One more week, then off to somewhere!!

Hey Family!!!!!!

Ha well mom... hearing about that story just makes me that much more certain that I am not homesick haha.  The weather is so nice here!! I definitely dont miss the wind. I might have to live somewhere where there is no wind because I just love it and it makes me want to go out on the lake. Its good to hear dad is getting the field planted. Dad I know that is your favorite because you'd always ask me to do it, but before I knew it, you'd be out there with it almost all done.  Plus I usually do push ups every night now that my shoulder is nice and tough, so I'll try to stay in shape. Basketball is actually really fun here. I've met some way cool Elders that play and we just have a good time. I still just shoot all the time because I know getting hurt would be devasting so no worries. But as for the visa thing... There was 1 sister and 1 Elder that got theirs this week and they are two weeks behind us!!!! Made me pretty upset ha. The reason is because I think they went through the San Francisco constalent so its a lot quicker. Nobody in my big district has gotten ours so I think we are all planning on just getting re-assigned this next week. Its kind of exciting. Almost like a whole new mission call. I really hope that its somewhere east haha where there are some people that speak portuguese. I think that they will let us call you from the front desk when we get our new assignment so be ready for that. And yes you did give me a number to call. So if I call that number then I'll be good.  So conference was great right?? First time I have ever taken notes haha. Man I wish some one would've told me to take notes before. It is so great to right down key points that apply to yourself and be able to look back and work on the things that you wrote down. Also the devotional this tuesday talked about receiving revelation. It wasnt a very spiritual talk, but the message was awesome. I always wondered why there weren't like a lot of big visions happening and its because it would kind of take away our agency if we had such an experience as that. So that was cool. I got to host this wednesday!! Ha it brought back some crappy memories haha. I could just see me and Jaron tearing up as I looked out and saw all the new missionaries crying. I liked it though. I actually hosted this kid from Pocatello that I played ball against at the scout olympics at BYU-Idaho. Haha its crazy how stuff like that happens. He got out all excited so it was cool to be able to calm his nerves down that way. I'm hosting again next week, so I hope that I see Richard!! That would be way cool to show him the ways of the good old MTC. Also I have seen Hailey Brown here. I dont Know if I already told you that but she seems like she is doing way good.  But sheesh tell Aunt Sandy thanks!!!!! Well I actually I will too because she emailed me the other week.   The language is making more sense everyday. I bought this flash card thing so I could extend my vocabulary and learn some new verbs, and it seems to have helped. This one teacher came in yesterday and me and him had a pretty good talk about the book of Mormon in Portuguese. Ha talking about the doctrine is not too bad, but I still dont think that I could keep up with the real Brazilados. We met some at the Temple last Sunday and that just got me way excited to get there. These people were so great. Just telling us all the great things about Brazil and how the best people are there haha. It was really cool.   Auzzie said he had his papers in so that was good to hear. Carson and all the guys out in the field are enjoying the work. Skyler and Jordan seem to be happy, and why wouldnt they be? They are in the same room. But I miss you all a ton!!  Has the hype dropped since the boys took state again or is everybody still excited and thinking that this was the best state championship ever? Ha I still think our year was more legit:) Anyways, I cant wait to see what happens next.  Love you Family!! Thanks for everything you have done for me. I dont know where I'd be without this gospel in my life. Take care. Talk to ya next week Love, Elder Polatis

Crowded, but loving it!

Dear Family--I can't believe that another week has gone by!!!  It is getting a little more squishy in here all the time.

 They put 14 guys in this tiny little room, it gets so hot in there sometimes. So yea, sometimes I have quite a bit of laundry to do. Yea I'm way excited for conference!! Its kind of weird haha. But I cant wait. Its going to be good to get to relax tomorrow, besides the fact that we don't get to have gym:( I always look forward to gym. Basketball always makes me happy.Plus there was some new missionaries that came in that are pretty good so we have a good time. No problems with the shoulder so I think its getting pretty tough. .  Well thats good that Maddy is back at it. She should've swung by the temple this morning. Anyways though, Carson writes me quite a bit, and so does Brody, but I still havent gotten anything from the friends at home. Mitch did send me some Chewy Wooey!! Haha that was sure nice of his mom. I love that stuff. Also, Jordan Clark and Skyler Banta came in yesterday. Ha they are rooming together. That would be so fun!! Its so good to see them here. They have the same eating schedule as me so I see them quite a bit. And soon Richard will be here. Maybe I will get to host him. I know that I get to host this Wednesday so that'll be fun. Do you know of anyone that is coming in next week? Easter was pretty good though. It was a member of the Presiding Bishopric.. Bishop Gerald Causse I think. He did a pretty good job. Plus it just seemed like everybody was getting packages full of candy so our rooms are full of candy. It was good to focus on the Ressurrection though. Usually Easter isnt very big to me, but here in the MTC it was like the most important it had ever been. Did you guys have the annual Easter egg hunt at grannies? How are the grandparents anyway?  We barely get 15-20 minutes and we leave them with like 2 committments and invite them to be baptized.  But we dont know all of the discussions yet. We're close, but not there yet. The language is going alright though. We had a fala sua lingua yesterday. Which is where you have to speak your language all day long.... Oh boy!!!! What a boring day haha. I dont know how to make jokes in Portuguese yet so it was rough. But I really do think that it helps because it really makes your brain search for things that you have learned. Well thats really about all that has gone on. One Elder got his visa yesterday, so hopefullly I am one of those lucky guys. I miss you guys a lot though. Ha if you want you can send me a couple more family pics. You were right as usual mom. I needed to focus more on the family haha. But keep praying for me, and I hope that you all have a great week. Its crazy how fast time flies in here, 2 more weeks and I'm out of here!!!! LOVE YOU!! Love, Elder Polatis

Ps. That stupid scar on my head is almost faded away ha. Hopefully it gets to the point where its not noticeable. But everybody knew I was a hunter just by looking at me haha.  Love Elder Polatis

