30 martie 2015 - Nu am timp, vreodata.

Ahhh! What is timeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Okay. Great, great, great week! Our investigators are bomb.com. I'll have to tell you about them sometime. Hahaha. Just kidding. I'm attaching my letter to the Mission President this week because it tells a lot about the people we're working with. Enjoy!

President --

This week was great! We've got tons of stuff going on and it's so good to see the work progressing here. This week we had an awesome lesson with Liliana, one of our investigators. We brought the Zone Leaders along with us to offer her a priesthood blessing, but not before committing her to baptism on April 11th!!!!! Unfortunately, she was out of town yesterday and wasn't able to make it to church....meaning we'll have to push her date back. But a big step for her nonetheless! While on my STL exchange this week with Sora Tanner, we were FINALLY able to find a less-active that we've been trying to work with for ages. We were able to share the Because Of Him video to Ioana and her two children and have one incredible lesson. We're excited to continue working with them. As you know, we're working with Luiza as well. (Thanks again for inviting her to dinner and allowing us to have a lesson in your home!) Although we didn't commit her to baptism like we had planned, we feel like it was an important lesson for her. There is no doubt that she feels love not only from our companionship, but from you and Sora Ivory. She knows we just want whats best for her and I think that'll drive her to find out that this church is true for herself. We have high hopes for her and we believe the mission-wide fast we did will definitely help with her progression. Life is great. I love Bucharest and being a missionary here is even better! Thank you for all you do and let us know if we can be of service.

Hoorah for Israel!

Sora Schwab

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

 

Now to top it off with photographs! This first one is of a bunch of us missionaries doing slacklining/music contacting in the park. It worked SO well. This picure is with three guys from Spain we met that were great!

This photo is of a lovely, old door to an Orthodox church we walked past this week.

This is of Old Town in the pouring rain. So beautiful!

 

This photo is of a little old gypsy woman walking down a lonely road. Such a good photograph to explain Romania in the gypsy communities!

This one is a panoramic of my view earlier today. We visited a monastery as a zone and in back were beautiful gardens next to a river. Gorgeous!

23 martie 2015 - Ce să zic?

Wow. I know I didn't really send out an email last week, but I feel like I have WAY more than two weeks worth of things to update you on.... Welp. Let's just jump right in then.  :) First things first, I GOT MY EXTENSION APPROVED! Whooooooo! So that means instead of being released mid-August, my new, official release date is September 29th. I can't even believe I've only got six months left of my mission. But I'm stoked that I get to stay here a bit longer.  :) Sora Honey and I are still here rocking it in București. We're pretty sure Sora Honey has mono. Hahaha. She is SO exhausted all the time. So we'll be taking her to the doctor's this week to get her blood tested. So that's fun. We started English this week. Sora Honey and I are teaching advanced class again, so we're excited to stay with those students and build those friendships. Okay now that I think about it, I really don't have THAT much to report on. Haha. I guess I got ahead of myself. Missionary life is weird because we do SO much.....but none of it is super exciting if you're not actually a missionary. Anyway, I do have one thing that's really big and cool and I want to tell you all about it! So, I've been talking with Mom & Dad about how they do their English classes in the Samara mission. In Romania and Moldova, we do two English classes a week with a spiritual thought at the end....but in Samara they do a "Gospel Discussions in English" class. So they teach English simply by teaching the gospel. It's risky, but definitely gets to the point and weeds out the students who simply don't want to talk religion. Anyway, they sent me the manual and we're "test-running" it so that we can report back to our Mission President to see if it could work here in București! We're still doing English classes...but in addition we offer a "Gospel Discussions Class," all in English, for our students so they can practice their English! Not only does it help to just listen to English, but it helps to speak it. (Obviously.) The first day of our normal English class, we told our students about it and EVERY SINGLE ONE registered for it. This week we had our first class and it was SO awesome! We got five new investigators in one day.....all of them being genuinely interested in the gospel. AND a less-active member came! At the end of the lesson we went around and asked everyone to share a blessing that Heavenly Father has given them in their lives.....and this less-active member said, "I'm grateful that my father brought me to this church in 1994 when I was a little girl. I'm grateful that my father cared enough to raise me in this religion, but also my father in Heaven allowed us to find it." IT WAS SO FREAKING COOL. We're super excited to continue working with our class. WHooooooooooooooOOoOoOoOo. Okay. I'm done. Life is good.  :)

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

Now photographs! This first one is of some missionaries in our zone doing music contacting in Unirii Park this past week. Way fun!

