us missionaries. I had drawn Elder Cr, and I gave him an angry birds flash drive, wrapped three times. Sora M had my name, and I was lucky for that. She made a pocket Book of Mormon case for me, with my favourite scripture, 2 Ne 32:3 on it. That was so cool! She got me a bunch of candy as well, to top it off.

Then, that evening, we went to our neighbour's place again! They had even more Romanian food for us this time. Sarmale, of course, which we were expecting, but also Ciorbă de Burtă. I didn't know what that was, but I figured it out after eating it. I think it was the fattiest soup I have ever had, but I finished my bowl. (By the way, burtă means stomach.)

Even though we were so busy, we managed to fit in an exchange as well. I stayed with Elder Cr, but unfortunately, we hardly got to do anything since we had to work on blankets as a last minute push to get them done. Us Elders and one of the members also went caroling to members, but since we ended up getting fed a whole meal at the first place, we only had time for two visits.

On Friday, we finally finished the blankets (On Friday morning, in fact), then went out to the town of Gherla to deliver them. That was great. Most of the orphans there were teenagers, so getting blankets wasn't so huge for them, but they still appreciated them. The youngest kid there made it all worth it with his reaction though. It was cool.

On Saturday we finally had time to start doing regular things again. Only one of our medium students came for English, but we couldn't expect much in the middle of the holidays. People aren't really thinking about taking English classes this time of year.

And now it is already P-day again! And, it is transfer board week already. Where did the time go?! I've been in Romania for basically 4 months now! Now we have the difficult week of suspense when all we can do is think about what might happen at transfers. We just want to know already!

Thanks for all your love, and I'm glad you had such a fun Christmas!

Love,

Elder Lybbert

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 January 6, 2014

Servus! (I'm pretty sure that's Hungarian. I've been hearing it around here in Cluj)

For this transfer... I'm staying with Elder C! I'm really excited, since we can set new goals again and hopefully do more this transfer. The holidays made this last one fly by too fast. Elder Cr will also be staying in Cluj, but Elder R and both the sisters are leaving. And, the new sisters coming in will be a trainer and a boboacă! That will be fun. I think I will feel a little more experienced serving around a brand new missionary.

New years was pretty fun. We were about to go contacting at 6:00 PM, but the other elders reported that it was getting useless already since everyone was getting ready to party, so we headed down to the church to have our own little party for the evening. We got to watch Gnomeo and Juliet for a New Years movie, and we hung out as a district until almost midnight. Then we went to Piață Unirii (Square of the Union) to see the fireworks, and that was a lot of fun.

The weather here has been great though. It has been staying above freezing, and it even rained a bit on Sunday! I think that may have been the first time I have felt rain in January before. If the weather stays like this, winter won't be nearly as hard as I was afraid of. I'm glad I'm not a missionary back in Canada!

The holidays have made the work a lot harder, but we picked up a bunch of potential investigators last week and I expect things will get back to normal soon. I think good things are going to happen this transfer.

And another cool fact about transfers: Elder B is coming to be a zone leader in my zone! I am so excited! Since Elder C is going to be district leader this transfer, the zone leaders will be coming to have exchanges with us this transfer! I can't wait to see my "dad"again!

Thanks so much for all your support! Vă iubesc cu toată inima mea!

La mulți ani! (A new years greeting)

Elder Lybbert