This week was a good one, lots of fun and such. I bet you're all wondering how I'm doing with not popping my knuckles....drum roll please............I haven't popped them at all since I last wrote to you last week. That gives me a total of 6 full days so far of resisting a subconscious urge that I've had for who knows how many years. At least since high school I think. And Adrian is doing pretty good, too. He went for 5 days without one cigarette, and then yesterday he had two :( But that's actually quite amazing considering he's used to smoking 2 packs a day and he lives with his two brothers and mom and all of them smoke all the time. But when people have a desire to do something, they can overcome amazing obstacles to accomplish that desire - and the gospel of Jesus Christ helps of course. It's actually the best help and support you can have in any trail or conflict. He doesn't quite see that yet so he's still going off brute force, but he'll get there as he continues to read the Book of Mormon. That book has so much power in it because it is true. It helps those who are weary, who are tempted, who are discouraged, lonely, excited, happy, sad, confused, or just like to read. I am confidant that the Spirit will touch his heart as he continues to replace bad habits with good ones.
But it's going well. He felt really bad because yesterday my hands were hurting really bad and I just wanted to pop the knuckles to "release" the tension, but I didn't and confined to just rubbing them to try to help the pain go away, and he noticed and said he felt so bad because it was his fault that they hurt since he smoked. I don't know if it was his fault or not, but I'm ok with him thinking that because it will help him do the things that will make him happier - namely to quit smoking and apply the gospel of Jesus Christ in his life.
But exciting news, he came to the baptism that we had yesterday - and we had a baptism yesterday! It was really nice. Mioara was baptized and she is such a great lady. The spirit was so strong - even though they had to do the ordinance 4 times because she didn't go under all the way. It was hard because she's had 2 operations on her back so she couldn't bend backwards very well cuz it hurt her. But finally Sora Lundberg suggested that she knelt down in the water and then it would be easier cuz she wouldn't have to bend back as far to get under the water. That worked really well. She was so happy that she was getting baptized, it was quite touching. There were some people that said "meh, it's ok… she's hurting so just say that it's good" but we can't do that. There is an order in heaven, and so there must be an order in the actions that we do on earth in order for them to be valid in heaven according to God's will, especially when they are sealed by His priesthood power. I'm not sorry that it took 4 times for her to get it right, because it does matter that much, and the blessing is that we know what needs to be done, as did she, and she did it. It was great.
However, I learned that I've gotten really out of the habit of performing piano in front of people. I played the musical number for the baptism and it was really hard and I can't really explain the reasoning. It was great because the Spirit was there and that was what mattered and what I prayed for, but as a performance it was wretched. Of course everyone else thinks its amazing regardless because they don't know better and I was pleased with the spirit that it brought, but man. I have a LOT of practicing to before I do my senior recital which is coming up faster than I like to admit. Sora Hupp was giving me a hard time the other day saying that I have less weeks than she has months left in her service as a missionary. AHHHH! ~breathe~ ok I'm good. No really, I am good. Because as one of my companions would say, we still have plenty of time to do serious damage to the work of Satan. Which is true. All he wants is for everyone to be miserable and to be more concerned with themselves than with others or with God. But as missionaries we are going about doing good, and sharing the message of joy and peace, the thing that if someone would place in their daily living they would never need to feel miserable on an eternal level again. And so, I am happy, because I know why I am here, and I know the plan of God, and that His plan includes me and all of us so that each and every one of us can be happy and have a joy that will last through the eternities. What's not to love about that?
Ok, so a few funny things about Romania. First, I learned yet another saying which we would equate to grabbing someone's ear to get them away from whatever they can't pull themselves away from, and it says "l-a luat de arip" which means that "they grabbed him by the wing" ha! I loved that one.
Next, here in Bucuresti there is a mall called Akia which all the missionaries LOVE. Why? Because it is the only place in all of Romania that you can find a place where they have free refills for your drink. Yes, that is correct, the only place that is slightly American in the way that they will serve their drinks to you. It's really funny because this concept is so foreign to Romanians that they need to have a sign in the cafeteria that explains how the free refills work. 1. choose a cup or a glass to include in your meal. 2. choose the meal that you would like. 3. pay for your meal and for your drink that you have not yet selected. 4. after you have paid, service yourself with the type of drink you would like. 5. if you are still thirsty, help yourself to another drink with out paying any extra, and with out asking, Service yourself and enjoy your meal! Yeah, that's the gist of the sign, and I about died laughing when I saw that they needed a sign to explain something so simple and that just makes sense. But there you go.
Sora Hupp and I are having fun together. She is little miss experiment. We'll be eating our meal and all of a sudden she says "I wonder" and somehow all of her food gets mixed up in ways that you would never think of and it's in her mouth and her face is one of such concentration as she analyzes every particle of taste to decide if it is a successful experiment or not...so far she has yet to fail and the experiments include mac and cheese with grilled pineaple, mac and cheese wrapped up in lettuce ( I actually tried that one and it was delicious) and slices of orange in her bowl of cheerios, yes with the milk. I don't really understand how that one could be good, but then again, I didn't try it. She said it made the oranges more creamy...? I don't know. But it's fun.
And oh my goodness, we see some of the coolest cloud formations from our apartment. Here is a picture of our view.
Tamara, have so much fun on your talent show! I know that you'll do great! I want to hear all about it, so write me after to tell me how it goes! And wow, the weather back home sounds crazy! Here it's just going back and forth between really hot and windy with sprinkle rain. But it will probably become a consistent really, really unbearable heat here in a few weeks. But that's ok. I like it better than the blizzards in Constanta, so we're all good. But I will leave you for this week,- For all my friends who just started school, good luck! And have fun. I love you all so so very much, and I'll write again in just a few short 7 days.
Love always --Sora Karina
One more quick story, We were bloc knocking the other night going door to door trying to find someone who would want to listen to us, and as is usual for Romanians after you knock on the door they keep it closed and ask "cine?" (who is it?) and you say that you're missionaries and whatever, usually they either open, or say they don't want to listen and you leave. But the other night a lady did that and after we told her who it was she said "you should probably go because there isn't anyone home." I looked at the door confused for a few seconds said "excuse me?" (aka poftim?) but she didn't reply, and when I explained it to Sora Hupp - if she said what I think she said...- we laughed pretty hard. We went back to the same bloc a few nights later and we considered knocking on that door again since there wasn't anyone home the last time, but decided that wouldn't be a good idea lol!
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