Orphanage in Galati

Hello everyone! How are you? I'm doing great.

It is currently raining out here in Galati, but it's better than the blizzards that you're getting back home, haha. Man, I don't miss the spring break blizzards, even though they can be really fun. But I'm enjoying my time here in the rain. It's quite refreshing actually.

This week went pretty well. Our investigators are doing well, still reading the word of the Lord, praying and seeking for the truth, and as we know the true point of all of this is, they are coming closer to Christ.

It is always such an amazing process, and it is one that I continually find needs to be renewed in my life. But that's how it should be I suppose.

We are preparing for Easter this weekend, which is going to be fun, and I'll tell you all about it next week.

As for this week, we went to an orphanage yesterday. It was so precious. It is the first time that I have had the opportunity to go since being here in Romania. The government has changed a lot of laws concerning orphanages, so it's not what you expect from the movie "Annie" or anything, but it's more like a forced commune where kids stay if their parents abandon them, or if their parents don't have enough money/stability to care for them, and they stay there until the state decides what to do with them - either they go to an orphan home where they await adoption (which almost never happens now because the law changed and they can't get adopted outside of Romania), they go to foster care, or they go back to their parents and eventually back to another "orphanage" facility.

The kids that we went to go visit yesterday were all within the ages of 8 and 14 or 15, and there were about 24 of them - they were so cute. We brought them treats and danced with them, and taught them games like "duck, duck, goose!" but I couldn't remember the word for goose, so instead we played "duck duck frog!" (rata, rata, broasca) and they loved it. Sora VanWagner is an artist, so she drew characature sketches of the kids - but she didn't get to finish so we're going back on Tuesday.

When we left some of the kids got tears in their eyes. It's not often that someone cares enough about them to become their friend within 2 hours. It took some of the kids a little time to open up to us - they've been so jaded by the world they couldn't trust that we were doing this for them, we had to be getting something out of it. And then others were just so excited for the relief of monotony that they jumped right in. And they treat each other like family. There are 2 workers there, and though there is no relation between them or the kids - they just work there - the kids call them mom and dad, and they are all brother and sister, even though some of them will only stay for a week, others for a few months. And for the most part, they take care of each other. It was quite a sight to see. They loved us taking pictures of them, and they wanted to take the pictures, so some of the pics I'm sending aren't great quality, but they show you the kids.

It was so much fun to be there and to show them that they are not forgotten - every child is a child of God, and He never forgets His children. It made me think of the song "Consider the Lilies" - consider the sweet tender children, how they suffer on the earth ...He clothes the lilies of the field, He feeds the lambs of His fold, and He will heed those who trust Him and make their hearts as gold". I know that He does this, and that not one of us is ever forgotten, not even the poor, suffering children in a small orphanage in Romania.

It is amazing how God's plan is so perfect that it encompasses all of us - every single one of us is included in His perfect plan of happiness and salvation, and it is truly amazing. I am so grateful that I have learned that. Because when you do, your perspective goes farther - instead of the "now" you think of the "forever" and how there is hope beyond tomorrow, and tomorrow just makes it seem that much better.

Ok, now for a fun Romanianism. When you say that you want to take a nap, you can say one of two things: I want a little sleep (vreau un pic de somn) or you can say what people usually say which is thus: vreau sa trag un pui de somn - I want to catch a chicken of sleep. Yes, they really say that, and it makes me laugh every time.

Other exciting news, I played a piano that actually has 88 keys this week - I haven't done that for about 7 or 8 months. It was weird, but very delightful. The problem is that I wasn't expecting to have such an opportunity, and lately I've been trying to learn how to keep my nails longer - long nails still don't work with piano playing. But it's ok. My technique has been bad for a while regardless how long my nails are lol! Anyways, I'm doing great, I love you all so so very much, and I will talk to you next week!

Have a great time. Love always, --Sora Karina

Spring is Coming!

Dear everyone who is so amazing,

How are you? I'm doing great. As the title of the email says, SPRING IS COMING! and I am so excited to be done with the cold and the winter. Sometimes the Siberian wind still hits us pretty good, but the sun is out, and pretty soon everything will be in bloom and it will be gorgeous.

