~Zone Conference ~ May 2020 ~ Romania 🇷🇴 Mission

May 21, 2020

NOW ~  CURRENT ~ DURING THE COVID19 ~ 

Bucharest Zone Conference ~ a "Zoom" Zone Conference!

Because of the coronavirus this is how we had our "Zoom" 😂Conference this month! It isn't quite the same but just as great! We have a wonderful group of Missionary's and Bill and I have officially met and gotten to know each of these amazing companionship!

We began our meeting with the Elders and Sora's sharing pictures and telling us about the baptisms that took place last Saturday!  It was so fun seeing all of the smiling faces at the baptisms. In the bottom left corner you can see Elders Reese and Parish; they baptized Chelmus in a little make shift font that is situated behind them (with Elder and Sora Vogelsberg, the Senior couple in Timisoara, West Zone). Elder Parish and Chelmus could barely fit in the font and because of the beautiful, but massive, amount of hair Chelmus had, Elder Parish immersed him all the way down to the very bottom of the font making sure every whit of him was covered!  They said it was pretty funny and everyone got little (big) splashes from the wave of water! Baptisms are the best!

There is so much reverence yet much excitement at the Baptisms.  It is such a celebration for people to feel the love of the Savior and following His perfect example! There is such a feeling of joy throughout the whole process as the Elder's and Sora's express their happiness and love for these amazing new friends.

We had so many great lessons as the Missionary's shared all their presentations with us ~ I can't express enough the maturity of these young men and women.  Many of them have not even reached their 6 month mark of being out on their mission and yet they are the leaders here and mini-adults who are wise, spiritual and so mature! Even though they are young (anywhere from 18 to 21 years old), they have personally financed their mission for this experience because they know the importance of sharing the Gospel with everyone.

All of the Missionary's in Mexico were sent home to their native countries because of the Pandemic ~ our grandson, Kobe, was one of these great warriors!  After arriving home all of these Missionaries had to decide if they wanted to wait the pandemic out and then when areas finally opened up they would be sent to a new location in the States or they could defer their mission for a year and then go back out to Mexico.  Kobe decided to defer his mission, go to BYU for a year and then back to his mission in Mexico.  Our Missionaries here are a constant reminder of our Amazing Kobes and all the good work he did in Mexico!  He had many experiences (getting mugged, appendix removal, etc.) and many baptisms in the short 6 months he was out and we look forward to many more (great) experiences when he goes out and serves full time again!

Because of the coronavirus and now using technology everyday they are reaching far and wide finding those that are searching for the truth. Where technology is concerned Billy was way ahead of the game as he was inspired to start his Romanian Website, Youtube and Facebook page way back in Utah before the word CoronaVirus was ever heard of. He is a genius for listening to and following the Holy Ghost and the promptings 💙😇💙.  I do love that guy and I am continually amazed at his creativity!  You probably don't know this but Billy has come up with so many brilliant ideas and creations but didn't pursue them; a year or two later they would all be on the market selling like hotcakes ~ we are fine with this as who knows what we would be like if we were billionaires 😉!

Great questions to find out where people are on their spiritual journey!

The Elders and Sora's invited members of our Branch to come to our meeting and act like people who are investigating the Church.  We broke out in 4 different sessions for about 20 minutes then as a group we listened as the "investigators" shared comments about how the missionary's taught them and any areas of improvement. They all had great ideas and it was fun getting insight into Romania culture that will help with missionary work. We are grateful for these sweet friends and their willingness to help us become better teachers!

More instructions from everyone!  It was a full day but very informative and fun.

Our beautiful closing song was sung by the very talented: Sora's Weaver, Bauco and Guest! It was wonderful and a perfect ending to a perfect day!

"Ours is this great and glorious task; let us work unceasingly, with hand, heart and mind; truly the object is worthy of our best endeavors"

(I don't know who I am quoting but I got the quote off of the Webster dictionary looking up the word endeavors 😄).  

Hurrah for Isreal!

~Baptism ~ May 16, 2020 ~ Romania 🇷🇴Mission

Constantin was Baptized Today! 

