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!