Buna Ziua Dragii Mei! Ce mai faceti? vreau sa vad pozele din nunta lindsei! Dar o sa astept. Sper ca  voi vedea saptamana viitoare. 

Ha I really wanted to see pictures from Lous wedding! ha that is want my little rant in Romanian is... ha but hopefully next week? I was really excited to come and see some pictures today.. but it is ok- I realize how busy you have been. I am very glad that the wedding weekend was a success! I was in Brasov during the weekend but I was thinking about Lou a lot! I would be lying if I didn't say I was a little bit sad to be missing the big celebration. I mean I know this sounds really selfish.. but I just wanted to have both. Be on my mission and home for the wedding! but I am glad that it was great! The family really seemed to pull through to help out! 

**and congratulations to Sarah as STL! wahoo!! "finally caught up to Abby...." not even... I am working hard to keep up with Sarah! This position is getting me ready for anything. We have 5 girls coming in Nov.-- 5 in Jan. and-- 9 in February. We are opening up ALL cities to sisters and there is currently only 22 sisters in the mission right now so this is going to be a big adventure for the rest of my mission! 

*** I am going to start off with a spiritual thought of sorts for everyone. I listened to the talk "joy and optimism in the gospel" by Brother Wilks. AMAZING. I just need to say that I know that our Heavenly Father loves us so much! He is our biggest cheerleader and number one fan. He wants us to be happy and he knows us so well. We are here on earth to truly have joy. True joy comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Enduring to the end.. not in agony.. but in happiness! We are so blessed. I know that this gospel is true. After everything I have learned on my mission I know that I will have a great foundation for the rest of my life. God loves us. Jesus Christ truly did die for us. His grace is sufficient. We are sons and daughters of God. I know it. This Church is True.. The Book of Mormon is amazing.. I feel bad sometimes because as I read it I feel like I have never read it before I look up and interrupt Sora LUnd and say "Did you know that this was in here!!!" Basically I freak out about how amazing and simple God's eternal truths are. I love you all!

So this week has been a great week full of adventure! I love my Romanian Mission-- You have to be here or have come here to understand this mission. It is great! Some highlights! 

*Sora Lund and I presented in Zone Training this past week and it was a lot of fun. Surprise guests of President and Sora Hill - who I love! Well we were talking about contacting.. normal.. that is what we do! Well we didn't use any scriptures or anything from preach my gospel... we basically had the "doctrine of Sora Polatis and Sora Lund" it was so much fun. We basically told everyone to be themselves and have fun! God does now want a cookie cutter missionary. Especially in this mission. if you are too hard on yourself you will drive yourself crazy and nothing will get done. We talked about doing the little things and having fun everyday. Talk to everyone.. don't be scared.. show people we are normal!! We called it "normal person contacting." It was so much fun! Sora Lund actually tried to quote something out of preach my gospel.. ha in the middle I randomly stopped her and said that is not in preach my gospel.. I said that last night.. haha it was so funny. At the end President Hill looks at us both and just says "that was phenomenal!" Another reason why I love President Hill! It was great! 

* One day we had THREE lessons scheduled in one day. We were so excited and so prepared! I was actually feeling a little overwhelmed due to the fact that we were going to be so busy! We also had to help Sora Gorzo clean her house that day. Well our first lesson went through.. member lesson who fed us some delicious food-- gustos! Next our other lessons with REAL investigators fell through.. such a bummer!! ah we were so prepared! Well we will keep trying! We cleaned at Sora Gorzo and she insists on feeding us well... she had 2 week old Sarmalle.. o man we were all so sick!!! Sora Gorzo also bought me a night gown for my birthday!! hahaha I will send the picture! 

*BRASOV! ok So this was my first time going to brasov and it was amazing!!! Words cannot describe that place and pictures don't quite to it justice.. but I tried! On the train to brasov we did our "normal person" contacting and talked to this cool girl for like an hour on the train.. She seemed great.. of course from a city we don't have missionaries in.. but we gave her the website so she could research more! 

*I had an exchange with Sora Drotar this week in brasov- her family is actually Romanian. she grew up in Arizona and she has only been a convert for 2 years! So crazy. Her parents only spoke Romanian to her growing up so she is amazing! We had two lessons that day and went contacting! It was so much fun! I feel like I learn so much more on these exchanges than they learn from me but it was super fun! We had a lesson with these three little kids and they live in the most humble of circumstances.. i realize i should always be so so grateful! 

*On the train ride back we left brasov at 7am.. we sat next to these ladies speaking in hungarian. I felt like I really needed to talk with them but I was super tired so I feel asleep while they were talking to each other. Well I woke up and they spoke romanian to some else on the train so I then just started talking to them... MAN...  I love catholics!!! the nicest people ever. They were so nice and we talked about everything.. the gospel the Book of Mormon. They even had sympathy for me when I told them I was missing my sisters wedding that day! ha but they didn't end up taking the book of mormon or anything but they were so nice and they now know about our church so it was a success!! 

* We got home and we had a branch activity with a couple of the closer branches... We had a lot of food and then they were doing some dancing. We then set up a trick or treating lane for all the little kids. We all dressed up and brought candy. The elders even carved some pumpkins while we were gone.. it was so much fun! they were all yelling trick or treat and talking pictures with us! so much fun! It was like I was a princess at Disney land! ha 

* That night we went english contacting and some kid came up saying hi to all of us.. he was kind of crazy.. anyways.. he comes up and is shaking all of our hands and then pulls me in and  kisses me on both cheeks.. I was so thrown off.... He then tried giving us flowers.. super awkward.. we just walked away---- creeper... thankfully we were with the Elders.. ha 

*So cute at church the little kids of the branch bore their testimonies and a little kid said.. " I am so thankful that Joseph.... (pause... uhh)... monson restored the true church! ha it was so cute! i love them. 

