TRAINING---I'm barely trained myself!!

Subject: NAGATRAIN AKO!!!---

OH MY WORD!! What a shock it was to me! I thought for sure follow-up trainer or something but sheesh, President must trust me! Jokes! But Yes, it is true, I am training! Still in Bacolod 5th ward,. but I love it! Hopefully the work will still progress. But  Her name is Sister Livingston, she is from California and she is 19!  She is pretty excited to be here but like us all, culture shock like crazy! Ha well It is weird! I had to step up really fast! Well I will start out with the week,

Monday, We had our P-day and We ran into the AP's, they had just gotten out of a meeting with President. They were all smiles but of course would never tell us what was decided. After they left real fast they were like "Sister Polatis, how is your language?" Of course I was like, well its alright but I definitely am not fluent and they were smiling and like "I bet you are great, dont even worry it will come." So immediately I was like Ok, this is good I am follow up training someone! And we worried about it the whole night. Transfers are the worst because especially with me and Sister Arnold we let our minds wander and it was getting worse and worse haha ! But we finished out our day strong shopping for new shoes because  of course, mine have holes. I go through the dumb things so fast but they are nice because they can get wet and dry super fast!

Tuesday: We had our District meeting and then the Sisters that we live with wanted to do lunch just in case we were transferred or whatever so we went out and then went out to teach. We followed up with most of our Recent Converts just to make sure that they knew we had the possibility of  leaving  and that they need to continue. It was a day filled with alot of pamahaw:) (snacks) Everyone was buying us drinks and bread haha so it was alright! But we felt good about it all. Most of them were sad but we know that they have strong testimonies, they will be just fine. We got the call and I was so nervous! I couldnt even sleep on Tuesday, me, not sleep, that was unusual. 

Wednesday, We met at Galo, that is the church where everyone meets who is being transferred. I was assigned 2 temporary companions, Sister Galang and Sister Libria (both philipino) for the day because we wouldnt meet our new companions until thursday! But saying good-bye to Sister Arnold was super hard! We both got super teary and all the elders were kind of giving us crap, but we seriously loved our companionship. We would have stayed together for the rest of Sister A's time if we could. But all is well. I know that this is what was supposed to happen. But I got with the 2 sisters and we came back and worked in my area. They were funny, at first I felt super weird, i was definitely the 3rd wheel but we opened up and just chilled with each other, it was fun! 

Thursday: We met back up at Galo and had a training from President and Sister Lopez as well as the AP's. Just about how important our calling is and how we need to be the best example. We met our new missionaries and that was it, had a photo shoot and left for our area. We came back and studied. I had no food so we went out shopping, I knew exactly how she felt. Poor thing ha the grocery store so different and not knowing what to get at all. We were told not to baby them and to just shop like it was normal, well she wasnt picking anything  so finally I just was like, today we will buy our groceries together and maybe you will find something you like. She was like "few, thanks" haha but it was overwhelming. We came back and just had enough time for her to go and become a little familiar with our area. We met a few members and they were all so shocked I was training. I felt like a pro with language, haha She is cool tho, really excited to be here but I think like us all she didnt really know what to expect living in the Philippines. But overtime she will be fine. 

Friday, I felt super overwhelmed. We did our weekly planning and it was weird, I had done it before but to realize that it was me, everything was up to me. I had to make all the decisions. It took us forever but we got through it and hopefully it will help  this week be a little bit easier. We have so many people to find and contact and that really isnt my strong point with the language. So for language study I learned like basic phrases, or tried to learn them so that I was some what familiar. We went out and worked, She kept saying "I cant believe how hot it is"." We taught a few lessons and it started out really rough, I had to rely on me, she would bear her testimony but that was it.  It was interesting. I need to practice teaching more and make sure I know questions that I want to ask  and ways to simply explain topics. Needless to say I was very humbled. People were all really nice in helping me speak and giving me feedback but really I am scared out of my pants. I didnt want her to know that tho. I had to act as super confident and really in turn that helped me more than I thought it would. We taught our investigator Pricilla, She was super willing and believes that it is true but She didnt come to church on sunday:( So we have to go back and find our what kept her from attending. I like her tho, she wants her whole family to listen....BONUS

Saturday: We didnt have a baptism today, next week hopefully! Our candidate didnt come to church for 2 weeks so that means that she has to start all over, i was so bummed. We did set up an appointment with the secondary education program, for those that dropped out of high school or want their GED type thing, well a member of our ward is the teacher and part of the course is learning about Religion so he invited us to come every saturday and teach. We got 3 referrals from it and are stoked. We passed out so many pamphlets and some libros and one of the students even came to church. So we will contact him outside of his class sometime this week. 

