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