December 30, 2013

Is it really possible for anyone to look this happy all of the time? Oh, yes.....

December 25th- Christmas Day!

Sending LOVE from her family.....

December 16, 2013 Buna Buna!

Good news, everyone! They sell Philadelphia cream cheese here mixed with Milka Chocolate! We just found it while we were grocery shopping today!

In other good, (and probably even better!) news, we had a very successful week! We're still investigator-less, but not for long! We found 3 people who we will be meeting with this week, and we were able to meet up with a woman here who's been inactive for quite a while now!

The first woman we'll be meeting with is named Janina. We found her when we were contacting in a very humble looking apartment block. She came to her door, and we shared a message about the Book of Mormon. She seemed so interested! So we asked her if we could leave it with her, and return later to talk more about it. When we asked this she said "But how? I have no money to buy it.". When we explained it was free, she was so happy!

Our other 2 investigators came from our English class. We have all the student fill out questionnaires at the beginning and one of the questions on the questioner is " Are you interested in learning more about the church?" and these two girls, who are  21 and 23 checked yes!

We talked with them a little bit last week, and they are excited to meet with us! But I think we're even more excited to meet with them :)

As for the inactive woman we met with, her name is Illeana, and she is amazing. We came to the door, and immedietly she welcomed us in. We brought her some Christmas cookies and a Christmas message. We also discussed a little bit about why she hadn't been coming to church. Things have been hard for her and she's been having money and health issues. She didn't come to church last Sunday, but she did invite us to come back! She'll be coming back to church soon, we're sure of it :)

We had a couple of great English classes this week. We love our advanced English class a lot. We did an activity on Saturday where we had each member of the class draw a candy bar out of a hat and then they had to stand up and try to give a 1 to 2 minute speech on why their candy bar was better than everyone elses . 

Oh! On Sunday I got to translate for the first time! It was from Romanian to English so it wasn't too hard. We had someone visiting from the US, and I got to translate the Elder's Sunday school lesson. So that was fun!

And that's our week! Things are going great over here! Thank you so much for your support and prayers! I know that's a huge part of why we had success this week!

I love you so much!!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sora Ralls

December 9, 2013

Buna Buna!

This week has been soooo busy and so crazy. We've loved it!

Tuesday and Wednesday we did mainly contacting. Because we've been whitewashed in, we don't have much else to do, other than contact. It's strange having 0 investigators. Let's be real, we like contacting, but we really miss teaching! People in the West were also more willing to talk with us and let us come into their homes than they are here. Things are just quicker and busier here. 

The small branch though is absolutely amazing. The Spooners are some of the best people I've ever met... oh and they know Aunt Vivian! Which is super cool. 

On Thursday night, we took a train to Bucharest for Zone training and the zone Christmas party. It was so so so much fun! We did a tie/ scarf exchange (white elephant style), and we watched a picture slideshow. They also fed us a Christmas lunch that included ROOT BEER. Okay, that was awesome. The new mission president was also announced! His name is President Ivory, and he's the president of Ivory homes in Utah.... Sound familiar? He's very young, and he has a little son who will be living with them here. We're all really excited, and naturally a little anxious. President Hill read us a little letter from President Ivory, in which he told us that he'd talked with President Uctdorf who said that the brethren believe that Romania and Moldova are currently at a "tipping point" and that the work that's done here and now is crucial.
So after the conference we stayed in Bucharest for another, and left back to Craiova early in the morning. We had the branch Christmas party at 2:00 and made it to Craiova with 15 minutes to spare. It was only Fratele and Sora Radulescu, the Spooners and the missionaries at the Christmas party, but it was still great :) Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of a single less active member, or get any of our potentials to come.

Tomorrow we start English classes again! We're looking forward to that. Sora Smith and I will be teaching advanced English this transfer. Tomorrow the Spooners are also taking us out to eat. President and Sora Spooner are leaving back to America this week and won't be back until sometime in January. So we'll have a good time trying to figure out how to keep the branch going without them :)

It's insane to be serving in such a small little branch. I love it though because we are the ones who get to see the work progress from the bottom up. I can honestly  say that I really believe the church will flourish here someday. And I can say that because I'm watching the foundation be laid everyday!
Craiova is the best. My companion is the best.  Missions are the best. You guys are the best.

I love you all so so so much!

Have a wonderful week!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

December 2, 2013

Hello from Craiova!

It feels like forever since I last emailed home! I don't even know where to start. 

We went to Bucharest on Wednesday and we got to see all of our mission friends again! We didn't stay long though because the train to Craiova left around 5:00 pm. That's the earliest I've ever had to leave from transfers!

But we got into Craiova around 9:00 pm, and out elders were there to meet us at the train station. They even made us "Welcome to Craiova!" signs. It was awesome.

Our Apartment here is AWESOME. It's definitely older, but it's so cute and homey. The Elders put up Christmas lights inside our apartment for us. AND it has two bathrooms. so we can't complain!

