Dear Family,
I'm glad to hear that you all had a good week. And that's so cool that we have fruit trees growing in our yard! Congrats to Tamara on being amazing and having so much fun in volley ball. I know that you are such a great asset to that team. How are Shaley and Jenna's lacrosse seasons going? I hope that they are having fun with that. That is so awesome about Ross and Mimi. I'm so excited for them. Tell them that I say Hi and Congrats! Also, if you see Sam, tell him that I miss him, and I hope he and his family is doing good. Yay for Cherisse being officially engaged!!! I'm so excited! She tried to send me pictures, but none of them went through. So if you could try again that would be great! And please give me news about Josh...I want to hear how he is doing. Thanks.
So this week was quite fun...I really don't have too much to tell as far as number of events, but a few really exciting things. First, last night we had our Special Night of Music fireside which was all the missionaries performing songs about the Savior. We didn't have as many people there as I would have hoped for, but the Spirit was super strong, and the members that we asked to bear their testimonies for part of the program were really good. Elder and Sister Jessee made a power point presentation of pictures of Christ that played for all to see while I played “I need Thee every Hour” on the piano (I just made up an arrangement) and then it continued into the song “I Stand All Amazed” the same arrangement that I have at home, but Sora Thompson sang it in Romanian while I played the piano. We also had a flute piece, a guitar piece, and some choral pieces. It went really good I think. The people who came loved it. And it was fun.
Even though it's hard to do everything I want to musically on the small not full-size cheap electric piano that we have, actually it's impossible to do everything that I want to on it, but the music was there, and the spirit was there, and no one really knew the difference except for me. Elder Wilde (one of our Zone Leaders) said that even though he couldn't even begin to understand my pain with that piano, he cared about my pain and frustration and realized that it was there. I told him I appreciated it :) We make do with what we have.
I'm excited for transfer meeting where they will have a real piano, and I will be able to play that in 2 weeks. 2 weeks! It's crazy that my companion is going home in 2 weeks. But we are having so much fun together working hard and learning lots. We sing practically all the time every day, and just go around smiling.
Anyways, exciting thing number 2, our choir that we work with before church did another musical number that was very successful...A Child's Prayer. I was impressed that they were able to do the round part, and they all loved it. Some of the members asked us for a copy of it because they don't ever hear those songs, and they liked it a lot. So proud.
Best news for last.........Ani and Lica are going to get married next Thursday!!!!! And then Ani will be baptized either on Friday or Saturday!!!!! We are so excited for them. Lica wants to be baptized, but he's not quite ready yet, so we'll keep working with him until he is. But it is an amazing blessing for this to happen before Sora Thompson goes home, because she has been the main source of difference in their lives, and so now she gets to see the majority of the results from it. It will be so fun. And Ani has asked us to make her wedding cake, and we're putting together a party for them for the members to come and support them and celebrate with them, and next Monday we're going dress shopping with Ani and Sora Jessee. So much fun. It won't be an extravagant wedding dress, but something pretty that she can wear for multiple occasions, cuz that's just more practical, especially since they don't have any money. But it will be fun to plan this wedding and to watch this family come even closer together as they strive to keep the commandments of God and to enter in the gate of Baptism which will bring them a fullness of joy.
I just want to close with my testimony of the joy that the Gospel brings. If you just stop and ponder a moment with how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed your life, or how it could change your life, as you strive to live it's teachings. Faith brings a greater power and trust in your life, Repentance gives you the joy of being clean and worthy before God, Baptism has an amazing covenant and blessing where we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ – we become His – and the gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest blessings ever where we can communicate with the Father and receive direction daily. Enduring to the End is what we're all doing now, where we continue to work and try to do all that we can and apply the Atonement to us and through all of it we have the assurance that God is there and that we will have joy in this life and in the life to come when we build our lives on these things. It truly is amazing the change that comes to a person's heart when they live these things. I am truly grateful for the blessing of the gospel, and that I can be here in Romania serving and loving the people.
I hope that all continues to be well and fun and grand with all of you and I'll write again next week! Love you lots and lots and lots!
--Sora Karina Hugs and Kisses all around to everyone ten times over!!!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
To Grandma Coy
Dear Grandma,
I was very sad to hear about Grandpa, but I want you to know a few things. First, I know that God loves us so much. He watches after us, and I know that He is not only taking care of us here, but He is taking care of Grandpa. I know that there is life after death, and that one day, we will all be together as a family again.
I know that the Plan that God has for us for our salvation is also for our happiness and that when we live the way He wants us to live, we can find happiness here on earth and in the life to come.
I am here in Romania teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about how when we live according to the Gospel, we can truly be happy. I have seen the gospel transform their lives, and it has changed mine as well.
I wish I could have been with you and Grandpa over spring break, but I'm glad that you got my letter before hand, and that I sent you my love. I still send it, and will continue to send you my love for sure no matter how far away I am.
I am grateful to hear that you are doing well, and so happy to know that God is in our lives. I know that when we rely on Him, He will support us and help us grow in our trials. I love you so very much, and I pray for you and for all of our family every day.
Continue in faith, I know that joy is there. I love you so much, and I'll write to you later.
Love always, --Karina
I was very sad to hear about Grandpa, but I want you to know a few things. First, I know that God loves us so much. He watches after us, and I know that He is not only taking care of us here, but He is taking care of Grandpa. I know that there is life after death, and that one day, we will all be together as a family again.
I know that the Plan that God has for us for our salvation is also for our happiness and that when we live the way He wants us to live, we can find happiness here on earth and in the life to come.
I am here in Romania teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about how when we live according to the Gospel, we can truly be happy. I have seen the gospel transform their lives, and it has changed mine as well.
I wish I could have been with you and Grandpa over spring break, but I'm glad that you got my letter before hand, and that I sent you my love. I still send it, and will continue to send you my love for sure no matter how far away I am.
