Week Two!!

Thursday Feb 21, 2013

Buna ziua! I hope all is well with you!

Before I forget, happy birthday to two of my most favorite people ever! Breanna and Karoline, eat lots of cake and have lots of good times! And I guess happy birthday to me too. I'm going to eat ice cream to celebrate. Thank you ice cream bar every Sunday.

You know, sometimes you witness crazy things here at the MTC. I think two of my favorite moments this week were when I passed some elders whistling the Imperial March (if you don't know what that is, shame on you). I started laughing to myself, and when I realized my companion wasn't laughing along with me, I remembered something she'd said previously. "You've never seen Star Wars, huh?" "Nope." Hence the pure awesome fell on deaf ears. However, she did not fail to recognize the theme to Mission Impossible which another Elder was humming to himself as he passed by our classroom, so we can still be friends :)

 But the craziest thing that happened this week is that we lost our other Romanian district. There were only two districts, us and them. They'd been here since just before Christmas. We loved our association with them as they gave us helpful advice and assured us that we weren't doing as poorly as we thought we were. Last Thursday, they got their travel plans to go to Romania. They were super excited and nervous. We were super excited and nervous for them. But here's the thing. They were supposed to leave not on Monday, but the following Monday (the 25th).On Friday night, they were summoned to the travel office where they were informed that they would be leaving a week early as their presence was requested. I think that nervous excitement turned to panic a little bit. Everything was closed and would be closed for the entire weekend so they couldn't get last minute things from the bookstore or mail off packages or the like. They were all struggling to get a call home to let their parents know they were leaving. Thankfully, everything worked out and all parents were notified. We were sad to see them go, but we hope they are all enjoying their early arrival into Romania. On that note, Momsy and Popsy, you should know that I may not call the day I leave. It may be a few days before. I can't be entirely sure at this time so I want you to be prepared. I can't leave a message as that counts as my call so one of you better answer your phone. Also, would you send me some quarters so I can use the payphone because I have none... I might be able to get some. Anyway, I'll let you know more about that as the time approaches. They shouldn't be sending us early by the way. There were some circumstances that just made their transfer make sense. They just weren't expecting it.

Okay Dad. First of all, when you told me the clock story the image in my head was you using the killing curse on all those poor defenseless clocks ha ha. I'm sure that's just because you made a Harry Potter reference. Speaking of which, here are you're references. Let's see if I pass the test! Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, and Brian Regan. I feel like I missed one but hopefully you can't remember what it is ha ha. Oh your Romanian got all garbled with Dear Elder because it doesn't like the symbols or something. I'll attach a picture so you can see what it did. Thankfully I was able to figure out what it said by subtracting all the numbers and random symbols. As for the 30 minute limit, I was told that that's only here at the MTC as there are so many missionaries that they want to be sure that everyone has a chance to e-mail home. In the field, the time I spend can be longer. And we do have devotionals, but they are just here on campus. We have devos on Sundays and Tuesdays. I had to drop out of choir. That didn't last long. But they perform at the devotional and there are so many people here that by the time we get out of class there's no more room in the choir. That was a little disappointing, but that doesn't stop me from breaking out into song with other sisters in my district.

I've been seeing people from home this week, which is super exciting! It's always fun seeing familiar faces here in the MTC. Plus, I just love that we are all involved in this work together.

I had some cool experiences this week. I don't have time to write them all, but there was one in particular that has stuck out in my mind. This week I was reminded of how Heavenly Father is aware of us each individually. He knows our needs and desires. He knows us better than anyone. I don't want to give too many details so hopefully you can still see how awesome this experience was. My companion was having a bit of a hard time. She was worried about things going on at home and since last weekend was a holiday, we hadn't received any letters for at least three days. She had one concern in particular that was just weighing on her mind, and with all the other stressers at the moment, she felt like she was at her breaking point. We do this thing call coaching missionary study where our companionships meet individually with one of our teachers and we express goals, concerns, etc. so that they can know how to help us. My companion didn't go into any details about her concerns. She just mentioned how she was worried about some things back home. Our teacher paused for a long time. He then turned to the scriptures. When he found the one he had in mind, he had us read it allowed. Both my companion and I know that he was directed by the spirit of God. The words in those verses were exactly the thing that she needed to hear. There couldn't have been a better few verses for the things that were worrying her. We were both touched, and we both know that it was inspired. He had no idea the details of her struggles, but Heavenly Father did, and he told her what she needed to know by guiding our teacher to bring us to that scripture. Just like Heavenly Father knows and loves my companion, I can testify to you that he loves and knows each and every one of you. We are His children and He wants to help us.