Our Thanksgiving was super, but it didn't turn out how we planned. We'd planned on cooking a dinner together at the church, but the lock on our door broke when we'd come home to start cooking that evening... so we called the Elders, and they came over to try and help. They couldn't get it open, so we called the landlord but he was out of town!!! So, we spent a good portion of the evening looking for a locksmith. HA! we never found one. but eventually the Elders just forced the door open... it was awesome. Afterwards we just ended up drinking hot chocolate at the church. It wasn't how we'd planned... but I really did love Thanksgiving :) It absolutely made me grateful for an awesome mission district!

On Friday, we met the Spooners. The Spooners are AMAZING!!! Aunt Vivian knows them!  They're from Michigan, and President Spooner is the manager of the Ford plant here. He also makes sure the little branch here functions. We went to their apartment, and they had dinner for us. Being in their home felt like AMERICA.  They even had ranch dressing for us! I haven't' seen ranch since the MTC.

Sunday was super cool. Since there are only 4 branch members we all got to go up and share our testimony. MAN IT WAS AWESOME. The church here is tiny. It's only 3 rooms... oh and half of the building is a club... Club Ludi. Ha ha:) Church here also only lasts 2 hours... since there aren't enough people to split into Relief Society and Priesthood. 

It seriously is such a blessing to be here in Craiova. One of the first things the Spooners and the other branch members told us is that they've been praying specifically to have sisters in Craiova for years, and that they were thrilled to have us. It makes me think of how many people all over the world are having their prayers for missionaries answered during this wave of missionary work. I feel so blessed to be a part of it!

Let's seeeee what else....

Sora Smith is amazing! I love her so much. She's so funny, and she loves to tell stories. Her birthday was 2 days ago! So that was fun. We all went out and got Chinese food to celebrate!

OH I almost forgot! We found a new Investigator! Her name is Dorina. We met her at a branch activity... what's interesting about serving here is that the branch is much smaller than Arad's, but  the branch activities have SO many more people that come. So, we met Dorina at the branch activity. She even came to church on Sunday! But about half way through Sacrament meeting she turned to me and said "I want to leave." So, I ended up walking her out.She just said she had other stuff to do, but we're meeting with her again on Friday!

So, basically Craiova is just awesome. Everything here is just awesome.

I'll attach some pictures of the city and apartment!

I love you all!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Sora Ralls

November 25th-

Mom found it, and sent this screenshot to everyone....

November 25, 2015 - transferred! 

Buna Buna one last time from Arad!

President called on Saturday and I'm being transferred to the city of Craiova!

I'll be serving with Sora Smith from Orem! She's in her 2nd transfer now. I've met her a couple times and she's great. I'll have to say though I was surprised to be going to Craiova. It's been an elders only city and now we're going to be the first sisters to serve there! In other words...."We're gonna be the best sister missionaries Craiova's ever seen!" The branch there has only 4 members including the American branch president and his wife... so it will be a different experience:)  

So we'll be going back to Bucharest tomorrow night, and then I'll be taking a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Criavoa. 

I'm super looking forward to going to Craiova, but I am so sad to be leaving Arad. My gosh, saying goodbye to the branch was terribly sad on Sunday.  I'm going  to miss them so much! 

We had a few lessons this week- We were able to meet with Anca, Alex, and Eccaterina (who also came to church on Sunday... AGAIN!)  Our lesson with Eccaterina was wonderful. We taught the plan of Salvation. She just told us she felt such peace when were talking about it.  She'll be baptized :)
We also did contacting this week in a little section of Arad called Gui. I love being there. It feels like being in a neighborhood again. There aren't any apartments over there... just vilas. It's one of my favorite places to contact :)
We passed out some Book of Mormons to some wonderful people too.
We also spent some time this week doing office work things in preparation for next transfer. We rewrote and updated  member information for the new missionaries coming in and things like that.

In just a little while Sora Adams and I are going over to Cristina's (remember her? She's the member that's leaving to France on her mission). We're  Going to help her get her luggage and everything to the train station so she can get to the airport and head to the MTC! Hopefully everything goes more smoothly this time.

I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is on Thursday. I have to keep being reminded.  And in the spirit of thanksgiving..... 

http://www.lds.org/search?lang=eng&query=the+divine+gift+gratitude

Something I'm  learning out here is to be grateful for small successes. Since day 1 of our companionship, Sora Adams always asks me at night what 3 things I was grateful for that day. It just proves to us that even on the  hardest days there are always things to be grateful for. :)

I love you all!!!!! Have a wonderful week and great Thanksgiving! 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

Here's a picture of Arad's cute little Relief Society. The woman next to Sora Adams is Eccaterina :)

November 19, 2013

Buna Buna!

Sorry this email is a day late, but we had a great time at the Hunedoara castle yesterday! We were only able to stay a couple hours, but it was totally worth the trip! The train to get there and back took 3 1/2 hours, and we played games along the way.

We had a wonderful week last week, and we were able to do a lot of teaching. It's strange because  we've been so busy with lessons we haven't had much time to do contacting. That's so strange to me!

We had a really neat lesson last week with Anca about temples. Our intention was to teach on prophets, but at one point during the English lesson portion of our lesson, we just ended up talking about the Salt Lake Temple. She wanted to see a picture, so we grabbed and Ensign and showed her. She loved it, and it went so well. My gosh, I miss the temple so so so much. I look forward to going again!

