RomanianReport: July 7, 2014 - Aventuri de Moldovamy

I never really know how to start these emails.... It was another week of missionary work! Haha. But here are some highlights--

We started off the week doing a mini-bonfire for our P-day activity. It was Elder Hollist's last P-day before he went home so we did something big! We made s'mores and drank cvas. (It's Orhei, so yeah, that's about as crazy as we get up here....) But it was so fun!!

Friday we celebrated Independence Day even though we're in Moldova! Sora Bird made a killer apple pie and the elders made root beer! We had our weekly district meeting with patriot music playing in the background the entire time. It was great! Fun fact: Moldovans go hard for the 4th of July. Hahaha. Who would have guessed?! So on Saturday we traveled to Bălți for the real 4th of July celebration.... a double-branch activity! Bălți is one of the three cities that we currently have missionaries in. It is the only all-Russian city, and since we don't have Russian-speaking sister missionaries in our mission.....we were the first sister missionaries to EVER go to Bălți! It was quite an honor!! The branch there was so good to us and I learned some more Russian words. (I don't know how to spell them with the Russian alphabet, but I'll just write them how they sound in English...) Some of them were spaseba, pajalsta, fsyeh blag(which I remember Jake screeching after his mission) and kneega mormona. Whoo! Look at me and my bad self! After lunch, they watched 17 Miracles in Russian. So a member there named Natalia, we speaks killer English because she did an exchange program in St. George, took us to "see the sights" in the city! We didn't have much time, but it was fun! We went and saw the biggest statue of Ștefan cel Mare in all of Moldova and drank lots of Cvas! (Cvas is non-alcoholic beer. Most of it is less than satisfying....but Natalia introduced us to a bunch of different flavors and they were actually really good! My favorite was Rose Petal.)

Then this morning, we woke up early to travel to Chișinău and see off Elder Hollist. Since there are so few missionaries in Moldova, they make a pretty big deal about them leaving...even if it's just for Romania again. But Elder Hollist will be leaving for the states in the next few days, so we went all out! We went out to lunch with all of the Moldovan crew and then went and got ice cream as a district. After that we traveled to the gara to watch him and Elder Farnworth, the other elder going home, waving out of the window of the train in the pouring rain. I was so sad to see him go! But I guess there's this thing called life after a mission that people have to get back to or something? I don't know. I don't really like to think about it. Haha.

Anyway, now that I've told you enough about our Moldovan adventures for the week....I'll focus on something a bit more spiritual. Although we had lots of "goods" this week, it was also filled with quite a few "bads." We just cannot find people to share the gospel with... The potentials and kind-of-investigators that traveled over from last transfer have all fallen through....and the little to none potentials we've been able to get this transfer have also fallen through as well. We're working hard....and having no success. I had the lowest numbers I've had yet on my mission... Not to mention I got hit with a giant dose of home sickness this week...which is strange because that hasn't been an issue for me on my mission yet. (I mean you guys are great and of course I miss all of you dearly, I just love being a missionary. I know this is where I'm supposed to be...sharing the gospel with the people of Romania and Moldova. So it has been very bearable.) So why? Why am I giving up a year and a half of my life, trying to learn a dying language, serving in a city where they have yet another language I can't speak while I am constantly getting rejected by people who don't care about what I've given up so much for.... Why?

Because I know that this gospel is the way.....the only way. I know that God loves me and has given me everything I have, everything I am and most importantly, a way to have eternal happiness. I know that He loves me. I know that He has a plan for me that is the best possible plan that I could possibly go through. I know that He gives me trials so I can grow.... I read a quote from Neal A. Maxwell this week that he said while considering the struggles of the pioneers. It said, "all the easy things in the kingdom of God have already been done." Now, I haven't had to uproot my life and move cross country in deathly conditions to settle a desert or anything lately....but I have been through a lot of other things. More importantly, I've been given a lot....and I couldn't NOT give back to the Lord by sacrificing a year and a half of my life to try and further His kingdom here on Earth. The point I'm trying to make is, we all have to go through hard things. The struggles we go through in our modern world are worse that at any other time.... And that is exactly why YOU were sent to this Earth at this time. Because Heavenly Father saw the best possible path for you, and He trusted in you enough to send you here during this time. When times get tough, the tough get going. So get on your knees, ask for strength and keep pushing forward! Because God knows you can do it.... Now you just have to realize it too. :) Love you all!

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

My awesome district whilst having a fire.

My Moldovan version of s'mores. They were actually pretty great!

Something bizarre that happened this week. There was a funeral service right in front of our block, right on the street.

Sora Bird and I during our fire.

Our apple pie, ice cream and root beer for Independence Day!

Sora Bird and I and a little boy in the Bălți branch. He only spoke Russian, so we had to get everything he said to us translated...but he was so cute and only wanted to hang out with us at the activity. Sora Bird and I have a one-man fan club in Bălți.