Eu am Boboaca Foaca!

Buna Ziua!! 

What even happened this week I don't remember!!?

Seriously though, the weeks are starting to blur together so this letter might be... significantly shorter. 

Anyways, last p-day we went to the Islamic Mosque in Ol' Centru and hiked to the top of the tower.  It was so pretty!! And then I looked down... and I was a little 

terrified.  Apparently I have a fear of heights that has never bothered me before. So I sucked it up and we took pictures and had fun.  Then the speaker next to us started to play the prayer... SOOOO LOUD!!! But super cool!! We were seriously up there at the perfect time! 

We were in Bucharest again this week for an appointment and ended up getting lost with the office Elders for an hour and a half.  So we stayed in Bucharest that night since we missed our last bus and I ended up meeting Sora Rauls and Sora Hebdon!! Who are super cool and leaving the mission soon so I probably won't meet them again.  

The Sister Training leaders came to Constanta for exchanges.  As this was my first exchange I didn't know what to expect.   I was split with Sora Bastidas and Sora Ruiz was with Sora Stewart.  The day was so fun!! But a couple of things that you should know if you are going on a mission and would like to know a little more about exchanges:

1.  Know where the crap you are going so you don't get lost in a foreign city:) 

2.  The STLs will check your planners, so for a moment I felt like I was in 7th grade when the teacher has random planner checks and I failed every time.  Except that this time I did write some stuff in my planner. Like what time I was having breakfast and stuff... 

3.  You are going to have a fun day and you will learn a ton!! 

We went to the park and talked with 7 different people about the gospel and got to know them really well and I made a ton of people laugh at my comedy how of  "Sora Long Tries to Speak Romanian" it was great:) The missionaries have a phrase here "Boboaca Foaca" That they made up.  If you translate it, it won't mean anything.... But the new missionaries here are called "Boboaca" meaning small duck.  and Boboaca Foaca they claim (Mostly Elder Degraw claims) through some grammatical means, this phrase can be interpreted as  "Duck Fire."  It is when someone feels so bad for your terrible Romanian that they will listen to whatever you have to say and accept lessons, and give you their phone number.  And it is true!! 

We had an activity after the STL left with contacting with the branch.  Two of the best people here showed up and we stood by the Cazino and talked to random pe​ople and I used the Boboaca Foaca to my advantage.   We got 4 phone numbers arranged one lesson and one lady told me her life story with how she is really sick and believes in God with all her heart.  I ended up throwing my arms around her because she started crying.  And for those of you who know me, hugging is not a thing of mine.  She was just adorable! And I just felt so strongly that I was doing a good thing in bringing the gospel to her.  I couldn't understand everything she said, but I understood what I needed to to testify of the Book of Mormon and she agreed to read it. :) Happy day for everyone!

 

 

 

The area below our apartment, a jelly fish, and a lightning bolt over the black sea. 

Anyways, that was my week, I am having so much fun and after this we are headed to a nearby Bee farm for P-day today so don't worry dad I will take lots of pictures, eat some honey, and maybe have the experience of getting stung by a Romanian Beeeeeee:) 

Love you all! Pa!

Heart,

     Sora Long

Puppies are all over the place here!

Alo!

This week was super long, but it was super fun. We had my first lesson this week with a member of the branch who is preparing to go on a mission and we just introduced the basics of what a missionary calling is and bore our testimonies. I loved the member we taught! I love them! I know they are going to be an amazing missionary and I felt so happy I was finally able to share my testimony with someone and pray for what I should teach, and then teach it. I felt the spirit so strongly, and the spirit bore witness to me of how awesome this persons mission was going to be and I just smiled.

I also have kinda been assigned as the Relief Society pianist. And I suck.

I haven't played piano for almost 4 years now!! Isn't that crazy? And I have forgotten everything. So now I just need to practice more.

First Zone conference was this week and holy cow that was fun. We got on a 3 hours bus ride to Bucharest the night before and stayed with the same sisters I stayed with when I first got into Romania. When we got to the apartment building and rode the tiny clanky old elevator to the top the Sora's opened the door and there was Sister G and her companion staying the night at the same place and I was so excited!

Just to clarify a bit, Siste G is amazing. And I was so happy just to see a familiar face. As we got ready for the night she told me how everything was going in Ploiesti, which is well. That night I was so happy! I went to bed and slept well, woke up and we went to Zone conference.

