August 25, 2014 - Cea mai bună versiune de noi înșine.

Hello you beautiful people!

Some quick highlights of the week before I get into my spiritual ramblings ---

- Monday & Friday we were in Chișinău to finish my visa application process. I've officially had blood taken from my body in a sketchy manner in a third world country.....and I'm officially applied for a Moldovan visa! Woot woot!! I never thought that I would get my visa for Moldova before (hopefully) getting a visa for Romania.

- Tuesday I hit my six month mark of my mission...... WHAT. This brings me right to my ramblings, so prepare... I can't believe I've already been out here one third of my mission. A lot of missionaries celebrate their six month mark, half way mark, one year mark, etc. But I hate to say celebrate...if anything I'm upset about it already being six months! Haha. It's going by way too fast! But it was a really good oportunitate for me to step back and see how little time I really get in the field. I'm using it as more of a motivator than anything. I've only got eighteen short months in my entire life where I can commit ALL of my heart, might, mind and strength to this work... It reminds me of the talk by Bishop Gary Stevenson called "Your Four Minutes," talking about how we have such a small sliver of time on this Earth, and how it will affect eternity. (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/your-four-minutes?lang=eng#watch=video -- go read it!) The urgency I felt when realizing I was at six months not only fueled my "one third mission life crisis" on Wednesday, which ended in a serious emotional train wreck.... but it also directed my personal studies for the rest of the week. I focused on the principal that Earth-life is the time we have to prepare God...and that we need to be constantly repenting and trying to improve ourselves. The same way that Earth-life is a sliver of eternity....a mission is a sliver of Earth-life!....and I need to be trying to better myself as a missionary and an instrument in God's hand. It will affect my entire Earth-life, just like my Earth-life will affect my eternity. I found this scripture in Alma 34:33 that I'd love to share with all of you -- "And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." This verse alone gives us such a great view that if we're not moving forward and improving, we're moving backwards....and when this life is over that is where we will stay. Plus, why wouldn't we want to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be?! And I know that I've shared this scripture a million times already, but in Ether 12:27 it says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.....then will I make weak things become strong unto them." Dad gave a great insight in his email to me last week about this scripture and pointed out that we must have humility and faith in Chirst and he will turn the worst of our weaknesses into the best of our strengths. What a great opprotunity to improve ourselves!! The best part about this whole process is that it's never ending. Through repentance we can turn ourselves back to the Lord every single day and become better versions of ourselves. When we're twenty years old and find ourselves on the wrong path or when we're six months into a mission and still haven't helped one person come unto baptism... (#sob) ...we can become better versions of ourselves every single day. And that alone, is a very beautiful thing. I love this gospel. I love the opprotunity I have every single day to repent and become a better version of me, the version that the Lord sees. I love that I get to share this great message with the people of Moldova. I love you all and hope you all have a lovely week.

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

On my six month mark. Elder Julian, our district leader, made his famous
curry chicken for me and I almost cried because it was so good.

Me and the cutest little kitten you'll ever see. A stray cat had a litter of kittens outside of our apartment. Although I have to fight back my inner cat-lady instincts to take them into our apartment every time we see them.... We settled on just buying cat food and feeding the mom every time we go out. We call it cat contacting.

Our little branch in Orhei. One of the members, Maxim, is on a mission and his birthday is coming up. So we took a photo to send to him. It's the Russian word for congratulations. I'm standing right next to Sora Bynum, my companion and Elder Streletskii, the native Russian in our district, is standing behind us...the rest are the incredible members here!

Sora Bynum, my companion and I with Sora and Fratele
Schwartz, the senior couple that went home this week.

August 18, 2014 - Iubesc Moldova.

