Pictures of Adrian's baptism day

Adrian sent these pictures of his baptism for you all to enjoy.


Sister Gaby, Sister Karina, Adrian Buzan, Sister Hupp and Elder Dummar



Sister Karina, Adrian Buzan, Sister Hupp, and Elder Dummar

Adrian and Elder Dummar

Sister Karina, Adrian, and Sister Hupp

Adrian and Elder and Sister Van Orman

Sister Karina, Adrian and Sister Hupp

Elder Gunter, Adrian and Elder Dummar

Sister Hupp, Sister Karina, Adrian, and Elder and Sister Dummar

Yay, Happiness!

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

I have a lot to tell you about this week - well, maybe it only seems like a lot, but we'll see how long this one ends up being. So I'll save the best for last and start with the fact that I am officially staying in Bucuresti, and Sora Hupp is leaving to go to Galati which will be super fun for her.

My new companion is Sora Gogu who is from the Republic of Moldova and she knows very little English. So I get to have fun speaking this amazing language all day every day with someone who can correct me as much as they want! I'm excited. It will be a way fun transfer I think.

With random news, there was a huge protest this past week in Piata Victorie, or the Square of Victoria which is about 10 minutes away from my house. There were hellicopters and crazy stuff, and about 40,000 people stuffed somehow in the streets of the square. Nothing too big happened, and it was just a lot of people being mad about a reduction in retirement funds and...it's not that important.

So this week was also Mission Counsel and Sora Hupp was invited to participate in that, and so I got to go on an exchange with Sora Turner who is a senior sister that works in the office, and we had lots of fun. We went park contacting in Herestrau park and we met this guy named Cezar who wanted to talk to us and we were glad to for the 15 minutes that we had time to before we had to go to meet up with Sora Hupp at President Lundberg's home. When that time came, he didn't want to stop talking, and so he decided to "lead us" there. At least that's how he said it and said "I'll lead you, I'll lead you" when really he was just following because he didn't even know where we were going. Neither did I because Sora Turner took us a way that I had never been before to get to the mission home, so we were both following her. Anyways, he could not stay on one topic. It was the most scattered "lesson" or discussion that I had ever been in, and as soon as we would start testifying about whatever we had just been trying to explain he would interrupt us and say "It doesn't matter because I don't believe in religion, I just want to go over the sounds of the English language so that i can speak better..." and blah blah blah. I don't know why he wanted to talk to us so much if he wasn't even going to listen. But that's what he did.

He followed us to the mission home where we were invited in by President and Sora Lundberg, and it just so happened that all the missionaries had just left so my companion wasn't even there, but we talked a while together which was good, but by then Sora Hupp and I were supposed to be in a lesson in 5 minutes on the other side of the city, and we weren't even together yet! So I excused myself and Sora Turner and once again Cezar said "I'll lead you" but this time I led by walking as fast as I could (which has made past companions have to run in order to keep up with me) so that I could get to the metro station where I was meeting Sora Hupp. We finally got together and ran as fast as we could to the metro, went to Unirii and grabbed a taxi. We were lucky and just happened to pick the best taxi driver ever so that when I told him "we need to be there fast, in fact, we need to be there now" he said "you got it" and he was going as fast as ever, honking at the other cars to get out of his way...it was funny. So we got to our lesson only 1/2 hour late instead of the hour and fifteen minutes that it would have normally taken with the buses and walking and such. It was good.

And so we arrived to the chapel where Adrian was just laying on the grass on a nice day reading the Book of Mormon and patiently awaiting us. Also, that day I hadn't been able to eat anything because of the exchange and travel and such (and we knew that would happen a few days previous) so he was extremely nice and made a meal for me and Sora Hupp - and for him, and we all sat and ate at the church as we discussed the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and prepared him for his baptism....we'll get to that in a minute.

So there is this really cool girl from English class named Andreea who looks like she should be 17 or 18 but is only 14, but she loves learning about the scriptures and the things that we have to say. She doesn't show much emotion, just sits there with her curly hair and glasses and analyzes every thing that we say, and then when we ask her if she has any questions she says either yes or no, if yes we answer and she nods her head in accord and if she says no she tells us she understands and teaches back what we just said in a 2-3 statement summary. She's cute though, and super fun. Her parents aren't interrested, is what she tells us, but she also says that they don't care about her interraction with us or whatever, so hopefully they won't get in the way of her being able to progress and more fully come unto Christ. Happy thing.

