Actually remembered a subject this time

 Highlights:

-Fall is officially in full swing and I'm here for it!!!

-Lesson with Irina!!! We ended up getting sidetracked talking about the 3 Kingdoms of Glory... but ended with talking about covenants and why they are important. She wants to learn more!! I'm excited!! 

- We've been trying to find and contact all our members, we were given a list and then we made a map and had a goal this week to try and contact all the inactives. We didn't quite get there but we did make a lot of progress!! 

-On one visit we had finished at the members and then were walking away and  their neighbor was just standing in outside the gate of their house. We talked to her and got her number and we are excited to talk this next week. 

- Got Mcflurries and had comp study!! For the last 2 months they have only had these special Mcflurries with a Romanian chocolate bar, which sounds good but most Romanian made chocolate has rum, so it is not my cup of tea. BUT... they finally had Oreo back this week and it was amazing 😋

-The Elders in their contacting ended up contacting an inactive member who wanted us to come over!! We all went to her house and just talked about her life and her experience with the church. AMAZING. Her name is Timea and she says she's going to try to come to church next week... I hope she does!! I just feel like she could do so many great things for the branch, and I think they could do great things for her too!

-I made SOUP!!! 

- Saturday/Sunday was district conference in Cluj!! They don't have any wards here in Romania just branches, and the whole country makes up 1 district. So it was basically stake conference with the whole country. Also at the conference they had a young single adult conference, which is what we were actually there to help with. We took the youths out finding!! We were paired up with a girl named Cristina, who actually has a mission call to Bristow, England!! She was a Rockstar and I loved working with her!! The rest of the conference we just helped out where we could. It was so fun to meet so many members and to see our members from Arad!!

-So... Saturday also happened to be my birthday. Thank you to all those who sent birthday wishes!! I had great day and it was so fun to spend it with so many members and missionaries!! Plus my mission leaders were there and they definitely made sure to make me feel loved!! But more important than all of that is that it was MY MOMS 50TH BIRTHDAY on Saturday as well. Luckily mission rules allowed us to talk together on our birthday. 

Funny:

-While going to look for members we were trying to find this apartment and basically got flamed by an old lady. The members apartment was like behind hers or something like that and she was the best guard dog one could buy. She did not let us through and yelled at us to leave 🤪 We then went around another side and were trying to see if there was another entrance and she saw us in the window... we barely ran away fast enough to avoid another scolding from the baba 😪

Gând Spiritual:

"That is what we all want—we want to see Jesus for who He is and to feel His love." 

-Elder Robert M. Daines 

October 2023

I love this quote from this last general conference. Whether we know it or not this is what we all desire. As a missionary I'm here to help people realize who Jesus is, and to guide them to recieve a greater outpouring of his love in their lives. And I know that as I have had the opportunity to do this, I too have come to know him better and felt his love. 

I invite you to read this talk if you haven't!! We studied it this week as a mission and it has so many good insights!! 

Vă iubesc atât de mult!!

Sora Hansen

10/9/23

 Bună Bună!!

Highlights:

-Lesson with our friend Irina, gave her a Book of Mormon and we're excited to teach her again!!

-ZONE CONFERENCE!!! We headed to București this week!! We actually had sleeper trains this time so that's lit!!! Left Arad at 8:30 Wednesday night and got into Buc at 8:30 in the morning!! I really liked everything that was shared and especially our mission president. It's just so crazy that every time he councils the whole mission there is always something that specifically helps with the problems that I'm facing. 

-Got to see Sora Reynolds at the gară!!!! #bestdayever

-Went streeting and met Ovidiu. He actually said yes to hear our message about the atonement (I was floored), and then we invited him to church and he came!! We taught him the first lesson and gave him a book of mormon!! He said he wants to keep coming to church!! And later he texted us later asking why we stopped to talk to him. We said that God let us to him. He said thinks the same!! I'm excited to maybe meet with him this week.

-The weather is finally getting cooler!! I'm so excited to break out all my sweaters haha.

