All Together Again

After many stops and stalls, Elder Ross arrived at the airport at 10:20 pm. The family had its own struggles traveling the snowy roads to the airport, at one point sliding off the road into a snowbank. Thanks to a couple of good Samaritians, we were able to get pulled out and own our way.

Here we are together!

A Mother's Note

For weeks, even months, our family has been waiting for this day . . .at least we hope its this day that Ross comes home. Its been a nail-biter wondering if the Portland weather will cooperate and allow his plane to fly in.

We have had a slam of snow and ice storms for the past 11 days. It was supposed to be warmer by now . . . I have monitored the Atlanta flight Ross is taking today. On Sunday night, it was diverted to Boise, then landed four hours late - in the early morning hours. Yesterday's flight was canceled. Many prayers have been said, not only for our missionary but for all the holiday travelers who are having their holiday plans altered.

Before I went to bed last night, I checked on his original flight out of Romania. I couldn't go to sleep until I knew he was in the air - the plane left 115 minutes late. Yikes! We think he made his Paris connection.

Now for the final leg of his journey, the flight has been delayed, first for 30, then 50 minutes. They should be lifting off momentarily - fingers crossed.

What a crazy adventure - and yet we are so grateful for Ross' service. We know it has blessed him as well as his family.

Last email?

Hey Great People!

This is the LAST email of my entire mission!! Craziness! And I can see why you saved all those questions for last, Mom. Haha, they make me excited to be home. I definitely have mixed feelings about leaving the mission, but I am a lot more ready now than I was a month ago. Things aren't as pleasant here in Bucharest. The other day, two active members were talking about a member from Moldova and were saying things about she's ugly, gross(she's not either in the least), actually much worse language and then they started gossiping about her and her boyfriend. I was pretty infuriated, there are a lot of problems here with gossip and also pride. Of course, there are also super stellar members as well, just more rare.

The work here right now, sadly, isn't going all that great right now. We moved Iulian's date to next Sunday and had a couple of good lessons with him, talking about sacrifice and all the things required of members. We set as a qualifier for his baptism to come to church yesterday with a white shirt and tie. He didn't even come, so he no longer has a baptismal date. The girls, Ela and Daniela, don't seem too interested. It seems they like the social part of the lesson more than the actual Gospel. But probably the hardest thing, the one that makes me the most sad is that Vica in Orhei didn't get baptized. Her dad decided that she shouldn't do it and even though he really dislikes churches and priests, he expressed his pride that he inherited the Orthodox church from his ancestors. He actually succeeded in convincing her of the same and she no longer wants to be baptized either. It saddens me soo much that something so off is being chosen. I mean they know the Orthodox church is not true, but right now the tradition is more important than drawing closer to the Living God. If only she knew the blessings that will come when she's baptized. She's felt the Spirit and she can feel it even more if she follows the Savior's teachings. I think she will realize it eventually, I just hope it's soon. I wrote her, urging her to pray first before she makes a final decision.

Yesterday at church not too many people showed up. There were maybe 20 members and then like 13 missionaries. President Lundberg and his family, with the assistants, visited our branch. There were some incredible talks, though. Sora Fotea spoke about the Sabbath Day and as she bore her testimony after some great teaching, the Spirit was super strong and it made me a little teary. Don't worry, though, I didn't cry :)

Today we have a Christmas party for our zone and one other. It starts at 2 and goes until 9. We'll have a tie exchange and then musical skits later. We are singing, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" with an added verse of our own, during which we'll have a slideshow going of all the people that were baptized in the last year. Simple, but hopefully good. I'm going to show up, along with my companion, in a black shirt and a white tie. I'll have my black suit and he has his Mafia-looking one. Haha, it will be sweet, we'll take pics. We're also bring extra shirts in case President wants us to change. :P

Then tomorrow we have zone conference from about 9 to 3. It should be good, I'm excited. I always get lots of ideas on how I can be better and how I can draw closer to my Savior. There will be many things, I'm sure, that apply to life back home.

Ok, about plans for when I get back. Yeah, that would be super cool if a few friends came over to say hi. The annual bash, I'll think about more when I get home. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to do the fireside :) Though of course I'll be happy to do it...if I have to.

At the airport, it doesn't matter to much who is there. Just the family is great with me. If there were others that wanted to, it would be fine, but I imagine you guys want me to yourself first :). Sounds good to me. Should I wear my most worn out suit or my most beautiful one? The blinger look or the hard worker one? Haha.

There is a chance I'll be at internet next week for a little bit, but I honestly have no idea. Monday morning we are at Cismigiu Park and after that we're pretty much released from missionary work. I don't know who I'll be with or what they'll want to do, so we'll see.

Ok, I want you all to know that I'm SUPER excited to come home. There are a lot of people to see and to give great, big HUGS to. Ok, beautiful people, I love you all and SEE you soon!!!

---Elder Ross