Leaving my first city!!! December 7, 2014

At this exact moment there is a gypsy kid trying to stop me from sending my em1-0ail I am just going to keep all the mistakes he types in *because I am done trying to fix the,m.

This week was super great!!! I found out that I will be LEAVING Constanta. 

WHAT?! 

Seriously though I am really sad, excited to start a new adventure but I feel like I am leaving my family all over again.  I have lived her in this city for the last 6 months of my life and is it really hard to think that I will never see some of these people who I love never again.  Still waiting on the confirmation that Bacau is the place for me, but I am sure I will just get a whole new family to love:)

 

Yep, I will be in a new city on Wednesday Bacau Romania!!! 

I am so excited!! I know next to nothing about this city, and I am soooo sad to leave Sora Sayre.  She is the best ever! And we have had much to fun these last two transfers ate a little too much nutella, but hey.

So Christmas will be in Bacau! When I bore my testimony in church yesterday after I was finding out I was leaving there was a cute member in the branch Sora Mihaela who stood up and bore her testimony and say to me over the pulpit, "Don't be sad! Bacau is beautiful and the people there will make you way more Sarmali!" It was hilarious:) Anyways, love you all I will be in a new city for Christmas! Pretty cool Christmas present! 

 

-Sora Long

Miracles Do Happen December 1, 2014

This week  President Ivory (the mission president) and his family brought Carl Champagine the current project manager of the Rome, Italy Temple to Constanta and give two fantastic presentations.  The Saturday presentation was at a Hotel on the coast of the Black Sea where a bunch of engineering students are living.  We publicized for that sooooooooooo hard!!! But when the time came around for us to start the presentation, no one had showed up.  There were 145 students housed in the hotel so we had made a goal as a district to have 10% attendance or if you do the math 14.5 people. We went back out to the hotel and directed people from the lobby to the presentation. The Elders ran through the hotel and knocked on doors to invite people down.  Sora Sayre and I watched as one by one the Elders would get a person and walk them down to the presentation then return to the hotel floors to get more audience members.   By the time 30 minutes had past the start time we decided to go ahead and get started.  Elder Alston stood up and took some pictures because what happened was quite miraculous.

14 people had shown up.

He told us later as the presentation went on that he was sad that 14.5 people didn't show up we were just short of our goal!!! When midway through the presentation another student walked into the room.  There ya go, 14.5 people on the dot:) Seriously prayerful goals man! 

The presentation that night was so amazing! President Ivory at the end of it pulled out 14 Book or Mormons and passed it out and talked about how success can be learned from the scriptures.  It went so well!! 14 Book of Mormons were given out in that meeting and we are really optimistic about all the people who came. 

Then on Sunday a huge turn out with 50 people who showed up to hear the presentation on Temples around the world.  It was pretty dang cool!!!! I love this place:) It really is the best. 

Then in the Sacrament meeting one just new member was announced that he was found worthy to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and another member, one of the most amazing member missionaries I have ever met was announced worthy for the Melchizedek Priesthood.  Another Sister from the branch had her mission farewell this week.  I am so proud of her!! This branch is growing so much!!! 

Love you all so much!!! Merry Christmas!! It is December 1st here is Romanian Independence day, but for me it is officially okay to say Merry Christmas! 

Sora Long

Creciun

Ferecit! 

The Best Thanksgiving Ever!! November 24, 2014

Ok!! So it has been 1 and a half weeks since I wrote! A lot has happened.

We got a new senior couple! And they are really really really awesome!! I am so grateful for them and the sacrifice that they have made to come out here on a mission.  They really do make a difference in the branch.  For instance this week was Thanksgiving and they spent a whole week prepping for it going from store to store and finding all of the American ingredients like pumpkins and Turkeys which are very slim and far between. They also have been cooking pies and other food for the last 3 days!!! Me=grateful for the Senior couple.

One thing we see here is people hanging their rugs out the window and shaking them like crazy! So we got it into our heads that we really needed to clean our rug.  Except that our rug was a little larger than you would think.... By the time we had our 8x10 rug hanging outside our window and we were trying to beat it with our broom handle. We were laughing so hard we almost had no strength to keep holding it!!! It was soooo heavy! We soon realized it was too heavy to actually pull it back inside our apartment and we were stuck holding a rug outside our window for 40 minutes.  We finally rolled it back in after much tugging and pulling and laughing.

We had one investigator that we love!!! I absolutely love her!! But she is not progressing and flat out told us one day that we were mistaken and wrong and that all religions were correct and when she gave the closing prayer she asked to bless the poor naive girls who know nothing about life or religion and help them have more understanding that what she thought was the correct way to think.  So it was sad but we had to stop teaching her, so we left her a Liahona (Ensign) conference edition.  We called to invite her to the baptisms and when she picked up the phone she immediately said, "GIRLS!! I am so glad you called me.  I have been reading this magazine you gave me and it is amazing.  I feel so good when I read it and everything that is in it is true!" It was really cool:) We met with her and she had so many questions.  One for instance was who we were before this life? I love it when people ask that question.  So we will see where that goes. 

This last week we had 2 baptisms!!! Which is crazy awesome.  I have been here in Romania for 6 months now and these were the first two baptisms I have witnessed and it was a little miracle for us to witness these baptisms. 

As you will be able to see from the pictures, there is literally a huge pool that we baptize people in.  It took 2-3 hours to set up, 6 hours to fill up and it was cold! So we boiled water all day for both baptism and dumped it in there, but I don't know if that made a difference.  One member told me what a disaster it was that the water was cold. I replied by saying, well my mom was baptized in Japan in a tub of ice water, outside while it was snowing, she was okay:) The water was a lot warmer than that.

 

 

My favorite part of both baptisms was not the actual baptism.  It was the testimony that both of these amazing converts gave after they were baptized.  Perez had a lot of friends come to his baptism and he flat out invited all of them to be baptized over the pulpit. Daniela had written her testimony before her baptism but once she took it up to the pulpit she just shared what was in her heart.. The spirit was so strong!! It is so amazing to see the change of heart that the gospel brings.  Especially with our own investigators.  Daniela is perfect.  A rock could have taught her and she would have known what was said was true.  But I am so grateful to be that rock.  I am not  a perfect teacher but hearing her say in her testimony, "I know this church is true" and "I hope that Constanta will have a temple so that I can go." (She has been praying for a temple in her prayers every time she meets with us.  She also sends us little text messages telling us that  she is praying for a temple.)

The church is true!! I am loving my mission.  This last week alone we doubled the amount of lessons we had mission wide. That is crazy!! It is fun to be in a mission that is starting to pick up speed.  We were promised by Elder Kearon of the 70 that we would see miracles here in Romania and I have been witness to many of them.  This Thanksgiving I am so grateful to be serving here! I am grateful for my family and the amazing opportunity that I had to grow up in a  gospel centered home. I am grateful for my mothers ol' rotten potato recipe that I didn't get to eat this year because the cheese in Romania is a little ... different to say the least... so it wasn't worth trying to make. 

I heard about Dallin Hunt passing away this week and I would like to send out my sincere condolences to the family.  This news broke my heart. I know that this gospel is true and that there is a plan of redemption, and I am so grateful for it.  My prayers are with the Hunt family who are absolutely an amazing example of love and perseverance.  I love you all! 

Heart, 

Sora Long

 

Sora Sayre and I found a really awesome Piata this week and got ourselves some Russian hat made from polar fox fur in Brasov. 

Thanksgiving dinner!

 

More baptism photos:

So  when we were filling up the font it sprung a leak!!!! I hurriedly took out some of my gum and shoved it in the hole.  Orbit fresh really works wonders in a pickle.  It held for 3 days straight!!

These are our dogs here in Constanta.  For the last 6 months of my life they have dutifully walked us home and kept us safe every night. One of them is named pokey because he pokes his nose wherever he can, he had just poked me in the bum when this picture was taken. 

A Funeral - November 17, 2014

Holy cow what a crazy week!! We had  funeral on Tuesday for a member of our branch.  It was so interesting to see the Romanian side of a funeral. Right after the funeral we had an amazing first English class, seriously super awesome! Our English class is super stoked to be there! Then we ran from the church to the Gara (Train station) got on a train and traveled overnight for the next  13 hours to Iasi for a huge mission conference.  We had Elder Kearon from the quorum of the 70 come and present.  It was so fantastic and spiritual!!!

 

I wish I could explain more fully the miracles that I have been witnessing here, but I honestly do not know how to type them.  The growth of the church here in Romania is on the tipping point.  This week we had a record amount of people in church, as in ever! This week is a Baptism week! Our investigator Daniela will be baptized on Friday along with Perez! 

At one point in the conference a little 6 year old gypsy boy walked into the room toting along his 4 year old sister. They just waltzed in like they owned the place while an apostle of the Lord is speaking to us and start playing the piano. HAHAHA!! Then at one point They were outside trying to get into the building and we had opened a window and he started crawling up the wall and yelling vreau si eu!! Si eu!! and me and me!! I want to come to the party!! And he was trying to climb through the window. Hilarious!

For the lunch break he invited a bunch of us to eat lunch with him and we got to sit and talk with him about our lives and families:) 

 

After the conference we popped on another train for 13 hours and made it back to constanta just in time for our next English class! Then we had a lesson and by that time we were more than dead. As in super dead! 

Love you all! 

-Sora Long

Us Mormons Don't Cry November 10, 2014

Our baptism is still set!! This week we had district meeting and learned that Constanta is leading the Zone!! Woot!!! It looks like we will be having at least 3 baptisms here and that is CRAZY!!!

This week is also crazy because the 14th is my 6th month mark on my mission! I have already served 1/3 of my mission!!!! It is going by so crazy fast and I am really seeing a pick up in the work here in Romania.  Also in Moldova things have been picking up as well and they are expecting 5 baptisms this transfer! Holy Cow!!! 