Buuuuuuuuuna ziiiiiiiiiiiua, prietenii și familie! This week has been a good one! It started last Monday with the missionaries from Bălți coming to Orhei with a return missionary who had served in this mission. He wanted to visiti Orhei Vechi, a monastery that is a "must see" here in Moldova that he never visited because he never served in Orhei. So we went with them! The monastery is at the top of a huge hill over-looking a valley and very beautiful. We went on a hike that went below the monastery to a bunch of caves and lead back up to an underground monastery. After that we took him to the ONE restaurant in Orhei. (You know you're in a small town when there's only one place to eat.... Haha.) It was really cool because once we started talking I found out he is from Morristown, New Jersey....which is the mission Joe is serving in! (Shout out to Joe) What a small world! The highlight of the week was that we had Zone Training Meeting for the new transfer and got a surprise....President Ivory! It was awesome. We got even more training from our great mission president and really kicked off the transfer in a great way. We were all a bit confused....because the mission president never comes to Zone Training Meeting....that's what Zone Conferences are for! But he let us know there that he's got some big plans for Moldova and that we will see him often. It's so good to see someone have such an interest in Moldova, because it usually gets forgotten. He told us that he needs strong missionaries who can set the example for the whole mission in Moldova because he knows the work is about to explode here, and gave us an awesome pep talk. I had called President the night before to ask him if he wanted me to apply for a Moldovan visa and he had told me yes. So it got me really, really excited to be working here and pouring my heart into little Moldova. Iubesc Moldova! The week continued with multiple visits to the mission lawyer and the embassy to get my visa papers in order....which put a bit of a damper on our lesson count. But we've got an AWESOME week ahead of us, with lots of lessons with potentials and members already set up. Are you guys bored yet about hearing about missionary work? Haha. I feel like I talk about the same thing every week. But this week I had a powerful experience that I want to share. Yesterday at church the first counselor in the Branch Presidency, Fratele Urii, asked us to come to Sora Taku, a member's, house right after church with the elders because they needed to give her a blessing. We happily abliged! As we walked to Sora Taku's apartment block after church we were informed that she had been diagnosed with cancer and that she was going to have an operation the next day. I knew that she's been sick, because the elders have been taking her to doctor's visits about every week since I've been here....but I had no idea she had cancer. There are no such thing as coincidences, my friends. Last transfer Sora Bird and I visited her and gave her the message that everything happens for a reason. In that lesson I shared the experience how dad was diagnosed with cancer right before he was going to leave for Russia on his mission....and they had to come back to America for his treatments....but that everything worked out because he is totally healthy now AND I got to go through the temple with my parents while they were home. I now know why I felt prompted to share that experience with her.... When we got to her apartment we all sat in her sitting room and talked about the plan for the next day. Sora Taku is a native Russian speaker, so it's much easier for her to speak Russian, so Fratele Urii was nice enough to translate everything they were saying into Romanian. After all the details were worked out, it was time for her to receive the blessing. Elder Streletskii (the new native Russian elder in my district, remind me to tell you about him later!) was the one to give the blessing....and even though I couldn't understand what was said, it was so incredible how strong the Spirit was in that room. After the blessing, Sora Taku turned to me and asked me if I would offer a kneeling prayer. I froze. This woman had just received an incredible, comforting blessing in her native language and then I was expected to give a somewhat decent prayer, giving her comfort in her time of great need, in Romanian. Fratele Urii turned to me and asked me to give it in English, which is NOT common for him...he is constantly pushing us in the language and helping us to learn more. He nodded in encouragement and I gave the prayer. When it was done, he turned to me and said, I understood that prayer. I was a bit confused because I knew he doesn't know English. He then continued, saying that it doesn't matter what language we speak because the Spirit is the same in every language. The Spirit was felt by everyone that day, even though three different languages were being spoken. It was such a good reminder that it doesn't matter if I can speak perfect Romanian... or Russian, for that matter....as long as I have the Spirit with me, the people who are ready for the gospel will feel it. It was such a great experience!! 

Anyway, that's all I really have time for today. I love you all and hope this coming week is just grand. 

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

A view of the monastery at Orhei Vechi. It is beautiful!

A view of the valley looking down.

The third photo is of the group of missionaries and the RM we went to Orhei Vechi with in the caves.

Some graffiti we found in Chisinau....a great photo for this week's email!

Just some cool art on the side of the only maxi-taxi stop in Pelivan, a village outside of Orhei.

ALSO A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LIBBY THIS WEEK! I totally thought I wrote about it in my email! Oops! Love you!!!!

August 11, 2014 - Sunt încă un misionara.

Salut! I don't have a ton to report on this week. I said goodbye to Sora Bird this past week because of transfers.....that was rough. Then I was in Chișinău until Friday on exchange with Sora Uhl, a missionary in that city, until both of our new companions arrived from Bucharest. From there Sora Bynum, my new companion, and I traveled to Orhei. We got her unpacked and she caught up on some sleep, so we didn't get much done. We then spent the rest of the weekend weekly planning, transfer goal settings and doing a much needed cleaning through the area book and setting up who we want to work with this coming transfer. We've got some great people and ideas to find more to set up with and it's going to be a really great transfer! Sora Bynum is really funny and we're going to do just great together. Anyway, I'm sorry to make this one so short.....