Sunday: I spoke again in Sacrament. I always get so nervous and I dont know why. But both Sister Livingston and I spoke. It wasnt to bad. We are still trying to figure out what works best and we so far have gotten along pretty good, she is just so young sometimes in her thoughts and things that she says. But being here she will probably grow up real fast. But so far so good. I feel the stress but know that I will be alright as long as I rely on the Lord and know that this is what I am supposed to be doing. Everyone keeps saying that my language will sky rocket from here, so TANi!! It better! I am praying for that. We have zone conference on wednesday. So I am sure president will post some pictures, mom tag me in them on Facebook so that people can see what I am doing.We are both so excited. I love it. As nervous as I am I have to keep telling myself that I can do this. That it is all possible. I love reading Abby and Tates letters. I love that we are doing this together. BOMB! But keep praying for me and the work will continue even tho we are both pretty new! I love you all and hope the reunion was a blast! Next year make it in july so that I can come to it! It gets closer to the big wedding LOU--are you ready?? I am stoked to see it all come together! Thanks to everyone for the letters and the prayers! I love you all and miss you! What a crazy uncomfortable change this has been but that is what I needed I guess, something different. I know that through these experiences is where I will grow the most. I know that summers are busy and full of activities, be safe. Tell everyone HI for me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE you!!! MMUUAAH!!

Sister Sarah P

my old district

me, Elder May, MTC elder, and sister Arnold

Goodbye Sister Arnold!!

Hello Sister Livingston!!

All trainers with their "Greenies"

1st baptism--Congratulations Joe

Hey Family!!  yes, Brother and Sister Gale are great!!! They are so funny. Its great how uncle Dirk and aunt dayna are such great people because everyone that I tell that they are my relatives just go crazy because they loved them so much. its definitely a plus to be here in Iowa ha. So yesterday we watched "The work of Salvation" It was great. Got me really excited about missionary work. I cant believe that there are over 70000 missionaries out right now. Thats insane! We had our baptism a couple of days ago. It was great! We got to teach the restoration at it and there were a few other non members there so hopefully it sparked some interest in their lives.

      Its raining here again though. Is it still not raining much back at home? It way green over here.. So anyways, the new mission president is coming in next week and President and Sister Jergensen are leaving this saturday. They were great people. I could end up having like 4 sets of mission presidents. That would be crazy. I guess there are a bunch of riots going on in Brazil right now? Someone was telling me that they were like destroying embassys and stuff. Dang I hope that doesnt mess with any of the process with my visa ha.

          It sounds like everything is going great at home. More scouts stuff huh? I thought we were all finished up with that stuff.. Oh and when does Jake get home? Its got to be pretty soon Right? Sarah and Abby sound like they are doing great. I dont usually have time to read their letters home ha. My letters probably look way small compared to theirs. Well this week we are going to try to get the members more involved because in that seminar thing that is what the apostles hit on pretty hard and that is obviously the best way to do it. After baptizing Joe we have a lot of work to do to find people that have been prepared for us. I'm excited!! You really have to love them into this gospel thats for sure. Oh yea and I almost forgot to tell you mom. I made up this week all the dishes that I didnt do at home. We went over to this less-actives house. It is just her and her daughter. They actually live in an apartment. But she said that she needed help with her apartment so we went over there and the dishes were stacked to the ceiling in both sinks!! It was disgusting. She has cats also that just do whatever they want. There was some cat hair in the sinks. Awhhh!!! Ha I kind of would just look over to see if she was looking and then I would just throw some of the dishes away. If it was me I would never eat out of those things again. We were happy to help her though. She said that she would try to make it to church, and her daughter hasnt been baptized so it is definitely a family that we need to focus on. Anyway LOVE YOU!! 

Love Elder Polatis  

My comps!

My first baptism!!!

No pictures this week

Dragele Mele,

Side Note: it is some random Romanian holiday.. we have no idea...haha normal.. probably some orthodox holiday... anyways the library is closed so we are at a random internet cafe.. and we cant upload pictures.. which I am really sad about because I have some way good ones for the week and they match with everything I wrote! so If you want to wait and upload this blog post with pictures that is cool=but whatever!

 

So this week has been AMAZING! I am loving the mission more and more every day that I am here! I had a really weird point in my mission when I kept wondering how you could be a good missionary or even just be "trying your best".. well I think I have it figured out! ya the secret to all missionary work... well we were contacting and I asked a boy if he knew English and he said yes then I kept talking to him in Romanian.. anyways I was tripping over my words and He kind of looked and me awkwardly then... I just said goodbye and walked away (yes I am an awkward sister missionary now....:) ha anyways I just turned to Sora Rivera and I was like "I am trying my best.. I am not trying to mess up..." We both starting laughing so hard.. because honestly that is what I feel like is the main thing we are doing as missionaries.. there is no way we can be perfect.. so we are just trying our best and trying not to mess up. ha so I really am loving life!!!! I am doing this sweet study thing this transfer with the book of mormon.. I have a clean copy of it and I am going through and finding the answers to questions of the soul.it is so amazing!! 1- Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people 2- What is my purpose 3- Does God know and love me 4- Is there life after death 5- Does God answer my prayers and then I am doing another color just when it says if you keep the commandments you will prosper in the land. I am obsessed with it! I love it.. I just have to read 13 pages in the Book of Mormon daily and I will finish at the end of this transfer.. it is so amazing. I can honestly say that God does know us personally... we have a great purpose and potential... there is life after death and it has the potential to be magnificant... God does answer prayers... Bad things happen to Good people because it is all part of the amazing plan! Our trials really are for our good! It has really been amazing. I love love love the Book of Mormon. I really do hope you guys are reading everyday!

