Bah cohhhhhhhhh !!!

 I am in the city of Bacau, pronounced Bah cohhhhhhhhh It is the funnest city name to say!!!  It is literally famous for nothing, except that it has the biggest Romanian Orthodox church in all of Romania as its center for some odd reason. Also there is a poet name George Bacovia, he is pretty famous as well. I study for about 4 hours a day from the approved missionary library and I love long walks down the middle of creepy ally ways in order to find those children of God who need to hear His message.

The church is true! I love being a missionary!

 Every day here in Romania is one awesome adventure after the other. One random miracle this week that happened was my companion got suuuuuper sick pneumonia (that is not the miracle)  We were 5 hours away from our city for a Zone meeting and exchanges on the 3rd day of being in the city we finally headed back to Bacau. On the morning we left to get to our train the people refused to sell us tickets for the train as we had arrived at the Gara to close to departure time.  So we waited until the next train, in the time we returned to the apartment and I went back with Sora Wright in Galati, taught a lesson and helped prepare book of Mormons for an English spiritual thought. It was really strange because if we hadn't of missed our train that lesson would have never happened. It went really well and the spirit was very strong.

The Bacau it is a series of two trains and we finally got on ours at about 3 in the afternoon. On the first train we were put into a cabin with 4 other people and they just grilled me about our church.  I mean super fast, ridiculous Romanian!! One was a professor of music and spoke like a professor of Romanian.  The only reason I could understand them was because of the spirit.  The only time I struggled was when we went through a tunnel and it was like the reception to your cell phone goes bad when you go through a tunnel, my understanding went out the window.  They asked me why all of a sudden I couldn't understand and I said, "Daca nu pot sa o vad gura ta, deci nu pot sa va intelege." If I can't see your mouth, then I cannot understand you. They were laughing so hard at that response. They asked me who were some famous Mormons and the only person we could think of was Kathrine Heigl, they knew who that was and all nodded their heads. (I need a list of famous Mormon people!!) We got this new gift from Zone Conference this week it is something called a video flyer. ... Maybe you can google it.... But it is just a tiny little screen the size of a phone with a Mormon message loaded onto it in Romanian.  We are suppose to get Ipads, but as the expected arrival date has come and passed 4 months ago, I think we will make due with these little miracles:) They are literally so cute!!! We showed the train full of people the video and they loved it!! There hearts were immediately softened by the spirit of our message.

In the little town of Mararesti, which is the city we missed our train in once and stayed in -4c degree weather, we were standing next to an information sign and a man came up to us and asked us where we were from.  He was so incredibly kind and helped us double check to make sure we would get on the right train.  Come to find out he is Protestant living in the city of Suceava.  He was very interested in why we had come to Romania to teach about our church.  We taught him about prophets and he was very interested in the idea that they would be gathering together and speaking to the whole world!!! So we invited him to listen to general conference online and he accepted the commitment.

When we finally got to our last train we were a little tired and as we dragged ourselves through the train we passed empty seat after empty seat and we heard a small voice pip up from behind a book in English, "Would you like to sit here?" We sat next to this girl, Irina, who was the most prepared person I have ever met before.  As we talked with her I had the strongest feeling in my heart that she was one of the people that we were sent all the way to Romania to find and teach.  And we were prompted to teach her the restoration as crazy as that sounds, so we did.  At the end of discussing about the restoration in ENGLISH, which was so weird by the way... I shared something we call her "My Story" they "Why" as to why I came on a mission and why I know this church to be true.  It was really powerful and I had little baby tears trying to get out of my eyes. As we left the train she stood up and gave us both the biggest hug and said, " I have been inspired by your story of how you found out who you are,  that is what I want to do, find out who I am." She lives in Denmark unfortunately... But the cool part (The miracle I mentioned earlier) about this was when my companion was teaching she was completely 100% healed in the duration of the lesson, but as soon as we got off the train the racking cough along with the fever and headache were back in full swing.

 Every single one of these people that we contacted and taught these gospel lessons to lived about 1 1/2 at the closest away from any city with missionaries in it.  It is so weird to be in a country where that is the case!! This week was really cool!! I am so grateful to be here!! I love you all!