*We went to Gorzos after church.. and low key... but I honestly think that she just used the 2 week old saramalle... now almost three weeks old and made a soup... ROUGH... is all I am going to say. but I love Sora Gorzo and she loves us ... dechi asa e. 

*English contacting at the park.. talking to these nice old ladies on the bench for like 10 min.. they then look up and say "wait... you are not orthodox?" haha it got a little awkward after that..... I Love romania!

Well that is all for this week! I get on my midnight train to go to Arad tonight! I am very excited to go to that! We will get back Thursday morning. I Love you all.. Have a great week! keep me updated! I want to see some pictures asap! Good luck with everything! 

cu mare drag! Sora Abby Polatis! 

artist that drew me!

my district

birthday nightgown from Sora Gorzo

random graffiti

This means "success to your marriage"

jumping for joy

Sora Lund and ME

Maddy's bear at the train station

Big black building

Brasov

Street contacting

LOVE ROMANIANS

Our halloween costumes!

Hola familia!!!

        Well it's Halloween this week:) Do other countries celebrate Halloween? I'm not sure. But I guess that we have to be in by 6 both Wednesday and Thursday night so that is kind of a bummer. We'll probably go with some members and have a cook out or something though so that should be fun. We also had stake conference. That is sweet that Elder Gay came. If I would've known I would've told him to say hi for me to you guys. But we actually had quite a few investigators at church which was pretty surprising because we weren't really expecting anyone to come to stake conference. But Khajidsuren (Mongolian lady) came and looked like she enjoyed it, and then the Fomba family came which was the less-active mom and her kids that we taught last week. So there was 3 out of that family that we are working with also. Us missionaries and some of the young men and women got up there and sung "We'll bring the world his Truth" That was pretty fun. The dress code for missionaries has also changed so now we can wear sweaters and stuff without the suit jacket. Ha and the tan pants that you sent me with are now acceptable:) Everyone always asks me if I just got them once that rule came out but I've always had them.

           We had interviews with President this week and he told me how impressed he was with our area. He basically told me that if I don't get my visa then i'm staying there again. He also had a son that had to wait for a visa so he knows what its like. He said a prayer for it also so that was nice of him. Back to stake conference, it was all on member/missionary work. Our bishop has told us that we need to start getting into a members home once a day and set up their family missionary plan. So that is what we have been doing this past week. People are really excited about it. There is the Halloween party that the church is putting on this Saturday so everyone is inviting their friends to that which should have a pretty good turn out. We are also still doing our church tour thing every Monday night so that members can invite people to come to that with them. Our one last week didn't turn out good because nobody came haha, yea kind of stunk. But we planned better this week so we should have some people come. The Dillon Family is doing good. We went over last night and re-committed the dad to read and pray about the book of Mormon. he said that he would. He'll be baptized. It's just a matter of when.

              Things are going good though. We are going to have to really work hard to get our mission goal. October has been a little slow. Its so great to be out here though at this time. I love the feeling of being a part of this great work and being able to help members receive the blessings of missionary work. This really is Christ's Church!!! I love it! Have a fantastic week. LOVE you all!! Love, Elder Polatis

Well how are you all doing? The wedding sounded like it was fantastic and that it was a success!!! Congrats Linds and Scotty!! Just know I was thinking about you both and am so so happy for you!! Mom I am glad that you can now sleep! That is essential!!

Anyways, what a crazy week it has been but really it has been awesome!! First, Like right after we got done emailing we got a phone call saying that I was being transferred, Well I am now in Victorias, before I was in La Carlota and that was in the South but Now I am in the north!  and Yes, it is true,.....I am an STL, a sister Training leader! Yes, I finally caught up with Abby! Ha just kidding! It was crazy, I was definitely not expecting that! So it will be exciting to get started with exchanges and what not! My companion is Sister Libria! She is 28 and from Manila! She is so awesome! Sagad gid siya sa Speaking and really I have learned so much from her already! She helps me so much and really it was fun! This is her last transfer so we gotta kill it!!! So many changes are happening in the mission! There are so many sisters that President cant really keep us close to the city anymore so he is assigning sister to far areas!! So the work is definitely hastening! Keep praying for opportunities, they will come and don't be afraid to share it! But I packed up all my stuff again, and not going to lie, I don't know how some people like to be transferred all the time, I hate packing! I feel like I can never get it to fit!! I get rid of more and more stuff every time I pack!

Tuesday was a long day of traveling! Holy cow, the bus station was nuts! But I kind of like the bus! It will be weird to drive again I am sure! We got to our apartment, I was crazy tired but we went out and worked! Our area is a little but confusing but I am sure I will get it just fine! We are teaching a lot of families so hopefully I can remember them and how to get to them! My apartment, well slowly I am going downhill with the niceness of my apartments, it is nice but not like before! But that is fine! All we really do there is sleep anyways! I had to go back to the bucket shower for a few days to get me used to the cold water again, haha but no big deal! It is weird how over time the things that bugged me before dont bother me so much anymore! It just feels like real life! 