Sora Hupp and I went to Fratele Dobre's house this week - he's a member that is paralized on his right side and so is usually in a wheel chair and such. We went to go visit his wife who hasn't come to church in 2 years. We talked to her about the Temple, and Fr. Dobre had no reservation in saying in front of her "I'm sorry that she doesn't live worthy and come to church. I've been to the Temple but I've been without her and it's pointless doing that. I want her to come to the Temple with me." I asked her what she thought and she said that she knows she isn't worthy now to go to the Temple, but one day that would be nice. I told her that one day will never come unless she starts preparing now for that one day in eternity. I told her that she could go to the Temple in August when they have the dedication of the Kiev Temple if she starts now. She seemed slightly interested, and when the time came for her to say what she would do I told her "the blessings of being a member of the church of Jesus Christ are manifest to us as we do what we can to go to church and to come closer to God. Will you start doing this and come to church on Sunday?" "................ok." w00t!

Fr. Dobre still had some doubts and said that she had said that to many people before and she still might not come, but I said to him with her sitting there, "but she just promised me that she would come, so I know that it will happen." Oh the faith that you sometimes show in people that you only met about an hour previous. But she did come to church and was well received and she loved it. I was so happy for them. This will help them to go forward to be sealed for eternity as a family so that they will be able to continue their service for each other in a perfect world. How joyful will that be? I can't even describe it.

Also on Sunday a lady walked in to ask if she would be able to join in our Sunday services. Of course she could. She didn't seem convinced, but I assured her that we were more than happy that she would join us, and that there would be no problems caused by her presence. Her name is Irina, and at the end of Relief Society before we closed, the new presidency asked for the visitors to introduce themselves, and when Irina stood up she told us that she is a street child (was abandoned on the streets and raised herself like that, and still has no home) but that she is not here to ask for anything. All she wanted was a few hours of peace on Sunday, but every church that she had been to before had thrown her out or talked bad about her, and she was never received. So she hadn't been to church in 7 years.

Some time ago she was walking out of the store having bought bread and someone gave her a pamphlet for this church, and as she said it, it was just her luck that she got on the 226 bus that led her here. When she saw the church at the stop, she decided she would stop in to see if the people would receive her. I am so happy to say that she was well received. She said that she loved the lesson in Sunday School where we talked about the life of Christ and how He was made fun of, rejected, and left alone. "I have felt that way too in my life. But now I think about it, and I think that His sufferings are more than what I suffered, and He can help me." She stayed for the baptism, and we will hopefully be able to meet with her and talk to her more about how she can receive help at the hands of Christ this week. It was wonderful.

Ok, now I know that you are all wanting to know how the baptism went. It went wonderfully. That is really the best expression that I can come up with outside of amazing, perfect, great, and so on, but that's how it was. The week preparing for it was good - we continued to teach Adrian the things that had not yet been fully discussed or resolved and he told us "You know how I am with you teaching me? I'm like a spounge, I just want to drink it all up - tell me more, c'mon!" Hehe, it's been fun.

Saturday we had our English class, and the spiritual thought was on Faith and Baptism. Sora Hupp and I were in charge of it, so we talked about what faith was, and how faith always leads to action. We can't say that we believe and then just sit and do nothing, thanking God as we go along. We need to activate our faith in our heart and in our action - in all that we do so that it can be of worth to us. Then we invited Adrian to come up and tell the students about his decision to be baptized and why he did it and how he felt. He said some very nice things that I think helped prepare two of those students who were listening to accept a baptismal date later that day.

After lunch was the interview for the baptism, where he completely blew away Elder Oberhansly, who apparently hadn't completely believed us whenever we talked about the way Adrian spoke, learned, and comprehended the teachings of the Gospel. He must have thought that we were exaggerating because after the interview he said "Wow. He is more than prepared." God knew that, and helped him to be ready to receive this wonderful change in his life so that he would be able to come closer to Him, plus the help of the miracles that God performed in His amazing love and power. Then Elder Dummar took him back to the font to show him what would happen, and to practice the prayer. Elder Dummar is amazing, and memorized the prayer in Romanian... which, though it's not a hard thing to do, it would be difficult when you already have it engrained in your mind in both English and Spanish where the accents are completely opposite. But he did great.