We met with Ana again this week, and it was wonderful. We talked about the Restoration again, because she's forgotten much of it since the sisters first met with her years ago. It went so well. 

President Hill sent me an email that I read today, and he told us more about Ana. For some reason, it's not in her investigator record, but President Hill told me that the sisters said "she is one of the most prepared people they'd ever met, and it was just that her husband didn't want her to attend church with the Mormons." Apparently she's also had several baptismal dates.She's never mentioned that to us either. We've met her husband a couple times. He won't stay for the lessons, but he's very kind and lets us teach Ana. We're really hoping things might go a little smoother this time. Ana really is one of the most open, and kind people I've ever met. She always has something to feed us when we come over. And last time, I was wearing flats when we came to her home. She was shocked, and insisted that I put on some tennis shoes she had in the house... then she saw to it that I wore them home... haha:) We just walked to the church (which was super close to her home) and then I switched my shoes back. 

Speaking of which, Romanians are so afraid of cold weather. It's funny. Mom, you'd fit right in! :)

First of all- They turn off all refrigeration in the winter. So if you want a cold drink, you can't find one... unless you go to McDonalds. They think drinking cold drinks in the winter is really bad for you. Also, if you ever come to Romania and it's windy or even just slightly chilly... remember to wear your tights, or people will tell you to put some on or you'll "catch the sickness". :) I try a lot harder to remember to wear tights now :)

Transfer board is coming out this week! Probably on Friday. I can't believe my 4th transfer is just about over! These transfers go by way too quickly.  If I leave Arad, I'll be a little sad. Just because I love the people and the branch so much. But it would also be exciting to see somewhere new.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Thank you for all your prayers! I feel them. You're in mine!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

Six Month Mark! 

November 4

Salut!

This week was  insane! I can hardly believe it's only been a week!

It's been wonderful, and very very very busy.

On Tuesday we had an exchange with the Sister training leader, and started English classes again. Sora Adams and I are teaching a new Children's English class, and its awesome! We have about 6 people come to this class, so it's pretty small, but SO much fun. Last time we went over animals and next time we're doing colors and numbers.

Our exchange was a lot of fun too. I went with Sora Lund and we did a whole lot of Block knocking. We knocked on so many doors.  We were able to hand out a few pamphlets as well as a Book of Mormon!

Oh, speaking of block knocking, Sora Adams and I block knocked again on Friday. We were on our second building, and rang in to one of the apartments to open the door for us. A guy answered, and then let us in. When we walked in the building, he stepped out of his apartment, and then asked us to come in. He told us his name was Anderew, and he was about 60 years old. He had a whole ton of beautiful paintings in his apartment, done by his uncle. He spoke English really well and was so knowledgeable. While I was there, I kept thinking "this guy reminds me of Uncle Jesse".

He took out his Bible, and asked us if we used one. We told us we did, and then he asked us to share our favorite verse with him. Sora Adams shared Romans 8:16

 "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:"

When He read this, he asked us "Do you believe this?" We told him we did. He  then told us "This is interesting. It's new to me."

Our short lesson with him was just based on that. That we are children of our Heavenly Father. It was simple, but it might have been one of my favorites so far. He invited us back, and we'll be meeting with him again on Thursday.

Sunday was amazing too. We finally had an investigator come to church! 

A couple weeks ago, Sora Adams and I were contacting for our English classes in a park. English contacting is super simple. We just hand out English cards to people in the park and explain briefly.  So, we handed a card to this lady on the bench, and said our usual "Good morning, here ya go. We teach free English classes. The address is on the back." And then walked away. When we were leaving the park though, I felt like we should go back and talk to this lady. Then Sora Adams and stopped and discussed for a moment about how we could go back to her again in the least awkward way possible...

We fnally just went right for it, and asked if we could share something else with her. We had a wonderful lesson right there in the park. She promised to come to church that Sunday, but didn't come. We found her again this week  on Wednesday and she told us she had been sick last week, but would come this week. AND SHE DID!!!! It was amazing. It was fast and testimony meeting, and she even got up and thanked everyone for being so great and welcoming to her. She also asked for prayers.

After Sacrament, We went upstairs with her and one of the members, Sora Piper and had a lesson right there. My goodness. It was amazing. We're meeting with her again on Tuesday! Her name is Sister Roica.

I love weeks like this. I am so grateful to be a missionary! There really is no greater joy than to share the great news of the gospel!

I love  you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

xoxoxoxoxoxxxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sora Ralls

Oh Ps! I hit my 6th month mark! I can't believe it. Time goes by so fast! Our district celebrated by eating Kinder Eggs together. It was perfect. :)

October 28, 2013

Ce Faci!