Not-so-Highlights:

-um so that sleeper train??? Yeah we almost got bedbugs from it. But luckily Heavenly Father knows Sora Hansen could not do bed bugs so I was able to find one of the bugs right when got home and we should be in the clear now 🤪

Funny: 

A member în our branch came in with a big box of pill bottles? She starts handing them out and telling everyone it's collagen and that we all need to take them. We all started looking and realized they are postpartum supplements? I have no clue why she had them, why she wanted us all to have them, and also why did she give them to all the men too????? Habar n-am!

Gând Spiritual:

One thing Președintele Fowler shared during Zone Conference really resonated with me. He talked to us about "patient confidence". And I really love this phrase. Because I think often Patience is associated with sitting still or waiting. But it's not Patience is about doing what you can in this moment and not worrying about how fast or slow you maybe moving. I then especially love the "confidence" part of the equation. This is when faith comes in. Having confidence while being patient means to me that while yes we aren't to worried about the end goal coming right now, we are confident that it will come some day. And with this confidence we are always ready and looking for that next step. 

I don't know if this made any sense at all, but I love this thought, and know that this is what God asks of us. He asks us to trust him, to put faith in him, and then to have patience, knowing with confidence that his timing is right, and being sure not miss what he be laying out for you.

Vă iubesc pe voi toți!!

Sora Hansen

UTA Fotbal Meci!!

Bună bună

What's up yall?!?! Sorry meant to send this earlier 

Highlights:

-New person at English!! Her name is Angelica and I can already tell we're going to be friends... she's so sweet! And then at the end of English we were getting ready to give our spiritual thought when she asked if we could sing one of our hymns!! Sure of course!! We sang Lângă Tine, Doamne (nearer my God to thee) once in Romanian and once in English. The spirit was so strong!! Ughhh so awesome.

-Had a lesson with our friend Irina, those are far and few between so always grateful for the opportunity to teach 🙏 

- EXCHANGE!!! We headed to Oradea this week!! I was on an exchange with Sora Bundy and she is awesome!! We helped out at a soup kitchen and hit the streets hard!! We also went to a block that kind of scared us... it ended up having some of the nicest people!! 

- If you were wondering, nope I did not spell my subject wrong... The college fotbal team here in Arad is called UTA (ootah) and has the same colors and Utah University, it's lit. We went to a game this week with our branch presiden!! It was lit!! (And only made me a little trunks to go home and play soccer haha)

-We had regular church this week despite General conference, but our friend Josif pulled up so that was awesome!!

Not-so-Highlights:

- running like chickens with our heads cut off to get everything done haha

Funny:

-Our Josif we found on the street and he stopped us for like an hour to talk about his life and some miracles (they are amazing) but then when came to church he basically took our whole second hour to tell the elders word for word basically what he told us on the street. Plus his is very committed to his stories so its almost like watching a one man play. And we got to see it twice haha.

Gând Spiritual:

I really enjoyed President Eryings talk from conference,

He talked about how we can develop the constant critical companionship of the Holy Ghost. It so important and I love his advice on it. 

If you haven't watched all the sessions yet I invite you to catch up!! (I still need to watch Sunday afternoon so don't worry) and if you have already watched it all I invite you to start re-listening and re-reading the talks this week as they come out on Gospel Library.

Vă Iubesc Atât de Mult!!

Sora Hansen!! 

Also it's my brother Isaiah's birthday this week so hit him up with all the birthday wishes!!! 

9/25/23

 Bună bună!!

Highlights:

-Had a little meet up/lesson with a referral, her name is Irina and she also came to church so that was awesome!! 

-Am reușit!! (We succeeded!!) Here in order to get a visa here you need to pay a few taxes. When I was in training it took us forever to get them done, but we actually had no problems with Sora Barnett's!!

-Contacting in Center every night!!! It's lit!

-Met with the Branch President's wife, she's a nonmember, but we were able to talk with her and make bracelets!! She was so cool!! And it was great language study for me too!

-Gave a talk Sunday!!! It was lit!!! Didn't have time to write the last half so I just winged it, but I think it all turned out OK.