The past couple of days it has been rainy and gloomy looking outside, but Sunday we woke up to a beautiful clear day with pretty clouds that God used for decoration in the sky that day. We got to the church and Adrian said that he was nervous and knew it would be a nice day, but wasn't expecting something too amazing.

Side note: Sora Hupp and I had a surprise for him for the baptismal program. He chose the speakers and everything, but he knew that there would be something in the middle that he didn't know about. He didn't worry too much over it because he didn't think that we would be able to do anything extremely special. Little did he know what we were capable of. He and Elder Dummar were dressed in white sitting in the front and I spoke on baptism - about how God only wants us to be able to come back to Him because each of us is precious, and how He knows how we can best do this. So He asks us to do some things that will help us, like baptism and prayer, and keeping His commandments and doing all those things that sometimes require a sacrifice. But it is how we become truly happy in the end.

Elder Gunter talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it becomes our source of power as followers of Jesus Christ after we make the covenant with God to be that follower. Then came the surprise and Sora Hupp sang a solo for a special musical number and I played the piano for her. She is shy and not one to like spotlight at all, so she was nervous, but she sang beautifully and everything went perfect. The Spirit was so strong, and Adrian was very surprised. Elder Dummare said everything word perfect for the actual ordinance, and when Adrian came up out of the water he had the biggest smile on his face. I was so happy to know that he was that happy.

This is the point of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the point of God's plan for us and for the life that Jesus Christ lived - for the life that we live: to find true happiness that will last through out eternity. I know that Adrian has found that - along with the other 5 people that were baptized this week across the country, with the people that are learning and growing because they are choosing to make those changes in their life. I too, have found that happiness, and that is why I'm here - to share it with everyone. This is what God asks of us: to learn of Him, come unto Him, and then help others to come, too. And it is so wonderful when people come.

Elder Bernier and Elder Harvey gave a presentation about the restoration of the Gospel while we waited for them to change, and then Adrian bore a sweet sweet testimony about the joy of coming closer to God and about the help that comes when you choose to step on that path. Like I said, it was quite amazing. I know that the hosts of heaven rejoice just as we can rejoice when the kingdom of God is built in our hearts and lives so that it can grow on this earth to prepare us for the wonderful things that are still to come in mortality and beyond into eternity. I would hope and pray that all of you would try to build that foundation of Christ in your life so that you, too, can taste of the joy that I promise will come as you strive to align your feet straight ahead on His path. Try it. Test it. The difference is worth it.

Well, I only have one thing left to tell you which is the fun saying that I learned this week - it's the saying that you would say if you got upset and don't want to deal anymore with whatever it is that you are dealing with. It's like saying "I don't want to do this anymore" and you say "imi iau jucariile si plec" (umm yow joocahreelay she pleck) which literally means "I take my toys and I'm leaving!" I thought it was funny.

But anyways, I love you all so so much. Shaley, congrats on your graduation! Tamara, hope all of your playing (piano and violin) went well, Jenna, I did love your email - it was that little piece of randomness that I needed for the day. Cherisse, I'm glad that you were able to have fun visiting home. Mommy and Daddy, you're just amazing as always.

Hey, and if you are able to, I don't know if you can before anything happens, but with Jane Francis, I would love it if you could tell her for me thanks for everything, and that always I am wearing the whole armour of God. She would tell us to do so every day after seminary as we would walk out to go to school. Thank you so much. But I love you lots and lots and we're happy as always!

Always --Sora Karina

Yipee!

Hello everyone! This week has been a great one.

So, I think that I'll start out with the funny story first. We were walking through Park Kiselff, and talking to people as they would listen about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of them were indifferent, but were polite and took a pliant (flier) or listened for a little bit. Then we stopped to talk to a lady sitting on a bench and she said we could sit with her for a little and share the message. We started talking to her about God's love for her and she just started laughing and laughing. She asked us what else we had for her in our message, and we told her that we have a living prophet on the earth and gshe looked at us for a few seconds without saying anything, trying to comprehend what we said, and then she said, "Are you from the extra-terrestrial group? "Uh, no, actually, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." "Oh, well what's that?" "It is the restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth today that is led by Him through a living prophet." Yeah, I don't think she really comprehended what we were trying to say, but still, I thought it was funny.

