This is a sunset over the Black Sea.
Dear family and everyone else that is just simply amazing back at home, how are you? I'm doing great.
Transfers went relatively smoothly...sorry, no crazy stories to tell about insane taxi drivers or men that I need to chase down, it was actually rather calm...except for the fact that we had a 48 hr. blizzard here in Constanta, and so the bus drive took forever! We were supposed to leave at 8 in the morning, so we got to the station at 7:45...the bus didn't get there until 8:30 and then we didn't leave until 10.Then, instead of the normal 3 hours to get to Bucuresti, it took 4 1/2 hours. Wonderful. And it was so hot because they had the heater blasting, with no open windows and about 60 bodies that made the bus full to overflowing with almost not enough seats.
We get to Bucuresti and all was well. We saw some people that I hadn't seen in forever and they're doing good, which was really fun, and then I had to turn around and get back on the bus again to go home. - Again, it took forever and we didn't get into Constanta until 8 pm. Yuck. But now the three of us are settled in and working together.
The AP's never gave us a solution for her sleeping arrangements, so Sora Gibbons is just sleeping on the couch, but she says that she's quite comfortable and doesn't mind, so we'll probably keep it that way I guess. And as for making decisions, we just kinda go. One of us makes the decision and we make sure we're all in accord with that, and then we go. It works out pretty well I guess. So now we are dealing with the aftermath of the blizzard = snow and ice everywhere, and it is very difficult to walk without falling. However, I have succeeded pretty well considering that this past Friday is the first time I have fallen in a very long time. I'm fine, just had to ice my wrist that night and now it's all good. But man is this ice killing me! But not as much as the cold. It is currently -24C which is around -11F and that is without the wind that comes fresh off the Black Sea. Yeah, we're freezing, but alive and still doing good. The best part is that it's supposed to get colder and we're getting yet another cold front (supposedly) this week which probably means more snow in -14C weather. Joy.
But to be honest, it is a joy being here regardless how many layers and scarfs I need to wear in order to have motor ability outside of any heated building. I love being here and love being able to share with the Romanian people the things that mean the most to me, and helping them come to a knowledge of these precious truths for themselves.
Vatuta should have a date this week for her baptism. Satan is just trying so hard to keep her preoccupied so that she can't think about it, and we are fighting just as hard, so I know that we will eventually win. She however is doing great, and is loving the Book of Mormon more and more.
And Ion ...we are just trying to have the Spirit with us as much as we possibly can so that we can know how to help him get over his fears. Good news is that he finally admited to some of them, so now we at least have something sure to go with. This is good. But other than that, I don't know what we can do. His fears are understandable; I just don't know how to fight them. He knows that what we teach him is good, but he sees the suffering and opposition that he will face if he continues on this path and he's afraid that a celestial glory doesn't exist after this life, which is what makes everything we go through in this life worth it. And without that hope, how can you act on your faith? All I know is that God loves each of us so much that he has already prepared a place for us with him so that we can have this hope, and that we can have the strength to get through anything that life brings our way. He will never give us anything more than we can bear - even if sometimes it feels like we just can't go on anymore - Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice for us, understands exactly what we are going through, and He would not have done that if this is all there was. There exists a better world that we can receive after our faithfulness. After the trial we will receive the joy.
It also helps if you can laugh at the situation (not always a possibility, but nice when it's available) like this past week, we had a flood in our apartment. We live on the 3rd floor, but there is a balcony that at one point was covered with snow from the blizzard. It started to melt because of the heat of our house, and it did this in the dead of night and seeped through our tiling between the door to the balcony. This caused a small flood that we didn't notice until we woke up because "luckily" Sora Owen’s matress was there to act as a sponge/conduit for the water to spread to our carpet and to be held all in that one place. It was really fun cleaning that up in the morning, especially since we have one of the worst mops I've ever seen in my life. And our landlord was out of town, and so we just put towels up against the door (which are now frozen to the ground) and we'll just worry about it later. We definitely had a lot of laughs about that one, though.
Romanian phrase time! "The grass is greener on the other side" is actually supposed to be told in this way: "Alearga cainii cu covrigii incoada" or to translate the gibberish for all of you English speakers, “The dogs run back with the pretzels”. So, if you see dogs running with pretzels, then you know where the green grass is. Ha, ha! Anyways, I don't have much else to write, but I love you all so so very much, and I'll ttyl!
