Cleaning bathrooms? or getting rid of ghosts?

 Buna Buna, 

This last week has been a blast! Me and the Surori (sisters) all get along so well, and we are constantly laughing at ourselves. My district is also THE BEST and we have a great time together. We've had some epic snowball fights and I brought a small soccer ball, so during almost every break in class we do a juggling circle. We also have been playing a lot of volleyball, which has been fun, but arms are starting to look like my companion beats every night. The meals here are not too bad, some of the fruit is questionable though. 

The language learning is coming along pretty well, but Limba Româna (Romanian) is a beast for sure. On top of the regular verb conjugations we have an extra gender (I guess the language couldn't decide), adjective declination (basically conjugating adjectives to match nouns), definizare (instead of using normal articles, Romanians thought it would be fun to put them at the end of words), dative and accusative phrases, and most of the words we use in everyday life are "irregular" so they don't follow the rules listed above 😂 so fun!

Saturday: First full day of classes!! Nothing too interesting, just lot's of work.

Sunday: Sacrament meeting was amazing!! The speakers were amazing and I felt the spirit so strong. We also had this personal study "experience" which was so good too. Our district went to choir practice as well which was super fun too! Also, Surori and I memorized "Our Purpose Statement" in limba Româna!!!

Monday: We had service, which was cleaning other sisters' bathrooms. It was kind of gross but at least they gave us fire outfits to wear while we were doing it.

Tuesday: We had a devotional with Elder M. Russell Ballard. After the meeting we had the opportunity to reflect as a district. We all mentioned how cool it was to hear from an Apostle. A lot of what he shared were principles we had already heard, but hearing them directly from an Apostle was a really special experience.  

Wednesday: Sora Post and I had to teach our first lesson in limba Româna to someone not in our district! It was only 15 minutes and it went surprisingly well! I even was able to share the Book of Mormon with her and invite to read it, even though we had not prepared the Romanian to share that.  The Surori and I decided to all wear pants too so that was fun. 

Thursday: My mom surprised me and sent packages!! My district and I were very very grateful for her! (she's the best!)

Spiritual Thought: 

I've been reading in Helaman this week and I was on the story of Samuel the Lamanite. This story is already amazing but reading this as a missionary brings a whole new light. I'm inspired about how Samuel was literally kicked out of the city, and on his way home, but turned around to preach to the Nephites again. 

The state religion of Romania is Eastern Orthodox. Most people families have been a part of the church for generations, and because of that many will probably not be interested in my message. But like Samuel the Lord has asked me to go, because you never know who will listen. 

I also really liked these verses in Chp 16.

Hel 16:2-3

2)  But as many as there were who did not believe in the words of Samuel were angry with him; and they cast stones at him upon the wall, and also many shot arrows at him as he stood upon the wall; but the Spirit of the Lord was with him, insomuch that they could not hit him with their stones neither with their arrows. 

3)  Now when they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they went away unto Nephi to be baptized. 

These verses made me realize the power of God's miracles. I know that I'm here to bring others unto Christ for 18 months. But the effects of my mission will not just last 18 months. The miracles that I experience on mission will be a tool I can use to bring others closer to Christ for my whole life. I am so so grateful for that. 

Love you all!! 

Sora Hansen

Straight Chillin' in the MTC

Buna Ziua!!

I FINALLY MADE IT! Just finished the first few days at the Provo MTC!  I already finished 2 weeks at Home MTC, but I figured that it wouldn't be too interesting of emails. Here's a recap though:

Home MTC was actually much better than expected. I felt the spirit so strong, even just over zoom. My district and companion were so awesome and everyone always gave good comments. It was also a blessing to be able to spend more time with my family before I left. 

Ok so now to the good stuff...

Wednesday:There was crazy snow so we almost couldn't make it to the MTC, but luckily things cleared up later in the day. Then I had to say goodbye to my family which was so so sad, but luckily I quickly was able to meet up with some of my district. This helped take my mind off of things for sure. We got to meet our teachers and our district came throughout the day because of the snow. We had a devotional with the MTC presidency, and we went to bed. 

