This Week: I'm thankful that I didn't die and that I didn't go to jail haha

TONS OF PHOTOS COMING YOUR WAY SO HANG IN THERE!

This week was an incredible week.  We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with missionaries from the surrounding cities and we really do have so much to be grateful for.  

I have more photos than words to describe this week.  Some experiences are just too difficult to put into words over email. 

1.) NO ENGLISH

This week we had an "English Fast".  Sora Trebas made it a goal to only speak Romanian for 1 week straight.  I lasted 5 days and then had to speak in English because of certain circumstances haha but she was able to do it just perfectly.  I am SO PROUD of her.  It was a very incredible experience.  English is so foreign to us now.  It's hard haha.  

2.) ALMOST WENT TO JAIL

We got CONTROLLED.  So we got on a tramvi (a trolley cart thing) with other sister missionaries after a missionary meeting.  We all get out our cards to pay for our trip.  We all pay, no problem.  Then Controllers get on.  Their job is to make sure that everyone on the tramvi has paid, so no one is getting a free ride- thing is 90% of them are corrupt and pocket the money.  Welp, they walk past everyone else and come straight to us, the Americans and take all of our travel cards away from us.  They pull out their smart phones that can "read" if we had payed for the trip.  Well, their phones said that half of our cards showed that we hadn't paid and they demanded that we pay them 150 lei and give them our passports so they can contact the police.

Corruption.  

We did not hand over our passports and we politely asked for our cards back, to show them, wait hey no, we all have money on our cards.  They refused to give them back.  They kept forcing us to pay them the money.  Our patience and sweetness had worn thin, and we were yelling with these controllers. "We paid! We have money!  Try it again! We just bought our cards!"  But they refused.  So then they say, "We're calling the cops"

"Call them!" one of the sister missionaries yell. "We aren't lying!"  

So we all get off the tramvi and we are all furious.  

"This is all fake" one of the sisters was saying, "They are lying, they are corrupt and they will pocket this money.  No one give them anything".  

So we didn't.  

Then, one of the controllers says, "Okay beautiful girls now just pay me 50 lei and I will leave you alone" He steps right in front of my face and lights up his cigarette. He starts being weird to my companion and I just lost it. 

"Leave us alone and stop smoking!  Smoking is not healthy!!!" I told him in Romanian.  

He laughed, got up in my grill and blew his cigarette smoke all in my face.

I did everything in my power to not punch him in his fat face.

And we all just started walking away.  No cops were called. They didn't chase us. They are liars.  Good conquers evil.  

Bam. 

3.) LADY WITH THE BLUE HAT

There was this woman on the metro and I had this huge prompting to go to talk to her.  I had been praying for weeks that I could be able to easily recognize the spiritual promptings that I receive and that I may have the courage to act on them.  

I was super sick and coughing up a storm and that was the excuse that I had not to talk to her.  There was an open seat next to her on the metro and it stayed available stop after stop after stop. The spirit kept prompting me to "talk to her, talk to her" and it was just such a strong and overwhelming feeling it brought tears to my eyes.  I knew I had to do it.  

I go down and sit by her and ask her how she is doing.  At first she is like, "Why are you asking me, I don't even know you" and then I said, "I just wanted to ask, to be nice" And she just lit up and said, "Well then, I am good" hahaha!

Turns out she has always been super interested in who we are and what we believe.  I asked her if she had heard about "Mormons".  she said yes.  I asked her what she knew, bracing myself for something negative, unkind or untrue, but instead she says, "You have very beautiful, well-mannered and kind youth".  She gave us her information and we are going to meet up with her this week.  

Now that wouldn't have happened if I had listened to the Holy Ghost and followed his prompting. 

4.) Trebas Making Philippino Friends

While on the metro we saw these two cute ladies, they were laughing and smiling and we just knew at that moment, they were different.  Well they end up coming up to us and asking us for directions (these tags make us looks so officialhaha) and we end up talking to them in ENGLISH. We find out that they are Phillipino and living in Romania because they married Romanians. Sora Trebas' brother served in the Philippines so she rattles off "Merry Christmas!" in Tagalog.  So cute!  

And a bond was formed!

They were super interested in our church and we had he chance to meet with Perlita, one of our cute Phillipino friends this week.  She uses dating websites to tell people about Jesus and the Bible haha.  

She showed us one of her conversations with some guy.  It went like this:

guy: hey u r cute.

Perlita: do u read bible?

guy: yea every day

Perlita: I see u are married. Why u on this site?

guy: I like conversation.

Perlita: You should be loyal to  your wife. She is gift from god. What is your favorite verse?

guy has logged off

We LOVE HER!!!!!

5.) I AM NOT DEAD

 I almost got hit by a car.  I was about 10 inches away from a car that was going about 70 MPH. While crossing a street (at a blind corner)  I stepped out into the road, I figured it would be a good idea to run fast across the road, which really wasn't a normal thing to do, it wasn't very far until I would hit the side walk. As my feet barely hit the side walk  I hear Sora Trebas yell, "SORA!!!!!!!!!!!" And I hear a car slam on it's breaks. Welp, turned out I was just inches away from this car who had zipped around the corner.  The car sped away and Sora Trebas runs up to me and says, "Sora Lee, I thought for sure you were going to die right in front of my eyes, that car barely missed you."  She held out her hands, "It missed you by this much".  

I know our Heavenly Father loves and watches over all of his children.  I know he protects us and I am grateful he protected me.  

Loving the work, Loving the people and Loving the Lord,

:) Sora Lee

Photo 1: Let the feast begin!

Photo 2: REAL FOOD

Photo 3: Me and Sora Barrera (MTC group) are so thankful for Thanksgiving and food!!!!

Photo 4: Me and Treeb- I "give thanks" for her!

Photo 5: Sora Armstrong, Sora Barrera, Me and Trebas!

Photo 6 : Just all of us missionaries!

Photo 7: "Leebas" in the snow!

Photo 8: Me and Casa PoPo!

Photo 9: I love Romania!!!! Romania has been a country for 555 years this year!

Photo 10: Sick flag photo

Photo 11: Super cute officers-ha

Photo 12: TANKS

Photo 13: Show your Romanian pride- stick a flag on your bike!

Photo 14: Cake fight for "Elder Whitehead's going away party this morning! Elder Laititi hit me square in the face so I got to hit him back!