Polatis Missionaries: Beautiful Bucharest!!!

Draga Familia Mea!

The mission is great! So I was super excited to get transferred and I had a right to be... I LOVE IT! After I found out I was leaving constanta the next couple of days we just went around saying goodbye to everyone... They were all sad! A girl in the ward started crying as I was leaving! I went to the family that I was teaching piano and they had already memorized the songs that I had given them! I felt bad I was leaving! I told my trainer to find books to keep helping them but we will see how it goes! I went and said good bye to the librarian and I gave her a flower... then she pulled out a box of cholocolates that she had for me! I was sad to be leaving her! And we met with our German Girl again and we gave her the Book of Mormon in German and then I bore my testimony to her-- I will keep praying for her! And then another girl who is the sister of the recent convert also agreed to have a lesson with us- so I gave her a Book of Mormon to read and then I bore my testimony to her..i started in Romanian but then they know a lot of English so I switched over and I was like almost in tears telling her how much this gospel has changed my life! She grabbed my hand and I think that she felt really touched by my testimony so we will see! Well that was it for constanta.. I got all packed up and we headed to the big city. We had our big mission conference with an Elder Richards- It was fun because everyone was there! We had a little healthy eating thing before the big meeting with Sora Hill and she had me stand up in front of everyone and introduce myself as the person who was going to help everyone get healthy ha so to answer your question mom... yes it looks like I will be helping the whole mission. I am thinking about making some inserts that go into the planners to remind people to eat their daily fruits and veggies.. we are going to be taking small steps! ha so we will see how that goes. But after that meeting we had this FOUR hour long meeting and it was ok.. not super inspiring.. he was just reminding us that we need to be obedient... and more obedient... haha so it was a long day... then after that we had a sisters meeting with the wife of the 70 and she was nice but it really made me appreciate Sora Hill! Sora Hill is so nice and she truly cares about each one of us! I was also able to talk to Brandon Cox after the conference and we took some pictures! He wants to come visit you guys and bring you some souvenir from me so hopefully he does that! But He is doing great and I think he was pretty sad to leave! It was also super fun to see Sora Kelly and Sora Gerhartz from the MTC! We could not believe that we had been in the country for 6 weeks already! so crazy! After the conference I found out that I was actually going to be four of us for a week in our apartment because the transfers are messed up two of the girls we just needing to wait another week for their flights... So my companion Sora Lund... has actually been serving with her COUSIN Sora Savage for the past 2 transfers and now she is going home.. how cool is that.. they get called to the same mission and they were able to serve together! And then Sora Hoskings came and stayed with us also... It has been so much fun! Sora Hoskings is my twin!! I love all of these girls! They are so so nice! Sora Lund is amazing.. so geniunely nice and she is excited about missionary work! She loved contacting and block knocking! So we are going to have a lot of fun together! I hope that it is longer then only the 3 weeks that we have left this transfer! Weird that I could be getting transferred in another 23 days... ha I still unpacked half of my suitcases though... I wanted to show some faith that I will be staying here! I the city is huge! I will send you a picture of the view from our apartment.. it is just apartments as far as the eye can see.. which is a little different then the view of the Black sea that I had my last transfer ha but it will be great! I am taking buses everywhere and I have to learn the subway system.. it will be quite the adventure for Sora Lund and I. But we will have fun while we are doing it which I am so excited! This is why people have fun on their missions! I went contacting with Sora Hoskings on Saturday and it was so much fun.. talking to people... getting numbers bearing testimony! ah I loved it! the adrenaline is amazing.. you never know what people are going to say next! We went up to this old couple and we were talking to them.. they were like "we know about your church" so we asked them what they knew and they were like... "You are the people that never go outside and don't use electricity. I guess you guys are starting to come out of the house now?" So funny so we had to spend the next 10 minutes explaining that we were not amish! ha We just went around and we had it all planned out the questions that we were going to ask and what we were going to bear testimony about! It was super fun because after every person she would give me a high five and be like that was so awesome! We really didn't find that many people that were interested but it was fun! I feel like I was fulfilling my purpose as a missionary! So that was great and I Really like contacting! The next day was Sunday- and it was cool because they actually have a chapel to meet in with like 50 something members! I know you are wondering so yes... I did play the piano for the ward! They loved it and I played for relief society also! We then had dinner and this lady's house named Sora Gorzo! I guess for like 10 years she thinks of herself as the mission mom and cooks for the missionaries in the ward every Sunday! It is this big 3 course meal! soup and bread and meat and rice and some sort of brownies! So that was fun! She is very sweet! When she kisses us though she sometimes misses our cheeks and kisses us right on the lips!! ha o well... it Romania.. when in Romania do as the Romanians do! After that we were on the Subway and it was really cool because all four of us were there and we were speaking in English and this guy keep looking at us intently.. so Sora Hoskings asked him if he spoke English. He said yes and then we were just chatting... He saw that we had a Book of Mormon on our laps and he was like "Is that the Bible?" perfect question... ha we all jumped in on it and we were like.. no but it is the Book of Mormon! He started looking through it and we told him about and to read it and then to call us! It was so cool because it was just so random! We will probably never know what will happen with that man but I think something great! there are no coincidences in the mission! I was thinking about that a lot this past week because sometimes you just feel like... "ah no one wants to listen -- am I doing any good here in this country?" The thing is though is that even if I don't get any baptisms while I am here I am going to continue to work my hardest! because no effort is wasted! Heavenly Fathers hand is in this work! It is so amazing... missionaries are working hard and contacting like crazy and doing everything they can and the BAM- a golden investigator will just walk into the church. That hasn't happened to me yet but it happened to the other set of missionaries! So cool! It is not the missionaries that are converting we are just here! That is why Heavenly Father sends us so young is because we are willing to be here and realize that we cant do anything with out Him and then and only then is he able to bring about His great miracles. I think that it is amazing! I was reading in Mosiah this morning and Abinidi gave his life to prophesy to King Noah and he did not see any fruits of his labors before he was killed but one person heard his words and took them to heart... Alma!! Then all these people were baptized!!! So so cool! You really just don't know.. you never know the impact that you are having on the world! It is so comforting to know that! I know that this gospel is true and that I am here for a reason! I know that as missionaries we get way more out of these missions then we could possibly give... Heavenly Father is so amazing! We go on missions to bless Heavenly Fathers children around the world but we also go on missions so that we come back and are good visiting teaching and relief society and member referrals!! I love it! I am so excited for this opportunity that I have to really find out who Abby Polatis is... Romania is the perfect place to do it! The people here are great! So I am really excited for these next for sure couple weeks with Sora Lund! It will be great!

pss- Thanks for being the best family ever!! I love hearing from you all!!! Keep it coming and the dear elders! It is fun to get mail:)

va iubesc!! foarte foarte mult!!!

Sora Abby Polatis