I am grateful to hear that you are doing well, and so happy to know that God is in our lives. I know that when we rely on Him, He will support us and help us grow in our trials. I love you so very much, and I pray for you and for all of our family every day.
Continue in faith, I know that joy is there. I love you so much, and I'll write to you later.
Love always, --Karina
Easter in Romania
Dear Home and Family,
HI! Happy Easter! I know that you already had Easter, but my Easter was yesterday. It was super fun, but let me back up a bit. Because it was the week before Easter, no one could talk to us. The work was kinda slow because school was on vacation and everyone was either out of town or cleaning their houses or making any other lame excuse to not hear the Gospel. (Easter is like the Biggest thing here.) But we did have a few good lessons.
Ani and Lika are doing great. They want to get married, but there are a few things standing in the way like money for their physicals that the country requires them to get before marriage, and Ani needs to find a new address to update her Identity card, and the manager of the place they live now won't let them use that address for a weird reason, and her mom in law won't let her use hers either for dumb reasons, so we need to find a new address or have faith that someone's heart will soften so that they can get married and then get baptized.
Lika is trying to quit smoking. They have 3 kids who are so cute but it is amazing to me the conditions they live in. They only have 2 rooms in their house which is used for everything, no running water, and in order to go to the bathroom they have to pay 1 leau which is money that they really don't have. But amidst these meager conditions, they are starting to be so happy and I know it's because of the gospel. Because they have chosen to live the gospel principles – not just accept and believe them, but actually live them – they are loving each other so much more and are able to be happy regardless.
Ani had an experience where she was so sad that she couldn't give her kids a proper Paste (Easter) meal because they didn't have meat. And then she thought “why am I complaining? All I need to do it pray to heavenly Father and He will take care of me” so she prayed, and the next day someone gave to her as a gift a ton of meat. And their meal was really good (I know because they invited me and Sora Thompson to eat there for Paste which was the pride of their life to be able to serve us. It was really good.)
We ate Salate de Beuf, which is kind or a spread thing for any food, tomato and cucumber salad, different types of meat, Sarmale which is a very Romanian dish that is meat wrapped up and cooked in pickled cabbage (doesn't sound great, but it really is) and hard boiled eggs and Cozonac (a desert-type bread) and prejatura (which is pastry type deserts). It was a good meal.
We are hoping that they will be able to get married in 2 weeks and baptised in 3 so hopefully things will work out for that to occur.
Another of our investigators, Bogdon, has a baptismal date! He wants to get baptized May 26, but we are hoping to get him to May 9th ...he also is trying to stop smoking and has gone from 3 packs a day to 1 cigarette per day. It is because of prayer, scripture study, a lot of faith and support and the Atonement of Jesus Christ that he can do this, and it has been amazing the transformation in his life that he (and we) have seen in just 2 weeks.
A lot of people here make fun of you when you change your ways – not just religion, but also habits – and they call you “Pocait” which means “repented” but they use it as a mean term which is weird because repentance is a blessing and a gift. So some of his friends have given him a hard time for not drinking coffee or smoking, but he is doing good and staying strong. It's exciting.
Amalia is another investigator that we are hoping will get baptized soon. We asked her if she found out that our message is true if she would get baptized and she said “yes” so she is praying about our message that we have shared (Restoration of the Church, the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and we will meet with her this week, hopefully to set a date of baptism. She is awesome though. She's the one who teaches the elementary class and brought them to the vila to learn that there's more than just the Orthodox church. She is so fun.
Another fun thing for easter we did, is that we learned how to dye eggs Romanian style. First, it's all one solid color, and super bright. After they dye it they paint it with grease to make it shiny and it's amazing what the difference is in looks. One day you'll see my pictures of that. But Another way to dye eggs is you get some little leaves from outside, place them on the eggs, get a piece of nylon and wrap it around the egg to hold the leaf in place and tie it. Then you put it in water with red onion peels and slowly bring to a light boil until it's hard boiled. When you take the nylon off and wash off the leaves, the egg is dyed a red-orange and the place where the leaf was is a perfect yellow imprint. It's so cool because you can see the veins and everything, and it's a perfect decoration.
Now to tell you about Easter mass at Midnight. There were thousands of people there at the Orthodox church, inside and out, and each one has a candle. Then at midnight, the priests come out with their “holy fire from heaven” and they start lighting people's candles, and those people light other people's candles until everyone's candle is lit – neat concept. So then the priest and whoever amongst the congregation wants to follow, does a procession around the church 3 times, and then the prayers begin, with chanting, prayer, and song that a lot of the congregation knows by heart. It goes on for about 4 hours. We only stayed for one. But it's good luck if you have your candle still lit by the time you get home (we blew ours out to get home faster, but found some candles right outside our appartment, re-lit our candles and said it counts. But it was super neat to see the culture.
Another something fun is that Sora Thompson and I have a little choir at church which consists of about 7 or 8 people that consistantly come plus the Elders, and they only know how to sing melody, except for the Elders. So we sang “Savior, thou who Wearedst a Crown” for the Paste musical number and they had dynamics this week. It was very dramatic between the loud and soft, and the piano is a little electric keyboard so my dynamics are controlled by a volume switch but it's ok. We were so proud of our choir for just knowing the difference between loud and soft in the volume of their voices!
Today for Preparation day we went as a zone to Lipova which is the ruins of a castle. We had tons of fun climbing around it, finding interresting ways to take pictures, and played ultimate frisbee. Super super fun!
Anyways, I'm doing great, the work is going really good, and I am loving being here in Romania. The purposes of God will continue, and I am grateful to say that I am living in a way to help those purposes continue to grow and to be taught to the children of God.
Also, I want to know if Josh came to Conference or not, and what's going on with him. Tell him I say Hi! Know that I love you all so much and that I pray for you often and am so grateful that I have a family in the gospel. Every time I show someone the picture of our family, they are amazed that it's all girls and that we're all smiling! And they love Cherisse's picture of her and Alley that I have they think they are so funny. They don't really take creative pictures here, so they love it. But I love you all so much, and try if you can to send me some of Cherisse's pictures or more pictures of the family that you took at Grandma and Grandpas. Thanks and keep having an amazing week!
