Hello Family

Hello Family,

I'm afraid that this letter may be a bit less captivating than the last two, since I have had a pretty boring week since getting locked out of my apartment and all. The biggest success of the week was probably getting a signature stamp made for President Ashby that we will be using for the piles of documentation that are needed for the visa process. Since he is gone a lot, that will be a very good solution for us. We're just hoping that the visa people won't get on our case about it. :)

Oh, yeah, there was an interesting incident with Elder Goodell this last week. He, if you recall, was in my MTC group, and I have served in his district twice since then, in Pitesti and in Sector 4. Wednesday night, he was on an exchange going bloc knocking when a man attacked him, scratching his face with a wire brush and beating him a couple of times in the head. Elder Goodell is a really solid guy (somatotypically speaking) who played four years of varsity football in high school and used to box as well. So, he said it was a big temptation for him to pummel the guy in return, but instead, he refrained and they just left to go get the police. The police went back, questioned the guy, and fined him 2 million lei, which is about $60. We are currently trying to take the guy to court, but the lawyers here are pretty darn lame! They have pretty much told us that we should just be grateful that he wasn't hurt very badly and drop the case, since it wouldn't be worth the trouble we would have to go through. Of course, it is not Elder Goodell's minor scratches that are the real matter here; it is the fact that a random guy can beat up one of our missionaries, pay $60, and not have to hear about it ever again. Elder Goodell had to pay $30, himself to see the doctor who checked him out! I actually wrote up Elder Goodell's official report, and I will attach that to this e-mail for you. Don't worry, overall Romania is a very safe place, it is just the occasional loser who gets a bit out of control that we have to worry about. I have never, myself, really felt unsafe here, as just about nobody at all is allowed to own a firearm, which is quite reassuring. I would hate to have to worry about some of the idiots I've run into here carrying around handguns!!

In other news, there is a city about 45 minutes away from Bucharest that is named Alexandria. There is a member family from one of the branches here in Buc which lives there, and somehow they developed a relationship with the president of a society for hearing impaired Romanians for the entire county of Teleorman, in which Alexandria is located. This member family has talked to him a bit about the gospel, and he came, along with about 8 other hearing impaired people, to a district conference about 3 weeks ago. They were so impressed with the spirit and the way in which the district conference was conducted, that they went back and told their friends and family about all they saw and felt. Shortly thereafter, they presented to the church a list of 450 people who expressed an interest in being baptized into our church. Each name had a signature next to it. Apparently, the deaf and hard of hearing are pretty much ostracized here in Romania, especially religiously. Since most of them have a very hard time finding employment and are considered to be on the margins of society, they have been shunned from attending their local churches and are not accepted in many of the congregations. At least that is what they have told us. It will take a lot of teaching and preparation, of course for these individuals to fully come to terms with what kind of a commitment they would be making by being baptized, but there have been 3 or 4 trips down to Alexandria made by the Assistants, by President, and by other missionaries an senior couples. Each time, they have rented out a large hall with an attendance of between 80-120. The first time they went, those from Alexandria weren't sure if we would really come, so they gave the missionaries a 2 minute standing ovation as they walked in the door. We have given out over 200 Book of Mormons and at every subsequent visit people seem to be reading and keeping commitments. We are being very wary about making sure that their motives are pure and that they realize we are not just going to baptize them all, build them a chapel, and leave them to run their own church as they will; but at the same time, we are all very excited for the humility and eagerness that they have all seemed to display in learning more of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I have not yet been down there, but it seems like some pretty neat stuff is happening. We'll have to see what kind of course it all takes.

Well, we actually have to get going to play some soccer; so I will leave you with my testimony that I know that Jesus Christ is my Redeemer and that true happiness is found only through obedience to the principles of His gospel, namely faith, repentance, baptism, reception and heeding of the Holy Ghost, and striving to keep the commandments. I love being a missionary. I love knowing that God has a plan for me and for each of us. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet through whom God's authority was restored to the earth, and I know that Gordon B. Hinckley truly receives inspiration and revelation pertaining to the church and its members in these, the latter days. Thanks for all of you love and support! I love you all very much, and I can't wait to hear more from you after you return to the mainland. Enjoy the rest of your time at Sanibel!!

Love muchly,
Elder Walker

P.S. Jenn has had a really exciting development recently, as she just found out that she will be training in her next transfer, which is coming up in the next week or two. True proof that the mission president over there in Sweden knows what he's doing! :-)