No Conference til next week

Kamusta!! How is everyone doing this week? Well how was general conference?? Unfortunately we don't get to hear it until this next Saturday and Sunday  They do a re-broadcast! Pero, it will still be just as great I am sure! Well this week was pretty bomb actually! We baptized Sister Sylvia! She speaks some dang good English  But she is 19 years old and when we would teach he she always had the right answers and was always so willing to keep the commitments that we would give to her! She bore her testimony after she was baptized and it really was awesome! Such a good job! I was the chorister and I wasn't really paying attention just assumed that I knew the words and started singing quite loudly actually and I was singing the WRONG WORDS! I wondered why everyone stopped singing and it was because they were looking at me wondering where I was at HAHAHA kind of embarrassed and will look at the book next time! But all was well I just laughed  through it again!  We had a meeting on Wednesday, it was transfer week and so we got 1 new zone leader and 2 new missionaries, an elder and a sister! They seemed super excited! We have been making all our goals which is nice! Yesterday was our fast Sunday, and Jenboi, the 16 year old we recently baptized got up and bore his testimony! We were so shocked and he did a really good job! Well we have been teaching Sara, she is 16 and legit! She is dating one of the members in our ward! She hangs out with his sisters and has been doing personal progress!! When we heard that we got the biggest smiles in the whole world! She understands and she is getting baptized on April 13th!  We are also teaching 12 year old Nico! His sister was baptized last year and now he wants to! We have him scheduled for the 20th! He always is so smiley when we teach and he understands and can teach it back to us! Tuesday we were teaching fools! It was so nice, we didn't get punted once!!! HAHA and everyone was home! We started teaching the Book of Mormon! Having people start from the first and gaining a testimony of Joseph Smith and The BofM because that is the basis! You need both of those things in order to believe! We had noticed that a lot of people were relying on the pamphlets, which are good but mostly everything that is in the Pamphlet can be found in the BofM so that is our goal to search it out and find examples from there instead of giving the Pamphlets! So that is what we will be teaching for a little while and reading a lot more with the investigators and recent converts/LA's! It really has been a great experience! I read and pray so much more and really know that doing all the little things is what will bring us happiness and strengthen our testimonies! I study all the time the Book of Mormon and get different insights every time  I was actually reading in PMG one day because that is one of our mission goals to be a PMG scholar! It was the lesson about faith and I made a reference to Matt. 14 I believe (Sad i cant remember it now) But it is the story of Jesus Walking on water and Peter calls out to him and says that he wants to walk to, so he does then all the sudden he looks down and realizes what he is doing and he gets freaked out and starts to sink and calls out to the Savior to come and get him and I pictured Jesus a little sarcastic saying "Oh ye of little faith... Seriously where did your faith just go! I am here for you but sheesh you are doing it" So that is my take this week, not to lose my faith! Knowing that the Savior is reaching for me and knows that I am struggling with the language but is waiting for me to believe in myself and keep going and not looking down! And sometimes I think I do it! I feel so good and know what I am doing is right, then I started to get down on myself, PERO (BUT) that is stopping! I am finding me and learning how to trust is my goal this week!!!  Its so great! Life is just as usual! We try to work as hard as we can but enjoy all the days that we have! Well I love hearing from Everyone! Aunt Peg and Aunt Sands I get a letter from them almost every week! It is super nice! How was the HUNT?? I was telling Sister A all about it! How when we were growing up that is what we looked forward to and getting to search the farm for the most candy!! Good times!  I am so happy that Tate saw ole Kevin! Oh my gosh, Abby is like Living it up in Romania! Manicures, Shopping! Sister A and I are DYING for a pedi because our feet are so nasty! All those times I paid someone had I known I would have practiced on myself! We are also jealous of her apartment! So tell her not to worry, we wont compare missions! We have these huge cockroaches! OH MY WORD!! Big and they fly!!! I always swat them with the broom and they go soaring and it is sketch! We both are super scared of them but we want them dead! Almost like the time when you guys had that little bat in your house, that is how we react but it happens like 3 times or more a week hahahaha!! Super funny! We are still getting referrals from the members which is super super nice! Keep them coming!!! That seems to be the best because then these people already have friends!   I hear from almost everyone but them!!!, and Jaron! HAHAHA jokes I know everyone is busy! But that is about it!! We will continue to teach and work hard! I love and miss you all! Thanks for all the prayers and the letters! Mom, I will let you know when my package gets here! Hopefully monday!!  Keep a watch on all my credit card stuff and bank! Just so that It is safe! I will say if I withdrawal  money but who knows!! I love you all! Continue on and be safe!!! MMUUAAHH!!!!!!! Cant wait until next week!!! 

Love Sister Sarah Polatis! 

breakfast;) Yummy

Showing off my legs!!???

Our kitchen

Laundry day!

Bedroom

Our baptism this week--Sister Slyvia

Our new zone

Conference Time!!

Draga Familia!

 How is everyone doing? Did you all enjoy conference? so good!! I haven't been able to watch the Sunday afternoon session yet.. but all of the others ones were great! 

Mom and Dad I am 9 hours ahead of you.. so when you guys were watching the morning sessions I was watching them at 7:00 at night! They were so good! I am so excited to be able to study them in more depth! General Conference talks are the best! We have used the last General Conference issue so much in all of our lessons that I cant wait to use all the new information we were blessed to receive this last weekend! President Monson! Elder Perry! President Uchtdorf! O I could not even choose a favorite they were all so good! I am excited also to watch the Sunday afternoon session soon! I am downloading all of the talks unto my jumpdrive as I type!! 

