When it rains pretzels

This is me and my new companion, Sora Owen, on a day that didn't get above -5 degrees celcius.

This is a picture of our Christmas Eve feast, with all the different types of meats and of course, the pork fat!

Hey family and everyone!!! How are all of you? I'm amazing.

I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas...mine was just great. I have a lot to write today so I'll try to get through everything that I have on my list...First, the work.

Our Area Presidency for the mission gave us a challenge/invitation to ask all of our progressing investigators to be baptized before the end of the year. And we are taking the invitation literally and are inviting everyone to be baptised - including some people that aren't even investigators yet! It's been really fun, and we'll see how it ends up going, but hopefully we'll see success.

Vatuta said that she wants to and will get baptized, but she is praying right now to know when, because she didn't feel prepared for the date that we gave her (Jan 9) but we told her to pick a date and pray for that date within the three week period, and she said that she would. She came to church on Sunday, loved it as always, and said "Don't call me until Tuesday - I still have some time to pray, right?" Of course she does. So we'll meet with her on Tuesday and watch the Lord work miracles.

Also, we invited Ion to be baptised for the upteenth time, ok maybe it's just the 3rd. And he said "no, I've told you many times" and I responded by saying "yes, and we've told you many times that as long as we meet to teach you, we'll keep asking you." He said, "it's just not something I want. If I wanted it, I would come to you and say 'hai, when is my baptism, hai fill up the font, faster, faster!' " ("hai" means "c'mon!" in Romanian) so then we talked about why he doesn't want it and were able to give him some commitments that he accepted that will help him continue to progress towards baptism. One of his reasons was the fact that he didn't feel clean enough to make a covenant with God. Wow. I wasn't expecting that answer and compared to the many other answers/excuses we get (I'm already baptised, I don't believe it's true, I don't get why this is so important, and so on) it was just really sincere. He is still making progress, and it's exciting to see that. I still have confidence that he will search for the waters of baptism before too long.

In other news, we are enjoying trying to find the people that God has prepared out here for us. it's going well as far as our enthusiasm goes. The actual finding of people is on a roller coaster down-slope, but that just means that we'll be shooting up here pretty soon. We're still looking, and God is still guiding our steps.

Ok, Christmas traditions = food and lots of it. We went over to a member's house for Christmas Eve and feasted a Romanian feast which includes lots of meat - mici, sunca, carnac de porc, liver, all of these are different forms of meat that comes from a pig. Then you have bread (and lots of it...you can't eat at a Romanians without eating tons of bread) Sarmale which is delicious, meat wrapped up in cabbage and prepared so that it is delicious, Then you have lots of what they call salads, but it's more like spreads for bread - salata de beuf, salata de ciuperci, and salata cu mere = a french spread which is good, but I really don't know what's in it, a mushroom spread, and a spread with apple and celery. Then you have the "side condements" which on that night consisted of shredded sugar beets and pork fat with the consitancy of jello...yummy? not. Of course you have suc (juice/soda),

and then lots and lots of cookies and cakes at the end.

Some other traditions are that they have carolers (usually gypsies) that sing and if they sing for you you give them money...that's just how it works. Or, you have gypsies that dress up as "bears" but they look like rainbow paper mache puppets and they dance around with other gypsies that "play" or rather hit drum type things and blow in trumpet type things and they go around the streets and busses clapping and clicking and not really doing anything too special, but they collect money off of it.

As for New Years traditions, basically all the Romanians just get together and get drunk. That's all it comes down to - unless it's members of the church and we just get together for some karaoke and party and music and food and just good ol' fashion fun.

Random fun things, there is a lady that is inactive here, and me and my companion have been trying to figure out how we can get closer to her, because she's kinda distant and cold. But she LOVES to emroider and is really good at it, so my companion suggested that we ask her to teach us. She's done cross stich before, but I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to that type of stuff, but I said "ok, lets try" We asked her and she loved the idea. She's really proud that she can teach us something, and it's been fun. She even offered to give us some of her patterns so that we can do it, and I told her I wanted something little to start with. She gave me a really hard pattern that has 42,578 or something like that stiches! ....that's easy? I at first wanted to try to finish it on my mision, and I figured out that would mean 200 stitches/day. I tried and by day 7 with only 300 stitches done, I decided that probably won't work...I think my new goal is to finish before I get married lol! I asked her how long it would take and she said it would take me a year if I did a little bit each day...crazy! But fun.

I'm kinda getting it, but there are still times when I need my companion to come and fix whatever mess I created somehow hehe.

Cool history for whoever wants to know, this year marks the 20th year of freedom from Communism for Romania. 20 years ago on the 23rd of December the Revolution broke out in the streets of Bucuresti, Constanta, and Timisoara. Hundreds of people died within the next few days until the Communist leader, Cercescu was killed on the 25th of December, 20 years ago. The 26th of December is the day that they celebrate their first day of freedom from government. But their 4th of July equivelent is on the 1st of December where they celebrate the unity of the country of Romania - still under communism at that time, but they were officially a free country from the oppression of outside countries and the Romanian borders as we have them today were established. It's a really cool time. Ok, history lesson over...

So my family informed me on the phone that I don't tell enough "fun" type stories in my email, so I'll try to do that more.

Todays story: About a month ago, my companion and I were bloc knocking around 7:30pm or something. Sometimes people get mad when you knock on their door. At one door, we knocked and from behind the door they asked who we were and then yelled at us to go away, so we said "ok, have a good night" and went to the next door. But before we could knock on their door, the door we just left opened rather violently, and the husband yelled at us "what do you want!?" "We have a message to share..." "no, we don't want it, go away" ok. and he slammed the door. We talked to the next door and then moved on to the next after that, and realized that the wife from the "angry door" was spying on us, and when she saw us move to the next door she got her husband and he came out and started yelling at us again, and we calmly tried explaining to him that we were no longer at his door and that we weren't trying to bother him. "How dare you come here at this hour, at 10 at night" "sir, it's 7:30" (But honestly that doesn't matter...if the sun is down it's late and qualifies for "at this hour?")

And then he kept going and again we said "sorry, but we're trying to talk to them now, we're not bothering you" and then he interjected with "do you want me to beat you with a stick?" what? and then he reaches behind his door and shakes in our faces a long wooden rod and says "this stick? Do you want me to beat you with this stick?" "no, not really" (picture him yelling with a red face, and me and my companion talking as quiet as possible and you'll get the hilarity of the difference). When we said no, he got confused a little bit, and then said "oh, well, do you want me to call the police?" "no, we don't" but his wife in the background said, a little too excitedly, "I'll call the police!" and by this time, he's made enough noise that people from floors above and below are coming out of their houses to see what is going on.

They finally got him to stop shouting long enough to ask us what on earth we were doing. We told them that we were missionaries trying to share a message of joy about the restored Gospel, but if people didn't want it we continued on, and we weren't trying to bother anyone and had tried to leave but he kept yelling. They just said "yeah, you better go" all the while with the angry man yelling at me "aren't you ashamed? aren't you ashamed?" and I looked at him and said "no, i'm not and never will be, but you have a good night" and then we turned around and walked away with him still confused and red in the face. It was one of those experiences where you get out of it, you look back and you just can't help but laugh your head off. I mean, who randomly had a wooden beating rod behing their door? HAHA!

Don't worry, we weren't once in danger, and I wasn't scared at all because they might get loud and mad, but I don't think I've ever seen a Romanian actually act on it. But it was funny.

Ok, and my sisters wanted me to keep teaching you vorbe, or Romanian sayings, because their favorite is still "suntem prieteni de catarama" which means "we're friends of the belt buckle" or in other words, we're tight. I told them on Christmas the equivelent to I'll believe it "when pigs fly" which is "cand o ploua cu covrigi" which translates litterally to I'll believe it "when it rains pretzels". And a new one for today is "intr-un ceas" which litterally translates to "in a watch" or "in a little bit/in a short time". I love it.

So now that this letter is forever long, I just want to tell all of you thanks for thinking of me on Christmas - my parents told me that you all said hi, and I appreciate it. I love being out here as much as I would want to be home with you all, I know that I am doing what God wants me to do by being out here to share the greatest message with His children - that is the fact that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He still lives, that He loves us and we can find the fulness of that love through the Restored Gospel. We have a living prophet which proves that God's love for His children doesn't change - He loves us just as much now as He loved His children in the Bible. I know this is true, and I know that it is by living the principles of the Gospel that we can find true happiness regardless of our circumstances.

I love you all so much, and I'll talk to you again next week.

Always, --Sora Karina

Snow!

Heres a pic of me trying to hang up the Romanian Christmas lights so you can see how confusing they are. They are just a big circle with only one plug.





This is me after contacting in the snow outside for an hour.

This is our view outside off our balcony the morning after the snow...so pretty!

Hello everyone! How are you doing? I'm doing great.

