I Have Found My Calling . . .

...in hairdressing. I'm just kidding. I'll get to that in a minute.

I can't believe this transfer is almost over. As the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun, and Sora Momo and I are definitely having fun here in Timisoara. It's too bad that, since 9 sister are coming in, we'll most likely be saying goodbye because we'll both be needed to train. I wouldn't mind staying with her... for the rest of my mission, ha, ha. Who knows. Maybe we'll stay together. Maybe we'll get each other again later. Whatever happens, we'll make this last week count.

This week was same old, same old. As in, it's become same old for things to be crazy all over.

On Tuesday we went to read to Sora Mitin. I don't remember if I told you about her. She's an old member whose husband brought another woman home one day and said, "This is how things are going to be," because Sora M was diagnosed with cancer and told she'd live only one more year. She took her kids and left him, and suffered through the cancer on her own. And that was 42 years ago.  Now she's a little worse for wear, and she's become blind so us missionaries take turns going to her house to read to her out of the BOM or Bible every day. Tuesday is our day, and while we were there she asks us to find something. She doesn't know where it is because she's blind, we don't know what we're looking for, so we spend 20 minutes playing a game of "No, that's not it. Look in the other drawer." "No, we can't find it...". It was so funny, she was laughing the whole time. "It's so easy!" Then we found it. It was her phone bill. She wanted us to run to the store and pay it for her so she can call people again. Haha, I love Sora Mitin very much.

It was also Elder Bliss's birthday the day before, and Sora Momo and I were in charge of refreshments for FHE so we baked him a cake. We got all of the missionaries to put on those hats you sent me, and we put up the sign, and had a little celebration for him. He seemed very pleased.

There's one guy who comes to English class named Vlad who told me he wants to be my manager and we'll become famous together. I told him deal if we split the earnings 30/60/10 (the extra 10 going to Sora Momo for being my backup dancer). So now we just sign the contract, and I'll be Romania's next top star. Be ready. :-)  Vlad's really funny.

On Wednesday we went street contacting with the Elders. There was this one stray dog with a crooked spine and it practically kept running into the wall when it tried to walk. It was sad, but funny, so I whistled to the dog, and next thing we know, WE CAN'T GET RID OF HIM. We literally would hide behind corners to lose him. He found us. Every time. We'd cross the road really quickly and lose him. Twenty seconds later, we hear the *pit pat, pit pat* again.  That was the only friend we made contacting that day. I've learned my lesson. No more whistling at stray dogs.

Not a whole lot happened Thursday. We had district meeting like usual, but Elder Stinson shared this one devotional given at Rick's College by Hyrum W. Smith about why the restoration had to happen in 1820. Here's a link to the audio recording, it's really interesting and worth a family home evening or something:

https://byui-media.ldscdn.org/byui_ft/devo_audio/1988_09_27_ADV_Smith.mp3

We've also been practicing a song with Elder Montoya and Elder Morby to sing in sacrament meeting next Sunday, "If you could Hie to Kolob." It'll be great.

On Friday we had interviews. President and Sora Hill came up to Timi where the weather is nice and clear and warm. Apparently in Buch it's snowy and depressing. I love being in Timi. It's Spring here while in Buch and Constanta and even Craiova it's still snowy winter. I wish winter always lasted one week.  Anyway, after interviews we had yummy taco soup together, and then played laser tag with the Assistants and the Hunts. It was so intense, but I got 6th place! ...out of 10.

Entering to Play Laser Tag with the AP's

After the Game

Something Sora Merkley and I did after comp study a couple of days ago. We made district chains. They're paper people chains, but we colored them to look like us. And we're stinkin cute.  Sora Hill saw these, and she's like, "Oh my gosh they're so cute! They look just like you! Oh my gosh, it's our kids!" 

 Nothing happened on Saturday.

Sunday had a nice surprise when I walked in and saw some members from Oradea there to greet me. It was District Conference and the District Presidency is in Oradea. I loved to see President Geambasu and Fratele Blaga again. We also were banished third hour to the primary room,  but I didn't mind. I like it better in there. There's snacks and toys.

