RomanianReport: June 9, 2014

The Romanian word for carp is crap. Hahaha. I promise this has something to do with my week. But first, an explanation... Sora Tanner HATES fish...and Elder Swenson has been trying to trick her into eating fish this whole transfer. Well this past week we ordered pizza as a district and Elder Swenson and Elder Jarman picked them up for us. They also picked up some carp paste... Before we got there, they put a teeny-tiny bit on each slice of pizza. After all the pizza was gone, they pulled out the container of carp paste and Sora Tanner freaked out. We're still trying to figure out a prank we can pull on the Elders to get them back... (If someone could google "pranks you can do on a mission" and email me the results, I'd really appreciate it.) Anyway, funny story for the week. But it was a good introduction to my fish-analogy-based email for the week.

I have been craving sushi since the day I landed in Romania. But I quickly came to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to find any not-sketchy restaurants here and where I could eat sushi and live to tell the tale. (If you spell it "tail," it would count as my first fish analogy.) But alas! Someone told us about a sushi place that was totally safe! So this past week after service, we went as a district. Mind you we were covered in dirt because we had just worked at the botanical gardens.... It turns out that it was actually a super nice restaurant. They stuck is in a back room and shut the door. Haha. To make a long story short... I had some incredible sushi and Sora Tanner, Elder Swenson and Elder Jarman all tried sushi for their first time! (This wasn't really an analogy, but second fish reference!)

Also this week, it rained sharks and dolphins! (This one's kind of a stretch, but nonetheless, third fish reference.) Pictures included.

Okay, now about the work. The fish are not biting. (Fourth fish analogy.) The past couple weeks have been really weird. My first transfer we couldn't even fit all of our lessons into our schedule because we had so many. But this transfer....it's like the river has run dry! (Fifth fish analogy.) We're really, really good at contacting and getting numbers for potential investigators... but our lesson numbers are at a record low. This past we had ONE lesson. One! We just can't seem to bridge the gap from getting potentials to teaching those potentials lessons and turning them into investigators. Either we schedule the lessons and they get cancelled or we can't get a hold of the potentials to get a lesson set-up in the first place! On top of that, we can't seem to schedule lessons with the people who are already investigators! So it's made the work kind of weird, with lots of contacting and service. Nonetheless, we're still working hard and fishing for new investigators. (Sixth fish analogy.)

The lesson we DID have this week was with one of our investigators, Corina. Corina is an English student and had the question this past week of "How do we know what God wants for us personally?" We were able to teach her about personal revelation and more importantly, how to recieve it. It ended up being an incredible lesson and SHE ACCEPTED A SOFT BAPTISMAL COMMITTMENT. Hook, line and sinker! (Seventh fish analogy.) It may not seem like a big deal for all the other missionaries reading this who have had baptisms up the wazoo (I'm talking to you, Joe)....but it's a huge deal for us! Sora Tanner and I have been working ridiculously hard since I stepped foot in Romania and it's nice to see our work finally bringing someone closer to baptism! We're hoping to get her a date this week. Please keep her in your prayers!

Last but not least, I will leave you with a spiritual thought. This week I saw someone wearing a shirt that had a great message. "Un nava in port este ferit, dar nu este scopul care a fost contruit." which roughly translated is, "A ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." (I'm going to count this as my eighth fish reference because you can catch fish in ships...) This saying really struck me this week. Yeah, we can go through our life being "safe." But that's not what our purpose here on Earth is! We are here to learn and grow and become the best versions of ourselves....and sometimes that takes us getting out of our comfort zones! Yep, you guessed it...I'm going to refer this to missionary work. When was the last time you got out of your comfort zone and asked a friend if they would be interested in the gospel? I know as we share this gospel we have been blessed with...we will be blessed ten fold! I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. And I love you all! Have a lovely week. :)

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab