March 17, 2014 - #YOMO

Hello again! I can't believe it's already been another week. The days are long but the weeks fly by so fast. This Wednesday I will be ONE MONTH into my mission! Isn't that crazy?! I can't believe it. This Friday I get my travel plans for Romania, and I only have two more weeks here at the MTC. (Aka: If any of you wanted to send me Dr. Pepper, now would be the time.) 

This week was full of adventures. Sister Adams, my companion, had to go to the orthodontics office this week to get her permanent retainer fixed.....WHICH MEANS WE GOT TO GO TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD. Yep, folks. I got to leave the MTC. It was so weird....like I've already turned into that awkward missionary who gets weirded out when there's music playing! Nonetheless, it was so good to go beyond the gates of the MTC. The workers gave us slurpees because we were sister missionaries and we got to talk to loads of people about the gospel. I can't wait to get to Romania and do it every single day! In other news, I SAW TWO MEN WITH BEARDS THIS WEEK. Two beautiful, luscious, fantastic beards. It was so rad. One of them was a return missionary from Romania who volunteered to be taught lessons from the Romanian missionaries. I taught him about revelation through prayer and it ended up being an awesome discussion. I feel like I was a little slow on my Romanian speaking though, because I was distracted by his beautiful facial hair. The other bearded man I saw at the temple on Sunday. It was from afar, but I could tell it was a good one. The best adventure of my week was when I received a package from my best friend, Liz. (Shoutout to Liz! I love you!!) It was full of Dr. Pepper and peanut butter M&M's and lots of loving letters and photos. What a treat! (Hint: I really, really love getting letters and packages.) The language is still ridiculously hard, but I work hard at it every day and I'm hoping that it gets easier as soon as I'm actually in Romania and immersed in the language.

This week was so just great! My companion and I came up with a new motto... #YOMO. You're only a missionary once! Hahaha. We're ridiculous, I know. But we use it to remind ourselves that we only get this opportunity once and we need to work hard for these short 18 months! This week I started reading in Mosiah and it's probably my new favorite book in the Book of Mormon... So my spiritual thought comes from Mosiah 4:16-21, but focuses on verse 19 -- "For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?" This verse is golden! It's so silly that we judge others and think we're better or more entitled than ANYONE! Aren't we all beggars of God? Doesn't he give us everything we possess? This verse is a good reminder that all we have comes from God, and we need to thank him as such. 

Well that's all I've got for you all this week. I'm sure my life will get more exciting once I leave for Romania. Haha. I love all of you! This is the true church of Jesus Christ on the Earth today!

PROFITE DE ZILE

-Sora Schwab

Slurpee at the Orthodontist

Sister Adams with a slurpee at the Orthodontist

Slurpees at the Orthodontist - Sister Schwab and Sister Adams

March 10, 2014 - SALUTE!

Wow. What a week! It has been the best week ever!! It just goes to show that the Lord only brings you down so he can bring you back up again. :) I got a blessing from my zone leader on Tuesday and it gave me so much comfort. One thing that he said, was that the Lord knew how much I am struggling and of my trials, but he wants me to go through them so I will become stronger. How awesome is that? So although the language learning is still brutal, I know it will be okay! I got a package of cinnamon rolls from Mom & Dad. They were so fantastic! (Shout out to Mom & Dad!) I shared them with my district and my roommates. They all loved them! They referred to them as "manna from Heaven." Thank you so much!! On Thursday I got the rest of my immunizations for Romania and we did a service project...cleaning all of the toilets in our residence hall.... But something fantastic came out of it. We've become friends with this girl on the custodial staff named Alicia AND SHE BROUGHT US CAFE FREAKING RIO. (Pardon my language.) Anyone who knows me, knows that I would do anything for Cafe Rio. So it was fantastic! My roommate and sort-of companion, Sister Wright, who is also a solo sister left this morning for Denmark! So now I am in a trio with Sister Adams AND Sister King. I got a new nickname in Romanian class this week. "Femeie cu pisici" which translates to Lady of Cats. So now all of my teachers call me the cat lady and warn me every day not to take in any of the stray cats in Romania. Hahaha.

