Sibiu Sojourn

Hello Family,

I write you today from the small, well-preserved, medieval, carpathian-coved city of Sibiu. Last night at 11:00, after getting the number reports from our zone, we took off and caught a sleeper train from Ploiesti to Sibiu, arriving here around 4:00AM. It is kind of a fun experience riding in Romanian sleepercars, especially if you're not too intent on sleeping too much. Indeed, it is much harder to sleep in the second class, 4 bed sleepers than in the two bed, first class trains, but it is kind of fun nonetheless. It takes some acrobatic prowess to get up to the upper-level bunks, but I really enjoy sleeping up there, as the air seems to be cooler and it reminds me of my bunkbed of odinioara (long ago). So, we are up here in Sibiu for today and will be going to Brasov tonight, where I will remain for another 24 hr exchange with the DL there (my MTC comp Elder Jerome) while Elder Despain goes with his companion back to Ploiesti for the day. We will be taking quite a hit on our sleep, but so goes the life of a ZL.. It is fun enough, I suppose, and actually much more gratifying than traveling just for the sake of doing audits (which, I find - as Courter did - to be quite boring).

This past week, we took some steps forward with our main investigator Mihai. He, though getting increasingly busy, is progressing very well towards baptism and should be ready by the end of the month. He is a great man, very amiable, quite willing to do the will of the Lord, just burdened with the traditions of passive religiosity that he has grown up with. He always falls back on saying that they are in his blood, and we will just have to suck him dry and pump some good, actively-religious blood back into him. An analogy perhaps kind of disturbing coming from a culture that cherishes the memory of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula), but accurate nonetheless. He really is willing to change, just a bit more slowly than we would like. He has quit smoking and drinking and is now just working on coming to all three hours of church on a regular basis -- which problem can be a difficult one to solve, seeing as most members here leave after the first hour.

As for these members, we have, indeed, been making progress, but it is kind of rough going. In this last week, I reestablished contact with pretty much everybody that I worked with, and just about everybody said that they would come back to church. Pretty much no one did. It seems that most members here are finding it hard to prioritize, making their priorities work, then family, then church. Resultantly, though almost everybody loves the peace they find at church, they don't make time for it, thus making it hard for them to help each other out in the other areas of need. One joy was to meet with Costel, the very first investigator of mine to be baptized almost exactly a year ago. He, as you will remember, was living in a flooded, one room apartment with his mother, while looking for a job and a new residence. The week after I left, he apparently fell off the map and missionaries had not met with him since. I tried calling him, but never succeeded. Finally, a week after I came back to Ploiesti, he ran into a member that told him that I had come back in town. He came to church and we rejoiced to see each other again. Honestly, I am just glad that he and his mom are still alive after spending last winter in the cold!! I pray that he may find a way to resolve his problems before this next winter! He came to church yesterday and said he will make time to come every week if he can. I hope he does, because I know the Lord can help him much better than I ever could.

One trouble we have been having in Ploiesti is that there are some families who are upset at the branch president because they feel he does not delegate well enough, nor do they feel him to be running the branch how it should be run. While some of these complaints may be justified, it is an obvious injustice to not sustain, especially in the church, your God-chosen leaders, as they cannot possibly run a successful branch without the support of the membership. It reminds me, too, of the story of David, Nabal, and Abigail from the old testament, Samuel, I think. In this story, David is unfairly treated by Nabal and determines to destroy his house. David's judgment is just, perhaps, but unmerciful. Abigail, as intercessor, intervenes and grants David all that he wants, requesting only that he refrain from taking sin upon himself by shedding Nabal's blood. Such is the atonement of Christ, that even when unfairly treated, Christ made possible for us to refrain from sinning by taking upon ourselves the role of judge. He gives unto us all the peace, love, and serenity we desire if we but leave judgment in His hands. So it is that by exercising true faith in Christ, we can freely act according to God's will and not let our actions be determined by the mistakes of others.

Well, I have to get going. Thank you all for your uplifting emails. I got a wonderful Birthday card from G-Gparents Frahm, which I loved!! Courtney sounds very sharp and mature in the letter she wrote to me. Belle seems cute as ever. I am amazed that you got DDR (Bennett's gateway to getting in shape), and I can't wait to try it out. :) Wow, weird to think that Danny and Adam are home already! Very cool. Take care, stay busy, and have fun!

Much love,
Elder Walker


P.S. So, I have been thinking that for a birthday package, I would like the following: Beef Jerkey, Oreos, some BBQ sauce, gummy bears, a cassette tape, reeses, and your love. Some or part of that would be more than I need!!