Love always, --Sora Karina
HI! Happy Easter! I know that you already had Easter, but my Easter was yesterday. It was super fun, but let me back up a bit. Because it was the week before Easter, no one could talk to us. The work was kinda slow because school was on vacation and everyone was either out of town or cleaning their houses or making any other lame excuse to not hear the Gospel. (Easter is like the Biggest thing here.) But we did have a few good lessons.
Ani and Lika are doing great. They want to get married, but there are a few things standing in the way like money for their physicals that the country requires them to get before marriage, and Ani needs to find a new address to update her Identity card, and the manager of the place they live now won't let them use that address for a weird reason, and her mom in law won't let her use hers either for dumb reasons, so we need to find a new address or have faith that someone's heart will soften so that they can get married and then get baptized.
Lika is trying to quit smoking. They have 3 kids who are so cute but it is amazing to me the conditions they live in. They only have 2 rooms in their house which is used for everything, no running water, and in order to go to the bathroom they have to pay 1 leau which is money that they really don't have. But amidst these meager conditions, they are starting to be so happy and I know it's because of the gospel. Because they have chosen to live the gospel principles – not just accept and believe them, but actually live them – they are loving each other so much more and are able to be happy regardless.
Ani had an experience where she was so sad that she couldn't give her kids a proper Paste (Easter) meal because they didn't have meat. And then she thought “why am I complaining? All I need to do it pray to heavenly Father and He will take care of me” so she prayed, and the next day someone gave to her as a gift a ton of meat. And their meal was really good (I know because they invited me and Sora Thompson to eat there for Paste which was the pride of their life to be able to serve us. It was really good.)
We ate Salate de Beuf, which is kind or a spread thing for any food, tomato and cucumber salad, different types of meat, Sarmale which is a very Romanian dish that is meat wrapped up and cooked in pickled cabbage (doesn't sound great, but it really is) and hard boiled eggs and Cozonac (a desert-type bread) and prejatura (which is pastry type deserts). It was a good meal.
We are hoping that they will be able to get married in 2 weeks and baptised in 3 so hopefully things will work out for that to occur.
Another of our investigators, Bogdon, has a baptismal date! He wants to get baptized May 26, but we are hoping to get him to May 9th ...he also is trying to stop smoking and has gone from 3 packs a day to 1 cigarette per day. It is because of prayer, scripture study, a lot of faith and support and the Atonement of Jesus Christ that he can do this, and it has been amazing the transformation in his life that he (and we) have seen in just 2 weeks.
A lot of people here make fun of you when you change your ways – not just religion, but also habits – and they call you “Pocait” which means “repented” but they use it as a mean term which is weird because repentance is a blessing and a gift. So some of his friends have given him a hard time for not drinking coffee or smoking, but he is doing good and staying strong. It's exciting.
Amalia is another investigator that we are hoping will get baptized soon. We asked her if she found out that our message is true if she would get baptized and she said “yes” so she is praying about our message that we have shared (Restoration of the Church, the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and we will meet with her this week, hopefully to set a date of baptism. She is awesome though. She's the one who teaches the elementary class and brought them to the vila to learn that there's more than just the Orthodox church. She is so fun.
Another fun thing for easter we did, is that we learned how to dye eggs Romanian style. First, it's all one solid color, and super bright. After they dye it they paint it with grease to make it shiny and it's amazing what the difference is in looks. One day you'll see my pictures of that. But Another way to dye eggs is you get some little leaves from outside, place them on the eggs, get a piece of nylon and wrap it around the egg to hold the leaf in place and tie it. Then you put it in water with red onion peels and slowly bring to a light boil until it's hard boiled. When you take the nylon off and wash off the leaves, the egg is dyed a red-orange and the place where the leaf was is a perfect yellow imprint. It's so cool because you can see the veins and everything, and it's a perfect decoration.
Now to tell you about Easter mass at Midnight. There were thousands of people there at the Orthodox church, inside and out, and each one has a candle. Then at midnight, the priests come out with their “holy fire from heaven” and they start lighting people's candles, and those people light other people's candles until everyone's candle is lit – neat concept. So then the priest and whoever amongst the congregation wants to follow, does a procession around the church 3 times, and then the prayers begin, with chanting, prayer, and song that a lot of the congregation knows by heart. It goes on for about 4 hours. We only stayed for one. But it's good luck if you have your candle still lit by the time you get home (we blew ours out to get home faster, but found some candles right outside our appartment, re-lit our candles and said it counts. But it was super neat to see the culture.
Another something fun is that Sora Thompson and I have a little choir at church which consists of about 7 or 8 people that consistantly come plus the Elders, and they only know how to sing melody, except for the Elders. So we sang “Savior, thou who Wearedst a Crown” for the Paste musical number and they had dynamics this week. It was very dramatic between the loud and soft, and the piano is a little electric keyboard so my dynamics are controlled by a volume switch but it's ok. We were so proud of our choir for just knowing the difference between loud and soft in the volume of their voices!
Today for Preparation day we went as a zone to Lipova which is the ruins of a castle. We had tons of fun climbing around it, finding interresting ways to take pictures, and played ultimate frisbee. Super super fun!
Anyways, I'm doing great, the work is going really good, and I am loving being here in Romania. The purposes of God will continue, and I am grateful to say that I am living in a way to help those purposes continue to grow and to be taught to the children of God.
Also, I want to know if Josh came to Conference or not, and what's going on with him. Tell him I say Hi! Know that I love you all so much and that I pray for you often and am so grateful that I have a family in the gospel. Every time I show someone the picture of our family, they are amazed that it's all girls and that we're all smiling! And they love Cherisse's picture of her and Alley that I have they think they are so funny. They don't really take creative pictures here, so they love it. But I love you all so much, and try if you can to send me some of Cherisse's pictures or more pictures of the family that you took at Grandma and Grandpas. Thanks and keep having an amazing week!
