March 10th, 2014

Buna Ziua!

We don't have much time today, so this might have to be a shorter email. But we've had yet another amazing week!

We've gained 3 new investigators this week... All of which have baptismal dates! Two more for March 30th (we've had to move all the baptismal dates to March 30th because  all of the presiding authority won't be available on the 29th), and one more for April 12th.

Our first two are Nicoleta and her son Adrian. Nicoleta just walked into church last Sunday. Apparently she know's Elena Pavel, and decided to come see what "her church was all about". We got Nicoleta's phone number, and met with her on Tuesday. Elena Pavel came with us and was a huge help. It's so nice when our investigators already have a friend in the church.

After just a few minutes, Nicoleta's 27 year old son, Adrian  walked in the room and stayed for the rest of the lesson. We extended the baptismal date to both of them and they both said yes :)  They are both so great! And  Nicoleta is probably one of the cutest people I've ever met. She is always telling us how much she loves us :) We love her too.

Our other new baptismal date is Georgeta. She also lives in Feldiora. We were on our way to Elena Dumitru's when we ran into her. She was chopping wood in her yard. We had a few extra minutes, so we offered to help. Thank goodness she said no, because frankly neither one of us know how to chop wood.... But we did end up talking with her for a bit, and then we asked if we could return and talk with her after our lesson with Elena. She agreed.

We came back about an hour later, and the elders came with us. We didn't have much time before our bus back to Brasov left, so we just discussed the basics, and the Book of Mormon. We extended the baptismal date, and then taught her to pray. We asked her to say the prayer at the end, and she did it! However, she didn't say it out loud. We just saw her lips moving, so we kept our eyes closed for about 5 minutes as she prayed. When she finished she told us that she "didn't want to open her eyes because she felt so good". She has a little problem with smoking, so her baptismal date is set to April 12th to give us a little more time to work things out :)

Things here in Feldiora are just bumpin. Yesterday we had 52 people at church. Some of us had to stand because there are not enough seats anymore. How awesome of a problem is that? It's the biggest congregation I've been in... and it's not even a branch yet. Most of them are investigators or friends or family of members.

Brasov is doing great too! Cristina Mesco from the branch is now practically BEST friends with Adriana. :) She came to a lesson with us last week, and after the lesson they went over to the couch and just had girl talk for like an hour. It's perfect :) They didn't come to church yesterday though because they were in Moldova. But hopefully they'll be there next week!

On Thursday we had an exchange! I went to Feldiora with Sora Peterson, and Sora Barrera did some work here in Brasov with Sora Bischoff :) Both those sisters are amazing! And it's always so fun to show new people the city.

On Saturday night, Sora Barrera was not feeling well, and wasn't sure she could make it to church. So we organized our first split!  Sora Barrera stayed at home with Sister Powell  (Sister Powell is AMAZING), and I went out with Ema Miron. Ema is in her last year of high school, and has been thinking of a mission so she was excited to come on the split. She was such a great help! And it felt so natural to be her companion for the day. If she does go on a mission, she'll be great. :) She had cute questions too. Like "Can I paint my nails if I am a missionary?". It was fun :) Sora Barrera is also feeling MUCH better now. So we're happy about that :)

And that's that! We've also had some wonderful lessons with our other investigators this week. They all continue to progress which is a miracle!

Thank you for your prayers! We need them over here!

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

xoxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxcxooxxoxo

Sora Ralls

May 5, 2014

Oh, Sunday was funny. We'd challenged Sora Filip to her first fast this week. She did it! And she did so well... even despite the fact that our branch brought out cake for everyone during Sunday school (what the heck... temptation much?). She stayed strong:) 

She loved church. And she had some beautiful insights to share during relief society.  She is so looking forward to her baptism (Now on Sunday).

And this  was my last Sunday translating for Sora Powell :(  It was a really emotional Sunday as they said good bye to all the branch members.

Oh! We'll be meeting with a new investigator on Wednesday. Her name is Claudia, and she came in to church with some other investigators. She has such a genuine interest in what we believe. She is so kind, and open. We're excited to meet with her!

Church in Feldioara was great too :) The heat has been off for the last few months, and with the rain in it's been pretty cold. I love to see all those members sitting there all close together with their coats on. They are willing to come to church, no matter the conditions!