After we parted ways with her, Sora Hupp turned to me and said, "Did she say something about extra terrestrials?" And when I explained, she said, "Yeah, I thought that, but that was just too weird to be what she said." And we laughed.

Then we found 2 young girls that were talking and we had a really good discussion with them. It was nice. I know that God loves all of His children and He wants them to go to Him for the answers. He has all of the answers and is willing to give them to us if we would just ask with a desire. Tose girls didn't understand and said that they were looking to see if there was something more about God, but they didn't want to go to Him to find out. Prayer is such a blessing, and it is given to us so that we can have a personal relationship with Him as our Heavenly Father. He doesn't want us to be confused, but rather He wants us to come unto the Light of the World, His Son, Jesus Christ, so that we can enter in at the gate and find true happiness. He is impatient to bless us and is waiting with arms open for us to go to Him, ask Him if He's there, if He loves us, and if there is a way for us to come to Him. I promise that He will show you that way. He has shown it to me, and I've seen it as he has helped many others find their way to Him, and He is not a respecter of persons--He loves each of us and desires each of us to return to His presence in the fullness of joy.

We are blessed with the amazing gift to be able to choose to do this according to our own actions. He will not force anyone to heaven, but He will lead and guide us as we seek and try. It is amazing the power that He will give us according to our weaknesses, so that we can accomplish the righteous desires of our hearts--to fulfill the work and the glory that He has established in the eternities. And nothing can stop this work from progressing. we are a part of it - we are His work and His glory and His joy. Should we not have joy in that fact? I think so, and it is amazing.

Ok, now exciting story time. First of all, I told you how Sora Petrisor (said Petreeshore), who was my teacher in the MTC, is here visiting. Well, her mom hasn't come to church for at least 4 or 5 years... and she came to church on Sunday! It was exciting, and Sora Petrisor was soooo happy. She came up to me and said, "Sora Karina, Sora Karina! That's my mom! Come and meet her!" She is a very nice lady. She probably felt a little overwhelmed at being back in such a long time, but it was a time to rejoice just as Jesus Christ says when the lost sheep is found, or when the prodigal son begins to turn around, we rejoice and bring them back with loving arms.

So then later last night, we had a lesson with Adrian, and it was a good lesson in the park. On the walk back to the metro station I asked him about a conversation that he had with a member after church today that got pretty intense, at least from the last 10 minutes that I heard. Fratele Matei had no problem being bold in telling Adrian that he was always welcome with us at church, but that he would not be showing his belief in God if he didn't get baptized. Adrian already knew this, of course, but it is sometimes different to hear it pounded into your head by a bold Romanian (when a Romanian is bold, they know no bounds). So I asked him what got that conversation started, and he said that he had asked a question about being a member and why it was so important, as long as he is coming, and then he said, "but I don't need to tell you about the rest. You'll just say that he's right and I know that he's right, and it's not like I won't be baptized. ...Actually, I already know when, I just haven't told you." WHAT?! Yeah, he kind of ran away from me and I was in shock. He said, "Don't get mad, don't get mad, but I just want it to be a surprise." Oh, I wasn't mad at all, I was thrilled, but at the same time, very confused, because it's not very often that when someone wants to get baptized that they keep it from the missionaries who are trying to help them get there.

But he had it all planned to talk to Sora Lundberg about the plans for it (she's our mission president's wife) and he was planning on just telling us the day before, like, "Hey guys, what are you doing tomorrow, cuz you should really come to by baptism" or something like that. So I told him that if he didn't want us to know, our mission president at least had to know, so he said that he would call President Lundberg and talk to him about it.

He called me later to let me know that he talked to President Lundberg, and he said in a slow nervous-ish voice, "So, are you sitting down? Because I talked to the President Lundberg, and he said that everything is NEXT WEEK!" And I sat in shock for all of 3 miliseconds before I snapped out of it and said, "Wait, next Sunday, like a week from today?" Yup. Oh my goodness. We are all so excited and happy for him and his excited and happy for him, which of course, is the best part.

