Elder Lybbert in Romania: Sibiu branch is doing awesome!

November 3, 2014

Hi Everyone!

This week went pretty well. Our investigators haven't been pulling though like we hoped, but the members did. We had 26 people at church on Sunday! That is the highest I have ever seen, and it was beautiful. R's group from Loman came into Sibiu this week, and it was amazing to have them with us. Usually they meet on their own, but this week they drove an hour to be with us! There is a family with 4 kids out there, and they are so cool! Their 13 year old son should be receiving the Aaronic priesthood next week! It was so cool to have them there. Also, two less active families that haven't been to church for months came back! We had 6 kids in the primary today! We've never had a primary at all since I've been here! It was such a cool day.

Then, the Cs invited all the missionaries to their new apartment for lunch after church! It was great! They are so amazing! We were the first guests in their new place, and they were very excited. They showed us pictures from their trip to the temple in Madrid.

Then, we finally got to meet with F! He was an investigator and English student here last spring, he is back for school again in Sibiu. He is from Syria, but his mom is Romanian and they moved to Romania to escape the conflicts in Syria. He is so cool!

Also this week, on Friday, we went on an exchange to Ploiesti! That was cool! Elder B and Elder D are still the zone leaders this transfer, and I got to be with Elder D for the day. It was a lot of fun. We just contacted through the city, but it was really cool. Ploiesti isn't such a historical city like Sibiu, and is mostly made up of blocs, but I really liked it. and I got to meet a couple of the members and see the chapel there. I would be happy to serve in Ploiesti, it seems like a great place.

I'm doing good, and we are really excited for a new transfer. Great things could happen in this branch.

Thanks for reading!

Elder Lybbert

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November 10, 2014

Hi Everyone!

The weather has been great in Sibiu this week! Sunny and 17C right now. It's an unusually warm November for Romania, but we are really enjoying it. I've heard it's not quite like this back in Calgary.

But not just the weather is warming up. Elder D and I are doing great, and we taught a total of 7 lessons this week to members and investigators, so I am pretty happy. Also, we had 20 people at church on Sunday! And that doesn't even include R's group in Loman! One of our district goals for the transfer was to reach a stable attendance of 18, but we didn't expect to be starting this strong!

Also this week, we visited the city of Deva, which is part of the Sibiu branch since the branch there closed a year and a half ago. It's about 2 1/2 hours away from Sibiu. We held a sacrament meeting in one of the member's homes, and 5 members from Deva came! It was a touching experience, as they had not had such an opportunity in so long. They truly appreciated our visit, and have a desire to open the church again in Deva and become active members again. However, they will have to follow through on their desire and come into Sibiu once a month before we can do anything. We really want to help them. Attached is a picture of the castle overlooking Deva.

We also have a new investigator this week. He just started talking to us on the street. He is a middle-aged baptist man, who is very excited about the bible and about faith in general. Currently, he is in the hospital, but we visited him there, and had a solid restoration lesson. He even accepted the Book of Mormon as being a book of scripture, but the main obstacle is that he does not believe that there is one true church. He has some potential though.

We also had a really personal and sincere lesson with F. He is the most open and sincere person I know, and I so appreciate that. He is honest with us, and though he had trouble expressing his feelings in words, we connected really well. He is still trying to know if God exists before he tries to tackle anything else. He doesn't come from a Christian background, so it is a little overwhelming for him. So we shared our personal experiences with him, then left him with the commitment to pray every day for 7 days for an answer, and to not give up. He is such a cool person.

And this week, we have a special zone conference in Bucuresti, with Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy! I am really looking forward to the conference, as I really want to improve my teaching skills and be a better Preach my Gospel missionary. I've been feeling more and more lately that I don't know it as well as I thought. And I get to say the opening prayer for the conference! I think that three out of five zones will be attending in Bucuresti, so it's going to be a big conference.

Thanks for reading and for all your support!

Elder Lybbert