-Sora Long

 

Family Picture!! From the left, Elder Steed, Sora Gee, Elder McArthur, Elder Whitaker, Me, Sora Draper.

 

 

Elevator Selfie. #dope

Sora Selfie! Sora Wyatt, Sora Gee, Sora Sayre, Sora Armstrong, Sora Draper, Me!

More Sisters!

More friends. 

Am fost o sora pentru mama mea, si acum sunt o sora pentru dumnevoastra

It is becoming harder and harder to write about what I did every week!! I don't really know why...

But this week was amazing!! I just got back from the town of Barlad today.  We went with the senior couple Elder and Sister Soelberg to deliver some laptops to an orphanage over there.  When we got there we played some "night game" games with 12 kids ages 15-24.  They were so surprised when we got there and my companion and I opened our mouths and introduced ourselves in Romanian.  Usually they have a bunch of volunteers that go to that orphanage but they are from Utah and cannot speak Romanian. When I looked at the walls they had pictures of icons on the wall and right next to them were small Simon Dewy paintings or other Mormon artist depictions of Christ that I knew they had gotten from Utah somehow!! So we played, and talked and they were really great kids!! They headed off to school and the director of this center asked us if we wanted to see another children's center for younger children. So we headed over to the equivalent of a battered woman's shelter in Romania and it was amazing.  We meant the kids over there and walked into each class room and every teacher stood up and tried to talk to us in English and once we responded in Romanian they were so shocked!! The kids really loved seeing us just for a few minutes.  I really think that young children can recognize the light that as missionaries we carry with us.  It was heart breaking to see these children who were brought up in such hard circumstances, but also it filled me with hope because these places were places of refuge for these children and women.  There was one mother I met with three children ages 4, 2 and 1. The one year old walked right up to me and grabbed my finger and would not let go.  Just walked with me as I toured the floor of the shelter. Her mother followed close behind and, to her surprise, I spoke with her in Romanian and got to know her a little bit.  

This week we have been battling the gossip here in the branch.  I was assigned to give a talk in an attempt to address the need to respect one another in the branch. I have worked on this talk for a good 2 weeks and I was able to get up and hardly look at any of my notes and somehow speak with power as I taught the simple principles that we are all children of God.  I started my talk with a little word play.  In Romanian Sora means, nurse, and sister:

"this week my mother had an operation, usually I am her Sora (nurse) but this time I am in Romania to act as your Sora (sister/nurse)"

By the end of it the spirit was so strong, and all the woman in the branch were in tears as well as I.  The spirit works in really strange ways and I honestly think that it was the best talk I have ever participated in.  One woman came up to me and told me thank you and that I had really pierced her in her heart and I said to her, "Nu a fost eu, a fost spiritual Domnului." (It wasn't me, it was the spirit) I used a lot of quotes from everywhere, but one talk I used is one of my favorites Walk in the Light by Henery B. Erying. He closing quote was only some of what I shared:

"When you walk in the light, you will feel at that moment some of the warmth and the happiness that will finally be yours when you are welcomed home again with the hundreds and perhaps thousands of others whom you will bring with you, who have walked in the light because you did."

It was a really great moment.  I really hope that it pays off and the gossip ring will be rooted out of Bacau. This talk is one of my absolute favorites, whenever I get discouraged or find time to listen to a conference talk, this is the go-t for me.  I will tell you why.

It seems like almost a year ago (because in truth it was almost a year ago) that I had first come into Romania and had found myself struggling to know why I was here in this strange land.  I was in a small bus speeding at a deathly pace towards the city of Bucarest watching out the windows as thousands of sunflowers growing over rolling hills passed by.  I had put my head phones in and left my gaze in the blur of yellow to listen to this talk by Henery B. Eyring.  I had been questioning in my prayers what my purpose was in coming on this mission, more specifically in this land, and I heard his words speak these simple words and they struck me to my heart and I knew that these words were written for me in this moment of my life:

"You know from the scriptures revealed by God through prophets that there was a rebellion in the spirit world when the plan for our journey was offered to us. Those who rebelled did not want to accept and to depend upon a Savior nor run any risk that they might not return again to Heavenly Father. Every one of you was among the brave, the faithful, and the true in that conflict. You accepted the Savior and the plan for this journey to return to the joy of our Heavenly Father’s presence.You are remarkable, even among those who chose right in the contest in the spirit world. You qualified to come into mortality and to make this journey at a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ was on the earth. And among the billions of Heavenly Father’s children now living, you were privileged to find the gospel of Jesus Christ and His true Church. Even more than that, the fact that you are listening tonight means that you have chosen to make the journey of life walking in the light.
But the spirit who led the rebellion in the world before still opposes the plan and wants you to be miserable. He wants you never to find your way home again. That enemy of your soul knows you and your goodness. He knows that if he can turn you away from walking in the light, he can both capture you and stop you from helping others along the journey. He knows how good you are and your power to teach and influence hundreds of Heavenly Father’s children in this life—and thousands over the generations that will follow your path. If he can get you to wander away from the light on your journey, he can do harm and bring misery to many.
The fact that you are listening now is evidence that God recognizes your great importance and that you have chosen to walk in the light He offers you...
 I testify to you that you have been one of the valiant ones to reach the point where you now are in this journey of life. Just as you are marked as a target by the enemy of righteousness, you have been protected and watched over by your Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They know you. They know all of the forces and individuals around you. They know what is ahead of you. And so They know which of the choices you make, which of the desires you decide to satisfy, and which of the circumstances around you will make the most difference in keeping you walking in the light. I testify that by the Spirit of Christ and by the Holy Ghost, you may walk confidently in whatever difficulties will come. Because you are so valuable, some of your trials may be severe. You need never be discouraged or afraid. The way through difficulties has always been prepared for you, and you will find it if you exercise faith."

 I knew at that moment that my calling here in Romania would be hard, harder than I ever thought. But I had something of great value to deliver to my fellow brothers and sisters who had all been at the beginning brave, faithful defenders of the truth before this life.  I was sent here to remind them of who they were children of God. Teaching that concept to all I come in contact with has been the most fulfilling occupation of my life.  I love this gospel and I am grateful for it. I love you all so much!! And I pray for you often every day.  The work is moving forward in Romania, more rapidly than ever before. And I am so grateful to be serving these great and remarkable people who need only be reminded of the light they once followed.

 

 

 

Bye Sora Merkley!

This week I said goodbye to my great companion Sora Merkely who is right now headed home on an airplane to Utah!!! I send my love with her to all of you at home:) I received a new companion who is freakishly enough... exactly like me.  In every creepy way possible. She and I share the same love in television shows, I mean I am talking about my secret favorite movies are her secret favorite movies, the works.  The same people all the way, seriously.

So we reorganized the apartment, got her to unpack, and we have walked over this whole city 3 times contacting people on the street for English class.  This is a really exciting time to be serving in Bacau because this city is about to see some major changes and I a excited to see them be implemented.

This week we were hunting for a part member family who has been inactive on our list for awhile. When we finally arrived at their door we were on the outskirts of the city and were surrounded by small broken down villas.  We arrived at Str. Serbaneste nr. 51 and knocked on the gate.  A broken old gypsy woman slowly answered the door hold a heavy ring of keys around her neck.  A skinny starving dog with a broken paw at her skirt. As I asked her where her grandchildren were she broke into tears and told us they had all moved to Italy and left her here alone in Romania.  She cried at the gate and talked about how she prayed for them.  My companion and I the night before had practiced teaching the concept of prayer so I handed her the pamphlet and she taught her how to pray.  This woman invited us into her very humble home and pulled out a giant bible that was newly bound in cardboard and a trash bag.  It was very humbling to talk to this woman who had obviously had such a hard life.  We left her with a prayer and a message of Gods love for her. She begged us to stay for a cup of coffee or some milk but we had to go. As we walked down the street she yelled after us, "Cand va veniti la mine dinou?" When will you come to me again? It was heart breaking really. I told her we would come again if we had time.  It was sad to see a fellow sister of mine in such a state of distress and hardship.  It was a tender mercy that we were able to give her a message of comfort.

I love you all and I wish you the best!!  

-Sora Long

A picture of the woman's Bible.

My little trainee asleep on the train, 5 hours until Bacau!

