Smile and Wave Boys, Smile and Wave

 Bună Bună Tuturor!! 

Somehow this last week has been the fastest and longest week of my mission. I don't even know how to explain it...

Highlights:

-LANGUAGE!!! So since Sora Reynolds and I are from the same MTC group this means we are both right out of training... and we both are not great yet when it comes to speaking and understanding the language. But, let's just say the gift of tongues is real!!! We taught 5 or 6 lessons this week, had conversations in our traveling, taught English class, made phone calls, all by ourselves!! (Well of course with the Lord's help so not "all by ourselves"). But yeah it was amazing!! 

-Got to talk to my sister on her birthday!! Happy birthday Abs!! 

- Had two lessons with Vlad this week!! We moved his Baptismal date, but I think it was for the best! We really wanted to make sure it was something he wanted, and it was so he picked the date! July 15th!! Which also happens to be his birthday so that's lit!! Please keep him in your prayers as we help him reach this goal!!

- Had our first District council with the new district!! A fost 🔥🔥🔥

-Visited Parcul Romanescu (this super nice park here in Craiova, one of the top 10 best parks in Europe actually) twice this week and tried out survey finding there!! Survey finding is really big in our mission right now and I've been wanting to try out for a while, but we never had the time. Basically we go up to people and ask if they'll take a survey. The survey questions all relate to gospel principles, so as people take the survey you can see where they're at and also teach the gospel principles related to the questions!! It's awesome!! The other time we went was for a branch activity!! It was so fun to get together with the branch!! 

- We actually had someone show up to games night!! His name is Gabriel and he is obsessed with board games... he actually brought a bunch of his own. So we got to play some new board games with him! It was lit!! 

- I don't know if this is good or bad thing but the amount of sugar I've consumed this week was through the roof haha Reynolds and I are have a good time though so...🤷‍♀️

Not-So-Highlights:

-LANGUAGE!! Hahaha yeah even though I've felt very blessed with help with the language this week, there have been so many times that we just don't know exactly what people are saying...so as per my subject line, this week has just been a lot of smiling and waving and saying my favorite phrase "am înțeles!" (I understand!! Even though I literally understood like 2 of the words they said) and our brains are low key fried from just trying to decipher everything. But as per usual we're straight chilling. And honestly we both know that this is such an awesome opportunity for us to grow in the language, so we're excited to see our skills progress this transfer!!

-The HEAT... this week the heat really killed us. We took so many buses too. This is how that goes, you get on the bus already sweating, are on it for literally less then 10 minutes, get off and are literally dripping with sweat!! 😁😰

-CREEPY OLD MEN!!! Let's set the stage. We're in this park in center, walking to go back to the church and this guy just comes up to us and asks about our church. He's like 60+ and seems harmless so we start walking and talking, he says he wants to get us lunch and learn more about why we're here or something along those lines... flash forward like 20 minutes later and basically that is not what he wanted (I'm still not entirely sure what exactly he wanted), and we are literally running out of the restaurant. He did actually come after us a little bit but luckily even though I'm out of shape, I can still manage to outrun an old man. We were worried though because we gave him a pamphlet with our number and church address, but we haven't had any problems yet so hopefully we're in the clear.

- FOOD!!! So we had our branch activity in the park right? Well our Branch President failed to tell us that part of the activity would be eating a full on meal together. So after we had already eaten lunch before, we went to a restaurant in park to go eat with the branch. They decided to do it kind of family style, so we were all getting the same things. So they're trying to decide and asking us if we're ok with the food (but when I say asking, it's not really asking because they're all just talking over each other and it's chaotic and you can barely get a word in) so I'm following what they're saying at least and I hear them say "pește" which means fish, I do not like fish at all. So I was like no!! No fish please! But then they just asked if we actually had permission as missionaries to eat fish and well I didn't want to lie, so I started to say "Well, yes but..." and then I get cut off and they're like just try it!! Let's just say the heat wasn't the only thing making me sweat after that. The food comes out and they ordered each of us our own serving of fried sardines!! It was the whole fish. You could see eyeballs and everything 🤢 I literally don't know if I've ever prayed harder in my life. Luckily we were able to choke down enough to satisfy the members but my stomach was not having it. Neither was Sora Reynolds. We were sick the rest of the night and may or may not have thrown it all up later... good times, good times.

Funny:

- This week we went to help out the Ions, and specifically Sora Elena. While we there we also got to play with Adi, he is like 9 years old. But his is an absolute menace!! He has so much energy and is all over the place and he wanted us to take pictures with him and then basically kept putting us in headlocks... craziness haha. 