President Ivory is seriously awesome. As he was teaching us during Zone conference I just felt that he really was called to lead us to do a great work.

I am not going to go over all the particulars of Zone conference because that would make my boring letter even more boring. But he told us that he talked to members of the quorum of the 12 during the mission president's weekend at the MTC and all of them had very positive hopes for Romania.

Elder Uchtdorf said that Romania was full of potential and "on the tipping point." So that gives me hope that the people in Romania will start wanting to hear the gospel and we can find those that God has prepared for us. The changes that President Ivory implemented are really exciting, and I am so grateful that Sora I is here as well. She has already helped me so much, and I am grateful for that.

After that we stayed in Buc for one more night and headed home the next day.

This week our English classes started SOOOO fun!! Sora R and I teach the advanced section aka the section that speaks the least amount of Romanian:) haha and one of the members Maria was my freakin' favorite. We spent the first little bit just talking and getting to know one another and she told us the answer to the question I have always been wondering, why are there so many strays in Romania? I mean you stand at the top of the street and you see 5 cats and 3-10 dogs. it is crazy! Apparently during communism everyone had a high fence and a guard dog. The Fences are still a thing, but after communism broke here the people left their homes to move to either different places in Romania or to simply leave for another country and they just left their huge gigantic dogs behind. So now about 20 years later we are surrounded in every city by the offspring of these gigantic guard dogs. Most of them are super super friendly here, but I have seriously not seen dogs this big ever before in my life. So there you go, two ways that communism effected Romania, gigantic dogs that look like the Grimm from Harry Potter and high fences everywhere.

I just have to insert this story for my little brother Dalan. The other day we were walking to the church when I saw the cutest little puppy ever!!! And it was a stray. it was small and black and had big loopy curls over its eyes and it looked at me and when I smiled it started wagging its tail. So I called it over and he just tried to jump up to me but he was so small he couldn't even reach my kneecap and I picked up the flea infested thing and turned to my companion and asked if I could keep him. She said no of course, missionaries cannot have dogs... And I put him down but he kept running around me, and he loved me and he followed us for a bit then we had to scare him away so he wouldn't get lost:) I have not seen him since, but seriously the cutest!!! cutest!! puppy ever!

Saturday we had our next English class and Sora R and I taught the spiritual thought. We decided to teach about praying with your own words since in Romania, they usually used memorized prayers. It went really well and I felt the spirit. And as I was talking the members of the class would yell out words to correct my Romanian, and they only said like 4 things. Which means my Romanian is getting pretty dang good;) Just kidding, I wish it was good.

Yesterday was great! Nothing really new, we are preparing for a Ziua Pionierilor, aka Pioneer day activity where we will talk about the history of the church in Romania so that should be a lot of fun. Sundays are my favorite because I get to talk to the members of the branch and get to know them better. They are hilarious! And so friendly. I even helped one woman with her family history a little bit which made me feel useful:)

Anyways, all in all everything is going great. I learned a lot from zone Conference that I think will really help us find more people here in Constanţa.

Love you!!!! Love you all!!

-Sora Long

This Week 7-7-14

Hello!

So this week was difficult, but in a good way.

I would just like to start off this letter with praises of my companion and how awesome she is!! (Arms out stretched) THIS awesome:) So last week when we were walking back from the library we were English contacting, meaning we tell everyone we have an English class and give them a little business card with the info on it (The class starts this week). We handed a card to someone who already knew English, and I was so surprised because, in English so I understood it, she explained what situation her life was in and pretty much bore her soul to us in the middle of the street and started to cry and we asked her if we could meet up with her again to check up on her and BAM! She gave us her contact info. It was seriously a miracle, I mean 1 week absolutely no one is interested and then this adorable lady walks into us in the middle of the street. Of course she wasn't interested in what we had to teach but we met with her later gave her a tour of the church house and just became really good friends with her.

The next day we had a super awesome member with us helping us contact and he handed English cards to two women who were the sweetest nicest lady's and told us that they would bring their husbands, their children, their grand children and the nephews, and whoever else they named to the English class. And then asked us for a Book of Mormon. We don't usually carry Book of Mormons with us, because it gives us an opportunity to visit them again and get their contact info so we know where we can visit them in the future. So we gave them our contact info they gave us theirs, and we get to visit them this week to give them a copy:) Woot!!