This week was a good one, We had zone conference this week which was good, and though we didn't have any baptisms in Galati, there were 4 in the mission which means that we are well on our way to see the miracle take place. We currently have been blessed with 23 baptisms, or ceremonies that signify people coming closer to Christ and changing their lives in a way that will bring them everlasting joy. Yes, the miracle is happening.


This is Sora Hardy (my companion) and me at zone conference, with some Elders acting crazy in the background.

Here is the makeshift piano I played on at zone conference.

Our investigator Lili is doing well, and is already inviting others to know. She rents one of her rooms out to a man named Dumitru, and she invited him to our lesson with her, and then brought him to church. She was really happy that he came. When I asked him how he liked church, he said "it was acceptable. It was a beginning, and I'm still a beginner." It made me laugh, but I think it went well. He participated a lot during the Sunday school classes, which is always a good thing. He has been reading the Book of Mormon with her and then they discuss it together - and they are almost finished after 2 weeks of having it at their home. Hopefully he will accept to be baptized on the same date as Lili, on April 10th. I am confident that the Spirit of the Lord is working in their hearts, and that all will be well as they continue to come closer to their Savior. It's exciting to see.

So now it's time to smile at Romanian traditions, and yes, it's smile. It's not polite to laugh at them, and since it's a tradition and therefore not a living thing, we can't really laugh with it, so instead we just smile no matter how weird it is. I found this one out last night when Sora Hardy was talking on the phone to an investigator named Angela that she worked with in Bucuresti (she's from Galati and was here visiting family). So it is really bad luck here to die without seeing the sun, so if someone dies suddenly with out the sun being a part of the death process, they have this tradition to make up for that. Every 7 years, they dig up the coffin and put the corpse/bones in a bag, and put that bag up in a tree from sunrise to sunset for one day so that they can "see" the sun, and then put it back in the coffin, rebury it, and wait for the next 7 years to do this. Angela's dad died when she was young, and it was unexpected, so they do this for him. Apparently one year the grave-diggers were all drunk and reburied the coffin without the bones in it. A few days later they realized that the bones were still in the tree, so they had to re-dig up the coffin, and rebury it again. Now you can laugh. (A story can be laughed at ;) I was laughing pretty hard.

Anyways, I don't really have much else to write about - sorry it's shorter than usual. But I am doing great, I hope that you are all doing well, and more fun stories will be shared last week.

Grandma, it was great to hear from you, thanks! I love being out here among the Romanian people, teaching them about how God loves them personally and how He has a plan for them - for all of us, and how He made a way possible for us to succeed. He did not send us to this life to fail, but instead gave us the choice to be able to follow the way He laid out for us or not. I know that that way is through the Gospel. or through the teachings and love/example, of Jesus Christ. Only by following Him and applying His infinite atonement in our lives can we find the joy that is available to us. I have been able to witness a portion of this joy being out here among the service of the Romanian people, children of God. It truly is amazing to know that there is a way, and that He, the author of that way, is there helping us with every step as we turn to Him. I know that that is true, and that there is a way for all of us.

I love you all so so very much, and I hope that you know that I pray for all of you every day. And I feel your prayers - thank you for your love. Have a fun week, keep smiling, for there is always much to smile about!

Love you! Always, --Sora Karina

a time like no other

Dear family and everyone who is just so amazing, and I love all of you,

How are you doing? I'm doing great. This week was amazing and full of miracles. The Elders are teaching this boy named George and on Monday of last week he decided to get baptized - This Saturday, or rather He was baptized 2 days ago. He is amazing, and it was so neat to see the miracles all falling together. He's been looking for the truth since he was 14 years old, and said that the closest thing he'd found was in the Adventist Church, but he still knew it wasn't the whole truth. Then one day he walked into our English classes, came to church, and in the first lesson he prayed "God, I know that it will be hard for my family when I decide to get baptized in this church, so please bless them that they will be ok when that happens." Amazing right? And the Lord did perform a miracle and though his family didn't come or anything, they weren't against it and instead were blessed with indifference. But George said that he's sure that one day they will want to know why he did what they didn't care about, and he will share it with them so that they too can know the truth.