 

So this week we had the opportunity to go to zone training in Buc this last Tuesday it was so much fun! Sora Rivera and I had to present to our whole zone about how to turn your English Students into Investigators! It was so much fun! ah I loved it! We made cookies for everyone... and then we found a recipie and put cheesy one liners with each ingredient. examples: eggs: be "eggcited about sharing the message of why we are really here.." etc etc... super fun! and we made big tall chef hats out of paper.. it was really fun. We put on our hats and talked about how to "make" the best investigators... the night before Sora Rivera made the hats and she was like "maybe we shouldnt wear them.. they might look dumb.." and I was all.. " O no.. we ARE for sure wearing those hats.." ha It ended up going great- everyone loved our presentation!

 

We also had exchanges with our Sister Training leaders this week. Which was awesome.. I went with Sora Cook who was Sora Riveras trainer and then Sora Rivera went with Sora Kelly.. We had a lot of fun! I loved Sora Cook she was so great! We just went contacting all day.. all of our lessons tanked on us... but she didnt seem to mind.. we all four went walking on the beach in the morning and then we out! Sora Cook is so nice.. seriously I want to be just like her! It was also really fun because I kind of got us lost (whoops) ha so we were randomly walking and this young girl lifts up her glasses and looked super excited to see me. I just acted like I knew who she was... She comes up and starts kissing me on the cheeks I am freaking out because I could not remember this girl... but then she turned and introduced herself to Sora Cook.. as Roxana... then it clicked I had met her a few night before at a ward birthday party we had for Elena and Anca. She was a girl that we wanted to make our new investigator for the week! I was so excited! I reminded her to come to church and she said she would! -- She is so cool! then the next day SHE CAME! yahoo! we had a Book of Mormon all marked up and ready to give her... she said she is leaving to Buc for the week so we sent it with her and told her to start reading! :) It was so cool.. I mean literally we were lost walking on a random street... I love missionary work! At the end of the exchange.. Sora Cook sat me down and she was asking me what I felt like my potential and goals were for the rest of the mission. She turns to me and she goes " I am HIGHLY recommending that you train soon or you become a sister trainer leader... you are amazing." I was like "Sora Cook thanks but honestly there is a lot of other girls in the mission that are older and know the language more and have more experience.." She was so nice and she was all "no Sora Polatis you are exactly what the new girls need as they come into the country.." I was like almost in tears.. she was so so so nice... She is going to request to President that I train next transfer and then go up and white wash Moldova with her and then "kill her off...meaning, she will be going home after that" ha I told her that would be great with me! So we will see how it goes....

 

Everything else is going really good.. other question... how in the world did grandma have patience to teach all of us piano? seriously.. this lady after church asked me if I would teach her little 8 years old son... hmmmm interesting.. ha a little difficult explaining how to play the piano to a little kid in a foreign language.. but it some how worked out.. he wont be any mozart anytime soon but it makes his mother happy so I will put in my time:) I also love the branch here.. they are so awesome.. the ward has sports night every Friday night and we play ultimate frisbee in the park.. I have not had that good of work out in my entire mission!! Seriously we ran the field probably 100 times.. and it just happened with our schedule that we hadnt eaten for like 7 hours so we were dying! ha but I loved it and my team kept winning ever ytime so it was so much fun! and 2 of our investigators came and played with us too! I love Fridays!! I am loving working with sora Rivera ... she is a lot of fun! I convinced her to buy a night gown... ha I am sure you guys have seen pictures of me in mine.. anyways it is like the big joke of the sister missionaries that I own a grandma nightgown.. well I convinced Sora Rivera to buy one and now we are twins!! ha She is converted for life! :) As far as investigators go.. this week was a little rough we were not getting a lot of dragoste (love) from our investigators.. or recent converts... or less actives.. but its ok! this week is a new week with endless possibilities! Another random thing.. this week I got REALLY TAN! ha we did weekly planning outside on the beach.. and I didnt realize how the sun was directly hitting my idaho white legs... anyways.. I walk inside.. fried... ah.. so we went to the store.. they dont have normal aloe vera.. you have to go to a legit farmacie for that stuff... ha but we found some lotion with aloe vera in it.. so I was saved! but I am now putting on sun screen.. dont you worry! ha

Constanta is beautiful.. ha it is true.. but I think I did miss the memo where we can walk around in bikinis and speedos reguardless of if we are near the beach or not... or if we can pull them off or not... hahahahaha I love romania so much!

  I am so happy to be here in Europe.. I love Romania! This is where I am supposed to be. I am so thankful for all of the blessing that I do have -- really I am so so lucky!! :) Have a great week!!

Cu Drag, Sora Abby Polatis

Baptism coming up

Oi mae e minha familia!!

             Its getting too humid over here. And we didnt have the car last week so it has just been a ton of walking. The bishop called as one evening right as we were getting home and told us to go to the hospital and give this kid a blessing that tried to commit suicide the night before. So we just put back on all of our wet shirts and started to walk to the 3 miles. When we got there he was saying all kinds of weird stuff.  Like he was going to change his name and become a hit man and stuff. ha so I pulled out some scriptures and tried to find out how to come back at something like that. My companions kind of just sat their with their mouths open. But I just told him that he just needs to come unto Christ and that will be the ultimate healing in his life. So after that short little lesson I asked him if he wanted a blessing and he said that he didnt believe in them anymore so we just walked the 3 miles home without even giving him a blessing. it was so hot and humid though. And you know how I sweat!! I think its definitely a good way to prepare for Brazil though. 