Then this week we went to a town on the outskirts of counstanta to teach a class of childeren English. Seriously so fun! The kids were so cute with their little accents and they speak better English than I spoke Romanian. One of the Elders encouraged the childeren to help me practice my Romanian so all of them turned to me and I just stared back. I can say anything I want aout Joseph Smith, but what am I suppose to say to a kid? So I hurriedly looked up in my handy dandy book of phrases something, anything I could say and there was a phrase, "What do you like to do in your free time?" So I said that and the whole class just bursted up with laughter even the missionaries were dying, then one kid, Maria started to speak, no idea what she said in totality, but I heard to word Dumnevoastra, then the whole class started saying that. Dumnevoastra is the formal Romanian that you speak to an older woman or man out of respect. Not to 8 year olds! That is preposterous!! Oh well:) I was laughing pretty hard to and that broke the ice enough that I put my little book away and just talked with the kids.

On Friday we were walking and we saw a lady with a box of branches walking away to go dump them in the trash bin around the corner. She looked seriously so sad, so I turned to Sora R and said, "Hey lets help her sweep up the rest of those leaves." So we ran over and we were excited because you never get a chance to serve someone here. And we started sweeping the leaves when an Old lady literally appeared at my elbow yelling as loud as she could. all I knew was it was a different lady and she was mad. Blah blah blah! BLAH!! On and on in the fastest Romanian I have ever heard, and with the help of Sora R later and the few words I caught I understood that she was angry that we were sweeping because she was paying the girl to do the work, so we were cutting money from her wages by helping and gipping the old lady out of a good worker, and on and on and on. So we said sorry and I complemented her on her shirt or something and invited her to English class so by the end she yelled for us to go away with a smile on her face and said she understood that we were trying to do something good. And that is a perfect story of why we never get to serve anyone her in Romania.

I also had my "Culture Shock" moment that same day. The first week I was here I just felt dizzy the whole time, but I was ok with the culture. And for some missionaries it is like one or two specific moments that just send them for a dizzy sad trip. Mine was a pastry.

So we were visiting an inactive member and had to meet up with a simpatizant so we decided to drop by and get some pastries for us and for everyone we would visit. The inactive member pretended not to be home so we left and as we were walking to our next appointment the bag of pastries split and one fell onto the dirty walkway of Romania. Let me just take a moment to express how dirty the streets are here. The day I was here I saw someone walking around with bloodied feet. Everyday here there is a diseased stray dog or cat laying on the ground or number oneing or number twoing, or scratching out his fleas. And everywhere you go the ground is littered in garbage. It is safe to say that I have never been anywhere else where to ground is dirtier than the streets of Romania.

So my companion and I just sat for a second and stared at the pastry both wondering what we should do. Then Sora R. picked it up, brushed it off and said it was okay, she would eat it. I was like, no you will die! The ground here is gross, please don't do it! And she said, ok and threw it away in the trash can next to us. I instantly felt weird. Like that was the wrong thing to do. I looked in the spot where it fell and left a little pastry shaped dent in the dirt, and there were pastry flakes and I felt dizzy. We kept walking and Sora R was telling me she hates to waste food and I should have let her eat it, but I wasn't really listening because literally 20 feet from where we threw the pastry away was a gypsy woman sitting on the sides walk with her feet stretched out. We had to step over her because she was taking up the side walk and I just felt sick to my stomach. Here is someone who is actually starving. This is a really person starving in front of me, and I threw away a pastry with a little bit of dirt on it. I didn't really say much at all that day, which is kinda weird because I automatically talk to much all the time. I was angry that there are people here who I see every day looking through the trash cans for any food that anyone might have thrown away. The only thought that made me feel better was that someone probably checked through that trash can and found an entire pastry inside. But then I thought, even if I had seen that woman and I had dropped the pastry on the ground I wouldn't have given it to her because if I would give her something it wouldn't be junk that I wouldn't eat. I just felt so ungrateful for the blessings that I have.

I just couldn't stop thinking of what kind of a crazy place is this?! It is illegal for us to give the beggars anything. What kind of a place does that? There is obvious people who need help here and I can't do anything to help them! Arg... Frustration.

