I Didn't Dodge The Flu

Pamiliya Namon!! 

How is everyone? Thanks for all the letters from everyone! I love that my inbox was blowing up today! Seriously the best! Well this week was quite unsuccessful! I got the flu on Thursday night so I was out until Saturday! Super boring!!! But it was kind of nice! I had a little freak out at the beginning of the week, I try to make sure I am putting trust in the Lord I just got nervous and was letting satan get the best of me! I swear I thought I was going crazy!! EEEKKK! Anyways, there are 2 philipino sisters here, they are going to Hong Kong and they are in our zone! The one sister speaks Hiligaynon, tagolog, and cebuano so we always ask her for help and advice for the 'pines and she is always so happy to help! She says that they take such good care of the sisters and is super excited for us!  The language I decided to just try my best, it takes me a really long time to form sentences and it was frustrating me when no one could understand me but I just decided to do my best and not really care because maybe the Lord is teaching me something else and it will come later! I am to hard on myself I think!!  Oh before I forget, my classroom is 7m room 313! It was funny, we were hosting the new missionaries last Wednesday and the guy that was giving us instructions I couldn't hear him and neither could the elders behind me, so of course I turned around and starting chatting with them they were speaking Spanish! So I asked like where they are going and such and one kid was saying that he had this one super cool Spanish teacher, well it was KEVIN!! HAHA I was like he is my cousin! Super funny, they were  sharing all his mission stories with me and saying that he is always Glowing because he just got married so I just laughed! Oh Kev, always the life of the party!  Sister Ili is the same! She wont ever open up to me so it is the same! No big deal! There are so many sister missionaries and it is great and all but they never recognize the older sisters and all of us are like Ok, we had a life, not just high school this is a sacrifice for us too! I think things will be better when I leave here! I hope so anyways! yes I gave Kaden some crap about being in love! He is super funny! I ran into Geisler??  Seems like he is doing fine! They always ask about Tate and feel bad he has had to wait forever! Tell Lora and grandma thanks for the letters! I never have time to really write anyone back and I feel bad about it!  I love this gospel and i hope that I can teach and be a successful missionary! Sometimes I think I scare myself but I know that I can do this!  Tell Grandpa HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! That is so exciting!! the big 90! But time is flying by here! It is nuts! But like you said i feel like I just barely got here and now I am leaving! The filipino sisters here were like "oh just buy shoes there, everything is cheap! You can get a dress 50 cents and the most expensive 5 dollars haha" they are so cute and funny! Last night while we were getting ready for bed a sister was cooking popcorn and burned it, so it set the fire alarm off and we had to evacuate the building! hahaha so dumb and it was so cold! HAHA she felt super bad! Sister Clement and I have become good friends! She is way cool! I am keeping my head up.   I have good moments and bad moments but I guess that comes with the mission! Love you all so much! I miss you but really this is where I gotta be! I will do my best!! Thanks for always keeping me updated! It sounds like Abby is just rocking it! I knew she just needed to get out of here! HAHA  I have pictures this week, I look kinda horrible but welcome to the next 16 months hahaha But be safe! There is so much snow here! It just keeps coming and it is so slick! Miss you!!! Tell everyone thanks for the prayers and I love them!

Love Sarah!!!

My friends

My tongan brothers!

Sister Illi and me

sneaking food again!

Sister Clements and me

This mission is the best thing I have ever done in my whole life! Seriously... I was walking around Constanta and I looked at myself in a car window and I just started laughing... I am a missionary... 21 years old... living in Europe.... talking to random people on the street about Jesus Christ and His Gospel... and I am getting paid 900 Ron a month... living in a nice condo... ha I just thought to myself... "What a crazy life I live:)"

Ok so for this week! Last Monday after I wrote you we went and had family home evening at one of the members homes. It was so much fun- We shared our testimony about the important of having strong testimony and then we taught them how to play spoons! they thought that it was the best game in the whole entire world! We had so much fun! There is a mom and a dad and then they have a daughter, Alina who is 12 and the only young women in the ward and then Alex who just got baptized and he is 8. It was so much fun! The little girl reminds me of Maddy so we instantly clicked even though the only thing I really say to her is "im place de tine" Which basically means that I like her! ha she gives me a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks every time she sees me! She leads the music while I play for the branch so she is basically my new best friend! So yes back to FHE- the Romanian people here are amazing! They made all of us pancakes and then the dad opens up there floor and goes down to their basement like at grandmas rounds house and brings up some good jam for us and we have this big feast. As we continued to talk the dad told us he is out of work. I was so touched... They don't have a lot of money and nothing is coming in but yet they made this big meal for us. They are willing to give everything to the missionaries they really do love us. Which brings me to a favor mom.... They want me to there family how to play the piano...no one here knows how to play.. I don't really have time but is there some way that you can send me some beginner music or maybe some simplified hymns? They have a keyboard at their house and they said they would be willing to practice- I wont have time to really help them out that much... any suggestions? Seriously this family is amazing... So if you could help me out with that then that would be awesome! The Dad speaks English so he came up and asked me after sacrament meeting.. he was so nice and was like.."Can you please just teach me some basics and like one hymn... if you have time?" I told him I would try to figure out something:)