There is just something that gives you so much joy when you have the assurance of the Spirit of God that you are doing what is right. And as we have talked about a lot before, when you keep the commandments of God, you are happy, and you get closer to God, which makes you happier, and it makes you want to do more for Him, and then He does more for you, and it's just a huge happiness cycle. That does not eliminate the parts of life that are hard, but it surely does give you the power and hope to get through those parts with the faith that you have in a loving and caring Father who is aware of you and your struggles, and who is anxious to help you get through everything so that you can be even closer to Him. And I find that there are times when I feel like I am as close as I can ever get to Him...but then He answers another prayer, and performs another miracle, and my love and gratitude for Him grows and somehow the eternities are smaller and I am that much closer to my God, my Father in Heaven. It feels wonderful.

So I will be able to tell you about that service next Monday, which will be fun and exciting! We will see if Andrian's mom and brother will come to see and support him. I hope so.

So, after those amazing stories, I have my funny Romanian statement for the day: they have a million different ways to say that someone is crazy, but I think I found my favorite one this week: Are pitci pe crier (ahray peeteech pay creeair) which literally means, "he/she has midgets on their head". Hahahahahahaha. I laughed hard at that one, and I hope that it at least gave you all a smile.

I am so glad that everything went well with Tamara's recital and with the Power's wedding and everything else that had to get done. Mom, you are so amazing for being able to do all of those things!

But I hope that all is going well. Shaley, have fun with graduation this week! And make sure you tackle Cherisse when she gets there this week! And give her big hugs from me! And give Grandma Curtis hugs from me, too!

But have so much fun, all of you, and I will talk to you next week!

Love you to pieces! Sora Karina

Quite the Week

Hey! How are you?

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there - Like Brianne! CONGRATS!!! And I got to say this to my mom, not face to face, but close enough for now. That was so nice to talk to my family. It is always something to have an overflowing amount of joy when you know that those you love so much are doing well.

So, like the title says, this week was quite the week. It was just super busy and very good. I'll start on Wednesday. It was our "63 day" which was the day that I had 63 days left in this country and that Sora Hupp had been in the country for 63 days. (And no, I'm not counting - really and I promise, it was just a random fact that came up, we celebrated and now it's over). But we had fun celebrating it by going out to lunch with Sora Petrisor who is one of our teachers from the MTC who is from Bucuresti and she's here for a few weeks visiting. It is so fun seeing her and talking with her - and actually understanding her! That's probably the biggest thing, because I remember when I was in the MTC and she would speak in Romanian and I would understand maybe a few words - and now I understand her perfectly, and I can respond! I guess I have been doing pretty well in my language progression. But it's fun having her here.

Friday was our Zone Conference, and Elder Camargo from the 70 and his wife were here visiting and it was really fun listening and being taught by them. We talked a lot about how we can help the members here in Romania get more involved in the missionary work - because if we are going to accomplish the work that the Lord has given us to fulfill, we need the help of the members, we can not do it alone. And that's how it is across the whole world - missionaries need help everywhere, and so does the Lord. I know that we are each capable of helping the Lord in this work simply because we are His children and He has called us to stand as a witness of Him. We do this best just by living what we believe and giving our whole heart and soul to it. If what we believe truly matters that much, then we will do all that we can to put our life and the way that we live to be in accord with those beliefs and teachings.

This is how God tells us that we will find the most joy - by believing in Christ and following Him. Another way that we can increase the work is by not being scared to tell others of what we know. We can just state simply what we believe and how we know it - through the Spirit of God, and that same Spirit, the Holy Ghost will bear record to us and those around us that what we say is true. It is a wonderful feeling.

So this weekend we also had District Conference which meant that people from both sides of Bucuresti, Ploiesti, Craiova, Pitesti, and Brasov all came down to Bucuresti to meet together for meetings on Saturday and Sunday. It was sooooo much fun seeing the people from Brasov that I worked with that came - I hadn't seen them since September, so it was quite a blessing to see them all again.

Choir went well - it sounded pretty good considering all the different choirs met just that morning to put it all together - and I was told about 10 minutes before the meeting started that the vocal soloist didn't show up and they didn't have anyone, and would I please do it? Ok. I think it sounded ok, but what mattered was that the Spirit was felt strongly among all those present, and for that I am grateful.

Elder and Sister Camargo spoke to the members at Conference also, and they said lots of great things to help strengthen them in their family living, in their spiritual preparation, and in their testimony. And why do we focus on these things so much? It is because as we strengthen these three things: our family, our spiritual preparation and our testimony, then we are surely on the path that leads back to our Heavenly Father and to eternal joy. I know it because I have seen the difference that it makes in my life and in the lives of those around me, and the difference is worth the effort.