This one is when a bunch of missionaries here in București who have all served in Cluj-Napoca (the first city I served in, in Romania) went to lunch this week at Ikea with a member from the branch in Cluj! Sora Honey, Sora Tanner and I were the "Three Blind Mice" when we served in a trio together and we found stuffed mice... Hahah.

This is of some graffiti we found this week. "Isus vine" translates to "Jesus comes." He does! He loves us and will return for His own!!!

The one is of Sora Honey and I in front of Casa Poporului this morning....selfie-style. We went with the other sisters in our district and it was great!

These next photographs are of some of the photography from the exhibit inside of Casa Poporului. Incredible! It made me miss taking photos. But these were some of my favorites. :)

First is "Harmony." I love this one.

This is "SFF03," which really means nothing. But I love this photograph. It tells such a story! 

And last but not least.....my personal favorite, "Another Bike in the Wall." A lovely photograph and great shout out to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall."

 

16 martie 2015 - încă respiră.

Still breathing. Barely. Please keep me in your prayers...I need it! But life is swell. Love you all! Sorry this is a short one. 

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

9 martie 2015 - Frăția de nerușinat.

Welp. Another week where I did the exact same thing I did last week....with the exception of an INCREDIBLE experience with our investigator, which I'm going to make you wait until next week for. :) This week I've got a snipet of brilliance I want to share with all of you. I found it last transfer when I was helping the missionaries in Pitești close down an apartment. I don't know who wrote it or who left it. But it's incredible. It's called--

The Fellowship of the Unashamed

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, positions, promotions or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on his presence, walk with penance, am uplifted by prayer and labor with power. My fate is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough. My companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the mass of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up or let up until I have stayed up and paid up for the name of Christ. I must go on until he comes, give 'til I drop, and work until He stops me; and when He returns for His own.....He will have no problem recognizing me. MY BANNER WILL BE CLEAR.

We all must make the decision. Will you be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Will he recognize you when He comes again? IS YOUR BANNER CLEAR? If you didn't answer yes, do something about it.

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

2 martie 2015 - Am incredere in Dumnezeu.

Whoo! Another crazy week of missionary work. We did a combined activity with both of the branches here in București and it went so well! It was a carnival style activity with food and games and it was a total hit. Unfortunately, a lot of the last minute things to do got left to our companionship....so it was definitely stressful. But everything worked out well.  :) Transfers were announced this week and..... *drum roll* ....... I'M STAYING HERE IN BUC WITH SORA HONEY! Whooooo! I didn't see that one coming! Aside from my trainer, I've never stayed with a companion for more than one transfer. And now Sora Honey and I are going into our THIRD together! It's a good thing we're such good friends.  :) She's awesome and I'm excited to keep working along side her. We whitewashed into this companionship and started from scratch here. So it's really exciting to be able to continue to work with all the investigators we found and have begun teaching. We hope to help them continue with their progression and see them baptized together! Anyway, there's not a ton to report, but I'll leave you with a scripture! This week I had a tear-jerker situation happen to me and this scripture helped a lot. Proverbs 3:5---

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

God loves us! He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what is best for us and will direct us in ways that will make us happiest in the end. Trust in Him.  :)

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

23 februarie 2015 - Cinci sute douăzeci și cinci de mii și șase sute minute.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED MINUTES.....and then some. Probably. GUYS. I'VE BEEN ON MY MISSION FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. WHAT THE HECK. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. WHAT IS TIME. WHAT'S GOING ON. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Okay. I'm back. But really..... ONE YEAR. And what a great year.  :) It's been so interesting to look back on this past year and to see how far I've come. It's crazy to think of who I was 1 year ago today.....and even crazier to think of who I was 1 year before that. It's been one of the most ridiculously hard things I've ever done to change my life and come unto Christ. Let me just share one of my favorite quotes ever in the history of ever that this reminds me of---

"No grief is so great, no pain so profound, no burden so unbearable that is beyond His healing touch." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Boom. There you have it. Come unto Christ, my friends. He loves us and is waiting with open arms. Man, I love this gospel. Anyway, there's not a TON to report on this week and not a lot of time to report on it. So I'll just say this.... This church is true, ladies and gents. I know it through and through. God and Jesus Christ love us.

