Wednesday, June 1, 2011

This is why we are here.

"The Center for Young Single Adults is the result of a powerful revelation that Elder L. Tom Perry had the night after President Gordon B. Hinckley called him to be over the Central Europe Area.  Elder Perry had a dream from which he awoke and said that he had received one of the most powerful revelations of his life.  It was made known to him that the success of missionary work and the future strength of the Church in Central Europe here would come from the Young Single Adult aged members...Because of this revelation, Outreach Centers for YSA are being established throughout Europe.  The Center is a place that the young single adults can come to as a refuge from the world."

Here are some pictures that will give you and idea of what we are doing. There is a large area on the lower floor of the Church building with ping pong tables, a foosball table and an area for visiting and watching movies.  But those pictures are for another time.

Elder Wahlquist working the room.

We usually have 8 - 12 YSAs come for Institute and then a meal. There are almost 200 YSAs in the Bucurest area. We have our work cut out for us!

We'd like you to meet some of our new friends.

Elena
She was the first YSA we met here.  She taught us how to buy our bus, tram and metro pass. She speaks very good English and we use her a lot for translation.

Camelia
She is a delight and never misses an activity. She speaks some English.

George
He has been a member about two months.  He was placed at the Church as a night guard by a Security Company and since he was staying at the building all night, he started reading a Book of Mormon while there.  He liked what he read and liked how nice the people at Church were to him and to each other so he asked to have missionary lessons.  He spoke in sacrament meeting this past week and told his conversion story.  It was very inspiring.  He speaks no English but he can understand some of what we say to him.

Mihai
He has been a member less than a year and is a licensed attorney.  He loves all things American, especially their sports teams. He speaks very good English and likes to practice on us.

Florina
We will miss her terribly.  She is leaving for American next month.  She is a school teacher and returned missionary (Russia).

Alina
She is a non-member who comes to all the activities.  We can always count on her to stay and help with the dishes.  She speaks just a little English but she can play speed scrabble just fine.  She is holding an article by Elder Ballard that the sister missionaries gave her to read.

There are more pictures and stories to come.  We are very grateful for how kind and welcoming they have been to us.

2 comments:

  1. I love reading the posts to your blog. That is pretty powerful direction received by Elder Perry. I'm glad you both are helping in the work to spread the gospel through helping to strengthen the YSA's. We are praying for you both.

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