The rest of the week we were just working hard trying to prepare and find people to teach! A lot of opening our mouths and Sister Libria always is telling me to open my eyes, because people are so fascinated that my eyes arent brown they come up to look and start talking so it is a good conversation starter!!  We have a few families who are hopefully going to be baptized in the next couple weeks so we are just focusing on making sure they are prepared and ready! 

Sister Libria and I tell eachother a lot of stories and it has been so good for me to speak in Hiligaynon, It seems like now all my points are connecting and my sentences aren't so broken anymore! I think I can honestly say that I am getting better at speaking! and when I say that I mean speaking out side of gospel terms! Gospel is getting easy it was everyday talk and words that I struggled with, but I love it! Huge testimony builder that the Lord really does qualify who he calls and he will help us out! We had a good day at church on Sunday! This next coming Saturday Neil L Anderson of the quorum of the 12 is coming to give us a training and mission rumors haha will the rumor is, is that the mission might be splitting! So we will see if it comes true!!

I love this gospel! I feel like I get stronger everyday! The Book of Mormon, is nuts!! Ha I mean that in a good way! It really is the word of God and if we will read everyday and strive to live what we are taught from it we will be blessed! Time is going crazy fast! I cant believe that it is almost novemeber!! Buoong kaayo!!! Pero ayos lang!!! I love you all! Kalipay gid kaayo!! I miss you all! Keep going! Stay strong and healthy!!! MWAH!!!! Everyone travel safe!!!! 

Love Sister S Polatis

My new comp Sister Libria

We painted this by ourselves

helping hands painting an daycare center

Hey my loving family!!!

       It seems like it has been a way long week for some reason. Maybe because our P-day was boring. We didn't have a ride to the church so we just sat around and then eventually started playing some chutes and latters which was a bundle of fun ha. We did finally get the car back after 2 weeks so now we can actually get to places. We are in North Liberty, so it is kind of a ways from Iowa city by biking. We have had some good things happen this week. We found this old black guy from CHI town that lost his wife about a year ago so he was really happy to see us which was great because we have been praying to find somebody that is really in need of the gospel. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he seemed to really enjoy it. The great thing about him is that he is always home so we can go visit him at some of the worst times of the day. We have also been trying to teach this less-active lady for a while but she has been avoiding us. She has 5 kids and only one has been baptized. So we finally got an appointment with her and her whole family and kind of just got to know them and then I asked some of the kids how their relationship with God was. The older 3 told us that they didn't even know if God really existed.... Ha wrong answer. The mom just started raising her voice telling her kids of all the miracles that God has down for them and all this stuff and she couldn't believe that they didn't know God. So I just chimed in and told them to cheer up and that our message is a really joyful message haha, because the mom was making it seem like we were condemning them. Anyway, she did tell her kids that they have to start meeting with the Elders so that was sweet:) So now we have 3 more new investigators. Very weird lesson, but hopefully the mom can just learn to listen a little bit. She has been inactive for quite a while and definitely needs some tuning up on her doctrine. The older boy is 16 and has been baptized and another missionary that was working with them told me that his goal was to get him on a mission, so we will be working hard with that.

      Our 3 investigators that are on date didn't show up to church so that was a bummer. We even had a ride for them and everything. Really frustrated with that. We have been working with them forever now!! They are scheduled for next Saturday so hopefully they can really try this week. The youngest kid is way excited about it, but the mom and older brother aren't putting much into it. The family that we just baptized is great though. Their home teachers are starting to work with them, and we got them a children's book of Mormon. They are always really happy when they come to church. The dad really just needs to get baptized so he and his family can enjoy the blessings of the Priesthood in their home. All is going well though!! A lot of finding lately so our potentials are really racking up. Got Elder Ragozzine more comfortable with door approaches that's for sure. Oh yea and this really inactive Return missionary fed us last night with his girlfriend. He is about 45 years old and I guess just went less-active right when he got back, but after we fed them we taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I don't think he liked that very much. You could tell that he was really umcomfortable with it, but is non-member girlfriend isn't a member so she was enjoying it. It was pretty awkward though. Also found this Brazilian named Rodrigo, well the sisters found him and referred him to us, he is a scientist and hasn't had much to do with religion, but he said that he would be happy to help me with Portuguese so that sounded good to me. All I know is gospel terms so he will have to learn:)

            Tonight we are doing a big church tour for whoever wants to come. I guess some members put it on facebook so hopefully we have a good turn out. But I'm way excited for Lindsey's big day. I hope that everything turns out great!! Thanks for all your love and support and tell the fam I love them. Love you all!!

 

Love, Elder Polatis

Dragii Mei!! 

So great to hear from everyone! I loved getting the late birthday emails this week:) It just keeps the celebration going for the whole month! I love it! :)

Mon:
 My birthday... Still I can't believe that I am 22 ha but I forgot to write about how when we were at our restaurant one of the Elders of the group told the waiter it was my birthday and the waiter said. "great.. she gets a free glass of champagne." The Elder then explained that we don't drink... the waiter then looked at him weirdly and shrugged and said "I guess she doesn't get anything then." hahaha I love Romania! 

Tues: 

Funny story: Maybe I am just not used to random people being really nice and friendly but it was so fun.. we were at our little magazine buying some food and I accidentally stepped on this guys toe (he looked about my age) well he grabs his foot and starts shouting in pain... I turn around and say.. I am so so so sorry.. excuse me excuse me ..." He then stopped and looks at me and starts busting up laughing! ha I don't know why but that made my day! 