-The ladies of our branch just love us. It is so nice to have to 2 hours on Sunday where we're not hated on haha

-Sunday night we went to go contacting in center and on the way we ran into the Branch President and his mom, they were heading to this Hungarian days festival and they said we should come!! We went and another member was there, the elders found an inactive member and got his contact info, and one of our "friends" who has been coming to church was there too! Super cool! And they also were having a concert, we got to hear a Hungarian band sing Queen!! It was so awesome!! 

Not-so-Highlights:

-Lots of finding time + people who don't want to be bothered... let's goooo!!!

Funny: 

-So during my talk I was referencing stuff off my phone, towards the beginning I start getting texts. Our friend Irina was sending me corrections for my Romanian while I was speaking!!!! It was hilarious and I appreciate the help, just maybe not in the middle of my talk🙃

Gând Spiritual:

I used this quote in my talk and I absolutely love it! It is from Elder Dieter F Uchtdorf from his October 2014 talk. 

"God cares about you. He will listen, and He will answer your personal questions. The answers to your prayers will come in His own way and in His own time, and therefore, you need to learn to listen to His voice. God wants you to find your way back to Him, and the Savior is the way. God wants you to learn of His Son, Jesus Christ, and experience the profound peace and joy that come from following the path of divine discipleship"

It is just such a cool thought that an all powerful and all knowing God has this care for us. He has the care to answer our prayers and questions and concerns, to want us to talk to him. It is something we should never forget! 

Vă iubesc!!!

Sora Hansen

Cel mai rad oraș

 Bună Bună!!

Highlights:

-Street contacting in center (its gorgeous!!)

-My boboaca (new missionary) is awesome!! We get along great and have been working hard out here

-Best Burgers Ever!!

-Lunch at Sora Lidia's! She's the relief society president and the absolute sweetest! She made us this dish that is basically Lasnagna but instead of noodles there were sliced potatoes. It was so good!! Also it was Sora Barnett's first lesson!! She killed it (normal)

-Online lesson/meet up with a lady named Lavinia! She was awesome! 

-Fowler Family came to Arad!! The members if the branch were so excited!! And we had 27 in attendance Sunday!! (Record number for a sacrament meeting for me in Romania) We also had a little lunch after and I made buckeyes!! They were a hit! (All the old ladies made sure to come tell me how good they were) 

Not so highlights:

-Not having an area book (our planner and all our records) all week 

-Lots more walking here (good and bad) 

Funny:

-Had a second hour investigator lesson with an interesting guy. He knew the Bible super well and was having us read a bunch if verses, but the best part was as we read them he would interrupt us and say the verse because had it memorized. We were all trying not to laugh the whole lesson. 

Gând Spiritual:

Alma 34:32 

32) For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors

Vă iubesc!

Sora Hansen

Props to Romania Chivalry

Bună Bună!!! 

Alright this week has been crazy I swear I've felt every emotion known to man this week but it has been a good one!!

I said good bye to all of my friends in Craiova and it was sweet to see everyone but so hard to say bye 😥 I love the people of Craiova so much and I'm so grateful for the time I got to spend there!!!

So on Friday we headed to București, we stayed there overnight and in the morning I picked up my boboaca (greenie)!!! Her name is Sora Barnett and she is so sweet and so excited for the work! I am excited for our companionship and ready to blow up the work in Arad!!! 

Saturday night at 6 we started our voyage to Arad. I should've known what I was getting into when the office Elders handed me our tickets and said "Sorry these suck"

The first stint of the journey wasn't too bad. We were in a "Sleeper" train, so we had beds and plenty of room for our stuff. But then at 2:00 în the morning we had to get off our train and change to another. We got off ok (with much help for sure, we had 6 fairly heavy suit cases), and then waited for our next train, it was late (normal), but we got on ok. But then we go to our seats and I realize that our next train was a "night" train not a sleeper, which meant we had regular train seats and not beds. And on top of all of that we go to our seats and see a bunch of guys sitting in them, and two them sprawled out in sleeping bags. I went over to ask for our seats and most of the guys moved, but the two in the sleeping bags wouldn't budge. I was tired. I was stressed. And I wasn't about to have this battle with strangers at 3 in the morning. But luckily the Lord is good and also chivalry in Romania. Three or so guys in the train came to our rescue and almost forcibly ripped those two bums from our seats. 

