Draga Familia Mea!!! ce mai faceti??!!! 

Sounds fun helping grandma with all the chickens! ha a good day to be in Europe for me... ha glumesc.. but seriously:) I love grandma! but ya its crazy like little gypsie ladies are sitting there with their baskets of eggs and selling them... ha I can picture grandma doing it here if she lived in Romania! and they are doing there little chants... "oua.. 30 bani... oua.. 30 bani..." hahaha I dont' know why I think I am so funny today.. ha ok.. but yes that would be hilarious.. another random note though seriously people find stuff all over the city and they really do just set it on blankets and sell it on the sidewalks.. so funny like they are trying to sell 1 shoe that they found.. who needs just one shoe?? ha I dont know.. but super funny! 

Well this week has been a great week in good ole Romania! First off on Monday night after internet we went over to Sora Gorzos house ( the "grandma" of all the missionaries in Romanian) and I have earned the title that every missionary wants.... GORZOS FAVORITE MISSIONARY!!! wahoo! It took me a lot of effort and I had to really stretch my language skills.. she only speaks Romanian... but it was so worth it! A previous elder used to be her favorite... but I now have the title.. she was talking about her favorite elder and I was just like Sora Gorzo.. he is home now in the United States and now I am here.. so I dont want to hear anymore about that other elder... then I was just super sarcastic with her.. and she LOVED it.. I had to throw out any part of this language that I knew.. she was laughing so hard.. and then she asked me to pray and I think she heard me say a word wrong or who knows I probably did say it wrong.. anyways.. in the middle of my prayer she just starts laughing..SO HARD...  I was a little nervous for a second.. she was going so red and she was trying to catch her breath... ha but she then hugged me after and kissed me and said I am now the favorite.. She then called me later in the week to "chat"... it is a good language study for me:) so that was pretty exciting!! :) 

This week we also had interviews with President and Sora Hill.. Can I just tell you I have the coolest missionary president in the whole world! The interviews were at the mission home.. and I go up to his office and President is chilling in his office with his shoes off and we both sit down in Spinny chairs and chat.. no awkward desk in between us.. so cool! We just chat and talk and then in the middle he randomly throws out there "still worthy of a temple recommend?" I said yes and then he was like "o good so you gave up smoking... and drinking.." haha He is so funny.. I did start crying in my interview.. normal... but he was just so kind and he reassured me that I was a great missionary and he was so happy to have me here! He is so great.. he really trusts us and just wants us to love being missionaries! Sora Hill was also so great-- She really loves to be our mission mom and is willing to help us and all times! 

It was way cool this week.. we went over to our less active Sora Nans house and we thought that she has been hating us... but when we got there she was super nice and friendly.. so it was great! She made us lunch..which was amazing.. I do forget thought that Romanian are very good with their meals.. it is always three courses! crazy.. soup.. bread.. meat.. salad.. and the end she was like.. " I am so sorry that I don't have dessert.. ha  and then  we read through President Hollands last talk from general conference in Romanian the "Lord, I believe" talk.. I am a huge fan by the way!! :) We then heard some music coming from outside and she got all excited and had us follow her outside.. there was a bride sitting on a chair and they had kosonac bread above her head and there is a cross on the bread.. then they sing and do some sort of wedding song and then they break the bread over her head and give a piece to every one.. the dad of the bride made sure that we got a piece bread.. ha I guess it means that you will get married fast or get married within the year.. kind of a problem... because I will still be here for a year... haha but it was really fun.. then they started dancing around in a circle while a guy was playing the accordian... I think we even made it into the wedding video!! :) 

We also went contacting that day and it was cool because as a mission right now we are really focusing on using the Book of Mormon. So we made it a goal to give away one Book of Mormon. We only had an hour... so we were looking around and we saw this nice little lady reading a book on the bench.. so we went and I starting talking to her.. she was so nice! She invited us to sit on the bench with her.. which doesnt usually happen...but she was great and apologized that she didnt know english.. but it was good.. She was interested! and we testified all about the restoration and the book of mormon.. We even read 3 nephi 11 with her! She loved it! We ended up talking for an hour! and we gave her the Book!!  She said that she would come to church some time.. :) but it was great she could not stop going off on how cool it was that we were basically "teens" who are really beautiful sharing such a good message! I instantly loved that women! 

So it was a pretty good week:) I think the language is coming!! ya. ya ya:) 

O ya we have transfers boards this week! We find out on Saturday.. After my interviews with President and the "gossip" going around the mission I think I am out of Buc! -- I am hoping for Moldova... Timisoara... Cluj.. or Iasi! :) Pray for me and wish me luck!! ha I mean I will be happy with anywhere but seriously.. I am super excited for a big change in scenery.. I heard that outside of buc during the summers is so amazing!! I love you all so so much!! :) Have a great week!!! This church is true! You guys are amazing! have a great week...

Va iubesc!! - Sora Abby Polatis 

I finally became Sister Gorzo's favorite!!!  I knew I could do it!!

Still Waiting!! But I'm happy!

On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 12:08 PM, Tate Polatis <tate.polatis@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Oi Familia!!!!! Happy Memorial Day yesterday.

