"Sora Blanchard is lit!!" -Sora Blanchard

 Bună Bună!! 

Highlights:

- 3 exchanges this week!! Holy smokes it was a whirlwind but so much fun! Got to learn from some pretty amazing missionaries! 

-First one was with Sora Loveless. We went and visited my favorite family, the Brinarus!! We had great food and great company (as per usual), and they had a new puppy (Tasha!!!) She was so cute! We were all obsessed. Then we got to visit our cute Relief Society president and go through our member list with her! Whe now have some people we can go visit! Im excited!

-Second was with the one and only SORA DABO!!! Throwback to the MTC baby! It was so fun to see her and my BABY Sora Barnett! Went finding with some surveys, had a lesson with our friend Sara, and then went to visit a part member family and celebrate a birthday!

-Third was with Sora Haglund!!! She is such a hard worker and it was so fun to get to know her better! She also came on Saturday so we had games night! So fun!!

-Other than that we also had a member meal with one of the american families, the Bills. Our friend Sara also came with us and so that was super awesome! 

Miracles:

-I have had some less the unfortunate events happen this last week, and I have been praying for them to be resolved in the way I would like. But I also knew that it was up to the Lord and his will. So when the resolution didn't come I wasn't mad, but I wasn't all to excited either. BUT THEN... Today I looked back at the past week and I realized we experienced so many miracles!! We reached out to so many people who we've been trying to meet up with forever, and they actually said yes! While doing survey finding, Sora Wolsey ran into a friend that we lost contact with a while ago... apparently it wasn't us, just that her phone broke and she lost our number. We got a referral this week (a miracle in and of itself) and he was genuinely interested! He came to church and now we're teaching him. Today after church we finally met up with our friend Maria, and she agreed to give church another try and to meet with us and a member this week. And biggest miracle of them all was that on one of our exchanges we gave our keys to the sisters to go get their stuff at our apartment...to make it quick, the sisters still had our keys and we didn't notice until after we had dropped them off at the train station and returned to the church. But we called them up and with just 5 minutes till their train was gonna leave, they put our keys under a bench. Then we drove back and they were still there when we got there!!! 

Gând Spiritual:

- And this now brings me into gândul meu spiritual... I realized that even though I didn't receive the miracle I was hoping for this week,  I was still receiving an outpouring of blessings!! I also found this quote this week

"God’s love is not found in the circumstances of our lives but in His presence in our lives. " (Susan H. Porter). My circumstances this week didn't change, but as Sister Porter points out later in her talk, I had my "eyes opened to see His hand in [my life]". I know God is always present in our lives. He loves us and wants to bless us and does bless us everyday. We just have to open our eyes sometimes to see it

Vă iubesc!!!

Sora Hansen 

Lupta mare de zăpadă

 Bună Bună!!

Highlights:

-Had an awesome lesson with our friend Adina!! The spirit was so strong!!

-Met with a family in our branch to talk to their son, Ianis, about baptism!! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes!

-Went with our district to go visit one of our members who isn't able to make it to church right now. We had lunch with her, the elders gave her the sacrament, and then we had a spiritual thought.; it was so amazing! Then as we were leaving we took some time to say hi to her 9 dogs!! It was so fun and full of snuggles!!

-Visited Sora Isac and she told us all about her different crafts and tips on learning languages (she knows 6 and is learning Turkish for fun, so you already know I was taking notes)

-Had an exchange with Sora Uryan!! It was definitely a bummer because their train came in late and ate up an hour or two of our exchange. BUT it was still awesome!  Among other things we went and did service at the ROM EXPO (a center for Ukrainian refugees), and went to a member meal with Sora Stoica!! Sora Uryan is awesome and we were able to relate about a lot of things!! It was so fun getting to know her!

-We got DUMPED ON this weekend with probably about 6 inches of snow overnight (some yall may not be too impressed but remember this isn't Utah I'm talking about). Sora Wolsey and I got to the church and realized the parking lot probably needed to be cleared for games night and church the next day... So we decided to get shovels and do it ourselves!! We definitely got a few strange looks (as we were clearing the snow in our dresses) but we were able to get it done!!  