So this week has been interesting ha I think I will be able to say that about every week I am in Romania! So last week I had mentioned that I was really sad that Marianna (newstand lady) didn't show up to church. Well we went to visit her on Tuesday and she was VERY sick.. She explained to us that she has a fever.. chills.. headache.. cold.. and she wanted to come to church but her daughter told her that she needed to stay in bed. She was very sad that she wasn't able to attend. We invited her to General Conference and then we were going to assign her a chapter to read in the Book of Mormon.. Well she must not have understood what we were trying to say (sadly that is kind of normal.. haha) but she brought out her Book of Mormon and showed us where she was reading at.. ALMA 7!  We both just looked at each other and starting laughing... I was like.. in romanian.. "You have read all the way to Alma 7 after about 1.5 weeks of having the Book?" She was like "ya I really really like this book it is a lot like the Bible!" We were so happy! Then after this we meet with a girl who I had contacted in the grocery store a couple weeks ago.. she kept bailing on us but this time she showed up!! We gave her our message and gave her a Book of Mormon. She is so cool. She wants to make a difference in Romania! She is a personal trainer and is all about making the world and more particularly Romania a better place! We set up to meet with her on Friday and she said she would meet with us again! (Sadly on Friday she didn't show up but its ok.. we will try again this week! ) 

   We had service at that childrens center which I love! There is this little girl there that loves me! I teach her English and she helps me with my Romanian.. It is so funny though because she loves to make fun of me when I try to pronounce words.. She starts laughing really hard... I swear I am saying it right!! ha 

           Then we had our English class and it was so cool because a girl that we contacted one random night came and brought 2 friends!! We had 6 people which is really good and they were asking us all of these questions about missionary work.. and if we are "normal people" It was so cool because they just kept going off about how they couldn't believe how positive we were about life and everything.. one girl looked at me and was like "does anything ever bother you?" I started laughing out loud.. I was like o yes I am a picky eater.. she just starting laughing. I thought it was cool because these girls realized that there was something different about us. They could sense it as we were teaching them English! I am excited to see if we can continue to meet with them! 

After English our Branch President drove us to our apartment and we loaded all of the clothes that we cleaned out of our apartment into his car. It was pretty fun because for some reason he thought that Sora Kelly and I had already been in the country for one year.. he might not have understood us correctly.. anyways... so we are in the car and he asks us questions.. he talks really fast and doesn't have a lot of patience.. when we didnt understand a question he turns to his wife and was like "they don't understand anything.. I will just talk to you.." Sora Kelly and I would not have that so we just started talking about something different and we explained to him that we had only been in Romania for 3 months.. His wife was super nice and then we ended up talking the rest of the way home in Romanian..  this was random but it was super cool because we did understand a lot of what him and his wife were saying.. Heavenly Father really is looking out for us and helping us. Sometimes Sora Kelly and I just look at each other and laugh when we make it through the day because we know how blessed we are. But the Branch President was really thankful for all of the clothes and they were given to all who needed them in the branch! 

     This week we also helped Sora Gorzo beat her rugs and clean her house! I think I have talked about her before.. She is the one that feeds all the missionaries every Sunday and she is like our grandma out here! Well so this is hilarious. Outside every older block (apartment) they have a pole set up just for beating rugs. We had to take all of her rugs out and beat them with these big fly swatter things and then wash them with some vinegar mixture she created for us. It was really funny! I have pictures to send home! That night we also meet with one of our recent converts.. She is super cool! But It is sad because she can easily be forgotten in the branch because there is not that many youth! It is really important for new converts to have friends! She is 20 something so we had a lesson with her and our trying to keep her optimistic about her membership in the church. She doesn't have any friends as members and no family so we are working on that! 

   Friday we had a big day.. like I said earlier.. our Diana Girl didn't show up but after that we had dinner at Sora Margaretas house. She was very emotional that day. We could not really understand what the story was so we just matched facial expressions.. overall it went well and she loves us so I guess that is all that matters. We practiced reading out loud to her and she corrects us.. and when I mean corrects us.. it is like every other word.. ha so it is really good practice! Sora Kelly and I were a little discouraged after leaving her house because we couldn't understand much but we felt reassured that if we really needed to understand something.. Heavenly Father will help us.. we are doing our best.. he will not leave us in His missionary work! Then we met with our other less active and then met with another family in the branch. Our game plan for this day was to get some good referrals. We asked and they said they would keep us updated! 

       Saturday was fun we had our English class and then we got to basically watch conference for the rest of the day!! it was so great I loved conference!! :) Our English class went very well.. this guy that is our age keeps showing up to it.. and I think he is kind of there to just be with us but it is ok because and elder in our district just got done with military boot camp before the mission so he said he would take care of us:) 

     Sunday we visited with Sora Dragu and then we went to conference. President and Sora Hill came and watched it with us! It was fun.. they had it going in English in the upstairs of the church so it was really fun! I even made rice crispies for everyone.. so it felt like back at home:) Marianna and other Marianna promised that they would come to it! We visited with them on Saturday at the same time and they both said they were coming together but they didnt show up!! We tried texting them.. no response???? so wierd.. we will have to figure out what happened?? I am not discouraged.. I know that it will pick up soon! We are trying our best.. we will just continue to work hard and have faith that we are making a difference here:) 

      So this STORY IS PRICELESS.. I know that Sora Kelly and I will laugh about this story for years and years to come.. so Sora Kelly has never dyed her hair out of a box and well as you all know.. I am kind of pro when it comes to that.. well on p-day we were both looking at our hair and realized that mine was looking gray and hers was looking kind of dull orangeish.. so we decided that day we were going to dye our hair. (dont worry my hair is not dark!! I will send pictures) so I dye Sora Kellys hair... and we did not know any languages on the box so we just went by the color.. I thought it looked a little red but she thought that it looked good... So we dye her hair.. and.... you guess it.. RED! She was freaking out... So we then used the box that we had bought for my hair to try to cover it up... and it did nothing.. so the next day Sora Kelly went around with reddish orange hair... so we bought another box that day and decided we would try to fix it that night.. so we bought a color and it said chocolate on it... so we were like perfect.. no red... I thought that the picture on the back looked a little red but Sora Kelly insisted that chocolate meant chocolate.. so we did it that night.. HER HAIR WENT FLAMING ORANGE.. ha I was dying.. She cried for like 20 minutes straight.. I didnt know what to do??? well 4th time is a charm we had to buy another box and we just did her roots... really dark! It actually looks really good considering that it is four different colors! Well so that was quite the adventure.. my hair turned out good in case you guys were wondering:) But yes we learned a very valuable lesson that day... ha 

Well so that is all for this week! I love you guys so much!!! Keep me updated on everything! . time is going by way too fast!!! I miss you guys but I know that all will be well here as I continue to serve! Keep reading your scriptures and study the talks that we just received! This gospel is true! I am so thankful for it in my life! Romania is great! I am happy to be here and loving life right now!!!
va iubesc!!!! mmmwmwwaahhh:) 

Love Sora Abby Polatis  

third time trying to dye Sora Kelly's Hair!!

enjoying conference

Who Knew!!  BYU fans in romania!!