               Yea we didnt get to email yesterday because the libraries and stuff is closed so we just had a full day to exercise and play ball:) best day ever haha jk! But yea yesterday we just had an early morning breakfast for the church and it was supposed to be at this park but it was pouring rain so we just had it at the church. Doesnt it always seem to be raining on Memorial Day? To me for some reason it does but who knows. So yea that was great. We invited an investigator to come to it but I think she slept in so she missed out on some good breakfast burritos. But yea Sunday was a great day!! We had a less-active couple come that hadnt been for like 10 years, 3 investigators come, and then 1 ex-communicated member so it was a great Sunday. The Liberian family that came with us to church stayed for the full 3 hours which was great. The girl said that she loved relief society so that was good to here that they actually do things in there haha. But its just hard because they are not married so we'll have to figure some things out to get them ready for baptism, but we have a ways to go.

           Is it starting to get hot there, and whens the boat coming out? You guys need to make sure and keep that thing running for when I get back haha. But yea the weather is pretty nice here. They were in a drought last year so all this rain we have been getting lately is making up for it. The night the tornado came was pretty crazy, but nope they say that a tornado hasnt ever really hit Des Moines so I think I'm safe. Holy cow though, transfers are coming up next week!! Thats insane. This 6 weeks went by a ton faster than the 6 weeks in the MTC! Ha I still cant believe my visa isnt here though. That is a long time just to get a visa. Maybe this week it will just show up and I will leave right on the transfer, but who knows. Tell Uncle Dirk and Aunt Dayna thanks for looking out for me haha. One night I got this random call on the mission phone from the Lowmans.. and she was just so excited to talk to me and wanted to feed me and everything. Everybody here loved Uncle Dirk and Aunt Dayna!! All I have heard are great things. The stake president came up and said that Uncle Dirk told him to check up on me and make sure I was working as hard as I can. Oh and also whats their address? President Jergensen asked for it the other day because he wants to visit them. But tell them I love them.

       

this is just 1 rain storm

        So yea its been a great week. Lots of lessons, but its really hard to set dates sometimes, because people are so scared of that committment. Oh and a crazy thing happened the other night. I was just laying in bed about to fall asleep, when I hear this loud crash from our bathroom!! It was way scary ha, so I get up to check it out, and the stupid mirror came off the wall and shattered everywhere!! It was pretty crazy. Umm I'm trying to think of some other exciting things that happened this week.. We tore down this old shed for a service project, reminded me of some of the old sheds at grannys ha. Oh and Elder Witham and I also taught a lesson to a member in Portuguese because he served in Brazil, so it was good to practice that. It actually went pretty well, even though I'm sure they speak a ton faster down there. But I think thats about it for the week, I hope everything is going amazing and that everyone is starting to enjoy the summer. I love and miss you all bunch. We'll see what happens this week !!  Love Elder Polatis