- During church today after sacrament we were informed that the Sunday School teacher wasn't there, so of course, Missionaries take over! Luckily we all had studied this week (and the lesson was on Lehi's dream) so we were able to pull something together really quick and I think we did ok!

-Officially hit a new all-time weekly Mcflurry count... came in at 4 this week!! Lets goo!!!

Funny:

During games night we had a massive snowball fight. Sora Reynolds and I got absolutely destroyed. It seemed like everyone was against us.  This little 10 year old demon was out for blood and sniped us with snowballs to the ears. At one point I slipped and fell and took about 8 snowballs as I laid sprawled on the ground. It was a good time 😂 

Gând Spiritual:

"Enduring to the end is a hallmark of true discipleship and is essential to eternal life. But when trials and challenges come our way, we are often told to simply “hang in there.” Let me be clear: to “hang in there” is not a principle of the gospel. Enduring to the end means constantly coming unto Christ and being perfected in Him."

Elder Kevin W. Pearson

Vă Iubesc!!

Sora Hansen

Full house

 Bună Bună!!

Highlights:

- Amazing lesson with our friend Sara! We talked about her conversion and then got on the topic of temples. We explained to her all about temple work and she is so excited to go one day!

- Went to Pitești!! I was so glad it gave me a little reminder of Craiova even if I couldn't go there. 

- Helped with the Departing day activities!!! I got to see Casa Poporului (the giant parliament building in buc) and it was super cool. Lots of marble everywhere. Our tour was 45 minutes - an hour long, and we only say 5 percent of it. Craziness.

- Had an awesome exchange with Sora Banks!!! It was kind of fun because my very first exchange was with her in București!! We had a lesson with our friend Oana, visited an inactive member who decided to come back to church!! She just showed up on Sunday and now is completely involved! When we over she told she  and went to the Hyers for dinner! It was quite the exchange day!!

- Visited the Verdeața family on Saturday!! They have the cutest 2 kids, and it was fun to share a spiritual thought with them!! 

-Games night went hard and we sang some karaoke 🎤 

Not-so-Highlights:

- Had people staying with us almost all week. Super fun! But also a bit tiring.

Gând Spiritual:

"It is through Christ and His Atonement that all good things come into our lives. As we remember who we are, knowing that there is a divine plan of mercy and drawing courage in the strength of the Lord, we can do all things. We will find calm. We will be good women and men in any storm."

-Elder Mark A. Bragg

I love this talk and how it tells us about Poise. The ability to be unshaken no matter what is thrown at us. This life is a great training ground to learn poise. We have things thrown at us almost at every instance. It reminds me of in yoga, when doing a balancing pose you are supposed to find a "drishti" (a point to look and focus on that won't move). By focusing on this steady point it helps you steady yourself. With Christ as our drishti in our lives we can be steady, balanced and poised no matter what the circumstance.

Vă iubesc!!!

Sora Hansen

Kitchen Nightmares

 Bună Bună!!!

Highlights:

-New Year's Day party!!! Invited some of our friends and members to celebrate with us! One of our newer members and his wife (whose a nonmember) came!! I got to talk to them for a while and it was so fun! We also had Doina there showing us us her dance moves and that was lit haha.

-First full week of 1 only being in București and 2 only being with my companion. It was awesome.

-Wednesday we were to have two great lessons with our friends. Both of them asked us great questions, and are just so sincerely curious about our church. (A rarity in most of the lessons I've taught)

-Thursday district activity!!! We went to the Rom expo, which is a center for Ukrainian refugees and helped sort donations. Then we went to Hard Rock Cafe and I felt like I was transported to America for an hour. It was heaven. After a fabulous lunch we went back the church to do a language study while we boiled water. Then we loaded up and went to a park to hand out hot chocolate and book of Mormons. It was super fun!!!

-Dropped in to visit/minister to the old branch president and his wife! They shared with us some awesome experiences they just had at the temple.

-Had a member meal with a family from the US/England and it was absolutely divine. Rootbeer and Reeses??? Yeah enough said.

-Saturday the was a baptism in the other branch here so we got to go. It was so cool and the first baptism I've been to since my first day here. I just loved the spirit and recognizing what getting a baptism really means, and why we are always trying to help people reach it. 

