In 2018 Elder Bowen’s dad started asking a set of
questions. First it was “What is an
interesting word or phrase you have learned in Romanian?” Later, was added, “How have you seed God’s
hand in your life or the life of your friends?”
Lastly, the question, “What is something interesting you have learned
about Romania?”. These are all compiled
below.
6/25/2018
A freca menta - literally means rub the mint but it's a
phrase that means to waste time
7/2/2018
Mi-am dat seama – I realized
7/16/2018
A supraviețui – to survive
I have definitely seen God's hand in my life every time I
study in the morning, because it seems like every time I do it, it leads to
something that I really needed to study for the rest of the day.
7/23/2018
A infaptui – to accomplish
I saw God's hand when he touched our man Felix at church. He
told me he really enjoyed church and I can tell he is really progressing. He's
read up to Alma 50!!!!!
7/30/2018
a indopa - to cram
I saw the hand of God this week as we did service and helped
everyone out to be better and to be happy.
8/6/2018
I saw God's hand while we were contacting and trying our
best to find people to teach. We were able to find people and it really helped
because we really need that help to be successful here.
8/13/2018
Inspaimantator – Terrifying
I saw the Lord's hand in my life when I learned I'm going to
Timisoara. I know God wants me to be there and I will grow and learn there and
do great things, so I am excited.
8/20/2018
a izbucni – to burst
I've been seeing God's hand every day when something new
happens that I need to do. Whitewashing a city is no fun, but we are making it
work and God has definitely helped us throughout it all.
8/27/2018
a scrasni – to thrash
I saw the hand of God a lot this week, but probably the
biggest was on Sunday during sacrament meeting. A member was supposed to give a
talk and they didn't talk so I just stepped up and did one on my own. I had to
fill 25 minutes and it was pretty darn hard, but I did it. And the members came
up to me afterwards and said how great my talk was and the Spirit they felt. I
had not prepared anything, I just stood up and talked and we made it work.
Pretty crazy, but amazing experience.
9/3/2018
a razbuna – to avenge, razbunatori are the avengers
I saw God's hand this week when we invited this couple from
English to come to church. They gladly accepted and they came and loved it! Now
we are going to meet with them this week and we are super excited. And the
thing is that we called the wrong people in the first place. We wanted to call
a different person, but we called this couple instead and now they are super
interested.
9/10/2018
Galagie – noise
I saw God's hand this week just now when an investigator
called us and said that she couldn't meet with us tomorrow at 2 but she could
at 11. That's pretty huge because neither Elder Kemeny nor I talked to her
about it and she just called us on her own. We are hoping to set a baptismal
date with her and help her progress even more.
9/17/2018
a curge – to flow
This week God showed me that I am doing the right thing. We
were talking to a couple men who were asking all these questions and trying to
bash us and say that what we are doing is wrong and such. I got pretty heated
with them and I was not going to let them walk all over me. So, I stood there
and testified of Jesus Christ and the truth behind our message. I couldn't say
everything I wanted to say, but I said enough.
9/24/2018
Mitoza – mitosis
I saw God's hand this week when this new person we are
teaching named Darius came to church. He is such an awesome guy and the branch
already loves him a bunch. I am very
happy about what I did.
10/1/2018
Șifonat – wrinkled or folded
We saw the hand of God this week when our investigator
Marius came to church when no other investigator did. And then he told us that
is hoping to invite his mom and friends to watch this Book of Mormon film that
he found, and he told us he is going to be busy this weekend watching General Conference,
so we are super excited for him!!
10/08/2018
Far
- lighthouse or headlight
I
saw the Lord's hand when we taught our boy Darius. He is super prepared and is
such a great person and our lesson went super well. Hopefully we can meet with
him again this week.
10/15/2018
din fericire – luckily or fortunately
This week we saw the hand of God when he blessed our friend
Raul's mother. She is a devout and strict Catholic, but she is supporting him
while he is reading the Book of Mormon which is super amazing!