The baptisms that come out of Romanian are from English classes and from Member referrals so that is what we have been doing this week. We have made a great lesson plan to present to the members on how they can be missionaries and that we could teach all their friends. No one stays active here unless they have friends in the church. We have presented it to a couple members and they seem really excited to work with us. I am feeling a bigger sense of unity in the branch! Which is what we need to build it up. English classes start this Tuesday which will be great because as I am teaching English I will pick up on some more Romanian. This week we have been doing a lot of member visits and yes English and bus contacting. Funny story though so we were bus contacting and we dont give the cards to little kids so these kids want it and when we didnt give it to them... they got off the bus and threw an orange peel at us... ha it almost nailed me in the face... It make me laugh because in the MTC Sora Wilson warned us that we might have fruit thrown at us! I just started laughing super hard! But I love being really busy and Sora Modzelewska does a really good job and filling up our days. She wants the best for me and she is determined that I become the best missionary ever! So its great. She cooks for me and I clean so it works out nicely!

BEST STORY: This is the best story for the week! Our German girl. Ok so you know I was so happy because I felt like i was fulfilling my missionary purpose with her because I could teach in English. Well we met with her on Tuesday for Hot Chocolate and she was asking a lot of questions and we were getting to know her better. She basically came right out and said that she wanted to learn more. So we set up a lesson with her on Saturday and the church! We taught her about the Godhead and about how much God loves her. She had a lot of questions though so we basically did an overview of everything! ha She is very open minded. She says that she only goes to church on Christmas so she said that religion really hasnt played a big role in her life. She looked at God like he was this powerful and scary person that is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. We bore strong testimonoy to her about how much God truly does love her. And then we taught her how to pray and we asked her if she had ever prayed before which she hadn't. We then challenge her to pray for us and..... SHE DID! It was in German but it was so cool! I just sat there stunned thinking that this was the first time in her life she has communicated with her loving Heavenly Father! We asked her how she felt after and she was like "Peaceful.... and calm..." We were smiling from Ear to Ear and promised her that everytime she prayed she could feel this great peace in her life. We challenged her to pray everyday and she said that she would .... So YES... my First real live investigator:) She didnt want to leave the church- We gave her a tour and then I played for her on the piano. It was awesome! She is going to be gone this week visiting another city but right when she gets back we are going to meet with her again! I am so excited!

We are also teaching another lady but it is really sad... She has no hope for life... how sad... She is getting a divorce and her son is very ill. She honestly does not believe that God is there for her. It breaks my heart. I can't imagine being in that much dispair.:( But we are trying to help her! The other person that we are teaching is all the lessons again to Sora Modzelewska recent convert. She was baptized like 3 days before I came into the area! So everything is going really good! I really like this area!

The branch is great! They told me that they talked to the Butikofers! So funny! Its cool because the branch president and his wife they speak perfect English but they refuse to speak to us in English because they want us to learn Romanian- They are so nice! The Branch Presidents wifes' little brother leaves on a mission this week going to Germany so we had his farewell on Sunday. It is so cool! The work really is growing her in Romania! All of the youth want to go on missions! Its super exciting to see the progress that is being made here!

Our zone conference was way fun in Bucharest on Wednesday! It was a lot of fun meeting with all the missionaries! I called the Cooks on the way back because they werent at the conference and they were super excited to hear from me! They volunteered to be my grandparents out her on the mission field and they told me that they would take care of me! ha

Romania is awesome though! I am cultured shocked every time I walk out the door but that is why I love it! it is funny though because the church is the same no matter where you go. In sacrament meeting yesterday a lady got up to give her talk and even though I couldnt really understand it- the mannerisms are all the same... Start off with a joke... glance back at the Bishop... ha I couldnt help but laugh! But yes I played the piano yesterday! I will come home way better at the piano! I am glad that before I left the MTC I bought a hymn book and wrote down all the English titles on it so that makes my life a lot easier! So its going great! I am also teaching that recent convert her favorite song on the piano! So thank you again grandma and mom for making me learn how to play the piano! ha

- I have to say... Jaron thank you so so much for the IPOD idea! It seriously saves my life! I love listening to the music! It is all great! Also thanks Aunt Peggy for sending me the song from your ward! I love at the end hearing you talking to Uncle Doug though! I was laughing as I was listening to it! Thank you everyone for all of the Emails! It is so great to here from everyone! I read through them all unfortunenetly I dont have a lot of time to respond and I dont really think I am supposed to respond but keep them coming because they mean a lot to me:) I have the best support system in the world! Even Derek Hanks wrote me! ha I loved it! It is also fun to hear from all of my great friends:)

How is Sarah doing by the way? She didnt write me back?? I hope she is just praying a lot and just pushing through the MTC- It is 10000 times better once you get out to the mission field!