    

     Well we have our Good-bye zone conference for president Jergensen tomorrow. Pretty sad. he is a way great guy. I'm excited to meet President Jensen though. The work is going good though. Its a lot slower without a car but now we have the car this week so we will go and find some more people to teach. We set another day with this liberian lady for next saturday and she accepted, but then she didnt come to church!!! So now we have to push it back. We even went to her house and pounded on the door for her to wake up but she just wouldnt. So then we went back after church. Knocked on the door, and you could hear all of her kids running around and we could hear her talking on the phone, but once the kids looked through the peep hole, everything went quiet. Haha gosh!!!! and we even walked there so I was even more mad. I guess we will just have to push her back and make sure we get somebody to fellowship her. I'm glad everything is going great over there. I was talking to Elder Searle from shelley Idaho the other day, and he is just as ready as I am to get to Brazil. The next transfer call is going to be pretty crazy waiting to see if I got my visa or not ha. but Joe's baptism is this saturday so I will take some good pictures to show all of you. He is for sure ready and way excited, so it'll be good to be here for that. I'm probably going to have to buy some new b-ball shoes pretty soon. Both of mine are cracked on the bottoms and the backs are about ready to tear right off, but maybe i'll just buy some in Brazil. Oh and Mom what do you think the best way is to get that dye off my shirts from my belts? Now that i get so sweaty. I still end up with some getting on my shirts, but I'm sure it comes off ha Idk. I love you all so much. Thanks for everything!! have a great week!! Love, Elder Polatis

Love the Beach

una Ziua Dragele Mele!!! 

OK... this is the coolest thing ever!! I love being a missionary.. life is so so so so great!! wahoo! YAY! seriously.. I know that you guys are already praying for me everyday so just add in there "and keep her in constanta the whole summer" This place is amazing!! 10 times better than when I was here in January! My new companion Sora Rivera is amazing! We get along great! We have so much fun every single day! We started doing themes for everyday so we will wear clothes accordingly and then we think of a cool phrase to memorize and vocab and verbs... it is so so great! She is really good at the language and really loves being on a mission! She came to Romanian to help out back when she was 16 and really wanted to come on her mission to Romanian (She was one of the few who actually knew where Romanian was:) so she loves it here! We already knew each other from the MTC so there was no awkward first couple of days.. She even bought a night gown today to match me! so this transfer is going to be so much fun! We are hoping we just stay together the whole summer!

So I got here on Wednesday and we have 4 investigators and 2 have baptisimal dates!! I have never seen those numbers written in my planner before in my whole mission life! and neither has Sora Rivera so it is super super fun! We are teaching some amazing people... We met with all of them and they seem super nice- all are from the English program they had last transfer! it is crazy! one of the ladies even bought us matching scarves! it was really really fun! I taught more " other lessons" in four days than I did my whole last transfer! Also everyone actually missed me while I was gone! everyone came up and was hugging and kissing me saying that they missed me! (probably just because I can play the piano....) ha but regardless I am very excited to be back! It was cool I actually got to bring down a mission call for a boy in the ward here and he is going to the exact same place that his best friend is in the Alpine German mission! so so cool! he was so excited and I bet they set it up that way so that the kid already out there can be his trainer:) So it is so exciting! Constanta Branch is amazing!! :) I got up and was able to bear my testimony and it was cool.. very smooth-- people came up to me after and they were like "Look you can speak!!" ha I was laughing pretty hard!

but o ya I was going to tell you that before I got to constanta I was able to become a godmother and it was so much fun! the 2 girls that we brought into the country were absolutely amazing!! I took one of them contacting and I was like "go talk to anyone and I have your back" ha she was so nervous so she told me to start ha so we walked up to this couple and just starting talking.. it was so cool.. I understood alot! the girl looked at me after and she was like "you are amazing!!! now those people know that we dont worship mormon but that we believe in Christ." She was so cute and I told her that I would love to be her companion!

Anyways back to constanta... so yes... it is so so great! the beach amazing! I mean we wake up... go walking along the beach... come back inside get ready... go to some studies out on the beach... eat some lunch... do weekly planning on the beach... it is heaven! seriously the sun is up at like 5 am so it is really easy to wake up and it is so warm outside! Both sets of elders live along the black sea too.. so it is so fun we woke up one morning and played basketball on an outdoor court at like 615am... we have so much fun! today we are going to go play volleyball and badminton on the sand! but don't worry we are working really hard! and we obey the mission rules! I would not feel safe unless I was obeying the mission rules! I feel like I am really starting to enjoy my mission now! it is amazing.. I have learned so much! I know that I needed to be in this mission at this time... God knows us so personally.. We can't even comprehend it! 

sounds like all of you are doing well! I love hearing from you all! yes I recieved the facebook picture.. that was so nice of them! ALL of the wrote me this week.. ha It feels pretty nice to be missed... crazy.. weird that I hit my 7 months mark this week.. what the? where did that last month go? ha I have a feeling the time is just going to start flying now... din pacate... that is why I just try to love everyday and it is pretty easy to do here in constanta!!! 