10/24/2018
Carmazul – scarlet
I saw the hand of God this week when we invited an
investigator named Giulia to church. She is a really nice person and comes to
English class and she wants to talk about Jesus and she really feels something
when we have lessons. She wanted to come with her sister, and they came and it
was great! They loved it and really felt great afterwards.
10/29/2018
Bagheta – wand or rod
I saw the hand of the Lord on Sunday when we had 5
investigators at church, which is really, really great. We then visited a
less-active family's house and we shared Elder Holland's talk and the spirit
was so strong and they have a strong desire to come back. We are going to call
them Sundays to remind them, but they want to come back which is great.
11/04/2018
Glont – Bullet
I saw the hand of God this week during fast Sunday when an
eternal investigator decided to bear her testimony and it was really powerful,
so we want to start something up with her again and see how that goes.
11/12/2018
Oare – I wonder
I have seen the hand of God this week every moment when I
get frustrated with Elder Strobel about the language or just that he's new and
etc. It has helped me keep my patience and my humility because I know that he's
learning and trying, and I was in that situation myself. It's still hard but
it's getting better.
11/19/2018
Polonic – ladle
I have seen God's hand this week as we have taught all these
lessons and invited souls to come unto Christ. We don't have anyone ready for
baptism yet, but it's just around the corner and I hope it all goes well.
11/26/2018
A jigni - to offend
I saw God's hand in my life when we were able to get a woman
to church who hasn't been in a while. Now we are going to meet with her after
English Tuesday which will be pretty cool.
12/03/2018
La tanc - in the nick of time
I saw the hand of God this week when we had a lesson with a
woman named Loredana. We have been trying to take things slow with her and this
week we taught the Plan of Salvation and there was a lot of power when we
testified about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. She felt the Spirit and it
helped her come to church which was great.
12/10/2018
Izma – peppermint
I saw God's hand this week during church as we had a new guy
named Daniel come and see him just love everything and we hope that this week
we can help him come closer to Christ.
12/17/2018
Tamplar – Carpenter
I saw God's hand this week as we shoveled snow and talked to
6 people because of it. It was a pretty good idea by Elder Strobel and we'll
definitely do some more as it snows more.
12/31/2018
Vlastar -shoot of corn -so bringing it back to the
pollinating days!
I have seen God's hand a lot as we have been just working
hard and having a lot of stuff we need to do. It's been pretty hard for
sure, but God has been with us through the journey and it's been a huge help
for sure.
1/7/2019
Papuc – slipper
I saw God's hand when we had Zone Conference. It just went
super smoothly, and we had great presentations, and everything was great. We
talked a lot about finding people and the Hettinger's said our presentation was
really good.
1/14/2019
A bifa – to check off
I saw the hand of God this week when we had lessons with a
guy named Elisei. I talked about it more in my weekly, but he is an awesome guy
and he really wants to learn and come unto Christ. I really hope we can set a
baptismal date with him this week because he is super prepared.
(Copiii Porumbului – Children of Corn)
1/21/2019
A schița - to sketch
I saw the hand of God this week when we had a great
contacting session in Sibiu and when they had a baptism the next day. It was the
first baptism in Romania for 2019 so that was super awesome!
1/28/2019
Belsug – abundance
I saw the hand of God this week when we had exchanges with
the assistants in Bucuresti and we had just a really great day even if it was
cold outside. We talked to a lot of people and had great lessons and studies.
2/4/2019
Pojar – Measles
I saw God's hand this week while we were contacting, and we
were just talking with so many people and just bringing many souls unto Christ.
It was an exciting adventure and I loved it so much!
2/11/2019
Burta – Stomach
I saw the hand of God this week just with how much the
Spirit guided us in finding people. It was pretty great, and I absolutely loved
the feeling of this week!
2/18/2019
Dop – Cork
2/25/2019
Furca – Pitchfork
I saw God's hand this week while we had a lesson with a guy
named Alexandru. He is super prepared for the gospel and he expressed his
desire to be baptized if it is "potrivit" for him, so we are super
pumped for him!
3/4/2019
Strofa – Song verse
I saw God's hand as our district was able to get a lot of
people this church this week, something that we have been struggling with.
