By small and simple things are great things brought to pass... I have never been more aware of this scripture than I am right now and will be as I start my next transfer... I am not staying with Sora Lund... I am staying in Mihai Bravu BUT... with Sora KELLY! crazy huh?? When I was in Constanta and was having my interview with President Hill I specifically asked him... "Will I be left in Mihai Bravu as the senior companion only after being there for 4 weeks?" He said of course not of course not... you would not even know the metro systems by then... " ha well... I guess the Lord knows me better then President! I am so excited to be staying here.. I am not going to lie though because I am pretty nervous because yes it is my third transfer but I really have only been here for 9 weeks (which is a transfer and a half) Which if you guys remember right.. Sora Kelly was in the MTC with me so we will both be in the biggest city in our mission trying to figure out the metros and the language! I am so excited! We are going to get lost a lot! ha We are both going to learn the language FAST... We don't really have any other choice... ha :) Thankfully we have less actives in the ward that love me so we will practice all of our lessons on them and they will help us out.
Draga Familia Mea! First off Jaron!!!! WAHOO!!! YA YA YA I am so excited that you are following in my footsteps as I am following in yours:) I am so proud of you-- you will be awesome! I am super proud of you! Congratulations Tylan Albaugh! Your mission will be great!! The Lord knows exactly where you are needed so I am so excited for you!! Tate is gone!! wahoo.. that is crazy how that time went by.. hopefully he is doing ok..) Sarah is looking so good in the Philippines.. man I need someone to steal all my clothes so that I can go shopping.. honestly we have a really nice mall right by my house... such cute European clothes.. I just have to tell myself... wait until the end and then I will bring home my suitcases with new cute clothes.. ha it takes a lot of self control.. mom you made me into too big of a shopper:) Thank you everyone for writing me I love hearing about everyones lives!
This week has been one crazy week.. transfers always throw a little spin on the week.. I was really sad to be losing Lund.. I feel really jipped.. we were only together for 3 weeks! Its ok though we have decided to be best friends for life.. so it will work out!
So Monday after I wrote for you guys we finished off the day with block knocking.. yes.. literally ringing into one of the sketchy blocks and then start at the top and knock all the way down! it was hilarious.. I took a picture of the first door that was literally slammed in my face! ha Then we had another guy he though we were with the CIA... he was like "you have a message for me?... Who sent you?" We said... "God sent us.." ha of course he then slammed the door saying he didn't not have time for it.. but it was great after knocking like 20ish doors.. this cute little old man opened the door and he talked to us! He wanted to learn more because he was impressed by how well Sora Lund spoke the Language.. His wife had died so he was living by himself... So I am going to have the Elders go over and teach him this week:) Even after all the doors were slammed in our faces it felt good because of that cute little old man:)
Tuesday we had that Service thing at the children center and it is really fun we just teach the little kids English and the adults love us and think that we are great young kids... and that they respect us for coming for our church! Planting seeds all over the place:) Sometimes I really do just feel like a billboard.. I make sure I am always walking with my cartea lui mormon in hand and the title showing to the world:) Then we had exchanges... I had to go over to the Panduri side of Buch which is kind of the richerish side so I did not like it as much.. the apartment is seriously like a nice hotel.. but I like my older apartment.. it is more homey.. anyways I slept over there and then the next day we went with the zone leaders to a park and there is this board that we can spray paint so we drew this picture of Moses parting the red sea and then wrote.. "Do prophets still exist today?" with our mormon.org address on it.. so that was pretty fun. We then contacted through out the day-- it was fun. Thursday was just kind of a regular missionary day.. lessons contacting.. going to the office.. I had to design the inserts for everyones planners for the health competition that we are doing. So that was fun-- Sora Hill is kind of editing it and making it her own thing so its ok.. I just do what she says ha... Friday was great we went to Sora Dragu.. ( I will also send you pictures) She is so great! I basically feel like she has a baptism date! even though she is already a member! She is planning on coming back to church on the 31st! She told us on Friday that she has quit smoking and she now buys Candy:) so I am so happy for her.. and she told me that she would help Sora Kelly and I with the language so it will be great! AS we were walking outside of her block (apartment) there was this creepy guy that was following super close behind us- asking for our numbers... well Sora Lund says.. "lasa ne in pace..." (leave us in peace) He didnt quite hear her I guess so he kept following us.. She then turns around and yells LASA NE IN PACE! haha he started backing up really fast! It was hilarious we could not stop laughing. She has a whole list of phrases that Sora Kelly and I will use when people wont leave us alone! :)
Saturday was a busy day for us. We first met with Sora Margareta.. she is the one that calls me by my first name.. She is worried that we dont eat enough so she likes to feed us once a week. I lead the lesson and it went really well.. She is really patience and she corrects me as a read out loud to her so she is a really good resource. She wants to be our adopted mom in the mission so she loves us. We then had our lesson with Mariana! ok Mariana is going to be a HUGE part of my next transfer! She is the lady that we met after we had been contacting all day.. She works in the little magazine store.. and she came to that baptism we had last week. ok.. so every time we pass her little booth we talk to her and she loves us. So she was like I want you guys to come over and meet my family and talk to them about what you are doing here.. So we go over there and bam... she has a 25 year old daughter who is interested... her boyfriend was there and then she has 2 other older kids that were also in and out as we were teaching the lesson. They asked us a lot of questions and they are really patience with the fact that we don't speak Romanian very well.. I started talking and then I was kind of at a loss for words.. and they both were like "don't be scared to talk in front of us.. we are just people like you." They are so great. So we gave the daughter a BOM and she wants to read it. She also wanted us to come visit her at her work. And we set up to teach all of them again next Saturday!! We invited them all to come to church! Mariana said she would come.
So the next day is Sunday and I was about to play the opening song and she wasn't there yet.. I was super sad.. so I just started praying.. "please have Mariana show up today.. please...." I played the opening song.. turned around and PERFECT.. in walks Mariana! She stayed for all 3 hours... For Sunday school we had a great lesson about the word of wisdom and it was so great. She turned to me during it and was like "I smoke... " I told her thats ok we still want to meet with you. I asked her if she had any questions and she said she didn't.. she said word of wisdom makes perfect sense! We then went to relief society and all the sisters were nice to her.. she even spoke up during class.. I gave her a little pat on the leg and she grabbed my hand and held it for the rest of the lesson.. (Romanians are really touchy people-- something I am getting used to) ha but after church she said she liked it and she is impressed by how we conduct ourselves! As I was sitting there and she was holding my hand I was freaking out... I just thought to myself.. how.. how am I going to do this.. I can't speak Romanian well.. and neither can Sora Kelly... this weight of responsibility fell onto my shoulders and I was really nervous... what if I mess up... what if she is prepared but because of what I am lacking and it wont happen?? I was almost in tears.. but I then I starting thinking... I am here as in instrument for the Spirit to work through.. Heavenly Father is so aware of me and he knows my capabilities.. maybe this family needs to hear the gospel from two girls struggling with the language.. We will have our lessons so simplified.. I am trying to get a member to come with us.. its not looking promising right now.. but either way we will go to that lessons and honestly the Spirit will HAVE to be the teacher.. there is no other way-- I think Sora Kelly and I will truly see miracles this next transfer... I am really excited for it! We are just going to work hard and have a lot of fun! This week is going to be crazy because my apartment is in Buc we have to house all of the Sisters leaving and coming.. So basically it is a mess trying to get things done.. it is looking like no sleep for me! ha o well...
The mission is going great I can't believe I have already been gone for more than 4 months! Some days I am not going to lie are super slow.. but then I look back and I can't believe it! ... So ya crazy I basically only have 1 year left!! I have to make it count! when you are on a mission everyone focuses on goals and making your life great.. so I was thinking about school and all of that sort of stuff! But ya don;t worry I am loving Romania.. I love it more and more everyday.. Everything is so different! it is so funny how normally it is all becoming to me...This mission is the best thing I could be doing right now with my life! I know that I am supposed to be here and I will be forever changed because of it! I know why they call us a peculiar people.. who goes and lives in a foreign country.. not knowing the language... but yet still trying to talk to people about their church.. ha o ya thats us:)
Hopefully this letter makes sense! I love you guys so much! Thank you for all of your love and support for me! I have the best family in the world! I showed Marianas family our family picture and they loved it! .. yes my family is big and happy:) ha they love it! Have a great week everyone! Look for opportunities to serve those around you and have missionary opportunities! Do your visiting and home teaching! That would make such a different in this country! people really need to feel loved and thought about!! people do just need to learn to be nice.. it is not always good to say exactly what is on your mind... just being nice and happy to everyone.. no one likes to be around a negative person! You guys are the best! I love you so much and I will keep you updated on everything going on! Tell tate I love him! Everyone write him and send him dear elders! It is essential! The church is true!
Va iubesc!
Sora Abby Polatis
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| First slammed door in my face! |
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| Sora Lund and Me |
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| she always wants to feed us! |
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| She is going to quit smoking and come back to church--Sora Dragu |
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