So yeah then we tried to get as much sleep as possible (but not much) and then our train got in at 8 am. Church is at 10. So luckily our elders were nice enough to help us get our bags to our apartment and then we had to get ready speedy fast for church.

 

The branch here seems so fun!! The have a bunch of old ladies that just ate us up (phrase copyrighted by Sora Reynolds) 

We had a fun relief society and service!

The rest of Sunday we just tried to do some more chill activities because we were pretty tired, but we did do some street contacting and my trainee killed it!! Already doing amazing haha. I'm impressed for sure!

But that's it!! Arad is gorgeous but I'll have more to say about it next week!! 

Gând Spiritual:

"The Good Shepherd lovingly cares for all sheep of His fold, and we are His true undershepherds. Our privilege is to bear His love and to add our own love to friends and neighbors—feeding, tending, and nurturing them—as the Savior would have us do" 

This quote was quoted in the general conference talk (The Lord Jesus Christ Teaches Us to Minister By Elder Juan A. Uceda) we went over I'm Relief Society. 

I love that is says it is "our privilege to bear his love". I feel so lucky to have this gospel in my life and to have the opportunity to share it here in Romania! All those who know of the Saviors love have this privilege as well! How awesome is that?

Vă Iubesc!!! 

Sora Hansen

 

TRANSFERS

 Bună Bună!!! 

Highlights:

- English Class popped off!! We had 11 people show up (an all time record) and 9 of the 11 were new!!! We had a family come and we had some friends we've been taking too! We where able to have to classes!! It was so fun! 

- We served with the kids again, and at the beginning we all introduced ourselves and one thing we liked. I said I liked to play soccer and a group of boys went crazy. The whole time during our activities with them they wanted to play soccer with me. Finally after we were done we went back to the Church (and the place that hosts them) and set up a little 3v3 in the tiny cobblestone courtyard. It was so lit!! I was a little rusty for sure, but this is the first time I've gotten to play since I got here!! So fun!

- Thursday we had a fire District council and President and Sister Fowler came so that was a fun surprise!! 

- We also visited the Ions and had an awesome discussion about Faith!!

-On Friday we decided to switch it up a bit, we went service finding, we dressed up un service clothes and just went around trying to find service. We unfortunately weren't able to but we met a lot of cool people!! We then decided all go talk to people in our city center because they had a festival thing going on there. And then Ice cream at the end!! It was lit!

-Saturday we had transfer news!! Usually we get calls as companionships but President decided to switch it up and we all jumped on a Zoom call where they released the transfer board.

Anyways so my news... I will be training!! And I'm going to be moving to Arad!!! There haven't been sisters there for 6 months!! I am so so excited go and open it back up! 

- In the evening the Ions came to the Church and we made pies with them!! Sora Elena made meat and cheese pies Romanian style, and then we showed her how to make an American apple pie!! It was a so fun! 

- Also cool, our president asked us to strive make 70 contacts a day. This means we have to extend an invitation, get a referral, or teach a gospel truth to 70 people. I was a little worried about trying to make this goal but the Lord provides!! We hit 70+ almost every day this week!! So awesome!

Not-So-Highlights:

- Sunday was bittersweet. It was my last here in Craiova. I had to say goodbye to a few of the members already. It's just so crazy, I've been here for 6 months but it still feels like I just got here. I'm going to miss our members and friends here, but at the same time I'm so excited to serve somewhere new and meet new people!

Funny:

-This week we went block knocking and this guy was working outside one of the doors so we were able to teach him a little bit and leave a pamphlet. He was at the top of the block and then we were working our way down. And everything pretty open in the stairwells and stuff. After we left we could hear this guy getting questioned by like 5 different people about us, and we could hear them talking smack. It was lowkey hilarious. 

Gând Spiritual:

A quote from a talk I study this week, The Three Rs of Choice by President Monson

"Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed—the courage to say no, the courage to say yes. Decisions do determine destiny."

I feel like this is a good reminder for me as I go into the next transfer. It can be so easy to lost in the flow of things, but as we remember our goals and where we want to go, it can help us be sure to make the right decisions to reach that goal. 

Vă Iubesc pe voi toți!! 

Sora Hansen