Typoon season

Hey Family! Well another fabulous week here in Bacolod!  It really was quite a good week! Nothing that spectacular but good! Everyday I find more and more out about myself. Monday night we had FHE at the Desaldes home again! They really are such a strong family and We really just have the best time while we are there! They are always so willing to play our dumb games haha but we did this object lesson where you have 2 cotton balls and you soak one in Rubbing alcohol and the other you just leave well you light them on fire and we used 2 nephi 26 11-13 and we related it to the feelings of the spirit, if we don't saturate ourselves with the spirit we will die out faster and lose ourselves in this mess of a world! So try it, it was our first time doing it that way and we were both just as shocked as everyone in that room! The little things are what keep us in line with the spirit! Well on Tuesday we had exchanges again, But this time I was with Sister Ang in Talisay! She was really awesome! She told me that the only time we speak English is at the apartment and we did some practice teaching all in the language and she helped me so much in that area! She is filipina so it was fast and really fun actually! She told me that I have really good teaching skills and that I saved her with teaching but that if I just mastered the language I would be all set. Easier Said than done tho haha I really am trying tho! We had a huge storm and Talisay is such a different area well we had to cross this Bamboo bridge and sister ang is so little and saying every 2 seconds "Sister Be careful" well I thought I was being careful, NOPE totally fell and there was a huge Drop off hahaha luckily I didnt fall the whole way! We both just laughed so hard and we were trying to find my shoe in the mud! It was scary at the time but so much rain plus a brown out trying to find my shoe so funny! We had a good time! Oh ya, it is rainy season NOW! Somedays it is just a sprinkle but some days it is like a typhoon! But all is well! Wednesday I came back and we switched back with Sister A and we were both happy to see each other. We went out and visited almost all of our recent converts and delivered baptism photos to them all! They were all excited to see the pictures! We have found some new investigators and they really are elect! Well as far as learning, we are kind of having a difficult time getting them to church! Thats the killer!  We only had 3 of 11 show up to church so it was horrible, hopefully next week! Well Thursday we had exchanges again, This time I went to Silay again but with Sister King. She was Sister Arnold companion in the MTC--- she was nice! I was actually able to speak and hold a decent conversation with an Investigator which made me super happy! We were teaching this family and they have a 3 year old girl, she sounds like a man tho haha well you can ask her anything like about church and she knows, She taught me the word of wisdom and told me who the prophet was! HAHA i loved it! It really doesnt matter what age if you teach them young they will remember! Overall I still had to step it up with everything and exchanges really are helping me realize that I can say more than I think I can! I got this! It might not come in 1 day but it will come! I have to keep practicing and I try not to resort to English! That is one thing Sister Arnold has been doing with me, she is starting to be able to tell when I feel frustrated or I get nervous during a lesson and she just gives me this encouraging like "slow down, think about it, you know it" Look and it really has made a difference! So this next week that will be my focus not  really worrying how long it takes me to speak and staying Ilonggo! I CAN DO IT! Well the hightlight of our week and dont judge us but we get so hot here and everything is so small portioned but we both just wanted a nice ice drink well to our luck there is a brand new 7 ELEVEN!!!!! HAHAHA we were stoked! So we went and got a 28 peso SLURPEE!!!!!!! It is sad but we loved it! Cheap!  And we have to walk to it so we can justify it! :) We have been teaching Joe Joe and Maryvic well they were supposed to be baptized on Saturday BUT they both went out of town and we didnt feel like they were quite ready! They were a little confused on Joseph Smith so we decided that we would continue teaching them this week and move the baptism! So we were on such a good role but we missed a saturday! But we will get back on track! They are both 21 and they have been coming to church and are so excited to learn more so it is fun! So saturday, No baptism! We were bummed but new it was for the best! We want to make sure that people are really ready and not just jumping in blind! But we had so many appointments today! But as we were walking we always have to walk past the Hoyo-as and brother Hoyo-a is a retired mechanic and we see this old jeepney thing in front of his house and he hollars out that he bought this to drive us around to our appointments haha not really but he really did take us to our next appointment in it! HAHA it is so old but so sweet! We were so tempted to ask him if we could drive! HAHA So old school!  We have found 4 new investigators Bro. Rodney, he is the brother in law of one of our ward missionaries and he is LEGIT! Oh my word! He reads and writes down his understanding and his testimony is already so strong! We were teaching about the Law of Chastity and when it came to my turn to speak he had just finished up bearing his testimony of the importance of this law so I just smiled and was like, Um well you said everything that I was going to say! HAHA i just re-testified and we ended! He is awesome! They are fun to teach when they are doing all that they can to understand it! I love it! Being a missionary in this situation is what makes missionary work the best and it really is so rewarding! But we have been trying harder to work and really work out so we do it at night, OH MY SORE!! HAHA what weaklings we are! We can barely do a push up and not feel like we are dying the next day! But we will continue and everyday get stronger because of it! Just like a testimony, nourish it! And dont slack because the second you slack you lose everything haha I must be getting spiritual if  I am relating working out to a testimony! HAHA well now I am just rambling! Pasensya!  Well I love reading all the letters from Abby and Tate! Gosh they really are doing so good!  Well I cant believe that it is summer already! That flew by! I guess it is weird because summer just ended here! Still hotter than hot but not summer! Well I love you all! I miss you!  Sam and Maddy! You are all going to be buff from all that pipe moving!! I cant wait until next week! I love hearing from everyone! Be good and be safe!! MMUUAAAHH!!

LOVE Sister Polatis!

Desaldes Family Home Evening

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts"

Our new investigator--SIster Leona

Humanitarian week

Buna Ziua tuturor! 

This week has been so great!!! I am loving Romania:)

I had exchanges this week with Sora Deruvo... She is from Italy! So she has been in the country 2 transfers and she is already super good at the language so it was a really fun day! We visited some of our less actives and then we went contacting! She was so nice.. I after she was like "you taught me so much.. you taught me to open my mouth and never be afraid." I was laughing because the only reason I wasn't scared to talk to all the random people in the park was because I knew that she had my back! So that was really fun!

Thursday and Friday Sora Kelly and I got to go to a maternity hospital here in Bucaresti! 2 Doctors came in from the United States and they were teaching about 50 doctors and nurses about how to take care of babies in the first vital minutes after birth! The local humanitarian missionaries are in my branch and they know I am the nurse so they invited me to go! President Hill was all for it! The hospitals here are a little sketchy.. but it was fun! They taught both of us how to intubate a new born baby and do CPR and everything! Half of the lectures were in English and then half of the lectures were in Romanian.. it was really cool because I felt like i could understand a lot of it because the medical terms are pretty latin based! The doctors took us aside and taught us how to do it.. We got to help with the demonstrations and everything.. so fun.. The doctor even made one of the nurses teach me how to do something and it was all in Romanian! :) They next day was way fun too it was kind of the same stuff but then I tried taking certifying test... it was all in Romanian so I didnt do so hot.. but it was still fun! We helped pass out all of the training equipment -- the humanitarian part of the church is AMAZING! I had no Idea that it did this much! Afterwords the doctors were so nice and invited us to come it with them... We had a lesson but we told them if it fell through then we would come.. well... ya our person would not answer our calls or return our text so we got to go to this fancy Greek restaurant! It was so good.. the best meal I have had since being in the country! they wouldnt let us pay for anything... and made sure that we had all the food we could eat! If you ever run into them.. Dr. George Bennet and his wife Marsha.. live in St. George.. they are big in humanitarian and go to about 11 different countries around the world every year.. the other doctor was Dr. Payne from Minisota and he is in the 70's... They are so nice! I loved being with them! They were joking around with us and it was so fun! Dr payne has me convinced to go to med school when I get back home so we will see! 