Love always, --Sora Karina
Monday, April 13, 2009
2nd Week in Romania
Hello Home! How are you all doing? I'm doing wonderful. Arad is so beautiful and I am enjoying walking the whole city to find people to teach.
One of the people we are teaching is Bogdon. He is amazing. We are hoping that he will be baptized before the end of the transfer. He has almost quit smoking, and he has received answer to his prayers that he should get baptized. But he told us “before I wanted to be sure that I should get baptized. Now that I'm sure, I want to be sure that I am completely ready.” He's so awesome, and it's fun to teach him...he understands everything really well and his countenance has changed so much since we've been teaching him. You can really tell that he is living the Gospel in his life. It makes such a difference that you can actually see a light in him that wasn't there before. It's amazing what living true principles can do for you and your happiness.
So last week I told you that I would be having my first experience in the blocs. I did, and it is crazy. The entire Europe missions have been challenged to testify first thing in a contact. So before you even say “I'm a missionary” they open the door or you stop them on the street and say “hello. I know that God lives, and that He has a plan for you. We have a message about....” or whatever you want to bear your testimony about. Think about what you can testify directly of (a living prophet, eternal families, scriptures, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored... you can think of lots and lots) and that's what we present them with first off. It's really fun being able to bear your testimony to X amount of people each day, but there are some people who hear you say “I know that God li...” and they shut the door in your face, or keep walking without acknowledging your existence. And then there are tons of people who say “I was born Orthodox and I will die Orthodox, so it's pointless to talk to me."
Some of their excuses for why you can't talk to them are hilarious. Like “my family is sick” or “everyone in this house is old” or “the guy in the apartment is loud” or “I'm sorry, it's too late to talk about religion (when it's 7pm)” Yeah, it's funny. But there are some good experiences when the people will listen, even if they don't act on it, they listen.
Oh, and I have to tell you about the bowling alley. It's little, just 2 lanes but full length. And instead of there being a little machine to take the pins and set them up, the pins are on strings! So when you hit them they kinda flop around, and then the strings lift them all up and then set down the ones you didn't hit. It's so fun to watch. P.s. My score was 145. Boo Yeah.
Another weird thing is that all of the old people color their hair weird colors. The majority of the older generation like Grandma and Grandpa's age have light purple or bright orange hair. Occasionally you'll see a spring green or baby blue head of hair, but the purple and orange are the most common...don't know why they do it, but I see it every day.
And one of my favorite things here is the Piata (said peeyatsah) which is basically your fresh flowers, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh eggs, and a whole lot of other stuff every day. So amazingly good. We've had a lot of salads and they are delicious! But you need to bleach all of your fruits, veggies and eggs before you eat them. And also filter your water before you drink it. So it adds a little time to the cooking process, but the food is still really good.
Probably one of the funniest things is my name. Everyone makes mention to me about how Karina is a first name in Romania, and isn't that your first name? And many times it takes a LOT of convincing from me and my companion that it really is my family name (I tell them that my first name is LoAnne) and it always ends with “wow, people in Colorado are weird” lol! Sora Thompson and I always look to each other and smile, it's a never ending joke that no one will get except for us! But it's fun. So many people made mention of it, and a lot of the youth in our branch call me just Karina without using Sora, and so yesterday the Branch President asked me to introduce myself in sacrament meeting because I was new to their branch. And as one of the things I told them that Karina is my family name, so it is weird, but true. So funny.
And Easter is this Sunday...I know it was yesterday for you, but here we celebrate the Orthodox Easter which is this Sunday. I'm excited because we get to go to the midnight service on Saturday and take part in all of their traditions with the red easter eggs that they hit together (like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and the salutation to everyone instead of hello for the next 40 days or so is “Christ Resurrected!” and the reply is “True He Lives!” So cool. But I'll tell you all about the Easter service and such next week.
Ok, a few more neat experiences. We have been teaching a girl named Ani and her not-husband Lika and they have 3 kids, and we are having an FHE with them tonight (excited) and they need to get married before she can get baptized. She has been wanting to get baptized for quite a few months now, but I guess it's not ok to get married before Paste (pashteh or Easter) and so hopefully they will get married in 2 or 3 weeks. But she is praying more and will be ready as soon as they get married. Tonight with them will be fun. We are going to teach them about the Procolmation to the world on families and how families can be together for eternity. Basically it's a little lesson to teach them how to hold FHE on their own each week. Another one of our investigators, Amalia, teaches a gradininta class which is kids 8-11 in school. She suggested that she bring her kids that she teaches to the vila (the building where we have church because we don't have a chapel) so that they could see that there is more than just the Orthodox church. So she brought them, and we taught them how to pray, and had a lesson on how they are children of God. We taught them the first verse of “I am a Child of God” and they loved it. “inca una inca una!” (Again again!) they said that so much, and they learned it pretty good. Then we gave them each a plastic plate for them to draw a happy face on it and to write the words “Eu sunt copil al Domnului” ( I am a Child of God) around the sides. It was so good...and the kids made us little plaster easter eggs that they painted and decorated as a thank you gift. It was so sweet. Amalia loved it too.
Something else that is going on here is the Moldovan Revolution. I don't know how much you've heard of it there in the US, but Moldova was having elections, and the Communist party won again, and it happened because of a corrupt voting system, and the day they won, about 10,000 people gathered for riots and to contend with the outcome of the elections. So now there is a mini revolution going on in Moldova, which is about an 18 hr train ride from where I am right now, and Sora Kiriyama, one of my companions from the MTC is serving in Chisinou which is in Moldova. So the missionaries are fine, they just had to stay in their houses for 3 or 4 days before the riots settled and have to stay away from all the government buildings. They can't leave because currently all borders in Moldova are closed off for those who wish to enter, and they were closed for those who wanted to leave, but I think the outgoing borders opened either today or will later this week. Crazy. But all is safe and well, so don't worry about it.