We had a member of our branch pass away this week.  Fratele Nitca.  In the time I have been here I have only witnessed him to miss 4 weeks of church due to a fall 4 weeks ago that paralyzed him.  He was an amazing member.  He literally would shuffle into the church and slowly make his way up two flights of stairs every Sunday for Sacrament meeting.  The missionaries were invited to his house after he had passed so we could discuss what needed to be done for the funeral and he was laid in his coffin right in front of us during the meeting. The Branch President once was all said and done said a few words about this man, which I took notes on because it was so powerful. In English he said,

"This man is a great man.  He brought himself to church every week even though he could hardly walk.  And for this I think he is saved,"  He touched Fratele Nitica's head and continued with tears in his voice, "Us Mormon do not cry because he is died, we cry because he is happy, he is truly happy." 

What a wonderful gospel we have!!!!! And isn't it so true? How he said it in his broken English, "Us Mormon do not cry because he is died, we cry because he is happy, he is truly happy." These members have such faith here! Fratele Niticas wife is one of the strongest members I have ever met and she dealt with this trial with such faith and hope. 

Thank you for all of your e-mails I wish I had more time to reply to them all:) No creeper stories this week. I love you all, the church is so true and I am so grateful for that.  I am grateful to be here in Romania and witness how it blesses the peoples lives here. 

Love you all so much! 

-Sora Long

 

Daniela our investigator, my testimony in the front of the BOM

 and the biggest spider I have ever seen on my face....

 

Contacting with Mihaela plus Halloween!! November 3, 2014

This week was so great!!! Halloween was such a creepy day though not gonna lie.  It isn't celebrated in Romania, more of a if you want to you can because it is American and Americans are cool kinda thing.  We had two guys in masks walking down the street towards us so we veered to the side and as we passed one of the grabbed my head an stroked my hair and said, "Frumoasa" meaning beautiful. My companion was walking too fast to see it but bleg creepy!! Then as we were nearing home it is dark and we go down a nicely lit street and we pass a house that is in construction and looks super Cool! Sora Sayre says, "We should get a good creepy selfie from that house and send it to our moms." Right as she says that a guy slowly rose up from behind the dilapidated fence wearing a black hood and a scarf around his face and looked right at us.  I mean, seriously the creepiest thing I have ever personally witnessed in my life.  We gasped, grabbed hands and hightailed it out of that street as fast as we could. But we couldn't stop laughing because it was so ridiculous that had actually happened on the dark street of Romania on Halloween night right as we were talking about a scary selfie for our Moms! HAHAHA! I was coughing really hard, we couldn't breath and we knew we were both safe.  It was just the guard of the construction site.  He sleeps under that fence every night.

We have some really cool things happening in Romania right now, thank you for all of your prayers for us in Romania! We need it.  We have two baptisms scheduled in Constanta right now on of which is our lovely investigator Daniela from the HAlloween party.  Such a cool time to be a missionary!! 

Good things are happening and the Lord is blessing us and our friends. We currently have eleven baptisms scheduled:

3 in Panduri
3 in Chisinau
2 in Constanta
1 in Arad
1 in Balti
1 in Brasov

The church is true and the boulder is moving in Romania!! We had a really cool activity with a member in our branch this week and we found someone on the bus.  It was the best contact ever!!!!!!!!!! 

The church is true, bye! 

-Sora Long

A picture of us and Sora Mihaela contacting

Austin Long Comes to Constanta!!!

 

So I saw my cousin Austin Long this week!!!!   So crazy cool that right at the exact moment I got on the computer for p-day he called mom from Romania and then mom e-mailed so that I could meet with him. Still can't get over how random that was.  Best day ever!!

The second I saw him at the mall we ran to each other but as he got closer I stuck out my hand and screamed, "Ahhhh!!! I can't hug you!! I am a missionary!!!" and he screamed ,"What?!!!" And shook my hand really awkwardly. It was hilarious!!!
I also found out this week that I am staying in Constanta for this next transfer with the same companion and I am stoked! 

President Ivory, the president of the mission, is really liking the changes we are bringing to this city.  He used Sora Sayres and my numbers as an example of a good numbers in the Mission Leader conference and had everyone compare their numbers to us.  I don't think we were suppose to know about that but someone told me and it really made me smile:)  I feel really proud of the work that I am doing, proud and thankful and humble that I have been able to help these people in my path.  We will be having a baptism this transfer, my first, with our investigator Daniela who is one of those people you come across and you find that they already understand almost everything about the gospel perfectly. The branch is literally so excited I though the second counselor of the branch presidency was going to burst into tears at the prospect of a baptism.  The last baptism here was about a year ago. We are getting ipads this transfer and Elder Kearon from the quorum of the 70 is going to come visit us:) Really excited for that. It was a great week! It is funny how the Lord puts us in places to touch certain peoples lives. Geez I am tearin' up now! How freakin' cool is that!

So this picture is from the Halloween party. The black guy is Pariz, the dude that proposed to me last Sunday.  The lady in the red is Daniela our investigator,

The childrens English class that we teach wanted to do a #selfie. Hahaahah!!

I love you all I am so greatful for all of you and for all the love that I have received from you. 

Heart,

Sora Long