I am really going to miss them so much. They leave Brasvov on Wednesday. 

We're putting together a little memory book for them with notes from branch members and missionaries they've served with,

Today we went to Bran Caslte with the missionaries from Bucharest and Ploiesti.  It was so much fun! (I got your postcards Cinnamon!)

We're going to have a pretty packed week 

This week was a good one! And I'm so happy I got to see all of your lovely faces!!!

I love you so so so much!

xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls 

April 27, 2014

Buna!

It's been a long week, but it's been a good week! 

I'll start with some great news! Sora Filip will be baptized on May 10th :) Sora Filip... There seriously is no  one like her. She's incredibly selfless and loves everyone so much.  The members are excited  for her. Ahhhh she's already so powerful. She will do so much good for this branch :) 

Last week we were also able to go back and teach Cristina (Elena's daughter) and her husband. It went so well. In fact, they even gave us all their information so we  could give them as a referrer to the missionaries in Italy. They wan to learn more!

We think they'll be baptized over there :) They told us to call them if we ever go to Italy, so that "We could all go to church together". :)

So, Vasilicu, the little boy in this picture is Elena's other daughter's son. He lives in an orphanage up in Dacia, but he got to come stay with Elena and the family for Easter. 

Vasilicu is one of the sweetest, and most well behaved little boys I've ever met in my life. He even saved Sora Barrera and me from two dogs as we were walking up to their home.

As Cristina and Elena were telling us about how he'd have to go, they hugged him so close and so tight. It was so hard for them. It was hard enough just to watch. 

At the end of our lesson, we all knelt down and said a prayer. As everyone stood up and started talking, we were able to just talk with Vasilicu for a few moments.  What do you say to console a little boy who is leaving back alone to an orphanage he dreads? There's not really much you can say.  We were able to remind him though that he has a Father in Heaven who loves him very much. That he will never be alone. We reminded him that he can pray and talk to his Heavenly Father, and he will listen. Every time.

We got Vasilicu's address so we can send him little letters and things. He has such a tender heart.

Other than that, we've had a few more investigator lessons, and a whole heap of recent convert lessons. Those are always fun :)

On Sunday we had district Conference in Bucharest! We got up at 4:30 to make it to the bus and  arrive there by 10:00. The bus rides with the branch were INSANE. and Hilarious.  If you want to get to know who people really are, sit on a bus with them for 8 hours in one day. One fo the members tricked another one into eating Styrofoam... he told her they were american treats.
Then 2 of them pretended to be missionaries and contacted every single one of us on the bus... that.was.weird. And we loved it. :)


It was  also so much fun to see all of the other missionaries. Ahhh I love it so much! I saw Sora Hebden, Sora DeRuvo, Sora Bray, and Sora Steweart. Man, I have been blessed with the greatest companions.

Tomorrow President Hill is coming for interviews! Our last interviews before he leaves... Boo.

And we just found out this week that the Powells will be heading home a little earlier than expected too. Man, we're going to miss all of them.

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

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Sora Ralls

April 7, 2014

Buna!

Yet another awesome week has gone by! We've been so busy and going from lessons to lesson... only this time all of our lessons are in Brasov!! How the heck did this happen?

Since the most of our investigators got baptized, we didn't have much of a teaching pool left. But after a few prayers, we've gained a pretty good amount of work again!

We're now teaching Ani who walked into the church during district meeting a little while ago. She'd met with the sisters about a year ago, and wanted to start taking lessons again. We met with her on  Tuesday, and we'll be meeting with her again later this week.

We're also teaching Maria. Maria contacted US. We met Maria on the street on Tuesday. She stopped us and grabbed my arm and asked how she knew me. We explained to her that we walk this street a lot. We explained who we were, and immediately she invited us to meet with her. We went over there on Friday, and she made us a perfect Romanian meal.

She was so funny too. She insisted on having us wear these large, winter vests after we started eating because she said it was too cold. Maria also came to both sessions of general conference. She also has made BEST friends already with one of the branch members, Corina..... with her everything is almost too easy :)

We've also gained a few more potential investigators we'll be meeting with this week, Including woman who walked in during general conference out of curiosity. She was thrilled when we told her we could come to he home and teach her more :)

And speaking of general conference, wasn't it awesome? I loved President Monson's talk at the end of the Saturday Afternoon session.