- I also became a godmother again today to three girls! I love nasing. We went and picked them up at the mission home to settle them in for the first night in the country! It was super fun! We walked in and then Sora Hill came up to me and said "we are so sorry we didnt call you yesterday! we kept thinking about it but it was so crazy!" ha Then her and President Hill and everyone at the house broke into "Happy Birthday" again! I loved it! We then took the girls home and it is so much fun! I feel so old in the mission! I am now in the top 5 oldest sisters in the mission as far as mission age goes! 

Wed: 

Transfer day!!!! Always a big celebration/ family reunion on transfer day! I don't think people would understand unless you went to this mission. The train station is full of luggage of missionaries... basically the all the missionaries in the mission are brought to the central location and then hop back on our trains to our cities! I was still involved in transfers because when you are in buc... everyone needs a place to stay and shower! ha The sisters from Arad came to our house in the morning we then all went out to lunch with a bunch of missionaries to IKEA. I had never been  there before but it was really good! After that Sora Rivera was not feeling well enough to ride her 8 hour train ride so then her and Sora Kelly came and stayed with us for the night! 

Thurs: 

BEST STORY! So we had our mission leadership council meeting at Presidents house.. well we live the furthest away so we thought that it would be faster to take a taxi. Well... that was for sure NOT the case. It was pouring rain. so the traffic was like in New York City! But we had a super nice taxi driver named andrew and he was 25ish years old. I love contacting taxi drivers because they can't go anywhere and you are their customer so they kind of have to talk to you! ha so we started talking about everything! We basically taught him the restoration and plan of salvation and gave him a book of mormon that he said he would read! It was so cool! After an hour we were only about half way to our destination so we then had him take us to the nearest metrou stop and drop us off. It is crazy... I might now know what ever happens to Andrew but it was so cool! He was super prepared! We then had leadership training which was super great I love the Hills! We had to give a presentation and we had good food.. it was really fun! 

Fri:

So great.. I love Romanians...I love Romania. So we visited one of our members and we had a lesson prepared for her.. We were about to start and she said "No no I don't want that .. I want you to teach me and talk with me about visiting teaching" ha it was just super funny because we then just dropped what we had brought and talked all about visiting teaching she then used what we talked about in her lesson the next day at church! 

Sat: 

We visited a less active member in the park and she is an artist! She draws peoples faces. So as we were talking to her she drew us! And she didnt charge us anything! And she came to church the next day so it was a win win! 

Sun: 

All the drama in relief society! hahaha They are trying to plan a pot luck dinner for this weeks fall dinner. Everyone was yelling and agruing where to buy the best romanian apples or what is the best dessert.. ha etc etc.. so funny! (When I say yelling I am not exaggerating!) 

-Went to Sora Gorzos... normal.. ha well she then was all upset because she found out that we went to care cu bere for my birthday and I didnt invite her.. She called me that day and I told her that is where we are going and she had said that she had treaba to do so I just didnt bother inviting her. Eventually she said that it was ok.. and that she was kind of kidding! ha man.. rough.. I have to stay the favorite! 

-We also then helped another lady in the branch with her computer.She needed help with everything! no offense to grandma rounds at all but how I used to help grandma rounds was how I had to help this women but it was now in Romania! ha I said "get your piece of paper out to write down the steps!" ha She then gave us Chicken LIVER, :( (which we secretly stuffed in our bags when she left to the kitchen) haha I did eat the rest of whatever was on my plate.. the liver was just pushing it.. rough texture for me! haha but it was great!

Well that is my missionary life! I love it! I am going to Brasov this week! We are going there instead of Sibiu. I am super super excited!! We leave on Thursday and get back Saturday morning! We are going to be doing our exchanges a lot more condensed this transfer because they want the exchange reports earlier and we also got another city added to our list! So it will be busy and fun! I can hardly wait!!! :) Have a great week this week! I wish I could be there! I really do! I had a dream the other day that I went home early.. o man it was not good.. mom you said "what are we going to do with you for 6 months... we need to get you back to romania!" ha I was freaking out! What a relief it was to wake up in my little bed in Romania! :) I love you all! have a great week! The book of mormon is true! I am reading a blank copy.. I am obsessed with it! So so good! Keep the faith! enjoy the cheesecake!! 

va iubesc! 

Sora Abby Polatis 

Sora Cook and her mom that picked her up

district B-day party

street contacting

birthday package

birthday party dinner

birthday cheesecake

  

This week was  a great one!  It started out on Tuesday with a little Earthquake! It was my first one in my whole life! Kind of crazy! I had just gotten out of the shower and was preparing for  our trip to Bacolod  and seriously  I just thought I was hot  and wavering back and forth then everything started shaking, Sister Lumancas came running in and was like "Sister Polatis,  DON'T MOVE we are having an earth quake!" So we stood there until the ground stopped shaking then moved forward with our day! It wasn't that bad in La Carlota but I heard other places got it pretty hard! We got all ready and we had to travel to Bacolod for the mission tour! We got there and we were staying with other sisters just so that we werent late the next day!

Wednesday we had our Mission tour! Brent Neilsen, He is the Area President of the Philippines so he was the one that came! He is from Idaho and said that he had visited the Terreton stake! So that was kind of interesting! We had a good training about how to help those who are less active here and we talked of ways to help retain our members! That is the hardest part of this mission! The spirit was so strong and I just had a little prick in my heart telling me that I am doing good but to strive everyday to be better. We talked a little bit about our calling as missionaries and how sometimes we get a little bit hesitant to say what the spirit is telling us to say but those are the times that we need to remember that Satan is the one who is holding us back! And if we are speaking with love and real love for the people they wont take it bad! They will be inspired! 