 On Saturday we had like 3 teaching appointments and it was a Blizzard!!! The waves on the Black sea were so ridiculous! But I am used to Idaho so it reminded me of being right back at home! :) 

Some things that culture shock me here

- They hold their boquet of flowers upside down. serious so the water drains to the flower ha I thought that it was the most random thing ever!

-There are dogs everywhere!

- Some people dont have indoor plumbing.... They use outhouses.... just like at grandma rounds house... It is crazy because they will have a pretty nice house and they no bathroom.

-Riding buses is also very interesting for me... Sometimes we are smashed on the bus... ha I was afriad I was going to fall out one time!

- When we are on the bus and everytime we pass an orthodox church everyone does the cross on their chest

-There is an orthodox church on every block!

Those are random and I am sure there is more but I love it here! This is exactly where I am supposed to be! I might not have 100 baptisms.... but you know what no effort is wasted - everytime I open my mouth I am doing what the Lord wants me to do. It was really interesting to me because I was reading section 4 in the doctrine and covenants where is talks about thrusting in your sickle... I had never really read it before but the last sentence in that verse I am talking about talks about the missionary recieving Salvation. I had to step back and think... wow Heavenly Father is allowing to me to come on this mission so that I may work really hard and bring others to Him but in this process if I do it right I am working to gain Salvation for my own Soul. This is the time for me to really sit down like we make our investigators and make sure that I have a strong testimony in Jesus Christ. This mission will benefit me for the rest of my life! In the MTC the emphsized so much that this mission will determine who I marry... how I raise my kids... and my eternal destiny! Crazy... I have almost been out here for 3 months! 1/6 of my mission is gone! I am really working hard on enjoying every single day! This time is going to go by so fast! I don't want to have any regrets! I am learning some great life lessons out here! I am learning to fully rely on God... Learning to get along with random companions with totally different backgrounds then I have... I am learning that I can do hard things... I am also learning that I can love people and that God shows His love to His Children here in Romania and that is awesome! I already have people here that I love. Another girl in the ward is 19 and getting ready to go on her mission She loves us! I hope that who ever is reading this blog and is thinking about going on a mission to... GO! Honestly best decision you will ever make! This life is all about becoming like Jesus Christ:)

 I have our one family picture and everyone loves it! no one can believe that we have that big of a family... my companion is always saying ... that's what I want... ""One big happy family!" I love you guys so much and I am thankful for all that you do for me! I would not be where I am today without everyone having my back and supporting me! Grandma don't cry about me being the piano player! ha Thanks for teaching me.. everyone always asks me where I learned I say from ""Bunica mea" (My grandma) mwaah love you! I am learning patience and humility for sure! ha I wish I could speak now but I know that it will come! :) Keep praying for me! ha I know that you guys are!

I love you all so much!!!!

va iubesc!!!

Sora Abby Polatis... your now Romanian daughter:)

!

                                                            New best friend

                                                               New investigator

                                                                      looks good enough to eat!

                                                       Apartment where I live

                                               

                                                            nursing puppies???

                                                               my district

                                           

Time is Going Fast...