This is the most amazing thing - when you find something so precious, all you want to do is share it with those that you love. Sometimes you need to wait until they are ready to listen, but always you are ready and praying for the opportunity to come so that they can find the joy that you found. This is the miracle of the gospel of Jesus Christ - you find joy, and then you share it with everyone, and they find joy and they share it, and that is how the gospel works, it is built in a way so that we can all share in the joy.

One of our members did that - Even though we only have a few members that come, we do have a branch president (though no counselors) and his wife invited her sister to come to church. She came, and we are teaching her, and she wants to get baptized on the 10th of April, the weekend after Easter. When I asked her to pray to know specifically if these things were true that we were talking about, she said "well, of course they're true. I see how happy you are about it, and I see all the blessings that have come into my sister's life because of it, how could it not be true?" She's right, but I told her that she still needed to receive a confirming witness from the Holy Ghost about the truth, because God wants her to believe it herself, not just because I say so. So she said that she would and then said "But because I know it's true, God is just going to tell me, 'Lili, you're right, it's true'" and I said "good, then you already know what answer to look for, and you'll find it." It was neat.

But the Lord is blessing our entire mission - there were 3 other baptisms this past Saturday aside from George's and it is just so neat to see how people really can change their lives and find joy. The people of Romania have lost so much hope throughout the years, but Christ is our hope - our eternal hope, and He has made it possible for us to have a hope in a better world. We can all find that hope.

Well, it's starting to warm up here, but this past week it snowed again (grrr) I just want it to be spring. And today it practically is - really nice, little wind, and the sun is out. I hope it's not just a trend but that it catches on and continues cuz it's really nice. Oh, and I got the package that was sent forever ago from the Young Women - thanks, it was fun to read all the notes and such. And pixie stix - I haven't had those in forever and they are amazing, along with the other goodies that were in there, it was fun. And Jenna is 16 today!!!!! Happy birthday, or rather, LA MULTI ANI!!! That's crazy, but I hope it's just an amazing day. We'll celebrate out here by playing scatergories and monopoly, k? ok.

In other news, Sora Hardy and I are going to be teaching the temple preparation class to the 3 people from Galati who are going for the first time in April on the Temple trip. I'm excited for that.

And oh my goodness, the cockroaches attacked us. They used to be little, and now they all of a sudden turned fat and really big and ugly and black. We have this spray stuff and we sprayed our whole house and then left for the rest of the day so that we wouldn't inhale the cockroach poison. So now we're finding a lot of them dead on their backs. Eew. But it's ok, the attack of the cockroaches is over I hope. And for those of you who saw the picture of me on the beach, there wasn't anyone around to get mad at me for writing it on the beach, although the Elders made fun of me a little bit for doing it, but it is a family tradition and I thought it would be fun. After the picture was taken, I kicked it out of the sand so you couldn't tell, so it was fine.

And mommy, I am so proud of you for learning to play the organ. Isn't it fun? I had so much fun learning how to play it, but it is scary playing it in front of people because the organ isn't like the piano at all except the notes are called the same thing. But it sounds like you're doing great, and I'm excited to hear you play when I get home - we should do an organ duet cuz that would just be so much fun! And how is the lacrosse season going so far? I hope it's going great.
And now some questions. I was studying out of Preach My Gospel the other day and there is an activity that talks about looking forward to the end of your service to see what you want to be and such. And I have done that activity many times, and it never fails to make me think. But this time, when I was thinking of what I wanted, I wondered what you all are expecting. Ok, these are the questions: 1) What do you want to say I have done as a missionary? 2) What do you want me to have become? 3) What differences would you want to notice in me? So those are the questions edited so they make sense on your side, and I would appreciate it if you would answer them so that I can stop wondering your side of it. Anyone who wants to can answer, it's not just a family thing, But don't respond to the blog, cuz I don't have any part with that. Just send your response to karina.coy@myldsmail.net if you would like, and I would love to read it. Thanks.

Other than that, The funny Romanian language tip of the day isn't a saying, but still rather funny. When you are reading in fairy tales you read about "once upon a time", "treasure and gold coins" and "happily ever after." Well, in Romanian you have "A fost o data ca niciodata "(there was a time like no other time), "bijuterii si galbeni" (jewelry and yellow - they say galbeni which is the color yellow instead of saying gold coins) and "Ei au trait fericiti pana batranete" (and they lived happy until their old age). Ha! I love it! Well, I love you all too, more than Romanian fairy tales, and I hope that you are having a great day - I know that I am.