Gând Spiritual:

D&C 122:7

7) And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

After writing this email and thinking over my week this is the verse I thought of. My week was crazy and hard and exhausting, but at the end of it I can already see how these experiences have made me grow! And I know that though we are given these experiences for our good and to grow it doesn't mean that we are also meant to do them alone! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are with us every step of the way and want to help us in every way they can! And as I look back I see so many instances in this week were the Lord has been with me helping me, when maybe I couldn't help myself!! It is such a blessing to have this knowledge and to be able recognize this in my life!! 

Well it was long, but if you made it this far thanks for reading, you're a real one haha!! 

Aveți o săptămână frumoasă!! 

Vă iubesc!!

Sora Hansen 

Ain't no way they approved this...

 Bună bună!!

Highlights:

- Had a lit last pday with our Craiova group!! Pizza, donuts card games, and catching pigeons!!! 

- Had our regular lesson with Vlad on Tuesday... 🔥🔥🔥

- Went to visit our member family the Ions and then when we got back to the Church we were asked to join a last minute translation lesson! Basically these Elders in Germany were knocking doors and found this Romanian guy. They got let in but he didn't speak much German. So they knew someone in our mission and it then trickled down to us helping translate the lesson. It was a very cool experience for sure.

-Went to București for transfers!!! We also got to stay in an empty apartment with some other sets of sisters so it was fun to have a little party haha (jk we were all too exhausted to party) 

-Friday was transfers!! Because I'm ending training we had meeting with President and Sister Rucker and all of my MTC group. It was super fun to see everyone and hear about their training experiences! And after that I was officially done with training!! Craziness!!! 

-Then I got together with the one and only SORA REYNOLDS!!! Let's gooo! 

-We played some billards on Saturday

-I gave a talk on Sunday (don't be too impressed it was just reading out of Principles of the Gospel) 

-And now for THE highlight of the week... so Sora Olsen and I found and have been teaching our friend Vlad for a long time now. We been trying to get him to come to church, and he's wanted too, but he has a hard time walking there and has no other means to get there. Well on Sunday we get a call right after church from him and he's like "Where are you guys?" We tell we're at the church and he goes, "oh I think I'm here." We go outside and he was there!! He had walked all the way to church!!!!! What a miracle!! He did miss church unfortunately, but we decided to teach him anyway. The next lesson we had planned was about baptism... so after the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!! The tentative date is July 1st and I could not be more excited for him!!! 

-Also like every 2 seconds Sora Reynolds and I look at each other and just go there's no way your my comp right. Ain't now way they approved this. Yeah let's just say we're excited about this next transfer.

Not-so Highlights:

-We missed our first train back to Craiova. It didn't come... really weird. But then we had to wait at the train station for 3 hours until our next one. Luckily though there were Elders there who also missed a train so we just vibed with them until our next one came. 

-The trains in Romania don't really have ac. So middle of the day, humid, summer weather + small inclosed spaces with no ac for hours on end... yeah you get the picture.

Funny: 

-Well I could have about 50 million moments on here from the last week, because I don't think I've stopped laughing. But one in particular was on Saturday we were walking back from Billards and there was a torrential storm. Now Reynolds and I were geniuses and left our rain jackets at the church, because well it was super hot when we walked to billards. Thankfully though all was not lost because Elder Swensen was a g and gave us his umbrela. The only problem is apparently neither of can hold an umbrella correctly, and there's no space on the sidewalk, because everyone in Romania believes the side walk to be a parking space. So basically one person could have the umbrella at a time. So Reynolds is running with it and the top caught a small hanging tree branch. I was walking behind and I swear it was like a scene from a movie. She struggling to get the umbrella unstuck and as she finally does the tree branch whips back and smacks me in the face. I was stumbling for second and as I was,  Reynolds was still trying to put the umbrella back up and hits me again in the face. We literally almost died laughing...

Gând Spiritual:

This week I realized the power in asking hear what the Lord wants you to hear. I often struggle in studies because I don't always have super specific questions I'm trying to answer. But this week I got thought to just ask to hear what the Lord wanted me to hear. The chapter I read was perfect and helped in places I didn't even realize needed help! So just because you're not pondering a specific question it does not mean that the Lord doesn't have something specific for you!!! 

Vă Iubesc!!! 

Sora Hansen

 

TRANSFERSSSSSSSSS

 Bună Bună!! 

Highlights:

- Lessons with Vlad and Mariana this week!!! 

- District council in person!! And the Probsts coming up (the senior couple in our district)

- The Probsts have a car so they agreed to take us to see this lady we've been talking to named Salomea. Our lesson with her was so good (we're definitely planning on going back) and I actually understood what was going on through the whole lesson!!!!!

- Finished Immigration work (finally)

- Hilarious visit with our member family the Ions

- Met up with this lady named Adela I met on a Harry Potter Facebook group (she's a g fr fr) and we gave her a Book of Mormon!!

