Baba with a Chainsaw

Hello all!! Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

No chicken heads this week... but we did have one night of awful food last week. The dessert was so awful Sora Cook was turning green just looking at it... I thought it was awful but not as badly as she did so I quickly ate all of mine and when the lady wasn’t watching we switched bowls and I ate all of hers... it basically tasted like vomit covered in sugar! I don't really know what it was... and part of me doesn't want to know what it was hahaha!

With regards to the subject of this email... "Baba with a chainsaw" there's no real story behind it... we were all just walking down the street, last p-day... and this tiny little hunched over old lady was carrying this enormous chainsaw! haha it was hilarious!

I guess because of the Christmas season the work has been quite slow... people are either out of town or they're busy doing family things for Christmas, so all of our potential investigators have been rescheduling appointments for after the New Year.... so sad really. They could have the best Christmas gift ever... Eternal Life! But they want to wait... sigh :P As a result, we've been meeting with lots of less-actives and also we've been Christmas Caroling and contacting. We had an amazing experience last Tuesday. We were out contact caroling. The Elders were on exchanges with Timisoara so we had Elder Pischke instead of Elder Groberg. E.Pischke had his ukulele and E.Benson had a guitar and Sora Cook and I we holding the hymn books as we went door to door in the apartment blocs. Similarly to last week most doors slammed in our faces as we tried to invite the faithful or wish them a silent and holy night ha-ha, but we knocked on this one door and an enormous bald-headed man swung the door open. We burst into song and he just stood there... staring... arms folded across his giant belly. We finished silent night and invited him to our Church Christmas service. He then crumpled the invitation into his pocket and stepped out of his apartment into the cold hallway staring at us. This guy was huge! He towered over us and looked at the two elders and asked if we knew "Ce veste" which is a Romanian Christmas hymn. "O Da!" we all replied and the elder began to play. We took a breath to sing... but were suddenly blown away as the giant man burst into full out Opera Singing... "O CE VESTE MINUNATA...!!!!" Sora Cook and I were so surprised we nearly fell backwards. He was Opera Singing... the loudest but most beautiful opera singing I've ever heard in my life. I wouldn't be surprised if the missionaries in Bucharest heard his singing! Elder Benson and Elder Pischke just had the biggest smiles on their faces. The man sang two verses in Romanian then two in Latin, with 4 missionaries and an out of tune guitar and a 20 lei ukulele... He then wished us a happy Christmas and went back into his apartment and closed the door. Oh priceless the people you meet as a missionary ;)

Mos Cracium ...a slightly scary Santa!

We had an amazing experience on Thursday night. The four of us... the district, decided to go carol at the city's retirement home. The conditions were as you can imagine... not the greatest. But the nurses were all super nice and showed us into each room, where there were multiple beds and the elderly people either sitting or lying down. I don't even know when I've felt the spirit that strong before. We began to sing "O ce veste" (the Romanian carol) and one by one the elderly people would start to cry. Although I couldn't always understand them, and sometimes they didn't even say anything, I could just feel of their pains and their trials. Yet every one of them would wish God's love and blessings for us. And I would tell them that God loves them and they'd agree and say how much the Lord's blessed them. And yet looking at their surroundings and their many many trials, many people would find it hard to believe they still had faith in God, yet they do! There was one old lady in one of the rooms who sang along with us and then started to cry. I went over to talk to her and she told me she was blind. I told her hand in mine and she just cried and kissed me hand and thanked us. I too started crying. I've been studying Luke over the past few weeks and the many times the Christ heals people. And, although I don't have that kind of power, I knew that by being there and bringing a little light into their days, we were healing their spirits. As missionaries we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and as the sweet old woman kissed my hand and her tears wet it, I felt the Saviour's love for her and for me. I know with the fullness of my heart that Christ lives and he is the Son of our Father in Heaven. I know that God knows me by name, and He knows every single one of us and He loves us.