And it still effected me the next day. I was down, bleh, frustrated you name it. No one wanted my help and I came here to Romania to serve people and the ones that needed help were illegal to help and everyone who I know the gospel would bless just kept telling me, no I am Orthodox. And it came to me. I came on a mission for the wrong reason. I came here to serve people, but you go on a mission to serve God. I have no issue with helping anyone, but here noone will let me help them. But I am in the service of my God. So this week I am going to try and learn exactly how to do that.

Sunday picked me up back to my normal happy self. The people in the branch here are amazing! And I definitely should have practiced piano more.... Our new mission president, President Ivory, came and gave a fireside in which he bore his testimony and his whole family did. I felt the spirit and during the closing hymn the spirit was so strong!! The people in the branch don't know the hymns very well because they are all converts and they are not american, but we sang "How Great Thou Art" Which just seems to be my mission theme song for some reason, and everyone sang it so well it was so beautiful! And afterwards I got to know the members more and I freakin' love them. In Romania when you say goodbye it is a goodbye war. Back and forth, La revedere, pa sanatate, ciao, etc... So that wen on forever:)

Last night we were able to help someone though. As we were walking home from the fireside with President Ivory I saw an old woman who was just standing there and I immediately knew something was wrong and I rushed over to her just as she almost fell over. I caught her by the arm and wrenched her upright, she looked like she was having a stroke and she said, "Parkinson's" and I could see the signs of it immediately. She couldn't walk and had a hard time even griping my arm but we helped her back to her apartment which happened to be the same one we lived at. And we talked to her about who we were and where she was from and she live up 3 flights of stairs, and she let go of my arm and pulled herself up those stairs in the middle of an episode faster than I walk down those same stairs in the morning. We then helped her open her door and we asked her if she was a lone and she said no my son is there, which was a lie she was totally alone so we gave her our pass along card because it has our number on it and she hurriedly shut the door and went inside. she said something about a pill so I am sure that is what she went to go do. But it was a miracle! We lived in the same building so it was no trouble for us at all to help her which is what I think the only reason she even let us help her. Like President Ivory said, President Uctdorf said that there was a lot of potential in Romania, and very soon the country will be turning around. We were able to serve someone, even if it was just a little bit. Each week is an increase of the amount of seeds planted, and they are quickly growing.

Pa! La revedere! Ciao! (Bye! Goodbye! Ciao!)

-Sora Long

Happy Birthday to Me!

So what?! I am in Romania!! And it is my Birthday! 

Super cool!

The traveling went well, Amesterdam was a great stop I didnțt get to see anything but on the plane there I met a really cool guy who was on his way to germany and I just got so excited to share the gospel with people!! Unbelievably excited! When we landed in the airport and passed customs the Mission president was there with a couple of the office Elders who hearded us into little tired groups towards the cars.  Mom! Elder Montoya was there!! He was the Elder who sent his testimony to you for me to use it and I felt so bad because I didnțt ever get a package of things to give him.... He was super nice.  Then I got in a car with an Elder from Austria who drives like a mad man.  Seriously thought I was going to die, but did not let that thought cross my face. Sora Seare was in the car with me and let out a huge gasp at one point (when we almost died) and I touched her arm and said, Honey, we are in Europe! Nothing should be shocking anymore. HAHAHA To funny! Then we went to the office in Bucharest which was on the 7th floor of some crazy old building so we push the button for the elevator and it opens up and the space is smaller that our closet in the entrance, so 5 of us shuffle in and I said, Oh! It is so cute and mini!! And the Elders laughed and told us, Welcome to the biggest elevator in Romania! And it was true, all the other elevators I went in would only fit like 2 people at a time. I felt a little claustrophobic, but at the same time.  I still think it is cool! 

The first day we had interviews, and we went to a hospital to get a clean bill of heath paper for visas.  The doctor there was super nice to me and spoke ennglish so it was not scary at all.  I was honestly to tired and excited to be freaked out by anything. After that we tried super hard to stay awake and when one of the new missionaries (me) would fall asleep some one would take our picture.  Elder Montoya has a great one of me that I told him to send you mom.  After this crazy day ended (and I hardly remember it) we were split up to stay the night at missionary apartments in Bucharest.  I was with Sister Stewart and Sister Bichoff. The walk to the apartment was not bad and we went on two different metros to get there, but just google pictures of Bucharest and maybe you will understand a little bit of what I felt.  It was different.  Every single building is covered in graffiti.  The nicer parts still beat the worst parts of Philly or L.A. 

