Living Ever After: Romania: Church and Podul Ros

Yesterday we went to church for the first time. The sister missionaries met us at a mall and walked us down some windy cobblestone roads. I saw my first gypsies. The building is on the corner of a block. The members were excited that the new "BYU girls" had arrived. We helped play piano- no one there could. The congregation was about 15 people. There's 3 sets of missionaries- two elder companionships, one sister companionship. The missionary work is very very slow here. The sisters say they have zero investigators, and haven't had any for a few months. Eastern Orthodox church is such a huge part of their culture. Eastern orthodox church seems even worse than being Mormon- it's 4 hours every Sunday- and no chairs. You either have to stand or kneel. And everyone does it- even the old people. But- because everyone's grandma and mom and dad stayed true to their faith throughout the communist regime and kept the hope burning, no one wants to desert that now. Joining the LDS church would be like disowning your heritage. So- the missionaries have it rough.

Anyway, when we got to church, an elder said, "Okay, we'll sit in the back and I'll translate for you." I said it was okay- he didn't have to, but he did anyway. In fact, they translated all 3 meetings for us. It was kind of nice, to know what they were saying. Kind of not- because it's hard to try and hear the Romanian words when someone is loudly speaking English to you. I think I'll listen to the translation another week or two, and then sit in the front row and just take it all in Romanian.

I was sitting there, thinking something was off. At first I thought, "Wow- a lot of men go here. Middle aged men. There's not as man women..." and then it hit me. No families. Zero families at church. All the men sat together, all the women did too. They're all married- but, not to each other. The only married couple that comes, the mom is baptized, the dad still comes to church, and the son is now 20ish, and the only young man/young single adult. Well- there's another girl that looks like she's 14, but is really 25. She was raised in an orphanage. She's very nice though. But- for the son- he seemed excited to see us BYU girls. It's sad- he either has to marry a girl outside the faith he has grown up in, or move out of Iasi to a bigger LDS community.

But- even though there's 20 of them, even though there are no families... the members are solid. Rock solid. The talks were sincere, and the spirit was so strong. Even in Romanian. The lessons were spot-on. The women in Relief Society talking about charity really knew what they were talking about and were very... loving. All the meetings were full of the spirit- no long rants, no off-the-wall stories or comments- just good, sincere discussion about these people's love for Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and the gospel they live. Everything they said about the Holy Ghost and Jesus Christ was simple, but really came from their heart- because they live and die for this gospel. Converting over here kind of is like dying- you give up your family, your culture, your proud history of your grandma keeping the Eastern Orthodox faith through communism.
I guess they kind of have to be that way. Unless they really believed it- they wouldn't be willing to give up so much for it- they come without their families, they deny the traditions of their fathers, they are very unpopular. And- they're rock solid, and they love the Lord. I have a lot to learn from them.

They will use us here, too. They want us to help plan Family Home Evening, and they asked me to prepare a talk for next week. I did already- on patience. It's lots of quotes from scriptures. :_

My new favorite study tool for Romanian language is comparisons from the LDS's printing of the Liahona. I can read it in Romanian, guess what it means, and then check my answers in English.

Podul ros:
The other girls' apartment. Very more traditional Romanian- with rugs and lace curtains.