So on Sunday we had that little boy who said he wanted to be baptized, Well we have been teaching him like everyday! We extended him a date to be baptized on Nov 9!! He was so excited! He has been reading his Book of Mormon and has so many questions about Nehpi, and he was so confused as to why Lamen and Lemuel were so dumb! We got really excited because he is actually thinking while he reads, not just reading because we tell him to! His dad is actually really excited the only thing is that he works on Sunday, like every other Sunday! So we are trying to make sure that his dad is there and listening and hopefully it will help him to realize his testimony again and come back to church! 

Friday we did member exchanges again! It was really successful! The sister who came with me is the YW president! We found a few less actives who I didn't even know existed! But one wasn't to thrilled that we found her! I started out telling her we were so excited to see her and get to know her and her family and then she basically told me where to go! So I just had this impression to talk, so I opened my mouth not really sure what I was going to say to this lady who basically told me to leave but I opened my mouth and words just started coming out! My heart was pounding so hard and I just told her that she made a choice a long time ago to be a member, no one forced her into it! That now is the time to prepare and Jesus Christ will always be there for her even if she wont accept him now! This was the first time here that I bore my testimony and started to cry! I know that the spirit was with me and maybe I was a little frustrated that she was denying what she knew! Really I prayed so hard that her heart would be softened and later I prayed that she would come around! I have no idea why but something was different with her!! So we shall see! My companion, Sister Grace later told me I was super bold and she thought that I was going to burst haha! 

We had a good day of teaching on Saturday. We were out and worked super hard! We want to see the numbers improve in our sacrament attendance. So we tried to see as many as possible!! Had a good day Sunday! I am learning how to cook! Sister Lumancas taught me how to cook so I made Chicken Adobo and Bihon haha she was like "Your mom will be disappointed in you if you come home and all you know how to make is PB&J haha so slowly I am learning! We went to the market and they bought their chicken all boney and with the skin on it and then when it was my turn I told the lady to please remove the bone and the skin they rolled their eyes and laughed at me! They give me a lot of crap for that! So this week has been awesome! I love it!! 

Transfers are this week! I am sure we will be getting a phone call here shortly! We really have no idea what is happening! I think that I will be staying but we try not to predict! I will let you know how it goes next week! I love you all! This gospel is true! I started the Book of Mormon again and I got a clean one, and it is crazy how much new insights I receive every time I read! Marked differently! I got to the part where it is talking about the wives of Nephi and his brothers and how at first they started out weak but over time and the longer they stayed in the wilderness they stronger they became and were able to perform duties the same as the men! It applies to us as Sisters here, yes our living conditions are not the greatest but if we trust and just go for it we will be fine! And probably work harder than the Elders haha joke lang!! But that is all! I love you! Be good and have a great wedding day!!! Wish I was there!!! Travel safely wherever you are going! Lou, your hair is legit!! I love it!!! Until Next week!!

Love Sister S Polatis

The Savagles family

new fake specks

After Pamahoa's baptism

waiting for the Elders

Sister power

me learning to make Bihon

So uplifted and edified!! We were able to watch General Conference and it was really quite amazing!! I hope that you all took something from it as far as helping the missionaries out! We really do need the ward members. So bold and that is how we all need to be. Bold but loving! This is the best message we have to share so we got it!!!

Well HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ABBY and TATE!!! I cant remember if I wrote that last week! But I love you both!! Be good and be safe!!! I think about you all the time and pray for both of you to just rock it out there!!! Thanks for all the pictures and the letters I felt like I was right there back in STG watching the whole thing!!! Mads good luck with Volleyball! Keep a positive mind and you will be just fine! Tell Skip and Karol Blair thanks for the email! That was really nice of them!

So we started off our week last Monday with a little P-day basketball! It was weird I was like the best one and I am not used to that, and I am horrible so it was a little confidence booster haha But this week was normal as far as teaching goes. Yesterday after the first session of General Conference we had a little boy come up to us, he was asking about who the speakers were and we were so confused thinking "You should know, that was the prophet" But of course we were so nice to him just explaining. Then he goes "Can I be baptized into this church?? HA he is 12 he isnt a member he told us he just woke up and realized that it was Sunday and he needed to go to church. His dad is a member but Less active, so we will go him as well! So really our little investigator found us!! He is so smart with gospel stuff so we are excited to get him on the right track! this area has been a little bit harder for me. The church is so far away from one of our areas, so the people have a hard time finding money to ride. Really I would say walk but it is crazy far!! But he lives close so we are hoping to find more people near his home!! We are praying

So funny story:  We are getting an additional set of sisters in our area this next transfer so we got a phone call saying to go out and look for a new apartment. The subdivision that we live in is really pretty nice so we looked for places there. One of our members called us and told us she had a house in our subdivision that she wasnt using would rent it out. We were so excited, thinking YES that was so easy, it is going to be nice. HAHA NOPE we were completely wrong! We get to the house and we thought it was a joke! No running water, just dirt floors, a bumba out back to pump the water. And a little tent thing that was the bathroom! HA we both laughed Sister Batalero turns to me and Goes "Welcome to the wood shop" HAHA we were like "Sister Thanks so much for the suggestion we will let them know" But the whole time we were just dying of laughter, the Branch President was like um this is a BIG no!! I think we laughed all day about it. I dont know maybe you had to be there!! 