Love you all!! have a great week! this church is true! :) Read your scriptures! and be happy we have great reasons to be very very happy! the senior couple in constanta invited us over for dinner last night and showed us pictures from their first mission in mongolia... lets just say I am really really happy to be here! 

love you!! 

Cu drag, Sora Abby Polatis 

sora Kelly and I caught in the rain

New District

Sunrise over the black sea

Me and Sora Rivera

Sorry, no Gypsie carts here

My District eating

Loving life

HELLO EVERYONE!! Well how is everyone this week? I can't believe how fast it went! Holy Smokes!! It is transfer week, so we will know on Tuesday who is leaving and who is staying! So kind of nerve racking! But it will all work out! Well it was fantastic,!  We  went to FHE with our recent Convert Rodney! Man, he is solid and he really acts as tho he has been a member for years, not just a few days! HAHA we played games and taught a lesson about putting the important things first and everything else will just fall into place! We really had a good time! We got a referral and the referrals from the members are our favorites! Because it means that they already have a friend in the ward and it makes the transition easier! So that was awesome! Tuesday, we followed up with alot of our former investigators to see just how they were doing and if they were interested again or not. Well one family in our ward was struggling so we stopped by the family and prayed and taught a short lesson! I really understand the importance of visiting and home teaching, people really struggle and sometimes just need someone to talk to! Here it doesnt really happen so DO IT!! HA Wednesday. today marked my 6 months in the Mission!! So of course we celebrated! I feel like we are always celebrating something! HA but it keeps things interesting:) I cant believe how much I have change in 6 months! I see little things in myself and always wonder, "man where did that come from" but it is definitely a good thing! So after celebrating  we went by Sister Marygrace, we have been teaching her forever and given her a date but she missed it because she wont come to church but we were feeling so good and she was reading the Book of Mormon, well we gave her a date again and we left feeling so bomb, BUT she didnt come to church??:( we have tried everything!! Maybe it just isnt her time! We will still try every once in a while but we wont necessarily focus on her! We taught sister Snookie again, she is awesome!! Her sister in law is an American, and Crystal is her name and she says that after the lessons snookie asks questions so it is good! We feel really good about her! I will be sad if I miss her progression tho!  Thursday, Sister Arnold went on exchanges with the 6th ward sisters! So Sister Davis came with me and we rocked it!! I led our area and I really felt alright about it! As far as making it to appointments and planning I feel really confident! I even felt that my language was improving! Sister Davis is a transfer behind me so she was relying on my language skills and she told sister A afterwards that she was impressed with me not only in my language but in my teaching! I AM IMPROVING!!! It was nice to see that I wasnt as stuck as I thought I was! We had one appointment with an investigator Renny, well he was speaking to us and I was understand then the all the sudden I wasnt getting anything he was saying.....I was like slow down and start again he bust out laughing and was like "Sister I am speaking Tagalog to you, dont you understand?" I was like HECK NO! I barely have Ilonggo let alone Tagalog! HAHA he is a nut! But he came to church on Sunday so maybe I made a difference! You never know! Sister Arnold says that she thinks that I could train now if I was asked, she says I am ready! It is a scary thought eek!! But we will see! Friday was just a day of teaching! Lots of our investigators! We always get nervous for friday and saturdays because sunday is so close and we just want to hurry and invite everyone we see to church ha! Saturday we went and did a FHE with the Tacaisan family! The dad and the 2 kids are less active and the mom is an investigator! We LOVED it! And Melvis who is 19 but LA he initiated a family testimony meeting after! It was awesome! Then they came to church!!! YES!!!!!! We were so happy! Sunday was a good day for us, last week was a little disappointing but we got the nursery up and running so that made a lot of moms happy! Our investigators came and overall we were just the happiest alive! BLESSINGS!!! I know that this church is the true church! I have found so much happiness through it and when I read and re-read the conference talks I know that the true priesthood has been restored and through prophets we are led and guided and by that we can avoid many pitfalls in this life!! I know that I was called her for a reason! It is hard but I know that it is do-able as long as I stay close to the spirit! It is crazy, the Book of Mormon really does apply to all stages of life! And answers questions and can show you that other people before now experienced trials and they overcame them through Jesus Christ and by having faith!! I LOVE IT!!! Man being here and being a missionary really has changed my perspective on alot of things!! :) But I love you all!  LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! Tell everyone HI for me!!! MMUUAAHH!!

Love Sister Sarah Polatis 

celebrating 6 months out!!

studying

FHE with the Tacason family

spaghetti with Sis Vargas and Sis Sasva

Darn little mud hole!!

Kissing puppy Maddy gave sarah

Hello Family!!!!

      Well transfers are over!! Elder Lewis (my trainer) is gone. So I guess my grandpa Elder Wright adopted me haha. We got a new companion, his name is Elder Keller. He is from Kanabb Utah. He is a pretty solid missionary. He's been out for about 6 months now. So yea we are still in trio which is pretty fun. We had our investigator Joe come and play ball with us this morning. I cant wait until he is baptized. We need to get some more member presents ha. So yea we have been teaching a lot. We ate some more of this HOT African food last night, even after we just got fed, so i really wasnt feeling too good but i'm better now.

