Dragele Mele! 

Ce mai faceți?  Well this week was pretty good... I am not going to lie but this past week went super slow.. I have no idea why? but everything is going great! Some randoms from this week-- wouldn't want to bore you with every detail.. I have a journal for that .... haha

1- Alina is this 13 girl in our branch and I am obsessed with her. She is the only young women in our branch and so I am the closest person she has to a friend at church! She is amazing- Her parents are super rock solid.. She knows her scriptures so well.... she does not know any English ha so I love talking to her she really helps me out! but so I was teaching young womens last week and at the end of the lesson she asked me about modesty with swimsuits... She asked me what I wore at home and so I drew a picture on the board of my tankini and then she said that she could not find a modest swim suit anywhere... She turned to me and asked something to the effect of if I have worn a bikini... sadly I had to look at her and say yes.... but I told her about how I felt horrible after and God wants us to be modest! This little girl looks up to me so much!! So on p-day we had it be our mission... we found her the cutest one piece swim suit with cute little shorts! She loved it and thought she was in heaven!! Her mother was so happy and always calls us her angels! I love them! On sunday Alina sat by me again and was just like "you are my favorite missionary ever... I love your hair.. I love your shirt... I love your bag..." basically everything! Then in class we were talking about the word of wisdom and they were talking about drinking coke.. she turned to me and said "well do you drink coke?" Thankfully I could say no! In conclusion I have found that it is really true as missionary in this country we are here setting the example- I have learned I need to always be my best! She also wants to go on a mission!!

2- Our presentation for zone training went great this week! We talked about goal setting and went through the different stumbling blocks that stop us from reaching our goals. We started out by acting out a planning sessions of setting outrageous goals and then we tried to complete them and we made posters that said "stumbling block" on them for each different situations like we said "We are going to contact EVERY person we see and get their number" We then had one of the Elders pass us and wag his finger "no" at us and walk away and on the back of his shirt was the sign "stumbling block" anyways it was super cute! and President and Sora Hill were there so it was really fun for all of us missionaries!

3- We had interviews with President and Sora Hill this week in Contanta! There are so great! I love them both! They are both so encouraging and so loving. President Hill just said that he thinks I am doing a great job and we talked about Training and Sister training leader stuff... in conclusion I will probably be doing one or both before I leave the mission! ha I am in the top 10 oldest sisters right now and by January we will have about 40 sisters.... (in january I will be in the top 4 oldest sisters!) ha so it is looking like this transfer is kind of the calm before the storm.. he said that for sure Sora Rivera and I will be split next transfer... He doesnt know who he is going to keep her in constanta for sure! We will see! But it was really fun! Sora Hill was just like "you have come such a long way on the mission... look at you now!"  She is right it is so crazy... I was thinking about my first transfer interviews back with her in january... I think i cried through our whole interview... ha look at me now .... 9 months later.. solid!! ha It is really cool to see that!

4- I think I am actually getting this whole language thing figured out!! wahoo! last night we had a member present lesson with one of Alina friends at their house... She made us dinner and everything! and it was so fun- just sitting around the table talking about life and how they were happy I returned back to constanta! I am so obsessed with this family! I will send you some pictures! but walking out of their house I realized ... "I just was able to say everything I would normal say or ask at home in English.. but I did it in Romanian!! I even made some jokes.. it was a lot of fun!!

5- Church in Romania is the BEST! Some insights from yesterday... 1* talking about the word of wisdom in Sunday school... guy in the back "McDonald's is a conspiracy- it is so unhealthy and making everyone fat!!" ha  2* talking about the role of women in the relief society... old lady in the back "Men are nothing... NOTHING!! Women do everything and men do nothing all day long!" 3* In relief society one lady wanted the door open... due to the legends of "current" another women wanted it closed... (people believe that the wind current makes you sick and you can die) a little girl started sneezing during class and everyone was having a fit! ha I just had to sit back in my chair and laugh... I love Romanians!!!

Well so that is basically it for this week! o ya and the church was being used all weekend so we had our district meeting on the beach!! it was so much fun! and this morning was super fun too! We all woke up early and played soccer at the park-- (all of my 4th grade soccer skills were still there) ha and then Elder Collison made us homemade bread! I love serving here!! I know that this church is true! Heavenly Father truly loves us and knows us personally! We are so lucky... we have prophets that speak to us and the scriptures! We have no need to fear... God is with us and will always be with us! I am not perfect at always knowing this but I am working on it! Heavenly truly is our Father-- He has a specific plan for each of us! God knows EVERYTHING that is going to happen and will happen. He will help us through any trial if we will just humble ourselves and allow Him to grab us by the hand so He can lead us along... I know that our Heavenly Father loves us! Have a great week everyone! you are all amazing! I cannot... cannot believe that I hit my half way mark in like 9 days! so fast! ha (most days!) but i love you all! mwwwaauuuhhh! va pup! 

- cu drag.. Sora Abby Polatis