So, Sora Merkley has really long red hair, but she's been wanting to get it cut because her ends are damaged and she wants it healthy again. So, Elder Montoya graciously offered to cut it for her. We asked him, "Have you ever cut a girl's hair before?" and he says, "yes."  Well, let's just say that even with my limited knowledge in hair cutting, I had to take over.  Elder Montoya and his comp had a dinner date with the other elders, anyway. So I kicked him out and finished the haircut.  But I must say, I'm pretty proud of my first ever haircut. It's even a fancy a-line with layers and everything. (Don't look Jess, or you'll have a heart attack. Don't forget, I'm not professional). 

 

Before the hair cut

During the hair cut

After the haircut

And then today. We had to thoroughly clean our apartment for the end of transfers. Lesson for life: cleaning thoroughly is really easy if you keep things clean all the time, anyway. We cleaned it top to bottom in a really short amount of time. It was awesome. High-five to us.  Here are some photos of our apartment. We had to take pics to send in to prove that it was clean, so today is your lucky day, lol.

Our famous staircase

So that's how this week went. We weren't able to get any lessons, every one we scheduled ended up being cancelled within 30 minutes before the lesson. But hey, there are ups and downs, so we're just getting the down out of the way for whoever is in Timi next.

Or so I tell myself. Have a great week!

Sora Smith

Errybody in Timi gettin' Baptized!

Well, I guess winter only lasted a week here in Timi. It's warm and sunny outside, and the snow is almost melted. Still pretty snowy over in Buch, but hey, I'm not in Buch so there's nothing to worry about. I don't know if there will be more snow or not, or if there will just be an early spring.

Gypsy mansion across the street from the church

This week was crazy. As in I have a welt the size of a quarter in the shape of a cross-crazy. Let me start from the beginning.

So we had English classes on Tuesday like usual, but Sora Momo and I were in charge of the spiritual thought. We decided to pull out the over-used atonement lesson where we get a bag of candy and say, "Who wants one?" and make Elder Montoya do 10 pushups for every piece of candy we give to someone, whether they want it or not. It went really well this week, because the pushups started getting hard for Elder Montoya and the students started saying "Stop! Don't make him do anymore!" and even some students got down to work for their own candy. I still made Elder Montoya do the 10 pushups, because I told them that that was the only price I'd accept. Everyone was arguing and getting frustrated, until we said that this was exemplifying the atonement, and the whole room became quiet. We talked about how Christ paid the price for each one of us, whether we accept His payment or not, and it is the only way by which we can receive the joy we desire. So yeah, it was a great demonstration.

Our District

We've also been able to have lesson with the three girls. They love hanging out with us and playing at the church, so it was nice to be able to sit down with them and talk about the Word of Wisdom and Chastity. So after the lesson, we talked about the b-word, baptism. They all had a temporary baptismal date before, but something happened so we were bringing up the subject again. Then the oldest one, Damaris, says that their parents say they aren't old enough to make a big decision like that until they are 18. That means 2-4 years from now. But that they all really want to get baptized.  What's funny is that it's always about waiting for the people who are ready, and even then there's still so much in the way. In 2-4 years, though, Timi's going to see some great changes. So we're holding out on that. We're still connecting and meeting and having lessons with the girls. They'll get in the font soon, I hope. Lol.

Sora Momo and I are getting sad because it's almost the end of the transfer. We're having way too much fun serving together. So it's going way too fast.

Friday we had institute and I finally learned how to bridge a deck of cards. (We played after lessons).  Looks like I'm going into being a pro dealer when I get home. Watch out, Vegas. 

 

Saturday we had a ping-pong tournament at the church with us missionaries and a few investigators. I came in fifth... and Elder Hunt won so we gave him the trophy we made. The trophy was a cardboard and tape ping pong paddle made by Elder Montoya and painted purple with a little yellow crown by us. Ha,ha, it was cute. And that lasted pretty much all day.  Then we went out to get Shaorma with the elders. Thing is, running on an empty stomach and then eating Shaorma doesn't really work for me. Because then I got really sick and my stomach was on fire. No more Shaorma. At least for a really, really long time, lol. 

Sunday we had church, we fasted, we planned our week ...

