One year older and Wiser too!!

Guess who's one year older and (hopefully) wiser too! Yep, my today's my birthday and it's been a good one. I started the day off right by eating brownie and banana bread for breakfast. Then I opened up my gifts from home (thanks for those!). That was soon followed by a fashion show of clothes that other sisters have left behind. After that, we headed to the mall and I bought myself a new journal. It's so adorable. I can't get over it. We then met with our district at the church, ordered pizza, and watched the Single's Ward. The best moment was when one of the characters said, "To quote Brigham Young 'If you are 25 and not married you are a menace to society.'" My zone leader then turned to me and asked how old I am now. That's right. I'm now officially a menace to society. Ha! The zone leaders were awesome and brought me some chocolates. So pretty much, it's been a great birthday.

As you know I'm not in Arad anymore. It was sad leaving such a great district, branch, and boboaca (aka greenie). I sure had some great times in Arad. When we went to get our tickets, the sleeper train that went directly to Buch was full so we had to take a train to Timisoara where we would meet the missionaries there and then head to Buch. Well, we missed our train due to some confusion when reading the departure board. The good thing was that there was a few hours that we were going to have to wait in Timi anyway and there was another train that was leaving from Arad that would get us there in time to catch our train to Buch. So thankfully it all worked out.

Wednesday was transfer day. I got all of my stuff to my apartment. A huge group of us got together outside of huge mall and sang hymns while others spoke to people passing by, handing out pass along cards and such. I loved it. I love being able to use my talents to share my testimony and the love of our Heavenly Father and his spirit with others. I ate a bunch of food, hang out a bit more with Sora Bird before saying goodbye to her at the train station, then headed back to my apartment with Sora Deruvo and six other sisters who stayed with us that night. 

I didn't have chance to unpack until Friday. On thursday we had mission leadership council at the mission home. It was a great meeting. We were fed spiritually and physically! Seriously. Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. I was a happy camper. And then sarmale, mamaliga, coleslaw, goulash, and bread for lunch. Dang. Curse my need to try a little bit of everything! It was worth it though. We figured out which girls we get to go do exchanges with. I'm excited to do those and to see the sisters! Oh by the way, we had nine new sisters come in this transfer. I don't even know what else to say about that. Basically we have a good amount of new faces around. I got to meet them all briefly and they seem really cool.

We were able to have a lesson with a family that lives pretty far away yesterday. Sora Deruvo had met the mother a week ago but yesterday was the first time anyone had actually visited with them in their home. We had to take 3 types of transportation to get there and two of their daughters came to greet us. They are so beautiful! They are 12 and 14 and I already love them even though they talk really fast and I couldn't always understand what they were saying. Ha! It was cool to have a lesson with the entire family (well all except for one child who was at a friend's house). We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and about prayer and how through prayer they kind find strength through their trials. At the end we asked if one of them would like to pray. The son (who is younger than his two sisters) said he wanted to but he didn't know how. With Sora Deruvo's help, he was able to say the prayer. It was so cute! They said we can come back, that we're welcome just as if we were family. They really are a great family. Hopefully we'll see some progress with them.

Something I'm grateful for this week is blessings. This week I reread my notes from my blessings from when I was set apart as a missionary and then the final blessing my dad gave me before I left. As I was reading them, I was touched by the things I was promised and by the things in there that I need to know. As I read I was reminded how much blessings are proof that Heavenly Father knows us each individually, that He knows what we need now and what we will need in the future. It was amazing to me to realize that even before I set foot in Romania, Heavenly Father provided me with council that I would specifically need. He knew/knows the trials I face. He also knows that I can overcome them and become stronger from those trials, and He will give me the tools to overcome those.

Again I want to emphasize that I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. There were a few things I was struggling with yesterday. I poured out my heart to Heavenly Father during the sacrament. Within the next few hours of church, I saw all my concerns being addressed. Answers don't always come that quickly, by I assure you that Heavenly Father will answer in the way and time that He knows is best. We must put our faith in Him, and we will see His hand in our lives.

Have a great week!

Cu drag,

Sora Adams

                                                               Sister Deruvo and I