Keep having fun, keep finding those little reasons to smile. I know that God lives and that His one true desire is for us all to be happy, and it is just so great to be happy. Love you! Always, --Sora Karina

1st Week in Galati

My last week on the Black Sea...reminiscent of our Coy family reunions



Hello everyone! So to start of, the way you say the city I am now serving in is Gahlots, it is not galatee...although we make fun of it like that. But what we usually say is "it's gahlots of fun!" hahahahaha.

Anyways, I'm doing great, how are all of you? I arrived at my apartment here, and to our amazing joy, we found the cockroaches that we were expecting - yup, we have cockroaches. Not too many, and they're not too big, but they are still present and accounted for. Don't worry, we have a sword that protects us that we use to kill them and keep ourselves safe. I'm not joking. If I can get my camera to work on this computer, I will send you a picture, because it is my new way of life. Or I guess I could use a shoe, but that's just not as exciting, and then our sword would just collect dust, and that probably would make it not as shiny and pretty.

So I am here with Sora Hardy, and we are already having a blast. She is from Utah and reminds me a lot of Cherisse - just some of her mannerisms are so similar, and it makes me smile very often. I haven't yet pointed it out to her, but that's mainly because I know that as soon as I do, I won't stop pointing it out, and I'd rather just have fun without her thinking that she's my sister, even though that wouldn't be a bad thing at all. It just is one of my silent pleasures that I get to serve with her. The funny thing is that she's about as short as Cherisse, too, so the resemblance is enough to laugh at inside.

Church was good, the Elders had one investigator there, we had one potential investigator there (we're meeting with her later this week) and we had 5 members and 6 missionaries. We have a lot of space that can be used to hold people that can come closer to Christ, which is exciting. And it's great –

I don't remember if I told you or not, but we have a mission goal for this year - 200 baptisms. We had 90 something this past year, so we're doubling it. Plus this year it will be in honor of the 20th year anniversary of Romania being dedicated to the work of the Lord (that anniversary is tomorrow) and in honor of our 2 Elders that gave their lives to this work. We are all fasting, working, praying, and loving our goal for bringing 200 children of God to a knowledge of the truth that He has restored to us on this earth. For the past 2 months so far we have 15. It's exciting. The neat thing is that we're not just trying to get 200 people to join the church so that we can have more people and say, "Oh, we had 40 people come to church instead of 5," although that would be a great thing to say - that's not the point. The point is that we know something, and we know that it is true, and our desire is that everyone can come to a knowledge of that so that they can find everlasting, salvation and everlasting happiness. Eternal happiness can not come without knowledge and a life lived in accordance with that knowledge. I know that God lives, that He loves us, and that He has restored His priesthood power to the earth so that each and every person who would believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, to the point of action can get baptized in His name, by His power and authority, so that they can inherit His joy. I know that through that power, families can be eternal, and we can be cleansed from sin and healed from heartache. The plan of God is so perfect and amazing. I love it.

So cool story, last week the ambassador of Romania went to the US last week with his wife, after receiving an invitation from Sister Burrows (the mother of one of the Elders who recently died) I believe, and He went and they had dinner with them, went to BYU, U of U, Temple Square, and other things, and enjoyed his stay so much and felt the Spirit of what we are trying to do, he is now back and wants to work with the leaders of the church to make family history an available resource to the Romanian people. Before hand, it was near impossible to do family history here, because you have to search the primarea (government building) for the records and certificates, and it costs money to search and is near impossible to find anyways, and it is just hard for the people to get involved in that. But now he wants to start working to fixing that and make the records more accessible. It will probably take a little bit, but hey, it's a start, and that's cool.

I wanted to explain the Ziua Femeilor because I learned more about it. The red and white actually is a symbol for the difference between purity and evil - good and bad, and it gives the person more strength to find the beauties and goodness of life. They call the little trinkets "the sign of spring" and it's supposed to be an invitation to the new year of growth and goodness. So last week was just the beginning of the signs of spring, and the "celebration" that has been all this past week of gift-giving and well-wishing- for the "new year" ends with today as a celebration for women. Fun times.

Oh, and my old email will be done in its use the end of this month. My new email, to repeat it, is karina.coy@myldsmail.net so that should work.