Yesterday we had a cool experience. There's a woman in the branch who is super super poor.. I mean in the winter she lives of the equivalent of $1.50 a week. But we had bought her Christmas presents, and we travelled to her house outside the city... it took a 1.5 hour bumpy train journey then a 45 minute walk to get to her house, but it was so cute and fun. And she is such an example to me... she studies the Gospel all the time and just clings to the word of God... I hope I can learn to cling to it in the way she does!

Mos Craciun (Santa)...definitely don't want to be on his naughty list!

The branch had a Christmas party on Saturday... it was so cute and fun! and Mos Craciun (Santa) came! But not gonna lie... he was terrifying!! I'm surprised the children didn't run and hide. But it was cute He gave all the missionaries presents :) I've attached a picture... but I warn you not to look at it before bed or you won't sleep ;)

Thank you for all of your love and support. This Gospel is so true! I love it!
Craciun Fericit!!
Va iubesc!!
Sora Jessi Rivera

Vomit, Yelling and a Chicken Head!

This week... oh wow, I can hardly believe it's only been a week since I last emailed... so much has happened and yet the time has flown by. So I'll start with the crazy stuff then attempt to explain the awesome spiritual stuffeses ;)

There is still time to have some fun!

Sora Atkins, Sora Smith, Sora Cook and I were on the Tramvai on Wednesday. S. Atkins and S. Smith were in Arad for 2 days for exchanges with us, so we were on our way to some blocs to go contacting. We were spread out on the Tramvai all contacting different people. The drunk, toothless man next to me was proclaiming his desire to come to church with us this Sunday (at least I think that's what he was saying... either that or something about multiple Gods) then all of a sudden the woman in front of us... whom Sora Cook was attempting to contact started vomiting! I think she'd drunk an entire keg of beer cos it was just pouring out of her and running under the seats and me and the drunk, toothless man jumped up and moved to avoid getting covered in it. Sora Atkins was contacting a nice lady in front of Sora Cook and the vomiter, and they had to stop talking about the Lord in order to move. Sora Cook attempted to help the vomiting woman but she didn't want help... so yeah... weird... the next stop was then ours... so yeah.... super weird contacting times on the Tramvai.

The next day we got yelled at... A LOT!! By alll sorts of different people... so yeah that was weird and sad... then we also had some super nasty food from this crazy lady. The soup was basically salt with a touch of water and Sora Cook was lucky enough to have the chicken's head floating in hers. The lady also gave us slices of a questionable black block of bread/cake thing... I dunno what it was but it was a little better than the salty water chicken head soup.

Me with one of the Lovely Members

Okay now for the good stuff... We met the most amazing couple one night last week. Florin and Cristina! We had a private English lesson with them and then afterwards we were sharing a spiritual thought. But they asked so many questions and had such a desire to learn we ended up teaching them the entire Joseph Smith story and invited them to read the Book of Mormon. We then met with them a number of times during the week and they were really progressing... keeping their commitments and loving reading the book of Mormon. They’re the cutest couple. They have been married for 15 years, they don't have any children but they have two little nephews, Florin's sister’s children whom they just love and adore. They just kept saying how much they want to have the peace and light that we have. It was so cool! They came to church yesterday and the wonderful members of our little branch did a great job at talking to them and making them feel welcome. But then they told us that their work called and they are moving to Italy this Thursday until April or May :( We had hoped to invite them to be baptized this week, but unfortunately we can't now. But we have their Italian contact info and we're going to speak to the office Elders so they can have missionaries in Italy go visit them. They are super amazing and although I won't get to see them progress in the Gospel, as I'd hoped, I'm so grateful the Lord allowed Sora Cook and I to witness their growth in the last week. I love them so much, and I pray for them. I know the Lord will take care of them and help them to receive the truth into their lives. They are also a blessing because we are hopefully going to start teaching Florin's sister and her family this week..., which would be wonderful!

