July 8th, 2013

Buna Buna!!!

I cannot believe another week has gone by! Time is going by so quickly!  It's been another great week! It has absolutely been a little more rough than the first few, but still great. It's been increasingly difficult to meet with our investigators. We had only one lesson this week. We had more set up, but they weren't there when we came over. This seems to happen often here. The lesson we did have was really wonderful though. Her name is Cristina and she is in the branch here in Arad. Oh my goodness! Okay. On Sunday, A less active member came in and she brought with her an entire family. This family came and spoke to us after sacrament meeting and they want us to teach them!  Perfect? Yes. We're excited. Super excited!

We've been doing a lot of contacting this week and it's been... an adventure to say the least. haha:) I actually love it. You meet some people here in Romania you can only dream about in the states. The majority of the people here are so kind and are at least willing to listen for a minute.  And then there are the others who want to do nothing more than freak you out.   For example, we met a man on Thursday that listened to what we said for a minute, and then went on telling us how he was " not from this world" and that this world was finished. He yelled a looooot. Sora DeRuvo and I were so ready to get out of there almost the whole time! We said bye, and then started walking away really fast when he called out to us to come back. We turned around to see that Sora DeRuvo had left her purse on the bench is our rush to leave. hahaha. Oh my gosh, that was a good day.

Hey, I hope everyone had a good fourth of July! It was strange to not be in the States for that. For us it was pretty much just a normal day, with the exception that our Elders made us BBQ chicken and baked beans for dinner. SO GOOD. The best part though was trying to watch them ignite the grill with nothing but butane, coal and a lighter... Talk about fireworks..We ended up using the stove.

We are so looking forward to this next week. Sora DeRuvo and I have set some pretty intense ( but realistic of course!) contacting goals. We also get to start teaching that family we met at church. yay! Oh and this week we're going to start looking for a new apartment. Did I mention we're moving already? We are. The apartment we curently have is cute. But it's in a pretttttty sketch part of town. There have also been a few problems with mold. So we get to move. We're planning on moving closer to the center of the city.

Okay, I'm going to leave you with a quote I've had in my mind this eniiiiitire week with it being a little rough and all

it was from a BYU Idaho devotional we had a few years ago from... I think one the professors. He said

"Govern your mind unceasinlgly- Never become discouraged". Things get rough, things fall apart, Things don't work out.  But I'm learning more and more everyday that it's always up to us to keep our outlook and state of mind intact. No one can break that but us!  Do not become discouraged!

I love you all so much! I am so greatful everyday for such a wonderful and loving family. Thank you so much!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Sora Ralls

July 1st, 2013

Salut!

It's been another busy and beautiful week here in Arad. This week we've worked a lot with the branch, planning activities and firesides and things. I have to just say that I love the branch here so much. They are absolutely some of the strongest and most powerful people I've met in my life. Especially the Relief Society leaders here. I am always impressed by them. They do so much with so little. So little resources, and so little support.  I love them so much. One of the sisters here actually just got a mission call to Lyon, France. She is about 30 years old, and she is so excited to go. She asked to meet with Sora DeRuvo and me so we could help her prepare. We're excited to meet with her! We're trying to plan a time when we can take her with us to teach a lesson to one of our investigators.

This week we didn't have many opportunities to teach our investigators. They were all busy this week, or weren't home when we came over to teach them. daaaang. But hopefully this week we'll have a better chance of meeting with them.

We taught our English classes this week, and they went so well! We only have about 8 students so the class is pretty small. It is so much fun though.  It's funny because they try to talk to me in broken English, and I try to talk to them in broken Romanian. Luckily, and I have great companion to fill in gaps on both sides:)
We had an exchange with the coordinating sisters this week, and I exchanged with Sora Gerhartz. She's from New Jersey. We did Book of Mormon contacting. So we went to a park and talked with soooo many people. It was actually surprising how many people were willing to talk with us. We probably talked to over 50 people. Most conversations didn't last long, but we were able to talk with them a little bit about the Book of Mormon and just a bit about the restoration. We handed out a lot of pamphlets. At the end of the day we came back with 5 phone numbers. It doesn't sound like much, but for us that was SO COOL. It's not very easy to get numbers here, so we were more than pleased! 

On Friday, we had zone conference. It was so much fun! I loved it. President Hill announced that he put in a request to get 9 new SISTER companionships . That's 18 new sisters! There really are not many sisters here right now. There are like... I think 80 Elders and 20 something sisters. We're going to double!  How exciting.

On Saturday we had a Preach My Gospel fireside for the members. We talked about how members can use it to teach their family and friends about the gospel. They really seemed to enjoy it. branch activities here are so different than in Utah. If 10 people come to our firesides, or to a branch activity, we are thrilled. They are just like a family here. If someone is speaking at the meeting or activity, any of the members can interject at anytime and put in their 2 cents. I love it so much. It's so funny:) I love these people.

Oh my goodness, I love the food too. Okay, they have this place called Petru's. They sell chocolate covered pretzels for practically nothing. I don't know what I'll do with out them...