This WEEK!
I don't even know where to start. Before I left on my mission, I have to admit I might have thought mission life could be mundane and maybe repetitive. Wrong. I don't think I've ever had such great adventures since coming out here. This week was no different.
On Friday, we went with two of the Elders to a little (And I mean LITTLE) town called Sintana. It was about 30 minute train ride. We went to visit two children who were living there with their aunt and uncle. These children's parents had been baptized, but are currently living in Portugal for work. They asked that someone from the church just go out there to make sure they were doing okay.
So, we get off the train into this little town, and the uncle meets us at the train station on his bike. We follow him back to his little house which was about a 45 minute walk outside of this little town. We were on the outskirts of the outskirts. It was crazy. It was like Romania from the 1800's. I'll attach a couple pictures so you can see your yourselves!
So finally we get to their tiny home, and we tried talking to the kids for a bit, but B ( the uncle) insisted on giving us some kind of hour long Pentecostal sermon. No matter what we said or did, we couldn't bring the conversation back to how the kids were doing. Finally, he stops and says "Well we better go to the train station. The last train out of here leaves at 7:00." It was 6:15. We were going to head back to the train station we came from. But B told us he there was a closer one. On the way there we got stared down worse than ever before, (and reasonably so) and 3 or 4 dogs came running toward us along the way.And they were not friendly. The elders had to scare them off. So as if this wasn't scary enough, the sun had just set and we arrived at this little empty white shack with 3 walls. It was obviously not a train station. Apparently we were supposed to wait there and then jump on the side of the tracks when a train came and perhaps it would stop for us. The trains came... and left. We waited there for about an hour It took us a while but we finally made our way back to the actual train station. Luckily there was a train that went back to Arad not long after we made it there :) It was a great night!
This week we also had a couple great lessons. We also got bunged a little, but that's alright:)
Sora Adams and I had a wonderful lesson the other day with a lady we met in the park, as well as with a lady we met today while we were searching for a members house.
Oh! and this week also seemed to have the theme of "Tithing" to it. Sora Adams were contacting in the park on Tuesday and this young man stopped us to specifically ask how our church does tithing. We explained, and then he gave us his number to give to the elders. The next day we had a lesson with a less active member. We decided to go over a conference talk with her, and picked "The Widow's of Heaven" by Bednar. She then told us that she needed to hear these things. She said she hadn't been coming to church because she hadn't been payin g her tithing and she was ashamed. We talked with her about it for a bit, and she's going to try to make some changes. She also came back to church last Sunday!
This week we feel like we've been guiding to a lot of the right things at the right times in the right places without even knowing it. It has been filled with miracles and tender mercies.
Sora Adams also pointed out to me yesterday that on Friday I'll be hitting my 6 month mark! I can hardly believe that. Mission life goes by SO fast. Too fast. I feel like I just left the MTC last week!
I love you all and I hope you have a happy Halloween!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Ps- If you haven't read "His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox, we would highly recommend it:) And if you have, it's a great time to read it again!! 

October 14, 2013

Salut!!

We saw transfer board on Saturday, and I'm staying in Arad!!! That was a surprise. We have 6 in our district, and 3 are leaving.My lovely companion, Sora Stewart is going to Constansa. We thought for sure I'd leave, or at least we thought Sora Stewart and I would stay together for another transfer here. But nope! I'll be serving with Sora Adams. She's up in Cluj right now serving with Sora DeRuvo actually. I'm going to miss Sora Stewart so much, but I'm excited to serve with Sora Adams too. I am happy to be staying in Arad with this little branch a little longer. 

So, tomorrow we're leaving for Bucharest again! We're taking the night train again and we'll be there early Wednesday morning. And then we'll catch the next night train back at 11:30 Wednesday night. I seriously love this mission. It's such an adventure. 

This week we had a few lessons, we held English classes, and deep cleaned the church. But mostly, we did a whole heck of a lot of contacting, and we had SO much success. We've gained like 5 solid potential investigators. 

I'll just tell you about one of our new potential investigators and how we found him. After church yesterday, Sora Stewart and I were walking home from church, and we were talking... I don't even remember what we were talking about, but we were speaking in English. Then we heard this man from behind us ask "You speak English?" We talked to him for a bit, and this man had lived in London for a while, and is planning on going back next month. We kept walking and talking with him, and we started talking about the gospel. He'd told us he was baptized into another church, but that he felt he'd messed somethings up in his life and had no way to fix them and that he didn't stand approved with God anymore. We assured him that everything can be made right through Christ. I wish you all could have seen his face when we talked to him about the power of the atonement. He is so anxious to feel clean again. We got his information and gave it to the elders.  The elders are having a lesson with him tonight! Everyday I become more grateful that I've been taught these things from an early age. 

Salut!!

We saw transfer board on Saturday, and I'm staying in Arad!!! That was a surprise. We have 6 in our district, and 3 are leaving.My lovely companion, Sora Stewart is going to Constansa. We thought for sure I'd leave, or at least we thought Sora Stewart and I would stay together for another transfer here. But nope! I'll be serving with Sora Adams. She's up in Cluj right now serving with Sora DeRuvo actually. I'm going to miss Sora Stewart so much, but I'm excited to serve with Sora Adams too. I am happy to be staying in Arad with this little branch a little longer. 

So, tomorrow we're leaving for Bucharest again! We're taking the night train again and we'll be there early Wednesday morning. And then we'll catch the next night train back at 11:30 Wednesday night. I seriously love this mission. It's such an adventure. 