We stayed the night I slept like a rock and the next day we were to find out who our companions were and where in Romania I was going.  It is so weird that you have no idea where I am at!! On the way over I again saw the streets of Romania and wasn't exactly shocked, just horrified with some of the things that I saw.  Like a beggar with bloody feet, stray dogs like crazy, and in the Metro the guards on the trains.  They looked super scary but I soon realized that I was really grateful that they were there on the trains with us. 

That morning President Hill took us to the place where Romania was dedicated to be preached the gospel in 1990 just a couple months after the dictator was killed.  Then he read us the dedication which was amazing.  He then announced who and where we were going to serve.  Sora Quist went to Iașov and I was to go to Constanța with Sora Ruiz. Constanța! I was so excited! It was seriously the only city I knew of and it borders the black sea. I was told that Soar Ruiz was from Mexico and didn't speak English which I was even more excited about because I love Spanish!!  Then the next 5-6 or maybe 7 hours were spent at the visa office in Bucharest getting our visa paperwork done.  Oh! It was so hot! and we were all so tired!! All I can say is that I am so grateful for the Office Elders, they were so amazing with how it was done and how nice they were.  The day was actually a ton of fun!

We went to the train station to get our new companions, and it was the first time that a 6 year old child came up to me and asked me for food.  Now I just want to stress how sad this is.  I have been approached by many gypsy children now, all of them are cute, and all of them are in extreme poverty.  It is actually against the law for me to give them anything at all.  But this little girl had a pink shirt on that was shredded and pant that didn't fit.  And she was literally begging for food. They beg for money too, but I have never seen a beggar as desolate as the ones I have seen here in Romania.  There is nothing to compare to it in the US. 

After waiting for about an hour and meeting what seemed like countless missionaries going on transfer or picking up their fresh out of the MTC companions, Sora Ruiz came.  And holy Cow she is AWESOME!! She is from Mexico and she can speak perfect English.  She had told several people in the mission that she would pretend to only speak Spanish, and the mission president was totally for it! But she didnțt have the heart to do it to me. HAha:) We picked up my stuff and got on a bus to Constanța which is about 3 hours a way.  The bus was packed so we didn't sit by one another but I sat by a woman and got to know her very well on the bus ride over because she knew English.  She gave me her number and I am so excited to meet up with her some time this week.  Everyone here thinks we are Jehovah's Witnesses, so they  will yellthat name at us in Romanian as we walk down the street.

Constanța is absolutely beautiful! Our apartment has the greatest view of the sea, absolutely gorgeous!!The side walks often end in a huge hole, and by the sea there is this great coblestone path that has stairs headed into the sea that just break off into a 20 foot drop. Everything is graffitied here as well but I have come to think of it as the wall paper of Romania and I love it! Google the Casino in Constanța.  It is a super old building built way back when but we English contacted all the way from our apartment to that building the other day and back.  My Romanian is terrible!! We have been handing out cards for our english classes and I say Noi predam limba engleza pe gratis, and Sora Ruiz pops in to answer all the questions they have.  We have actually started several conversations about the gospel just doing that.  It is more fruitful than the door to door aproach.  Every one has a super tall fence around their property here, so we knock on the fence and someone will say, Cine este? and we will say, Noi suntem misionar/voluntar din biserica lui Isus Hristos.  Avem un messaj despre____. And they will respond in several different rejections 1. The simple no, Nu! 2.  The simple, I am already ortodox with arm movements, Sunt orthodox 3. Pretend we are not home it is the Jehovah's Witnesses 4. some sweet old lady gets excited thinking we are missionaries from her church then realizes we are not, but is still super nice. 5. Let the dog scare them a way.  Seriously! I have never seen such huge dogs before!This place might convert me to be a cat person.  There are a million strays here, but all of the are incredibly nice, they just follow you around and beg for food.