THIS CHURCH HAS THE TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE EARTH TODAY.

And a very happy birthday to the BEST MOM EVER this Saturday! I hope it's lovely!!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

Sora Bird and I. Man, I'm going to miss her!

A portrait of Sora Bird and I that we got done for Sora Tanner's birthday present. Sora Tanner was my trainer and she was also in Sora Bird's MTC group....so we're both really close to her! We thought she'd love a pencil sketch of our faces on her wall for the rest of her mission.... ;)

Sora Bird throwing up the "blood" sign as her train rode away to Bucharest.....so classy.

The sunset in Chișinău while Sora Uhl and I were park contacting. It was just lovely!

August 4, 2014 - Stau în Moldova!

Buna zuia! Buna dimineață? What time is it there? Haha. I always forget there's a time change and I feel like you guys should be awake! 

As the title of this email states, I am staying in Moldova! Whooo! We have transfers this week and we found out Saturday where we're going. Sora Bird is leaving me to go back to Romania...stupid visa rules.... I'm really sad to see her leave because in the short month and a half we've spent together, we have become SO close. She is so rad and will without a doubt be one of my best friends from the mish. We get along so well, it's almost weird. At first I was really, really upset that we were getting split up.... because we work SO well together! But I soon realized that it was such a tender mercy that we DID get to serve with each other just long enough for us to become as close as we have. She is going to be a Sister Training Leader in Galați!She is just the girl for the job. She'll do great! Speaking of members of my district serving in leadership positions this coming transfer..... ELDER FEIL IS OUR NEW AP. Ah!!! Elder Feil is a Russian speaker and we only have seven in the entire mission, all of who serve in Moldova. There has never been a Russian speaker in the office, because everyone in Buch speaks Romanian! But he is going to do sooooo good. We became pretty close this transfer and I just want everyone to know that he told Sora Bird and I that we were his favorite sisters in the mission BEFORE HE BECAME ASSISTANT. (My claim to fame.) My new companion will be Sora Bynum. She was the STL who Sora Bird did her exchange with this last transfer! They were companions in the MTC and I've heard great things about her! (Fun fact: the three companions I've served with so far in Romania have all been from the same MTC group!) So I'm excited to see what this transfer will bring. We're going to tear Orhei up! Today we are in Chișinău where I will be on exchange with Sora Uhl for the rest of the week. Her new companion and Sora Bynum will travel here together, then Sora Bynum and I will head back to Orhei. 

There isn't a ton to report from this week. We just did lots of missionary work and tied up a bunch of loose ends before Sora Bird gets transferred. Except one.... our fridge has been broken all week and we still haven't been able to get it fixed. We've been living off of dry cereal and fresh fruit from the piața. Haha. So I'm assuming that will be the first thing on our to-do list when we return home. The only other email-worthy thing that happened this past week was that Ion, a member of the branch here in Orhei got his mission call this last week! He will be serving in the Australian, Melbourne mission, speaking English. He is so excited. I am so excited for him! He will be an awesome missionary. 

Okay, quick spiritual thought of the week: This week I was going through a bit of a dilema and stumbled upon this scripture in my studies and want to share it all with you! It's Ether 12:27--

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

That scripture literally says it all, so I'm just going to leave it at that. I love you all! I hope you all have a glorious week full of rainbows and smiles.

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

The liter of baby puppies we found this past week while hunting less-actives. Possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen. I whistled and they all ran up and started licking my feet Sora Bird caught my little school-girl excitement on camera. (And no, Dad.....we didn't take them home! Although I really wanted to....)

This incredible church we stumbled upon while trying to find a member's home. Churches in Moldova are NEVER this nice....and this one was in the middle of nowhere! It was so beautiful, I just had to take a couple shots! (The Mormon church is true, everybody. Just remember that.)

Sora Bird and I with Carolina, one of our investigators (right of me)
and her niece, Doina (right of Sora Bird) who is our almost investigator!

Sora Bird and I with Ion. He's going to be such a great missionary!

Sora Bird and I with Diana, a member in our branch.
She's a return missionary who served in Romania too!

Sora Bird and I with another investigator, Irina. (Can you tell how much we walk around?
The sole of my left shoe is destroyed! My toes totally poke out. Hahaha.)

The last photo we took of our district before Sora Bird and Elder Feil
got transfered. Missionary photos are so awkward.... Haha.

A giant chess set we found in Chisinau today... Haha. So fun!

Jul 28, 2014 - Echilibrul este cheia

Okay.... I'm starting my email with photographs today since I didn't have time to send them last week. Enjoy!