This week was full of adventure and good stories, and I'm sorry that I probably won't be able to tell you all of them, but I'll try. So first, transfers... Sora Kiriyama and I had a good beginning of the week, and then on Tuesday night we needed to go to Bucuresti for us to get our new companions and such. So we went to the auto gara, or the place where we pick up the bus to go to Buchurest. We were the first ones there, and the driver put our bags in the hold under the bus and we got on. Sora Kiriyama was paranoid about someone stealing her bags so she picked a window seat above the hold and voiced her determination to be aware of whatever could happen. I told her she shouldn't worry, no one would take her bags (in this time, the driver was standing outside of the bus kinda walking around waiting for more riders). She said "ok, but if someone does come, I'll run off the bus and tackle them." I reminded her of how she had tripped onto the bus moments before and that she would probably trip off the bus and land on her face and she laughingly agreed, and said " well, what would we do then?" and I said "fine, if someone steals your bags, I'll run off the bus and chase after him."

No sooner had I said that then someone came up to the bus having noticed that the driver was on the other side and not in sight. Sora Kiriyama said "Oh no! He's taking my bags!" I said, "No, he's not." and she said "Yes, It's happening! It's happening!" and I look out the window, and sure enough he's got her largest suitcase and is booking it away. So I ran off the bus and started chasing after him. He got about 10 yards away and heard me about 3 feet behind him so he turned to look which tripped him up, so he dropped the bag and kept running. I got her bag and ran to the bus with it where Sora Kiriyama was waiting watching the other bags in case there were more people in his group. Luckily, it was only him. I said a prayer of thanks for Heavenly Father's help, and then we laughed hysterically that we had JUST talked about it, and then it happened! So funny. We made tons of jokes to wear off the adrenaline about how it's a good thing we're missionaries who know how to plan well so that we can accomplish our goals, and how of course that would be the end of our transfer together and so on.

Needless to say, I stayed outside the bus until the cabs were closed and we left while she stayed on board to watch our carry-on bags/purses as people started boarding. It was an exciting experience. Then I told my zone leader at mission counsel the next day what had happened cuz I knew he would laugh, and not 1/2hour later, somehow in the story amongst the zone leaders I had num-chucks and brass knuckles...I don't know how that happened, but it was really funny. Anyways, we were fine, and the Lord helped us, and know we know to be better prepared. All is well.

Anyways, about the work, we still haven't managed to get a baptismal date for Ion. he's just so stubborn, and gets caught up on the little things. We have talked so much with him about faith, action, praying to know the truth, and the Book of Mormon. He believes the Book of Mormon is a good book, and maybe even that it's true he just won't admit it, and doesn't understand the need to change his life for it. I am positive that it will happen, but he might be one of those people that just takes a while of learning and having spiritual experiences, and then one day just wakes up and says, "hm, I should get baptised" and then does it. We're still trying, but forcefull and pushy action is not a good idea. We are praying fervently always for the Lord's help and inspiration to know what he needs and how we can help him come closer to the Savior and to have a stronger conviction/desire to do what is right. We are praying that he will get baptized this Saturday before Christmas if he is prepared, and we are sure that the Lord will help it happen. If it doesn't, I am confident that there will be a miracle in there somewhere even in his amount of progress even if that's not baptism. Realistic, but still with a higher vision.

We found 2 new investigators this week, and it's just always fun to find people to teach. I am having a blast with Sora Owen. She's awesome. She's been in the country for 3 months and is from Maine. We are contacting in freezing cold weather, and somehow still finding success. Even in the snow that happened, that's right, IT SNOWED!!! I was so excited. The wind makes it freezing, and it's great. We are very much looking forward to the transfer to see what this amazing time of year can bring.

One fun story is that a Muslim family actually let us in while we were bloc knocking...they don't speak any Romanian and the husband kind of speaks English so it was interresting, but they were so nice and open, and it was just a great opportunity to set aside differences and testify of what we know to be true. And they gave us turkish delight. The only time I've ever known about it is from the Chronicles of Narnia, but they served some to us, and I told them that it was delicious so they gave us a box for Christmas! Now we will be eating Turkish Delight on Christmas, so fun. Oh, and we decorated for Christmas this week! It is so much fun improvising on the things that they just don't have here in Romania. Dad, you'll laugh at this- the way Romanian Christmas lights work is they have a string of lights which is really just a circle that connects to only one plug. No inlet, only an outlet and it's all connected into one circle. I don't know why or how it's supposed to work, but that's what they do.

And I got your package, and Cherisse and Alley's package which is good, thank you so much! We have a little Christmas corner in our house with our presents stacked up and such and it's awesome...feels so much like Christmas and we're having fun. I love listening to your tape that you sent me...I haven't finished it yet, but I have laughed so hard and it's awesome. And Jenna, it did work to listen to dad through mom's phone...it was quieter, but I heard it and it was awesome, thanks. And I'm loving the stories, and it's just a great pre-quil to Christmas!

Oh, and thank you so much Grandpa for your email! I loved it and love hearing from you. I'm glad that all is well and that you enjoy my letters...I enjoy writing them. Well, I know that there was more I wanted to write, but I forget now. I'll be sure to not forget my story list at home next week and I'll write them then. But the work is going great, I'm staying as warm as is possible and I'm loving what I'm doing. My companion is awesome, and this transfer is going to be great, I'm excited. I love you all so so very much, and I hope that all is well with you.

I would challenge you all to share the gospel, even if it's just through service, somehow this Christmas season. It would be a great gift to Christ if we could each share with someone what He gave to us. I love you all so very much, and I'll write more next week!

Love always, --Sora Karina

Pics

Here are some pictures - a picture of my district, and a picture of me soap boxing. I know the Elders look bored, but I think it was really that they didn't know what to do and were amazed that I actually got up and just started going. It was funny. Love ya!

la bomba and a soapbox

Hey! How are you all doing? I'm doing amazing. This week was just great. where to start?


The 1st of December was a Romanian holiday where we celebrated Romania being united as a country, and we had a branch activity that was sooooo much fun. The branch president read some of the dedicatory prayer that was given when the mission was opened, to show what the Lord thinks about the greatness of Romania. It was neat. Then we ate a bunch of traditional food that was delicious, and then we had a dance party, Romanian style. You know on the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" how they all hold hands and dance in circles? Well, they actually do that here, and it's really fun. I know it doesn't look like fun, but when you join in, it is a lot of fun. And they have different types of dance steps depending on the type of song, and yeah...it was great. It included the "Numa numa" song which is in Romanian. Amazingly, I can understand all the words now, which is interesting. It's a love song (go figure) and it is a really fun song to dance to.


Another side note, apparantly the Romanians love the "la bamba" song and know all the words when all that I know is "la la la la la la bamba" and it's funny.


Funny story: Sora Kiriyama and I were knocking vilas and this girl about 10 or 11 years old came up to us and asked me if Sora Kiriyama was my daughter....uh, no? First of all, she's a year older than me, and she doesn't look that young. Second, she's Japanese, and yeah. But in discussing how she could think that, we decided that it's in the eyes...plus, they put last names first in this country, and we both have the word "Sora" on our tags like a family name, and both of our names are spelled with a K which letter doesn't really exist in their alphabet unless it's a borrowed word. We were laughing really hard. The thing is though, is that this is the second time in my mission that I've been asked if my companion was my child...the other time was when I was with Sora Jones in Brasov. I don't think I look that old, but whatever. We laughed.


Cool culture thing, yesterday (Sunday) was ziua mosului nicolai, or the day of father nicholas who is a saint in the Orthodox church. It's the day where they shine their shoes the night before and leave them out by the door, and then St. Nick comes and puts candy and goodies in their shoes. He's not the same as Santa, but is like a prequil to him.


Ok, now for the cool stories about missionary work. We found some investigators! I was really excited, and it was cool how, too. We decided we (Elder Harley and I) wanted to go soapboxing. So we went as a district to centru (downtown) with a stool and a box of Books of Mormon. But we really didn't know how to start it up, so we tried street boarding style for a little bit,(where you just stop people walking by to talk to them) but that wasn't really doing anything. So I finally decided that you just had to get up and do it, so I did. I got up on the stool and just started testifying to the people who were walking past and trying to not listen to me, but you know that I have a loud voice, so they couldn't help it. There was even a guy that was riding on his bike that passed, came back, and started taking pictures of me on the stool projecting my voice for all to hear about a book. It was really fun, and there were some people that stopped to talk to the missionaries who weren't up on the stool bearing their heart out.


One of the girls that stopped set up with us, and we had a lesson with her. She is a really cool girl, and in our lesson mentioned that her brother might be interested in our message, too. So the next lesson she brought him along, and we taught them the plan of salvation, and they took it really well considering they both believe completely in reincarnation. They will be la tara for Christmas, but they live near the vila during school and said that they will be coming to church in January when they return, and I am really excited to continue working with them. But soap boxing was a really fun experience to just use the Book of Mormon as a tangible tool to proclaim to the world that we have a mesage of truth. I loved it.