Well how is everyone doing?? Loved Abbys email. I miss her so much! She was my venting session and sometimes I still catch myself looking for her in the Cafeteria. Well Dad, yes I am the only sister going to Bacolod. The last sister that went was 3 months ago! And the next group of Ilonggo speakers dont come in until after we get out of here! Well I was super disappointed, hiligaynon is like an unwritten language so remember how you went to the distribution center and could only find a Book of Mormon! Well that is because that is all there is! They barely got the lessons from Preach my Gospel translated for us! The book of mormon they gave us is just a paperback copy! I was so bummed! I wanted a new quad!! Yes Saw Kaden! He is just a few doors down from me for class room! He seems to be doing good! Aunt Becky and Austin wrote to me! It was super nice! Tell them Thanks! So super cool story, Jeffery R Holland came and spoke to us for Tuesday devotional! Oh my word! So powerful! He just said that this is the most exciting time to be serving a mission! That our whole lives just changed by opening and accepting our calls! He said that he could "careless" if we only convert one person on our mission and it BETTER BE US!! He said if he ever runs into us after our mission and we have become inactive, we better not ever run into him in a dark alley because he said he will go crazy on us! HAHA I laughed! He did so well and inspired me like crazy! He said, he has chosen us and he will help us! But we need to let him! For Relief Society Sister Rosemary Wixon came and she is the general primary pres,  she is so awesome! I love her! We talked to her after wards and she was telling us how great and pretty we were and that the Philippines is so lucky to have us! We got a new MTC presidency! They all spoke to us and President Nally had his daughter who served a mission come up and bear her testimony and I wanted to cry so hard! It was so inspiring! I know that this is where I need to be .The language is KILLING ME!! I was pretty frustrated all week and I pray for strength and help and  humility and everything so that I can at least be basic!  We did have a good experience teaching, Our investigator was not progressing at all so we basically went in and layed down the law! Asked her if she knew God loved her and that Jesus atoned for her and she wouldn't answer just kept looking at the floor then our teacher in the middle just stood up hugged us both and said "that is how you get to know your investigators! That is how to be a missionary!" It was pretty great!  Sister Ili and I do fine! She told our teacher I annoy her hahahaha probably cuz I am a rule nazi! I was made Senior comp so I enforce everything and it probably is annoying but I need to have the spirit and we need to be obedient to do it! Well last night for the movie it was a talk given by David A Bednar, the character of Christ! Holy powerful!!! Look it up and hear it! It will change your life forever! My new roomates are English speaking and leave before I do! As does everyone here! ha they are going to Indiana and one is from Idaho Falls! She is cute! Went to Hillcrest! Thanks everyone for the letters! They really do help me get through the week! I know I need to trust more and have a lot more faith because I feel so inadequate! Dad, story about Jared Carter??? :) Polihog:) We will teach the Plan of Salvation tonight in the language and it scares me but I will practice!  I will work on patience! We are down to like 20 days or something like that! SCARY! Tell grandma I played the Piano on Sunday and ROCKED it! So her hard work payed off!  Yes, the food here is sick and processed! I eat cereal and salads! Sister Clements has become my new go-to buddy! She is so cute and we talk forever I swear!  Love you all! Tell everyone Congrats on the Babies and whatnot! Miss you! Be safe! I will be strong, I can do this!!! We went to the temple this morning and I did anitiory!?? It was sweet! Cant wait to hear from you!!! 

Love Sister Sarah Polatis

Romania or Bust

HAHAHAH ok seriously I am loving my life right now!

Famila Mea!

Ok.. I dont even know where to start except that this is the coolest craziest thing I have ever done in my entire life! So I will start with the plane ride! super long but it was pretty fun. Crazy story though... I am sitting there on the plane dead asleep from Amsterdam to Romania and I start hearing a lady yelling, "Wake up.. wake up.. what is wrong with you... ah wake up." I come out of my deep sleep and this lady is like slapping her husband who is passed out... My nursing instincts kicked in and I jumped up and went over there and was like "Is he breathing?" (yes completing forgetting that they probably don't understand English) ha but he thankfully woke up and a Romanian Doctor showed up to help him out. The plane was just super hot and I think he was a little hypoglycemic... anyways.. we gave him some of my jolly ranchers and he was fine:) Then we got to the airport... all my bags were there! Yeah! except one of them is broken-- my handle is broken so I will have to buy another luggage before next transfer because it was so hard carrying that thing to Constanta! but that will be later.. I am at least her for another 9-12 weeks:) But ok back to the airport... I get off and the Mission President and his wife is there.. and Also... you guessed it! Brandon Cox from Rigby! I could not have been happier! He helped with all my bags and welcomed me into the country reassuring me that I was in the best mission in the world. We then went to straight to the doctor.. I guess you have to do that? I don't know why.. they basically took our blood pressure and listened to my lungs:) I then went to the office and signed some papers- After that we have an amazing dinner at the Mission Presidents Home:) After that we were picked up by the sister missionaries in Bucharesti then we slept at there house. It was fun we were all super nervous though because we had no idea where we were going the next day. The next morning we woke up and met the Mission President at the place where they dedicated the mission of Romania! It was cool then we waited in line to apply for our Visas! All of us were starving so of course we had to go to McDonalds.. (La mac) I tried ordering and I failed.. All I could say was (As dori) Which is "I desire..." After that one of the more experienced Elders took over. After that we went back to the mission Presidents home and Sora Hill have us an orientation thing... which was rough because we all could not stay awake... I couldn't really sleep on the plane so we all kept falling asleep during this presentation. After that she let us sleep for an hour while we waited for our trainers.

