Lamps and Pizza

Well hello all you cool people! This week was pretty sweet as usual! Listen up carefully!

Tuesday was a pretty normal day to say the least. I had to have a doctors appointment for my visa and that was the weirdest appointment ever. I couldn't understand anything the doctor was saying and I kind of just sat there. But I am healthy!!! Later that day, Elder Dixon and I went block knocking and we met this woman named Dorina. She was very friendly and let us in and we talked with her about families. She then showed us her collection of trinkets and one of them was a little lamp. She talked about it and then out of the blue she told us that she wanted us to have it. This small, Aladdin type lamp. Definitely a weird gift but hey I will take it!

 

Little lamp given to me by Dorina, a woman we met

Wednesday we met another woman named Pina and she is a very interesting person. She is a very sad woman because of all the hardships she has gone through. We were able to talk to her about the Plan of Salvation but she was pretty hard to teach because she was so sad. We offered help but there isn't much we can do. But we were definitely lead to her place and the Lord will find a way to help her.

Thursday we went back to teach Pina and we learned she is a really sad woman. We were able to teach some of the Plan of Salvation and we gave her a Book of Mormon to read. While she is sad, she says she feels a good energy with us. That, my friends, is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was testifying that our message is of great importance and value and can help even the most troubled souls. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can change lives and I saw a glimpse of the potential it can do. I hope she reads the Book of Mormon and learns to find happiness in Christ.

Friday was honestly the best day of the week. The Galati mall has a Pizza Hut now and it was soooo good! We went as a district to get food and it is worth every bani. It was a great way to start the day because afterwards, we had a lesson with Dorina. We had a pretty good lesson to say the least. She is very interested in the Book of Mormon and it's importance. The best way to understand the Book of Mormon is to read it and that is exactly what we told her to do. I don't know if she will and what will come of her, but it was a great lesson. We then had to hurry over and teach another lesson with this man named Costel. He was an interesting case because he just loves to talk and talk and go off on tangents about what he believes. I couldn't understand much of what he was saying but he kept saying the word "gaina" which means "hen" in English, which makes me question what he was talking about. But during the lesson, I had the prompting to bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I said it as plainly as I really could and I ended up inviting him to baptism because of it. He said he would go and pray to know and to read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith is a prophet. I call that a success for me! And to add a little extra to such a great day, we had game night and we played Mafia with everyone. So much fun! And even greater was the college girls in our English classes invited us to watch Justice League with them in theaters. They even had extra reservations just for us! Like wow!! Even though we couldn't go, it was sweet to know we have made friends with people in Romania!

Saturday was a chill day and nothing big happened except we successfully ate pizza everyday this week. When the pizza is good and cheap and easy to get, you eat pizza a lot. Other than that, we had a pretty chill day. Elder Dixon didn't feel the best so he slept for most of the day. Hey, being a missionary is a tiring job sometimes! 

Sunday was a nice cap on our week. Church was very nice and the talks were focused on obedience. My favorite part was when one of the speakers talked about 1 Nephi 3:7. We need to be diligent and work hard to be obedient to the Lord's commandments. If we do that, we will be happy with the fruits of our labors. In the evening, we went block knocking and we were showing people Light the World videos. If you don't know what that is, look it up because they are very great videos and you will feel something in your heart swell with love. Trust me. Through those videos, we were able to set up to meet with 3 more people for this week! It was super awesome and a great end to a great week.

So apparently, my MTC teacher's bible is in our apartment in Galati

This week I read M. Russell Ballard's book called "Our Search for Happiness". This is a great book for anyone who wants further understanding on what this church believes. I read it and felt the Spirit strongly as I gained a personal understanding of the principles I am essentially teaching. The focus of what I learned is that it all starts with faith. Faith is the anchor of this church and we must have a strong anchor of faith in the world we live in today. We should center our faith on Christ and his love for us. Because he loves us, he suffered and died so we may become clean again. I have seen my faith grow and strengthen in Christ on my mission and I have been blessed because of it. And I want to share that feeling with others so they can be blessed and feel of God's immense love for us.

I love and miss you all so very much and I hope life is going great for all of you!

Va iubesc,

Elder Bowen

A BYU car in Galati!