Bad thing that have happend, I already got spit on, that was fun.  Never had that happen before so I actually wasn't upset, just absorbing in everything that is Romania. Good thingsȘ Everything else!! The bread here is awesome! The people here are beautiful in a very fascinating way.  The food is great.  Love Romanian food.  And I am so greatful for my district.  We are having a get together today because it is P-day and my birthday, I am so happy that my district is awesome enough to care about that!! The office elders sent me a happy birthday message, my companion wrote a cute note and gave me a necklace.

Thank you co-workers for sending that package in the MTC. There was a packet of pre-open moist towlets included in the super random package, that were no longer moist once they got to me, but I have had occasion to use these more than once here.  So thank you for saving my life. Literally! The other day after we missed our bus I had to go so bad! So we went to the library which happened to be closed.  There was a portapotty out front that I was about to go investigate when a cute old man who gards the library opened the door and called for us.  He said we could go ahead and use it because he sees us walking around the city every day and sees us come to the library every week.  Tender mercy from the Lord!!  Think of the worst bathroom you have ever had to use, then know that is what the bathrooms are like in Romania.  No toilet paper most of the time and it has take me a week to learn how to flush them:) But I was still so grateful to use this one in the Library. Dad you would be proud of me because I fixed the plumbing on our shower the first night here and it drains like a saint. 

When I do use what I learned from the MTC no one understands me, but I just smile and give stickers to little kids.  I am seriously loving every minute of it.  I try really hard to talk to everyone I am refusing to be silent like a lot of missionaries apparently are their first couple of weeks. But everyone who I have talked to so far I love! I am seeing more and more clearly why I was called to Romania in many different ways.  I think the number one reason is the people here.  They are amazing hard working people who need the gospel in their lives more than anyone else I have met.  We just met a Lady this morning English contacting who told us a little bit about her life and started crying because she is in such a hard place and she wants to meet with us tomorrow and I am so excited because I know we have a message that can heal her soul. 

Finally yesterday I gave my testimony over the pulpit to our branch of 10 people including the presidency, Here it is,

Ieri o doamna i-a spus Surorii Ruiz și mie.  Ea spus ca noi suntem misionare foarte tinere.

Ca Ea știa mai mult despre biblia și dumnezeu decât noi. Mai târziu Sora Ruiz mi-a spus ce doamna a spus. Pentru ca nu am ințeles. M-am gândit despre Ea a spus. Atunci am ințeles că eu am fost pregătită pentru lucrarea Sa.  Eu știu ca sunt aici în Româniă pentru a preda. Marturisesc ca Isus Hristos și Dumnezeu sunt real. Eu stiu ca aceata biserica este adevarat. Eu sunt un martoră a lui dumnezeu și Isus Hristos. Asta este tot ce Eu trebuie să știu.

Yep!! Pretty lame, but awesome at the same time.  It was as simple as I could keep it! The branch is full of the most amazing strong members I have ever met. I love them.  We actually have the only primary in all of Romania! Our branch is big in comparison with the others.  But this first week, no lessons taught, no new investigators, but an increase of love for the people around me and an increase of understanding of God and the Savior and the purpose of my mission.  Pray for the people here, they need it so much! I love you all! Pa! Sanatate! La Revedere! Ciao! Bafta!

Love 

Sora Long

This has a picture of the view from my apartment and a couple other things.  Not much of the city. 

I'm Outta Here!!

Hello!

I can't even remember what happened this week it went by so fast! 

First off I got my travel plans, off to Minnesota first, then to Amsterdam, Netherlands I only stop there for three hours, then I will arrive in Bucharest, Romania at 1:15 PM in the afternoon local time. AHHHHHHH!H!HHH!HH!!! Eu sunt foarte incantat:) 

Am I ready for this, heck no!!! But I am excited, not nervous yet just excited.  I still have no idea where in Romania or Moldova I will serve so I might have more crazy traveling to do, but by this time next week I will be somewhere in the middle of Romania/Moldova speaking nothing but Romanian:) 

Last week our teacher from Romania told us we were ready to go and that they could send us out early and we would do fine.  I replied by saying, heck no!! I don't even know the word for Bagel! I can't even say (I like) "imi place (word for bagel)." He replied,"There is no word for bagel, you just say bagel." So now we joke and say, "Noi suntem gata pentu Romania pentu ca imi plac bageli!" 

Haha:) We have all been transformed into the biggest dorks here! Seriously everything is 10 times funnier. 