We have been trying to implement what President Lopez has suggested, So we went on member exchanges. She took one sister I took another and really it was weird being away from my companion! But we got a lot of lessons taught and the members we had with us related to the people in ways that we probably couldnt. They shared really good testimonies and really just told the people, look we need you to come back!! So hopefully it works out for the best!! I was nervous for my companion because I felt like maybe in between appointments I wouldnt have anything to say to her but really the gift of tongues kicked in!! Salamat Salamat gd!!! Blessings!!

We have a great week ahead of us. We have our mission tour coming up on Wednesday so pretty excited about that! We are constantly trying to find people to teach!! Kisa it is hard, pero ok lang na!!! Kasarang na!!! Sige! I love you all!! Padayon huh!!! Love you all! I am glad to hear that you had a great week! We will keep on keeping on!! The gospel is True!! This week has been a week of me knowing that the spirit is with is always!!! We just need to trust and pray specifically for it!!! Keep doing the little things!!! Palangga ko kamo tanan!!

Love Sister S. Polatis

first time drinking from a coconut

ready for conference!!

Dragilor!!!

Buna Ziua! Thank you so much to everyone for all of the birthday wishes! Emails galore:) phone calls!!  I can't believe that I am 22 years old! I will just start off with today because it has been a great day! Sora Lund and I went shopping and then we had  a big birthday bash at a restaurant called Care cu Bere... it is delicious and it has cheesecake so it was the perfect place for me to go! I loved it! I just had my district leader invite everyone and he did a really good job because.. EVERYONE came! ha We had 30 missionaries there! It was so much fun! basically this whole week has been my birthday I was probably sung to 4 times during the course of the week! 

This week was super fun! I have kind of been sick with a cold this week so it was a little slower but I am feeling a little bit better today so it is all good! Here are a few highlights from the week. Maybe since this letter is shorter I won't get all the complaints from the brothers... hahaha I love you all! 

-Transfer news: I am staying with Sora Lund in Mihai Bravu! Sister Training Leaders again! We are more than excited! I think we will be traveling to all of our same cities again! So round two for all of our big adventures!!! :) It will be great! The sisters we work with are so so cool! I love them all! 

-We have a new investigator this week! Her name is Raluca! She is my age and She is so cool! We had a great lesson with her! She is super open... and she likes meeting with us! She even gave me a necklace and earrings for my birthday and sent me a text message wishing me a great day! She is so great! We are super excited to work with her! 

- We had exchanges this week! Sora Tobler came from Sibiu and we hit the streets of Romania! It was a lot of fun! We contacted a lot during the day and at night we did some more contacting in the park! We talked to a few nice people so it was really fun! We tried some new approaches and asking better questions so it was really fun! 

-Thursday for district meeting we had our "Last Supper!" ha we knew that transfer boards were coming and that some of us were leaving so we all brought food and had a meal! It also ended up being a birthday meal for me! Elder Knapp made me cinnamon rolls, other elders made me lasagna, and homemade banana bread! it was super good! and then of course they sang to me! ha it was super fun! That district meeting we also went around and sang all of our favorite hymns and read the scriptures with them! it was so cool! it was fun because I can actually play all the songs! :) 

- We also tried street boarding a couple of times this week! it was really fun! We had a sign with free hot chocolate and free church tours and we had the church all ready for people to come! It was a super great idea... no one really came--- but we are always up for trying new ideas! So it was really fun!! 

- Waiting for transfer boards is always super rough! And they were supposed to be out on Friday but then they came out on Saturday but our mission is so funny! Our District Leader always knows everything that is going on in the mission. If someone is called by President before the board is released he knows about it. So it was really fun being "in" on everything that was happening ha it is a funnier situation in person. But honestly Bucuresti is the central of all knowledge of all the missionaries it is super funny! 

I love you all so much! Today is also my 11 months on the mission! I can't believe it! I will be home in 7 months! that seems so unreal! But this mission is the best decision I have made! I can already see the blessings of it in my life! I loved general conference! I love studying the scriptures- they are so amazing! I feel like every page was written just for me! I hope you all feel the same way! Continue to study and keep the faith! You are all amazing! keep me updated! I love you so much!! 

cu mare mare drag! Sora Abby Polatis 

Heyyyyyyy!!!! Thanks for all the Birthday wishes:)

   

             Man it sounds like you all had a BUNCH of fun!!! Hahaha I really am a little surprised that you guys are a bunch of losers;) Haha maybe grandma can now understand that its not as easy as she always told me it was haha. That's hilarious that grandma was giving you guys the loser sign though haha. I'll have to come back and give grandma some tips on how you guys can win next time. I'm sure you all had a blast no matter what though. Yea I miss those little 3 on 3 tournaments. I always had a ton of fun playing in those. So yesterday was a pretty normal day, ha birthday's don't mean much out here on the mission. It was a great day though because the family that we baptized all got to be confirmed and the mom was just sooooooo happy!! She came and gave me this big hug after sacrament telling me thanks for everything. Ha hugs are just so awkward!!! Like I try to dodge it because no hugs ya know, but then it would just be really mean. So I painfully hugged her back:) I was so happy for them though. The 13 year old daughter asked me to baptize her so that was a great experience to have. I really wish that the dad would've tried harder to learn and to gain a testimony. He just says that he has a tough time with religion. He did say that he would probably get baptized when his other son turns 8 which is a year from now so as long as he gets baptized and they can get to the temple:)

        Did Sister Moon email you some pictures of my Birthday dinner? Ha she said that she was going to. That family is awesome. Brother Moon is our ward mission leader so we are over there quite a bit, but they are a great family. They made me some brownies with candles in them and they gave me this little skateboard ramp and a mini skateboard. The one that you can do tricks with your fingers. So that was nice of them. It was really a great day.