And the vorba (saying) for today cracked me up when I heard it: the meaning is "well, that's pointless" and it's said "frectie la un picior de lemn" and the literal translation is "massage a wooden leg". HAHAHA! I laughed so hard I could hardly write it down when I heard them say that. So instead of massaging a wooden leg, go and make yourself useful. haha.

Well, I love you so much, I hope that you are all safe, healthy and well, and I will talk to you more next week.

Always, --Sora Karina

This is me stabbing a cockroach with our sword. Fun times!

ch ch ch changes

Just a random picture of me, with my companion in the background.

Dear family and everyone that I love so much - how are you? I'm doing great.

This week is transfer week, and I am leaving Constanta - I am so sad to leave, although I am really excited to go to Galati which is also on the East side of the country but more north of Constanta. I'm going to be serving with Sora Hardy who was in the MTC with me, but not as my companion, and I am so excited. It will be great. And my companion Sora Owen is leaving to Brasov, so they are closing sisters here, and 2 Elders are coming in our place. It should be interesting, but all will be well.

Just a quick update on Vatuta, she still hasn't gotten the word from her husband, but is not giving up, just being patient, and we found out this morning that she is still drinking coffee - we explained to her that if she wants the Lord to make a way for her to be baptized and work a miracle, she has to be willing to do everything that He has asked her to do, and so she needs to be completely obedient. She committed to do that, and has once again renewed her determination to serve God and to follow Him how He has established that she should do. She is an amazing woman.

And Ion is starting to accept the idea of baptism - we had a great lesson with him where we had twine on the floor-two pieces both at the same starting point but going in different directions in a V shape. We told him that one was the iron rod or the way of God towards eternal life, and the other was the way of the world which leads only to temporary satisfaction. And we need to choose which one we will follow. There are some steps that need to be taken, and we had them laid out in opposites such as 1. faith versus doubt, 2. repentance versus pride, 3. baptism versus fear, 4. receiving the Holy Ghost versus a closed heart, 5. enduring to the end versus disobedience. He was able to have his feet on both parts of the twine until he got stuck on step 2 and said "I can't make the third step, I'm stuck" so we told him that he couldn't make the third step on both paths, so he would have to choose one path - and after sitting there for a few seconds, he actually walked towards baptism! He is so close to accepting the fact that he needs this in his life - and when he came to church he was so happy and loved it. I'm so excited for him to be making these changes in his thinking, and I am confident that the missionaries that will continue working with him will help him get there for real. Church was also exciting because 5 of our less actives that we've been working with came! It was so fun. And the Spirit was so strong. Everyone talked about how we can make goals of eternal value, and how we as a mission have a goal this year to help 200 souls come unto Christ, and with faith, obedience, diligence, and the help of all the members, we will succeed, for the Lord is at the helm of this work, and it will be amazing.

My mom asked me to share a memory of Grandma Coy in my email today. Probably my favorite thing to remember about her was how much fun we had reading together. We were always in our books. I remember one time when Dad and Grandpa were out doing something together and Mom, Cindy and the girls went out to go shopping or something, and Grandma and I stayed behind to spend time together. When Dad and Grandpa came in, they saw the two of us reading our separate books, and my Dad said "so this is spending time together? reading?" and of course we both looked at each other, Grandma and I, and looked at my dad and Grandma just said "well yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be?" and we went back to reading. And she would always recommend the best books, too. I also remember how at Christmas when we had it at their house in California, we would get a puzzle, and the dining room table would then become our project place, and we would just work on the puzzle for hours with her, and even though we didn't always finish them, it was so much fun discovering the picture with her, laughing with her, and just talking about how beautiful it would be when we would finish it together. That always seemed to me to be a theme of hers - accomplishing whatever task together. I know that through the Atonement and love of our Savior, and through the plan and Priesthood of God, we will all be together again, and we will be able to finish the work of the eternities together with her, and with Grandpa, and with each other. How wonderful that will be. Only now we are preparing ourselves to be ready for that day, and she will be anxiously waiting.