Other than that, this week was just filled with work, and everything is going well. Ion is doing ok...he's thinking about baptism, but he has some concerns that will only be resolved through his faith, so we are praying that his faith will continue to grow, and that he will have the courage to do what is right and what he knows to be true.


And today we got the transfer board...and I'm staying here in Constanta and I'm getting Sora Owen as a companion. She was trained by Sora Gibbons who is one of my sisters in the mission, and she's going into her 3rd transfer...and I'm going into my 7th! Crazy stuff. But it's good...I'm excited for this transfer. It should be fun! Well, I can't really think of what else to write to you, but I love you all so so very much, and I hope that you're having fun getting ready for Christmas...It's so close! We're listening to Christmas songs and the city is putting up lights and decorations...and they really don't know how to decorate a Christmas tree here...they try, but at the mall it just looks like a mess. But they try, and it's Christmas, so ok.


But have a great time, smile lots, and I love you! --Always, Sora Karinaps. I can't believe that Christmas is in just 2 weeks-ish! nuts. Also can't believe that Elder Pardus gets home next week. That is crazy. But I love you so so very much, and I hope that you have a great week!

Thanksgiving in Romania = Chicken?

This is me and Sora Kiriyama in front of the run down Casino on the bank of the black Sea.

Her I am in front of the Black Sea on a cement port thing.

Sora Kiriyama and I with the boys on bikes that came to our Thanksgiving activity. (Joey Donner who's name is acutally Ionut is in the gray and striped hoodie, Bogdon is on one knee, Tika (said tseecha) is in the gray hoodie, and Alin is in the blue.) Fun stuff!

Hey family! How are you doing? I'm doing just great. We had some fun times - a lot of contacting which makes for a lot of things to learn...

So this week was hard, but it was good. Ion came to church again, and we are slowly figuring out what is keeping him from accepting a baptismal date. We can tell that he believes in what we're saying except for the occasional question which is normal. And when he participates during Sunday School he says some really good things and has good questions. And when he prays...they are so sincere and amazing. But there is still something there that we just can't catch quite yet that is making him evade our direct questions and commitments. He accepts our commitments when we pry and dig for him to give us a direct answer (which we do) and then he keeps the commitments. I don't know what the problem is, but the Lord will help us to find it so that he can enter into the waters of baptism. We are praying for him to accept a baptismal date, and I am confident that he will soon.

What else happened this week...Oh, we had a thanksgiving activity where the branch wanted us to put on a thanksgiving dinner and a presentation and such. So we tried. Romanian style thanksgiving is interesting...turkey here is rediculously expensive (40 RON/kg = around $13.50/2.2 lbs.), so we had chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, rolls, and home made root beer (they don't have root beer here so you have to make it with root beer extract, sugar, and mineral water) but we had root beer floats and it was really yummy. Not really a thanksgiving food, but all the romanians connect it with anything American, so you just go with it.

It was one of the most successfull activities that I've seen here in Romania though, tons of people came. Around 14 members, and 10 non-members plus the 4 missionaries, and it was awesome. Cool story about that: The night before the activity, Sora Kiriyama and I were out and we decided to sit on a bench real quick for a short break, and while we were talking a group of boys on trick bikes rode past us. Sora Kiriyama recognized one of them from around the town or the skate park where she had seen him riding and just playing around. She and Sora Ostler last transfer had named him Joey Donner from the movie 10 Things I Hate about You (I haven't seen it, so I can't explain why, but they did) So when he passed, she said "Hey, it's Joey Donner." About 30 seconds later, they all came back and one of them asked us what nationality we were from and we told him we were Americans. They started talking to us in English, and the one who asked expressed dissappointment that Sora Kiriyama doesn't know Japanese because he lived there for 5 years and wanted to talk to someone in that language. After talking to us a little bit more, they asked what we were doing in Romania, so we told them that we were missionaries. Since it's a lot easier to talk about the church in Romanian, we automatically switched over to Romanian and they were all shocked, "wow, you speak Romanian, too?" of course we do. So we invited them to the Thanksgiving activity and they said they'd see if they could. And they came!!! It was super cool, and they participated and they loved it.

Now some of them are meeting with the Elders to learn more about what we believe.

It was really fun.

One more funny story which really isn't a story but more of a statement. We were eating chocolate, with the brand name of Kandia, and Sora Kiriyama was reading the back of the wraper and started laughing...in my confusion, I read it and started laughing, and I wanted to share the statement with you cuz it's funny. It is the only thing in English on the wrapper (among Romanian, czech, and Russian) and it states thus: "Since forever the real chocolate was prepared only with pure cocoa butter, undoubtedly the secret of its pleasant melting. Kandia recipe contains only pure cocoa butter for you to enjoy the smooth melting of the true chocolate." HAHAHA! I thought it was funny, because that works in Romanian, but the direct translation into English just doesn't work and it's hilarious...plus the fact that it actually states that on a chocolate bar...enjoy the smooth melting of the true choloate.

Ok. Anyways, we're having fun and doing what we can to laugh. Sora Kiriyama likes to laugh, so we do it a lot ;} Anyways, I'm glad that you had a good Thanksgiving. I love you all so so very much and hope that you have a great week!

Love always, --Sora Karina

ps.

Debbie - sa nu-ti faci grij, e bine. Stiu ca esti ocupata, si te inteleg. Si multumesc pentru pozele electronice...imi plac foarte mult, sunteti draguti pe bune. ai o septamana perfecta, si mai auzim! Te iubesc...Si pe tine Ali, sper ca totul merge bine pentru tine!!!

lighthouses and fog

Dear everyone,

How are you?

I'm doing just wonderful, and I hope that it is the same back home. The only difference is that you have snow, and I don't. That actually makes me kinda sad because I miss the snow. Every morning I wake up and look outside and it's all foggy the way it gets in Colorado right before or after a snow storm during the night, and I get excited, and then I get up and there is nothing on the ground except slightly moist dirt. Grrrr. But it's ok. The fog always lifts by about 10 am and then I don't miss the snow as much, but I still wish it would snow. It's just harder near the sea, but not unheard of. And there's still time.

Anyways, this week was a good one, just filled with a bunch of work and good times. There's not too much to tell you...Ion is progressing and hasn't accepted a baptismal date yet, but I have no doubt that he'll get there eventually. However, someone the Elders are teaching has decided to be baptised. I'm hoping that Ion will come to it cuz it would help him so much to be able to see what it's like, and I know he will feel what the Spirit is like. There is something about a baptism that just helps us to remember and know why this is true and right, and why we would want to be a part of this.

Also, we have another investigator who is the friend of a member, and she is loving the Book of Mormon as she reads it...and who wouldn't, I mean come on. I love that book, and I always just get so excited when others find out why it's so important to read it daily. Cuz when they do they feel the Spirit and love of God more fully, and they learn about their place in God's plan. That knowledge means everything. It's wonderful.

I think the miracle of the week was that we had 19 Romanians at church! That included our 2 investigators, the Elder's investigator, and a member's mother who isn't a member and is visiting for the holidays. It was really exciting, and the meeting was very spirit filled. That's what happens when anyone testifies of the Restoration of this church, Joseph Smith's first vision, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Those things invite the Spirit so powerfully because they are the root and foundation of all truth. It is amazing. Actually, the amazing thing about it is that we can all know for ourselves this truth, and if it in fact is truth or not. We can know from the source of all goodness and truth, the One who knows all things. He wants us to know because He wants us to be happy, and it is through the knowledge of these things that give us the ability to act upon the things that will eventually lead to our happiness now in this life and the fullness of joy that will last for the eternities. And right now is a part of the eternities. He wants these things for us because He loves us. He is God, the Father of us all. And He sent us His Son, Jesus Christ to make posible these things to happen and for us to receive so much more that we can't even comprehend. But He promises that it is possible, and I believe Him. I know that these things are real and they are the beautiful facts that make life worth it.

God has a plan for each of us individually and it is a plan that will give us joy and lead to our exaltation if we would do our part. He has given us everything, let us take it and walk in His ways, for His paths are easy and His burden light. This is what He wants for us. How great it is to know of the love of our God, and if we don't know it, we can find out, for it is there to find always regardless of time or circumstance, past or present. He is there. I know He is. It is made apparent to me in every day when I go out pleading for His help to tell His children these truths, and this work goes forth only because His hand is in it.

I'm excited because we're going to go and see a lighthouse after we eat lunch today, and I love lighthouses, so that will be amazing. I am really really glad to hear that Brother Kemp is doing better...miracles happen in every day, even in the midst of tragedy. And it takes faith for the miracle to happen, and sometimes faith to see the miracle, but it is always there.