Beating a rug 

homemade Rice Krispie treats for the all who watch conference (Abbys talent)

Still waiting for that VISA

Heyyy Everybody!! Man its really hard to read Sarah and Abby's letters and still have enough time to write. So yes mom I get them. And I'm pretty sure that I sent mine to everybody last week too.  But yea the laundry is going alright. But I have been noticing some black marks on my shirts that are right by my belt, so idk why or how the belt is marking up some of my shirts but I'll try to get them out. And It doesnt even matter because its tucked in anyway so no big deal. Nope!!!! I have heard nothing of my visa. I think that it is getting even worse. I've heard that the Brazil MTC is pretty empty these days, and last week on Sunday, We split our portuguese branch into 2 branches, and also the other portuguese branch split into 2. So now their are 4 Branches of Portuguese speaking missionaries. Its crazy. They do say that at least 2 from each branch will get their visa and none from mine have gotten theirs yet, so there is still hope!!!:) But yea that blizzard did cool down things a lot!! But now it is nice and warm again. Basketball here just got really good this week. There are some new missionaries that have some game so now I have some competition haha. I love gym, it lets me get away from studying for 8 hours a day. Yea I heard that someone really special is coming this Sunday, so I will have to make sure that I get in line!! Ha I see Austin Jacobs all the time though!! Its crazy how he gets to leave on Monday and I still have to be here for another 3 weeks. But oh well, its not that bad here. There are days when the food is just great and the lessons go great and everything is great. Ha but we had a lesson on Monday, and my companion talked the whole time!!! I was pretty mad at him after that, and he felt really bad. Ha I swear he said uhhhhhhhhh for like half the lesson. I'm a little better than him at portuguese because I took Spanish and he took German, so it just comes to me faster, but dang!!! I couldnt get a word in ha. But we fixed it for the next lesson and it went really smoothly. Ha there are sometimes when I feel like i've got this language, but then when I get in to teach the lesson, my mind kind of goes blank. They just say stuff a lot different than we do. But I'm going to try and some some pics. Thanks so much for all the packages!!!! That toiletry bag is like heaven. I can just take my razor toothbrush and gel into the bathroom all at the same time without having to go back to my room all the time. Dad thanks for the Easter package ha. Its great getting stuff like that. One of my roomates gets like 5 letters and a couple packages a day so its good to compete a little bit. He lives like 2 miles a way from the MTC though so its understandable.  But guess what??? I was sitting on the computer studying my language when I just get grabbed by the shoulders, I turn around and there is Kevin!!!! Ha it was so good to see that kid!! Especially since he missed my farewell. We talked for awhile. He seems like he really likes this job. He teaches on the floor above mine so i'm going to try and see him as much as I can.  But sheesh time really does fly in here!! Keep praying for my visa to come. If not, I'm sure the Lord just  needs a surplus of missionaries in the States for a little bit.  Well I think thats about all that has really gone on. But I'm guessing College basketball is going good??:( Miss that! And Targhee is probably closing soon so that will be over. Anyway all is well, I think I have pretty much everything I need. Love you all!! Love, Elder Polatis   

 my first Comp!!

love Temple day!

Last week in the blizzard

my District

Annaliese and me

Still Ballin-- a major part of my life!!

Life is good!

Draga Familia! 

They just made this new revision to the White Handbook where as missionaries we can write to whoever we want and there is no time limit on emails.. So everyone can feel free to write me:). I just got my visa this week! It is super cool! It looks like a mug shot on my card though because you can't smile in it and the picture was from my first day in the country and that was when we were super tired! ha so it is really funny looking! Sarah is rocking it in the philippines! I am super excited for her! 

How was Easter? In Romania Easter is not for another month and I guess that it is a really big deal. They let the missionaries go to the midnight mass and everything so I am excited for that! I am also really excited for General Conference! I am very fortunate to be in Bucharest because it gets broadcast here! They try to match up with America so when you guys are watching the morning sessions.. I will be watching them at the same time but it is at 7:00-9:00 pm. Then they rebroadcast the afternoon sessions and the young women sessions so I am really excited for that! It is so cool that we have a living Prophet today to lead and guide us! I can't wait to really listen to General Conference. 