But I hope that all is well at home, that the spirit is strong and that you are all having fun. Tell Alley and Josh and everyone in the ward and neighbors and pretty much just tell everyone that I say HI! And that I'm doing great.
I love you all very very much and I'll write with more fun stories next week...Let me know what your fun stories are!
This gospel is true. It is the only way that we can find a fulness of happiness. There are other things that can make us happy, but not completely. God Lives. Jesus Christ Lives and they are involved in our lives. Their arms are open to all who would go to them, and that will never change. The Atonement is real. I have not only seen it work in the lives of those I teach here in Romania, but it has changed my own life as well as I have turned to my Heavenly Father for help in my times of need, and He has never refused me. He will never refuse anyone, and I know that through prayer and the scriptures, we can feel His love for us and find those answers for which we seek. I love this Gospel. I love the Lord and it is so important for us to share what we know to be true, to reach out to all those who don't have what we have so that all of God's children can have the opportunity to come to Him and to find the light that is available to have in their lives through God. We have a living Prophet today who guides the world, and our message is for all who would listen and receive it. I know it is true. I testify of it every day. Live it, and share it. I love you all, and I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
--Sora Karina
One of the people we are teaching is Bogdon. He is amazing. We are hoping that he will be baptized before the end of the transfer. He has almost quit smoking, and he has received answer to his prayers that he should get baptized. But he told us “before I wanted to be sure that I should get baptized. Now that I'm sure, I want to be sure that I am completely ready.” He's so awesome, and it's fun to teach him...he understands everything really well and his countenance has changed so much since we've been teaching him. You can really tell that he is living the Gospel in his life. It makes such a difference that you can actually see a light in him that wasn't there before. It's amazing what living true principles can do for you and your happiness.
So last week I told you that I would be having my first experience in the blocs. I did, and it is crazy. The entire Europe missions have been challenged to testify first thing in a contact. So before you even say “I'm a missionary” they open the door or you stop them on the street and say “hello. I know that God lives, and that He has a plan for you. We have a message about....” or whatever you want to bear your testimony about. Think about what you can testify directly of (a living prophet, eternal families, scriptures, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is restored... you can think of lots and lots) and that's what we present them with first off. It's really fun being able to bear your testimony to X amount of people each day, but there are some people who hear you say “I know that God li...” and they shut the door in your face, or keep walking without acknowledging your existence. And then there are tons of people who say “I was born Orthodox and I will die Orthodox, so it's pointless to talk to me."
Some of their excuses for why you can't talk to them are hilarious. Like “my family is sick” or “everyone in this house is old” or “the guy in the apartment is loud” or “I'm sorry, it's too late to talk about religion (when it's 7pm)” Yeah, it's funny. But there are some good experiences when the people will listen, even if they don't act on it, they listen.
Oh, and I have to tell you about the bowling alley. It's little, just 2 lanes but full length. And instead of there being a little machine to take the pins and set them up, the pins are on strings! So when you hit them they kinda flop around, and then the strings lift them all up and then set down the ones you didn't hit. It's so fun to watch. P.s. My score was 145. Boo Yeah.
Another weird thing is that all of the old people color their hair weird colors. The majority of the older generation like Grandma and Grandpa's age have light purple or bright orange hair. Occasionally you'll see a spring green or baby blue head of hair, but the purple and orange are the most common...don't know why they do it, but I see it every day.
And one of my favorite things here is the Piata (said peeyatsah) which is basically your fresh flowers, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, fresh eggs, and a whole lot of other stuff every day. So amazingly good. We've had a lot of salads and they are delicious! But you need to bleach all of your fruits, veggies and eggs before you eat them. And also filter your water before you drink it. So it adds a little time to the cooking process, but the food is still really good.
Probably one of the funniest things is my name. Everyone makes mention to me about how Karina is a first name in Romania, and isn't that your first name? And many times it takes a LOT of convincing from me and my companion that it really is my family name (I tell them that my first name is LoAnne) and it always ends with “wow, people in Colorado are weird” lol! Sora Thompson and I always look to each other and smile, it's a never ending joke that no one will get except for us! But it's fun. So many people made mention of it, and a lot of the youth in our branch call me just Karina without using Sora, and so yesterday the Branch President asked me to introduce myself in sacrament meeting because I was new to their branch. And as one of the things I told them that Karina is my family name, so it is weird, but true. So funny.
And Easter is this Sunday...I know it was yesterday for you, but here we celebrate the Orthodox Easter which is this Sunday. I'm excited because we get to go to the midnight service on Saturday and take part in all of their traditions with the red easter eggs that they hit together (like in My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and the salutation to everyone instead of hello for the next 40 days or so is “Christ Resurrected!” and the reply is “True He Lives!” So cool. But I'll tell you all about the Easter service and such next week.
Ok, a few more neat experiences. We have been teaching a girl named Ani and her not-husband Lika and they have 3 kids, and we are having an FHE with them tonight (excited) and they need to get married before she can get baptized. She has been wanting to get baptized for quite a few months now, but I guess it's not ok to get married before Paste (pashteh or Easter) and so hopefully they will get married in 2 or 3 weeks. But she is praying more and will be ready as soon as they get married. Tonight with them will be fun. We are going to teach them about the Procolmation to the world on families and how families can be together for eternity. Basically it's a little lesson to teach them how to hold FHE on their own each week. Another one of our investigators, Amalia, teaches a gradininta class which is kids 8-11 in school. She suggested that she bring her kids that she teaches to the vila (the building where we have church because we don't have a chapel) so that they could see that there is more than just the Orthodox church. So she brought them, and we taught them how to pray, and had a lesson on how they are children of God. We taught them the first verse of “I am a Child of God” and they loved it. “inca una inca una!” (Again again!) they said that so much, and they learned it pretty good. Then we gave them each a plastic plate for them to draw a happy face on it and to write the words “Eu sunt copil al Domnului” ( I am a Child of God) around the sides. It was so good...and the kids made us little plaster easter eggs that they painted and decorated as a thank you gift. It was so sweet. Amalia loved it too.