But I love you all so so very much, and I pray for you always and can feel your prayers for me. Thank you. Have a great and amazing week, and I'll write next week about the amazing things happening in Romania.

It's still really cool to say that I'm in Romania. The language is coming along and getting better every day, even if I don't recognize it. There are still times when I finish talking to someone on the street or finish a lesson or even just on the phone, and once it's done I think, "Wow. I just had a conversation in Romanian with someone who doesn't speak English... Crazy." and then I laugh and think, "Well, of course I did, I am living in Romania, silly!" and its just a funny realization that comes slightly often, if that even makes sense.

But things are good...keep up the good work! ... and have fun!

ps. congrats Austin!!! (on his engagement) I'm so excited for you!

Love you all,

Always, --Sora Karina

new way to block knock

Dear family,

How are all of you? I'm doing great.

This week was an interesting one full of just funny stories. But the good one first, and then the funny stuff... We had an investigator that came to church today! Ion is his name and he is the one I told you finally prayed in our lesson after saying in our very first lesson that he would never pray. So on Saturday night we called him to let him know that we were going to go to his house to pick him up for church (he lives real close) and he didn't like that at first, saying that he was way too busy, but he finally agreed saying that he would probably leave sometime during the first hour because he had way too much to do. bine.

So we went and picked him up, and he came and really listened to all of it...the speakers were perfect for him and what he needed to hear about the spirit, about what it means to be a member of this church, and about how happiness is possible in this life by living the gospel as seen in the Book of Mormon. So after the meeting, Sora Kiriyama asked him how it was, and he said "it was good, it was different... but I'll have to stay more to see what I really think." Sora Kiriyama said "You know, you're right, you'll just have to stay." Then the branch president came up and explained to him that the next hour is more interactive and would he please stay, and so of course he did, and he stayed for all three hours. He felt the spirit, and it was a great experience.

He said at the end of church that "I'll have to change my way of thinking, but it was good." and I said, "Well of course. This is a new way of living, but it's the way that gives us happiness." He said he would pray to know if that was true. It was a great miracle that he came and stayed, for which I was very grateful.

We weren't able to find any new investigators this week, but we started receiving some pretty creative rejections. But it's ok. I'll just tell you 2 because they were hillarious purely by the fact that they were overly rediculous.

We block knocked into some girls that were muslim, all speaking fluent Arabic and French. One spoke a little English and only one knew Romanian. so it was interesting trying to teach them, and I really don't know why they let us in. They eventually told us they didn't want to hear what we had to say and that we were the ones that needed to search for the truth. It was a very odd experience.

Then last night we were block knocking. In order to get into the block they have an interphone and you dial the room number and they answer, you ask them to open the door for you and they either do and you knock on the doors, or you don't and you keep ringing in. So last night we were outside of a block and rang in and every single person rejected us on the interphone. I've never had that happen before. Usually someone lets you in even if they don't want to listen, but every one... Some of them thought about it before they hung up, and there was even a couple that conversed for a few minutes over the interphone with each other about if they should let us in or not, and then decided not to. But it was so funny.

There was a man who answered the interphone but then started to talk to us out of his window (Romanians do that a lot) and yelled at us and told us that we couldn't talk to anybody else in that block. We only had one door left, but he kept yelling at us. Finally he shut his window. Then a man accross the street came out and we started talking to him, and the man in the window yelled at us for still talking to him. I told him that we were talking to the man accross the street. "well, talk to him, not to me." That was funny because I was only talking to him cuz he yelled at me, so I responded. H e sat there for about 5 more minutes at his window, so we walked away for a little before we went to the last door...and the interphone decided not to work. We'll go back to that door, because that block was just sooo funny. We were laughing so hard about it. It is the new way to do block knocking with out climbing all the stairs, ha ha ha.

But we found some good people who will hopefully become investigators and progressing investigators in this next week. But it was a good week full of work.

I have a question for Ross - how did he go about talking to Muslim people so that they would listen? There are a lot of muslim people here in Constanta and it's tricky when you're used to talking to people who are Orthodox and then you switch to Muslim mode, and I don't know what to do. So if he has any advice he could email me that would be great.

Oh, and a story for shaley...we teach english classes here, and the subject the other day was on decisions...so I decided to teach them about your decisions making kit that Cherisse gave you as a gag-gift, and the process of how to make a decision. They actually really liked it, and it reminded me of you, and it was funny that they needed it so spelled out. They took it pretty serious, too...it was great.

Oh! and yes, Jeri, I get all of your letters and thank you so so much. I love hearing about your friend, Francie, and I've been praying for her to be accteptive to the gospel message when you are able to meet with her. But yeah, I'm doing good, and I'm loving it here.

I'm glad that brother Kemp was able to go to church on Sunday.

Tam, that's awesome that you're in the advanced part of your violin book, that's so cool. and piano will help you with your violin to know the theory better if you want to do that that would be neat.

I love all of you so so very much. I know that the plan that God has for us is perfect, and it is true. It is revealed to us in its perfect form through a prophet on the earth today, and that is one of the ways that we can know that God loves us so much. I know that God loves us, and that he has prepared the way for each of us to be able to return to him, and that way is through Jesus Christ. Like it says in Revelations, He opens the door when we knock on it. This is His desire... for each of us to come to him, and when we do, He is able to heal us and to lead us where we can be with our family for eternity.

I know that these things are true, and these truths are what change your life so that you can have happiness now and later...the purpose of the gospel is to give us joy now and to prepare us for the eternal joy that is to come. These are the things that I'm praying for the people of Romania to receive a testimony about, because once they receive a spiritual witness and act upon it, that is when they will be able to come to know Jesus Christ and receive the promises that He has given to us all.

I love you all so so very much ,and I hope that your week is just fantastic! Love you lots!

Always, --Sora Karina

open arms

This is a picture of Sora Kiriyama and myself with an American family that was in our branch. They have left to go home, but their kids were all so cute! I forgot how much I love little kids. The little girl in the pink dress is Olivia. She really reminded me of my sister, Tamara.

Here is a picture of the fall colors near Simiu. They were so beautiful!

Hey everybody! How are you all doing? I'm doing great.

This week was a good week. We are seeing progress, even if the progress isn't going as fast as I want it. But when we are doing all that we can to help the people, God helps us to move forward in His work. We are hoping to give Ivanka a baptismal date today, and hopefully at the end of the week if the opportunity shows itself to be a good one. He's progressing slower on his own pace, but it's been neat to see the progression he has made in a short time to the extent of just being happier. (When we found him, he was a generally depressed person.) But reading the Book of Mormon changes lives. It's neat.

I really enjoyed zone conference, it was good to learn more about how we need to focus on these people individually, which we have been trying to apply this week, and it's been going well. Elder Shute from the 70 and his wife came and taught us about how the Savior focuses on each one, and how as his servants, that is what he asks us to do, too. You help each person to feel the individual love of God for them. You help the each person understand what he or she can do to have a happier life through the gospel and atonement of Jesus christ. You help each individual come to Christ through the waters of baptism. Here in Romania, where the effects of communism are so great, they are used to having tunnel vision for the masses where they as an individual don't matter. So when you tell them that God loves them, they say "of course, he loves everyone" and you try to help them understand that he loves them individually. It's hard sometimes, but it is something that brings about great miracles when they understand.

I know that God loves each of us individually and that Christ knows us individually, and His arms are open to each of us personally if we would only turn to him and allow him to heal us. He promises us that he will heal all those who will come (3 Nephi 17). It is a promise that I know that He keeps.

Anyways, the weather is slowly getting colder and colder, but it's ok. It will also get randomly warm like today where I'm not wearing 50 layers, but am ok with just a jacket. But when it is cold outside, we're still doing ok, still working, and people are still listening to us. It's so fun to have someone actually listen to what we are testifying about, and even neater when they are willing to put what we say into practice in their own life to find out for themselves if it is true. And it is true.

All is well, things are good, I don't have too many exciting stories this week and I'm sorry, but next week will be better. It helps when you're actually in your city for the whole week. Being gone for 2 days really does kill alot. But it's good!

Anyways, I love you all so so very much! And I hope that all is going well.

ttyl! --Sora Karina

ps. Brother Kemp, I hear that you are under the weather. Ok, well maybe that's an understatement. But I hope that you are doing ok for what you can. I want you to know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is something very special to me. Through it, I know that my Savior knows me and my pains and my questions, my doubts and my fears. It also means that there is always someone there looking forward to the time when it will all be better. God has a vision for us, and it is the vision of a loving Heavenly Father who wants only our happiness and exaltation. He understands that we find that happiness as we are able to overcome the trials and hardships of life with faith in His Son. He is there helping you along and as we strive to live faithfully so that we can receive the promises, those promises of joy and glory will come to pass. I know that you are doing great, and I know that Christ is there with you every step of the way. He has to be, not only out of His love for you, but also because of the many prayers, mine included, that are uttered daily from the hearts of those who love you. I hope that you are able to have a great day and find something to smile about. I find that even when nothing is going for you, a smile will always help. Have a smile, and tell your family that I say Hi and I love you all!

ps. sora thompson, pot sa am adresa ta? Am realizat ca nu am si ar fi mai bine sa-ti scriu in loc de email. si ma bucur ca esti fericita, asa trebuie sa fie! Te iubesc!!!

