It is freaky, it is ghetto, and I LOVE it.
Okay, so we got to Romania at about 1:30. The flight was great and it went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. We went right to the Mission home and had interviews with President Hill, and then Sister Hill. WOW, they are so awesome. And they LOVE Aunt Jennie and Uncle Jesse. So that was a good in for me! ;) After that, we met our Nashes. Nas is Romanian for "Godparent". Basically they were our temporary companions for the next couple days before transfers. We loved them! We went back to their apartment, and then we went "Nashing" as they call it. We went to a park and started contacting. We contacted into this lady and her husband. Sister Polatis told her a little bit about the Book of Mormon. The lady at first did not want anything to do with us because she said "she worshiped Jesus, and we worship Mormon". Sister Polatis explained a little bit more about how that wasn't the case. It really didn't go anywhere from there, but we left her with a restoration pamphlet with the contact info on it if she wanted to know any more.I don't even know where to start. My life is NOT normal anymore. Okay the weirdest things happen here.
Okay, So the next day we woke up really early and went to a park and met President and Sister Hill at the park and spot where Elder Nelson dedicated the country of Romania for preaching the Gospel. It was RAINING SO HARD. Oh my gosh!! It was insane. All of us missionaries were standing under just a few umbrellas all huddled together trying to stay dry. It didn't really work. So after President Hill read the prayer, we all went to the Gazebo. That's when we took that picture President Hill sent:) After that we all went back and had lunch at the mission home. After lunch we all went to a medical clinic and got a medical clearance for our Visas. We waited at the visa place forever!! This is the crazy part though... of all 13 missionaries, I am the ONLY one who got their visa. Everyone else has to go back next transfer to get those taken care of. I feel bad for them! But I am so happy mine worked out!
OKAY THIS IS WHERE THINGS GET CRAZY.
That night, we had to catch our overnight train to Arad.There were about 8 of us missionaries there. It was a 12 hour train ride and it left at Midnight my time. We got to the station about 10:45 pm. While we were there, a priest walked up to us, and we all started talking a little bit about our beliefs. Then, this young man, probably about 20, came up to all of us and we started talking to him. He kept asking ME questions and of course I could hardly understand what he was saying. He asked other missionaries to translate for me. I don't know why he didn't just ask him these questions. But He was asking questions about the Book of Mormon and how it's different. While we were trying to teach him, multiple people came up and started yelling and telling him not to listen and that we were not good. He didn't even listen to them. It was awesome. We got his contact info to give to the Elders in Bucharest.
Okay, so then we got on the train. The weird thing was, we had to share a sleeping car with our Elders. Ha! It was a little weird, but not as weird as I though it would be.
Finally, after a forever long train ride, we got to this BEAUTIFUL city of Arad. Our district is wonderful. There are 2 Elders and 2 Sisters. OH my goodness! I forgot to tell you about Sora DeRuvo. She is my trainer, and she is INCREDIBLE. She's from Italy, and she speaks fluent English. Her Romanian is about near perfect even though she's only been here about 4 months. She is the FUNNIEST Person. She's also joking and singing and doing funny things. She's a great cook too. Everything she makes is loaded with cheese.
The branch here in Arad is so neat. Everyone is a convert. There are about 30 people with everyone. There is only 1 family in the branch. Everyone else is the only member in their family. They are all so strong. They asked me to bear my testimony and talk a little bit about myself on Sunday. So I did. Ummm.. I think it lasted about 30 seconds. My language skills are not quite refined yet. When I finished, Sora Matie (And ADORABLE elderly lady in the branch) yelled from her seat "Biene Biene Biene!" Or "Good Good Good!". haha:)
Church here is really different than it is in the states. In Sunday school, everyone yelllllllls. They aren't bickering or anything. They are just sharing there opinions. Sometimes there are 5 or 6 people all "sharing their opinions"At the same time and things get a little crazy. How fun:)
Okay, Shoot I don't have much longer. But real quick I just have to tell you about this family we just got back from teaching.
So part of our mission is teaching English classes twice a week. We were handing out the English cards to people on the street. I handed a card to this lady, and in Romanian I told her "We teach English for free". She asked us if we could go to her home (which was right on that street) and help her son prepare for the English test he has this week. We agreed to help him, if we could share a message about the Gospel with her family.So right then we went in and started helping her son with his English homework. Then we started talking about the Gospel and ended up teaching the entire first lesson (Okay, Sora DeRuvo taught it and I just bore testimony when I could :) ) It was amazing. When Claudia read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with us, she said she had "chills". They were excited to learn more! How cool is that!! We don't really have many investigators here now so it was really awesome to have that experience. We're going back later this week to teach them again.
Oh, everyone here drinks sparkling water. I drink so much sparkling water because it's all people have! I am getting used to it. I involuntarily make a disgusted face whenever I drink it so I've learned to put my head down after I drink, or only take drinks when no one is looking... seriously. I can't help it. Every time it gets easier though!
Okay, I have to go!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all so much!!!!!!!!! Thank you for all the prayers. Keep them coming please:)
xoxoxxoxoxxoxox
Cu Draga,
Sora Ralls