Here in Romania when someone dies, they hold a funeral 3 days after the death, and then they hold what's called a "pomenire" or a ceremony to remember the death 40 days after, 3 months, six months, nine months after, and on the year mark to remember their life and how they are now living in spirit. To me this defeats the point. We celebrate their life in our memories, and in our actions. Of course a service after their death is appropriate. But to always remember their death is not what should be remembered. Because Jesus Christ suffered for us in the flesh and through His death, He will help us in all our doings in this life. And because He resurrected, and took up His body again never again to die, He prepared the way for us to be able to do the same thing. There will come a day when all of us will reunite in body and in spirit, never again to part, and as we remember our life and the lives past from this earth, we should also always remember the beautiful day when we will have the greatest family reunion with all of our loved ones, returning to continue the works of eternity. I am thankful for the knowledge I have that that day will come.

Today is the day called "Martisoara" which is a fun day where we celebrate women. They have these little trinkets that you can wear that someone gives to you as a gift - boys will give them to girls, and girls to girls but not boys to boys - and they are a symbol of luck, friendship, and prosperity. They all have a braid of red and white string that is somehow connected to the symbology of the Orthodox religion, but I don't know exactly how - I think that it has something to do with the virgin Mary, her purity and our sin, all somehow in the beauty of women, but I'm not quite positive on that yet.

Ion came over this morning at 8:15 to give me and Sora Owen one of the gifts which was so nice of him. He said that he wanted to make sure that we didn't go around all day with out a martisoara, because that just would not be ok. It was fun. and then next week on the 8th is the Ziua Femeilor or the Day of the Women which is their equivalent to Mother's Day, even though it's more of a holiday for all the girls to have a "girl's day out" It's fun.

But anyways, I love you all so so very much. As much as I wanted to be with all of you this week, I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be here in Romania sharing the precious truths of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with all of God's children. Each child is precious to Him, and He desires for us all to find the joy that is available to each of us in this life made possible through His Son and our choices, and for us all to return to His everlasting presence again.

I love you, and I know that together we will have joy. I pray for you all to have this joy every day. Know that I am doing great, and all is well in the work of the Lord. Have a great day! Always, --Sora Karina

counting our blessings

Sorry that the pic is so dark, but this is a pic of my district, the day before Sora Gibbons left. It goes left to right, Elder Toronto, Elder Vogelsberg, me, Sora Owen, and Sora Gibbons.


Hello family and everyone! How are you? I'm doing pretty good.

The work lately has been stressful, but at the same time very rewarding even if all the rewards are yet to come. We are sitting here counting our blessings - the first that it has gotten up to 22 degrees Celsius! w00t! (that's around 71 F and it was exciting).

Our investigators are now at the hardest part of the fight. Yesterday we fasted with Vatuta along with some of the members that know her that she will know what to say to her husband and that he will be on the positive side to her getting baptized. We talked about how it takes faith for miracles to occur, but that it is possible through our faith and with the power of God. "Right now we are in need of a miracle" we told her, and she agreed and has such great faith that this will work. So do we. We need a miracle, and with consistant actions of faith, we believe that we will get one.

With Ion, we have eliminated the middle ground. We talked to him about God's desires and how God wants him to recieve salvation through baptism, and how Satan's desires for him to not do this. Our life on earth consists of us choosing if we will follow God and fulfill His desire, or if we won't and will fulfill Satan's desire. Disclaimer: fulfilling Satan's desire doesn't mean that you are following Satan, because you might still be trying to follow God, but you're just not doing all that is necessary. And when you know the things that are necessary and you don't do them, this gives Satan more power.

After all we do to teach, ultimately, it is their decision. Our prayers are poured out continually for them, and we pray that they will see the blessings.

I have been blessed to be able to see the blessings of living this Restored Gospel in my life. It truly is the source of every single joy in every single day that I live. I was so sad to hear about Grandma Coy's passing. Yes, my mission President was able to relate the news to me, and in so doing expressed his love and condolences to me and all of you. But even though I will miss my Grandma dearly, I have so much joy in the knowledge that through the power of the Lord's priesthood, we will be a family for eternity, and that this is not the end.

Even though we will feel like we lack so much now, our Father in Heaven has promised us that we will have all that we miss, all that we lack, and so much more if we live faithfull to His word. This is my goal: to live faithfully so that when I meet with my God and my family again on the other side of the veil, I will not be denied the eternal joy of living with them forever in the kingdom of God. This goal is possible to achieve through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Through His love, we will be able to conquer death in His footsteps and rise to a fulness of joy that never again will pass away.