This week has been pretty interesting for us! It is for sure a triall of our faith to put 2 missionaries that have been in the country for 10 weeks together in one of the biggest city's in the country! We are still making it but sometimes we just wish and pray that the language would come faster! Every phone call is on speaker and we try to translate and answer it together! ha it is pretty fun.. we are trying to learn to just laugh some things off.. On wednesday we were able to meet with one of our less active sisters.. She is the one that we are teaching her God daughter.. anyways so we get there and she says that the girl is not coming for an hour or so.. ha Sora Kelly and I looked at each other.. we did not know what we were going to talk about for one whole hour with a Romanian women that did not speak any english.. ha So we just started talking about random things and then we saw that she had nail polish on the table to we were asking how you say some of that vocab.. then she decides to give us manicures... it was so funny .. if you would have asked me a year ago.. if I would have thought I would ever be sitting in a Romanian woman's house with her giving me a manicure trying to speak sentences in Romanian I would have told you that you were crazy! it was pretty funny! Then the girl showed up and we were able to teach her some English.. while at the same time she helps with our Romanian and then we gave her a book of mormon and we challenged both of them to read Alma 32-- we are hoping that they will do it together.. and we can get Nan back to church!! I wish people would not get offended!! ha but its ok.. she loves us missionaries! So we will keep trying! After that we had a pretty cool experience where I just started talking to this lady on the bus and it was a blizzard outside so I was just giving some small talk about how cold it was.. then we started talking about our English class. we gave her a card and then she got off the bus. Well we kept riding the bus home and then we got off.. behind us we hear this girl in broken English asking us to stop so she could talk to us. Her name was Miley and she was super cute and wanted more information about English class. We gave her all the information and told her to come to class! It was cool because she had heard me talking to the other lady on the bus... neither of them ended up coming to English on Saturday but I still have hope that she will this Tuesday!! It was also cool because you know our investigator - Marianna from the newstand .. well we made it a goal to see her everyday.. so on Wednesday morning we were visiting her and we gave her some scriptures to read and it was cool because she had the Book of Mormon with her and she was reading it while she was at work! She had a friend at the magazine stand with her and she was like.. "come to church with me with these girls on Sunday.. there are good people there and I really liked it!" The friend whose name is also Marianna said that she would come! She was really nice and said she would come to English class also! It was cool because Marianna 1 was like "look I am a missionary for your church!" ha we were so happy! We kept visiting her during the week. 

The rest of the week was a little bit rough.. we keep trying to set up with people and they keep turning us down or standing us up... I think we are both kind of frustrated together because we just wish that we were better at the language and more experienced! we love each other and we are like best friends but it is stressful at times! I am trying to stay really positive about everything!! It was just hard because on Sunday we were supposed to have both Marianas there and then we had planned to teach the restoration to them after church! We were so ready and had the lesson all prepared.. we stopped by her magazine on Saturday and she was all ready to come to church the next day. Well church is starting and I get a text that says "nu mai ajungs.." ah the text that no missionary wants.. which means she is no longer coming. I was so shocked she was so ready to come.. we text her back asking her if everything was alright because we know that her mom has been pretty sick but she didn't text us back... so we will have to visit her and see what is going on. But what was cool is that Marianna 2 (her friend) did show up to church! She only stayed for Sacrament meeting but she said that she liked it and she is for sure coming to English so we will see! 

There are little miracles that we are seeing everyday-- one day we were out contacting and a guy came up to us speaking English and he started talking to us. He was like "you guys do know that this whole country is orthodox right?" ha we just looked at him and said yes.. we know.. he talked to us for a while and I guess he is from other country in Europe.. but he said he really admired us and our dedication.. he didnt have a religion.. so we gave him the book of mormon and some pliants and told him to give our Elders a call. It was cool.. we only had a Romanian book of mormon so we told him to order on in his native tongue and he said he would give the book of mormon away to his friend! 

This mission is exactly where I am supposed to be.. it is teaching me lessons I will need for the rest of my life.. I am learning to be happy no matter what. I just have to be content with the little things in this mission.. I am truly learning to be happy with myself. Eastern European missions are way different -- i just can't compare my mission to others... I know that once it is summer the work will pick up .. it is really nice outside today and I think that Sora Kelly and I are just going to go shopping and hang out for the day so it will be really fun! I love you guys! I know that this church is true.. Sorry I don't really have cool stories for this week! I do love my mission- I know that this is the best decision I have ever make.. it is just truly humbling to know that I am 100 percent realiant on the Duhul Sfant and God because the message will not be able to go into the hearts of the people we talk to any other way! I am thankful for the trials that I have which are making me into a stronger person. I know that I will come home a better person because of this mission.. I will be a visiting teacher.. member present in missionary lessons, and magnify my callings! I listened to Elders Hollands talk today about the first great commandment and it really does send shivers up my spine when he talks about how Jesus Christ needs disciples FOREVER.. we can't go back to our old ways.. we have to always be progressing! I am so thankful for the honor and privelegde it is to be able to be with the Romanian people they are amazing.. :) I love you all so much! Keep up the great work! I am so blessed to have the best family in the world! 

va iubesc! 

Love Sora Abby Polatis 

french tipped nails with food coloring!!

Our living /study Room

Easter week!