And then MONDAY we went to Arad for pday to go paintballing with the missionaries over there. It was so much fun! And that's where my welt came from. Right on my side. Hurts like heck but it was so worth it.   It probably sounds like we play all day and don't do a whole lot of work. Believe me, in between all these events, we ARE doing actual missionary stuff. Contacting. Lessons. The works.

Our return trip from playing paintball, my hair is full of paint

Dar, hai să fim onest, în realitate, noi jucăm toată ziua bună ziua.  Suntem misionare bune!! Eu vă promit!  (Rough translation =  But let's be honest, in reality, we try to make our work fun and every day a good one, while we are striving to be good missionaries! I promise you! 

I should probably add something spiritual so please remember to pray.  Prayer is a very important thing. Pray all day every day.

Have a good week!

Se poate!

P.S. - Today a kid stopped us in centru and gave us flowers because we're beautiful.  So sweet!

S-a găsit-o: misionară pierdută în România

Dear Family and Friends,

Please let Emily know that I am praying for her.

I've noticed that everyone has a different mission experience, even in the same mission. Some missionaries go through training new missionaries, some experience this or that. It's weird, you never know what to expect. At first I was the "open cities" missionary but I guess I'm getting a break from that :) I do know for sure I'm training next transfer, though. Nine new sisters are coming in, meaning every sister that is older than the transfer behind me is going to be training. That will be exciting. 

Beautiful Sunset in Timisoara

Oh yeah, you asked about my apartment. All of the Elders joke around about our Timi apartment, saying "How are things going in your mansion of an apartment?" They only say that because we have two levels and stairs, ha, ha. But after we've worked out a while, we're not liking the stairs. What they're jealous about, I don't know.  It's really nice, and unlike the Craiova apartment, the couch isn't falling apart! Haha, I like it because it's clean and it's easy to keep clean.  I'll... send pictures later.  However, we have our own bathrooms.  I'm a plumber! My toilet broke,  so I got my hands dirty and fixed it.  And I done fixed er good.

There are trams and busses in Timi, but we're only a 20 minute walk from the church so we're not spending the 100 lei or whatever for a pass. We get everywhere by foot, which really isn't bad, until it snows.

I am staying healthy and I'm surprised! I've really been feeling great for a really long time. Getting little cold symptoms here and there but it's all good.

It finally snowed in Romania!  Adica, (in other words), it's kind of like someone took a giant shovel of snow and dropped it on top of everything, overnight. It's a little crazy how fast it went from 0 to blankets. It's cold! And a month late, which is a month less of snow so that's a good thing.

This week we had exchanges with the sister training leaders. Sora Peterson and I had a lot to do on Tuesday. We had a lesson with a 10 year old girl Delia and her same-age cousins, a half English, half gospel lesson. We talked about the plan of salvation and I brought out little cutouts of the plan, the girls really liked that until they went off topic and asked me if I believed in extra terrestrials... ha, ha. Delia's father was there, like he usually is for these lessons, but he doesn't typically pay attention. We gave Delia her own BOM, though, so we'll see where this goes.

I also taught seminary in Romanian. I mean, there's only one student, so it's not like that's a big deal, but hey, it was in Romanian AND I was talking about Isaiah, so I'm pretty proud of myself.  And, because we're on exchanges and I'm really bad with directions, we got lost, in Timi. It wasn't so bad, I mean, we made it to the church. Eventually. And it hadn't had snowed yet. Lol.

Oh, yeah, and so I've been trying to dye my hair back to a light brown color, but it's not been lightening up at all, so I decided to get a super light dye so it would settle in the middle, right?   And now I'm blonde.

ANYWAY, so this Friday was my six month mark, and Sora Newell and Elder Brundage (who are BOTH in Craiova having fun WITHOUT me) called and we chatted for a good thirty minutes about all our adventures. I miss them so much. Someday my whole MTC district will be serving together again in... Buch or something.

Writing email home

So that's pretty much my week. The BOM is true. If you're not reading it currently, start it. There's a reason 1st Nephi is in the front of the book, it needs to be read the most.  Lol.

Okay, the elders are telling me to hurry up to play cards with them, so I'd better go.

I'll write you next week!

Sora Smith

 
P.S. I forgot to tell you something else we did (besides getting lost in Timi... again...)