I really love being here so much. Every single day I love it more. Every missionary I've met here has been incredible. My district is hilarious, and my companion/trainer is one of the best people I've ever met! I literally see miracles everyday.

Thank you so much for every prayer, and all your support! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

xoxoxoxxoxoxox

Love,
Sora Ralls

June 24th 2013

Buna!!

I don't have long today, but I sent lots of pictures which say a lot:)

Things here are wonderful. In these last 2 weeks, we've gained 4 new investigators, which apparently pretty uncommon for the area. Lenka is our newest investigator, and she is amazing. She lives in this tiny tiny tiny little home right about under the freeway. It feels more like South America than Europe over in that area.  At our last visit we extended a soft baptisml inviation and she said she would like to be baptized! We'll keep teaching her for a little bit, but things are going great.

On Sunday, We took Sebi and his sister Alexandra to church with us. Sebi is 9, and was just baptized a few weeks ago. His sister Alexandra is 10, and is not too interested in being baptized right now. There mom is a member, but hasn't been active for years. We were planning on going with the whole family to church, but the kids were the only ones who could go. The Dad wasn't home and the Mom was sick. President Hill gave us the okay to take the kids so we did. After Sacrament meeting, Sebi went missing. All four of us missionaries looked everywhere. The church here is a big house with 4 floors. We looked on every one. We looked outside. He was no where. We were so panicked. Finally, we go back inside,  and upstairs again to find Sebi standing in a   pile of broken glass. He'd crawled in one of the cabinents in the church kitchen. It's funny now, but SO not funny then. We were just so glad to find him!

Last Tuesday we had Zone conference in Timisoara. Timi was absolutely beautiful! I attatched on of the pictures from there. Our Zone is really great. Sora DeRuvo and I presented on creating an effective language study plan.

Speaking of language, My language skills are getting better everyday! Every meeting we go to, I can understand dramatically more than the last one. Gift of Tongues, anyone? It's coming.

On Friday, there was a HUGE rain storm here. It rained so hard, and the thunder was so hard we kept waking up. It was actually... awesome.

Yesterday we taught a lovely lady named Tina. Tina is amazing.  She LOVES LOVES LOVES the church. She reads the BOM daily. She Reads all the Liahonna's we bring her, marks them up, and then tells us all the things she learned and what she's read. But she's not yet willing to be baptized.She said she is waiting for God to tell her to be baptized.  Yesterday our lesson with her was on faith. We can have all the faith in the world, but it is of no real benefit to us unless we take action with the faith we have.

I am so grateful  for these people and everything they're teaching me. Oh my gosh, they are all amazing.

I love you all so much!!!!!!!! You're in my prayers!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxooxoxoxoxxo

Sora Ralls

It is freaky, it is ghetto, and I LOVE it!

It is freaky, it is ghetto, and I LOVE it.

I don't even know where to start. My life is NOT normal anymore. Okay the weirdest things happen here.

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.

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

Week Two!

Sometimes I think, "Wow, I've been here for two weeks!" and other times I think ""Wow. I've been here for only two weeks."  I swear, you have no concept of time at the MTC. For real, in my journal I have accidentally dated 4 different journal entries as  May 8th. I am still loving it though! I had some really awesome experiences this week. First of all, on Sunday, guess who taught us? Janice.Kapp.Parry. 

Okay, wow. We sang a medley of all her primary songs, and then she surprised us at the end with a brand new song of hers that hasn't been released yet. It's called "The Sisters of Zion" and it's to the same  tune as "As Sisters In Zion".  BUT the lyrics to this one were written specifically for sister missionaries, and we were the first to sing it! It was Incredible!   She's just such a great lady! Okay, and then on Monday, Sora Hebden and I taught a lesson to a volunteer. We just go in a room and talk to this person we've never met before, and then teach them a lesson. Sora Hebden and I thought it would be a good idea to go in with out a script and just try our best to teach a Romanian lesson on our own. it was a STRUGGLE  but we did it.  It took a while and I'm pretty sure our grammar was horrid.. but we got it done! 

My Romanian is definitely coming along. Reading Romanian is actually super easy for me. I can read almost anything from the Romanian Preach my Gospel and tell you what it says. Speaking though is definitely a little more difficult. 

Okay, one of my absolute favorite parts of the week though was the lesson we taught just yesterday. Sora Hebden and I taught our Romanian teacher (who was pretending to be an investigator) a lesson on the restoration. We went in again with no real script. We didn't even have much time to prepare one even we wanted one that day anyway. They just kind of sprung it on us.  But it went SO well. I've only felt the spirit that strong a few times in my life.  I wasn't even expecting it to happen. Usually I go into a lesson a little nervous. Even though it is just my teacher and I know it's okay if we mess up (which is good cause we mess up a lot!) And I was nervous at the beginning, but we started off, and I began explaining to our investigator about Joseph Smith and all of the sudden, I just felt complete and total peace. My words came easier and I had to hold back from crying. I didn't even think that could be possible in the MTC!  Okay, missionary work is awesome.