          A couple more visa waiters going to Brazil came out this last transfer... Ha man do they have a good wait in front of them. Or who knows, maybe they will leave before me haha. That would be horrible. Well its starting to get a little chilly over here, as I'm sure it is in Idaho too. We've been riding bikes a lot lately!! Ha and I kind of wrecked about 3 days ago... It wasn't too bad ha. My gears on my bike are always slipping, and I was peddling down this hill on the sidewalk and it slipped on me. Just a few scrapes and stuff so no big deal. But yea we have that African-American family on date to get baptized in a couple weeks and we have been working with them quite a bit. We are spoiling our new companion ha. Other than that, we are going to try to get our recent converts to fish out some friends for us to teach:)

     Thanks so much for everything!! I love you guys so much!! Thanks for the package too:) hopefully I get it this weekend. Boa sorte with getting everything ready for the wedding and all of that fun stuff. Tell everyone that I love them and will be praying for them. Love youuu

 

Love, Elder Polatis

My family is baptized--The father is still studying!

Sorry I am late, We had apartment checks this morning and they kind of took a long time!! Maybe that means we are dirty haha jokes, I am not dirty here!! Mom, 

Wow, I cant believe it is already going to be winter! That is nuts! Here it gets a little bit colder at night but sometimes I forget that is is October there. How was general conference? I am so so excited for it! We get it re-broadcasted here so I wont see it until this weekend. But excited none-the-less. TATE and ABBY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY you 2 nuckleheads!! I cant believe how fast time has flown!!! Enjoy your day and make it awesome!! I love you both!! Miss you!!! Mom and Dad, travel safe!!! Good luck in the Sr. games!!! Take the gold!!! 

Anyways, it was a different week for me! Had some feelings I never have had before, but that is mission life. Constantly changing and sometimes letting you know that you arent in control as much as we like to think we are, we arent. But it was still good! 

So on Tuesday, we found out that the less-active lady who had the tumor passed away. It was super sad but seriously I know she is in a way better place. And we are teaching her daughter who isnt a member, anyways as we are bearing testimony of the Plan of Salvation the daughter interrupted us and said that some of the last words here mom mumbled to her were "magsimba kamo" so she started crying and told us that once the funeral service and all that was over she would come and try out church. We were all in tears. The spirit was so strong. I loved it!! I hope that it means that it will help this family become stronger! They need the church and seriously the church needs them. So super sad but the Plan of Salvation is real! It seems a little bit scary but it is going to be alright! YES, dad, I still get a little irritated when people talk about the 2nd coming, because NO ONE KNOWS!!!!! Ha but hopefully being here it will ease my irritation a little bit! HAHA. The rest of the week flew by. We had our zone training. It is all about the atonement still. Because mission tour is coming up next week and Russel M Nelson is coming and then on Nov 2 Elder Neil L Anderson is coming for Mission Conference. So President is stressing repentance like crazy. He just wants us to be ready and able to be receptive of the messages they share. Thursday: We had a FHE with the Magbanwa family! They both are Recent Converts but are having WofW problems. But it was awesome. We played games and shared and Sister Bore her testimony of the church. She said that she has gone a week without and can tell the blessings. She also committed to come to church and SHE CAME!!! She enjoyed it to!!! I love the little blessings!! All the recent converts here are slowing starting to open up to what they need. It is so awesome to hear the desire that they have and even tho they are a little bit shy they still continue and slowly I know that they will be just fine. Saturday, All the foreigner missionaries had to go to Bacolod to get fingerprinted in order to be able to leave here after the mission. Ha lets get real here, I like it, but not enough to live here forever, HAHA  It was crazy, I feel like i have never heard so much English in my whole life. Kind of a blessing?? It was fun to see everyone. We rushed back and had the Baptism of Brother Rhance. He is 26 and his testimony that he bore was like he was a member. A lot of the members were joking with him saying that he will be getting a calling and he isn't nervous at all, he said he would do whatever! HA the branch needs him!! Kind of exciting!! It gets better, for language, it is weird speaking it all the time but actually I feel like I am slowly getting better. So little by little hopefully I got this! I love this work. This week I have been doing a lot of studying about missionary work. All the missionaries from the Book of Mormon strong strong strong! It is awesome! But all is well! Keep up the good work! I miss you all! But time is going way way way to fast!! Be good and be safe!!! MWAH!!!!!

Palangga ako kamo tanan!

Sister Sarah Polatis 

M 

My baptism Bro. Rhance

New famiy

Lil ole rash

Buna Frumosilor! 

Well this has been quite the week!  I have asked Taxi drivers from the east to the west about the rumors that this winter will be the coldest in 100 years.. they all said yes! ha Well one of them said, "who knows.. no one really can know that!" ha so we will see.. one day at a time! Today is a really nice day.. with the sun shining! Well my week