Another cool thing we got to do this week was to go to this "scouting in Romania" celebration! We got permission to stay up a little later and go to this light festival thing celebrating 100 years of scouting in Romanian! they had cool folk dancing and random fire shows! It was so much fun! Romania really does have parties going on all the time! ha the park next to it they had this big concert going on but we decided we all better go home! ha but it was fun! 

Another Small miracle that we had which was so cool was it was pouring rain when we walked out of the hospital and we were seriously drenched.. this random man came up to us and shared his umbrella with us! He was so nice!!

It was cool to after church we were about to get back on the metrou.. and this lady walked right up to us and was like.. "what church are you guys from" and she was asking us all these different things and then she started going off about how she saw us last week and she was too nervous to talk to us! - crazy huh.. and so we invited her to church and she said she was going to come! we are super excited!

So life is great here in Europe! I am understanding more and more everyday as far as the language goes! I am starting to understand the Romanian people and why they do certain things... but most importantly I am starting to understand myself.. who I really am.. and really who I want to become! It is so amazing.. Some people say that on their missions is when they learned to work their hardest.. Here in Romania.. I am learning to Relax and enjoy life.. I am learning to not be so hard on myself and really enjoy all of my blessings! I am so so blessed! I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all so much!!! This gospel is amazing!  Love Sora 

working with humanitarian missionaries

celebration of 100 years of Scouting!!!

Cool place that teaches about the beginnings of Romania

rainy here too!

Hey Family!!!! bom dia!!

      Mom I dont know if I really told you this on Mothers Day but you are the best Mom ever and I love you!!:) Thanks for everything you have done for me and raised me to be!
          So yea it was awesome to see everyone last Sunday. Everyone looks great. Yea my companions and I have some good times. Sometimes we get a little too competitive at stuff which causes problems but its all good. But of course I have challenged people to baptism, always on the first lesson:) It has been sort of a disappointing week though. We thought that we were going to baptize this African family of 5 in May, but they just said that they aren't ready yet, so now we have to push their date back a little bit. We really wanted to baptize them in May because it would go towards our goal of 100 baptisms in May so hopefully the rest of the mission is doing their part ha. But yesterday we had a cool experience. We met with this excommunicated member named travis. And he served a mission and everything but just went a little crazy after the mission. So anyways, we told him we wanted to come see him and he was like sure. So we went over last night and he had 4 of his friends with him. All pretty much goofballs and maybe a little tipsy from drinking, but we taught all of them and they seemed to accept the restoration farely well. Ones name was Joe and he said that he almost got baptized awhile back but he got a divorce from his wife so he kind of just strayed away from it. But he has a very strong testimony of the Book of Mormon which is a huge step!! Man it was sweet. We set up a time to meet with him on Wednesday without all the other goofballs, so I think it will go way good. I'm excited to teach him. We also set up appointments with the other guys, but they are a lot farther behind so it'll go a lot better splitting them up.

       So yea my flag on my online missionary portal changed back to Brazil!!!!:) Ha i'm not sure if that means anything, but it might! Transfers are on June 6th, so that is coming up really quick. I really want to get a baptism here though so hopefully this Joe guy is our miracle baptism. But all of my buddies are doing great!! They write me and tell me how everything is going. Tanner Chambers wrote me and just talked about how blessed he was for moving to Rigby with all of us. I email Colin every now and again. He seems to be doing awesome!. There are ton of people getting ready to go, I bet the Bretheren are way busy right now. This member that drives us around (Josh) has been waiting a month already and still doesnt have his call. Ha I told him that he is going to get called to Brazil and have to wait like I did.

            Wow!! Rigby Track really is amazing haha. That program is just killing it. I'm sure that Parrish is on top of the world just taking that all in haha. Our church building is right next to the High School here which is a huge high school, and everyone is out there practicing high jump and all that. Maybe I should have practiced more... Nahh! But the mission is great. I love it when we have appointment after appointment. Best days  for sure. We have Zone conference tomorrow so that should be good. Oh and I went on exchanges with the zone leaders who are the Spanish Elders, and Elder Spackman, who is from Sugar City, was talking to this lady in Spanish and I picked up a ton of what they were saying. It was great!

     Thats great that you guys got some rain!! It rains soo much here. Last night there was a tornado warning and man the rain was pouring down. I'll try to send you a picture of this car that was in some pretty deep water. It is so green over here. And there are no pivots or pipe. They just rely on the rain here. So yea everythings great and I miss you all!!! Love you!! Love, Elder Polatis

Spring has sprung!

Hey everyone!!! 