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab

16 februarie 2015 - Orbită uman.

Hi again! Still doing missionary work over here. Haha. Kind of the same story as last week..... But we've got some really great things happening here. But I'm not going to tell you about any of them.... Hahaha. Instead, I want to share a personal experience that I had this week. I may or may not have had a total break down because I've been praying for something specific that hasn't happened yet. I talked to mom and dad about it a couple weeks ago and what they said really made me step back and look at what I was asking for. It was not an unrighteous desire at all, in fact, it was QUITE the opposite. But it was something that will happen on God's time, if it's going to happen at all. I came to realize that if this thing would have happened..... I would have had different companions than the ones I've served with up to this point.....which has been one of my biggest blessings from my mission. Almost every single one of my companions has become one of my new best friends. I feel incredible blessed to have been put with such lovely ladies and to be able to work along side them. If my prayers would have been answered, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet all of them! The same day as said crying session, I read a quote on a sticky note I had written in my planner ages ago and it hit me straight in the soul. So I'd like to share it all with you!

"The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millenia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbit so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our own light may not only lead others but warm them as well."  -Neal A. Maxwell

I'm exactly where I need to be. God knows what's best for me.....more than I ever will. I'm supposed to be here in Romania working with these specific people. I'm so lucky to have a Father in Heaven who steers me in the direction my life issupposed to go, instead of letting me steer it by myself in the direction I want it to go. Mmmmmm. I love this gospel. I love being a missionary. We are all so lucky to have the knowledge of Christ's restored gospel. Whoo! Have a great week!

PROFITE DE ZILE

Sora Schwab

This one's just of a cool wooden church.

This photograph is of this way cool statue that we found on my STL exchange with Sora Trebas this week!

Okay. This one wins art piece of the week. Iubire is the Romanian word for love. Found this gem when we got lost in downtown Bucharest.

This second one wins graffiti of the week.

This one is when we got lost in downtown. We were lost in the mess of side streets and couldn't find the main street where we needed to be to get home. We turned a corner and saw this... Maybe I thought it was beautiful because I was so relieved we found our way back.... But either way. Bucharest is lovely.  :)

9 februarie 2015 - NOUA ADRESA INCLUSE! (NEW ADDRESS INCLUDED!!!)

Before I get into it, the address for the mission office has changed! Don't send letters and things to the Sos. Pipera address anymore.... The NEW ADDRESS is--

Bulevardul Primaverii Nr 19-21, Etaj 1, #13

Sector 1 Bucharest

011972 Romania

So right now would be a really great time for you to send me things because now you have my new address.... CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND DR PEPPER ARE MUCH NEEDED. Hint hint.

Okay I don't have much time, but life is great! Highlights this week are:

-We started English classes for the transfer. Way fun! We're teaching Advanced and we have the coolest class!

-We had Missionary Leadership Conference for the Sister Training Leaders and Zone Leaders on Thursday. It was so cool! It's a full day of training from President Ivory, Sora Ivory, the Assistants and others. It's always such a refresher and I LOVE it! The main thing I took away from this one is the WHY. Why am I here? Why am I a missionary? Sometimes it's at the back of my mind and I just get caught up in the day-to-day parts of missionary work. But I'm here because of my love for Jesus Christ....that is WHY I'm here as a representative of Him. Awesome reminder!

-Sora Tanner and I went to Pitești for our STL exchange on Friday. I got to do an exchange with Sora Bynum, one of the companions that I served in Moldova with. It was so fun to be back with her! 