Love always, --Sora karina
Transfers went relatively smoothly...sorry, no crazy stories to tell about insane taxi drivers or men that I need to chase down, it was actually rather calm...except for the fact that we had a 48 hr. blizzard here in Constanta, and so the bus drive took forever! We were supposed to leave at 8 in the morning, so we got to the station at 7:45...the bus didn't get there until 8:30 and then we didn't leave until 10.Then, instead of the normal 3 hours to get to Bucuresti, it took 4 1/2 hours. Wonderful. And it was so hot because they had the heater blasting, with no open windows and about 60 bodies that made the bus full to overflowing with almost not enough seats.
We get to Bucuresti and all was well. We saw some people that I hadn't seen in forever and they're doing good, which was really fun, and then I had to turn around and get back on the bus again to go home. - Again, it took forever and we didn't get into Constanta until 8 pm. Yuck. But now the three of us are settled in and working together.
The AP's never gave us a solution for her sleeping arrangements, so Sora Gibbons is just sleeping on the couch, but she says that she's quite comfortable and doesn't mind, so we'll probably keep it that way I guess. And as for making decisions, we just kinda go. One of us makes the decision and we make sure we're all in accord with that, and then we go. It works out pretty well I guess. So now we are dealing with the aftermath of the blizzard = snow and ice everywhere, and it is very difficult to walk without falling. However, I have succeeded pretty well considering that this past Friday is the first time I have fallen in a very long time. I'm fine, just had to ice my wrist that night and now it's all good. But man is this ice killing me! But not as much as the cold. It is currently -24C which is around -11F and that is without the wind that comes fresh off the Black Sea. Yeah, we're freezing, but alive and still doing good. The best part is that it's supposed to get colder and we're getting yet another cold front (supposedly) this week which probably means more snow in -14C weather. Joy.
But to be honest, it is a joy being here regardless how many layers and scarfs I need to wear in order to have motor ability outside of any heated building. I love being here and love being able to share with the Romanian people the things that mean the most to me, and helping them come to a knowledge of these precious truths for themselves.
Vatuta should have a date this week for her baptism. Satan is just trying so hard to keep her preoccupied so that she can't think about it, and we are fighting just as hard, so I know that we will eventually win. She however is doing great, and is loving the Book of Mormon more and more.
And Ion ...we are just trying to have the Spirit with us as much as we possibly can so that we can know how to help him get over his fears. Good news is that he finally admited to some of them, so now we at least have something sure to go with. This is good. But other than that, I don't know what we can do. His fears are understandable; I just don't know how to fight them. He knows that what we teach him is good, but he sees the suffering and opposition that he will face if he continues on this path and he's afraid that a celestial glory doesn't exist after this life, which is what makes everything we go through in this life worth it. And without that hope, how can you act on your faith? All I know is that God loves each of us so much that he has already prepared a place for us with him so that we can have this hope, and that we can have the strength to get through anything that life brings our way. He will never give us anything more than we can bear - even if sometimes it feels like we just can't go on anymore - Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice for us, understands exactly what we are going through, and He would not have done that if this is all there was. There exists a better world that we can receive after our faithfulness. After the trial we will receive the joy.
It also helps if you can laugh at the situation (not always a possibility, but nice when it's available) like this past week, we had a flood in our apartment. We live on the 3rd floor, but there is a balcony that at one point was covered with snow from the blizzard. It started to melt because of the heat of our house, and it did this in the dead of night and seeped through our tiling between the door to the balcony. This caused a small flood that we didn't notice until we woke up because "luckily" Sora Owen’s matress was there to act as a sponge/conduit for the water to spread to our carpet and to be held all in that one place. It was really fun cleaning that up in the morning, especially since we have one of the worst mops I've ever seen in my life. And our landlord was out of town, and so we just put towels up against the door (which are now frozen to the ground) and we'll just worry about it later. We definitely had a lot of laughs about that one, though.
Romanian phrase time! "The grass is greener on the other side" is actually supposed to be told in this way: "Alearga cainii cu covrigii incoada" or to translate the gibberish for all of you English speakers, “The dogs run back with the pretzels”. So, if you see dogs running with pretzels, then you know where the green grass is. Ha, ha! Anyways, I don't have much else to write, but I love you all so so very much, and I'll ttyl!
Love always, --Sora karina
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