Polatis Missionaries

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!! :)