Happy Halloween!

Dear all you who live not in Romania, Happy halloween!!!

I am now in Constanta and I live 5 minutes away from the Black Sea...it's really cold. The wind is definitely killer, and it is still "warm" for this season as far as people tell me. Great. But it will be great. And yes, I am with Sora Kiriyama which is so fun because we were together in the MTC and now we get to remember the good times and create even more good times. It's been a blast already.

She and I are about on the same page on the language, just with different vocab cuz you learn different things in different situations and I've spent my whole mission thus far on the west, and she's only been in the East (Chisinau in Moldova, Bucuresti, and here in Constanta). This is her third transfer in Constanta so she knows her way pretty well, although we joke about how she has a defect when it comes to directions...it's fun though.

The branch here is cool. We meet in a big vila, and we as sisters actually live in the apartment on the 3rd floor of the vila where we meet for church...it's conveniant. so This branch has a bunch of Americans here...they all work for this big construction company and have been working on a project for the past year. But they're almost done so they leave in 2 weeks. Sad.

I didn't realize how much I missed kids until I taught primary yesterday to the family and it was so cute. They have 6 kids. There's another family with 2 boys, a couple that's pregnant, and a family with a 19 year old girl. So fun. And one of the girls, Olivia, looks EXACTLY like Tamara. Not kidding. I'll show you a pic sometime, but she even acts like Tam in different ways...like running and sliding accross the floor on her shoes and when she stops, bobs her head a little before running again in the opposite direction. I showed them family pictures of Tamara and they all thought I had been exaggerating about the similarities until they saw the pics. The only real difference is that Olivia is 5. But they are a cute family.

We had a huge halloween party with the branch...about 25-30 people were there which is a huge turn out, and I felt like I was in the states again with a functional activity and kids running everywhere. But it was fun. We told scary stories, played musical chairs, watched Thriller, had a pie eating contest, ate food, and played lots of other games. I didn't win the pie eating contest, but that's ok. It's not even pie, since pie doesn't exist in this country. It was sweet crackers with chocolate pudding and whipped cream on top with some gummy worms put in with it. Messy, but fun. Anyways, it was a good night, and the members dressed up real good, too.

Church was good...not as many people come to church as to the activities, but the Spirit was super strong for the fast and testimony meeting. It was so cute to hear a child's testimony again "I love my family and I know they love me too, and I know the book of mormon is true because Joseph Smith translated it, and I know that families can be forever because of the temple, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." So simple and it was just adorable. I haven't heard a testimony like that in a while. But everything that she said is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and it is a book full of amazing truths. I know that families can be eternal, and it is amazing to see a family work and work to do that together and see the hand of the Lord in their life. It changes everything, and it is worth everything that is required.

Anyways, our branch president is amazing, and I'm really excited to work in this branch. Our new investigator that we found this week is Ivanka and we knocked on her door and she opened it, gave us a huge smile and invited us in. Usually people do that without knowing what we want and so I'm weary about it to the point of trying to explain what my purpose is there so they don't get mad that you're in their house which happens sometimes. But she insisted and invited us to sit down to talk and appologized that she was in her pajamas. But we went into a lesson as if she was expecting it. At the end Sora Kiriyama asked her if she would pray to know if the message is true and she said she already knows it's true. So Sora Kiriyama asked if she would pray for a confirmation to know if it really is, and she said "the confirmation is that you came here. I've had elders come here 2 years ago and 1 year ago, and now you're here. God sent you here, and God led me to open the door even though I was already in bed not feeling well. But now I feel fine, and it's because God did it." So I of course asked her, "well, if you know it's true, will follow Christ's example and be baptized?" and she thought and said, "well, I've already been baptized once, but I'll read the book first and then I'll tell you." She leaves at the end of this month to go to Italy until January. I don't like time limits, but the Lord created time, so He can work with it.

I'm in Bucuresti right now because Zone Conference is tomorrow and a general authority (70) is going to be here with us. I don't know who, but you'll hear about it next monday. I'm excited.

So to answer my sister's questions, Jenna, I am definitely happy, no need to worry. Shaley, I didn't forget about Halloween, though we were lacking in the snow that I'm used to, and Tamara, I would love to have a tape of your violin music for my tape player. I haven't read that book, but it sounds like a good one. A book I remember reading in school (can't remember if it was 6th or 7th grade) was the book "The Giver" and it's still one of my favorites.

But your halloween sounds like it was so much fun...spooky and full of fun stories. Your costumes all look amazing, I loved it! And Jenna, your moaning ghosts and stuff you decorated in the bathroom made me laugh really hard. I wish I could have seen it. And Cherisse, it sounds like you put on quite the party. And 4 out of 31 less actives coming is a really good number. I would have been beaming if 4 of our less actives came to an activity, and we did have 3 with 3 non members that came to the activity on Saturday. One of them came to church, and she's a sweet lady. We're hoping to teach her soon! But I'm sorry Allen is sick...tell him I say to get better!

Oh, and tell the Stotts I say hi, and tell Brother Lee, and everyone else that I say hello and I love them all. Have fun in the snow, and I love you lots and lots!

ttyl Always, --Sora Karina

Oh, and I forgot to write earlier, Lenuta, our investigator from Sebiu that i mentioned last week about giving her a baptismal date, she's getting baptized on the 14th of November if things keep going well with her, and she's amazing so I'm not worried. Sora Staley promised to send me pictures. Anyways, I love you all so so much--Sora Karina
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Transfer to the Sea

Dear family and everyone who is awesome and reading this,

Hello! how are you? I am doing pretty good. I can not believe that this transfer is ending on Wednesday...it feels like it's only been about 2 weeks or maybe 3 at the most, but it's been 6!

And I am leaving Sibiu ~sad~ I am not excited to leave, because I don't feel like I've done enough here, but I am very excited to go to Constanta with Sora Kiriyama. She was one of my companions in the MTC and so I get to be with her again which will be cool, and I'm leaving Sora Staley behind to continue the work in Sibiu with a Boboaca! ha,ha. She's training and scared, but she'll be amazing and I'm excited for her. And going to Constanta will be new and interesting because I've been in the west and in the middle of the country, and now I'm going to the east on the south side, next to the sea! That's right, Constanta is the city that goes right up to the Black Sea, so that will be really, really cold in the snowy times of the winter, but that's ok. I'm excited to see how this goes.

This past week we have been learning a lot! One of the things that we decided we needed to learn how to apply better is how to ask questions and help the investigator participate more in the lesson so the Spirit can work in them more. And when we did it, the outcome was amazing and Lenuta became a new investigator. She is so cool, and wants to be baptized...we are giving her a date today so that she can better prepare for it. Another miracle from this week is that our relief society president came to church today, and she did her calling! ...Two things that haven't happened this entire transfer. So that was really exciting...and 2 women stayed for Relief Society outside of us and the president. So it almost felt like it was for real, and it was uplifting and the spirit was strong. That was definitely something to be grateful for.

Also, I should give you an update on Mariana, the cool lady that we found last week. We started the stop-smoking program with her, and she's doing pretty good with it. She didn't smoke at all for 2 days, and then smoked 2 halves of a cigarette the next, and then as far as we know she's still doing pretty good and not smoking at all or only one. (she started out having smoked an avg of 15-20 cigarettes each day) But her husband isn't helping her and is smoking more than ever. But any time he goes to light one up, she yells at him to get out of the house. "If I'm going to quit, and I am going to quit, then you are going to help me and you get out of this house to do whatever you want!" It's so funny. They are an amazing family, and I have been praying that after she quits smoking, if not before, that her whole family will become investigators. But we'll see. She is an amazing woman though, I love her.

But anyways, everything is going great, thank you so much for your prayers...I know that it is helping our investigators have more strength in their faith and it is amazing to see. I wish you could see the outcome of your faith, but instead I am the one blessed to see it. Thank you for everything, and I love you lots and lots and lots!

Oh, and Happy birthday Grandma Curtis!!!!!!! Have a great day!

Always, --Sora Karina

Dear family,

This past week was a blast, and I'm going to tell you only a few of the miracles that made it so fun because unfortunately, I don't have time to write all of them, that and I figure that I need to save some things to share with you when I get home. But man, this week was just full of cool things that the Lord made possible for us.