The branch here is having a hard time. They are so wonderful and amazing, they just have so many trials :( I pray for them every day and even in my short time here I can see the Lord's hand working miracles. It's like the early church. People here are pioneers. They are the first generation. So along with that comes many trials and it's not like elsewhere in America or England where once they join they are then fellowshipped by people who've been members for 30 years... oh no, everyone here are fairly new members... in comparison to what I'm used to, but their faith is completely incredible!! They talk of their lives and I can hardly believe what they've sacrificed to become a member of the church. They are so passionate about the Gospel. I just love it! They're a wonderful example to me, and I hope when I get home and participate in a ward, I can remember and be just as passionate and faithful as these people.

Me & a couple of the Elders at the MTC (before Romania)

Soooo I have a wonderful district! The Elders and Sora Cook are wonderful examples to me and they strengthen my testimony everyday. Haha... and we've been going Contact-caroling... where we knock on people's doors, sing them a Christmas song and invite them to Church for our branch's Christmas party this week. Elder Benson plays the guitar and we all sing a carol in Romanian. But sometimes it’s super super funny because we'll know on the door, they open it, we sing "Joy to the world..." SLAM!! the door is shut in our faces. hahaha we usually just burst out laughing... or one time as we sang joy to the world "E bucurie in lume...SLAM" Elder Groberg exhausted, just said "I guess these people don't want joy" It was funny at the time... probably cos we were so tired... but still! Sometimes though, people are nice and you can tell that we really brightened up their evening and they're excited about the Christmas activity. So even though many people slam their doors, the ones who open them are very grateful :)

Okay I gots to go! Love you all! Merry Christmas!! 
Oh and you should all study Luke 15... its an amazing chapter... and notice how the sheep wanders away out of misunderstanding i.e. people who aren't taught well in the Gospel and just don't grasp its importance, the silver coin is lost out of carelessness i.e. when we don’t fellowship or take care of members, and the prodigal son... he knows exactly what he's doing, and we just need to be patient and pray to the lord that these people will use their agency to return. But notice how all of them when returned to the flock are received with rejoicing... just some cool stuffs from my studies..

Keep the Faith!

Romania at Last

ROMANIA AT LAST!!!

I don't look anxious about leaving at all do I?

Ceau Ceau!! I'm in ARAD!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right!! ARAD!! :D Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayy!!! So I know my teachers probably laughed when they heard this because they knew that Arad was the city I was desperately hoping to be assigned to! :D so yay... go me/go the Lord for assigning me here:) oh and for those of you who are curious... Elder Criscenti went to Craiova!

Okay so backtrack... rewind...

The final week of the MTC was crazy and awesome! It was super hard to say good-bye to my wonderful teachers! They helped me so much and my testimony increased greatly in the MTC, and I know that was in part because of my teachers who challenged me and encouraged me! I hope you'll all enjoy the pictures... I don't have any on my camera of Sora Whiting and I... because I forgot my camera on her last lesson :( But needless to say they're amazing and I love them!

Then came Monday...... We flew to Detroit... then to Amsterdam... then to Bucharest... For some reason I wasn’t able to sleep at all on any of the flights AND I'd had a nervous/restless night's sleep on Sunday night... so needless to say by the time I arrived in Bucharest I was exhausted. But... cool experience, in the Amsterdam Airport, Elder Criscenti and I spoke to a lot of Romanians, and got a conversation going with a man named Stefan from Galati. He's married with 4 children and had been working in Amsterdam was a couple weeks and was excited to get home to his children. We told him what we were doing and he was very interested. Then we told him about the Book of Mormon. We didn't have a Romanian Book of Mormon to give him... I had my own triple combination, which is marked and noted, but he asked if he could read it during the flight which of course we said was fine. Afterwards we then got his number and told him that missionaries could contact him and give him his own copy which he was pleased about.... so then 2 days ago I called the Elders in Galati to give them the referral and they texted us yesterday saying they spoke to him and are setting up an appointment :) Yaaaaaaaaaayyy!! Missionary work!!! It was so cool! and all in Romanian... I'd been afraid that arriving in Romania would be like the Best Two Years... the scene "That's not the language they taught me in the MTC..." haha but for the most part it's been going really well

Sis & President Hill

Okay so then I met President and Sister Hill and my trainer Sora Cook. Sora Aly Cook is from Sandy Utah, she's a dancer and just the cutest thing and a super obedient and hard working missionary! I just adore her. This is her first time training, this is her 5th transfer but she's just awesome and really loves and appreciates my input. We're making a great team and learning a lot from one another. We get along really well, and have had lots of fun in just the past few days! We have a lot of hope and faith for our little city of Arad. President and Sister Hill are super funny! They told us funny stories of Sora Hill's childhood, and President Hill used to be Dean of the Marriot Business school at BYU so he has some great stories too. 