I was going to make a joke about me coming home or something for April fools but didn't know if you would think it was funny or not!  Well not to disappoint, but we didn't see anything cool for Holy Week. We thought that the crucifixition was in our area but it wasnt:( we were so sad but keeping the rules was mas importante! But we heard about it and the whole city was closed Friday and Saturday! So it was weird but walking down the road was nice, we felt like we weren't going to get hit! HAHA but we did "Restoration Sunday" Yesterday and it went really well. My fingers worked the best that they could and so did sister A's so it wasn't that bad! We did have to sing "Lead Kindly Light" as our part and Sister Arnold was singing the first verse and I was singing the Second then we would join in the third together and while I sang I said a word wrong and she started to laugh, then I started to Laugh so I hurried and finished and then we both just kept laughing and couldnt start, the whole congregation was laughing so we just smiled and sat down. HAHA we felt embarrassed but still super super funny! Well it was another great week! It was a good testimony builder and it really goes to show if you don't believe in the Restoration you really need to, to be a member of this church! It was a a big deal a revelation is what we are all about. Tuesday we had a dinner appointment with the 1st counselor in the Bishopric and his wife. They are such an awesome family! It was Sisters Birthday so we stopped by as last appointment, but she served a mission in Salt Lake and when we got there she had made TACOS!! Ha it was so nice, it was her birthday and she tried to accommodate us and made sure it was something we liked! They were super good and we met their friend who wasn't a member and got an appointment, so yummy food and it was a success!  We baptized Sister Hermania, Jenboi and MakMak! They are great! I always get a little teary when they go under because I am so happy for them! President Lopez came to the baptism. That was nice. But they were ready! I have made it 6 weeks and still a tad frustrated. I became a little scared to speak and I dont know how to get over that! I pray all the time. Sister Arnold told me I am better, tomorrow we will do an English fast just to see how much I actually know and then we will go from there! Yes we got some 18 and 19 year olds missionaries in our mission for the 1st time.. Some sisters Live next door to us and the new one is 19! So I bet it is now going to be a storm of them coming in, which is great! I need to build up my confidence and just keep telling myself that "I can do this. I have so much support and Jesus Christ, he has me and I need to just rely on him and let him work his magic through me." Yesterday Bro, Benny he is our ward clerk he was just trying to help me speak and told me the story of the little engine that could, he first scared me by saying that I will soon be training haha scary but said I need to just keep going and trying! So it helped and I forgot about that story so it was a good little memory refresher! Staying positive and happy has become pretty easy, well compared to what I was. I just look forward, really because that is the only way to look and just go! If I make a mistake I just try to laugh it off, last week while teaching I got my words mixed up and told our Investigator Nico that Jesus Christ gave birth to the apostles instead of Jesus Christ called apostles. HAHA whoops oh well it got a smile out of everyone and Sister Arnold let me know so it was nice! I will continue to practice! I have been studying out of the Book of Mormon, what a difference it makes in missionary life and how much better we had it then all of the people back then. People spitting on them and what not but they still knew it was true and they knew what they needed to do! So that is my take on it all, I can do this!!  I was called by a prophet and Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father know that we are weak and that is what makes us the best because when we learn to rely on them we gain our own testimony and it is a right one because all good things come from God. And sometimes we may not know why we are doing something but we will look back and realize that it was right! So It was another eye opening week for me and it is nice.  But I hope you all had a Fantastic Easter Sunday! I miss the Easter Egg hunts at grannys, all over the farm and what not! Tell everyone I say hi! Miss you all and love you like crazy! I always tell people that I have the best family in the whole entire world! I am getting quite the nasty tan lines, haha mostly on my arms and feet.  Until next week!  Halong family!!!!!

crossing water to get to an investigators house

baptism of Jenboni

 crossing to go back to dry ground

Mak Mak and friend helping us no to get wet!

Sister Arnold and me

Baptism of Jenboni and Mak Mak--They only had 1 baptism suit, so they had to share!!

Sister Hermania--ready for baptism

First Baptisms!!!

Well what a fabulous week! We have found some new investigators and got all the ones we had ready for the big baptism. My first baptismal experience was awesome! We baptized Jan Mark (MakMak) he is 10 years old and oh man he was so so excited he kept asking Sister Arnold when we could start! His dad baptized him and hopefully it really strengthen them both. Next was Bro Jose Raffols, I dont have a picture because my camera died and I don't have a charger. But he was so awesome! What a legit guy! He is in is 60's! He was a member of a different religion and in his religion he was as high up like as a stake president for us! But he just decided that he didn't want that anymore and he was always keeping the commitments that we gave and He actually showed up at the church like an hour before his baptism because he was so ready! He kept saying, "I can die now" In my broken Ilonggo I kept saying no, you are just reborn, you need to continue living and he would just laugh! He is way cool! I teared up a little bit when he went under and came up and just had a huge smile on his face! One of the recent converts we had, Bro. Bylosis wanted to sing at the baptism but he wanted to sing 3 songs but I talked him down to one song, "I am a child of God" Um, he did fine! We had to practice a couple time but he wanted me to sing with him while I played but I wanted him to be confident and do it alone and he did just fine. But next week we have Sister Hermania, She is ready! Such a great testimony! Her situation is different so President Lopez came and interviewed her and he told us after that he was so impressed with her testimony and he was happy with our teaching!!!!!:) Big MakMak, he is 16 and he just has so many friends and he comes to church, he doesn't understand me but whenever I laugh he laughs so maybe he thinks I am funny! Jenboi, he is 16 as well and he is friends with Big MakMak, he always asks "Sister Polatis when will you be able to speak to us" I just laugh and say to pray for me and whenever the Lord decides hahaha that is the best that I can come up with. So to answer the question about language, I struggle....., BUT it will come! It is really broken and I cant quite remember to put the verb first when I speak and understanding is coming better but It is all good! One day!!!! We do language study and some things stick and some take so much work but FAITH! That is what it is all about! Dedication and diligence in my speaking! I need to stop being such a perfectionist and realize that things are hard sometimes and I cant just give up like I am used to doing! But zone conference was awesome! We learned a lot about the importance of teaching the commandments. It all comes back to their testimony of Joseph Smith, if they don;t believe in him or have a testimony of him they wont follow the council that he gives. So we did some practice teaching and asking inspired questions. The one that we assigned was scripture study. You really really need to study everyday! It is the second that you stop that Satan gets you. Sister Arnold and her previous companion had an Investigator who was an investigator for years and he finally was baptized. But he had problems with smoking. He overcame that and was able to be baptized. But he got a job and was so busy/ tired that he slacked in his scripture reading. We followed up with him and he admitted to us that he smoked again, only 2 sticks but still he smoked. He asked about his reading and he said he wasn't doing it. So we committed him to read and the next week when we followed up with him he said that when he would get the desire to smoke he would read, OH MY WORD! It is true!!! He needed the Lord but why would the Lord help him when he wasn't doing the little things that show our faith in him. Anyways it was really an eye opener that goes to show the little things are there for a reason. He has stopped his smoking and is feeling better than ever! DO THE LITTLE THINGS!!  It was nice to see President and Sister Lopez. He really is a funny guy, he says things kind of jokingly but he means business. I really like him!   Our musical fireside is on Sunday, so I will tell you how that goes, every time we practice I pray so hard that my fingers will work and that I can play it so people can actually sing to it. Sister Arnold and I have made it half way but to be honest we love it and want 3 transfers together. We really are seeing success and we want to continue seeing it. Plus who would get all our dumb jokes. We are so much alike but different so it works. Tate sounds like he is doing really well.  Sam and Maddy I never hear from you but good luck with everything and be good. "be thou an example of the believers~ ALWAYS!!  Oh I almost forgot. It is HOLY WEEK in the Philippines this week!  People going around asking for donations from all the different churches and I guess this week there will be people going around dressed as the 12 apostles (like from Jesus time IDK how you do that but it will be interesting to see and I will tell you if I see anything next week) But they go around asking for money and they preach but on Friday they actually CRUCIFY someone!!! WHAT!!!!!!! it is insanity. It is in our area so maybe we will see it but we are supposed to just go about our business as normal and not draw attention to ourselves. But nasty huh. I had to chuckle to think, yes I love my savior and am so grateful for what he did for me, but IDK if I would volunteer for the part of his life when he dies. The members said that they drive the spikes in peoples hands where it will do the least damage but seriously I think that driving a spike into any part of the hand is damaging haha but that is just me. So if basi (perhaps) we are walking by it we will see it! Sketch huh! But Different culture I guess. But I love you all! I think about you all everyday and am so grateful for all the love and support that you give me. You really are the best. Tell everyone hi for me! Tell grandma Polatis thanks for the money! I am sure I will use it wisely. Tell them to stay strong! But this next week will be a good one as well! I am pretty excited for Saturday again, not going to lie! The spirit was so strong and i LOVED IT!!!  I am starting to get a little bit of a tan which is nice, I was pretty pasty! Today we are going out to central market again! Everything is so cheap, we never really buy but it is fun to look for when we actually go home we will be able to buy sweet stuff! I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!! Miss you lots! Be good and be safe! Keep the letters coming!!! I always feel like the luckiest girl around when I open my email and see new mail! BLESSINGS!!!!! 