I really liked the way they do conference here in Brasov. We all went to the church from 7:00-9:00 on Saturday to watch Sunday morning session's live, and then we came back on Sunday, and we watched Saturday afternoon session, and then Sunday Morning session. We had a break for a little while in between sessions, and we all had lunch together with the branch members from Brasov and Feldiora.

We also played with the Boomerang I got in Peles which is now stuck on the church roof.

It's okay. It was 5 lei. :)

We've had a great week! 

Thank you for all your love and prayers! I have the best family in the world.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo

Sora Ralls

March 31, 2014

Salut!

WE HAD FOUR BAPTISMS YESTERDAY! We still can't believe everything worked out the way it did. We took the bus out to Feldiora every day this week, and then after took the bus to Rotbov so we could meet with Monica and Larisa. We've been doing 4 lessons a day in 3 different cities, so as you can guess, we had absolutely NO downtime this week. It felt like we'd have a lesson and then immedietly we would run as fast as we could to catch the next bus. We would eat all of our meals while traveling. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE WE WERE ABLE TO DO IT ALL. It was insane. It was the most exhausting and most rewarding week of my entire mission.

Sunday was an absolutely perfect day. I wish all of you could meet all of these wonderful people!

So many people came to see the baptisms!

Little 8 year old Larisa was the first to be baptized. She was so nervous. But she couldn't stop laughing afterwards. :) When she got up to bear her testimony, she said "I just want to thank God that He showed me the path back to Him."

Raluca was second. This 13 year old girl is going to make a perfect sister missionary someday :)

Monica was third. We've never seen her happier in her whole life. She told us after her baptism "It's like I've forgotten all my problems today".

Nicoleta was last. She was so worried about Leve having enough strength to bring her up out of the water. He did it with no problem. After her baptism we asked her how she felt and she said "Now, I feel better." (Sorry it's blurry!)

 Seriously. Yesterday was amazing. I don't know what else to say other than that. It's amazing. These people were all prepared before we got to them. We are so grateful we were able to work with them! 

Oh! And transfer board came out, and Sora Barrera and I are staying together! :) We're so happy.

Here's to another amazing transfer!

I love you all so much!! Thank you for your prayers! We can feel them.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxxo

Sora Ralls

March 3rd, 2014

Buna, Buna!

Seriously, the only word to sum up this week is Success.

This week we've had the highest numbers I've had my entire mission. We've gained more new investigators, had more lessons, and more baptismal dates than I ever thought I could have in one transfer.  Last night the zone leaders even had to call us to make sure they heard it right!

As of this week we have 4 baptismal dates. All for March 29th. And yesterday we had 8 investigators at church! Am I still in Romania?

Let me tell you about the amazing people we've been working with.

First, Monica and her 8 year old daughter Larisa. Our amazing member missionary, Sora Pavel, met Monica, and began talking a bit with her about church. Then, Sora Pavel gave her a restoration pamphlet. Monica took them pamphlet home, studied it, and Immediately felt that she needed to be baptized. Later that week when we met with Monica, she went right to it and asked US when she could be baptized.  Solid.

Maria- I talked a little bit about her in my last email. She's Elena's (our recent convert) daughter. We've continued to meet with her this week, and at the beginning of the week she was so hesitant on accepting a baptismal date. Her little girl, one of the 3 year old twins, became very ill and had to go to the hospital to be on an IV for a few days (she's almost finished and home now though!). 

We talked with her on the phone about her little girl, and she seemed very distraught and overwhelmed by the situation. She knows about priesthood power, and we explained to her that if she would like, we could bring a priesthood holder with us, and he could give her a blessing. She accepted.

We went over the next day with our incredible ward mission leader, Marius. After we talked about blessings for a little bit, Marius gave Maria a blessing of comfort. 

After the blessing, Maria had tears in her eyes. She explained to us that during the blessing, she saw a path. The path was white and illuminated. She knew that it was the path that she needed to take her life. Maria accepted the baptismal date of March 29th.

And Raluca. Our 4th baptismal date. Raluca is DARLING. She's 13 years old, and very, very, very, into the gospel. She knows so much, It's so impressive. She started coming to church with Elena Dumitru and loved it from the beginning. Raluca is SO excited to be baptized. At first we were worried because her mother said she could be baptized, but she still needed to get permission from her dad. When we went back over  on Friday, she said her Dad told her she could be baptized She understands everything so well. Her mother agreed to sit in during our last lesson with her, and during the lesson, Raluca taught her mother how to pray. It was the best thing I've ever seen.

