5:00 PM Traffic

Road Trip

Hey People!

My week was pretty jam packed so I’ll take you through it quickly:

Mon - Normal
Tue - Met with President all day
Wed - Prepare for trip
Thu - Office staff meeting, to Sibiu (4 hour drive)
Fri - Half day exchange in Sibiu, to Oradea (5 hour Drive)
Sat - Zone Conference, District Conference (Elder Adler of the 70 attending)
Sun - District Conference, cont. Drive home (8 hours) through Cluj, Sighisoara, Brasov

The drive was insane!  We had a lot of fun, took a ton of photos and ate a lot of snacks.  Sora Ivory packed us super tight with food, candy, fruits, veggies and all kinds of stuff for the drive!  Seriously, I couldn’t have eaten everything that she had given us and she is the shiz!

Romania could be the most beautiful country on planet earth.  If anyone has seen Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit, all the beautiful rolling green hills and huge mountain ranges look just like Romania.  We often had to stop and wait for cows to get off the road.  We stopped and admired the Gypsy mansions which are colorful and giant.  We also took a break in a town of 200 people and I talked with an old woman for 30 minutes about living in the middle of Romania.  She had the thickest countryside accent and I could barely understand her!  We also saw about 400 sheep with all bearded gypsy herders.  It was incredible!  It cannot be correctly explained through words or photographs, but I tried my best. 

Conference was great. The visiting authority was about 6’4”, had a super deep voice and a mild German accent. He talked about how through love and softened hearts, we as missionaries can spread the message more easily. I again presented on ‘Extending Commitment Invites’ and ‘Setting Expectations.’ 

Being in Oradea was the best thing on planet earth . . . IT IS THE BEST CITY IN THE MISSION!  I was surprised that all the members remembered me and about half even remembered my name.  I spent most my time talking with them.  I could've spent the rest of my mission there and if I have any say in where I am going at the end of my mission, I will make it very clear to President that I want to be in ORADEA! 

This week will be high stress because we gotta plan and get ready for the following week, which will be transfers.  We need to plan for the incoming, outgoing, trainer and all other missionaries who will be moving over the course of three days.  This includes setting-up all types of training meetings, interviews with President, meals, activities to keep them busy, and doing some morning runs with president which as you all know is my favorite a.m. activity. 

I love you all.... Keep it real!
Keegan

Cinco de Mayo

Road Trip - Sibiu

Trimit un Mesaj Oamenilor Mei - A message to my peeps!

I was stoked to talk to talk with you on skype this week!  The kids are huge and fun!  I can't believe how happy Pippa is all the time. 

We had MLC this week so everyone was here in Bucuresti for a day.  Usually it's me getting on a flight at 3:00 a.m. and not getting back in bed until after midnight the next day.  Luckily I only had to conduct this time and Elder Allphin presented with the Ivorys.  It went pretty well and President subliminally made fun of me for taking so many pottery classes in high school.  Elder Allphin gave a presentation about quality versus quantity and used a ceramics example and had me share a story about how frustrating it can be sometimes.  President was joking and laughing pretty hard, saying that all I do in the office is throw pots on the wheel.  It's fun seeing him lighten up slightly and he laughs more nowadays. 

Yesterday, we had this guy at church named Jude.  We received his number as a referral from some other missionaries and invited him to church.  He is here studying business and is originally from Nigeria. He’s a super humble dude and seemed to have a good time.  He has a few buddies back at the dorms and we are gonna get in and be friends with all the foreign peeps here in Buc. 

This week we get to drive all the way up to Oradea which is a nine hour trip, so we’ll break it up into two days and stay with the elders in Sibiu for a night.  I will be in Oradea again for two or three days, which will be fun, and I'm gonna try and meet up with a few of the people that I used to teach and know.  Oradea is still my favorite city in the mission.  Hopefully when we are driving back on Monday the week later we will have time to email.  I think we might be able to do some site seeing because it will be P-day.  On our way back we pass a few castles including Draculas and then some historic cities and other dope touristic sites.  It would be incredible if we could do something on our way back, but we’ll see.

Nothing too new lately . . . I took my suits to the dry cleaner so today will be pretty normal.  We will try and play some sports if we have time and get some food too.  I love you guys and we will see each other soon! 

Love you,
Keeg

Here is a picture of me on Cinco de Mayo at the only Mexican place around here.

Service in Buch!

Two Cool Cats!

Zuia Mamei si Numai o Saptamana - Mother's Day In Just One Week!

Well, I don’t think anyone is as excited as mom is, but we will be talking sometime this week!   Kind’a weird to think that it will be the last phone visit before we all see each other again.  As mom reminds me weekly, we are sitting at about 4 months and 3 weeks. 

This week we had two zone conferences, one in Bucuresti and the other in Chisinau.  We flew to Chisinau Thursday night and arrived around 11:30 p.m.!  Our meeting started at 10:00 a.m. the next day and went for about 7 hours.  We stayed another day to do an exchange and I met with Mihai Zgarburi and a few other people to catch up - it was fun!  Everyone there is freaking incredible and Moldova looks a lot better with green!  When I left it was all covered in mud and trees were still dead, but now its green and looks great. 

We were able to go do some yard work for a member here in Buc and chopped some wood.  It busted my back up for a few days ‘cause I think my form was a little shot, but it was fun to get some service in.  She fed us afterwards, which was incredible as usual, and I played with her kittens.  Her name is Sora Albu and she worked construction as the head person on the job.  She is hilarious and always telling good stories. 

I love and miss y'alls! 
Keeg