This week we had a few lessons, we held English classes, and deep cleaned the church. But mostly, we did a whole heck of a lot of contacting, and we had SO much success. We've gained like 5 solid potential investigators. 

I'll just tell you about one of our new potential investigators and how we found him. After church yesterday, Sora Stewart and I were walking home from church, and we were talking... I don't even remember what we were talking about, but we were speaking in English. Then we heard this man from behind us ask "You speak English?" We talked to him for a bit, and this man had lived in London for a while, and is planning on going back next month. We kept walking and talking with him, and we started talking about the gospel. He'd told us he was baptized into another church, but that he felt he'd messed somethings up in his life and had no way to fix them and that he didn't stand approved with God anymore. We assured him that everything can be made right through Christ. I wish you all could have seen his face when we talked to him about the power of the atonement. He is so anxious to feel clean again. Everyday I become more grateful to know what I know. My heart breaks for the people here who think once they've done something wrong, it's over. There are so many people we meet who are looking for forgiveness, but don't know how to find it. I am so grateful to know that we never have to carry our burdens alone, and that we always will have a chance to start over once we are willing to take the steps to begin. The Elders have a lesson tonight with this man, and they're looking forward to it:)

We also did chalk contacting again this week. I'm going to miss chalk contacting so much once it gets to cold to do it anymore. It is such a good way to find people. They're always so curious as to what we're all doing and ask so many questions. I LOVE IT.

I love my mission, I love my companions, I love Romanian food, and I LOVE ALL OF YOU!

Have a wonderful week!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Sora Ralls

October 7, 2013

SALUT!

Alright, let's talk about conference! Wasn't it awesome? I'm actually trying to listen to the afternoon sessions right now. They do conference weekend a little differently here in Arad. On Saturday, the branch members and the missionaries met up at the church at 7:00 pm to watch the first session. Then, on Sunday, we all met at the church at 5:00 pm to have a two hour long sacrament meeting and then we all watched the Sunday morning session together. So I haven't been able to watch the afternoon sessions at all until right now! So yes, conference so far has been awesome. There's never been a better time to be a missionary, or a member missionary!

This week has been super great. On Wednesday, we had an exchange with the coordinating sisters. I went with Sora Polatis. We did a little bit of contacting, and we had two lessons. One with Cristina, for mission prep (she's the member who's about to leave for France!) and one with Elvira and her mother, Simona. We had a lesson of prophets, just to make sure they were understanding from our last lesson, and also so that perhaps they'd be a little more enticed to come to the church for conference. They didn't come, unfortunately, but things are still going well! 

We also had a couple lessons with Anca. That's going well too. She tells us that she really only lets us teach her because we teach her English, but seriously, I think we're slowing getting somewhere with her. Last time we met with her she told us she started reading the pamphlets we'd given her. prrrooogreess. 

The Elders here just got their investigator to commit to a baptism date. They're super excited about it. The only thing is is that the date the investigator agreed to commit to is in May of next year. Haha. They're thinking and hoping that it will happen a little sooner though:) Their investigator's name is Irinel, and he found the church while he was serving in the military in Iraq.

Sometimes I think things are progressing so slowly here. But then I realize; Oh my heck. I'm in Arad, Romania, and I'm going to church. With other members. Of all places! There's a branch in Arad Romania! The work. It's definitely moving. 

So this morning, we all went to LIPOVA for Pday. Talk about adventure! Lipova is a little town that's about an hour train ride out of Arad. We pulled into this ity bity town and then walked about an hour to get to the Lipova fortress. And then we took a pretty steep hike for about 30 minutes. And then we were there! I'll include some pictures:) My gosh, it was so so so cool. There was no one else up there but us. We climbed around, and took lots of pictures:)

Transfer board comes out on Friday!!! This one is particularly exciting for me because I'm the most likely to be transfered out of our district. it's very bittersweet. I LOVE. This district I'm in. And I LOVE Sora Stewart. We all have so much fun together! But I've been here at least a transfer or 2 longer than anyone else here. So, I might be bouncin out pretty soon. If I go, It will be exciting. But if I stay, I'll be super happy too. WIN WIN!

I love you all so much!! Thank you for  your examples and your prayers!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxox

Love,

Sora Ralls

September 23, 2013

Buna Buna!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! I think I actually do have the best family and friends in the world. My birthday here was seriously, awesome. The entire morning was just filled with phone calls from missionaries I've served around, and others who sang "La Mults Ani" to Sora Stewart and me. That song's been stuck in our head since. Then we did some chalk contacting with some of our district.  I love chalk contacting so much. It's the best because people are so curious as to what we're drawing so they come to US.  Later that evening we got permission from President Hill to go out to dinner with our district. The Assistants also came because they were on an exchange with the Zone leaders. It was a party! The elders also gave me "The Birthday Tie". It was honor because I'm the only sister to ever receive it. I even got to add my name to the back of it and everything. I'll add the picture:)  I'm going to have to figure out a creative way to wear it I guess....