So we decided that we were not being passionate about our goals and that we were just setting goals that were realistic according to what we have already here in Sibiu, and we decided that was really stupid. Just like that quote from Zone Conference said, we need to get emotionally involved in our goals, and then go forth and do all you can to fulfill those goals. So we are officially done setting realistic goals, and instead we are going to set what we want and allow the Lord to work miracles, because nothing is impossible for Him to do.

We witnessed this in this past week when we found 11 people who were willing to listen to our message and have a desire to continue to learn. We have already seen to a small amount the effect these things will have as we went to work with this attitude starting Friday, and I am so excited to continue to go forth and see what the Lord has in store, not just seeing if we can meet midway goals.

This week was really fun to the extent of literally running up the stairs of a bloc one night (we started at the bottom that night to find the first person who would let us in because we had 20 minutes to have a lesson, and someone did let us in - they didn't become new investigators, but the lady said she knew that God sent us to her so that she could feed us (she fed us deep fried pig fat with apples...yummy?) and take care of us because she doesn't have any kids and she was taught to always accept and take care of the servants of the Lord, and she was just sooo happy to serve us. Even though she and her husband weren't willing to listen to the message of the fullness of the Restored Gospel, I saw it as a tender mercy from the Lord and an answer to our prayers to be let in and still make the bus(which we did) and also that woman's prayers to be a service to the Lord's servants. It was so cool.

Another night we had planned to go and find a former investigator for whom we only have an address and so we went off, but you have to cross the street at a certain point or follow the curve of the road, and we didn't cross the street which took us all the way down to a point where if we would have climbed the stairs to our left of the cross walk we would have been right back where we started. Because of this, I kind of teased Sora Staley, talking about how we were walking around in circles and it was silly, but neither of us felt bad about doing it. So we kept walking in the general direction of the former investigators, and then Sora Staley got the thought that we should vila knock right there in the middle of the street. To me it just looked like she was pacing in front of a vila until she said, "maybe we should knock this vila" ...ok, but it didn't have a door bell on the fence. So we went in and knocked on the first vila (inside this fence is a group of 4 vilas) but the first lady didn't want to listen.

We started walking out, but again Sora Staley got the thought that we weren't done. Then we noticed a lady hanging up her laundry in the cold and we went to talk to her. She said she didn't have time right then, but set up a time for us to come back. We asked if we could have her phone number. She said yes, but had to go inside to get it. She invited us in out of the cold, and then we gave her a pliant (pamphlet) to read and she asked what it was about...20 seconds into the explanation she said, "Oh, I have 10 minutes, sit down and we'll talk."

So we sat down with her and talked. It was so cool. She opened up a ton and started crying saying that she knows God loves her but doesn't know why because she smokes and sins and doesn't go to church. Also because she feels like everyone else know all the prayers and what to do, and she doesn't. She felt it would be shameful for her to go in to a church not knowing how to "properly" do everything. She wanted to know how we could have such conviction about our message. We told her it was through prayer, and taught her how to pray. She had a hard time believing that God would answer her prayers until the end.

In the middle of this, her 21 year old daughter came in and loved what we were saying. Towards the end they both said that they would pray about our message and if God really does want them to have a Prophet on earth, and if He loves them.

Mariana (the mom) told Adina (the daughter) "you know, I didn't even want to talk to these girls, and then something happened and I thought, well, why not, so I let them in and now they're telling me they can help me stop smoking and that I can pray to God to know about Him" and her daughter smiled and said "you need it mom, do what they say" and they were just so grateful and awesome. It was definitely a miracle to prove that the Lord does know where His children are, and that He will lead us to them if we are doing all we can to heed the promptings of the Spirit.

-It just brings you so much joy to share that truth. And the neatest thing is that it is not just me and Sora Staley that have been having successes like this. About 3 weeks ago, Elder Tilbey found 12 new investigators because of a guy they talked to on the street, and he told the Elders that he goes to a Bible study class every week, and Elder Tilbey said "oh, that would be fun, can we come too?" the guy said that would be fine, so they went, it turned into a discussion about the Restoration, and Elder Tilbey and his boboc companion (boboc = brand spankin new in the field) taught them all there and 12 of them set up again to meet. The following week, Elder Harvey and Elder Shwartz called a number from someone they met on the street, but it was a wrong number (happens very often) but they decided to invite the person on the other line to learn about their message. Set up, met with the family, got 8 new investigators from that family with 5 people in that group that set up baptismal dates.

This week, as in the week in which Sora Staley and I found 11 new investigators, the Elders in my district found 4 new investigators, there were probably lots of others with high numbers, but no one beat Elder McBride and Elder Brian who found 18 new investigators. They found a family who referred them to another family who referred them to another family and all three families are now learning about the restored gospel and how they can have their families for eternity. So cool!!! A side note that makes it better, Elder McBride completes his service as a missionary in 1 1/2 weeks, so that's just crazy, and he is just sprinting to the end.

The work of the Lord is going forth and we are having a blast doing it. The only thing that is kinda yucky right now is that it turned cold REALLY fast, and it is freezing. There is apparently a cold front over all of Europe and the highs in Romania are around 8-12 degrees Celcius. I don't know what that equals in farenheit, I just know that I have to wear around 4-5 layers when I go out so I don't freeze.

Funny story. The first day it got cold it was 14 degrees Celcius here in Sibiu, but all I saw out the window is that it was sprinkling lightly, so I didn't put much on under my coat and I had a light scarf and my umbrela. Well, we went out, it was soooooo cold, and it started POURING rain (in Romanian they say "raining buckets" instead of cats and dogs) and it was, my umbrella broke in the middle of it, and me and Sora Staley were numb from just above the knees down plus our ears, hands, nose, and we were sopping wet. So we went to the church after lunch to get warm, and the heaters were broken there, so we turned on and lit the four burners on the gas stove and huddled around the stove for warmth...and realizing the fact that our clothes were soaked through, we started holding up different articles of clothing over the stove to dry...our coats, scarves, socks/nylons, shoes, and I finally took off my skirt and held it up to dry after wringing it out over the sink because it was dripping wet from mid-thigh down. It was so funny...I took pictures. Anyways, it was a fun day, and we were still wet for a lot of it, but that's ok. I learned and wore a lot of clothing for the rest of the week. I have been comfortable for the majority of it. lol!

Anyways, I think that's about it for this week, and I know that that is really long, but I hope you enjoyed it. I sure did! And I hope that everything is going well back home, that you are having fun getting ready for Halloween. They don't really celebrate it here, so we already have Christmas decorations in the stores because they are lacking both Halloween and Thanksgiving, and it's weird to see Christmas being put out in October. But that's ok.

Anyways, I love you all to pieces, and I'll ttyl!

Love you!!!!!!!!!

Always, --Sora Karina

ps. I hope that you have a great week, Shaley and Jenna and Tam good luck in your meets and other things, Cherisse and Alley, keep having fun.
Grandma Coy I love you and hope you are well.
Grandma and Grandpa Curtis, I love you lots and lots, and everyone else too!!!

garbage cans are blessings

My dearest family and friends and wonderful people,

How are you all doing? I am doing great...I am working hard even though it's starting to get cold, and it looks like it's going to be a freezing winter, but right now it's just a decently cold fall...and the colors are so pretty! it's fun.

I don't really know if there is any new news to tell, most of it is all the same. This week was better than last week, as far as effectiveness and work goes. Well, pretty much everything...
there wasn't anything worse about it. But each week is getting better, and that is very exciting. I know that we are doing exactly what we have been asked to do, and because of that, we will find those who are ready to do what they need to in order to receive a witness from the Holy Ghost about the truth of the Restored Gospel. It is hard, but there are many blessings that occur from it. It takes faith sometimes to see the little miracles, but when you look, the love and gratitude you feel is more than can be expressed.

This week we had interviews and zone conference, and it was fun. We went up to Cluj-napoca for zone conference which from us is about a 4 hour drive in a maxi-taxi which is like a mix between a van and a bus, and really is not comfortable at all. But that's ok. Cluj is big, and from what I saw of it, it's pretty. They have a singing fountain that has 12 different songs that it will play according to how the water is coming out - the taxi driver kinda gave us a mini tour as we passed the main city center area, and that was cool. But I learned a lot about the work that we are doing here and how important it is to give EVERYTHING you have to the Lord to do it. It is amazing how much you can give to Heavenly Father, and still He is able to give us more than we gave, and we just can never make it up. But we keep trying because we love Him, and so He keeps blessing us because He loves us and it's an amazing cycle.

