Happy Anniversary

Hello Family,

Well, it sounds like this last week was fun and pleasant as usual, with the normal pleasantries of work, school, church, Belle cutting her own bangs, Christmas shopping, etc... Oh yeah, and your anniversary! WOW!! 22 years is quite a lot of time for you, my wonderful parents, to be together. I, too, am very grateful and appreciative of the amazing investment you have made in each other and in us, your very blessed and over-privileged children.

As for me, things are going really well here in Bacau! Transfers will be this Wednesday, which means that I will get a new companion. Elder Niculaie has been a truly great companion and I am really going to miss him! It will be interesting to see what will happen if Elder Kozlenko from Russia still hasn't arrived. Pres. Balasei seems to be doing well again, and we are working with him to make sure he stays on track. Pres. Chirila, the first counselor to Pres. Ashby, came to visit yesterday, which made for a really amazing Sunday service. He is one of the former leaders of the Pentecostal church in Romania. Since joining the church about 12 years ago, he has held many positions and is probably the most energetic, enthusiastic, doctrinally sound native member in the country.

Alina continues to struggle, with her mother in the hospital and extra hours at work for the holidays, but we hope to be able to talk to her more once things settle down in a week or two. We had a really great investigator come to church, named Maria. She is just amazing. She is in her 50s with three grown kids, but she has a lot of trust in God and is very open to discover the truth. We just met her this week, but already she is reading from the Book of Mormon, and she has already prayed in a discussion. Though her 21 year old son is unsupportive, she loved the Sunday service and is going to persevere in her investigation of the church. We hope this week to give her a baptismal date.

Otherwise, the work goes along well. Some of the recent convert youth are struggling here. It is hard for them as many of them work a lot and don't have much time to meet with us. Likewise, after missing a couple of Sundays, it becomes difficult for them to get back in touch with the Spirit. One of the focuses of this transfer will be just that of getting the youth on track and continuing to strive to unite the branch. We are sorry to see Elder Jackson and Elder Niculaie go, but I know that the Lord orchestrates this work and that the next transfer will bring just what is needed here in Bacau.

As for my release date, I still haven't found out exactly, but I will be sure to talk to somebody today. I don't have very much time left, but know that I love you and miss you and look forward to talking to you as well come Christmas.

Much love,
Elder Walker

P.S. There's nothing in particular that I would really like to receive from Cristian and Wendy, or even for Christmas for that matter, except perhaps maybe some more cassette tapes, and peppermint candy -- mint doesn't really exist over here.