I was so nervous... and tired... ha But My trainer is Sora Medzelewska! ..... Don't worry I still can't pronounce her last name.. and she has a hard time with mine! But she is from Poland... She is 24 years old. Convert of 2 years. She is really good at speaking Romanian. Her English is also pretty good. She has me correct her sometimes with her English but she is really fluent so its good! She is super excited to be a trainer! I am her first daughter:) She really believes in me and loves missionary work so I think she is the best trainer that I could get... She is really blunt which is funny because you know how I am kind of sensitive to that... Well this transfer will really grow me up.... ha She said something one time when she was correcting me and she could tell I was kind of offended so she reassured me that she already loves me and has 100% confidence in me-- but I need to take her constructive critisism with love ha So this will be a fun transfer! She really is cool... I am excited to learn all that I can from her. They had a baptism the weekend before I got her so she is here to work! ":) K but Constanta is AMAZING! I look out of my apartment and the Black Sea is my Back yard! I can open the window and hear the waves! The sun rises and sun sets are breath taking! Our apartment is super nice too! I took pictures and I am going to send them! But we have a big living room! One and half Bathrooms -- 2 bedrooms! Hot showers! I mean this is luxury I feel super spoiled! They treat us really good here! O ya and my district is super cool! It is My companion and I and then 4 elders. And KRISTIN they Elder that you were telling me about before I came from St. George is in my district! He is super cool! Elder Barney! This week has been good though.. I can't believe that it is already Monday! But in Constanta here it is a litlel different we have to be home at 8:00 because it is too dangerous after that- We also can only teach girls. All of the men that we contact have to be referred to the Elders. I wished that I would have listened to Grandma and you mom more about practicing the piano because I am now the Branch piano player ha I played this Sunday! This Sunday I also got up and introduced myself and bore my testimony. Its funny because I guess they have not had a lot of (Boboaca) which is little duckling... ya in Romania we are not called greenies... I am called a Boboaca. But the members would come up and talk to me and I would kind of just sit there and be smiling not really knowing what they were saying and then they would say... "O tu esti boboaca?"ha I would just smile and say "Da" They they give me a little hug and wish me luck! :) Super funny.. But I am liking the European ways. All the older ladies kiss you on both cheeks when they greet you.... O and we are meeting with this girl from Germany she is here for a year doing some study abroad thing and we met with her yesterday. She wants to meet with us again and she speaks English so it will be fun! She seems to really like us so I am excited for that! I also had my first experience at eating at a members house on Sunday. It was some beans with cabbage or something like that... But it was funny because she sets this bowl in front of me and I seriously thought it was like the main bowl that everyone was going to be dishing our plates out of... NOPE.. all for me... :) I was trying so hard to eat all of it. The member looks at me and sees that I am trying and she was like to my companion in Romanian (you missionaries always try so hard to eat everything... If you are full its ok to stop) I felt so bad but she then took my plate away from me. Next time I need to help with serving the food! ha We then taught her husband that is not a member of the church and I think that it went really well!

But honestly everything is going good I am learning some humility and patience but I am just trying to be diligent and I look forward to the time when I can be speaking like a native in this country. It was funny our first night going to our apartment my Companion was going at it with the Taxi driver in Romanian... Afterwords she was like.. "I don't want you to look down on me for that I was sitting there being really impressed about her language skills ha so it was funny!

 It is super warm here in Constanta! no snow! coming over to the library today probably like 50ish degrees.   But I am loving it here! wow.... I am so glad I made from the MTC! Missionary work is the greatest thing ever and I am super excited to be here!  I will only get mail every 6 weeks at transfers though so letters will take awhile but it would still be super fun to get them! I love all of you guys so much! This place is so crazy though I will have to take pictures while I am here and send them to you guys! the building the churches.... the houses... everything is 100% different than what I am used to! My body is finally getting used to the time difference also! Heavenly Father loves us so much! He is so aware of our needs:) We all need to continuously studying the scriptures and doing missionary work everyday! This life is really the time to prepare to meet God! I will never complain about anything when I get back home! We are so lucky and so so blessed! I have realized how blessed I am since being on a mission! My companion is the only member of her family and she really has no support! I have the best support system in the World! I will make all of you guys proud! I am 100% committed to making this the best mission every!!! Thanks for everything I loved getting everyones' email! Congratulations to Molly! and Makale I am so excited for your babies! Keep me updated! va iubesc!!!!

Love, Sora Abby Polatis!! :)

1st day with Mission President

                                                                 Tired Sora Kelley and me

                                                      1st night slumber party at Sisters' house

                                                                Beautiful sunrise

                                                                 TRAVEL FOOD!!!

                                                                 Me and my new Comp

                                                                     beautiful apartment

                                                                    last temple day at MTC

                                                         never lived by the ocean before;)

                                                          I'M HERE----FINALLY

My best friend left this morning

Well I wasn't very brave last night:( I tried so hard to be strong for her but it just couldn't hold it in! She is the worst packer in the whole entire world! Oh my stuff, it just seemed to go on and on! We had to divide everything and we made them both 45 pounds!! Sheesh it was work!  So we went back and cleaned and packed her up and took pictures! I will send them, we both kinda look like death! We hugged goodbye and I didn't want to let go and neither did she so it was kinda late before we got to sleep! Um, She seemed ok! How did she sound? I was jealous that she got to call you! I guess I never realized how much I relied on her! It has been a weird morning! Hopefully I cant get in the groove and stop looking for her at meals!  I guess I needed to rely on the Lord more! Um, The language is going alright! In our lesson I said Nalibugan instead a Nabuligan and confused my investigator, Nalibugan means confused so he said why am I confused i am  I am supposed to be the one who knows the gospel so then he semi kicked us out haha frustrating! I try so hard not be so hard on myself it would just be so much easier if I could speak what what in my heart, cuz I am pretty sure its super broken language! But it will come!   Thanks so much for the package! Everyone makes fun of me for being from Idaho with all the potato talk and then I get my package and open it and Lo and Behold an instant potato box!! HAHA score mom! Well time is flying by here! The next week I guess the number of sisters is skyrocketing! I get 2 new roomates! Don't know where they are going or anything just found a note saying to make room for them!  Um since we are going to BYU-I we have found alot of roomates! HAHA all these girls love us and want to live at the shade!!! sweet huh!!

