Hello Family,
So, I just read Dad's article that he sent me about the Bird Flu here in Romania. Thanks for that. I have actually heard that we should stop eating any chicken meat or eggs that we have, and now I know why. I will be sure to take the appropriate measures to stay healthy and safe. It is really fun to hear your theories, Dad, on gospel topics like the atonement, being that such things really occupy my mind about all day every day. Sometimes I too see the atonement as a somewhat confusing thing, and I think maybe I will study more about it this next week. I read an article this last week that Elder Miller gave me, that was delivered at a BYU devotional by a professor there, I think. It is about faith and I really enjoyed it. It tries to remedy the traditional dichotomy separating faith and reason, and their relationship to knowledge and truth. It is a very delicate, erudite treatment of various epistemological principles that reminds me a lot of something from a Yale lecture. (That being so, I really enjoyed it.)
It seems like you all have been having a pretty crazy time with the lice problems and random Belle aches, illnesses, and infections. I feel sorry for the little tike. :) I am glad that she is feeling better and that she enjoys hearing about me, as I enjoy hearing both about her and about Courtney. It sounds like a fun Christmas time awaits y'all again going way up to Iowa. That would be neat if Dave's family could be there too. Sorry, Mom, but I don't know where I left my second check book, but I do know that it is there somewhere. By the way, did my laptop ever get back to working again? I fear that your silence on that may indicate that all of my papers were deleted. If so, its no real big deal. Oh, I was thinking about it, and something that I would really appreciate in the next package would be some ear plugs. I lost the ones that I brought, and I really would like to have them for when I go to bed, as it is hard to keep the street noise out and I am occasionally kept awake by packs of howling dogs on the streets.
I don't have too much time left to write, so below is a copy of some of what I wrote in my letter to President Ashby today about this last week:
What a great experience I have been having at the end of this, the last week of my second transfer. I have found much strength from the Spirit in times of frustrating unsuccess, and I have begun to see the turnaround in the hearts of the people with whom we have been working as we continue to march forth with hard work, obedience, and trust in the Lord. These last two weeks we have begun to develop a deeper and more vibrant teaching pool. We have found a family with two teenage girls and their parents who all have read the Joseph Smith pamphlet and have promised to read the Book of Mormon together AS A FAMILY. We have been teaching a man who came to church to see General Conference, and who is currently studying the Book of Mormon and is truly pondering becoming a member of the church. We have been teaching a man who would like to believe in eternal life after death, but has spent his life depressed not thinking he could ever know for sure until we read Alma 32 together. And we have found, just last night, a single mother raising an 11 year old son who, together with her child, is very open to new ideas, doesn't really like the Orthodox church, and is very excited at the prospect of finding answers to some "questions of the soul" through reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon. All in all, it has been great to see the difference that the gospel has been making in the lives of our investigators as well as the sustaining power it brings to the lives of hard-working, often-exhausted missionaries.
Further, I am feeling increasingly confident in my skills and abilities as a missionary, which is a wonderful feeling. I have already read through the entire Book of Mormon loud out in Romanian and am now about half way through the Doctrine and Covenants, which has really helped my vocabulary, pronunciation and comprehension. I am now at the point that I understand about 90% of everything said, and rarely ever have problems understanding what somebody is trying to communicate. While I still have much to learn and to habituate to in speaking, I feel confident in a discussion context of communicating the gospel principles contained in the lessons, and I continue to speak only in Romanian when possible in order to aid my speaking abilities in coming along as quickly as possible. Another thing that has really been helping me is that Elder Miller has been writing in the Area book in the evening while I make the phone calls and schedule out our days. In so doing, I have found my language skills growing, and I have been learning slowly, but surely, how to work with investigators and less-active members to plan out full and busy days.
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The exciting news today, by the way, is that Elder Miller and I will no longer be together as of Wednesday. We just found out this morning that he is being transferred across town to become a Zone Leader and junior companion to Elder Gherke, who is currently the junior Zone Leader for the Ploiesti district. So, I will be going down to Buchurest on Wednesday to find out who my new companion is. It is really kind of exciting to have some change. Honestly, Elder Miller, with only 3 transfers left before he goes home, has been kind of dragging this past week just a little bit. He says that he finds it hard sometimes to keep going when we are constantly facing rejection. One of the reasons, therefore, that I have been scheduling our days and so forth, is that he just hasn't felt really excited about doing so. I hope that as a Zone Leader and junior companion to a really solid Senior Companion, he will get a jump start of enthusiasm. I think this will be the case and it will be good for us all. I just hope that my next companion will be hard working and competent enough for us to do some good work together.
Sorry, I guess I didn't really include many anecdotes in this letter. I went on exchanges with Elder Jones, the Senior Zone Leader here in Ploiesti and he taught me a lot about how to schedule full days. We talked with a man whose wife is schizophrenic and he has been forced to stay home and watch the 5 yo son while she works. She has had it since 15 is now 36 and has major violent, angry episodes, but won't stay in a hospital and can't afford medication. He is really depressed and looking for answers. I told him what I knew about it and he seemed relieved to hear about Tim;s success but still doesn't know where to go. If dad has anything to say, it would be great to hear.
Love you all,
Walker
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