Thursday:

Thursday was a little rough for us Romanian sisters. We decided to go the earliest gym slot, but we were 20 minutes late😬.  We then had to do an orientation that took up all our gym time. We tried to get ready fast for our language tutoring, but again we were late. We also picked up my comp Sora Post, and that was soo awesome!! We had lunch and class, and then dinner. After dinner us sisters went back to our dorm before our meeting with branch presidency. We were freshening up, talking, and helping Sora Post unpack. All of sudden we look at our phones and we were already 3 minutes late to our meeting!! Ugh. Luckily we made it in a few minutes, but it definitely was not our brightest moment. I also had to play the piano for the meeting, and it went better than I thought, but... let's just say it was mediocre at best.  

Today we went to the temple and it was amazing!! And we were actually on time😉

Also in reference to the subject of this email. I can not stop saying "straight chillin" or some for reason. I even accidently told our branch president last night that I was "just chillin". ughh. And now I'm getting all the sisters to say it too haha👿

Spiritual Thought:

D&C 11:13

Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.

I definitely have felt the spirit this week. Our language classes are definitely hard, but I feel the Lord's help enlightening me, and helping me learn. I also have been able to feel so much joy, even as I miss family and friends. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and his gifts. 

Cuyahoga Train ride

This field trip with Isaiah's pre-school was the highlight of the whole year.  All he could talk about was how in the spring he would be able to ride the train.  I tried to prepare him a little, because at the time we were looking for a new job, and there was a possibility that we would move, and he would not get to ride the train.  I am so glad that we got to do this activity because it meant so much to him.  We packed a lunch, and ate it while we were on the train.  This is a really fun ride, the park rangers rode the train with us, and explained all the different animals that lived in the woods.  They showed us different animals along the way, shared lots of info, and showed animal skins, bird eggs, and sang songs.  Isaiah was accompanied by his favorite buddies- Brain Ballway, Ryan Coons, & Logan Lockemer.  What could be more fun!

 Here is Isaiah & Ryan

Logan & Brian

Mom & Isaiah on their special field trip together.

I saw the conductor and asked if he would take a picture with the boys.

1st Grade Spring Program

Mckayla's 1st grade class had a spring show. She wore her new Easter dress, I thought she looked so beautiful.  She had a speaking part in the show, She was the teacher.  She knew all the lines, and we had studied hard to memorize them.  They let them keep with them their parts while on stage, and Mckayla kept referring to hers.  I guess when you get nervous, it doesn't matter how much you studied.  She did good and it was fun to watch her do her part.  Afterwards we went to Dairy Queen for some good old ice cream.

Easter 2011

Easter 2011. Here the kids are in there new Easter outfits. They are so adorable. I love each one of there cute mugs.

The Easter bunny hid there Easter baskets, each one of them have just found what the easter bunny has brought them.

Here these silly monkeys were getting ready to look for Easter eggs. It was to cold outside, so we had to have our hunt indoors. As you can see in the picture a blue egg is sitting up on the column, it looks like Isaiah was on the move to getting it, and Mckayla was posing for the camera!

Catch up at a glance for the year of 2011!

 April 2011 Mckay and I ran in a 2 mile fun run.  It was hard for her, but she did great!! She never gave up and kept going.  Mom was very proud of her.

Mckays artwork at school.  Awesome Job!!

Enjoying smoothies, and smoothie mustaches! 

Happy 35th Birthday daddy, nothing like having breakfast in bed, and opening presents first thing in the morning.  The kids so excited to watch dad open his gifts.

Isaiah graduated from preschool!  What a handsome young man!  He was in Mrs. Jeans class.  She retired after this year.  It was a bitter sweet, b/c Mrs. Jean was not coming back.  We were glad to have her for Mckay and Isaiah's class.

In the middle of the program everyone was evacutated into the hallway, because of a tornado warning.  We sat there for awhile watching dark billowing clouds overhead, with heavy rain.  Thankfully no tornado touch the ground.  We were hanging out with our good friends the Coons.  It was a good time!