Deva Downlow

Hello Family,

Man, unfortunately time is just really hard to find here in Deva. I hope to be able to convey to you all the important and exciting news of the last little bit at least. As for the Yale application thing, it shouldn't be too hard. I will forward the necessary information to Elder Facer and President Ashby. I will also work on the readmission essay thing and will be sure to have it to you by next week at the very latest.

As for Deva, it is a really amazing city that reminds me in many ways of Pitestil. The Branch President is a solid return missionary married to the first member baptised in the city and they have a super cute little girl (Adela - 3) who calls me 'Elduh Fom.' He, President Fotea, would love us forever by the way if when you come you could bring him some extra strength Old Spice deodorant. It is apparently unavailable in Europe and he has been really longing for it for a long time. The branch is small here, about 15 - 20 members who are more or less active, but very united and a lot of fun to work with.

My companion, Elder Armstrong, is a ton of fun. Apparently he was even pretty good friends with Jenika Beck, one of my good friends from Yale. He is from Boise and is big into sports, outdoors, etc.. He has been in the mission about 6 months and speaks the language very well. A super strong missionary. He also sleep talks, which makes him fun to tape record at night and we crack up listening to the tapes in the morning. Oh yeah, he cooks. Oh, and our apartment is one of the nicest in the country. I am really loving this transfer so far!!

Not only that, but we are having a decent amount of success as well. We have already found a few investigators who could be baptized this transfer. Diana is an 18 year old from English who spontaneously came to church after the first English class and invited her friend Cristina to come with her. They both loved it, and they ended up both receiving Book of Mormons very excited to read and find out God's will for them. WE also have an investigator, Geanina, who is a middle-aged single mother who read from the BoM and prayed and felt very powerful feelings of peace and calm. We taught her to pray in the name of Christ, and she had a really big financial problem get resolved. So, she is really eager to come to church and to further explore this new connection to God and Christ.

WE have also enjoyed working much with the branch. Last Thursday we had a really good youth activity where we started by arranging chairs and blindfolding a member and having her try to make her way. Everybody shouted bad directions at her in English while one person whispered to her in Romanian good directions. At first, she followed all of our contradictory bad directions as best she could. Then, we told her to listen to the still, small Romanian voice and she successfully found her way. All the youth loved it and enjoyed the Holy Ghost analogy. After that, we played WATER IN THE FACE for the first time in Romania. I wasn't quite sure how it would go, but it ended up being really a lot of fun. Of course it ended up as a straight on water fight, but that just made it better. Everyone's now excited for this week's activity.

We also had a picnic Saturday complete with food, fun, and frisbee. Today, we spent time up at the big fortress that overlooks the city from a prominent peak. We'll have to go up there when you all come over. It will be super fun! It's really neat because you can climb all over the old walls and stuff. There aren't even warning signs. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned the wall climbing part. Whatever the case, it is super cool and totally 15th century.

WE have a goal to help three people decide to perform the life-changing, peace-bringing, salvific ordinance of baptism this transfer. My prayer is that God will help us, as we concentrate our efforts to realize this goal that is only for His glory and for the benefit of those souls. I know that Christ is my Savior, that I am called of God, and that faith and repentance are the keys to unlocking the floodgates of true happiness. Thanks for your love and support.

Much love,
Elder Walker