         Once you get in the groove it really comes faIrely easy. So its been really hot and windy over there. Thats pretty weird because all it is over here is just cloudy and rainy all the time. They are definitely out of the drought they were in last year. Thats cool you guys got the boat out on the water. i was pretty worried that it wasnt going to get to see the lake for 2 summers:) jk.  But I'm glad everything is going great. 

      Nothing really too exciting happened this week though. I'm trying to think of some cool stuff... Ohh we got fed some Brazilian food by some members the other day. Brother Hancock served in Brazil and just tells me all about it. he said that they speak so lazily and their grammer stinks ha. He was also telling me that his mission baptized like 887 in month one time!!! That is crazy. But then he said that there were so many of them that went in-active that he just spent the last half of his mission re-activating them, so I will have to be careful about that when i get there. But I really miss all of you!! Thanks for all the support. It really does make the mission a lot easier. I couldnt' imagine being out here with a family that disapproved of it so its great. I love you!!!! Love Elder Polatis

WOW--FREE NIKE HATS!!

PLAYING BALL

STILL TOGETHER!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDY!!!!! WWAAHHOOO!! Here you are already 16!!!! Sister Arnold and I will celebrate here for you! I am sure we will find something great!! I hope you have a wonderful day and dont party too hard!!! I cant believe you are old! HAHA jk! LOVE YOU BOOCH! I love all the pictures and all the letters! Thanks so much!! Well this week was pretty fun! I loved it! Well Monday we had a FHE with the Empanaldo family! We just love them! They just moved here about a month ago and she is American and he is Filipino! They are so awesome! We met his brother and sister-in-law and their three kids who live with them! We found out the the Sister in law isnt a member but had so many questions about the church so we told her we wanted to come back and she willingly accepted and we are stoked because we feel that she will be golden! We went back to her on Friday and we taught about the restoration and she was excited and started asking about temples! So thumbs up for that one! She is so nice and sweet! We had so much fun we played games and ate and it was bad but we felt like we were serving in the states ha! Tuesday we went out and President was encouraging us to find more investigators so we went to a subdivision and we started "apartment hunting" Ya we did just move into a new house but we needed a way to talk to people and it wasn't a lie because we are always looking for new places for missionaries to live! So we Opened our mouths to everyone that was outside! It was so much fun! We passed out pamphlets like crazy! So we gave them a week to think about our short powerful message and sometime this week we will go see them! We laughed like the whole time, what people dont realize is that We feel just as awkward standing on your door step as they do when they open it and see us there! HAHA but it was so fun! We hope to gain a testimony of OYM-ing! But after we went and taught Bro. Rodney! Sheesh he is solid! I still feel like he just was waiting and now he can move forward! He has such a strong testimony of everything! He is always prepared for us and it makes teaching more effective! I just love him! He was baptized on Saturday! It was a little bit stressful, we thought we were so prepared but nothing really every goes that smooth! But he was baptized and it all worked out in the end! He bore a solid testimony and I am not worried about him one bit! He has the cutest family ever! Wednesday we had our Zone training! We learned how to be better planners! Before the mission I never planned anything, Maybe I wasted alot of time haha! But now I know a little bit more and I think after I might just be a planner! Who knows! HA We found a new investigator and her family! Her name is Pricilla! She lives in the area where that fire was so she was embarrassed to have us come into her house, it is almost all re built and I thought it looked good, she just didnt have any place for us to sit, but we love the floor so it was fine! We taught about the Plan of Salvation and it really intrigued her! But she didnt come to church, so we will see what happened and try again! Our ward doesnt have a nursery so we went and talked to the Bishop and he told us that if we could find volunteers then he would get all the supplies, so we thought of 2 perfect people that would be perfect and we asked them and they were so excited to get a calling and be able to help! So hopefully next week is when it will start and Relief Society will be quiet:) On Friday we went to teach a lesson and we were getting punted a little bit, well alot BUT that didnt stop us from having a good time! We were right by the beach and it was a low tide! And we went out on the water and were looking for crabs with people! It was so fun and just what we needed to lift our spirits up! We took some pictures and it really was so pretty! Very nice view!! Hope it was allowed haha:) We did a musical number with a member of our ward yesterday! He wanted Sister Arnold to sing with him and Me to play the piano, so he picked 3 SONGS! HAHA so that is what we did, all 3! Only went over time by 15 minutes haha! But he was cool and it all went smoothly! But Sunday was a little bit of a downer, alot of our investigators didnt come to church! What a heart crusher! We got home and we were way discouraged but we did a little reevaluation of what we needed to do so we will be more.....um....I cant think of the word...PESKY! We decided that we need to visit them daily haha we will see if that works! But I love you all! I love all the support and prayers! I definitely have the best support system! Everyone is just progressing and moving forward! It is awesome! 

Miss you all! Take care and be good! Continue with the little things, they really do make you or break you! MMUUAAHH!!!! 

CATCHING DINNER!