There's this one family who lives in the countryside who I got to meet for the first time. Very humble family who are in the process of building their home, and so sweet and they love hearing what we have to say and having us over. Apparently they usually have fed missionaries nightmare food, like livers and hearts and brains. I got lucky, they gave us sarmale hahaha.  Their family name is Familia Crap. It's funny talking about them, "We're going to the Crap's today!"

But they are really sweet people. You ask the father, "Can we share a verse from the BOM?"and he says, "have I EVER said no?" So cute. Unfortunately, their oldest son who is also their money maker cut his arm, so they're struggling and really stressed lately. He is okay, but things are hard for them right now.  I hope to go to the Crap's again soon.

Branch Family Home Evening Activity

FHE - Get the cookie to your mouth without touching it

Almost there!

Success!!

Ciao ciao!

Exhausting Week!

Wow, things have really been crazy in Timi! It's like a completely different mission here!

It's weird hearing about the world over there and how much it's changing. It will be so different when I get back.... exactly a year from today! That's weird, I feel like I only just got out to Romania. But at the same time, it feels like I've lived here my whole life. Weird. Just weird.

As far as speaking Romanian with companions/districts go, that's extremely difficult to do. We're encouraged to "SYL" (speak your language) in order to better practice the language. Sora Merkley and I made a goal to turn Sundays and Wednesdays into 100% SYL days, but otherwise, we speak English. It's a lot different than if we were to have a native companion, because if there's something neither of us know, we can't learn immediately. In this mission, the missionaries learn the language a lot slower than other missions. But hey, I'm working hard so I'll be there soon! ...or maybe by the time I get home.

Still no snow. Which is super lame. I can get by today without a jacket. Of course, I don't, because every Romanian will give me funny looks, ha, ha.

To answer some questions from the last home email, I actually heard "Let it Go" by Idina Menzel when I was getting Christmas music on iTunes, and it sounds amazing. But, it wasn't her that sang the Romanian version, it would be kind of hard to have to sing the same song in a bunch of languages you don't know. The song in Romanian is "S-a întâmplat" ("It Happened") and the singer was actually also incredible. I was amazed at how good the voices in Romanian were, in fact, some of the songs I prefer in Romanian, lol.

I can't really answer the question about the Mcdonalds food in Romania, I never had it much in America so I can't tell a difference. Tastes like American fast food, anyway.

So! A little more information this time!

It's really different being in an 8 person district. I like it! If one set of Elders can't go contacting, talk to the others! If one set of Elders aren't listening, talk to the others! If you need a change of pace from them all, you have a Senior Couple! Lol. No, but actually our Elders really are great! Elder Stinson is our DL, and he reminds me a lot of our cousin Brad, actually, in looks and personality. Good, responsible, and always says to have a great evening after he calls us ha, ha. His companion is Elder Bliss who is really funny and when he's dedicated to something, he's dedicated. Elder Montoya is from D.C., and he's a lot of fun. We all fake slap each other because of him. His compy is Elder Morby, who I don't know if you remember, is the Elder who we met at the airport right before we took off to Romania. So, he's technically "in my group" but I wasn't in the MTC with him.

Elder Stinson and Elder Bliss

Elder Montoya and Elder Morby

Sora Merkley is from Vernal, and she is a lot of fun. Contacting is a lot of fun, I actually thought I'd never enjoy contacting in my life. But we make it a blast. We get along great, I really enjoy being with her.

This is us (in the background) practicing street contacts and presenting a message

The Hunts are awesome! (I have to say that, I think they read my blog...). Just kidding, of course they are really awesome!  It's great having a Senior Couple in the mission, adica, (in other words) missionaries who are responsible over the age of 19/20......... lol. Work is easier with them around.

Timi is booming. My first day here, we had two lessons scheduled. One of them fell through, but I mean, way to hit the ground running. We've only had 3 since, but that's already more than I had in Craiova! What else is funny is Sora Merkley says last week was the lowest number she's ever put in for lessons, before that her lowest ever for a week was 5. Ha, ha, I was lucky to see one a week in Craiova or Oradea. It's nice knowing that that's what I set-up for other sisters though, replacing me in those cities. I will always be their first sister mish, muahahaha!