Zone Conference in Chișnău

I feel like I start every single one of my e-mails with, "This weeks was so awesome!!" But really this week was so awesome:)

We headed down to the Zone Conference in Chișnău on Tuesday with the new Senior Couple here in Bacau.  What a road trip!! We made it all the way to the capitol of another country without the use of a map or GPS. It was about 6 hours drive in total if you include the wait on the boarder. The senior couple hadn't even previously google mapped anything to prepare for the trip.  Everytime we thought we were on the wrong street they would roll down the window and in Romanian ask, "Chișnău va rog?" Chișnău please? And the innocent bystander would point in the direction we needed to go.  

 

When we got to Chișnău we arrived just in time to participate is the Family Home Evening activity which was a mean game of musical chairs in which the losers had to take a spoonful of really nasty baby food.  There were kids spiting out the stuff and gagging at the taste of the Moldovan baby foods. Some of the flavors included broccoli, Meat with heart, and meat with liver.  The last boy who got out was awarded a really special treat by having a combination of all of the flavors.  He ran out of the room almost spiting it back up.  It was pretty bad.  Luckily we were a little to late to join the ranks of the musical chairs.

 

Zone conference was amazing!! It was all about obedience and the fact the we as missionaries and members here in Romania and Moldova hold the future of the church here in our hands.  The mission is growing exponentially. It is really cool to be here at this time and see it in person.  Just in Chișnău alone we had a total of 600 new English student enroll in our last transfer.  In the tiny city of Bacau we had our first real English class with the new enrollment of 20 students!! It looks incredibly small in comparison to Moldova, but yes it was a big step for our area here. 

 

I found out this week that I will be a training a new missionary!! Woot Woot!!! I am so excited!! I have been working on my language this last transfer soooo much and thanks to Sora Merkley it really has gotten a lot better, the better to hear my own mistakes. So I am headed down to Bucaresti tomorrow to attend a trainers meeting, apparently part of that is going on a run with the mission president and everyone else who is a whole lot healthier than I am... seeew .... we will see how that goes!!! 

 

I am also losing a companion this week!! I am super sad!! Sora Merkley will be headed home to Vernal, Utah next week after touring the country of Romania with here parents. As a final tribute to one of my favorite companions (They are all my favorite) I would just ike to say how thankful I am to her and to all she taught me.  The number one thing I think I learned from her is how to slow down and live in the now instead of the future.  She has one of the strongest testimonies, and I love that about her.  

Anyways I love you all !!! The church is true, promise.  I am a witness to the miracle that the change of the gospel brings to so many.  I am so grateful to be a witness of that.  For one thing, I have become a pretty good branch pianist, and that in and of itself is a miracle. 

 

Sora Long

 

 

Andreea, Sora Merkley and I at our last Vikings excursion for lunch.

 

Sora Merkley and I standing in front of the Chapel in Chishanau before Zone Conference. 

This week was amazing!!

We had a new senior couple come in to take the place as Branch President and Relief Society President, what is even better is that THEY SPEAK ROMANIAN!!! Sora Soleburg is from Romania and moved to America and married Elder Soleburg.  They have a son who is CURRENTLY serving as a missionary in the SAME mission!! That means their entire family is in Romania serving as missionaries!! It is super crazy!! I am so grateful that they were assigned here to Bacau.  For their first weekend here we had the first Fireside in Bacau in 10 years! And then for Sunday we had the first 3 hour long church in several years here in Bacau.  This city is going places.  The members here are so amazing and so strong some of them holding several time consuming callings to get this branch here functioning like a ward. It just made me think of all those callings I got that I didn't want to do and now looking at these members and realizing they are literally carrying the fate of the church in Romania on their backs.  They give everything they have to the church. 

For the fireside Alin Constantinescu from Constanta came and spoke. He brought his daughter Eve who is 4 years old and it was so nice to see a family that I love from that city!! Eva even remembered who I was.  Sora Merkley and I were with the primary for the 3 hours long church and let me tell you that was a handful.  These kids have never been at the church that long and our class of 5 was quite a hungry tired handful. The teacher handled them so well and the kids were more than ready to go home from the long day.  At one point in class I hiccupped and all of them laughed so hard.  Apparently it is not a good thing to hiccup in Romania, it is considered the same as a burp. (Also, yawning is bad to do) Then Eva says, "You hiccup just like my dad!" haha it was cute.  Apparently when they were on their way back to Constanta on the train.  Eva woke up from her nap and the first thing she said was, "Sora Long hiccuped!" She was still laughing about it.