- Visited an inactive member, she's super sweet and gave us cherries!! 

- Found the best donuts (at least for Romanian ones)

- Had a great discussion/lesson for Relief Society with Mariana and the Branch President's wife, Sora Brînaru.

Not-so Highlights:

- Well we spent another 5 hours doing Immigration work. But luckily it's all done now, we just have to wait for our visas. 

- Was super nervous about transfer calls and lost some sleep, but it's all good we straight chilling now. 

- Wednesday morning was a little rough for me. Let's just say I'm a massive clutz. We were getting our apartment checked that morning and I managed to break one of our two bowls, spill Oatmeal everywhere, and the list goes on...

Funny:

- This week we were waiting to get on the Tramvai and we're talking, and I see this lady physically moving closer to us to look at Sora Olsen's pamphlets. So Sora Olsen turns over and starts talking to her. The tramvai comes and the lady is still talking to her, and then all of a sudden she gets really snobby with Sora Olsen. She kept asking if Sora Olsen was Orthdox (even though she is and should know that we're not), asking what church she was baptized in, and then just exclaiming that she wants nothing to do with Sora Olsen. But what you got to understand about this is that the tramvai's here are literally dead silent, and this lady was basically screaming... so the whole tramvai is watching this. Anyways so then this other lady nest to the mean one is trying to talk over her and is actually interested in learning more so the noise gets louder, and then all of a sudden from the very back this hard core Orthdox lady starts yelling at the other mean Orthdox lady to stop being rude to Sora Olsen. It was literally the most hilarious thing, because Sora Olsen was literally standing there in the middle of this train fight and she literally hasn't said more than 2 words. It was so good haha.

Transfer news...

Alright the moment you've all been waiting for (or maybe not but that's ok)

I am staying here in Craiova and...

Sora Reynolds is coming here!!!!!! 

I'm beyond excited (Sora Reynolds was in my MTC group) this next transfer is about to be a party!!! Yayayayay!!! 

Gând Spiritual:

This week I was reading this talk called "The Fourth Missionary" (its absolutely a fire talk if anyone wants it lemme know) and I really liked this quote from it

"Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus."

I really love the word "opportunity". This whole life is an opportunity for us to learn and become better. And although the hard things in life are, well, hard, if we can try see the end from the beginning we can make the best of the experiences we have here. We become the best version of ourselves because of these experiences and through Christ!

I hope yall have a great week!! If you ever have any questions or anything feel free to ask!!! 

Vă Iubesc!!

Sora Hansen

Foarte repede

 Bună Bună!! 

Highlights:

-This week in general has just been so busy, and I freaking love it!! We came to this area with nothing scheduled to do. So to have full days of lessons and visits is so awesome!!

- Had a lesson with Vlad!! We couldn't contact him for like three weeks but luckily we're back in contact now and go to meet with him!! So great!

- Visit with Sora Rădulescu!! The Elders have been trying to visit her for months, but have been unsuccessful, but we were finally able to visit (we only rubbed it in a little bit haha). She was super sweet and we're going to be visiting every week now!

-Visit with Sora Elena and helping her with her calling as relief society president!! 

-Surprise Branch Activity!! One of the Elders here had been here for 7 months and was branch president for most of it. He is leaving this next transfer so we decided to throw him a surprise branch activity. The members and some of the Elders friends came and it was so fun!! We just played board games and talked it was a blast!! This branch also hasn't had an activity in forever so it was really good for the members to gather together.

Not-so Highlights:

-New shoes+lots of walking... yeah you can probably do the math there

-Got a call from the office Elders that I had to go do some visa work, at 8:00 in the morning on the other side of town. We get out the door and get over there just to find out it's closed for the holidays. Yeah that sucked. 

Funny:I might have 

I bore my testimony on Sunday and I wanted to try using a phrase I hadn't before. In Romanian there are a few different ways to say "because". Two of them I hardly ever use because the grammar is little harder. One is datorită  (because positive) and the other one is din cauză (because negative). So I get up there bear my testimony and I was so excited because I used the sentence I wanted too. I sat back down and then during the closing prayer I realized... wait did I use the wrong one? I asked my companion and I did in fact use the wrong one. So basically I said 

I know that I can change everyday unfortunately because of Jesus Christ and his atonement... yeah a little embarrassing but that's alright.

Gând Spiritual:

I've been thinking about all day what I wanted to share, but I think I'll just keep it short and sweet.

I know this gospel is true. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and it blesses me everyday. I know Jesus Christ died for me and suffered for me. I know I can live with my family again. And that's why I'm here!! 

Vă Iubesc! 

Sora Hansen