Elder Ballard was here this week! Absolutely amazing! Pretty much the same message as Elder Bednar gave 2 years before, this is the greatest time in the history of the gospel even more so than the restoration. I am outta time! But seriously it was my favorite devo yet!! 

Bye! 

Sora Long

"I am Leaving on Tomorrow!!"

Hello!!! 

This week has by far been the best.  I am so ready to leave the MTC but I think I am almost use to it! The is a Hermana Gutierrez who is the cutest stinkin' sister in here.  Everyday she has a cute skirt on so I tell her everyday,"Such a cute skirt Hermana Gutierrez!!" She is serving in Japan:) Well today she was wearing a dress and I said,"Cute dress sister Gutierrez!!"  

She replying in her cute English,"It is not a skirt it is a dress, awww thanks!! Guess what I got my travel plans!!"

I said," When are you leaving?"

"ON TOMORROW!!!!" hahaha:) She was so excited, I wish I was leaving "on tomorrow" She says she will look for the Owiagi's (sorry I don't know how to spell the name) So that will be pretty fun. 

We did some street contacting, meaning we walked up to English speaking Elders and sisters and just went off in Romanian about Jesus Christ and how it was true then asked them to read the Book of Mormon. That was probably my favorite part about this week:) It was great to see the looks on these missionaries faces, and when you got to someone who didn't even speak English it was even better!! :) 

Ok, mom you asked for some Elder stories.  Haha:) The Elders in our district got into some serious trouble last week.  They were bouncing a bouncy ball in the residence when the custodian came in and grabbed the ball and said, "You can't bring your own exercise equipment to the MTC." That was the first sign of trouble.  The next night the German Elders (Who live right below the Romanian Elder's rooms) Called campus security "claiming" (And by claiming I am pretty sure that they actually were really loud) that the Elders were too loud. So the Varstnici had a knock from the security officer at like midnight. "GO TO BED" haha:) And that is the worst that has happened.  So far they have actually been pretty good!! Elder Weaver gives me candy every day, Elder Avila makes me smile and Elder Christensen is helping me out with the language a ton.  All in all we have a good set of Elders:) No one is going to be going home anytime soon. I included some pictures of them:) 

Yesterday Elder Quintin L. Cook was the speaker during our devotional and it was awesome:) I always listen for the apostles promise when they do come, and his was really amazing.  He said that because we are missionaries everyone we love will be blessed and that this blessing was endorsed by an apostle of the Lord. So, now I really do have to love everyone so that they are blessed.  So I love you all I really do!! The Lord is now blessing all of you and I invite you this week to notice the tender mercies of the Lord in your life, at least one of them.  Love you all! Alden, Dalan I loved your letters this week they made me laugh so hard!! I miss you all and I have been writing a ton of hand written letters to people, but I realized I do not have your addresses!! I wrote one to Noah and Isabel, and to Ian and Wesley. So I need your addresses!! Please e-mail them to me. And PLEASE I beg of you, send my dear Elder mail while I am in the MTC:) (That is to you Kenzie, and Jade) I make an end of this weeks e-mail.

(None of the pictures she sent are coming in correctly.)

Love, 

   Sora Long

I am a Black Hippo

(This was Kylins email last week. Sorry for the delay)

Hello Family!! And ... Others:) 

This week at the MTC has been tons of fun:) The food is still terrible, I still feel sick, but I think I am use to it now.  Can't wait for the artisan bread from Romania!!

Romanian is coming a long ok! I still have a long ways to go, but I can feel the help of the Lord everyday. We learned possessives and a lot of other things this week, but my Teacher Fratele V. from Romania covered his face and said: "Luka eu sunt Tatal tau!" (Luke I am your Father) Killed us all, well those of us who understood it the first time:) Then killed the second half of the class after it was repeated a bunch of times.  I am actually able to pay attention pretty much 100% of the time during 6 hours worth of class and more of studying.  

To answer some of the questions I have gotten:

-No, I do not have a problem with not flirting at the MTC, the Elders here are like 12.

-Yes, Volleyball is awesome!! There is a girl going to Romania with me who actually plays for a college and she told me she was shocked to hear that I didn't try out for any colleges and I would certainly have made it onto a team here.  The more I play with her, the more I feel like she isn't lying because we are about the same level of awesome volleyball skills.  Who knows, in another life I could have been a volleyball star:) 

-Next week I am skyping with actual church members in Romania who will pretend that they are investigators. Yikes!! Scary!!