Okay, another eventful thing happened this week, that I 'm not entirely proud of. So, there is this container of wet wipes we use in the language computer lab that is used to wipe down the computers after we use them. Well I accidentally pulled out two wipes instead of one, and tried to push in the second wipe with my thumb, and my thumb got stuck... like... really stuck. So,  in my panic, I pushed the rest of my thumb through the lid hoping it would just at least hurt less. BAD IDEA. It was not coming off. Sora Hebden and I tried running it under water... that didn't work. My thumb went all white, and then purple. So, in shame, I walked my stuck, purple thumb to the front desk. They tried cutting it off.. nope. They tried Vaseline . nope.  It took one BYU police officer, an MTC secretary  my companion, and a set a eye glass screw drivers to pry it off! Okay, it's funny now but I was worried there for a few minutes!! All in all, I am grateful for my thumb:)

Oh! Aunt Jennie! I met Sister Hughes  (It was Sister Hughes, right?) She's so nice! She had the letter you wrote her in her hand when she found me.. AND OH MY GOSH SHE JUST CAME UP TO ME JUST AS I WROTE THAT. She says hi!!! and She loves you guys.

Sorry this email is all over the place! I am a little pressed for time today!

OH MY GOSH! Elder Nelson came and spoke to us yesterday! How could I forget?? It was great! he talked about how obedience brings blessings.  Thank you for everyone who's been writing me and sending me such nice packages and things! Thanks for all the treats Grandma Grandpa and Aunt Viv!! You all are so kind to me!!

I love you all and miss all of you!!!

xoxoxxoxoxox

Sora Ralls

Happy Mother's Day!!

Keri made this video for our awesome mom before she left for the MTC. Such a great Mother's Day gift!!

Week One!

Buna Familiea!!!

Oh my gosh. This is crazy. I'm writing one of those missionary emails. The time has come!!  The MTC is a great place to be. I really do enjoy being here, and I love visiting with other missionaries. Every time you open the door for someone, they tell you "Thank you" in a different language. I love it. My companion is awesome. Her name is Sora Hebden and she is from Pleasant Grove. She and I clicked instantly. We had two other roommates until yesterday. They left for Canada the other night, and they were so funny! They told us all the tricks of the MTC which was nice.  Our district is so great. There are two districts going to Romania here right now, and there are 12 of us total. Sora Hebden and I are the only sisters so we've been trying to adjust to the elder's sense of humor. We love them though:) One of them is from Australia and had all of us try his Vegemite for "initiation".  Okay, not so good.

I have seen SO many people I know here. It's insane! And they just keep coming! Today as Sora Hebden and i were walking out of the temple, we ran into my friend Suzy who reports today! She's going to Oklahoma. Seriously, Wednesdays are exciting days here. There's so much energy with all the new missionaries coming in! They walk around wide eyed and confused. That was me just a week ago! You get used to things here really quickly. By day 2, I felt pretty normal again. It really helps to have a companion who is experiencing pretty much the exact same thing. I actually had a far easier time adjusting then I anticipated. I don't really miss music, or Facebook. or even my phone like I thought I would. They just keep us so busy all the time here we don't have time to miss them! I also never, even for one day, had a problem waking up at 6:00 am.I'm always full of energy and ready to go. Um. Can you say Miracle?

The MTC also reminds me a lot of being at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It feels the same to me!! No wonder you two were called here!

The language is coming along. We've already taught our first lesson in Romanian to our "Investigator" Elena.  We pretty much figure out how to write a lesson in Romanian and then carry a script in with us and teach her in a class room. We usually just have to guess as to what questions she asks us at the end, and try and use whatever words we know to answer her.... We're pretty sure we get it right 10% of the time. haha :)  Two Elders in our district got back from there lesson and they held up a paper and said, "We couldn't understand Elena's question so we had her write it down. Can any one translate it for us?" Elena had written down "When Can I be baptized?" We all thought that was so funny... Except for those two elders!

Some days I feel like I'm getting the language so well, and some days it feels like I have no idea what my teachers are saying. I have to keep reminding myself it's only been a week! 

It's not always easy being at the MTC, but every time I have a really difficult day, small miracles happen. A few days ago, I was so frustrated the language. SO frustrated. And just felt like it was such a barrier and couldn't teach how I wanted to teach. Sora Hebden and I were studying in an empty classroom figuring out our lesson plans, and out nowhere, this sister from Tonga walked in our room and started talking to us about how wonderful a place the MTC is and how she sometimes has really hard times here, and struggles often. She told us about how grateful she was that she had those challenges though because she knows they are teaching her to be a better person.She talked to us a little longer, then she just left. It was a little odd, but an immediate and personal answer to my silent prayers. I am so thankful she did that. We still see her a lot around the MTC.

Fast Sundays here are INCREDIBLE. There's nothing like a testimony meeting with 50 missionaries. And we have incredible devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday nights!

This place really is incredible. I am so grateful to be a missionary. After being here just a couple days, I already feel like I want to go out and teach! I am so excited to get to Romania. Those 5 weeks will go by super fast though, I'm sure. I can't believe week 1 is already over!! They say the days go by like weeks and the weeks go by like days here. I've already found that to be true!!

Seriously, Overall, I am so HAPPY to be here And I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Sora Ralls