 Aunt Sands, Aunt Pegs, Jaron, Lou, G-ma and of course Mom and Dad! Thanks for the letters! It is amazing how one little letter that has so much love can cheer someone up! I had a whole list of stuff to write you but left it in my class! So I am going from memory! I am super happy Jaron moved in with lou! But that will still always be my room! The devotional was amazing yesterday! The head of online procelyting (???) I guess I cant spell but he spoke to us and did a family history tree from Joseph Smith, I guess I never realized that the first like 4 prophets from the church and its hard to explain but it was awesome! Jared Carter was even mentioned!! Sweet! Dad will you please give me the details of that story, i forgot:( my bad! But I love you all.   I better get some pictures!! Sorry this letter is boring! Keep praying!! I need it!  Tell the Grandparents HI!!!! I will always do my best!!  Love you guys and thanks for everything!!!



 When I get down sometimes I think of decorating pretzels, delivering them with the minor exception of our fight sam haha !:) And all of our movie nights! You guys are awesome and I cant wait to come home and chill with you again! We had alot of fun!
 Thanks Love you!!! MMUUAAHH!!!

Off to Europe

Hey everyone!

Sorry no pictures this week!  CONGRATS LOU AND SCOTT!!!  I am so so excited for you two! I read the whole story to everyone that was around me when I got the dear elder:) I am so so happy and expect lots and lots of pictures! When is the BIG day? You can photo shop me into some pictures when I get home haha just kidding but I am really excited! I need to see some pictures of the ring ASAP:)  Well this week on Monday night we met President Hills wife... she was in Provo because her daughter was having a baby... she didn't know if she would beat us back to Romania so she stopped in and said hi! She is pretty nice and intense! but Our teachers loved her- So I am sure that I will also! I asked her about my nursing thing and I don't think that I do much-- She says that I can help her find good doctors and clinics and help send out newsletters to help the missionaries! She said basically I can do whatever I want as long as I take the iniative:) So we will see how that works out! So bad story today... I was washing ALL my garments except like one pair... getting ready to get them all packed up and I accidently put in my "I love New York" t shirt which is white but it does have a big red heart on it... and YES you guess it... ALL of my garments and tank tops are now this lovely pink color... ha I tried to bleach them and everything.. but with no success... So I had to run up to our garment center and reorder new garments. They only take a day to get them so I will be all set for Romania.. I guess I will leave the rest with Sarah and she can send them back to you if you want to try to get the pink out?? ha I don't know! I was crying when I opened up my washer!! ah I was so mad... ha but I took care of it.. at least it didn't happen on Saturday before I left or in Romania because I then would have been rocking pink garments until Sister Hill ordered me new ones... so yes that is one story I will probably look back on and laugh.. I am sure you guys are laughing as you are reading it! Sarah starting laughing when I told her!  Everything is going good-- I am really ready to get the the country..  We did some fake role plays with investigators on the subway and it was really fun! But mom and dad and everybody else that went on missions-- were you this nervous before you were leaving the MTC... I am super nervous so continue to pray for me! I know that I just need to Trust in the Lord and everything will work out... I just need help doing that! But the work is going good-- The language is coming along... slowly ha but good! I just need to get to the country for all of it to make sense I think:) the grammar is pretty intense but I know that I WILL be able to speak this language. We had a really good devotional the other night that talked about setting goals and becoming missionary FOR LIFE and not just for these next 16 months.. It was really inspiring and it helped me to be able to see that I need to set little goals and achieve them to reach my ultimate goal which is Exaltation. We should all be striving to do the Lords work here on the Earth! It is our job! I am so Thankful for this privilege that I do have to Serve the Lord and find the people in Romania that are waiting for me. This gospel is True. The atonement is real and can be used in all aspects of our life. Heavenly Father truly does love us and wants us to be happy! He will do everything for us if we are willing to have faith in Him! I know that this is where I am supposed to be! I love you all so much and I am so thankful for the examples you have set before me. I know that I can do this because all of you that served set a great example for me to follow! That is what I say for everyone that is able to go... GO! I don't know when I would have learned all of these great life lessons that I am learning in the MTC! :) Missions for sure show you that you can only rely on God! I am thankful that I will finally going out and seeing the people that I have been prepared to find!  Wish me luck and continue to pray for me! I really appreciate all that you do for me! I would love to hear from all of you guys! shoot me an email! My pday in Romania I think will be on Monday? But we will see! I am really excited to get there and see where they will be sending me-- because I am not really the "nurse" I could be going anywhere! I feel as though I am still waiting for my mission call! I will let you all know how it is! Wish me luck in Europe:)