-The is my half way mark in the MTC, I think that is scarier than the last point!

-I will be in Romania on my Birthday:}

Our class building has broken sewage problems or something this week, so that has been fun to walk into our building and take a whiff of something that smells like it crawled into the sewage pipe, died, was brought back to life and died again. So we have been studying outside and, guess what!! I like that better than when the class room didn't smell! So bonus!! My branch is a combination of Romania/Moldova missionaries and Italian missionaries. There is a sister here going to the Milan Italy mission from Paris, France and this week she told me and another girl what animals we reminded her of.  She told Sister Allen that she looked like a cute tiny bunny rabbit, and she told me I reminded her of the hippo, Gloria, off of Madagascar. Which I think is pretty fitting:) I have the personality of a Black Hippo! And it is awesome (snap).  

We had a really strong moment in our classes where we had to explain why the restoration was important to us.  Of course we all said, "because we have the gospel?" at first, but our teacher Sister R. (who is awesome) really pushed us hard to find the real reason why it was important. I seriously sat there for a full minute before it hit me and I shared why it was important. 

 "The Restoration of the gospel is important to me since because of this I know there is a God.  Joseph Smith's experience eventually drove me to my knees to ask for the truth. And He is not just a God who sits up there and eats popcorn while wars wages on in Ukraine, or a family is torn apart by tragedy.  He is a God who is a Father." 

Somewhere is here I started crying and apologized for being such a girl, tears testify of the spirit,  "A Father who loves us with all of his heart and wants nothing better than to have us return to him.  I know that God will answer prayers because he answered Joseph's, I know that God answer prayers because he answered mine.  And that is why the Restoration is important."

After I said that I looked over at an 18 year old Elder in my district and saw he was crying, so I cried more cause he is adorable and small and just adorable! And he said,"Sorry!! I am such a girl!!" We all laughed so hard and all the sisters were crying, I swear everything becomes 10 times funnier in the MTC. And this Elder bore the sweetest freakin' testimony I have heard. This work is amazing! This church is true! And there is a God who loves each and everyone of us!

Yesterday we had a great devotional, I wish I remembered his name!! but I don't... Anyways he talked about how as missionaries we need to be like Christ in the sense that Christ sought out the one from the 99 sheep, but he didn't just find it tie a rope around it and lead it back, he put the sheep on his shoulders and carried him back to the fold and stuck him in the middle of it.  With our investigators we are asking them to break addictions and step away from there lives and in some cases even their family in order to come closer to Christ, and if we want that to happen we have to carry them.  Be with them the whole time through their addictions and troubles.  I really liked that!! Sometimes in the MTC I get a little down trodden because we just study here all the time and I want to serve people! I can serve my companion, my teachers, my zone and district, but I cannot wait to actually serve the people in Romania. 

Another thing he talked about was the difference between belief and conversion.  He said we can be good missionaries or great missionaries just by being penitent. He shared the example of the apostle Paul and how he, as an apostle, denied Christ three times before the cock crowed.  But realizing he did this broke his heart and he became penitent.  The speaker compared the Paul found in the gospels, to the Paul found in Act chapter 2.  He changed from "One with little faith" To a strong witness of Christ, one who lifted up his voice, expounded on scripture, and baptized 3,000 people!!!! If an apostle can be more repentant and have that much success than so can I! My mission is to minister to the people of Romania, and although I cannot speak the language (Dad, that sentence you sent me in Romania, yeah... no idea what it meant) or don't completely understand there culture I am more than ready to lift and carry them closer to Christ. This week my challenge to you:) Is to minister unto others, truely learn to love those around you and show it through service. Will you do that? 

Great!! Thanks!! That was the best answer to a commitment I have seen yet!

I love you so much! I miss seeing your faces and watching Downton Abby with my mom, but this is such a great opportunity.  I would not change my mind about coming to this crazy place, even if they promised to go back and change the story line in Downton Abby when they killed off Matthew Crowley that one time. Nothing would change my mind about being able to serve as a missionary right now and I cannot wait until I get to the field. Bye! 

Heart, 

Sora Long