The Baptism was wonderful and the spirit was so strong ~ you could feel it throughout the whole program.  Because we are still under a "State of Alert" there could only be a few in attendance so the rest of us were able to watch it via Zoom Conference (this is a new way to experience baptisms and I hope it continues even after the pandemic passes)!

 This picture was taken after the ordinance was performed. You can't see all those participating in the "Zoom" call but by the look of Sora's Teuscher and Perry, Pres and Sister Hettinger and Elder's Laker and Parker it was a celebration for all! 

These 2 beautiful young women, Sora Phillips and Sora Cleveland, met Constantin through Facebook. They taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and shared the Book of Mormon with him.  He began reading and after a few lessons wanted to be baptized. They set a baptismal date for him! Constantin is in our Panduri Branch so after the the Sora's introduced him to Elder Firth and Elder Wilkinson they were able to introduce him to our Branch President and other members from our Branch (Elder Wilkinson has since been transferred to Constanta, in the East Zone, so he watched via the Zoom call).  Elder Firth and his new companion, Elder Chandler, continued the lessons with Constantin!
Such an exciting time for all these sweet missionaries.  How we love them and Constantin! 

Each Baptism contains the sweet spirit of the Holy Ghost surrounding and encompassing all those in attendance, whether face to face or on our Zoom conference call. This is Constantin with President Bobeonia, our new Branch Pres, who Baptism and bestowed the Gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmed him the newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! 

Here is the beautiful program the Elders made!

Elder Firth conducted. He is the cutest missionary ~ he is very confident and we just love him to pieces (he reminds me of Kobe, our grandson, who I can see leading in the exact same way)! Pres and Sora Doru talked about Baptism and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost. We had to keep the actual physical attendance to a minimum (because we are still under strict Covid19 Alert) but all of the Baptisms here in Romania are such a big event that the turn out would have been huge had everyone been able to attend. Watching by Zoom has been a real blessing.  I was not able to take pictures of each block of those watching but I think it was around 30.

Constantin was the first today out of 4 in Romania to be baptised ~ I believe there was one in Hungary as well! There have been many miracles through media contacting! Always hidden blessings in store for us all regardless of our circumstances!

This part was the sweetest for me; after Constantin was baptised he was set apart and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the most precious gift and now for the remainder of his life, Constantin will have the Holy Ghost to comfort, teach and testify and be with him 24/7!  What a precious gift Jesus Christ has given us! 

Next Constantin bore his sweet, simple testimony of a loving Heavenly Father, of His son, Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost.  He spoke of how the Book of Mormon changed his life and how he gained a testimony of the truthfulness of it. 
It was amazing and so powerful.  We love this man and he will be a wonderful member of the church and be able to help others Come unto Christ!

I got to sit and visit with Constantin for a bit after the services. His greatest desire is to teach and bring his family into the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It was so tender as he shared his love for his wife and 5 children.  He wants to share the Gospel with his family so they can also receive the blessings of Baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Such an amazing man; his testimony is so strong and he is thrilled that he found the Gospel of Jesus Christ right here in Romania.  He said he was so grateful to have met all the wonderful missionaries and this was such an important day for him.   There is no better feeling than seeing one of God's children enter into the waters of Baptism and unite as brothers and sisters in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can still remember, at age 17, the feelings of that spectacular day when I was Baptism and Confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. "It was a very good year" ~ February 26, 1977 ~ you can read all about it here:    https://jamie5663.blogspot.com/1977/ 

Those that were able to physically be here were: Elder Matthews (Billy), Sora Matthews (me), Sora Phillips, Evalina, Sora Cleveland, Sora and Pres Doru, Constantin, Luka and Diana and in front Elder Chandler, Elder Firth and Branch President Bobeonia! I am not quite sure how our picture was so unbalanced, I know that, of course, it doesn't matter . . . but still 😏!

Afterwards we had a few little treats and presented Constantin with a framed picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus Christ (and of course a little chocolate bar that he said he was going to give his wife ~ smart husband)! In the bottom corner you can see how Pres Doru tried 5 times to take a picture of me and Luka but never quite managed to get one with our eyes opened 😏!

In addition to the others we had (bottom row kneeling) Elder Ekstrom and Elder Church our District Leaders who were upstairs monitoring the Zoom Call, great job Elders! It really was a great day 💙😇💙!