3/11/2019
A zabovi - to linger/loiter
"Fă rai din ce ai!" which means "do paradise
from what you have"
I saw god's hand this week when we had Gabriel at church and
that he just loved it and it was all him who initiated it. I was super happy to
see him, and I know this is a step back in the right direction.
3/18/2019
Incheietura – Wrist
I saw God's hand this week just by seeing Gabriel at church
again. It was the second straight week and that was awesome!!
3/25/2019
Albitru – Referee
I saw God's hand this week when we had a bunch of lessons,
especially with a guy named Robert. The Spirit guided the lesson and he's doing
really good now which is great!!
4/1/2019
Torpila – Torpedo
I saw the hand of God this week when we were able to have a
lot of people at church from the missionaries here in Cluj. We had this guy
named Tudor that Elder Stark met, and he really liked it and wants to learn
more so hopefully in this upcoming week it'll happen!
4/15/2019
A deghiza – To disguise
I saw God's hand this week with Bogdan and his progression
from the Book of Mormon to church and I hope it doesn't stop there. He's a
great guy and I see good potential.
4/22/2019
Ciuma - pestilence/plague
I saw the hand of Christ through the experience with the referrals
and the sisters. It's going to be great and I'm so excited to see what
happens!!! (The sister missionaries from the Walnut Hills Ward wanted to reach
out to the missionaries and invite them to consider names of friends who they
could share the gospel with. It was an
answer to Elder Bowen’s prayers in how he can continue to share the gospel.)
4/30/2019
Spranceana – eyebrow
I saw God's hand in my life this week when we were able to
set a baptismal date with Robert this week! It was a really cool lesson and we
set it for May 25th. Now the hope is that we just keep bolstering him up and
help him come to church so he actually gets baptized, which would be so cool.
5/6/2019
Jilav – moist
I saw God's hand this week by just having lessons with Robert.
This guy has a desire to repent and to come unto Christ and it's such a good
feeling to meet with him. I really hope he comes to church these next weeks and
is super prepared for his baptism. It will be such an amazing day I just know
it.
5/13/2019
A se scalda - to bathe oneself
Saw the hand of God this week when I had a lesson with a guy
named Szabolcs who is Hungarian. It was just a really good lesson and it was
the highlight of the week with our investigators. But we had a great experience
as well with our members and doing Come Follow Me and that made the week great
as well.
Something cool about Romania is no sales tax; it's just
calculated in the price which is pretty nice for us haha.
5/20/2019
Seva – sap
Saw God's hand this week when I saw Emil, a returning
member, come straight to church after work and even though he was late, it was
great to see him try his best to come to church. He's been progressing well,
and we hope that as we keep meeting with him that he will be more consistent
with church attendance.
Cool thing about Romania is that they have street fairs
really often because they have a bunch of holidays and they have these street
things super often because of it.
5/27/2019
Cascada – waterfall
I saw the hand of the Lord this week when we found this
family!! A father, mother, and a son and we are super excited to start meeting
with them. We are meeting with the husband tonight so hopefully we can start
everything off with a bang.
Something interesting about Romania is that there are like
no highways, so driving is actually not the fastest way all the time.
6/3/2019
A intepa - which means "to sting"
I saw God's hand this week when Chris, the guy from Iowa,
called us saying he wanted to come to church and he actually came and liked it!!
Then he told us afterwards that he wants to come every single week until he
leaves Cluj which is super awesome!!! I hope the boys up here rock it with him
and end up getting him baptized!
6/10/2019
Scrumieră – ashtray
I saw God's hand in my life when we had a lesson with a girl
named Ioana. She's really trying to find the truth and the only thing holding
her back from being baptized is that she doesn't know if God exists. But she
told is once she knows, she will be baptized so that's a good motivation for
us.
A cool thing about Romania is that they really like tennis
so this past week they have had the French open going on and there are big
screens that are playing every game which is cool.
