Half Transfers!

"Elder Veenendaal and I are sad that he's leaving."

"But we're happy he was here."

"Because we were gansters."

"With cool investigators."

"Even if they sometimes wore doves on their heads."

"While we stood in the middle of the street."

"And made snowmen out of freezer ice....Bye-bye Elder Veenendaal"

Hey everybody! So, Elder Veenendaal is officially gone. I said my last goodbyes to him at the mission office an hour and a half or so ago and he'll be on his plane home Wednesday. If you don't remember he's getting sent home 3 weeks before he would normally have gone home so that his family can have him there for Christmas and new year. Yesterday one of the senior couples from Bucharest came to church and the sister was teasing him for leaving early ("Oh, you've had a good two years. Oh wait, you didn't do 2 years did you?... Yeah, he came two years ago, oh wait almost 2 years ago." ha it was really funny). It was pretty sad to see him go, but it's alright because I got a new companion, so I won't be all alone. I'll be serving at least the next 3 weeks with Elder Lee. Elder Rasmussen, his old companion, left for Galaţi, so we'll be the only 2 missionaries in Craiova. It'll be a little weird but also nice to go back to a 2 missionary apartment, because I've been living with 3 other missionaries for the last 9 weeks. And missionary work is a lot harder with a 4 missionary apartment. This last week with Elder Veenendaal was great! We had 2 new investigators, both of them referrals. One of them was a referral from a member in Bucharest, and the other was a referral from another investigator. Monica, the referral from the investigator, is really cool. We actually met her at her friends house because that's where we thought she lived, and her friend had a pet dove, whose best friend is... Monica! Haha we waited at the other lady's apartment for Monica for a while and when Monica came in the dove flew over to her and was freaking out that she was there. Before we left we had to get a picture of her and her friend. :) We're having a great time here in Craiova and I'm looking forward to serving with Elder Lee. He's a great missionary and we'll get work done, at least that's what I'm hoping! I've heard Christmas time makes it hard to work with people because everyone is busy with their families and the holidays and say they don't have time for missionaries, but we'll do as much as we can! I hope all of you are having a great holiday season and that your schools and works and everythings are about to end and you can all just rest for the holidays! It's good to get rest every once in a while, so remember that. :) Until next week! Oare ştiaţi că "anul nou" în limbă Română se spune "Revelion"? Love, Elder Michael Abbott