MONDAY: A little rough start of the week 

It was the end of the day it had been rainy all day.. we were waiting for people to go contacting and then plans changed then they were back on.. and we still had to get ready to leave on our midnight train to Arad. So I was a little tired and annoyed. But I thought to myself. "You are a missionary.. forget it and talk to people." So we were at a bus stop waiting under the shelter and this girl my age walks under the shelter. I said. "Cute Jacket." She looks at me and says thanks then she asked if I was Romanian and why I was speaking Romanian. I then pointed over to Sora Lund and said "We are both missionaries here for our church so we are trying to learn Romanian and speak with people!" She then gets this look of disgust on her face and starts yelling at me in English - "NO NO NO NO WAY!" She then starts backing up like I have some disease and either yelled "I am not a satanist" or "you are both satanists" She then comes back to me and says in Romanian "just so you know... you DON'T like my jacket." She then stood in the rain and got on the next bus that showed up. I just stood there in shock.. I mean this happens to me about once a transfer but I was really thrown off. I did not understand why she hated me so much. I am not used to being hated. Sora Lund and I came to the conclusion that his gospel must be true because people would not get so upset if it wasnt! Well after that I had kind of had it and it was late so we just walked home... sad to admit it I just cried as we walked home in the pouring rain... I don't think I will get offended back in the states. ha We then got on the train and all was well. Sora Lund just woke up with tons of bed bug bites. But we arrived! it was actually really cool because we woke up and listened to the Relief Society session of conference. We both said... "I bet they could never picture this... 2 sister missionaries on a night train in sweats in the middle of Romania listening to their talks!" So cool! 

TUESDAY: 

We made it to ARAD! so much fun! we all went and bought gypsie skirts at this mansion! It was so much fun! None of us had been there before and it was the Arads PDay so we all went and it was quite the adventure. We just walked in. They brought us down stairs in this big room. Brought out all these different skirts! So funny. Probably like 20ish gypsie trying to sell us stuff! Elder Barclay is amazing at talking with people and speaking Romanian.. so he talked down all of our stuff and we got them cheap.. Even after we walked out they followed us and sold us things even cheaper. It was so much fun! 

WEDNESDAY: 

Exchange day with Sora Ralls! She is so great! We were in the taxi and I asked the guy about winter because it is a big conversation starter. He was freaking out because it is going to be so cold. I asked him. "What are we going to do?" He then looks at me and asked if I was married I told him no... he said "Well you need to get married so you have some body heat for the winter to make you warm." ha it was in Romanian so it was something like that then he was going into more detail about it.. and I just said.. I get it... I get it! haha so funny! We then had a lesson with this mother and daughter who were obsessed with the united states! They kept hugging me and loved everything we said... I just said.. "I am from Idaho."  they then said. "O wow cool that is so amazing!" ha it was like I had just given this great speech. 

THURSDAY: 

Made it home, figured out all of our finances, had a less active lesson! 

FRIDAY: 

Zone conference! I loved it! I went to the leadership meeting and President Hill is so amazing! He just wants all of us to be so happy as missionaries. He talked about how one time Elder Holland just randomly showed up to some ones sacrament meeting and they said that they could not keep him quit. After every little thing he would say "wow.. that was amazing!" or "That was the best talk I have ever heard." Wow what a great song!" I just loved it! it just shows how great it is to be positive! I want to be like that! The whole day was great. Very uplifting and inspiring!! It made me super excited to get out there and talk with everyone! 

It was really cute though because this elder came up to me and he is in his third transfer and he said "Sora Polatis I remember when you talked with me when I first got into the country. I was so so nervous and you told me to not worry and that everything would work out. You really helped me!" It was so cute! I remember talking to him a couple months ago! He made my day! 

SATURDAY: 

Super cool we had a lot of random people show up to English. This really nice girl came to our class and she spoke english really well. Afterwords I went up and talked to her and she said she would be interested in learning more about are church. I then asked her how she found out about english and she said. "Well about a year ago some boys handed me a flyer in the park. I didn't have time back then. A couple days ago I was looking through my stuff and I found the flyer. I decided I would come!" We are really excited to meet with her this week! It just goes to show that no effort is wasted! 

We then watched a conference session at the Francoms and she fed us dinner. Conference is like the super bowl here for us missionaries! it was so much fun! 

DUMINICA

Sora Lund was sick this day:( But we still wanted to go to conference. We watched the session in Romanian because some of our potentials investigators showed up from English! I actually understood it! It was really cool and powerful! I love conference so so much! The next session we watched in English. I LOVE PRESIDENT MONSON! When he was talking about his wife I was basically in tears. I want to marry a guy like President Monson! But it was really really good! I also saw Elena from constanta she now lives in Buc going to college... I love her! She is a reason why I was called to Romania! We were talking and I told her that a part of my heart will always be in Romania.. she seemed shocked.. and said. "Do you really mean that?" I said "Of course!!". and then I told her everything I loved about Romania!

So everything is going great! I was a little sad because we arent going to sibiu this week because one of the sisters needs dental work done in Bucuresti so they are just coming and doing exchanges here but it should still be fun! I also dont think I am going to go to Rittas (My jewish lady's baptism this week) She is going to stop and come to church with me on the 13th at Mihai Bravu. I just really thought about it and I didn't want to be "that" missionary and show that it was "My" baptism. Because in reality we are all on the same team working to the same goal- It is not "my" baptism but I am very happy for Ritta! Also we find out about transfers this week! can you believe it?? I really hope that Sora Lund and I  stay together. We will see! Maddy good luck with districts! Just have fun and look good! :) ha I love being a missionary. Everything is going great! I can't believe it next monday I have been gone for 11 months! wow.. crazy! but I love it! 

You all sounds like you are doing amazing!! 

LOVE YOU! CU MARE DRAG: Sora Abby Polatis 

Arad

Super Yummy Pretzels

Gypsies mansion

Elder Baclay--looking fine!

Gypsie Skirts!

DIstrict on the tram-Didn't know we were suppose to get off!

I LOVE ELENA!