6/17/2019
A târî - to drag
I saw God's hand in my life this week when we were able to
set 2 baptismal dates with a couple guys: Mihai for June 29th and Dragoș for
July 13. Both are great guys and are progressing pretty well, so I think we can
get a couple baptisms here in Pitesti. We also had Luminița's wedding with the
Branch President and that was super cool. Now we are hoping to teach her
daughter and get the whole family involved. So this
Sunday, Romania celebrated 'pogorârea Duhului Sfânt' or
Pentecost essentially. So, there weren't many people out and some stores were
closed.
6/24/2019
A inlemni – to be astonished
We had a really awesome experience when we had 4 of our
friends including our 2 baptismal dates come to church and that was cool. And
now Mihai is ready for baptism and it will happen this week! And we also saw
Luminita's daughter come to church and she enjoyed it and wants to know more
about our message!! So right now, we got Mihai, Dragos, and Rahela as our top
people and it's pretty cool!
I learned this week that when people get married here in
Romania, the custom is to say "casa de piatra" which means
"house of rock" which sounds weird but is how you tell a newlywed
couple congrats and good luck on the future.
7/1/2019
Lănțișor - chain but for jewelry.
I saw the hand of God this week when everything we needed to
get done for the baptism were resolved which made the baptism that much
sweeter.
Something interesting about Romania is the lack of spice. I
had this "spicy" food at a restaurant, and it wasn't spicy at all,
which was depressing.
7/8/2019
A șovăi - to hesitate
I saw the hand of the Lord this week when we had a district
finding activity in Ploiești. It was a really fun time and we found so
many people.
Fun Romanian thing is that they really hate the wind. Even
if it's hot in a bus or in a room, they will not open windows nor turn on the
AC.
7/15/2019
Servieta – Briefcase
I Saw God's hand this week when Mihai passed the sacrament
for the first time. Just a small tender mercy to push me through church.
Something about Romania that was cool is that they really
support their country when they can in sports, so basically just Simona Halep
at Wimbledon. Hoorah for Romania!
7/21/2019
Fleacuri – whatnot
I saw God's hand this week when we had a lesson with Dragos
for the first time in a long time. Unfortunately, he's not going to be baptized
anytime soon because he still doesn't respond to us super well. But it was
great that we did have that lesson which means there's still something.
Something about Romania is that they don't like ice at all,
so no drinks come with ice when you order them. Also, you don't get free
refills either haha.
7/29/2019
Deznoda - to unknot
Saw God's hand in my life this week when we called Dragos
and he responded, and he came to church! Then we were talking and turns
out that he didn't come to church or respond because he was in the hospital for
something, but he now is all healthy! But while he was in the hospital, he had
a dream where he saw a angelic person telling him he needed to be baptized. So
now he's going to be baptized on Saturday! Just super crazy but amazing.
Cool thing about Romania is that they love Chinese people
because they always thought China would be the one to save them from communism
under Russia, which I don't think happened, but they still love them.
8/05/2019
Olar şi lut - potter and clay.
I saw God's hand this
week through his comfort when the baptism of Dragoş didn't go through. It was
hard, especially when we would call and text him so often but he wouldn't
answer. It was hard for us and God truly comforted us to make it through.
Hopefully we'll get back in contact and all will be well.
Something interesting about Romania is that they go hard at
birthdays. They party hard haha. A lot of tradition I think comes from that.
08/12/2019
Drujbă – chainsaw
I saw God's hand this week when we had a lesson with a
member and her boyfriend. Turns out the boyfriend is interested, and he wants
to read the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to see how they progress together in
all this.
An interesting thing about Romania is that they have
birthdays and name days, which are days dedicated to a name and it's like
another birthday. For example, if your name is Maria, you have your birthday
and then "Ziua Mariei" on August 15. It's kinda weird but kinda cool.
08/19/2019
A bântui – to haunt
I saw the hand of God this week while we were having our
district finding activity. We just had so much success talking to people and we
got a bunch of numbers and that was great. We had a fun time overall and there
are pictures to show for it.
Something cool about Romania is that they are obsessed with
lavender. When they have street markets, you will always see a tent or
house only for lavender and products of it. Not completely sure why but it's
pretty cool.
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