BAPTISM-BRO. RODNEY

BEING TRANSFERRED BACK TO CONSTANTA!! BEACH FOR THE SUMMER

Buna Ziua dragele mele!
How is everyone doing! I cannot believe that is is June 10th! yahoo for Maddy!! :) Well I figured that Dad probably already sang you his song so I thought I would throw out the Romanian Birthday song... (hope you like it:) ps-- only 3 mores years until your mission:)
La multi ani si sanatate, Sa iti da Domnul tot ce doresti, zile senine si fericire, la multi ani, sa traesti. Multi ani traeasca, Multi ani traeasca, La multi ani! Cine sa traeasca, cine sa traeasca, La multi ani! MADDY sa traeasca, MADDY sa traeasca, La multi ani!

In English it means:
"[Here's] to many years and health,
 [May] the Lord give you all that you desire
 Sunny days and happiness
 [May] you live to many years.
Live many years. Live many years. [Here's] to many years!
Who's going to live? Who's going to live? [Here's] to many years!
MADDY'S going to live! MADDY'S going to live! [Here's] to many years!"

TRANSFERS..... summer time... whale watching:) ...sun tanning... sand between my toes... picking up sea shells.... living in the beach weather... 100% humidity... bronze skin.. no swimsuits... no swimming.... Living in my condo on the black sea........

YOU GUESSED IT..... BACK TO CONSTANTA!! :)

I could not be more surprised!! or more excited.. everyone wants to go to constanta for the summer but I didn't even think that it was an option because I had already been there:) I guess there is a lot of tourist people and probably some nude beaches... but it will be sweet and so so pretty!! And also I will be serving with Sora Rivera.. Do you remember her? She was my first companion in the MTC - She is from London.. So she has a sweet British accent.. and she is AMAZING at Romanion.. literally probably one of the best speakers in the mission... I am so excited! and I hear that the missionary work is going great over there! I was very surprised to be going with someone older than me.. ha but I think it is an answer to my prayers! I have been praying so hard for the language.. this will be perfect! Sora Kelly is staying in bucaresti... She is not overly enthused about it.. but she is going to be one of the Sister Training leaders- how Sarah is with Sister Arnold.. So it will be cool because we have 2 sets.. both stationed in Buc but then they will split up the country and get to travel.. so it is super cool!! I am happy for her.. She is going with Sister Cook who was Sora Riveras Trainer.. So we are both going to be hooked up:) She might end up staying in buc for a couple more transfers... but I think she will have fun.. We are super sad to be leaving each other and we are already trying to plan on how fast we can get put back together! ha 

It was sad saying goodbye to some of the members at church yesterday.. one of the members in the bishopric said that I was the best piano player ever and he was like "we will all miss you" ha and then Sora Gorzo who I just became her favorite sat next to me in Relief society and was holding my arm the whole time.. well then we starting singing "I will go where you want me to go." and she just looks at me and started crying! I had to hold back some tears.. I can't have this little grandma crying over me.. She said right when she found out about transfers she starting crying! So it was crazy.. and I had to say goodbye to Elena.. it is weird- the next time I see her will probably be when I get home off the mission and she is at BYUI-- Everyone else I talked to in the ward asked how long I had left on the mission and they were like "o you will be back..." haha which is true... I will probably be pulled back sometime in the mission! 

This week has been pretty good! We have been working still with our less actives! It was cool one day we were eating dinner and we were trying to set up a lesson for the next day well the girl was not responding.. We decided to get out and just contact up the street a little bit and we had to stop for a little bit at the store.. well as we were walking.. BAM.. there she was!! the girl we were trying to set up with! it was so cool... She said sorry she didnt answer because she didnt have credit.. She told us to call her at a certain time and we could set up... well she ended up not answering again.. but it was a cool story regardless. But other than that it is a week filled with hosting and "becoming godmothers" Sora Kelly and I get to bring the 2 new sisters coming into the country! We take them on their first day of contacting and take them to all the places they need to go and then they sleep with us! and we are called their nase.. which is godmothers! So it is looking like a great week ahead! I leave Wednesday to Constanta!!  I will let you know how it is again!! I am super excited!! I guess another rumor that is going around the mission is that President Hill requested more Sisters so -- I better get ready to be a trainer:) wahoo! posterity! 

I will ALWAYS be a fan of every girl should go on a mission! ya its hard but it is great!! I love it so so much!! I can't believe that is is already June! Time is going way fast! 

 O ya and I finished the New Testament!! Amazing!:) so cool! 

VA IUBESC! Sora Abby Polatis

Figuring out money--spending it wisely

saying good-bye

DRENCHED!!

me WINNING!!

MY DISTRICT

MY MTC COMPS!!

Here for another 6 weeks--no visa yet

Minha amorosa familia!!