To prepare for the Senior couple I did some major organization in the church.  I reorganized the attic, closet, and library.  Remember they are all very small, but man a lot of stuff can fit into small spaces.  I found 9 different chalk/white boards, 3 different portable baptismal fonts, and all of the missing pieces to the nativity scene when originally all that was in the box was Jesus:) I mean hours and hours of work man. At the end of it all we had a new classroom instead of the Library. It was fun:) The church is true, and it is growing here in Bacau a little every week .  I love you all!! I miss you and I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Heart,
Sora Long

The Fireside Chili, concocted by Sora Merkley and Alexandra.

 

So cute!

Valentines Day: Half Way there!! February 16, 2015

​ So this last Valentines day was my official Half-way mark.  9 months down, 9 to go.  9 moths ago on May 14th I started my mission!! So crazy, it is going by so fast. And it was so awesome!! It is weird to think I will be counting down from here out instead of counting up!!

For our English class on Tuesday we had a S'mores roasting activity.  As I have mention before I think, people here have no idea what a s'more is so it becomes a super fun activity to share some of our American cuisine. We had a group of almost 20 people gathered in the small church kitchen roasting marshmallows over to open gas flame.  (They didn't even know what a marshmallow was!!) So fun!! There was one student who had come to church last Sunday and started talking to another student about it.  This student then asked, when is church? I want to come!! And promised she would come next week.  Others were very interested in the prospect of coming to church after hearing about it from one of the other students. It was pretty much awesome:)

This week we literally had the best time.  We had a bloc knocking war with the Elders, meaning you knock on as many doors as you can and have a point system involved.  1 point for a door.  2 points for a dog. 10 points for someone who wasn't Orthodox. 10 points for a shirtless guy, etc.  Sora Merkley and I scored 140 points!! And won!! We are the Bloc knock Queens!! and the Elders owe us a cake that is frosted to say just that:) It was awesome:) While bloc knocking we were let into an old woman's home via sondaj (polling) and she was so cute! She just cried at the thought that we were here to help her if she needed us. We had come in while she was watching the Orthodox slujba (Church service), which was interesting.

We decided to have a Branch Valentines Day activity which meant the day before Sora Merkley and I were at the church making all of the dough.  Then that morning on Valentines Day we baked soooo many heart shaped cookies!!! I should have counted them.  But while we were in the kitchen baking cookies Sora Merkely left the room to go to the bathroom, or so I thought.  Then she pops into the room singing at the top of her lungs "OHHHHH!!! Half-Way there, Ohh!! Ohh!! livin' on a prayer!!" (by Journey) and she is holding this huge bouquet of roses spray painted with glitter.  And the Elders are dancing behind her like little back-up dancers.  So funny!! She had set up with the Elders to go get the roses for me for my half-way mark!! It was the best. The best part is that I have a good portion of it on video because my camera was readily at hand;) Best roses I ever got on Valentines day!

Then two of our English student who are the two cutest girls ever showed up a little early and helped us make the rest of the cookies and helped us with the dishes and everything, I couldn't believe how nice they were! I seriously love my English class always the highlight of my week.

 We decorated sugar cookies and had a table set up to make Valentines. We had it start right after English.  The entire English class stayed for the spiritual thought then ALL of them stayed for at least 30-40 minutes of the activity.  There was a really good turn out from the branch and they were all talking to the members of English class.  Then one of the members requested some karaoke so soon all the members were singing their favorite songs and dancing to their favorite folk music.  I was laughing so incredibly hard! At one point one of the older women grabbed an Elder and started dancing with him.  I had tears coming out of my eyes I was laughing so hard as he tried to wiggle out. Then everyone gathered in a big circle and I watched as they all danced traditional Romanian dances.  Then the cute English students grabbed my hand and tried to teach me how to dance in the big circle.  I love those girls!! One English student stayed for the entire activity which meant she was at the church for 3 hours and she kept leaning over to Sora Merkley and I and saying, " I feel so good here at your place.  I feel so happy here." She didn't want to leave.  At one point she looked at a picture of Joseph Smith in the grove and read out loud, "This is my beloved son hear him" in Romanian and in response she said "Asa e!" Or in other words "So true!" It was so funny because she had no idea who Joseph Smith was!! Hopefully we will be able to tell her. Everyone had a great time, one of my favorite days on my mission, if not my favorite.  I am still laughing to myself at the sound of Romanians lip-syncing to English songs when they don't know English!! Mom you would be proud.  We showed the group how to do the chicken dance and the cha cha slide.  Just a room full of old people having a freakin' blast!!