Adrian sang in the choir like he had been practicing and loved it. When Sora Lundberg asked him if church/conference was good he said "yeah, like always!" It was fun.

Also something that is really neat is how Heavenly Father answers your prayers. When you are praying for something, or to know/understand something better and it just seems so out of reach, all of a sudden you find yourself in a setting where a person says something so small and yet that is the "big" answer that you've been looking for. And miracles like that happen every day when we have faith in the One with whom nothing is impossible.

Another one of our investigators is a little girl named Alexandra who is 8 and is the daughter of Cornell who was baptized recently. She is so cute and so fun, but it's so sad because her family life is not stable between her mom and her dad, and she just wants to be a kid but can't. All she needs is to know that she is loved, but she doesn't. She doesn't even believe that God loves her. We are trying to help her realize this just simply by loving her as much as we can (which isn't hard, believe me) and we pray for her always that she will be able to feel the love of God. She loves church and being in that setting, but I don't know if she recognizes why that setting is so precious. She was sitting next to me at the baptism that we had yesterday after the District Conference (it was someone on the other side of Bucuresti, yay!) And she is always a little shy at first to be close to you. But then when she warms up, she really warms up and you just want your love to radiate more and more for her. And I couldn't help thinking how amazingly blessed I am that I have a mother who loves me and who taught me that God loves me, and a father who loves me and taught me how to love God in return.

They taught me this together, and I wish with all of my heart that every child could have this. But that is why we have the Atonement of Christ - because every one is short of some happiness, and everyone is short of perfection. But in and through the infinite atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ we can receive the love and joy of God, even when we're lacking in what we have on this earth, and we can become perfect even when we are lacking in our abilities in this body. Everything that is not fair or is not good was suffered for, so that one day - in a perfect day - it will all be made perfect, ourselves included. And that gives me hope to continue giving and loving and teaching and trying even when it seems hopeless. There is ALWAYS hope in our Savior. And for this I am eternally grateful.

I'm trying to think of something fun to tell you about Romania - oh! There is such a fun song that's kinda like our "10 little monkeys jumping on the bed" song but it's with elephants and a spider web. Ok, really how it is, how to say it, and then what is means:
un elefant, se legenau, pe o panza de paiangen. Si fiind ca ea, nu se rupea, a mai chemat un elefant.
Doi! doi elefanti, se legenau, pe o panza de paiangen. Si fiind ca ea, ne se rupea, au mai chemat un elefant.
Trei! trei elefanti.....si asa mai departe.
(oon ehlehfant, say layghenow, pay oh puhnzah day puhyanjen. she feend cuh yah, noo say roopyah, ah mahee kaymaht oon ehlehfant.
doee! doee ehlehfants, say layghenow, pay oh puhnzah day puhyanjen. she feend cuh yah, noo say roopyah, ah mahee kaymaht oon ehlehfant.
tray! tray ehlehfants...she ashah mahee daypartay.)

One elephant, was rocking, on a web from a spider. And since it, was not breaking, it called yet another elephant.
Two! Two elephants, were rocking, on a web from a spider. And since it, was not breaking, they called yet another elephant.
Three! Three elephants...and so on.
So you just keep adding more elephants by saying patru(pahtroo 4) cinci (cheench 5) sase (shahsay 6) sapte (shahptay 7) opt (ohpt 8) noua (no-oohah 9) and zece (zehchay 10) until you're done singing it basically. It is a cute little song that they use to teach little kids how to count. but it's fun to sing.

Anyways, I need to go, but I want you all to know how much I love you - A LOT! Even if the capital letters can't really describe it enough. I hope that you are all having so much fun, and that all is going well. And even if it's not going as well as you might hope, I pray that you are able to smile and be happy anyways, and it is possible. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about happiness and how we can find it through hope and faith no matter what happens. Once again I love you all lots and lots and lots and lots, and I'll be talking to you again next week. Bye!

Love always, --Sora Karina

Happy Day!

Hey, everyone who is having a happy day out ther, (and all of you who aren't, you should fix that). Everyone should have a happy day, and I hope that you all are. But anyway, how are you? I'm doing great.