I taught a lesson this week to a sister who is a return missionary from Romania. I talked to her about the Atonement and how it's not just for cleansing our sins. I read her one of my favorite scriptures, Psalms 55:22... "Cast they burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." (Shout out to Dad for showing me that scripture!) The lesson went really well and the Spirit was so strong. But at the end of the lesson I felt prompted to read a scripture that I hadn't planned on before and hurried to find it. It was in the Book of Mormon, and I had only brought my Romanian Bible because I wasn't planning on using the Book of Mormon! Luckily she had one and I asked her to read Moroni 7:8 (look it up, it's killer!). She started to cry as she read that Jesus Christ is our advocate. I bore my broken Romanian testimony about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ is my best friend AND my advocate. She looked up at me with tears streaming down her face and told me that I was exactly what Romania needs and that I'm going to make one incredible missionary. It was the most spiritual experience I've had here yet. 

This week was just so good. I feel so blessed to be going to serve the people in Romania and to be serving the Lord. This is the true church of Christ on the Earth, ladies and gents. I'm sure of it. 

PROFITE DE ZILE

-Sora Schwab

Roommates pointing to all of the different places that they will be serving in.

Sister Schwab's companion

Alicia brought them Cafe Rio

Alicia brought them Cafe Rio

Her district at the Provo temple

All holding the flags of the countries they're going to

Sister Schwab and Sister Wright (before she left for Denmark)

March 3, 2014 - If God brings you to it....

Well hi! So it's true what they say about the MTC...the days go by slow but the weeks go by fast. I can't believe it's already time to write again! I just love the dearelders that I've received from all of you! They seriously make my day. I hope no one thinks I'm ignoring them because I can only write back on Mondays. But I read them and love them and appreciate them so much! This week was such a crazy roller coaster! I had a couple of ridiculously hard days and a couple really incredible days. I have no doubt that the Lord is watching over me though. He pushes me because he wants me to learn and grow! Romanian is ridiculously difficult. It has been my biggest hardship here at the MTC. It's not that I don't understand the language and grammar concepts, because I really do. The hard part is memorizing words. I've never been a great memorizer (?) and so it's making learning the language really tough. On top of that I had my first mission migrane on Saturday night and it caused me to get really sick.. But God is good to me. The good things that happen to me have definitely trumped the bad. I had many encounters this week that reaffirmed my testimony that He knows and loves me. I got a blessing from my branch president this week that was such a comfort. He told me in the blessing that I wouldn't have been called to Romania if the Lord didn't know that I could do it. And he's right! There's got to be a reason I'm going there... Even if I can't speak the language. Haha! My companion, roommates and district have been such a great support system. Elder Manning (the other Romanian missionary) learned how to say "I believe in you!" in Romanian and says it to me every day in class. I got a container of "gorilla poop" from Sarah in the mail this week and a letter from Jake with some great advice in it. It was like the highlight of my week!! (Shout out to Sarah and Jake!) I got the opportunity to say the prayer in the giant Sunday devotional (ya know, the one where the broadcast it and all) and that was a great experience! I got to go to the temple today and it was so good to be back in the house of the Lord.  Anyway....there's really nothing else to report. We kind of do the same thing every day here. But it has been such a cool experience to be able to dedicate literally every minute of my day to the Lord and become an instrument in His hands.

The church is true! My roommate Sister Wright gave me a quote this week that's really helped me out...."If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it." How awesome to know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to bring us to hard situations and challenges so we can learn and grow...and then helps us though it every step of the way. Man, I love this gospel! The church is true, my friends.

The first photograph that's attached is of my companion and I. The second photograph is my companion and my two other roommates from our "temple walk" yesterday.  

This week's scripture... Deuteronomy 31 6 & 8

"Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee nor forsake thee... And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed."

If something is repeated in the scriptures, you know it's important! God will always be on our side if we put out faith in Him!

PROFITE DE ZILE!

-Sora Schwab

Sister Schwab and her companion

"Solo Sisters" at the Provo temple