Me & Sis Cook

So Arad is a 12 hour train ride away... so Sora Cook and I stayed over night at the some Sister's apartment in Buch and then the next day we had meetings and things and then waited at the train station for a very very long time. It was freezing! but there were lots of missionaries there to make it fun... Then our train was almost 2 hours late so at 1.45am we boarded the train to Arad with our elders. In Arad... there are two sisters .. Me and Sora Cook, and two elders, Elder Benson (an Indie, blonde haired, ridiculous boy but he has an amazing love for the people) and there’s Elder Groberg (and smiley elder with a strong spirit and big heart... and yes his uncle was the John H. Groberg). 

Train on the way to ARAD

So the four of us went to our train compartment.... a sleeper compartment for us to share for the next 12 hours... which was about the size of a shoebox! yeah... we laughed so much when we saw it and Elder Groberg and I had all of our luggage, because Elder Groberg was transferring from Ploesti to Arad... so yeah... it was hilarious... and we had a lot of fun! The elders and Sora Cook and I all get along great and we had a lot of hope and faith for the wonderful city of Arad.

Ok so ARAD - it's a typical Romanian city... full of ya know... Romanians... haha :) I loves it! It's a beautiful city though, honestly, despite the fact that right now it's buried under about 4 feet of snow. The day I arrived there wasn't even an inch of snow, just light layer of sleet... however right now a blanket of snow doesn’t even begin to describe it... maybe a comforter of snow... and mattress of snow... a duvet of snow!! (I'm soooo glad we bought those snow boots mum ;) )

Snow - lots of snow!

The branch has about 20-25 active members. They’re so cute!!! I love them soooo much!! They are few but they are strong. They're faith is like nothing I've ever seen. My first lesson was with a couple, the Sebyesten' (Nu stiu cum se scrie) but they’re so cute and they nicknamed me "boboaca tare" (meaning... the amazing duckling) J. A duckling is what they call a greenie (brand new missionary). Sora Sebeysten is so funnny and speaks super slow and draws her words out. Here they say the word "fine" spelt... fain like the english word fine... but it means like excellent... so they say "ce fain??!!!" in ways that we'd say "how great?" haha They send their love to Fratele Sandberg by the way. I also met with Cristina Chira who send her love to Sora Wilson, she'd been less active for a while but it starting to return to church. Then... yesterday... Sunday... I met Dana Gergelie... the reason I had wanted to come to Arad was because in the MTC I taught an investigator, Dana, who Sora Whiting pretended to be. I met her! She was baptized over a year ago and her husband Ghitza was baptized a few months ago. They have a 7 year old son Cristi who will be 8 at the end of December, they send their love to "Sora Ausen" aka Sora Whiting. I was sad to learn that they'd been less active and Sora Gergelie hadn’t been to church in 6 weeks but we called her on Saturday and then they all came to Church yesterday!!! :D It truly was a miracle as well because there was sooo much snow!! We are hoping to meet with them this week. They’re a beautiful family and we hope they're going to start coming back to church.

Someone doesn't read the DO NOT OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS labels!!!

Okay I'm nearly out of email time and I need to email President Hill... LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! Thanks for your prayers. We really really need them!! We don’t currently have any progressing investigators but we have some lessons set up for this week and lots of potentials that we'll be contacting... so we need all the faith and prayers we can get!!

LOVE you all!! Keep the Faith... oh btw... I've been studying prayer in the Book of Mormon... just so you know if you want to study with me :)

Love Sora Rivera