Then the next day at church I had a back up talk prepared and got to give it.  It went really well for how much Romanian I don't know.  Just had to follow my notes, but I didn't read it word for word like I have in the past. Of course I talked about twue love and how we can have that in our lives.  Then I sat down at the piano bench afterword and played "Love one another" for the break hymn.  I am doing pretty good at the piano, practice man.  Works miracles.  I think The soon to be Elders Alden and Dalan should probably start working on their piano skills.... just sayin'. One of the members apparently approached my companion and threatened to stop singing in Sacrament meeting if I kept choosing songs that she didn't know how to sing. Another member as he was giving his talk started wondering to himself whether or not Christ was white"Really, he could be black, yellow or red, we don't know for sure." Another one elbowed me and said, "Sora Long, I love you!" In English and then told me she could have danced all night at the activity the day before.  These members kill me they are so funny!

The Church is true!!! Love one another!! I love you guys!!! Woot!! I AM HALF WAY THERE!!!! OHHH!! JUST LIVIN' ON MY PRAYERS! Thank you for all of your prayers!!

Heart,

Sora Long

 

25th Year Anniversary of the Dedication of Romania February 9, 2015

This week we had an amazing English class!! We have been trying to get the class started up here in Bacau for about 6 months and finally we had a class!!! And all of our students are really awesome and not crazy... I love it when they are not crazy.  They also stay for the spiritual thought which makes them a golden class. On our first day our only dry erase marker died, so the next class one of the students shows up and she says, "I have a gift for you." And hands us this beautiful brand new marker!! So nice!! Then we write the word garlic on the board because we were talking about food and when I try to erase it, of course it won't erase.  She had bought us a permanent marker!! It was hilarious!!

This year marked the 25 years since Romania was dedicated.  Elder Nelson dedicated it just a year after the fall of communism. We had a live broadcasted event from Bucharest Romania and Elder Nelson filmed himself giving a talk for the people of Romania and they played it for us.  Sadly the quality was a bad quality and none of us could understand what he was saying or what the Romanian translation was.  What I got out of it was really interesting.  He speaks at one point about the history of Romania and the promises found in the dedicatory blessing.  He told us that the future history of Romania lies in our hands and how we fulfill our callings as members here. He said that in order for the church to grow the members here would need to make sacrifices.  He ended with a powerful testimony. "Remain strong.  I testify that Jesus is the Christ and that he lives." It was super cool and even though no one understood most of it the spirit was super strong!! When he talked about sacrifices I could just see the different families and the hardships that they have and how if they just gave up something small to the lord (Such as tobacco or something) Their life would be better and their contribution to the church here that much stronger.  The people here really dedicate their whole lives to the gospel.  It isn't just a church it is a life style, and holy cow it is a real battle for these people.

At one point we were squeezing past some members one of which is blind.  She reached out to pat Sora Merkley on the back as she passed.  When she reached out to do the same to me, I was considerably taller and she patted my bum a good 4-5 times. It was great:) During the whole broad cast the little kids here in the branch were having a hard time paying attention so I pulled out some colored pencils and some paper and they got to work drawing stuff and every 2 minutes they would pop up and point to a new specific scribble on their paper and explain what it was in unidentifyable Romanian. So cute!!!

Here is a Selfie of us headin' home with Dan, he is cool!!

And a picture of the Balaseis She is blind and he is deaf.  Seriously so cute!! Yes she is the one who grabed my bum:)

Love you all!! Wish I could pat your bums!! But alas the bum pats will have to wait.