Not-so-Highlights:

-We got bodied by food this week. One of our friends had us over for lunch and I at last had to face "Salată de Beouf". Picture potato salad with twice the Mayonnaise plus carrots, peas, pickles, and bell peppers. I was dying. Then when dropped in to visit the old Branch president he had just made pizza and wanted to give us some... I was staring down at the most massive loaded slice of pizza ever. He really threw in the whole kitchen cupboard. We had corn (traditional romanian thing so not too surprising), massive dried tomatoes, mushrooms, giant bell pepper slices, and whole green olives, (plus meat and cheese and sauce). Both times I thought to myself there is no way on earth I'm gonna be able to eat this. But prayer is real because I did and yeah, man I'm glad God listens to all of us, even picky eaters living in foreign countries.

Gând Spiritual:

Shared this quote this week and I really like it...

"If we spend our days waiting for fabulous roses, we could miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us. This is not to say that we should abandon hope or temper our goals. Never stop striving for the best that is within you. Never stop hoping for all of the righteous desires of your heart. But don’t close your eyes and hearts to the simple and elegant beauties of each day’s ordinary moments that make up a rich, well-lived life." 

-Elder Uchtdorf 

In the new year it can be hard sometimes to focus on the now. We think of all the things we want to and be and all the plans we have. This isn't bad... but we can't forget to enjoy the now and the journey we're on. I also hit 11 months yesterday and every day it's more apparent that I don't have a lot of time left. I don't want to miss these small  moments I have left here serving the Lord.

Vă iubesc!!!

Sora Hansen

"The green bag mamaliga is 100x better" -Sora Stoica

Bună Bună!!!

Highlights:

- CHRISTMAS!!! It was an amazing day filled with missionaries, presents, food, football, friends, singing, laughing and fun!!! 

- The streets of București better watch out cause I'm officially legal to drive here!!!! 😎🚘

- Exchange with Sora Reeve!!! She is so awesome and was my STL last two transfers in Arad!! It was so fun to learn from her again!!! 

- Lunch at the Brînarus!! We had some fire Sarmele, cozonac (usually not good but it was homemade), and tiramisu. We also had some not so fire homemade sausage but I would rather not talk about that one (🐐+🐖=🤢🤮) I seriously love this family though and they make me laugh so hard every time we go over.

- Mini Exchange with Sora Eliason!! Went with Sora Fowler to exchange with the sisters in Panduri (the other branch in București). We had lunch at this super cool café and then went finding for a couple hours. It was a party for sure.

- Exchange with Sora Nunez!!! We went back up to Timișoara! Sora Nunez is so awesome and she was one of my first STLs. So the last time we went on an exchange, I was in training!! I just loved talking with her and getting her advice and learning from her. 

- We also contacted this super cool referral who had an amazing story in finding christ, and actually had the Book of Mormon recommended to her by her pastor. 🤷‍♀️ We a great discussion and some of her other family members were interested too!!

- Taught a lesson to this girl who is making a documentary on lds missionaries here in Romania, so she films all our discussions 😬 (its lowkey scary but at least I get to talk uninterrupted for once haha)

- Visited Sora Stoica!! This cute, older, fiesty member. Last week I didn't buy the right mamaliga (polenta) for our activity and she told me she was going to beat me 😶, but we're friends now after helped her cook it all. She is actually super sweet too though and made us an amazing meal. 

Not-So-Highlights:

- On the way back from Timișoara we bought 6 tickets so that we would have our entire sleeper train cabin to ourselves. But when we got on we realized that the lady had actually given us 3 for one cabin and 3 for another. Luckily though we stayed with this super nice couple from Arad. They were really interested in us and our missions. We were able to get their info, and I was able to tell then where the church is there!! 

Gând Spiritual: 

"Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just one of many things we do. The Savior is the motivating power behind all that we do."

- Elder Uchtdorf 

I love this quote as we go into the new year. As I've been able to review this last year I've realized how true this statement can be. Obviously I've been a fulltime disciple of Christ for most of this year, but I know that this motivating power can be applied to anything and everything we do! As you go into this year I invite you to evaluate your motivations and align them with Christ. I know blessings will come and you will find more joy as you do this!!

Vă iubesc și La mulți ani!!!

Sora Hansen