Oh yeah, so we currently have like, 16 investigators. More than I've had collectively! The nice thing is, that means we hardly contact here. I haven't had 16 total from my previous cities, lol. It's really weird teaching a bunch of people I don't know, though, and who I haven't found myself. I haven't done this until now.
 

One investigator is Victoria. She's the first one I met. She's 17 and trying to get into Cambridge.. so she's extremely smart. Apparently she's asked a lot of really good questions, like "How did God get a body?" or "So does that mean there's a Heavenly Mother?"  I wasn't there for those. I came later. We've been trying to get her to take a BOM, but something is keeping her back. Probably that her dad is a priest. So that's our focus for her: take the book! You'll love it!

The next three girls are Elida, Edina, and Damaris, three high school friends who have had all the lessons, and even had baptismal dates for a little bit, but something happened. Still trying to push for those.

Next is Maria, a woman from Nigeria in her early 30's with a crazy and sad background story. She works at the hospital, but either doesn't get paid at all or is paid so little because she's not a Romanian citizen, so she relies on her boyfriend's wallet. Such a strong and amazing lady, and this week we're going to help her quit smoking with a program made by the church.

Those are the big ones. I haven't met much of the rest of the investigators. Well, there is also Tibi, but I'll tell more about him later.

The mission in Timi is so different. There are weekly branch activities, like FHE, institute, seminary... those didn't exist in my other cities ha, ha. The branch has about 15 active members, and Sunday School and Relief Society can get pretty.... scary. Two sisters in particular like to argue a lot, haha.

Family Home Evening

We've been doing some contacting for English classes which start tomorrow. Apparently Timi gets a LOT of English students, so that will be exciting.

There's one sister in Timi who is very old and has been battling cancer more than half her life. She has a wonderful spirit, and we go there occasionally to read her the BOM or Bible. She's so funny, she likes to joke about going with us to the disco tech. And, she shows us she can lift herself up from her bed, and she's grinning ear to ear. What a sweet lady.

We had zone conference last Tuesday in Arad. Nothing special happened. A bunch of missionaries talked. I was asked to play the piano... (why does everyone think I can play???)

Zone Conference Object Lesson on Cooperation and Working on Common Goals

Sora Merkley gave Elder Morby a haircut. It was funny watching him clean the hair off himself with a vacuum....

On Saturday we went to an Orthodox Monastery with Tibi. Tibi is a taxi driver the sisters contacted before I got to Timi, and who is interested in religion and wanted a copy of the BOM. He took us to the monastery, and that was... well, let me say this:  When people build things out of faith, it's really beautiful. It was a nice place with many interesting paintings.  But gosh, was I relieved to get out of there.

Sag Monastery near Timisaora

Driving us back to the city, Tibi tells us Goliath (as in David and Goliath) was 5 stories high, and that he found a dinosaur whose tip of it's finger was a ten story building.   That's great, Tibi.

I gave a talk on Sunday about how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul. Talks will be so easy when I say them again in English. I tried using as little notes as possible.  Well, I almost did it.

And then today! We went laser tagging! The three girls came (3 Investigators) and brought some friends, so there were 12 of us playing. It was fun, but I'm definitely out of my game.  So I wore pants today, for the first time in months. They didn't fit me in the MTC, but they fit today! What good news, lol. I'm relieved, and weirded out. I'm wearing jeans.

Anyway, that's kind of how things are going. I've been super exhausted this week. Sora Merkley and I are doing the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (exercise program) ha, ha, and so I've been pretty beat. But it's good beat and in 20 more days, I'll be shredded.  Lol.

So I wrote enough for this week and last. This blog will make quite a novel.

I don't know what else to write.

Um, the Book of Mormon is true! I'm reading in Mosiah right now, and I read recently about the people of Limhi who were in bondage, and the Lamanites are persecuting them so the people of Limhi are fighting back, but they don't get anywhere because they're slow to remember their Lord.  So, they stop fighting and are praying a lot, and what I love is that, instead of causing that they should be released from bondage, God grants them with strength to endure the trials.  I love that, because that happens today. Sometimes we think, "just take this problem away!" But, what needs to happen is that we're just able to better deal with the problem.  And then, after they exercise their faith in the Lord, the people of Limhi escape the bonds. 

