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