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1st Week in Romania!!!

Elder Dixon and Bowen in Galati!

HEYYYYY EVERYONE I AM IN ROMANIA! It is so crazy I am here and it took so long to get here and this will definitely be the longest review of the past 10 days or so which is craaaazy. But here we go!

On my last Sunday in the MTC, I was blessed to be able to feel the Spirit so strongly. The entire day, my district said that I was going to speak in Sacrament meeting and unfortunately, they were correct! I gave a talk in Romanian about faith and honestly I felt really good afterwards. Faith leads to action and this church is an action based organization, hence why faith is such an important principle in the church. If we truly have faith, we will act and not wait to be acted upon. My district was also able to sing in sacrament meeting which was awesome! We sang How Firm a Foundation in Romanian which was awesome. We also gave each other blessings of comfort for the journey ahead and it was a blessing for me to be able to do those to some of my fellow district members. The highlight of the night was that we heard from Elder Holland's son who talked about the Refiner's Fire. We will go through pain and suffering but God does that so we can grow and be purified into something of higher and greater worth, much like a piece of coal going under immense pressure to become a diamond. Super inspiring! That night I finished packing and went to sleep for the day ahead of me.

Monday was just a really long day on a plane and that was all that happened. It was super depressing and honestly it was horrible to sleep on the plane and I was sooo tired haha.

 
At the Airport in Bucharest
Sora Sheffield, Staley, Hettinger, Colt, President Hettinger, Elder Ward, Atkinson, Bowen

Tuesday I made it into Romania!!! My district landed and the first people we saw were the Hettingers and I was so freaking relieved. They greeted us with open arms and big smiles and it was super awesome! We then went to the mission home and ate the best meal I have had in 6 weeks and then we learned where we were heading. I was heading to Galati, Romania and my trainer's name is Elder Dixon. He has been here for 20 months and he knows the ropes very well. It was super awesome and the day was well completed after a long long day of traveling. It was really sad though cause I essentially left my MTC district who I have gotten super close to. I hope for the best for them as they start their next chapter on their missions.

Wednesday me and Elder Dixon left for Galati on a train and it was super sweet. The scenery was super boring though and it looked like Iowa not gonna lie. So many fields and farms and stuff and it was super flat. But it was still pretty sweet to get into Galati eventually. But as we were going to our apartment, Elder Dixon left his bag on the bus and we had to wait to find the bus with the bag on it. It was crazy for my first day but still weirdly fun. We then got lunch and Romania apparently has good pizza! I was very impressed and turns out I won't die just yet of hunger haha. I also got my first chance to talk to Romanians and the first woman I talked to just said no and walked away. First rejection!!!! But the day was super chill for my first day.

Thursday was a really chill day. We went "block knocking" in the morning and everyone said no and it was a complete bust. However, on the way home we met some Nigerians who spoke English and talked to them about stuff and they seemed interested to say the least. They haven't called back though so they might be a bust too. But it was a nice day and I feel as though the language is slowly getting better and better.
 
Park in Galati

Friday we met a girl named Victoria who was pretty interested in our message and our free English lessons. It was an early morning find and we started the day great! We also got sandwiches that are sort of like Jimmy Johns, but weren't really that great. But that is life I suppose ahah. We also met this guy named Marios who we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon a lot! He even accepted a Book of Mormon!!! But he is a busy college student and we don't know when we will meet up next. But it was a great day overall!
 
Outside our apartment in Galati

Saturday, Elder Dixon and I realized we need to approach people better. So when we went out, we planned to use 1 minute Restorations to get our message out. Because of that, a man named Daniel let us into his apartment! We had a really good talk and I was able to share the First Vision in Romanian which is really the extent of my language skills. Luckily, he could speak English pretty well which helped out a lot. He ended up not really accepting our message but it was a really good talk to have. 

Sunday was really sweet cause it was essentially Stake Conference and we got to listen to some talks from it. Unfortunately, they were in Romanian and I could not understand at all. Fortunately, the Hettingers spoke in English!! I really liked Sister Hettinger's talk which was on joy and love. We will go through rough times but we need to continue being joyful and loving the people. Then and only then will we be able to have a good mission. It was super awesome and I was blessed to actually understand what she said. We also got our first investigator named Matias and I am super happy! Hopefully he ends up being a good guy to teach!

Overall I have learned Romanians smoke a lot, the water is gross, and they have really good food. I am living life and I can't wait to continue to serve!

I miss you and love you all!

Elder Bowen

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