Something else that is going on here is the Moldovan Revolution. I don't know how much you've heard of it there in the US, but Moldova was having elections, and the Communist party won again, and it happened because of a corrupt voting system, and the day they won, about 10,000 people gathered for riots and to contend with the outcome of the elections. So now there is a mini revolution going on in Moldova, which is about an 18 hr train ride from where I am right now, and Sora Kiriyama, one of my companions from the MTC is serving in Chisinou which is in Moldova. So the missionaries are fine, they just had to stay in their houses for 3 or 4 days before the riots settled and have to stay away from all the government buildings. They can't leave because currently all borders in Moldova are closed off for those who wish to enter, and they were closed for those who wanted to leave, but I think the outgoing borders opened either today or will later this week. Crazy. But all is safe and well, so don't worry about it.
But I hope that all is well at home, that the spirit is strong and that you are all having fun. Tell Alley and Josh and everyone in the ward and neighbors and pretty much just tell everyone that I say HI! And that I'm doing great.
I love you all very very much and I'll write with more fun stories next week...Let me know what your fun stories are!
This gospel is true. It is the only way that we can find a fulness of happiness. There are other things that can make us happy, but not completely. God Lives. Jesus Christ Lives and they are involved in our lives. Their arms are open to all who would go to them, and that will never change. The Atonement is real. I have not only seen it work in the lives of those I teach here in Romania, but it has changed my own life as well as I have turned to my Heavenly Father for help in my times of need, and He has never refused me. He will never refuse anyone, and I know that through prayer and the scriptures, we can feel His love for us and find those answers for which we seek. I love this Gospel. I love the Lord and it is so important for us to share what we know to be true, to reach out to all those who don't have what we have so that all of God's children can have the opportunity to come to Him and to find the light that is available to have in their lives through God. We have a living Prophet today who guides the world, and our message is for all who would listen and receive it. I know it is true. I testify of it every day. Live it, and share it. I love you all, and I testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
--Sora Karina
Monday, April 6, 2009
Hello from Romania!
Hello from Romania!!! I made it here safe and sound, which you already knew from the Lundberg's email, but I decided to tell you myself as well. So we arrived in Bucuresti (said boocooresht) with our huge winter coats on because it had been snowing really hard in Salt Lake when we left, and were sweating our weight because of the heat and humidity here. Pres. Lundberg was laughing at us, but we ended up getting everything settled.
We had our physicals and other things that are required for our visa application, and it was the weirdest physical of my life. They tapped on my chest, put pressure on my forehead to see if it would hurt, listened to my breathing by putting the scope on my ribs, pushed on my stomach and on my shins, and listened for a pulse in my feet. I don't know what any of it meant, but they declared me healthy.
That night we stayed with some of the sisters in Bucuresti until we got our new companions the next day. They were our "nashers" (nash means godparent in romanian, and thus they took care of us for our first night = nashers.) I tried my first saorma (said shohrmah) which is a really really good food. It is like a pita type bread tortilla filled with tons of chicken, onions, pickles, sauces, garlic, cheese, french fries, ketchup, mayonaes, cabbage, and peppers. Holy cow, it was really big, and really good.
Transfer meeting was neat. We walked in while the rest of the missionaries were singing (the whole mission had been called in for transfers because only 5 missionaries weren't moving so it made it easier for everyone to come) and when we walked in they all stood up for us. We went to the front and introduced ourselves, and then we were presented to our new companions who would train us.
My companion is Sora Thompson. she is amazing. I am her 4th boboaca, and she is in her last transfer so it will be interesting...me in my first and her in her last. But it's been fun so far! She is from Gainsville Florida, and has also lived in the Philippines and a couple other places in Europe for short periods of time because of what her dad does for a living. She loves to sing, and is really good at the language. She says that I am doing good with it too, that I understand a lot and it's good that I'm not afraid to speak so I'll learn faster...but there are definitely times when I have absolutely no idea what is going on. That usually happens when they start talking about things not in the church. ;)
Anyways, after transfer meeting we went and started talking to people about the gospel. We met with some members that she is close to from when she served there, and met with some less-active members where I got to attempt to teach them the spiritual message. It was good.
We ended up taking the midnight train to Arad which is where I am now serving which is close to the border of Hungary. It was fun being in a sleeper train...the missionaries all describe it like a Harry Potter train :) But we got to Arad, got all our stuff in our block (apartments are called "blocks" here...and if you saw them you would understand why.) And then we went and met with Sora Mogosi (said Mohgohsh) who is probably the cutest older lady I've ever seen, and she is the example of missionary work. She's a member, and she does everything with the missionaries and is an amazing lady. We taught her and helped her with things she didn't understand, and we have a bunch of lessons set up for her to teach with us. Then we met with 3 recent members and taught them about tithing, fasting, enduring to the end, and the sacrament.
Saturday was neat...we had a baptism of Elizabeta whom the elders had been teaching. It was a really neat service and it took a lot of work. We don't have a chapel in Arad and so the baptismal font is portable and is called a bazin (said bahzeen). It took about 3 hours to fill up with water using a hose connected to the kitchen sink, a hose hooked up to the custodial shower head, and using pots and pans from the bathroom sink. But it was really nice. And then general conference isn't broadcasted to all the cities so we don't have a broadcast, but the Jessee family (the senior missionary couple serving in Arad) have the internet, so we went to their house to watch it. They are the sweetest people.
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and it took so much concentration to try to understand all of what the people were saying. I had a head ache after the 3 hours lol! But it was great...we had 5 investigators come to church which is amazing, and we set up lots of teaching appointments for this week.