Just a few more things before I say my farewells. Daniel in Romanian is pronounced like Danielle. The Elders in our district are teaching a Daniel at the moment and it freaks me out every time they talk about it because I think they are saying my name! Oh and for those of you who don't know, we aren't teaching real investigators. We are practicing on our teachers who take on the persona of investigators they had while they were on their missions. Also, my companion said that she looked at Dear Elder before she left and apparently it's free to use Dear Elder to send letters to Romania, so even when I'm over there, please continue to use that resource. I still won't get it right away, but I love getting letters :)

I hope you are all doing well. Mama, I'm keeping you and Grandma in my prayers. Please keep my updated. I love you tons. Also, expect another handwritten letter soon :) Megan, you'll be getting one too, but I'm not sure what your address is so I'm just going to send it to Mom and Dad and they can pass it on. Stuart, Laura, and Wee Autumn, I love you bunches! Josh and Heather, I hope you are doing well and I love you too! I think about you all a lot! Remember the love of your Father in Heaven and that I love you too :)

Love,

Sora Adams

P.S. I can't do pictures on this computer... If I can't attach them later today, you'll have to wait until next week. Sorry!

Letter to Home

2/14/13                                                    Letter to Home

Draga Mama Si Tata,

30 min is not enough time to send e-mails!  So I am writing the old fashioned way.  I hope you are well.  

The Lord has blessed me so much since I have been here.  The Spirit is strong here.  I love it when we sing.  It just fills my heart.  I tell ya, "Called to Serve" has never been so powerful.  

I joined the choir!  I love our director.  One sister said he reminded her of Brian Regan.  He's really funny!  The other thing I love is he makes the songs meaningful.  So we aren't just singing words.  We sang "Faith of our Fathers" for the devotional on Tuesday.  It has an interesting history,  and our conductor applied it to us.  I saw Danielle Wilcoxson a few times before she left on Monday.  That was fun.  It was really nice to have a familiar face on my first day.  

I am learning so much.  I have a hard time falling asleep at night because I can't get my brain to shut up.  I need a little Bob in my life. Ha Ha.  (Note- as a family we watch an old show "Bob Newhart"  before we go to bed.  Helps us wind down )

There's a Mormom Message you should watch.  I couldn't hear it because it was in the gym and I don't have headphones. But it still touched me because I pulled some training from it.  I think Elder Oaks is the one speaking.  They compare missionaries to our pioneers.  I thought that was a cool comparison.  

Oh, more about Sora Stewart.  She seems so in tune to receiving answers. She also has a great desire to be obedient which I admire.  I really like it because it means we're on time to everything. 

The language can kind of scare us all.  That's probably the most stressful part.  But things don't seem so scary once you make it past Sunday.  Sunday was so amazing.  My heart was so ful and I got some good personal notes.  What I've been learning the past few days concerning the language is that it's okay if we aren't perfect because the Spirit will still testify.  It's the Holy Ghost that converts, not us.  I've felt that through experience too. 

A teacher is acting like one of his old investigators so we can practice teaching lessons.  Today is our last lesson with him.  We fumble a lot with the language.  Sora Stewart and I felt so bad after our second lesson because we couldn't understand. So we were jumping forward, just continuing on with the script we'd made for ourselves.  Basically, we were really down on ourselves.  I couldn't even focus on any more after that.  The next day when we went to teach I offered our prayer before we entered.  We like to pray before hand.  I felt like it was one of my most sincere prayers ever as I asked Heavenly Father for help, knowing we couldn't do it alone.  We had our lesson, and although we still fumbles, we understood the majority of what he said and we could have lept and shouted for joy.  We were so full of happiness!

 I thought of Alma when he talks about feeling joy as exceeding as was his pain.  The context is different, but that's kind of what it felt like.  We made sure we said a prayer of gratitude before we did anything else.  It's funny writing "my heart was full."  I feel like I'm understanding what that phrase means for the first time.  There's really no better way to describe that feeling.  