It's really windy here in Bucuresti, but that's ok because without the wind it would be really, really hot. And it will get even hotter, but that's all right. This week was a good one - full of wonderful stories, so here you go...

The knuckles/cigarette deal with Adrian is still going great. This week we are both having success in rejecting the "unrighteous" desires, so to speak. And the Lord is working miracles.

This week on Tuesday, Adrian called us to tell us that he was so so so sorry, but he had to work on Sunday, and he would try to get done as fast as he could, but he didn't think he would be able to be to church...maybe to choir practice after church. But he thought church would be out of the question. He called us the next day wanting to know if we thought he should go to church regardless of what his boss said. I told him not to put he job in jeopardy because that's not a good position to be in, but he also wants to keep the Sabbath day holy. I told him he would just have to use his best judgment. "No, help me!" he said. So I asked him what he thought. "Well, I think that I should tell my boss that I'm not ok with working on Sunday because I need to go to church, which I already told him. So, I think that if I respect what God wants, which is to go to church, then He'll help me, and I won't have to work on Sunday." That's exactly right.

This was his plan until Saturday when his boss told him that he HAD to work on Sunday, and in fact he needed to go to Ploiesti, which is a city about an hour outside of Bucuresti, to seal a contract deal or something. He was really sad and said he would still do as much as he could to get back as soon as possible, but the prospects weren't very good. He said that he would fast with us since it's the first Sunday of the month, and he needed help from God to stop smoking.

Sunday morning he texted us telling us that he was on his way to Ploiesti and that he had worked it out with the people in the workshop that he wouldn't have to do as much, which would give him maybe an extra hour. "So pray for me to get back fast." he said. Of course we did this, and about 30 minutes later he called us and asked, "Did you already pray for me?" "Yes", I replied. "Really?" "Yeah, of course, why" "Because I'm already on my way back to Bucuresti! The guy I was supposed to meet in Ploiesti called me to cancel and said that we don't need to have our meeting anymore, and I'm only about 30 minutes ouside of Bucuresti, so I should be there just in time for church to start!" Wow. He thanked me for praying for him, and I told him not to thank me. I had faith that God would do it, and He did. "So thank Heavenly Father, and I'm going to do that right now, too." And he said, "Yeah, I will do that now, too."

Sora Hupp and I were so excited and we prayed with thanks a million times yesterday for all the amazing things that happened.

Adrian got to church right before it started, the Spirit was SO strong, and all of the testimonies that were given were given from the heart, how they should be, and they were all amazing and touching. Classes went well. All three of our recent converts came to church, along with a less active lady that we are working with. The lored is so aware of this work and aware of our desires. It shows so nicely how when we have the desire to do what God asks of us, and when we do all that we can do, even if things get in the way (and Satan does try so hard to put things in the way) God helps us to succeed and accomplish those things that He asks. He has prepared the way, and we will go forward in strenth and joy.

Adrian loved church and stayed for choir practice. Even though he says he's not too confident with his singing, he is excited to sing with us for District Conference next week. (District Conference is the same as Stake Conference, except we don't have any stakes yet. But it will be fun.) And I absolutely love the truth that when you do the Lord's wil with your all, that is when you are truly happy. I see this in my life. When I try to do what the Lord wants - not because He wants it, but because I want to do it, - I am happier than if I would have done something else. Ok, maybe that sentence doesn't make too much sense, but hopefully you understand.

Sora Hupp is still experimenting away with her food - along to pate and rice (sounds yummy, doesn't it? -shaking head cuz I didn't want to try it - lol.) But she's even got me experimenting now. This week we created a meal that was actually quite delicious. Pour out a can of baked beans into the pan on the stove and add a can of hal-drained cut pineappple. Turn the heat on and add pieces of ham, already cooked rice, and just keep mixing it until it is warm. Then add a decent amount of whipped cream (yes, like you would find in a can and put on a pie- put it in there) until it is well mixed. Then you dish it up on the plate and place a healthy amount of grated cheese on top. It is quite delicious, and fills you up really nicely -it kept me going for most of my fast. If you have the daring boldness to try, let me know if you like it. We also thought that if we had them, it would have been good to add green onions or chunks of green bell pepper. Alas, that will have to be tried another day because we didn't have any. But it was fun and yummy - the best combination.