Sora Thompson and I taught the lesson to the youth for sunday school. We taught about the gifts of the spirit, and she taught the lesson, while I wrote on the white-board. I was in charge of the activity, so I had to practice with Sora Thompson all sunday morning. It went ok...I only forgot one verb so yay me! lol. anyways, the activity was we gave each of them a marker, and I told them that they had to make a rainbow with that color by themselves. Obviously they couldn't do it, and so I had each of them come up to the front in turn to put their color on the paper to create a rainbow. The rainbow represented the kingdom of God, and their colors represented them and their different gifts. The gifts are given to us to build up the kingdom of God and to help each other, not for ourselves to keep. So to build the Kingdom of God, be together! (ca sa clatiti imparatie lui Dumnezeu, fiti impreuna!) And then I congratulated them on building the kingdom of God (pointing to the rainbow they had drawn) and they all laughed. But it was fun.
Then we had a little bit of time before we broke our fast at the Jessee's with a pot luck and to watch conference, so we went to the hospital (us and the 4 Elders in my area) and we asked the patients in some of the rooms if we could sing to them. We sang songs about Jesus Christ and it was amazing to see their countenances change into smiles or even tears as the Spirit came with each hymn as we sang with smiles on our faces. It was really neat. And just to let you know, when you are watching the morning session of conference, we were getting the live feed from the internet at 7 pm. So we only saw the 2 morning sessions, but it's ok. It was fun to watch any at all. So today is preparation day, and we cleaned our appartment, and talked about our investigators and some of the members more, and now I'm writing to you.
Tonight we are going bowling, and then at 6 I am getting my first experience with knocking blocks and going door to door. It should be fun!
So now some fun random facts that you will find fun. Everyone uses their car horns. It is rare for their to be silence in the traffic, and they don't have left turn lanes, so they just stop and gather in this huge cluttered group of traffic, and then just go when they can. So there is always horns going and they use ambulances for everything, not just emergencies, so sirens are an ongoing thing as well.
It seems like every toilet has a different method of flushing it. Some have pull chains, others have buttons on the toilet, buttons on the wall, some you have to pump the button for it to work, the one in my block has a start and stop button to push for the water to go and to stop, and others even have the choice of a half flush or a full flush. So funny.
But I love you all so very much. It was so fun to talk to most of you at the airport. Tamara, I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you, but I love you sooooooo soooooo much! And you better tell one of your sisters to give you a BIG hug from me! And Shaley, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I"m sorry I won't send anything for a while, but you'll get it eventually. I love you lots and lots and I hope that you had fun on your 17th birthday. Can't believe it. Anywho, I'll write to you next week.
I almost can't believe that I'm here, and that I'm really a missionary now. I am so excited to be doing the work of the Lord, and to know that He is with me. "The Lord does not ask about our ability or inability, but only about our availability; and if we prove our dependability, the Lord will take care of our capability." --Neal A. Maxwell. I know that the Lord is with us as we strive to fulfill our call. I know that no matter how long and hard the road, we are being guided, and if we press on, the lives of the children of God will be blessed as we teach them the principles of salvation.
Love, Sora Karina
We had our physicals and other things that are required for our visa application, and it was the weirdest physical of my life. They tapped on my chest, put pressure on my forehead to see if it would hurt, listened to my breathing by putting the scope on my ribs, pushed on my stomach and on my shins, and listened for a pulse in my feet. I don't know what any of it meant, but they declared me healthy.
That night we stayed with some of the sisters in Bucuresti until we got our new companions the next day. They were our "nashers" (nash means godparent in romanian, and thus they took care of us for our first night = nashers.) I tried my first saorma (said shohrmah) which is a really really good food. It is like a pita type bread tortilla filled with tons of chicken, onions, pickles, sauces, garlic, cheese, french fries, ketchup, mayonaes, cabbage, and peppers. Holy cow, it was really big, and really good.
Transfer meeting was neat. We walked in while the rest of the missionaries were singing (the whole mission had been called in for transfers because only 5 missionaries weren't moving so it made it easier for everyone to come) and when we walked in they all stood up for us. We went to the front and introduced ourselves, and then we were presented to our new companions who would train us.
My companion is Sora Thompson. she is amazing. I am her 4th boboaca, and she is in her last transfer so it will be interesting...me in my first and her in her last. But it's been fun so far! She is from Gainsville Florida, and has also lived in the Philippines and a couple other places in Europe for short periods of time because of what her dad does for a living. She loves to sing, and is really good at the language. She says that I am doing good with it too, that I understand a lot and it's good that I'm not afraid to speak so I'll learn faster...but there are definitely times when I have absolutely no idea what is going on. That usually happens when they start talking about things not in the church. ;)
Anyways, after transfer meeting we went and started talking to people about the gospel. We met with some members that she is close to from when she served there, and met with some less-active members where I got to attempt to teach them the spiritual message. It was good.
We ended up taking the midnight train to Arad which is where I am now serving which is close to the border of Hungary. It was fun being in a sleeper train...the missionaries all describe it like a Harry Potter train :) But we got to Arad, got all our stuff in our block (apartments are called "blocks" here...and if you saw them you would understand why.) And then we went and met with Sora Mogosi (said Mohgohsh) who is probably the cutest older lady I've ever seen, and she is the example of missionary work. She's a member, and she does everything with the missionaries and is an amazing lady. We taught her and helped her with things she didn't understand, and we have a bunch of lessons set up for her to teach with us. Then we met with 3 recent members and taught them about tithing, fasting, enduring to the end, and the sacrament.
Saturday was neat...we had a baptism of Elizabeta whom the elders had been teaching. It was a really neat service and it took a lot of work. We don't have a chapel in Arad and so the baptismal font is portable and is called a bazin (said bahzeen). It took about 3 hours to fill up with water using a hose connected to the kitchen sink, a hose hooked up to the custodial shower head, and using pots and pans from the bathroom sink. But it was really nice. And then general conference isn't broadcasted to all the cities so we don't have a broadcast, but the Jessee family (the senior missionary couple serving in Arad) have the internet, so we went to their house to watch it. They are the sweetest people.