The weather is getting good! I am starting to understand and speak more and more everyday! so all is well! :) I am so glad to hear that everyone is rocking it:) 

Well ya know that cool investigator that we had last week that spoke perfect English who was super interested in learning more..... Well she stood us up and then we haven't heard from her... ha we tried calling her and texting her.. almost stalker status... haha o well "mergem Inainte" (saying when Romanians say you just have to keep going) ha

I forgot to tell you guys this last week but it was cool.. after we kind of had to tell Afrodita that we werent going to meet anymore.. We were leaving and I hear some one on the piano... It was this random girl that just walked into the church (We forgot to lock the doors behind us) ha She was just like.. "o I was just walking by and walked in." It was cool... She was super nice and she said she would come to English! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and all of that then  We got her phone number... We found out she actually gave us the wrong phone number but... it was ok... I think that she will come around again:)

I have also gained a very strong testimony that God has learned to work with our imperfections and make them beneficial... So One day Sora Kelly and I  went to internet and then we left and realized that we forgot to print out some talks that we needed which was the reason that we went there in the first place.. anyways we turned back around and came back to internet... this random kid was in the cafe ... well Sora Kelly was just kind of hanging back while I got onto the calculatora... Then when we were leaving he looked at the Book of Mormon in my hand and my name tag and then he kept walking out.. well then he sees Sora Kelly.. and he pointed to her name tag and was like "what is this" Anyways it was super cool. because he then came to english and he is really interested in learning more about the church -- he doesnt like the orthodox religion at all!! He had so many questions about the book of mormon and our religion! So he said he was going to come to church and everything... well he didnt come to church ... but then we were contacting in a random park AND... we ran into him again!! crazy.. that doesnt happen there is like millions of people in the city.. So we just happened to run into him.. he didnt come to church because he had to run a marathon.. it was a legit excuse because he showed us his medal! ha anyways he is super cool.. and we will see him next week..Super cool!

So ya know how back at home people sometimes get up and speak and they are telling experiences that are kind of weird and not supposed to be shared over the pulpit.. well so this guy is here in Romania.. he doesnt speak romanian and he said that God told him he needs to be here.. anyways he gets up and is talking about temples.. and family history.. and tell all sorts of crazy stories... (these people are like brand new converts and he was putting some deep doctrine out there) They had a person in the ward translating for him and I was just hoping that people were just thinking that he was doing a bad job translating.. he was up there for like 45 min!! rough.. just thought you guys should know it still happens in every church! ha but it was nice after because I played the piano and this sweet lady came up to me and kissed me on the cheeks (normal) and was like "Thank you so much for playing the piano" so cute! I also commented in Relief Society this week!! Which was huge! I talked about how I was able to go to temple dedications back in the USA! They loved it:)

O ya and mom you know how you were like "don't marry any Romanian man" Well that would never happen.. so our missionary ward leader planned this activity and he was like... sorry girls don't be mad but we want every one to play soccer.. he was like but I know you guys don't play sports because it is not pretty for girls to play sports he was like.. how about all of the guys play and you girls cook... We were like um.. no its ok... we can play too... ha but then we were riding the bus home and he lives kind of by us.. and he was talking about cooking and I said.. I am not super good at cooking.. he looked at me half disgusted and said "don't be telling the boys that... you need to be good and cooking and cleaning and ironing.... those are women jobs... ha crazy!! In Romanian seriously they don't allow the men to really clean... it is expected that girls do it.. even if our elders try to help clean they don't let them.. we do it! ha Even when we were at Gorzo yesterday for dinner.. I did all the dishes for everyone.. and a guy in the ward showed up and was eating dinner and the table so I was talking to him practicing my Romanian.. and then Gorzo said "Good thing you are doing the dishes because right when you get home you will be getting married fast and then you will have to cook and clean and everything to make your husband happy" and the ward member agreed! ha I was dying and laughing at the same time.. I am fine cleaning and cooking but crazy that it is so expected!

o ya Sora Kelly and I dyed our Hair again.. we are now the same color! :) dark brown! :) We will send you some pictures next week.. we are going to casa poporului today so we will have more pictures!! Sorry I have been slacking .. once you are in an area for 4 months.. it just seems like I have sent you some of everything! ha

Everything is going great!! We will be doing a lot of contacting this week! and a lady in the ward wants me to dye her hair so that will be fun! She is half paralyzed so it is fun to help her out! :) We have exchanges this week.. It should be fun they are on wednesday... I am loving life! I can't believe how fast time is going... I am learning so much! I plan on finishing the new testament this transfer! It is so great I love reading about the saviors life! I know that this church is true! This mission is the best mission ever:) I know that my life will forever be changed..:)

va iubesc!!! 

cu drag, Sora Abby Polatis 

people always parking backward on the streets

In the distance is a gypsy cart!!!

Me enjoying no coat!!!

Rainy season in starting!!

