Welcoming President Ivory

TUESDAY:

      We went to Piatra Neamt, this cute little village up in the mountains.  It is super scenic and beautiful and we even got to take a gondola up the side of the mountain!  

WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY: 

       So we got to spend 3 days in Bucharest this past week for Missionary Leadership Conference.  

                                        PRESIDENT IVORY HAS LANDED.  

    He definitely has a new vision for this mission and he left us all inspired!  He wants us top be more "balanced" as missionaries: placing more emphasis on working with ward members, less active members and investigators.  I totally agree with this new program!  Our three mission "power words" are "Energy, Balance and Integrity".  As long as we have those three things, we will be great missionaries.  

    The Ivories also threw a great 4th of July party for all of the leaders at the conference.  

                                                    It. Was. Amazing.  

     We got in some amazing contacting in Bucharest.  I actually love contacting.  As STL we don't really have tons of time to contact but I am really learning what it means to "teach as you go".  

SUNDAY:

        I got to translate in church!  It only took 6 months but I can now totally understand what is going on in church!  Haha!  In Iași, we have 12 BYU students who are volunteering in the children's hospitals and orphanages here.  They don't speak a lick of Romanian so it was very flattering when they asked me to translate for them!

                                                         So funny story. 

        In Romania, there are tons of gypsy children who will come up to you and beg for money, candy, food... just about everything.  While coming home from church we ended up right in the middle of a huge swarm of gypsy children.  They kept begging for gum (that was a new one).  They followed us for about 5 minutes and I just got tired of saying, "Îmî pare rău, nu am voie, nu pot" (I'm sorry, I don't have permission, I can't).  So I turned to the little boy and smiled and said, "Cum a fost ziua ta?" (How was your day?) an the little boy looks right up at me and smiles and says "Bine!" (Good!).  Hahaha it was super funny and cute.  Haha after that they left us alone.  

SPIRITUAL NUGGET FOR THOUGHT:  

        Sora Bynum said something really cool to me and I thought I would share it with all of you.  One morning, during our companionship study, we had decided to study prayer.  While we were discussing prayer, she said: "Every week, we only have an hour to communicate with our families back home, but we can communicate with our Heavenly Father as much as we want".  

Prayer is how we communicate with God, our loving father in Heaven.  He is ALWAYS there for us and he WANTS to here from us.  I am so grateful for prayers and I know that honest, sincere prayer can change your life. 

LOVING MY MISSION

LOVING THE PEOPLE

LOVING THE LORD!

:) Sora Lee

 AVOCADO BURGERS

We bought a fan.  Dying of sweat.  No AC in our apartment.  My arms are also being eaten by bugs...and my legs...and everything else covered in skin....So they bandages help me not scratch them......

Sora Bynum, Eu and Sora Ivory!

Sora Sayre and our baba scarfs!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SORA!  (She is from my MTC district!)

Inspirational quote on top of the mountain at Piatra Neamt!

4th of July Party!  Thank you Ivory Family!

AMERICAN WEEK AT LIDL. Every week they have a different "country" that is highlighted and they sell food that corresponds to that country.  The marketing for it is hilarious...

View from the gondola in Piatra Neamt!