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, and it took so much concentration to try to understand all of what the people were saying. I had a head ache after the 3 hours lol! But it was great...we had 5 investigators come to church which is amazing, and we set up lots of teaching appointments for this week.
Sora Thompson and I taught the lesson to the youth for sunday school. We taught about the gifts of the spirit, and she taught the lesson, while I wrote on the white-board. I was in charge of the activity, so I had to practice with Sora Thompson all sunday morning. It went ok...I only forgot one verb so yay me! lol. anyways, the activity was we gave each of them a marker, and I told them that they had to make a rainbow with that color by themselves. Obviously they couldn't do it, and so I had each of them come up to the front in turn to put their color on the paper to create a rainbow. The rainbow represented the kingdom of God, and their colors represented them and their different gifts. The gifts are given to us to build up the kingdom of God and to help each other, not for ourselves to keep. So to build the Kingdom of God, be together! (ca sa clatiti imparatie lui Dumnezeu, fiti impreuna!) And then I congratulated them on building the kingdom of God (pointing to the rainbow they had drawn) and they all laughed. But it was fun.
Then we had a little bit of time before we broke our fast at the Jessee's with a pot luck and to watch conference, so we went to the hospital (us and the 4 Elders in my area) and we asked the patients in some of the rooms if we could sing to them. We sang songs about Jesus Christ and it was amazing to see their countenances change into smiles or even tears as the Spirit came with each hymn as we sang with smiles on our faces. It was really neat. And just to let you know, when you are watching the morning session of conference, we were getting the live feed from the internet at 7 pm. So we only saw the 2 morning sessions, but it's ok. It was fun to watch any at all. So today is preparation day, and we cleaned our appartment, and talked about our investigators and some of the members more, and now I'm writing to you.
Tonight we are going bowling, and then at 6 I am getting my first experience with knocking blocks and going door to door. It should be fun!
So now some fun random facts that you will find fun. Everyone uses their car horns. It is rare for their to be silence in the traffic, and they don't have left turn lanes, so they just stop and gather in this huge cluttered group of traffic, and then just go when they can. So there is always horns going and they use ambulances for everything, not just emergencies, so sirens are an ongoing thing as well.
It seems like every toilet has a different method of flushing it. Some have pull chains, others have buttons on the toilet, buttons on the wall, some you have to pump the button for it to work, the one in my block has a start and stop button to push for the water to go and to stop, and others even have the choice of a half flush or a full flush. So funny.
But I love you all so very much. It was so fun to talk to most of you at the airport. Tamara, I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you, but I love you sooooooo soooooo much! And you better tell one of your sisters to give you a BIG hug from me! And Shaley, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I"m sorry I won't send anything for a while, but you'll get it eventually. I love you lots and lots and I hope that you had fun on your 17th birthday. Can't believe it. Anywho, I'll write to you next week.
I almost can't believe that I'm here, and that I'm really a missionary now. I am so excited to be doing the work of the Lord, and to know that He is with me. "The Lord does not ask about our ability or inability, but only about our availability; and if we prove our dependability, the Lord will take care of our capability." --Neal A. Maxwell. I know that the Lord is with us as we strive to fulfill our call. I know that no matter how long and hard the road, we are being guided, and if we press on, the lives of the children of God will be blessed as we teach them the principles of salvation.
Love, Sora Karina
Friday, April 3, 2009
Newly arrived missionaries in Romania
Sister Lundberg, the mission president's wife sent this picture of Karina's group just having arrived!
Arrived in Romania! Letter from Mission Pres. wife
Dear Families,
I wanted to let you know that your missionaries have safely arrived in Bucharest. Fortunately, all their luggage arrived as well. They were a little tired, but they seemed very excited to finally be in Romania.
The missionaries spent their first night with temporary companions---most experiencing travel by metro (subway) or bus. Some had their first taste of missionary work. Early Wednesday morning, they all reconvened with President Lundberg and me at a beautiful park in Bucharest. We shared with them the dedicatory prayer that was offered by Elder Russell M. Nelson in 1990, dedicating the land of Romania for missionary work. We then went to the mission home where the missionaries received a mission orientation, had an interview with President Lundberg, and ate lunch together. Afterwards, we all went to the transfer meeting, which the entire mission attended. Your son or daughter received their first companion that they will have for the next six weeks. They all stayed in Bucharest one more day to work on getting their extended visas and then headed to their assigned city somewhere in Romania or Moldova.
We were thrilled with this group of missionaries. Thank for for sharing them with us for this next season of their lives. They will grow to love this mission and the people here. Look for an email from them on Monday, their preparation day.
Sincerely,
Sora Lundberg
www.soralundberg.blogspot.com
I wanted to let you know that your missionaries have safely arrived in Bucharest. Fortunately, all their luggage arrived as well. They were a little tired, but they seemed very excited to finally be in Romania.
The missionaries spent their first night with temporary companions---most experiencing travel by metro (subway) or bus. Some had their first taste of missionary work. Early Wednesday morning, they all reconvened with President Lundberg and me at a beautiful park in Bucharest. We shared with them the dedicatory prayer that was offered by Elder Russell M. Nelson in 1990, dedicating the land of Romania for missionary work. We then went to the mission home where the missionaries received a mission orientation, had an interview with President Lundberg, and ate lunch together. Afterwards, we all went to the transfer meeting, which the entire mission attended. Your son or daughter received their first companion that they will have for the next six weeks. They all stayed in Bucharest one more day to work on getting their extended visas and then headed to their assigned city somewhere in Romania or Moldova.
We were thrilled with this group of missionaries. Thank for for sharing them with us for this next season of their lives. They will grow to love this mission and the people here. Look for an email from them on Monday, their preparation day.
Sincerely,
Sora Lundberg
www.soralundberg.blogspot.com
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