 Well This week we couldn't go out on Monday due to elections being dangerous because of all the people. But Sister Arnold was made a Sister Trainer so she goes on exchanges with all the seniors brings them to our area so that means that I go to the other areas with the other junior companions, well they are all new sisters....they have been here less than me like only 8 days hahaha so they relied on my language, ROUGH! BUT all was well, my first area for exchanges was Silay, it was really fun we really just made it super fun being that both of us didn't really understand what was going on but we taught and made the best of it. I was with Sister Sefeti, she is from Fiji, what a fun girl! We were walking around and we heard a bunch of little kids screaming and running so we were a little nervous, well we just had to go look. A 23ish age boy (reminded me of Derek actually) But he had slit the throat of this dog and was stringing it up a tree to skin in for DINNER!!! HAHA I took a picture, the dog really didnt have that much meat it looked but it still was interesting to watch and he just laughed while I took a picture! Next I went to Talisay. That was a full day of working and we just attacked it.  My language actually got better towards the end of the day and I got a confidence boost being in a different area and just saying what I know! It was weird being away from Sister Arnold but it is bound to happen so exchanges will happen 2 times a week so maybe that will get me in gear and help me learn quicker. It is amazing what a little stepping up will do for a person! But I came back on Friday for weekly planning and we really have stepped it up as far as finding people. President is expecting us to baptize weekly so we really have to focus on our finding efforts. But we also have to maintain the ones that we have already baptized. So it will keep us busy I am sure. In my personal studies I really been trying to pick out qualities that I want to build in myself and strengthen. I think confidence has kept me busy. Really with faith that is where the confidence comes from. When I lack faith in my teaching or speaking skills that is when I start to doubt myself. So it is about faith!!!! Well we Baptized Bro. Anthony, He really is so awesome. His desire to read and learn about the Book of Mormon really lets us know that he will continue and be fine in all his efforts in the church. Just this last Saturday we baptized Bro. Nico. He is 12 years old and such a fun guy. Where he was younger really taught him in detail in making sure he understood what a big commitment this was and one day while we were teaching him he was so curious about the priesthood and how he wanted it. So we continued and he was so excited after he was confirmed on Sunday! He has a sister who is really strong and has been for over a year now along with his grandparents. So he will be just fine as far as support goes. We have this new couple in our ward. They just moved here from Hawaii. She is from California and he is from Here in the 'pines. Well we were talking to her on Sunday and she was just telling us how hard of an adjustment it is being here and how different everything so we just let her know, ya it is super weird and really hard and somethings are harder than others but to stick it out and before you know it, it will feel normal. HAHA well washing clothes in a bucket never really feels normal but it gets easier. I see how some people live here and how they have to go fetch water and really in my apartment it is a really nice apartment. I am just thankful for that. We are supposed to me moving out sometime before the 31st but we aren't sure when that will be. We will live with the 6th ward sisters. They currently live next door to us and we love them. Well that is about it for the week.  But I  am becoming stronger because of being here! I know that this is what I needed and the Lord knew it to! He is probably up there thinking that he has his work cut out with me in helping me get to where he knows I should be! HA well thanks for all the letters and love and prayers! It really does sound like everyone is doing so good! Just stay that way! We were sad to hear that Sister Monson passed away, I remember when Sister Hinckley passed away and how sad that was but that they continue on knowing the plan and what they need to do to be together forever! I am so thankful to have been born in this gospel, I always look at people and wonder how I would be if I was in that situation. Weird. But I am so lucky to be here and able to teach! Really I have gotten so much better at not just teaching while they listen but really having them open up and get involved. I love being a missionary!! But I love you all! Cant wait until next week! Tell everyone hi! Nahidlaw ko sa inyo!!!! MMUUAAH!!!

Sister Polatis!!

My shade umbrella

Little bro. Nico

My District

Sister May--She comes with us alot

 c

Caught in a Typhoon rain storm--drenched!!!

hauling water

Practicing the piano before church

Bro. Anthony--So golden

Caled home for Mothers Day:)))

Hey Family! It was really good to see and talk with everyone.. minus Tate and Sarah but I am glad that they are doing great! That is what I like to hear! 

We had zone training this week and it was really fun-- I got to go on a little split exchange with Sora Tobler... It was fun-- We talked to some cool girls that I think are going to come to our English classes. We also met with Sora Nan our less active.. She was not really excited to meet with us like she usually is? We don't know what happened? Maybe she is sick of us making her feel guilty for not coming to church? I don't know.. either way we stayed for about 10 minutes because she said she was too tired to talk-- We will try again this week! :) 

We were able to meet with Sora Dragu again this week and talk about the restoration with her! We love Sora Dragu she helps us so much with the language and she called us her "dear children" ha so we love visiting her. We are going to be teaching her the plan of salvation this week! 

We then were able to meet with a lady that the elders found contacting. She is great! She has not been able to have kids and then she found out her husband has been cheating on her. she talked about how she thinks it was Gods way of helping her not be in a bad situation with her husband. She is very smart and speaks PERFECT english:) so it is great! She seems to be very receptive and loves to pray personal prayers. So we meet with her tonight! We are so excited to teach her the plan of salvation!! Wish us luck! 

So we again met with our investigator that is teaching me the piano. I have gained a huge testimony of giving people a baptismal challenge early on when teaching someone. She talked about how she doesn't really have a testimony in Christ. She watched some documentary that claims Christ could just be an Alien. I didn't know what to say to her but I honestly felt like the missionaries on the "district" that they made us watch in the MTC when I had to tell her if she has no intentions of every getting baptized then it is wasting our time and her time to meet. She said she doesn't want to have to read and pray every day and come to church... What can you do when people don't have a desire? I think she will come around later.... ha  so we will still see her at our English classes. 

As far as nursing goes out here. The mission is just too spread out for me to be able to be called the "mission nurse." I do have people call me if they are sick and I give them advice. I am working with the senior couple to try to volunteer and some clinics so I will see what I can do. I think I will be able to go to that doctors seminar -- where the american doctors will come and teach the doctors here and that is next week. It was also really cool when I met that lady at church that said she has set up an organization in Romanian. She said that I would be a perfect candidate to come back to Romanian with her company so we will see! But I will for sure look for more opportunities to use my nursing skills! 