Also possible through His atoning sacrifice is healing. The fact that we hurt now is understood by Him who passed through all manner of suffering - including exactly what we suffer now. He understands us and is standing with His arms open trying to gather us in so that He may heal us. I have felt the healing power of His loving embrace, and I know that it has power to give us strength when we have none.

It has the most amazing feeling of peace, and if you have not yet experienced this peace and this love, I invite you with all my soul to turn to Him in prayer so that He might carry your burden and take away the pain. Just as healing is possible, so is the hope of eternal joy. This is what matters - eternity. And we are here building the foundation of this great work of our eternal lives.

Some crazy stories for this week:
On Tuesday at about 8:05 am we got a call and learned that Sora Gibbons, a member of our companionship was needed in Bucuresti ASAP to finish serving the transfer over there. So we dropped everything, and within 1 1/2 hours we were on a bus to Buc. It took 4 hours to get there, we got off, and with only a 1/2 hr at our disposal, dropped her off with her new companion, scarffed down some McDonald's and ran down the street to the next bus and were on our way back to Constanta which took another 4 hours. We got to the church 1/2 hour into our first English class. Luckily our branch president and his wife were available to teach our class for the first little bit, and they were a great help, so we got there and said "sorry we're late, but we're your teachers for this class..." and taught. It is amazing.

With the first English class, we have close to 40 students in our beginning class (which is what Sora Owen and I teach) and the Elders have 10-15 students in advanced. It is the most successful English program I've seen so far out here, and everyone stays for our spiritual thoughts that are held afterward. That was exciting.

This week also, the Humanitarian aid missionary couple came down to Constanta and invited us to the celebration of the church putting in heaters into a building that is used for a company called Holt Romania. It is a business that does children and family counseling to help discouraged children to have better opportunities, helps repair marriages, and offers really really cheap parenting classes. They do some neat stuff. And while they were building the vila that it's in, they ran out of money and couldn't use the upper floor for all of their classes because of the lack of heating, so the church, through the Humanitarian aid projects, put in a heating system. There was news coverage and everything. It was neat. This same couple also went to check up on some families la tara (in the country) that had been given goats from the church as their mode of survival, and are now getting off pretty well. It's cool.

On Sunday we had a branch fireside to help the members learn how to share the Book of Mormon with their friends, which went really well. They are excited to do so, and we are excited to hear their success stories. Sora Owen and I were in charge of refreshments, and so we decided to make American style doughnuts, and the Romanians loved them! It was exciting because they are so different from Romanian Gogosi (doughnuts) which includes the ingredients of mashed potatoes, flour, sugar, scalded milk, sugar, and a couple other things. Sooooo yummy, and I'll make them for you when I get home, but the point was that they like the American style ones and it was a success.

Funny funny story, during Sunday School, Sora Boboc (less active) said a comment in class, and another less active Sora Lidia, agreed so much with the comment that she did a kind of attitude snap, like "oh snap!" type of thing, and it was so funny! Comment, blah blah blah, - oh snap! and we laughed...or at least the missionaries. I don't know if the Romanians found it funny, but I've never seen anyone agree with a comment in church like that before..

Ok, last two items of important business, my email address changed - it's getting my old emails forwarded, so don't worry, I got all your emails, but for future reference (because I don't know how long it will forward them) my new email is karina.coy@myldsmail.net. not too different, but good to know.

And Jenna, I looked so hard for how to say "liar, liar pants on fire" and I even asked a couple people, but they didn't know an exact equivelent. So I have a few choices. If I were to directly translate it, it would be : mincinosule, mincinosule, cu pantaloni pe foc. But I don't think Romanians would actually say that. What they do say is either : mincinosul roade osul which means the liar chews the bone, or minciunea are picioarele scurte which means the lie has short legs. There you go.

I love you all so so very much, know that I am doing great and all is well in the work of the Lord. This work can not be stopped, and as we strive to be a part of it, the Lord will bless us greatly. I know this is true - I see it happen every day, and i know that He is holding you in His hands for me. I love you all so so much, and I'll write more next week. Always, --Sora Karina