-We had a special event for the 25th Anniversity of when Romania and Moldova was dedicated for missionary work. Elder Russell M. Nelson came here and gave the dedicatory prayer 25 years ago and so we had a HUGE meeting with both Bucharest branches and all the Branch Presidents in Romania. SO COOL! The chapel was filled to the brim and it was so cool to see. It was like the last six months of my mission was in one place at once because it was a combined meeting with Mihai Bravu, a branch I served in before, and Panduri, the branch I am currently serving in. BEST PART OF MY WEEK!

-We got the COOLEST new investigator this week. Her name is Alexandra and she is SO prepared. I'll explain a little bit more about her next week. She's awesome!

Anyway, sorry it's rushed. But life is good! I love you allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

PROFITE DE ZILE

Sora Schwab

 

This first photograph is of Sora Honey and I on our first day of English classes. We weren't in the same room when we picked out our outfits for the day, so we ended up matching. Hahah. Our students got a kick out of it.

 

This is of Sora Bynum and I on exchange. We found a merry-go-round....

This photograph is of some graffiti in Pitești. Does this look familiar, Mom and Dad?! Faith in Jesus Christ, Love, Obedience with exactness, Work with unwariness.  

These photographs are from the 25th Anniversity meeting. This one is of a bunch of missionaries with the Branch President from Cluj and his wife. Cluj was the city I was trained in and all of us have served there at some point. From left to right, back to front: Elder VanDyke, President Iepore, Elder Mayans, Elder Bushe, Elder Anderson, Sora Tanner, Sora Iepore, me and Sora Honey. IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE THEM!

This is of two of my favorite members from Chișinau who were able to attend the meeting, Sevge and Nina. IT WAS SO GOOD TO SEE THEM TOO!

2 februarie 2015 - Aceleași lucruri, săptămână altfel!

Is it Monday again? What the heckers. Mission life is so bizarre. We're doing SO much, but it all goes so fast! Weird. Anyway....this week we did a whole lot more of MISSIONARY WORK. Who'da thunk? This weeks highlights include working with our investigator, Lidiana. Lidiana knows that this is the church of Jesus Christ restored on Earth, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is necessary to be baptized for our salvation. So.....why hasn't she been baptized already, right? Her husband is very strict Orthodox and doesn't agree with her getting baptized. He won't even let her go to church. He knows that she's meeting with us, but that's as much as he'll really allow. This week we has a lesson about the sacrament and fasting. She committed to fasting with us that her husband's heart would be softened and that she could come to church. Although she couldn't make it to church, she did fast with us and we're meeting with her again tomorrow. She is SO ready. We're excited to keep working with her and keep seeing her progress towards baptism. Keep her and her husband in your prayers! We also did a TON of member work this week. We're really pushing to teach the members how to be better member missionaries and it's totally working! We're finding referrals and getting the members much more unified with each other and our potential investigators! We're really excited for the outcome of a couple of specific members that we're working with. Last but DEFINITELY not least, Sora Honey and I are planning a giant service project here in București! IT IS SO COOL! We're working with our humanitarian senior couple and one of our investigators who volunteers with the Red Cross to get a big clean up extravaganza event to get the Church's name out in a positive way here in Romania. It's still in the works but we're SO excited! I'm running short on time....but the church is true! Good things are happening here and it's 100% the Lord's work! I know this church is true.  :) Love you all!

PROFITE DE ZILE

Sora Schwab

  

This is of some hand chairs we found in the park while walking home. Do these look familiar or what, Sarah?! Haha.

This photograph is of the funniest sign that was in the tram this week. The old person drawing made me laugh so hard!

This one's not graffiti....but it's my "Art Piece of the Week!"

26 ianuarie 2015 - Ce mai faci, dragele mele?