 Trust in the lord! 

Sister Blake (going home), Sister Arnold and me

Wanting me to come back and run this thing!!

Eating BBQ Potatoes--(Not like IDAHO ones!!)

my Zone

Baptism of Little Mak Mak--He is 10

First week DOWN!!

Amirido familia,
             Well its finally my P-day!!! oh it feels so good to get a little break. We went to the temple this morning and it really was quite relaxing. But when we came out it was a blizzard. There are a couple of kids in our district that are from Florida, so they have never really seen snow, but oh man were they excited. It was pretty funny. I am sitting by Annalisa right now writing you guys. Ha I'm going to miss her being here. Our classrooms are right across from each other so we see each other all the time. I also see Austin Jacobs all the time now. I think he is on the same schedule as me.  
  Sunday was great though. They showed the new Joseph Smith video, you guys REALLY need to watch it. I felt the spirit more strongly than I ever have before. I realized that this mission is the least I can do. Joseph Smith was an awesome guy and really went through so much to restore this Gospel to the earth.  Our zone leader is from Burley Idaho, and he just got re-assigned to the Billings Montana mission!! ha that sucks!! but dont worry, I still have faith that mine will get to me while I'm here so just keep praying. I heard that it is really random, like there are some kids here that didnt get there stuff in until like November December, and they are already over at the Brazil MTC.  My scar is barely noticeable now so thanks for sending me with some of that stuff.  Everyone knew I was a hunter though because most of them have had experiences of getting scoped in the face. Abby and Sarah.. Its always fun telling people that I have 2 sisters out in the field already. They usually just look at me with amazement and ask how our parents can do it.   Man my thoughts are really scrambled right now, but it has been awhile since I could write so i just have a ton of things I am thinking about. The food is pretty good here. I dont really eat that much though, because there is no way that I am getting fat. I always am looking forward to gym time because I feel so lazy throughout the day.    My companion and I are getting along better, my first impression was "how am I going to do this? I used make fun of kids like this all the time." Ha but we're getting used to each other. He keeps me in line for sure. If I ever want to go back to the room like 5 minutes early I get a response that we better wait the whole time so its good. He learned German in High School, so he doesn't know all the conjugations and stuff like I do but hes working hard. My roomates are cool. One of them went to Byu-Idaho for a little bit, and the other went to BYU-Hawaii!! He said its way sweet there. He said he misses surfing a ton because that is all he used to do. My district leader and I get along really well, except when he wont give me my letters!!!! Haha but we are a lot alike. He worked up in Preston breaking horses and is in to sports and everything like that. I still havent seen Kevin. He probably has that new job by now. Thanks so much for sending my Immunizations and stuff. When I went to the clinic and they told me I needed that, I was really scared ha. I knew that we forgot something. But mom your right. I really dont know how kids come out here without parents that support them in this decision. I could have never gotten all the stuff that I needed. So yea I did get the immunizations so all is well. Sheesh tell Jeff Dabell thanks though!! Thats awesome.  Also, Mom did really have to bring up the NCAA tournament??? Ha March is like the most fun month just for that reason. Oh well though, just let me know how it goes:) Also I want to know if the Lakers make the playoffs or not, because I really dont want them to. Well other than studying all day long there's nothing else really that exciting going on. We had our first service project a couple of days ago, and me and these tongan guys had a lot of fun. Its weird how I actually like writing in my journal now... never would've thought, but its a great way to reflect on the day when I'm getting ready for bed. I really do hate shaving everyday!! I look like a baby haha. And it makes my face really dry, so I have to put on a lot of lotion. Oh and laundry is so fun.. NOT!! Again thanks mom for doing it for me all those years:) Well I wish I could send some pics but I forgot my camera and I'm too lazy to go all the way back to my room so next week! Plus I heard that you have to buy this card reader thing because these dumb computers dont usually notice your camera when you plug it in the USB so that stinks. But I'll figure it out. Anyways I love you all and I'm thankful for all your prayers. I really hope I didnt leaving anything at home broken besides losing the cobalts cruise control ha. I havent heard from my friends either, so I'm not sure what they're up to. Maybe ill write one of them. But I know the language will come, and I'm working on it whenever I have the chance. Also its amazing how much more effective you are when you say a little prayer before your study. Well have a good week:) Love,
                                                       Elder Polatis

P.S. I take back about what I said about sister missionaries not being very attractive haha. There are definitely a couple cuties here. I dont talk to them because I cant talk to girls without flirting, so no worries!!:)
                                                        

Snow storm --still

FAMILIA

It feels like it has been forever since I have written you! This week has been crazy! Because my apartment is in Bucharest we house half of the sisters that come in during transfers and everything... Sorry we had to buy blankets and food for the girls that were coming with us and one night during transfers we had 10 people there.. then we had people stay with us all weekend.   I am starting the fitness competition for the whole mission so I will be a lot better about not eating out.. 

Thank you everyone for writing I love hearing from everyone! 

 So this week has been great.. like I say we have been hosting people all week! SORA KELLY and I are so happy to be together! We get along great! We have all the same goals and want to be exactly obedient... it is SO SO nice! We both kind of had rough first trainers so we are loving being with each other and we hope we stay together for 2 transfers!! or more... It is so great! So the Mihai Bravu apartment is one of the oldest in the mission so when people leave they sleep there and then just leave all of their stuff.. so we started trying to clean it up and we opened a big can of worms!!! 5 HUGE garbage bags later we were able to get all the of the stuff that people had left in the apartment! But now our apartment is so clean and homey! We love it!  I am sending pictures home this week of how much clothes and garbage we had to throw out! We were just laughing as we were cleaning it out though because we are so happy to be together! 

We have been able to already experience small miracles with each other! We get so excited! We had a lesson with Sora Dragu.. our cute less active women.. AND we understood basically everything! It was so cool.. we just walked out and we were like.. "wow the gift of tongues is amazing.. we can do this!" We have so much fun calling people in Romanian and I even was able to text some of our investigators in Romanian! It is so fun! we get excited every time! We are starting English class this week on Saturday so we are really trying to contact hard core because you get a lot of good investigators out of English because people are there looking for ways to improve their lives so we are excited to see how many people we can get to come!! We had a really good weekly planning session and it is cool to see how much we can do and accomplish as missionaries so young in the mission. Heavenly Father truly does qualify us for the work. We are still working with Marianna from the news stand and then we went and met her daughter at her work in the mall and they love talking with us and they are reading out of the Book of Mormon! Hopefully we can teach them this week! The work here is different then what I ever thought missionary work would be... People in this country just need to feel Gods love for them.. they have been through so much... I was contacting on Sunday and I went on an exchange with a different missionary and we talked to this lady and she was so great.. we gave her the pamphlet and she said she would read it.. as we were walking passed her she was reading the pamphlet and then she saw us and jumped and and walked with us around the park.. she was so interested and so we gave her a brief restoration explanation and she gave us her number so we will see how that goes this week. This country is young in building the gospel... We are here helping with everything.. working with members is A HUGE part of the work here.. they are so young in the church... It was amazing on Sunday was the big area conference and we filled the Panduri chapel with people from Brasov, buc, Ploiest, constanta, it was really cool because I looked around and thought to myself.. "everyone here in this room is a convert of less than about 15 years! crazy! I know that we are kind of in the "planting stage of missionary work..." but I know that someday Romanian will take off! It may be when I send my kids on missions but hey it is promised to be a successful land and God ALWAYS keeps his promises! So everything is going really great! 

I have really started focusing on studying. I am still working on my Christlike attributes Book of Mormon. I am obsessed with that Book... Sora Kelly and I love study hours so we have so much fun! We went and bought these bigger journal to compile our topics that we study into one book and it is going to be so so cool.. probably one of the best souvenirs I will get out of the mission. I have also been working on my prayers.. so I got this idea from another sister in the mission... its a prayer journal.. I realized that I need to take more time to think about my prayers so before and after my morning and nightly prayers I write down my goals and what I am grateful for and what I am nervous about or happy about and then I pray... after my prayer or during I write down the thoughts and impressions that come to my mind....IT IS AMAZING! Heavenly Father is waiting to hear from us.. He wants to help us and I think He takes me more seriously as I am readily waiting to right down the answers I recieve as I pray. I am thankful for that! I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who knows me personally. I know that I am growing up and learning so much on this mission. Sora Kelly and I talk about it all the time.. how far we have come since the MTC (We all know that those days were a little rough ha) to now.. It is amazing! 

I am so glad that I made this decision. The best decision I have made in my life so far! It is so much fun! Sora Kelly and I laugh and have fun doing missionary work all day long! It is amazing how much joy the mission can bring to my life! I know that it can only keep getting better as I continue to improve on the language and my teaching skills! I know that there will be hard times.. but that is how we grow. Everyone always asked the question "if God is so loving why do people suffer?" I am so glad that I know that answer in my life... God wants us to become like HIM! So he has to give us trials to shape us into the person He wants us to be for this life and eternity! I know that this gospel is true! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I am thankful for it! I am so thankful for my family! For all of you guys! It means so much to know that I have a support system back at home! I know that Heavenly Father will take care of me. I hope that you guys have a great week! continuously study the gospel everyday it will bring a difference into your life! I love Romania. I for sure still miss the family.. you guys are just too great and such a big core foundation of my life.. but I am loving it here.:) I am now Romanian... haha So you know how on the best 2 years kirby never thinks he will learn the language and he trainer was like.. before you know someone will come up and talk to you and you will reply back just like a dutchman! WELL.. that happened to me!!! so cool.. I just got off the metro and this random girl walked up to me and asked how to get to subway.. and it was super cool because first off I actually remembered where it was and I was able to give her directions in my broken Romanian! yahoo!! :) ha 

Well I love you guys! Stay strong! Work hard.. 

va iubesc!! foarte foarte mult!!! Mi-e dor pe voua! 

Dragostea, Sora Abby Polatis 

cleaning up what other missionaries leave when they go home

my zone