week #4

Buna! How is everyone? I hope that all is well and happy and great. I am doing pretty good = wonderful. Just a quick note on time and how weirdly it passes here in the MTC. Today is my half-way day in the MTC which means I only have 4 1/2 weeks left untill I will be leaving to go to Romania. That is quite a crazy/scary/exciting thought. I'm excited to go, but scared cuz I feel like I don't know anything and I can't speak Romanian, and it's crazy cuz it feels somewhat surreal. One week here feels like a year or two, and then when it's over you think, "I arrived here just yesterday." It's hard to explain, but that's ok. I'm loving it here and am enjoying all of my classes.

Last night my companions and I taught half of a lesson in Romanian and it was super hard. This Monday is our first time to teach the entire first lesson in Romanian and it will be a funny experience to see how it plays out. But I'm excited to see how the progression goes. I enjoy going to the RC each week, which is where we call people and talk to them about the Church and make sure whatever they ordered (A Bible, Book of Mormon or a DVD) got to them ok. It's really fun to be able to talk to people on the phone, through online chats, and answer their questions and to bear my testimony to them about Jesus Christ and how if we turn to Him, we can find joy. For Sunday, Relief Society was taught by Sister Carol Stephens of the Relief Society Gen. Board. She talked about how if we don't understand that the commandments are given to us from God out of love, then we will be unwilling to keep them. "...we must be engaged in the work of the Lord, for the Lord must have instruments in fulfilling His purposes." --Elder Legrand Richards.

We also talked a lot about knowledge. Knowledge requires humility, to ask is to pray, to knock is to be spiritually prepared and to get to work, and you have to go, do, and you have to know it before you can go and do it. It is so important to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. It is so crucial to add to that every day through obedience, and having faith that through God everything will work out as we strive to follow Him and learn more about Him.

The firseide that night was with Stephen B. Allen, the managing director of the Church Missionary Dept. He said that "If you go through a day and you leave Christ out of it, it has been a day wasted." We need to remember Jesus Christ, because it is through Him that we are able to come closer to God and that we can repent, be forgiven, and feel the love of our Heavenly Father. "When everything says you can't, believe in the part of you that says you can." :D But also know that as soon as you start thinking you can do it yourself, the Lord will let you.

Tuesday's devotional was given by Elder Daryl H. Garn and his Wife Irene from the quorum of the 70. She talked about how our message is one of Hope about Jesus Christ, and that the greatest cause we've ever known is that of serving the Lord. I have to agree. I know that being in the service of God is such a blessing, and that we are all a part of it, even if we realize that we have taken His name upon us, and that we believe in Him. The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God, and we are all called to His work if we desire to follow Him. Elder Garn spoke of Agency, and how big a part it plays in who we are, and who we become as we live our lives. Agency lays the foundation as we know who we are as sons and daughters of God and as we use it wisely to follow and act on His will.

This week has been very fruitful in my learning. The Temple was so nice to go to. It never ceases to amaze me how God wants us to be happy. That is His desire. He has given us everything so that we can be happy if we obey His commandments and follow His will. He has given us families, prophets who lead and guide us in times of darkness, the Holy Ghost to testify of Him, to teach us and comfort us, and He gave us His Son, Jesus Christ so that we can repent and return to Him when our time comes. I know that this is true, and that as we do His will, we will feel His love, and that we will be happy.

The other day at dinner, I met a Senior couple going to Hungary, Brother and Sister Allen, who's daughter is married to one of the Wooley's son's in Castle Rock. They say hello. It was fun talking to them. At the end of our conversation, Brother Allen said "Give them heaven, because it's so much better than the alternative." Funny!

Oh, and you will laugh at this...they have an enhancement class here that you can choose to take or not to take, but it is offered at the request of the 1st Pres. and quorum of the 12 apostles. One of my companions wanted to go, so we went. They tell you the importance of always looking nice, and putting make-up on you and give you about $200 worth of make-up to have. Nu Skin is the company, and they donate about $10,000 of product per month to the MTC...crazy! But I decided that if the 1st Pres. cared enough about make-up to offer that course, I'm going to try to wear at least a little make-up each day. It's weird, but oh, well. I was laughing about it.

At the end of them putting make-up on you, they have those mirrors I think I had when I was 3yrs old that talks when you bump it. They tell you that you have to agree with it or it won't stop. It says "You're so beautiful!!" and you have to say "Yes I am!" or they keep making it talk to you as you look at your reflection. That was really weird, so I just got it over with quickly, and laughed with my companions about it later.

Oh, and in gym this week, I successfully, several times in a row and in a couple of days now, served overhand in volley ball from behind the back line. Exciting! It was fun. And I am enjoying my study time as I run. It's a good time to think, though it gets way hot on the 3rd floor where they have the track.

And you said that you wanted to know more about how the language is coming. Well, I can form any kind of sentence, past/present/future, I can explain relationships of actions between people, and I can testify of the gospel and pray. It really is my vocabulary that will just have to come with time. It's interesting to try and speak and then think "I don't know how to say that" and then try and rephrase it to it's simplest form so I can communicate as we try to speak as often as possible. My teachers are now teaching us only in Romanian unless we really need English, and then it's just a couple words so we can figure things out by context and what we know. I'm teaching in Romanian next week, and this week in class is just review which is nice. I'm hoping that the review will stabilize my foundation I have on the language, and give me better confidence to speak it more. But I am loving it so much. It is a beautiful language, and I'm excited to be over there in a little more than a month and start getting lost in what they say so I can really learn how to communicate with them.

I know that I am here because God called me, and I love you all so very much. Keep smiling, and I'll write again next week! Sora Karina-