I almost flooded the bathroom the other day.  My shower was clogged.  I didn't realize it at first and showers are hard to get so I thought I'd just go super fast.  When I was done, the water was pretty much at the edge of my curtain about to go into the bathroom.  That was interesting.  Also, thanks for the flip flops.  The shower floors can get gross.  All the hair would make you gag, Dad. 

This is what my schedule looks like for tomorrow so you can get an idea of what it's like:

Morning-

Wake up- 6:30

Study- 7:00

Breakfast- 7:30

Classroom Instruction- 8:00

Personal Study- 11:05

Lunch- 12:15

Language Study- 1:00

Training/Class- 2;15

Dinner:- 5:15

Gym- 6:10-7:00

TALL (sort of like Rosetta Stone)- 7:35

Planning- 8:35-9:00

Personal Time/ Companion Prayer- 9:30

Quiet time- 10:15

Lights out- 10:30

Mom it looks like I didn't over pack.  I packed perfectly!! =)

I love you all so much.  Talk to you soon.

Dumnezeu Si Isus Hristos te iubesteI

Love,

Danielle

The Last Hurrah!

For the first bit I, Danielle's mom, will be writing the blog since we have not yet received a letter from Danielle.  This is the beginning of Danilelle's story, "The Romanian Adventure."

Danielle and I flew to Utah together on the 10th of February.  We went from a land full of green to a land covered in ice and snow, and that was just going from Washington to Utah!!  We had a couple of fun days just hanging out with Laura, Stuart, and Autumn. (Ever type Autumn into a cell phone? It comes up Button which is perfect because she is "As cute as a button!")  

It was fun playing dominoes with Stuart and watching Autumn as she is learning to walk. We spent as much time with Autumn as we could because she will grow so quickly in the next 18 months. Danielle took a few pictures of she and Autumn on her camera and then a few of Autumn and myself on my camera.  These are a few of our activities:

One thing we have learned is that you never leave Danielle alone with a cell phone or camera for too long.  Without close supervision you get results such as this:

Proof that you should never take pictures first thing in the morning.

We went shopping for a few items that she would need that we had not yet purchased and we also had some terrific food and walks with Laura and Autumn while Stuart was at work. We had some extra time on our hands one day so we filled it the best we could.

 Finally Wednesday morning rolled around.  Danielle and I got up a wee bit early so that we could be ready when the time came to go to the MTC.  I get really nervous and cranky when I don't know where I am going and I wanted to avoid all crankiness and chances of getting lost. (Didn't work.  But that's another story)

We used part of Autumns quiet reading space to get a good picture for Danielle's plaque at church. I think we should use the third one.  =)

                                         Then it was time for final hugs and squeezes.  

It was a great few days. I took Danielle's journal while she was sleeping and wrote a little affirmation note on a few pages for her to find as she writes in her journal.  She got some family pictures on her camera to carry with her and we all shared the love that we have for each other and for her to take with her on this great adventure.

On the way to the MTC the GPS diverted us to paths that we did not really want to go.  However the fix was easy and after gritting my teeth, and Danielle's reassurance, we got back on the path we needed to be on.

The MTC was awesome.  We have a friend who works in the office at the MTC and she told us that the day Danielle came into the MTC was the biggest day they would have to date.  I believe she said 815  new missionaries came that day.  Her son also entered the MTC on the same day.  She said she would watch for Danielle for us which was a great comfort.  Heavenly Father new I needed to hear that!!

At the MTC we were told that there would be no time for pictures.  We were to drop the missionaries off and move on because there were so many coming.  I thought "I need just one picture of her here!!"  So I put my great photographer expertise to use and got these pictures:

 Oh well.  Hopefully time will fly and the pictures we get of her coming home will be more in focus!  There were so many new missionaries coming.  It was amazing. 

                                       More pictures and letters to come soon!!

The Big Day

Tomorrow's the big day! Tomorrow my mission officially starts! I'll be at the Missionary Training Center for 6 weeks before I head out to Romania. Stay tuned for many adventures! And may your next year and a half be filled with adventures also!

Until next time!

-Sora Adams