This week we also got to move into our NEW APARTMENT! no more falling ceiling, no more roaches, no more sparky outlets... score. We're loving it. It's a super nice apartment too. Everything is brand new! We're loving it.

Hey, I remembered to bring my notes from Elder Powell's talk at district conference on the Book of Mormon! So basically his talk was on the truthfulness of of the Book of Mormon. He talked about some studies that had been done to prove it was a fares, but how each one of these studies ended up proving it was more true than false. He shared some interesting things that I'd never realized or even knew before, and now I'll share them with you!

-Okay- So he pulled out some specific verses like 1 Nephi 2:4.  "And it came to pass that he departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and departed into the wilderness" the word "and" is used more than 10 times in this verse. Which was a common in Hebrew.

-In 1 Nephi 2:6, The verse mentions a "river of water"  Why river of water? Because they had dry, waterless rivers in Israel. They called those types of rivers.... Wadus or something like that. Joseph Smith... he probably had no idea.

-Alma 2:34 

"And thus he cleared the ground, or rather the bank, which was on the west of the river Sidon, throwing the bodies of the Lamanites who had been slain into the waters of Sidon, that thereby his people might have room to cross and contend with the Lamanites and the Amlicites on the west side of the river Sidon."- Elder Powell pointed out that the words "or rather" were used here to correct a mistake in writing by Alma. You can't really erase what you've written on plates so you correct your self with terms like "or  rather" If it was Joseph Smith writing this book, he could have just erased this mistake, and started over more easily.

Okay so those were just a few of the many many many awesome neat things he shared with us:)

I'm running out of time and I still have to email, President Hill so I better run! I love you all so much! Thank you so much for everything you do! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo

Sora Ralls

September 16, 2013

Buna Buna!

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes!! That was so great to see:) 

This week has been seriously awesome. We've done a lot of traveling this week and it's been so neat. First, on Tuesday we went back to Timisoara for Zone training. That was pretty fun. But we had to leave a little early because we had a lesson back in Arad. 

Then just yesterday we got to go up to Oradea for the Romanian district conference! Oradea was SO beautiful. That place is more Hungarian than it is Romanian. Everything was so gorgeous. And clean. And classy.  The conference was seriously amazing. It covered Cluj, Oradea, Arad,and  Timisora . We went down for the Saturday session on Saturday night, and stayed through Sunday Afternoon. 

During the Saturday afternoon session Elder Powell (one of the Senior missionaries here) gave like the neatest talk about the Book of Mormon. I meant to bring the notes I took so I could share them with you in this email, but I forgot them:( I'll bring 'em next time though. He shared some really neat things about the Book of Mormon that never even occurred to  me before. (this is your teaser for next weeks letter) :) But seriously, the conference was amazing and Oradea was beautiful. I also got to see Sora DeRuvo and Sora Hebden again! I loved it.

So this week we finally FINALLY got a hold of one of our potential investigators, Tamara. When we called she told us she was in the hospital. So, we asked if we could visit here there. She said yes, so we went to the hospital. We couldn't find her, so we called her again, but unfortunately neither Sora Stewart or I could understand what she was saying ... Romanian is hard enough to understand in person. So we just hung up and told her we'd call her back. Then we just panicked for a minute. Okay, so then immediately this guy turns the corner of the hospital. And he spoke English! He agreed to talk to her for us and then he explained where she was. Turns out she was in a tiny sub woman's hospital on the other side of town. So finally, we get there. She's in a room with 5 other patients and her friend. Tamara was so happy to see us! And so were the other women in the hospital! We were actually able to teach all of them. It was amazing. All of them wanted a Book of Mormon at the end. We only brought two, so we had to go back the next day with more. We're going back to the hospital tomorrow. Being a missionary is awesome.

Other than that and a couple lessons with Anca,and the Costros we've just done a lot of contacting. Contacting, contacting, contacting. We've actually had a lot of success with our English contacting this week. A lot of people told us they'd be there. We're hoping for a much bigger english class this   transfer! Things are lookin gooooood!

I love you all so so so so much! Have a wonderful week!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

September 9, 2013

Buna Buna!

Alrrriiighht so I'm officially no longer a greeny! I'm a full fledged missionary now. 

On Tuesday we took a night train to Bucharest. My gosh those things are so crazy. There were no more first class rooms left so we had to share with the Elders again. That's a fun time. We just ate bananas and Milka bars and played Taboo. 

We got to Buch at 5:30 Wednesday morning. My gosh that was Such a looooonggg day.  But it's always so much fun to be there and see all the other missionaries who've come down for transfers. I met my new lovely companion, Sora Stewart. She's from Las Vegas and she's super funny. She actually kind of reminds me of Kiley a little bit. She laughs just like her too! Saying good bye to Sora DeRuvo was super hard. My gosh, I love her so much. I was blessed with seriously, the perfect trainer. Our train that night left at 12:00 midnight. 

So, Thursday afternoon we met with 2 of the members of the branch. Sora Florita fed us lunch, and for the first time her husband was home and willing to talk with us. He's not a member. He really actually probably said like 5 words to us total. But he said he would come to church this Sunday! 