I love you all so much! I love being a missionary... ya some days it is hard but it really is worth it! I am so happy to be hear.. I would not rather be anywhere else in the world! I am supposed to be in Romania right now! I know that the Lord has a great purpose for me here! 

Have a great week!!! This gospel is true! 

cu drag, Sora Abby Polatis 

Abbys District!!

Worst than IDAHO Weather--maybe

Ola!!! St. George Huh!! Man I miss that place. I bet the weather was so nice there. Ha yea Iowa weather might even be worse than Idaho weather. So it was like 85 one day, and the humidity was killing me. We were out knocking doors, and everytime we stopped at a house, the sweat just starting rolling down my face. Ha so I thought that was bad, but then the next day it was 30 and snowing like crazy. So it was the 2 extremes. But now its at like mid-60s so its perfect!! Ha tell Bode to get off that thing and get outside and start shooting some hoops. 

       Well my bishops name is Bishop Brent Bean. So maybe uncle Dirk will know him. He is a way cool guy. Always thinking of ways to help us with the work. Oh yea but we had the mission conference on Saturday!! It was awesome. Elder Anderson is a stud. All of the missionaries got to shake his hand along with Elder Dube (who was just put into the Quorum of the 70) Elder Real, Elder whitney Clayton. It was a great mission conference. It was mainly about how the Lord is truely hastening his work and everything like that. Then Elder Anderson talked about the Atonement a little bit. The spirit was really strong. It was also cool to get to see all of my MTC buddies. Elder Hales was excited to see me haha, Cant say I miss him that much but it was still good to see him.

      I still havent heard anything about the visas... No one has really. I usually hear that you are here for about a month and then you usually get gone but who knows. State-side missions are really not too bad. I actually like learning how to teach better in English so then I can just translate when I get to Brazil. Plus we have a lot of members in our ward that served in Brazil, so I usually say the prayer or give a short lesson in Portuguese to practice. Ha and I try it out on some Spanish people, but that usually doesnt work. We have been teaching quite a few lessons though. Our busiest days our on Sundays and Tuesdays because that is when they all want us to come, so then the rest of the week we are always tracting and trying to get some people to set up an apointment with us. We need to use the members more, but usually they dont have anybody for us to teach so its tough to get your referrals. But I love teaching. We taught this Asian kid who was about 17 the Restoration. He liked it a lot!! It was exciting. His mom couldnt speak English very well so we just asked him to tell her about what we taught and read the Livro De Mormon together. We're getting so close to getting some baptisms. And something pretty cool happened in the store the other day. I was getting some groceries, and I bought some of those burritos that I love ya know. And I needed some ranch, but all I could find were those huge bottles. And my companions were like we gotta go and stuff, but I needed some ranch ha, so I went to the end of this isle one last time, and this guy stopped us and asked if we were the LDS missionaries. He said that he had been taking a few lesson awhile ago but then stopped. So now he wants to finish up the lessons with us. Pretty cool I thought, reminded me of the Best Two Years ha. So yea all is well. My companions are funny guys and we have some good times. Last P-day we played ball for like 3 hours so that was awesome.

       I'm glad everything is going great there. I cant believe I already get to talk to you again. Ha I'll probably get to again when I get my visa, so we'll stay in some good contact. Well I love you all!!! I have dad's skype address so I'll write that down and I'll call you on saturday night. Love Elder Polatis

O

He wishes that this cape could fly him to Brazil

Elder Banta, Elder Clark, and ME

can you say "RAIN"

End of a great companionship

Well Hello family! How is everyone this week? I hope doing fantastic!   Well the day has come and me and Sister Arnold have been dreading it like crazy but yes this week is TRANSFER week! We should know by tomorrow what is happening! It is looking like we wont get one more like we wanted! But that is mission life! But Anyways for news this week, it was really just a working week! Nothing really that crazy!

 Well we are teaching this guy, his name is Freddy! I talked about his a little bit last week but he wanted to be taught from us again, and come to find out he is attending a 7 day Adventist church. But he really throws some stuff at us and I know doctrine but he like twists it. Anyways we have Bro. Hoyo-a and before he joined the church he really was skeptical of the Book of Mormon so he searched and linked the 2 (The BofM and the Bible) so we went to him and had him explain how they can be linked and it was such an eye opener at really how much they really go hand-in-hand anyways Bro. Hoyo-a was like "send him over here and I will teach him, but he can't surrender after he knows that The church of Jesus Christ is the true church" HAHA it was priceless. I want to be a scholar like that. It would be so helpful! But our little recent convert MacMac he is 10 and he wants to serve a mission so bad and this might be frowned upon pero he wanted to come with us. So we took him around and had him read the scriptures and bear his testimony. He is going to be legit if he just stays with it. We have just been working like crazy. We had another Baptism on Saturday. Her name is Klay-Klay! She is 13 and has come to church so much. She really made friends quite fast and everyone just welcomed her right away. We really have been working on finding people so that we can not only fulfill the mission vision but really have time to teach these people so that they understand and really gain a little testimony and not just relying on ours. We found Cherry-Mae and her boyfriend is a member but less active and we taught her and she was so accepting and she even came to the baptism on Saturday but didn't come on Sunday to church and we found out the boyfriend wont let her listen to us. So we are going to find a way around that. She is elect and she reads and is always so excited but we will see what we can do. But it will be another great week. We really have no idea what is happening with transfers but we will embrace it well.   Thanks to all the family who has been writing me! I love getting emails and knowing what is happening in everyone's life! Sorry it is so short! But I will save the good stuff for our chatting!!! This week is going to be awesome! I will continue to work hard. My testimony is definitely being strengthened every day! I love watching people learn and grown and experience the happiness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though there are trials that come in our path it really is our test and we can overcome them through the savior! He really is there waiting for us to truly come closer to him and know that he loves us! I read "Our Search for Happiness" I loved it! I knew really everything but just the way that he is speaking to others to let them know that they are always invited to come to Jesus Christ. BOMB!! But I love you all! I am stoked to see you all via Skype! MMUUAAHH! Love you! Be safe and padayon lang!!!!! MMUUAAH!! Tell Abby Hi for me! I love seeing all her pictures! She looks great! I love reading her letters!! Keep being the best family ever!