This week on Saturday was institute, or a youth activity program and it was fun. We didn't go to the lesson part, but we showed up in time for the activity (good timing) which was volley ball. We were havingfun doing awful at the game, but that's usually how it goes, and it's still really fun that way. Even though I think of what Shaley would think when I try to set the ball (and I can picture her shaking her head because I have no idea what I'm doing). But that's ok.

Anyways, there is this girl in our branch named Gabi, and she has a physical handicap and has to walk with braces (or chruches or whatever they're called) to balance herslf to walk and such. She is such a sweetheart, but she usually sits to the sid and watches whatever anyone is doing. But not this time... Despite the objections that she couldn't do it, Elder Dummar grabbed a chair and put it in the center of our team's playing sid, and carried her over to the chair. She kept telling him, "no, I can't, I don't know how, I can't do this", but he was determined to show her that she could. We showed her how to hold her hands, and then we would toss the ball to her to start the play. She would hit it and it would bounce behind her. If I was on my guard enough, I was able to play off of her hit. Using the all mighty and powerful team effort, we got it over the net. She was thrilled! And in fact, we were all thrilled and we all had a blast. That, plus the fact that it was a nice summer evening and I got to play with my bare feet in the grass made it pretty much a perfect evening. I loved it.

Oh! I don't remember if I have ever praised the parks here in Romani from any of my other cities (and if I haven';t, then shame on me because I love them.) The parks in Bucuresti are AMAZING!! Cismigiu (said cheeshmeejew) is a nice intimate and beautiful park with a small area with swans swimming and peacocks walking and children playing and all of the good stuff that happens in parks. It's actually known as The Romantic Park of Buc. I thought that was great, but then I went to Herestrau Park (said how it's spelled) and Wow! It is so amazing and its HUGE just like I said that pretty much everything in Buc is hughe, this park is like that. And I will never be able to describe it to you sufficiently, so I don't think I will try. Just know that it's amazing and it is really fun to go there to find people to talk to about the gospel. Good wholesome gospel discussions and a great view. What more could I ask for?

Well, I guess I could ask for a perfect temperature, for all of the mospuitoes to go away and a few other things, but I'm trying not to be too demanding.

The funny Romanianism for today is to explain the use and meaning of what we would say is "Prince Charming." The translation for this in Romanian is "Fat Frumos" (there is supposed to be a symbol above the 'a' in Fat, so it doesn't read fat like big, but read it rather as "fuht froomose" or something.) Frumos means "beautiful" and the context meaning of Fat is "youth" so it means "beautiful youth" until you take the literal translation where Fat means "fetus" in which case you are then adoring the beautiful unborn and still developing child as a soon-to-be-hero and usually "knight in shining armor".

It's funny. The thing that is amazing, though, is that the statement is not a false one whether it is in the leteral or context meanin, for we are all children of a Heavenly King, and as the scripture says, every soul is great in the eyes of God. We each have a potential that He is helping us to fulfill as we concentrate our efforts to be on the path of truth and righteousness. It is quite amazing that He loves all of us and each of us has that divine potential to be perfect and pure, even as He is - and this is possible for us through our Savior Jesus Christ. God's plan is so perfect and it brings me so much joy to know it, to live in accordance to it, and especially to share it with those who maybe don't have this hope, this knowledge, or this joy. Everyone deserves a bit of happiness, and that is the point -for us to be eternally happy with our Gad and all those whom we love. yay.

And now for the really important part - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHERISSE!!!! I'm sorry I didn't tell you last week when it was closer to your birthday, but I didn't forget. On your birthday I san "La Multi Ani" as I danced around my apartment, and we even ate cookies -they were leftover from something else, but still. It was a nice, modest celebration. I hope yours was better planned and just better in every way, and I can't believe thay you're 21! I bet you can't believe that either. But that's ok, I love you lots and lots and lots, and if Alley didn't make it a good day for you, just let me know and I shall lecture him later on it ;) Alley, I love you too, don't worry.

But I think I have exhausted my time and my stories, and probably your time and your eyes from reading all o fthis, but I want you all to know that I love you so, so very muchy. I hope that all is going well, and as I stated at the beginning, that you're all having a happy day. I know that I am. Keep doing great and take care--

I'll "talk" to you again next week. Love you! Always, --Sora Karina