Then we met with Cristina. Cristina is the one we have mission prep classes with. She leaves for her mission to France in about month and a half.

Friday and Saturday were pretty much all contacting. We actually ran into a lady we contacted a few weeks earlier when I was on an exchange with one of the Coordinating sisters.. She welcomed us so warmly to sit with her. We talked with her for about 20 minutes before she had to leave. She invited us to come talk to her again this Thursday.

Hey, hopefully next week we'll be able to move into our new apartment! it's almost finished actually! It's so great. Sora DeRuvo and I actually got to pick out the colors of the walls. We're super excited to move in! We need to move in soon too. The ceiling in our bathroom is starting to fall down on us. haha:)

Sora Stewart and I are super excited for this next week. We've been able to get a hold of some of our potential investigators we haven't been able to talk to in a long time. We have pretty much our entire week already planned filled with appointments!  

If anyone of you hasn't read the talk "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit" . (A BYU devotional) I highl, highly suggest you read it this week! I've read it a few times already this week. I can't get over how great it is.  

I love  you all so much! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!

Love love love,

Sora Ralls

August 13, 2013

More pictures....

August 13, 2013

Buna Buna!

I have just a short time to write today! We are going to look at some apartments that we might be moving into in just a little while.  And I am sorry I couldn't write yesterday! We've been pretty busy around here.  Yesterday President and Sora Hill were in town and we had interviews. Afterwards they took out our entire district to dinner. We went to a place called "Restaurant Ratio" It was so good. Since we're so close to Hungary, you can get a lot of Hungarian dishes here. This restaurant makes the BEST Goolash (Spelling?). 

So this week we had exchanges again with the coordinating sisters. Exchanges are so much fun. I went with Sora Stapely and she's from Mountain Green, Utah so pretty close to home!  We did a lot of contacting that day as well as have a lesson with a less active member. 

This week we also went to go visit a member of the branch who is in the hospital. She suffered what they think is a heat stroke. She is home now, so we're happy about that. The hospitals here are... so not what they're like in the US. There were 6 people with Sora Crista in her hospital room. They didn't even have curtain to separate them. The halls didn't have lights and the walls were starting to crumble down. There was no type of front desks or security and people can just walk in and out of where ever they want. I have never appreciated United States health care more than I do now.

As far as lessons go, the lesson we had with the less active member was our only one this week. We were dropped by a couple investigators this week so that's kind of sad. We still have Isabela but she is kind of taking a break from us right now while she tries to work some things out. We are still trying to keep in touch with her and hopefully she'll let us know when we can come back and talk to her and teach her more.

So that's the more gloomy part of the week, but HERE is the good stuff. Since we've had a little bit more time this week without our lessons, we've had more time to do contacting. We've been able to teach the first lesson multiple times in the park with people. And now we have a couple new investigators as well as a bunch of new potential investigators.

Just today we were contacting in a park, and we passed this lady who was eating on a park bench. I felt like we needed to talk to her so strongly. Sora DeRuvo suggested we wait until she's done eating before we talk to her because Romanians do not like it when you interrupt their eating. So we sat on  a bench were we could keep an eye on her ( my gosh, missionaries = Creeps sometimes!). But as soon as she finished we  nonchalantly walked passed her again and explained to her we're missionaries and that we'd like to share a message with her. At first she was stand offish but after a few minutes she invited us to sit down and talk with her. As we talked she became more and more open with us. She was all covered in dust and in work clothes and she explained to us that she was on a break from work. GET THIS- She works on old building to restore them! Okay  cool. She does restoration... Yes. Let's talk about a restoration! As we talked she listened so intently and when we gave her a Book of Mormon she was so happy and grateful. She asked us for our phone number and then she asked if we had missionaries in Bucharest because she lives there some of the time, then she asked for THEIR number too. We gave her ours and theirs and then we got hers. Solid. Botez. This is why we love contacting. There are so many people who are so ready to at least begin to understand this Gospel.

So that is this week!
Now we're off to look at apartments!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers. You're in mine as well!

Love,
Sora Ralls

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

July 22nd, 2013

Buna!

Transfer one is over! I can't believe it. I've completed an entire transfer already! Time goes by so fast on a mission. And guess who's going to Bucharest tomorrow! Our entire district. We're taking the over night train again, but this time we get our  own sleeper car! The elders are going down because Elder Adams is getting transferred. We are so sad! We have such a small and close district. Sora DeRuvo and I are not sure why they are having the two of us go down to Buc, but they asked us to. We figure it's probably for visa stuff. We leave her tomorrow night, arrive in Buc on Wednesday morning, and then get back on the train to come back Wednesday night. Everyone loves going to Bucharest on transfer week because you get to be with so many other missionaries!

I am so glad I'm not being transferred and I am SO glad Sora DeRuvo isn't being transferred. I really could not ask for a better companion or trainer. We just laugh all day long.

This week we were able to meet with a member of the branch, Sora Lydia. Oh, it is so funny here because almost everyone goes by Fratele or Sora and then their first name. I love it. But anyways, we met with Sora Lydia and she made us these amazing crepes with more of that perfectly divine Romanian chocolate cream and whipped cream. I love the members here more than I can describe! This branch is like one big family.