Central to this cycle is the Atonement of Jesus Christ, without which we would be lost and there would be no point in trying, no point in giving or receiving because it would only be for this short time here on earth. But everything is eternal, and that is a blessing that I am trying to understand even more. Even the time we spend with our friends or family, or the time we spend learning something, it happens in a temporal sense, but the effect of everything we do is eternal and we will reap the eternal reward, not the temporal one, in the life for which we are preparing right now. That is why it is important to use the Atonement every day, and to not give up regardless of what has happened, or what is going on now. The Atonement applies to everything on a personal level, and there are no exceptions...the only thing that stops the Atonement from working is if we don't want to do our part, and how sad is that to not be able to reap the eternal blessings of our Heavenly Father's eternal love for us because we simply would not try.

I know that he loves us, and I know that it is possible for each and every one of us to attain the perfection talked about in the scriptures. Jesus Christ did not say "the power of faith could move mountains, but you're not ever going to receive that type of faith" or "if only you could be perfect like me and your Father in Heaven are, but too bad you'll just have to settle for whatever is second best." No. He told us the power of faith because He expects us to work for that, and he knows that we can attain that kind of faith by relying on Him. When we try to go forward, He is immediately there walking with us and helping us to get where He knows we should be. Even if we can't pay back what we've missed, the Prophet's counsel is clear: "go forward, start today." make the choice to give everything to Him, including your trust and your fears, and the Atonement will give you strength sufficient to overcome and take one more step towards him. And that step is worth it.

It is so amazing to see the love that the Lord has for us on a specific and individual level, and it is so sad to see the people who believe that He died for everyone, but don't think that they can have a personal relationship with him. I know that we can. I know that he wants us to, and I know that I want to. How amazing is it to have a testimony and KNOW that God loves you, and that He has done all he possibly could to give us the way to be with Him again. It just gives me even more motivation to do all that I can. And we are promised in the scriptures that "I will go before your face, I will be on your right hand and on your left, my spirit will be in your heart, and mine angels round about you to bear you up" for "victory is of the Lord". I know that this is true and it is possible and as we look to Him, He will help us in everything.

Anyways, on a completely different note, we have this really old woman neighbor who is obsessed with where we put our garbage can, when we put our garbage in our can, when we roll our garbage can out, when we roll it back into the parking lot, and if we really know which one is our garbage can. Oh, she also asked me if I know how to lock the door to the complex. She knocked on our door this morning three times to make sure we know about the garbage schedule and told us how to lock the door (just in case) and told us to open our windows during the day because apparently it is a new building and fresh air is good for the walls??? That's ok. They also say that eating ice cream on a cold day will give you a cold, and sitting directly on cement effects your ability to have children, especially if it's windy. She really has taken upon herself to regulate the garbage cans of the block. Is everyone putting their own garbage in their own cans?? Today she asked me to please write our apartment number on our can. One time I set the garbage out by the front door to take when we left the apartment. She knocked on the door and informed us that the garbage can't be there. I told her I was just about to take it out. She's really cute...just kinda bored and I think a little lonely. I should suggest knitting to her or something. I love it so much, we definitely are not lacking smiles every day.

But anyways, I am so glad that you had a good birthday mommy!!! I'm hoping to send something in the mail soon. Oh! And I got your package finally!!! And thank you so much, it was awesome. The food is being much enjoyed by all of us (the missionaries) Tamara's pictures are so fun - they will become the best p-day ever! and you were inspired about the pens that I needed...I know it's silly, but you gave me the kind that I needed/wanted/like. It was perfect. And I loved the pictures! And I got your package too, Rachel, thanks a million, I loved it! ...especially the stuff for smores, the scarf, the candy, that's pretty much all of it. Yeah, it was a good late birthday celebration.

And while I'm on that topic, the office told us to forward this: The office elders have asked us to pass along some information that should help you receive mail and packages from home more quickly (a good thing as Christmas time is approaching). We are recommending that all mail and packages sent to missionaries serving in Romania and Moldova be addressed as follows:

[Name of missionary]
Sos. Pipera Nr. 41, Et. 7 (Posta 41)
Bucharest, Romania 014254

The name of the missionary should NOT include “Elder” or “Sister.” Also, DON’T include the name of the mission or anything like that in the address. Please pass this information along to families and others that want to send you things by mail.

But I love you lots and lots and lots, and Shaley and Jenna, you look GORGEOUS in your homecoming dresses, I loved it! And Shaley, congrats on winning homecoming queen! I knew you would! But it sounded like a lot of fun. Keep enjoying your sports, the three of you, and tell Cherisse and Allen that I love them - the whole star trek guy thing made me laugh for about 20 minutes with my district, and your house looks so cute! I love you lots, and ttyl!

Always, --Sora Karina

tender mercies

This is my companion, Sora Staley and I - she is amazing I love her so much. She's acutally taller than I am, but it was cold on the top of the "mountain" which is like a hill to us, but it took a good hike, and it was so pretty.

The one of the baptism is Casia with her dad who baptized her and her mom...the dad is the branch president here. we have about 8-15 members who come to church depending on the week, and the leadership is shaky, but it's getting better. Ps. I love this family they are so amazing.

Hi family and all the people I love so much! How are you? I'm doing great.

This week was good, but everything that happened was only possible because of things Heavenly Father did. And He made sure that we knew it was only possible through Him. We actually had 17 lessons set up for this past week (not all from contacts, but still a decent amount) we had 8 lessons total, but only 4 of them were from the original 17 and only 3 of the 4 were non-members. It was amazing.

Some other amazing miracles - we had planned to take the bus to the church, and we have a copy of the schedule, but when we got to the stop, the bus didn't come. With the bus it takes 10 minutes to get to the church, without it, it takes usually 45 minutes to walk. We had 20 minutes to get to church on time once we realized that the bus wasn't coming and the next bus wouldn't get there for 25 more minutes, so we started walking as fast as we could. We got to the church exactly in 20 minutes. I know it's good to be early, and we were sad that we couldn't be, but it was amazing that we took the same amount of paces as usual, but with 25 minutes less time than it has alway taken before, and it was definitely something to be grateful for. One of the many tender mercies from the Lord.

Another tender mercy is that we found 3 new investigators this week, and they are all really amazing people, really willing to learn, understanding what we say, and the Spirit has been so strong lately. I am blown away at the way that the Lord can put His hand in our actions and change everything - someone who looks annoyed when we first talk to them leaves after telling us to call them in 2 days so that we can meet. After a day full of bungs and nothing working out, everything falling through. But just because we won't go home early, the Lord places someone in our path, or leads us to a block where the door is open so that we can go and find someone who was just about to leave to go somewhere and now all of a sudden they want to talk. Or with Maria, we were talking to her at her door, and you could tell that she didn't know why she was letting us in, but she did and was confused by it that she tried to give it purpose by giving us a mini tour around her house and showing us things. Then we taught her the restoration, and she was excited for us to come back (we're going there tonight) and it truly is by small and simple things that we can see the miracles in the larger scope of God's eternal perspective in this work. It was really fun.

So that was my week. Everything is going really well. A crazy person story...we talked to a lady at a bus stop, and after trying to testify, we ended up just listening to her talk about how it's a sin to wear makeup, its a sin to use product in your hair, it's a sin to wear pants (which she was wearing and used her pants as an example of that sin) and said that she wishes she could be muslim because they are the ones who please God. We tried saying that we are all God's children and He is pleased with us when we keep His commandments and such, but she would not listen, saying "no no, I'm a sinner...see these pants? and you are sinners too. Please don't get mad, but I have to tell you you are sinning. Just look at your face. That stuff on it is not pleasing to God." We finally just looked at each other, left, and laughed the whole way home. Later that night Sora Staley washed her face and came up to me and said "look sora! I'm not sinning anymore!" and we laughed some more.

Another funny story, Elder Bernier (an elder from my MTC group that i'm serving with right now in Sibiu) his mom googled his name and she found my blog because of it! Funny.

But other than that we are working hard, we are having fun - we actually had one sister stay for Relief Society this past sunday, so that's progress right there! The Lord is helping us in this work, and it is His work, and I am so happy that I can be a part of it here in Romania.

Well, I love you all so so very very much, and I'll write next week! Love always, --Sora Karina

ps. Assistants acum sunt Elder Anderson si Elder Collier - te iubesc mult si ai o zi buna!!!

working hard in Sibiu

Dearest family and everyone,

Hello! How are you? I'm doing well...Sibiu is still gorgeous and we are working hard.

This week was a week full of lessons - though it wasn't with other people, but I sure learned a lot. Even though it was a hard week, it was a good one. I learned tons from our lessons with Casia - she's the 8 1/2 yr old that got baptized on Saturday and the service went great. There were small amounts of people there, but it was good - Sora Staley and I had 2 investigators there and the Elders had one of their investigators that came, and the Spirit was soooo strong.