Love Sora Abby Polatis! :)

New Year has arrived

 Well this week was good! I am a little frustrated but the older district of elders just told me to be patient and know that it will come, but not after 3 weeks! They all left yesterday for the mission and it was pretty sad, i will send pictures later today! So we were teaching a lesson on Saturday and we were teaching about faith in Jesus Christ and at the end of the lesson we were going to challenge him to baptism (it was our teacher as a fake investigator) Well we got into the lesson and I asked if he had faith in Jesus Christ and knew he was the son of God! Well I never can understand what is being said so I was already frustrated and usually at that point we just move onto the next part of our lesson, well Sister Ili is nudging me to move on but he keeps asking this question and I cant understand what he says and he keeps saying it like 6 times I asked him to repeat it and you can tell he is getting annoyed but Sister ili still is like,,,,Sister Polatis just move on but I couldn't!  So on the verge of tears I just bear my testimony and tell her to do the same and we ended the lesson. So annoyed at myself that I didn't challenge him to be baptized I cried! After class he pulls me aside and hands me a note in Hiligaynon with that phrase that he was saying and says, "figure out what this says and tell me tomorrow and also Sister Polatis, you couldn't move on because the spirit was telling you to stop, had you moved on in the lesson you would have challenged someone to be baptized who didn't even believe in Jesus Christ!" HAHAHAH oh my stress for NOTHING!!! I wanted to punch him!! But I need to focus more on feeling the spirit than speaking the language right now! Still struggling with it but it will come! I just know it! Christmas sounds like it was fun! We loved everything that we got so thanks again.  Keep the letters coming!   I thought I was going to be release at the Coordinating Sister but Pres. Daniels  likes me and say they need me longer so i guess that is what i will do! love you all! We are both doing fine! I ran into a Sister Tuelle?? Who worked with Chelsey and Hailey and here and her comp were like my best friends but they are going to New Jersey and left this morning as well! So everything here is changing come next week! By the end of February they estimated double the sisters! That is alot! there are already so many! But President Brown (MTC Pres) says don't take crap from people who make fun of sister missionaries, he says we are the best examples and called us all "Princesses Moroni"  we can lead armies too! HAHA i thought it was cute! Nothing going on here for the New Year, so ring in the new year by taking a sip of sprite for me!  Keep the prayers coming! Miss you all! Stay safe! Abbsz and I were joking saying that now when we get home and we argue we cant hurt each others feelings because we will argue in Hiligaynon and Romainion! Also that we would be so weird, but weird together!!! HAHA the Lord knew we needed each other here! He had to of!! But Kabalo ako nga impotante ang pagpagumuyo kag pagpasag-uli ni Jesu Cristo!! Thats all i can spell right now haha! My mind is kinda thinking hiligaynon words!! MMUUAAHH!!!
Cant wait to hear from you all next week!!!
Be safe

LOVE SARAH!@

 Tell Tate we ran into his friend, Austin Leslie! He said he was looking all over for us then last night after the Sunday movie Abby and I were together and he said "the POLATIS SISTERS!!! where have you been I have been looking everywhere for you!" ha he is a funny guy! He tells everyone that Rigby can take any school at a basketball game! Well Tates team anyways! So that was a fun little meeting! Oh and also met the kid that went through the temple with me!! He is nice

LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!@

Love being together

Happy 2013

Familia mea!