The sunflowers that we visited last week!

Sora Bird and I with the most adorable little kitten that we found a home for this week. Let me tell you....one of the biggest temptations of my entire mission to not take that little guy home with me. We named him ДВОЙКИ....which translates to Dueces in Russian. Hahaha.

The fort we made in our living room for the STLs visit.
Notice how we had to get creative and use the curtains...

Just another cat lady photo. Haha

Our exchange with the Sister Training Leaders. From left to right: Sora Bynum, Sora Bird, Sora Lee and me! We found another sunflower field on the way to Pelivan that we took photos with.

Just another one of the sunflowers. They are as big as your face!!

Me in the fermentation room at Cricova.

One of the halls in Cricova. Such a beautiful place!

Some of the oldest bottles of wine in Cricova, covered in dust.

Sora Bird, me and Elder Feil. We are the three Americans in our district of
four....so we jumped at the chance to take a photo repping America. Haha!

Sora Bird, my companion, and I at the world map in Cricova.

Sora Bird, Doina, our investigator's neice, and I.

This photo is of the Elders in our district's investigator, Cristi, and Sora Bird and I.
He's the newest addition to our fan club.

Okay, now that I've caught up on photographs.... I'll update you on my misisonary life.  :) First things first....missionary work! I feel like so much has happened in this last week, but nothing that would really interest you unless you were in the Romania/Moldova mission... So I'll give you the short version. BALANCE IS KEY! So President Ivory has introduced a new policy that's going to help the missionaries with balancing missionary work. He wants us to get the same number of lessons with investigators, lessons with less-actives and lessons with members. We've been pretty down about our numbers...seeing we were already half way through the transfer and hadn't gotten a single investigator lesson. So we took a new determination to work harder than ever. We set our hopes high with a goal for 2-2-2, even though no one thought we could do it....seeing we've only gotten 0s. But I'm happy to report, that we got TWO lessons with investigators, TWO lessons with less-actives and TWO lessons with members. (Now this might not seem like a big deal to some of you who have served missions before, or even ones that happen to be in New Jersey right now.... But this is a HUGE deal for Orhei, Moldova. The branch is very small and it's very hard to meet with members. The less actives are running from us, and we don't even have addresses for a lot of them. And in a town with 3200 people, including the villages surrounding, the people here are not very receptive to Americans and their religion....and lessons with investigators are really hard to come by.) We are so excited! The work is just taking off. We've set goals for a balance of three this coming week and although we'll be breaking our backs to do it.....we think we can hit it.  :) Keep us in your prayers!

We had exchanges this past week as well. The STL's came up from Iași and I went on a killer exchange with Sora Lee while Sora Bird did her exchange with Sora Bynum. We all headed out to Pelivan, one of the villages surrounding Orhei, and took a divide and conquer tactic to find less-actives. Sora Lee and I ended up contacting a lady and having a surprise investigator lesson while Sora Bird and Sora Bynum ended up having a killer less-active lesson with a lady who invited the missionaries to come back. Sora Lee and I couldn't find our less-actives, setting us back with just enough time to find a woman from the branch having an emotional break-down by the water well. We're currently working with her to help her through some challenges she's going through. Everything happens for a reason, folks. 

We spent so much time trying to hit our numbers this last week....we didn't really have time to even think about doing anything else. But we took our P-day today to take a breather and visit a "must-see" here in Moldova. We were invited by our investigator, Carolina, to go to Cricova, which is the biggest winery & vineyard in the entire world. Carolina pulled out at the last minute, leaving us to go with her neice who lives in Chișinău.....our newest potential investigator.  :) It was really cool! 

There is my week in a nutshell! Transfers are this coming week. I'm hoping there is a miracle and Sora Bird and I stay in Orhei together....even though she'd be illegally in Moldova because she doesn't have a visa yet... KEEP US IN YOUR PRAYERS! I'll let you know the verdict in next weeks email. I'm hoping to stay in Moldova for another transfer!

Anyway, the church is true. Every single thing happens for a reason. God knows exactly what's happening in your life and he has an incredible plan for just you. This gospel amazing me more and more every day. I love being a missionary. Have a great week!

PROFITE DE ZILE.

-Sora Schwab

Okay... Sora Lee just sent me photos from the exchange that I really love.... So here's three more! Hahaha.

The first photo is me frolicking through the sunflower fields of Moldova.

The second photo is of Sora Lee and I. Notice the Russian BOMs!