Love Sister Polatis!

Maybe Philippino Dr. Seuss

Me and Sister Arnold

Shirts to celebrate our companionship!

We are having way too much fun!!

Celebrate at Calea

Beautiful sunsets all the time

Election time--Vote for this hunk

We love Bro. Nico

At least i can spell it!

Our Baptism this week!

Waiting for people to come to church-only 20 so far!!!

EASTER WEEK IN ROMANIA!!

Hey everyone! It sounds like everyone is doing great! Congratulations Greg!! wahoo that is awesome! : That secret box thing is pretty cool! I am glad that Brandon pulled through for me! 

 I am super excited to talk to you guys!! but honestly I will probably start crying so just be prepared for that.. and I have no idea how long I can skype home for?? probably an hour? It depends on what Sora Kelly is doing too? so that is exciting! and our we 8 or 9 hours apart?? 

So the lady that I talked about last week from our English class, We met with her 3 times this week! Which is absolutely amazing! She is great. I mean she will progress slow.. but she read a chapter our of the Book of Mormon!! wahoo.. She came in late and was like.. "I am so sorry.. But I read!!" ha we were all super excited and I am getting really good at the song that she printed out for me.. so it is a win win.. she sits by me on the piano and corrects every mistake.. just like grandma used to.. ha but is was awesome in our last lesson with her.. she just stops and looks and me and was like "how are you so sure...?" "You girls are so wise." "The Youth of the world are not like you girls." It was so cool she was in awe that we actually believed everything we were teaching her about the first vision.. it was in Ramanlish (romanian and english) ha it was so powerful.. you can tell that she wants it to be true! We invited her to church on Sunday and she came! and even brought us candy bars... and said that they were from the easter bunny! She is so great! :) We will continue to meet with her this week! O YA and she also said that she wants to adopt me and Sora Kelly?? ha she wants me to ask your permission... hope that is is ok?? haha after I prayed to her in Romanian she came to the conclusion that I was perfect! ha 

Well this week has been a little bit different-- I mean it is the easter holiday so everyone is gone! they leave the big city and go to their country homes to celebrate this time because everything closes and no one has to work for like 5 days! It is cool though because everyone goes around and you don't say buna ziua.. you say "Jesus Christ is Risen.." and then the person replies and says "it is true He is Risen." in Romanian of course.. but it is cool.. they even answer the phone like that. 

We got permission to go to the Orthodox easter mass on Saturday night.. it didnt start until 11:00 so we had to stay up.. I did mean to put "had" how in the world did I stay up past 10:30 before my mission life... but it was so cool! IN Bucaresti it is the best because basically we have like the "temple square" for the Orthodox church that we were able to go to.. All of the missionaries from panduri and mihai bravu went together.. So there is like 20 of us missionaries at their mass... some people were very concerned/ annoyed that we were there.. ha but it was fun.. even one of our Elders got interviewed.. I am sure that I made Romanian national television.. ha so we are all sitting outside of the church and the their head priest guy is there (like our Prophet) and he comes out and starts his chant and then everyone is crossing themselves and then they bring out these torches.. and they claim that they have brought this flame from the holy land of Jerusalem and they brought it by plane..  and they then light everyones candles in the congregation..and then if the flame doesnt go out by the time you get home then ALL of your sins are forgiven! and I made it home with mine!!! wahoo:) I will send pictures! It was cool though.. everyone was up and about.. they even kept the metrou going so that people can get home.. it was a crazy site to see everyone sitting on the metrou with their candles lit! That was for sure a once in a life time thing.. ha well until next easter:) ha 

Well I dont want this to be too long so that we can chat it up in a few days! so everyone have a great week! The church is true! I love you all so much! Isus Hristos a inviat!! 

cu drag, 

Sora Polatis 

Easter dinner

Found these sweet beaded Easter Eggs

Cute Eggs

An Elder being interviewed by the News  about what we believe about Easter

We all got to go to Easter Mass

My candle stayed lit til I got home--My sins are forgiven!

So are Sister kelly's

Still being forgiven!!!

Dinner at Sister Gorzo's house

MTC Friends

Their sins are forgiven also!

Easter Dinner lounging party!