All of these people by the way, are in Feldiora, the little sot we work next to Brasov.  Speaking of which.... FELDIOARA IS GETTING THEIR OWN BUILDING!  It's insane.

When I first got to Feldioara, there were just maybe 10 people. Now we have to get a whole new building because we don't fit in the room we're renting out anymore!

Brasov is doing well too!! Yesterday was my favorite Sunday yet because Adriana, Ion and Beatris ALL CAME TO CHURCH. We waited for them in the foyer until church started, but they didn't show up. I was sitting in the chapel, near the door, when I saw the reflection of a green stroller in the window. I walked into the foyer, and sure enough, there they were :) Man. It was good.

They all really enjoyed church. And I have to say how grateful I am to this branch here. They are the most loving, and welcoming group of people. They made that family feel so welcome. 

Sora Bararra and I are feeling so blessed to be serving here at this time when missionary work is just booming. MY GOSH WE''RE SO BLESSED!

Sora Bararra is loving it all too. I love it because she doesn't know any different. She is definitely starting her mission out on the right foot :)

Thank you for all of your prayers! As you can see.... they're working.

I love you all so much!

xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

February 24, 2014

I can't believe it's a new transfer already! Each one goes by  twice as fast as the one before it, I swear. It's weird. It's been another busy and adventurous week here in Brasov!

First of all.... Meet Sora Barrera!!!!!!

Sora Barrera is darling. She's 20 years old, and she was born in El Salvador. She moved to Maryland when she was 12, and just finished up her first year at BYU.

Training a brand new missionary has really put into perspective just how much I've adjusted to living here. For example, the other day, she asked me if I wanted ice in my glass... Ice.  I FORGOT ABOUT ICE IN DRINKS. That was a weird moment. Of course then we had to have that disappointing talk about how we have no ice. And how she'll probably not have ice for another year and a half. Sorry girl.

But really, Sora Barerra is doing great. And her fluency in Spanish makes the language learning process go a lot smoother :) 

So our week. On Tuesday, the day before transfers, Sora Bray and I taught the family of 13 out in Feldiora. The mother, Zica, agreed to a baptismal date of March 29th! We actually handed the family over to the elders now though so they are going to be taking care of them the rest of the way :)

Wednesday we went to Buc to go to the trainers meeting and pick up our new companions. Ahhh it was such a happy moment when they read off the trainers names and matched us to our new companions! Everyone was so happy and anxious.

Then we took our 3 and half hour train ride back to Brasov. Sora Barerra slept for most it :). She has been pretty jet lagged but she still keeps going! such a trooper! 

On Thursday we went contacting, and we got stopped by two women who pulled out their Bibles and tried to correct us on somethings. For a few minutes I was a little worried as to where things would go and how they would go, but we managed to find some common ground in our beliefs. We actually got their phone number, and they agreed to meet with us and discuss more.... I think we'll be bringing our ward mission leader to this one though :) We also had another lesson with Adriana and her family. Unfortunately Adriana wasn't there so we just taught Ion and Beatris. It went well though!

Saturday we went out to Feldioara and planned on having a lesson with Elena on temples. However, when we got there, we learned that her daughter Maria was staying with her there now for a little while. Not even 2 minutes after we arrived, Maria picked up the Book of Mormon and looked at us and said "I know  nothing about this Book. Tell me about it."   We had a lesson on the restoration right then.

She has lots of questions, but she's very open. She even came to church on Sunday and told us how much she liked it.  We just need to get her to pray about it now :)

I just want to say how amazing our recent convert Elena is. It's ;only been a couple weeks since her baptism, but already she's given us 3 new investigators. Not only that, but she comes to every lesson with us out in Feldioara. We love her so much.

So that's this week!

Speaking of the group in Feldioara, it's growing like crazy. In fact, they've asked that only one set of elders attend because there are not enough seats for all of them. 2 more Melchizedek priesthood holders, and then we can have a brand new branch! How cool is that? 

If any of you having any tips from when  you trained, or when you were being trained, that would be super awesome!

Thank you so much everything you do ! I love you all so much!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo

Sora Ralls