And teaching her this past week to make sure she was ready was amazing. We would teach her a lesson and the things that she comprehended amazed me. We taught her the Plan of Salvation with a semne (puzzle), and after we went through the whole thing her mom suggested that Casia put the semne together herself to see if she understood. So we mixed it up, and she cleared her throat and began to teach us what we had just taught her starting at the Premortal life and all the way to where we want to be with God in the Celestial Kingdom. She had all the information right and it was stated so simply as if it were fact - she has great faith. It just proves that the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple enough in it's truth that even a child can understand and believe. It was wonderful.

As for everything else, we had a couple of lessons with our other investigators, and they are doing well...not quite understanding everything enough to come to church or commit to baptism, but they are keeping their commitments and we had good lessons there. We found a lot of good potential investigators this week, but all of the lessons that we had set up fell through unfortunately, but we are still trying to find in the situations in which we find ourselves and are begining to understand what more we can do in order to do all that we can do for the Lord to help us with this work.

One thing I learned this week is how pride really does become a stumbling block to the road of happiness in your living. I have been studying a lot about faith, and how pride is what gets in the way of our faith. Ultimately, it gets in the way of us being able to have a good relationship with our Heavenly Father. This was a good week for me to get back in line with the expectations of the Lord and to remember why I wanted to be here, why I am doing what I am doing. It is because I love the Lord, and I have a desire to love His children enough to share with them the knowledge that I have about their salvation. In short anyways, that's what it is.

This branch is really disfunctional and Sundays are more of a day of stress than a day of rest for us missionaries - Relief Society consisted of me and my companion because no one is used to staying for all 3 hours - including the RS president, and we were joined by Serban who is 13 and is in the young mens program, who didn't want to be in Priesthood, and so he came up with us and we had a lesson on Christ-like attributes. It was good, but the whole thing is crazy. But hopefully it will get better each week.

Other than that, I don't have too much to say. I got jenna's letter and I loved it! Thanks love. I will be getting my package probably at this zone conference which is on October 10th. Which reminds me, Mom, can you please call Brianne for me to tell her I wish her a happy birthday on Thursday? That would be awesome. Tell her I love her! And no I don't get to see the RS broadcast, but it sounded good by the notes you sent me. I'll be able to read it in the Liahona that I will get of the conference session in a couple of months. And thanks for taping conference for me again - this time I'm not even going to be able to listen to it in Romanian unless we get the dvd's from the headquarters in germany soon after. But it will be good. Take good notes for me ;}

Anyways, I hope that you are having a good week, I am excited to tell you more things that I learn about the Lord's hand in His work next week, and until then, smile lots! I love you all so so so much!

Love Always, --Sora Karina

Jenna and Shaley and Tamara - congrats on your matches/meets. It sounds like you are doing great! And I love hearing about it. I love you three soooo much. And of course tell Cherisse and Allen that I love them too :D ttyl

Sibiu

Hello family and everyone!!! How are you all doing? I am doing great.

So I'll start out by telling you a little about the city that I am now in. Sibiu has the reputation as the prettiest town in Romania. I can see why. It is one of the oldest towns, and it is beautiful. It is not too big, but it's not as small as Arad where I was for my first 2 transfers. We usually walk everywhere which gets kinda annoying sometimes, but we haven't quite figured out the bus systems yet for that to be a help. But we get by and all is well.

The work is going well, too. Sora Staley is awesome. She is someone that I've wanted to be companions with since I first got in the country and met her, and now I'm blessed to be able to do that, and we are just getting to work and running and proving our faith, and smiling the entire way while we do it. And the Lord is already blessing us. We got one new investigator referred by a member, who came with us. - That was cool. The relief society president wanted us to go over and meet with the sick mother of a less-active member, and we went, taught her about faith, and she asked us to come back to teach her more about what we believe in. Super cool.

Another something amazing is that one of the goals that Sora Staley and I set right from day one is that we want to find a family to teach, a family that will all be involved in the gospel, and we have been praying for it and working to do all that we can in order to find a family and anyone else that will listen. So we were vila knocking the other night and it started to get cold so we went down a street to find a block (an enclosed apartment building) that we could go and knock. We both felt good about going into a green block that looked decently lit. In it we were rejected at every door that opened except for one where a little girl opened the door, and went to get her dad for us to talk to. He listened to us, all the while in the back ground we see his daughter (9 years old), his son (almost 11 years old), a grandma figure, he told us how they have a 4 month old baby, and his wife who is not against us coming again, but also isn't as interested as he is to learn more. He set up with us to come back the following night.

So last night we went over there, and to our surprise the kids weren't there, but he had invited 2 of his friends over there to listen to us, one who had been an investigator about a year ago but who hadn't been talked to since then. We had an amazing discussion, and it went so well, the Spirit was so strong, and we are meeting with them on Wednesday, this time with his kids. This is the family that we've been praying for, for only a couple of days, but the Lord has blessed us greatly even with the people that we have met on the street that we haven't yet been able to meet with.

It is amazing to see the Lord's hand here in the work. When you don't know what to do or even where to begin, He puts you on a good path and leads you when you just go. And that is what He is doing with us right now. It is so cool.

I know that this church is true and that God really does help us do whatever needs to get done if we will just be willing to take the steps that will get us started - He'll give you the extra pushes you need and carry it the rest of the way.

So the branch here is really interesting. It is small and doesn't quite function properly, but it is here. We have one set of Elders here with us which are amazing - Elder Johnson and Elder Bernier (who I served with in the MTC) and it is going to be such a fun transfer. Elder Johnson is the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency, and the Branch President is cool, but he's not the most forward "get her done" type guy. Like yesterday when the Sunday school class went on for an hour and a half, (it is only supposed to last 45 minutes) the Branch President just sat there, and Sora Staley and I were with the 2 kids that are there Serban and Casia and the Branch President came to where we were talking with them and just said, "They're not done yet, but I couldn't listen anymore - it was boring." and I was thinking, “ok...you are the one that can stop it...” but it will get better in time.

Funny story, Casia is 8 1/2 years old, and she didn't want to get baptized until yesterday when Sora Staley said "Why aren't you baptized yet?" Casia said, “I don't want to." Sora Staley said, “Why not? You could be a sister missionary someday you know.” Casia just shrugged her shoulders. Then at the end of the lesson, Casia said, "Yeah, I guess I could be a sister missionary someday." and Sora Staley said "Well then, when do you want to get baptized?" and Casia said, "This Saturday! It will be my day!" It was so cute.

So now we are teaching her what her parents (who happen to be the branch president and his wife) asked us to teach her to make sure she's ready, and we'll see - we might have a member baptism this Saturday. But what a great start that will be.

Something interesting about opening an area is how you come here and you have nothing. We have an apartment, but that apartment didn't even have dishes, a broom, a mop, pillows, hangers, food of any kind, and things that you usually don't think about because every apartment has them, we didn't have - like a drying rack to dry our clothes on, an area book, any missionary supplies, yeah. It was kinda crazy trying to get that ready. We also didn't have a filter, so we're buying water so that we don't get sick, and that's more money. Fortunately, Sora Staley doesn't always use the monthly sums that we get for food and other essentials, and so she has plenty to get us started, and then I have enough to help us get by. It will work, but until we get it all figured out, it will be interesting. We keep finding things that we don't have when we need them and realize it's not there. he he.

Our first morning of breakfast, Elder Johnson had bought a couple of things for us the day before so that we would have something - we had cereal in plastic cups that we ate with the measuring spoons Sora Staley had brought that were extra at her old apartment, and then ate yogurt with plastic knives, and bread and jam. Wow. I took a picture cuz it was so funny, but I don't have time to show you all now. Anyways, life is great, I'm happy, and all is going well. So much happened in just these few days, but I can't think of what else to say.

Just know that God loves you, I love you all so so very much, and I'll tell you more next week! --Sora Karina

ps Sora Thompson - Felicitar!!!!! Sunt foarte entusiasmata pentru tine! Sunt putin trista ca nu voi fi acolo, dar, sunt sigura ca va fi minunata. Si da, am aflat direct inainte am plecat la arad ca ani a avut 2 fete inainte ea a fost cu lica, si ele si mama anei au fost botezate, si am auzit ca a fost minunat. crazy, huh? am crezut asa, dar totul e bine. Este ciudat ce el a facut, dar nu stiu de ce. Nu am crezut ca a fost o problema...ori cum, ai o zi frumoasa, si sa-l dai pe Eric salut pe partea mea! Si vreau sa stiu cum el te-a intrebat te rog. te iubesc si te-am pupat! --sora Karina
ps. Sora Poulsen - Multumesc pentru email. Tot timpul este bine sa te aud. Ma bucur ca totul merge bine pentru tine. Merge bine pentru mine deasemenea. Si acuma am o opertunitate sa fac ce n-am facut inainte cu un oras nou - sa deschid! Este putin diferit si este greau, dar este posibil, si ma distrez deci este bine. Te distrez cu Castro, Si sa-mi spui ce s-intemple! Te iubesc --Sora Karina