Stressful & Crazy Week

Hello my wonderful family! Can you believe that we're almost done with June? Time just goes by faster and faster as each month goes by, and to add onto that, my trainer (Elder Smith) will be home this week. He's taking the train to Bucharest today, and then he'll be on a plane headed home early Wednesday morning. An elder I was able to spend 9 weeks with is completing his two years as a missionary. It's a great opportunity for me to reflect on my past 11 months and look forward to the next 13. 

Well. This week was a really stressful and crazy one for Elder Monroe and I. We got chased by a crazy guy through the back alleyways of Chisinau, we traveled literally EVERYWHERE for exchanges/teaching appointments, we were randomly interviewed, and a lady almost called the cops on us because she didn't understand our message. AND summer has arrived. The temperatures suddenly boosted 20 degrees along with the humidity, and the sun just drains the energy out of me.

Ciorescu: a small city just outside of Chisinau. We took a short bus ride there to meet up with a young family who said we could come by anytime, but they didn't answer their phone while we were there. Soooo, we had a lot of time to do some contacting before the next bus came by. Understand that this is a very small city, and that maybe a total of 5 people were on the MAIN street there. Our destination was a small store in the middle of town, so we tried our best to share the Book of Mormon with those five people! We eventually arrived to the store to get some ice cream, and while we were inside we heard people speaking English. We asked them if they needed any help, and one lady said, "Oh! The Mormon missionaries!" What are the chances? There were about 4 of them and they were peace core volunteers who just barely arrived in the country to do extensive language training. One of the ladies mentioned how she lived in Salt Lake City for 15 years with her husband. So that was how she know who we were. We weren't able to talk for too long because we had a bus to catch. The funny thing is is this week we made a "zone rule" to always have a Book of Mormon in your hands, and while we were at the bus stop, an older guy sat down, looked at my Book of Mormon and asked, "What's with the book?" We took this opportunity to explain who we were. He had never heard about the Book of Mormon before, and he told us he's a "big atheist", but respects people for believing in something. As we traveled back to Chisinau, he told us a little about himself and he even asked if he could read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. He almost read the entire introduction in one sitting, which I have never seen before on my mission. People usually read two sentences, shut the book, and hand it back. But when he finished, he said it was interesting, and so we gave it to him. Very nice guy, and he even said he'd share it with his friends. Well that's nice of him to do! As for everything else, we countinue to find, and even though we don't have a ton of people to teach, the work moves foward. 

We have no idea when everything is going to switch around here in Moldova, but we SHOULD have some changes when we get two new elders on July 10th. As always, I love all of you and I encourage you to serve at least ONE person you love this week: pay it forward! 

-Elder Farnworth