        NO WAY!!!!  Haha man that makes me miss little mugsy. Ha that is sweet. Crazy that maddy almost lost him on the first week, then she would've had to go back to chasing boys. But yea this dog will have to do ha. Sheesh sounds like summer over there. The weather has actually been really nice over here. It has just been mid 70's all last week and that is what it is supposed to be for this week. It doesnt matter too much now though because we have a full-time car now so we hardly ever have to walk anywhere. So yea transfers are this Thursday.. Elder Lewis (my trainer) is leaving so now its going to be Elder Wright and I, and I think we are getting another Elder. So yea I'm sticking around which is both good and bad. Bad because my visa didnt come, nor any of the visa waiters here, and I guess they dont send you out when you get it anymore because it is too hard to just throw you into a companionship. So now they just send you out on the transfer. So now I am here for at least another 6 weeks. When President told me that i was really bummed out for that night, but we have some exciting things happening and Iowa is great so I got over it. So out of all that group of guys we taught, we are baptizing one of them on June 22nd. He is an awesome guy. He came with us to a baptism last saturday and was saying how he just wanted to be baptized right then. Ha I'm way excited for him. When we first met him, he just looked kind of sad and depressed, but now he just says that he is so happy and has a ton of stuff to look forward too. Ha he is even on that Lds dating sight, i thought that was pretty funny. Also this morning we were teaching some of the rougher kids of the group and invited them to be baptized and they accepted so that was amazing. I'm so glad that we ran into these kids because they are like our main solid investigators that always want to listen to us. We meet with them every other day which is great. Other than that, we have been doing a lot of finding. Ha I wanted to try out this rich neighborhood the other day just to see what it was like... Ha I figured out pretty quick that that is not where you want to be tracting. Ha a lot of them opened the door and said no before we even got to their driveway. It was fun though. We did run into this girl that was babysitting and she said that we could call her so maybe something will come out of that.

         A member that was our age also left to go sell the other day, which stinks because he would always come with us whenever we needed him to teach a girl or something. Also he would drive us around quite a bit too so he would save us a ton of miles. Well President and Sister Jergensen are getting ready to leave here pretty soon. I really do love those people. They care about this mission so much and I bet they will miss it a ton.

           Well I'm glad everything is going great!! Ha poor grandpa though, that sounds pretty painful. Where's the reunion going to be at? Try to get all the working reunions out of the way before I get back okay:) Ha jk!! But I miss you all a bunch and I'm always praying for you. My portuguese I feel is still somewhat progressing. We have some portuguese lessons tonigh with some members so that will help Elder Witham and I out a little bit. Love YOU ALL!! Love Elder Polatis

Shaun Johnson's house;)

       

Still raining;)

another rainy day;)

Baptism of Bro. Joe Joe

Love little brother Bro, E. Sasse

Well hello family! Man I can't believe that it has already been a week and we are here again! Well first off, We got all moved into our new house on Friday, moving is a mess! It doesnt seem like it would be that bad but it was! It really is a nice house and it is alot bigger than what we were living in before! We have another companionship that lives with us and they are way cool! In our old apartment the water was heated and in our new house it isnt so it has been an adjustment to shower in the cold haha! I am such a pansy!! The first few minutes are the worst but after that it feels normal! Well this week was really awesome! We had more exchanges, this time Sister Arnold went to the other area because it was hard so I stayed and went one day to Silay, man it was different but it was good! The next day we went back to my area and I was leading! Oh my word! My language picked up so much! I am definitely not perfect but I know that it is coming! I understand a little better and now I just need to focus on knowing more words! Then hopefully I will be set! This week we were teaching JoeJoe! He is 20 and was so shy at the first but now he is such a goof! He really opened up to us and showed us his real joky personality! But he was ready for baptism! We went over what a big commitment it was and made sure he knew exactly what he was doing and he really showed his testimony and how he liked all the things we taught and knew that he needed to follow them. We always encourage them to go on missions! It really would strengthen them to see our side of it all! But he was baptized and he really was so excited for it! He bore a great testimony afterwards. I loved it! We have continued teaching Rodney! He is in his 30's and he has a pregnant wife and a little boy! He is scheduled to be baptized on the 8th. We did the baptismal question review with him and he bore testimony about all the questions instead of just answering them! He is so elect!! I loved it! We just were staring in amazement! He is so elect!! We are stoked and we really want to see him progress in the church! I really think he will! We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and we decided that we want a musical number every week to spice up our sacrament meetings! Well we asked a member from our ward and he was so so excited and we went over last night to help him practice! He decided that he wants to play the flute and he is really good at it! So either Sister Arnold or I will accompany him! We decided we wanted him to be the ward music leader! He loved music and it is a calling that would be perfect for him! He was stoked. So we will run it by the bishop and see what he thinks! But that is about it for this week! I love you all and sorry that it is so short and not that many pictures! I will be better about it next week! Tate and Abby both sound like they are doing so great! Our emails to eachother are short but We know how busy it is and I read the big family letter so it is good! I really am growing as a person! I love to see it and as I re=read thru my journal entries I realize just how much change I have had! I don't really like change but I can see how I am becoming better and Who I really am! I was studying last week in Mormon and it is when Moroni is all alone and basically running for his life from the Lamanites, he was all alone but he still knew what he needed to do and who he needed to put his faith and his trust in! So even in times when we feel completely alone or when we actually are alone that is when we need to rely on the lord and know that he has our backs. I love the Book of Mormon! I really am learning how to look at things and apply them to me!!  But This is where I am supposed to be! I love the people and I love this work! Even the hard days! Everyone be good and be safe!! MMUUAHH!! Cant wait until next week to hear all about it!! LOVE YOU!!!

Sister S. Polatis