Wow. I haven't written a real general email in awhile.... Sorry, guys!  /: Life has been so, so crazy. The end of a super intense transfer and the beginning of a new transfer has proven to run me right into the ground. I've been really sick these last couple of weeks and have just started going back to half days of missionary work. So that's been a riot! (Not.) So I honestly don't have a TON to report on. The Three Blind Mice (that's what Sora Tanner, Sora Honey and I called our trio......I don't know. The Three Muskateer seemed a little cliche and we were white-washing so it made much more sense....) were officially split up with the end of this last transfer. Six weeks ago, I never thought I'd say it.... But that was one of the most fun transfers of my entire mission. They put three of the craziest personalities together in one companionship and some of the other missionaries didn't think we'd get out alive... But we got out with a baptism, leading numbers for sister missionaries in our mission. lots of great memories, maybe a couple bruises and friendships to last a lifetime! :) When transfer board came out this past week Sora Honey and I were pleasantly surprised to be staying together! Sora Tanner is still in our district and is now serving with a girl who just came from Orhei, Moldova....the last city I served in! So it's been really fun to all stay together here in București. Sora Tanner and I are still Sister Training Leaders for the București Zone, so it's been kind of interesting trying to plan when we're in different companionships....but it's nothing we can't handle! I'm just happy to still get this opportunity to serve the other surori in our zone! Anyway, a lot of you have said that I should say more things about our investigators in my emails.... So here goes nothing! We're working with a couple called Haidham (pronounced high-thumb) and Suada that we're SO stoked about. Haidham contacted US on the street and told us how much he loved what we're doing and how he'd love to talk to us more. Apparently he was contacted by Elder Fransen, one of my Romania teachers in the MTC, when he was serving here! We met with them and they are some of the coolest people I've met in Romania. Haidham is from Jordan and speaks Arabic and Suada is from Armania and speaks Armanian. They are both students here and speak English and Romanian (and multiple other languages) fluently! They love to travel and I have so much in common with both of them! They are so genuinely incredible. They have so many questions about our church and are so open and honest with us....which we LOVE! So they're awesome. We also started working with a girl names Alexandra this week. I contacted her on the metrou about our English classes and she texted me (which literally never happens, guys....)! We met with her and she said she really wants to work on her faith and she thinks it's awesome she can do that while learning English! So we're pretty stoked about her too. That's just a little peak into my missionary life. We went lazer tagging with our zone this morning and Tensi, our little recent convert from last transfer came with us and it was so much fun! Anyway, life is great! I've decided to study humility this transfer again, and I would like to take a different approach to it than I did a few months ago.... SO ATTENTION ALL: If you have any incredible insight or talks or scriptures or anything that's helped you understand humility better, please send it this way! I love you all. Hope the week is lovely.

PROFITE DE ZILE.
Sora Schwab

This photograph is the last one we took of The Three Blind Mice in the gara on transfer day. One of the days we were stuck inside because I was sick we made these trio shirts. They refer to the three blind mice song.... Theirs both say 3 Blind Mice and mine says "see how they run," like in the song!

This photograph is of Elder Manning and I with Elder Cloward as a photo bomber. Elder Manning and I were a two-man group in the MTC and we got to see each other at transfers. It was awesome to catch up with him! I hit the year mark of my mission next month and he hits his half way mark. We were both talking about how crazy that is and how time flies out here!!

This photograph is of me with a bunch of hanging fish. Obviously. We went to visit the Second Counselor of the Branch Presidency and his family this past week and they live a little bit outside of Bucureșt. Anyway it was farm land and there was stuff like this everywhere.

This is my "Graffiti of the Week" photograph.

12 ianuarie 2015 - Ce este timp?

Okay. Another email in photographs. BUC IS CRAZY AND I DON'T HAVE ONE SECOND TO BREATHE. Keep me in your prayers, okay?

So these past two weeks we did our STL exchanges with the sisters in our zone. They were so great! My personal favorite was with my companion from last transfer, Sora Black. We were able to visit my favorite member and the investigator I was so close with. 

 

This photograph is Mari, the investigator, and I. She is so incredible and I know I was supposed to come to Romania for her.

This photograph is Margareta, the member, and I. She is my adoptive Romanian mother. She's 80 years old and still sassy to boot. I love her!

This one is cool because we're in Bucharest with all these looming buildings and then there's this beautiful Orthodox church in the middle of nowhere. Haha. I love Romania.

PROFITE DE ZILE.

Sora Schwab