This week has been great! I am loving the missionary life! We cleaned the Temple last week for like three hours and then they let us go sit in our white scrubs in the Celestial room and in the Brides Room We had so much fun! Another thing that is cool is that Elder Orsmby sent home a picture of all of us to his family. And his little sister thinks that we are all of her new sisters! She was who I was telling you about in my last letter when I was crying teaching Elder Ormsby about how special his sister was. So we wrote her little notes and we got a package in the mail from her and his family! The mom was like "You girls might have thought that your notes were a small thing... but Lauren carried them around for days telling everyone that she has new sisters. She prays for you guys everynight and she has a special line with God. I expect a hug from all you girls when I meet you!" and then Lauren wrote and told us how excited she was to have us as sisters! So cool-- I wrote them back and told them that she could write me my whole mission and I would love to have her as another sister! I got called to speak in sacrament meeting this week so I got up there and of course was crying through the whole thing but I talked about how great missions are and that we are doing the best thing EVER! I then talked about how we need to have faith and I read the story in the Bible about Peter walking on water because he had so much faith but when it started to fail him he knew the right name to call out-- Which is Jesus Christ. Who will always be there for us. It was good. My whole branch Presidency was crying and mostly all the girls in the room. One of the wives of my Branch came up to me and was like "I don't know if I have already told you this but I really do Love you!" So sweet- She honestly made my day! But everthing is going great the other night it was so funny all of us were in the shower and we were all busting out singing songs and the everyone was joining in... I was laughing so hard.. Rascal Flatss and Taylor Swift are about the only songs I even can recall these days... ha But mom good luck with the new teaching styles.. that sounds amazing to be able to teach exactly the way that the kids will be teaching on missions.  Thanks for everyone sending me the Dear Elders and Everything! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THE 4TH LOU!   Speaking of being healthy... So Family thanks for the New years Dear Elder package! We had the cinnamon rolls and the sparkling cider! I had decided that I was going to have a New Years party even if it wasn't at midnight.. So we all started counting down at 10:00 (For my new jersey companions) and everyone came out of there rooms! It was so much fun! I passed out cinnamon rolls and we all had cups to drink the cider! Then we found this box full of Christmas tinsel so we went to town with that! It was so much fun there was like 35 of us in the lounge celebrating 2013! I can still host a pretty good party... some sister didnt appreciate the fact that we were doing "quiet time" at 1015... but it was still fun and it was only once a year.. I promise I am an obedient missionary:) ha but then the plague struck the MTC! at about 1030 EVERYONE starting getting sick! ...... the stomach flu has hit the MTC. A girl from Albania had to miss her flight with the rest of her district because she was so sick. 17 missionaries went to the emergency room and they estimated 150 missionaries were sick the next day! As a nurse I was trying to help out but it was crazy! The clinic was supposed to be closed but they had to open it all day on new years day because everyone was sick! NO need to worry though mom... for some reason I have a great immune system because I wasnt touched... Sora Kelly and Sora Gerhartz were not as lucky... they were so sick.. but because everyone was sick they "dissovled the companionships for the day" and I could still go to class and do anything I wanted to... It was weird walking around by myself... ha but they think that It was something in the food.. or they didnt wash the dishes or something because we are now eating off of all paper products. haha but it is crazy.. .half my district was out... o and Sarah didnt get sick either.. So it was really good!! But I think they have it under control and everyone is starting to come alive again. It was funny because I hosted all the new girls coming in and they were like... "Are we going to get sick?" They were super nervous because there was sick people EVERYWHERE.. but I think the issue is under control. It was funny hosting this week because the 19 year old girls are starting to come in... its pretty cool but they look at me like I am 100 years old because I am 21! haha but they are excited to be serving so it is good they are here.. I am glad to be leaving thought because they said by march more than 2/3 of the MTC will now be sisters... I am so excited to go to Romania.. Can you believe in like 11 ish days I am going to be chilling in Romania! so crazy. The language is coming along ok.. I think I need to get there so I can really have it sink in. When all of  my companions were sick though I had to teach 2 lessons by myself in romanian... Without anynotes... so it was good. So I can pray bear my testimony and teach some basic lessons so I guess I am all good to go right? :) ha I know I will be humbled right when I get off the plane but it will be ok.. I am not afraid... I know that Heavenly Father will help me and I will be able to do it! When I was teaching my lesson by myself to stella the spirit was so strong and I taught her all about the spirit world, judgement and resurrection! She is getting "Baptized" January 13th.. So we are working hard towards that!  I will get my travel plans tomorrow so I will make a copy and send them to you guys!  Thank you aunt Sandy and uncle Tom for writing me! I love hearing from Aunt Peggy I loved hearing form you... Tell all the kids at the JC hi! . I think I am all ready to go?? I might have to make some purchases when I get there so I will let you know- if I need more money on my card:) but Yes Maddy and everyone a mission is the best thing that you can ever do with you life. In the scriptures it talks basically ALL about serving a mission! I am so so stoked to be here! I am so privilegded that God trust me with His children in Romania and Moldova! This gospel is so so amazing! Continue reading your scriptures and praying! Be Bold in spreading the Gospel! Heavenly Father is counting on us to find His children that are prepared for the Gospel! And Grandma Rounds thanks for writing me! I love you so so much! I cant believe I have almost been gone for 2 months!!! what it is so crazy! I know that this time is going to fly so I am really appreciating every day! I am so blessed! O and yes.. Dear Elders will stop for me next Friday...They dont print them off over the weekends and then I leave on monday morning so take advantage of this last week that I have in the MTC because depending on where I am I will only get mail every 6 week if I am not in Bucharest! But I think everyone can email me... but I might not be able to email them back?? I will have to ask president HIll. I love you guys so much!!! Thank you for all the love and support from all my cheerleaders back home!!  Have a great week! And Greg thank you for the great advice!!! I love you so much! Kiss Bode for me!!!

Love Sora Abby Polatis!!!!

Love you all!!! :) :) Have a great week.. Maddy be safe in that sketchy drivers ed! 

Sarah and Abby in  front of Provo Temple

Our two favorite Rigby Elders

Let the New Year's Eve party begin!

Enough for the "sisters"

Getting a little crazy--must be around 10:00

And time for bed!--after the clean-up