We also were able to teach Isabella the plan of Salvation. She loved it so so so much. Everything just seemed to make sense to her. Even things that are usually difficult here for people to understand. When we talk about the fall of Adam, people usually have a hard time understanding that the fall was necessary. But when we explained it to Isabella she just soaked it in and put it all together so well. When we began talking about eternal families, she couldn't stop crying. She has been through so much. Her family is the most important thing to her, and it shows. They live in  a tiny, tiny apartment with only one small room and a tiny kitchen on the side. They don't even have a bathroom in their apartment. But they are the happiest, most polite family. Her 5 children are always so happy and they are SO smart, and well behaved.

We also had our first experience at a Romanian Doctors office this week! Sora DeRuvo has had a little bit of a difficult time breathing. Nothing too too bad, but  she was sick a couple months ago, and her lungs haven't fully recovered. Sora Hill suggested we go to the clinic, so we did. It was nice, but kind of how I imagine a doctors office in the 70's to be. The Doctor was kind though, and gave her some herbal remedies to help her breath. She seems to be doing better too!
Now for my favorite story of the week! This was... Tuesday I think. Sora DeRuvo were on our way to teach our English class. The Tram was so full that day, and people were all squished together. This woman sat right next to me. She had the kindest, most tender face and smile. She looked right over at my face and smiled to me more than once. I wanted to talk to her so badly. I kept searching in my mind for something I could say to her. I wanted to say something... ANYTHING! But I couldn't formulate any kind of sentence that I would be able to say. So I was just going to hand her the Book of Mormon in my hand, but as I looked through it, our phone number, nor the church address had been stamped in it. So, regretfully, we just got off at our stop without saying a word. That night I felt so terrible. I kept wishing all day that I had talked to her. I felt that I should've, and didn't take the opportunity. That night I prayed and apologized to Heavenly Father and promised Him, that if he would bring us to her again I wouldn't let her get away with out talking to her. The next day, we were returning from teaching a lesson and were waiting for the tram to come.... and guess who we saw!! That same lady from the day before! Not only did she look at us too, but she waved to us. A big, happy, excited wave. She was waiting on the opposite side of the station. We ran over to her. A few seconds later the tram came, so we jumped on the tram with her, (going the opposite direction we intended) and immediately told her that we were missionaries and we wanted to talk with her and meet with her. She agreed and gave us all her information! Her name is Argentina, and she has 7 children. We are SO excited to meet with her. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father allows us second chances!

And Finally, I would like to mention that every other person here is named Mihai. I've never heard this name in my whole life until now, and everyone has it! There is one less active/ part member family we teach. The Dad's name is Mihai, the mom's name is Mihaiella, and their son's name is Mihai as well. I love it!

I love you all so much!  I hope everyone is so well! Thank you for your letters, love, and support!

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

July 15th 2013

Buna Ziiiiiiua!

Remember last week when we had like, NO success with anything or anyone?  Would you believe me if I told you this week was nothing BUT success? It was amazing! Where to even start? Last week I wrote just a little bit about a woman who came to church on Sunday and wanted us to teach her family. We taught her family on Tuesday. They are the most adorable little Romanian family! They live in a small apartment with a room and a small kitchen.  There's the mother, Isabella, and she has 5 children ranging from 19 years to 3 years. Her husband left a long time ago. We taught them the first lesson, and they just loved it. They especially loved attending church. She said it's only place that's she's gone that she feels people are actually live what they preach. I have to say that the members here are the warmest, most welcoming people to investigators. They instantly just take them in and love them as if they've always been there.

We also went back and taught Claudia this week. We watched the Restoration movie with them and talked a little more about that because we realized there were a few gaps in her understanding of it.  She loved it.  It was such a powerful lesson, and at the end of the meeting we asked her son Alberto to pray. He used the "Our Father" memorized prayer first, but then we invited him to do it with his own words and he did.  It was such a perfect prayer! He Thanked the Lord for his home, for the missionaries, for his family and for his home. It was so tender it brought Claudia to tears. This week Claudia also called to tell us she'd started reading the Book of Mormon. Something we've been inviting her to do for Weeeeeeks. and She did!

Okay and here's another one! 3 weeks ago, we met a lady on the tram. She was only about 3 feet tall and was carrying some large heavy bags. We helped her on off the tram. I was holding a Book of Mormon at the time, and she asked us about it. We explained a little and then we offered the Book to her. She took it, but called us the next day to tell us she wouldn't be able to meet with us ever really. 

 But yesterday, about halfway through sacrament meeting, she walked in!!!  Sora DeRuvo just looked at me in absolute shock.  We had no clue she would come! She found the church address and time stamped in the Book of Mormon we gave her and came just out of curiosity. We met with her for a little time after Sacrament and she had so so so many questions. She's orthodox but has been attending other churches as well. Now she is willing to meet with us and take the lessons. She is amazing!
This week we also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the opening of The Romania/Moldova mission! We watched the fireside that took place in Bucharest via internet with some of the members here in the branch. I attached a picture:)

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your love and support!