Anyway, that's about it. We're hoping one of these 16 can turn into a baptism this transfer!

We'll see.

Sora Smith

Timi!

Hi all,

 

Sorry this week, I don't have a whole lot of time! 

Just a quick question/answer this week, maybe I'll have more time later.

To answer your question:  McDonalds here is just like it is in America. Not romanianized, same old burgers and fries.

My new companion is so amazing. Sora Merkley's from Vernal, UT. Super down-to-earth and we get along great. 

 

Sora Merkley, Me, and a Member of the Branch

 

Our district is great, the elders are Elder Morby, Montoya, Stinson, and Bliss, and we have a senior couple, the Hunts. 

 

The Hunts

 

We have so many lessons in Timisoara! There are 16 investigators! All ones I didn't find myself! And we hardly ever go contacting, there are so many lessons here. Haha,  We're starting English Classes in a couple of weeks.

 

Meeting some members of the branch

 

Timisoara is a very different mission area than what I've ever known. I love it here.  The city is beautiful, I've missed the west. It's structurally pleasing rather than Craiova where all the buildings are gray, haha. 

 

The weather's warm, actually today I could have gotten by with only a sweater. Where's the snow? No clue. 

 

Language is coming, it's better to practice it now with these lessons we are finally able to teach. I'm saying things more than "Hi, we're missionaries and we-- oh, okay, have a good day." lol. 

 

The scriptures are great. Romania is cool. And I'm sorry it's so short today, next week I should be able to give you more information!

Have a good week!

Sora Smith

La mulţi ani şi sanatate, blah blah blah nu pot să vorbesc în limba Română!

Transfers are happening this week on Wednesday. I'm going to . . . (wait for iiiiiit): Timişoara with Sora Merkley! What's strange is that, even though we opened this city, both Sora Ralls and I are leaving Craiova and going to another city while Sora Newell and a trainee are being whitewashed here. Well, they now have a few people to work with, so that will be good!

Timisoara

Sora Merkley

We've been able to meet with the two nursing students again. We just had a small lesson about prophets and how this church is the same that Christ established, and they seemed to accept that well. They are so great, they want to keep meeting and even go hospital contacting with us. The sad thing is we're leaving. What a bummer. But we told them all about the next missionaries coming in and we're planning on setting up a lesson for Sora Newell with these girls, so that's good.

We got to watch two movies for the holidays, so we decided to watch "A Goofy Movie" on January 1st. I found that movie dubbed in Romanian, and since it's one of my favorites, I just had to get it... but we watched it in English anyway, hahaha.  The next day we watched "Frozen" with our district. It was so good! And we actually watched it in Romanian. I was proud of myself - I understood the whole movie! And the songs were so beautiful - I don't know how they are in English, but in Romanian they were amazing. I'm going to come home and see it in English and be like, "Hey, this isn't the same movie!"

Yes, I was able to see the family videos that you sent and download the music. Yay, I have music that isn't Christmas music again!  Thanks Jeff and Adam!

I loved the Christmas gifts. They were perfect.  It was a perfect Christmas!

We went to the hospital again a few times. I love hospital contacting because they really love us being there, too. We also have gotten quite a few numbers and people telling us how much they want to come to church. I guess when you're out there serving people, they tend to think your message must be pretty good.

Hospital in Craiova

New Years was amazing. We wanted to eat out, but everywhere was closed so we ended up at MCDONALDS again, yay! But then my district went to the roof of our apartment and played games until midnight, (we got permission to stay up). We also ended up tying a thread to my superman action figure's ankle and bungee jumping him from the seventh story. It was awesome.  Then we went on the roof and watched as Romania lit up in fireworks. It was like we were in the middle of a giant firework show, 8 stories up in the air. Everyone was setting off tons of fireworks, it was the best firework show I've ever seen. That, and I celebrated 9 hours before you. Best New Years ever.

Anyway, that's about it. This next transfer is exciting, Timişoara (Timmy-shwara) ;) is a really big city, and there will be 8 missionaries there instead of 4. And, apparently there are a lot of lessons going on over there, so I'll be really busy this next transfer! (AND maybe I'll see a baptism... what?)!

Sora Nicole Smith